Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 40105573. A certain one was present above the head who was unseen,but whose presence was perceived from an odor of burnt horn orbone, and from a stench of teeth. Afterward a great multitude, likea black cloud, came unseen from beneath upward behind the back,and stopped above the head. I supposed they were unseen becausethey were subtle; but I was told that where there is a spiritualsphere they are invisible, but where there is a natural sphere theyare visible. They are called invisible natural spirits. The first thingdisclosed about them was that they strove with the utmostdiligence, skill, and artfulness to prevent anything from beingdivulged about them, to which end they were skilled in stealingfrom others their ideas, and inducing other ideas, by which theyhindered detection. This continued quite a long time. Hence it wasgiven to know that in the life of the body they had been such as notto desire to have anything divulged of what they did or thought,assuming a different face and a different speech. Nevertheless theyhad not used these things in order to deceive in a lying manner.[2] It was perceived that they who were present had been tradersin the life of the body, but traders whose delight of life consistedrather in trading itself than in riches, so that trading had been as itwere their soul, I therefore spoke to them about this, and was givento say that trading does not at all prevent anyone from coming intoheaven, and that the rich as well as the poor are in heaven. But theyobjected, saying that it had been their opinion that if they were tobe saved they would have to renounce trade, give all they had to thepoor, and make themselves miserable. But it was given to reply tothem that such is not the case, and that those among them who arein heaven because they had been good Christians, had thoughtotherwise, and yet they had been wealthy, and some of them verywealthy. These had the common good and love toward theneighbor as their end, and had engaged in mercantile pursuitsmerely for the sake of employment in the world, and moreover hadnot set their heart on these things. And the reason why theythemselves are below is that they had been merely natural, andtherefore had not believed in a life after death, nor in hell andheaven, nor even in any spirit; and that they had not hesitated todeprive others of their goods by any artifice whatever, and couldwithout mercy see whole families ruined for the sake of their own