126. And I will give thee a crown of life. That this signifies wisdom, and thence eternal happiness, is evident from the signification of a crown, when said of those who are in the spiritual affection of the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good, as being wisdom, concerning which more will be said in what follows; and from the signification of life, as being eternal happiness, which is also called life eternal. The reason why those who are in the spiritual affection of truth and good, and who are here treated of, have eternal happiness is, that heaven is implanted in man by means of the knowledges of truth and good from the Word. He who believes that heaven is implanted by any other means, is much deceived; for man is born natural only, with the faculty of becoming spiritual; but he becomes spiritual by means of truths from the Word, and by a life according to them. How can any one ever become spiritual, unless he be instructed about the Lord, about heaven, a life after death, faith, and love, and other things which are the means of salvation? If man is ignorant of these things, he must remain natural; and a merely natural man cannot have anything in common with the angels of heaven, who are spiritual.

Man has two minds, one exterior, and the other interior; the exterior mind is called the natural mind, but the interior is called the spiritual mind; the former is opened by means of the knowledges (cognitiones) of things in the world, but the latter by the knowledges (cognitiones) of things which are in heaven; these the Word teaches, and the church from the Word; by means of these man becomes spiritual, when he knows them and lives according to them.

[2] This is meant by the words of the Lord in John:

"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (3:5):

by water, are signified the truths of faith, and by spirit, a life according to them (as may be seen above, n. 71; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 202-209). Very many people believe at this day, that mankind will go to heaven solely by sacred worship performed in temples, and by adorations and prayers; but such of them as are unconcerned about the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good from the Word, and who neglect to furnish not only the memory, but also the life, with these, remain natural as before, nor do they become spiritual, because their sacred worship, adorations and prayers, do not proceed from a spiritual origin; for their spiritual mind is not opened by the knowledges of spiritual things and by a life according to them, but is empty; and worship proceeding from what is void is only a natural gesture, within which there is nothing spiritual. If such persons are insincere and unjust as to moral and civil life, then their sacred worship, adorations and prayers are inwardly of such a nature as to repel heaven, instead of which they believe that they receive heaven by this means; for such worship is like a vessel containing putrid or filthy matters, which filter through; it is also like a splendid garment that clothes a body covered with ulcers: I have seen many thousands of such cast into hell. But it is otherwise with the holy worship, the adorations and prayers of those who are in the knowledges of truth and good, and whose life is in accordance with them; with such, those things are pleasing to the Lord, for they are the effects of their spirit in the body, or the effects of their faith and love, and thus are not only natural gestures, but spiritual acts.

From these considerations it is evident that the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, and a life in agreement with them, alone make man spiritual: and that he who is thus made spiritual can be gifted with angelic wisdom from the Lord, together with eternal happiness; nor do the angels derive happiness from any other source than wisdom.

[3] The reason why a crown signifies wisdom is, that all those things that clothe man, and distinguish him, derive their signification from that part of him which they clothe or adorn (see Arcana Coelestia 9827), and a crown signifies wisdom, because it is worn on the head, by which in the Word wisdom is signified, for there wisdom resides. Accordingly it is written in Ezekiel:

"I have adorned thee with ornament, and I have placed bracelets upon thy hands; and a chain upon thy neck. Moreover, I have put a jewel upon thy nose, and earrings upon thine ears, and a crown of ornament upon thy head" (16:11, 12).

Jerusalem is here treated of, by which is signified the church, as established by the Lord, and its quality; by the particular adornments here mentioned are meant, in the spiritual sense, such things as belong to the church; these derive their respective significations from the part to which they are applied; by a crown is here meant wisdom. (But what is meant specifically by ornament, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 10536, 10540; what by bracelets, n. 3103, 3105; what by a chain, n. 5320; what by a jewel, n. 4551; and what by earrings, n. 4551, 10402.) Similarly the wisdom that is from the knowledges of truth and good from the Word and from a life according to them, is signified by a crown in many other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah 28:5; Jeremiah 13:18; Lamentations 5:15, 16; Ezekiel 21:25, 26; 23:42; Zech. 6:11-13; Psalms 89:38, 39; 132:17, 18; Job. 19:9; Apoc. 3:11; 4:4. The custom of crowning kings comes down from ancient times, when men were acquainted with representatives and significatives, for they knew that kings represented the Lord as to Divine truth, and that a crown was used to signify wisdom. (That kings represented the Lord as to Divine truth, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5068, 6148.) That those who are in truths are called kings and kings' sons (see above, n. 31). And because those who are in the knowledges of truth are called kings in the Word, and kings have crowns, therefore in this place, where they are treated of, it is said that they should receive a crown of life.

4551. 'And the jewels which were in their ears' means realized in actions. This is clear from the meaning of 'jewels' as symbols representative of obedience, for the reason that by 'the ears' is meant obedience, 2542, 3869, and acts of obedience are realizations in actions; for obeying implies carrying into action. Here the expression 'realized in actions' has reference to the falsities which were to be cast aside. But this matter of the casting aside of falsities, which are realized also in actions - the subject at this point in the internal sense - must be discussed briefly here. Before a person through being regenerated by the Lord arrives at good and is moved by good to do what is true, he possesses very many falsities mixed up with truths. Indeed he is led into regeneration by means of the truths of faith, about which in the first stage of life he has no ideas other than those learned in infancy and childhood. These ideas are formed from external things in the world and from the experiences of the physical senses, and therefore they cannot be anything but illusions and consequently falsities, which are also realized in actions; for what a person believes he puts into practice. It is these falsities that are meant here. They remain with him until he has been regenerated, that is, until good is the source of his actions. Once this is the situation, good - that is, the Lord by means of good - imposes order on the truths which he has learned up to then; and while this is being done the falsities are separated from the truths and taken away.

[2] A person is totally unaware of this happening to him, yet that kind of removal and casting aside of falsities is going on from earliest childhood to the last stage of his life. This activity goes on in everyone, but it does so in a particular manner in one who is being regenerated. In one who is not being regenerated a similar activity is taking place, for when he becomes grown up and he matures in judgement that belongs to that stage in life, he regards his childhood judgements as unintelligent and absurd, thus very far removed from what he now thinks. But the difference between one who is regenerate and one who is not is that the regenerate regards as being remote from his thinking those things which do not accord with the good of faith and charity, whereas the unregenerate regards as being remote from his thinking those which do not accord with the delight he takes in what he loves. The unregenerate therefore, for the most part, regards truths as falsities, and falsities as truths. As regards jewels there were two kinds - those fastened above the nose to the forehead and those fastened to the ears. Those fastened above the nose to the forehead were symbols representative of good and were called nose-jewels, dealt with in 3103, whereas those fastened to the ears were symbols representative of obedience and are ear-jewels. But in the original language the same word is used to describe both nose-jewel and ear-jewel.