AC 9594 - three degrees of life

AC 9594
The inmost degree of a person's life
exists for the inmost heaven,
the middle degree of life for the middle heaven,
and the lowest for the lowest heaven.
And because the human being is like this,
or has been so formed,
and heaven springs from the human race,
there are three heavens. 

[2] These degrees of life with a person
are opened up in successive stages.
The first degree is opened up
by a life led in accord with what is right and fair,
the second degree by a life in accord
with the truths of faith drawn from the Word
and with forms of the good of charity towards the neighbor 
that follow on from those truths,
and the third degree by a life in accord
with the good of mutual love
and the good of love to the Lord.
These virtues are the means by which
those three degrees of life with a person,
and so the three heavens with him,
are opened up in successive stages.
But it should be recognized
that to the extent that a person departs
from good in life and moves towards evil in life
those degrees are closed, that is,
the heavens with him are closed;
for just as good in life opens them,
so evil in life closes them.