Heaven Is Divided into Two Kingdoms (Continued)

We have stated that they have more wisdom and splendor than others because they have accepted divine truths directly into their lives and continue to do so. The moment they hear them, they intend them and live them out. They do not refer them to memory and consider whether they are true. People like this know instantly, from an inflow from the Lord, whether the truth they are hearing is actually true. The Lord flows directly into our intentions, and indirectly, through our intentions, into our thinking. In other words, the Lord flows directly into what is good within us, and indirectly, through that good, into what is true.

That is, we call “good” whatever is a matter of intent and therefore of action, while we call “true” whatever is a matter of memory and therefore of thought. However, as long as any truth is in memory and therefore in thought, it is neither good nor living. It is not assimilated into the person, because a person is a person by virtue of intent primarily and cognitive abilities secondarily—not by virtue of cognitive abilities apart from volition.

Since there is such a difference between angels of the heavenly kingdom and angels of the spiritual kingdom, they do not live together or associate with each other. They are granted communication only through intermediate angelic communities, communities called “heavenly-spiritual”: it is through them that the heavenly kingdom flows into the spiritual kingdom. The result of this is that while heaven is divided into two kingdoms, they still make a single whole. The Lord always provides intermediate angels like these through whom there can be communication and union.

from Heaven and Hell, Sections 26, 27

Heaven Is Divided into Two Kingdoms (Continued)

The angels in the Lord’s heavenly kingdom far surpass the angels of the spiritual kingdom in regard to wisdom and splendor because they accept the Lord’s divine nature on a deeper level. They live in love for him, and are therefore more intimately united to him.f The reason for their excellence is that they have accepted divine truths directly into their lives and continue to do so, rather than taking them into memory and thought first, the way spiritual angels do. This means they have them engraved on their hearts and grasp them, virtually see them, within themselves. They never calculate whether or not they are true.g They are like the people described in Jeremiah,

I will put my law in their mind and engrave it on their heart: no longer will one person teach a friend or a brother, saying, “Know Jehovah”;46 from the smallest to the greatest, they will know me. (Jeremiah 31:33, 34)

In Isaiah, they are called “the people who have been taught by Jehovah” (Isaiah 54:13). In John 6:45–46, the Lord himself teaches that those who are taught by Jehovah are the ones who are taught by the Lord.

from Heaven and Hell, Section 25

Heaven Is Divided into Two Kingdoms (Continued)

Because the angels who make up the heavenly kingdom accept the Lord’s divine nature on a deeper level, they are called more inward or higher angels. The heavens they constitute are therefore called more inward or higher heavens.c We use the words “higher” and “lower” as a way of referring to more inward things and more outward things.

The love that envelops people in the heavenly kingdom is called heavenly love, and the love that envelops people in the spiritual kingdom is called spiritual love. Heavenly love is love for the Lord, and spiritual love is thoughtfulness toward one’s neighbor. Further, since all “good” is a matter of love (since whatever we love is good in our estimation), the good of the one kingdom is called heavenly and the good of the other, spiritual. We can see from this the way in which these two kingdoms are distinguished from each other: namely, that it is like the way the good of love for the Lord is distinguished from the good of thoughtfulness toward our neighbor.e Since the former good is a deeper good and the former love is a deeper love, heavenly angels are more inward angels, and are called “higher.”

The heavenly kingdom is also called the Lord’s priestly kingdom—in the Word, “his dwelling”; and the spiritual kingdom is called his royal kingdom—in the Word, “his throne.” The Lord in the world was called “Jesus” because of his heavenly divine nature, and “the Christ” because of his spiritual divine nature.

from Heaven and Hell, Sections 22-24

Heaven Is Divided into Two Kingdoms

SINCE there are infinite varieties in heaven—since no community and in fact no individual is just like any other—heaven is therefore divided overall, more specifically, and in detail. Overall, it is divided into two kingdoms, more specifically into three heavens, and in detail into countless communities. We will now discuss the details. They are called “kingdoms” because heaven is called “the kingdom of God.”

