7781. 'And all the firstborn of the beasts' means adulterated forms of the good of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'the firstborn' as faith; and from the meaning of 'beast' as affections for good, and in the contrary sense affections for evil, dealt with in 45, 46, 141, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 2179, 2180, 3519, 4724, 5198. Such things come to be meant by 'beasts' from representatives in the next life, 3218; and for that reason also such things were meant by the ones used in sacrifices, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2870, 3519. And because 'beasts' meant these things 'the firstborn of the beasts' therefore means the good of truth, at this point when it had been adulterated since it was with the Egyptians, who perverted all truths and forms of good by applying them to evil purposes.

141. Countless things can be said about the proprium - about what the proprium is like in the case of the bodily-minded and worldly man, what it is like in the case of the spiritual man, and what in the case of the celestial man. With the bodily-minded and worldly man the proprium is his all. He is unaware of anything else but the proprium. And, as has been stated, if he were to lose his proprium he would think that he was dying. With the spiritual man the proprium takes on a similar appearance, for although he knows that the Lord is the life of all, and that He confers wisdom and intelligence, and consequently the ability to think and to act, it is more a matter of something he says and not so much something he believes. The celestial man however acknowledges that the Lord is the life of all, who confers the ability to think and act, because he perceives that this is so. Nor does he ever desire the proprium. Nevertheless even though he does not desire it the Lord grants him a proprium which is joined to him with a complete perception of what is good and true, and with complete happiness. Angels possess a proprium such as this, and at the same time utmost peace and tranquillity, for their proprium has within it things that are the Lord's, who is governing their proprium, that is, governing them by means of their proprium. This proprium is utterly heavenly, whereas the proprium of the bodily-minded man is hellish. But more about the proprium further on.