576. DE BOOSHEID EN DE KWADE KUNSTGREPEN VAN DE HELSEGEESTEN

Hoede uitnemendheid van de geesten is in vergelijking met de mensen, kan door iedereen gezien en verstaan worden die innerlijk denkt en iets weet van de werking van zijn eigen geest. Want met zijn geest kan de mens in één ogenblik tijd meer overwegen, ontwikkelen en besluiten dan hij in een half uur door spraak of schrift kan uitdrukken, Hieruit blijkt hoezeer de mens uitmunt wanneer hij in zijn geest is, en dus hoe hij uitmunt wanneer hij geest wordt. Want de geest is het die denkt en het lichaam is het middel waardoor de geest zijn gedachten door spraak en schrift uitdrukt. Vandaar dat een mens die na zijn dood een engel wordt, op het punt van verstand en wijsheid onuitsprekelijk groot is in vergelijking met zijn verstand en wijsheid gedurende zijn leven in de wereld; want zijn geest was toen aan zijn lichaam gebonden en daardoor was hij in de natuurlijke wereld. Om deze reden vloeide hetgeen hij toen geestelijk dacht, in natuurlijke denkbeelden in. Deze zijn betrekkelijk gemeen, grof en duister, en nemen de ontelbare dingen die het geestelijk denken toebehoren, niet op en hullen ze ook in nevelen die uit wereldlijke zorgen ontstaan. Anders is het wanneer de geest van het lichaam losgemaakt is en in zijn geestelijke staat komt, wat geschiedt wanneer hij uit de natuurlijke wereld overgaat in de geestelijke, die hem eigen is. Dat dan zijn hoedanigheid, wat betreft gedachten en genegenheden, zijn vroegere hoedanigheid oneindig overtreft, blijkt uit hetgeen nu gezegd is. Vandaar dat de engelen onuitsprekelijke en onuitdrukbare dingen denken, bijgevolg dingen die in de natuurlijke gedachten van een mens niet kunnen opkomen; terwijl toch elke engel als mens geboren is en als mens geleefd heeft, en zichzelf toen niet toescheen wijzer dan een ander gelijksoortig mens te zijn.

22. I demonstrated in many sections of my book HEAVEN AND HELL that heaven and hell are from the human race; for instance, in the following. Nations and peoples outside the church in heaven (318-328). Children in heaven (329-345) The wise and the simple in heaven (345-356). The rich and the poor in heaven (357-365). Each individual is a spirit in his interiors (432-444). Man after death possesses a perfect human form (453-460). Man after death has every sense, memory, thought and affection which he had in the world, and leaves nothing behind except his earthly body (461-469). Man's first state after death (491-498); his second state (499-511); his third state (512-517). Further about the hells (536-588), All of these passages offer detailed proofs that heaven is not composed of a class of angels created from the beginning, nor hell of a devil and his crew, but only of those who were born as human beings.

27. The Lord's Divine Providence Has as Its Goal a Heaven from the Human Race

I have explained elsewhere that heaven did not originate in angels who were created angels at the beginning, and that hell did not originate in a devil who was created an angel of light and was cast down from heaven. Rather, both heaven and hell are from the human race. Heaven is made up of people who are involved in a love for what is good and a consequent discernment of what is true, and hell of people who are involved in a love for what is evil and a discernment of what is false. I have been given convincing evidence of this through long-term association with angels and spirits, and would refer you to Heaven and Hell 311-316, the booklet The Last Judgment 14-27, and the whole of Supplements on the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World.

[2] Since heaven comes from the human race, then, and since heaven is living with the Lord forever, it follows that this was the Lord's goal for creation. Further, since this was the goal of creation, it is the goal of the Lord's divine providence.

The Lord did not create the universe for his own sake but for the sake of people he would be with in heaven. By its very nature, spiritual love wants to share what it has with others, and to the extent that it can do so, it is totally present, experiencing its peace and bliss. Spiritual love gets this quality from the Lord's divine love, which is like this in infinite measure.

It then follows that divine love (and therefore divine providence) has the goal of a heaven made up of people who have become angels and are becoming angels, people with whom it can share all the bliss and joy of love and wisdom, giving them these blessings from the Lord's own presence within them. He cannot help doing this, because his image and likeness is in us from creation. His image in us is wisdom and his likeness in us is love; and the Lord within us is love united to wisdom and wisdom united to love, or goodness united to truth and truth united to goodness, which is the same thing. (See the preceding section for a description of this union.)

[3] However, people do not know what heaven is in general or in groups of people and what heaven is in particular or in an individual. They do not know what heaven is in the spiritual world and what it is in the physical world, either; and yet it is important to know about these matters. Consequently, I want to shed some light on this, in the following sequence.

1. Heaven is union with the Lord.

2. Our nature from creation enables us to be more and more closely united to the Lord.

3. The more closely we are united to the Lord, the wiser we become.

4. The more closely we are united to the Lord, the happier we become.

5. The more closely we are united to the Lord, the more clearly we seem to have our own identity, and yet the more obvious it is to us that we belong to the Lord.