The second state of man after death is called the state of his
interiors, because he is then let into the interiors of his mind,
that is, of his will and thought; while his exteriors, which he has
been in during his first state, are laid asleep. Whoever gives any
thought to man's life and speech and action can see that everyone has
exteriors and interiors, that is, exterior and interior thoughts and
intentions. This is shown by the fact that in civil life one thinks
about others in accordance with what he has heard and learned of them
by report or conversation; but he does not talk with them in
accordance with his thought; and if they are evil he nevertheless
treats them with civility. That this is so is seen especially in the
case of pretenders and flatterers, who speak and act in one way and
think and will in a wholly different way; also in the case of
hypocrites, who talk about God and heaven and the salvation of souls
and the truths of the church and their country's good and their
neighbor as if from faith and love, although in heart they believe
otherwise and love themselves alone. [2] All this makes clear that
there are two kinds of thought, one exterior and the other interior;
and that there are those who speak from exterior thought, while from
their interior thought they have other sentiments, and that these two
kinds of thought are kept separate, since the interior is carefully
prevented from flowing into the exterior and becoming manifest in any
way. By creation man is so formed as to have his interior and
exterior thought make one by correspondence; and these do make one in
those that are in good, for such both think and speak what is good
only. But in those that are in evil interior and exterior thought do
not make one, for such think what is evil and say what is good. With
such there is an inversion of order, for good with them is on the
outside and evil within; and in consequence evil has dominion over
good, and subjects it to itself as a servant, that it may serve it as
a means for gaining its ends, which are of the same nature as their
love. With such an end contained in the good that they seek and do,
their good is evidently not good, but is infected with evil, however
good it may appear in outward form to those not acquainted with their
interiors. [3] It is not so with those that are in good. With such
order is not inverted; but good from interior thought flows into
exterior thought, and thus into word and act. Into this order man was
created; and in heaven, and in the light of heaven, his interiors are
in this order. And as the light of heaven is the Divine truth that
goes forth from the Lord, and consequently is the Lord in heaven (n.
126-140), therefore such are led by the Lord. All this has been said
to make known that every man has interior thought and exterior
thought, and that these are distinct from each other. The term
thought includes also the will, for thought is from the will, and
thought apart from willing is impossible. All this makes clear what
is meant by the state of man's exteriors and the state of his
interiors.
500. When will and thought are mentioned will includes affection and
love, and all the delight and pleasure that spring from affection and
love, since all these relate to the will as to their subject; for
what a man wills he loves and feels to be delightful or pleasurable;
and on the other hand, what a man loves and feels to be delightful or
pleasurable, that he wills. But by thought is then meant everything
by which affection or love is confirmed, for thought is simply the
will's form, or that whereby what is willed may appear in light. This
form is made apparent through various rational analyses, which have
their origin in the spiritual world and belong properly to the spirit
of man.
501. Let it be understood that man is wholly such as his interiors
are, and not such as his exteriors are separate from his interiors.
This is because his interiors belong to his spirit, and the life of
his spirit is the life of man, for from it his body lives; and
because of this such as a man's interiors are such he continues to be
to eternity. But as the exteriors pertain to the body they are
separated after death, and those of them that adhere to the spirit
are laid asleep, and serve purely as a plane for the interiors, as
has been shown above in treating of the memory of man which continues
after death. This makes evident what is man's own and what is not his
own, namely, that with the evil man nothing that belongs to his
exterior thought from which he speaks, or to the exterior will from
which he acts, is his own, but only that which belongs to his
interior thought and will.
502. When the first state, which is the state of the exteriors
treated of in the preceding chapter, has been passed through, the
man-spirit is let into the state of his interiors, or into the state
of his interior will and its thought, in which he had been in the
world when left to himself to think freely and without restraint.
Into this state he unconsciously glides, just as when in the world he
withdraws the thought nearest to his speech, that is, from which he
speaks, towards his interior thought and abides in the latter.
