The Swedenborg Library Vol 1/Chapter 11

by Emanuel Swedenborg

XI.

THE THIRD STATE AFTER DEATH.

HE third state of man after death, or of his spirit, is a state of instruction. This state is experienced by those who go to heaven and become angels; but not by those who go to hell, since these cannot be instructed. Therefore the second state of these latter is likewise their third, which ends in their being altogether turned to their own love, thus to the infernal society which is in similar love. When this takes place, they think and will from that love; and because that love is infernal, they will nothing but what is evil and think nothing but what is false, these things being delightful to them because they are objects of their love; and hence they reject everything good and true, which they had before adopted because it served as a means of gratifying their love.

But the good are brought from the second state into the third, which is the state of their preparation for heaven, by means of instruction. For no one can be prepared for heaven except by the knowledges of good and truth, that is, except by instruction; for no one can know what spiritual good and truth are, nor what evil and falsity which are their opposites, unless he be instructed.

What civil and moral good and truth are, which are called justice and sincerity, may be known in the world; because in the world there are civil laws which teach what is just, and there is the intercourse of society in which man learns to live according to moral laws, all of which have reference to what is sincere and right.

But spiritual good and truth are not learned from the world, but from heaven. They may, indeed, be known from the Word, and from the doctrine of the church which is drawn from the Word; but still they cannot flow into the life, unless man, as to his interiors which belong to his mind, be in heaven: and man is in heaven when he acknowledges the Divine, and at the same time acts justly and sincerely from the conviction that he ought to do so because it is commanded in the Word; for he then lives justly and sincerely for the sake of the Divine, and not for the sake of himself and the world as ends.

But no one can act thus, unless he be first instructed in such truths as these: 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 above all things, and the neighbor as one's self; and that the things which are in the Word ought to be believed, because the Word is divine. Without the knowledge and acknowledgment of these truths, man cannot think spiritually; and without thought concerning them, he does not will them; for a man cannot think of the things about which he knows nothing; and the things which he does not think of, he cannot will. When therefore a man wills these truths, then heaven, that is, the Lord through heaven, flows into his life; for He flows into the will, and through the will into the thought, and through both into the life; for all the life of man is from his will and thought.

From these considerations it is evident, that spiritual good and truth are not learned from the world but from heaven; and that no one can be prepared for heaven but by means of instruction. In proportion also as the Lord flows into any one's life, He instructs him; for in that proportion He enkindles in his will the love of knowing truths, and enlightens, his thought to discern them. And so far as these effects take place, the man's interiors are opened, and heaven is implanted in them. And still further,—what is divine and heavenly flows into the sincere acts of his moral life, and into the just acts of his civil life, and makes them spiritual; since the man then does them from the Divine, because for the sake of the Divine. For the sincere, and just actions belonging to his moral and civil life, which the man performs from the above origin, are the very effects of spiritual life; and the effect derives all that belongs to it from its efficient cause; for such as the cause is, such is the effect.

 

INSTRUCTION TO WILLING RECEIVERS.

The instruction is given by the angels of many societies, especially by those which are in the northern and southern quarters; for these angelic societies are in intelligence and wisdom derived from the knowledges of good and truth. The places of instruction are toward the north, and are various, arranged and distinguished according to the genera and species of heavenly goods, so that every one there may be instructed according to his peculiar genius and faculty of reception. These places extend in all directions there to a considerable distance. The good spirits who are to be instructed, are conveyed thither by the Lord after they have completed their second state in the world of spirits.

All, however, are not taken to them; for they who have been instructed in the world, were there also prepared by the Lord for heaven, and are conveyed to 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 contracted from honors and riches in the world, are removed, and thus they are purified. Some are first vastated, which is effected in places called the lower earth, where some suffer severely. These are they who have confirmed themselves in falsities, and yet have led good lives,—for falsities confirmed inhere with great tenacity; and until they are dispersed, truths cannot be seen, thus cannot be received.

All who are in places of instruction dwell in distinct classes; for every one of them is interiorly connected with the society of heaven which he is soon to enter. And since the societies of heaven are arranged according to the heavenly form, so likewise are the places where the instructions are given. Therefore when viewed from heaven, these places appear like heaven in a lesser form. They extend lengthwise from east to west, and breadthwise from south to north; but the breadth, to appearance, is less than the length.

The arrangements in general are as follows: In front are those who died when they were infants, and have been educated in heaven to the period of early youth; these, after passing the state of infancy with their instructresses there, are brought thither by the Lord and instructed. Behind them, are the places where those are instructed who died adults, and who in the world were in the affection of truth from the good of life. Behind these, are such as have professed the Mohammedan religion, and in the world led a moral life, and acknowledged one Divine, and the Lord as the Great Prophet. These, when they withdraw from Mohammed because he is not able to help them, approach the Lord and worship Him, and acknowledge his Divine, and then are instructed in the Christian religion. Behind these, more to the north, are the places of instruction of various Gentile nations who in the world have led a good life in conformity with their religion, and have thence acquired a species of conscience, and have done what is just and right, not so much from a regard to the laws of their country, as from a regard to the laws of their religion, which they believed ought to be sacredly observed, and in no way to be violated by their actions. All these when instructed are easily led to acknowledge the Lord, because it is impressed on their hearts that God is not invisible, but visible under a human form. These exceed the rest in number. The best of them are from Africa.

