5962. And he sent his brethren away, and they departed. That this signifies concealment, is evident from the signification of "sending away," as being to remove from himself, consequently to be no more present with them as before; and from the signification of "going" or "departing," as being to live, also to live more remotely, and also to leave (see n. 3335, 3416, 3690, 4882, 5493, 5696); thus it denotes to be concealed. That removal from the internal celestial and thus the concealment of it, is now treated of, is evident from the things which follow in their internal sense. [2] He who does not know how the case is with the state of life of spirits, and of the angels in the heavens, cannot know why the concealment of truth and of good should now be treated of, seeing that just before they had been in the light of these. In heaven this state is that spirits and angels have their morning, midday, and evening, also twilight, and again morning, and so on. It is their morning when the Lord is present and blesses them with manifest happiness: they are then in the perception of good. It is their midday when they are in the light of truths; and it is their evening when they are removed therefrom, and then it appears to them that the Lord is more remote and is hidden from them. All who are in heaven undergo and pass through these alternations, and cannot otherwise be continually perfected, for thereby they have relatives, and from the relatives a more perfect conception, since they thereby know what is not happy, because they thereby know what is not good and what is not true. [3] It is worthy of admiration that to eternity one state is never exactly like another, and also that one spirit and angel does not pass through the like changes of state as another, for the reason that one is not exactly like another in respect to good and truth; just as neither is one man exactly like another in the face. Nevertheless out of these varieties the Lord makes a one. It is a general canon that everyone that has any quality comes forth from various things which are reduced into such unanimity that by agreement of harmony they all appear as a one. In the heavens the unity thus formed, or union, is effected through love and charity (see also n. 3241, 3267, 3744, 3745, 3986, 4005, 4149, 4598). [4] The concealment which is signified by "Joseph's sending his brethren away and their departing," is called in the Word "evening," and occurs with the angels at the times when they do not perceive the Lord to be present; for there is in heaven a continual perception of the Lord. When they are in a state of non-perception they are not then affected with good, neither do they see truth, as before; this troubles them, but shortly afterward the dawn comes, and so the morning.