Third State
The State of Instruction
Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. – Matthew 13:11
Instructing the Good
The third state of man after death, that is, of his spirit, is a state of instruction. This state is for those who enter heaven and become angels*. It is not for those who enter hell, because such are incapable of being
taught, and therefore their second state is also their third, ending in this, that they are wholly turned to their own love, thus to that infernal society which is in a like love.
When this has been done they will and think from that love; and as that love is infernal they will nothing but what is evil and think nothing but what is false; and in such thinking and willing they find their delights, because these belong to their love; and in consequence of this they reject everything good and true which they had previously adopted as serviceable to their love as means.
Good spirits, on the other hand, are led from the second state into the third, which is the state of their preparation for heaven by means of instruction. For one can be prepared for heaven only by means of knowledges of good and truth, that is, only by means of instruction, since one can know what spiritual good and truth are, and what evil and falsity are, which are their opposites, only by being taught.
One can learn in the world what civil and moral good and truth are, which are called justice and honesty, because there are civil laws in the world that teach what is just, and there is association with others whereby man learns to live in accordance with moral laws, all of which have relation to what is honest and right.
But spiritual good and truth are learned from heaven, not from the world.
They can be learned from the Word and from the doctrine of the church that is drawn from the Word; and yet unless man in respect to his interiors which belong to his mind is in heaven, spiritual good and truth cannot flow into his life; and man is in heaven when he both acknowledges the Divine and acts justly and honestly for the reason that he ought so to act because it is commanded in the Word.
This is living justly and honestly for the sake of the Divine, and not for the sake of self and the world, as ends.
“He has shown you, O man, what is good;And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy,And to walk humbly with your God?” – Micah 6:8
Homework:
As part of your reflection and meditation, take some time to consider how frequently you are being humble and willing to learn and how often you are more interested in knowing you are ‘right’ and unwilling to accept a notion you may not be?
Our lower self – ‘proprium’ as Swedenborg calls it – will try to convince our higher self of our independence and so lacks the wisdom and humility to see the spiritual truth that our autonomy and this ‘physical’ world are appearances only, reflecting only the true nature via correspondence and representations.
Our battle is truly within our own mind and only when we are truly open to submit to
reality can we in fact be taught.
“If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” – John 3:12
*) Angels are frequently drawn or represented with wings. This represents their elevated or heavenly state. A picture here of such representation can be seen, but in spite of many believing angels are a separate ‘race’ or
‘being’, Swedenborg describes, as you have learned through this process,
that all angels are in fact people like you and I; having previously lived ‘on earth’ (ie in the realm of the natural). The word ‘Angel’, also comes from the Hebrew “Malach(i)”, which means messenger. We are angels when we become messengers of God, which is: what is good and true!
And no, we will not have wings 🙂
Heaven requires instruction
But no one can so act until he has been taught, for example, that there is a God, that there is a heaven and a hell, that there is a life after death, that God ought to be loved supremely, and the neighbor as oneself, and that what is taught in the Word ought to be believed because the Word is Divine.
Without a knowledge and acknowledgment of these things man is unable to think spiritually; and if he has no thought about them he does not will them; for what a man does not know he cannot think, and what he does not think he cannot will.
So it is when man wills these things that heaven flows into his life, that is, the Lord through heaven, for the Lord flows into the will and through the will into the thought, and through both into the life, and the whole life of man is from these.
All this makes clear that spiritual good and truth are learned not from the world but from heaven, and that one can be prepared for heaven only by means of instruction.
Moreover, so far as the Lord flows into the life of anyone he instructs him, for so far he kindles the will with the love of knowing truths and enlightens the thought to know them; and so far as this is done the interiors of man are opened and heaven is implanted in them;
and furthermore, what is Divine and heavenly flows into the honest things pertaining to moral life and into the just things pertaining to civil life in man, and makes them spiritual, since man then does these things from the Divine, which is doing them for the sake of the Divine.
For the things honest and just pertaining to moral and civil life which a man does from that source are the essential effects of spiritual life; and the effect derives its all from the effecting cause, since such as the cause is such is the effect.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23
Homework:
Please reflect on the below Venn diagram, which reflects the three pillars of Freedom Philosophy. We believe these are the three essentials critical to an effective spiritual practice. No inner transformation can take place if one of these is missing. It is also cyclical, which is why Swedenborg refers to this cycle: to love what is good (Love) > to learn what is true (Wisdom) > and apply it to life (Use), as the ‘cycle of life‘.
Of course, we take it as base that we derive our life, and so our love and wisdom, from the Lord alone, who is Love itself and Wisdom itself. For those with an active interest in reading more about the nature of the Divine, Swedenborg’s treatise Divine Love and Wisdom is excellent!
