154 HEAVEN and HELL §288
except through a heartfelt delight when they are involved in the good of
their life, a pleasure when they hear something true that is in accord
with their good, and a gaiety of mind when they perceive the union of
the two. Still, it does fl ow into all the acts and thoughts of their life and
makes itself known as joy, even in outward form.
[ 2 ] Peace varies in quality and quantity in the heavens, though, in
proportion to the innocence of the people in any given location, because
innocence and peace walk hand in hand. For as already noted, innocence
is the source of everything good in heaven and peace is the source of all
the joy of that good. We may conclude, then, that we can say much the
same about the state of peace as has already been said about the state of
innocence in the preceding chapter, since innocence and peace are united
the way anything good and its delight are. Whatever is good is in fact
sensed by its delight, and whatever is delightful is recognized by virtue of
its goodness. This being the case, we can see that angels of the inmost or
third heaven are in the third or inmost level of peace because they are in
the third or inmost level of innocence, and that angels of the lower heav-
ens are in lesser levels of peace because they are in lesser levels of inno-
cence (see above, § 280 ).
[ 3 ] If we look at little children, we can see that innocence and peace
occur together in the same way that anything good and its delight do.
Because they are in innocence, they are at peace as well; and because they
are at peace, everything associated with them has a playful quality. How-
ever, their peace is an outward peace. Inner peace, like inner innocence,
is found only in wisdom; and since it does dwell in wisdom, it is found
in the union of the good and the true, since this is the origin of wisdom.
Heavenly or angelic peace occurs in us when we are attuned to wis-
dom because of the union of the good and the true and therefore see
ourselves as contented in God. However, as long as we are living in this
world, that peace lies hidden in our depths. Still, it is unveiled when we
leave our bodies behind and enter heaven, because then those depths are
opened.289 Since divine peace arises from the Lord’s union with heaven—and in
particular with each individual angel by virtue of the union of the true
and the good—when angels are in a state of love they are in a state of
peace, because this is when the good within them is united to what is true
(it has been explained above that angels’ states change periodically, §§ 154 –
160 ). Much the same is true of us when we are being regenerated. When a
union of the good and the true takes place within us, which happens