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

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

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AFTERLIFE<br />

heavenly <strong>and</strong> spiritual love, while the ones who were cast<br />

into hell had lives <strong>of</strong> carnal <strong>and</strong> worldly love. <strong>Heaven</strong>ly<br />

love is loving what is good, honest, <strong>and</strong> fair because it is<br />

good, honest, <strong>and</strong> fair, <strong>and</strong> doing it because <strong>of</strong> that love. If<br />

we love these things for their own sakes <strong>and</strong> do or live<br />

them, we are also loving the Lord above all because they<br />

come from him. We are also loving our neighbor, because<br />

these things are our neighbor who is to be loved. Carnal<br />

love, though, is loving what is good <strong>and</strong> honest <strong>and</strong> fair<br />

not for their own sakes but for our own sake, because we<br />

can use them to gain prestige, position, <strong>and</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>it. In this<br />

case we are not focusing on the Lord <strong>and</strong> our neighbor<br />

within what is good <strong>and</strong> honest <strong>and</strong> fair but on ourselves<br />

<strong>and</strong> the world, <strong>and</strong> we enjoy deceit. When the motive is<br />

deceit, then whatever is good <strong>and</strong> honest <strong>and</strong> fair is actu -<br />

ally evil <strong>and</strong> dishonest <strong>and</strong> unfair. This is what we love<br />

within [the outward appearance].<br />

Since these loves define our lives, we are all examined<br />

as to our quality immediately after death, when we arrive<br />

in the world <strong>of</strong> spirits, <strong>and</strong> we are put in touch with people<br />

<strong>of</strong> like love. If we are focused on heavenly love, we are put<br />

in touch with people in heaven; <strong>and</strong> if we are focused on<br />

car nal love, we are put in touch with people in hell. Fur -<br />

ther, once the first <strong>and</strong> second states have been completed<br />

the two kinds <strong>of</strong> people are separated so that they no<br />

longer see or recognize each other. We actually become<br />

our own love not only as to the deeper levels <strong>of</strong> our minds<br />

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