Consociations in The Other Life

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The Societies Which Constitute Heaven

There are three heavens: the First is the abode of good spirits, the Second of angelic spirits, and the Third of angels. And one heaven is more interior and pure than another, so that they are most distinct. Each heaven, the first, the second, and the third, is distinguished into innumerable societies; and each society consists of many individuals, who by their harmony and unanimity constitute as it were one person; and all the societies together are as one man. The societies are distinct from one another according to the differences of mutual love, and of faith in the Lord. These differences are so innumerable that not even the most universal genera of them can be computed; and there is not the least of difference that is not disposed in most perfect order, so as to conspire most harmoniously to a common unity, and the common unity to unanimity of individuals, and thereby to the happiness of all from each, and of each from all. Each angel and each society is therefore an image of the universal heaven, and is as it were a little heaven.

There are wonderful consociations in the other life which may be compared to relationships on earth: that is to say, they recognize one another as parents, children, brothers, and relations by blood and by marriage, the love being according to such varieties of relationship. These varieties are endless, and the communicable perceptions are so exquisite that they cannot be described. The relationships have no reference at all to the circumstance that those who are there had been parents, children, or kindred by blood and marriage on earth; and they have no respect to person, no matter what anyone may have been. Thus they have no regard to dignities, nor to wealth, nor to any such matters, but solely to varieties of mutual love and of faith, the faculty for the reception of which they had received from the Lord while they had lived in the world.

It is the Lord's mercy, that is, His love toward the universal heaven and the universal human race, thus it is the Lord alone who determines all things both in general and in particular into societies. This mercy it is which produces conjugial love, and from this the love of parents for children, which are the fundamental and principal loves. From these come all other loves, with endless variety, which are arranged most distinctly into societies.

Such being the nature of heaven —

no angel or spirit can have any life unless he is in some society, and thereby in a harmony of many. A society is nothing but a harmony of many, for no one has any life separate from the life of others

Indeed no angel, or spirit, or society can have any life (that is, be affected by good, exercise will, be affected by truth, or think), unless there is a conjunction thereof through many of his society with heaven and with the world of spirits.

And it is the same with the human race: no man, no matter who and what he may be, can live (that is, be affected by good, exercise will, be affected by truth, or think), unless in like manner he is conjoined with heaven through the angels who are with him, and with the world of spirits, nay, with hell, through the spirits that are with him. For every man while living in the body is in some society of spirits and of angels, though entirely unaware of it. And if he were not conjoined with heaven and with the world of spirits through the society in which he is, he could not live a moment.

The case in this respect is the same as it is with the human body, any portion of which that is not conjoined with the rest by means of fibers and vessels, and thus by means of functions, is not a part of the body, but is instantly separated and rejected, as having no vitality.

The very societies in and with which men have been during the life of the body, are shown them when they come into the other life. And when, after the life of the body, they come into their society, they come into their veriest life which they had in the body, and from this life begin a new life; and so according to their life which they have lived in the body they either go down into hell, or are raised up into heaven.

As there is such conjunction of all with each and of each with all, there is also a similar conjunction of the most individual particulars of affection and the most individual particulars of thought.

There is therefore an equilibrium of all and of each with respect to celestial, spiritual, and natural things, so that no one can think, feel, and act except from many, and yet everyone supposes that he does so of himself, most freely. In like manner there is nothing which is not balanced by its opposite, and opposites by intermediates, so that each by himself, and many together, live in most perfect equilibrium. And therefore no evil can befall anyone without being instantly counterbalanced; and when there is a preponderance of evil, the evil or evildoer is chastised by the law of equilibrium, as of himself, but solely for the end that good may come. Heavenly order consists in such a form and the consequent equilibrium; and that order is formed, disposed, and preserved by the Lord alone, to eternity.

It should be known, moreover, that there is never one society entirely and absolutely like another, nor is there one person like another in any society, but there is an accordant and harmonious variety of all; and the varieties are so ordered by the Lord that they conspire to one end, which is effected through love and faith in Him. Hence their unity. For the same reason the heaven and heavenly joy of one is never exactly and absolutely like that of another; but according to the varieties of love and faith, such are the heaven and the heavenly joy in those varieties.

These things in general respecting the heavenly societies are from manifold and daily experience.

