366 HEAVEN and HELL §598
But there is more on our freedom in the extracts from Secrets of
Heaven below.599 So that we can be in freedom for the sake of our reformation, we
are united in spirit with heaven and with hell. With each of us there are
spirits from hell and angels from heaven. By means of the spirits from
hell we encounter our evil, and by means of the angels from heaven we
encounter the good we have from the Lord. As a result, we are in a spiri-
tual equilibrium—that is, in a freedom.
On the presence with us of angels from heaven and spirits from hell,
see the chapter on the union of heaven with the human race (§§ 291 – 302 ).600 We need to be aware that our union with heaven and with hell is not
directly with them but is mediated by spirits who are in the world of spir-
its. These spirits are with us, none from hell itself or heaven itself. We are
united to hell through evil spirits in the world of spirits and with heaven
through the good spirits there. Because of this arrangement, the world of
spirits is halfway between heaven and hell and is at the point of balance.
On the location of the world of spirits halfway between heaven
and hell, see the chapter on the world of spirits (§§ 421 – 431 ); and on its
being at the point of balance between heaven and hell, see the last chap-
ter (§§ 589 – 596 ).
We can see from this where we get our freedom.
601 I need to say something else about the spirits associated with us. A
whole community can establish communication with another commu-
nity or with another individual in any location through a spirit emissary.
This spirit is called the “agent” of the group. Much the same holds true
for our union with communities in heaven and with communities in hell,
through spirits associated with us in the world of spirits. On this matter
too, see the references to Secrets of Heaven at the close of the chapter.602 One last note, about our instinct concerning life after death that
results from heaven’s infl ow into us. There were some common people
who had lived in the virtues of their faith in the world. They were brought
back into a state like the one they had in the world (which can happen to
anyone when the Lord allows it), and then shown what kind of notion
they had had about our state after death. They said that in the world,
some intelligent people had asked them what they thought about their
soul after their life in the world, and they said they did not know what
a soul was. Then the questioners asked them what they believed about
their state after death, and they said they believed they would live as spir-
its. Next they were asked what kind of belief they had about spirits, and
they said that spirits were people. Their questioners kept asking how they