1050. The symbolism of and every living soul within all flesh as the entire human race can be seen from the symbolism of the living soul within all flesh.

Each of us is called a living soul from a living quality in us. Not one of us can live — still less live as a human being — if we do not have something living inside us. In other words, we need to have a measure of innocence, charity, and mercy, or at least something that resembles or approximates it. This measure of innocence, charity, and mercy is something we receive from the Lord in childhood and adolescence, as can be seen from the state of children and the state of adolescents. What we receive at those ages is preserved in us. What is preserved in us is what the Word calls a remnant, or survivors, and it is the Lord's alone in us. These preserved traces are what makes it possible for us to be human when we arrive at adulthood. For more on the remnant, or remaining traces, see §§468, 530, 560, 561, 562, 563, 576.

[2] The fact that the states of innocence, charity, and mercy that we experienced in early childhood and in the years when we were growing up make it possible for us to be human is plainly evident from this: We are not born into any life skills, the way brute animals are, but must learn each and every one of them, and what we learn is then turned into habit and second nature by our practicing it. Unless we learn how, we cannot even walk, or talk, or do anything else. When we practice these activities, they become almost instinctive to us. The case is the same with a state of innocence, charity, and mercy — virtues that we likewise absorb from early childhood on; if those states were not present inside us, we would be much lower than animals. But they are not acquired by education. We receive them as gifts from the Lord, who preserves them in us. These states, along with religious truth, are what are called a remnant, and are the Lord's alone. To the extent that we suffocate them during adulthood, we become dead.

When we are being reborn, these states are the starting points of the process, and we are led into them, because the Lord works through the remnant, as noted before [§§635, 711, 737:1, 857, 977:2].

[3] This remnant in each individual is what is being called the living soul within all flesh.

The symbolism of all flesh as every individual and so the entire human race can be seen from the symbolism of flesh throughout the Word. (See the illustrations offered at §574.) In Matthew, for example:

If those days were not shortened, no flesh would be rescued. (Matthew 24:22; Mark 13:20)

In John:

Jesus said, "Father, give glory to your Son, just as you have given him authority over all flesh." (John 17:1-2)

In Isaiah:

The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it. (Isaiah 40:5)

In the same author:

All flesh will recognize that I, Jehovah, am your Savior. (Isaiah 49:26)

977. Inner Meaning

BECAUSE the subject under discussion here is people who have been reborn, a brief statement needs to be made explaining what they are like compared to unregenerate people. From this comparison the character of the one kind and of the other can be recognized.

Regenerate people have a conscience for what is good and true; conscience moves them to do good, and conscience moves them to think truly. The good they do is the good associated with charity, and the truth they think is the truth embraced by faith. People who are not regenerate do not have a conscience. If they do, it is not a conscience that requires them to do what is good out of kindness, or to think what is true because they believe it, but to do so out of some form of love for themselves or the material world. They have either a false conscience or a distorted one.

Regenerate people feel joy when they do what conscience bids, and distress when forced to act or think against conscience. With the unregenerate, on the other hand, this is not so. Most do not know what conscience is, much less what obeying conscience or violating it is. They only know how to live by principles that advance their own interests, which gives them joy. Going against these principles creates distress for them.

[2] Regenerate people have a new will and a new intellect. The new will and intellect are their conscience, or rather exist in their conscience, through which the Lord puts neighborly kindness and religious truth to work. People who have not been reborn do not have a will but appetite instead, and are therefore attracted to every kind of evil. They do not have true intellect but shallow logic, and therefore sink into every kind of falsity.

Regenerate people have heavenly and spiritual life, but unregenerate people have only bodily ¹ and worldly life. Any ability the unregenerate have to think about and understand what is good and true derives from the Lord's life force. This force comes by way of the remnant [of truth and goodness] described earlier [§§561, 661:2], which gives them the capacity to reflect.

[3] In regenerate people, the inner self is in charge and the outer self obeys. In people who have not been reborn, the outer self is in charge, while the inner self retires and seems to disappear.

Regenerate people recognize what the inner self is and what the outer self is, or at least they can recognize it if they ponder. People who are not regenerate have no idea at all what the inner and outer self are. They cannot tell even if they think about it, because they have no idea what the goodness and truth of a faith based on kindness is.

All this evidence shows what the regenerate person is like and what the unregenerate one is like — that they are as different as summer and winter, or light and darkness. So the regenerate person is a living individual, while the unregenerate one is a dead individual.

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