5661. Wij weten niet wie het zilver in onze reiszakken heeft gelegd; dat dit het niet-geloof betekent vanwege de onwetendheid, waaruit het ware in het uiterlijk natuurlijke was, staat vast uit de betekenis van niet weten, namelijk in de geestelijke zin niet geloven of het niet-geloof; uit de betekenis van wie heeft gelegd, namelijk de onwetendheid daarover waar het vandaan was; uit de betekenis van het zilver, namelijk het ware, nr. 5658;

en uit de betekenis van de reiszak, namelijk het uiterlijk natuurlijke, nr. 5497.

83. Of the heredity of man, spoken of above (n. 70-79), it is the love of self and of the world.

All men are born into evils of every kind, insomuch that their proprium is nothing but evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307-2308, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283-10284, 10286, 10731). Therefore man is to be born again, that is, regenerated, in order that he may receive a new life from the Lord (n. 3701).

Hereditary evils are derived, increased, and accumulated from parents and ancestors in a long backward series, and not as is believed, from the first man's eating of the tree of knowledge (n. 313, 494, 2910, 3469, 3701, 4317, 8550). Therefore hereditary evils are at this day more malignant than formerly (n. 2122). Infants who die such, and are educated in heaven, are from heredity nothing but evils (n. 2307-2308, 4563). Hence they are of various dispositions and inclinations (n. 2300). Every man's interior evils are from the father, and the exterior from the mother (n. 1815, 3701).

Man superadds of himself new evils to such as are hereditary, which are called actual evils (n. 8551). No one suffers punishment in the other life for hereditary evils, but for actual evils, which return (n. 966, 2308). The more malignant hells are kept separate lest they should operate on the hereditary evils with men and spirits (n. 1667, 8806).

Hereditary evils are those of the loves of self and the world, which consist in man's loving himself more than God, and the world more than heaven, and in making his neighbor of no account (n. 694, 4317, 5660). And because these evils are contrary to the goods of heaven and to Divine order, man cannot but be born in mere ignorance (n. 1050, 1902, 1992, 3175). Natural good is connate with some, but nevertheless it is not good, because prone to all evils and falsities; and that good is not accepted in heaven unless it be made spiritual good (n. 2463-2464, 2468, 3304, 3408, 3469-3470, 3508, 3519, 7761).

70. Since I am at liberty to disclose what I have heard and seen these several years, I need now at the out set to state what happens to a person when he is re-awakened, that is, to state the process by which he passes from the life of the body into that of eternity. So that I might know that people do live on after death, I was allowed to talk to and mix with many whom I knew during their lifetime. And this has not been for just a day or a week, but for months and up to a year; I have talked to them and mixed with them just as I did in the world. They were utterly amazed that during their lifetime, like the majority of other people, they were so disbelieving that they thought they would not be alive after death, though in fact scarcely days stand between the death of the body and being in the next life, for it is a continuation of life.