876. The symbolism of it returned to him, to the ark, as goodness and truth that seemed to be religious can be seen from statements above [§874] and just below.
Liberation is symbolized on an inner level not by the dove's return to the ark but by its being sent from the ark and not returning, as indicated by what follows. Verse 12., for instance, says that Noah sent the dove out and it never returned to him again. Verses 15-16. say that he himself was ordered to leave the ark, and verse 18, that he did.
The ark symbolizes the circumstances of these people before rebirth. Under such circumstances they were captives or prisoners, beset on all sides by evil and falsity, or by the flood waters. So returning to Noah, to the ark, signals the relapse of goodness and truth (as meant by the dove) into that condition.
Anything good we intend to do when motivated by self-interest comes back to us, because it focuses on us; we want the world or the angels to see what we are doing, or we desire to earn a place in heaven, or we hope to be the greatest in heaven. Those are the urges inherent in self-interest and in every idea connected with it, however convincing the outer appearance of religious goodness and truth. The goodness and truth that faith embraces is good and true inside, from the very core; that is, the goodness and truth of faith comes entirely from the Lord by way of our deepest levels. When it comes instead from ourselves, or depends on our merits, it is dirty on the inside although apparently clean on the outside, just like a foul-smelling prostitute with a beautiful-looking face or like an Ethiopian person, or rather an Egyptian mummy, dressed in white clothing. 1
Footnotes:
1. The contrast Swedenborg is apparently trying to make here is one of darker and lighter color as corresponding to moral evil and goodness. Swedenborg first selects an Ethiopian person as an image of blackness to be contrasted with white clothing; he then switches to what he apparently considered an even blacker image: an Egyptian mummy, which would add the further factors of grotesqueness and death. For other passages in which Swedenborg mentions the blackness of Ethiopians, see Secrets of Heaven 3540:1; Revelation Explained [Swedenborg 1994-1997] §780:5; for passages where he mentions the blackness of mummies, see Secrets of Heaven 817; Revelation Unveiled 153:12; True Christianity 595:1. This is not to say that Swedenborg had a low opinion of black Africans, however; he elsewhere accords them higher praise than the other races of the earth including his own; see Marriage Love 114 in the context of §§103-114. He praises their rationality, intelligence, and receptivity to spiritual goodness and truth; see Heaven and Hell 326, 514; Last Judgment 51; True Christianity 837-839. [JSR]
