Heaven and Its Wonders and Hell: Drawn from Things Heard and Seen

«When people understand these words according to their literal meaning, they can only believe that all these things are going to happen just as this meaning describes them, at that end of time called the Last Judgment» — Swedenborg abre el §1, su prefacio de autor, objetando la lectura literal de Mateo 24:29 a 31: entendidas así, esas palabras solo pueden creerse como sucesos del fin del tiempo.

«The sun that will be darkened means the Lord in respect to love,e the moon means the Lord in respect to faith.f The stars mean insights into what is good and true, or into love and faith.g The sign of the Human-born One in heaven means the appearing of divine truth. The wailing tribes of earth mean all the elements of what is true and good, or of faith and love.h The Lord’s coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory means his presence in the Word, and revelation.i The clouds refer to the literal meaning of the Wordj and the glory to the Word’s inner meaning.k The angels with a trumpet and a loud voice mean heaven, which is where divine truth comes from» — §1: la traducción, término por término, del pasaje de Mateo al sentido interno, que es la muestra con que el libro exhibe su método de correspondencias; las letras voladitas de las notas del propio autor quedan dentro del tramo porque son letra de la fuente.

«They mean that at the end of the church, when there is no longer any love and therefore no longer any faith, the Lord will open the Word by disclosing its deeper meaning and will reveal the heavenly contents hidden12 within it. The particular hidden contents to be disclosed in the pages that follow have to do with heaven and hell and with our own life after death» — §1: el resultado de esa lectura y el anuncio del asunto del libro, el cielo, el infierno y la vida después de la muerte.

«Church people these days13 know practically nothing about heaven and hell or their life after death, even though there are descriptions of everything available to them in the Word. In fact, many who have been born in the church deny all this. In their hearts they are asking who has ever come back to tell us about it» — §1: el diagnóstico con que el libro justifica su necesidad, y la objeción que pone en boca de los que niegan; la llamada de nota va pegada a la palabra en el troceo y se conserva.

«The reason this kind of direct revelation is taking place today is that this is what the Coming of the Lord means» — §1: el cierre del prefacio, donde Swedenborg identifica su propia revelación con lo que las profecías llaman la venida del Señor.

«FIRST and foremost, we need to know who the God of heaven is, since everything else depends on this. Throughout the whole of heaven, no one is acknowledged as God of heaven except the Lord» — §2: la primera tesis del cuerpo, de la que el libro hace depender todo lo demás.

«I have often talked with angels about this, and their consistent testimony has been that in heaven they cannot divide the Divine17 into three because they both know and perceive that the Divine is one and that this “one” is in the Lord» — §2: el argumento contra la división del Divino en tres, apoyado en el testimonio de los ángeles, que es la forma de prueba característica del libro.

«In heaven people actually speak directly from their thought, so that we have there a kind of thoughtful speech or audible thought» — §2: la razón por la que en el cielo no cabe pensar tres y decir uno, que es la transparencia del habla angélica.

«On the other hand, people who have denied the Lord’s divine nature and have recognized only his human nature (like the Socinians)21 are also excluded from heaven. They are taken a little way forward to the right22 and are let down into the depths, which completely separates them from the Christian realm» — §3: la suerte que el libro asigna a quienes reconocen solo la naturaleza humana del Señor, a los que nombra socinianos.

«Then too, there are people who claim to believe in an invisible Divine called the Being of the Universe and reject any faith in the Lord. When they are examined, it turns out that they do not believe in any god at all, since this invisible Divine of theirs is actually like the first principles of nature. This is incompatible with faith and love, because it eludes [actual] thought.b These people are banished to the company of those called materialists» — §3: la objeción a la deidad invisible llamada el Ser del Universo, que el libro equipara a los primeros principios de la naturaleza y por eso declara incompatible con la fe y el amor.

«All little children (and these make up a third part of heaven) are led first into an acknowledgment and belief that the Lord is their father. Later they are brought into an acknowledgment and belief that he is Lord of all, which means God of heaven and earth» — §4: la cifra con que el libro mide la población infantil del cielo, una tercera parte, y el orden en que se les enseña.

«His “ruling heaven and earth” means our accepting from him everything good that is intrinsic to love and everything true that is intrinsic to faith. It therefore means accepting all intelligence and wisdom, and thus all happiness—in short, eternal life» — §5: la lectura interior del gobierno del cielo y de la tierra, que el libro traduce a la aceptación del bien y de lo verdadero, y de ahí a la vida eterna.

«WHILE we call the total assemblage of angels heaven because they do make it up, what really makes heaven overall and in every specific instance is the divine nature that emanates from the Lord, flowing into angels and accepted by them. The divine nature that emanates from the Lord is the good intrinsic to love and the truth intrinsic to faith. The amount angels accept from the Lord of what is good and what is true determines the extent to which they are angels and are heaven» — §7: la definición del cielo que el libro sostiene: no lo hace el conjunto de los ángeles sino la naturaleza divina que emana del Señor y que ellos aceptan, y en la medida en que la aceptan.

«Everyone in the heavens knows, believes, and even perceives that nothing good is intended and done by the self and that nothing true is thought and believed by the self. Everything comes from the Divine, which means from the Lord» — §8: la negación de todo mérito propio, que en el libro es a la vez doctrina y experiencia declarada de los ángeles.

«They say that it is not just everything good and true that comes from the Lord, but every bit of life as well» — §9: la extensión de esa dependencia de lo bueno y lo verdadero a la vida entera.

«This means that everything has come into being from a First, which they call the essential reality of the life of everything. Everything endures in the same way, too, because enduring is a constant coming into being» — §9: la fórmula ontológica del libro, con la definición de la permanencia como un venir a ser continuo; es el pasaje que Bernhard Lang toma como su capa neoplatónica.

«They add that there is only one single wellspring of life, with human life as one stream flowing from it. If it were not constantly supplied from its wellspring, it would immediately peter out» — §9: la imagen del manantial único y del arroyo con que el libro figura esa dependencia.

«People who accept them into their faith and life are in heaven, while people who reject or stifle them transform them into hell. They actually change what is good into evil and what is true into falsity—life into death» — §9: la tesis que hace del infierno una transformación operada por el que recibe, no un envío: lo mismo que sale del Señor se vuelve mal, falsedad y muerte en quien lo rechaza.

«Because angels believe this, they decline any thanks offered them for the good they do. In fact they feel hurt and withdraw if anyone gives them credit for anything good» — §9: la consecuencia práctica en el trato de los ángeles, que se apartan si se les atribuye el bien.

«Doing good for one’s own sake, in their language, cannot be called “good,” because it stems from self. Doing good for its own sake is what they call “good from the Divine» — §9: la distinción entre hacer el bien por uno mismo y hacerlo por sí mismo, que el libro pone en boca de los ángeles.

«Angels avoid them. They regard them as stupid and as thieves—stupid because they are constantly looking at themselves and not at the Divine, and thieves because they take from the Lord what is actually his» — §10: el juicio que el libro atribuye a los ángeles sobre quienes ponen mérito en sus obras: necios por mirarse a sí mismos y ladrones por tomar lo que es del Señor.

«This allows us finally to conclude that the Lord dwells in angels in what belongs to himself, and therefore that the Lord is the sum and substance of heaven. This is because the good from the Lord is the Lord within and among them, since what comes from him is himself» — §12: el cierre del capítulo, con la identificación de lo que emana con quien emana.

«Divine love and the divine truth that derives from it are like the sun’s fire and the light that comes from it in our world. The love is like the sun’s fire, and the derivative truth is like the light from the sun. By reason of correspondence, fire means love and light means the truth that flows from it» — §13: la correspondencia fundacional del libro, la del fuego y la luz del sol con el amor divino y lo verdadero divino.

«The reason the Divine in heaven (which in fact makes heaven) is love is that love is spiritual union. It unites angels to the Lord and unites them with each other. It does this so thoroughly that in the Lord’s sight they are like a single being» — §14: la definición del amor como unión espiritual, que une a los ángeles con el Señor y entre sí hasta parecer uno solo.

«Anyone who weighs the matter will discover that love is our vital core. We grow warm because of its presence and cold because of its absence, and when it is completely gone, we die» — §14: la prueba por la experiencia común de que el amor es el núcleo vital, medido por el calor y el frío.

«In heaven, “loving the Lord” does not mean loving him for the image he projects36 but loving the good that comes from him. Loving the good is intending and doing it» — §15: la definición operativa de los dos amores, que el libro traslada del objeto a la intención y a la obra.

«However, people who believe such things are not aware of the hidden depths that lie within the details of the Word» — §1: la tesis hermenéutica del libro, que la Palabra guarda profundidades ocultas en cada detalle; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«There is in fact spiritual meaning in these details, for they do not intend the outward and earthly events that we find on the literal level; instead they intend spiritual and heavenly events. This holds true not just for the meaning of phrases but even for each word» — §1: continuación de la misma tesis, con el alcance del sentido espiritual extendido a cada palabra y no solo a la frase.

«Questions about the nature of this meaning can be resolved by all the things I have set forth about it in Secrets of Heaven» — §1: Swedenborg remite la doctrina del sentido interno a su obra anterior; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«has been granted me to be with angels and to talk with them person to person. I have also been enabled to see what is in heaven and in hell, a process that has been going on for thirteen years. Now I am being allowed therefore to describe what I have heard and seen, in the hopes of shedding light where there is ignorance, and of dispelling skepticism» — §1: la declaración de autoridad del libro, la frase más citada de la obra: trato con ángeles cara a cara, visión del cielo y del infierno durante trece años y permiso de describir lo oído y lo visto; el Translator's Preface cita este mismo parágrafo en la p. 12 con otra redacción, *I have been allowed to be with angels*, y las dos se consignan sin armonizar.

«There are two quite distinguishable loves in heaven—love for the Lord and love for our neighbor. Love for the Lord is characteristic of the third or central heaven, while love for our neighbor is characteristic of the second or intermediate heaven» — §15: los dos amores del cielo y su reparto por cielos, el tercero o central y el segundo o intermedio; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«SINCE there are infinite varieties in heaven—since no community and in fact no individual is just like any othera—heaven is therefore divided overall, more specifically, and in detail. Overall, it is divided into two kingdoms, more specifically into three heavens, and in detail into countless communities» — §20: la división del cielo en tres escalas, dos reinos, tres cielos y comunidades incontables, derivada de que no hay dos iguales.

«There are angels who accept the divine nature that emanates from the Lord on a deeper level and angels who accept it less deeply. The ones who accept it more deeply are called heavenly angels, and the ones who accept it less deeply are called spiritual angels. Heaven is therefore divided into two kingdoms, one called the heavenly kingdom44 and the other called the spiritual kingdom» — §21: el criterio de la división en dos reinos es el grado de aceptación, no el rango.

«We use the words “higher” and “lower” as a way of referring to more inward things and more outward things» — §22: la declaración con que el libro traduce su propio vocabulario vertical a uno de interioridad, que es el giro que Bernhard Lang le señala en la p. 34.

«Heavenly love is love for the Lord, and spiritual love is thoughtfulness toward one’s neighbor. Further, since all “good” is a matter of love (since whatever we love is good in our estimation» — §23: la equivalencia entre los dos amores y los dos bienes, con la definición de lo bueno como aquello que se ama.

«The heavenly kingdom is also called the Lord’s priestly kingdom —in the Word, “his dwelling”; and the spiritual kingdom is called his royal kingdom—in the Word, “his throne.” The Lord in the world was called “Jesus” because of his heavenly divine nature, and “the Christ” because of his spiritual divine nature» — §24: el libro reparte los dos nombres del Señor entre los dos reinos, Jesús por lo celestial y Cristo por lo espiritual.

«The reason for their excellence is that they have accepted divine truths directly into their lives and continue to do so, rather than taking them into memory and thought first, the way spiritual angels do» — §25: la diferencia entre los dos reinos está en el modo de recibir, directo a la vida en unos y por la memoria y el pensamiento en otros.

«This means they have them engraved on their hearts and grasp them, virtually see them, within themselves. They never calculate whether or not they are true» — §25: los ángeles celestiales no razonan si algo es verdadero, y por eso el libro los compara con el pueblo de Jeremías 31 que lleva la ley grabada en el corazón.

«The Lord flows directly into our intentions, and indirectly, through our intentions, into our thinking. In other words, the Lord flows directly into what is good within us, and indirectly, through that good, into what is true» — §26: la ruta del influjo, primero a la intención y solo por ella al pensamiento.

«However, as long as any truth is in memory and therefore in thought, it is neither good nor living. It is not assimilated into the person, because a person is a person by virtue of intent primarily and cognitive abilities secondarily» — §26: la jerarquía de las facultades que fundamenta todo lo demás: lo verdadero que se queda en la memoria no es bueno ni vivo, y la persona lo es por su volición.

«They are granted communication only through intermediate angelic communities, communities called “heavenly-spiritual”: it is through them that the heavenly kingdom flows into the spiritual kingdom» — §27: los dos reinos no conviven, y la comunicación pasa por comunidades intermedias llamadas celestial-espirituales.

«This is because when humanity was created the whole divine design was gathered into it, to the point that as to structure, the human being is the divine design and is therefore a heaven in miniature» — §30: la tesis del hombre como diseño divino recogido y por tanto como cielo en miniatura, que es la base de toda la doctrina de las correspondencias del libro.

«There is an outside and an inside to each heaven. The angels who are in the inner region are there called “inner angels,” while the ones in the outer region are called “outer angels.” The outside and the inside in the heavens (or in each particular heaven) are like our own volitional side and its cognitive aspect. Everything volitional has its cognitive side—neither occurs without the other. The volitional is like a flame and the cognitive like the light that it sheds» — §32: el dentro y el fuera de cada cielo, calcados de la volición y el entendimiento, con la imagen de la llama y su luz.

«It needs to be quite clear that it is the inner nature of angels that determines which heaven they are in. The more the deeper levels have been opened, the more inward the heaven they are in. There are three inner levels of every angel and spirit, and of every person here as well. The people whose third level has been opened are in the central heaven, while the people whose second or first only has been opened are in the intermediate or the outmost heaven» — §33: el cielo en que se está lo decide qué nivel interior se abrió, de los tres que el libro atribuye a todo ángel, espíritu y persona.

«Angelic perfection consists of intelligence, wisdom, love, and everything good, with happiness as their result. It does not consist in happiness without these former qualities, since happiness without them is merely superficial, with no depth» — §34: la definición de la perfección angélica y la objeción a una felicidad sin ella.

«Because of this difference, an angel of one heaven cannot gain admission to angels of another heaven: someone from a lower heaven cannot come up, nor can someone from a higher heaven come down. Anyone who comes up is seized by anxiety even to the point of pain and cannot see the people who are there, let alone talk with them. Anyone who comes down from a higher heaven loses his or her wisdom, stammers, and loses confidence» — §35: la incomunicación entre los cielos, descrita por sus efectos en el que sube y en el que baja.

