1081. And shall make her desolate and naked. That this signifies rejection of the falsities thereof, which are falsified truths, and then manifestation that they are destitute of all truth, is evident from the signification of making desolate and naked, as denoting to reject the falsities thereof, which are falsified truths. And, because, when these are rejected, it is manifested that they are without any truth, therefore this also is signified. By being desolate and naked is signified to be destitute of all truth, for spiritual desolation and nakedness is signified. And spiritual desolation is like that in a wilderness, where there are neither corn nor fruit-trees, and spiritual nakedness is like that of a man who is without garments. Corn and fruit-trees also signify the knowledges of truth and good, and garments signify truths clothing. Wherefore, to be without the latter and the former is to be without any truth. That nakedness denotes the deprivation of truth may be seen (n. 240, 1008); and that desolation, such as is in the wilderness, denotes where there is no truth may be seen (n. 730).

Continuation concerning the Word:-

[2] What is the nature of the Word as to influx and as to correspondences can now be illustrated. It is said in John:

"He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and understand with the heart, and should turn, and I should heal them" (12:40).

By the eyes which are blinded are signified the understanding and the faith of truth; by the heart which is hardened is signified the will and the love of good; and by being healed is signified to be reformed. The reason of their not being turned and healed was, lest they should profane; for the wicked man who is healed, and returns to his evil and falsity, profanes; and so it would have been with the Jewish nation.

[3] In Matthew:

"Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear" (13:16).

By the eyes here also are signified the understanding and the faith of truth; thus, by seeing is signified to understand and believe, and by the ears is signified obedience, thus a life according to the truths of faith, and by hearing is signified to obey and live. For no one is blessed because he sees and hears, but because he understands, believes, obeys, and lives.

[4] In the same:

"The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be entire, the whole body is lucid; if the eye be evil, the whole body is darkened. If therefore the light be darkness, how great is the darkness" (6:22, 23).

Here, also, by the eye is signified the understanding and the faith of truth, which is called a lamp from the light of truth, which man has from understanding and faith. And because from the understanding and faith of truth a man becomes wise, it is said, if the eye be entire, the whole body is lucid. The body is the man, and to be lucid is to be wise. But it is the reverse with the evil eye, that is, the understanding and the faith of falsity. Darkness denotes falsities. If the light be darkness, signifies, if the truth be false or falsified. And because truth falsified is worse than every other falsity, it is said, if the light be darkness, how great is the darkness.

[5] From these few examples it is evident what correspondence and influx are, namely, that the eye is a correspondence of the understanding and faith; the heart, a correspondence of the will and love; the ears, a correspondence of obedience; the lamp and light, correspondences of truth; and darkness, a correspondence of the false, and so on. And because the one is spiritual, and the other natural, and the spiritual acts into the natural, and forms it to a likeness of itself that it may appear before the eyes, or before the world, therefore that action is influx. Such is the Word in all and every part.

1326. That 'therefore He called the name of it Babel' means such worship, namely that meant by 'Babel', is clear from what has been stated so far - about worship which inwardly contains self-love and therefore everything that is filthy and unholy. Self-love is nothing else than the proprium, and how filthy and unholy this is becomes clear from what has been shown already about the proprium in 210, 215. From philautia, ¹ that is, from self-love or the proprium, flow all evils, such as those of hatred, revenge, cruelty, adultery, deceit, hypocrisy, and irreligion. Consequently when self-love or the proprium is present in worship, such evils are present too - but the particular kind of evils and their intensity being determined by the extent and nature of what flows from that self-love. This is the origin of all profanation in worship. The fact of the matter is that insofar as self-love or the proprium introduces itself into worship, internal worship departs, that is, internal worship ceases to exist. Internal worship consists in the affection for good and in the acknowledgement of truth, but to the extent that self-love or the proprium intrudes or enters in, the affection for good and the acknowledgement of truth depart or go away. Holiness cannot possibly co-exist with unholiness, any more than heaven can with hell. Instead one must depart from the other. Such is the state and proper order existing in the Lord's kingdom. This is the reason why among the kind of people whose worship is called 'Babel' no internal worship exists, but instead something dead and indeed inwardly corpse-like is worshipped. This shows what their external worship which is inwardly such is like.

