20. Verse 3 And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. This is at the outset when a person starts to realize that good and truth are something superior. Thoroughly external people do not even know what good is and what truth is, for they imagine that everything which comprises self-love and love of the world is good, and that everything that panders to those loves is truth. Thus they do not know that the things which they imagine to be good are in fact evil, and that those which they imagine to be true are in fact false. But when a person is conceived anew, first he starts to recognize that the good in him is not really good, and then, when he enters more into light, to recognize the existence of the Lord and that the Lord is good and truth themselves. The Lord Himself says in John that men ought to know He exists,

Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.

The point that the Lord is good itself, which is life, and truth itself, which is light, together with the consequent point that no good or truth exist except from the Lord, is made once more in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness. He was the true light that enlightens every man coming into the world John 1:1, 3-5, 9.

1521. CHAPTER 13

THE LIGHT IN WHICH ANGELS ARE LIVING

Many experiences have made it quite clear to me that spirits and angels possess all of the senses except taste, and that these are far keener and more perfect than man's ever are. Not only do angels see and form relationships with one another, experiencing as they do so supreme happiness resulting from mutual love; there are also more things which they see in their world than man can ever believe. The world of spirits and the heavens are full of representative phenomena like those seen by the prophets, and so many in number that if a person's sight were opened to behold them just for a few hours he would inevitably be dumbfounded. The light in heaven is such as to be unbelievably superior to the light in the physical world at midday. Yet no light from this world reaches those who are in heaven since they are above or within the sphere where that light shines; instead they have Light from the Lord, who is their Sun. To angels even the midday light of the world is like pitch darkness, and when they are allowed to peer at the light, it is as though they were peering into sheer darkness, as I have been given to know from experience. From this it becomes clear how different the light of heaven is from the light of the world.