Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 10029

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10029. And thou shall take all the fat. That this signifies good accommodated, is evident from the signification of "fat" or "fatness," as being good (see n. 5943). It is called "good accommodated," because the subject here treated of is the purification of the external or natural man, and the implantation of truth and good, and thus the conjunction of both there, for these are the things signified by the sacrifices and the burnt-offerings. Therefore by "the fat of the bullock" is here meant good accommodated to the natural or external man, and which can be conjoined with the truth there; for truth must be accommodated to its good, and good to its truth, because they must be a one. Be it also known that the truth and good in the natural or external man differ from the truth and good in the internal man, as do what is exterior and what is interior, or what is lower and what is higher, or what is the same, what is posterior and what is prior. The truth in the natural is memory-knowledge, and the good there is the delight of this, both of which are perceptible to man while he is in the world, for when they are thought of they are seen. But the truth in the internal man is not memory-knowledge that is seen, but is truth implanted in its intellectual part; and the good there also is not perceptible, because it is implanted in the will part-both in the man's interior life, in which truth is of faith, and good is of love. Such is the difference between the truth and good in the internal or spiritual man, and the truth and good in the external or natural man. The implantation and conjunction of the latter is signified by the sacrifice from the bullock, but the implantation and conjunction of the former, by the burnt-offering from the ram (of which below in this chapter). From all this it is evident what is meant by "accommodated good," which is signified by "the fat from the bullock."


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