10580. 'And Jehovah said, Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock' means a state of faith in God. This is clear from the meaning of 'a place' as a state, dealt with in 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381, 9440, 9967, 10146; and from the meaning of 'the rock' as faith, dealt with in 8581, 10438, the reason why a state of faith in God is meant being that the words 'a place by Me' are used. No one can know except from the internal sense that this is the meaning of these words, thus unless he knows what it is that 'a place' means and what it is that 'the rock' means in that sense. But for the internal sense what would the declaration that there was a place by Jehovah on the rock mean? It would mean that Jehovah dwelt there and was providing Moses a place by Him; but in fact Jehovah dwells in heaven among angels, and in the Church among people. The meaning of 'the rock' as faith has its origin in the things that appear in the next life; those ruled by faith dwell there on rocks, but those governed by love dwell on mountains. The rocks there are stony in appearance; but not so the mountains, because they are raised up masses of earth. This is where the meaning of 'the rock' as faith comes from.

9967. THE SECOND PLANET OUT IN SPACE WHICH I HAVE SEEN

Afterwards I was taken by the Lord to a planet in the universe which was further away from ours than the first dealt with at the ends of several foregoing chapters. I was allowed to know that it was further away by the fact that it took two days to convey me there as to my spirit. This planet lay to the left, but the first to the right. Lying further away in the next life is not due to spatial remoteness but to difference of state, which however produces there the appearance of a spatial remoteness, in accord with what has been stated previously in 9440. From the time therefore that it took to get there, which was two days, as has just been said, I was able to deduce that the state of the interiors with those people, that is, the state of affections and consequent thoughts, was in like measure different from the state of the interiors that exists with spirits from our planet. And since I was conveyed there as to my spirit by means of changes of the state of the interiors I was allowed to note the actual changes taking place one after another before arrival there. This happened when I was wide awake.