«They vowed that they would never again crave conditions that were higher than the ones that suited their own way of life» — §35: el desenlace del relato de los que subieron desde el cielo más externo y no vieron a nadie, que el libro usa como prueba experimental de esa incomunicación.

«There are two kinds of levels, continuous and noncontinuous. Continuous levels are like decreasing levels of light from a flame, all the way to darkness, or like decreasing amounts of sight from objects in the light to objects in the shade, or like levels of density of the atmosphere from the lowest to the highest. These levels are measured by distance» — §38: la distinción de grados continuos y discretos, que el libro hace condición para entender los cielos y también la diferencia entre espíritu y cuerpo.

«Noncontinuous or distinct levels, though, are separated like prior and posterior, cause and effect, producer and product. Anyone who looks closely will discover that there are these kinds of stages of production and composition in everything in the world, no matter what, with one thing arising from another, and a third from that, and so forth» — §38: la definición de grado discreto por la serie de lo anterior y lo posterior, la causa y el efecto, el productor y el producto.

«Lastly, let me disclose a particular secret about the angels of the three heavens that people have not been aware of until now because they have not understood levels. It is this, that within every angel—and within every one of us here—there is a central or highest level, or a central and highest something, where the Lord’s divine life flows in first and most intimately. It is from this center that the Lord arranges the other, relatively internal aspects within us that follow in sequence according to the levels of the overall design. This central or highest level can be called the Lord’s gateway to the angels or to us, his essential dwelling within us» — §39: el pasaje que el libro anuncia como secreto: un nivel central y supremo en cada ángel y en cada persona, puerta del Señor y morada suya, del que Lang hace el fundamento de la dignidad humana en la p. 53.

«THERE are three heavens, very clearly distinguished from each other. There is a central or third heaven, an intermediate or second one, and an outmost or first» — §29: los tres cielos, central o tercero, intermedio o segundo y último o primero; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«These follow in sequence and are interdependent, like the highest part of the human body, the head; the middle, or torso; and the lowest, or feet; or like the highest, middle, and lowest parts of a house. The divine life that emanates and comes down from the Lord is in this kind of pattern as well. It is this necessity of design that determines the tripartite arrangement of heaven» — §29: la analogía con el cuerpo y con la casa, de la que el libro deriva que la división en tres es exigencia del diseño divino.

«People who live good moral lives, though, and believe in the Divine with no particular interest in learning, are in the outmost or first heaven» — §33: el tercer caso del reparto por los tres cielos, el de quienes viven bien y creen sin interés por aprender.

«Anything that is not connected to the First by some intermediary does not endure, but disintegrates and becomes nothing» — §37: la regla que sostiene la unión de los tres cielos: lo que no queda ligado al Primero por algún intermediario se deshace.

«People who are attentive only to their physical senses do not grasp these differences, but regard them as instances of increase and decrease on the model of continuous levels» — §38: el error que el libro le atribuye a quien solo atiende a los sentidos, leer los grados discretos como aumento y disminución continuos; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«However, what is arranged and provided by the Lord at this center does not flow into the open perception of any angel, because it is higher than angelic thought, and surpasses angelic wisdom» — §39: el límite que el libro le pone a ese centro supremo: ni la percepción ni la sabiduría angélicas alcanzan lo que allí se dispone; la frase se reimprime más adelante en el volumen y el ancla está en su primera aparición.

«THE angels of any given heaven are not all together in one place, but are separated into larger and smaller communities depending on differences in the good effects of the love and faith they are engaged in. Angels engaged in similar activities form a single community. There is an infinite variety of good activities in heaven, and each individual angel is, so to speak, his or her own activity» — §41: el principio de asociación en el cielo, que es la semejanza de la actividad del amor y de la fe, hasta identificar a cada ángel con su actividad.

«This is because the only cause of distance in the spiritual world is the difference of the state of our more inward natures—in the heavens, then, differences in the state of love. When communities are very different, the distance between them is great; when the difference is slight, the distance is slight. Likeness makes for unity» — §42: la distancia en el mundo espiritual no es de espacio sino de estado; es la tesis de la que dependen después las nociones de espacio y de tiempo del libro.

«The better ones, that is, the ones who are more complete in goodness and therefore in love, wisdom, and intelligence, are in the center. Those who are less outstanding surround them at distances graded in proportion to their lessened perfection. It is like the way light decreases from a center toward a circumference. The ones who are in the middle are in the greatest light, while the ones who are toward the perimeter are in less and» — §43: la disposición concéntrica de cada comunidad, con los mejores en el centro y una gradación como la de la luz; la frase termina en la plana siguiente.

«We can see from this that the good gathers everyone together in the heavens, and that angels are differentiated by what good they do. Still, it is not the angels who gather themselves, but the Lord, the source of all that is good» — §45: la corrección que el libro le hace a su propia imagen de la afinidad espontánea: no son los ángeles los que se reúnen, es el Señor.

«This happens because the only relationships and kinships and friendships in the other life are spiritual ones, and are therefore matters of love and faith» — §46: el parentesco en la otra vida es espiritual, y por eso los semejantes se reconocen sin haberse visto.

«I have often been allowed to see this when I was in the spirit and therefore out of body and in the company of angels. Then some of them looked to me as though I had known them from infancy, while others seemed totally unfamiliar. The ones who looked as though I had known them from infancy were the ones who were in a state like that of my own spirit, while the unfamiliar ones were in dissimilar states» — §46: el testimonio en primera persona con que el libro apoya esa tesis, estando en espíritu y fuera del cuerpo.

«This is also why an angel of outstanding wisdom sees the quality of others instantly, from their faces. In heaven, no one can conceal inner character by facial expression and pretend, much less lie and deceive others by guile and hypocrisy» — §48: la consecuencia de que el rostro sea el afecto: en el cielo no cabe fingir.

«It does sometimes happen that hypocrites steal into [heavenly] communities, hypocrites trained in hiding their inner nature and arranging their outward appearance in the benevolent form they present in public, thereby misleading angels of light. However, they cannot stay around very long. They begin to feel inner discomfort and torment, their faces start to turn blue, and they almost faint— changes caused by their opposition to the life that is flowing in and affecting them. So they promptly cast themselves back into the hell of people like themselves and no longer dare to climb up again» — §48: el caso límite de los hipócritas que sí entran, y el mecanismo por el que se expulsan solos, que el libro asocia al invitado sin traje de boda de Mateo 22.

«The larger ones consist of tens of thousands of individuals, the smaller of some thousands, and the smallest of hundreds. There are even people who live alone, house by house, so to speak, and family by family. Even though they live apart, they are still arranged in the same pattern as those who live in communities, with the wiser of them in the center and the simpler at the periphery. They are very closely under the Lord’s guidance, and are the best of angels» — §50: los tamaños de las comunidades y el caso de los que viven aparte, a quienes el libro llama los mejores de los ángeles.

«It is rather like the situation of officials and functionaries and servants in a royal palace or court. Even though they live individually in their dwellings or in their rooms, some higher than others, still they are in a single palace or a single court, each one involved in a particular function in the service of the king» — §51: la imagen del palacio real con que el libro explica que cada comunidad sea un cielo, y de la que deriva las muchas moradas de Juan 14:2.

«As a result, sometimes a whole angelic community appears as a single entity in the form of an angel, a sight that the Lord has allowed me to see. Further, when the Lord appears in the midst of angels, he does not appear surrounded by a crowd but as a lone individual in angelic form» — §52: la comunidad entera vista como un solo ángel, y la aparición del Señor no rodeado de multitud sino como uno solo.

«This is why the Lord is called an angel in the Word, as is also a whole community: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are nothing but angelic communities that are given these names because of their functions» — §52: la lectura que el libro hace de los nombres angélicos: Miguel, Gabriel y Rafael no son individuos sino comunidades nombradas por su función.

«For heaven is not outside angels but within them. Their deeper levels, the levels of their minds, are arranged in the form of heaven and therefore are arranged to accept all the elements of heaven that are outside them. These elements they accept according to the quality of the goodness that is within them from the Lord. As a result, an angel is also a heaven» — §53: la fórmula que Lang cita en la p. 63 como núcleo de lo romántico del libro: el cielo no está fuera de los ángeles sino dentro.

«We can see, then, how mistaken people are who think that getting into heaven is simply a matter of being taken up among the angels, regardless of the quality of their inner life, who believe that heaven is granted merely because of [the Lord’s] mercy» — §54: la objeción a la salvación por sola misericordia, que es el punto en que el conde Gustaf Bonde objetó el libro desde el luteranismo según Lang en la p. 66.

«In short, people who have lived evil lives and who arrive in heaven bring their souls with them and are tormented» — §54: la imagen con que el libro figura al malvado llevado al cielo, el pez fuera del agua y el animal en el vacío de la bomba neumática; la frase se remata en la p. 141.

«It is not that this difference is in the Lord: it is in the individuals who are seeing him from their own goodness and therefore in keeping with it. They are affected by the sight of him according to the quality of their own love. The ones who love him deeply are deeply moved, while the ones who love him less deeply are less deeply moved. Evil people, who are outside of heaven, find his presence intensely painful» — §55: la aparición del Señor varía con quien la recibe y no con él, hasta el extremo del dolor en los malos.

«Further still, heaven is where the Lord is recognized, trusted, and loved. The different ways he is worshiped—in variations that stem from the difference of activity from one community to another—do not cause harm but bring benefit, because they are a source of heaven’s perfection» — §56: la variedad de cultos no es daño sino condición de la perfección del cielo.

«Every perfect whole arises from a variety of elements, for a whole that is not composed of a variety of elements is not really anything. It has no form, and therefore no quality» — §56: el axioma con que el libro fundamenta esa variedad: lo que no se compone de variedad no es nada, no tiene forma ni cualidad.

«Rather, they all communicate by the outreach of the auras that emanate from the life of every individual» — §49: la comunicación entre comunidades se hace por el alcance de las auras que emanan de la vida de cada uno; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«An aura of life is an aura of affections based in love and faith. This reaches out far and wide into surrounding communities, farther and wider as the affections are deeper and more perfect» — §49: la definición del aura de vida como aura de afectos, cuyo alcance crece con la hondura del afecto.

«Such instances arise and flow invariably from a harmonious agreement of many things that are in sympathetic concord, whether they are together simultaneously or follow in a sequence. They do not flow from a single unit that lacks plurality. So we say that variety delights, and recognize that the delight depends on the quality of the variety» — §56: la prueba de la variedad por la belleza sensible, con la regla de que lo que deleita es la variedad y no la unidad sin pluralidad.

«We can say the same of the church as we have of heaven, since the church is the Lord’s heaven on earth. It also has many components, and yet each is called a church and is a church to the extent that the qualities of love and faith rule within it. In it, the Lord forms a single whole out of the varied elements, and therefore makes a single church out of many churches» — §57: la definición de iglesia que Lang cita en la p. 27, y la consecuencia eclesiológica que el libro le saca: una sola iglesia hecha de muchas.

«Much the same can be said of the individual member of the church as has been said about the church in general, namely that the church is within and not outside, and that anyone is a church in whom the Lord is present in the qualities of love and faith» — §57: el mismo movimiento aplicado a la persona: la iglesia está dentro y no fuera, y es iglesia aquel en quien el Señor está presente.

«Even more, we can say that the individual who has the church within is a heaven just as much as an angel is, for we have been created to enter heaven and become angels. So anyone who has the quality of goodness from the Lord is an angelperson» — §57: la tesis antropológica que Bernhard Lang cita en la p. 30 con su latín: fuimos creados para entrar al cielo y volvernos ángeles; *angelperson* sale del guion de fin de renglón que el troceo parte entre planas y que la herramienta une: el volumen imprime *angel-person*.

«We have in common with angels the fact that our deeper levels are formed in the image of heaven and that we also become images of heaven to the extent that we participate in the qualities of love and faith. What we have that angels lack is that our more outward levels are formed in the image of this world» — §57: el deslinde entre ángel y hombre: lo interior es común, lo exterior formado a imagen de este mundo es lo propio del hombre.

«The reason for this is that as individuals we are our love and have a quality that depends on the quality of the love that is ruling. Whatever rules flows into the specifics and arranges them, and imposes everywhere an image of itself» — §58: el principio de que lo que domina se imprime en todo detalle, del que el libro deriva que el cielo esté también en lo más pequeño.

«IT is a secret not yet known in this world that heaven, taken in a single all-inclusive grasp, reflects a single individual. In heaven, though, nothing is better known. Knowing this, knowing particulars and details about it, is the hallmark of angelic intelligence there. In fact, many other things follow from it and do not come clearly and distinctly to mind without this as their general principle. Since angels do know that all the heavens, like their communities, reflect a single individual, they refer to heaven as the universal and divine human» — §59: la tesis del Hombre Universal, que el libro presenta como secreto desconocido en la tierra y sabido en el cielo.

«Let them know, though, that they are not human beings because of these elements but because they are able to understand what is true and will what is good. These are the spiritual and heavenly realities that make them human» — §60: la objeción a que lo material haga al hombre: lo hacen entender lo verdadero y querer lo bueno.

«This is also why the body does not do anything on its own, but acts in complete obedience to the bidding of our understanding and intentions. This holds true even to the point that our tongue and mouth say whatever we think, and the body and its limbs do whatever we intend. The actor is therefore our understanding and intention, not the body on its own» — §60: el argumento por la obediencia del cuerpo, que el libro usa para colocar el agente en el entendimiento y la intención.

«This is the angelic concept of person, so angels never pay attention to what someone’s body is doing, but rather to the intent from which the body is acting. They call this the essential person, together with the intellect to the extent that it is acting in unison with the intent» — §61: el concepto angélico de persona, que no mira lo que hace el cuerpo sino la intención desde la que obra.

«Actually, angels do not see heaven in a single overview in this kind of form, since the entire heaven does not lie within the scope of any angel’s sight. However, they do consistently see particular communities that are made up of many thousands of angels as single units in this kind of form; and from the community as a sample they draw their inference about the totality that is heaven» — §62: el límite del testimonio angélico sobre el Hombre Universal: los ángeles no ven el cielo entero y razonan de la comunidad al todo.

«The reason so many varied elements act as one in an individual is that there is nothing whatever there that does not contribute something to the common good and do something useful. The inclusive body serves its parts and the parts serve the inclusive body because the inclusive body is made up of parts and the parts make up the inclusive body. So they provide for each other respectively, they focus on each other mutually, and they are united in the kind of form that gives every single component a relationship to the inclusive entity and its well-being. This is what enables them to act as a unit» — §64: la razón de la unidad en la variedad es el uso: cada parte sirve al todo y el todo a las partes.

