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Download the pdf - Swedenborg Foundation

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36 DIVINE LOVE and WISDOM §89909192solar fire is death itself. We may call it that because it has absolutely nolife in it.Since angels are spiritual beings, <strong>the</strong>y cannot live in any warmth orany light that is not spiritual. We, on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, cannot live in anywarmth or any light that is not physical. This is because what is spiritualsuits what is spiritual, and what is physical suits what is physical. If angelswere to depend on physical warmth and light to even <strong>the</strong> least extent,<strong>the</strong>y would be destroyed. It is absolutely wrong for <strong>the</strong>ir life.Each of us is a spirit, as far as <strong>the</strong> inner levels of our minds are concerned.When we die, we leave this world of nature completely behind.We give up everything it has to offer and enter a world that containsnothing proper to <strong>the</strong> world of nature. In that world we live so completelydistanced from nature that <strong>the</strong>re is no communication along acontinuum, that is, nothing like degrees of purity or coarseness. It is acase of before and after, with no communication except by correspondences.It stands to reason, <strong>the</strong>n, that spiritual warmth is not a purer form ofphysical warmth, that spiritual light is not a purer form of physical light,but that <strong>the</strong>y are completely different in essence. Spiritual warmth andlight derive <strong>the</strong>ir essence from a sun that is nothing but love, a sun that islife itself, while physical warmth and light derive <strong>the</strong>ir essence from a sunthat is nothing but fire, containing no life whatever, as I have alreadystated [§89].Given this kind of difference between <strong>the</strong> warmth and light of <strong>the</strong>two worlds, it is obvious why people who live in one of <strong>the</strong> worlds cannotsee people who are living in <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r. Our eyes, which see in physicallight, are made of substances of <strong>the</strong>ir own world, and angels’ are madeof substances of <strong>the</strong>ir world. In o<strong>the</strong>r words, in each case <strong>the</strong>y are designedfor adequate sensitivity to <strong>the</strong>ir own light.We can see from this what ignorance underlies <strong>the</strong> thinking of peoplewho exclude from <strong>the</strong>ir faith any notion that angels and spirits are people,simply because <strong>the</strong>y do not see <strong>the</strong>m with <strong>the</strong>ir own eyes.It has not been known before that angels and spirits are in a completelydifferent light and warmth than we are. It has not even beenknown that <strong>the</strong>re was a different light and warmth. Human thought hasnot penetrated beyond <strong>the</strong> deeper or purer aspects of nature. As a result,many people have located <strong>the</strong> dwellings of angels and spirits in <strong>the</strong> e<strong>the</strong>ror even in <strong>the</strong> stars—within nature, that is, and not above or beyond it.In fact, though, angels and spirits are wholly above or beyond nature.They are in <strong>the</strong>ir own world, one that is under a different sun. Fur<strong>the</strong>r,

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