DP 313 - the Garden of Eden

DP 313
The character of people caught up in their own prudence
and the character of those governed by prudence not their own
and consequently by Divine providence
is described in the Word
by Adam and his wife Eve in the Garden of Eden,
in which there were two trees
one the tree of life
and the other the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
and by their eating of the latter tree. (Genesis 2:1-3:24.)
By Adam and his wife Eve in the Word's internal or spiritual sense
are meant and described the Lord's Most Ancient Church on this earth,
a church more noble and more heavenly than those that followed . . ..
The rest of the particulars symbolize the following:

[2] The Garden of Eden
symbolizes the wisdom of the people of that church.
The tree of life,
the Lord in respect to His Divine providence,
and the tree of knowledge,
mankind in respect to his own prudence.
The serpent,
the sensual nature and inherent character of mankind,
which in itself is self-love and a conceit in its own intelligence,
thus the devil and satan.
Eating of the tree of knowledge,
the arrogation to self of goodness and truth
as being not from the Lord and thus not the Lord's,
but the product of mankind and thus the property of mankind.
And because goodness and truth
are the fundamental Divine qualities in a person,
as goodness means everything connected with love,
and truth, everything connected with wisdom,
therefore if a person claims them for himself as his own,
he cannot but believe that he is like God.
Therefore the serpent said,

In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.
(Genesis 3:5)

That, too, is what those do in hell who are caught up in self-love
and a consequent conceit in their own intelligence.

[3] The curse on the serpent
symbolizes the damnation of mankind's own love
and mankind's own intelligence.
The curse on Eve,
the damnation of his volitional nature,
and the curse on Adam,
the damnation of his intellectual nature.
The thorn and thistle which the earth would cause to sprout up for him
symbolize sheer falsity and evil.
Being expelled from the garden
symbolizes the loss of wisdom.
Guarding the way to the tree of life,
the Lord's protection to keep the sanctities of the Word
and the church from being violated.
The fig leaves with which Adam and Eve covered their nakedness
symbolize the moral truths
with which those people veiled the inclinations of their love and conceit.
And the tunics of skin with which they were afterward clothed
symbolize appearances of truth,
which were the only ones they had.

This is the spiritual meaning of these things.
But let anyone who wishes remain in the literal sense.
Only let him know that the foregoing is the meaning in heaven.