Actual Repentance

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

A MEMORABLE RELATION

I was suddenly seized with a disease almost deadly; my whole head was oppressed; a pestilential smoke was let into it from the Jerusalem which is called:

Sodom and Egypt (Rev. 11:8).

I was half dead with the fierce pain; I expected my end. In this state I lay in my bed for three days and a half. My spirit was brought into that condition, and from it my body.

Then I heard about me the voices of some, who said, "Behold, he who preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins and Christ as alone man, lies dead in the street of our city." And they asked some of the clergy whether that man was worthy of burial; and they answered, "No; let him lie and be looked at." And they kept going, and coming, and scoffing.

Of a truth this so happened to me while explaining the eleventh chapter of The Apocalypse.

Then harsh remarks were heard from the scoffers, especially these "How can man repent without faith? How can the man Christ be adored as God? Since we are saved freely without any merit of our own, what need is there of anything except the faith only that God the Father sent the Son to take away the damnation of the law, to impute to us His merit, and so justify us before Him, absolve us from our sins by the declaration of a priest, and then give us the Holy Spirit to work in us all good? Is this not in accordance with Scripture and also in accordance with reason?" At this the crowd that stood by applauded.

I heard this and was unable to reply, because I lay almost dead. But after three days and a half my spirit recovered, and in spirit I went out on the street into the city and said again, "Repent, and believe in Christ, and your sins will be forgiven, and you will be saved; otherwise, you will perish. Did not the Lord Himself preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and that they should believe in Him? Did He not command His disciples to preach the same? Does not complete unconcern about life follow the dogma of your faith?"

But they said, "What nonsense! Has not the Son made satisfaction? Does not the Father impute this to us? We who believe this He justifies; thus we are led by the spirit of grace. What then is sin in us, and what is death with us? Preacher of sin and repentance, do you understand this gospel?"

Then a voice came forth out of heaven, saying, "What is the faith of an impenitent man but a dead faith? The end has come, the end has come upon you, unconcerned, blameless in your own eyes, justified in your own belief, satans." Then suddenly a chasm was opened in the midst of the city; it widened; house after house fell into it, and they were swallowed up; and straightway water welled up from the wide gulf and overflowed the waste.

When they had thus sunk down and been apparently overflowed, I was wishing to know their lot in the abyss, and I was told from heaven, "You shall see and hear."

And then the waters by which they seemed to be overflowed disappeared before my eyes; for waters in the spiritual world are correspondences, and therefore appear about those who are in falsities - I then saw them in the sandy bottom, where heaps of stones were piled, among which they were running about and lamenting that they had been cast out of their great city.

They shouted and cried out, "Why has this come upon us? Are we not, by our faith, clean, pure, just, and holy? Are we not, by our faith, cleansed, purified, justified and sanctified?" And others cried out, "Are we not, by our faith, made such that before God the Father we appear, are seen, and are reputed, and before the angels are declared to be clean, pure, just and holy? Have we not been reconciled, propitiated, expiated, and therefore absolved, washed, and cleansed from sin? Has not the condemnation of the law been taken away by Christ? Why, then, have we been cast down into this place as if damned? We heard a bold preacher against sin say in our great city, 'Believe in Christ, and repent.' Have we not believed in Christ, since we have believed in His merit? Have we not, repented, since we have confessed that we are sinners? Why then has this befallen us?"

Then was heard a voice from one side saying to them, "Do you know of anyone sin in which you are? Have you ever examined yourselves, and consequently shunned any evil as a sin against God? He who does not shun evil is in evil. Is not sin the devil? Therefore you are those of whom the Lord says:

Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk before Thee, and Thou hast taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity (Luke 13:26, 27; as also those of whom He speaks, Matt. 7:22, 23).

Away, therefore, each to his own place. You see openings in the caverns; enter, and to each one of you will be given his own task to be done, and then food in proportion to your work. If you do not, hunger will soon compel you to go in."

Afterward there came a voice out of heaven to some on the earth who were outside of that great city (who also are spoken of in Rev. 11:13), saying loudly, "Beware, beware of affiliation with such spirits. Can you not understand that the evils which are called sins and iniquities render man unclean and impure? How can man be cleansed and purified from them except by actual repentance, and by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?"

