54. It can in no sense be said that heaven is outside of any one; it is within him. For it is in accordance with the heaven that is within him that each angel receives the heaven that is outside of him. This makes clear how greatly misled is he who believes that to come into heaven is simply to be taken up among angels, without regard to what one's interior life may be, thus that heaven is granted to each one by mercy apart from means;# when, in fact, unless heaven is within one, nothing of the heaven that is outside can flow in and be received There are many spirits who have this idea. Because of this belief they have been taken up into heaven; but when they came there, because their interior life was contrary to the angelic life, their intellectual faculties began to be blinded until they became like fools; and they began to be tortured in their voluntary faculties until they became like madmen. In a word, if those that have lived wickedly come into heaven they gasp for breath and writhe about, like fishes out of water in the air, or like animals in ether in an airpump when the air has been exhausted. From this it can be seen that heaven is not outside of a man, but within him.## # Heaven is not granted from mercy apart from means, but in accordance with the life; yet everything of the life by which man is led to heaven by the Lord belongs to mercy; this is what is meant by mercy (n. 5057, 10659). If heaven were granted from mercy apart from means it would be granted to all (n. 2401). About some evil spirits cast down from heaven who believed that heaven was granted to everyone from mercy apart from means (n. 4226). ## Heaven is in man (n. 3884).