6110. 'For the famine was extremely serious' means desolation. This is clear from the meaning of 'famine' as an absence of good and of cognitions, dealt with in 1460, 3364, 5277, 5279, 5281, 5300, 5579, 5893, so that 'the famine was extremely serious' is desolation, 5360, 5376, 5415, 5576. As regards desolation, it should be recognized that truths and forms of good, together with cognitions of them, compose the spiritual life of those who are in heaven. They are the celestial and spiritual foods that nourish them; and these foods are given them every day by the Lord. When it is morning with them forms of good are supplied, and when it is midday truths are supplied; but when evening comes they lack them, and continue to lack them until it is twilight and then morning again. Their yearning when they lack them remains so strong that their desire for them is greater than starving people's desire for food on earth. This state is meant by 'the famine' and it is a kind of desolation, though not the kind experienced by those on the lower earth, 698, 699, 1106-1113.

[2] Scarcely anyone in the world can believe that the angelic heaven can have so great a yearning for truths and forms of good, and for cognitions of them. For people whose minds are set on nothing else than gain and glory, and who are given up to worldly pleasures, will be amazed to learn that those things constitute angelic life. 'What use they will say 'are cognitions of goodness and truth to me? What life can they give me? The things that bring me life and my life's delight are wealth, position, and worldly pleasures!' But let those who speak like this know that the life these things bring is that of the body, not that of the soul, and that the former kind of life perishes along with the body, whereas the latter kind remains for ever. Let them also know that people are ill-advised if while in the world they do not give any thought to spiritual life.

[3] Further as regards desolation, it exists on account of the yearning; for forms of good and truth are accepted in the measure that they are yearned for, and when the desires created by the yearning are fulfilled they produce feelings of happiness and bliss. In the next life therefore those who pass through desolation are refreshed immediately afterwards and realize their desires; everyone there is made more perfect by means of such alternating experiences. It is a fact worthy of note that the changing times of day in the natural world - morning, midday, evening, night, and morning again - are wholly representative of the changes that take place in the spiritual world, yet with one difference. The changes that occur in the spiritual world have an effect on the understanding and the will, establishing in them the basic elements of life, whereas the changes that occur in the world have an effect on and sustain things of the body.

[4] What is even more noteworthy is the fact that it is not the Lord who brings on the shades of evening and the darkness of night but those characteristics of angels, spirits, or men that are entirely their own. For the Lord as the Sun shines and flows in constantly; but because the evils and falsities that spring from what is his own are present in a man, spirit, or angel, they turn and direct him away from the Lord. In so doing they bring him into the shades of evening, and lead the wicked into the darkness of night. It is similar to the way things are with the sun in our world. It shines and flows in constantly, but the earth by rotating on its axis turns away from the sun and brings itself into shade and darkness.

[5] These features of the natural world come about because the natural world comes into being from the spiritual world and is also kept in being from there, as a consequence of which the entire natural system is a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, 3483, 4939. The purpose served by the changes that take place in the spiritual world is that all who are in heaven may constantly become more perfect. Such changes exist in the natural world for the same reason, for if they did not occur everything there would perish because of drought.

[6] It should be recognized however that in heaven there is no night, only evening, which is followed by the twilight that comes before morning; but in hell there is night. Changes take place there also, but they are of a contrary nature to those in heaven. In hell morning is the heat of evil desires, midday is the itch of false ideas, evening is anxiety, and night is torment. But through all these changes night predominates; merely variations of shade and darkness are what bring about those changes. In addition to this it should be recognized that in the spiritual world the changes which take place are not the same with one person as they are with another, also that the changes there do not divide into regular periods of time because they are variations of state that produce those changes. For instead of the periods of time that occur in the natural world there are states in the spiritual world, 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 4814, 4916, 4882, 4901.

5576. 'And the famine grew more serious' means the desolation resulting from the dearth of spiritual things. This is clear from the meaning of 'the famine' as an absence of cognitions of goodness and truth, dealt with in 3364, 5277, 5279, 5181, 5300, and the consequent desolation, 5360, 5376, 5415. And because desolation can arise from a shortage and consequent dearth of spiritual realities, 'the famine' has this meaning too. A famine in the spiritual world or heaven is not a hunger for [bodily] food, for angels do not feed on material food, which is the food for that body which a person carries around in the world. Rather it is a hunger for the kind of food that nourishes their minds, and this, which is called spiritual food, consists in understanding what is true and in having a wise discernment of what is good. And what is amazing, angels are nourished with this food.

[2] This has been made clear to me by the fact that after young children, who have died as young children, have been furnished in heaven with truths that are the constituents of intelligence and with forms of good that are the essence of wisdom, they no longer look like young children but adults, increasingly so as goodness and truth increase with them. The nourishment of angels by spiritual food has also been made clear to me by the fact that they have a constant desire for those things that are the constituents of intelligence and wisdom. At their eveningtime, that is, when they pass through a state in which they lack what they desire, that state compared with other states holds no happiness for them. In that state there is nothing that they hunger and long for more than a new dawning of morning light upon them and their return to the life filled with happiness that comes with intelligence and wisdom.

[3] It may also be seen by anyone who stops to reflect on the matter that understanding what is true and desiring what is good constitute spiritual food. If someone who is enjoying material food that serves to nourish the body is at the same time in a cheerful state of mind and is engaged in conversation about the kinds of things that accord with that state of mind, the material food for the body becomes all the more nourishing. This is an indication of the existence of a correspondence between spiritual food, which feeds the soul, and material food, which feeds the body. The same is clear in addition from the experience of someone who has the desire to furnish his mind with ideas that constitute knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. If he is denied these he begins to feel sad and distressed, and like somebody in time of famine he has the desire to return to his spiritual food and so to the nourishment of his soul.

[4] It may also be seen from the Word that spiritual food is what nourishes the soul in the way material food nourishes the body, as in Moses,

Man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every utterance of the mouth of Jehovah. Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4.

In general 'utterance of the mouth of Jehovah' is the Divine Truth which goes forth from the Lord, and so is every truth contained in wisdom; specifically it is the Word, the foundation and source of ideas constituting wisdom. And in John,

Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:17.

This 'food' is clearly the truth that is contained in wisdom and that goes forth from the Lord.

[5] From this one may also recognize what is meant by these words of the Lord recorded in the same chapter,

My flesh is truly food, and My blood truly is drink. John 6:55.

That is to say, 'the Lord's flesh' is Divine Good, 3813, and 'His blood' Divine Truth, 4735. For now that the Lord has made His Human completely Divine, His 'flesh' is nothing else than Divine Good, and His 'blood' nothing else than Divine Truth. One has to understand that in the Divine there is nothing material; therefore in the highest sense, that is, where it has reference to the Lord, 'food' is the Good of Divine Love directed towards the salvation of the human race. This food is also the kind that is meant by the Lord's words in John,

Jesus said to the disciples, I have food to eat of which you do not know. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. John 4:32, 34.

'Doing the will of Him who sent Me, and finishing His work' is saving the human race; and the Divine attribute which motivates this is Divine Love.

From all this one may now see what is meant in the spiritual sense by 'the famine'.