§455 after death we are human 259
This is the source of our ability to accept intelligence and wisdom. It makes
no difference whether you talk about our ability to accept intelligence and
wisdom or our ability to accept heaven, as you may gather from what has
been presented concerning heaven’s light and warmth (§§ 126 – 140 ), heav-
en’s form (§§ 200 – 212 ), angels’ wisdom (§§ 265 – 275 ), and from the chapter
titled “The Whole Heaven, Grasped as a Single Entity, Refl ects a Single
Individual” (§§ 59 – 77 ). This is caused by the Lord’s divine human nature,
which is the source of heaven and its form (§§ 78 – 86 ).
Rational individuals can understand what has been said so far because 455
they can see this from the chain of causes and from truths in their pattern.
However, people who are not rational do not understand these things.
There are several reasons why they do not understand. The primary one
is that they do not want to understand because these things contradict
the false opinions that they have made their truths. People who do not
want to understand for this reason close off the path of heaven into their
rational ability. Even so, it can still be opened if only their will does not
offer resistance (see above, § 424 ). A great deal of experience has shown
me that people can understand what is true and be rational if only they
are willing. Quite often, evil spirits who have become irrational by deny-
ing the Divine and the truths of the church in this world (and convincing
themselves in their denial) have by divine compulsion been faced toward
people who were in the light of truth. Then they understood everything
like angels and admitted that they were true and that they understood
everything. However, the moment they turned back toward the love
proper to their own intentions, they did not understand anything and
said just the opposite. [ 2 ] I have even heard some hellish people say-
ing that they knew and recognized that what they were doing was evil
and what they were thinking was false, but that they could not resist the
gratifi cation of their love and therefore of their will. This moved their
thoughts to see evil as good and falsity as true. I could see from this that
people who are immersed in false notions because of their malice could
understand and could therefore be rational, but that they did not want
to. The reason they did not want to was that they loved false notions
more than true ones because the former supported the evil pursuits they
were engaged in. Loving and intending are the same thing, because we
love what we intend and intend what we love.
[ 3 ] Since we are by nature able to understand what is true if we are
willing to, I have been granted the privilege of supporting spiritual truths,
truths of the church and heaven, by rational considerations. This is to the
end that the false notions that have obscured the rational functioning of