863. 'Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made means a further state when the truths of faith appeared to him. This becomes clear from the final words of the previous verse, which state that 'the tops of the mountains appeared'. It becomes clear from the meaning of those words, and also from the meaning of 'a window', dealt with already in 655, as that which constitutes the understanding part of the mind, or what consequently amounts to the same, the truth of faith. It becomes clear too from the fact that this is the first glimmer of light. The same observation made already about that which constitutes the understanding part, namely the truth of faith, being meant by 'a window must be made here. It is this: No truth of faith can possibly exist unless it originates in good stemming from love or charity, just as nothing that truly constitutes the understanding exists unless it comes from the will. Take away the will and no understanding exists, as shown several times already. Take away charity therefore and no faith exists. But because man's will is nothing else than evil desire the Lord has miraculously taken steps to prevent that which constitutes the understanding part, which is the truth of faith, being immersed in his evil desire, and has separated the understanding part of man's mind from the will part by means of a certain go-between, namely conscience, to which charity is added by the Lord. Without this miraculous provision nobody could ever have been saved.

8876. 'Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons' means the consequent propagation of falsity from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'visiting the iniquity of the fathers' as the propagation of evils, the reason why 'visiting' means propagating being that the subject is the state of those who completely reject the Divine, therefore who are receptive no longer of good but of evil, and constantly so since evil is constantly increasing with such people, which is the propagation of it (for the meaning of 'father' as good and in the contrary sense as evil, see 3703, 5902, 6050, 7833, 7834); and from the meaning of 'the sons' as truths, dealt with in 1147, 2623, 3373, and therefore in the contrary sense as falsities In the proximate sense 'visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons' does not mean that sons pay the penalty for the iniquity of their fathers, for that is contrary to the Divine, Deuteronomy 24:16. Rather the meaning in that sense is that evil increases with the fathers and so is passed on by heredity to their children, and that consequently the evil mounts up over successive generations, 2910, 3701, 4317, 8550, 8551. In the spiritual sense however 'the fathers' does not mean fathers but evils, and 'the sons' does not mean sons but falsities; therefore those words mean the constant propagation of falsity from evil.