5174. It is well known that food in the stomach is subjected to many processes which harry it so that its essential nourishment - which goes on to perform some useful purpose, that is, which passes into the chyle and then into the blood - may be extracted from it, after which it undergoes further processing in the intestines. Harryings of this kind are represented by the initial harryings that spirits undergo - every one of which is determined by the lives they led in the world - so that evils may be separated and the forms of good which have some useful purpose to perform may be gathered together. So far as souls or spirits are concerned therefore, it may be said that a little while after their departure or release from the body they come first so to speak into the region of the stomach where they are harried and purified. After those with whom evils have gained predominance have been harried to no avail they are conveyed through the stomach into the intestines, right on to the end of them - to the colon and the rectum. From there they are excreted into the latrine, which is hell. But those with whom forms of good have gained predominance are converted, after several experiences involving harrying and purification, into chyle and pass on into the blood, some by a longer route, others by a shorter one. Some are subjected to harsh harrying experiences, others to mild ones, and some to scarcely any whatever. Those subjected to scarcely any are represented in the food-juices that are absorbed instantly through the veins into the bloodstream, even into the brain, and so on.