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Afterlife: A Guided Tour of Heaven and Its Wonders - Swedenborg ...

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<strong>Heaven</strong><br />

to these joys, the joy <strong>of</strong> physical pleasures is like crude <strong>and</strong><br />

irritating dust compared to a pure <strong>and</strong> gentle breeze.<br />

I noticed that when I wanted to convey all my pleasure<br />

to someone else, a deeper <strong>and</strong> fuller pleasure flowed in<br />

cease lessly in its place. The more I wanted to convey it,<br />

the more it flowed in; <strong>and</strong> I perceived that this was from<br />

the Lord.<br />

People in heaven are continually progressing toward<br />

the springtime <strong>of</strong> life. The more thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> years they<br />

live, the more pleasant <strong>and</strong> happy is their springtime. This<br />

continues forever, increasing according to the growth <strong>and</strong><br />

level <strong>of</strong> their love, thoughtfulness, <strong>and</strong> faith.<br />

As the years pass, elderly women who have died <strong>of</strong> old<br />

age—women who have lived in faith in the Lord,<br />

thought fulness toward their neighbor, <strong>and</strong> in contented<br />

marriage love with their husb<strong>and</strong>s—come more <strong>and</strong> more<br />

into the flower <strong>of</strong> growing youth <strong>and</strong> into a beauty that<br />

surpasses any notion <strong>of</strong> beauty accessible to our sight.<br />

Their good ness <strong>and</strong> thoughtfulness is what gives them<br />

their form <strong>and</strong> gives them its own likeness, making the<br />

pleasure <strong>and</strong> beauty <strong>of</strong> thoughtfulness radiate from every<br />

least corner <strong>of</strong> their faces so that they become actual forms<br />

<strong>of</strong> thought fulness. Some people have seen them <strong>and</strong> have<br />

been stunned. The form <strong>of</strong> thoughtfulness that is open to<br />

view in heaven is like this because it is thoughtfulness<br />

itself that both gives <strong>and</strong> is given visible form. In fact, it<br />

does this in such a way that the whole angel, especially her<br />

165

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