Therefore in this state of his interiors the man-spirit is in
himself and in his very life; for to think freely from his own
affection is the very life of man, and is himself.
503. In this state the spirit thinks from his very will, thus from
his very affection, or from his very love; and thought and will then
make one, and one in such a manner that he seems scarcely to think
but only to will. It is nearly the same when he speaks, yet with the
difference that he speaks with a kind of fear that the thoughts of
the will may go forth naked, since by his social life in the world
this has come to be a part of his will.
504. All men without exception are let into this state after death,
because it is their spirit's own state. The former state is such as
the man was in regard to his spirit when in company; and that is not
his own state. That this state, namely, the state of the exteriors
into which man first comes after death (as shown in the preceding
chapter) is not his own state, many things show, for example, that
spirits not only think but also speak from their affection, since
their speech is from their affection (as has been said and shown in
the chapter on the speech of angels, n. 234-245). It was in this way
that man had thought while in the world when he was thinking within
himself, for at such times his thought was not from his bodily words,
but he [mentally] saw the things, and in a minute of time saw more
than he could afterwards utter in half an hour. Again that the state
of the exteriors is not man's own state or the state of his spirit is
evident from the fact that when he is in company in the world he
speaks in accord with the laws of moral and civil life, and at such
times interior thought rules the exterior thought, as one person
rules another, to keep him from transgressing the limits of decorum
and good manners. It is evident also from the fact that when a man
thinks within himself, he thinks how he must speak and act in order
to please and to secure friendship, good will, and favor, and this in
extraneous ways, that is, otherwise than he would do if he acted in
accordance with his own will. All this shows that the state of the
interiors that the spirit is let into is his own state, and was his
own state when he was living in the world as a man.
505. When the spirit is in the state of his interiors it becomes
clearly evident what the man was in himself when he was in the world,
for at such times he acts from what is his own. He that had been in
the world interiorly in good then acts rationally and wisely, and
even more wisely than in the world, because he is released from
connection with the body, and thus from those earthly things that
caused obscurity and interposed as it were a cloud. But he that was
in evil in the world then acts foolishly and insanely, and even more
insanely than in the world, because he is free and under no
restraint. For while he lived in the world he was sane in outward
appearance, since by means of externals he made himself appear to be
a rational man; but when he has been stripped of his externals his
insanities are revealed. An evil man who in externals takes on the
semblance of a good man may be likened to a vessel shining and
polished on the outside and covered with a lid, within which filth of
all kinds is hidden, in accordance with the Lord's saying:
Ye are like whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear
beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones and
of all uncleanness (Matt. 23:27).
506. All that have lived a good life in the world and have acted from
conscience, who are such as have acknowledged the Divine and have
loved Divine truths, especially such as have applied those truths to
life, seem to themselves, when let into the state of their interiors,
like one aroused from sleep into full wakefulness, or like one
passing from darkness into light. They then think from the light of
heaven, thus from an interior wisdom, and they act from good, thus
from an interior affection. Heaven flows into their thoughts and
affections with an interior blessedness and delight that they had
previously had no knowledge of; for they have communication with the
angels of heaven. They then acknowledge the Lord and worship Him from
their very life, for being in the state of their interiors they are
in their proper life (as has been said just above, n. 505); and as
freedom pertains to interior affection they then acknowledge and
worship the Lord from freedom. Thus, too, they withdraw from external
sanctity and come into that internal sanctity in which worship itself
truly consists. Such is the state of those that have lived a
Christian life in accordance with the commandments in the Word. [2]
But the state of those that have lived an evil life in the world and
who have had no conscience, and have in consequence denied the
Divine, is the direct opposite of this. For everyone who lives an
evil life, inwardly in himself denies the Divine, however much he may
suppose when in external thought that he acknowledges the Lord and
does not deny Him; for acknowledging the Divine and living an evil
life are opposites. When such in the other life enter into the state