"Actual repentance is to examine oneself, to recognize and acknowledge one's sins, to hold oneself guilty, to confess sins before the Lord, to pray for help and power to resist them, and thus refrain from them and begin a new life; and all this you must do as if of yourselves. Do so once or twice a year, when you come to the holy communion; and afterward, whenever the sins of which you have found yourselves guilty recur, say to yourselves, 'We will not do this because it is a sin against God.' This is actual repentance.

Who cannot understand that he who does not examine and see his sins remains in them? For every evil is delightful to a man from his birth; it is delightful to him to take revenge, to commit whoredom, to defraud, to blaspheme, and especially to exercise dominion from self-love; and does not this delight prevent your seeing these sins? And if, perchance, you are told that they are sins, do you not from their delight excuse them, and even prove to yourselves by means of falsities that they are not sins? And, therefore, you remain in them, and afterward commit them more frequently than before, and this even until you do not know what sin is, or indeed whether there is any such thing. With anyone who actually repents it is different. His evils, such as he has recognized and acknowledged, he calls sins, and therefore begins to shun them and turn away from them; and finally to feel their delight to be undelightful. And so far as this is done he sees and loves good, and at length feels the delight of good, which is the delight of the angels of heaven. In a word, so far as anyone puts the devil behind him, he is accepted by the Lord, and is taught, led, withheld from evil, and kept in good by Him; and this is the way, and the only way, from hell to heaven."

It is wonderful that with the Reformed there is a certain enrooted objection, repugnance, and aversion to actual repentance, which is so great as to prevent their compelling themselves to examine themselves, to see their sins, and to confess them before God; it is as if horror seized them when this is proposed. In the spiritual world I have asked very many about this, and they all have declared that it was beyond their power. When they have heard that this is still done by the papists, that is, that they examine themselves, and openly confess their sins to a monk, they have been very much astonished, and especially that the Reformed could not even do this in secret before God, although it is equally enjoined upon them before they come to the holy supper. Some there wished to know why this is so; and they found that such a state of impenitence and such a heart are induced by faith alone. Then it was granted them to see that those Roman Catholics who worship Christ and do not invoke saints are saved.

After this, something like thunder was heard, and a voice speaking from heaven, saying, "We are amazed. Say to the assembly of the Reformed, 'Believe in Christ, repent, and you will be saved. '"

This I said, adding also, "Is not baptism a sacrament of repentance, and therefore introduction into the church? What do the sponsors promise for him who is about to be baptized, but that he will renounce the devil and his works? Is not the holy supper a sacrament of repentance, and thus introduction into heaven? Are not communicants told by all means to repent before coming to it? Does not the catechism, the doctrine of the entire Christian church, teach repentance? Is it not there said, in the six commandments of the second table, Thou shalt not do this or that evil, and not, Thou shalt do this or that good? From this you may know that so far as anyone renounces evil and turns away from it, so far he is moved by and loves good, and until then does not know what good is, nor even what evil is."

(True Christian Religion 567)

Respecting Divine Love

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Divine love and the Divine wisdom, from which is the life of all things, and of which the Divine attributes (infinity, eternity, providence, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience) are predicated —

Respecting the Divine love:

• In the world it is but little comprehended what love is, and yet it is man's very life.

• The Lord alone is love itself, because life itself, while men and angels are only recipients.

• Life, which is love, is not given except in a form, and that form is a form of uses in the whole complex.

• Such a form is man, individually and collectively, and in such a form is heaven, and also the world.

• There are genera and species of uses, and varieties of species to infinity; also there are degrees of uses.

• There are as many affections as there are uses, and consequently there are genera and species of affections, and differences of species to infinity; and there are degrees of affections.

• Every affection of use in itself is a man, according to its quality and quantity.

• Each use draws its life from the common good, and flows in from it, and gives the necessary, useful, and delightful things of life.

• So far as man is in the love of uses so far is he in the Lord, so far he loves the Lord and the neighbor, and so far is he a man.

• The active force of uses according to their connection in their order produce vital heat, which is perceived in man as love.

• This is made evident by the fact that man wills this thing or that, or this or that is good or not good to him, and finally by his delight.

• All things in man are formed and grow and are held in connection by the Lord by means of love and its heat.

• Man does not know what affection is, and still less that there are as many various affections as there are men born into the world, and will be born to eternity, thus that they are infinite.

• Man does not know otherwise than that he is thought, and yet he is affection.

• Neither does he know that he has eternal life according to his affection of use.

