3. III. The difference in general terms between the natural, the spiritual and the celestial.

There are three heavens, the last, the middle and the highest. In the last heaven are the natural people, but their natural has a touch either of the spiritual, which belongs to the middle heaven, or of the celestial, which belongs to the third heaven. In the second heaven are the spiritual people, and in the third are the celestial people. There are also intermediate people who are called spiritual-celestial. Many of these are preachers in the highest heaven.

[2] The difference between the natural, spiritual and celestial is such that they have no standard of comparison between them; the natural therefore cannot in any way or by any approximation approach the spiritual, nor the spiritual the natural. This is why the heavens are distinct. I have been allowed to know this as the result of much experience. I have often been sent among spiritual angels, and I then talked with them in a spiritual manner. What I said I then retained in my memory, but when I returned to the natural state, that of everyone in the world, and wanted to recall it from my earlier memory and describe it, I was unable to do so. It was impossible; there were no words available, and not even ideas in my thinking, by means of which I could express it. The ideas of thinking and words were spiritual, so far removed from the ideas and words of natural thought that there was no similarity at all. The remarkable thing is that when I was in that heaven and talked with the angels, I was then quite unaware that I was speaking in any other way than when speaking with people on earth. But I learned later that thoughts and speech are so different that they cannot be compared, and consequently they have no standard of comparison.

[3] There is a similar difference between the spiritual and the celestial. I have been told that this difference is similar and such that no proportion or comparison can exist between them; but I have been unable to confirm this by personal experience, not being an angel of the middle heaven. Some angels therefore of the middle heaven have been allowed to associate with angels of the third heaven, to think there and speak with them, to retain in their memory what they thought and said, and then to return to their own heaven. These told me they were unable to express a single idea or a single word of their previous state, and that this would be impossible. Finally they said there is no proportion or comparison between them.

[4] So I have been allowed a number of times to be in the company of angels of the middle and highest heavens, and hear them talking to one another. I was then in an inward natural state, far removed from worldly and bodily concerns, in fact in the state of first waking after sleep. I heard things which cannot be said or expressed, as we read happened with Paul [2 Corinthians 12:4]; and at times I have been given the ability to perceive and understand the things they said. Their talk was full of secrets, about the Lord, redemption, regeneration, providence and other such matters. I was afterwards given to understand that these could not be spoken of or described in any spiritual or celestial words, but none the less they could be described by the words of a natural language so as to allow them to be grasped rationally. I was told that there do not exist any Divine secrets which cannot be perceived and expressed naturally too, although in a more generalised and imperfect form. Those who perceive them naturally by their rational intellect as a result of an affection for truth, can, when they later become spirits, perceive and speak about the same things in a spiritual or celestial manner, when they become angels, but no others can. For a single Divine truth perceived and loved naturally is like a crystal or porcelain vessel, which is later filled with wine, the wine having the quality of the truth, and its taste being the quality of the affection for truth.

[5] The existence of such a difference, which can be called limitless, between the natural, the spiritual and the celestial can be established from the difference between the thoughts of people on earth and those of angels, and from the difference in their speech, and also the kinds of work they do, as well as the difference between their scripts. All of these will be evident proofs of the nature of one and the other, and of the way in which everything reaches a higher degree of perfection, as it passes over from the world into heaven, and from one heaven to another.

[6] As regards thoughts, all the thoughts of people on earth, including the separate ideas in them, are to some extent affected by space, time, personality and matter. These are evident in natural light, that of the world; for nothing can be thought about without light, just as nothing can be seen without light. Natural light, the light of the world, is dead, since it comes from its sun, which is nothing but fire. Yet the light of the heavens everywhere and constantly flows into that light, and gives it life, so allowing a thing to be perceived and understood. The light of the world cannot by itself confer any power of perception or understanding, that is, bring about any natural or rational illumination; but the light of the world coming from the light of heaven confers this power and produces this result, because the light of heaven comes from its sun, which is the Lord and therefore life itself.

