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Index - Arcana Coelestia (Hyde edition) #2

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2. B

Babel (Babel). What is signified by Babel, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322. Babel denotes worship whose externals appear holy, but the interiors are profane, 1182; worship in which there is the love of self, thus profaned worship, 1326; also what vastates, 1327:6. Babel denotes the profanation of good; Chaldea denotes the profanation of truth, thus those who have self for the end in worship; to whom worship is for the sake of self and the love of ruling, for which holy goods serve as means. Chaldea denotes those whose holy things are not true, 1368, 3901:8, 6534:6.

[Babylon. See BABEL.]

Back (tergum). [See also AFTER.] The voluntary of man is presented from the back, from correspondence with the Grand Man, 8194. To go after them, when it relates to the Divine, denotes to protect the voluntary against infernals, for they are from the back, 8194.

[Back. See BACKWARDS.]

Back Parts (posteriora). They who deny the Word do not see the back parts of Jehovah: shown, 10584:3. To see the back parts of Jehovah denotes the external things of the Word, the Church, and worship, 10584.

Backwards (retro). [See also AFTER.] That one ought not to look away from good to truth, thus backwards: illustrated, 7923, 8516; shown, 10184. What to look from good to truth means, explained; and what from truth to good, which is the inverse, and what to look from good is, according to the order of heaven, and that then the Lord has rest, and as it were man also, 8505, 8506, 8510. He who is led of the Lord by means of good is he that lives according to Divine order, thus in the Lord, 8512.

What is implied by backwards, 248. What to look backwards, or to look back (respicere), signifies, 2454, 7857. To look backwards denotes to turn from good in which there is the celestial, to the doctrinal of faith, and so to leave good, 5895:5, 5897:9. To turn back again to take a garment denotes to turn from the good of truth in which one is to the doctrinal of truth, 3652. To go backwards denotes to be in evil: shown, 10584e.

Badger (melis). The skins of badgers denotes external goods, 9471.

[Bake, To. See To BOIL.]

Baker (pistor). Baker denotes, in the internal sense, the sensual things subject to the voluntary part; whence this is, 5078, 5082.

Balaam (Balaam). Concerning Balsam,1343e. That there were Divine prophecies with others than the Israelites, exemplified by Balsam, 2898.

Baldness (calvities). Baldness denotes that there is no truth: shown, 3301:9. See HAIR (pilus). Baldness denotes deprivation of the intelligence of truth and the wisdom of good: shown, 9960:3.

[Band. See under BOND and TROOP.

Bank (ripa). What is signified by the bank of the river, 5205. The bank of the stream denotes the state of falsity, 7308.]

Banner (vexillum). When it is an ensign, 8624. See SIGN.

Baptism (baptismus). See INUNDATION. What baptism is; briefly, 2702e. Doctrine of Baptism, 10386-10392. Baptism is a sign that a man is of the Church, and a memorial that he is to be regenerated by means of the truths of faith and a life according to them, 10386-10388. The waters of baptism also signify temptations, 10389. Because baptism is a sign and a memorial, therefore a man can be baptised when an infant as well as when an adult, 10390. Baptism does not bestow faith, nor salvation, but it testifies of these, if anyone is being regenerated, 10391. Explanation of Mark 16:16: baptising denotes regeneration by the Lord by means of truths from the Word, 10392.

How infants represented baptism, 2299. Baptism denotes initiation into the Church and those things which are of the Church, and this S. regeneration and those things which are of regeneration, 4255:5. Baptism signifies regeneration, for this is effected by spiritual combats, it also signifies temptation, 5120:12. Washings formerly and baptism today signify regeneration by means of the truths of faith, because waters denotes the truths of faith, 9088. Washing denotes purification, but complete washing, or that of the whole body, which is called baptising, denotes regeneration: shown, 10239. The baptising of the Lord was a representative of the glorification of the Lord's Human by means of temptations, 10239:4. Washing the feet of the Lord's disciples (John 13:5-10) is explained, 10243.

[Bar. See STAFF.

Bared. See BERED.]

Barley (hordeum). Barley denotes good of the natural or external man: shown, 7602.

Barren (sterilis). What barren s.; that truths were not received, 3857. That the barren called themselves dead was because they had no goods and truths, which are sons and daughters, 3908. Barren denotes no life from truth and good: shown, 9325; also the nations who are not in good, because they are not in truths, and yet desire truths that they may be in good: shown, 9325:7.

Base (basis). Base denotes support, 9643; by means of the truth of faith from good, 9748. The base of the layer, in which purification took place, denotes the natural: shown; the subject of the ten bases near the Temple of Solomon, etc., is explained, 10236.

Basin (pelvis). Basin denotes the good of the natural, 7920; and the natural, 7922.

[Basis. See BASE.]

Basket (canistrum). See BASKET (corbis).

Basket (corbis). Basket denotes the voluntary part as containing good: shown, 5144. Perforated baskets denotes voluntary things without termination in the middle, 5145:2. Basket (corbis seu canistrum) denotes the sensual delight, and is predicated of good, and a bowl or goblet denotes the sensual scientific, which is the ultimate, and is predicated of truth, 9996.

[Be, To, Being. See ESSE.

Beam. See ROOF.]

Beams (asseres). Beams for the dwelling denotes the good which supports heaven, 9634.

Bear, To (portaree). To bear denotes to continue in a state of good and truth, so to exist and subsist,9500; to exist and subsist: briefly shown, 9737; to preserve, 9900.

[Bear, To. See To BRING FORTH.]

Beard (barba). Before the flood they believed that the Lord would come, but aged and bearded; thence was the religious observance as to the beard, 1124. Beards denotes sensual scientifics which are ultimate truths, 9960:3.

Beast (bestia). [See also WILD BEAST.] Beasts live according to order, but not man, 6372. That there is an influx into the lives of beasts is known 1633. There is an influx from the spiritual world into the souls of beasts and into their bodies, but it is differently received; concerning which, 3646. Beasts are in the order of their own nature, and, therefore, there is a general influx into them from the spiritual world, 5850. All scientifics are in loves: illustrated from beasts, 6323. Concerning some who live like beasts which have little of life, and life was inspired into them through angels, 3647.

Man has a connection with the Lord above beasts, and thence he cannot die, 4525. The distinction between man and beasts is that man has an internal, that he can be elevated towards the Lord, can see external things in himself, can think of Divine things, and can be conjoined to the Lord, and so can live after death, 9231. How much man is above beasts, 6323:3.

Beasts of various kinds were represented when discourse with angels was about affections: beautiful animals,-tame and useful, when about good affections, and hideous, fierce, and useless when about evil affections, 3218. Beasts in the Word and rituals represent goods and truths with man; and whence this is, 2179. Beasts signify affections; evil with the evil, and good with the good, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776. That beasts denotes affections is from the representatives in the spiritual world, 5198:2. That beasts signify such things as are of affection and inclination, illustrated from representatives in heaven, 9090:2. Beasts in the sacrifices signified celestial and spiritual things, 1823; tame and useful beasts, the celestial things which are of good, and the spiritual things which are of truth: shown, 3519:2; principally in the sacrifices, 3519s. Beasts signified goods: shown, 2180. Evil beasts signified evil affections, 719. There are beasts that signify the voluntary things, and those that signify the intellectual things of man; what they are, 2781. That beasts signified affections and inclinations such as man has in common with them: references; and, therefore, they were used in sacrifices: references, 9280. Man and beast denotes interior and exterior evil of lust, and interior and exterior good or evil, 7424; shown, 7523. From man even unto beast denotes the interior and exterior evil lusts, 7872. A beast of burden denotes what is stupid and but little conscious, 9040.

Beast of Burden (jumentum). See BEAST.

Beast, Wild (fera). Beasts and wild beasts denotes affections and lusts, 45, 46. Wild beasts denotes what is living and good, 774; also the living; why, 841, 908; also signifies ferine, 908:3; the viler things in man, 1030; the evils and falsities of the love of self and the world, thus those who are in these: shown, 9335; also the upright gentiles, because they are in falsities: shown, 9335:5. Evil wild beasts denotes a lie from the life of lusts, 4729; vastation of the evil from falsity, and damnation from the evil thereof: shown, 7102:2. Wild beast of the field denotes those who are in the delights of external truth, 9276.