«To “serve some use” is to intend well to others for the sake of the common good, while “not to serve some use” is to intend well to others not for the sake of the common good but for the sake of oneself. People who act in this latter fashion are people who love themselves above all, while people who act in the former fashion are the ones who love the Lord above all» — §64: la definición de servir un uso, que el libro hace depender de la intención y no de la obra, y que reparte el amor propio del amor al Señor.

«In general, the highest or third heaven forms the head down to the neck, the middle or second forms the torso as far as the genitals and knees, and the lowest or first forms the feet to the very soles and also the arms all the way to the fingers, since the arms and hands are among our “lowest things” even though they are at our sides. We can see from this again why there are three heavens» — §65: el reparto de los tres cielos por los miembros del Hombre Universal, del que el libro vuelve a derivar que sean tres.

«Spirits who are below heaven are amazed when they hear and see that heaven is both below and above them. They have had the faith and opinion common to people in this world that heaven is only overhead» — §66: la objeción a la imagen del cielo como lo que está arriba, a la que el libro opone la analogía de los órganos del cuerpo.

«Hypocrites are people who speak well and even behave well, but who are focused on themselves in specifics. They talk like angels about the Lord and heaven and love and heavenly life and they also behave well, so that their character seems to be in accord with their speech. However, they are thinking differently. They do not believe anything or will well to anyone but themselves. Any good they do is done in their own interests. If it is in the interest of others, it is for the sake of appearance, and therefore in their own interest» — §68: la definición de hipócrita que el libro da a propósito de la separación de una comunidad que vio hacerse persona.

«We do need to realize that even though all the individuals in a community of heaven look like a single entity in human likeness when they are all together, still one community is not the same person as any other. They are differentiated like the faces of individuals of one lineage» — §70: cada comunidad es una persona distinta, diferenciadas como los rostros de un mismo linaje.

«Since heaven is perfected by its numerical growth, we can see how mistaken people are who believe that heaven will be closed to prevent overcrowding. Actually, it is just the reverse. It will never be closed, and its ever increasing fullness makes it more perfect. So angels long for nothing more than to have new angel guests arrive there» — §71: la objeción al cielo que se cierra por lleno: aquí crecer es perfeccionarse, y por eso los ángeles desean que lleguen más.

«The reason for this is that heaven is a commonwealth. In fact, it shares everything it has with each individual, and individuals receive everything they have from the commonwealth» — §73: la razón de que el todo se reproduzca en la parte, que el libro dice en términos de comunidad de bienes.

«As for angels being human forms, or people, this I have seen thousands of times. I have talked with them face to face, sometimes with just one, sometimes with several in a group, and as far as their form is concerned, I have seen in them nothing different from that of a human being. At times I have felt surprised that they were like this; and to prevent it being said that this was some illusion or hallucination, I have been allowed to see them while I was fully awake, or while I was in full possession of my physical senses and in a state of clear perception» — §74: la declaración de método frente a la objeción de alucinación: vio a los ángeles despierto y en posesión de los sentidos.

«I have often told them that people in the Christian world are in such blind ignorance about angels and spirits that they think of them as minds without form, as mere thoughts, and can conceive of them only as something airy with something alive within it. Further, since they attribute to them nothing human except a capacity for thought, they believe angels cannot see because they have no eyes, cannot hear because they have no ears, and cannot talk because they have no mouths or tongues» — §74: la creencia que el libro objeta, la de los ángeles como mentes sin forma, que Lang cita en la p. 30.

«It does need to be realized, though, that we cannot see angels with our bodily eyes, only with the eyes of our spirit,g because they are in the spiritual world while everything bodily is in the natural world. Like sees like because it is of like substance. Further, the body’s visual organ, the eye, is so crude that as everyone knows it does not even see the smaller elements of nature without a lens, much less things that are above the sphere of nature, as are all the realities of the spiritual world» — §76: el límite del órgano corporal, que no ve ni lo pequeño de la naturaleza sin lente, y menos lo que está por encima de ella.

«These can be seen by us, though, when we are released from bodily sight and the sight of our spirit is opened. This happens instantly when it pleases the Lord that we should see. It then seems to us exactly as though we were seeing with our bodily eyes. This is how angels were seen by Abraham, Lot, Manoah, and the prophets. This is how the Lord was seen by the disciples after the resurrection. This is the same way, too, in which I have seen angels» — §76: la condición para ver lo espiritual, que el libro pone en la apertura de la vista del espíritu y equipara con la de Abraham, Lot, Manoa, los profetas y los discípulos tras la resurrección.

«Some honest spirits I talked with about this were distressed at heart that there was such ignorance in the church about the state of heaven and about spirits and angels. They kept insisting that I should take back the message that they were not formless minds or ethereal breath but human in form, and that they saw and heard and felt just as much as people in this world do» — §77: el encargo que el libro dice haber recibido de los espíritus, que es la justificación del capítulo entero.

«None of the angels in the heavens ever sees the Divine in any form except the human form. Even more remarkably, angels in the higher heavens cannot think about what is divine in any other way» — §79: la tesis del Humano Divino apoyada en el testimonio angélico: ningún ángel ve ni puede pensar lo divino en otra forma que la humana.

«The Lord does appear in a divine angelic form, which is a human form, to people who acknowledge and trust in a visible Divine Being, but not to people who acknowledge and trust in an invisible Divine Being. The former can see the Lord’s divine [form], but the latter cannot» — §79: la condición de la visión, que el libro hace depender de reconocer un Divino visible y no invisible.

«Everything is inverted in hell. In heaven’s light, the people who are there hardly look human at all. They look like monsters. They are caught up in what is evil and false and not in what is good and true, and are therefore in the opposite of wisdom and intelligence. As a result, their life is not called life, but spiritual death» — §80: la inversión infernal de esa misma regla, con los habitantes del infierno vistos como monstruos y su vida llamada muerte espiritual.

«But this instinct has been stifled by all the people who have distanced themselves from the heavenly inflow by pride in their own intelligence and by evil lives. The ones who have stifled it by pride in their intelligence prefer an invisible God, while the ones who have done so by evil lives prefer no God at all» — §82: las dos maneras de sofocar la idea instintiva de un Dios en forma humana, el orgullo de la propia inteligencia y la vida mala, con su resultado distinto en cada caso.

«This is why people who do not share in heaven’s concept (that is, in the concept of the Divine Being who makes heaven) cannot be raised even to the first threshold of heaven. The moment any such individuals arrive, they feel a perceptible opposition and forceful resistance. This is because the deeper levels of such people, levels that are intended to accept heaven, are actually closed because they are not in heaven’s form. In fact, the nearer such people come to heaven, the more tightly their deeper levels are closed» — §83: el mecanismo que el libro pone en lugar de una exclusión decretada: los niveles interiores se cierran cuanto más se acercan al cielo.

«I can say with full confidence that in their form, angels are completely human. They have faces, eyes, ears, chests, arms, hands, and feet. They see each other, hear each other, and talk to each other. In short, they lack nothing that belongs to humans except that they are not clothed with a material body» — §75: la descripción de la forma humana de los ángeles miembro por miembro, que Lang cita en la p. 30; la frase arranca con la mención de los años de experiencia y el tramo empieza después de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«We can tell that the ancients had an image of the Divine as human from the way the Divine appeared to Abraham, Lot, Joshua, Gideon, Manoah and his wife, and others. Even though they saw God as a person, they still worshiped him as God of the universe, calling him “God of heaven and earth” and “Jehovah» — §84: el argumento de antigüedad a favor de un Dios en forma humana, tomado de las apariciones a Abraham, Lot, Josué, Gedeón y Manoa.

«But people who judge everything on the basis of their outward senses have great difficulty grasping the fact that God is a person. In fact, the only way sense-centered people can think about the Divine Being is on the basis of this world and what it contains, so they can think about a divine and spiritual person only as they do about a physical and natural one. This leads to the conclusion that if God is to be a person, he must be as big as the universe, and if he does rule heaven and earth, it must be through many underlings the way kings on earth rule» — §85: la caricatura que el libro le atribuye al pensar sensorial sobre un Dios persona: tan grande como el universo y gobernando por subalternos.

«In our world, it is fixed and therefore measurable, while in heaven it is not fixed and therefore not measurable» — §85: la distinción entre la extensión de este mundo y la del cielo, que prepara los capítulos sobre el espacio y el tiempo.

«People in heaven are amazed that people here believe they are intelligent when they think of something invisible in the process of thinking about God, something that cannot be comprehended in any form, and that they call people who think otherwise unintelligent and even simpleminded, when the opposite is in fact the case» — §86: la inversión que el libro hace del reproche de simpleza, puesta en boca de los del cielo.

«They assert that if people who regard themselves as intelligent on this account would examine themselves, they would find nature in the place of God—for some, the nature in front of their eyes, for others, a nature they cannot see with their eyes» — §86: la objeción a quien piensa un Dios invisible, que el libro resuelve diciendo que en su lugar pone la naturaleza.

«PEOPLE today do not know what “correspondence” is. There are many reasons for this ignorance, the primary one being that we have moved away from heaven because of our love for ourselves and for the world. You see, people who love themselves and the world above all focus on nothing but earthly matters because these provide gratification to their more outward senses and pleasure to their moods. They do not attend to spiritual matters because these offer gratification to their deeper senses and pleasure to their minds» — §87: el diagnóstico con que se abre el capítulo de las correspondencias, que atribuye el olvido al amor propio y al amor del mundo.

«The early people behaved differently. For them, knowledge about correspondences was the pearl78 of all knowledge. By means of it, they gained intelligence and wisdom, and by means of it those who were of the church had a communication with heaven. Knowledge about correspondences is in fact angelic knowledge» — §87: la tesis de una ciencia antigua de las correspondencias, llamada aquí la perla de todo saber y calificada de conocimiento angélico.

«The earliest ones, who were heavenly people, did their thinking from correspondence like angels, so they could even talk with angels. Further, the Lord was quite often visible to them, and taught them. Nowadays, though, this knowledge has been so completely lost that people do not know what correspondence is» — §87: la degradación que el libro narra, de un pensar por correspondencia que permitía hablar con los ángeles a la pérdida completa de esa ciencia.

«First, I need to state what correspondence is. The whole natural world is responsive79 to the spiritual world—the natural world not just in general, but in detail. So whatever arises in the natural world out of the spiritual one is called “something that corresponds.” It needs to be realized that the natural world arises from and is sustained in being by the spiritual world, exactly the way an effect relates to its efficient cause» — §89: la definición canónica de correspondencia en este libro: el mundo natural responde al espiritual en general y en detalle, como el efecto a su causa eficiente.

«Since a human being is a heaven and a world in least form in the image of the greatest (see §57 above), there is a spiritual world and a natural world within each of us. The deeper elements, which belong to our minds and relate to our intelligence and volition, constitute our spiritual world, while the outer elements, which belong to our bodies and relate to our senses and actions, constitute our natural world. Anything that occurs in our natural world (that is, in our bodies and their senses and actions) because of our spiritual world (that is, because of our minds and their intelligence and volition) is called something that corresponds» — §90: la correspondencia dentro de la persona, con el mundo espiritual en la mente y el natural en el cuerpo.

«We can see in the human face what correspondence is like. In a face that has not been taught to dissimulate, all the affections of the mind manifest themselves visibly in a natural form, as though in their very imprint, which is why we refer to the face as “the index of the mind.” This is our spiritual world within our natural world» — §91: el rostro como ejemplo primero de correspondencia, con la fórmula recibida del índice de la mente.

«The heavenly kingdom in general corresponds to the heart and to all the extensions of the heart throughout the body. The spiritual kingdom corresponds to the lungs and to all their extension throughout the body. Further, the heart and the lungs form two kingdoms in us, the heart governing through the arteries and veins and the lungs through the nerve and motor fibers, each involved in every effort and action» — §95: la correspondencia mayor, la de los dos reinos del cielo con el corazón y los pulmones.

«It is because of this correspondence that “the heart” in the Word means volition and the good of love, while “the breath of the spirit” means understanding and the truth of faith. This is also why we ascribe feelings to the heart, even though they do not reside or originate there» — §95: de esa correspondencia el libro deriva el vocabulario de la Escritura y el del habla común, que atribuyen al corazón lo que no reside allí.

«People who are in the feet are in the outmost heaven, which is called “natural-spiritual good.” People who are in the arms and hands are in the power of what is true because of what is good. People who are in the eyes are in understanding; people who are in the ears are in attentiveness and obedience; people who are in the nostrils are in perception; people in the mouth and tongue in conversing from discernment and perception» — §96: el reparto de las comunidades por los miembros del Hombre Universal, de los pies a la boca, con la función espiritual que a cada uno corresponde.

«This is also why people commonly say that someone has a good head when they are talking about someone intelligent and wise, why they talk about a truly thoughtful person as a bosom friend, a particularly perceptive individual as having a keen nose, a discriminating one as sharp-sighted,85 someone in power as having a long arm,86 someone who acts intentionally from love as acting from the heart—these and many other expressions in human language come from correspondence. The expressions actually originate in the spiritual world, though people are unaware of it» — §97: la tesis sobre el lenguaje: las expresiones comunes del cuerpo vienen de la correspondencia y se originan en el mundo espiritual.

«I have been shown at times what a spiritual person is like in form, and I have seen that in some people who were lovely and attractive in physical appearance that inner form was misshapen, black, and grotesque—what you would call an image of hell rather than of heaven; while in some who were not beautiful, the inner form was graceful, radiant, and angelic. After death, our spirit looks the way it actually did within the body while we were living in it in this world» — §99: la disociación entre forma natural y forma espiritual, con los casos de belleza exterior y forma interior deforme y a la inversa; es el pasaje del que Lang toma los *monsters* de la p. 32.

«So it is our bodily nature in which heaven finally comes to rest, on which it stands like a foundation» — §100: la cadena de correspondencias entre los cielos, que termina apoyándose en el cuerpo humano como cimiento.

«For unless the divine human flowed into every bit of heaven and, in accord with correspondences, into every bit of our world, there would be no angels and none of us» — §101: la condición que el libro pone a toda correspondencia, que lo es con el Humano Divino.

«This happened because the divine human on which heaven depended before the Coming of the Lord88 was no longer adequate to sustain everything, since we, the foundation of heaven, had undermined and destroyed the design» — §101: la razón que el libro da para la encarnación, dicha en términos de diseño destruido por los hombres, que son el cimiento del cielo.

«On the contrary, if people would just raise their minds a little, they could see that things like this come from the Divine and not from nature, and that nature was created simply to clothe the spiritual and responsively represent it on the lowest level of the design» — §102: la objeción al naturalismo, con la definición de la naturaleza como vestidura de lo espiritual en el nivel más bajo del diseño.

«All earthly things are differentiated into three classes that we call “kingdoms,” namely the animal kingdom, the vegetable kingdom, and the mineral kingdom. Members of the animal kingdom are correspondences90 on the first level because they are alive. Members of the vegetable kingdom are correspondences on the second level because they merely grow. Members of the mineral kingdom are correspondences on the third level because they neither live nor grow» — §104: los tres reinos terrestres ordenados en tres grados de correspondencia según vivan, crezcan o ninguna de las dos cosas.