The influence of the light of heaven on the light of the world is like the influence of the cause on the effect; the nature of this will be discussed elsewhere [see 49-51]. These facts reveal the nature of natural thought or the ideas thought by people on earth. That is to say, they are indissolubly bound up with space, time, personality and matter. Consequently these thoughts, or ideas composing thoughts, are very limited and restricted, and are thus gross and to be called material. However, the thoughts of the angels of the middle heaven are all devoid of space, time, personality and matter. They are therefore limitless and unrestricted. The subjects of their thoughts are, like the thoughts themselves, spiritual, so that they think about them spiritually and not naturally. As for the angels of the highest heaven, they do not have thoughts but perceptions of things which they hear and see. The place of thoughts is for them taken by affections, which take various forms with them, just as thoughts do with spiritual angels.

[7] As regards speech, human speaking is like the ideas making up their thought, for these turn into words when converted into speech. Each word therefore in human speech has some share in space, time, personality and matter. However, the speech of the angels of the middle heaven is also like the ideas of their thought; for the words of their speech express these. But the speech of the angels of the highest heaven is entirely derived from variations in their affections. But when they talk with spiritual angels they speak like they do, differently, however, when they talk among themselves.

Such being the nature of the speech of angels and that of people on earth, their modes of speech are so different that they have nothing in common. The difference is such that a person cannot understand any word spoken by an angel, nor can an angel any word spoken by a person. I have heard the speech of angels and kept in mind the words, and afterwards checked whether that word was the same as any word in human speech or language; there was not one. There is one spiritual speech for all, which is innate in every person; and he acquires it as soon as he becomes a spirit.

As regards writing, this is like their speech. The writing of spiritual angels resembles the writing of people in the world as regards the use of letters; but every letter has a meaning. So you would say, if you saw it when in the natural state, that it is nothing but letters. But writings in the highest heaven are not similar as regards letters. Their letters are drawn with various curves, not unlike the letters of the Hebrew language, but everywhere bent so that there is never a straight line in them. Each letter refers to a thing, which they grasp by perceiving, not by thinking about it. This is why one who is natural understands nothing of spiritual writing, nor does one who is spiritual that of natural writing. Nor does one who is spiritual understand anything of celestial writing, nor does one who is celestial understand anything of spiritual writing, unless he is in the company of one who is spiritual.

[8] It is the same with their kinds of work, which are numerous, since everyone has some work to do. What sort of work the spiritual angels do cannot be described to a natural person, nor what the celestial do to one who is spiritual. The difference is as great as that between their thoughts, modes of speech and writing.

[9] These facts may establish that the difference between the natural, spiritual and celestial is such that they can only agree by means of correspondences. This too is the reason why people on earth are unaware of being in the company of spirits, and spirits are unaware of being in the company of people. Yet they are perpetually in each other's company. For a person cannot live for a minute without being among spirits as regards his thoughts and affections; nor can a spirit or an angel live for a moment without being present with people. The reason is that there is a perpetual link operating from first to last things, and so from the Lord to man. Linking by means of correspondences was established from creation, and the influence comes by way of angels and spirits. Everything celestial exerts an influence upon the spiritual, and the spiritual on the natural, and at the ultimate level of this, the bodily and material, it comes to an end and there remains. Nothing can continue in existence without such an ultimate level to be acted on by the intermediate levels. Otherwise it would be like houses built in the air. The human race is therefore the basis and foundation of the heavens.

[10] The reason why no angel knows that there is this difference between the natural, spiritual and celestial is that an angel does not change state; that is, he does not pass from the spiritual state into the natural one, so as to be able to check out the differences. I have talked with them on this subject, and they said they were unaware of the differences. They thought they were thinking, speaking, writing and working in the same way as in the world, but they were given a demonstration by undergoing changes of state, so that they did their thinking by turns, first in one and then in the other mode. Likewise they spoke by turns, first in one way and then in the other; and they also read their writings in the spiritual state and in the natural, and did their work likewise. Then they learned that the difference is indescribable. On this subject I was permitted to instruct even angels, since I am permitted to be by turns in either world, and to check out one against the other. Afterwards they all admitted this was so.

