[AUTHOR'S INTRODUCTORY NOTE]

The HEAVENLY ARCANA - the matters in Sacred Scripture or the Word of the Lord that have been disclosed - stand in explanatory sections entitled THE INTERNAL SENSE OF THE WORD. As for the nature of that sense, see what has been presented on the subject from experience in 1767-1777, 1869-1879, and in addition in the main body of the work, in 1-5, 64-66, 167, 605, 920, 937, 1143, 1224, 1404, 1405, 1408, 1409, 1502 end, 1540, 1659, 1756, 1783, 1807.

The MARVELS -- things seen in the world of spirits and in the angelic heaven - have been placed in sections before and after each chapter. In this first volume the sections are:

1. Man's awakening from the dead and his entry into eternal life, 168-181.

2. The entry into eternal life of one who has been so awakened, 182-189.

3. Man's entry into eternal life - continued, 314-319.

4. The nature of the life of a soul or spirit at that time, 320-327.

5. Some examples of what certain spirits had thought during their lifetime about the soul or spirit, 443-448.

6. Heaven and heavenly joy, 449-459.

7. Heaven and heavenly joy - continued, 537-546.

8. Heaven and heavenly joy - continued, 547-553.

9. The communities that constitute heaven, 684-691.

10. Hell, 692-700.

11. The hells of people who have gone through life hating, desiring revenge, and being cruel, 814-823.

12. The hells of people who have gone through life committing adultery and acts of unrestrained lust; also the hells of deceivers and witches, 824-871.

13. The hells of the avaricious; then the filthy Jerusalem and the robbers in the desert. Also the utterly foul hells of people who have lived wholly engrossed in the pursuit of pleasures, 938-946.

14. Other hells that are different from those mentioned already, 947-970.

15. Vastations, 1106-1113.

[NCBSP editor's note: The table of contents for Volume 2 of this translation may be found in section 1114.]

938. THE HELLS - continued

Here, the hells of the avaricious; then the filthy Jerusalem and the robbers in the desert. Also the utterly foul hells of people who have lived wholly engrossed in the pursuit of pleasures.

Avaricious people are the most disgusting of all, giving less thought than anybody else does to the life after death, to the soul, and to the internal man. They do not even know what heaven is, for the level of their thought is lower than everybody else's. Their thoughts they plunge and immerse completely in bodily and earthly interests. Consequently when they enter the next life they are for a long time unaware of the fact that they are spirits, but imagine that they are still entirely in the physical body. The ideas comprising their thought, which from their avarice have become so to speak bodily and earthly, are converted into direful delusions. And what is unbelievable but nevertheless true, the disgustingly avaricious in the next life seem to themselves to be working away in cells where their money is, and where they are infested by mice. But no matter how they may be infested they do not leave until they are tired out, and so at last roll out of those tombs.

1404. In these chapters which contain true historical narratives every single word and statement means in the internal sense something altogether different from what is meant in the sense of the letter. Nevertheless the historical details themselves are representative. 'Abram', who is dealt with first, in general represents the Lord, and specifically the celestial man. 'Isaac', who is dealt with after that, likewise in general represents the Lord, and specifically the spiritual man; and Jacob' too in general represents the Lord, and specifically the natural man. Thus they represent things which are the Lord's, things which belong to His kingdom, and those which belong to the Church.