AC 5007 - Why We Are In this World; AC 5013 - The Spiritual and the Natural

AC 5007 [4]

. . . the fact is that a person is in this world
in order to be initiated by his activities here
into the things which are of heaven . . ..

AC 5013

. . . it is according to order
that the spiritual should rule
and the natural serve;
for the spiritual is prior, interior and higher,
and nearer the Divine;
while the natural is posterior, exterior, and lower,
and more remote from the Divine.
For this reason
the spiritual in a person and in the church
is compared to heaven,
and is also called heaven;
and the natural is compared to earth,
and is also called earth.