8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

9286. 'Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year' means enduring worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of deliverance from damnation. This is clear from the meaning of 'keeping a feast' or 'holding a feast' as worshipping the Lord with gladness of mind on account of deliverance from damnation, dealt with in 7093; and from the meaning of 'three times in the year' as a state complete right to its end, for 'three' means complete from the beginning to the end, 2788, 4495, 7715, 9198, and 'year' a whole period, 2906, 7839, 8070. At this point therefore complete and whole deliverance is meant; for 'the feast of unleavened bread' means purification from falsities, 'the feast of harvest' means the planting of truth in good, and 'the feast of ingathering' means the implanting of good from there. Thus complete deliverance from damnation is meant by these feasts; for when a person has been purified from falsities, and after this has been brought by means of truths into good, and is at length governed by good, he is in heaven with the Lord and has accordingly undergone complete deliverance.

[2] The consecutive stages of deliverance from damnation are like the consecutive stages of regeneration; for regeneration is deliverance by the Lord from hell and being led by Him into heaven. For a person who is being regenerated is first purified from falsities, after that the truths of faith he knows are planted in the good of charity, and finally that good itself is implanted in him. When all this has been done the person has been regenerated and he is then in heaven with the Lord. Therefore the three feasts in the year also meant worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of regeneration. Because these feasts were established on account of the everlasting remembrance of those things, the worship and thanksgiving are called enduring; for the most important things in worship should endure forever. The things which should endure forever are those which have been inscribed not only on the memory but also on the actual life that is led. When this is so they are said to reign universally with a person, see 5949, 6159, 6571, 8853-8858, 8865.

1274. The marvels existing in the next life include the following:

1. Communities of spirits and of angels, as regards position, appear distinct and separate from one another, even though places and distances in the next life are nothing other than varieties of state.

2. Position and distances are relative to the human body, so that people on the right thus seem to be stationed on the right whichever way the body turns. The same applies to those on the left, or in any other direction.

3. No spirits and angels are so far away that they cannot be seen; yet no more come into view than the Lord allows to do so.

4. When the Lord allows it, spirits whom others are thinking about - for example, people who had been known to them in some way during their lifetime - are present in an instant. They come close enough to be heard or touched, or stand a little way off, notwithstanding the fact that they may have been several thousands of miles away, even up among the stars. The reason is that spatial distance is meaningless in the next life.

5. With angels no idea of time exists; it is the same in the world of spirits, but more completely so in heaven. What then must the situation be with the Lord, to whom every single human being is inescapably most fully present and beneath His view and Providence?

These things seem unbelievable but are nevertheless true.