But all are not instructed in the same manner, nor by similar societies of heaven. They who from infancy have been educated in heaven, are instructed by angels of the interior heavens, inasmuch as they have not imbibed falsities from falsities of religion, nor denied their spiritual life by the gross principles which have regard to honors and riches in the world.

They who have died adult, are for the most part instructed by the angels of the ultimate heaven, because these angels are better adapted to them than the angels of the interior heavens; for the latter are in interior wisdom which they are not yet able to receive. But the Mohammedans are instructed by angels who had once been in the same religion, and were converted to Christianity. Gentiles also are instructed by angels who were once Gentiles.

All instruction is there given from doctrine derived from the Word, and not from the Word without doctrine. Christians are instructed from heavenly doctrine, which is in perfect agreement with the internal sense of the Word. All others, as the Mohammedans and Gentiles, are instructed from doctrines suited to their comprehension, which differ from heavenly doctrines only in this, that spiritual life is taught through the medium of a moral life in agreement with the good tenets of their religion, according to which they formed their life in the world.

INSTRUCTION DIFFERS FROM THAT ON EARTH.

Instruction in heaven differs from instruction on earth in this, that knowledges are not committed to memory, but to life; for the memory of spirits is in their life, inasmuch as they receive and imbibe all things which agree with their life, and do not receive, still less imbibe, those things which disagree with it; for spirits are affections, and thence in a human form similar to their affections. This being the case with them, the affection of truth is continually inspired for the sake of the uses of life; for the Lord provides that every one may love the uses suited to his genius, which love is also exalted by the hope of becoming an angel.

And because all the uses of heaven have reference to the common use, which is the good of the Lord's kingdom,—this kingdom being their country,—and whereas all special and particular uses are excellent in proportion as they more nearly and fully have regard to that common use, therefore all special and particular uses, which are innumerable, are good and heavenly. With every one, therefore, the affection of truth is so perfectly conjoined with the affection of use, that they act as one. Truth is thereby implanted in use, so that the truths which they learn are truths of use. Thus angelic spirits are instructed and prepared for heaven.

The affection of truth suitable to the use which they are to perform, is insinuated by various methods, 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 pleasantnesses that they penetrate the spirit from the interiors which belong to his mind to the exteriors which belong to his body, and thus affect the whole of him. Hence the spirit becomes, as it were, his own use. Therefore when he enters his own society, into which he is initiated by instruction, he is in his own life when in his own use.

From these considerations it may be evident that knowledges, which are external truths, do not introduce any one into heaven, but life itself, which is the life of use, implanted by means of knowledges.

There were some spirits, who, from what they had conceived in the world, had persuaded themselves that they should go to heaven and be received before others, because they were learned, and knew many things from the Word, and from the doctrines of their churches,—imagining that they were therefore wise, and that they were meant by those of whom it is said, that they should shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars, Dan. xii. 3.

But they were examined, to ascertain whether their knowledges resided in the memory, or in the life. They who were in the genuine affection of truth,—which is the love of it for the sake of uses unconnected with corporeal and worldly ends, which uses in themselves are spiritual,—after they had been instructed, were also received into heaven; and it was then given them to know what it is that shines in heaven, namely, that it is the divine truth, which is there the light of heaven, embodied in use. For use is the plane that receives the rays of that light, and turns them into manifold splendors.

But they with whom knowledges resided only in the memory, and who had thence acquired the faculty of reasoning about truths, and of confirming whatever notions they assumed as principles, which, although false, after confirmation appeared to them as truths,—these were in no light of heaven; and yet they believed, from the pride which usually accompanies such intelligence, that they were more learned than others, and should therefore go to heaven and be served by the angels.

In order, therefore, that they might be withdrawn from their foolish belief, they were taken up to the first or ultimate heaven, that they might enter some angelic society. But in the very entrance, their eyes began to be darkened by the influx of the light of heaven; then their understandings were confused, and at length they panted for breath like persons at the point of death; and when they felt the heat of heaven, which is heavenly love, they began to be inwardly tortured. Therefore they were cast down thence.

Afterwards they were instructed that knowledges do not make an angel, but the life itself which is acquired by means of them; since knowledges viewed in themselves are out of heaven, but life acquired by knowledges is in heaven.

ENTRANCE INTO HEAVEN.

After spirits have, by means of instruction, been prepared for heaven in the places above mentioned,—which is effected in a short time, by reason that they are in spiritual ideas which comprehend many things at once,—they are then clothed with angelic garments, which for the most part are white as if made of fine linen; and then they are brought to the way which leads upward toward heaven, and are delivered to the angel-guards there, and afterwards are received by other angels, and introduced into societies and into many gratifications there; and finally every one is led to his own society by the Lord. This also is done by leading them through various ways, some of which wind about intricately.

The ways through which they are led are not known to any angel, but to the Lord alone. When they come to their own society, their interiors are opened; and because these are conformable to the interiors of the angels who are in that society, therefore they are immediately acknowledged and received with joy. (H. H. 512-519.)