(Arcana Coelestia 684-691)

The Nature of Heaven and It's Joys

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Heaven and Heavenly Joy

The souls who come into the other life are all ignorant of the nature of heaven and of heavenly joy. Very many suppose it to be a kind of joy into which any can be admitted no matter how they have lived, even those who have borne hatred against their neighbor and have passed their lives in adulteries, being quite unaware of the fact that heaven is mutual and chaste love, and that heavenly joy is the derivative happiness.

I have sometimes spoken with spirits fresh from the world concerning the state of eternal life, telling them how important it was for them to know who is the Lord of that kingdom, and what is the nature and form of its government, just as those in this world who go into another kingdom are especially interested to know who and of what sort is the king, what is the nature of the government, and many other things that belong to the kingdom; and how much more should they be interested in this kingdom, where they are to live forever. I told them that the Lord alone rules both heaven and the universe, for He who rules the one must rule the other; and that the kingdom in which they were now is the Lord's kingdom, the laws of which are eternal truths, all of which are based on the one great law that —

men shall love the Lord above all things and their neighbor as themselves, and now even more than themselves

for if they would be as the angels this is what they must do.

To all this they could make no reply, because in their bodily life they had heard something of the kind, but had not believed it.

They marveled that there is such love in heaven, and that it is possible for anyone to love his neighbor more than himself, seeing that they had heard that they were to love their neighbor as themselves. But they were instructed that in the other life all goods are immeasurably increased, and that the life in the body is such that men can go no further than loving the neighbor as themselves because they are in the things of the body, but that when these are removed, the love becomes purer, and at last angelic, which consists in loving the neighbor more than themselves.

The possibility of such love is evident from the conjugial love that exists with some persons, who would suffer death rather than let their married partner be injured; and also from the love of parents for their children, in that a mother will endure starvation rather than see her infant hunger, and this even among birds and animals; and likewise from sincere friendship, in that perils will be undergone for our friends; and even from polite and feigned friendship, that would emulate real friendship in offering the better things to those to whom we wish well, making great professions even when they do not come from the heart.

And finally its possibility is evident from the very nature of love, which finds its joy in being of service to others, not for the sake of self but for the love's own sake.

But all this could not be comprehended by those who loved themselves more than others, and who in the bodily life had been greedy for gain, and least of all by the avaricious.

The angelic state is such that everyone communicates his own bliss and happiness to others. For in the other life there is a most exquisite communication and perception of all the affections and thoughts, so that each person communicates his joy to all, and all to each, so that each one is as it were the center of all. This is the heavenly form.

And therefore the more there are who constitute the Lord's kingdom, the greater is the happiness, for it increases in proportion to the numbers, and this is why heavenly happiness is unutterable. There is this communication of all with each and of each with all when everyone loves others more than himself. But if anyone wishes better for himself than for others the love of self reigns, which communicates nothing to others from itself except the idea of self, which is very foul, and when this is perceived the person is at once banished and rejected.

Just as in the human body all things both in general and particular contribute to the general and individual uses of all the rest, so is it in the Lord's kingdom, which is constituted like a man, and in fact is called the Grand Man. In this way everyone there contributes either more nearly or more remotely, and in many ways, to the happiness of all, and this in accordance with the order instituted and consequently maintained by the Lord alone.

From the universal heaven bearing relation to the Lord, and all there in both general and particular bearing relation to the Very and Only Being both in the universal as a whole and in its most individual constituents, there comes order, there comes union, there comes mutual love, and there comes happiness; for so each person regards the welfare and happiness of all, and all that of each one.

That all the joy and happiness in heaven are from the Lord alone, has been shown me by many experiences, of which the following may be related.

I saw that with the utmost diligence some angelic spirits were fashioning a lampstand with its lamps and flowers of the richest ornamentation in honor of the Lord. For an hour or two I was permitted to witness with what great pains they labored to make everything about it beautiful and representative, they supposing that they were doing it of themselves. But to me it was given to perceive that of themselves they could devise nothing at all. At last after some hours they said that they had formed a very beautiful representative candelabrum in honor of the Lord, whereat they rejoiced from their very hearts. But I told them that of themselves they had devised and formed nothing at all, but the Lord alone for them. At first they would scarcely believe this, but being angelic spirits they were enlightened, and confessed that it was so. So it is with all other representative things, and with everything of affection and thought in both general and particular, and also with heavenly joys and felicities-the very smallest bit of them is from the Lord alone.

