Swedenborg Works Vol. 11

That "coming near" signifies a more interior communication is evident from the meaning of the phrase. To "come near" means to communicate more closely; when this is said of the external in relation to the internal, it refers to communicating more deeply within.

A person does not usually realize that communication with the natural or external man can be both interior and exterior. This is because most people have not formed an idea of the "internal man" and its life as being distinct from the life of the "external man." Regarding the internal man, most have no idea other than that it is simply "inside," not realizing it is distinct from the external. Yet, they are so distinct that the internal can be separated from the external and continue to live its own life, only in a purer state.

This separation actually takes place when a person dies. At that time, the internal is separated from the external. This internal part, which lives on after the separation, is what is then called the "spirit." However, this spirit is the very same person who lived in the body. In the afterlife, the spirit appears to themselves and to others as a person in the world, possessing a complete human form from head to heel.

The spirit is also endowed with the same faculties that a person has in the world: the senses of touch, smell, sight, hearing, and the abilities to speak and think. This is true to such an extent that when spirits do not reflect on the fact that they are in the afterlife, they suppose they are still in their physical bodies in the world—as I have sometimes heard spirits themselves say.

From these facts, it is clear what a person's internal and external parts are. If an idea is formed this way, the things that have been said so often in these explanations original: "explications" regarding the internal and external man will become somewhat clearer, as will the meaning of "interior communication," which is signified here by the words, "Come near to me, please" original: "I pray you".

5884. And they came near. That this signifies the effect—specifically, that a more interior communication was established—is evident without further explanation.

5885. And he said, I am Joseph your brother. That this signifies a manifestation through an influx term: "influx"; the flow of life or spiritual influence from a higher level of the mind to a lower one, is evident from the signification...