3030. 'Perhaps the woman is not willing to go after me to this land' means doubt in the natural man as to whether that affection was separable. This is clear from the meaning of 'the woman' as truth, here truth from the natural, that was to be joined to the Divine good of the Rational, though as all joining together is effected by means of affection, as stated above in 3024, 'the women' accordingly means the affection for that truth; and from the meaning of 'going after me', or following, 'to this land' as being separated from the natural and joined to the Rational, for 'land' here, as above in 3026, means the good of love which belongs to the Rational. The fact that doubt is meant may be seen from the remark 'perhaps she is not willing to'. From what has been stated above one may see what is embodied in these words and those that follow to verse 8, and beyond that. Yet to make them even more intelligible let a little more be stated here.

[2] The genuine rational derives its being from good but its manifestation from truth. Good flows in by an internal route, but truth by an external route. In this manner good joins itself in the rational to truth and causes it to be the rational. Unless good is joined there to truth it is not the rational, even though it may seem to be because of the person's ability to reason, 1944. This is the normal way in which the rational is formed with man.

[3] Now because the Lord was born like any other, and was willing to be taught like any other, He was also willing in a like manner to make His Rational Divine, that is to say, to make it Divine as regards good through influx from His Divine by the internal route, and as regards truth through influx by the external route. The Rational was therefore so formed as regards good that it was in a state ready to receive truth. (That forming is meant by the opening words of this chapter, 'Abraham, being old, was advanced in years, and Jehovah blessed Abraham in all things', namely, when the state was reached for the Lord's Human to become Divine, and all things had been re-arranged by the Lord into Divine order, see 3016, 3017.) And there now follows the consideration that truth was to be joined to the good of the Rational. And this, as has been stated, was effected in the normal way, that is, by means of facts and cognitions summoned from the natural man.

[4] The good itself of the rational which is formed by the internal route is the ground itself, while truth is the seed that is to be sown in the ground. The genuine rational is born in no other way. So that the Rational might be formed in the same way in the Lord and be made Divine by His own power, the Lord came into the world and was willing to be born like any other. Otherwise he could have assumed a human presence without being born at all as He had done on many occasions in ancient times when He had appeared to men. These are the considerations contained in this chapter, namely the following: The way in which truth was summoned from the natural man to be joined to the good of the rational; and - since the good there was Divine - the truth there was to become Divine too. To man, especially to one who does not know that the rational is anything distinct and separate from the natural and who therefore does not know that the rational is formed by consecutive stages, by means of cognitions, all of this is so utterly obscure as to be unintelligible to him. But to those who do know something about the rational and the natural man, and have some enlightenment, such considerations are among those that are quite easy to grasp. And angels see them plainly as if in broad daylight. To gain some idea of them, see the following points that have been stated and shown already:

As to truth the rational is formed through influx into knowledge and cognitions, 1495, 1563, 1900, 1964.

It is not born from knowledge and cognitions but from the affection for these, 1895, 1900.

Knowledge and cognitions are merely vessels for good, 1469, 1496.

Empty facts have to be destroyed, 1489, 1492, 1499, 1500.

In the rational the affection for good is present as the soul within the affection for truth, 2072.

What the affection for rational truth and for factual truth are, 2503.

By means of cognitions the external man is joined to the internal man, that is, the rational man to the natural man, when cognitions are implanted in the celestial things of love and charity, 1450, 1451, 1453, 1616.

995. 'Will be food for you' means the accompanying delight which people were to enjoy. This becomes clear from the fact that any pleasure not only stirs a person's emotion but also sustains him, like food. Pleasure without delight is not pleasure but something lifeless. It is from the delight that a pleasure has its being and gets its name. The nature of the delight however determines that of the pleasure. In themselves things of the body and of the senses are wholly material, lifeless and dead; but from the delights that spring from interior things ranged in order they receive life. From this it is clear that the nature of the life of interior things determines the nature of the delight inherent in pleasures, for delight has life within it. No other kind of delight has life except that which contains good from the Lord, for in that case it does so from the life of good itself. Hence the wording here - 'every creeping thing that is living will be food for you', that is, will be an enjoyment. Some people are of the opinion that anyone who wishes to be happy in the next life ought never to indulge in bodily and sensory pleasures, but ought to renounce all such things. They say that such bodily and worldly pursuits are what deter and withhold men from spiritual and heavenly life. But people who think in this way and who willingly reduce themselves during their lifetime to a miserable standard of living are ill-informed of the truth of the matter.

[2] Nobody is in any way forbidden to enjoy bodily and sensory pleasures, namely the pleasures of possessing land and wealth; the pleasures of positions of honour and of service to the state; the pleasures of conjugial love, and of love of infants and children; the pleasures of friendship and of social intercourse; the pleasures of the ear - the sweet sounds of music and song; the pleasures of seeing - things of beauty, which are manifold, such as nice clothes, attractive homes together with their furniture, beautiful gardens, and things of a like nature which as they blend together give delight; pleasures of smell - the pleasant odours; pleasures of taste - all the delicious and nourishing qualities of food and drink; and the pleasures of touch. Indeed, as stated, all of these are most external or bodily affections having their origin in interior affections.

[3] Interior affections, which are living, all derive their delight from good and truth, while good and truth derive theirs from charity and faith, and these in turn do so from the Lord, and so from Life itself. This is why affections and pleasures from this source are living. And because that is where genuine pleasures have their origins they are in no way denied to anybody. Indeed when this is their source, the delight that accompanies them is immeasurably greater than delight that is not from that source. The latter delight in comparison is filthy. Take for example the pleasure that goes with conjugial love; when its origins lie in truly conjugial love it is immeasurably greater than the pleasure that is not from that source - indeed, so much greater that people who dwell in truly conjugial love dwell in delight and happiness such as is heavenly, since it comes down from heaven. People also who belonged to the Most Ancient Church declared the same. The delight which adulterers gain from acts of adultery was to those people so detestable that even the thought of it filled them with horror. This makes clear the nature of any delight that does not come down from the true fount of life, which is the Lord.

[4] That the pleasures mentioned above are in no way denied anyone - indeed, far from being denied they are for the first time pleasures when they flow from their true origin - is also made clear by the fact that very many people who during their lifetime had power, position, and wealth, and enjoyed in abundance all pleasures of the body and the senses, are now in heaven among the blessed and happy. And with them now interior delights and happiness are living because they have had their origin in goods that stem from charity and in truths of faith in the Lord. And since these have originated in charity and faith in the Lord, they have looked upon all their pleasures from the point of view of use, which has been their end in view. To them the use itself has been exceedingly delightful, and from this has come the delight inherent in their pleasures. See what has been stated from experience in 945.