8029. From what has been mentioned several times already about a person's state after death it is clear that those who go straight to heaven when they enter the next life are few. Instead people stay for some time beneath heaven, in order that the defilements of earthly and bodily kinds of love, which they have brought with them from the world, may be wiped away, and in that way they may be prepared and enabled to be integrated among angels. This kind of experience is undergone by people belonging to all planets. That is to say, after death they are first below heaven among spirits; but subsequently, when they have undergone preparation, they become angels. I was allowed to see what happened when spirits belonging to that planet became angels. Bright horses as if of fire appeared, and these took them away in the same manner as Elijah was taken, the bright horses as if of fire serving to mean an enlightened understanding. In the Word horses mean the power of understanding, see 2760-2762, 3217, 5321, 6125, 6534; and 'the fiery horses' and 'the fiery chariots' that took Elijah away mean an understanding of the inner contents of the Word, 2761.