95. Many depictions in the literal sense are apparent truths that contain genuine truths concealed within them, and it is not harmful to think and speak in accordance with those apparent truths. However, it is harmful to affirm them to the point of destroying the genuine truth that lies concealed within. This, too, may be illustrated by an example found in nature, which I cite because something natural is more clearly instructive and convincing than something spiritual.
[2] To our eyes it appears that every day the sun travels around the earth, and does so also once annually. For that reason it says in the Word that the sun rises and sets, that it causes morning, afternoon, evening and night, as well as the seasons of spring, summer, fall and winter, and thus days and years, even though the sun is stationary. For it is a sea of fire, and the earth revolves daily and travels about it annually.
A person who thinks in simplicity and ignorance that the sun travels around does not destroy the natural truth, namely, that the earth rotates daily about its axis and moves along its orbit annually.
On the other hand, someone who affirms as true the apparent motion of the sun and its course because of what it says in the Word, and does so with arguments originating from his natural self, weakens the truth, and also destroys it.
[3] The idea that the sun moves is an apparent truth. The fact that it does not move is a genuine truth. Everyone may speak in accordance with the apparent truth, and also does speak so, but to think accordingly with conviction dulls the rational intellect and darkens it.
The case is the same with the stars in the sky. It is an apparent truth that they also travel about once daily, like the sun, which is why it is also said of the stars that they rise and set. But the genuine truth is that the stars are fixed, and the sky in which they appear is stationary. Still, everyone may speak in accordance with the appearance.
