HH 512 - the third state after death

HH 512
The third state of a person 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 . . ..

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 a person 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 a person in respect to his interiors
which belong to his mind
is in heaven
spiritual good and truth cannot flow into his life;
and a person 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 . . ..