8747. A person who has been regenerated is in heaven, as to his internal man; and he is an angel there with angels, among whom he also comes after death. He is then able to lead the heavenly life, love the Lord, love his neighbour, understand truth, taste good, and feel blessed in doing so. These things compose the happiness of eternal life.
Heaven and Hell #267
267. The reason angels can accept so much wisdom is that their deeper levels are open, and wisdom, like any perfection, increases as one moves toward the deeper levels and as they are opened. 1
In every angel there are three levels of life corresponding to the three heavens (see 29-40). People whose first level has been opened are in the first or most remote heaven. People whose second level has been opened are in the second or intermediate heaven. People whose third level has been opened are in the third or inmost heaven. The wisdom of angels in heaven is according to these levels; so the wisdom of angels of the third heaven vastly transcends the wisdom of angels of the intermediate heaven, and their wisdom in turn transcends that of angels of the farthest heaven (see above, 209-210, and on the nature of the levels, see 38).
The reason for these differences is that the elements of the higher levels are detailed, and those of the lower are general, the general ones being inclusive of the details. The ratio of details to generalizations is on the order of thousands or ten thousands to one, so this is the ratio between the wisdom of angels of a higher heaven and that of angels of a lower heaven.
However, the wisdom of these latter angels similarly transcends our wisdom, for we are engrossed in our bodies and their sensory operations, and these physical sensory faculties are on the lowest level of all. This fact enables us to see the nature of the wisdom of people who base their thinking on sensory information - that is, the ones we call sense-oriented people. Specifically, they have no access to wisdom, only to information. 2 It is different, though, for people whose thoughts are raised above sensory matters, and even more for people whose deeper levels have been opened all the way into heaven's light.
Imibhalo yaphansi:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] To the extent that we are raised from more outward to more inward concerns, we come into the light and therefore into intelligence: Arcana Coelestia 6183, 6313. This raising really happens: 7816, 10330. Being raised from outer to more inward concerns is like rising from a fog into the light: 4598. Our more outward levels are farther from the Divine and therefore relatively cloudy: 6451; and also relatively disorganized: 996, 3855. Our deeper levels are more perfect because they are nearer the Divine: 5146-5147. In our inner nature there are thousands and thousands of things that outwardly look like a single generalization: 5707. So the deeper our thought and perception are, the clearer they 5920.
2. [Swedenborg's footnote] The sensory level is the outmost level of our life, associated with and resident in our bodies: 5077, 5767, 9212, 9216, 9331, 9730. We call people sense-oriented if they base all their judgments and conclusions on their physical senses and believe nothing unless they see it with their eyes and touch it with their hands: 5094, 7693. People like this think on their outward level and not deeply within themselves: 5089, 5094, 6564, 7693. Their deeper levels are closed, so that they do not see any element of spiritual truth there: 6564, 6844-6845. In short, they are people who live in the gross light of nature and therefore do not perceive anything that arises from heaven's light: 6201, 6310, 6564, 6844-6845, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624. Inwardly, they are opposed to the principles of heaven and the church: 6201, 6316, 6844-6845, 6948-6949. Scholars who have made up their minds against the truths of the church are like this: 6316. Sense-oriented people are especially wily and malicious: 7693, 10236. They reason acutely and skillfully, but on the basis of their physical memory, which for them is the location of all intelligence: 195-196, 5700, 10236. However, this is based on sensory illusions: 5084, 6948-6949, 7693.
Arcana Coelestia #9216
9216. 'In which he may sleep' means resting on them. This is clear from the meaning of 'sleeping' as resting, in this instance on the external and sensory level, meant by 'clothing', 9212; for it says that it is clothing 'in which he may sleep'. How the explanation that more internal things find rest on the sensory level should be understood must be stated. The sensory level is the last and lowest of a person's life, as has been shown above. What is lowest contains all the more internal levels and is general to them all; for they terminate in it and accordingly rest on it. It is like the skin, for example, which is the outermost covering of the body. The body and all things in it terminate in the skin, because it contains them and they accordingly rest on the skin. In a similar way it is like the peritoneum within the body. Because it contains the abdominal organs, these rest on it and are also linked to it all round. Or equally it is like the pleura's relationship to the organs in the chest.
[2] A similar situation exists with all the things that compose a person's actual life, with those for instance that are connected with his understanding and those that are connected with his will. These too follow one another in order from more internal things to relatively external ones. The relatively external ones are factual knowledge together with its delights, while the outermost things are those of the senses, which are in contact with the world through sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. The more internal things rest on them since they terminate in them. These are the matters that are meant in the spiritual sense by 'the covering' or 'the clothing in which he may sleep'. The reason why things on the level of the senses are meant by 'the clothing' or 'the covering' lies in correspondences; for as stated above in 9212, spirits and angels appear dressed in garments in keeping with their truths of faith. Those governed by truths springing from good appear in shining ones, as for instance those at the Lord's tomb did, Luke 24:4; Matthew 28:3, and also in ones of fine, white linen, as for instance those referred to in Revelation 19:14 did; and others appear in garments of various colours.
[3] Furthermore it should be realized that all things without exception proceed in successive stages from their first or inmost level to their terminations on the last and lowest and rest on them. Each thing at a prior or more internal stage in order has its own connection with terminations on the lowest level. Therefore if things on the lowest level are dispelled those on interior levels are also scattered. This also explains why there are three heavens. The inmost or third heaven flows into the middle or second heaven; the middle or second heaven flows into the first or lowest heaven, which in turn flows into and resides with mankind. Consequently the human race constitutes the lowest level of order; in it heaven terminates and on it heaven rests. This being so, the Lord in His Divine [Love and Care] always provides for the presence among the human race of a Church in which truth revealed by God exists; such truth on our planet is the Word. By means of this a continuous link exists between the human race and the heavens. This is why every detail of the Word has within it an internal sense which exists for heaven's benefit and whose nature is such that it joins angels' minds to those of people on earth in so firm a bond that they act as one. All this goes to show yet again the nature of a situation in which interior things rest on those at the lowest level.
