63. 1. Experience in the spiritual world shows that in the Word, goats mean people who are devoted to a faith divorced from caring. In the spiritual world we can see everything we see in this earthly world. We can see houses and mansions, parks and gardens with all kinds of trees in them. We can see fields and farmland, plains and meadows, as well as herds and flocks, all looking much as they do in our world. In fact, the only difference is that those in our world come from an earthly origin, while those in the spiritual world come from a spiritual origin. Since angels are spiritual, they see things that are from a spiritual origin just the way we see things that are from an earthly origin.
[2] Everything visible in the spiritual world is a correspondence. That is, everything corresponds to something the angels and spirits are feeling. That is why people who are moved by what is good and true and who therefore enjoy wisdom and intelligence live in splendid mansions that are surrounded by gardens with an abundance of trees (all of which things are correspondences), and these in turn are surrounded by farmlands and fields where flocks lie at rest (all of which things are manifestations).
For people who are drawn to evil, the correspondences are quite the opposite. These people are either confined to windowless workhouses in the hells where the only light is like that of marsh gas, or live in shacks in the wilderness where everything around is barren, where there are snakes, lizards, owls, and many other things that correspond to their evils.
[3] There is an intermediate space between heaven and hell called the world of spirits. That is where we all arrive immediately after death. We interact with each other there much the way we do here on earth; and there as well, everything we see is a correspondence. We see gardens and groves there, forests with trees and bushes, and green, flowery meadows, along with all kinds of animals, tame and wild, all corresponding to what we are feeling.
[4] I have often seen sheep and goats there and fights between them like the one described in the eighth chapter of Daniel [Daniel 8:2-14]. I have seen goats with horns bent forward or backward and have seen them angrily attacking sheep. I once saw goats with two horns using them to batter some sheep, and when I looked to see what was happening, I saw some people arguing about caring and faith. I could see from this that what looked like a goat was faith divorced from caring and that what looked like a sheep was a caring that gave rise to faith.
Because I have seen this so often, I have been granted the opportunity to know for certain that in the Word, goats mean people devoted to a faith divorced from caring.
