§478 our nature after death 279
c. Deeper things fl ow sequentially into more outward ones and ultimately into what is outmost
or fi nal, which is where they fi nd presence and permanence: 634 , 6239 , 6465 , 9216 , 9217 [ 9215 ].
They not only fl ow in, they form a simultaneous whole on that outmost level, in a particular
design: 5897 , 6451 , 8603 , 10099. This is why all our deeper elements are held in connection and
are stable: 9828. Deeds or works are the fi nal forms in which our deeper elements exist: 10331 ; so
being repaid and judged according to our works is [being repaid and judged] according to every-
thing that pertains to our love and faith or our intentions and thought, since these are the deeper
realities within our works: 3147 , 3934 , 6073 , 8911 , 10331 , 10333.
intent (see above, § 463 ). In a word, everything of our character and our
spirit is [embodied] in our works or deeds.c
We may gather from this what is meant by the life that stays with us 476
after death. It is actually our love and our consequent faith, not only in
theory but in act as well. So it is our deeds or works because these con-
tain within themselves our whole love and faith.
There is a dominant love that remains with each of us after death 477
and never changes to eternity. We all have many loves, but they all go
back to our dominant love and form a single whole with it, or compose
it in the aggregate. All the elements of our volition that agree with our
dominant love are called loves because they are loved. There are deeper
and more superfi cial loves, loves that are directly united and loves that
are indirectly united; there are closer and more distant ones; there are
loves that serve in various ways. Taken all together they make a kind of
kingdom. They are actually arranged in this way within us even though
we are utterly unaware of their arrangement. However, the arrange-
ment becomes visible to some extent in the other life because the out-
reach of our thoughts and affections there depends on it. The outreach is
into heavenly communities if our dominant love is made up of loves of
heaven, but it is into hellish communities if our dominant love is made
up of loves of hell.
On the outreach into communities of all the thought and affection
of spirits and angels, see the previous chapters on the wisdom of heaven’s
angels and on heaven’s form, which determines its gatherings and com-
munications [§§ 265 – 275 , 200 – 212 ].
What I have said so far, though, is addressed only to our rational 478
thought. In order to present the matter to sensory observation, I should
like to add some experiences that may serve to illustrate and support the
claims that fi rst, we are our love or intention after death; second, we remain
the same forever in regard to our volition or dominant love; third, we come
into heaven if our love is heavenly and spiritual, and into hell if our love