The Swedenborg Library Vol 1/Chapter 5
V.
THE FORM OF MAN'S SPIRIT.
HE form of man's spirit is the human for the spirit is a man even in respect to its form. This is evident from the consideration that man is man by virtue of his spirit, and not by virtue of his body; and that the corporeal form is added to the spirit according to the form thereof, and not the reverse; for the spirit is clothed with a body according to its own form. Therefore the spirit of man acts upon every part of the body, even the most minute, insomuch that the part which is not acted upon by the spirit, or in which the spirit is not active, does not live. Every one may know this from the single consideration, that thought and will actuate all parts of the body, both in general and in particular, so absolutely that every part responds to their behests; and whatever does not respond is no part of the body, and is also cast out as a thing void of any living principle. Thought and will belong to the spirit of man, and not to the body.
Although the spirit is in the human form, it is not seen by man after its separation from the body; nor is it seen in another man while living in the world; because the eye,—the organ of bodily sight, so far as concerns its seeing in the world,—is material; and what is material sees nothing but what is material, but what is spiritual sees what is spiritual. Therefore when the material of the eye is veiled, and deprived of its co-operation with the spiritual, spirits appear in their own form, which is the human,—not only spirits who are in the spiritual world, but also the spirit that is in another while he is yet in his body.
The form of the spirit is human, because man as to his spirit was created according to the form of heaven; for all things belonging to heaven and to its order are collated into those which appertain to the mind of man; and hence he has the faculty of receiving intelligence and wisdom. Whether we say the faculty of receiving intelligence and wisdom, or the faculty of receiving heaven, it is the same thing.
A rational man can understand the statements here advanced, for he can view things from a chain of causes, and from truths in their order; but a man who is not rational will not understand them. There are several reasons for this; the chief of which is, that he does not wish to understand them because they are contrary to his falsities which he has made his truths; and he who, on this account, does not wish to understand, has closed his rational faculty against the influx from heaven; which, nevertheless, may still be opened, provided the will does not resist.
That man can understand truths, and be rational, if he is only willing, has been proved to me by much experience. I have often seen evil spirits who had become irrational in the world by denying the Divine and the truths of the church, and who had confirmed themselves in such denial, turned by a divine power toward spirits who were in the light of truth; and then they comprehended like the angels all the truths which they had before denied, confessing that they were truths, and also that they comprehended them all. But the moment they relapsed into themselves, and were turned to the love appertaining to their will, they comprehended nothing, and affirmed what was directly the opposite.
I have also heard infernal spirits say, that they know and perceive that what they do is evil, and that what they think is false; but that they cannot resist the delight of their love, thus their will, which leads their thoughts to see evil as good, and the false as truth.
Thus it was made plain that they who are in falsities derived from evil might understand and therefore be rational, but that they were not willing; and that the reason why they were not willing, was because they loved falsities rather than truths, since falsities agreed with the evils in which they were. To love and to will are the same thing; for what a man wills he loves, and what he loves he wills.
Since the state of men is such that they can understand truths if they only desire to understand them, I am permitted to confirm the spiritual truths of heaven and the church even by rational considerations; and this in order that the falsities which have closed the rational with many, may be dispersed by the conclusions of reason, and that thus, perchance, their mental eye may in some measure be opened. For such confirmations of spiritual truth are allowed to all who are principled in truths.
Who could ever understand the Word from its literal sense, unless he saw the truths which it contains from an enlightened rational faculty? Whence, otherwise, so many heresies from the same Word?
That the spirit of man, after its separation from the body, is itself a man, and similar in form, has been proved to me by the daily experience of many years; for I have seen, heard, and conversed with spirits thousands of times; and I have even talked with them on the prevailing disbelief that spirits are men, and have told them that the learned regard those as simple who think so.
The spirits were grieved at heart that such ignorance still continues in the world, and especially within the church. But they remarked that this infidelity had emanated chiefly from the learned, who have thought of the soul from their corporeal-sensual apprehensions; and have therefore concluded that it is mere thought, which, when viewed without any subject in and from which it exists, is like a volatile breath of pure ether, which cannot but be dissipated when the body dies.
But because the church, on the authority of the Word, believes in the immortality of the soul, they could not but ascribe to it some vital principle like thought, although they deny it a sensitive principle such as man has, until it is again conjoined to the body. This is the foundation of the prevailing doctrine of the resurrection, and of the belief that the soul and the body will be again united a the time of the last judgment.