They who are in mutual love in heaven are continually advancing to the springtime of their youth, and to a more and more gladsome and happy spring the more thousands of years they live, and this with continual increase to eternity, according to the advance and degree of mutual love, charity, and faith.

Those of the female sex who have died in old age and enfeebled with years, and who have lived in faith in the Lord, in charity toward the neighbor, and in happy conjugial love with their husbands, after a succession of years come more and more into the bloom of youth and early womanhood, and into a beauty that surpasses all idea of beauty such as is ever perceptible to the natural sight; for it is goodness and charity forming and presenting their own likeness, and causing the delight and beauty of charity to shine forth from every least feature of the countenance, so that they are the very forms of charity: some have beheld them and been amazed.

The form of charity, as is seen to the life in the other world, is such that it is charity itself that portrays and is portrayed, and this in such a manner that the whole angel, and especially the face, is as it were charity, the charity both plainly appearing to the view and being perceived by the mind. When this form is beheld, it is unutterable beauty that affects with charity the very inmost life of the beholder's mind. Through the beauty of this form, the truths of faith are presented to view in an image, and are even perceived from it. Such forms, or such beauties, do those become in the other life who have lived in faith in the Lord, that is, in the faith of charity. All the angels are such forms, with countless variety, and of such is heaven.

(Arcana Coelestia 547-553)

Light of Heaven — Thick Darkness of Hell

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In the spiritual world, or in the world where spirits and angels are, similar objects appear as in the natural world, or where men are. These are similar in that as to external appearance there is no difference. In that world appear plains and mountains, hills and rocks, and valleys between them; also waters, and many other things that are seen on earth. But yet all these things are from a spiritual origin, and all appear therefore before the eyes of spirits and angels, and not before the eyes of men, because men are in the natural world. Spiritual beings see the things that are from a spiritual origin, and natural beings the things that are from a natural origin. Consequently, man with his eyes can in no way see the objects that are in the spiritual world unless he is permitted to be in the spirit, or after death when he becomes a spirit. On the other hand, an angel and a spirit are unable to see anything at all in the natural world unless they are with a man who is permitted to speak with them. For the eyes of man are adapted to the reception of the light of the natural world, and the eyes of angels and spirits are adapted to the reception of the light of the spiritual world; although the eyes of the two are exactly alike in appearance. That the spiritual world is such, the natural man cannot comprehend, and least of all the sensual man, who believes nothing except what he sees with his bodily eyes and touches with his hands, and therefore takes in by sight and touch. He thinks from these things, so his thought is material and not spiritual. Such being the likeness between the spiritual world and the natural world, man after death can hardly believe otherwise than that he is in the world where he was born, and from which he has departed. For this reason they call death simply a translation from one world into another like it. (That the two worlds are thus alike can be seen [from these next passages], where the representatives and appearances in heaven have been treated of.)

The man who thinks from natural light alone is unable to comprehend that there is anything in heaven like what is in the world, the reason being that from natural light he had thought and confirmed himself in the idea that angels are only minds and that minds are, as it were, ethereal breaths having, as a consequence, no senses like those of men, thus no eyes and if no eyes no objects of sight. Yet, an angel has all the senses that a man has, and much more exquisite senses. Indeed, the light by which angels see is much brighter than the light by which man sees.

The nature of the objects that are visible to angels in the heavens cannot be described in a few words. For the most part, they are like things on earth but more perfect in form and more abundant in number. That such things are in the heavens can be confirmed from the things seen by the prophets - as by • Ezekiel, in respect of the new temple and the new earth, described from chapter 40 - 48 • Daniel from chapter 7- 12 • John from the first to the last chapter of the Revelation, and by others, as described both in the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word. These things were seen by them when heaven was opened to them, and heaven is said to be opened when the interior sight, which is the sight of man's spirit, is opened. For the things that are in the heavens cannot be seen by the eyes of a man's body, but are seen by the eyes of his spirit. When it seems good to the Lord, these are opened and man is then withdrawn from the natural light in which he is from the senses of the body, and is raised up into a spiritual light in which he is from his spirit. In that light the things that are in the heavens have been seen by me.

