10240. Since 'washing' also means regeneration something more must be said about it. Anyone who does not know that both in the Prophets and in the Gospels the Lord used correspondences when He spoke, and that consequently the Word has an inner meaning, cannot possibly know what the Lord's words in John serve to mean,

Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a person has been born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, but that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. The Spirit breathes where it wishes, and you hear its voice; but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes away to. So is everyone who is born from the Spirit. John 3:5-6, 8.

[2] The meaning of these words is revealed if correspondences are used to explain them; for they contain the arcana of heaven. By virtue of its correspondence 'water' means the truth of faith, which is clearly perceptible within the natural. 'The Spirit' means Divine Truth which flows in from the Lord by way of a person's internal into his external or natural, and from that Truth springs the life of faith which the person who is being regenerated possesses. 'Flesh' is the person's proprium or selfhood, which is nothing but evil. 'The Spirit breathes where it wishes' means that in His mercy the Lord imparts new life by means of Divine Truth. 'You hear its voice' means that this life is perceptible in the external or natural man, 'voice' meaning what is declared by the Word. 'You do not know where it comes from or where it goes away to' means that a person does not know how his regeneration is accomplished, for the Lord accomplishes it in hidden ways that are countless and beyond description.

[3] By virtue of its correspondence 'water' means the truths of faith, see 28, 739, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 8568, 9323, 10238.

'The Spirit' means Divine Truth, from which the life of faith springs, 9229, 9818.

'Flesh' means a person's proprium, which is nothing but evil, 8409.

'Breathing' means the state of the life of faith, 9281.

'Voice' means what is declared by the Word, consequently truth derived from it, 9926.

'Hearing' means perception, 9311, 9926.

'Coming' and 'going away' or entering and departing mean the state of affairs from start to finish, 9927.

The hidden ways of regeneration are countless and beyond description, 3179, 3573, 5398, 9334 (end), 9336.

What goes on in the internal man is not perceived while the person is in the world, only what goes on in the external or natural, above in 10236.

9281. 'And your female slave's son and the sojourner may draw breath' means the state of life of those governed by truths and forms of good outside the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'female slave's son' as those with an affection for external truth, for 'son' means truth, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257, and 'a female slave' means an external affection, 1895, 2567, 3835, 3849, 7780, 8993; from the meaning of 'the sojourner' as those who wish to receive instruction in the Church's truths and forms of good, dealt with in 1463, 8007, 8013, 9196, the reason why 'female slave's son and the sojourner' here means those outside the Church being that the preceding words in the present verse have referred to those within the Church, and therefore those outside the Church are meant by 'a female slave's sons' and those not born within the Church by 'sojourners' (the former are such because they are the offspring of an inferior marriage, the latter because they descend from an alien stock); and from the meaning of 'drawing breath' as the state of life in respect of the truths and forms of the good of faith. 'Drawing breath' means that state of life because the lungs, whose function is breathing, correspond to the life of faith springing from charity, which is spiritual life, 97, 1119, 3351, 3635, 3883-3896, 9229.

[2] The human being breathes outwardly and he breathes inwardly; outwardly he draws breath from the world, but inwardly from heaven. When a person dies he ceases to breathe outwardly, but his inward breathing, which is soundless and is undetectable by him while he lives in the world, continues. This breathing is regulated altogether by his affection for truth, thus by the life of his faith. Those without any faith at all, as those in hell are, do not draw breath from an inner source but from an outward one, thus from an opposite direction. Therefore also when they come near an angelic community, which draws breath from an inner source, they start to be suffocated and to become like deathmasks, 3894. As a result of this they hurl themselves headlong back into their hell, where they regain their former manner of breathing that is the opposite of the heavenly manner.

[3] Since breathing corresponds to the life of faith, this life is also meant by anima - a word for soul or breath, 9050 - because of the animation or life-giving power that lies in breathing. Breathing is referred to additionally as spiritus - which also means 'spirit' - in such phrases as 'taking a breath' and 'letting out breath', and therefore also the word for spirits in the original language comes from a word for 'wind', and in the Word they are compared to wind, as in John,

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its voice; but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes away to. So is everyone who is born from the spirit. John 3:8.

From this also it is evident what the meaning is when it says that after the Resurrection, when the Lord spoke to the disciples, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit, John 20:22.