365. From this it can be established that the rich and the poor alike come into heaven, the one as easily as the other. The belief that the poor enter heaven easily and the rich with difficulty comes from not understanding the Word where the rich and the poor are mentioned. In the Word, those who have an abundance of cognitions of good and truth, thus who are within the Church where the Word is, are meant in the spiritual sense by the "rich"; while those who lack these cognitions, and yet desire them, thus who are outside the Church and where there is no Word, are meant by the "poor". [2] The rich man clothed in purple and fine linen, and cast into hell, means the Jewish nation, which is called rich because it had the Word and had an abundance of cognitions of good and truth therefrom, "garments of purple" signifying cognitions of good, and "garments of fine linen" cognitions of truth.# But the poor man who lay at the rich man's entrance-hall and longed to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, and who was carried by angels into heaven, means the nations that have no cognitions of good and truth and yet desired them (Luke xvi. 19-31). By the rich who were called to a great supper and excused themselves is meant the Jewish nation, and by the poor brought in in their place are meant the nations outside the Church (Luke xiv. 16-24). [3] What is meant by the rich of whom the Lord said:
It is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Matt. xix. 24.
will also be told. By the rich there are meant the rich in both a natural sense and a spiritual sense. In the natural sense the rich are those who have an abundance of riches and set their heart upon them; but in the spiritual sense they are those who have an abundance of cognitions and knowledges, which are spiritual riches, and who desire by means of these to introduce themselves into the things of heaven and the Church from their own intelligence. And because this is contrary to Divine order it is said to be "easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye", a "camel" signifying the faculty of learning and knowing in a general way, and a "needle's eye" signifying spiritual truth.## That such is the meaning of a "camel" and a "needle's eye" is not at present known, because the knowledge that teaches what is signified in the spiritual sense by the things said in the literal sense of the Word has not up to this time been disclosed. In the single things of the Word there is a spiritual sense and also a natural sense; for immediate conjunction having ceased, the Word has been written by pure correspondences of natural things with spiritual things in order that there might be conjunction of heaven with the world, that is, a conjunction of angels with men. This makes clear who in particular are meant in the Word by the "rich man". [4] That the "rich" in the Word mean in the spiritual sense those who are in cognitions of truth and good, and "riches" the cognitions themselves, which are spiritual riches, can be confirmed from various passages (as in Isa. x. 12-14 xxx. 6, 7; xlv. 3; Jer. xvii. 3; xlviii. 7; l. 36, 37; li. 13; Dan. v. 2-4; Ezek. xxvi. 7, 12; xxvii. 1 to the end; Zech. ix. 3, 4; Psalm xlv. 12; Hosea xii. 8; Rev. iii. 7, 8; Luke xiv. 33; and elsewhere). Also that the "poor" in the spiritual sense signify those who do not have cognitions of good and of truth, and yet desire them (Matt. xi. 5; Luke vi. 20, 21; xiv. 21; Isa. xiv. 30; xxix. 19; xli. 17, 18; Zeph. iii. 12, 13). All these passages may be seen explained in accordance with the spiritual sense in ARCANA CAELESTIA (n. 10227). # "Garments" signify truths, thus cognitions (n. 1073, 2576, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536). "Purple" signifies celestial good (n. 9467). "Fine linen" signifies truth from a celestial origin (n. 5319, 9469, 9744). ## A "camel" signifies in the Word the knowing faculty and knowledge in general (n. 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145). What is meant by "needlework", "working with a needle", and therefore by a "needle" (n. 9688). To enter from knowledge into the truths of faith is contrary to Divine order (n. 10236). Those who do this become demented as to the things of heaven and the Church (n. 128-130, 232, 233, 6047). And in the other life, when they think about spiritual things they become as it were drunken (n. 1072). Further about such (n. 196). Examples showing that when spiritual things are entered into through know- ledges they cannot be comprehended (n. 233, 2094, 2196, 2203, 2209). It is permissible to enter from spiritual truth into knowledges which pertain to the natural man, but not the reverse, because there can be spiritual influx into the natural, but not natural influx into the spiritual (n. 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427, 5428, 5478, 6322, 9110). The truths of the Word and of the Church must first be acknowledged, after which it is permissible to consider knowledges, but not before (n. 6047).
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