EU 168 - Heaven Is Immense!

EU 168

. . . how immense is the Lord's heaven
for angels and spirits.
The uninhabited regions . . . is so immense that,
if there were many tens of thousands of worlds,
each containing
as large a population of human beings as ours,
there would still be room enough
for them to live for ever without filling it up.
. . . the extent of the heaven surrounding our world
and designed for it,
which was so small in comparison
that it would not equal
one hundred millionth part
of the uninhabited space. 

EU 159 - Effort & Action; EU 161 - A Key; EU 165 - Spirit & Body

EU 159

The soul and the body constitute one person.
The likeness between both is like that
between that which is in effort
and that from which is in the act,
for the act is the effort acting,
and so the two are one.
Effort in a person is called the will,
and effort acting is called action.
The body is the instrument,
by which the will, which is the principal, acts;
and the instrument and the principal in acting are one;
so in this way the soul and the body are one.
The angels in heaven have such an idea
concerning the soul and the body;
and thus they know
that the Lord made His Human Divine
from the Divine in Himself,
which He had as His soul from the Father.

EU 161

. . . no one has salvation without the Lord.

EU 165

. . . every person is a spirit as to his interiors,
and that it is the spirit
which lives in the body and in all its parts,
and not the body of itself;
and that it is from the spirit of every one
that the body has its human form,
and thus it is the spirit which is chiefly the person,
and in a similar form,
but invisible to the eyes of the body,
yet visible to the eyes of spirits.

EU 48 - Anxiety

EU 148

. . . anxiety was felt,
arising from the collision of spheres;
for spiritual spheres encompass
all spirits and societies of spirits;
and because they flow forth
from the life of the affections
and of the thoughts therefrom,
therefore where there are opposing affections
there arises collision,
and consequent anxiety.

EU 139, 142 - In the Next Life

EU 139

. . . the spirits of each world
are to be seen around their own world,
because their characters resemble those
of the people who live there.
They have come from them,
and are there to be of service to them.
. . . It should be known that in the next life
those who stand on high
can watch those below them;
and the higher they are
the wider their field of vision.
They can not only watch them,
but also talk with them.

EU 142

It should be known that on arrival in the next life
all begin by practicing worship
like that they had in the world,
but they are by stages withdrawn from it.
The reason for this is
that all worship remains implanted
in a person's inner life,
and it can only be
withdrawn and uprooted by stages.

EU 123 - Spirit and Body

EU 123

. . . a person is a spirit as to his interiors,
the body which he carries about in the world
only serving him for performing functions
in this natural or terrestrial sphere,
which is the ultimate.
But it is granted to no one
to speak as a spirit with angels and spirits,
unless he be such
that he can consociate with angels
as to faith and love;
nor can he so consociate,
unless he has faith and love to the Lord;
for a person is joined to the Lord
by faith and love to Him, that is,
by truths of doctrine and goods of life from Him;
and when he is conjoined to the Lord,
he is secure
from the assaults of evil spirits from hell.
With others the interiors cannot be so far opened,
since they are not in the Lord.

EU 113, 114-232 - Tthe Lord Pleased to be Born on This Earth

EU 113, 114-121

There are many reasons . . .,
why it pleased the Lord to be born
and to assume the human on our earth,
and not on another.

That the principal reason was because of the Word,
is because the Word is the Divine truth itself,
which teaches a person that there is a God,
that there is a heaven and a hell,
and that there is a life after death;
and teaches moreover
how a person ought to live and believe,
in order to come into heaven,
and thus into eternal happiness.
All these things would have been
altogether unknown without a revelation,
thus on this earth without the Word;
and yet a person is so created that,
as to his interiors, he cannot die.

That the Word might be written on our earth,
is because the art of writing has existed here
from the most ancient time,
first on the bark of trees,
next on parchment,
afterwards on paper,
and lastly published by types.
This was provided by the Lord
for the sake of the Word.

That the Word might afterwards be published
through out the whole earth,
is because there is commerce here
between all nations, both by land and water,
to all parts of the globe;
so that the Word once written
might be conveyed from one nation to another,
and be taught everywhere.

That the Word once written
might be preserved to all posterity,
consequently for thousands and thousands of years,
and that it has been so preserved is well known.

That thus it might be made clear
that God became Man;
for this is the first and most essential,
for the sake of which the Word was revealed.
For no one can believe in God, and love God,
whom he cannot comprehend
under some appearance;
wherefore they who acknowledge
what is invisible and thus incomprehensible,
in thought sink into nature,
and thus believe in no God.
So it pleased the Lord to be born on this earth,
and to make this manifest by the Word,
that it might not only be known on this globe,
but also might as a result
be made clear to spirits and angels
even from other earths,
and likewise to the Gentiles from our own earth.

