Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 51
down to the soles, and also the arms down to the fingers. For
the arms and hands belong to the lowest parts of man,
although at the sides. From this again it is plain why there are
three heavens.
66. The spirits that are beneath heaven are greatly astonished
when they hear that heaven is not only above but below, for
they have a like faith and opinion as men in the world, that
heaven is nowhere but above, for they do not know that the
arrangement of the heavens is like the arrangement of the
members, organs, and viscera in man, some of which are above
and some below; or like the arrangement of the parts in each of
the members, organs, and viscera, some of which are within
and some without. Hence their confused notions about
heaven.
67. These things about heaven as the greatest man are set
forth, because what follows in regard to heaven cannot be at all
comprehended until these things are known, neither can there
be any clear idea of the form of heaven, of the conjunction of
the Lord with heaven, of the conjunction of heaven with man,
of the influx of the spiritual world into the natural, or any idea
at all of correspondence—subjects to be treated of in their
proper order in what now follows. To throw some light on
these subjects, therefore, the above has been premised.