§143 the four quarters 79
a. The east in the highest sense is the Lord, because he is heaven’s sun, which is always rising and
never setting: 101 , 5097 , 9668.
b. All the people in heaven turn toward the Lord: 9828 , 10130 , 10189 , 10219. Still, angels do not
turn themselves toward the Lord; rather, the Lord turns them toward himself: 10189. There is no
presence of angels with the Lord, but there is a presence of the Lord with angels: 9415.
However, there are major differences. The fi rst is that in our world we
call “south” the direction in which the sun reaches its greatest height
above the earth, and “north” where it is below the earth, in the opposite
direction. East is where the sun rises at the equinoxes, and west is where
it sets at that time. So on earth, all the directions are determined on the
basis of the south. In heaven, though, they call “east” where the Lord is
seen as the sun. West is in the opposite direction, south in heaven on the
right, and north on the left. This holds true wherever people turn their
faces and their bodies. So in heaven, all the directions are determined on
the basis of the east.
The reason they give the name “east” to the direction in which the
Lord is seen as the sun is that the whole source of life is from him as the
sun. Further, to the extent that warmth and light, or intelligence and
wisdom from him, are accepted among angels, they say that the Lord
has risen among them. This is also why the Lord is called the east in
the Word.a
A second difference is that for angels, the east is always in front of 142
them, the west behind them, south on the right, and north on the left.
However, since this is hard to understand in this world, because we turn
our faces in all different directions, it needs to be explained.
All heaven turns toward the Lord as its common center, so all angels
turn in the same direction. It is recognized that everything points to a
common center on earth as well, but the orientation in heaven is differ-
ent from that on earth. In heaven, it is the forward parts that are turned
toward the common center, while on earth it is the lower parts. This
orientation in our world is what we call centripetal, and also gravita-
tional. The deeper levels of angels are effectively turned forward; and
since these deeper levels manifest themselves in the face, it is the face that
determines the orientation.b
But that east is always in front of angels no matter which way they 143
turn their faces and bodies—this is even harder to understand in our
world, since for us, the direction that is in front of us depends on which
way we are facing; so this too needs to be explained.
Angels turn and direct their faces and bodies in any direction just as
we do, but still, the east is always before their eyes. The way angels turn