It is to be known that the Word on our earth,
given through heaven from the Lord,
is the union of heaven and the world;
for which end there is a correspondence
of all things contained in the letter of the Word
with the Divine things in heaven;
and the Word in its supreme and inmost sense
treats of the Lord,
of His kingdom in the heavens and the earths,
and of love and faith from Him and in Him,
consequently of life from Him and in Him.
Such things are presented to the angels in heaven,
when the Word of our earth is read and preached.

In every other earth Divine truth is manifested
by word of mouth through spirits and angels . . ..
But this manifestation is confined within families;
for the human race in most earths
live distinct according to families;
wherefore the Divine truth
so revealed through spirits and angels
is not conveyed far beyond the limits of families,
and unless a new revelation constantly succeeds,
truth is either perverted or perishes.
It is otherwise on our earth,
where the Divine truth, which is the Word,
remains for ever in its integrity.

It is to be known that the Lord
acknowledges and receives all,
of whatsoever earth they be,
who acknowledge and worship God
under the human form,
inasmuch as God under the human form is the Lord.
And because the Lord appears
to the inhabitants in the earths
in an angelic form, which is the human form,
therefore when the spirits and angels from those earths
are informed by the spirits and angels of our earth
that God is actually Man,
they receive that Word, acknowledge it,
and rejoice that it is so.

 

EU 97-98, 99 - Saturn: There Is Only One God

EU 97-98, 99

The spirits from the earth Saturn . . .
are upright and modest,
and inasmuch as they esteem themselves little,
therefore they also appear small in the other life.

In worship they are exceedingly humble,
for in it they account themselves as nothing.
They worship our Lord,
and acknowledge Him as the only God.
The Lord also appears to them at times
under an angelic form, and thereby as a Man,
and the Divine then shines forth
from the face and affects the mind.
The inhabitants also,
when they arrive at a certain age,
speak with spirits,
by whom they are instructed concerning the Lord,
how He ought to be worshiped,
and likewise how they ought to live.
When any wish to seduce the spirits
who come from the earth Saturn,
and to withdraw them from faith in the Lord,
or from humiliation towards Him,
and from uprightness of life,
they say they wish to die.

They said that sometimes
spirits from our earth come to them,
and ask them what God they worship;
to whom they reply, that they are insane,
and that there cannot be a greater proof of insanity
than to ask what God any one worships,
when there is but one only God
for all in the universe;
and that they are still more insane in this,
that they do not acknowledge the Lord
to be that one only God,
and that He rules the entire heaven,
and thereby the whole world;
for whosoever rules heaven also rules the world,
inasmuch as the world is ruled through heaven.

EU 96 - Spiritual Life = Heavenly Love

EU 96

. . . only those have spiritual life
who are in heavenly love,
and in knowledges from that love;
and a love that contains in itself
all the power of knowing which is of that love.
For example, the animals of the earth,
and also the animals of the air, or the birds,
have the knowledge of all things
that are of their loves.
These loves are, to nourish themselves,
to dwell in safety, to propagate offspring,
to bring up their young, and with some,
to provide for themselves against winter.
Consequently they have all the requisite knowledge,
for this is in those loves,
and it flows into them
as into its very receptacles;
which knowledge with some animals is such,
that a person cannot but be astonished.
The knowledge is innate with them,
and is called instinct;
but it is of the natural love in which they are.
If person were in his love,
which is love to God and toward the neighbor
(for this love is a person's proper love,
by which he is distinguished from the beasts,
and is heavenly love),
a person would then be
not only in all requisite knowledge,
but also in all intelligence and wisdom;
for these would flow into those loves from heaven,
that is, through heaven from the Divine.
But because a person is not born into those loves,
but into the opposite ones,
namely, into the loves of self and the world,
for that reason he cannot be
but born into all ignorance and lack of knowledge.
But by Divine means
he is led on to something of intelligence and wisdom,
yet not actually into anything of it,
unless the love of self and the world are removed,
and the way is so opened
for love to God and the neighbor.
That love to God and love toward the neighbor
have in them all intelligence and wisdom,
may be evident from those
who in the world have been in these loves.
When after death they come into heaven,
they there come into such knowledge and wisdom
as they had never known before;
indeed, they think and speak there,
as do the rest of the angels,
such things as the ear has never heard,
nor the mind has ever known,
and which are beyond description.
The reason is, that those loves have in them
the faculty of receiving such things.

EU 85, 89 - Mars

EU 85

The spirits of Mars
are among the best of all spirits
from the worlds of this solar system.
For to a large extent they are like celestial people,
not dissimilar from those
of the Most Ancient Church in this world.

