§171 representations & appearances 91
c. Unlike angels, we do not think without some concept of time: 3404.
in hope or expectation. As a result, scholars are asking what time and
space are, and some of them even recognize that time is an attribute of
the natural person.
A natural person may believe that we would have no thought if con- 169
cepts of time, space, and matter were taken away from us, that all our
thought is based on these foundations.c Let such people know, though,
that thoughts are limited and constrained to the extent that they derive
from time, space, and matter, and that they are freed and expanded to
the extent that they do not derive from such things, because to that same
extent the mind is raised above bodily and worldly considerations. This
is the source of angels’ wisdom, which is so great that we must call it
incomprehensible, since it does not fi t into ideas that are formed merely
from these [lower] concerns.
Representations and Appearances in Heaven
170
A
NYONE who thinks solely from natural light cannot understand
that anything in heaven is like anything in our world. This is becausesuch people, on the basis of this light, have both thought and decided
that angels are nothing but minds, and that minds are like ethereal breath.
This would mean that angels did not have the senses we do, so they
would not have eyes; and if they did not have eyes there would be no
objects [of sight]. However, angels do have all the senses we do—far more
delicate ones, in fact—and the light in which they see is far brighter than
the light in which we see.
On angels being people in a most perfect form with the use of all
their senses, see §§ 73 – 77 above; and on light in heaven being far brighter
than the light in our world, see §§ 126 – 132.
There is no way to describe briefl y how things look to angels in the 171
heavens. To a considerable extent, they look like the things we see on
earth, but they are more perfect in form and also more abundant.