263. Said, Come up hither. That this signifies elevation of the mind and attention is evident from the signification of ascending, when said of hearing from the Divine, as being elevation of the mind (concerning which see Arcana Coelestia 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007). The reason why it also denotes attention is that when the mind is elevated there is attention. For to a man's thought and will belong interior and exterior things; interior things are those of the internal man, exterior things are those of the external man. Interior things, which are those of the internal man, are in the spiritual world, therefore they are spiritual; but exterior things, or those of the external man, are in the natural world, and are therefore natural. Because the latter things are exterior, and the former interior, therefore, by ascending is signified elevation towards interior things, or elevation of the mind. (But concerning this elevation, see what is shown in the work, Heaven and Hell 33, 34, 38, 92, 499, 501; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 36-53.)

4969. 'Who made him go down there means a descent from this simple good to that factual knowledge. This is clear from the representation of 'the Ishmaelites who made him go down' as those in whom simple good is present, dealt with immediately above in 4968, and from the meaning of Egypt, to which 'there' refers here, as factual knowledge in general, dealt with just above in 4964, 4966. The expression 'going down' is used because the subject is factual knowledge which is exterior. For in the Word passing from interior things to exterior ones is described as 'going down', and passing from exterior to interior ones as 'going up', see 3084, 4539.