AC 3993 [7]
... "speckled"... signifies the good with which evil is mingled...
... "spotted" signifies the truth with which falsity is mingled.
These are the things that were taken from the good of Laban
in order to serve for introducing genuine goods and truths.
[8]
... the evils with man are of various kinds;
there are evils with which goods cannot be mingled,
and there are evils with which they can be mingled;
and it is the same with falsities.
Unless this were so, no man could be regenerated.
The evils and falsities with which goods and truths cannot be mingled,
are such as are contrary to love to God and love toward the neighbor;
namely, hatreds, revenges, cruelties,
and consequent contempt for others in comparison with one's self;
and also the consequent persuasions of falsity.
But the evils and falsities with which goods and truths can be mingled,
are those which are not contrary to love to God and love toward the neighbor.
The rest of this number has excellent examples and explanations.
You can find it in comments under today's posting.
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[9] For example: If anyone loves himself more than others, and from this love studies to excel others in moral and civic life, in memory-knowledges and doctrinal things, and to be exalted to dignities and wealth in pre-eminence to others, and yet acknowledges and adores God, performs kind offices to his neighbor from the heart, and does what is just and fair from conscience; the evil of this love of self is one with which good and truth can be mingled; for it is an evil that is man's own, and that is born hereditarily; and to take it away from him suddenly would be to extinguish the fire of his first life. But the man who loves himself above others, and from this love despises others in comparison with himself, and hates those who do not honor and as it were adore him, and therefore feels a consequent delight of hatred in revenge and cruelty-the evil of such a love as this is one with which good and truth cannot be mingled, for they are contraries.
[10] To take another example: If anyone believes himself to be pure from sins, and thus washed clean, as one who is washed from filth by much water; when such a man has once performed repentance and has done the imposed penance, or after confession has heard such a declaration from his confessor, or after he has partaken of the Holy Supper-if he then lives a new life, in the affection of good and truth, this falsity is one with which good can be mingled. But if he lives a carnal and worldly life, as before, the falsity is then one with which good cannot be mingled.
[11] Again: The man who believes that a man is saved by believing well, and not by willing well; and yet wills well and in consequence does well-this falsity is one to which good and truth can be adjoined; but not so if he does not will well and therefore do well. In like manner if anyone is ignorant that man rises again after death, and consequently does not believe in the resurrection; or if he is aware of it, but still doubts, and almost denies it, and yet lives in truth and good-with this falsity also good and truth can be mingled; but if he lives in falsity and evil, truth and good cannot be mingled with this falsity, because they are contraries; and the falsity destroys the truth, and the evil destroys the good.
[12] Again: The simulation and cunning that have what is good as their end, whether it is that of the neighbor, or that of our country, or of the church, are prudence; and the evils that are mixed up with them can be mingled with good, from and for the sake of the end. But the simulation and cunning that have evil as their end, are not prudence, but are craft and deceit, with which good can by no means be conjoined; for deceit, which is an end of evil, induces what is infernal upon all things in man both in general and in particular, places evil in the middle, and rejects good to the circumference; which order is infernal order itself. And it is the same in numberless other cases.
[13] That there are evils and falsities to which goods and truths can be adjoined, may be seen from the mere fact that there are so many diverse dogmas and doctrines, many of which are altogether heretical, and yet in each there are those who are saved; and also that the Lord's church exists even among the Gentiles who are out of the church; and although they are in falsities, nevertheless those are saved who live a life of charity (n. 2589-2604); which could by no means be the case unless there were evils with which goods, and falsities with which truths, can be mingled. For the evils with which goods and the falsities with which truths can be mingled, are wonderfully disposed into order by the Lord; for they are not conjoined together, still less united into a one; but are adjoined and applied to one another, and this in such manner that the goods together with the truths are in the middle and as it were in the center, and by degrees toward the circumferences or circuits are such evils and falsities.
Thus the latter are lighted up by the former, and are variegated like things white and black by light from the middle or center. This is heavenly order. These are the things that are signified in the internal sense by the "speckled" and the "spotted."
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