5975. 'I will go and see him before I die' means the desire to be joined before what is new comes in. This is clear from the meaning of 'going and seeing' as being joined together (the reason 'seeing' is being joined together is that in the spiritual world inward seeing joins people together. Inward seeing is thought, and when in a community there many act as one, and also in organized groups, what one person thinks is also what another thinks, so that thought links them together. In addition, when someone thinks about another person, that person becomes present with him, so that again thought joins them together. Here is the reason why 'going and seeing' means a joining together; and the desire for such a joining together flows from the joy referred to immediately above in 5974); and from the meaning of 'before I die' as before what is new, that is to say, a new phase in representation comes in. For in the Word representatives succeed one another in the following way: When one person dies, then either the same representation is continued through another person or else a different representation, thus what is new comes in, a subject dealt with in 3253, 3259, 3276. When for example Abraham died, there followed a representative through Isaac; when he died, a representative through Jacob; and when he too died, a representative through his descendants. This new situation is what is meant here.