3030. 'Perhaps the woman is not willing to go after me to this land' means doubt in the natural man as to whether that affection was separable. This is clear from the meaning of 'the woman' as truth, here truth from the natural, that was to be joined to the Divine good of the Rational, though as all joining together is effected by means of affection, as stated above in 3024, 'the women' accordingly means the affection for that truth; and from the meaning of 'going after me', or following, 'to this land' as being separated from the natural and joined to the Rational, for 'land' here, as above in 3026, means the good of love which belongs to the Rational. The fact that doubt is meant may be seen from the remark 'perhaps she is not willing to'. From what has been stated above one may see what is embodied in these words and those that follow to verse 8, and beyond that. Yet to make them even more intelligible let a little more be stated here.

[2] The genuine rational derives its being from good but its manifestation from truth. Good flows in by an internal route, but truth by an external route. In this manner good joins itself in the rational to truth and causes it to be the rational. Unless good is joined there to truth it is not the rational, even though it may seem to be because of the person's ability to reason, 1944. This is the normal way in which the rational is formed with man.

[3] Now because the Lord was born like any other, and was willing to be taught like any other, He was also willing in a like manner to make His Rational Divine, that is to say, to make it Divine as regards good through influx from His Divine by the internal route, and as regards truth through influx by the external route. The Rational was therefore so formed as regards good that it was in a state ready to receive truth. (That forming is meant by the opening words of this chapter, 'Abraham, being old, was advanced in years, and Jehovah blessed Abraham in all things', namely, when the state was reached for the Lord's Human to become Divine, and all things had been re-arranged by the Lord into Divine order, see 3016, 3017.) And there now follows the consideration that truth was to be joined to the good of the Rational. And this, as has been stated, was effected in the normal way, that is, by means of facts and cognitions summoned from the natural man.

[4] The good itself of the rational which is formed by the internal route is the ground itself, while truth is the seed that is to be sown in the ground. The genuine rational is born in no other way. So that the Rational might be formed in the same way in the Lord and be made Divine by His own power, the Lord came into the world and was willing to be born like any other. Otherwise he could have assumed a human presence without being born at all as He had done on many occasions in ancient times when He had appeared to men. These are the considerations contained in this chapter, namely the following: The way in which truth was summoned from the natural man to be joined to the good of the rational; and - since the good there was Divine - the truth there was to become Divine too. To man, especially to one who does not know that the rational is anything distinct and separate from the natural and who therefore does not know that the rational is formed by consecutive stages, by means of cognitions, all of this is so utterly obscure as to be unintelligible to him. But to those who do know something about the rational and the natural man, and have some enlightenment, such considerations are among those that are quite easy to grasp. And angels see them plainly as if in broad daylight. To gain some idea of them, see the following points that have been stated and shown already:

As to truth the rational is formed through influx into knowledge and cognitions, 1495, 1563, 1900, 1964.

It is not born from knowledge and cognitions but from the affection for these, 1895, 1900.

Knowledge and cognitions are merely vessels for good, 1469, 1496.

Empty facts have to be destroyed, 1489, 1492, 1499, 1500.

In the rational the affection for good is present as the soul within the affection for truth, 2072.

What the affection for rational truth and for factual truth are, 2503.

By means of cognitions the external man is joined to the internal man, that is, the rational man to the natural man, when cognitions are implanted in the celestial things of love and charity, 1450, 1451, 1453, 1616.

1919. That 'Abram said to Sarai' means perception is clear from what has been stated above in 1898. The perception which the Lord had was represented and is here meant by 'Abram said to Sarai', but thought which sprang from that perception is meant by 'Sarai said to Abram' - perception being the source of thought. The thought possessed by those who have perception comes from no other source. Yet perception is not the same as thought. To see that it is not the same, let conscience serve to 'illustrate this consideration.

[2] Conscience is a kind of general and thus obscure dictate which presents those things that flow in from the Lord by way of the heavens. Those things that flow in manifest themselves in the interior rational man where they are enveloped so to speak in cloud. This cloud is the product of appearances and illusions concerning the goods and truths of faith. Thought is, in truth, distinct and separate from conscience; yet it flows from conscience, for people who have conscience think and speak according to it. Indeed thought is scarcely anything more than a loosening of the various strands that make up conscience, and a converting of these into separate ideas which pass into words. Hence it is that the Lord holds those who have conscience in good thoughts regarding the neighbour and withholds them from evil thoughts. For this reason conscience can never exist except with people who love the neighbour as themselves and have good thoughts regarding the truths of faith. These considerations brought forward here show how conscience differs from thought, and from this one may recognize how perception differs from thought.

[3] The Lord's perception came directly from Jehovah, and so from Divine Good, whereas His thought came from intellectual truth and the affection for it, as stated above in 1904, 1914. No idea, not even an angelic one, is adequate as a means to apprehend the Lord's Divine perception, and thus this lies beyond description. The perception which angels have - described in 1384 and following paragraphs, 1394, 1395 - adds up to scarcely anything at all when contrasted with the perception that was the Lord's. Because the Lord's perception was Divine, it was a perception of everything in heaven; and being a perception of everything in heaven it was also a perception of everything on earth. For such is the order, interconnection, and influx that anyone who has a perception of heavenly things has a perception of earthly as well.

[4] But after the Lord's Human Essence had become united to His Divine Essence, and had become at the same time Jehovah, the Lord was then above what is called perception, for He was above the order which exists in the heavens and from there upon earth. It is Jehovah who is the source of order, and therefore one may say that Jehovah is Order itself, for from Himself He governs order, not merely, as is supposed, in the universal but also in its most specific singulars, for it is these singulars that make up the universal. To speak of the universal and then separate such singulars from it would be no different from speaking of a whole that has no parts within it and so no different from speaking of something consisting of nothing. Thus it is sheer falsity - a figment of the imagination, as it is called - to speak of the Lord's Providence as belonging to the universal but not to its specific singulars; for to provide and govern universally but not specifically is to provide and govern absolutely nothing. This is true philosophically, yet, strange to say, philosophers themselves, including the more eminent, understand this matter in a different way and think in a different way.