5202. 'And behold, seven other cows were coming up after them out of the river' means falsities belonging to the natural which are also at the boundary. This is clear from the meaning of 'cows' as the truths belonging to the natural, dealt with just above in 518, so that in the contrary sense 'cows' means falsities (for most things in the Word have a contrary meaning that can be recognized from the genuine one, and therefore since truths of a natural kind are meant by 'cows' in the genuine sense, falsities of the same kind, thus falsities within the natural, are meant in the contrary sense); and from the meaning of 'the river' as the boundary, also dealt with above, in 5196, 5197. The presence of those falsities at the boundary is also evident from the use of the words 'came up out of the river', for coming or going up is used in reference to an advance made from what is exterior towards things that are interior, 3084, 4579, 4969.

[2] The implications of this, since it forms the subject in what follows, must be stated here. The previous chapter dealt with the exterior natural, with the fact that some impressions were the kind that belonged to the understanding while others were the kind that belonged to the will. The former were accepted, but the latter were cast aside. Impressions such as belonged to the understanding were represented by 'the cupbearer', and those such as belonged to the will by 'the baker'. Also, because the kind belonging to the understanding were accepted, they were also made subordinate to the internal natural. These were the matters that were dealt with in the previous chapter, in which the first stage in the rebirth of the natural is described.

[3] In the present chapter however the subject is the influx of the celestial of the spiritual into the impressions in the natural which were retained, that is to say, the impressions belonging to the understanding part there, which are meant now by 'the cows beautiful in appearance and fat-fleshed'. But as the natural cannot undergo any rebirth solely so far as ideas belonging to the understanding are concerned, desires belonging to the will must also be involved; for every individual part of the natural, to be anything at all, must include some element belonging to the understanding and at the same time another element belonging to the will. But because the will element that was present previously has been cast aside a new one must therefore enter in to replace it. This new element is received from the celestial of the spiritual which, together with its influx into the natural, is the subject in the present chapter. What the natural is like in this state is described in the internal sense - a state in which the truths there have been banished by falsities, so that the natural has been left exposed to the celestial of the spiritual. These are the considerations that are meant by the devouring of the good cows by the bad cows and the swallowing up of the full heads of grain by the empty ones, and after this by Joseph's making provision for all the land of Egypt. But in the Lord's Divine mercy more regarding these matters will be stated in what follows.

[4] They are, what is more, the kind of considerations that scarcely fall within the area of light within the human understanding, for they are the arcana of regeneration which in themselves are countless but about which a person knows barely anything at all. The person with whom good is present is undergoing rebirth every moment, from earliest childhood to the final stage of his life in the world, and after that for ever. This is happening to him not only interiorly but also exteriorly; and this rebirth involves processes that are amazing. They are processes which for the most part constitute angelic wisdom, and that wisdom, as is well known, is indescribable, embracing such things as ear has not heard, nor eye seen, and such as have never entered man's thought. ¹ The internal sense deals with such matters and so is suited to angelic wisdom; and when this sense passes into the sense of the letter it becomes suited to human wisdom, and in an unseen way it stirs the affections of those who, motivated by good, have the desire to know truths received from the Word.

Fusnotat:

9394. 'And put it in bowls' means present with a person, in the things forming his memory. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowls' as the things which form the memory. The reason why 'bowls' are things forming the memory is that vessels in general mean known facts, 1469, 1496, 3068, 3079, and known facts are nothing other than things forming the memory. Consequently 'bowls' here are the kinds of things forming the memory which hold within themselves God's truths, meant in general by 'blood'. What known facts are in relation to the truths and forms of the good of life with a person must be stated briefly. All the things which are learned and stored in the memory, from where they can be called forth before the sight of the understanding, are called known facts. In themselves they are things which constitute the understanding part of the natural or external man. Since known facts include items of knowledge concerning inner realities, or cognitions, they serve the sight of the internal or rational man as a sort of mirror. For they then become things that can be seen by the internal man, just as fields full of plants, flowers, and various kinds of crops and trees, or as gardens adorned with various things growing there for use and to delight the senses, are accustomed to be seen in the material world by the external man. But internal sight, which is the understanding, sees in the fields or gardens of things forming the memory only those which are in keeping with the loves that govern a person, and which are also in agreement with the chief ideas he loves.

