4803. A matter wholly unknown in the world and worthy of mention is this: The states in which good spirits and angels live undergo constant change and perfection. In this way they are conveyed to the more internal parts of the province in which they dwell, and so into more excellent functions. For in heaven purification takes place constantly, which is so to speak a new creation. Yet the situation is that no angel to all eternity can possibly attain complete perfection. The Lord alone is the perfect One, He being the root and the source of all perfection. Those who correspond to the mouth constantly wish to be speaking, for speaking gives them utmost pleasure. While undergoing perfection they are restricted to speaking nothing but that which is beneficial to companions, the community, heaven, and the Lord. The delight they take in speaking in that way grows in the measure that the desire to regard themselves in what they speak and to strive after wisdom from what is properly their own passes away from them.
Arcana Coelestia #10030
10030. 'Covering the intestines' means which exists on last or lowest levels. This is clear from the meaning of 'the intestines' as last or lowest things. The reason why the intestines have this meaning is that they are the last and lowest of a person's internal organs, not only as regards their location but also as regards their function. As regards their location, they are below the stomach, to which they are attached; and as regards their function, they are the last organs to receive the things undergoing digestion in a person. Above them, as is well known, come the stomach, liver, pancreas, and spleen; higher still, the heart and lungs; and still higher, the head. It is also well known that these higher parts of the body discharge their filth and waste products into the intestines and banish them through these, partly by way of the stomach, partly by way of the ducts from the liver - called the hepatic ducts, and also the cystic or biliary ducts - and partly by way of the ducts from the pancreas, which like all the other ducts have their outlet into the duodenum. From all this it is now evident why last or lowest things are meant by 'the intestines'. The fact that the internal organs in the human body mean such things as belong to the spiritual world becomes clear from what has been abundantly shown at the ends of a large number of chapters where the correspondence of the Grand Man, which is heaven, with everything present in the human being has been the subject. For what specifically corresponds to the intestines, see 5392. The hells correspond to the impurities and excrement cast out from them, 5393-5396.
[2] Since several organs of the body are mentioned in what immediately follows, such as the lesser omentum, liver, kidneys, legs, breast, flank, and head, and the arrangement of them in sacrifices is dealt with, it must first be shown here that by parts of the human body in general the kinds of things that exist in the Grand Man, that is, in heaven, are meant. Here let the meaning of just those parts of the body which are used in Daniel to describe Nebuchadnezzar's statue be indicated. There, in Chapter 2:32-33, it says that its head was pure gold, breast and arms were silver, belly and side bronze, legs iron, and feet partly iron and partly clay. Anyone who does not know that the Lord's Word is spiritual supposes that these things were said in reference to earthly kingdoms. But the Word is not dealing with earthly kingdoms, only with God's kingdom, thus with heaven and the Church. The reason why these are described by means of the kinds of things that exist in earthly lands and their kingdoms is that worldly and earthly things correspond to the kinds of things that exist in heaven. For the whole natural order and the whole universe is a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, see the places referred to in 9280, and earthly and worldly things are what a person comes to know of first.
[3] From this it may be recognized that Nebuchadnezzar's statue seen in a dream does not mean worldly but heavenly things. But what specifically is meant by the head, the breast, the belly and side, the legs, and the feet may be known from their correspondence, thus from the internal sense of the Word. From correspondence one can know that the head means the first state of the Church, the breast and arms the second, the belly and side the third, the legs the fourth, and the feet the last. Since the first state of the Church was a state of the good of love to the Lord it says that the head was of pure gold; since the second state was a state of truth springing from that good it says that the breast and arms were of silver; since the third state was the good of love and its truth in the external or natural man it says that the belly and side were of bronze; since the fourth state was the truth of faith it says that the legs were of iron; and since the last state was truth which, though called the truth of faith, is devoid of good it says the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay. And such being the last state of the Church verses 34, 35 say that out of the rock a stone was cut, which smashed them all to pieces and scattered them, so that the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them, meaning that the good of love to the Lord, the good of charity towards the neighbour, and the good of faith were completely dispersed, so completely that there was no knowledge of what they were. No more than some knowledge of the truths of faith existed, without any knowledge of good; or if any knowledge of good existed it was not real good, thus was not the good that coheres with the truths of faith.
[4] This good is external good without internal, which is what the good of merit is, and what good pursued for selfish and worldly reasons is, thus good pursued for the sake of gain, position, and reputation, for the sake of friendship cultivated because of these things, or for the sake of currying favour. Or else it is pursued solely on account of fear of the law. It is not pursued on account of the good of charity, which is the good of one's fellow citizen, the good of human society, the good of one's country, or the good of the Church.
[5] The types of good mentioned above are meant by 'the clay' or 'the mire', the truth with which that good does not cohere being 'the iron'. Therefore verse 43 says, [Just as] the iron which you saw was mixed with the miry clay, they will mingle through the seed of man (homo) 1 , but they will not cohere with one another, just as iron is not mingled with clay. 'The seed of man' is the truth of faith when it originates in the self, which is truth falsified and adulterated through application to evils that exist as the result of a regard for self and the world. From all this it is evident that the parts of a person's body from his head to the soles of his feet mean such things as belong to the Church.
[6] In general 'the head' means celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, 'the breast' spiritual good, which is the good of charity towards the neighbour, and 'the feet' natural good, which is the good and truth of faith, see 9913, 9914; and the same kinds of good are meant by 'gold', 'silver', 'bronze', and 'iron', 5658. But for what is meant specifically by 'the head', see 4938, 4939, 5328, 9913, 9914, by 'gold', 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 9510, 9881, by 'the breast', 4938, 4939, 5328, 6436, 9913, 9914, and by 'silver', 1551, 5658, 6914, 6917. From this it is evident what is meant by 'the belly' and 'the side', which are the parts below the breast. But for what 'bronze' means, [see] 425, 1551, 'the feet', 2162, 3147, 3761, 4938-4952, 'iron', 425, 426, and 'clay' or 'mire', 1300, 6669.
[7] From all this it may now be recognized that the members or organs of the human body mean such things as correspond to them in the Grand Man, which is heaven. They all have connection with the good of love and the truth of faith; and because they correspond to these they also correspond to the same realities in the Church, because the Lord's heaven on earth is the Church.
There is a correspondence of the human being and all parts of the human being with the Grand Man, which is heaven; see what has been shown from actual experience at the ends of a number of chapters, in the following places, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 3883-3896, 4039-4051, 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4421, 4527-4533, 4622-4633, 4652-4660, 4791-4805, 4931-4953, 5050-5061, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 5846-5866, 5976-5993, 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6326, 6466-6495.
What correspondence is, 2987-3003, 3213-3227, 3337-3352, 3472-3485.
Fusnotat:
1. i.e. they will become mixed together through intermarriages
Genesis 45
1
Then Joseph couldn't control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, "Cause everyone to go out from me!" No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
2
He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.
3
Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?" His brothers couldn't answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.
4
Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
5
Now don't be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6
For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
7
God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.
8
So now it wasn't you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9
Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, 'This is what your son Joseph says, "God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don't wait.
10
You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children's children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.
11
There I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have."'
12
Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.
13
You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here."
14
He fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
15
He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.
16
The report of it was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, "Joseph's brothers have come." It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
17
Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this. Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan.
18
Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.'
19
Now you are commanded: do this. Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
20
Also, don't concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all of the land of Egypt is yours."
21
The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
22
He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.
23
He sent the following to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way.
24
So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, "See that you don't quarrel on the way."
25
They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.
26
They told him, saying, "Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." His heart fainted, for he didn't believe them.
27
They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived.
28
Israel said, "It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."
