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.

10729. 'Six days shall work be done' means the first state in the regeneration of a person by the Lord, and in the highest sense the first in the glorification of the Lord's Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' - which come before the seventh or the sabbath, and during which work must be done - as the first state in the regeneration of a person by the Lord, a state when a person is in possession of truths and is being led by means of them towards good, and is engaged in conflicts, dealt with in 8510, 8888, 9431, 10360. As regards its further meaning as a state in the glorification of the Lord's Human when He was in the world, employing Divine Truth to fight the hells, and restoring all things there and in the heavens to a state of order, see 10360. There are two states which a person passes through while being regenerated by the Lord; the first exists when he is in possession of truths and is being led by means of them towards good, the second when he is in possession of good and from good sees and loves truths. In the first state the person is, it is true, being led by the Lord, yet by means of what is his own; for when people are motivated by truths they are motivated by something in themselves, but when they are motivated by good they are motivated by the Lord.

[2] From this it is evident that so far as a person allows himself to be led by means of truths towards good he is led by the Lord and towards the Lord; for in all things which have been joined together there is action and response, good being that which acts and truth that which responds. Truth however is never moved to respond of its own accord; it is moved to do so only by good. Consequently so far as truth is receptive of good it acts in response to it, and so far as it acts in response, it is joined to it. From this it also follows that before a person is joined to the Lord, the Lord spurs him on towards Himself by means of truths; and so far as the person allows himself to be led he is joined to the Lord, for God's truths are by nature such that they conform with good, because truths are conformable to good. As a result the person possesses perception, which is essentially a form of response. Allowing oneself to be spurred on or led by means of truths towards good implies living in accordance with them. These things have been mentioned in order that people may have some idea of what the first state of a person being regenerated is like, meant by 'six days of labour'.