EU 89

On one occasion
when the spirits of Mars were with me
and had taken over the sphere
in which my mind operates,
some spirits from our world arrived
and wanted to make their way into the same sphere.
But this caused the spirits of our world to go mad,
because they were totally unsuited to it.
The spirits of our world
answer in the Grand Man
to external sense,
so that their ideas
were directed towards the world and themselves,
but those of Mars
had their ideas directed
towards heaven and the neighbor.
This was the cause of the conflict.
But then angelic spirits of Mars arrived,
who by their arrival broke off communication,
so that the spirits of our world departed.

EU 65, 84 -More on the Worship and Belief of those on Jupiter

EU 65

As regards their Divine worship,
its principal tenet is the acknowledgment
of our Lord as the Supreme Ruler
of heaven and earth.
They call Him the One and Only Lord.
Since while living in the body
they acknowledge and worship Him,
they seek Him after death, and find Him;
He is the same as our Lord.
I asked them whether they knew
that their One and Only Lord was a man.
They answered that everyone knows
He is a man,
because many people on their planet
have seen Him as a man.
He teaches them about truth,
preserves them,
and confers everlasting life on those
who out of goodness worship Him.
They said further that He has revealed to them
how they ought to live
and what they ought to believe.
This revelation is handed on
from parents to children,
so that the teaching spreads to all families,
and thus to the whole tribe
who have a single ancestor.
They went on to say that it seems to them
as if they had that teaching engraved on their minds.
They reach this conclusion from the fact
that they instantly perceive and acknowledge,
as it were spontaneously,
whether what others relate
about a person's heavenly life is true or not.

EU 84

The people there are not afraid of dying,
apart from having to leave
their wife, children or parents,
because they know they will go on living after death.
They know they are not leaving life,
because they are going to heaven;
so they do not call it dying,
but becoming heavenly.
If in that world they have lived
in a state of truly conjugial love
and have taken care of their children
as parents should,
they do not die of disease,
but peacefully as if in sleep;
and so they pass from that world to heaven.

EU 62, 64 - Wisdom and the Sciences

EU 62

The inhabitants of the earth Jupiter
place wisdom in thinking well and justly
of all things that happen in life.
This wisdom they derive
from their parents from infancy,
and it is successively transmitted to posterity,
and increases from the love they have for it
because of its belonging to their parents.
Of sciences, such as are in our earth,
they know nothing whatever,
nor do they wish to know.
They call them shades and compare them to clouds
which hide the sun.

This idea concerning the sciences
they have conceived from some spirits from our earth
who boasted that they were wise from sciences.
The spirits from our earth who thus boasted
were such as made wisdom to consist in things
pertaining merely to the memory,
as in languages,
especially the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin,
in a knowledge of the things related in
the literary world, in criticism, in mere experiments,
and in terms, particularly such as are philosophical,
with other things of a like nature,
not using such things as means leading to wisdom,
but making wisdom to consist
in those things themselves.
Such persons, because they have not cultivated
their rational faculty by the sciences,
as by means leading to wisdom,
have little perception in the other life;
for they see only in terms, and from terms,
in which case those things are as clods and clouds
obstructing the intellectual sight;
and those who have been proud
of their erudition therefrom, have still less perception;
but those who have used the sciences as means
of invalidating and annihilating
the things pertaining to the church and to faith,
have totally destroyed their intellectual faculty,
and like owls they see in the thick darkness
falsity for truth, and evil for good.

The spirits of Jupiter,
from the conversation they had with such,
concluded that sciences induce shade and blindness.
But they were informed that on our earth
the sciences are means of opening the intellectual sight,
which sight is in the light of heaven;
but because such things as pertain to
the mere natural and sensual life reign,
therefore the sciences to the men of our earth
are means of becoming insane,
namely, of confirming them in favor
of nature against the Divine,
and in favor of the world, against heaven.

They were further informed
that the sciences in themselves are spiritual riches,
and that those who possess them
are like those who possess worldly riches,
which in like manner are means of performing uses
to himself, his neighbor, and his country,
and also means of doing evil.
Moreover, that they are like garments,
which serve for use and ornament, and also for pride,
as with those who would be honored for these alone.
The spirits of the earth Jupiter
understood these things well;
but they wondered that, being men,
they should rest in means,
and prefer things leading to wisdom
before wisdom itself;
and that they should not see,
that to immerse the mind in such things,
and not to elevate it above them,
was to becloud and blind it.

EU 64

Because the inhabitants of the earth Jupiter
procure intelligence for themselves
by a way different from
that of the inhabitants of our earth,
and are moreover of a different genius from their life,
therefore they cannot abide long together,
but either shun them or remove them.
There are spheres,
which may be called spiritual spheres,
which continually flow forth,
indeed, overflow from every spirit;
they flow from the activity of the affections
and consequent thoughts,
thus from the life itself.
All associations in the other life
are regulated according to these spheres;
those which agree being joined together
according to their agreement,
and those which disagree
being separated according to their disagreement.
The spirits and angels who are from the earth Jupiter,
in the Greatest Man have relation to
the imaginative of thought,
and consequently to an active state of the interior parts;
but the spirits of our earth have relation to
the various functions of the exterior parts of the body,
and when these are desirous to have dominion,
the activity or imaginative of thought from the interior
cannot flow in:
consequently come the oppositions
between the spheres of the life of each.