(from Apocalypse Explained 1229)

The Fear of Being Slain

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

When a man deprives himself of charity, he separates himself from the Lord, since it is solely charity, that is, love toward the neighbor, and mercy, that conjoin man with the Lord.

Where there is no charity, there is disjunction, and where there is disjunction, man is left to himself or to his Own; and then whatever he thinks is false, and whatever he wills is evil.

These are the things that slay man, or cause him to have nothing of LIFE remaining.

Those who are in evil and falsity are in continual dread of being slain, as is thus described in Moses:

• Your land shall be a desolation, and your cities a waste, and upon them that are left of you I will bring softness into their heart in the land of their enemies, and the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them, and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when none pursueth, and shall stumble everyone upon his brother, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth (Lev. 26:33, 36-37).

In Isaiah:

• The treacherous deal treacherously, yea, in the treachery of the treacherous they deal treacherously. And it shall come to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again (Isa. 24:16-20).

In Jeremiah:

• Behold, I bring a dread upon thee, from all thy circuits shall ye be driven out every man toward his faces, and none shall gather up him that wandereth (Jer. 49:5).

In Isaiah:

• We will flee upon the horse, therefore shall ye flee; and, we will ride upon the swift, therefore shall they that pursue you be rendered swift; one thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one, at the rebuke of five shall ye flee (Isa. 30:16-17).

In these and other passages of the Word, those who are in falsity and evil are described as "fleeing" and as in "fear of being slain." They are afraid of everybody, because they have no one to protect them. All who are in evil and falsity hate their neighbor, so that they all desire to kill one another.

The state of evil spirits in the other life shows most clearly that those who are in evil and falsity are afraid of everybody. Those who have deprived themselves of all charity wander about, and flee from place to place. Wherever they go, if to any societies, these at once perceive their character by their mere coming, for such is the perception that exists in the other life; and they not only drive them away, but also severely punish them, and with such animosity that they would kill them if they could. Evil spirits take the greatest delight in punishing and tormenting one another; it is their highest gratification.

Not until now has it been known that evil and falsity themselves are the cause of this, for whatever anyone desires for another returns upon himself. Falsity has in itself the penalty of falsity, and evil has in itself the penalty of evil, and consequently they have in themselves the fear of these penalties.

(from Arcana Coelestia 389-391)

The Life or Soul of the Word

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In heaven nothing at all is known about the names, countries, nations, and the like; the angels have no idea of such things, but of the actual things SIGNIFIED by them.

The Word of the Lord is living by virtue of the internal sense. This is as the soul, of which the external sense is as the body. And just as with man when his body dies the soul lives, and when the soul lives he no longer knows the things that pertain to the body, so when he comes among angels he does not know what the Word is in the sense of the letter, but only what it is in its soul. Such was the man of the Most Ancient Church, who, if he were living and read the Word at the present day, would not cleave at all to the sense of the letter, but would be as if he did not see it, but only the internal sense abstractly from the letter; and indeed as if the letter had no existence. Thus he would be in the life or soul of the Word.

It is the same everywhere in the Word, even in its historical parts, and yet there is not so much as one little word therein that does not, in the internal sense, enfold within it deep secrets which never appear to those who hold the mind in the historical connection.

(from Arcana Coelestia 1143)

Those Who Will Be Against 'The New Church'

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

A GREAT RED DRAGON

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (Revelation 12:1-6)

And behold, a great red dragon, signifies those in the church of the Reformed who make God three, and the Lord two, and separate charity from faith, and who make faith saving but not charity together with it. These are here meant, and in what follows, by "the dragon;" for they are against the two essentials of the New Church, which are, that God is one in Essence and in Person, in whom there is a Trinity, and that the Lord is that God; also that charity and faith are one like an essence and its form; and that no others have charity and faith, but they who live according to the commandments of the Decalogue, which are that evils are not be done; and so far as anyone does not do evils, shunning them as sins against God, in the same proportion he does the goods which are of charity, and believes the truths which are of faith.

