4612. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father. That this signifies now the Divine rational with which it was conjoined, is evident from the representation of Jacob, as being the Divine natural in the state treated of just above (see n. 4604-4610); and from the representation of Isaac, as being the Divine rational (see n. 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3012, 3194, 3210). Conjunction is signified by his coming to him. In what follows, down to the end of the chapter, the subject treated of is the conjunction of the natural with the rational; and therefore in what immediately precedes, the quality of the natural has been described, in that it contained within it all things of good and truth, and this quality of the natural is signified by the twelve sons of Jacob, for as we have seen, each one of them represents some general of truth and good.
[2] As regards the conjunction of the natural and the rational treated of in the following verses, be it known that the rational receives truths and goods sooner and more easily than the natural (n. 3286, 3288, 3321, 3368, 3498, 3513). For the rational is purer and more perfect than the natural, because it is interior or higher, and viewed in itself it is in the light of heaven, to which it is adapted. This is the reason why the rational receives the things of this light (namely, truths and goods, or what is the same, the things of intelligence and wisdom), sooner and more easily than the natural. But the natural is grosser and more imperfect, because it is exterior or lower, and viewed in itself it is in the light of the world; which light has nothing of intelligence and wisdom within it except insofar as it receives it through the rational from the light of heaven. The influx of which the learned of the present day speak, is nothing else.
[3] But with the natural the case is this: From the earliest infancy and childhood the natural receives its quality from the things which flow in from the world through the external senses, and by and from these the man acquires an intellectual. But as he is then in the delights of the love of self and of the world, and consequently in cupidities, both from inheritance and from actual life, the intellectual which he then acquires is filled with such things, and whatever favors his delights he then regards as goods and truths, and the result is that the order of the goods and truths in the natural is inverted, or is opposite to heavenly order. When the man is in this state, the light of heaven does indeed flow in through the rational, for it is from this that he has the ability to think, to reason, to speak, and to act becomingly and as a good citizen in the outward form; but still the things which are of light, and that conduce to his eternal happiness, are not in the natural, because the delights which rule there are repugnant to them, for the delights of the love of self and of the world are in themselves diametrically opposite to the delights of the love of the neighbor, and consequently to those of love to the Lord. The man may indeed know the things of light or of heaven, but he cannot be affected with them, except insofar as they conduce to his winning honors and gaining wealth, and thus except insofar as they favor the delights of the love of self and of the world.
[4] From this it may appear that the order in the natural is wholly inverted, or opposite to heavenly order, and therefore when the light of heaven flows in through the rational into the natural, it must needs be either reflected back, or suffocated, or perverted. Hence then it is that the natural must be regenerated before it can be conjoined with the rational. For when the natural has been regenerated, the things which flow in from the Lord through heaven, thus through the rational into the natural, are received, because they agree. For the natural is nothing else than a receptacle of good and truth from the rational, or through the rational from the Lord. By the natural is meant the external man, which is also called the natural man, and by the rational is meant the internal man. These things have been premised in order that it may be known how the case is with what follows, in which the subject treated of is the conjunction of the natural with the rational.