8857. It is similar with love to the Lord. When that love is dominant it is present in every aspect of his life, as when he loves his monarch or loves his parent. While he is in their presence love towards them shines from every part of his face, is heard in every syllable of his speech, and is apparent in every one of his gestures. This is how to understand the command ¹ to have the Lord unceasingly before one's eyes and to love Him above all, with all one's soul and all one's heart.

Footnotes:

8885. 'Remember' means what is perpetually in the thoughts. This is clear from the meaning of 'remembering', when said in connection with the kind of thing which must by no means be forgotten, as what is perpetually in the power of thought. What is perpetually in the thoughts is that which reigns universally there; and that reigns universally with a person which is present perpetually in his thoughts, even when his mind is on other things or he is occupied with his work. A person's thoughts contain a number of things existing together with one another, for it is the form produced by a number of things which have entered in successive stages. The ones which are clearly perceptible lie in the middle then and so are in the light that inner sight possesses, while the remainder then are to the sides round about. Those which lie in the surrounding parts are in obscurity and are not plainly visible, except when the kinds of matters which they have been connected with crop up. But those which are even more outlying, and are not on the same level but slope away downwards, are the kinds of things which a person has thrown aside and which he detests. The latter are evils and falsities in the case of people who are good, and forms of good and truths in the case of those who are bad.

[2] Within a person's thoughts there are things which are there perpetually, that is, they reign universally there; these are his inmost things. From them the person regards others which are not perpetually there, that is, are not yet reigning universally, as being outside himself, and also as beneath himself and not as yet related to him. From these others he can at that time choose and link to himself ones which accord with the inmost; and when they have been linked to and at length combined with them, the inmost, that is, those reigning universally, are made stronger. This is done by means of new truths in the case of those who are good, and by means of new falsities, or by wrong application of truths, in the case of those who are bad.

[3] It should be recognized in addition that that which reigns universally is whatever has been instilled into the actual will, which is the inmost part of a person because it has been formed from his love. For whatever a person loves, that is what he wills; and what he loves above all he wills in his inmost being. The understanding however serves to make plain to others the things a person wills, that is, loves. But also it serves to bend other people's wills; the person uses ideas formulated in various ways to make their wills comply with his own. When this happens love or affection also passes from the will into ideas in the understanding, and by means of a kind of inspiration breathes life and movement into them.

[4] In the case of people who are good those ideas in the understanding make one with affections belonging to the will. But in the case of people who are bad it is different. With them thought and will inmostly do indeed accord with each other; for the evil desired by the will occupies the understanding in the form of falsity according with that evil. But this agreement is not evident to people in the world; for they learn from earliest childhood to speak other than they think, and to do other than they will. In short they learn to separate their inner man from their outer man, to develop in the latter a will and also thought other than what is in the inner man, and so by means of their outer man to feign good that is altogether out of keeping with their inner man, which in the same instant desires evil and also imperceptibly is thinking it. But what the inner will and thought are like is evident in the next life, as in broad daylight; for there externals are taken away and internals are laid bare.

4293. In the internal historical sense 'for as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed' means on account of the stubborn perverseness which was a product of their false delusions and evil desires. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'God' and the meaning of 'men' as truths and goods, dealt with above in 4287, though here the selfsame words have the opposite meaning because in this internal historical sense they are expressions used in reference to the descendants of Jacob, with whom no truths or goods were present interiorly, as shown above, only falsities and evils. Falsities are false delusions because they are the product of such delusions, and evils are evil desires because they are the product of such desires.

[2] As regards that nation's insistence that they should play the representative part, that is, that they themselves should constitute the Church in preference to all nations throughout the whole world, see above in 4290. More than this it is the fact that they were allowed to do so on account of the stubborn perverseness which was a product of their false delusions and of their evil desires that is meant here. No one can know the nature of those delusions and desires unless he has some contact with them in the next life. To enable me to know, such contact has been granted to me, for I have talked on several occasions to those people there. They love themselves and worldly wealth more than anybody else does, and above all they fear loss of position as well as loss of gain more than anybody else does. Consequently today as in former times they despise everyone else in comparison with themselves; they are also utterly intent on the acquisition of wealth, and in addition are full of fear. Because that nation has been like this since ancient times they were better able than others to be kept in external holiness devoid of all internal holiness, and so in outward form to represent things that constituted the Church It was these false delusions and evil desires that produced such stubborn perverseness.

[3] This is also apparent from many things which are mentioned regarding them in the historical narratives of the Word. After being punished they were able to demonstrate an external humility such as no other nation could do, for they were able for whole days to lie prostrate on the ground and to roll themselves in the dust and not get up until the third day. They were also able for many days to beat their breasts, and to go around in sackcloth, in tattered garments, with ashes or dust sprinkled over their head. They were able to fast continuously for many days, and during that time to burst into bitter tears. But these were the expressions solely of bodily and earthly love, and a fear of losing their pre-eminence and worldly wealth. For there was not anything internal which moved them since they did not know at all, and did not even wish to know, what the internal was, such as the matter of a life after death, or that of eternal salvation.

[4] From this it may be seen that because their nature was such they had to be dispossessed of all internal holiness, for this holiness accords in no way at all with the kind of external holiness that has just been described; indeed the two are utterly contrary to each other. It may also be seen that they were better able than others to play the part of a representative of the Church, that is to say, to represent holy things in external form, devoid of all internal holiness; and that thus by means of that nation some kind of communication with the heavens was possible, see 4288.