That they who make God three, and the Lord two, and who separate charity from faith, and make faith saving, and not charity, are against those two essentials of the New Church, may be seen by anyone who considers the matter. It is said, they who make God three, and the Lord two, by whom are meant those who think of three Persons as three Gods, and separate the Lord's Human from His Divine. And who thinks otherwise, or can think otherwise, whilst, according to a formula of faith, he prays, "That God the Father for the sake of the Son would send the Holy Spirit?" Does he not pray to God the Father as to one God, and for the sake of the Son as another, and concerning the Holy Spirit as a third? From which it is evident that although in thought he makes three Persons one God, still he divides them, that is, divides his idea into three gods when he so prays. The same formula of faith also makes the Lord two, since he thinks only of the Lord's Human, and not at the same time of His Divine; "for the sake of the Son" means for the sake of His Human which suffered the cross.

From what has now been said, it may appear who they are that are meant by the dragon, who would devour the woman's offspring, and afterwards "pursued the woman into the wilderness on account of her offspring."

The reason why the dragon is called "great," is because all the churches of the Reformed distinguish God into three Persons, and make faith alone saving, except some here and there, who do not think alike concerning the Trinity, and concerning faith. They who divide God into three Persons, and adhere to these words of the Athanasian doctrine, "There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit"; and also to these, "The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God"; these, I say, cannot make one God out of three; they may indeed say that they are one God, but they cannot think so. In like manner they who think concerning the Lord's Divine from eternity as concerning the second Person of the Divinity, and concerning His Human in time as concerning the human of another man, cannot do otherwise than make the Lord two, although it is said in the Athanasian doctrine that His Divine and Human are one Person, united as the soul and the body.

The dragon is called "red" because "red" signifies falsity from the evils of lusts, which is infernal falsity. Now because these two essentials of the doctrine in the churches of Reformed are falsities, and as falsities devastate the church, since they take away its truths and goods, therefore they were represented by "a dragon." The reason is, because by "a dragon," in the Word, is signified the devastation of the church, as may appear from the following passages:

• I will make Jerusalem heaps, a habitation of dragons, and I will reduce the cities of Judah to a waste (Jer. 9:11).

• Behold, a great tumult out of the land of the north, to reduce the cities of Judah to a waste, a habitation of dragons (Jer. 10:22).

• Hazor shall become a habitation of dragons, a desolation forever (Jer. 49:33).

• That it may be a habitation of dragons, a court for the daughters of the owl (Isa. 34:13).

• In the habitation of dragons is his couch (Isa. 35:7).

• I will go despoiled and naked, I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning like the daughters of the owl (Micah 1:8).

• I cried, I am become a brother to dragons, and a companion to the daughters of the screech owl (Job 30:28-29).

• The ijim shall answer in his palaces, and dragons in temples (Isa. 13:22).

• Babylon shall become heaps, a habitation of dragons, a hissing and an astonishment (Jer. 51:37).

• Thou hast broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death (Ps. 44:19).

• I have laid the mountains of Esau and his heritage a waste for the dragons of the wilderness (Mal. 1:3, besides other places; as in Isa. 43:20; Jer. 14:6; Ps. 91:13, 14; Deut. 32:33).

That by "the dragon" are here meant those who are in faith alone, and reject the works of the law as not saving, has sometimes been testified to me in the spiritual world by living experience. I have seen several thousands of them assembled together, when from a distance they have appeared like a dragon with a long tail, that seemed set with spines like thorns, which signified falsities. Once, also, there was seen a dragon still larger, which raising his back and lifting up his tail towards heaven, endeavored to draw down the stars from thence. Thus it was made manifest before my eyes that no others are meant by "the dragon."

(from Apocalypse Revealed 536, 537)

THE DRAGON

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THE HOLY THINGS OF THE WORD, WHICH THEY HAVE ADULTERATED

"The head of the dragon" signifies insanity, because the intelligence of the man of the church is from genuine truths which are from the Word. The truly human understanding is formed and perfected by natural, civil, moral, and spiritual truths, the interior understanding by spiritual truths, but the exterior by moral and civil truths; therefore such as the truths are such is the understanding that is formed of them. All spiritual truths are from the Word, and make one with the good of love and charity. When, therefore, a man places everything of the church and of heaven in faith, and separates from that faith the good of charity and love, as those do who constitute "the head of the dragon," as has been said in the preceding article, then the interior understanding cannot be formed, consequently in place of intelligence in things spiritual such have insanity; for from a false principle falsities flow in a continual series, and from the separation of the good of charity no genuine truth can be given them, since all truth is of good, yea, is good in form. Thence it is evident that "the head of the dragon" signifies insanity in spiritual things.

