8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

9832. 'And they shall take the gold' means the good reigning universally. This is clear from the meaning of 'gold' as the good of love, dealt with in 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 9490, 9510. Its reigning universally is meant by the fact that the gold was interwoven everywhere in the ephod, as is clear from what is stated later on in this book,

They beat out ¹ the plates of gold and cut them up into threads, to work in among the violet, and in among the purple, and in among the twice-dyed scarlet, and in among the fine linen. Exodus 39:3.

'Reigning universally' describes that which is dominant and so is present in each individual part, see 5949, 6159, 7648, 8067, 8853-8858, 8865. The reason why the gold was interwoven everywhere was that Aaron's garments represented the spiritual heaven, 9814, and in that heaven good holds sway, as it also does in the remaining heavens. In the inmost heaven it is the good of love to the Lord, in the middle one the good of charity towards the neighbour, and in the lowest the good of faith. The truth however which belongs to faith leads the way to good, and afterwards is brought forth from it. From this it is evident that a person is not in heaven until good is present within him. If merely the knowledge of truths, called the truths of faith, is present in a person he does no more than stand in front of the door; or if, knowing those truths, he is looking towards good he goes through into the porch. But if, in knowing those truths, he is not looking towards good he cannot see heaven, not even from a long way off. The reason for saying that a person is not in heaven until good is present within him is that a person must have heaven within him while in the world if he is to enter it after death. For heaven exists within people; and it is granted in mercy to those who during their life in the world allow themselves to be led by means of the truths of faith into charity towards the neighbour and into love to the Lord, that is, into good. People are not in heaven until they have come into that state in which the Lord leads them by means of good, see 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139. By good is meant the good of life; and the good of life consists in the performance of what is good because there is a will for what is good, and a will for what is good springs from love; for what a person loves, he wills.

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8200. 'And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea' means the exercising of power by God's truth over hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'stretching out the hand' as an exercising of power, dealt with in 7673, 8183; from the representation of 'Moses' as God's truth, dealt with often; and from the meaning of 'the sea', in this case the Sea Suph, as hell, dealt with in 8099, 8137, 8138. ¹ The expression 'the exercising of power by God's truth' is used because God's total power is exercised through the truth that emanates from the Lord. This truth created all things, according to the following in John,

All things were made through the Word, and without Him nothing was made that was made. John 1:3.

'The Word' is the Lord in respect of Divine Truth. Through this Truth all things in heaven and in hell are arranged into order. It is the source of all order on earth too; and all miracles were accomplished through it.

[2] In short, Divine Truth holds all power within itself, so completely that it is power itself. There are some in the next life who possess truth in fuller measure than others. This gives them power which is so great that they can pass through hell without any risk to themselves. At the presence of these people those in hell flee this way and that. There are also some who use the truth from God to exercise power magically. These and the former will be spoken of at the ends of chapters, in which in the Lord's Divine mercy the hells will be the subject. ² People who contemplate the causes of things from the standpoint of external and worldly matters inevitably see the truth from God as something that exists merely on a thought-level and has no real existence beyond that. That truth however is the supreme essential entity from which all things in both worlds - the spiritual world and the natural world - derive their existence.

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