9286. 'Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year' means enduring worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of deliverance from damnation. This is clear from the meaning of 'keeping a feast' or 'holding a feast' as worshipping the Lord with gladness of mind on account of deliverance from damnation, dealt with in 7093; and from the meaning of 'three times in the year' as a state complete right to its end, for 'three' means complete from the beginning to the end, 2788, 4495, 7715, 9198, and 'year' a whole period, 2906, 7839, 8070. At this point therefore complete and whole deliverance is meant; for 'the feast of unleavened bread' means purification from falsities, 'the feast of harvest' means the planting of truth in good, and 'the feast of ingathering' means the implanting of good from there. Thus complete deliverance from damnation is meant by these feasts; for when a person has been purified from falsities, and after this has been brought by means of truths into good, and is at length governed by good, he is in heaven with the Lord and has accordingly undergone complete deliverance.

[2] The consecutive stages of deliverance from damnation are like the consecutive stages of regeneration; for regeneration is deliverance by the Lord from hell and being led by Him into heaven. For a person who is being regenerated is first purified from falsities, after that the truths of faith he knows are planted in the good of charity, and finally that good itself is implanted in him. When all this has been done the person has been regenerated and he is then in heaven with the Lord. Therefore the three feasts in the year also meant worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of regeneration. Because these feasts were established on account of the everlasting remembrance of those things, the worship and thanksgiving are called enduring; for the most important things in worship should endure forever. The things which should endure forever are those which have been inscribed not only on the memory but also on the actual life that is led. When this is so they are said to reign universally with a person, see 5949, 6159, 6571, 8853-8858, 8865.

5949. 'For the good of all the land of Egypt is yours' means that which in the natural mind is of primary importance to them. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301, 'the good' of all that land meaning that which is of primary importance. These words are also used to mean that if they show no concern for instruments, only for essentials, they will have instruments in abundance. For example, if concern is shown for truths they will have in abundance factual knowledge, which is 'the good of the land of Egypt'; and in a similar way, if concern is shown for good, they will have truths in abundance. Concern does indeed need to be shown for factual knowledge, and for truths also; but they must look to good as their end in view. If a person has his eye on good as that end, he catches sight of what comes out of it, that is, he has a perception of the things that originate in it - a perception that by no means exists unless good is kept as the end in view, that is, unless this end reigns without exception in every single thing.

[2] It is like body and soul. A person should be thoroughly concerned about his body, that it should be fed, clothed, and enjoy worldly pleasures. Yet his concern for all these things should be not for his body's sake but for his soul's; that is to say, his concern should be that his soul may act in a harmonious and proper fashion within a healthy body, so that the body as its organ may respond in perfect obedience to it. Thus the soul must be the end. Yet the soul must not be the final end, only an intermediate one. For a person must be concerned about his soul not for its own sake but for the services it must perform in both worlds. When a person has those services as his end in view he has the Lord as his end; for the Lord fits him for those services and oversees them.

[3] Since few know what having something as one's end in view entails, this too must be stated. Having something as one's end in view is loving it above all else; for what a person loves he has as his end. What a person has as his end is easily recognizable, since it reigns in every part of him. Thus it is present constantly, even when it seems to him that he is giving no thought at all to it; for it resides within and composes his inner life, and thus secretly governs every single part of him. Take for example someone who at heart honours his parents. That honour is present in every single deed done when in their presence and in what he thinks about them when absent from them. It is also noticeable in his gestures and speech. So also with someone who at heart fears and honours God. That fear and honour of Him is present with each of his thoughts, words, and actions because it is contained within them. It is there even when it does not seem to be present, as when he is occupied with affairs quite remote from such fear and honour of Him; for it reigns everywhere, thus in every individual aspect of him. That which reigns in a person is clearly discernible in the next life, for the sphere of his entire life that emanates from him originates in it.

[4] From this one may now see how one is to understand the idea that a person should always have God before his eyes. It does not mean that he has to be thinking about Him all the time but that a fear or love of Him should reign everywhere in him; then in every individual aspect of himself he has God before his eyes. When this is so, that person does not think, speak, or do what is contrary and unpleasing to Him; or if he does, then what reigns everywhere in him and lies concealed within him comes out and warns him.