Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 10264

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10264. An ointment of ointment. That this signifies in each and all things of His Human, is evident from the signification of "ointment," when said of the oil of anointing, by which is signified a representative of the Divine good of the Lord's Divine Human, as being what is Divine in each and all things of His Human. That this is signified by "an ointment of ointment" is because all the spices mentioned above, which were best myrrh, aromatic cinnamon, aromatic calamus, and cassia, are meant by the "ointment of ointment." Moreover, in the original tongue what is aromatic in general is meant by this word ("spice," or "aromatic"); but the translators call it "ointment" from anointing. [2] That "aromatic of aromatic" signifies in each and all things of the Lord's Human, is because there are signified the truths of the whole human, together with their perceptions and affections, namely, the ultimate truth of the sensuous mind, together with the perception of it, which is signified by "myrrh" (see n. 10252); the interior truth of the natural or external man, together with the perception and the affection of it, which is signified by "aromatic cinnamon" (see n. 10254); truth still more interior which is of the internal man, together with the perception and the affection of it, which is signified by "aromatic calamus" (n. 10256); and inmost truth, together with the perception and the affection of it, which is signified by "cassia" (n. 10258). Thus the whole human is signified by these, for each and all things in man bear relation to truths and their perceptions and affections, because these make man's life. [3] For it can be known that without the perception and affection of truth and good, a man is not a man, seeing that each and all things that he thinks bear relation to truths and their perceptions, and to goods and their affections. The thoughts and affections of man are nothing else; for man has an understanding and a will; and the understanding is made out of the perception of truth; and the will out of the affection of good. That the whole man from head to heel, both within and without, is nothing but his own truth or falsity, and his own good or evil, and that the body is the external form of these, is a secret which has not as yet been known in the world. [4] From all this it can now be seen that by "aromatic of aromatic," or "ointment of ointment," by which are understood all truths from the ultimate to the inmost, thus truths in their whole complex, are signified each and all things in man, or from which he is man; consequently when this "aromatic" is predicated of the Lord, that it signifies each and all things of His Human. [5] It is said, "thou shalt make it an oil of anointing, an aromatic of aromatic, the work of a perfumer," because the "oil of anointing" signifies the Divine good itself of the Divine love which was in the Lord from conception (n. 9954, 10011, 10019); "an aromatic of aromatic" signifies this in each and all things of His Human; and "the work of a perfumer," or of a "maker of ointment," signifies from the influx and operation of the Divine Itself; for the Lord alone in respect to His Human was the anointed of Jehovah (n. 9954).


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