"The head of the dragon" also signifies craftiness, because all those who constitute his head are merely natural and sensual, and if these have at the same time studied the Word and the doctrine of the church, and have caught at falsities in place of truths, and have confirmed these by knowledges, they are crafty above the others; but this craftiness does not manifest itself in the world as it does afterwards when they become spirits, for in the world they cover over the craftiness with external piety and feigned morality which conceal it; but as the craftiness abides in their spirit it is plainly manifest when externals are removed, as is done in the spiritual world. But it is to be known that the craftiness signified by "the head of the dragon" is a craftiness in perverting the truths and goods of the Word by means of reasonings from fallacies and sophistries, also from things persuasive, by which the understanding is fascinated, thus by inducing upon falsities the appearance that they are true. That this is so can be seen from "the serpent" by which the first parents were led astray, that is said to have been:

More crafty than any wild beast of the field (Gen. 3:1)

that "serpent" having a similar signification as "the dragon," therefore the dragon is also called "the old serpent that seduceth the whole world."  (no. 715)

~~~

THE KNOWLEDGE [SCIENTIA] OF THE HOLY THINGS OF THE WORD WHICH ARE FALSIFIED AND ADULTERATED — MEANT BY "THE DRAGON" — NOT OPPOSED TO THE WORD — FOR THEY CALL THE WORD HOLY AND DIVINE, BECAUSE THEY COLLECT FROM IT THE CONFIRMATIONS OF THEIR DOGMAS; THAT THOSE WHO SEPARATE FAITH FROM LIFE CANNOT DO OTHERWISE, SINCE SUCH A SEPARATION IS CONTRARY TO EACH AND ALL THINGS OF THE WORD.

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. (Revelation 13:1)

For in all things of the Word and in every particular of it there is a marriage of good and truth, as is manifestly evident from the spiritual sense of the Word. This is why there are in so many passages two expressions that appear like repetitions of the same thing, but still one of them has reference to good and the other to truth; thus the two make as it were a marriage, which is called the Divine marriage, the celestial marriage, and the spiritual marriage, which regarded in itself is the marriage of good and truth. There must be a like marriage of faith and love, or of faith and good works; for faith pertains to truth, and truth to faith; and love pertains to good, and good to love. From this it is clear that those who separate faith from its life, or what is the same, from love, cannot do otherwise than falsify the Word, because they explain the sense of its letter in opposition to the marriage of good and truth which is in each and every thing of the Word.

It has been said that the "head" signifies wisdom and intelligence, and that with those who are not in wisdom and intelligence it signifies knowledge [scientia]; therefore with those who falsify and pervert the Word it signifies insanity and folly, as above, where the signification of "the seven heads of the dragon" was explained; so "the head of this beast" has a similar signification, since this beast means the dragon in reference to reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from the life. The "head" signifies wisdom, intelligence, and the knowledge of truths, and in the contrary sense folly, insanity, and the knowledge of falsities, because these have their seat in the head, and are there in their beginnings. This is clearly evident from the fact that the origins of all fibers are in the head, and from it they proceed to all the organs of sense and motion belonging to the face and the whole body; and there, too, are substances in infinite number that look like little spheres and are called by anatomists the cortical and cineritious substances; and from these go forth small fibers, the first of which are undiscernible; afterwards these are bundled together, and make up the medullary substance of the whole cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata. From this medullary substance discernible fibers extend, and these when conjoined are called nerves. By these the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the spinal marrow form the entire body and each and all things pertaining to it; and from this it comes that each and all things of the body are ruled by the brains.

From this it can be seen that the brains are the seat of the understanding and the will, which are called with one term, mind, and in consequence, of intelligence and wisdom, and that these are there in their first principles; also that the organs that are formed to receive sensations and to produce motions are derivations therefrom, precisely like streams from their fountains, or derivatives from their beginnings, or composite things from their substances; and these derivations are such that the brains are everywhere present, almost as the sun is present by its light and heat in each and all things of the earth. From this it follows that the whole body, and each and all things of it, are forms that are under the observation, auspices, and obedience, of the mind, which is in the brain; thus these forms are so constructed after the mind's direction that any part in which the mind is not present, or to which it does not communicate its life, is no part of man's life. From this it can be seen that when the mind is in its thought, which pertains to the understanding, and in its affection, which pertains to the will, it has an extension into every particular of the whole body, and there, by means of its forms, it spreads itself out as the thoughts and affections of the angels do into the societies of the universal heaven. The like is true here, since all things of the human body correspond to all things of heaven; consequently the form of the whole heaven before the Lord is the human form. (This is treated of at length in the Arcana Coelestia and in the work on Heaven and Hell.)

