The Lord Putting Off the Human: AC 2198 - Old Age; AC 2216 - Laughing and Laughter

AC 2198

"Old age" is mentioned in various places in the Word,
as also that men "died;"
but in the internal sense
no old age, or death, such as those of the body,
are ever perceived;
but something else
that is evident from the series of things;
for in the other life old age and death are unknown.
What is here meant is evident . . .
from the series of things,
namely, that the Lord was to put off the human.

AC 2216

. . .  "laughing," or of "laughter," . . .
is an affection of the rational,
and indeed the affection
of truth or of falsity in the rational,
that is the source of all laughter.
So long as there is in the rational
such an affection as displays itself in laughter,
so long there is in it something corporeal or worldly,
and thus merely human.
Celestial good and spiritual good do not laugh,
but express their delight and cheerfulness
in the face, the speech, and the gesture,
in another way;
for there are very many things in laughter,
for the most part something of contempt,
which, even if it does not appear,
nevertheless lies concealed;
and laughter is easily distinguished
from cheerfulness of the mind,
which also produces something similar to it.
The state of the human rational with the Lord
is described by Sarah's "laughing;"
and thereby is meant
with what kind of affection the truth of the rational,
at that time separated from good,
regarded what was said:
that it should be put off,
and the Divine put on;
not that the Lord laughed,
but that He perceived from the Divine
what the rational still was,
and how much of the human there still was in it,
and which was to be expelled.
In the internal sense
this is what is meant by Sarah's "laughing."