The celestial people of the Most Ancient Church, motivated by the love of the Lord, were in a constant state of sensing the separation between their internals and their externals. They could be externally involved with the necessities of life – gathering and preparing food, caring for children, caring for each other – while deep in their minds being constantly aware of the Lord, and of angels, and of the spiritual value of even the external things they were doing. But to give them the sense that life was their own, the Lord had to emphasize their externals and give them the leading role. So the people lost their constant awareness of spiritual things.

That is represented here. "Bone of my bones" means that the dead, hellish sense of self in external life was linked to the same thing in internal life. "Flesh of my flesh" means the living, heavenly sense of self in externals is also linked to internals. "Woman" means the sense of self as a complete state of life, and "man" – used in a specifically masculine sense here – means intellectual thoughts and concepts in the internal man. So at all levels, the external sense that life was their own took dominance in the people of the Most Ancient Church.

(Referenties: Arcana Coelestia 156, 0157, 158, 159)