80 HEAVEN and HELL §143
c. All the people in the spiritual world turn toward what they love, and the directions there have
their source and defi nition on the basis of the face: 10130 , 10189 , 10420 , 10702. The face is formed
to correspond to the deeper levels: 4791 – 4805 , 5695. So the deeper levels shine forth from the face:
3527 , 4066 , 4796. For angels, the face is united to the deeper levels: 4796 , 4797 , 4799 , 5695 , 8250.
On the infl ow of the deeper levels into the face and its muscles: 3631 , 4800.is not the way we turn, since it comes from a different origin. The two
modes of turning look the same, but they are not. The origin [for angels]
is a ruling love. It is the basis of all delimitation for angels and spirits; for,
as noted just above, their deeper levels are actually turned toward their
common center. So in heaven they are turned toward the Lord as the
sun; and since love is constantly in front of their deeper levels, and their
faces are manifestations of these levels (being their outward form), the
love that is predominant is always in front of their faces. In heaven, then,
this is the Lord as the sun, since he is the source of all their love.c Fur-
ther, since the Lord himself is in his love among the angels, it is the Lord
who causes them to be looking at him wherever they turn. These matters
cannot be further clarifi ed here, but they will be in subsequent chapters.
In particular, where we deal with representations and appearances and
with time and space in heaven, they will be presented to understanding
more plainly.
As for angels having the Lord constantly in front of them, this I have
been granted to know through a great deal of experience. Sometimes
when I have been in the company of angels, I have noticed the Lord’s
presence before my own face: even though I did not see him, I could tell
he was there because of the light. Angels have often borne witness to the
truth of this as well.
Since the Lord is constantly in front of angels, we say in our world
that they have God before their eyes and faces, that people who believe
in him and love him look to him and see him. Expressions like this come
to us from the spiritual world, for this is the source of many of our
expressions, though we are unaware that they come from there.144 This kind of turning toward the Lord is one of heaven’s wonders, for
many individuals can be together in one place, turning faces and bodies
toward each other, and yet all of them will have the Lord in front of
them, and each will have the south on the right, the north on the left,
and the west behind.
Another extraordinary fact is that even though angels are completely
oriented toward the east, they still have an orientation to the other three
directions. This orientation, though, involves their more inward sight,
which is a function of their thinking.