of their interiors, and are heard speaking and seen acting, they
appear foolish; for from their evil lusts they burst forth into all
sorts of abominations, into contempt of others, ridicule and
blasphemy, hatred and revenge; they plot intrigues, some with a
cunning and malice that can scarcely be believed to be possible in
any man. For they are then in a state of freedom to act in harmony
with the thoughts of their will, since they are separated from the
outward conditions that restrained and checked them in the world. In
a word, they are deprived of their rationality, because their reason
while they were in the world did not have its seat in their
interiors, but in their exteriors; and yet they seemed to themselves
to be wiser than others. [3] This being their character, while in the
second state they are let down by short intervals into the state of
their exteriors, and into a recollection of their actions when they
were in the state of their interiors; and some of them then feel
ashamed, and confess that they have been insane; some do not feel
ashamed; and some are angry because they are not permitted to remain
permanently in the state of their exteriors. But these are shown what
they would be if they were to continue in that state, namely, that
they would attempt to accomplish in secret ways the same evil ends,
and by semblances of goodness, honesty, and justice, would mislead
the simple in heart and faith, and would utterly destroy themselves;
for their exteriors would at length burn with the same fire as their
interiors, and their whole life would be consumed.
507. When in this second state spirits become visibly just what they
had been in themselves while in the world, what they then did and
said secretly being now made manifest; for they are now restrained by
no outward considerations, and therefore what they have said and done
secretly they now say and endeavor to do openly, having no longer any
fear of loss of reputation, such as they had in the world. They are
also brought into many states of their evils, that what they are may
be evident to angels and good spirits. Thus are hidden things laid
open and secret things uncovered, in accordance with the Lord's
words:
There is nothing covered up that shall not be revealed,
and hid that shall not be known. Whatsoever ye have said
in the darkness shall be heard in the light, and what ye
have spoken in the ear in the inner chambers shall be
proclaimed on the housetops (Luke 12:2, 3).
And elsewhere:
I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment
(Matt. 12:36).
508. The nature of the wicked in this state cannot be described in a
few words, for each one is insane in accord with his own lusts, and
these are various; therefore I will merely mention some special
instances from which conclusions may be formed respecting the rest.
Those that have loved themselves above everything, and in their
occupations and employments have looked to their own honor, and have
performed uses and found delight in them not for the use's sake but
for the sake of reputation, that they might because of them be
esteemed more worthy than others, and have thus been fascinated by
their reputation for honor, are more stupid in this second state than
others; for so far as one loves himself he is separated from heaven,
and so far as he is separated from heaven he is separated from
wisdom. [2] But those that have not only been in self-love but have
been crafty also, and have raised themselves to honors by means of
crafty practices, affiliate themselves with the worst of spirits, and
learn magic arts, which are abuses of Divine order, and by means of
these they assail and infest all who do not honor them, laying
snares, fomenting hatred, burning with revenge, and are eager to vent
their rage on all who do not yield to them; and they rush into all
these enormities so far as their fiendish companions favor them; and
at length they meditate upon how they can climb up into heaven to
destroy it, or be worshiped there as gods. To such length does their
madness carry them. [3] Papists of this character are more insane
than the rest, for they cherish the notion that heaven and hell are
subject to their power, and that they can remit sins at pleasure,
claiming to themselves all that is Divine, and calling themselves
Christ. This persuasion is such with them that wherever it flows in
it disturbs the mind and induces darkness even to pain. Such are
nearly the same in both the first and the second state; but in the
second they are without rationality. Of their insanities and their
lot after this state some particulars will be given in the treatise
on The Last Judgement and the Destruction of Babylon. [4] Those that
have attributed creation to nature, and have therefore in heart if
not with the lips denied the Divine, and thus all things of the
church and of heaven, affiliate with their like in this second state,
and call everyone a god who excels in craftiness, worshiping him even
with Divine honors. I have seen such in an assembly adoring a
magician, debating about nature, and behaving like fools, as if they
were beasts under a human form, while among them there were some who
