§489 how our pleasures change 291
e. A harvest in the Word means a state of acceptance and growth of what is true because of the
good: 9291. Standing grain means truth being conceived: 9146. Vineyards mean the spiritual
church and the truths of that church: 1069 , 9139. Precious stones mean truths of heaven and of
the church translucent from the good: 114 , 9863 , 9865 , 9868 , 9873 , 9905. Windows mean the
intellectual function of our inner sight: 655 , 658 , 3391.
f. Gardens, groves, and parks mean intelligence: 100 , 103 , 3220. Therefore the early people held
their holy worship in groves: 2722 , 4552. Flowers and fl ower beds mean truths of information and
insight: 9553. Small plants, grasses, and lawns mean true information: 7571. Trees mean percep-
tions and insights: 103 , 2163 , 2682 , 2722 , 2972 , 7692.
are their visual pleasures; but they are actually deeper pleasures because
of their correspondence with divine heavenly qualities, since the truths
from the Word that they have loved correspond to the harvest fi elds,
vineyards, precious stones, windows, and crystals.e
[ 3 ] People who have applied the teachings of the church from the
Word directly to their lives are in the inmost heaven and more than any-
one else are absorbed in the pleasures of wisdom. They see divine realities
in particular objects. They actually do see the objects, but the correspond-
ing divine realities fl ow directly into their minds and fi ll them with a sense
of blessedness that affects all their sensory functions. As a result, every-
thing they see seems to laugh and play and live (on this, see above, § 270 ).
[ 4 ] If people have loved learning and have developed their rational
ability accordingly and thereby gained intelligence, and if they have
acknowledged the Divine Being at the same time, their delight in knowl-
edge and pleasure in reasoning changes in the other life into a spiritual
pleasure that is the delight of fi rsthand knowledge of what is good and
true. They live in gardens where you can see fl ower beds and lawns beau-
tifully marked off, surrounded by rows of trees with arcades and prom-
enades. The trees and fl owers change from day to day. Looking at all this
brings pleasure to their minds generally, and the specifi c changes make
it constantly new. Further, since all this corresponds to divine qualities,
and since these people are drawn to their knowledge of correspondences,
they are constantly being fi lled with new insights and thereby hav-
ing their spiritual rational faculty perfected. They enjoy these pleasures
because gardens, fl ower beds, lawns, and trees correspond to informa-
tion, insights, and the intelligence that ensues.f
[ 5 ] If people have given the Divine credit for everything and regarded
nature as relatively dead, simply subservient to spiritual concerns, and if
they have convinced themselves of this, they are in heavenly light; and
everything that presents itself to their eyes derives a kind of translucence
from that light. In that translucency they see innumerable shadings of