 

~ A Garden in the East ~

Now the Lord God had planted a garden
in the east, in Eden;
and there He put the man he had formed.
And the Lord God made all kinds of trees
grow out of the ground --
trees that were pleasing to the eye
and good for food.
In the middle of the garden were
the tree of life
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Lord God took the man
and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it.
And the Lord God commanded the man,
"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
but you must not eat from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
for when you eat of it
you will surely die."

(Genesis 2:8-9, 15-18)

EU 51 - The Gentleness & Sweetness of Jupiter

EU 51

I could distinguish the presence of spirits from Jupiter
not only by the gentleness and sweetness
with which they arrived and made their influence felt,
but also by the fact that their influence
was exerted as much as possible on my face,
making me look cheerful and smiling,
for as long as they were present.
They said that they do the same
to the faces of the inhabitants of their world,
when they visit them,
wishing by this means
to impart tranquillity and hearty joy.
The tranquillity and joy they gave me
I could feel filling my chest and heart.
It took away the desires and anxieties
about the future which cause disturbance and worry
and fill the mind with varied emotions.

~ A Loud Voice ~

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Now the dwelling of God is with men,
and He will live with them.
They will be His people,
and God Himself will be with them
and be their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or mourning
or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away."

(Revelation 21:3-5)

EU 48-49 - The People of Jupiter and the Most Ancient People of Earth

EU 48-49

They related that in the region of the planet
where they lived while in the world
there was a large population,
as large as the planet could feed.
The land was fertile
and abounded in all kinds of produce.
But people there did not wish
for more than was necessary to live.
They could not see the use
of what was not necessary,
and this was why the population was so large.
They said that their chief concern
was the bringing up of children,
whom they loved most tenderly.

They went on to tell me that they are divided
into tribes, families and households,
each of which live in separate groups
composed only of their own people.
As a result they associate only with their kinsfolk.
No one ever covets another's property,
so it never occurs to anyone
to desire anything which is another's,
much less to devise schemes for getting hold of it,
still less to seize and plunder it.
They regard this as a crime against human nature
and therefore repulsive.
When I wanted to tell them that in our world
we have wars, plundering and murders,
they turned their backs, and refused to listen.

I was told by angels that the earliest people
in this world lived in similar fashion,
divided into tribes, families and households.
They were then all content with their own property,
and it was unheard of
to get rich at the expense of others' property,
or selfishly to dominate others.
For this reason ancient times,
and especially the most ancient period,
were more pleasing to the Lord
than those which followed.
Since such was their state,
there was a reign of innocence coupled with wisdom.
Everyone then did good out of goodness
and honest deeds out of honesty.
They did not know what it was
to do good and honest deeds
for one's own reputation or advantage.
Then too they spoke nothing but the truth,
not so much for truth's sake
as because of goodness;
that is to say,
their motive came not from
the intellectual faculty acting alone,
but from the voluntary faculty
combined with the intellectual.

Such were ancient times,
so that angels could then mix with human beings,
and virtually lift their minds out of bodily thoughts
and carry them off into heaven.
In fact, they could take them touring around heaven,
showing off its magnificence and happiness,
sharing with them their own happiness and pleasures.
The ancient writers too knew about this period
and called it the Golden Age or the reign of Saturn.

The reason the period was like this was,
as I said, that they lived divided into tribes,
the tribes divided into families,
and these into households,
each household living by itself.
Then it never occurred to anyone
to seize another's inheritance
in order to acquire wealth from it or power.
Selfishness and love of the world were unknown.
Every one was happy with his own property,
and no less happy at other people's property.
But as time went on,
this scene changed and turned into its opposite,
when men's minds were seized with
the greed for power and great possessions.
Then to protect itself
the human race grouped itself
into kingdoms and empires.
Since the laws of charity and conscience,
which men had had inscribed on their hearts,
ceased to operate,
it became necessary to pass legislation
to control violent acts,
so as to reward observance
with honors and advantages
and disobedience with punishments.
This brought about so great a change
that heaven itself moved away from men,
retreating further and further down to the present age,
when people no longer know
whether heaven or hell exist,
and some actually deny their existence.
The purpose of these remarks
is to illustrate by a parallel
the condition of the people of the world of Jupiter,
and to show where
their uprightness and wisdom too come from.