in the world had been in stations of dignity, and some who had been
esteemed learned and wise. So with others in other states. [5] From
these few instances it may be inferred what those are who have the
interiors of their minds closed heaven-wards, as is the case with
all who have received no influx out of heaven through acknowledgment
of the Divine and a life of faith. Everyone can judge from himself
how he would act if, being such, he were left free to act with no
fear of the law and no fear in regard to his life, and with no
outward restraints, such as fear of injury to one's reputation or of
loss of honor and gain and consequent pleasures. [6] Nevertheless,
the insanity of such is restrained by the Lord that it may not rush
beyond the limits of use; for even such spirits perform some use. In
them good spirits see what evil is and its nature, and what man is
when he is not led by the Lord. Another of their uses is their
collecting together evil spirits like themselves and separating them
from the good; and another, that the truths and goods that the evil
had outwardly professed and feigned are taken away from them, and
they are brought into the evils of their life and the falsities of
their evil, and are thus prepared for hell. [7] For no one enters
hell until he is in his own evil and the falsities of evil, since no
one is permitted there to have a divided mind, that is, to think and
speak one thing and to will another. Every evil spirit there must
think what is false from evil, and speak from the falsity of evil, in
both respects from the will, thus from his own essential love and its
delight and pleasure, in the same way that he thought while in the
world when he was in his spirit, that is, in the same way as he
thought in himself when he thought from interior affection. The
reason is that the will is the man himself, and not the thought
except so far as it partakes of the will, the will being the very
nature itself or disposition of the man. Therefore man's being let
into his will is being let into his nature or disposition, and
likewise into his life; for by his life man puts on a nature; and
after death he continues to be such as the nature is that he has
acquired by his life in the world; and with the evil this nature can
no longer be amended and changed by means of the thought or by the
understanding of truth.
509. When evil spirits are in this second state, as they rush into
evils of every kind they are subjected to frequent and grievous
punishments. In the world of spirits there are many kinds of
punishment; and there is no regard for person, whether one had been
in the world a king or a servant. Every evil carries its punishment
with it, the two making one; therefore whoever is in evil is also in
the punishment of evil. And yet no one in the other world suffers
punishment on account of the evils that he had done in this world,
but only on account of the evils that he then does; although it
amounts to the same and is the same thing whether it be said that men
suffer punishment on account of their evils in the world or that they
suffer punishment on account of the evils they do in the other life,
since everyone after death returns into his own life and thus into
like evils; and the man continues the same as he had been in the life
of the body (n. 470-484). Men are punished for the reason that the
fear of punishment is the sole means of subduing evils in this state.
Exhortation is no longer of any avail, neither is instruction or fear
of the law and of the loss of reputation, since everyone then acts
from his nature; and that nature can be restrained and broken only by
punishments. But good spirits, although they had done evils in the
world, are never punished, because their evils do not return.
Moreover, I have learned that the evils they did were of a different
kind or nature, not being done purposely in opposition to the truth,
or from any other badness of heart than that which they received by
inheritance from their parents, and that they were borne into this by
a blind delight when they were in externals separate from internals.
510. Everyone goes to his own society in which his spirit had been in
the world; for every man, as regards his spirit, is conjoined to some
society, either infernal or heavenly, the evil man to an infernal
society and the good man to a heavenly society, and to that society
he is brought after death (see n. 438). The spirit is led to his
society gradually, and at length enters it. When an evil spirit is in
the state of his interiors he is turned by degrees toward his own
society, and at length, before that state is ended, directly to it;
and when that state is ended he himself casts himself into the hell
where those are who are like himself. This act of casting down
appears to the sight like one falling headlong with the head
downwards and the feet upwards. The cause of this appearance is that
the spirit himself is in an inverted order, having loved infernal
things and rejected heavenly things. In this second state some evil
spirits enter the hells and come out again by turns; but these do not
appear to fall headlong as those do that are fully vastated.
