CAVES >> Good of Falsity >> Obscure Good

 And he dwelt in a cave. That this signifies the good of falsity, is evident from the signification of a "cave." A cave is a kind of dwelling in a mountain, but a dark one; and as all  dwellings whatever, like "houses," signify goods (n. 2233, 2234), but goods of such sort as are the dwellings; here the "cave," being a dark dwelling, signifies the good of falsity. "Caves of mountains" are often mentioned in the Word, and in the internal sense have such a signification, as in Isaiah (2:19; 32:14), and in the historical books, as when Elijah, escaping from Jezebel,

Came to a cave in Mount Horeb, and spent the night there; and there the word of Jehovah came to him, and He said unto him, Go forth and stand on the mount before Jehovah; and he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood at the entrance of the cave (1 Kings 19:9, 13);

where in the internal sense by a "cave" is signified obscure good, but such as exists in temptations; and as this could not endure the Divine, he wrapped his face in his mantle. So too elsewhere in the historical books, as that the sons of Israel made for themselves caves in the mountains on account of Midian (Judges 6:2); also on account of the Philistines (1 Sam. 13:6). These historical facts, like those now explained in the books of Moses, have a different meaning in the internal sense. [AC2463]

How the delights of everyone’s life are changed after death into things that correspond can be known from a knowledge of correspondences; but as that knowledge is not as yet generally known I will try to throw some light on the subject by certain examples from experience. All who are in evil and who have established themselves in falsities in opposition to the truths of the church, especially those that have rejected the Word, flee from the light of heaven and take refuge in caves that appear at their openings to be densely dark, also in clefts of rocks, and there they hide themselves; and this because they have loved falsities and hated truths; for such caves and clefts of rocks,{1} well as darkness, correspond to falsities, as light corresponds to truths. It is their delight to dwell in such places, and undelightful to dwell in the open country.

[2] Those that have taken delight in insidious and secret plots and in treacherous machinations do the same thing. They are also in such caves; and they frequent rooms so dark that they are even unable to see one another; and they whisper together in the ears in corners. Into this is the delight of their love changed. Those that have devoted themselves to the sciences with no other end than to acquire a reputation for learning, and have not cultivated their rational faculty by their learning, but have taken delight in the things of memory from a pride in such things, love sandy places, which they choose in preference to fields and gardens, because sandy places correspond to such studies.

[3] Those that are skilled in the doctrines of their own and other churches, but have not applied their knowledge to life, choose for themselves rocky places, and dwell among heaps of stones, shunning cultivated places because they dislike them. Those that have ascribed all things to nature, as well as those that have ascribed all things to their own prudence, and by various arts have raised themselves to honors and have acquired wealth, in the other life devote themselves to the study of magic arts, which are abuses of Divine order, and find in these the chief delight of life.

[4] Those that have adapted Divine truths to their own loves, and thereby have falsified them, love urinous things because these correspond to the delights of such loves.{2} Those that have been sordidly avaricious dwell in cells, and love swinish filth and such stenches as are exhaled from undigested food in the stomach.

[5] Those that have spent their life in mere pleasures and have lived delicately and indulged their palate and stomach, loving such things as the highest good that life affords, love in the other life excrementitious things and privies, in which they find their delight, for the reason that such pleasures are spiritual filth. Places that are clean and free from filth they shun, finding them undelightful.

[6] Those that have taken delight in adulteries pass their time in brothels, where all things are vile and filthy; these they love, and chaste homes they shun, falling into a swoon as soon as they enter them. Nothing is more delightful to them than to break up marriages.  Those that have cherished a spirit of revenge, and have thereby contracted a savage and cruel nature, love cadaverous substances, and are in hells of that nature; and so on. [HH488]

Author: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG  (1688-1772)