1. The Lord is heaven because it is the spiritual sphere of the Lord’s love and wisdom.
2. Angels, who receive the Lord’s love and wisdom, constitute heaven.
3. This sphere is the marriage of good and truth.
4. A person is in heaven to the extent that heaven is in her/him.
5. The three qualities of heaven are innocence, peace and joy.
6. Heaven has three discrete degrees: celestial, spiritual and natural.
7. Celestial angels inhabit the celestial heaven and are ruled by love to the Lord. Spiritual angels inhabit the spiritual heaven and are ruled by love to the neighbor. Natural angels inhabit the natural heaven and are ruled by the love of obedience.
8. In each degree of heaven there are innumerable societies, one for each form of a ruling love.
9. Heaven also has two kingdoms: celestial (where angels are primarily motivated by goodness in the pursuit of truth) and spiritual (where angels are primarily motivated by truth in the pursuit of goodness).
10. The Lord’s natural kingdom is the church on earth, and this acts as the foundation for the two heavenly kingdoms. The church is the marriage of good and truth in people on earth. And so, a person is in the Lord’s church to the extent that the church is in him/her.
11. The Lord’s church has two parts: special church and universal church.
The special church exists with those who possess, love, and follow the Word in its fullness. There is one special church.
The universal church exists with all who have religion outside the special church and who worship one God and live the life of charity as taught by those religions.
12. There have been five different special churches, one at a time:
a. The Most Ancient Church with nature and direct instruction from angels as its revelation. It existed throughout the world.
b. The Ancient Church, which had a lost revelation called the Ancient Word. It existed in the Near East and beyond.
c. The Israelitish Church with the Old Testament. It existed in Palestine.
d. The Christian Church with the New Testament and the Old Testament. It exists in much of the world
e. The New Church with the Heavenly Doctrines, as well as with the Old and New Testaments. It will exist throughout the world.
13. Hell is the opposite of heaven and is in constant opposition to it and to the Lord.
14. Hell, like heaven, has three discrete degrees with evil spirits in them:
a. The diabolical hell is the opposite of the celestial heaven. In it, the love of self rules in evil spirits called devils.
b. The satanic hell is the opposite of the spiritual heaven. In it, love of the world rules in evil spirits called satans.
c. The highest hell is unnamed and there the love of disobedience rules. The evil spirits there are also unnamed.
15. The two kingdoms of hell are diabolical (where evil spirits are motivated by evil in the pursuit of falsities) and satanic (where evil spirits are motivated by falsities in the pursuit of evil). They are founded on a natural kingdom of people on earth who totally reject the Lord and live the life of evil.
16. While love and wisdom permeate heaven, hatred and foolishness permeate hell.
17. In between heaven and hell is the world of spirits, a realm inhabited by spirits who are not yet angels or evil spirits. They are unregenerate, not yet regenerate or degenerate.
18. Spirits on their way to heaven are referred to as angelic spirits. Spirits on their way to hell are infernal spirits. Spirits who have not begun their journey are simply called spirits.
19. The spirits of all people on earth who have not yet regenerated or degenerated are in the world of spirits, where they will stay until their spiritual journey is over. No one stays in the world of spirits longer than a few years after their death.
20. When a person dies, his/her spirit awakens to a full life in the spiritual world, in the realm where his/her spirit already resides because of the choices he/she has made on earth. This usually happens in the world of spirits because most people do not finish their journeys while on earth. But a person on earth might be in heaven or in hell as to her/his spirit.
21. The Lord is conjoined with the angels of heaven, He is absent from the evil spirits of hell, and He is present with the spirits of the world of spirits.
22. When the Lord first created the spiritual world He created only the celestial heaven, for all those of the pure Most Ancient Church went there. When the human race fell and rejected the Lord, He created the diabolical hell and the world of spirits to accommodate to the choices humans had. When the last judgment occurred on the Most Ancient Church, the realms were fixed and the following were open: the spiritual heaven and the satanic hell, for these are where most of those from the time of the Ancient Church went. When the Ancient Church and the Israelitish Churches had their last judgments at the same time with the Lord’s advent and glorification, the spiritual heaven and the satanic hell were fixed, and the Lord opened up the natural heaven and the highest hell. These were fixed when the last judgment occurred on the Christian Church when the Lord made His second coming by means of the Heavenly Doctrines.
23. The whole spiritual world with its three realms is made up of spiritual substance, spiritual essence and spiritual form, and all things of that world operate according to spiritual laws of order.
24. Spiritual substance exists in the three states as on earth: gas, liquid and solid.
25. The spiritual world for the most part looks like earth, but with greater variety of forms, colors, etc.
26. There are objects of the mineral kingdom, plants of the vegetable kingdom and animals of the animal kingdom, as well as people/spirits.
27. All objects, plants and animals, as well as the climate, dwellings, etc., are constantly created by the Lord in perfect correspondential relationship to a spirit’s affections arising from her/his loves and her/his thoughts arising from her/his wisdom.
28. Heaven and the things of heaven are in perfect order, and so are very beautiful. Hell and the things of hell are in perverted order, and so are ugly. The world of spirits and its things look very much like earth.
29. The first of creation is the spiritual sun, which is the sun of the spiritual world.
In heaven it shines very brightly (truths of wisdom) and is very warm (goods of love) because these are received from the Lord by the angels.
In hell it does not shine because the evil spirits reject the Lord’s love and wisdom.
In the world of spirits it shines very much like on earth because there the spirits receive some of the Lord’s love and wisdom.
