Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1012

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1012. The literal sense of the words 'whoever sheds man's blood in man, his blood shall be shed' implies someone shedding another' s blood, whereas the internal sense does not imply another's blood but the charity residing with oneself. Hence also the wording 'man's blood in man'. Sometimes when the literal sense refers to two people, only one person is meant in the internal sense. 'Man within man' is the internal man, and therefore whoever destroys charity which belongs to the internal man, or is the internal man himself, 'his blood shall be shed', that is, he condemns himself.


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