 

EU - Various Bits and Pieces from the Chapter on Mercury

EU 12

Anyone who knows for sure
and is convinced he will live after death
is concerned about heavenly matters,
since they are an everlasting source of happiness,
but not about worldly matters,
except so far as the necessities of life demand it.
This being the nature of the inhabitants,
it is also that of the spirits who come from there.

EU 14

The spirits of Mercury surpass others
in the amount of knowledge they possess,
both about matters within the solar system
and in the starry sky beyond it.
What they have once learned
they retain and recall
whenever similar facts are observed.
This is another clear proof
that spirits have a memory,
one in fact much more perfect
than human beings have.
They retain what they see, hear or otherwise grasp,
especially if they get pleasure from it,
as these spirits do from knowledge.
Things that give pleasure and are loved
flow in as if of their own accord and are retained.
Other things do not penetrate the memory,
but only make superficial contact and slip away.

EU 20

The spirits of Mercury are totally different
from the spirits of our world,
since these are not so much interested in ideas
as in worldly, bodily and earthly matters,
which are material objects.
For this reason the spirits of Mercury
are unable to associate with the spirits of our world,
and wherever they meet them, they run away.
The spiritual spheres
which emanate from either party
are more or less antagonistic.
The spirits of Mercury claim
that they do not wish to look at the wrapping,
but the ideas stripped of their wrappings,
that is, what is inside.

EU 22

What surprised me
was that their speech gave an impression
of a rolling wave,
but was still so ready and quick.
Since there were many of them speaking at once
their speech reached me in waves.
A remarkable feature was
that it slipped towards my left eye,
though they were standing to my right.
This was because the left eye corresponds to
knowledge of abstract ideas, matters, that is,
which are in the province of intelligence;
the right eye corresponds to matters
which are in the province of wisdom.

EU 33

Later I showed them pictures of the kinds of birds,
both large and small, to be found in our world.
Lifelike pictures of such things
can be shown in the next life.
On seeing these birds pictured,
at first they wanted to change them,
but then they were pleased with them
and became quiet.
This was because birds mean the knowledge of facts,
a thing they perceived
by means of an influence they then felt.
So they stopped changing them
so as to avoid taking them into their memory.
Later I was allowed to show a picture to them of
a most beautiful garden full of lamps and lanterns.
Then they paused and their attention was caught,
because lamps together with lanterns
mean truths shining as the result of good.
This made it plain
that they could be kept watching material objects,
so long as at the same time
their meaning in the spiritual sense was hinted at.
What is conveyed by the spiritual sense
is not completely abstract,
since it is represented by these objects.

EU 35

. . . every truth shows up best
when contrasted with its opposite.

EU 39

In the next life
those who do not live by their faith lose it,
because it is not a part of the person.

EU 9 - Keeping Heaven in Correspondence

EU 9

The whole heaven is in the form
of a single human being,
who is therefore called the Grand Man.
Every detail, both outward and inward,
in the human being answers to that Grand Man,
that is, to heaven.
This is a secret so far unknown in the world,
but I have shown the truth of it at great length.
But those who reach heaven from our world
are not enough to make up that Grand Man,
being relatively few,
so there will need to be
people from many other worlds.
The Lord's providence ensures
that as soon as a deficiency
in quality or quantity occurs
at any point in the correspondence,
people are instantly summoned from another world
to fill up the numbers,
so maintaining the proportion
and keeping heaven stable.

 

EU 3, 4-5 - The Immensity of the Lord & of His Universe

EU 3, 4-5

He who believes,
as every one ought to believe,
that the Divine created the universe
for no other end
than that the human race may exist,
and from it heaven,
for the human race is the seminary of heaven,
must also need to believe,
that wherever there is an earth,
there are people.

. . . people may believe that in the universe
there are more earths than one,
from this, that the starry heaven is so immense,
and the stars therein are so innumerable, 
each of which in its place,
or in its world,
is a sun,
and like our sun,
in various magnitude.
Whoever duly considers,
concludes that so immense a whole
must needs be a means to an end,
which is the ultimate of creation,
which end is the kingdom of heaven,
wherein the Divine may dwell
with angels and people;
for the visible universe,
or the heaven resplendent with stars
so innumerable,
which are so many suns,
is only a means for the existence of earths,
and of men upon them,
of whom may be formed a heavenly kingdom.
From these things a rational person
must needs be led to conceive,
that so immense a means,
adapted to so great an end,
was not constituted for a race of people
and for a heaven derived from one earth only;
for what would this be to the Divine,
which is infinite,
and to which thousands,
indeed, ten thousands of earths,
all full of inhabitants,
would be small and scarce anything.