«In a word, absolutely everything in nature, from the smallest to the greatest, is a correspondence.a The reason correspondences occur is that the natural world, including everything in it, arises and is sustained from the spiritual world, and both worlds come from the Divine. We say that it also is sustained because everything is sustained from that from which it arose, enduring being in fact a perpetual arising;91 and since nothing can endure independently, but needs something prior, it therefore needs a First, and if it were separated from that First, it would utterly perish and disappear» — §106: la tesis universal de la correspondencia y su fundamento, que es de nuevo la dependencia del Primero y la permanencia como surgir perpetuo.

«Everything is a correspondent that arises and endures in nature according to the divine design. What makes the divine design is the divine good that emanates from the Lord. It begins from him, emanates from him through the heavens in sequence into the world, and there comes to a close in things most remote» — §107: la condición que restringe la correspondencia a lo que está en el diseño divino, que emana del Señor por los cielos hasta lo más remoto.

«Bees know how to collect honey from flowers, build cells from wax in which they store their honey, and so provide food for themselves and their families for the coming winter. Their queen lays eggs, while the others cover them over and lead her around so that a new generation may be born. They live under a kind of government that all their members know instinctively, protecting their useful members and expelling the useless ones and clipping off their wings» — §108: el ejemplo de las abejas, con su gobierno instintivo, que el libro usa para mostrar un saber que no puede venir de la naturaleza.

«The reason why earthbound animals and the fowl of the air are born into all this knowledge while we, who are actually superior, are not, is that animals are in the proper pattern of their life and cannot destroy what is within them from the spiritual world because they are not rational. It is different for us, who think from the spiritual world. Because we have corrupted ourselves by living contrary to the design that reason itself has recommended to us, we cannot escape being born into total ignorance, so that we can be led from there, by divine means, back into the pattern of heaven» — §108: la explicación de por qué el hombre nace ignorante y el animal sabio: el animal no puede destruir lo que trae porque no es racional, y el hombre corrompió el diseño.

«In general, earth’s living creatures correspond to affections, the mild and useful ones to good affections, the fierce and useless ones to evil affections. Specifically, cattle and calves correspond to affections of the natural mind, sheep and lambs to affections of the spiritual mind. Flying creatures, species by species, correspond to cognitive activities of either level of the mind» — §110: la clave del bestiario de correspondencias, con los animales mansos y los fieros repartidos entre afectos buenos y malos.

«The reason animals are affections, according to their genera and species, is that they are alive, and the only source of the life of any creature is from affection and is in proportion to it» — §110: la razón de esa clave, que el libro pone en que la vida de toda criatura viene del afecto y se mide por él.

«A garden, in general terms, corresponds to heaven in respect to intelligence and wisdom, which is why heaven is called the garden of God and a paradise,d and why we call it a heavenly paradise» — §111: la correspondencia del jardín con el cielo en cuanto a inteligencia y sabiduría, de donde el libro deriva los nombres de jardín de Dios y de paraíso.

«Trees, species by species, correspond to perceptions and firsthand knowledge of what is good and true, which yield intelligence and wisdom. So the early people, who were absorbed in the knowledge of correspondences, held their holy worship in groves» — §111: la correspondencia de los árboles y la explicación que el libro da del culto antiguo en bosques sagrados.

«The Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of purposes that are functions94 or—which amounts to the same thing—of functions that are purposes» — §112: la definición del reino del Señor como reino de fines que son usos, o de usos que son fines, que es el eje por el que el libro une los dos mundos.

«We can see from this that the correspondence of natural phenomena with spiritual ones, or of the world with heaven, takes place through functions, and that the functions are what unite them» — §112: la consecuencia de esa definición: lo que une el mundo con el cielo es el uso, y las formas que lo visten son las correspondencias.

«As for us, though, our acts are services in forms to the extent that we live according to the divine design—that is, in love for the Lord and in thoughtfulness toward our neighbor. To that extent, our acts are correspondences that unite us to heaven. In general terms, loving the Lord and our neighbor is being of service» — §112: la traducción práctica de todo el capítulo: nuestros actos son correspondencias en la medida en que sirven, y amar al Señor y al prójimo es ser útil.

«Just as everything that is in accord with the divine design corresponds to heaven, everything that is contrary to the divine design corresponds to hell. Everything that corresponds to heaven reflects what is good and true, while what corresponds to hell reflects what is evil and false» — §113: la simetría de la doctrina: lo que se aparta del diseño corresponde al infierno igual que lo conforme corresponde al cielo.

«Heaven’s angels do not think in terms of natural phenomena the way we do, so when we are absorbed in the knowledge of correspondences we can be in the company of angels in respect to the thoughts of our minds. So we can be united to them in regard to our spiritual or inner person» — §114: el uso que el libro le atribuye a la ciencia de las correspondencias: poner al que la sabe en compañía de los ángeles en cuanto al pensamiento.

«I have been taught in heaven that the earliest people on our planet, who were heavenly people, thought on the basis of actual correspondences, and that the natural phenomena of the world that greeted their eyes served them as means for thinking in this way. Because they were of this character, they were in the company of angels and talked with them; and in this way heaven was united to the world through them. Therefore, that era was called the Golden Age. Classical authors described it as a time when the inhabitants of heaven dwelt with mortals and kept them company as friend with friend» — §115: la Edad de Oro descrita como un pensar por correspondencias reales que unía cielo y mundo, con la remisión a los autores clásicos.

«After their era, though, a people came who did not think from actual correspondences but from a knowledge about correspondences. There was still a union of heaven with humanity, but not such an intimate one. Their era was called the Silver Age. The people who came next were indeed familiar with correspondences but did not do their thinking on the basis of their knowledge of correspondences. This was because they were engrossed in what is good on the natural level and not, like their ancestors, on the spiritual level. Their era was called the Bronze Age» — §115: las edades de Plata y de Bronce como grados sucesivos de pérdida: del pensar por correspondencias al saber sobre ellas, y de ahí al bien meramente natural.

«I have been taught, lastly, that after that era humanity became more and more externally minded and at last physically minded. Then the knowledge of correspondences was completely lost, and with it any awareness of heaven and of its riches» — §115: el término de esa degradación, con la pérdida completa de la ciencia de las correspondencias y de toda noticia del cielo.

«The names of these ages—Golden, Silver, and Bronze—also come from correspondence,k because gold, by reason of correspondence, means the heavenly goodness in which the earliest people lived. Silver, in contrast, means the spiritual goodness in which their successors, the early people, lived; while bronze means the natural goodness characteristic of their immediate followers. Iron, though, which gave its name to the last era, means a harsh truth, devoid of good» — §115: la lectura por correspondencia de los nombres mismos de las edades, oro, plata, bronce y hierro, que el libro hace corresponder a cuatro clases de bien y a su ausencia.

«OUR world’s sun is not visible in heaven, and neither is anything that is derived from it, since all that is natural. Nature, in fact, begins with that sun, and whatever is produced by it is called natural. The spiritual reality in which heaven exists, though, is above nature and completely distinct from anything natural. They communicate with each other only through correspondences» — §116: la separación tajante entre lo natural y lo espiritual, que solo se comunican por correspondencia.

«Heaven’s sun is the Lord; light there is the divine truth and warmth the divine good that radiate from the Lord as the sun. Everything that comes into being and manifests itself in the heavens is from this source» — §117: la identificación del sol del cielo con el Señor y el reparto de la luz y el calor entre lo verdadero y lo bueno divinos.

«The reason the Lord in heaven appears as the sun is that he is the divine love from which all spiritual things come into being—and, through the agency of our world’s sun, all natural things as well. That love is what shines like a sun» — §117: la razón de la apariencia solar, que es el amor divino del que procede todo lo espiritual y, por el sol de este mundo, también lo natural.

«The reason the Lord appears in two places, so differently, is that he appears to people according to their receptiveness. So he looks one way to people who accept him through the good of love and another way to people who accept him through the good of faith. To people who accept him through the good of love, he looks like a sun, fiery and flaming in response to their receptivity. These people are in his heavenly kingdom. To people who accept him through the good of faith, though, he looks like a moon, brilliant and sparkling in response to their receptivity. These people are in his spiritual kingdom» — §118: la explicación de esa duplicidad por la receptividad de quien mira, repartida entre el reino celestial y el espiritual.

«For this reason, when the early people (who constituted a representative church) were engaged in their divine worship, they faced the sun in the east. It is why they set their temples to face the east» — §119: la explicación que el libro da de la orientación al oriente en el culto antiguo y en la traza de los templos.

«However, when the Lord appears in heaven (which happens quite often) he does not appear clothed with the sun but in an angelic form, distinguishable from the angels by the divine quality that shines from his face. He is not actually there in person—since the Lord “in person” is always clothed with the sun—but is present in appearance» — §121: la distinción entre la presencia en persona, siempre vestida del sol, y la presencia en apariencia bajo forma angélica.

«To angels, our world’s sun looks like something murky opposite to heaven’s sun, and our moon like something dim opposite to heaven’s moon, consistently. This is because our world’s fire corresponds to a love for ourselves, and the light it emits corresponds to the distortion that arises from that love. Love for oneself is the absolute opposite of divine love, and the distortion that arises from it is the absolute opposite of divine truth» — §122: la inversión del sol y de la luna de este mundo vistos desde el cielo, que el libro hace corresponder al amor propio y a su distorsión.

«The ones who turn toward the darkness that stands for our world’s sun are at the back of the hells and are called “demons,” while the ones who turn toward the dimness that stands for our moon are in the front of hell and are called “spirits» — §123: el reparto de los del infierno en demonios y espíritus según hacia qué oscuridad se vuelven, que es el vocabulario que Lang traduce por *genii* y *spiritûs* en la p. 31.

«The reason people turn in this way is that in the other life we all look toward what rules in our deeper natures—toward our own loves, then; and these deeper natures form the faces of angels and spirits. Further, in a spiritual world the cardinal points are not fixed the way they are in a natural world. Instead, they are determined by the way people face» — §123: la tesis de que en el mundo espiritual los puntos cardinales no son fijos sino determinados por hacia dónde mira cada quien.

«We ourselves, in spirit, are also turning in the same fashion— away from the Lord if we are caught up in self-love and love of the world, and toward him if we are in a love for him and for our neighbor. We are unaware of this, though, because we are in a natural world where the cardinal points are determined by the sun’s rising and setting» — §123: la extensión de esa tesis a los vivos, que giran igual en espíritu sin advertirlo.

«Since the Lord is the sun of heaven, and since everything that comes from him looks toward him, the Lord is the common center» — §124: la fórmula del centro común, que Lang cita en la p. 34 con su latín como la marca heliocéntrica del sistema.

«PEOPLE who think solely on the basis of nature cannot grasp the fact that there is light in the heavens; yet in the heavens there is so much light that it is vastly greater than noonday light on earth. I have seen it often, even during our evenings and nights. At first I was amazed when I heard angels saying that our world’s light was nothing but shadow in comparison to heaven’s light, but now that I have seen it, I myself can bear witness» — §126: el testimonio sobre la luz del cielo, con la fórmula de los ángeles de que la luz de este mundo es sombra comparada con ella.

«Heaven’s light is not natural like the light of our world, but spiritual. It actually comes from the Lord as the sun, and that sun, as explained in the preceding chapter, is divine love. While what emanates from the Lord as the sun is called divine truth in the heavens, in essence it is divine good as one with divine truth. This is the source of light and warmth for angels: they get their light from the divine truth and their warmth from the divine good» — §127: la definición de la luz y el calor del cielo por su origen en lo verdadero y lo bueno divinos.

«In short, to the extent to which angels are open to divine truth (that is, participate in intelligence and wisdom from the Lord), they have light.c This is why heaven’s angels are called angels of light» — §128: la proporción entre luz y sabiduría, de la que el libro deriva el nombre mismo de ángeles de luz.

«In order that there might be a union of heaven with humanity, the Word was written in pure correspondences. Absolutely everything in it corresponds.i So if we were steeped in a knowledge of correspondences, we would understand the Word in its spiritual meaning and be enabled to know hidden treasures in it that we do not see at all in its literal meaning» — §114: la tesis sobre la Escritura, escrita en correspondencias puras; quien las supiera leería el sentido espiritual y hallaría lo que la letra no muestra.

«The literal meaning consists of the kind of things that are in our world, while the spiritual meaning consists of the kind of things that are in heaven; and since the union of heaven with our world is maintained by correspondences, we have been given a Word in which the details correspond, even down to the last jot» — §114: el reparto de los dos sentidos de la Palabra entre las cosas de este mundo y las del cielo, con la correspondencia extendida hasta la última tilde.

«The Lord does not appear as a sun in the heavens, but high above them, and not directly overhead but in front of angels at a middle elevation. He appears in two places, in one for the right eye and in another for the left, noticeably far apart» — §118: la posición del sol del cielo, ni sobre la cabeza ni dentro de los cielos, y la doble aparición para cada ojo.

«So the Lord as the sun does not flow directly into the heavens; rather, the intensity of his love is by degrees tempered in its course. The stages of this tempering look like sparkling halos around the sun. Further, angels are shielded by a suitably thin cloud so that they will not be hurt by the inflow» — §120: el temple gradual del amor divino, con los halos centelleantes y la nube delgada que resguarda a los ángeles del influjo.

«It stands to reason that the light in the heavens is spiritual and that that light is divine truth when we consider that we also have spiritual light and that we have enlightenment from it to the extent that we participate in intelligence and wisdom on the basis of divine truth. Our spiritual light is the light of our discernment, whose objects are things true that it arranges in order by a process of analysis and forms into relationships, and from which it draws a series of conclusions» — §130: la prueba de la luz espiritual por analogía con la luz del propio entendimiento, definida por su operación de ordenar, relacionar y concluir.

«People are thinking naturally when they are focusing solely on this world and attributing everything to nature. They are thinking spiritually, however, when they focus on heaven and attribute everything to the Divine» — §130: el criterio con que el libro separa el pensar natural del espiritual, que no es el objeto sino a qué se atribuye todo.

«I have been gradually elevated into that light inwardly, and as I was raised up, my discernment was enlightened to the extent that I could grasp what I had been unable to grasp before, ultimately things that could in no way be comprehended by thought from natural light» — §130: el testimonio de una elevación gradual en esa luz, con lo que solo en ella se deja entender.

«Since heaven’s light is divine wisdom, people are recognized in heaven’s light for what they really are. Everyone’s inner nature shines forth from the face just as it is, with nothing whatever concealed» — §131: la luz del cielo como reveladora, que hace visible en el rostro lo que cada quien es.