North and South
Instruction is given by the angels of many societies, especially those in the northern and southern quarters, because those angelic societies are in intelligence and wisdom from a knowledge of good and truth.
The places of instruction are toward the north and are various, arranged and distinguished according to the kinds and varieties of heavenly goods, that all and each may be instructed there according to their disposition and ability to receive; the places extending round about to a great distance.
The good spirits who are to be instructed are brought by the Lord to these places when they have completed their second state in the world of spirits, and yet not all;
for there are some that have been instructed in the world, and have been prepared there by the Lord for heaven, and these are taken up into heaven by another way – some immediately after death, some after a short stay with good spirits, where the grosser things of their thoughts and affections which they had contracted from honors and riches in the world are removed, and in that way they are purified.
Some first endure vastations, which is effected in places under the soles of the feet, called the lower earth, where some suffer severely.
These are such as had confirmed themselves in falsities and yet had led good lives, for when falsities have been confirmed they inhere with much force, and until they have been dispersed truths cannot be seen, and thus cannot be accepted.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-6
Homework:
- Continue reflecting on how what you learn is touching you, affecting your thoughts and affections. Are you receptive or struggling – and why?
- Refer back to your previous diary entries and contemplate how your perspective now is different to earlier.
- Have you seen a change to the way you approach life?
Various places
All who are in places of instruction dwell apart; for each one is connected in regard to his interiors with that society of heaven which he is about to enter; thus as the societies of heaven are arranged in accord with the heavenly form, so are the places there where instruction is given; and for this reason when those places are viewed from heaven something like a heaven in a smaller form is seen.
They are spread out in length from east to west, and in breadth from south to north; but the breadth appears to be less than the length.
The arrangement in general is as follows. In front are those who died in childhood and have been brought up in heaven to the age of early youth; these after passing the state of their infancy with those having charge of them, are brought hither by the Lord and instructed.
Behind these are the places where those are taught who died in adult age, and who in the world had an affection for truth derived from good of life.
Again, behind these are those who in the world were connected with the Mohammedan religion, and lived a moral life and acknowledged one Divine, and the Lord as the very Prophet.
When these withdraw from Mohammed, because he can give them no help, they approach the Lord and worship him and acknowledge his Divinity, and they are then instructed in the Christian religion.
Behind these more to the north are the places of instruction of various heathen nations who in the world have lived a good life in conformity with their religion, and have thereby acquired a kind of conscience, and have done what is just and right not so much from a regard to the laws of their government, as from a regard to the laws of religion, which they believed ought to be sacredly observed, and in no way violated by their doings.
When these have been taught they are all easily led to acknowledge the Lord, because it is impressed on their hearts that God is not invisible, but is visible under a human form.
These in number exceed all the rest, and the best of them are from Africa.
“All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You.” – Psalm 22:27
Homework:
Please reflect on the following two elements:
1. Look at the Holy Spirit as the ‘Spirit of Truth’ (John 16:13) and as you read the saying by Jesus Christ below, you can perhaps see that not being able to accept Him as God and The Word is not per se detrimental to our spiritual character, but to deny the objective reality and truth or placing it secondary to our own will is.
Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. – Matthew 12:32
2. Reflect on this teaching and consider how it is represented in almost all religions. As the Lord said it contains the whole of the law, meaning it captures the essence of existence itself and all we need to know. Can you see how the great many different religions ultimately point to the same Creator and so Savior?
Please note your own inner feelings for further contemplation and prayerful meditation.
All are taught as required
But all are not taught in the same way, nor by the same societies of heaven.
Those that have been brought up from childhood in heaven, not having imbibed falsities from the falsities of religion or defiled their spiritual life with the dregs pertaining to honors and riches in the world, receive instruction from the angels of the interior heavens;
while those that have died in adult age receive instruction mainly from angels of the lowest heaven, because these angels are better suited to them than the angels of the interior heavens, who are in interior wisdom which is not yet acceptable to them.
All teaching there is from doctrine drawn from the Word, and not from the Word apart from doctrine.
Christians are taught from heavenly doctrine, which is in entire agreement with the internal sense of the Word.
All others, as the Mohammedans and heathen, are taught from doctrines suited to their apprehension, which differ from heavenly doctrine only in this, that spiritual life is taught by means of moral life in harmony with the good tenets of their religion from which they had derived their life in the world.
“so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ” – Romans 12:5
Homework:
Try to reflect on the absolute fundamentals of religion. In other words, strip away and remove anything that one can do without. Too often we get bogged down into specific teachings or rituals and place these on pedestals as our own ‘sacred golden calf’.
Are there any aspects of your own traditions or beliefs that perhaps are not as critical as you once thought?
