§532 not hard to reach heaven 319
play the hypocrite in their worship. In their private thinking they scoff
at the holy rites of the church, believing that they serve only to restrain
the simple masses. [ 2 ] This is why they are wholly cut off from heaven.
So since they are not spiritual, they are not moral or civil people either;
for even though they do not kill, they hate everyone who gets in their
way and burn with vengefulness because of their hatred. So if they were
not bound by civil laws and the outward restraints exercised by their
fears, they would kill. Because this is what they crave, it follows that they
are constantly killing. Even though they do not commit adultery, still
because they believe there is nothing wrong with it they are constantly
adulterous, and actually do commit it as much as they can and as often as
they have the opportunity. Even though they do not steal, still since they
do covet other people’s assets and regard cheating and malicious devices
as legally justifi able, they are constantly stealing in their minds. The same
applies to the other commandments of moral life—not bearing false
witness or coveting the goods of others. All who deny the Divine are
like this, all who do not have some conscience based on religion. Their
nature shows obviously in similar people in the other life when they are
let into their inner nature after their outer nature has been stripped away.
Since they are separated from heaven at that point, they act in unison
with hell; so they keep company with the people who live there.
[ 3 ] It is different for people who at heart have acknowledged the
Deity and have attended to divine laws in the deeds of their lives, liv-
ing both by the fi rst three commandments of the Decalogue and by the
others as well. When they are let into their inner nature, after their outer
nature is stripped away, they are wiser than they were in the world. Com-
ing into their inner natures is like coming from darkness into light, from
ignorance into wisdom, from a sad life into a blissful one, because they
are in the Divine and therefore in heaven.
I have mentioned this to let it be known what each kind of person is
like, though both may lead the same kind of outward life.
Anyone may recognize that thoughts tend to follow where inten- 532
tions lead, or to go where we aim them. Thought is actually our inner
sight and behaves like our outward sight. It turns and dwells where it is
directed and aimed. If our inner sight or thought is turned toward the
world and dwells there, the result is that our thought becomes worldly. If
it is turned toward self and our prestige, it becomes materialistic. How-
ever, if it is turned toward heaven, it becomes heavenly. So if it is turned
toward heaven, it is raised up; if it is turned toward self, it is pulled away
from heaven and immersed in the physical; if it is turned toward the