3699. 'And behold, a stairway set up on the earth' means a communication of lowest truth and of good derived from this truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a stairway' as communication, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'the earth' as what is lowest, for immediately after this it is stated that its top reached to heaven, which is the highest point. From this it is evident that a stairway between earth and heaven, or what is lowest and what is highest, is communication. For it is the communication of lowest truth and of good derived from this truth that is meant by 'a stairway set up on the earth', as is evident from the fact that that degree of truth and of good derived from it, which 'Jacob' represents here, is the subject at this point in the internal sense.
[2] In the original language the word for a stairway is derived from a word meaning a pathway or highway, which is used in reference to truth, see 627, 2333. Furthermore when angels are discussing truth their discussion manifests itself representatively in the world of spirits as pathways, see 189, 3477. From this it is evident what 'a stairway' means, one end of which is set up on the earth while the other reaches up to heaven. That is to say, it means a communication of truth in the lowest place with truth in the highest place, a communication dealt with below. For there are lowest truths and goods and highest truths and goods, and degrees of them in between like a stairway, see 3691.
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