HH 312, 313-314 - The Focus of the Mind, Natural and Spiritual

HH 312

. . . when matters
relating to the body and the world are loved,
as they are at the present day,
nothing but darkness flows into the mind . . .

HH 313 - 314

. . . to the extent that a person's interiors are opened
he looks towards heaven,
but to the extent that his interiors are closed
and his exteriors opened
he looks towards hell,
because the interiors of a person are formed
for the reception of all things of heaven,
but the exteriors
for the reception of all things of the world;
and those who receive the world,
and not heaven also,
receive hell.

That heaven is from the human race
can be seen also from the fact
that angelic minds and human minds are alike,
both enjoying the ability to understand,
perceive and will,
and both formed to receive heaven;
for the human mind
is just as capable of becoming wise
as the angelic mind;
and if it does not attain to such wisdom in the world
it is because it is in an earthly body,
and in that body its spiritual mind thinks naturally.
But it is otherwise when the mind is loosed
from the bonds of that body;
then it no longer thinks naturally, but spiritually,
and when it thinks spiritually
its thoughts are incomprehensible and ineffable
to the natural person;
thus it becomes wise like an angel,
all of which shows
that the internal part of a person, called his spirit,
is in its essence an angel;
and when loosed from the earthly body is,
equally with the angel,
in the human form.
When, however, the internal of a person
is not open above but only beneath,
it is still, after it has been loosed from the body,
in a human form,
but a horrible and diabolical form,
for it is able only to look downwards towards hell,
and not upwards towards heaven.