1548. The fact that toward the south means into heavenly light is established by the symbolism of the south, or noonday light, 1 as a condition in which inner things are clear (discussed above at §1458).
There are two states that shine with heavenly light. The first is the one we enter in infancy. Most people recognize that little children have innocence and that they act in good and loving ways. These are heavenly traits, which the Lord first introduces us into, and he stores them up in us for use when we are older, and for use when we come into the other world. They are what are called the first remnant, described in many earlier places. 2
In the second state, we are introduced to spiritual and heavenly concepts by learning about them, and these concepts need to be grafted onto the heavenly gifts we have received since infancy.
In the Lord, those concepts were grafted onto his earliest heavenly gifts. From this he gained light, and the light is called "the south" here.
Footnotes:
1. As mentioned in note 1 in §458, the Latin word for the south (meridies) used by Swedenborg here also means "noon" or "noonday light." [LHC]
2. Swedenborg uses the term "remnant" variously to indicate actual survivors of a church, the remaining goodness of a church, or, as here, the true ideas and good feelings that make an impression on our minds from the time we are born. Some of the other places where he discusses the remnant are §§530, 560-563, 576, 660-661, 1050. See note 1 in §8 for further treatment of the term. [LHC, KK]