Beauty (pulchritudo). [See also COMELINESS.] Old women who have lived well, when they enter heaven, return to the flower of their youth, and become most beautiful, 553. Everything beautiful is from good, 553, 3080, 4985. The beauty of angels, which is ineffable, is from good through truth, 4985. The beauty of angels is ineffable, because they are forms of heaven, 5199. Angels are forms of love and charity, and love and charity shine forth from their faces, in a type, 3804:2, 4735:2, 4797, 4985e, 5199, 5530, 9879, 10177:4.

What beautiful form and beautiful in look signifies, 3821, 4985. See FORM. Beauty denotes truths from good, thence beautiful in look denotes what is of faith, 5199.

Bed (lectus). Bed denotes the natural: shown, 6188; the inmost; when, 7354. A bed is attributed to Jacob: shown; and when he is thought of, a bed appears in which there is a man, because a bed denotes the natural, and so does Jacob, 6463s. The head of a bed denotes the interior natural, 6188. To sit upon a bed denotes to turn oneself to the natural, 6226.

Bedchamber (cubiculum). See HOUSE.

[Bee. See INSECT.]

Beer-Lahairoi (Beerlachairoi). Beer-Lahairoi denotes Rational Divine Good born of the Divine Truth, 3194; also Divine Light, 3261.

Beer-Sheba (Beerscheba). Beer-Sheba denotes doctrine, 3466; the state and quality of doctrine: namely, that it is Divine to which human rational things are adjoined, 2614, 2723; the doctrine of charity and faith, 2858, 2859; charity and faith, 5997.

[Befall, To. See HAPPENINGS.]

Beginning (principium). See PHANTASY and PERSUASION. What the beginning signifies, 16. He who holds false principles makes all things favour them, 362, 794. He who confirms false principles from the Word; his quality, and that ho does so easily, 589. That the persuasion of what is false makes the life of his understanding, which life is hurtful, 794, 806. That the principles of what is false prevent the operation of remains, 798. That falsities do not condemn so much, unless they are from evils, and thereby men are confirmed in falsities, 845. How it is with accepted principles; that those in them cannot even see truths, 1017. That they who imbibe false principles are vastated, 1106; they are reduced to ignorance, and afterwards are imbued with truths of faith, 1109. How direful and horrifying are the persuasions of the antediluvians, 1270. That the spheres of persuasions and principles of falsity excite confirmations of the false, 1510, 1511. The sphere of phantasies is in the appearance of a cloud, 1512. That there are three kinds of persuasions of what is false; concerning which, 1673. Persuasions of what is false from the love of self, and from the love of the world; the difference, 1675:5. That principles of whatever kind, even truths, may be contaminated by a false principle: an example concerning faith, 2385:3. That they do not suffer themselves to be persuaded against their principles; if the love of self and of the world inflates them, it partakes of a kind of fire, 2385:2. How ideas bend themselves and enter successively into persuasions, or principles of what is false; and how they are bent towards goods and truths in the regenerated, 1874, 1875. How what is false can be confirmed by many things so that it still appears as if true; and how truth is confirmed: exemplified, 2482-2490. [There is nothing which may not be infused into principles of what is false as confirming them, 2567. There is an affirmative principle, a negative principle, and a doubtful principle, 2568. There are two principles, one of folly, and the other of wisdom, 2568:4. What it is to see from principles, or ends and causes, 2572. There are two principles of thinking, the affirmative and the negative; and there is a doubtful principle before they deny or affirm, 2588:2. They who are ignorant of principles are pot able to reason, 3748. That the essence and quality of a beginning is drawn and passes into the sequents, 3939. The quality of those who are confirmed in the principles of what is false, 3986:4. A confirmed principle of falsity does not admit the Divine, 3986:4. What are the principles of intelligence in which angels are above men, 4318. The principles of falsity entirely overshadow truths, 4674:2. From a false principle the deductions become false in a continuous series, 4717e, 4720e. A principle is like a soul from which is the life of the rest, 4736. The principles of falsity and the delights of life therefrom cannot be cast out except by temptations, 5037. Whence are the beginnings of many diseases, 5718. Whence is the leading principle, 6047:2. What the beginning of might signifies, 6344. A principle so called is indistinguishable, 7236, 9002. The principles of the truth of faith are entirely without effect with man, unless the Lord insinuates an affection of spiritual love, 7342. Everyone in the other life retains the principles of faith which he had in the life of the body, 8313. The beginnings of motions and senses are in the head, 9656. What the beginnings are like, 9656. The will and understanding are in their beginnings in the head, 10044. To say what is contrary to principles confirmed through his loves, is to say what is contrary to the man himself, 10307e.

Behind. See BACK.

Being. See ESSE.]

Bells (tintinnabula). Bells denotes all things of doctrine and worship which pass to those who are of the Church, 9921.

Belly (venter). What the serpent going on his belly signifies, 247, 248. What the fruit of the belly signifies, 3911. See To BRING FORTH. Belt (balteus). See CANDLE.

Bend Oneself Down, To (inflectere se). See TO BOW ONESELF DOWN.

Benjamin (Benjamin). Benjamin denotes the spiritual-celestial man, Joseph, the celestial-spiritual, 3969:3; or Benjamin, faith in which is charity, or truth in which is good, and Joseph, charity from which is faith, or good from which is truth, 3969:3; Benjamin is the spiritual of the celestial, and Joseph, the celestial of the spiritual: shown, 4592:5. Benjamin denotes a medium, 5411; concerning which see 5411:2, 5413, 5443; interior truth, 5600, 5631; the spiritual medium, 5639; the internal, because a medium; from the celestial of the spiritual as a father, and from the natural as a mother, 5686, 5689; as a medium, what was born after all; concerning which see 5688; new truth, 5804, 5806, 5809, 5812, 5816, 5830; a medium; why so; interior truth with respect to that in the natural with the father, 5843; a conjoining medium, and how it partakes of both, 5822; the truth of the good of the spiritual Church, which is Joseph, 6440. Joseph and Benjamin denotes the uniting medium represented by the veil, 9671.

Bered (Bared). What Bered signifies, 1958.

Bereft, To be Bereaved (orbus, orbari). Bereaved, when it relates to the Church, denotes to be deprived of its truths, 5536, 5632.

Beryl (tharschish). The beryl, the onyx, and the jasper denotes the spiritual love of truth, or the external good of the Spiritual Kingdom, 9872. What Tarshish signifies, 1156.

Bethel (Bethel). What Bethel signifies,1450, 1451, 1453, 1557. Bethel denotes the cognitions of celestial things which are in childhood, 1451; good in the ultimate of order, 3729; the cognitions of good and truth, in particular the natural in which interiors are terminated, 4539. The God of Bethel denotes the Divine in the Natural, thus in the ultimate of order, 4089, 4539. El Bethel denotes the Holy Natural; El, the Divine: Bethel, the Natural, 4559, 4560.

Bethlehem (Bethlechem). Bethlehem denotes the spiritual of the celestial in a new state; Ephrath, the same in a former state: shown, 4594.

Bethuel (Bethuel). Bethuel denotes the good of the nations of the first class, 2865, 3665, 3778:2.

Betroth, To (desponsare). See BRIDEGROOM.

[Bewail, To. See To WEEP.]

Besaleel (Bezaleel). Bezaleel who did works denotes those who are in the good of love, with whom the Church would be established, 10329.

Bilhah (Bilha). Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant, signifies exterior affections serving for mediums, 3849.

Bind, To (ligare). What to bind signifies, when temptations are treated of, 2813.

Binding Together (colligatio). See BUNDLE.

