61. I have been granted the opportunity to talk with any number of individuals after their death who had believed they were going to shine like stars in heaven because, they said, they had revered the Word, had read it through time and again, and had gained much from their reading that served to support the dogmas of their faith. All this led to their being celebrated as scholars, which in turn led them to believe they would become Michaels and Raphaels.

[2] However, many of them were examined to find out what love had inspired their study of the Word, and it turned out that for some it was self-infatuation, a desire to look important in the eyes of the world and therefore be revered as leaders in the church, while for others it was worldliness and a desire for wealth. When they were asked what they had learned from the Word, it turned out that they knew nothing that was really true. All they knew was distorted truth, which is essentially false. They were told that this was because they themselves and the world were their goals - or were what they loved the most, which amounts to the same thing - and not the Lord and heaven. If ourselves and the world are our goals, then when we read the Word our minds are stuck on ourselves and the world. This means that our thinking is constantly focused on our self-importance, which is in darkness with respect to everything that has to do with heaven. People in this state cannot be lifted out of their self-infatuation by the Lord and thus raised up into heaven’s light, so they are not open to any inflow from the Lord through heaven, either.

[3] I have seen them let into heaven, but when it was found that they were lacking in truths, they were expelled. Even so, they retained the prideful conviction that they were worthy.

It worked out otherwise for individuals who studied the Word from a desire to know what was true because it was true and because it could be put to use in their lives not only for their own benefit but for the benefit of their neighbor. I have seen them raised up into heaven and therefore into the light of divine truth there; and at the same time they have been lifted up into angelic wisdom and into its happiness, which is eternal life.

9. IX. Those whose aim is to possess luxury and honours in the world and also in heaven, as well as those who aim at wealth and profit in the world and those who aim at a reputation for learning, do not see or find any real truth in the Word.

I was allowed to talk with many in the spiritual world, who had thought that they would shine like stars in heaven, because, so they said, they had treated the Word as holy, read it through many times, collected many passages from it and used them to prove the dogmas of their belief. So they had a reputation for learning in the world and they themselves together with others believed that they would be Michaels and Raphaels. But many of them were tested to see what love had made them study the Word, and it was discovered that for some it had been self-love, so that they would appear important in the world and be respected as leaders of the church; for some it was to get a reputation for learning and so be promoted to honours; for some it was to acquire wealth, and for some to become learned preachers. When finally they were examined to see whether they had learned any real truth from the Word, it was found that they knew nothing but what is obvious to anyone from its literal sense, and they knew no genuine truth which might serve inwardly for instruction. The reason for this was that their aims were themselves and the world, not the Lord and heaven. When these are their aims a person and his mind are confined to himself and the world, and he thinks constantly from his self, which is in thick darkness as regards everything in heaven. For a person's self is nothing but evil and the falsity it produces. So someone who in reading the Word regards himself, or honours or reputation or profit, cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from the self, and so be raised into the light of heaven; and consequently he cannot receive any influence from the Lord through heaven.

[2] I saw many such people, and each of them made all possible efforts to reach heaven, and they were admitted there. But on arrival they were examined to see if they knew anything of the truth the angels have, but they knew nothing but the bare words of the literal sense without any inner understanding of them. So in the eyes of the angels they looked stripped of their clothes and as if naked, and so they were sent down below. Some of them were deprived of intellectual sight in the light of heaven, and afterwards of their eyesight. Afterwards they were seized by violent pain in the heart, and were thus taken below. But the proud belief that they had deserved heaven lingered.

This is the fate of those who study the Word with the aim of acquiring honours, reputation and profit. But quite different is the fate of those who are led to study the Word by an affection for truth, or who in reading the Word take pleasure in truth for its own sake. Their aim is the love of God and the love of the neighbour, and they have life as their aim. All of these as lovers of truth receive influence from the Lord, seeing and finding real truths in the Word. For their intellects are enlightened, and this allows them to perceive the truths as if of themselves, though not really from themselves; and after death they are raised to heaven, where truth enjoys its own light, so becoming spiritual and angels.