Moreover, the society itself in which they had been as regards their
spirit while in the world is shown to them when they are in the state
of their exteriors, that they may thus learn that even while in the
life of the body they were in hell, although not in the same state as
those that are in hell itself, but in the same state as those who are
in the world of spirits. Of this state, as compared with those that
are in hell, more will be said hereafter.
511. In this second state the separation of evil spirits from good
spirits takes place. For in the first state they are together, since
while a spirit is in his exteriors he is as he was in the world, thus
the evil with the good and the good with the evil; but it is
otherwise when he has been brought into his interiors and left to his
own nature or will. The separation of evil spirits from good spirits
is effected by various means; in general by their being taken about
to those societies with which in their first state they had
communication by means of their good thoughts and affections, thus to
those societies that they had induced to believe by outward
appearances that they were not evil. Usually they are led about
through a wide circle, and everywhere what they really are is made
manifest to good spirits. At the sight of them the good spirits turn
away; and at the same time the evil spirits who are being led about
turn their faces away from the good towards that quarter where their
infernal society is, into which they are about to come. Other methods
of separation, which are many, will not now be mentioned.
512. LIII. THIRD STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH, WHICH IS A STATE OF
INSTRUCTION FOR THOSE WHO ENTER HEAVEN.
The third state of man after death, that is, of his spirit, is a
state of instruction. This state is for those who enter heaven and
become angels. It is not for those who enter hell, because such are
incapable of being taught, and therefore their second state is also
their third, ending in this, that they are wholly turned to their own
love, thus to that infernal society which is in a like love. When
this has been done they will and think from that love and as that
love is infernal they will nothing but what is evil and think nothing
but what is false; and in such thinking and willing they find their
delights, because these belong to their love; and in consequence of
this they reject everything good and true which they had previously
adopted as serviceable to their love as means. [2] Good spirits, on
the other hand, are led from the second state into the third, which
is the state of their preparation for heaven by means of instruction.
For one can be prepared for heaven only by means of knowledges of
good and truth, that is, only by means of instruction, since one can
know what spiritual good and truth are, and what evil and falsity
are, which are their opposites, only by being taught. One can learn
in the world what civil and moral good and truth are, which are
called justice and honesty, because there are civil laws in the world
that teach what is just, and there is interaction with others whereby
man learns to live in accordance with moral laws, all of which have
relation to what is honest and right. But spiritual good and truth
are learned from heaven, not from the world. They can be learned from
the Word and from the doctrine of the church that is drawn from the
Word and yet unless man in respect to his interiors which belong to
his mind is in heaven spiritual good and truth cannot flow into his
life; and man is in heaven when he both acknowledges the Divine and
acts justly and honestly for the reason that he ought so to act
because it is commanded in the Word. This is living justly and
honestly for the sake of the Divine, and not for the sake of self and
the world, as ends. [3] But no one can so act until he has been
taught, for example, that there is a God, that there is a heaven and
a hell, that there is a life after death, that God ought to be loved
supremely, and the neighbor as oneself, and that what is taught in
the Word, ought to be believed because the Word is Divine. Without a
knowledge and acknowledgment of these things man is unable to think
spiritually; and if he has no thought about them he does not will
them; for what a man does not know he cannot think, and what he does
not think he cannot will. So it is when man wills these things that
heaven flows into his life, that is, the Lord through heaven, for the
Lord flows into the will and through the will into the thought, and
through both into the life, and the whole life of man is from these.
