AE 620-622 - The Little Book Is Sweet and Bitter

 AE 620-622

And I took the little book out of the hand of the angel,
and ate it up,
(Revelation 10:10)

means exploration.
This is evident from the things that precede,
namely, that "the little book" means the Word,
"the angel" the Lord in relation to the Word,
and "to devour or to eat it" means
to receive, perceive, and appropriate to oneself,
consequently to explore,
here of what quality the understanding of the Word still is
in the church.
Exploration is effected
by means of a thing's being perceived
and the way in which it is perceived;
it was effected with the prophet John,
because a "prophet" means the doctrine of the church,
and in a universal sense, the Word.

And it was in my mouth as honey, sweet,
means that the Word, in respect to its external,
or in respect to its sense of the letter,
was still perceived as the delight of good,
but as delight only for the reason
that it served to confirm the principles of falsity,
and the loves of evil, that is,
the principles arising from the love of self and of the world,
all of which are falsities.
That the Word, which is meant by "the little book,"
was perceived on this account to be "sweet as honey,"
may be seen in what has been shown above.

And when I had eaten it my belly was made bitter,
means that it was perceived and ascertained
that the Word was inwardly undelightful
because of the adulterated truth of the sense of its letter.
. . . The "belly" here means the interiors of the Word,
which are called spiritual,
because exploration was represented by
"devouring or eating up the little book,"
which means the Word,
and by its taste, which means perception;
therefore the first perception
is meant by the taste in the mouth,
where the little book was "sweet as honey."
The first perception of the Word
is such as is the perception of the sense of its letter,
that is, as the Word is outwardly.
The other perception however is meant by its taste
when it has come into the belly,
which is said to be made bitter by it.
This other perception of the Word
is such as the perception of its spiritual sense is,
that is, as the Word is inwardly.
Consequently, as the "mouth" signifies what is exterior,
so here the "belly"means what is interior,
because inwardly received and ascertained.
The "belly" means interior things
because the belly stores up the food inwardly,
and "food" signifies everything that nourishes the soul;
also because the belly, like the bowels,
is within or in the midst of the body;
for this reason the "belly," and also the "bowels,"
mean in the Word interior things.