Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9912

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9912. 'The whole from violet' means through an inflow from the good of the celestial kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'violet' as the celestial love of truth, dealt with in 9466, which is the good of mutual love, the good of mutual love being the external good of the celestial kingdom. (The kinds of good that exist in the heavens proceed in order from inmost ones to outermost; and in the order in which they proceed they also flow in, for to proceed is to flow in. In what order those kinds of good proceed, see 9873.) That good is the one which flows into the internal good of the spiritual kingdom, which is meant by 'the robe'; from there springs the good of this kingdom, which is the good of charity towards the neighbour. This then is why the robe, the whole of it, consisted of violet. The nature of the inflow of the kinds of good into one another is such that none which is indeed good can exist unless it has within itself a more internal kind of good from which it proceeds; the more internal from which it proceeds constitutes its essence. So it is that this internal good comes to be present in that which follows it, almost as the soul is present in its body. The description 'that which follows' refers to that which proceeds from the other more internal good. The fact that the good of charity towards the neighbour proceeds from the good of mutual love, which is the prior or more internal good, has been shown several times. The good of mutual love is the external good of innocence, and unless the good of charity has within itself the good of innocence it is not the good of charity, 2526, 2780, 3183, 4797, 6765, 7840, 9262, consequently is not such unless it has within itself the good of mutual love. All this now explains why the robe consisted, the whole of it, of violet; for 'violet' means the good of mutual love, or what amounts to the same thing, the external good of innocence, and 'the robe' means Divine Truth in its inward form in the spiritual kingdom, which is the same thing as the good of charity, 9825.


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