«Remarkably, people in hell look human to each other, but in heaven’s light they look like monsters, with frightful faces and bodies, in the exact form of their evil» — §131: la doble apariencia de los del infierno, humana entre ellos y monstruosa en la luz del cielo, en la forma exacta de su mal.

«The truths outside the heavens shine coldly, like something snowy, without warmth, because unlike truths within the heavens, they do not derive their essence from what is good» — §132: la distinción entre lo verdadero dentro y fuera del cielo, que el libro cifra en si deriva o no su esencia de lo bueno.

«There are two things that emanate from the Lord as the sun, divine truth and divine good. Divine truth comes out in heaven as light and divine good as warmth. However, divine truth and divine good are so united that they are not two, but one. For angels, though, they are separated. There are angels who accept divine good more readily than divine truth, and there are angels who accept divine truth more readily than divine good. The ones who are more open to divine good are in the Lord’s heavenly kingdom; the ones who are more open to divine truth are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom. The most perfect angels are the ones who are equally open to both» — §133: la unidad de lo verdadero y lo bueno divinos en su fuente y su separación en quien los recibe, con los ángeles más perfectos definidos como los igualmente abiertos a los dos.

«The warmth in heaven is meant by sacred and heavenly fire, and the warmth of hell by profane fire and hellfire. Both refer to love: heavenly fire to love for the Lord and love for one’s neighbor, and hellfire to love for oneself and love of the world and all the craving that is associated with these loves» — §134: la lectura por correspondencia del fuego sagrado y del fuego infernal, que el libro reduce los dos a amor.

«The fact that love is warmth of a spiritual origin can be seen from the way we grow warm in proportion to our love, even becoming inflamed and heated in proportion to its intensity and quality, with its full heat evident when we are attacked. This is why it is usual to talk about inflaming, heating up, burning, boiling, and kindling when we are talking about either the affections of a good love or the cravings of an evil love» — §134: la prueba por el lenguaje común del calor como amor, con la lista de verbos de inflamar, encender y hervir.

«People who believe that the inflow of our world’s warmth arouses these loves are much mistaken. There is actually no inflow of what is natural into what is spiritual, but of what is spiritual into what is natural. This latter inflow is of the divine design, while the former would be contrary to the divine design» — §135: la regla que el libro pone al influjo: solo va de lo espiritual a lo natural, nunca al revés, y por eso objeta que el calor del sol despierte por sí los amores de los animales.

«The quintessential life of angels is from the warmth, but not from the light except to the extent that there is warmth in it. We can see that life comes from the warmth because when the warmth is taken away life dies. It is the same for faith without love or for truth without goodness, since the truth that is attributed to faith is light and the goodness that is attributed to love is warmth» — §136: la primacía del calor sobre la luz en la vida angélica, y su traducción al par fe y amor.

«It is from this correspondence that heaven is called a paradise,108 because there the true is united to the good, or faith to love, as light is united to warmth in springtime on earth» — §136: el nombre de paraíso explicado por la unión de luz y calor, como la primavera en la tierra.

«All angels are called “powers” because of divine truth, and are powers to the extent that they are recipients or vessels of it. Through it they prevail over the hells and over all who oppose them. A thousand enemies there cannot bear one ray of heavenly light, which is divine truth» — §137: el nombre de potestades explicado por lo verdadero divino, con la fórmula de que mil enemigos no soportan un solo rayo de esa luz.

«There is an intrinsic power within divine truth, though, power of such nature that by means of it heaven, the world, and everything in them was created» — §137: la potencia intrínseca que el libro le atribuye a lo verdadero divino, por la cual se creó el cielo, el mundo y cuanto hay en ellos.

«The reason they give the name “east” to the direction in which the Lord is seen as the sun is that the whole source of life is from him as the sun. Further, to the extent that warmth and light, or intelligence and wisdom from him, are accepted among angels, they say that the Lord has risen among them» — §141: la razón del nombre de oriente y la fórmula angélica de que el Señor ha salido entre ellos cuando reciben más sabiduría.

«The origin [for angels] is a ruling love. It is the basis of all delimitation for angels and spirits; for, as noted just above, their deeper levels are actually turned toward their common center. So in heaven they are turned toward the Lord as the sun; and since love is constantly in front of their deeper levels, and their faces are manifestations of these levels (being their outward form), the love that is predominant is always in front of their faces. In heaven, then, this is the Lord as the sun, since he is the source of all their love» — §143: la explicación de que el oriente esté siempre delante del ángel: lo que delimita no es el cuerpo sino el amor dominante.

«This kind of turning toward the Lord is one of heaven’s wonders, for many individuals can be together in one place, turning faces and bodies toward each other, and yet all of them will have the Lord in front of them, and each will have the south on the right, the north on the left, and the west behind» — §144: la maravilla del giro, en que muchos vueltos unos a otros tienen todos al Señor delante.

«A further extraordinary fact is that in heaven, no one is allowed to stand behind anyone else and look at the back of his or her head. This disturbs the inflow of what is good and true from the Lord» — §144: la prohibición de ponerse detrás de otro y mirarle la nuca, que el libro explica por el estorbo al influjo.

«Angels see the Lord with their eyes, while the Lord sees angels through their foreheads. The reason for this is that the forehead corresponds to love, and it is through love that the Lord flows into their volition and makes himself visible to their minds, to which the eyes correspond» — §145: la asimetría de la visión, que el libro explica por la correspondencia de la frente con el amor.

«All the people in the heavens live in different areas according to the cardinal directions. People who are sensitive to the good that love does live along the east-west axis: the ones who have a clear perception of this, toward the east; and the ones who have a vague perception of it, toward the west. People who are sensitive to the issues of wisdom that result [from that good] live along the south-north axis: the ones in a clear light of wisdom, toward the south; and the ones in a dim light of wisdom, toward the north» — §148: el plano de residencia del cielo, con el eje oriente-occidente para el amor y el norte-sur para la sabiduría, cada uno graduado por la claridad.

«This is why the cardinal directions in heaven mean the qualities of the people who live there. The east means love and its good clearly perceived, the west the same dimly perceived, the south wisdom and intelligence in clear light, and the north the same in dim light» — §150: la lectura por correspondencia de los puntos cardinales, que el libro traslada al sentido interno de la Escritura.

«It should be realized that the divine good and divine truth that come from the Lord as the sun in the heavens are not in the Lord but are from him. All that is in the Lord is divine love, which is the reality from which divine good and truth become manifest» — §139: la precisión de que lo bueno y lo verdadero divinos no están en el Señor sino que proceden de él, siendo el amor divino la realidad de la que se manifiestan; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«THERE are four quarters in heaven just as there are in the world —east, south, west, and north. These are determined in each world by its sun, in heaven by heaven’s sun, which is the Lord, and on earth by earth’s sun. However, there are major differences. The first is that in our world we call “south” the direction in which the sun reaches its greatest height above the earth, and “north” where it is below the earth, in the opposite direction» — §141: los cuatro puntos del cielo y la primera diferencia con los de la tierra, que se cuentan por la altura del sol.

«In heaven, though, they call “east” where the Lord is seen as the sun. West is in the opposite direction, south in heaven on the right, and north on the left. This holds true wherever people turn their faces and their bodies. So in heaven, all the directions are determined on the basis of the east» — §141: la rosa de los vientos del cielo, contada desde el oriente, que es donde se ve al Señor como sol, y no desde el sur.

«All heaven turns toward the Lord as its common center, so all angels turn in the same direction. It is recognized that everything points to a common center on earth as well, but the orientation in heaven is different from that on earth» — §142: la orientación común de todo el cielo hacia el Señor, distinta de la que en la tierra apunta al centro.

«Since the Lord is constantly in front of angels, we say in our world that they have God before their eyes and faces, that people who believe in him and love him look to him and see him» — §143: la tesis sobre el habla común: decir que alguien tiene a Dios ante los ojos viene, según el libro, del mundo espiritual.

«I have been told about this kind of turning, specifically that for evil people the intellectual faculty can be turned in this way, but not the voluntary faculty. I have also been told that this is provided by the Lord to the end that everyone may have the ability to see and acknowledge what is true, but that no one will accept it except people who are focused on what is good, since the good—never the evil—is what accepts truths» — §153: el límite que el libro le pone al giro del malvado: su entendimiento puede volverse a lo verdadero, su voluntad no, porque solo lo bueno recibe verdades.

«BY “the changes of angels’ states,” we mean their changes in regard to love and faith and therefore in regard to wisdom and intelligence—to the state of their life, that is. States are attributes of life and of matters that pertain to life; and since angelic life is a life of love and faith and thereby of wisdom and intelligence, states are attributes of these, and we talk about states of love and faith and states of wisdom and intelligence» — §154: la definición de estado, que en este libro sustituye al tiempo como medida de la vida angélica.

«These states follow each other like variations of light and shade, warmth and cold, or like the morning, noon, evening, and night of individual days in our world, varying constantly throughout the year. Not only that, they correspond—morning to the state of their love in clarity, noon to the state of their wisdom in clarity, evening to the state of their wisdom in dimness, and night to a state of no love or wisdom» — §155: la correspondencia de esos estados con las horas del día, de la mañana a la noche.

«It should be known, though, that there is no correspondence of night with the states of life of people in heaven, but rather a correspondence of the half-light that comes before dawn. The correspondence of night is with people who are in hell» — §155: la excepción que el libro introduce en esa correspondencia: a los del cielo no les toca la noche sino el crepúsculo que precede al alba.

«A second reason is that angels have a sense of self or self-image117 just as we do, and this involves loving themselves. All the people in heaven are kept free of their sense of self, and to the extent that the Lord does keep them free, they enjoy love and wisdom. To the extent that they are not kept free, however, they are caught up in love for themselves; and since all of them do love that sense of self and carry it with them,c these changes of state or successive alternations do occur» — §158: la segunda razón, que es la noción de sí mismo, que el libro atribuye también a los ángeles y de la que el Señor los mantiene libres en proporción.

«A third reason is that they are made more perfect in this way, since they become accustomed to being kept in love for the Lord and kept free from love for themselves. Further, by these alternations of delight and discomfort, their perception of and sensitivity to what is good become more and more delicate» — §158: la tercera razón, que convierte la alternancia en pedagogía: por ella se afina la percepción del bien.

«They have gone on to say that the Lord does not produce these changes of their states, since the Lord as the sun is always flowing in with warmth and light, that is, with love and wisdom. Rather, they themselves are the cause, since they love their sense of self and this is constantly misleading them. They illustrate this by comparison with our world’s sun, which is not the cause of the changes of warmth and cold and of light and darkness, of distinct years and distinct days, because it stays motionless. The reason can be traced to our earth» — §158: la adjudicación de la causa, que el libro quita del Señor y pone en los ángeles mismos, con la comparación del sol inmóvil y las estaciones.

«I have been shown how the Lord as the sun looks to angels in the heavenly kingdom in their first state, in their second state, and in their third. I saw the Lord as the sun, at first reddish and gleaming, so brilliant as to be beyond description. I was told that the Lord as the sun looks like this to angels in their first state» — §159: el testimonio del sol rojizo y fulgurante visto en el primer estado, del que el libro deriva toda la serie de estados.

«The reason angels do not know what time is (even though everything for them moves along in sequence just the way it does in our world, so much so that there is no difference) is that in heaven there are no years or days, but only changes of state. Where there are years and days there are times, and where there are changes of state, there are states» — §163: la razón por la que en el cielo no hay tiempo: no hay años ni días, solo cambios de estado.

«Spring and morning change into an idea of love and wisdom the way they are for angels in their first state; summer and noon change into an idea of love and wisdom as they are in the second state; autumn and evening, as they are in the third state; and night and winter into a concept of the kind of state that is characteristic in hell» — §166: la tabla de conversión entre las estaciones, las horas y los estados, con la noche y el invierno adjudicados al infierno.

«Since angels have no notion of time, they have a different concept of eternity than we earthly people do. By “eternity,” angels perceive an infinite state, not an infinite time» — §167: la definición angélica de eternidad como estado infinito y no como tiempo infinito.

«There were some angels who were let very intimately into my thoughts, all the way into natural ones that contained a mass of material from time and space. However, since at that point they could not understand anything at all, they promptly withdrew; and after they had withdrawn I heard them talking, saying that they had been in darkness» — §168: el experimento inverso, con los ángeles metidos en los conceptos naturales del autor, que no entendieron nada y dijeron haber estado a oscuras.

«Let such people know, though, that thoughts are limited and constrained to the extent that they derive from time, space, and matter, and that they are freed and expanded to the extent that they do not derive from such things, because to that same extent the mind is raised above bodily and worldly considerations» — §169: la respuesta al que cree que sin tiempo, espacio y materia no hay pensamiento: el pensar se libera en la medida en que no deriva de ellos.

«ANYONE who thinks solely from natural light cannot understand that anything in heaven is like anything in our world. This is because such people, on the basis of this light, have both thought and decided that angels are nothing but minds, and that minds are like ethereal breath. This would mean that angels did not have the senses we do, so they would not have eyes; and if they did not have eyes there would be no objects [of sight]. However, angels do have all the senses we do—far more delicate ones, in fact—and the light in which they see is far brighter than the light in which we see» — §170: la objeción al ángel sin sentidos, con la afirmación de que los tiene más finos que los nuestros.

«They saw things like this when heaven was opened to them, and heaven is said to be opened when our inner sight, the sight of our spirit, is opened. For the things that exist in heaven cannot be seen with our physical eyes, but only with the eyes of our spirit» — §171: la definición de cielo abierto como apertura de la vista interior, aplicada a Ezequiel, Daniel y Juan.

«Things that arise in the heavens do not arise in the same way as things on earth. In the heavens, everything comes into being from the Lord in response to the deeper natures of the angels» — §173: la ley que gobierna las apariencias del cielo, que Lang cita en la p. 62: todo surge del Señor en respuesta al interior del ángel.

«The appearances that arise in heaven in this way are called real appearances because they do actually come into being. There are also unreal appearances, things that seem to be present but do not correspond to deeper realities» — §175: la distinción entre apariencias reales y no reales, que es la garantía de realidad del mundo que el libro describe.

«Their clothes reflect their intelligence, so all the people in heaven are dressed according to their intelligence; and since one will surpass another in intelligence (see §§43 and 128), one will have better quality clothing than another. The most intelligent wear clothes that gleam as though aflame, some radiant as though alight. The less intelligent wear pure white and soft white clothes that do not shine, and those still less intelligent wear clothes of various colors» — §178: la escala de las vestiduras según la inteligencia, del vestido llameante al de colores.

«The reason angels in the inmost heaven are naked is that they are in innocence, and innocence corresponds to nudity» — §179: la desnudez del cielo más interior explicada por la correspondencia de la inocencia.

«We can tell that angels’ clothes do not merely look like clothes but really are because they not only see them, they feel them as well. Further, they have many garments that they take off and put on, and they put away the ones they are not using and put back on the ones they are. I have seen thousands of times that they wear different clothes» — §181: la prueba de realidad de las vestiduras: no solo se ven, se palpan, se cambian y se guardan.