Moreover, the angelic heaven is so immense,
that it corresponds with
all the particulars with a person,
myriads corresponding to
every member, organ, and viscus,
and to every affection of each;
and it has been given to know,
that this heaven,
as to all its correspondences,
can by no means exist,
except from the inhabitants of very many earths.
__________

EU = Earths in the Universe

LJC 86-87 - Smooth Talkers

LJC 86

. . . the Moravians, also known as the Herrnhuters . . .
they knew how to ensnare minds with their cunning,
saying that they were the remains
of the Apostolic church,
and that is why they greet one another
as brothers,
and as mothers
those women who keep their more intimate secrets.
They also claim that they excel others
in the teaching of faith,
and that they love the Lord
because He suffered the cross,
calling Him the Lamb and the Throne of Grace.
They have many other similar claims
to persuade people to believe
that theirs is the true Christian church.
Those who approach ensnared by their smooth talking
are examined to see
whether they are the kind of people
to whom they would dare to entrust their secrets.
If they are not, they conceal them,
but if possible, they reveal them.
Then they issue warnings
and threaten any
who publish their secrets about the Lord.

They behaved similarly in the spiritual world,
yet it was perceived
that inwardly they did not think like this.
So to disclose this
they were admitted into the lowest heaven;
but they could not bear
the aura of charity and faith from it
which came from the angels there,
and they took to their heels.
Afterwards, because in the world
they had believed that they alone were alive,
and that they would reach the third heaven,
they were actually carried up to that heaven.
But on perceiving the aura of love to the Lord there,
they were seized with pain in the heart
and began to suffer inward torments,
jerking convulsively like those in a death agony;
so they cast themselves down headlong.
These events first showed
that they had in them not a scrap
of charity towards the neighbor
nor of love to the Lord.

LJC 79 - Jerusalem

LJC 79

. . . after the judgment
by "Jerusalem" is meant the church
in which the Lord alone is adored.

 

LJC 74, 75, 77 - The Africans in the Spiritual World

LJC 74

All who acknowledge
one God as Creator of the universe,
and worship him,
entertain the idea of God as a human being,
saying that no one can have any other idea of God.
When they hear that many people
have an idea of God as being a kind of small cloud,
they ask where such people are to be found.
On being told that they are among the Christians,
they declare that this is impossible.
But they receive the reply
that these people have formed such an idea
because God is called in the Word a Spirit,
and they cannot think of spirit
as anything but a wisp of cloud,
being unaware that every spirit and every angel
is a human being.
They were further tested to see whether
their spiritual idea resembled their natural one,
and it was discovered that it is not similar
in the case of those
who inwardly acknowledge the Lord
as the God of heaven and earth.

LJC 75

The Africans comprehended
and received these things,
because they think
more interiorly and spiritually than others.

LJC 77

When I talked with Africans in the spiritual world,
they appeared dressed in striped linen,
saying that such clothing suited them,
and that their womenfolk wore garments of striped silk.
They told me that their children
often ask their nurses for food,
saying they are hungry,
and when food is set before them
they taste it to see whether it is suitable and eat a little.
From this it is clear that it is spiritual hunger,
the desire to know real truths,
which causes this,
for it is a correspondence.
When the Africans want to know how they stand
as regards affection for and perception of truth,
they draw their swords;
if they shine, they know they have real truths,
and the more they have the brighter they shine;
this too is due to correspondence.
On the subject of marriage
they said that although their law
allows them to marry more than one wife,
they do not take more than one,
because true marriage love is indivisible.
If it is divided, its essence, which is heavenly, is lost;
it becomes external and lewd,
quickly fading as their virility declines
and turning to loathing when it goes completely.
But true marriage love is internal
and untouched by lewdness,
so it lasts for ever,
growing equally in strength and delight.

LJC 71 - The Mohammedans in the Spiritual World

LJC 71

As regards their religious beliefs,
these have been permitted to be as they are
because they suit the oriental character,
so that they are accepted in so many kingdoms;
and also because the Ten Commandments
are made a part of their religious system,
and it contains something drawn from the Word;
but chiefly because in it
the Lord is recognized as the Son of God
and the wisest of all.
It has also served to banish
the idolatrous practices of many nations.
The reason no inward religion
was opened to them through Mohammed
was their practice of polygamy
which emits a stink towards heaven.
For the marriage of a husband with one wife
corresponds to
the marriage of the Lord and the church.

~ Those I Love ~

"Those whom I love
I rebuke and discipline.
So be earnest, and repent."

(Revelation 3:19)

LJC 61 - Love of Ruling; LJC 64 - Worshiping Saints

LJC 61

It is known that a person has
from his parents
implanted or hereditary evil,
but in what it consists is known to few.
It consists in the love of ruling,
which is such, that as far as the reins are given it,
so far it bursts forth,
until it even burns with the lust of ruling over all,
and at length of wishing to be
invoked and worshiped as God.
This love is the serpent,
which deceived Eve and Adam,
for it said to the woman:

God knows,
that in the day you eat of the fruit of the tree,
your eyes will be opened,
and then you will be as God.
(Genesis 3:4-5)

As far therefore as a person
rushes with loosened reins into this love,
so far he turns himself away from God,
and turns towards himself,
and becomes an atheist;
and then the Divine truths which are of the Word,
may serve as means,
but because dominion is the end,
the means are in the heart only as they serve him.
This is the reason why
those who are in the mediate
and in the ultimate degree
of the love of ruling,
are all in hell, for that love is the devil there;
and in hell there are some of such a nature,
that they cannot bear
to hear any one speaking of God.