All this makes clear that spiritual good and truth are learned not
from the world but from heaven, and that one can be prepared for
heaven only by means of instruction. [4] Moreover, so far as the Lord
flows into the life of any one He instructs him, for so far He
kindles the will with the love of knowing truths and enlightens the
thought to know them; and so far as this is done the interiors of man
are opened and heaven is implanted in them; and furthermore, what is
Divine and heavenly flows into the honest things pertaining to moral
life and into the just things pertaining to civil life in man, and
makes them spiritual, since man then does these things from the
Divine, which is doing them for the sake of the Divine. For the
things honest and just pertaining to moral and civil life which a man
does from that source are the essential effects of spiritual life;
and the effect derives its all from the effecting cause, since such
as the cause is such is the effect.
513. Instruction is given by the angels of many societies, especially
those in the northern and southern quarters, because those angelic
societies are in intelligence and wisdom from a knowledge of good and
truth. The places of instruction are towards the north and are
various, arranged and distinguished according to the kinds and
varieties of heavenly goods, that all and each may be instructed
there according to their disposition and ability to receive; the
places extending round about to a great distance. The good spirits
who are to be instructed are brought by the Lord to these places when
they have completed their second state in the world of spirits, and
yet not all; for there are some that have been instructed in the
world, and have been prepared there by the Lord for heaven, and these
are taken up into heaven by another way-some immediately after death,
some after a short stay with good spirits, where the grosser things
of their thoughts and affections which they had contracted from
honors and riches in the world are removed, and in that way they are
purified. Some first endure vastations, which is effected in places
under the soles of the feet, called the lower earth, where some
suffer severely. These are such as had confirmed themselves in
falsities and yet had led good lives, for when falsities have been
confirmed they inhere with much force, and until they have been
dispersed truths cannot be seen, and thus cannot be accepted. But
vastations and how they are effected have been treated of in the
Arcana Coelestia, from which the notes below have been collected.{1}
{Footnote 1} Vastations are effected in the other life, that
is, those that pass into the other life from the world are
vastated (n. 698, 7122, 7474, 9763). The well disposed are
vastated in respect to falsities, while the evil are vastated
in respect to truths (n, 7474, 7541, 7542). The well disposed
undergo vastations that they also may be divested of what
pertains to the earth and the world, which they had contracted
while living in the world (n. 7186, 9763). Also that evils and
falsities may be removed, and thus there may be room for the
influx of goods and truths out of heaven from the Lord, and
ability to accept these (n. 7122, 9330). Elevation into heaven
is impossible until such things have been removed, because they
obstruct heavenly things and are not in harmony with them (n.
6928, 7122, 7186, 7541, 7542, 9763). Those who are to be raised
up into heaven are thus prepared for it (n. 4728, 7090). It is
dangerous to come into heaven before being prepared (n. 537,
538). The state of enlightenment and the joy of those who come
out of vastation and are raised up into heaven, and their
reception there (n. 2699, 2701, 2704). The region where those
vastations are effected is called the lower earth (n. 4728,
7090). That region is under the soles of the feet surrounded by
the hells; its nature described (n. 4940-4951, 7090); from
experience (n. 699). What the hells are which more than others
infest and vastate (n. 7317, 7502, 7545). Those that have
infested and vastated the well disposed are afterwards afraid
of them, shun them, and turn away from them (n. 7768). These
infestations and vastations are effected in different ways in
accordance with the adhesion of evils and falsities, and they
continue in accordance with their quality and quantity (n.
1106-1113). Some are quite willing to be vastated (n. 1107).
Some are vastated by fears (n. 4942). Some by being infested
with the evils they have done in the world, and with the
falsities they have thought in the world, from which they have
anxieties and pangs of conscience (n. 1106). Some by spiritual
captivity, which is ignorance of truth and interception of
truth, combined with a longing to know truths (n. 1109, 2694).
Some by sleep; some by a middle state between wakefulness and
sleep (n. 1108). Those that have placed merit in works seem to
themselves to be cutting wood (n. 1110). Others in other ways,
with great variety (n. 699).
