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,
ending in this,
that they are wholly turned to their own love,
thus to that infernal society which is in a like love.

Good spirits, on the other hand,
are led from the second state into the third,
which is the state of their preparation for heaven
by means of instruction.
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.