«Although people in the hells do seem to be clothed, because they lack truths their clothes are nothing but rags, dirty and foul, each individual in keeping with his or her own insanity. They cannot be clothed in any other way, either. The Lord allows them to wear clothes so that they will not appear naked» — §182: el contraste con los harapos del infierno, que el libro dice permitidos para que no anden desnudos.

«At times, I have talked with angels about homes in heaven, telling them that nowadays hardly anyone would believe that they have homes and houses—some because they do not see them, some because they do not realize that angels are people, some because they believe that the angelic heaven is the sky they see about them with their eyes. Since this appears to be empty and they think that angels are ethereal forms, they come to the conclusion that angels live in the ether» — §183: la incredulidad sobre las casas del cielo, que el libro atribuye a tener por vacío el firmamento y por etéreos a los ángeles.

«Angels are not constantly in the same state as to love, and consequently they are not in the same state as to wisdom, for all the wisdom they have is from their love and in proportion to it. Sometimes they are in a state of intense love, sometimes in a state of love that is not intense. It decreases gradually from its most to its least intense. When they are in the highest level of love, they are in the light and warmth of their lives, or in their greatest clarity and delight. Conversely, when they are in the lowest level they are in shadow and coolness, or in what is dim and unpleasant» — §155: la alternancia de los estados del ángel, de la mayor claridad y deleite a la sombra y el frío, proporcional a la intensidad del amor.

«I have been told from heaven why changes of state like this occur. Angels have said that there are many reasons. First, the delight of life and of heaven that angels enjoy because of the love and wisdom given them by the Lord would gradually pall if they» — §158: la primera de las tres razones que el libro da para la alternancia: el deleite constante se desgastaría; la frase se remata en la p. 214.

«When angels are in this last state, which is when they are involved in their sense of self, they begin to feel depressed. I have talked with them when they were in this state and witnessed their depression» — §160: el abatimiento del último estado, atestiguado en primera persona; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«They kept saying, though, that they lived in hope that they would soon return to their earlier state and be in heaven again, so to speak, since heaven for them is being kept free from their sense of self» — §160: la definición del cielo que los propios ángeles le dan al autor en ese estado: ser mantenidos libres de la noción de sí.

«Since angels have no concept derived from time, as we in our world do, they have no concept of time or of the things that depend on time. They do not even know what all these temporal things are» — §165: la ausencia de todo concepto derivado del tiempo entre los ángeles, que no saben qué es un año, un mes ni un día.

«I was thinking about eternity once, and using a concept of time I could grasp what “to eternity” entailed—namely, without end—but not what “from eternity” entailed and therefore not what God did before creation, from eternity. As my anxiety mounted because of this, I was raised into the sphere of heaven and therefore into the perception of eternity shared by angels» — §167: el testimonio de la angustia ante el *desde la eternidad*, resuelta por elevación a la percepción angélica.

«Since all the things that are responsive to angels’ deeper natures also portray them, they are called representations» — §175: la definición del primero de los dos términos, representaciones, por lo que retratan del interior del ángel.

«To angels who are focused on intelligence there appear gardens and parks full of all kinds of trees and flowers. The trees there are laid out in the loveliest designs, joined into vaulted arches offering spaces for entrance, and with promenades around them. All this is so beautiful as to defy description. People who are focused on intelligence stroll there picking the flowers and weaving garlands to grace babies with. There are kinds of tree and flower there never seen, not even possible, in our world. In the trees, too, there are fruits in keeping with the quality of the love these intelligent angels are absorbed in» — §176: el ejemplo mayor de apariencia real, los jardines y parques con sus frutos según el amor de cada ángel, que Lang cita en la p. 62.

«Whenever I have talked with angels face to face, I have been with them in their houses. Their houses were just like the houses on earth that we call homes, but more beautiful. They have chambers, suites, and bedrooms in abundance, and courtyards with gardens, flower beds, and lawns around them. Where there is some concentration of people, the houses are adjoining, one near another, arranged in the form of a city with streets and lanes and public squares, just like the ones we see in cities on our earth. I have been allowed to stroll along them and look around wherever I wished, at times entering people’s homes. This has happened when I was fully awake, with my inner sight opened» — §184: la descripción de las casas del cielo, con sus estancias, patios y jardines, y la ciudad con calles y plazas, que Lang cita en la p. 30.

«I have seen palaces in heaven that were so splendid as to be beyond description. Their upper stories shone as though they were made of pure gold, and their lower ones as though they were made of precious gems. Each palace seemed more splendid than the last. It was the same inside. The rooms were graced with such lovely adornments that neither words nor the arts and sciences are adequate to describe them. On the side that faced south there were parklands where everything sparkled in the same way, here and there the leaves like silver and the fruits like gold, with the flowers» — §185: la descripción de los palacios, con los pisos altos como de oro y los bajos como de piedras preciosas; la frase termina en la p. 231.

«The architecture of heaven is like this, so that you might call it the very essence of the art—and small wonder, since the art itself does come to us from heaven» — §185: la tesis sobre el origen del arte, que el libro hace descender del cielo; es de los pocos pasajes en que la obra habla de dónde viene un arte.

«Angels tell me that things like this and countless others even more perfect are presented to their view by the Lord; but that such sights actually delight their minds more than their eyes because they see correspondences in the details, and through their correspondences they see things divine» — §185: la razón por la que esas visiones deleitan más la mente que el ojo: en el detalle se ven correspondencias, y por ellas lo divino.

«In general terms, their houses correspond to the good that occupies them and the items within their houses to the various things that constitute that good.b The items that are outside the homes refer to true things that derive from the good, and also to experiences of perception and recognition» — §186: la clave de correspondencia de la casa y de cuanto hay dentro y fuera de ella.

«The angels who constitute the Lord’s heavenly kingdom live for the most part in loftier places that look like mountains above the ground. The angels who constitute the Lord’s spiritual kingdom live in less lofty places that look like hills, while the angels who live in the lowest regions of heaven live in places that look like rocky cliffs. These things also stem from correspondences, since the deeper things correspond to higher ones and the more outward to lower ones.f This is why mountains in the Word mean heavenly love, hills mean spiritual love, and rocks mean faith» — §188: el relieve del cielo, con montañas, colinas y peñascos repartidos por reinos, y su lectura en la Escritura.

«The houses angels live in are not constructed as houses in our world are, but are given them by the Lord gratis, to each individual according to his or her acceptance of what is good and true. They also change slightly in response to the changes of state of their deeper natures (see above, §§154–160). Whatever angels possess, they attribute to the Lord, and anything they need is given to them» — §190: las casas no se construyen, se dan; y cambian con el estado interior, lo que Lang cita en la p. 63.

«EVEN though everything in heaven appears to be located in space just like things in our world, still angels have no notion or concept of location and space» — §191: la tesis del espacio que Carl Gustaf Tessin llamó sueño bien razonado en su diario de 1760, según Lang en la p. 67.

«This being the nature of motion, we can see that drawing near is likeness of inner state and moving away is dissimilarity. This is why the people who are nearby are the ones in a similar state and the ones who are far away are in dissimilar states. It is why space in heaven is nothing but the outward states that correspond to the inner ones. This is the only reason the heavens are differentiated from each other, as are the communities of each heaven and the individuals in each community. It is also why the hells are completely separate from the heavens: they are in an opposite state» — §193: la traducción de la cercanía y la lejanía a semejanza y desemejanza de estado, que explica también la separación del infierno.

«Whenever people move from one place to another, whether it is within their town, in their courtyards, in their gardens, or to people outside their own community, they get there more quickly if they are eager to and more slowly if they are not. The path itself is lengthened or shortened depending on their desire, even though it is the same path. I have often seen this, much to my surprise» — §195: la observación del camino que se alarga o se acorta con el deseo, presentada como experiencia repetida.

«We can illustrate this by our own thoughts, which are also devoid of space; for whatever we focus on intently in our thought is seemingly present. Then too, anyone who reflects on it realizes that our eyesight registers space only through the intermediate objects on earth that we see at the same time, or from our knowing from experience that things are a certain distance away» — §196: la analogía con el pensamiento propio, que tampoco tiene espacio, y la explicación de cómo el ojo registra la distancia.

«This is why places and spaces in the Word (and everything that involves space) mean matters that involve state—distances, for instance, and nearness and remoteness, paths, journeys, emigrations, miles, stadia,129 plains, fields, gardens, cities, streets, motion, various kinds of measurement, length, breadth, height, and depth, and countless other things» — §197: la lista de términos espaciales de la Escritura que el libro traduce a estados.

«In heaven, though, where thinking does not involve space, people understand length as a state of good and breadth as a state of truth, while height is their difference in regard to level» — §197: la clave con que el libro lee las tres dimensiones de la Escritura, largo como bien, ancho como verdad y alto como grado.

«Here the New Jerusalem means a new church, so its measurements mean attributes of that church, length referring to the good of its love, breadth to the truth that derives from that good, and height to both the good and the true in respect to their level. Twelve thousand stadia means everything good and true taken together. Otherwise, what would be the point of having its height be twelve thousand stadia like its length and its breadth» — §197: la aplicación de esa clave a las medidas de la Nueva Jerusalén del Apocalipsis, rematada con una objeción al sentido literal.

«The essential first cause of all this is that the Lord is present to each individual according to that individual’s love and faith,e and that everything looks near or remote depending on his presence» — §199: la causa primera de todo el capítulo, que es la presencia del Señor en cada quien según su amor y su fe.

«We need to know what heaven’s form is like because it determines not only how angels associate with each other but also how all their communication takes place; and since all their communication is also an outreach of their thoughts and affections, this means all their intelligence and wisdom. This is why the extent to which we are in heaven’s form (are forms of heaven) determines how wise we are» — §201: la razón de ser del capítulo: de la forma del cielo dependen la comunicación, el alcance del pensamiento y por tanto la sabiduría.

«However, for the image or form of heaven to be restored for us, we need to be educated in the principles of the design; for the form, as explained above, depends on the design. The Word contains all the laws of the divine design, for the laws of the divine design are the precepts we find there. To the extent that we know them and live by them, our inner being is opened, and in it the design or form of heaven is formed anew. We can see from this what it is to be in heaven’s form—namely, it is living according to what is in the Word» — §202: la definición práctica de estar en la forma del cielo, que el libro reduce a vivir conforme a lo que la Palabra manda.

«The only difference is that our eyesight is affected on the natural level because it is made of materials from the natural world, while the sight of our intellect is affected spiritually because it is made of materials in the spiritual world that all have to do with what is good and true» — §203: la distinción entre la vista del ojo y la del entendimiento, según de qué mundo estén hechos sus materiales.

«We need to realize, though, that intelligence and wisdom vary for individuals depending on the communication. For people whose intelligence and wisdom are formed from things genuinely good and true, there is a sharing with communities according to heaven’s form; while for people whose intelligence and wisdom are not formed from things genuinely good and true but [only] from things that are in accord with them, the communication is intermittent and only partially coherent because it is not with communities in the sequence characteristic of heaven’s form» — §204: los grados de comunicación según la calidad de lo bueno y lo verdadero que forman la inteligencia de cada quien.

«All the people in heaven are grouped according to spiritual affinities, which are matters of what is good and true in their pattern—the same way in the whole heaven as in each community and in each household. This is why angels who are involved in similar good and true activities recognize each other the way relatives and kindred spirits do on earth—just as though they had known each other from infancy» — §205: la agrupación por afinidad espiritual repetida aquí como ley de forma, no solo como observación.

«In fact, the communication between heavens should not be called “communication” but “inflow,” which we now need to say something about» — §206: la distinción terminológica entre comunicación dentro de un cielo e influjo entre cielos.

«Since the union of the heavens through inflow is accomplished by the Lord alone, the greatest possible precautions are taken to prevent any angel from a higher heaven from looking down into a community of a lower one and talking with anyone there. The moment this happens, the angel will lose intelligence and wisdom» — §208: la prohibición de que un ángel de un cielo superior mire hacia abajo y hable, con la razón de la pérdida de sabiduría.

«Every angel has three levels of life, like the three levels of heaven. For the ones in the inmost heaven, the third or inmost level is opened and the second and first are closed. For people in the intermediate heaven the second level is opened and the first and third are closed; and for people in the outermost heaven the first level is opened and the second and third are closed» — §208: los tres niveles de vida de todo ángel y cuál queda abierto en cada cielo, que es el mecanismo de aquella prohibición.

«There is no inflow from lower heavens into higher ones because this goes against the design. Rather, inflow is from the higher ones into the lower. The wisdom of angels of a higher heaven surpasses the wisdom of angels of a lower one by a ratio of thousands to one. This is also why angels of a lower heaven cannot talk with angels of a higher one. In fact, when they look in their direction they do not see them; their heaven looks like something cloudy overhead» — §209: la dirección única del influjo y la desproporción de sabiduría entre cielos, medida por el libro en miles a uno.

«As to heaven’s form and how it works and flows, this is incomprehensible even to angels» — §212: el límite que el libro se pone a sí mismo: la forma del cielo no la comprenden ni los ángeles; el tramo cruza a la p. 244.

«We can see in a general way how incomprehensible and intricate this form is simply by looking at our nerve fibers, which serve to weave absolutely everything [in us] together. There is no way their nature and how they work and flow in the brain can be presented to our eyes, for the countless things involved are so intricate that viewed en masse they look like a soft, undefined lump» — §212: la analogía con las fibras nerviosas del cerebro, que el libro usa para figurar esa incomprensibilidad.

«All motion in the spiritual world is the effect of changes of inner states, to the point that motion is nothing but change of state» — §192: la identificación del movimiento con el cambio de estado, de la que se sigue que no haya distancias ni espacio; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«This is how all angels move about, which means they do not have distances; and if they do not have distances, they do not have space. Instead they have states and their changes» — §192: la consecuencia de esa identificación aplicada a los ángeles, que no tienen distancias y por tanto no tienen espacio.

«This is also why in the spiritual world one individual is present to another if only that presence is intensely desired. This is because one person sees another in thought in this way and identifies with that individual’s state» — §194: la presencia por deseo, que el libro explica por ver al otro en el pensamiento y compartir su estado.

«since all reluctance comes from an opposition of affections and disagreement of thoughts, there can be many people appearing together in one place as long as they agree, but as soon as they disagree, they vanish» — §194: el reverso de esa ley, con los que aparecen juntos mientras concuerdan y desaparecen al discordar.

«However, since by the evils of our intention and the distortions of our thinking we have destroyed the image and therefore the form of heaven within us, and in its place have imported the image and form of hell, our inner being is closed from the time of birth. This is why we, unlike all other kinds of animal, are born into utter ignorance» — §202: la explicación de la ignorancia con que nace el hombre, que el libro atribuye a la forma del infierno importada en lugar de la del cielo.