[2] Those therefore who are governed by self-love and love of the world see only such things as agree with those loves. They call them truths and also by means of illusions and appearances make them like truths. And they go on to see such things as accord with the chief ideas they have adopted and love because they themselves are the author of them. From this it is evident that known facts and cognitions, which are the things forming the memory, serve people governed by those two loves as the means to lend support to falsities against truths and evils against forms of good, and so as the means to destroy the Church's truths and forms of good. So it is that the learned who are like this are less sane than simple people; privately they reject the existence of God, providence, heaven, hell, life after death, and the truths of faith. This is transparently evident from the learned of the present-day European world who are in the next life, where a huge number of them are atheists at heart. For in the next life people's hearts speak and not their lips. From all this it is now clear what use it is to which cognitions and known facts are put by those whose thoughts are ruled by delights belonging to self-love and love of the world.

[3] But it is altogether different with those who are governed by delights belonging to heavenly loves, which are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Because they are guided in their thinking by the Lord through heaven, they see and select in the fields and gardens of the things forming their memory only those which are in agreement with the delights belonging to those loves and which are in agreement with their Church's teachings that they love. For these people the things that form the memory are like the paradise gardens of heaven; they are also represented and in the Word are meant by paradise gardens, see 3220.

[4] Furthermore it should be recognized that when known facts or things in the memory become part of a person's life they fade from his exterior memory, in the same way as other things normally do when continual practice or habit makes them spontaneous and instinctive so to speak - the way he carries himself and acts, the things he speaks, contemplates, and intends, and in general all his thoughts and affections. But no other facts become part of the person's life except those which enter into and give form to the delights that belong to his loves, thus those which enter his will. On these matters see what has been stated and shown in 8853-8858; and regarding the exterior memory, which belongs to the body, and the interior memory, which belongs to its spirit, 2469-2494.

[5] The reason why known facts are vessels, and in the Word are meant by every type of vessel, such as bowls, cups, waterpots, and the like, is that each known fact is a kind of general container holding particular and specific truths that accord with their general container. Such general containers in the Word have been arranged into series and so to speak into bundles; and these bundles and series have in turn been so set in order that they resemble the form that heaven takes, thus are set in order from most specific truths to most general ones. An idea of such series can be gained from the series and bundles of muscular tissue in the human body. Each bundle there consists of a number of motor fibres, and each motor fibre consists of blood vessels and nerve fibres. Each bundle of muscular tissue too, which taken as a whole is called a muscle, is enveloped in its own outer covering which sets it apart from others; and the same is so for the smaller bundles within, called motor fibres. Yet all the muscles and motor fibres within them, which are present in the whole body, have been so set in order that they may co-ordinate with one another to act in whatever way the will pleases; and they do so in a manner that surpasses all understanding. The situation is similar with known facts in the memory. These in a similar way are aroused and made to act by that which is the delight of a person's love, that is, of his will, but through the instrumentality of the understanding part. What has become part of a person's life, that is, what has become part of his will or love, is that which arouses them. For the inner man always has these things in his field of vision and takes delight in them to the extent that they are in agreement with his loves. And whatever enters fully into those loves, becoming spontaneous and so to speak instinctive, fades from the external memory but remains ingrained in the internal memory from which it can never be blotted out. This is how known facts become part of life.

[6] From all this it is also evident that known facts are as it were the vessels that belong to the interior man's life, and that this is why known facts are meant by various types of vessels, and in the present instance by 'bowls'. The same is meant by 'vessels' and 'bowls' in Isaiah,

I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, so that he may be a throne of glory to his father's house; and on him they may hang all the glory of the house of his father, sons, and grandsons, every small vessel - from the vessels of bowls even to all the vessels of stringed instruments. Isaiah 22:23-24.

This refers in the internal and representative sense to the Lord's Divine Human, declaring that all truths and forms of good from first to last come through Him and from Him. Factual knowledge of truth of a celestial type is meant by 'the vessels of bowls', and factual knowledge of truth of a spiritual type by 'the vessels of stringed instruments'. And in Zechariah,

On that day there will be on the horses' bells, Holiness to Jehovah. And the pots in the house of Jehovah will be as the bowls before the altar. Zechariah 14:20.

'The horses' bells' stands for factual knowledge of truth which comes from an enlightened understanding, 2761, 2762, 5321; and 'the bowls before the altar' stands for factual knowledge of good. Similar knowledge is meant by 'the bowls of the altar' at Exodus 27:3; 38:3.