4205. 'That I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and that you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm' means the limit which determines how much can flow in from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'passing beyond' here as flowing in; from the meaning of 'a heap' as good, dealt with in 4192; and from the meaning of 'a pillar' as truth, dealt with in 3727, 3728, 4090. It is also clear from the fact that those two objects - a heap and a pillar - stood as a sign or else as a witness, though in this instance they were a sign indicating a limit. Now because a joining together is the subject, there flows from the train of thought the idea - in the internal sense - of a limit determining how much can flow in from good. It has been stated above that the joining together is effected by means of good, and that the inflow of good is determined by the way it is received. But the reception of good depends entirely on truths, truths being the objects into which good flows. For good is the active force and truth the recipient, and therefore all truths are recipient vessels, 4166. And as truths are the vessels into which good flows, truths set the limit to the inflow of good. This is what is meant here by a limit determining how much can flow in from good.
[2] The implications of this are briefly as follows: The truths that a person knows, no matter what kind they may be, enter his memory by means of affection, that is, of some delight that accompanies his love. Without affection or delight accompanying his love nothing is able to enter a person, for it is in these that his life consists. The things which have entered in are reintroduced when a similar delight returns, together with many other things which have allied or joined themselves to them. And in a similar way when the same truth is reintroduced by the individual himself or by somebody else, the affection or delight that accompanied his love when it entered is likewise stimulated, for having been joined together they adhere to one another. From this one may see what the situation is with the affection for truth. Truth which has entered in together with an affection for good is reintroduced when a similar affection returns, as is affection when a similar truth does so. From this it is also evident that no truth together with genuine affection can possibly be implanted and take root interiorly unless the person is governed by good. For a genuine affection for truth has its origins in good, and good stems from love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. This good flows in from the Lord, but does not become fixed within anything apart from truths, for truths receive good as a guest since the two are congenial. From this it is in addition evident that the nature of the truths determines the way in which the good is received. The truths known to gentiles who have led charitable lives with one another are such that in them also good flowing in from the Lord is able to be received as a guest. But so long as they are living in the world their situation is not the same as that with Christians who have truths from the Word and lead spiritually charitable lives based on those truths, see 2589-2604.
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