«However, in the heavens there is no government except the government of mutual love, and the government of mutual love is heavenly government» — §213: la definición del gobierno del cielo, que el libro reduce al amor mutuo.

«These angels too are led by the Lord, but indirectly (§208); so they have officials, fewer or more depending on the needs of the community they live in. They also have laws that they observe in their life together. The officials manage everything according to the laws; they understand them because they are wise, and in matters of doubt they are enlightened by the Lord» — §215: el gobierno del reino espiritual, que sí tiene funcionarios y leyes porque su conducción es indirecta.

«Still, all the forms of government share a central focus on the public good as their end, and within that good, the good of each individual.f This is because everyone in all heaven is under the guidance of the Lord, who loves everyone and who from his divine love arranges things so that it is the common good from which individuals receive what is good for them» — §217: el fin común de todos los gobiernos del cielo, que el libro pone en el bien público del que cada uno recibe el suyo.

«They do have respect and renown, though. They live in the center of their communities, loftier than others, and in splendid mansions as well; and they accept this renown and respect. However, they do so not on their own account but for the sake of obedience. They all know that this respect and this renown are gifts from the Lord, so that they may be obeyed» — §218: la acotación sobre el honor de esos oficiales, que lo aceptan por obediencia y lo saben don del Señor.

«Being useful is the essential delight of life for everyone. We can see from this that the Lord’s kingdom is an organized structure of functions» — §219: la fórmula con que el libro cierra el capítulo del gobierno: el reino del Señor como estructura organizada de funciones.

«OUTWARDLY, divine worship in the heavens is not unlike divine worship on earth, but inwardly it is different. People there too have doctrines and sermons and church buildings. The doctrines agree in essentials, but those in the higher heavens are of deeper wisdom than those of lower heavens. The sermons are in keeping with the doctrines; and just as they have homes and mansions (§§183–190), they also have church buildings where the instruction takes place» — §221: el culto del cielo, con sus doctrinas, sus sermones y sus templos, distinto del de la tierra solo por dentro.

«However, the essential divine worship in the heavens does not consist of going to church regularly and listening to sermons but of a life of love, thoughtfulness, and faith in keeping with doctrine. The sermons in church serve only as means of instruction in how to live» — §222: la definición del culto esencial, que el libro quita del rito y pone en la vida; es el pasaje que Lang cita en la p. 28 como el veredicto sobre los que creen que basta con ir a la iglesia.

«The angels have told me that these are outward matters that are worth doing but that they are ineffective unless there is something within from which they flow, and that this something within is a life according to the principles that doctrine teaches» — §222: la acotación que salva el rito sin darle valor propio: vale hacerlo, pero no obra si no hay dentro una vida conforme a la doctrina.

«The preacher in the pulpit is stationed in the east. Directly in front sit the people who are in greater light of wisdom than others, while to their right and left are the people in less light. The seating is laid out in a circular form so that everyone can be seen by the preacher. No one is off to the sides and out of the preacher’s sight» — §223: la disposición del templo celestial, con el predicador al oriente y el auditorio en círculo por grados de sabiduría.

«Churches in the spiritual kingdom seem to be made of stone, and those in the heavenly kingdom of wood. This is because stone corresponds to the truth that occupies people in the spiritual kingdom and wood to the good that occupies people in the heavenly kingdom.b The buildings in this latter kingdom are not called “churches” but “houses of God» — §223: la correspondencia de los materiales, piedra para lo verdadero y madera para lo bueno, y el distinto nombre de los edificios en cada reino.

«Further, he said that when he thought about something externally holy apart from these, it might possibly be something that mimicked holiness in outer appearance, something acquired either by skill or by hypocrisy. A deceptive fire arising from love for oneself and the world would generate and present this kind of appearance» — §224: la objeción del mismo predicador a toda santidad puramente exterior, que atribuye al arte o a la hipocresía.

«All preachers are from the Lord’s spiritual kingdom and none from his heavenly kingdom. The reason they are from the spiritual kingdom is that people there are attuned to truths that stem from what is good, and all preaching comes from truths. The reason none is from his heavenly kingdom is that the people there are attuned to the good of love, and see and grasp truths on this basis, but do not talk about them» — §225: la regla de que todo predicador venga del reino espiritual, con la razón de que el celestial ve lo verdadero pero no lo discute.

«They are called preachers rather than priests. The reason they are not called priests is that heaven’s priesthood is the heavenly kingdom, priesthood meaning the good of love for the Lord that characterizes the people in that kingdom» — §226: la razón del nombre, que el libro deriva de que el sacerdocio del cielo sea el reino celestial entero y la realeza el espiritual.

«All the doctrines that govern the preaching focus on life as their end, none on faith apart from life. The doctrine of the inmost heaven is more full of wisdom than that of the intermediate heaven, and this in turn is more full of intelligence than that of the outmost heaven. The doctrines are in fact suited to the grasp of the angels of each heaven. The essential of all the doctrines is the recognition of the Lord’s divine human» — §227: el criterio de toda doctrina del cielo, la vida y no la fe separada de ella, y el punto esencial de todas, el Humano Divino.

«They are aware that all the power we ourselves have comes from our intellect and volition, since without these we cannot move the slightest part of our bodies. Intellect and volition are our spiritual person. This person is what animates the body and its members at will, for the mouth and tongue say what it thinks and the body does what it intends» — §228: el argumento con que el libro atribuye potencia a los ángeles, tomado de la potencia del entendimiento y la voluntad sobre el cuerpo.

«Believe it or not, we cannot move a step without the inflow of heaven. I have been shown that this is true by a great deal of experience. Angels have been allowed to activate my walking, my actions, my tongue, and my conversation as they wished, by flowing into my intention and thinking, and I learned at first hand that I could do nothing on my own» — §228: la fórmula del influjo que Lang cita en la p. 44 como la función de intermediario que el libro les da a los ángeles, con el experimento en primera persona.

«So I have seen mountains that were the abode of evil people leveled and overturned, sometimes shaken from end to end as happens in our earthquakes. I have seen cliffs split down the middle right to the bottom and the evil people on them swallowed up. I have also seen angels scatter some hundreds of thousands of evil spirits and cast them into hell» — §229: el pasaje que Lang lee en la p. 41 como la única descripción que este libro da del Juicio Final que él data en 1757.

«Sometimes a bare arm appears in heaven that has so much power that it could crush any obstacle, even if it were a boulder on earth. Once it moved toward me, and I saw that it could crush my bones to powder» — §231: el testimonio del brazo desnudo, que es la imagen con que el libro figura la potencia concentrada en el brazo del Hombre Universal.

«ANGELS talk with each other just the way we do in this world. They talk about various things—domestic matters, community concerns, issues of moral life, and issues of spiritual life. There is no difference except that they talk with each other more intelligently than we do because they talk from a deeper level of thought» — §234: la lengua de los ángeles, que Lang cita en la p. 30 al contrastar al autor con su padre el obispo Swedberg.

«They have told me that they know everything about another person’s life from a few individual ideas because these enable them to know the person’s ruling love, which contains everything in a pattern. This is all that our “book of life” is» — §236: la identificación del libro de la vida con el amor dominante, que contiene todo lo demás en su orden.

«I have been told that the first language of people on our earth shared this nature because it was given them from heaven, and that Hebrew resembles it in some respects» — §237: la tesis sobre la primera lengua de la tierra, dada del cielo, y el parecido parcial que el libro le atribuye al hebreo.

«Their love and wisdom unite in speech. As a result, it is so full of wisdom that they can in a single word express what we cannot say in a thousand words; and the concepts of their thinking can encompass things the like of which we cannot grasp, let alone articulate» — §239: la densidad de la lengua angélica, que dice en una palabra lo que aquí requiere mil.

«Then too, the vowels U and O tend to predominate in the speech of heavenly angels, while in the speech of spiritual angels it is the vowels E and I» — §241: el reparto de las vocales entre los dos reinos, que el libro explica porque la vocal lleva el sonido y el sonido el afecto.

«We may conclude from this what the officials are like—namely, that they are the people who more than others enjoy love and wisdom and who therefore, out of that love, wish well to everyone and out of that wisdom know how to make sure it happens» — §218: la definición del gobernante celestial por su amor y su sabiduría, no por su rango.

«They do not make themselves more important than other people but less so, for they put the welfare of the community and of their neighbor first and their own later» — §218: el orden de precedencia invertido que el libro les atribuye a esos oficiales: primero la comunidad y el prójimo, después uno mismo.

«I also talked with one particular preacher about the holy state characteristic of people who are listening to preachers in church» — §224: el marco de la conversación en que un predicador del cielo le define al autor qué es lo sagrado.

«there is something reverent, devout, and holy in all of us depending on the deeper levels of our love and faith, since there is something holy within our love and faith because the Lord’s divine [presence] is there» — §224: la definición de lo sagrado que ese predicador da, atada al amor y a la fe y a la presencia divina que hay en ellos.

«In the spiritual world angels have so much power that if I were to highlight everything I have seen, it would strain credulity» — §229: la advertencia con que el libro introduce la potencia angélica, midiéndola por lo que costaría creerla.

«All people in heaven have the same language. They all understand each other, no matter what community they come from, whether nearby or remote» — §236: la lengua única del cielo, que Lang contrasta en la p. 30 con la opinión del padre del autor; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«This language is not learned but is innate; it flows from their very affection and thought. The sound of the language corresponds to their affection and the articulations of the sound—the words, that is—correspond to the mental constructs that arise from their affections. Since their language corresponds to these [inner events], it too is spiritual, for it is audible affection and vocal thinking» — §236: la definición de esa lengua como innata y correspondiente, es decir, afecto audible y pensamiento sonoro.

«This is why angels know simply from speech what kind of person someone is—they know the quality of the affection from the sound and the quality of the mind from the articulations of the sound, or words. Wiser angels know from a single series of statements what someone’s ruling affection is, since this is what they are primarily attentive to» — §236: la consecuencia diagnóstica de esa lengua: por el sonido y por las palabras los ángeles conocen el afecto dominante de quien habla.

«The language of evil and hellish spirits is much the same, because it too stems from their affections, but it comes from evil affections and their foul concepts, which are utterly repugnant to angels. This means that the languages of hell are opposite to the languages of heaven. Evil people cannot stand angelic speech, and angels cannot stand hellish speech. To angels, hellish speech is like a rank odor that assaults the nostrils» — §245: la lengua del infierno como inversión de la del cielo, medida por el asco recíproco.

«The language of hypocrites—people who can imitate angels of light—is like that of angels as far as its words are concerned, but exactly opposite in respect to its affections and their individual thoughts. So when the inner quality of their speech is perceived, as it is by wise angels, it sounds like a grinding of teeth and strikes horror into them» — §245: la lengua del hipócrita, angélica en las palabras y opuesta en el afecto, que a los ángeles sabios les suena a rechinar de dientes.

«However, they said, the state of humanity is now such that this kind of union is no longer with angels but with spirits who are not in heaven» — §246: la acotación sobre el estado presente: la unión ya no es con ángeles sino con espíritus que no están en el cielo.

«Talking with spirits is rarely allowed nowadays, though, because it is dangerous.a The spirits then actually know that they are with us, which otherwise they would not; and evil spirits by nature harbor a murderous hatred for us and crave nothing less than our total destruction, body and soul» — §249: la advertencia del libro contra el trato con espíritus, por el odio que atribuye a los malignos; es el parágrafo con el que Johann Christian Cuno objetó al propio autor, según Lang en la p. 69.

«People who are constantly thinking about religious matters, so wrapped up in them that they practically see them within themselves, also begin to hear spirits talking with them. This is because when we voluntarily get wrapped up in religious matters, no matter what kind, without the interruption of various useful activities in the [external] world, these matters enter into us very deeply and take substance there so that they occupy our whole spirit, move into the spiritual world, and affect spirits there» — §249: el mecanismo por el que la obsesión religiosa sin oficio en el mundo abre el oído a los espíritus.

«However, people like this are visionaries or fanatics, and no matter what spirit they hear, they believe it is the Holy Spirit, even though the spirits they hear are fanatical» — §249: el juicio del libro sobre esos casos, que llama visionarios o fanáticos y a quienes atribuye tomar por Espíritu Santo a cualquier espíritu.

«Fanatical spirits can be differentiated from other spirits by the fact that they believe they are the Holy Spirit and that what they are saying is divine. They do not harm us, because we offer them divine worship» — §249: el criterio para reconocer a esos espíritus, que es que se tengan a sí mismos por el Espíritu Santo.

«Conversation with angels is not granted, though, except to people who are focused on truths that flow from good intent, especially people who acknowledge the Lord and the divine nature within his human nature, because this is the truth in which heaven exists» — §250: la condición que el libro le pone al trato con ángeles, que reserva a quienes reconocen lo divino en lo humano del Señor.

«The inflow of the Lord himself into us is into the forehead and from there into the whole face.b The inflow of the spiritual angels who are with us is into our head overall, from the forehead and temples to the whole region that covers the cerebrum, because this area corresponds to our intelligence. In contrast, the inflow of heavenly angels is into the part of the head that covers the cerebellum and is called the occiput, from one ear to the other and down to the neck, since this area corresponds to our wisdom» — §251: el mapa del influjo por partes de la cabeza, con la frente para el Señor, el cerebro para los ángeles espirituales y el cerebelo para los celestiales.

«The earliest humans on our planet enjoyed this kind of union with heaven’s angels, which is why their times are called the Golden Age. Because they acknowledged the Divine in human form and therefore were acknowledging the Lord, they talked with heaven’s angels as they did with members of their own family, and heaven’s angels talked with them in the same way; and in them heaven and this world were a single whole» — §252: la Edad de Oro dicha otra vez, ahora como trato familiar con los ángeles fundado en reconocer lo Divino en forma humana.

«But after those times, people moved step by step away from heaven by loving themselves more than the Lord and the world more than heaven. So they began to feel the pleasures of self-love and love of the world separately from the pleasures of heaven, ultimately to the point where they did not know there was any other kind of pleasure. Then their deeper levels were closed, the levels that open into heaven, while their outer levels were open to the world. Once this has happened, we are in the light in respect to everything in this world and in darkness in respect to everything in heaven» — §252: la caída desde esa edad, explicada por el desplazamiento del placer y por el cierre de los niveles interiores.

«I have been told how the Lord spoke to the prophets through whom the Word was written. He did not talk with them the way he did with the early people, by an inflow into their deeper natures, but through spirits sent to them whom the Lord filled with his appearance. In this way, he inspired them with the words that they in turn told to the prophets, so that it was not a case of inflow but of direct command» — §254: la doctrina de la inspiración profética que el libro sostiene: no influjo interior sino espíritus enviados a quienes el Señor llenó con su apariencia.

