3086. To have any idea at all, even a very general one, of the things contained here in the internal sense, it should be recognized that the whole of this chapter is dealing with Divine truth that was to be joined to Divine Good. That is to say, Divine Good flowed into the natural man, that is, into the facts, cognitions, and matters of doctrine there, for these belong to the natural man insofar as they are in his memory. And by means of that influx, Divine Good brought light and life, and ordered all that was there; for all light, life, and order in the natural man result from influx from the Divine, as anyone may know if he pays the matter any attention. By means of that influx affection comes into being, first of all a general affection for truth, the affection dealt with in these two verses - its origin, in 3077, 3078; its nature, in 3079-3081; and the initial stage of its introduction, in 3082-3084. But the verses that follow directly after them, in the internal sense describe that process further, that is to say, investigation of that truth, and also the separation of the elements received from the mother which had been allied to it first of all, and so on. But I realize that these arcana are too deep to be understood easily, the reason being, as has been stated, that they are not known. Nevertheless since the internal sense describes them, and does so in great detail, what else is to be done but explain them, no matter how much they appear to be beyond human apprehension? At least one may see from this how deep the arcana are within the internal sense of the Word, and also that those arcana are such as to be hardly visible at all in the light of the world which man has during his lifetime, but that they are always seen more clearly and plainly to the extent that he passes from the light of the world into the light of heaven, the light into which he passes after death, and so sees in the light in which blessed and happy souls, that is, angels, dwell.

10272. 'And the altar of incense' means within all things belonging to worship that spring from those forms of good and those truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'the altar of incense' as that which is representative of all things belonging to worship that spring from love and charity coming from the Lord, dealt with in 10177, 10198. The words of explanation speak of that which is representative of the Lord within the different kinds of good and truth, within those that are of service to them, and within all things belonging to worship, because the kinds of good and truth that are being represented are good and true only so far as they have what is Divine and the Lord's within them; for any goodness or truth present with man or angel comes from the Lord. Without life from the Lord within them they are things that are dead, indeed evil as well. For if things do not have their origin in the Lord but in man they look to man and the world, and things which have man and the world as their end in view are essentially evil. For the end in view within a person is central; it is the soul of everything within him. All this shows what should be understood by that which is representative of the Lord within the different kinds of good and truth, and within what is of service to them. By kinds of good and truth which act as servants, forms of good and truth within the natural or external man should be understood; and they are called cognitions and known facts. These are surveyed by the internal man, and from them he chooses supportive ones that are in agreement with the life of his affections, that is, with his love. And since these are for that reason subordinate they are called those that act as servants. There are also forms of good and truth which act in turn as servants to these; they are called known facts derived from sensory impressions. The forms of good and truth present with a person are like families or households, in which there are a householder; sons, daughters, sons-in-law, and daughters-in-law; and servants and maids. The lowest position there is occupied by those things which 'known facts derived from sensory impressions' describes, though at the present day with most people they occupy the highest position.