514. All who are in places of instruction dwell apart; for each one
is connected in regard to his interiors with that society of heaven
which he is about to enter; thus as the societies of heaven are
arranged in accord with the heavenly form (see above, n. 200-212), so
are the places there where instruction is given; and for this reason
when those places are viewed from heaven something like a heaven in a
smaller form is seen. They are spread out in length from east to
west, and in breadth from south to north; but the breadth appears to
be less than the length. The arrangement in general is as follows. In
front are those who died in childhood and have been brought up in
heaven to the age of early youth; these after passing the state of
their infancy with those having charge of them, are brought hither by
the Lord and instructed. Behind these are the places where those are
taught who died in adult age, and who in the world had an affection
for truth derived from good of life. Again, behind these are those
who in the world were connected with the Mohammedan religion, and
lived a moral life and acknowledged one Divine, and the Lord as the
very Prophet. When these withdraw from Mohammed, because he can give
them no help, they approach the Lord and worship Him and acknowledge
His Divinity, and they are then instructed in the Christian religion.
Behind these more to the north are the places of instruction of
various heathen nations who in the world have lived a good life in
conformity with their religion, and have thereby acquired a kind of
conscience, and have done what is just and right not so much from a
regard to the laws of their government, as from a regard to the laws
of religion, which they believed ought to be sacredly observed, and
in no way violated by their doings. When these have been taught they
are all easily led to acknowledge the Lord, because it is impressed
on their hearts that God is not invisible, but is visible under a
human form. These in number exceed all the rest, and the best of them
are from Africa.
515. But all are not taught in the same way, nor by the same
societies of heaven. Those that have been brought up from childhood
in heaven, not having imbibed falsities from the falsities of
religion or defiled their spiritual life with the dregs pertaining to
honors and riches in the world, receive instruction from the angels
of the interior heavens; while those that have died in adult age
receive instruction mainly from angels of the lowest heaven, because
these angels are better suited to them than the angels of the
interior heavens, who are in interior wisdom which is not yet
acceptable to them. But the Mohammedans receive instruction from
angels who had been previously in the same religion and had been
converted to Christianity. The heathen, too, are taught by their
angels.
516. All teaching there is from doctrine drawn from the Word, and not
from the Word apart from doctrine. Christians are taught from
heavenly doctrine, which is in entire agreement with the internal
sense of the Word. All others, as the Mohammedans and heathen, are
taught from doctrines suited to their apprehension, which differ from
heavenly doctrine only in this, that spiritual life is taught by
means of moral life in harmony with the good tenets of their religion
from which they had derived their life in the world.
517. Instruction in the heavens differs from instruction on earth in
that knowledges are not committed to memory, but to life; for the
memory of spirits is in their life, for they receive and imbibe
everything that is in harmony with their life, and do not receive,
still less imbibe, what is not in harmony with it; for spirits are
affections, and are therefore in a human form that is similar to
their affections. [2] Being such they are constantly animated by an
affection for truth that looks to the uses of life; for the Lord
provides for everyone's loving the uses suited to his genius; and
that love is exalted by the hope of becoming an angel. And as all the
uses of heaven have relation to the general use, which is the good of
the Lord's kingdom, which in heaven is the fatherland, and as all
special and particular uses are to be valued in proportion as they
more closely and fully have regard to that general use, so all of
these special and particular uses, which are innumerable, are good
and heavenly; therefore in everyone an affection for truth is so
conjoined with an affection for use that the two make one; and
thereby truth is so implanted in use that the truths they acquire are
truths of use. In this way are angelic spirits taught and prepared
for heaven. [3] An affection for truth that is suited to the use is
insinuated by various means, most of which are unknown in the world;
chiefly by representatives of uses which in the spiritual world are
exhibited in a thousand ways, and with such delights and pleasures
that they permeate the spirit from the interiors of its mind to the
exteriors of its body, and thus affect the whole; and in consequence
the spirit becomes as it were his use; and therefore when he comes
into his society, into which he is initiated by instruction, he is in
his life by being in his use.{1} From all this it is clear that
knowledges, which are external truths, do not bring any one into
heaven; but the life itself, which is a life of uses implanted by
means of knowledges.
