3707. 'And your seed will be as the dust of the earth' means that Divine natural Truth would be as natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as truth, dealt with immediately above in 3706, 'your seed' - that is, Jacob's - consequently meaning Divine natural Truth, for as shown above 'Jacob' represents the Lord's Divine Natural; and from the meaning of 'the dust of the earth' as good, dealt with in 1610. Consequently 'your seed will be as the dust of the earth' means in the internal sense that Divine natural Truth will be as Divine natural Good. The reason 'the dust of the earths means good is that 'the earth' means the Lord's kingdom and accordingly good, as shown just above in 3705. 'The dust of the earth' therefore means good, though natural good since the earth, as also shown in that place, means that which is lower in the Lord's kingdom, thus the natural, while heaven when mentioned as well means that which is interior, or the rational. This is why the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth are described in various places by means of expressions stating that someone's seed will be as the stars of heaven and as the dust of the earth. 'The stars of heaven' in that case means rational concepts, and 'the dust of the earth' natural images, which will increase in this fashion. What is meant by natural truth becoming as natural good will in the Lord's Divine mercy be explained later on.

3485. The representations that occur in the next life are appearances. But they are living representations because they come from the light of life. The light of life is Divine Wisdom, which is received from the Lord alone. Consequently all things that come into being from that light, unlike those from the light of the world, are real. For this reason people in the next life have said several times that the things they behold in that world are real, whereas those that man beholds are by contrast not real. The reason for this is that the former are living and so have a direct influence on their life, whereas the latter are not living and so have no direct influence on their life, except insofar as things with them belonging to the light of the world join themselves appropriately and by correspondence to those belonging to the light of heaven. From all these considerations it now becomes clear what representations are and what correspondences are.