The Gist of Swedenborg Part 7

[Footnote A: Heavenly Doctrine, n. 225.]

THE WORLD OF SPIRITS

Every man at death comes first into the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and h.e.l.l; and there he pa.s.ses through his own states, and is prepared either for heaven or for h.e.l.l according to his life.... It is to be observed that the world of spirits is one thing, and the spiritual world another. The spiritual world embraces the world of spirits and heaven and h.e.l.l.

--_Divine Love and Wisdom, n._ 140

THE WAY OF ONE'S OWN LOVE

After death every one goes the way of his love--he who is in a good love, to heaven, and he who is in a wicked love, to h.e.l.l. Nor does he rest until he is in that society where his ruling love is. What is wonderful, every one knows the way.

Every one's state after death is spiritual, which is such that he cannot be anywhere but in the delight of his own love, which he has acquired for himself by his life in the natural world. From this it appears plainly that no one can be let into the delight of heaven who is in the delight of h.e.l.l.... This may be still more certainly concluded from the fact that no one is forbidden after death to ascend to heaven. The way is shown him, opportunity is given him, and he is let in. But when one who is in the delight of evil comes into heaven, and breathes in its delight, he begins to be oppressed, and racked at heart, and to feel in a swoon, in which he writhes like a snake put near a fire; and with his face turned away from heaven and toward h.e.l.l, he flees headlong, nor does he rest until he is in the society of his own love.

--_Divine Providence, nn._ 319, 338

It is an abiding truth that every man rises again after death into another life, and presents himself for judgment. This judgment, however, is circ.u.mstanced as follows: As soon as his bodily parts grow cold, which takes place after a few days, he is raised by the Lord at the hands of celestial angels who first are with him. If he is such that he cannot be with them, he is received by spiritual angels, and in turn afterwards by good spirits. For all who come into the other life, whoever they may be, are grateful and welcome new-comers. But as every one's desires follow him, he who has led a bad life cannot remain long with angels or good spirits, but in turn separates himself from them, until at length he comes to spirits of a life conforming with the life he had in the world. Then it seems to him as if he were back in the life of the body; his present life being, in fact, a continuation of his past life. With this life his judgment commences.

They who have led a bad life in process of time descend into h.e.l.l; they who have led a good life, are by degrees raised by the Lord into heaven.

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 2119

THE FIRST THREE STATES AFTER DEATH

"He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still."

--_Rev_., XXII, 11

CONTINUATION OF THE OUTWARD LIFE

There are three states through which a man pa.s.ses after death, before he enters either heaven or h.e.l.l. 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 pa.s.ses 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 h.e.l.l, nn._ 491, 493

REVELATION OF THE INNER LIFE

After the first state is past, which is the state of the outward nature and life, a spirit is admitted into the state of his inward will and thought, in which, on being left to himself to think freely and unchecked, he had been in the world. He slips unawares into this state, just as he did in the world. When he is in this state, he is in himself, and in his very life; for to think freely from the affection properly one's own, is the very life of man, and is the man.

When a spirit is in the state of his inward nature and life, it appears plainly what manner of man he was in the world; for then he acts from his very self. A man who was inwardly in good in the world, then acts rationally and wisely--more wisely, in fact, than he did in the world; for he has been loosed from connection with the body, and so with worldly things, which caused obscurity and, as it were, interposed a cloud. But a man who was in evil in the world, then acts foolishly and insanely--more insanely, in fact, than he did in the world, for now he is in freedom and not coerced. For when he lived in the world, he was sane in his outward life, for so he a.s.sumed the appearance of a rational man. When, therefore, his outward life is laid off, his insanities reveal themselves.

--_Heaven and h.e.l.l, nn._ 502, 505

INSTRUCTED FOR HEAVEN

The third state of a man after death is a state of instruction. This is a state in the experience of those who enter heaven and become angels.

Instruction in heaven differs from instruction on earth, in that knowledge is not committed to memory, but to life; for the memory of spirits is in their life, inasmuch as they receive and become imbued with everything that agrees with their life, and they do not receive, still less do they become imbued with, anything that disagrees with it; for spirits are affections, and are in a human form like their affections. Being such, they have inspired in them continually an affection for truth for the sake of the uses of life; for the Lord provides that every one may love the uses which suit his genius, a love that is exalted, too, by the hope of becoming an angel.... With every one, therefore, the affection of truth is united to the affection of use, so fully that they act as one. Thereby truth is planted in service, so much so that the truths which angelic spirits learn, are truths of use. Thus are they instructed and prepared for heaven.

--_Heaven and h.e.l.l, nn._ 512, 517

HEAVEN

"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life; and may enter in through the gates into the city."

--_Rev_., XXII, 14

"Thou wilt show me the path of life; In Thy presence is fulness of joy; At Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore."

--_Psalm_, XVI, 11

"THE KINGDOM OF G.o.d IS WITHIN YOU"

Heaven is in a man; and they who have heaven within themselves, come into heaven. Heaven in a man is to acknowledge the Divine, and to be led by the Divine.

Every angel receives the heaven which is around him according to the heaven which is within him. Unless heaven is within a man, none of the heaven around him flows in and is received.

Love to the Lord is the love regnant in the heavens; for there the Lord is loved above all things. Thus the Lord is All in all there. He flows into all the angels, and into each of them. He disposes them; He induces a likeness of Himself on them, and causes Heaven to be where He is. Hence an angel is heaven in the least form; a society is heaven in a greater form; and all the societies together are heaven in the greatest form.

--_Heaven and h.e.l.l, nn._ 319, 54, 58

AN ACTUAL WORLD

In general, what appears in heaven, appears the same as it does in our material world of three kingdoms. Things appear before the eyes of angels just as objects of the three kingdoms do before the eyes of men in the world. Still there is this difference: the things which appear in heaven, have a spiritual origin, and those which appear in our world a material origin. Objects of a spiritual origin affect the senses of angels because these senses are spiritual, as those of a material origin affect the senses of men, inasmuch as their senses are material. Heavenly objects are said to have a spiritual origin, because they exist from the Divine which proceeds from the Lord as a Sun; and the Divine that proceeds from the Lord as a Sun is spiritual.

For there the Sun is not fire, but Divine Love, appearing before the eyes of the angels as the sun of the world does before the eyes of men; and whatever proceeds from the Divine Love is Divine and is spiritual. Of this origin are all things which exist in the heavens, and they appear in forms like those in our world. It is due to the order of creation that they appear in such forms. According to that order, things which are of love and wisdom with the angels, on descending into the lower sphere in which angels are in respect of their bodies and of their sensation, present themselves in such forms and under such types. These are correspondences.

--_Apocalypse Explained, n._ 926

A WORLD OF ACTION

All heaven's delights are united to uses and inhere in them, because uses are the goods of love and charity, in which the angels are. The angels find all their happiness in use, from use, and according to use. There is the highest freedom in this because it proceeds from interior affection, and is conjoined with ineffable delight. Uses exist in the heavens in all variety and diversity. Never is the use of one angel quite the same as that of another; nor the delight. What is more, the delights of any one person's use are countless. These countless and various delights are nevertheless united in an order so that they mutually regard one another, as do the uses of every member, organ and inner part of the body. They are even more like the uses of each vessel and fibre in every member, organ and vital part; each and all of which are so related that they regard each of its own good in the other, and thus in all, and all in each. As a result of this general and several regard they act as one.