There are angels who accept the divine nature that emanates from the Lord on a deeper level and angels who accept it less deeply. The ones who accept it more deeply are called heavenly angels, and the ones who accept it less deeply are called spiritual angels. Heaven is therefore divided into two kingdoms, one called the heavenly kingdom and the other called the spiritual kingdom.

from Heaven and Hell, Section 20, 21

Notes: Sections 20 and 21 were published April 22, 2016.

There Is a Correspondence of Heaven with Everything Earthly (Continued)

I have been taught in heaven that the earliest people on our planet, who were heavenly people, thought on the basis of actual correspondences, and that the natural phenomena of the world that greeted their eyes served them as means for thinking in this way. Because they were of this character, they were in the company of angels and talked with them; and in this way heaven was united to the world through them. Therefore, that era was called the Golden Age. Classical authors described it as a time when the inhabitants of heaven dwelt with mortals and kept them company as friend with friend.

After their era, though, a people came who did not think from actual correspondences but from a knowledge about correspondences. There was still a union of heaven with humanity, but not such an intimate one. Their era was called the Silver Age.

The people who came next were indeed familiar with correspondences but did not do their thinking on the basis of their knowledge of correspondences. This was because they were engrossed in what is good on the natural level and not, like their ancestors, on the spiritual level. Their era was called the Bronze Age.

I have been taught, lastly, that after that era humanity became more and more externally minded and at last physically minded. Then the knowledge of correspondences was completely lost, and with it any awareness of heaven and of its riches. The names of these ages—Golden, Silver, and Bronze—also come from correspondence, because gold, by reason of correspondence, means the heavenly goodness in which the earliest people lived. Silver, in contrast, means the spiritual goodness in which their successors, the early people, lived; while bronze means the natural goodness characteristic of their immediate followers. Iron, though, which gave its name to the last era, means a harsh truth, devoid of good.

from Heaven and Hell, Section 115

There Is a Correspondence of Heaven with Everything Earthly (Continued)

Just as everything that is in accord with the divine design corresponds to heaven, everything that is contrary to the divine design corresponds to hell. Everything that corresponds to heaven reflects what is good and true, while what corresponds to hell reflects what is evil and false.

We may now say something about the knowledge of correspondences and its use. We have just stated that the spiritual world, which is heaven, is united to the natural world by means of correspondences; so it is through correspondences that we are given communication with heaven. Heaven’s angels do not think in terms of natural phenomena the way we do, so when we are absorbed in the knowledge of correspondences we can be in the company of angels in respect to the thoughts of our minds. So we can be united to them in regard to our spiritual or inner person.

In order that there might be a union of heaven with humanity, the Word was written in pure correspondences. Absolutely everything in it corresponds. So if we were steeped in a knowledge of correspondences, we would understand the Word in its spiritual meaning and be enabled to know hidden treasures in it that we do not see at all in its literal meaning. The Word does in fact have a literal meaning and a spiritual meaning. The literal meaning consists of the kind of things that are in our world, while the spiritual meaning consists of the kind of things that are in heaven; and since the union of heaven with our world is maintained by correspondences, we have been given a Word in which the details correspond, even down to the last jot.

from Heaven and Hell, Sections 113, 114

There Is a Correspondence of Heaven with Everything Earthly (Continued)

We may note briefly how the union of heaven with the world occurs by means of correspondences. The Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of purposes that are functions or—which amounts to the same thing—of functions that are purposes. For this reason, the universe has been so created and formed by the Divine that functions can clothe themselves in materials that enable them to present themselves in act or in results, first in heaven and then in this world, and so step by step all the way to the lowest things in nature. We can see from this that the correspondence of natural phenomena with spiritual ones, or of the world with heaven, takes place through functions, and that the functions are what unite them. We can also see that the forms that clothe the functions are correspondences and unions to the extent that they are forms of the functions.

In the three kingdoms of earthly nature, all the things that happen according to the design are [outward] forms of their functions or results formed by function for function. This is why the things that occur there are correspondences.

As for us, though, our acts are services in forms to the extent that we live according to the divine design—that is, in love for the Lord and in thoughtfulness toward our neighbor. To that extent, our acts are correspondences that unite us to heaven. In general terms, loving the Lord and our neighbor is being of service.

