1382. De mensen kunnen wel niet anders dan het Goddelijk Oneindige met het oneindige van ruimte verwarren, en omdat zij het oneindige van ruimte niet anders opvatten dan als een niets, wat het ook inderdaad is, geloven zij evenmin aan het Goddelijk Oneindige. Op dezelfde wijze is het gesteld met het Eeuwige, dat de mensen alleen maar kunnen opvatten als het eeuwige van tijd, maar het doet zich eigenlijk slechts door de tijd voor bij hen, die in de tijd zijn. Het eigenlijke begrip van het Goddelijk Oneindige dringt bij de engelen in, hierdoor, dat zij ogenblikkelijk onder het oog van de Heer aanwezig zijn, ook al waren zij aan het uiteinde van het heelal, zonder enige tussenkomst van tijd of ruimte; en het eigenlijke begrip van het Goddelijk Eeuwige hierdoor, dat duizenden van jaren aan hen niet als tijd verschijnen, maar nauwelijks anders, dan of zij een minuut geleefd hadden, en beide voorstellingen vloeien hieruit voort, dat zij in hun heden tegelijkertijd het verleden en de toekomst hebben; vandaar hebben zij geen zorg voor de toekomst, en nooit enige voorstelling van de dood, maar alleen de voorstelling van het leven; aldus is in geheel hun heden het Eeuwige en het Oneindige van de Heer. Einde elfde hoofdstuk -----

3528. 'Perhaps my father will feel me' means an inmost degree of perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'feeling' and so perceiving with the senses as the inmost and the all of perception, and from the meaning of 'father' as good, in this case Divine Good, since the Lord is the subject. The reason why 'feeling' means the inmost and the all of perception is that all sensory awareness is related to the sense of touch, and it has its origin in and arises from the power of perception. For sensory awareness is nothing else than the external aspect of the power of perception, and the power of perception is nothing else than the internal aspect of sensory awareness. What perception or the power of perception is, see 104, 371, 495, 503, 521, 536, 1383-1398, 1616, 1919, 2145, 2171, 2831. What is more, all sensory awareness and all power of perception, seemingly so various, are related to one single general and universal sense, namely that of touch. The variants of this - which is what taste, smell, hearing, and sight are - being forms of external sensory awareness are nothing else than different kinds of touch which owe their existence to internal sensory awareness, which is the power of perception. These matters could be corroborated by much experience, but this will be done in the Lord's Divine mercy in its own proper place. From this it is evident that 'feeling' in the internal sense is the inmost and the all of perception. Furthermore all power of perception, which is the internal aspect of sensory awareness, arises out of good, but not out of truth except from good by way of truth. For the Lord's Divine life flows into good and by way of that good into truth, and in this way gives rise to perception. From this it may be seen what 'supposing my father feels me' means, namely the inmost and the all of perception coming from good, and so from the Lord's Divine Good.

521. 'He was no more for God took him' means that that doctrine reserved for use by descendants. He was no more. As regards Enoch, that which the Most Ancient Church had perceived, as has been stated, was converted by him into doctrine, something that had not been allowed to people of that period. For knowing something from perception is altogether different from learning it from doctrine. People who have perception have no need to learn through the channel of formulated doctrine what they know already. Take, for the sake of illustration, someone who knows already how to think clearly. He has no need to learn rules on how to think. If he did so his ability to think clearly would perish, as happens to people buried in the dust of sheer intellectualism. In the case of people whose knowledge comes from perception, the Lord grants them to know what good and truth are through an internal channel, while those who learn from doctrine are granted it by an external channel, that is, by way of the physical senses. The difference between the two is like that between light and darkness. Furthermore the perceptions of the celestial man lie beyond all description, for they enter into the smallest details and are for ever varied according to states and attendant circumstances. Now as it was foreseen that the perceptivity of the Most Ancient Church would perish, and that subsequently people would learn what truth and good were by means of doctrines, that is, they would come to the light by way of darkness, it is therefore said here that 'God took him', which is to say, He preserved such doctrine for the use of descendants.