Instruction is suited to our love for truth
Instruction in the heavens differs from instruction on earth in that knowledges are not committed to memory, but to life;
for the memory of spirits is in their life, for they receive and imbibe everything that is in harmony with their life, and do not receive, still less imbibe, what is not in harmony with it;
for spirits are affections, and are therefore in a human form that is similar to their affections.
Being such they are constantly animated by an affection for truth that looks to the uses of life; for the Lord provides for everyone’s loving the uses suited to his genius; and that love is exalted by the hope of becoming an angel.
And as all the uses of heaven have relation to the general use, which is the good of the Lord’s kingdom, which in heaven is the fatherland, and as all special and particular uses are to be valued in proportion as they more closely and fully have regard to that general use, so all of these special and particular uses, which are innumerable, are good and heavenly;
therefore in everyone an affection for truth is so conjoined with an affection for use that the two make one; and thereby truth is so implanted in use that the truths they acquire are truths of use.
In this way are angelic spirits taught and prepared for heaven.
An affection for truth that is suited to the use is insinuated by various means, most of which are unknown in the world; chiefly by representatives of uses which in the spiritual world are exhibited in a thousand ways, and with such delights and pleasures that they permeate the spirit from the interiors of its mind to the exteriors of its body, and thus affect the whole;
and in consequence the spirit becomes as it were his use; and therefore when he comes into his society, into which he is initiated by instruction, he is in his life by being in his use.
From all this it is clear that knowledges, which are external truths, do not bring anyone into heaven; but the life itself, which is a life of uses implanted by means of knowledges.
“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:” – Romans 12:6
Memorable Experience
There were some spirits who had convinced themselves, by thinking about it in the world, that they would go to heaven and be received before others because of their learning and their great knowledge of the Word and of the doctrines of their churches, believing that they were wise in consequence, and were such as are meant by those of whom it is said that:
“They shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars.” – Daniel 12:3
But these were examined to see whether their knowledges resided in the memory or in the life.
Such of them as had a genuine affection of truth, that is, who had uses separated from what pertains to the body and the world as their end, which are essentially spiritual uses—these, when they had been instructed, were received into heaven;
and it was then given them to know what it is that shines in heaven, namely, Divine truth (which is the light of heaven) in use, which is a plane that receives the rays of that light and turns them into various splendors.
But those in whom knowledges resided merely in the memory, and who had acquired therefrom an ability to reason about truths and to prove what they had already accepted as principles, seeing such principles, after they had confirmed them, as truths, although they were falsities—these, as they were in no heavenly light, and yet were in a belief derived from the conceit that usually adheres to such intelligence that they were more learned than others, and would for that reason enter heaven and be served by the angels, in order that they might be withdrawn from their delusive faith, were taken up to the first or outmost heaven to be introduced into an angelic society.
But at the very threshold their eyes began to be darkened by the inflowing of the light of heaven, and their understanding to be disturbed, and at length they began to gasp as if at the point of death; and as soon as they felt the heat of heaven, which is heavenly love, they began to be inwardly tormented.
They were therefore cast down, and afterwards were taught that knowledges do not make an angel, but the life itself, which is gained by means of knowledges, for knowledges regarded in themselves are outside of heaven; but life acquired by means of knowledges is within heaven.
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” – Matthew 7:24-27
Coming Home
When spirits have been prepared for heaven by instruction in the places described, which is effected in a short time on account of their being in spiritual ideas that comprehend many particulars together, they are clothed with angelic garments, which are mostly glowing white as if made of fine linen; and they are thus brought to the way that leads upwards toward heaven, and are delivered there to angel guards, and afterwards are received by other angels and introduced into societies and into many blessednesses there.
After this each one is led by the Lord into his own society, which is also effected by various ways, sometimes by winding paths. The ways by which they are led are not known to any angel, but are known to the Lord alone.
When they come to their own society their interiors are opened; and as these are in conformity with the interiors of the angels who are in that society they are immediately recognized and received with joy.
Above Painting made by Holly Visser-Marchant
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” – Revelation 22:12,13
Homework:
- Make your final entry into your course dairy.
- Take some time to reflect on what you have learned in this course.
- Pray and take some practical steps to put your learnings into action.
Final Supplementary Message
Just to be absolutely clear, which it ought to be from this course:
“It is a law of Divine Providence that we should act in freedom and in accord with reason.” – Emanuel Swedenborg, Divine Providence 71
Recommended Reading
Further follow up and reading recommended:
- Heaven and Hell, Emanuel Swedenborg, 1758
- Last Judgement, Emanuel Swedenborg, 1758
- Divine Love and Wisdom, Emanuel Swedenborg, 1763
- Tunnel To Eternity: Beyond Near Death, Leon Rhodes, 1997
- Life after Life, Raymond A. Moody, 1975
- Consciousness Beyond Life: the science of near death experience, Pim van Lommel, 2010