We need to know as well that it is humankind through which the natural world is united to the spiritual world, that we are the means of the union. For there is within us a natural world and also a spiritual world (see Section 57); so to the extent that we are spiritual, we are a means of union. However, to the extent that we are natural and not spiritual, we are not a means of union. The Lord’s inflow into the world and into the world’s gifts within us continues even without our aid, but it does not come into our rational functioning.

from Heaven and Hell, Section 112

There Is a Correspondence of Heaven with Everything Earthly (Continued)

There is a similar correspondence with things in the vegetable kingdom. A garden, in general terms, corresponds to heaven in respect to intelligence and wisdom, which is why heaven is called the garden of God and a paradise,d and why we call it a heavenly paradise.

Trees, species by species, correspond to perceptions and firsthand knowledge of what is good and true, which yield intelligence and wisdom. So the early people, who were absorbed in the knowledge of correspondences, held their holy worship in groves.e This is why trees are mentioned so often in the Word and why heaven, the church, and people are compared to them—to the vine, for example, the olive, the cedar, and others—and the good we do is compared to fruit.

Further, the foods we derive from them, especially the ones we get from crops planted in fields, correspond to affections for what is good and true because they nourish our spiritual life the way earthly foods nourish our natural life.

Bread, generally speaking, corresponds to an affection for whatever is good because it is the mainstay of life and because it is used to mean all food. It is because of this correspondence that the Lord calls himself the bread of life; and it is also because of this that bread was put to holy use in the Israelite church—they did in fact place bread on the table in the tabernacle and called it “the bread of presence.” Then too, all divine worship that they performed by sacrifices and burnt offerings was called “bread.” Because of this correspondence too, the most sacred worship in the Christian church is the Holy Supper, in which bread and wine are shared.

from Heaven and Hell, Section 111

There Is a Correspondence of Heaven with Everything Earthly (Continued)

Nowadays, though, no one can know about the spiritual things in heaven to which natural things in the world correspond except from heaven, because the knowledge of correspondence has now been completely lost. I should like to present a few examples to show what the correspondence of spiritual things with natural ones is like.

In general, earth’s living creatures correspond to affections, the mild and useful ones to good affections, the fierce and useless ones to evil affections. Specifically, cattle and calves correspond to affections of the natural mind, sheep and lambs to affections of the spiritual mind. Flying creatures, species by species, correspond to cognitive activities of either level of the mind. This is why various animals such as cattle, calves, rams, sheep, male and female goats, male and female lambs, as well as pigeons and turtle doves were accepted for holy use in the Israelite church, which was a representative church. They used them for their sacrifices and burnt offerings, and in these uses they did in fact correspond to spiritual realities that are understood in heaven in accord with their correspondence.

The reason animals are affections, according to their genera and species, is that they are alive, and the only source of the life of any creature is from affection and is in proportion to it. We humans are like animals as far as our natural person is concerned, which is why we are compared to them in colloquial usage. For example, we call a gentle person a sheep or a lamb, a violent one a bear or a wolf, a crafty one a fox or a snake, and so on.

from Heaven and Hell, Section 110

There Is a Correspondence of Heaven with Everything Earthly (Continued)

We can deduce how members of the vegetable kingdom correspond from a multitude of instances—for example, from the fact that tiny seeds grow into trees, beget leaves, produce flowers and then fruits in which they place another generation of seeds, and that these things happen in a sequence and emerge all together in such a wondrous design that there is no way to describe it briefly. It would take volumes, and still there would be deeper mysteries suited to their uses that our knowledge could not compass.

Because these things stem from the spiritual world or heaven, which is in a human form (as was explained in the appropriate chapter above [Sections 78–86]), it is also true that the details of that kingdom have a kind of relationship to human characteristics—a fact that is recognized by some individuals in the learned world.

It has become clear to me from a great deal of experience that everything in that kingdom is also a correspondence. Very often, when I have looked over trees and fruits and flowers and vegetables in gardens, I have become aware of corresponding things in heaven. Then I have talked with nearby people there and have learned where these plants were from and what their characteristics were.

from Heaven and Hell, Section 109