[11] However, the likeness of the natural, spiritual and celestial states lies in the kind of things which are the objects of sight, taste, smell and hearing, as well as the varieties of the sense of touch. Everyone appears to their sight like people in the world; their clothes are to be seen, their houses, and also gardens or parks, as well as fields, likewise well-watered grounds; also food and drink of various kinds, as well as terrestrial animals, the birds of the sky and in the waters fishes of various kinds and in various forms.

Their speech is to be heard as in the world, also singing and pieces of music. Taste is similar, and so is smell. In short, so is everything which is to be seen or perceived by any of the senses. But still these are of spiritual origin, and they therefore think spiritually about them and give them spiritual names. But all of these things, as they are to be seen or perceived in the middle and highest heavens, in respect of excellence of forms and harmonies, and in respect of perfections, which are outstanding and transcendental, are impossible to describe except imperfectly, only as resembling the most perfect things in the world, which are none the less imperfect compared with those in heaven.

14. XIV. The Word in the heavens.

The Word exists in all the heavens, and it is read there as it is in the world, and sermons are based on it. For it is the Divine Truth which is the source of the angels' intelligence and wisdom. For without the Word no one knows anything about the Lord, love and faith, redemption, and all the other secrets of heavenly wisdom. In fact without the Word heaven would not exist, just as without the Word there would be no church in the world, so that there would be no linking with the Lord. I demonstrated above that natural theology is impossible without revelation, and in the Christian world without the Word. If it is not granted in the world, neither would it be granted after death. For the nature of a person's religious belief in the world dictates its nature after death, when he becomes a spirit. The whole of heaven is not made up of angels created before the world or at the same time as it, but of those who were people on earth, and were then angels inwardly. By means of the Word these in heaven acquire spiritual, that is, inner wisdom, because the Word there is spiritual.

[2] The Word in the Lord's spiritual kingdom is not the same as the Word in the world. In the world there is the natural Word, but in that kingdom there is a spiritual Word. The difference is like that between its natural and spiritual senses. The nature of the spiritual sense has been demonstrated at length in my Arcana Caelestia, where the whole contents of Genesis and Exodus have been explained in accordance with that sense. The difference is such that no word is the same. Things take the place of names, and likewise of numbers; the histories are replaced by matters concerning the church. The surprising thing is that, when an angel reads it, he is unaware that it is not the same as what he read in the Word while in the world. This is because he no longer has any natural ideas, since they are replaced with spiritual ones; and the natural and the spiritual are linked by correspondences into a kind of unity.

So when someone passes from the natural into the spiritual, it seems to him as if they were the same. In fact an angel does not know that he is wiser than he was in the world, though his wisdom is really so superior as to be comparatively indescribable. He is unable to recognise the difference, because in his spiritual state he knows nothing of the natural state, which he had in the world; and he is unable to compare and differentiate them, because he cannot return to his former state so as to make a comparison. Still an angel in heaven is constantly being brought to a higher degree of perfection in wisdom than he had in the world, because his affection for spiritual truth is purer. ¹

[3] However, the Word in the Lord's celestial kingdom is far superior and wiser than the Word in His spiritual kingdom. The difference is of the same kind as that which distinguishes the natural Word in the world from the spiritual Word, as has been stated. For that Word contains an inmost sense, called celestial, which in all its details refers to nothing but the Lord. In this Word the Lord is read in place of Jehovah, and of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and also the Lord is named in place of David, Moses, Elijah and the rest of the Prophets; and His divinity is distinguished by special marks. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and also the names of the Apostles, when read there, convey something about the Lord as regards the church; and so with all the rest. From this it became plain to me that the whole of the Sacred Scripture deals in its inmost sense with nothing but the Lord.

The difference which distinguishes the two Words, the spiritual and the celestial, is like that between thoughts, the province of the intellect, and affections, the province of the will. For the angels of the celestial kingdom are guided by love to the Lord and so affection for good; the angels of the spiritual kingdom are guided by faith in the Lord and so by perception of truth.

