AE 109 - The Tree of Life; AE 118 - The Key to Thinking About the Lord

AE 109 [2, 3]

"The tree of life" signifies the good of love
and heavenly joy therefrom,
because "trees" signify such things
as are with a person in his interiors,
which are of his mind or disposition;
"boughs" and "leaves" signifying those things
that are of the knowledges of truth and good,
and "fruits" the goods of life themselves.
This signification of trees
draws its origin from the spiritual world;
for in that world trees of every kind are seen,
and the trees that are seen correspond to
the interiors of the angels and spirits
which are of their mind;
the most beautiful and fruitful trees
to the interiors of those
who are in the good of love and thence in wisdom;
trees less beautiful and fruitful
to those who are in the good of faith;
but trees bearing leaves only, and without fruits,
to those who are only in the knowledges of truth;
and horrible trees, with noxious fruits,
to those who are in knowledges and in evil of life.
To those, however, who are not in knowledges,
and who are in evil of life,
no trees appear, but stones and sands instead.
These appearances in the spiritual world,
actually flow from correspondence;
for the interiors of the mind
of the inhabitants of that world
are by such forms actually presented before their eyes.

It is from this that "trees"
are so often mentioned in the Word,
and by them are signified
the things with men that belong to their minds;
and from this it is also
that in the first chapters of Genesis:
two trees are said to have been placed
in the garden of Eden,
one called "the tree of life,"
and the other "the tree of knowledge."
"The tree of life" there
signifies the good of love to the Lord,
and heavenly joy therefrom,
which were with those who were then of the church,
and who are meant by the "man" and his "wife;"
and by "the tree of knowledge" is signified
the delight of knowledges apart from any other use
than to be accounted learned
and to acquire repute for erudition (scholarship)
solely for the sake of honor or gain.
"The tree of life" also signifies heavenly joy,
because the good of love to the Lord,
which is specifically signified by that tree,
has heavenly joy in it.

AE 118 [3]

To acknowledge the Divine of the Lord in His Human
is to think of His Divine when thinking of His Human.