142 HEAVEN and HELL §270
[ 3 ] In contrast, angels of the fi rst or outmost heaven do not have
divine truths engraved on their inner natures in this way because for them
only the fi rst level of life has been opened. So they do try to fi gure things
out, and people who are calculating in this way see little more than the
subject they are puzzling over. They do not go beyond that subject except
to fi nd support for their conclusions, and once they have decided, they
say that these should be matters of faith and are to be believed.
[ 4 ] I have talked about this with angels, who have told me that the
difference between the wisdom of angels of the third heaven and the wis-
dom of angels of the fi rst heaven is like the difference between something
bright and something dark. Or again, they have compared the wisdom of
angels of the third heaven to a palace full of everything useful, sur-
rounded far and wide by parklands, with all sorts of splendid things
beyond. Since these angels enjoy truths of wisdom, they can enter the
palace and see everything there. They can stroll anywhere in the parks
and enjoy whatever they see. It is different for people who are trying to
fi gure things out, though, and even more so for people who argue about
them. These individuals do not see truths in the light of truth, but adopt
them either from other people or from the literal meaning of the Word,
which they do not understand in depth. So they say that truths must be
believed or that people must have faith in things—things that they then
do not want anyone looking into very deeply. The angels kept saying
that these people could not get to the fi rst threshold of the palace, much
less enter it and stroll around in its parks, because they are stuck at the
fi rst step. It is different for people who are engaged in actual truths.
Nothing keeps them from moving ahead without limit; for once truths
have been seen they lead on wherever they are headed, even into spacious
meadows, because every truth has an infi nite outreach and is united to
many, many others.
[ 5 ] They also said that the wisdom of angels of the inmost heaven con-
sists primarily of their seeing divine and heavenly things in individual
objects and wonders in series of objects, for everything that appears to
their eyes has a correspondence. When they see palaces and gardens, for
instance, their insight does not dwell on the things in front of their eyes
but sees the deeper things they stem from, the things, that is, to which
they correspond. This goes on with constant variety in keeping with the
appearance of the objects; so at any given time there are countless things in
a pattern and a connectedness so delightful to their minds that they seem
to be transported. (Everything that is visible in the heavens corresponds to
something divine that is from the Lord in angels, see §§ 170 – 176 .)