493. Our first state after death is like our state in this world, since we are then similarly involved in outward concerns. We have similar faces, voices, and character; we lead similar moral and civil lives. This is why it still seems to us as though we were in this world unless we notice things that are out of the ordinary and remember that angels told us we were spirits when we were awakened (450). So the one life carries on into the other, and death is only a passage.

91. Since there is such a difference between the heat and light of the two worlds, it is clearly apparent why it is that people who live in one of these worlds cannot see those who live in the other world. For the eyes of a person who sees by virtue of natural light are formed from the substance of his world, and the eyes of an angel are formed from the substance of his world, so as to be suitably formed in each world to receive their own light.

It can be seen from this how ignorant the thinking is of people who do not accept into the tenets of their faith that angels and spirits are people, because they do not see them with their eyes.