308 HEAVEN and HELL §514
west, and in breadth from south to north; but the breadth seems to be less
than the length.
The general arrangement is like this. Toward the front are people
who died in childhood and were educated in heaven up to the age of
early adolescence. After having spent their infancy with women educa-
tors, they are brought to this location by the Lord and taught.
Behind them are the places where people are taught who died as
adults and who in the world were drawn to truth because of the goodness
of their lives.
Behind these again are people who were devoted to Islam and had led a
moral life in the world, acknowledged one God, and recognized the Lord as
the essential prophet. When they let go of Muhammad because he cannot
do anything for them, they turn to the Lord and worship him, recognizing
his divine nature; and then they receive instruction in the Christian religion.
Behind these, and farther to the north, there are sites for the instruc-
tion of various non-Christian people who in the world lived good lives in
accord with their own religion, acquired a kind of conscience, and behaved
fairly and honestly not because of the laws of their nation but because of
the laws of their religion, believing these laws to be holy and not to be vio-
lated by their actions in any way. All of them are readily led to recognize
the Lord when they have been taught, because at heart they have held that
God is not invisible but visible in human form. There are more of these
than of any other kind, and the best of them are from Africa.515 Not everyone is taught in the same way or by the same communi-
ties of heaven. People who have been raised in heaven from infancy are
taught by angels of the inner heavens because they have not absorbed
false notions from distortions of religion or befouled their spiritual life
with impurities drawn from rank and wealth in the world.
Most people who have died as adults are taught by angels of the out-
most heaven because these angels are better adapted to them than are
angels of the more inward heavens. These latter focus on a deeper wis-
dom that the deceased cannot yet accept.
Muslims, though, are taught by angels who once adhered to that
religion but have turned to Christianity. Other non-Christians too are
taught by their own angels.516 All the teaching there is from doctrine drawn from the Word, and
not from the Word apart from doctrine. Christians are taught on the
basis of a heavenly doctrine that is in complete agreement with the inner
meaning of the Word. The others, like the Muslims and non-Christians,
are taught on the basis of doctrines suited to their grasp. These differ