7716. 'No man could see his brother' means that they could not perceive the truth of any good. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as understanding and perceiving, dealt with in 2150, 2325, 2807, 3764, 3863, 4407-4421, 4567, 4723, 5400; from the meaning of 'man' as truth, dealt with in 3134; and from the meaning of 'brother' as good, dealt with in 2360, 3303, 3803, 3815, 4121, 5409, 5686, 5692, 6756, and a man linked to his brother as the good of truth, 3459. From these meanings it is evident that 'no man could see his brother' means that they could not perceive the truth of any good.

4407. The eye ranks as the finest organ in the face and communicates more directly with the understanding than any of man's other sensory organs. It is also affected by a more rarefied atmosphere than the ear, and sight also reaches the internal sensorium within the brain by a shorter and more internal route than speech perceived by the ear. This also explains why certain living creatures, lacking the understanding, have two so to speak substitute brains within the orbits of their eyes. For their power of understanding is dependent on their sight, unlike man who has the use of a larger brain, so that his power of understanding is not dependent on his sight but his sight on his power of understanding. It is quite evident that his sight is dependent on his power of understanding from the fact that man's natural affections display themselves in a representative fashion within the face, while his more interior affections which belong to his thought are seen in his eyes, from a kind of burning flame sending out flashes of light expressive of the affection occupying his thought. This is something further which a person can know about and observe even without first learning about it through any kind of systematized knowledge. The reason why such learning is not necessary is that his spirit is in association with spirits and angels in the next life who know it from a clear perception of it. For the truth that everyone as to his spirit is in association with spirits and angels, see 1277, 2379, 3644, 3645.