{Footnote 1} Every good has both its delight and its quality
from uses and in accordance with uses; therefore such as the
good is such the use is (n. 3049, 4984, 7038). Angelic life
consists in the goods of love and charity, thus in performing
uses (n. 454). The Lord and therefore the angels, have regard
to nothing in man but ends which are uses (n. 1317, 1645,
5854). The kingdom of the Lord is a kingdom of uses (n. 454,
696, 1103, 3645, 4054, 7038). Serving the Lord is performing
uses (n. 7038). What man is, such are his uses (n. 1568, 3570,
4054, 6571, 6935, 6938, 10284).
518. There were some spirits who had convinced themselves, by
thinking about it in the world, that they would go to heaven and be
received before others because of their learning and their great
knowledge of the Word and of the doctrines of their churches,
believing that they were wise in consequence, and were such as are
meant by those of whom it is said that
They shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and
as the stars (Daniel 12:3).
But these were examined to see whether their knowledges resided in
the memory or in the life. Such of them as had a genuine affection of
truth, that is, who had uses separated from what pertains to the body
and the world as their end, which are essentially spiritual
uses--these, when they had been instructed, were received into
heaven; and it was then given them to know what it is that shines in
heaven, namely, Divine truth (which is the light of heaven) in use,
which is a plane that receives the rays of that light and turns them
into various splendors. But those in whom knowledges resided merely
in the memory, and who had acquired therefrom an ability to reason
about truths and to prove what they had already accepted as
principles, seeing such principles, after they had confirmed them, as
truths, although they were falsities, these, as they were in no
heavenly light, and yet were in a belief derived from the conceit
that usually adheres to such intelligence that they were more learned
than others, and would for that reason enter heaven and be served by
the angels, in order that they might be withdrawn from their delusive
faith, were taken up to the first or outmost heaven to be introduced
into an angelic society. But at the very threshold their eyes began
to be darkened by the inflowing of the light of heaven, and their
understanding to be disturbed, and at length they began to gasp as if
at the point of death; and as soon as they felt the heat of heaven,
which is heavenly love, they began to be inwardly tormented. They
were therefore cast down, and afterwards were taught that knowledges
do not make an angel, but the life itself, which is gained by means
of knowledges, for knowledges regarded in themselves are outside of
heaven; but life acquired by means of knowledges is within heaven.
519. When spirits have been prepared for heaven by instruction in the
places above described, which is effected in a short time on account
of their being in spiritual ideas that comprehend many particulars
together, they are clothed with angelic garments, which are mostly
glowing white as if made of fine linen; and they are thus brought to
the way that leads upwards towards heaven, and are delivered there to
angel guards, and afterwards are received by other angels and
introduced into societies and into many blessednesses there. After
this each one is led by the Lord into his own society, which is also
effected by various ways, sometimes by winding paths. The ways by
which they are led are not known to any angel, but are known to the
Lord alone. When they come to their own society their interiors are
opened; and as these are in conformity with the interiors of the
angels who are in that society they are immediately recognized and
received with joy.
520. To this I will add a memorable fact respecting the ways that
lead from these places to heaven, by which the newly arrived angels
are introduced. There are eight ways, two from each place of
instruction, one going up in an eastern direction the other towards
the west. Those that enter the Lord's celestial kingdom are
introduced by the eastern way, while those that enter the spiritual
kingdom are introduced by the western way. The four ways that lead to
the Lord's celestial kingdom appear adorned with olive trees and
fruit trees of various kinds; but those that lead to the Lord's
spiritual kingdom appear adorned with vines and laurels. This is from
correspondence, because vines and laurels correspond to affection for
truth and its uses, while olives and fruits correspond to affection
for good and its uses.