The heart means love. A good heart means love to the Lord and to the neighbor, while a hard or stony heart means the love of self or the world -- riches and things. When the psalmist asks the Lord to search his heart, he wants the Lord to see what it is that he loves. And we are what we love. What we eat may form our earthly body, but it's only temporary, what we love forms our spiritual body, beautiful or ugly as we have chosen. It's interesting to note that the first multi-cellular motion of our embryo is the pulsating that starts in a twist of blood vessel that is to become our heart, and the last motion of our natural body is our heartbeat. It is there for all of our natural life. And of course there is a beating heart in our spiritual bodies when we come to put them on.

1461. “亚伯兰就下埃及去, 要寄居在那里” 表在认知方面来自圣言的教导. 这从 “埃及” 和 “寄居” 的含义清楚可知. 稍后就会看到, “埃及” 表由认知构成的知识, “寄居” 表接受教导. 主在孩童时和其他人一样接受教导. 这从前面 (1457节) 解读第9节时所引证的路加福音中的经文清楚可知, 也从刚才有关外在人的论述可知, 即外在人只能藉着认知被作成, 以便与内在人对应, 一致. 外在人居于肉体和感官, 不接受任何属天或属灵之物, 除非认知被植入其中, 如植入土壤中. 属天之物能使用这些认知, 如同使用接纳自己的容器. 不过, 这些认知必须来自圣言. 来自圣言的认知具有这样的性质: 它们通过主自己开放. 因为圣言本身经由天堂来自主, 主的生命就在圣言的每一个细节中, 尽管这在外在形式上看不出来. 由此可见, 除了圣言的认知外, 主在孩童时不愿吸收任何其它认知. 就象刚才说的, 圣言通过耶和华自己, 祂的父向祂开放, 祂要与父合而为一. 这种愿望甚至更强烈, 因为圣言中出现的所有话, 就其至内在而言, 没有一句不与祂相关, 并且没有一句不首先出自祂. 祂的人性本质纯粹是其自永恒就存在的神性本质的添加物.