Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3971one who obeys what faith dictates, receives. In this instance it isnonreception, because it is said, “ye would not hearken.”5476. And moreover behold his blood is searched for. That thissignifies the stings of conscience thence is evident from thesignification of “blood” as being violence offered to good or tocharity (see n. 374, 1005). When this violence or this blood issearched for, it causes internal anxiety, which is called stings ofconscience; but this is the case only with those who have been inanxiety when they sinned (n. 5470).5477. And they knew not that Joseph heard them. That thissignifies that from the natural light in which those truths are it isnot believed that all things appear from spiritual light is evidentfrom the representation of the sons of Jacob, who “knew not,” asbeing the truths of the external church, thus truths in the natural(of which often before), whence follows the signification that fromthe natural light in which these truths are it is not believed; andfrom the representation of Joseph as being the celestial of thespiritual, which is in spiritual light. That from this light appear thetruths in the natural is signified by “Joseph’s hearing them”; for “tohear” signifies both to obey and to perceive (see n. 5017), thus thatthe truths in the natural appeared from spiritual light, but not theconverse.[2] In regard to natural light and spiritual light the case is this:natural light is from the sun of the world, and spiritual light is fromthe sun of heaven, which is the Lord. All the truths of faith thatman learns from infancy are apprehended by means of such objectsand derivative ideas as are from the light of the world, thus all andeach are apprehended naturally; for all the ideas of man’s thought,so long as he lives in the world, are founded upon such things as arein the world; and therefore if these were taken away from him, histhought would utterly perish. The man who has not beenregenerated is wholly ignorant that there is spiritual light, or eventhat there is in heaven a light that has nothing in common with thelight of the world, still less does he know that it is this light thatenlightens the ideas and objects which are from the light of the