Bird (avis). Why the birds were not divided in the sacrifices, 1832. Birds are represented when angels discourse on thoughts, ideas, and influx, 3219. A vision that represented obscure and deformed birds, also others noble and beautiful, when the discourse was on the influx of thoughts, and that those who were in falsity fell down from an angelic society, 3219. Concerning the baneful flying thing with the Egyptians, 7441. See INSECT. Concerning a beautiful bird which shall signify the inhabitants of Mars, 7620-7622. See MARS.

Birds denotes rational and intellectual things, 40:3, 745, 776, 991; intellectual things, thoughts, ideas, reasons, thus truths and falsities: shown, 5149, 7441; phantasies and falsities, 778, 866, 988.

Birth (nativitas). See GENERATION. Births denotes those things that belong to faith, 1145, 1255; derivations of the Church, 1330; derivations, 3263; derivations, but when it relates to the Lord, denotes what is from the Divine Rational, and from this, the Natural, 3279; truth, because it is born of good, 4070; truths from good, or the things of faith from charity, 4668; the rebirth through faith and charity, 5598. To be born denotes to be reborn or regenerated, 5160. Conceptions and bearing are spiritual, and what things are understood, 3860, 3868. See also To BRING FORTH.

[Birthright. See PRIMOGENITURE.]

Bitter, Bitter Herbs or Bitterness (amarum, amaror seu amarstudo). Bitter herbs denotes undelightful things, and the undelightful things of temptation: shown, 7854. Bitter denotes what is undelightful, 8349.

Bitumen (bitumen). What bitumen signifies, 1299. Bitumen denotes good mixed with evils, 6724.

Blacks (nigri). The avaricious, when they are excoriated like swine, from being black become white, 939. In the habitation of dragons, black spirits were seen, 950. One who considered he had lived holily without works of charity became black, 952.

Black denotes evil, especially man's proprium, 3993:5, 3994. The black cattle in the lambs denotes the proprium of innocence; concerning which, 3994 4001.

Bladder (vesica). Concerning the correspondence of the kidneys, the ureters, and the bladder,5380-5386. See KIDNEYS. The functions of those who constitute the sphincter of the bladder or urethras, 5389.

Blain (pustula). A boil of blains denotes unclean things from evils with blasphemies, and blains denotes blasphemies, 7524.

[Blamelessness (immunitas). Blamelessness, in the original language, is expressed by a word that also means cleanness and purity. It relates to the affection of truth, 2526.]

Blasphemy (blasphemia). They who in heart deny the Word blaspheme it: shown, 9222. The blasphemies which are from the intellectual part, and those from the voluntary, [9221,] 9222:4.

[Blast (clangor). Blast denotes the truth of spiritual good, 8815.]

Bless, To (benedicere). To bless denotes to be fructified from the affection of truth, 2846; conjunction, 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584; joy, 4216; that it was so done, 4309; a wish for conjunction, and fructification therefrom, 6091, 6099; foresight and providence, 6298; to intercede, 7963. To bless, when one bids farewell to one leaving, denotes to wish prosperity, 3185. What is signified by to be blessed, 981, 1731. To be blessed denotes to be arranged in spiritual and celestial order, 3017. To be blessed by Jehovah denotes to be enriched with the good of love, 3406. What blessed of Jehovah signifies, 1096 1422, 3119. Blessed of Jehovah denotes Divine Good, and also Divine Truth therefrom, 3140; all good from the Lord, 8674. What blessing signifies, 1096, 1420, 1422. It signifies love and charity from the Lord, and various things therefrom, which are consequents and increments in good and truth, 4981; prediction, 6230: shown, 6254; happiness to eternity, which is not what it is in time: illustrated, 8939; the reception of Divine Truth, and by means of it conjunction with the Lord, 10495. May God bless denotes a beginning, 3260.

Blessedness (beatitudo). Blessedness, from which Asher was called, in the highest sense, denotes eternity; in the internal sense, the happiness of eternal life; in the external sense, the delight of affections, 3938, 3939.

Blind, Blindness (coecus or coecus, coecitas). Blindness is predicated respecting those who are in falsities, also respecting those who are in ignorance: shown,2383. Blind denotes no faith, because no cognitions; and in the Word denotes those who are in ignorance of the truth, because they are outside the Church, but when instructed receive faith: shown to some extent, 6990.

Blood (sanquis). The cruel and violent, in the other life, are delighted to see blood, 954. Blood signifies violence offered to charity, and all evil, 374, 1005; what is holy, as the Lord Himself, love, and charity, 1001; the holy truth which proceeds from the Lord, and, in the opposite sense, truth falsified and profaned: shown, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326; holy truth which relates to the good of innocence, 7846, 7877; Divine Truth of the Divine Good which is from the Divine Human of the Lord, and what is reciprocal on man's part, 7850 (see SUPPER); Divine Truth: shown, 9127, the Divine Truth which proceeds from the Lord: shown, 9393; Divine Truth, and it is the Lord's blood, 10026: shown, 10033:2; Divine Truth: references, 10210; the intellectual proprium; and flesh denotes the voluntary proprium: shown, 10283:2.

Blood crying signifies guilt, 376. By eating of blood profanation was formerly represented, 1003. Blood being demanded denotes remorse of conscience, 5476. The blood of grapes denotes Divine Good from the Lord's Divine Love, 6378. The blood of the lamb denotes the truth of the good of innocence, 7846. To shed blood denotes to offer violence to Divine Truth from Good: shown, 9127. What the Lord's blood shed with water signifies, 9127:6. Blood sprinkled upon the altar round about, and on the foundation of the altar, signifies the union of the Divine Truth with the Divine Good in the Lord, 10047. What is meant by the Lord redeeming man by means of His blood, in the external, internal, and inmost sense; that it means this, that He subjugated the hells, and restored all things to order in heaven, and that otherwise man could not be saved, 10152:2; that this was done through His Divine Human: shown, 10152:5.

Blue (caeruleum or caeruleum). The angels of the planet Jupiter are clothed in blue, and blue is loved by them, 8030. Blue is twofold, from red, or flame colour, and from white, or a lucid colour; that which is from red, or flame colour, is the celestial hove of truth, or the external of the good of the Celestial Kingdom, but that which is from white, or a lucid colour, is the spiritual love of good, or the internal good of the Spiritual Kingdom, 9868, 9870.

[Bluish Purple. See PURPLE.]

Body (corpus). See FLESH throughout. What is meant by to be withdrawn from the body, or not to know whether one is in the body or out of the body, 1883. That man does not rise again in the body, but immediately after death, and then he is in a body: illustrated, 5078. The state of man's body in the other life, as to its quality, 5079.

A man is regenerated so that external things may render obedience to internal, 911, 913. Concerning spirits who appear as corporeal; they are those who regard themselves in all and everything, 4221. The corporeal degree regarded in itself is the receptacle of sensations, thus also, together with them, it is a corporeal living thing, 5077. The corporeal life of a man appears to spirits as a black mass, but that of those who are in faith, as woody; from experience, 5865. There are spirits who appear with a gross body; they are those who have altogether persuaded themselves against the Divine, and so closed their interiors, 5991. Worldly and corporeal concerns destroy heavenly ideas; from experience, 6309. Concerning corporeal spirits, 6318.

The soul is the esse of man's life, the body is the existere therefrom, 10823. There is a likeness of the soul and body in everything with man, 1910. All things that are in the body represent the spiritual things that are in the Lord's kingdom, 2996, 2998. See REPRESENTATIONS. There is a correspondence of the gestures with the affections of the mind, 7596. Those things pertaining to man which pass from thought to speech, and from the will into act, thus into the body, flow according to a general influx by means of correspondences, 5862. The corporeal things of man are ruled from the general influx, 5990. There is a general influx into the actions and speech of the body, 6192, 6211. The thoughts and speech of the angels are circumstanced as the interior things in the body are, as compared with the external form of the body, 3347.

Body denotes the good of love: illustrated and shown, 6135:2; the receptacle of good, 6135. To come in the body, when said of servants, denotes with truth, but without delight, 8977. 8978, 8984. From the head through the neck into the body corresponds to the influx of the Celestial Kingdom into the Spiritual, 9913, 9914.

