AC 2680, 2682 - Desolation and Despair

AC 2680

And the water was spent out of the bottle,
and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
(Genesis 21:15)

"The water was spent out of the bottle,"
signifies the desolation of truth;
"and she cast the child under one of the shrubs,"
signifies despair
that nothing of truth and good was perceived.

AC 2682 [2-3]

In this verse
the second state of those who are being reformed
is treated of,
which is that they are reduced to ignorance
till they know nothing of truth,
and this even to despair.
The cause of their being reduced to such ignorance
is that persuasive light may be extinguished,
which is of such a nature
as to illuminate falsities equally as well as truths,
and to induce a belief in falsity by means of truths,
and a belief in truth by means of falsities,
and at the same time trust in themselves;
also that they may be led by experience itself
to a knowledge of the fact
that nothing of good and nothing of truth
is of self or of man's own,
but from the Lord.
Those who are being reformed
are reduced into ignorance even to despair,
and then they have comfort and enlightenment,
as is evident from what follows;
for the light of truth from the Lord cannot flow
into the persuasive which is from man's own;
for this is of such a nature as to extinguish that light.
In the other life
that which is persuasive
appears like the light of winter;
but at the approach of the light of heaven,
instead of that light there comes darkness,
in which there is ignorance of all truth.
With those who are being reformed
this state is called the state of desolation of truth,
and this also is much treated of
in the internal sense of the Word.

But of this state few have any knowledge,
because few at this day are being regenerated.
To those who are not being regenerated
it makes no difference
whether they know the truth, or do not;
nor whether what they do know be truth or not,
provided they can palm a thing off for truth.
But they who are being regenerated
think much about doctrine and life,
because they think much about eternal salvation;
and therefore if truth be deficient with them,
as it is the subject of their thought and affection,
they grieve at heart.
The state of the one and of the other
may be seen from this:
While a man is in the body
he is living as to his spirit in heaven,
and as to his body in the world;
for he is born into both,
and has been so created
that as to his spirit he can actually be with the angels,
and at the same time with men
by means of what is of the body.
But as there are few who believe
that they have a spirit which is to live after death,
there are few who are being regenerated.
To those who believe it,
the other life is the whole of their thought and affection,
and the world is nothing in comparison;
but to those who do not believe it,
the world is the whole of their thought and affection,
and the other life is in comparison nothing.
The former are those who can be regenerated,
but the latter are they who cannot.