[4] Another difference between the celestial and spiritual Words is their script. The script of the spiritual Word is made up of letters resembling the printed letters of our world; but each letter has a meaning. If therefore you were to see that script, you would not understand a single word. For one letter succeeds another without a break, with dashes and dots above and below, since it is in accordance with spiritual speech, which has nothing in common with natural speech. The wiser angels are, the more they see of the inner secrets of their Word so written, more so than the simpler angels. What is stored there is plainly visible to the eyes of the wise, but not to the eyes of the simple. It is similar to what happens with our Word, but to a greater degree; here too the wise see more than the simple.

The script of the celestial Word, however, is made up of letters not known in the world. They are indeed alphabetical, but each one of them is composed of curved lines with serifs above and below, and there are small marks or dots in the letters, and also above and below them. I was told that the most ancient people on this earth had such a script. Some details agree with the Hebrew script, but not much. Such a script expresses the affections which make up a love; so it contains more secrets than they themselves can ever utter. They express these unutterable secrets which they perceive from their Word by means of representations. The wisdom hidden away in this Word surpasses the wisdom in the spiritual Word as a thousand does one.

[5] To make the difference between the three Words, the natural, the spiritual and the celestial, intelligible, let us take as an example the first chapters of Genesis, which deal with Adam, his wife and the Garden. ² In the natural Word which we have in this world there is a description of the creation of the world, the first creation of man, and the earthly pleasures and delights of man and the world. By the persons named following him up to the Flood are meant his descendants, and the numbers mean their ages. But in the spiritual Word the angels of the spiritual kingdom have, this is not what is meant. The first chapter is a description of the reform and regeneration of the people of the most ancient church; this too is called a new creation. The second chapter describes as the Garden the intelligence of the people of that church; Adam and his wife stand for the church itself, and their descendants down to the Flood describe the changes in the state of that church, up to the time when it came to an end and was finally destroyed by the Flood.

But in the celestial Word possessed by the angels of the Lord's celestial kingdom, the first chapter describes the glorification of the Lord's Human; the Garden describes his Divine wisdom. Adam himself is understood to mean the Lord as regards the Divine itself and at the same time the Divine Human. His wife stands for the church, which since it has life from the Lord is called Eve from [the Hebrew word for] life. Adam says of her that she was to be his bone and his flesh, and [they should be] one flesh, because the church comes from the Lord, and is out of Him and with Him as if one. The names of the descendants of Adam describe the successive states by which the Lord was received by the people of that church and linked with them, until there was nothing at all received and so no linking.

[6] So when the first chapters in our Word are read by upright people, especially by boys and girls, and they feel joy at the state when everything was created and at the Garden, then these meanings are unfolded, and the spiritual angels understand them in accordance with their Word, and the celestial angels in accordance with theirs, without being aware that a person or a child is reading it. These meanings are unfolded in their due sequence because they correspond, and correspondences are from creation like this. This makes it plain what the Word is like in its depths, that is, it has three senses. The last is the natural one for men on earth; this deals mainly with worldly matters and where it deals with Divine matters, they are still described by the kind of things which the world contains. The middle sense is the spiritual one, which describes the kind of things which belong to the church. The inmost sense is the celestial one, which contains the kind of things which belong to the Lord. For the whole of nature is a theatre representing the Lord's kingdom; and the Lord's kingdom, heaven and the church, is a theatre representing the Lord Himself. For just as the Lord glorified His Human, so too He regenerates a person; and as He regenerates a person, so too did He create him.

[7] These facts may establish what the Word is like in its depths. The natural Word as possessed by the Christian part of the world contains within itself a spiritual and a celestial Word. For the spiritual sense of our Word is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's spiritual kingdom; and the celestial sense of our Word, its inmost sense, is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's celestial kingdom. Our Word therefore contains both the spiritual and the celestial Words; but the spiritual Word and the celestial Word do not contain the natural Word. The Word of our world is therefore the one most full of Divine wisdom, and consequently more holy than the Word of the heavens.

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