Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 262
there is life. And it was perceived that children on the earth
have nearly the same ideas when they are at their little plays;
for as yet they have no such reflection as adults have about
what is inanimate.
339. It has been said above that children are of a genius
either celestial or spiritual. Those of a celestial genius are easily
distinguished from those of a spiritual genius. Their thought,
speech, and action, is so gentle that hardly anything appears
except what flows from a love of good to the Lord and from a
love for other children. But those of a spiritual genius are not
so gentle; but in everything with them there appears a sort of
vibration, as of wings. The difference is seen also in their illfeeling
and in other things.
340. Many may suppose that in heaven little children remain
little children, and continue as such among the angels. Those
who do not know what an angel is may have had this opinion
confirmed by paintings and images in churches, in which
angels are represented as children. But it is wholly otherwise.
Intelligence and wisdom are what constitute an angel, and as
long as children do not possess these they are not angels,
although they are with the angels; but as soon as they become
intelligent and wise they become angels; and what is
wonderful, they do not then appear as children, but as adults,
for they are no longer of an infantile genius, but of a more
mature angelic genius. Intelligence and wisdom produce this
effect. The reason why children appear more mature, thus as
youths and young men, as they are perfected in intelligence
and wisdom, is that intelligence and wisdom are essential
spiritual nourishment; 224
and thus the things that nourish their
224. Spiritual food is knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, thus the
good and truth from which these are (n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293,
5340, 5342, 5410, 5426, 5576, 5582, 5588, 5655, 8562, 9003). Therefore
in a spiritual sense everything that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord is
food (n. 681).