Body-Guard (satelles). Chief of the body-guards denotes the primary things of interpretation, 4790, 4966, 5084.

Boil (ulcus). See WOUND [and BLAIN.]

Boil, To (coquere). Boiled with water denotes that which goes forth from the truth of faith: shown, 7857. To boil and seethe on the sixth day for the Sabbath denotes preparation for conjunction, 8496. To boil stands for the conjunction of good, and to seethe, for the conjunction of truth: shown, 8496. To boil flesh denotes to prepare for the use of life: shown, 10105. Pot denotes doctrine: shown, 10105.

Bond (vinculum). See CONSCIENCE. Those who are without conscience are ruled only by external bonds, 1077:2, 1080, 1835. These bonds become nothing in the other life, however one has lived according to them, 1835. What external bonds are, and that they are taken away in the other life, 1944:2; and when they are taken away the interiors rage against innocence, 2126. All affections are bonds, and they are external and internal, 3835. Unless the Lord ruled the evil by means of external bonds, they would all become insane, and the human race would perish, 4217:3. Those who are in external bonds can perform the more eminent duties well, and they denotes good deeds from those bonds; concerning whom, 6207:2.

Bonds denotes loves; internal bonds are the affections of truth and good, external bonds are the loves of self and the world, 9096. What the bands of the neck signifies, 3542:4. See NECK.

Bondage (servitus). See SERVANT.

Bone (os). Concerning those in the Grand Man who correspond to the bones, 5560-5564. Those who constitute the bones have little spiritual life, 5560, 5561. They are those who have been evil, but still have the remains of good after vastations, 5561; and because these are the bones, they have general, though almost indeterminate, thought, 5562. Pains are felt in various places of the skull occasioned by falsities from lusts; whence they are, 5563. Scientifics in spiritual things are as the bones in the body, 8005.

Bones denotes the intellectual proprium, thus the proprium as to truth, and, in the opposite sense, as to falsity: shown, 3812; the ultimate of the Church, thus they are representative; concerning which, 6592. By the rib, or bone, is signified the proprium, 147, 148, 149. What bone from bones, and flesh from flesh signifies, 157. My bone and my flesh denotes conjunction as to truths and goods, 3812, 3813. Not to break a bone of the paschal lamb denotes that the scientific shall be whole, 8005.

Book (liber). The Ancient Church had the Books of the Wars of Jehovah, and of the Enunciations of the Prophets, cited by Moses, 2686. The interior memory is the book of life, 2474; because in it are inscribed the things which belong to the will, 9386:2. The book of life denotes the internal, and those things which are said to be written there are from the Lord: illustrated and shown, 10505:3. To be blotted out of the book of life denotes to perish as to spiritual life, 10505, 10506. To write in a book denotes for remembrance: shown, 8620.

Border (limbus). [See also BOUNDARY.] Border denotes the termination from good lest they be assailed and injured by evils, 9492.

[Borders. See FRINGES.]

Born, To be (nasci). See BIRTH.

Born in the House (natus domus). What born in the house signifies,1708.

[Borrow, To. See MUTUAL.]

Bosom (sinus). [See also BREAST.] The quality of those who relate to the sinuses in the brain, and those who relate to the longitudinal sinus, 4048. The bosom denotes that which is one's own, thus the proprium, and appropriation by means of love: shown, 6960:2.

[Botany (botanica). In the vegetable kingdom on earth there is nothing that does not in some manner represent the Lord's kingdom, 1632. The celestial and spiritual things of the Lord flow into nature, and therefrom is the vegetative soul or life, 1632. A certain man skilled in botanical science, raised into paradisiacal scenes, saw shrubberies and lower gardens of immense extent, 4529. The green in the tree and in the herb of the field signifies the scientific and the sensual, 7691.]

Bound (vinctus). See PRISON and PIT. What is signified by the bound in prison: shown, 5037. To be bound denotes to be separated, 5452. The bound in the pit denotes the spiritual ones who before the Lord's coming were detained in the lower earth, and afterwards were elevated into heaven: shown, 6854.

Boundary (terminus). In every boundary denotes as far as truth which is from good extends itself, 8063. To enlarge the boundary denotes the multiplication and extension of truth from good, 10675.

Bow (arcus). Bow denotes the doctrine of truth: shown, 2686. A shooter with the bow, and darts, and arrows or javelins denotes doctrine, also, in the opposite sense, [falsity,] 2686, 2709. The shooter with the bow denotes the spiritual man, 2686; the man of the spiritual Church, 2709; the spiritual man, and, in the opposite sense, those who fight against him, 6422. To be slain with javelins denotes to perish as to spiritual good, 8800.

Bow Oneself, To (curvare se). To bow oneself, when it is predicated respecting a lion, denotes to put oneself in power, 6369.

Bow Oneself Down, To (incurvare se). To bow oneself down denotes the effect of humiliation, 2153; also to rejoice, 2927, 2950; adoration, 4689. To bend oneself denotes to be glad; and to bow oneself down denotes to rejoice. Bending down denotes exterior humiliation, and of those who are of truth; bowing down denotes interior humiliation, and of those who are of good, 5682, 7068. To bow oneself down with the face to the earth denotes humiliation, 6266. To bow oneself down, when spoken of the evil, denotes respect from fear, 7788. He bowed himself down denotes insertion for conjunction, 8663. To bow oneself from afar off denotes humiliation and adoration at heart, and then influx of the Lord, 9377.

Bowels (viscera). What is signified by the bowels and by going forth from the bowels, 1803. To come forth from the womb, and from the loins is predicated of good; but to be separated from the bowels, of truth, 3294. Concerning the correspondence of the viscera with the Grand Man, 5171-5189.

Bowl (schyphus). Bowl denotes the truth of faith which is from the good of charity, and, in the opposite sense, falsity by means of what is evil, and also falsity from evil: shown, 5120:2; that which is interiorly true, 5736. Bowl or goblet denotes the sensual scientific, and is predicated of truth, but a basket denotes the sensual delight, and is predicated of good, 9996:2. Almond-shaped bowls denotes scientifics from good, 9557.

Bowls (crateres). See VESSEL.

Boy (puer). See INFANT. The education of boys on the earth is very bad; an experience of boys fighting, to which they are incited by parents, 2309.

Boy denotes innocence and charity: shown, 430; innocence,-properly guiltless: shown, 5236; the first age of the Church, 4672. Boys signify various things, here the rational, 2782; and the Divine Rational in a certain state, 2793; the simple, when they are adjoined to old men, 7661.

Bracelets (armillae). Nose-rings and bracelets were given to brides, the former to be put on the nose, the latter on the hand; and by the nose-ring is signified good, by the bracelets, truth, and by the bride, the Church, 3103, 3105. A bracelet on the king's arm is a significative of truth from which is power, 3105.

Brain (cerebrum, cerebellum). The operation of heaven into the brain observed; and that the left part of the brain is for rational or intellectual things, 3884. Concerning the Grand Man, and the correspondence with the cerebrum and the cerebellum, 4039-4055. All things of the brain are according to the heavenly form, 4040-4042. The circumvolutions in the brain are according to that form, 4041. Thus by means of man there is descent from heaven into the world, and ascent from the world to heaven, 4042. In the heavens there are heavens and societies which relate to the cerebrum and the cerebellum both as a whole and in part, 4045. The quality of those who relate to the dura mater, 4046. The quality of those who relate to the pia mater, 4047. The quality of those who relate to the sinuses and the longitudinal sinus, 4048. The quality of those who relate to the ventricles, 4049. The quality of those who relate to the infundibulum; and its representation, 4050. The quality of those who relate to the isthmus, and the knots of glands, 4051. They who are in the will of good, and are in good therefrom, relate to the cortical substances, and they who are in the understanding of truth, and in the affections therefrom, relate to the fibres, 4052. The right part of the brain stands for those who are in the will of good, and the left part of the brain stands for those who are in the understanding of truth, 4052. As in heaven there is a sphere of ends, which are uses, so in the brain; and there are societies which only have for their end the pleasures of friendship; respecting which, 4054. How the fibres of the cerebellum and the cerebrum have changed with respect to the face, 4326. Concerning those who relate to the viscid excrementitious matters of the brain; they enter into the chambers of the brain, even into the spinal marrow, and induce insanities and death; an experience, 5717; of what quality they are, and whence, 5717. Those who relate to the thick phlegm of the brain, 5718. See DISEASE. Concerning the viscid matters of the brain, in which there is something vital; the conscientious relate to them; respecting whom, 5724. The left part of the brain is for truths and falsities, the right part for good and evil, 5725. [See also 4052 above.] The inhabitants of Mars relate to the medium between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, 7480, 7481. The inhabitants who love cognitions, and not a life according to them, relate to the interior membrane of the skull, and they who are accustomed to speak without affection, and to substract thoughts from others, relate to that membrane made bony, 7748.

