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

The World of Spirits
Since this is their nature, they are constantly breathing
in a desire to know what is true, for the sake of construc -
tive living. The Lord in fact sees to it that we love the
con structive activities that suit our gifts. This love is
intensi fied by our hope of becoming angels. This means
that for each of us an affection for what is true is united to
an affection for usefulness to the point that they act as
one. A true understanding of use is sown in this way, so
that the truths we learn are true perceptions of what is
useful. This is how angelic spirits are taught and prepared
for heaven.
There are various ways in which an affection for the
truth suited to usefulness is instilled, many of them
unknown in the world, primarily by depictions of useful
activities. These can be presented in thousands of ways in
the spiritual world, with such grace and charm that they
permeate spirits all the way from the deeper levels of their
minds to the outer levels of their bodies and therefore
affect the whole person. As a result, spirits virtually
become their constructive lives; so when they arrive in
the com mu nities their instruction has prepared them for,
they are in their own life when they are engaged in their
useful activities.
We may gather from this that awareness, which is an
out ward form of truth, does not get anyone into heaven.
Rather, what gets us in is the useful life that is granted
through knowledge.
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