From Swedenborg's Works

 

Heaven and Hell #430

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430. There are two doors in each of us as well, one facing hell and open to evil and false things from hell, the other facing heaven and open to good and true things from heaven. The door of hell is opened for people who are involved in what is evil and its consequent falsity, though just a little light from heaven flows in through the cracks, which enables us to think, reason, and talk. On the other hand, the door of heaven is opened for people who are focused on what is good and therefore on what is true. There are actually two paths that lead to our rational mind, one from above or within, through which the good and the true enter from the Lord, and one from below or outside through which the evil and the false infiltrate from hell. The rational mind itself is at the intersection of these two paths, so to the extent that light from heaven is let in, we are rational; but to the extent that it is not let in, we are not rational even though we seem so to ourselves.

I have mentioned these things so that our correspondence with heaven and with hell may be known. While our rational mind is in the process of being formed, it is responsive to the world of spirits. What is above it belongs to heaven, and what is beneath it belongs to hell. The higher things open, and the lower close against the inflow of evil and falsity, for people who are being readied for heaven; while the lower things open, and the higher close against the inflow of goodness and truth, for people who are being readied for hell. As a result, these latter can only look downward, toward hell, and the former can only look upward, toward heaven. Looking upward is looking toward the Lord, because he is the common center that everything in heaven faces. Looking downward, though, is looking away from the Lord toward the opposite center, the center toward which everything in hell faces and gravitates (see above, 123, 124).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #176

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176. "'See, I have set before you an open door.'" (3:8) This symbolically means that to those who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord, heaven is opened.

An open door clearly symbolizes an entryway. The door is said to be open for people who belong to the church in Philadelphia because people governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord are meant by that church, and to them the Lord opens heaven.

But on this subject we will say something previously not known: The Lord alone is God of heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18), 1 and consequently people who do not go to Him directly do not see the way to heaven and therefore do not find the door. If by chance they are permitted to approach it, it is closed, and if someone knocks, it is not opened.

In the spiritual world there are actually paths that lead to heaven, and here and there one finds gates. People who are being led by the Lord to heaven go along paths that lead to it, and they enter through the gates. The existence of paths in that world may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 479 534, 590, and also gates, nos. 429, 430, 583, 584. For everything seen in the heavens is a correspondent form, and so, too, are paths and gates. Paths, indeed, correspond to truths and consequently symbolize them, and gates correspond to an entryway and so symbolize it.

[2] Since the Lord alone leads a person to heaven and opens the door, therefore He calls Himself the way and also the door - the way in John,

I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)

And in the same gospel the door,

I am the door of the sheep... If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved... (John 10:7, 9)

Since both ways and doors exist in the spiritual world, and angelic spirits actually travel along those ways or paths and enter through doors when they enter into heaven, therefore doors and gates are often mentioned in the Word, and they symbolize an entryway, as in the following passages:

Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you doors of the world! That the King of glory may come in. (Psalms 24:7, 9)

Open the gates, that the righteous nation which exercises faithfulness may enter in. (Isaiah 26:2)

(The five wise virgins) went in... to the wedding, and the door was shut. (Then the five foolish virgins came and knocked, but it was not opened.) (Matthew 25:10-12)

(Jesus said,) "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many... will seek to enter and will not be able. (Luke 13:24-25)

And so also elsewhere.

Because a door symbolizes an entryway, and the New Jerusalem symbolizes a church formed of people who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord, therefore the New Jerusalem is described also in respect to its gates, with angels upon them, and they are said to be not shut (Revelation 21:12-13, 25).

Footnotes:

1. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." (Matthew 28:18

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Heaven and Hell #534

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534. I was once shown the way to heaven and the way to hell. There was a broad path leading off to the left or north. There seemed to be a great many spirits traveling along it. In the distance, though, I could see a fairly large boulder where the broad path ended. Then two paths led off from the boulder, one to the left and the other, on the other side, to the right. The path to the left was narrow and confined, leading around through the west to the south, and therefore into the light of heaven. The path to the right was broad and open, leading obliquely down toward hell.

At first, everyone was clearly following the same path as far as the large boulder at the fork; but at that point they parted company. The good turned to the left and started along the confined path that led to heaven. The evil did not even see the boulder at the fork but fell over it and hurt themselves. When they got up, they rushed along the broad path to the right that led toward hell.

[2] Later, the meaning of all this was explained to me. The first path, the broad one where so many good and evil people were traveling together, chatting with each other like friends with no visible difference between them, pictured people who live similarly honest and fair outward lives, with no visible difference between them. The stone at the fork or corner where the evil people stumbled, from which they rushed along the path to hell, pictured divine truth, which is denied by people who are focusing on hell. In the highest sense this stone meant the Lord's divine human nature. However, people who acknowledge divine truth and the divine nature of the Lord as well were taken along the path that led to heaven.

This showed me again that both evil and good people live the same life outwardly, or travel the same path, one as readily as the other. Yet the ones who at heart acknowledge the Divine, especially those within the church who acknowledge the Lord's divine nature, are led to heaven; while those who do not acknowledge it are led to hell.

[3] Paths in the other life picture the thoughts that flow from our aims or intentions. The paths that are presented to view there answer exactly to the thoughts of our aims, and our course follows the thoughts that flow from our aims. This is why you can tell the quality of spirits and of their thoughts from their paths. This also showed me the meaning of the Lord's words, "Enter through the narrow gate, for broad is the gate and open the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who walk along it; confined is the path and narrow the gate that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). The way that leads to life is not narrow because it is difficult but because so few people find it, as stated.

The boulder I saw at the corner where the broad, common path ended and the two ways seemed to lead in opposite directions showed me the meaning of the Lord's words, "Have you not read what is written, 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the corner'? Whoever falls over this stone will be shattered" (Luke 20:17-18). The stone means divine truth, and the rock of Israel means the Lord in regard to his divine human nature. The builders are the people of the church. The head of the corner is where the fork is, and to fall and be shattered is to deny and perish. 1

Footnotes:

1. [Swedenborg's footnote] A stone means truth: Arcana Coelestia 114, 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, 8609, 10376. So the law was written on stone tablets: 10376. The rock of Israel is the Lord as to divine truth and as to his divine human nature: 6426.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.