XVIII. Heaven and Hell

HD 230. There are two things which constitute the life of man‘s spirit, namely, love and faith; love constituting the life of his will, and faith the life of his understanding. The love of good and the faith of truth thence derived, constitute the life of heaven; and the love of evil, and the faith of falsity thence derived, constitute the life of hell.

HD 231. Love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor constitute heaven; and also faith, so far as it has life from those loves. And because both the love and the faith thence derived, are from the Lord, it is evident that the Lord Himself constitutes heaven.

HD 232. Heaven is with every man according to his reception of love and faith from the Lord; and they who receive heaven from the Lord while they live in the world, come into heaven after death.

HD 233. They who receive heaven from the Lord are they who have heaven in themselves, for heaven is in man, as the Lord also teaches:--

HD 234. Heaven is with man in his internal, thus in his willing and thinking from love and faith, and thence in his external, which is in acting and speaking from love and faith. But heaven is not in man’s external without the internal; for all hypocrites can act and speak well, but they cannot will and think well.

HD 235. When man comes into the other life, which takes place immediately after death, it is evident whether heaven is in him or not; but not while he lives in the world. For in the world the external appears, and not the internal, but in the other life the internal is made manifest, because man then lives as to his spirit.

HD 236. Eternal happiness, which is also called heavenly joy, is imparted to those who are in love and faith in the Lord, from the Lord; for this love and faith have that joy in them; into it the man comes after death who has heaven in him; in the meantime it lies hidden in his internal man. In the heavens there is a communion of all goods; there the peace, the intelligence, the wisdom, and the happiness of all are communicated to each; yet to everyone according to his reception of love and faith from the Lord. Hence it may appear how great is the peace, intelligence, wisdom and happiness in heaven.

HD 237. As love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor constitute the life of heaven with man, so the love of self and the love of the world, when they reign, constitute the life of hell with him; for these loves are opposite to those. Therefore they with whom the loves of self and of the world reign, can receive nothing from heaven, but what they receive is from hell; for whatever a man loves, and whatever he believes, is either from heaven or from hell.

HD 238. Those with whom the love of self and the love of the world reign, do not know what heaven and heavenly happiness are; and it appears incredible to them that happiness is given in any other loves than in them. Nevertheless, the happiness of heaven enters so far as the loves of self and the world, regarded as ends, are removed; and the happiness which succeeds on their removal is so great as to exceed all human comprehension.

HD 239. The life of man cannot be changed after death. It then remains such as it had been. For the quality of man‘s spirit is in every respect the same as that of his love, and infernal love can never be transcribed into heavenly love, because they are opposite. This is the meaning of the words of Abraham to the rich man in hell:--

Hence it is evident that all who come into hell remain there to eternity; and they who come into heaven remain there to eternity.

HD 240. Since the subject of heaven and hell has been treated of in a separate work, wherein is also adduced what is contained in the Arcana Coelestia concerning it, it is therefore unnecessary here to add anything further.