LJC 64

The worship of saints
is such an abomination in heaven,
that whenever they hear of it they are horrified,
because as far as worship is paid to any person,
in so far it is withheld from the Lord,
for thus He alone cannot be worshiped;
and if the Lord is not alone worshiped,
a discrimination is made,
which destroys communion,
and the felicity of life which flows from it.

 

LJC 58 - The Catholics

LJC  58

All those of the Papists (Catholics),
who have not been wholly idolaters,
and who, from their religious persuasion,
have done goods out of a sincere heart,
and have also looked to the Lord,
are led to societies
which are instituted in the confines
nearest to the Reformed,
and are instructed there,
the Word being read,
and the Lord preached to them;
and those who receive truths and apply them to life,
are elevated into heaven and become angels.
There are many such societies of them
in every quarter,
and they are guarded on all sides
from the treacheries and cunning devices
of the monks, and from the Babylonish leaven.
Moreover, all their infants are in heaven,
because, being educated by the angels
under the guidance of the Lord,
they know nothing of the falsities
of the religion of their parents.

 

LJC 48 - The Dutch

LJC 48

. . . Christians with whom the Word is read
and the Lord is worshiped,
are in the middle of the nations and people
of the whole spiritual world,
because the greatest spiritual light is with them,
and the light is radiated from there as from a center
into all the circumference even to the last boundary;
and it enlightens . . ..
In this middle,
the Reformed Christians have places allotted to them
according to their reception
of spiritual light from the Lord;
and since the English have that light
stored up in the intellectual part,
therefore they are in the inmost of that middle region;
and because the Dutch keep that light
more nearly conjoined to natural light,
and so there is no such brightness of light
apparent among them,
but in its place something not transparent
which is receptive of rationality from spiritual light,
and at the same time from spiritual heat . . ..
Another reason why they are in
these quarters of the Christian middle region is,
that trade is their final love,
and money is the mediate subservient love,
and that love is spiritual;
but where money is the final love,
and trade the mediate subservient love,
the love is natural, and partakes of avarice.
In the before-mentioned spiritual love,
which regarded in itself is the common good,
in which and from which is the good of the country,
the Dutch excel others.

LJC 39-40 - The English

LJC 30-40

There are two states of thought with a person,
an external and an internal state;
a person is in the external state in the natural world,
in the internal state in the spiritual world:
these states make one with the good,
but not with the evil.
What a person is as to his internal,
is rarely manifest in the natural world,
because from his infancy,
he has wished to be moral,
and has learned to seem so.
But what he is,
clearly appears in the spiritual world,
for spiritual light discloses it,
and also a person is then a spirit,
and the spirit is the internal person.
Now, since it has been given me to be in that light,
and from it, to see what the internal is
in the people of various kingdoms,
by an interaction of many years
with angels and spirits,
it behooves me to manifest it,
because of its importance.
Here I will say something of
the noble English nation only.

The more excellent of the English nation
are in the center of all Christians.
The reason why they are in the center is,
because they have interior intellectual light.
This is not apparent to any one in the natural world,
but it is conspicuous in the spiritual world.
This light they derive from the liberty of thinking,
and from that of speaking and of writing,
in which they are.
With others, who are not in such liberty,
intellectual light is darkened because it has no outlet.
. . . As soon as anything is said by these people,
or as soon as anything they approve is read,
that light shines forth,
and seldom before.

LJC 30-31 - The Salvation of the Sheep

LJC 30-31

When the Last Judgment was completed
there was joy in heaven
and such an increase of light
in the world of spirits as never before.
There is a description
of what the joy in heaven was like
after the dragon was cast down in Revelation:

"Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his  time is short."
(Revelation 12:10-12)

The light in the world of spirits
was due to the removal of those hellish communities
which had come between like clouds
overshadowing the earth.
A similar light also dawned on people in the world,
bringing them a new enlightenment.

Then I saw a vast number of angelic spirits
rising from the depths and being lifted up to heaven.
These were the sheep,
who had been kept back
and guarded by the Lord for centuries past,
to prevent them from coming into
the malign sphere of influence
emanating from the dragon -
people and having their charity stifled.

