2401. 'And said, Rise up, go out of this place' means that they were not to remain in a state of evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'rising up' and 'going out', and also of 'place'. 'Rising up' occurs often in the Word, being one of the common expressions found there, but little thought is given to what else it may mean. In the internal sense however it entails, as it does here, being raised up from evil to good, for the mind is raised up when it draws back from evil, 2388. 'Going out' means drawing back or not remaining, while 'place' means a state of evil, 2393. From this it is evident what the meaning is here.

[2] The character of people who possess cognitions of truth but at the same time lead a life of evil has been stated frequently already - that as long as they lead a life of evil they believe nothing; for to will evil and consequently to do it, and at the same time in faith to acknowledge truth, is not possible. From this it is also evident that a person cannot be saved by thinking and speaking what is true, nor even what is good, if he wills nothing but evil, and as a consequence of what he wills does nothing but evil. Man's will itself is what lives on after death, and not so much his thinking apart from that which flows from his will.

[3] Since therefore a person's character after death is determined by what he wills, one can see what he is able to think about the truths of faith he has absorbed, indeed taught, seeing that these condemn him. He is in this case so disinclined to think from them that he avoids them altogether. Indeed insofar as he is allowed, he curses them, as the devil's crew do. People who have not been taught about the life after death may imagine that they will find it easy at that time to receive faith when they see that the Lord governs the whole of heaven, and when they hear that heaven is loving Him and the neighbour. But evil people are as far removed from being able to receive faith, that is, from having the will to believe, as hell is from heaven. They are in fact totally immersed in evil and in falsity derived from this. From their mere arrival itself or presence it is recognized and perceived that they are against the Lord and against the neighbour and so against what is good and consequently against what is true. There is an unmentionable sphere which emanates from the life of their will and so of their thinking, 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504.

[4] If it were possible for people to believe and become good merely by receiving instruction in the next life no one would be left in hell; for no matter how many, the Lord desires to raise them all up to heaven towards Himself. For His mercy is infinite since it is Divine mercy itself and is indeed directed towards the whole human race, and so towards the evil as well as the good.

4882. 'And went' means life. This is clear from the meaning of 'going' as living, dealt with in 3335, 3690. This meaning of 'going' in the internal sense as living does indeed seem quite remote from or unrelated to ideas man has which constitute his thought. The reason for this is that man dwells within space and time, and with these has formed the ideas comprising his thought, such as the idea of going, advancing, setting out, sojourning, or moving on. Now because these actions occur within both space and time, and as a consequence space and time have become embedded in ideas of those actions, man therefore finds it difficult to grasp that states of life are meant. But when his idea of those actions is relieved or divested of spatial and temporal elements the spiritual reality that is meant leaps out. For in the spiritual world or heaven nothing at all spatial or temporal enters the ideas they have, but instead aspects of a state of life, 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3356, 3404, 3827, 4814. It does indeed appear to spirits and angels that they too move about, going from one place to another, and indeed exactly in the same way as it appears so to men. All the same, it is the changes taking place in their state of life that are responsible for this appearance. To them also, no less than to men, the appearance is that they live self-dependently, when in fact they do not live self-dependently but are dependent on the Lord's Divine, the source of every spark of life. Among angels these appearances are called real ones, because they seem in all reality to exist.

[2] I have on occasions spoken to spirits about these appearances, but those who are not governed by good, nor consequently by truth, do not wish to listen when told it is but an appearance that they live self-dependently; for their wish is to live self-dependently. But in addition to showing them from actual experience that they do not lead self-dependent lives and that every advance made from one place to another is a change to, and an advance made in, their state of life, I have also told them that for them it may be sufficient for them to know no other than that they live self-dependently, and that their life would be life no more if they did not live self-dependency. It would nevertheless be better for them to know what the situation really is, for in that case they would have the truth; and if they have the truth they also dwell in the light of heaven, since the light of heaven is the truth itself which flows from the Lord's Divine. Furthermore, if the truth existed with them in this way they would not claim that good was their own, nor would evil cling to them. Angels possessing that truth do not merely know it; they also have a perception of it.

[3] Intervals of time and space in the spiritual world are states of life, and every spark of life has its origin in the Lord, as the following experience may show. Each spirit and angel sees on his right those who are good and on his left those who are evil; this is so in whatever direction he turns himself. If he turns and looks eastwards he sees the good to the right and the evil to the left. The same happens if he turns and looks to the west, and likewise to the south or the north. This is the case with every spirit or angel, so that if there were two, and one of these turned and looked to the east and the other did so to the west, each would still see the good on his right and the evil on his left. Those far removed from, even behind the backs of, those who behold them are seen in those unchanging positions. From these considerations one may deduce clearly that every spark of life has its origin in the Lord, that is, that the Lord is within the life of everyone; for in the spiritual world the Lord is seen as the Sun, the good or sheep being on His right, and the evil or goats on His left. The same is therefore the case with each spirit or angel, for the reason, as stated, that the Lord exists in every spark of life. This is bound to look like a paradox to man, for as long as he is in the world man has ideas that are formed from worldly things, and therefore from what is spatial and temporal. But as stated above, in the spiritual world no ideas are formed from what is spatial and temporal but from the state belonging to affections and the thoughts flowing from these. It is for this reason also that the intervals of space and time in the Word mean states.