[Bramble (rhamnus). Bramble denotes spurious good, 9277:4.]

Bramble-Bush (rubus). Bramble-bush denotes scientific truth, 6832, 6833, 6834.

Branch (calamus). The branches of the lampstand denotes the truths from good, 9551, 9555, 9556.

[Branches. See SHOOTS.]

Brass (aes). Brass denotes natural good: shown, 425, 1551.

Breach (ruptura). Breach denotes falsity by reason of the separation of truth froni good, and the injury therefrom: shown, 4926, 9163e.

Bread (panis). See also BARLEY, CORN, DRINK, FLOUR, FOOD, MEAT-OFFERING, WATER, WHEAT. Bread means every kind of food in general: shown, 2165; also sacrificial things: shown, 2165. What the bread and wine in the Holy Supper are, 1798:3. When a man is in what is holy of the Holy Supper, there is a correspondence with angels, 3464, 3735. Why in the Catholic Religion bread only is given in the Holy Supper, end not wine, 10040:2. See SUPPER. As the case is with truth in relation to good, so also is water in relation to bread, or drink to food, in nourishment, 4976. Bread and water are spoken of when all the goods of love and truths of faith are sd.: shown, 9323.

Bread denotes the Lord's flesh, and this is His Divine Good: shown, 3813. See FLESH and SUPPER. Bread signifies the celestial and the spiritual, 276, 680, [681;] what nourishes the life of heaven; and in what manner also the life of hell: illustrated, 8410; the good of celestial love, 10686. What bread in the Holy Supper signifies is the Lord, thus all the celestial things of love, therefore to love celestial food, 2165:4, 2177:7. By bread in the Holy Supper, and in the Lord's Prayer, angels perceive the good of love, and the Lord, 3735:2. Bread in the Holy Supper S. the Lord, thence His love towards the human race, and the reciprocal love of man; concerning which, 4211, 4217:2, 4735. When bread means all kinds of good it denotes spiritual life, 6118. Breads upon the table in the Tabernacle represented celestial and spiritual love, and in that the Lord Himself, 3478. See To EAT, FEAST, and FOOD. The bread of faces upon the table denotes the Lord as to celestial good, 9545. The bread of sacrifices, see MEAT-OFFERING. The meat-offering, which was bread, and the drink-offering, which was wine, signified such things as belong to the Church, as also in the Holy Supper: illustrated, 10137. To break bread, 5405. See To BREAK. To eat bread in the sweat of the countenance denotes to be averse, 276. Not to eat bread and drink water throughout forty days and nights denotes a state of temptation, 10686. What to eat together in the Holy Supper signifies, 2187.

Breadth (latitudo). Breadths denotes truths, 3433, 3434. Breadth denotes truth: shown, 4482. Length denotes good, breadth denotes truth, 1613; shown, 9487; and illustrated by extensions in the heavens, 10179. What length, breadth, and height signifies, 650. Length, breadth, and height denotes good, truth, and what is holy therefrom, because they are extensions with respect to the Lord, who is the centre, 4482:3. A land broad of space denotes an extension of truth which pertains to the Church, 4482.

Break, To (frangere). To break bread was representative of mutual love in the Ancient Church: illustrated and shown, 5405. To be broken and a fracture denotes dissipation, as also the injury inflicted on truths and goods: shown, 9163.

Breast (pectus). Breast denotes the good of charity; in the supreme sense, the Divine Spiritual of the Lord, 10087. To recline on the breast, or in the bosom, denotes to be loved, 10087:2; and John reclined on the Lord's breast, because he was representing the works of charity, 10087. See WORKS.

[Breastplate. See HABERGEON.]

Breastplate, [The Priest's] (pectorale). See URIM.

Breasts (ubera). Breasts denotes the affections of good and truth:

illustrated and shown, 6432.

[Breath (spiraculum). See under INSPIRATION.

Breathe, To. See BREATHING and INSPIRATION.]

Breathing (respiratio). The breathing of the men of the Most Ancient Church was internal, as is that of the angels, the external was only tacit, 607:2, 805:2, 1118-1120. The most ancient people had an internal breathing, and they breathed according to their state of love and faith in the Lord, 97, 1119, 3892. It was succeeded by external breathing, and so by speech by means of words, 608, 805:3. In course of time it became external, and no internal breathing remained, 1120. Distinct choirs were perceived, who pertained to the voluntary respiration, and to the spontaneous respiration of the lungs, 3351. Of what quality the breathing of the Popes is, when they are in the Consistory, 3750:2. Concerning the Grand Man, and the correspondence of the heart and lungs, 3883-3886. See also HEART and LUNGS. The alternate pulses of the heart insinuate themselves into those of the lungs, 3884:3. There is breathing in heaven, 3884. Breathing observed in heaven, also the pulse of the heart, 3885. The respirations and pulses are manifold, according to the societies there, and their states of faith and love, 3886, 3887, 3892, 3893. There are two kingdoms in heaven, the Celestial and the Spiritual; the Celestial pertains to the province of the heart, and the Spiritual to the lungs, 3887. The influx of the Celestial Kingdom into the Spiritual is as that of the heart into the lungs, 3887. The heart and lungs rule in the whole body, and mutually flow in, 3887:2, 3889, 3890. The heart corresponds to the will, breathing, to the understanding, 3888. Concerning the correspondence of the heart with those things which belong to love, and of the lungs with those which belong to faith, 3889. An experience respecting the breathing of heaven, 3891, 3893. They who are dedicated to the voluntary respiration are distinct from those who are dedicated to the involuntary, 3893. The evil cannot breathe in heaven, but as it were suffocate, 3894. The well-disposed are inaugurated into the breathings of heaven, 3894a. The persuasive, in the other life, suffocates; an experience concerning it, 3895. See PERSUASION. The breathing of the inhabitants of Mars is internal; something respecting it, 7362.

Breathing being made denotes what was undelightful and wearisome ceased, 7411. The Lord breathed into the disciples, and said, 'Receive ye the Holy Spirit,' is explained; that inspiration denotes the life of faith, 9229. To breathe denotes the state of the life of faith, and therefrom the soul and spirit, 9281. What to breathe into the nostrils signifies, 96, 97. See INSPIRATION.

Breeches of Linen (femoralia lini). Breeches of linen denotes the external of conjugial love: illustrated and shown, 9959; also protection from the hells, 9962.

Brick (later). Bricks denotes falsities which they framed, 1296; and clay denotes the evil which they invented, 6669; the fictitious and false things which are injected by the evil, 7113.

Bride, Bridegroom (sponsa, sponsus). See HUSBAND, MAN, WIFE, WOMAN. The Lord is called the Bridegroom from love, which flows in from Him, 3207. Bridegroom denotes the representative of the Church with the posterity of Jacob, 7047; good, and the bride denotes truth: shown, 9182:5.

A bride represented the Church, and therefore a nose-ring and bracelets were given to her; concerning which, 3103, 3105. The Church was compared to a bride, and in ancient time brides were given vessels of silver, and of gold, and garments, to signify truth, good, and their adornment, which belong to the Church, 3164, 3165.

