24. And from the seven spirits, signifies the Divine in heaven. This is evident from the signification of "seven," as being what is full, and therefore all, and from its being predicated of the holy Divine things that proceed from the Lord (See above, n. 20); also from the signification of "spirits," as being those of whom heaven consists; for all these are called "spirits of God," since the Spirit of God is the Divine proceeding, or Divine truth united to Divine good in heaven and the church (Arcana Coelestia 9818); and the Divine proceeding or Divine truth united to Divine good, forms and creates the angel, and thus makes him [what he is] according to quality and quantity of reception (See the work on Heaven and Hell 7-12).

From this it is evident that by "the seven spirits" (of which more below), are not meant seven spirits, but all who are in heaven; as by the "seven churches" are not meant seven churches, but all who are in truths from good, or who are of the church (See above, n. 20). When this is understood, an arcanum is opened, namely, the meaning of "Jehovah God" in the Word; which is, that by "Jehovah" is meant the Divine Esse, and by "God" the Divine Existere in heaven. The Divine that is meant by "God" is the Divine Existere in heaven, because the Divine in heaven is in many; therefore in the Hebrew language, God is called "Elohim," in the plural; for the same reason angels are called gods, not that they are gods, but because the Divine of the Lord that is in them is meant by "God."

(That in the Word the Lord is called Jehovah from Esse or Essence, and God from Existere or Existence, see Arcana Coelestia 300, 3910, 6905; also that the Divine Esse is Divine good, and that the Divine Existere is Divine truth, n. 3061, 6280, 6880, 6905, 10579; and in general, that good is esse, and truth is existere therefrom, n. 5002. That angels are called gods from the reception of Divine truth proceeding from the Divine good of the Lord, n. 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873, 8301, 8192; and that Divine truth united to Divine good in heaven, is called, in one phrase, Divine truth, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 13, 133, 140)

4623. But it should be recognized that with spirits the life of their senses is of two different kinds - that which is real and that which is not real. One is distinguished from the other by the fact that everything seen by those in heaven is real, whereas everything seen by those in hell is not real. Whatever comes from the Divine, that is, from the Lord, is real since it comes from the Essential Being (Esse) itself within things and from self-existent Life; but whatever comes from a spirit's proprium is not real since it does not come from the Essential Being (Esse) within things nor from self-existent Life. Those who have an affection for goodness and truth have the Lord's life, and so the life that is real, within themselves; for the Lord is present within goodness and truth through the affection for these. But those who are governed by evil and falsity through their affection for these have the life of the proprium within them and so the life that is not real; for the Lord is not present within evil and falsity. The real is distinguishable from that which is not real by this - that the real is in actual fact what it appears to be, whereas that which is not real is not in actual fact what it appears to be.

[2] Those in hell have the five senses no less than anyone else, and are not aware of things being in reality or in actual fact anything other than what they perceive them to be with their senses. Yet when the angels look at the selfsame things these look to them like phantoms which then disappear, while the spirits themselves do not look like human beings but like monsters. I have also been allowed to talk to those in hell about this matter, and certain of them have said that they believe things are real when they can see and touch them, adding that the senses cannot mislead one. But I have been led to reply that no matter how real such things were seen to be by those spirits they were not real because those spirits themselves were governed by what was contrary or opposed to the Divine, that is to say, by evils and falsities. Furthermore, insofar as evil desires and false notions existed with those spirits, every thought they had was nothing else than an illusion. And when illusions lie behind one's view of anything, one sees real things as those which are not real, and those which are not real as those which are real. Also, unless the Lord in His Divine mercy gave them the use of the five senses they would not have any life that depends on sensory experience, nor therefore any life at all; for the whole of life involves the use of the senses. But to include every experience I have had in these matters would fill up very many pages.

[3] Let people therefore be on their guard when they enter the next life, so that they are not deceived; for evil spirits know all kinds of ways to deceive the eyes of those recently arrived there from the world. Or if they are unable to delude them, those evil spirits nevertheless try by means of their deceptions to convince recent arrivals that nothing is real but that all things, including those in heaven, are no more than mental abstractions.