26 HEAVEN and HELL §47
e. A spiritual aura, which is an aura of life, fl ows out from every person, every spirit, and every
angel, and surrounds them: 4464 , 5179 , 7454 , 8630. It fl ows out from the life of their affection
and thought: 2489 , 4464 , 6206. In angelic communities, the outreach of these auras is propor-
tional to the quality and intensity of their love: 6598 – 6613 [ 6598 – 6612 ], 8063 , 8794 , 8797.as a basis, and that everything else was simply derivations and elabora-
tions from it. In this way, too, I was shown the affections of the whole
community that occasioned the differences in the faces of its members,
for as already noted, the faces of angels are their deeper qualities taking
form, which means they are forms of the affections proper to their love
and faith.48 This is also why an angel of outstanding wisdom sees the quality of
others instantly, from their faces. In heaven, no one can conceal inner
character by facial expression and pretend, much less lie and deceive oth-
ers by guile and hypocrisy.
It does sometimes happen that hypocrites steal into [heavenly] com-
munities, hypocrites trained in hiding their inner nature and arranging
their outward appearance in the benevolent form they present in public,
thereby misleading angels of light. However, they cannot stay around
very long. They begin to feel inner discomfort and torment, their faces
start to turn blue, and they almost faint—changes caused by their oppo-
sition to the life that is fl owing in and affecting them. So they promptly
cast themselves back into the hell of people like themselves and no longer
dare to climb up again. These are the people meant by the man who was
discovered among the dinner guests without a wedding garment and was
thrown out into outer darkness (Matthew 22 : 11 [– 14 ]).
49 All the communities communicate with each other, but not through
open interaction. Actually, not many individuals leave their own com-
munity to go to another, because leaving their community is like leaving
themselves or their life and crossing over into another that does not suit
them. Rather, they all communicate by the outreach of the auras that
emanate from the life of every individual. An aura of life is an aura of
affections based in love and faith. This reaches out far and wide into sur-
rounding communities, farther and wider as the affections are deeper
and more perfect.e Angels possess intelligence and wisdom in proportion
to this outreach. The ones who are in the most inward heaven and there-
fore at the center have an outreach into all of heaven, so that there is a
communication of everyone in heaven with each individual and of each