3796. 'And so it was, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother' means an acknowledgement of the affection for that truth as to its origin. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' here as acknowledging, as is evident from the train of thought, and from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, dealt with above in 3793. The expression 'the daughter of Laban his mother's brother' embodies the origin of that affection; that is to say, it came from a parallel good which had been joined in a brotherly relationship to rational truth represented by 'Rebekah, Jacob's mother'.

[2] As regards affections for truth and good, genuine affections for truth and good which are perceived by a person all have a Divine origin since they come from the Lord. But as they come down they branch off into various and different streams where they form new origins for themselves. For as they flow into affections which are not genuine but spurious, and into affections for evil and falsity present with a person, so they become varied. Affections which often have a similar outward appearance to genuine ones present themselves, but these are nevertheless not genuine inwardly. The only way to establish their true identity is to discover the end they have in view. If that end is selfish or worldly those affections are not genuine. But if the end is the good of the neighbour, the good of the community, the good of the country, and more still if it is the good of the Church and the good of the Lord's kingdom, they are genuine, for in that case the Lord is their end, since the Lord is within those varieties of good.

[3] But it is the mark of someone wise to be aware of which ends are present in himself. Sometimes it does seem as though his ends are selfish when in fact they are not, for the human being is such that in everything he considers how it affects himself. This he does regularly and habitually. But if anyone wishes to know the ends he himself has in view he has merely to take note of his feeling of delight - whether it is on account of his receiving praise and glory, or whether it is on account of his performing some unselfish service. If it is the latter delight which he feels, genuine affection is present in him. He ought also to take note of the varying states he passes through, for those states cause his feelings to vary considerably. A person is able to find these things out in himself, but not in others, for the ends in view to anyone's affection are known to the Lord alone. This is why the Lord said,

Do not judge, lest you are judged; do not condemn, lest you are condemned. Luke 6:37.

For a thousand people may apparently share the same affection for truth and goodness, and yet the affection in each of them may have a different origin, that is, each may have a different end in view.

[4] The reason the end makes the affection what it is - that is to say, genuine, spurious, or false - is that the end is the person's actual life. Indeed a person has as his end in view that which constitutes his life, or what amounts to the same, his love. When the good of the neighbour, the common good, the good of the Church and of the Lord's kingdom is the end in view, a person's soul is in the Lord's kingdom and so abides with the Lord. For the Lord's kingdom is nothing else than a kingdom of ends and purposes directed towards the good of the human race, 3645. Angels themselves present with a person are nowhere else than within his ends in view. To the extent that someone's end in view is such as that which exists in the Lord's kingdom, angels take delight in him and join themselves to him as a brother. But to the extent a person's end is himself, angels depart and evil spirits from hell draw near, for in hell no other end in view reigns. From these considerations one may see how important it is to find out and to know where one's affections originate; these can be known from nothing else than one's end in view.

63. Further particulars respecting love and its essence and quality, may be known from what has been said and shown above, concerning good and truth; also from what has been said and quoted concerning the will and the understanding; and also from what has been said and quoted concerning the internal and the external man; because all things which are of the love refer themselves either to goods or to evils; and so also all things which are of the will: and since the two loves of heaven open and form the internal spiritual man; but the two loves of hell close and destroy it. Hence applications may be made and conclusions drawn respecting the quality of love in general and particular.

4136. 'Why was it that you concealed your flight, and stole from me, and gave me no indication' means the nature of the state if the separation had taken place with its free consent. This is clear from the meaning of 'concealing your flight' as the separating [of genuine good meant by 'Jacob'] without the consent [of intermediate good meant by 'Laban'], for 'fleeing' means being separated, see 4113, 4114, 4120; from the meaning of 'stealing from me' as taking away that which is cherished and holy, dealt with in 4112, 4133; and from the meaning in this case of 'giving me no indication' as through separation, dealt with in 4113. From all these meanings it follows that these words mean that the separation had taken place without its consent, when it ought to have taken place with its free consent. A state of freedom and consent is meant and described by the words which immediately follow - 'I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs, with drums and with harps'. These however are words used by Laban which express what he believed the situation to be then. But as to what happens with those people who are being regenerated, when intermediate good is separated from genuine good, that is to say, how this is effected with its free consent, see above in 4110, 4111.

[2] None of this can be seen by man since he has no knowledge of how different kinds of good exist with him, still less of how the state of each form of good undergoes change. He does not even have any knowledge of how the good present with him in early childhood is different from and is changed into that of later childhood, or of how this is changed into the good succeeding that, which belongs to youth, and after this into the good belonging to adult years, and lastly into that of old age. With people who are not being regenerated no good undergoes change, only affections and accompanying delights; but with those who are being regenerated changes of state take place with every form of good. And this process continues from early childhood through to the last phase of their life. For the Lord foresees what kind of life someone is going to lead and how he is going to allow the Lord to lead him. And since every single thing, even the smallest, is foreseen, it is also provided. But as for the ways in which changes of state take place with those forms of good, man has no knowledge at all, the chief reason being that he does not possess any cognitions concerning this matter and does not at the present day wish to possess them. And because the Lord does not take the direct way into man to teach him but enters into the cognitions he knows and so takes the indirect way, man cannot possibly have any knowledge of changes of state taking place with those forms of good. Man being such, that is to say, one devoid of all knowledge of this subject, coupled with the fact that at the present day those who allow themselves to be regenerated are few, these matters would not be understood even if they were explained more fully.

[3] The fact that few at the present day know anything about spiritual good, and also that few know anything about freedom, has been made known to me by my experience of people who enter the next life from the Christian world. For the sake of illustration let just one example be mentioned. There was a certain Church dignitary who believed that he was more learned than others, and who was also acknowledged as such by others when he was alive. Because he had led an evil life he was so totally ignorant about good and freedom, and about the delight and blessing which flow from these, that he was not aware of even the smallest difference between hellish delight and freedom and heavenly delight and freedom. Indeed he said that there was no difference. Since such ignorance exists even with those reputed to be more learned than others, one can imagine how dark the shadows would be, indeed one can imagine the nature and the greatness of the resulting delusions, to which the things which might be stated here about good and about freedom - the matters dealt with in the internal sense - would be subjected. Yet in actual fact not so much as one single expression is used in the Word which does not embody a heavenly arcanum, though to man it seems to contain nothing of any importance at all. The reason why it does not seem to do so lies in the lack of knowledge, or the ignorance of heavenly things in which people of today live and also prefer to live.