88 HEAVEN and HELL §160
160 When angels are in this last state, which is when they are involved in
their sense of self, they begin to feel depressed. I have talked with them
when they were in this state and witnessed their depression. They kept
saying, though, that they lived in hope that they would soon return to
their earlier state and be in heaven again, so to speak, since heaven for
them is being kept free from their sense of self.
161 There are also changes of state in the hells, but these will be described
later, when I deal with hell.Time in Heaven
162
E
VEN though things keep happening in sequence and progressing in
heaven the way they do in the world, still angels have no notion or
concept of time and space. The lack is so complete that they simply do
not know what time and space are. Here we will discuss time in heaven,
leaving space to be discussed in its own chapter.163 The reason angels do not know what time is (even though everything
for them moves along in sequence just the way it does in our world, so
much so that there is no difference) is that in heaven there are no years or
days, but only changes of state. Where there are years and days there are
times, and where there are changes of state, there are states.164 The reason we have times in our world is that the sun seems to move
sequentially from one zone to another and to make the times we call the
seasons of the year. It also moves around the earth and makes the times
we call times of day, and it does these by fi xed periods.
It is different for heaven’s sun. It does not make years and days by
sequential motions and rotations, but makes apparent changes of state;
and it does not make these by fi xed periods, as explained in the preced-
ing chapter. This is why angels are incapable of having any concept of
time, but have a concept of state instead. What “state” is may be seen
above in § 154.
165 Since angels have no concept derived from time, as we in our world
do, they have no concept of time or of the things that depend on time.