§176 representations & appearances 93
a. All the things that are visible to angels are representations: 1971 , 3213 – 3226 , 3457 [ 3342 ], 3475 ,
3485 , 9481 , 9574 [ 9457 ], 9576 , 9577. The heavens are full of representations: 1521 , 1532 , 1619. The
representations are lovelier as one moves more deeply into the heavens: 3475. The representations
there are real appearances because they come from heaven’s light: 3485. The divine infl ow is
changed into representations in the higher heavens, and consequently in the lower heavens as well:
2179 , 3213 , 9457 , 9481 , 9576 , 9577. Things are called representations that appear to angels’ eyes in
forms like those in nature and therefore like things in our world: 9574 [ 9457 ]. Inner things change
into outer ones in this way: 1632 , 2987 – 3002. The nature of representations in heaven, illustrated
by various examples: 1521 , 1532 , 1619 – 1628 , 1807 , 1973 , 1974 , 1977 , 1980 , 1981 , 2299 , 2601 , 2761 ,
2762 , 3217 , 3219 , 3220 , 3348 , 3350 , 5198 , 9090 , 10278 [ 10276 ]. All the things that are visible in the
heavens are in accord with correspondences and are called representations: 3213 – 3226 , 3457 [ 3342 ],
3475 , 3485 , 9481 , 9574 [ 9457 ], 9576 , 9577. All the things that are responsive also portray and also
mean what they respond to: 2890 [ 2896 ], 2987 , 2971 [ 2991 ], 2989 , 2990 , 3002 , 3225.
b. “Garden” and “park” mean intelligence and wisdom: 100 , 108 , 3220. The meaning of the gar-
den of [literally, “from”] Eden and the garden of Jehovah: 99 , 100 , 1588. How magnifi cent the
paradisal things in the other life are: 1122 , 1622 , 2296 , 4528 , 4529. Trees mean the perceptions and
insights that give rise to wisdom and intelligence: 103 , 2163 , 2682 , 2722 , 2972 , 7692. Fruits mean
the good that love and thoughtfulness do: 3146 , 7690 , 9337.
even though the things that are visible to angels’ eyes in the heavens and
are perceived by their other senses appear and are sensed just as vividly as
things are for us on earth, in fact far more clearly, crisply, and percepti-
bly. The appearances that arise in heaven in this way are called real
appearances because they do actually come into being. There are also
unreal appearances, things that seem to be present but do not correspond
to deeper realities.a But more on this later.
By way of illustration, I should like to offer one instance of the way 176
things look to angels because of correspondences. To angels who are
focused on intelligence there appear gardens and parks full of all kinds of
trees and fl owers. The trees there are laid out in the loveliest designs,
joined into vaulted arches offering spaces for entrance, and with prome-
nades around them. All this is so beautiful as to defy description. People
who are focused on intelligence stroll there picking the fl owers and weav-
ing garlands to grace babies with. There are kinds of tree and fl ower there
never seen, not even possible, in our world. In the trees, too, there are
fruits in keeping with the quality of the love these intelligent angels are
absorbed in. They see such things because a garden and a park, and the
fruit trees and fl owers, correspond to intelligence and wisdom.b
It is known on earth that things like this exist in the heavens, but it is
known only to people who are engaged in what is good and who have
not extinguished heaven’s light within themselves by natural light and its
deceptiveness. When the subject is heaven, people actually think and say
that things are there that ear has never heard, nor eye seen.