239. Because there are within us these three levels of love and wisdom and therefore of usefulness, it follows that there are three levels of volition and discernment and consequent closure, and therefore of concentration within us on usefulness, since volition is the vessel of love, discernment the vessel of wisdom, and closure the usefulness that results from them. We can see from this that there is within each of us an earthly, a spiritual, and a heavenly volition and discernment, potentially from birth, and effectively when they are opened.
In short, the human mind, consisting of volition and discernment, has three levels from creation and birth, so we have an earthly mind, a spiritual mind, and a heavenly mind. Consequently, we can be raised into angelic wisdom and possess it even while we are living in this world. Still, we become conscious of it only after death, if we become angels; and then we say inexpressible things, things incomprehensible to an earthly-minded person.
I was acquainted with a moderately educated man in the world and saw him and talked with him in heaven after his death. I sensed very clearly that he was talking like an angel and that what he was saying was beyond the grasp of earthly-minded people. The reason was that in the world he had applied the precepts of the Word to his life and had worshiped the Lord; so the Lord had raised him into the third level of love and wisdom.
It is important to know about this raising up of the human mind, since understanding what follows depends on it.
