Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10489

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10489. 'Go to and fro from gate to gate in the camp' means wherever anything lies open from what is internal into what is external. This is clear from the meaning of 'going to and fro' as considering and looking around from one end to the other; from the meaning of 'gate' as an opening, dealt with above in 10483, so that 'from gate to gate' means wherever anything lies open; and from the meaning of 'the camp' as hell, also dealt with above in 10483, thus also what is external, for what is external separated from what is internal constitutes hell in a person. From these meanings it is evident that 'going to and fro from gate to gate in the camp' means considering and looking around wherever that which lies open from what is internal into what is external exists. The implications of this will be stated in the next paragraph. The reason why what is external separated from what is internal constitutes hell in a person is that heaven resides in what is internal in him, as shown above in 10472; consequently what is external when separated from that heaven constitutes hell. All this is made clearer still by the consideration that those who are interested only in external things separated from internal ones are ruled by hellish kinds of love, namely self-love and love of the world. Also the person whose external has been separated from his internal is in actual fact in hell, though he is not aware of it while he lives in the world.


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