 

LJC 10 - The Goats, Not Regarding Evils as Sins

LJC 10

For the most part they were the goats
and those akin to them,
who are named in Matthew 25:31-46 (quoted below);
who indeed, in the world had not done evils,
for they had lived well morally;
but they had not done goods from a good origin,
for they had separated faith from charity,
and so had not regarded evils as sins.
__________

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory,
and all the angels with Him,
He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory.
All the nations will be gathered before Him,
and He will separate the people one from another
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will put the sheep on His right
and the goats on His left.

"Then the King will say to those on His right,
'Come, you who are blessed by My Father;
take your inheritance,
the kingdom prepared for you
since the creation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat,
I as thirsty and you gave Me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you invited Me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed Me,
I was sick and you looked after Me,
I was in prison and you came to visit Me.'

"Then the righteous will answer Him,
'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You,
or thirsty and give You something to drink?
When did we see You a stranger and invite You in,
or needing clothes and clothe You?
When did we see You sick
or in prison and go to visit You?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth,
whatever you did
for one of the least of these brothers of mine,
you did for Me.'

"Then He will say to those on His left,
'Depart from Me, you who are cursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat,
I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,
I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in,
I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me,
I as sick and in prison
and you did not look after Me.'

"They also will answer,
'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison,
and did not help You?
He will reply, 'I tell you the truth,
whatever you did not do for one of the least of these,
you did not do for Me.'

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment,
but the righteous to eternal life."
(Matthew 25:31-46)

LJC 3 - Common Worldly Opinion and Spiritual Reality

LJC 3

It is a common opinion in the Christian world,
that the whole heaven we see,
and the whole earth inhabited by people
will perish at the day of the Last Judgment,
and that a new heaven and a new earth
will exist in their places;
that the souls of people will then receive their bodies,
and so that a person will again be a person as before.
This opinion has become a matter of faith,
because the Word has not been understood
otherwise than according to the sense of its letter;
and it could not be understood otherwise,
until its spiritual sense was disclosed,
also, because by many
the belief has been acquired
that the soul is only a breath exhaled by a person;
and that spirits, as well as angels,
are of the substance of wind.
While there was such a deficiency
of understanding concerning souls,
and concerning spirits and angels,
the Last Judgment could not be thought of
in any other manner.
But when it comes to be understood,
that a person is a person after death,
just as he was a person in the world,
with the sole difference
that then he is clothed with a spiritual body,
and not as before with a natural body;
and that the spiritual body appears
before those who are spiritual,
even as the natural body appears
before those who are natural,
it may then also be understood,
that the Last Judgment will not be in the natural,
but in the spiritual world;
for all the people
who were ever born and have died,
are together there.

LJC 1 - A Summary of Some of the Points in Last Judgment (LJ)

LJC = (Last Judgment Continued)
__________

LJC 1

The day of the Last Judgment does not mean
the destruction of the world.

The reproduction of the human race will never cease.

Heaven and Hell are from the human race.

All people who have ever been born
since the beginning of creation and have died
are in heaven or in hell.

The Last Judgment is to be where all are together,
and so in the spiritual world, not on earth.

The Last Judgment takes place
when a church comes to an end;
and this happens when there is no faith
because there is no charity.

All the predictions made in the Book of Revelation
are today fulfilled.

 

LJ 73 - The Future of the World and the Church After the Last Judgment

LJ 73

The future state of the world will be exactly the same
as it has been up to now;
for the mighty change which has taken place
in the spiritual world
does not cause any change
in the external appearance of the natural world.
So just as before there will be politics, peace-treaties,
alliances and wars . . ..

The future state of the church, however,
will not be the same.
It may seem much the same in outward appearance,
but inwardly it will be different.
In outward appearance the churches will be
divided from one another as before,
their teachings will differ as before,
and so will the religious systems of the heathen.
But people in the church
will from this time on
have more freedom in thinking about matters of faith,
and so about the spiritual matters
which have to do with heaven,
because of the restoration of spiritual freedom.
For now everything in the heavens and the hells
has been restored to order,
and it is from there
that all thought is influenced
about Divine matters or against them;
from the heavens when thought favors what is Divine,
from the hells when it opposes it.
But people will be unaware of this change of state,
since they do not reflect on it,
nor indeed do they know anything about
spiritual freedom or influence from the spiritual world.
However, in heaven this is perceived,
and people after their deaths can do so too.
It is because people have had
their spiritual freedom restored
that the spiritual sense of the Word
has now been disclosed,
and by this means Divine truths of a more inward kind
have been revealed.
For in their previous state
people would not have understood them,
and if anyone did so,
he would have profaned them.
. . . people's freedom depends upon
an equilibrium between heaven and hell;
and that people can only be reformed,
if they enjoy freedom.

 

~ "How Can You Believe?" ~

"How can you believe
if you accept praise from one another,
yet make no effort to obtain the praise
that comes from the only God?"

(John 5:44)