AC 3142 - Sweeping the House, Sweeping the Way; AC 3143 - Use

AC 3142

The reason "to sweep" signifies
to prepare and to be filled,
is that nothing else is required of man
than to sweep the house;
that is, to reject the desires of evil
and the derivative persuasions of falsity;
for he is then filled with goods,
because good is continually flowing in from the Lord -
but into "the house," that is,
into the man who is purified from such things
as impede the influx,
that is, which reflect, or pervert, or suffocate
the inflowing good.
So it was common with the ancients
to speak of sweeping or cleaning the house,
and of sweeping and preparing the way;
and by sweeping the house was meant
to purify one's self from evils,
and thereby to prepare one's self for goods to enter;
but by sweeping the way was meant
to prepare one's self so that truths might be received
(for by a "house" was signified good;
and by a "way," truth.)

AC 3143

. . . all things that belong to the natural man
are for no other use
than to serve the spiritual . . ..