Hence it is, that when any one thinks about the soul according to the prevailing doctrine and hypothesis, he does not at all comprehend that it is a spirit and in human form. In addition to this, scarcely any one at this day is aware what the spiritual nature is, and still less that spiritual beings,—as all spirits and angels are,—have any human form.
Hence it is that almost all who pass out of this world into the other, are greatly astonished to find themselves alive, and that they are men equally as before; that they see, hear and speak; that their bodies enjoy the sense of touch as before; and that there is no discernible difference whatever. But when they cease to wonder at themselves, they then wonder that the church knows nothing about such a state of man after death, thus nothing about heaven or hell; when yet all who have ever lived in the world, have passed into the other life and are living as men. And because they also wondered why this was not revealed to man by visions, seeing it is an essential of the faith of the church, they were told from heaven that this might have been done,—since nothing is easier when it pleases the Lord,—but that still they who have confirmed themselves in falsities in opposition to these truths, would not believe even the evidence of their senses; moreover that it is dangerous to confirm anything by visions, because they would first believe, and afterwards deny; and thus, with those who are in falsities, would profane the truth itself,—for to believe and afterwards to deny, is to commit profanation; and they who profane truths are thrust down into the lowest and most grievous of all the hells. This danger is what is meant by the Lord's words:
"He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, and understand with the heart, and convert themselves, and I should heal them," (John xii. 40.) And that they who are in falsities would still not believe, is meant by these words: "Abraham said to the rich man in hell, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them; but he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they would be converted. But Abraham said: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they believe though one rose from the dead," (Luke xvi. 29, 30, 31.)
When the spirit of man first enters the world of spirits, which takes place shortly after his resuscitation, he has a similar face and similar tone of voice to what he had in the world, because he is then in the state of his exteriors, and his interiors are not yet disclosed. This is the first state of man after death.
But afterwards his face is changed and becomes entirely different, assuming the likeness of his ruling affection or love in which the interiors of his mind were in the world, and in which his spirit was in the body,—for the face of a man's spirit differs exceedingly from that of his body.
The face of one's body is derived from his parents, but the face of his spirit is derived from his affection, of which it is the image. Into this his spirit comes after his life in the body, when the exteriors are removed and the interiors are revealed. This is the third state of man.
I have seen some spirits shortly after their arrival from the world, and knew them by their faces and speech; but when I saw them afterwards, I did not know them. They who were principled in good affections appeared with beautiful faces, but they who were principled in evil affections, with faces deformed; for the spirit of man, viewed in itself, is nothing but his affection, whereof the face is the external form.
The reason also why the face is changed, is, that in the other life no one is allowed to counterfeit affections which are not properly his own; nor, consequently, to put on looks which are contrary to his real love.
All in the spiritual world, therefore, whoever they may be, are brought into such a state as to speak as they think, and to express by their faces and gestures the inclinations of their will. Hence the faces of all spirits are the forms and images of their affections. And hence it is that all who have known each other in the world, know each other also in the world of spirits, but not in heaven nor in hell.
The faces of hypocrites are changed more slowly than those of others, because from practice they have formed the habit of disposing their interiors so as to imitate good affections. Therefore they appear for a long time not uubeautiful. But because their assumed appearance is successively put off, and the interiors which belong to their minds are disposed according to the form of their affections, they afterwards become more deformed than others.
Hypocrites are those who have talked like angels, but who interiorly have acknowledged nothing but nature, and thus have denied the Divine, and consequently the truths which belong to heaven and the church.
It is worthy of remark, that the human form of every man after death is the more beautiful, the more interiorly he had loved divine truths and had lived according to them; for the interiors of every one are opened and formed according to his love and life. Therefore the more interior is the affection, the more conformable it is to heaven, and hence the more beautiful is the face. Hence the angels of the inmost heaven are the most beautiful, because they are forms of celestial love.
But they who have loved divine truths externally, and have therefore lived externally according to them, are less beautiful; for the exteriors only shine forth from their faces, and no interior heavenly love shines through their exteriors, consequently not the form of heaven as it really is. There appears something respectively obscure in their faces, which is not vivified by the translucence of interior life.
In a word, all perfection increases toward the interiors and decreases toward the exteriors; and as perfection increases and decreases, so likewise does beauty. I have seen the faces of angels of the third heaven, which were so beautiful that no painter, with all his skill, could ever impart to colors any such animation as to equal a thousandth part of the brightness and life which appeared in their faces. But the faces of the angels of the ultimate heaven may, in some degree, be equalled by a painter. (H. H. 453-459.)
