262 HEAVEN and HELL §457
d. Our faces are formed to be responsive to our inner natures: 4791 – 4805 , 5695. On the corre-
spondence of our faces and their expressions with the affections of our minds: 1568 , 2988 , 2989 ,
3631 , 4796 , 4797 , 4800 , 5165 , 5168 , 5695 , 9306. For heaven’s angels, the face forms a single whole
with the deeper levels of the mind: 4796 , 4797 , 4798 , 4799 , 5695 , 8250. So in the Word, “the
face” means the deeper levels of the mind, or of affection and thought: 1999 , 2434 , 3527 , 4066 ,
4796 , 5102 , 9306 , 9546. How the infl ow from the brains into the face changed in the course of
time, and with it the face itself in regard to its responsiveness to our deeper natures: 4326 , 8250.457 When we first enter the world of spirits (which happens shortly after
the reawakening just described), our spirit has a similar face and tone
of voice as it did in the world. This is because at that point we are in
the state of our external concerns, and our deeper concerns have not
yet been uncovered. This is our initial state after decease. Later, though,
our face changes and becomes quite different. It comes to look like the
ruling affection in which the deeper reaches of our minds were engaged
in the world, the kind of affection characteristic of the spirit within our
body, because the face of our spirit is very different from the face of our
body. We get our physical face from our parents and our spiritual face
from our affection, which it images. Our spirit takes on this face after
our physical life is over, when the outer coverings have been removed.
This is our third state.
I have seen some newcomers from the world and have recognized
them by their faces and voices; but when I saw them later, I did not
recognize them. People who were engaged in good affections had lovely
faces, while people who were engaged in evil affections had ugly ones.
Seen in its own right, our spirit is nothing but our affections, whose out-
ward form is our face.
The reason our faces change is that in the other life no one is allowed
to pretend to affections they do not really have, so we cannot put on a
face that is contrary to the love we are engaged in. We are all refi ned
down to a state in which we say what we think and manifest in expres-
sion and act what we intend. This is why our faces all become forms and
images of our affections; and this is why all the people who have known
each other in the world still recognize each other in the world of spirits,
but not in heaven or hell, as already noted (§ 427 ).d
458 The faces of hypocrites change more slowly than those of other peo-
ple, because by constant practice they have formed the habit of arrang-
ing their inner minds into a counterfeit of good affections. So for a long
time they look fairly attractive. However, since this false front is gradually