Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5861

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5861. From all this it is evident that while a person lives in the world he is so far as his interiors, thus his spirit, are concerned in contact with other spirits. It is evident too that he is linked to them in such a way that he cannot think anything, or will it, unless he does so together with them, so that interiorly he is in communication with the spiritual world; and that he cannot be led by the Lord in any other way. When a person enters the next life he takes with him his lack of belief that any spirit at all is present with him, let alone one from hell. He is therefore shown, if he so wishes, the community of spirits with which he has been in contact and from which the spirits present with him had been sent out. Also, after several states which he must pass through first, he finally returns to the same community, because that community had acted in unison with the love in him which has gained control. Several times I have seen people being shown their own communities.


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