Heaven and Hell #46
46. Again, all who are in like good, even though they have never seen each other before, know each other, just as men in the world do their kinsmen, near relations, and friends; and for the reason that in the other life there are none but spiritual kinships, relationships, and friendships, thus such as spring from love and faith. 1 This it has sometimes been granted me to see, when I have been in the spirit, and thus withdrawn from the body, and in the society of angels. Some of those I then saw seemed as if I had known them from childhood, but others as if not known at all. Those whom I seemed to have known from childhood were such as were in a state similar to that of my spirit; but those who seemed unknown were in a dissimilar state.
V:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] All nearness, relationship, connections, and as it were ties of blood, in heaven are from good and in accordance with its agreements and differences (Arcana Coelestia 685, 917, 1394, 2739, 3612, 3815, 4121).
