Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 340
44
What the World of Spirits Is
421. The world of spirits is not heaven, nor is it hell, but it is
the intermediate place or state between the two; for it is the
place that man first enters after death; and from which after a
suitable time he is either raised up into heaven or cast down
into hell in accord with his life in the world.
422. The world of spirits is an intermediate place between
heaven and hell and also an intermediate state of the man after
death. It has been shown to me not only that it is an
intermediate place, having the hells below it and the heavens
above it, but also that it is in an intermediate state, since so
long as man is in it he is not yet either in heaven or in hell. The
state of heaven in man is the conjunction of good and truth in
him; and the state of hell is the conjunction of evil and falsity
in him. Whenever good in a man-spirit is conjoined to truth
he comes into heaven, because that conjunction, as just said, is
heaven in him; but whenever evil in a man-spirit is conjoined
with falsity he comes into hell, because that conjunction is hell
in him. That conjunction is effected in the world of spirits,
man then being in an intermediate state. It is the same thing
whether you say the conjunction of the understanding and the
will, or the conjunction of good and truth.
423. Let something first be said about the conjunction of the
understanding and the will, and its being the same thing as the
conjunction of good and truth, that being the conjunction that
is effected in the world of spirits. Man has an understanding
and a will. The understanding receives truths and is formed out
of them, and the will receives goods and is formed out of them;