It is Known From One's Life His Belief

Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Many - especially such as have confirmed themselves in a faith separated from charity - do not know that when they are in evils they are in hell; they do not even know what evils are, for the reason that they give no thought to evils, saying that as they are not under the yoke of the law they are not condemned by the law, and that, as they are unable to contribute anything to their salvation, they are unable to put away any evil from themselves; and furthermore are unable to do any good from themselves. These are such as neglect to think about evil, and because of this they are continually in evil. Such are meant by the goats spoken of by the Lord in Matthew (xxv. 32, 33, 41-46),...of whom it is said:-

Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels (verse 41).

For those who give no thought to the evils in themselves, that is, do not examine themselves and afterwards refrain from evils, must needs be ignorant of what evil is, and must needs love it from enjoyment in it; for he who does not know what evil is loves it, and he who fails to think about it is continually in it. Like a blind man he does not see it.

For it is the thought that sees good and evil, as it is the eye that sees the beautiful and the unbeautiful;

and he who so thinks and wills evil as to believe that evil does not appear before God, or that if it does appear it is forgiven, is in evil, since he is thus led to think that he is free from evil. If such abstain from doing evils they do not abstain because these are sins against God, but because they fear the laws or the loss of reputation; and they still do them in their spirit, for it is the spirit of man that thinks and wills; consequently what a man thinks in his spirit in this world, that he does after he leaves this world when he becomes a spirit.

In the spiritual world into which every man comes after death, it is not asked what your belief has been, or what your doctrine has been, but what your life has been, that is, whether it has been such or such; for it is known that as one's life is such is his belief, and even his doctrine; for the life makes doctrine for itself, and belief for itself.

(Divine Providence 101)

The Composition of an Angelic Heaven

From Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

An image of the Infinite and Eternal is presented in the angelic heaven.

Among the things we need to know about is the angelic heaven; for every one who has any religion thinks about it, and wishes to go there. But heaven is granted only to those who know the way to it and walk in that way. And that way can to some extent be known by knowing the character of those who constitute heaven, also by knowing that no one becomes an angel, that is, comes into heaven, unless he carries with him from the world what is angelic; and in what is angelic there is present a knowledge of the way from walking in it, and a walking in the way through a knowledge of it. Moreover, in the spiritual world, there are actually ways that lead to every society of heaven and to every society of hell; and there each one as if from himself sees his own way. He sees it because there is a way there for every love; and the love opens the way and leads one to his fellows. Other ways than the way of his love no one sees. From this it is clear that angels are nothing but heavenly loves, for otherwise they would not have seen the ways leading to heaven. ...
... ...
From the idea of heaven ... is an affection from the love of good that makes heaven in man. But who at the present day knows this? Who knows even what the affection from the love of good is, or that affections from the love of good are innumerable, in fact, infinite? For, as has been said, every angel is distinctly his own affection; and the form of heaven is the form of all the affections of the Divine love there.

To unite all affections into this form is possible only to Him who is love itself and also wisdom itself, and who is at once Infinite and Eternal

for what is infinite and eternal is in every thing of the form, the infinite in the conjunction and the eternal in the perpetuity; and if what is infinite and eternal were withdrawn from it, it would dissolve away in an instant. Who else can combine affections into a form? Who else can even unite a single part of it? For a single part can be united only from a universal idea of all, and the universal of all only from a particular idea of each part. That form is composed of myriads of myriads; and myriads enter it each year, and will continue to enter into it to eternity. All children enter into it; and as many adults as are affections from a good of love. From all this again an image of the Infinite and Eternal can be seen in the angelic heaven.

(Divine Providence 60;63)

The Elevation of Truths and of The Affections of Them, and Their Orderly Arrangement

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The truths and the affections are elevated when the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom are set before those which belong to life in the body and to the kingdom of the world. When a man acknowledges the former as the principal and primary, and the latter as the instrumental and secondary, then with him truths and the affections of them are elevated; for in the same proportion the man is carried away into the light of heaven, within which there are intelligence and wisdom; and in the same proportion the things which are of the light of the world become to him images and as it were mirrors in which he sees the things of the light of heaven. The contrary happens when the man sets the things of the life of the body and of the kingdom of the world before those of eternal life and the Lord's kingdom; as when he believes that the latter have no existence because he does not see, them, and because no one has come from there and made them known; and also when he believes that if they do exist, nothing worse will happen to him than to others; and when he confirms himself in these ideas, and lives the life of the world, and utterly despises charity and faith. With such a man, truths and the affections of them are not elevated, but are either suffocated, or rejected, or perverted; for he is in natural light, into which nothing of heavenly light inflows. From all this it is evident what is meant by the elevation of truths and of the affections of them.

As regards their orderly arrangement in generals, this is a necessary consequence; for insofar as a man sets heavenly things before worldly ones, so far are the things in his natural arranged in order according to the state of heaven, so that as before said they appear therein as images and mirrors of heavenly things, for they are corresponding representatives. It is the ends that effect the arrangement into order, that is, the Lord through the ends in the man. For there are three things that follow in order, namely, ends, causes, and effects. Ends produce causes, and through causes, effects. Such therefore as are the ends, such come forth the consequent causes, and such the consequent effects. Ends are the inmost things with man; causes are middle or mediates, and are called mediate ends; and effects are ultimates, and are called last or ultimate ends. Effects are also what are called generals. From all this it is evident in what consists orderly arrangement in generals, namely, that when the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom are regarded as the end, all the middle ends or causes, and all the ultimate ends or effects, are arranged in order in accordance with the end itself; and this in the natural, because the effects are there; or what is the same, the generals are there.

Every man of adult age who possesses any judgment, and will give the matter any consideration, is able to know that he is in two kingdoms, namely, in a spiritual kingdom and in a natural kingdom; and also that the spiritual kingdom is interior, and the natural kingdom exterior; and consequently that he can set one before the other, that is, he can regard one as the end in preference to the other; and thus that the one which he regards as his end, or prefers, rules with him. If therefore he regards the spiritual kingdom as his end, and prefers it (that is, the things that belong to this kingdom), he then acknowledges as the principal and primary, love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, and consequently all things that confirm this love and charity, and are said to be of faith; for these belong to that kingdom; and in this case all things in his natural are arranged and set in order in accordance therewith, in order that they may be subservient and obedient. But when a man has as his end and sets first the natural kingdom (that is, the things it contains), he then extinguishes all that is of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor, and all that is of faith, insomuch that he makes them of no account whatever; but makes the love of the world and of self, and all that belongs thereto, to be everything. When this is the case, all things in his natural are arranged in order in accordance with these ends, thus in utter contrariety to the things of heaven; and in this way he makes hell in himself. To regard as an end is to love, for every end is of the love, because whatever is loved is regarded as the end.

(Arcana Coelestia 4104:3-5)