203. Since the interior regions in a person, which are those of his will and intellect, are like the heavens in their degrees-because a person is, in respect to the interior elements which are those of his mind, a heaven in miniature form-therefore the perfections of these are also like those of the heavens. These perfections, however, are not apparent to any person as long as he lives in the world, for he is then in the lowest degree; and from the lowest degree one cannot discern the higher degrees. But after death they are discerned, for the person then comes into the degree which corresponds to his love and wisdom. For he then becomes an angel, thinking and saying things inexpressible to his natural self. Indeed, he then experiences an elevation of all his mental faculties not in a simple progression, but in a threefold progression. This latter progression has in it degrees of height, while the first has in it degrees of breadth. No others, however, ascend and are elevated into these degrees but people who in the world have been governed by truths and have applied them to life.