894. 'At the beginning, on the first of the month' means a starting point. This is now clear from what has been said above. Everything that this statement embodies is an arcanum so deep that it cannot be described, except for just the point that no definite period of time ever exists when anyone is regenerate enough to be able to say, 'Now I am perfect'. In fact an unlimited number of states of evil and falsity exist with everyone, not only simple states but also varied and complex ones which, as has been stated, have to be disposed of in such a way that they do not recur. In some states a person can be called fairly perfect, but in countless others he cannot. People who have been regenerated during their lifetime, and in whose lives faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour have been present, are in the next life being perfected all the time.

4012. Verses 37-40 And Jacob took for himself fresh rods of poplar, and hazel and plane, and stripped white strips on them - an exposing of the white which was on the rods. And he set the rods which he had stripped in runners, in the troughs of water where the flocks came to drink, in front of the flocks; and they came on heat as they came to drink. And the flocks came on heat at the rods, and the flocks brought forth variegated, speckled, and spotted ones. And Jacob singled out the lambs, and set the faces of the flock towards the variegated, and every black one in Laban's flock; and he put his own droves apart and did not put them near Laban's flock.

'Jacob took for himself fresh rods of poplar' means the power proper to natural good. 'And hazel and plane' means the power deriving from this which natural truths possess. 'And stripped white strips on them - an exposing of the white which was on the rods' means an ordering effected by the interior power of truth. 'And he set the rods which he had stripped in runners' means further preparation. 'In the troughs of water where the flocks came to drink' means affections for truth. 'In front of the flocks; and they came on heat as they came to drink' means even to the point of an intense desire in the affection for truth that a joining [to the goods and truths within the natural] might be effected. 'And the flocks were on heat at the rods' means the effect produced by His own power. 'And the flocks brought forth variegated, speckled, and spotted ones' means that as a consequence natural good itself possessed such things, from the intermediate good meant by Laban. 'And Jacob singled out the lambs' means as regards innocence. 'And set the faces of the flock towards the variegated' means towards truths interspersed with evils and falsities. 'And every black one' means towards such a state. 'In Laban's flock' means within the good meant by Laban. 'And he put his own droves apart' means the separation of goods and truths by His own power. 'And did not put them near Laban's flock' means total separation from the good meant by Laban.