idea of the face as the mind in form.  And as they know that they will become wiser after their life in the world, they believe that the form of the mind, that is, the face, will become larger.  They also believe that after their decease they shall perceive a fire which will communicate warmth to their faces.  This belief arises from a knowledge possessed by the wiser amongst them that fire, in the spiritual sense, signifies love, that love is the fire of life, and that from that fire the angels have life[x].  Such of them as have lived in heavenly love also have their wish gratified, and feel their face grow warm, and then the interiors of their minds are kindled with love.  For this reason the inhabitants of that earth frequently wash and clean their face, and also carefully protect it from the sun’s heat.  They have a covering made of the inner or outer bark of a tree, which is of a bluish colour, and with this they encircle the head, and thus protect the face.  With respect to the faces of the men of our Earth, which they saw through my eyes[y], they said that they were not beautiful, and that such beauty as they had consisted in the outward skin, but not in the fibres from within.  They were surprised to see that the faces of some were covered with warts and pustules, or otherwise disfigured, and said that no such faces are ever to be seen among them.  Yet there were some faces that pleased them, such, namely, as were cheerful and smiling, and such as were slightly prominent about the lips.

[Footnote x:  Fire in the Word signifies love in both senses, nos. 934, 4906, 5215.  Sacred and heavenly fire is Divine love and every affection which is of that love, nos. 934, 6314, 6832.  Infernal fire is the love of self and of the world, and every concupiscence belonging to those loves, nos. 934, 1861, 5071, 6314, 6832, 7575, 10747.  Love is the fire of life, and life itself is actually derived from that fire, nos. 4906, 5071, 6832.]

[Footnote y:  Spirits and angels do not see the things that are in this solar world but they saw through my eyes, no. 1881.]

53.  The reason they were pleased with the faces that were prominent about the lips was, that their speech is effected mostly by means of the face, especially by the part about the lips, and also because they never counterfeit, that is, never speak otherwise than they think, so that they do not constrain their face, but give it free play.  It is otherwise with those who from childhood have learned to counterfeit:  with these the face is, in consequence, constrained from within, lest anything of the thought should shine forth from it; nor has it free play from without, but is kept in readiness to relax or constrain itself, as cunning may dictate.  The truth (veritas) of this may appear from an examination of the fibres of the lips and surrounding parts, for the series of the fibres there are manifold, complicated, and interwoven, having been created, not only for mastication and verbal speech, but also for expressing the ideas of the mind (animus).