[2] That such worship is 'Babel' is clear from many parts of the Word where Babel is described, as in Daniel, where the description of the statue which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel saw in a dream - whose head was gold, breast and arms silver, belly and thighs bronze, legs iron, and feet partly iron and partly clay - means that true worship finally deteriorated into the kind of worship called 'Babel', and therefore also a stone cut out of the rock smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold, Daniel 2:31-33, 44-45. The statue of gold which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel set up, and which people were to adore, had no other meaning, Daniel 3:1-end. The same applies to the description of the king of Babel with his nobles drinking wine from the vessels of gold that had come from the Temple in Jerusalem, of their praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and stone, and of writing therefore appearing on the wall, Daniel 5:1-end; to the description of Darius the Mede commanding that he be adored instead of God, Daniel 6:1-end; and to that of the beasts seen by Daniel in a dream, Daniel 7:1-end, as well as to that of the beasts and Babel in John's Revelation.

[3] That such worship was meant and represented is quite clear not only in Daniel and John but also in the Prophets: in Isaiah,

Their faces were faces of flames; the stars of the heavens and their constellations do not give their light The sun is darkened in its coming up and the moon does not shed its light Tziim lie down there, and their houses are full of ochim, and daughters of the owl dwell there, and satyrs dance there, and iim answer in its palaces, and dragons in its halls of pleasure. Isaiah 13:8, 10, 21-22

This refers to Babel and describes the internal aspect of such worship by 'faces of flames', which are evil desires; by 'the stars', which are truths of faith, 'not giving their light'; by 'the sun', which is holy love, 'being darkened'; by 'the moon', which is the truth of faith, 'not shedding its light'; by 'tziim, ochim, daughters of the owl, satyrs, dim, and dragons', which are the more interior aspects of worship. For such things belong to self-love or the proprium. This also is why Babel in John is called 'the mother of whoredoms and abominations', Revelation 17:5; and in the same book,

A dwelling-place of demons, ² and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. Revelation 18:2.

From these places it is evident that when such things are within, it is impossible for any good or truth of faith to be there, and that to the extent that those things enter in, the goods which are the objects of affection, and the truths of faith, depart. They are also called in Isaiah 21:9 'the graven images of the gods of Babel'.

[4] That it is self-love or the proprium which lies within their worship, or that it is worship of self, is quite clear in Isaiah,

Prophesy this parable against the king of Babel, You said in your heart, I will go up the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the uttermost parts of the north. I will go up above the heights of the cloud, I will make myself like the Most High. But you will be brought down to hell. Isaiah 14:4, 13-15.

Here, it is plain, Babel means the person who wishes to be worshipped as a god, that is, worship of self is meant.

[5] In the same prophet,

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. You trusted in your wickedness, you said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray; you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one besides me. Isaiah 47:1, 10.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, destroying the whole earth; and I will stretch out My hand over you and roll you down from the rocks and will make you into a mountain of burning. Though Babel rise up into the heavens, and though she fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me those who lay waste will come to her. Jeremiah 51:25, 53.

This again shows that 'Babel' is worship of self.

[6] The fact that such people have no light of truth, but only total darkness, that is, that they do not possess the truth of faith, is described in Jeremiah,

The word which Jehovah spoke against Babel, against the land of the Chaldeans, There will come up upon her a nation from the north, which will make her land a desolation, and none will dwell in it; both man and beast will scatter themselves, they will go away. Jeremiah 50:1, 3.

'The north' stands for thick darkness, or absence of truth. 'No man and no beast' stands for the absence of good. For more about Babel, see at verse 28 ³ below, where Chaldea is referred to.

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