7. The first state is the state which precedes, both the state existing from earliest childhood onwards and that existing immediately before regeneration; and it is called a void, emptiness, and thick darkness. And the first movement, which is the Lord's mercy, is 'the Spirit of God hovering over the face ¹ of the waters'.

Footnotes:

6417. 'The son of a fertile one is Joseph' means the spiritual Church, in the highest sense the Lord's Divine spiritual. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph' in the highest sense as the Lord's Divine spiritual, in the internal sense as the spiritual kingdom and the good of faith, and in the external sense as fruitfulness and multiplication, dealt with in 3969, 3971; and since 'Joseph' is the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth, he is called 'the son of a fertile one'. 'Joseph' is used here to refer to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, while above 'Judah' is used to refer to His celestial kingdom; for there are two kingdoms constituting heaven, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial kingdom constitutes the inmost or third heaven, the spiritual kingdom the middle or second heaven; and the Lord is seen by the spiritual kingdom as the moon, but by the celestial kingdom as the sun, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 4060. When one says that 'Joseph' in the highest sense represents the Lord's Divine Spiritual, the following is involved: The Lord is nothing else than Divine Good. What goes forth from His Divine Good and flows into heaven is in His celestial kingdom called the Divine celestial, but in His spiritual kingdom the Divine spiritual, so that one uses the expression Divine spiritual or Divine celestial with reference to receptivity.