236 HEAVEN and HELL §413
affections that do not come through to consciousness individually, only
vaguely, because the consciousness is so very general. It was still possible to
perceive that there were countless elements within it, so beautifully arranged
as to defy description. The qualities of those countless elements fl ow from
the very design of heaven; and this kind of design is resident in the very least
affections, affections that are manifest and perceived only as a very general
unity, depending on the perceptive ability of the subject. In a word, there
are infi nite elements in a most intricate form in every general entity, and
there is nothing that is not alive and does not affect everything even at the
very center, since heavenly joys emanate from the very center.
I have also noticed that heavenly joy and delight seemed to be com-
ing from my heart, spreading very subtly through all my inner fi bers and
from there into the gatherings of fi bers with such a profound sense of
pleasure that my fi bers seemed to be nothing but joy and delight, and
everything I perceived and felt was alive with bliss. Next to these joys, the
joy of physical pleasures is like crude and irritating dust compared to a
pure and gentle breeze.
I noticed that when I wanted to convey all my pleasure to someone
else, a deeper and fuller pleasure fl owed in ceaselessly in its place. The
more I wanted to convey it, the more it fl owed in; and I perceived that
this was from the Lord.414 People in heaven are continually progressing toward the springtime
of life. The more thousands of years they live, the more pleasant and
happy is their springtime. This continues forever, increasing according to
the growth and level of their love, thoughtfulness, and faith.
As the years pass, elderly women who have died of old age—women
who have lived in faith in the Lord, thoughtfulness toward their neigh-
bor, and in contented marriage love with their husbands—come more
and more into the fl ower of growing youth and into a beauty that sur-
passes any notion of beauty accessible to our sight. Their goodness and
thoughtfulness is what gives them their form and gives them its own like-
ness, making the pleasure and beauty of thoughtfulness radiate from
every least corner of their faces so that they become actual forms of
thoughtfulness. Some people have seen them and have been stunned.
The form of thoughtfulness that is open to view in heaven is like this
because it is thoughtfulness itself that both gives and is given visible form.
In fact, it does this in such a way that the whole angel, especially her face,
is virtually thoughtfulness itself appearing to open perception. When
people look at this form, its beauty is unutterable, affecting the very
inmost life of the mind with thoughtfulness. In a word, to grow old in