'The six days' represent the various consecutive states in a person's regeneration. They are, in general, as follows: The first state is the state which precedes both the state from earliest childhood onwards and which existed immediately before regeneration. This state is called 'a void, emptiness, and thick darkness.' And the first motion, which is the Lord's mercy, is 'the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters.' The second state is when a distinction is made between the things that belong to the Lord and those that are a person's own. The things which are the Lord's are called in the Word 'remnants,' and here they are mainly the thoughts about faith which a person has learned since he was a small child. These are stored away and do not come out into the open until he reaches this state. Nowadays, this state rarely occurs without temptation, misfortune, and sorrow, which lead to the inactivity and, so to speak, the death of bodily and worldly concerns -- the things which are a person's own. In this way, what belongs to the external self is segregated from what belongs to the internal. Within the internal are the remnants, stored away by the Lord until this time and for this purpose. The third state is one of repentance, a state in which he speaks piously and devoutly from the internal self and does good things, such as charitable acts which are still soulless because he imagines that they originate in himself. They are called 'a tender plant,' then 'a seed-bearing plant,' and finally 'a fruit tree.' The fourth state is when the person is moved by love and enlightened by faith. Prior to this, he would utter pious words and do good deeds, but he did so from a state of temptation and anguish, and not from faith and charity. However, these are now kindled in his internal self, and are called 'the two great lights.' The fifth state is when the person speaks from faith, and in so doing, he confirms himself in truth and good. What he does at this point have life and are called 'the fish of the sea and the birds of the air.' The sixth state is when the person speaks truth and performs good deeds from faith and so from love. What he does at this point are 'living creatures' and 'beasts.' At this point, he starts to act from faith and simultaneously from love, and he becomes a spiritual person, which is called 'an image.' The spiritual life of this person finds its delight in, and is sustained by the things which are associated with thoughts about faith and charitable acts, which are called 'his food.' His natural life finds its delight in, and is sustained by things which relate to the body and the senses. These things give rise to conflict until love rules and he becomes a celestial person. People who are regenerating do not all arrive at this final state, but some, and the most in the present day only to the first, some only to the second, some to the third, fourth, and fifth, few to the sixth, and hardly anyone to the seventh.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 6-13, Genesis 1)

116. The Sun in Heaven

Our world's sun is not visible in heaven, and neither is anything that is derived from it, since all that is natural. Nature, in fact, begins with that sun, and whatever is produced by it is called natural. The spiritual reality in which heaven exists, though, is above nature and completely distinct from anything natural. They communicate with each other only through correspondences.

The nature of the distinction can be gathered from what was said above about levels in 38, and the nature of the communication from the last two chapters about correspondences.