But although the things seen in the heavens are for the most part like those on the earth, yet in essence they are unlike. For the things in the heavens come into existence from the Sun of heaven, and those on earth from the sun of the world. The things which come into existence from the Sun of heaven are called spiritual, but those which come into existence from the sun of the world are called natural.

The things which come into existence in the heavens do not do so in the same manner as do the things on earth. In the heavens, all things come into existence from the Lord in accordance with their correspondences with the interiors of the angels. For angels have both interiors and exteriors. All things in their interiors have relation to love and faith, thus to the will and the understanding, for the will and the understanding are their receptacles, while their exteriors correspond to their interiors.

Exteriors correspond to interiors. This can be illustrated by the heat and light of heaven - that angels have heat in accordance with the quality of their love, and light in accordance with the quality of their wisdom. The same is true of all other things that present themselves before the senses of the angels.

When I have been permitted to be in company with angels, the things that were there appeared to me precisely the same as those in the world, and so plainly that I did not know but that I was in the world and in a king's palace there. I also spoke with the angels as man with man.

Since all things that correspond to interiors also represent them, they are therefore called REPRESENTATIVES, and because they are varied in accordance with the state of the interiors of the angels, they are also called APPEARANCES. Nevertheless, the things that appear before the eyes of angels in the heavens and are perceived by their senses, appear and are perceived just as true to life as do things on earth to men, nay rather, much more clearly, distinctly and perceptibly. Appearances of this kind in heaven are called real appearances, because they have real existence. Appearances that are not real also occur, which are such as do appear but do not correspond to interiors.

To show what the things are that appear to the angels in accordance with correspondences, I would here mention this one instance only for the sake of illustration. By those who are intelligent, gardens and paradises full of trees and flowers of every kind are seen. The trees there are planted in most beautiful order, entwined in cross-beam formation with arched entrances and encircling walks. All is of such beauty as to beggar description. There walk those who are in intelligence, gathering flowers and weaving garlands with which they adorn little children. There are also kinds of trees and flowers there that are never seen and cannot exist in the world. On the trees also there are fruits that are in accordance with the good of love in which are the intelligent. Such things are seen by them because a garden or park, and fruit trees and flowers correspond to intelligence and wisdom. That there are such things in heaven is acknowledged on the earth but only by those who are in good and who have not extinguished in themselves the light of heaven by means of natural light and its fallacies, for when they think about heaven they think and say that there are such things there as ear hath not heard nor eye seen.

(from Heaven and Hell 170-176)

The heavens are in the more elevated localities of the spiritual world, the world of spirits in those that are low-lying, and under both are the hells. The heavens are not visible to the spirits in the world of spirits except when their interior sight is opened; although they are sometimes visible as mists or as bright clouds. This is because the angels of heaven are in an interior state as to intelligence and wisdom; and for this reason they are above the sight of those who are in the world of spirits. But spirits who are in the plains and valleys see one another; and yet when they are separated there, which takes place when they are let into their interiors, then the evil spirits do not see the good spirits; but the good spirits can see the evil spirits. Nevertheless, the good spirits turn themselves away from the evil spirits; and when spirits turn themselves away they become invisible. But the hells do not appear because they are closed up. Only the entrances, which are called gates, are seen when they are opened to let in other like spirits. All the gates to the hells open from the world of spirits, and none of them from heaven.

The hells are everywhere, both under the mountains, hills, and rocks, and under the plains and valleys. The openings or gates to the hells that are under the mountains, hills, and rocks, appear to the sight like holes and clefts in the rocks, some extended and wide, and some straitened and narrow, and many of them rugged. They all, when looked into, appear dark and dusky; but the infernal spirits who are in them are in such a luminosity as arises from burning coals. Their eyes are adapted to the reception of that light, and for the reason that —

while they lived in the world they were in thick darkness as to Divine truths, because of their denying them, and were in a sort of light as to falsities because of their affirming them.

In this way did the sight of their eyes become so formed.

And for the same reason, the light of heaven is thick darkness to them, and therefore when they go out of their dens they see nothing.

From all these things it has been made very clearly evident that man comes into the light of heaven just to the extent that he acknowledges the Divine, and establishes with himself the things of heaven and the Church; and that he comes into the thick darkness of hell just to the extent that he denies the Divine, and establishes with himself the things that are opposed to those of heaven and the Church.

(from Heaven and Hell 582-584)