16. Many learned men from the Christian world are amazed to find themselves after death in possession of a body, of clothes and houses, as in the world. When they are reminded of what they had thought about life after death, about the soul, spirits, heaven and hell, they are embarrassed and admit that their views were foolish, and those of a simple faith were much wiser. Learned men who had become convinced of such views and ascribed the cause of everything to Nature were examined, and it was found that the interiors of their minds were closed, and the exteriors were open, so that their gaze was fixed not on heaven but on the earth, and so reached as far as hell. For the more the interiors of a person's mind are open, the more his gaze is fixed on heaven; and the more the interiors are closed and the exteriors open, the more his gaze is fixed on hell. The interiors of a person's mind are designed to receive all influences coming from heaven, and the exteriors to receive all influences from the world; and those who receive from the world and not at the same time from heaven are receiving from hell.# # In man the spiritual world is linked with the natural world (AC 6057) A person's internal is designed to be an image of heaven, his external to be an image of the world (AC 3628, 4523-4, 6057, 6314, 9706, 10156, 10472).
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