AE 517 - Self-love; AE 518 - Waters and Trees

  AE 517 [1, 3]

And there fell from heaven a great star burning as a lamp,
(Revelation 8:10)
means the truth of the Word falsified by self-love.

There are two states of a person's thoughts,
one
when from the Lord
he is in thought respecting truths,
the other
when from himself.
When from the Lord
he is in thought respecting truths his mind
is elevated even into the light of heaven,
from which he has illustration and right perception of truth;
but when from himself he is in thought respecting truths,
his mind falls into the light of the world;
and that light, in respect to things spiritual,
or the things of heaven and the church,
is thick darkness,
in which person sees only such things
as shine from the fire or the love of self and of the world,
and these in themselves
are falsities that are opposites of truths.

AE 518 [8, 12]

For Jehovah leads you to a land
of brooks of water, of fountains,
of depths flowing forth in valley and mountain.
(Deuteronomy 8:7)

The land of Canaan, to which Jehovah was to lead them,
means the church, therefore
"brooks of water, fountains,
and depths flowing forth in valley and mountain,"
mean such things as belong to the church;
"brooks of water" meaning the understanding of truth,
"fountains" doctrinals from the Word,
and "depths flowing forth in valley and mountain"
the knowledges of truth and good
in the natural and in the spiritual person.

Where trees and gardens are treated of in the Word,
waters and rivers to water them are also mentioned,
for the reason that "trees"
mean perceptions and knowledges,
and "waters" and "rivers"
truths and understanding therefrom;
for without the understanding of truths
a person is like a garden where there is no water,
whose trees wither away.