The veil, with which brides covered the face, when they first saw the bridgeroom, denotes the appearances of truth, 3207. To be betrothed denotes agreement, and therefrom conjunction, 8996. Betrothal denotes the first conjunction, which is of the internal man without the external, marriage denotes the conjunction of the external also: shown, 9182.

[Brier (senticetum). Briers and thorns denotes falsity and lust, 2831:9. See THORN. Thorn and brier denotes falsities and evils therefrom, 9144:6. A pricking brier denotes the falsity of the concupiscences of self-love; and a grieving thorn denotes the falsity of the concupiscences of the love of the world, 9144:6.

Brimstone (sulphur). What brimstone signifies, 1299. Brimstone signifies the hell and the devastation of the evils of the love of self, 2446. The fire of brimstone denotes falsity from the love of self, 2446.

[Bring, To. See To CARRY.]

Bring Forth, To, Bearing (parere, partus). Bearing and conception stand for the thoughts and the fashion of the heart, 264. Spiritual conceptions and bearing are the things which are sd., 3860, 3868. The things that pertain to bearing signify those that belong to regeneration: shown, 9325. To bring forth denotes to exist, 2621, 2629; to acknowledge in faith and in act, 3905, 3915, 3919. To bear upon the knees denotes to acknowledge for one a own, 6585. Bearing and to bring forth stand for fertility in doctrinal matters, 2584. See also BIRTH, GENERATION. The fruit of the belly denotes acknowledgment, and also conjunction, 3911. To conceive denotes to receive; to bring forth denotes to acknowledge, 3919. The pain of one in labour is the greatest pain, and it denotes despair: shown, 8313:2. Abortion denotes when truths and goods do not succeed in their order, 9325.

[Broad. See BREADTH.]

Brother (frater). They were called brethren in the Church from good, but this was changed when doctrine succeeded to the place of life, 3803. They who are in charity are in conjunction with the Lord, and are called brethren, 4191. They are called brethren who are in truths from good; they are also called brethren by the Lord, 5409. All are called brethren by the Lord who have anything of the good of charity from Him, 5686, 5692. Formerly brethren were so called from spiritual affinity, but not so afterwards; why, 6756. Why the Lord called those brethren who were in good, 6756:5. They were called brethren, because they were from Jacob, others were called companions: shown, 6756:5. They who are together in one society, in the other life, are in fraternity, 4121.

Charity is the brother of faith, 367. The internal and external Church are brothers, the First and Second Ancient Church also, 1222. The good of the rational is the brother; truth, the sister, 2508e, 2524, 2556. The brother is so called from good, he is also the neighbour, 2360. Brother denotes good, also truth, 3303; a blood-relation by virtue of good, 3815. Brothers denotes goods, 4121. Good is relatively the lord, and truth, the servant; and they are also brothers, 4267. Brothers denotes the truths of the Church, 6756.

The affection of good and the affection of truth in the natural man are situated as brother and sister; but the affection of truth called forth from the natural man into the rational is as a married woman, 3160. Man with brother denotes the good of truth, 3459. To set before thy brethren and my brethren, that they may judge, denotes judgment from what is just and fair, 4167. A man to a brother denotes mutually, 4725. The conjunction of good and truth is represented by two married partners, and by two brothers, but with a difference; concerning which, 9806:2. By father, mother, brothers, children, and many names of relationship, are signified goods, and truths, also evils and falsities: shown, 10490. Brother and companion denotes good and truth, 10490.

[Brother-in-Law. See HUSBAND'S BROTHER.

Bruchus. See LOCUST.

Bruise. See under WOUND.]

Bruise, To (tundere). To bruise and to grind denotes the disposition of truths in series, and to prepare good, so that it can be applied to uses: shown, 10303. See TO GRIND.

[Brutes (bruta). Man, from his proprium and hereditary nature, is much worse than the brute animals,637:2, 3175. Why brute animals, dying, live no more, 5114:5. Some are inwardly brute animals, although they appear as men externally, 6318. Brutes act through their loves, and the affections thereof, 6323:2.]

Build, To (aedificare). To build denotes to raise up that which is fallen, 153. What to build a house signifies, 1488. To build denotes the increase of good from truth, 4390. To be built, when it relates to offspring, denotes to live, 3916.

Bullock (juvencus). See CALF and Ox.

Bulrush (juncus). Bulrush denotes what is mean, but still is derived from truth; and in the opposite sense. 6723.

Bundle (fasciculus). Truths with man are arranged in series, and these are signified by sheaves and bundles in the Word: shown only by references cited, 10303. See also SHEAF. Scientifics and truths in man are arranged bundlewise: illustrated, 5881. Those things which are in minds are arranged bundlewise: illustrated, 7408. Bundles denotes doctrinals, 4686, 4687; series of things in minds, 5339; series in which truths are arranged, also bindings together, 5530. See also GATHERINGS and SERIES.

Burden (onus). Burdens denotes bond-services, 6660; infestations by falsities, 6757; combats, 7104; spiritual combats, 7105.

[Burial. See To BURY.]

Burn. To (adolere). See FIRE.

Burnt-Offering (holocaustum). See SACRIFICE.

Bury, To, Burial, Sepulchre (sepelire, sepultura, sepulchrum). I have spoken with those who were buried, 4622:4. To bury denotes rejection, 6246; also that the state of representation was taken up by another, 3256. To be buried denotes rejected, 4564; to rise again, 4621; the renewal of the Church, 6522; regeneration, also resurrection, resuscitation, and renewal, because similar things are involved, 6554. To be buried in a good old age; what it signifies 1854. That Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were buried in the land of Canaan signifies regeneration and resurrection, because the Church was there, 6516. Sepulchre signifies resurrection and regeneration, and, in the opposite sense, damnation: shown, 2916, 2917; resuscitation; the reason; whence, 5551. To go down to the sepulchre mourning denotes to die, 4785. To cause to go down in evil and sorrow to the grave denotes to perish, 5832.

Bush (virgultum). See TREE.

Butler (pincerna.) Butler denotes sensual things subordinate and subject to the intellectual part, 5077, 5082.

[Butter (butyrum). Butter denotes the celestial, 2183; the celestial rational, 2184; celestial good; and honey denotes what is happy, pleasant, and delightful, which are from celestial good, 5620:3. See also HONEY.]

Butterfly (papilio). See WORM and INSECT. A comparison of the state of the blessed, after death, with the state of butterflies, 3000. A comparison of the conjugial state with the same, 2758. A representation of the state of spirits, in their world, when they are preparing for heaven, by the changes of small worms into butterflies; respecting which; then they are in their own heaven, 8848.

Buy, To (emere). To buy denotes to appropriate, 4397; shown, 5374, 5406, 5410, 5426; redemption, 6458, 6461. Acquisition denotes the good of truth, and purchase denotes truth, 4487. See also SILVER. What the purchase of silver signifies, 7999. See SILVER. Bought with silver denotes what is acquired in the natural by the spiritual, 7999e.

[Buz (Bus or Buz). Uz and Buz denotes various religious systems, 2860, 2864.

By-Path. See WAY.]

  
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Arcana Coelestia #9960

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9960. 'To cover their naked flesh' means to prevent inner desires of that love from appearing when they are foul and hellish. This is clear from the meaning of 'covering' as preventing them from appearing; and from the meaning of the genital organs and loins, which 'naked flesh' is used to mean here, as inner desires of conjugial love. For when 'undergarment' means things composing the external level of that love, 9959, 'flesh' which they cover means those on its internal levels. Conjugial love is meant by 'the loins', see 3021, 4280, 4575, also by 'the genital organs', 4462, 5050-5062, and the good of love by 'flesh', 3813, 7850, 9127; but since most things in the Word can also have a contrary meaning, so can the loins, genital organs, and flesh. In that contrary sense they mean evil, foul, and hellish desires of that love, 3813, 5059. The fact that here they mean evil, foul, and hellish desires is evident from the consideration that the words 'to cover their naked flesh' are used, 'naked flesh' here being that which is the opposite of the good of conjugial love, namely delight that is adulterous and for that reason hellish, which will be spoken of below.

