92 HEAVEN and HELL §171
We may conclude that there are things like this in the heavens
because of what the prophets saw—for example, what Ezekiel saw of the
new temple and the new earth as described in chapters 40 to 48 [of his
book], what Daniel describes in his chapters 7 – 12 , what John saw as
described from the fi rst through the last chapter of Revelation, along
with other visions presented in both the historical and the prophetic
books of the Word. They saw things like this when heaven was opened
to them, and heaven is said to be opened when our inner sight, the sight
of our spirit, is opened. For the things that exist in heaven cannot be seen
with our physical eyes, but only with the eyes of our spirit; and when it
pleases the Lord, these are opened. At such times we are led out of the
natural light that our physical senses are in and raised into the spiritual
light in which we dwell because of our spirit. This is the light in which I
have seen the things that exist in the heavens.172 But even though the things that are seen in the heavens are largely
similar to things on earth, they are not alike in essence. The things that
exist in the heavens come from heaven’s sun, while earthly things come
from our world’s sun. Things that arise from heaven’s sun are called spir-
itual, while things that arise from our world’s sun are called natural.173 Things that arise in the heavens do not arise in the same way as things
on earth. In the heavens, everything comes into being from the Lord in
response to the deeper natures of the angels. Angels do in fact have more
inward and more outward natures. Everything that is deeper within them
has to do with love and faith, and therefore with their intending and dis-
cernment, since their intending and discernment are the vehicles of their
love and faith. Their more outward natures, though, are perfectly respon-
sive to their inner natures (on the responsiveness of their outward natures
to their more inward ones, see §§ 87 – 115 above). This can be illustrated
by what we have said above about heaven’s warmth and light, that angels
have warmth in keeping with the quality of their love, and light in keep-
ing with the quality of their wisdom (see §§ 128 – 134 ). The same holds
true for the other things that impinge on angels’ senses.174 When I have been allowed to be in the company of angels, I have
seen what was there exactly the way I see things in our world, so percep-
tibly that I did not know I was not in our world and in the court of some
king here. I have also talked with angels just as one person here talks to
another.
175 Since all the things that are responsive to angels’ deeper natures also
portray them, they are called representations. Since they vary depending
on the states of the deeper natures for angels, they are called appearances,