208 HEAVEN and HELL §364
f. High rank and wealth are not real blessings, so both evil and good people have them: 8939 ,
10755 , 10776. Real blessing is the acceptance of love and faith from the Lord and a consequent
union [with him], because these bring us happiness forever: 1420 , 1422 , 2846 , 3017 , 3408 [ 3406 ],
3504 , 3514 , 3530 , 3565 , 3584 , 4216 , 4981 , 8939 , 10495.Poverty can actually seduce people and lead them away from heaven
just as much as wealth can. There are many people among the poor who
are not content with their lot, who covet much more, and who believe
that wealth is a blessing;f so when they do not get what they want, they
are enraged and harbor evil thoughts about divine providence. They envy
other people their assets, and given the chance would just as soon cheat
them and live in their own foul pleasures.
It is different, though, for poor people who are content with their
lot, are conscientious and careful in their work, prefer work to idleness,
behave honestly and reliably, and lead Christian lives. I have sometimes
talked with rural and common people who had believed in God while
they lived in this world and had behaved honestly and righteously in
their jobs. Because they were impelled by a desire to know what was true,
they kept asking what thoughtfulness and faith were, since they had
heard a lot about faith in this world and were hearing a lot about thought-
fulness in the other life. So they were told that thoughtfulness is all about
living and faith is all about doctrine. This means that thoughtfulness is
intending and doing what is fair and right in every task, while faith is
thinking what is fair and right; so faith and thoughtfulness go together
like doctrine and a life according to it, or like thought and intent. Faith
becomes thoughtfulness, then, when we intend and do the fair and right
things that we think. When this happens, they are not two but one. They
understood this perfectly well and were overjoyed, saying that in the
world they had not understood believing to be any different from living.365 We may gather from this that rich people arrive in heaven just as
much as poor people do, one as easily as the other. The reason people
believe that it is easy for the poor and hard for the rich is that the Word
is misunderstood when it talks about the rich and the poor. In the spiri-
tual meaning of the Word, “the rich” means people who are amply sup-
plied with understandings of what is true and good, that is, people in the
church where the Word is. “The poor” means people who lack these
understandings but who long for them, or people outside the church,
where the Word is not found.
[ 2 ] The rich person dressed in purple and fi ne linen who was cast
into hell means the Jewish nation. Because they had the Word and were