[2] As regards 'nakedness', it derives its meaning from the parts of the body that appear naked, just as garments derive theirs from the parts of the body they clothe, 9827. 'Nakedness' has one meaning therefore when it applies to the head, which is baldness; another meaning when it applies to the whole body; and yet another when it applies to the loins and genital organs. When nakedness applies to the head, which is baldness, it means the deprivation of an intelligent understanding of truth and of a wise discernment of good; when it applies to the whole body it means the deprivation of truths that belong to faith; but when it applies to the loins and genital organs it means the deprivation of the good of love.

[3] 1. When nakedness applies to the head, which is baldness, it means the deprivation of an intelligent understanding of truth and of a wise discernment of good This is clear in Isaiah,

On that day the Lord by means of the king of Asshur will shave the head and the hair of the feet, and will consume the beard. Isaiah 7:20.

'Shaving the head' stands for depriving of the internal truths of the Church, 'shaving the hair of the feet and consuming the beard' for depriving of its external truths, and 'by means of the king of Asshur' for by means of reasonings based on falsities. It is evident to anyone that no head, hairs of the feet, or beard was going to be shaved by means of the king of Asshur, and that those words must have some other meaning. 'The head' means more internal things that belong to wisdom and intelligence, see 6292, 6436, 9166, 9656; 'the king of Asshur' means reasoning, 119, 1186; 'hair' means the external truth of the Church, 3301, 5247, 5569-5573; 'the feet' too means external or natural things, 2162, 3147, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 9406; and 'the beard' means items of knowledge on sensory levels, that is, truths on last and lowest levels, as is clear from places in the Word mentioning 'the beard'.

[4] In the same prophet,

On all heads there is baldness; every beard is shaved off. Isaiah 15:2.

Here the meaning is similar. In Jeremiah,

Baldness will come upon Gaza. How long will you cut yourself? Jeremiah 47:5.

In Ezekiel,

On all faces there will be shame, and on all heads baldness. They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will become an abomination. Ezekiel 7:18-19.

'On all heads baldness' stands for the deprivation of an intelligent understanding of truth and of a wise discernment of good. Since this is meant it also says 'they will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will become an abomination'; for 'silver' means truth that belongs to intelligence, and 'gold' good that belongs to wisdom, 1551, 5658, 6914, 6917, 8932. The fact that baldness on all heads should not be understood literally, that they would not literally throw silver into the streets, and that gold would not literally become an abomination, is self-evident.

[5] In Moses,

Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, You shall not shave your heads and you shall not rip apart the seams of your garments, lest you die and He is angry with the whole congregation. Leviticus 10:6.

And in Ezekiel,

The priests, the Levites, shall not shave their head and shall not let their hair grow long. Ezekiel 44:20.

Since Aaron and his sons represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good and in respect of Divine Truth, 9806, 9807, and since 'a shaved head' and 'garments ripped apart at the seams' meant the deprivation of that Good and Truth, they were forbidden to shave their heads or so rip apart their garments. It also says 'lest you die and He is angry with the whole congregation', meaning that as a consequence what was representative of the Lord in respect of Divine Good and in respect of Divine Truth, and so what was representative of the Church, would be destroyed.

[6] Since mourning represented spiritual mourning, which is mourning because of the deprivation of the Church's truth and good, those in mourning made themselves bald, as in Jeremiah,

They will not lament for them, nor will they make themselves bald 1 because of them. Jeremiah 16:6.

In Amos,

I will turn your feasts into mourning, and cause baldness to come up over every head; and I will make it as the mourning for an only-begotten son. Amos 8:10.

And in Micah,

Make yourself bald, 2 and shave your head for the sons of your delight; extend your baldness like an eagle, for they have departed from you. Micah 1:16.

'The sons of delight' are God's truths, and their 'departure' is the deprivation of them, 'sons' meaning truths, see 9807.

[7] 2. When nakedness applies to the whole body it means the deprivation of the truths of faith

This is clear in John,

To the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write, Because you say, I am rich and in need of nothing - when you do not know that you are wretched and miserable, and needy, and blind, and naked - I counsel you to buy from Me gold purified in fire, and white garments that you may put on, that the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested. Revelation 3:14, 17-18.

'The angel of the Church' is God's truth there. 'Saying it is rich' means that it is in possession of cognitions or knowledge of truth and good. 'Wretched, needy, blind, and naked' means being nevertheless devoid of truths implanted in life, thus being devoid of good. 'Buying gold purified in fire' means acquiring good to itself, 'white garments' authentic truths of faith springing from good. From this it is evident what 'that the shame of nakedness may not be manifested' means.

[8] In the same book,

Behold, I am coming like a thief; blessed is he who is awake and keeps his garments, so that he may not walk naked and they see his shame. Revelation 16:15.

Here the meaning is similar. In the same book,

They will hate the prostitute, and make her devastated and naked. Revelation 17:16.

'The prostitute' stands for those who falsify God's truths. 'Making her naked' plainly stands for depriving of those truths; for the words 'devastated' and 'naked' are used, and 'devastating' means depriving of truths.

[9] Nakedness also means having no knowledge of truth and putting on clothes being taught it, in Isaiah,

When you see the naked and cover him, your light will break forth like the dawn. Isaiah 58:7-8.

And in Matthew,

The King will say to those who are on the right, I was naked and you clothed Me. And He said to those on the left, I was naked and you did not clothe Me. Matthew 25:36, 38, 43-44.

'Naked' here stands for those who have no truths and still desire truths, also those who acknowledge that no good or truth at all exists within them, see 4956, 4958.

[10] 3. When nakedness applies to the loins and genital organs it means the deprivation of the good of love

This is clear in Isaiah,

O virgin daughter of Babel, take a mill and grind flour, uncover your hair, bare your feet, uncover your thigh, pass through the rivers. Let your nakedness be uncovered, also let your reproach be seen. Isaiah 47:1-3.

'Daughter of Babel' means the Church or semblance of the Church, where holiness resides outwardly but profanity inwardly. The profanity residing inwardly is such that people have themselves and the world in mind, thus domination and abundant riches as their end in view, holy things being regarded as means to that end. 'Taking a mill and grinding flour' means producing teachings out of such matters as will serve as means to the end, 7780. 'Uncovering the hair, baring the feet, and uncovering the thigh' means prostituting without any shame or fear things that are outwardly and inwardly holy, so that 'uncovering nakedness' means causing foul and hellish things, which are the ends, to appear.

[11] In Jeremiah,

Jerusalem sinned grievously; those who honoured her despise her, because they see her nakedness, her uncleanness in her skirts. Lamentations 1:8-9.

'Jerusalem' stands for the Church, in this instance for a Church that is steeped in falsities arising from evil. 'Seeing her nakedness' stands for beholding foul and hellish loves; 'uncleanness in her skirts' stands for such loves on most external levels, 'skirts' or 'hem' meaning most external levels, see 9917. In Nahum,

I will uncover your skirts upon your face, 3 and I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. Nahum 3:5.

'Uncovering skirts' stands for taking away outward things in order that more internal ones may appear. 'Nakedness' which will be shown to the nations and 'shame' to the kingdoms mean hellish kinds of love, which are self-love and love of the world, which defile the more internal things.

[12] In Ezekiel,

You reached full beauty, your breasts were formed and your hair had grown; [but] you were naked and bare. With all your abominations and your acts of whoredom you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were downtrodden in your blood. Your nakedness has been uncovered through your whoredoms with your lovers. Ezekiel 16:7, 22, 36.

In the same prophet,

I will give you into the hand [of those] whom you hate, that they may deal with you out of hatred; and let them leave you naked and bare, and let the nakedness of your whoredoms be uncovered. Ezekiel 23:28-29.

In Hosea,

Contend with your mother, that she may remove her whoredoms from her sight, 4 and her adulteries from between her breasts, lest perhaps I strip her naked, and present her as on the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. I will return and take back My grain, My new wine, My wool, and My flax, which [I gave her] to cover her nakedness; and I will uncover her foulness in the eyes of her lovers. Hosea 2:2-3, 9-10.

