41. Anything that is man's own has no life in it; and when depicted visually it looks like something hard as a bone and black. But anything that comes from the Lord does contain life. It has that which is spiritual and celestial within it, and when depicted visually it looks human and alive. It is perhaps incredible, but nevertheless absolutely true, that every expression, every idea, and every least thought of an angelic spirit is alive. In even the most detailed areas of his thought there is an affection that comes from the Lord, who is life itself. Consequently all that derives from the Lord has life within it, for it contains faith in Him, and is here meant by 'a living creature'. It then has the outward appearance of a body, meant here by that which is moving, or creeping. To man these matters remain arcana, but since the subject here is the living and moving creature, they ought at least to be mentioned here.

9257. 'When you see the ass of one who hates you lying under its burden' means falsity that does not accord with the Church's good, as a result of which they will perish. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ass' as true factual knowledge, and so in the contrary sense false factual knowledge, dealt with in 2781, 5492, 5741, 8078; from the meaning of 'one who hates', when used in reference to what is false, as that which is contrary to the Church's good, thus that which is not in accord with it (for 'hatred' in the spiritual sense is repugnance and dissension between truths and falsities, and between forms of good and evils, 3605, 4681, 4684); and from the meaning of 'lying under a burden' as perishing. From these meanings it is evident that 'the ass of one who hates you lying under its burden' means falsity that does not accord with the Church's good, as a result of which they will perish.