THE ENTRANCE INTO LIFE ETERNAL
(Selected from Swedenborg's account of the first experiences after Death.)
"After they (Angels or spirits) have given the newly awakened person the use of light, they render him every service he can possibly desire, and instruct him concerning all things of the other life, so far as he is able to comprehend them. But if he is not disposed to receive instruction, he separates himself from them, and is received by other good spirits who also render him kind offices. But if his life in the world has been such that he cannot remain in the company of the good, he wishes to leave them also, and these changes continue until at length he associates himself with those who are in accord with his life in the world. With them he finds his own life, and, wonderful to relate, he then leads a life similar to that which he led in the world. Afterward he is led from one state to another, and at last either into heaven or hell; this also I have been permitted to learn by much experience.
"I have spoken with some on the third day after their death . . . and I told them that funeral arrangements were being made for burying them, and at this they were struck with astonishment, declaring that they were alive . . . and wondering exceedingly that during their Life in the body they had not believed in such a life after death . . . (such persons) are exceedingly ashamed when they find that they are alive after death: those who are confirmed in this belief are associated together and for the most part attached to some infernal society . . .
"That the spirit of man is itself a man and in the human form has been proved to me by daily experience of many years, for I have seen and heard spirits a thousand times and have talked with them about the fact that men in the world do not believe them to be men, and that those who do believe this are considered simple by the learned. They said that this belief originated chiefly with the learned, who entertained ideas about the soul derived from the bodily senses . . . Almost all who come from the world are astonished to find that they are alive and are men just as they were before; that they see, hear, speak, that their bodies have the sense of touch as before, with no difference at all. Having ceased to wonder about themselves they then wonder that the Church should know nothing at all about such a state of men after death, nor about heaven or hell, whereas all who ever lived in the other life, live there as men.
"When the spirit of man first enters the world of spirits his face and tone of voice resemble those which he had in the world . . . but afterward the face is changed and becomes different, according to the affection or ruling love which dominated his inner mind or spirit while he was in the body. The face of the body is derived from the parents, but the face of the spirit is derived from his affection, of which it is the image . . . The faces of hypocrites are changed more than those of the rest, yet they eventually become more deformed than others (imbued with bad affections) . . . I have seen faces of Angels of third heaven so beautiful that no painter could ever equal a thousandth part of their life and light . . . "
(World of Spirits, pas.)