9051. 'Eye for eye' means if anything is injured by them in the inner part of the understanding. This is clear from the meaning of 'the eye' as the understanding, in this instance the inner part of it, the life of which is the life of faith. A person's understanding has an outer part and an inner part The outer part of his understanding is where thought that enters his awareness is, whereas the inner part is where thought that does not enter his awareness is, though it enters that of the angels. This part of the understanding is what the Lord enlightens when a person receives faith, for it exists in the light of heaven and holds within it a person's spiritual life. This is not made plainly evident to the person while in the world, but it is made so to that person in the next life when he becomes an angel among angels in heaven. In the meanwhile that life lies hidden within the thought belonging to the outer part of the understanding, producing there the holiness and reverence for the Lord, for love and faith in Him, for the Word, and for everything else that is the Church's. The reason why 'the eye' means the understanding is that the eye corresponds to the understanding; for the understanding sees in the light of heaven, but the eye sees in the light of the world. The things that the former eye, that is, the understanding, sees are spiritual, and its field of vision is the factual knowledge contained in the person's memory. But the things which the physical eye sees are earthly, and its field of vision consists in every object that appears in the world. Regarding 'the eye', that in the spiritual sense it means the understanding, and also faith since faith composes the life of the inner part of the understanding, see 2701, 4403-4421, 4523-4534.

[2] Anyone who does not know that 'the eye' is used in the Word to mean the understanding cannot know what the meaning is of the things which the Lord spoke concerning the eye in the Gospels, first of all these,

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the Gehenna of fire. Matthew 5:29; Mark 9:47.

Everyone recognizes that the eye should not be plucked out even if it does cause a person to stumble, and that no one enters the kingdom of God with only one eye. But 'the right eye' means falsity in a person's belief about the Lord; this is what must be plucked out. Then there are these things spoken by the Lord,

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. If your eye is evil your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6:22-23; Luke 11:34.

Nor is 'the eye' used here to mean the eye, but an understanding composed of the truth of faith. This is why the eye is called 'the lamp of the body' and why the Lord says, 'If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!' For 'darkness' in the spiritual sense is falsities constituting faith, 1839, 1860, 4418, 4531, 7688, 7711.

[3] There are these words too spoken by Him,

Why do you notice the speck which is in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank that is in your own eye? Matthew 7:3-5.

'Noticing a speck in a brother's eye' means seeing something erroneous in a person's understanding of truth; 'the plank in one's own eye' is huge evil of falsity, since 'wood' in the internal sense means good and in the contrary sense evil, 643, 2784, 2812, 3720, 8354. Good is also represented in the next life by a plank, which is why those who pretend to have good within themselves are seen carrying a plank, walking in safety as they do so. If 'eye' and 'plank' did not have these meanings, would 'seeing a plank in an eye' have any meaning at all? If it is not known that 'eye' in the Word means the understanding of truth, which is faith, neither can it be known what is implied by the Lord's action when He healed the blind man,

He spat on the ground and made clay with His saliva, and said to him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. John 9:6-7.

Since all the Lord's miracles, like all Divine miracles, had to do with those things that belong to the Lord's kingdom and the Church, 7337, 8364, so did this miracle too.

4403. THE GRAND MAN AND CORRESPONDENCE - continued

IN THIS SECTION CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EYE AND WITH LIGHT

I have also been allowed to become aware of and get to know the character of spirits and which province of the body they belonged to from their position and place in relation to myself, and also from the level they were on, and from how far away they were on that level. Those I saw close to me were for the most part the subordinates of whole communities, for communities send spirits from themselves to other spirits, and through these they perceive others' thoughts and affections, and in this manner communicate with others. But those subordinates so-called, or emissary spirits, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be taken as a separate subject. Concerning them I have made the following observations. Those to be seen over and close to my head are ones who teach and also readily allow themselves to be taught. Those beneath the back of my head are ones who act quietly and with circumspection, and those just away from my back act in a similar yet differing manner to these. Those close to my chest or breast are ones who are moved by charity; those close to the loins ones moved by conjugial love; those close to the feet ones who are natural; and those close to the soles of the feet are more inferior members of this last kind. But those close to my face vary in disposition, that variation being determined by their correspondence with the sensory organs located there. Those close to the nostrils, for example, excel in perception; those close to the ears are the obedient; those close to the eyes are the intelligent and wise; and so on.