Swedenborg Arcana Caelestia Vol. IV (1750)

Whatever good is in a person, such is the society of angels with them, and whatever evil is in a person, such is the society of evil spirits with them. A person attaches to themselves such societies, or places themselves in the society of such beings, for like is associated with like. For example, he who is greedy attaches to himself societies of similar beings who are in such a craving; he who loves himself above others and despises others attaches to himself those who are similar; he who finds pleasure in revenge is among those who are in a similar pleasure, and so on. In this way, they communicate with hell. A person is in the midst of these, and is ruled entirely by them, so much so that they are not in their own control but in theirs, even though they think from their own pleasure—and the freedom resulting from it—that they rule themselves.

But he who is not greedy, or who does not love himself above others and does not despise others, and who does not find pleasure in revenge, is in the society of similar angels, and through them is led by the Lord, and indeed through freedom, to every good and truth to which they allow themselves to be led. And as they allow themselves to be led to a more internal and perfect good, so they are led to more internal and perfect angelic societies. The changes of their state are nothing other than changes of societies. That this is how the matter stands is evident to me from continuous experience now for many years, from which this has become as familiar to me as any familiar thing is to a person from infancy.

From this, it can now be understood how it is with the regeneration of a person, and with the pleasant and intermediate goods through which a person is led by the Lord from the state of the old person to the state of the new person—namely, that this happens through angelic societies and through their changes. Pleasant and intermediate goods are nothing other than such societies that are applied to a person by the Lord so that through them they can be introduced to spiritual and heavenly goods and truths. When they have been led to these, those societies are then separated, and more internal and perfect ones are joined. By the intermediate good signified by Laban, nothing else is meant by the separation of that good which is dealt with in this chapter.

4068. "And Jehovah said to Jacob," signifies the Lord's perception from the Divine. This is evident from the signification of "to say" in the historicals of the Word, which is to perceive (see n. 1781, 1815, 1819, 1922, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3365, 3509). That "Jehovah" is the Lord can be seen in n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2921, 3023, 3035. From this, it is clear that "Jehovah said" signifies the Lord's perception from the Divine.

4069. "Return to the land of your fathers," signifies that he should now draw closer to the Divine good. This is evident from the signification of the "land of the fathers" as the Divine good here, because it is predicated of the Lord. For the land, namely Canaan, signifies the Lord's Kingdom (n. 1607, 3481), and in the supreme sense, the Lord's Divine Human, because This flows in and makes His Kingdom (n. 3038, 3705), and because "father" is good (n. 3703). And because the goods and truths through which the Lord would make the Natural Divine—which were represented by Jacob’s stay with Laban and his acquisitions there—have now been procured, it follows that to "return to the land of the fathers" is to draw closer to the Divine good.

4070. "And to your kindred," signifies to the truth therefrom. This is evident from the signification of "nativities" (or kindred/birth) as the truth that is from good. For every truth...