1383. GENESIS – TWAALFDE HOOFDSTUK

De innerlijke gewaarwording van geesten en engelen, en de sferen in het andere leven. Onder de wonderen in het andere leven behoren de innerlijke gewaarwordingen; hiervan bestaan twee soorten: de ene, die de engelen eigen is, bestaat hierin, dat zij innerlijk gewaarworden, wat waar en goed is, en wat van de Heer komt, wat van henzelf, en verder, wanneer dat wat zij denken, spreken en doen, van henzelf komt, vanwaar het is en van welke aard. De andere soort, die allen met elkaar gemeen hebben, en welke de engelen in de hoogste volmaaktheid bezitten en de geesten overeenkomstig hun hoedanigheid, bestaat hierin, dat zij bij de eerste nadering van de ander weten, van welke aard hij is

2144. 'In the oak-groves of Mamre' means the character of the perception. This is clear from the representation and meaning of 'oak-groves', and also from the representation and meaning of 'Mamre'. What oak-groves in general represented and meant has been shown in Volume One, in 1442, 1443, and what the oak-grove of Mamre specifically represented and meant, in 1616, namely perceptions, though of a human kind such as spring from factual knowledge and from the initial rational concepts derived from that knowledge.

[2] What perception is, is totally unknown at the present day, for nobody today possesses the kind of perception that the ancient and especially the most ancient people possessed. The latter knew from perception whether a thing was good and consequently whether it was true. There was an influx from the Lord by way of heaven into the rational part of their minds, and from that influx when they thought about anything holy, they perceived instantly whether a thing was so or was not so. Later on such perception with mankind perished and people began to entertain heavenly ideas no more but only worldly and bodily ones; and when this happened the place of such perception was taken by conscience (which also is a kind of perception), for acting contrary to conscience and according to conscience is nothing else than discerning from conscience whether a thing is so or not so, or whether it ought to be done.

[3] But perception that goes with conscience does not originate in inflowing good but in truth which from earliest childhood has been implanted in the rational part of the mind in accordance with the holiness of people's worship, and after that has been confirmed; for that truth alone is believed by them to be good. Consequently conscience is a kind of perception, but it has its origin in truth such as this; and when charity and innocence are introduced into it by the Lord, the good that goes with that conscience is then brought into being. These few considerations show what perception is. Yet between perception and conscience there is a wide difference. See what has been stated about perception in Volume One, in 104, 125, 371, 483, 495, 503, 521, 536, 597, 607, 784, 865, 895, 1121, 1616; about the perception spirits and angels have, in 202, 203, 1008, 1383, 1384, 1390-1392, 1394, 1397, 1504; and about the learned not knowing what perception is, in 1387.

[4] As regards the Lord when He lived in the world, all of His thought sprang from Divine perception since He alone was a Divine and Celestial Man. For He has been the only one in whom Jehovah Himself was present and from whom His perception came, also dealt with in Volume One, in 1616, 1791. His perceptions became more and more interior the closer He came to union with Jehovah. The nature of His perception at this time becomes clear from what has been stated in Volume One, in 1616, about the oak-groves of Mamre; and then the nature of it when He perceived the things contained in this chapter is described in what follows below.

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.