There are three states through which a man passes after death, before
he enters either heaven or hell. The first state is that of his
outward nature and life; the second, that of his inward nature and
life; and the third, one of preparation. A man passes through these
states in the world of spirits.
The first state of a man after death is like his state in the world,
because he is then similarly in things outward. His appearance is
similar, and so are his speech, his mental habit, and his moral and
civil life. As a result he does not know but that he is still in the
world, unless he pays attention to things that meet his eye, and to
what the angels told him at his resuscitation, that now he is a
spirit. Thus one life is carried on into the other, and death is only
the transition.
--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 491, 493