This has been said to make known why the "head" signifies wisdom and intelligence, as also in the contrary sense folly and insanity. For such as man is in his beginnings such is he in the whole, for the body with each and every part of it is a derivation, as has just been said. If, therefore, the mind is in the belief of falsity and in the love of evil, its entire body, that is, the entire man, is in a like state. This is also clearly evident when man becomes a spirit, whether good or evil; then his whole spiritual body, from head to foot, is wholly such as his mind is. If the mind is heavenly, the whole spirit, even as to its body, is heavenly. If the mind is infernal, the whole spirit, even as to its body, is infernal; and in consequence such a spirit appears in a direful form like a devil, while the former spirit appears in a beautiful form like an angel of heaven. But on this more will be said elsewhere. (from no.775)

When One Departs This World

Selection from Last Judgment (cont.) ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL WORLD

Who does not know that man will live after death, because he is born a man, and created in the image of God, and because the Lord, in His Word, teaches it? But what his future life will be has hitherto been unknown. It has been believed that he would then be a soul, of which no other idea was conceived than as of air or ether, in which some capacity of thought would reside, without such sight as belongs to the eye, without such hearing as belongs to the ear, and without speech such as belongs to the mouth. And yet man is equally a man after death; and such a man that he does not know otherwise than that he is still in the former world; he sees, hears, and speaks as in the former world; he walks, runs, and sits as in the former world; he eats and drinks as in the former world; he sleeps and wakes as in the former world; he enjoys conjugial delight as in the former world; in a word he is a man as to each and all things. From which it is plain, that death is but a continuation of life, and is only transition.

There are many causes why man has not known of this state of his after death; one of which is, that he could not be enlightened, so little faith had he in the immortality of the soul; as may appear from many even of the learned, who believe that they are like beasts, only more perfect than they, in being able to speak; and therefore in their heart they deny the life after death, although they profess it with the mouth. From this thought of theirs they have become so sensual, that they could not believe that a man is a man after death, because they do not see him with their eyes, for they say, how can a soul be such a man? It is otherwise with those who believe they will live after death; these think interiorly in themselves, that they will come into heaven, enjoy delights with the angels, see heavenly paradises, and stand before the Lord in white garments, besides other things. This is their interior thought; their exterior thought may wander from it, when they think of the soul from the hypothesis of the learned.

That a man is equally a man after death, although he does not appear before the eyes, may appear from the angels seen by Abraham, Gideon, Daniel, and other prophets; from the angels seen in the Lord's sepulchre, and afterwards, oftentimes, by John in the Apocalypse; especially from the Lord Himself, who showed His disciples that He was a Man, by touch, and by eating, and yet became invisible before their eyes. The reason why they saw Him was, because the eyes of their spirits were then opened; and when these are opened, the things in the spiritual world appear as clearly as the things in the natural world.

...

The difference between a man in the natural world, and a man in the spiritual world, is, that the one man is clothed with a spiritual body, but the other with a natural body; and the spiritual man sees the spiritual man, as clearly as the natural man sees the natural man; but the natural man cannot see the spiritual man, and the spiritual man cannot see the natural man, on account of the difference between the natural and the spiritual; what kind of difference this is, can be described, but not in a few words.

From the things seen during so many years, I am enabled to relate the following:

that there are lands in the spiritual world, just as in the natural world; and that there are hills and mountains, plains and valleys, and also fountains and rivers, lakes and seas; there are paradises and gardens, groves and woods, and palaces and houses; also that there are writings and books, offices and trades; and that there are precious stones, gold and silver; in a word, there are each and all things that exist in the natural world, and they are infinitely more perfect in the heavens.

But the difference in general is this; that all things in the spiritual world are from a spiritual origin, and hence, as to their essence, are spiritual, they are from the sun there which is pure love; and all things in the natural world are from a natural origin, and hence as to their essence are natural, for they are from the sun there which is pure fire. Hence it is, that the spiritual man must be nourished with food from a spiritual origin, as the natural man is with food from a natural origin. More may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell.

(from Last Judgment (cont.) 32-34; 36-38)