Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1435

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1435. 'And all the acquisitions that they had acquired' means all truths that have been learned through the senses. This is clear from what has been stated already. Every fact from which a person thinks is called 'an acquisition'. Until he has acquired such facts nobody can as a human being possess a single idea comprising thought. Such ideas are based on sensory impressions contained in the memory. Facts therefore are the vessels for spiritual things, while affections that are the product of bodily pleasures that are good are the vessels for celestial things. All of these are called 'acquisitions', and indeed those acquired 'in Haran', by which is meant an obscure state like that of infancy through to childhood.


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