1563. And Lot also, who went with Abram. That this signifies the external man that was in the Lord, is evident from the representation of Lot, as being the sensuous man, or what is the same, the external man. That there is an internal and an external in every man, or what is the same, that man is internal and external, is known to everyone within the church (concerning which see what has been said before, n. 978, 994, 995, 1015). The external man receives its life principally from the internal man, that is, from the spirit or soul. Thence comes its very life in general; but this life cannot be received in its particulars, or distinctly, by the external man, unless its organic vessels are opened, which must be the recipients of the particulars and the singulars of the internal man. These organic vessels, which are to be the recipients, are not opened except by means of the senses, especially those of hearing and sight; and, as they are opened, the internal man can flow in with its particulars and singulars. They are opened with the senses as the media, by means of knowledges [scientifica et cognitiones], and also by means of pleasures and delights; those belonging to the understanding by means of knowledges, and those belonging to the will by means of pleasures and delights.
[2] From these things it may be seen that it must necessarily happen that such knowledges as cannot agree with spiritual truths will insinuate themselves into the external man; and that such pleasures and delights will insinuate themselves as cannot agree with celestial goods; as is the case with all those things which regard corporeal, worldly, and earthly things as the ends; which, when regarded as ends, draw the external man outward and downward, and so remove it from the internal man. Wherefore, unless such things are first dispersed, the internal man cannot possibly agree with the external; so that before the internal man can agree with the external, such things must first be removed. That with the Lord these things were removed or separated, is represented and signified by the separation of Lot from Abram.
