CONCERNING THE
SITUATION OF THE GRAND MAN;
AND ALSO CONCERNING PLACE AND DISTANCE
IN THE OTHER LIFE
Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
AC 1273. Souls newly arrived from the world, when about to
leave the company of the spiritual angels to go among spirits, and
so at length to come into the society in which they had been while
they lived in the body, are led about by angels to many mansions or
abodes, that is, to societies which are distinct and yet conjoined
with others; in some of which they are received, while in other
cases they are led to still other societies, and this for an
indefinite time, until they come to the society in which they had
been while they lived in the body; and there they remain. From this
moment they experience a new beginning of life. If the man is a
dissembler, a hypocrite, or deceitful, who can assume a fictitious
state, and a seemingly angelic disposition, he is sometimes received
by good spirits; but after a short time he is dissociated, and then
wanders about, without the angels, and begs to be received, but is
rejected, and sometimes punished, and at last he is carried down
among the infernals. Those who are taken up among angels after being
vastated, also change their societies, and when they pass from one
society to another they are dismissed with courtesy and charity, and
this until they come into the angelic society which accords with the
distinctive quality or genius of their charity, piety, probity, or
uprightness. I in like manner have been led through such
"mansions," and those who dwelt there conversed with me, that I
might know how the case was in regard to this matter. It was given
me at the time to reflect on the changes of place, and to see that
they were nothing else than changes of state, my body remaining in
the same place.
AC
1274. Among the marvelous things in the other life are, - First,
the fact that societies of spirits and angels appear distinct from
one another as to situation, although places and distances in that
life are nothing else than varieties of state. Second, that the
situations and distances are determined by their relation to the
human body, so that those who are on the right appear on the right
whichever way the body is turned; and the case is the same with
those who are on the left and in all other directions. Third, that
no spirits or angels are at so great a distance away that they
cannot be seen; and yet no more come into view than so many as the
Lord permits. Fourth, that spirits of whom others are thinking - for
example, such as had been in some manner known to them in the life
of the body - when the Lord permits it, are present in a moment, and
so closely that they are at the ear, in touch, or else at some
distance, greater or less, no matter should they be thousands of
miles away, or even among the stars. The reason is that distance
of place has no effect in the other life. Fifth, that with the
angels there is no idea of time. These things are so in the world
of spirits, and are still more completely so in heaven. How much
more then must this be the case before the Lord, to whom all both
generally and individually cannot but be most present, and under
His view and providence. These things seem incredible, but yet
they are true.
AC 1275. I
was in a society where there was tranquillity, that is, a society of
those whose state was tranquil, approximating in a measure to a
state of peace, but it was not peace. I spoke there of the state of
infants; and also of place, saying that change of place and distance
is only an appearance, according to the state of each one, and
according to his change of state. When I was translated thither, the
spirits around me appeared to be removed, and to be seen below me;
and yet I could hear them speaking.
AC 1276. As
regards the situation in which spirits are in the world of spirits,
and angels in heaven, the case is this. The angels are at the Lord's
right hand; on His left are evil spirits; in front are those of a
middle kind; at the back are the malignant; above the head are those
of a self-exalted spirit who aspire to high things; under the feet
are the hells which correspond to those who are on high. Thus all
have their situation determined relatively to the Lord; in all
directions and at all altitudes, in a horizontal plane and in a
vertical one, and in every oblique direction. Their situation is
constant, and does not vary to eternity. The heavens there
constitute as it were one man, which is therefore called the Grand
Man; to which all things that are in man correspond;
concerning
which correspondence, of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter. It is
from this that there is a like situation of all things around each
angel; and with each man to whom heaven is opened by the Lord; for
the Lord's presence is attended with this. It would not be so unless
the Lord were omnipresent in heaven.
AC 1277. The
case is the very same with men, as to their souls, which are
constantly bound to some society of spirits and of angels. They too
have a situation in the kingdom of the Lord according to the nature
of their life, and according to their state. It matters not that
they are distant from each other on earth even though it were many
thousands of miles - still they can be together in the same society
- those who live in charity in an angelic society, and those who
live in hatred and such evils in an infernal society. In like manner
it matters not that there be many together on earth in one place,
for still they are all distinct in accordance with the nature of
their life and of their state, and each one may be in a different
society. Men who are distant from each other some hundreds or
thousands of miles, when they appear to the internal sense may be so
near each other that some of them may touch, according to their
situation. Thus if there were a number of persons on earth whose
spiritual sight was opened, they might be together and converse
together, though one was in India and another in Europe, which also
has been shown me. Thus are all men on earth, both generally and
individually, most closely present to the Lord, and under His view
and providence.
AC 1278. A
continuation of the subject of situation, place, distance, and time,
in the other life − (Click Here)
(Selections from Arcana
Coelestia 1273 - 1278) |
