8325. Thou shalt bring them in. That this signifies elevation, is evident from the signification of “bringing in,” when to heaven, as being elevation. It is said “elevation,” because before the outward sight of spirits heaven is on high, and before the inner sight, such as is that of the angels, heaven is within; for everything internal in the other life is presented representatively as above, and everything external as beneath, consequently heaven appears above, and hell beneath (n. 2148, 3084, 4599, 5146); for it is states of truth and of good, and in the opposite sense, states of falsity and of evil, which are represented in the other life by means of heights and depths; in a word, which are represented by means of distances and places (n. 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381).

[2] From this experience alone it can be concluded with what difficulty the natural man apprehends spiritual things, consequently those things which are of heaven. What natural man can comprehend that there are no spaces and times in heaven; but instead thereof states; namely, states of good, or states of being, instead of spaces; and states of truth, or states of coming-forth, instead of times? Will not the merely natural man believe that there is absolute emptiness and nothingness where there are no time and space? From this it is evident that if the natural man concludes in himself that nothing is to be believed except what he apprehends, he then casts himself into enormous errors. As the case is with spaces and times, so also it is with many other things; as for example, the natural man must needs fall into phantasy about the Divine, when he thinks from time about what the Divine was doing before the creation of the world, that is, what It had done from eternity till then; nor can he be extricated from this knot until the ideas of time and of space are removed. When the angels think about this eternity, they never think about it from time, but from state.

[3] In the other life there appear two statues, partly of flesh and partly of stone, placed at the boundary of the created universe, in front toward the left; and it is said of them that they swallow those who think about what the Divine was doing from eternity until It created the world. This swallowing represents that as the man cannot think except from space and time, he cannot from himself extricate himself therefrom; but he can do so from the Divine, which is effected either by the dispersal of this thought, or by the removal of the ideas of time.

5605. And we will arise and go, and we will live, and not die. That this signifies spiritual life according to degrees, is evident from the signification of “arising,” as being elevation to higher or interior things, consequently to the things of spiritual life (see n. 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, 4103, 4881); from the signification of “going,” as being to live (n. 3335, 3690, 4882, 5493), and as the words follow “and we will live,” “going” signifies the first spiritual life; from the signification of “living,” as being spiritual life, for no other life is meant in the internal sense of the Word; and from the signification of “not dying,” as being no longer to be damned, that is, to be out of a state of damnation, for in the internal sense of the Word no other than spiritual death is meant, which is damnation. From this it is plain that by “we will arise and go, and we will live and not die” is signified life according to degrees; namely, introduction into life by “arising,” the first of life by “going,” life itself by “living,” and being led out from the things of no life by “not dying.”

[2] That “to go” in the internal sense is to live, seems strange to him who knows nothing about spiritual life; but it is like “journeying,” which denotes the order of life and what is successive of life (n. 1293, 4375, 4554, 4585), and like “sojourning,” which denotes to be instructed and to live accordingly (n. 1463, 2025, 3672). The reason why “going,” “journeying,” and “sojourning” have these significations might indeed be told, but the reason is of such a nature as could scarcely be accepted by those who are ignorant of the nature of movements in the other life. Movements and progressions there are nothing else-because from no other source-than changes of the state of life. These changes appear in externals exactly like progressions from place to place. That this is so can be confirmed by much experience in the other life; for I have walked there in spirit with them and among them, through many of their abodes, and this though in body I remained in the same place. I have also talked with them as to how this could be, and have been informed that it is the changes of the state of life that make progressions in the spiritual world.

[3] This was also confirmed by the fact that by means of changes induced on their states, spirits can appear on high, and then in a moment beneath, or now far to the west, and in a moment to the east, and so on. But as before said this cannot but seem strange to him who knows nothing about life in the spiritual world; for there are no spaces or times there, but states of life instead. These states produce in externals a most living appearance of progressions and motions. The appearance is as living and real as that life itself is in us and therefore our own, when yet life flows in from the Lord, who is the fountain of all life (see n. 2021, 2658, 2706, 2886-2888, 3001, 3318, 3337-3338, 3484, 3619, 3741-3743, 4151, 4249, 4318-4320, 4417, 4523, 4524, 4882). As “going” and “moving” signify living, it was therefore said by the ancients, that “in God we move, live, and have our being” [Acts 17:28; and by “moving” they meant the external of life, by “living” its internal, and by “being” its inmost.