[13] The words in the preceding as well as in this present quotation refer to Jerusalem, which is also called 'mother'; and by it the Church is meant. Its perversity is described by 'the whoredoms', 'the adulteries', and 'the uncovering of nakedness', which are nothing other than the foul and hellish kinds of love - that is, self-love and love of the world, when they are ends in view - from which all evils and derivative falsities gush out. Falsifications of truth therefore and adulterations of good are described in the Word by acts of whoredom and adultery, and are also actually called whoredoms and adulteries there, see 8904. And from this it is evident what 'nakedness' and 'uncovering of nakedness' are used to mean. Since reference is being made to the Church's truths when falsified and to its forms of good when adulterated, the verses quoted declare 'I will make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst'. 'A wilderness' is that which is devoid of forms of good, 'a dry land' that which is devoid of truths, and 'thirst' the deprivation of all matters of faith.

[14] It also declares that [the Lord] would take back His grain, His new wine, His wool, and His flax, with which He had covered her nakedness, because 'grain' means the spiritual Church's more internal good, 'new wine' its more internal truth, 'wool' its more external good, and 'flax' its more external truth. All who read these things with a power of reason that is to some degree enlightened, who believe that no expression used in the Word is meaningless, and that the Word is altogether holy in every part because it is Divine, can see that flax, wool, new wine, and grain are not meant literally.

[15] In Jeremiah,

O daughter of Edom, to you also the cup will pass, you will be made drunk and naked. Lamentations 4:21.

In Habakkuk,

Woe to him who gives drink to his companion, 5 making him drunk, and looking on their nakedness! You will be sated with shame rather than glory. Drink, you also - that your foreskin may be revealed. Habakkuk 2:15-16.

And in Ezekiel,

They have shed blood in you; they have uncovered their father's nakedness in you. Ezekiel 22:9-10.

What these statements mean no one can know unless he knows what the meaning is of 'the cup', 'drinking', 'being made drunk', 'being made naked', 'looking on their nakedness, and uncovering them', and also 'foreskin'. All these, it is self-evident, should be understood spiritually. 'Drinking' understood spiritually is receiving instruction in truths, or in the contrary sense in falsities, that is, absorbing them, 3069, 3168, 3772, 8562, 9412; and from this it is clear what 'the cup' that is drunk from means, 5120. 'Being made drunk' means becoming insane as a result, and 'being made naked' becoming completely destitute of them. 'Uncovering nakedness' means uncovering the evils of self-love and love of the world, which are hellish evils. 'Uncovering their father's nakedness' means uncovering those evils when they have a hereditary origin and are present in the will. 'Revealing the foreskin' means defiling them, 'the foreskin' meaning the defilement of heavenly forms of good by those two kinds of love, see 2056, 3412, 4462, 7045. 'Circumcision' therefore means purification from them, 2039, 2632.

[16] All this makes clear what the meaning is of Noah's drunkenness and the consequent uncovering of his nakedness, described as follows in Genesis,

Noah drank of the wine, and was drunk, and was uncovered in the middle of his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and pointed it out to his two brothers. And Shem and Japheth took a garment and both of them put it on a shoulder, and went backwards and covered their father's nakedness; and their faces were backwards, and they did not see their father's nakedness. Genesis 9:21-23.

This describes members of the Ancient Church, whom Noah represents. 'The wine' which he drank and which made him drunk is the falsity which that Church was at the start imbued with. His lying as a result 'uncovered in the middle of the tent' means evils owing to the lack of truth in worship. 'The garment' with which Shem and Japheth covered his nakedness is the truth of faith, by means of which those evils were covered and corrected. An implanting of the truth and good of faith in the understanding part of the mind is described by their putting a garment on a shoulder, going backwards, and turning their faces away backwards; for this is exactly how it is with the truths and forms of the good of faith present with a member of the spiritual Church. 'Shem and Japheth' means those belonging to the spiritual Church, who received the truths of faith within good, which is charity; but 'Canaan' means those who did not receive the truths of faith in good or charity.

[17] Noah represents members of the Ancient Church at the start, who were such as has been described, see 736, 773, 788, 1126.

Shem is those belonging to the internal spiritual Church, and Japheth those belonging to the external, 1062, 1127, 1140, 1141, 1150.

Canaan represented those whose faith was separated from charity, or what amounts to the same thing, whose worship was external separated from anything internal, so that in particular he represented the Jewish nation, 1093, 1140, 1141, 1167.

With members of the spiritual Church the truth and good of faith are implanted in the understanding part of the mind, 9596.

'The wine' that made Noah drunk means falsity, 6377.

'The tent' in which he lay uncovered means the holiness of worship, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4128, 4391.

'The garment' with which they covered their father's nakedness means the truth of faith, 5954, 9212, 9216.

His actual nakedness means the evil occupying the will part of his mind. That evil is covered by means of the truths of faith, and when it is being covered truths look away backwards.

The presence of such arcana, embodied in these details of the story, is evident from the internal sense. And the fact that these arcana are arcana which have to do with the Church may be seen from the consideration that Shem and Japheth simply because they covered their father's nakedness were blessed, and all their descendants too, and that Canaan was cursed and all his descendants simply because their father had pointed it out to his brothers.

[18] Because the interiors of the Jewish and Israelite nation were foul, for they were steeped in self-love and love of the world more than all the other nations, and since conjugial love is meant by 'the genital organs and loins' and this love is fundamental to and so embraces all celestial and spiritual forms of love, precautions had to be taken to prevent the nakedness of those parts of Aaron's or his sons' bodies from being in any way visible when they were engaged in holy worship. This is the reason for its being said that linen undergarments should be made for them to cover their naked flesh, from the loins even to the thighs; and in another place for the declaration that they were not to go up by steps to the altar, in order that their nakedness should not be revealed on it, Exodus 20:26.

The interiors of the Jewish and Israelite nation were foul, and when they were engaged in worship those interiors were closed off, see the places referred to in 9320 (end), 9380.

Conjugial love is meant by 'the genital organs and loins', 3021, 4280, 4462, 4575, 5050-5062.

Conjugial love is fundamental to all celestial and spiritual forms of love, and therefore these forms of love are understood as well by it, 686, 2739, 3021, 4280, 5054.

From all this it is now clear what 'nakedness' means, in particular nakedness of the bodily parts devoted to procreation, when people's interiors are foul.

[19] But when the interiors are chaste 'nakedness' means innocence. It does so because conjugial love is meant, and innocence is the indispensable element of truly conjugial love.

Truly conjugial love belongs to innocence, see 2736.

Therefore 'nakedness' in that sense means innocence, 165, 8375.

For the same reason angels of the inmost heaven, who are called celestial angels, appear naked, 165, 2306, 2736.

Since the Most Ancient Church, described in the opening chapters of Genesis and meant in the internal sense by Man or Adam and his wife, was a celestial Church, it says in Genesis 2:25 that both were naked, and they were not ashamed. But when that Church fell, which came about through eating from the tree of knowledge, by which reasoning about Divine matters that was based on factual knowledge was meant, it says that they knew that they were naked, and sewed fig leaves together for themselves and made themselves girdles, thus that they covered their nakedness. It also says that when Jehovah called to him the man said that he was afraid because he was naked, and further on that Jehovah God made for them tunics of skin and clothed them, Genesis 3:6-11, 21.

[20] By 'fig leaves' from which they made themselves girdles, and also by 'tunics of skin' truths and forms of good belonging to the external man should be understood. The reason why their state after the fall is so described is that from being internal people they became external. Their internal is meant by 'paradise', for paradise is the intelligence and wisdom of the internal man, and the closing of their internal by being cast out of paradise.

'Leaf' means natural truth, which is factual knowledge, see 885. 'Fig' means natural good or the external man's good, 217, 4231, 5113. 'Tunic of skin' too means the external man's truth and good, 294-296. 'Skin' means what is external, 3540.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.