41. Anything that is man's own has no life in it; and when depicted visually it looks like something hard as a bone and black. But anything that comes from the Lord does contain life. It has that which is spiritual and celestial within it, and when depicted visually it looks human and alive. It is perhaps incredible, but nevertheless absolutely true, that every expression, every idea, and every least thought of an angelic spirit is alive. In even the most detailed areas of his thought there is an affection that comes from the Lord, who is life itself. Consequently all that derives from the Lord has life within it, for it contains faith in Him, and is here meant by 'a living creature'. It then has the outward appearance of a body, meant here by that which is moving, or creeping. To man these matters remain arcana, but since the subject here is the living and moving creature, they ought at least to be mentioned here.

10724. Those with whom self-love and love of the world reign have no knowledge of what heaven is or of what the happiness of heaven is. It seems incredible to them that happiness can exist in any kinds of love other than these. But the reality is that so far as those loves are removed from reigning as ends in view, the happiness of heaven enters in; the happiness taking their place after they have been removed is so great that it surpasses all human understanding.