9334. 'Lest perhaps the land becomes desolate' means a deficiency in that case, and little spiritual life, that is to say, if the removal were hurried. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church in general and also in particular, the Church in particular being a person who becomes an embodiment of the Church, since the Church exists within a person and comprises one who has been regenerated (for the meaning of 'the land' as the Church in general, see 9325, and for its meaning as the Church in particular, or a person who has been regenerated, 82, 620, 636, 913, 1411, 1733, 2117, 2118 (end), 2571, 3368, 3379; this person is also called 'the land' in Malachi,

All the nations will declare you blessed, and you will be a land of delight. Malachi 3:12.) and from the meaning of 'desolate' as a deficiency, and little spiritual life. For 'desolate', when used in reference to the Church within a person, means a deficiency of truth and good, thus also a deficiency of spiritual life since that life is provided by these. The implications of this, that there is a deficiency and little spiritual life if falsities and evils are removed hurriedly, are that when a person undergoes regeneration, which is accomplished by the implantation of spiritual truth and good, and at the same time by the removal of falsity and evil, the regeneration is not hurried but takes place slowly.

[2] The reason for this is that all the things the person has thought, intended, or done since early childhood have entered into the composition of his life. They have also formed themselves into a network which is such that one cannot be moved without all of them together being moved. For a wicked person is an image of hell, and a good person is an image of heaven; and also the evils and falsities with a wicked person are interconnected in the same way as the communities of hell are with one another, of which that person is a part, while the forms of good and the truths with a good person are interconnected in the same way as heavenly communities are with one another, of which this person is a part. From this it is evident that the evils and falsities with a wicked person cannot be removed suddenly from where they are. They can be removed only in the measure that forms of good and truths in their proper order have been implanted more deeply within the person; for heaven with a person removes hell. If the removal were done suddenly the person would pass out, for the whole network of things, every single one, would be thrown into confusion and deprive him of his life.

[3] The fact that regeneration or the implantation of the life of heaven with a person begins when he is a young child and continues right on to the final phase of his life in the world, and the fact that after life in the world his perfection continues for evermore, see 2679, 3203, 3584, 3665, 3690, 3701, 4377, 4551, 4552, 5126, 6751, 8772, 9103, 9296, 9297, and in particular 5122, 5398, 5912, 9258. Also, and this is an arcanum, a person's regeneration in the world is merely the foundation for the unending perfection of his life. The person who has led a good life undergoes perfection in the next life; see what has been shown regarding young children, in 2289-2309, and regarding the state and condition of gentiles there, in 2589-2604.

545. To enable me to know what heaven and heavenly joy are, and the nature of them, the Lord has allowed me frequently and for long periods to perceive the delights that accompany heavenly joys. From my actual experience therefore I can know them but in no sense describe them. However, so that people may have a rough idea of it, let me say this: It is the affection accompanying countless joys and delights which produce one general and simultaneous joy. That general joy, or general affection, consists of harmonious bands of countless affections, none of which focus clearly in one's perception, but only indistinctly, because one's perception is very general. Nevertheless I have been allowed to perceive that it contains countless things whose ordering defies description. Those countless things are such as flow from the order of heaven itself.

[2] This order extends to the smallest individual areas of the affection, which present themselves and are perceived simply as one very general whole. They present themselves and are perceived according to the capacity of the person subject to them. In a word, every general affection contains innumerable parts ordered into a perfect form. No part is devoid of life or fails to affect. This applies to the inmost parts in particular, for heavenly joys stem from things that are inmost. I have also perceived that the joy and delight went out as it were from the heart and very gently spread themselves through every inmost fibre, and from there into every cluster of fibres, doing so with such an interior sense of delight that a fibre was so to speak nothing but joy and delight; and all resulting perceptivity and feeling in like manner was alive with happiness. In comparison with those joys, the joy that accompanies the desires of the flesh is as thick choking smog to a pure and very gentle breeze.