«Spirits filled with the Divine by the Lord have no sense whatever that they are not actually the Lord or that it is not the Lord who is speaking, which lasts as long as they are talking. Afterward they realize and admit that they are spirits and that they were not talking on their own, but from the Lord» — §254: el estado de esos espíritus mientras hablan, que el libro describe sin arbitrar entre lo que ellos sienten y lo que después reconocen.

«Because this was the state of the spirits who talked with the prophets, they themselves said that Jehovah was talking. The spirits actually called themselves “Jehovah» — §254: la consecuencia exegética que el libro saca de esa doctrina para leer los libros proféticos e históricos.

«No angel or spirit is allowed to talk with one of us from the angel’s or spirit’s own memory, only from that of the individual in question. Angels and spirits actually have memory just as we do. If a spirit were to talk with us from his or her own memory, then it would seem to us entirely as though the thoughts were our own, when they would really belong to the spirit» — §256: la regla que impide a un espíritu hablar desde su propia memoria, y la razón: el que oye tomaría por suyos esos pensamientos.

«This is why some of the ancients were of the opinion that after some thousands of years they would return to their former life and all its deeds, and that they had in fact returned. They gathered this from the fact that sometimes a kind of memory would come up of things that they had never seen or heard. This happened because spirits had flowed from their own memory into the images of these people’s thoughts» — §256: la explicación que el libro da de la creencia antigua en el retorno a una vida anterior, que atribuye al influjo desde la memoria de un espíritu.

«I have sometimes been sent pages covered with writing, just like pages handwritten or printed and published in our world. I could even read them in much the same way, but I was not allowed to get more out of them than a bit of meaning here and there» — §258: el testimonio de las páginas escritas del cielo y el límite que el libro declara para leerlas.

«This was because it is not in keeping with the divine design to be taught by written materials from heaven, but [only] by the Word, since this is the sole means of communication and union between heaven and earth, and therefore between the Lord and humanity» — §258: la razón de ese límite: enseñar por escritos del cielo iría contra el diseño, porque el único medio de unión es la Palabra.

«I was told that each letter enfolded treasures of wisdom, and that these were contained in the bends and curves of the letters and therefore in the sounds as well» — §260: la doctrina de la letra hebrea como portadora de sabiduría en sus curvas, de la que el libro hace depender la lectura de Mateo 5:18.

«In the inmost heaven, the writing consists of various curving and bending forms, and these curves and bends are in keeping with the form of heaven. Through them, angels express the treasures of their wisdom, including many things that they cannot say in words» — §260: la escritura del cielo más interior, hecha de curvas conformes a la forma del cielo.

«I have been told that before letters were invented, the earliest humans on our planet had this kind of writing, and that it was transferred into the Hebrew letters, which in early times were all curved, with none marked off by straight lines the way they are now» — §260: la genealogía que el libro le da a la escritura hebrea, derivada de aquella escritura curva de los primeros hombres.

«I have also seen written materials in heaven comprising nothing but numbers arranged in a pattern and series, just like the writing of letters and words» — §263: la escritura numérica del cielo, que el libro dice venir del cielo más interior al bajar a los inferiores.

«All numbers do in fact correspond and have meaning depending on their correspondence, just as words do,a but with the difference that numbers represent general entities and words specific ones. Since one general entity involves countless specific ones, numeric writing enfolds more mysteries than alphabetic writing does» — §263: la doctrina de la correspondencia de los números, que el libro distingue de la de las palabras por general y por específica.

«THE nature of the wisdom of heaven’s angels is almost beyond comprehension because it so transcends human wisdom that there are no means of comparison, and anything transcendent seems to be nothing at all» — §265: la advertencia con que se abre el capítulo de la sabiduría angélica, incluida la razón por la que lo trascendente parece nada.

«Angels’ thoughts are not diverted to earthly and material concerns or interrupted by the cares and needs of life, so they are not distracted by such things from the joys of wisdom the way our thoughts are in this world. They are given everything by the Lord gratis: they are clothed gratis, fed gratis, housed gratis (§§181– 190); and beyond this, they are provided with joys and pleasures in proportion to their acceptance of wisdom from the Lord» — §266: una de las razones que el libro da para la sabiduría angélica: no los distraen los cuidados de la vida porque todo se les da de gracia.

«The reason angels can accept so much wisdom is that their deeper levels are open, and wisdom, like any perfection, increases as one moves toward the deeper levels and as they are opened» — §267: la regla que gobierna todo el capítulo: la sabiduría crece hacia dentro y con la apertura de los niveles.

«The reason for these differences is that the elements of the higher levels are detailed, and those of the lower are general, the general ones being inclusive of the details. The ratio of details to generalizations is on the order of thousands or ten thousands to one, so this is the ratio between the wisdom of angels of a higher heaven and that of angels of a lower heaven» — §267: la razón de la desproporción entre cielos, que el libro cifra en la relación entre lo detallado y lo general.

«We may gather how great angels’ wisdom is from the fact that in heaven there is a communication that involves everyone. The intelligence and wisdom of one individual is shared with another: heaven is where everyone shares everything of value. This is because the very nature of heavenly love is to want what is one’s own to belong to another; so no one in heaven regards his or her good as authentically good unless it is someone else’s as well. This is also the basis of heaven’s happiness. Angels are led into it by the Lord, whose divine love has this same quality» — §268: la comunicación universal del cielo, fundada en que el amor celestial quiere que lo propio sea de otro.

«Angels can also state completely in a few words the details that are written in a whole volume, giving each word something that raises it toward a deeper wisdom. Their language by nature agrees with their affections, and every word agrees with their concepts. The words actually vary in infinite shadings depending on the way they express in sequence things that are simultaneous in their thought» — §269: la densidad de la lengua angélica medida por lo que cabe en una palabra frente a un volumen entero.

«They do not know what it is to believe or have faith, but say, “What is faith? I perceive and see that this is so» — §270: la respuesta de los ángeles del tercer cielo a la noción misma de fe, que no usan porque ven; es el pasaje que más separa la doctrina del libro de la luterana que el conde Bonde defendía.

«Or again, they have compared the wisdom of angels of the third heaven to a palace full of everything useful, surrounded far and wide by parklands, with all sorts of splendid things beyond. Since these angels enjoy truths of wisdom, they can enter the palace and see everything there. They can stroll anywhere in the parks and enjoy whatever they see» — §270: la comparación del palacio y sus parques con que los ángeles figuran la diferencia entre ver lo verdadero y razonarlo.

«ANGELS who talk with us do not talk in their own language but in ours, or in other languages in which we may be fluent—not in languages of which we have no knowledge. The reason for this is that when angels talk with us they turn toward us and unite with us; and one consequence of this union is that the two parties have much the same thought processes» — §246: la regla de que el ángel hable en la lengua del hombre y no en la suya, explicada por la unión que los pone a pensar igual.

«Further, when angels or spirits come to us and unite with us by turning toward us, they enter into our whole memory so completely that it seems exactly as though they themselves know everything we know, including our languages» — §246: la consecuencia de esa unión, que le abre al ángel la memoria entera del hombre hasta parecerle propia.

«These are the spirits that possess people; but they have been cast into hell by the Lord and moved decisively away; so possession like this no longer occurs nowadays» — §257: el cese de la posesión, que el libro declara consumado porque esos espíritus fueron arrojados al infierno y apartados.

«It is the same Word; but its natural meaning, which to us is its literal meaning, does not exist in heaven. There is a spiritual meaning there instead, which is its inner meaning» — §259: la diferencia: en el cielo esa Palabra no tiene sentido natural sino espiritual.

«There is still another reason, beyond the ones already given, why angels can accept so much wisdom, a reason that in heaven is actually the primary one. It is that they are free of any selfishness;171 for to the extent that people are free of selfishness they can be wise in divine matters» — §272: la razón que el libro llama primera de la sabiduría angélica, que es estar libres de todo interés propio.

«Selfishness is what closes off our deeper natures from the Lord and heaven and opens our outer natures and turns them toward ourselves. So all people in whom that selfish love predominates are in the depths of darkness as far as heavenly realities are concerned, no matter how much light they may enjoy in regard to worldly matters» — §272: el efecto que el libro le atribuye al amor propio, que cierra lo interior y abre lo exterior, con la reserva de que la luz mundana no se ve afectada.

«Angels are constantly being perfected in wisdom,g but still they cannot to eternity be so perfected that there is any ratio between their wisdom and the Lord’s divine wisdom. For the Lord’s divine wisdom is infinite and the angels’ is finite, and there is no ratio between the infinite and the finite» — §273: el límite que el libro le pone al perfeccionamiento angélico, medido por la ausencia de proporción entre lo infinito y lo finito.

«Since wisdom perfects angels and makes their life, and since heaven with its blessings flows into individuals according to their wisdom, all the people there long for it and seek it, much the way a hungry person seeks food. In fact, information, intelligence, and wisdom are spiritual nourishment the way food is natural nourishment. They correspond to each other» — §274: la analogía de la sabiduría con el alimento, que el libro no deja en símil sino que convierte en correspondencia.

«NOT many people in our world know what innocence is or what its quality is, and people involved in evil do not know at all. It is, of course, visible to our eyes—something about the face and the voice and the gestures, especially of infants—but still we do not know what it is, much less that it is where heaven lies concealed within» — §276: la apertura del capítulo sobre la inocencia, que el libro declara visible y a la vez desconocida.

«The innocence of infancy, or of little ones, is not real innocence, since it is solely a matter of outward form and not internal. Still, we can learn from it what innocence is like, since it does radiate from their faces and from some of their gestures and from their first efforts at speech and affects [the people around them. The reason it is not real innocence is]172 that they do not have any internal thought—they do not yet know what good and evil are, or what true and false are, and this knowledge is the basis of our thinking» — §277: la distinción entre la inocencia de la infancia, exterior, y la real; los corchetes del tramo son restitución de los editores declarada en las convenciones de la p. 101.

«They do not claim credit for anything, but attribute everything they receive to their parents. They are content with the few little things given them as gifts and enjoy them. They are not anxious about food and clothing or about the future. They do not focus on the world and covet173 much from it. They love their parents, their nurse, and their little friends and play innocently with them. They are willing to be led, they listen and obey» — §277: el retrato del niño con que el libro ilustra la inocencia externa, hecho de no atribuirse nada y de no inquietarse por el futuro.

«The innocence of wisdom is real innocence because it is internal, being a property of the mind itself and therefore of our volition itself and our consequent understanding. When there is innocence in these, then there is wisdom as well, because wisdom is a property of volition and understanding. That is why they say in heaven that innocence dwells in wisdom and why angels have as much wisdom as they do innocence» — §278: la definición de la inocencia de la sabiduría y la proporción que el libro enuncia entre las dos.

«They live content with what they have, whether it is little or much, because they know that they receive as much as is useful —little if little is good for them and much if much is good for them. They do not know what is best for themselves—only the Lord knows; and in his sight everything he supplies is eternal» — §278: el desprendimiento que el libro deriva de esa inocencia, fundado en no saber qué conviene y en que lo que se recibe es eterno.

«It is much the same for everyone who is being regenerated. Regeneration is rebirth as a spiritual person. [When we are being regenerated,] we are brought first into the innocence of infancy, which is realizing that we know nothing of truth and are capable of nothing of good on our own, but only from the Lord» — §279: la definición de regeneración como renacer espiritual, cuyo primer paso es reconocer que nada de lo verdadero ni de lo bueno es propio.

«Since innocence is being led by the Lord and not by ourselves, all the people who are in heaven are in innocence, since all the people who are there love to be led by the Lord» — §280: la definición operativa de inocencia como dejarse conducir, de la que el libro deriva que todo el cielo sea inocente.

«They are in fact aware that they have no trace of wisdom on their own and that to be wise is to admit this and to admit that what they do know is nothing compared to what they do not know. Knowing, recognizing, and perceiving this is what they call the first step toward wisdom» — §280: la fórmula con que el libro define el primer paso de la sabiduría en los ángeles del cielo más interior: saber que lo sabido no es nada frente a lo no sabido.

«I have also been told that truth cannot be united to good or good to truth except by means of innocence. This is also why angels are not angels of heaven unless there is innocence in them, since heaven is not within anyone until the truth has been united with the good within. So the union of the true and the good is called the heavenly marriage, and the heavenly marriage is heaven» — §281: la doctrina del matrimonio celestial como unión de lo verdadero y lo bueno, que solo la inocencia hace posible.

«I have also been told that true marriage love178 derives its origin from innocence because it comes from the union of the good and the true that engages the two minds, the minds of husband and wife» — §281: el origen que el libro le da al amor conyugal verdadero, derivado de aquella misma unión en las dos mentes.

«Because innocence is the very heart of all the good of heaven, it also affects minds so strongly that people who feel it—which happens at the approach of an angel of the inmost heaven—feel as though they are not under their own control. They are moved by such a joy, so taken out of themselves, so to speak, that it seems as though all the pleasure of the world is nothing by comparison. I speak of this from having experienced it» — §282: el efecto de la inocencia al acercarse un ángel del cielo más interior, declarado como experiencia propia.

«Consequently, all the people in hell are absolutely opposed to innocence. They do not know what innocence is. Their nature is such that the more innocent people are, the more they burn with desire to cause them harm. This is why they cannot stand to see little children. The moment they do, they are consumed with a vicious desire to inflict harm» — §283: la reacción del infierno ante la inocencia, que el libro describe por lo que les provoca la vista de un niño.

«ANYONE who has not experienced heaven’s peace cannot know what the peace is that angels enjoy. As long as we are in our bodies, we cannot accept heaven’s peace, so we cannot perceive it, our perception being on the natural level. In order to perceive it, we need to be the kind of person who as to thought can be raised and taken out of the body and brought into the spirit so as to be with angels. Since I have perceived heaven’s peace in this way, I can describe it, but not in words as it really is, because human words are not adequate. Using words, I can only describe what it is like compared to that peace of mind that people have who are content in God» — §284: la declaración de los límites del lenguaje para decir la paz del cielo, y el único término de comparación que el libro acepta.

«There are two things at the heart of heaven, innocence and peace. We say that they are at the heart because they come straight from the Lord. From innocence comes everything good about heaven and from peace comes all the delight of that good. Everything good has its own delight, and both—the good and the delight—are matters of love. This is because what is loved is what is called good and also is perceived as delightful. It follows from this that these two inmost qualities, innocence and peace, emanate from the Lord’s divine love and move angels to their very core» — §285: las dos realidades que el libro pone en el centro del cielo y el reparto entre ellas: de la inocencia el bien, de la paz su deleite.

«In its essence, it is the divine joy of the Lord’s divine love, arising from his union with heaven and with every individual there. This joy, perceived by the Lord in the angels and by the angels from the Lord, is peace. It flows down from there to provide angels with everything that is blessed and delightful and happy—what is called “heavenly joy» — §286: la definición de la paz como gozo divino percibido a la vez por el Señor en los ángeles y por los ángeles desde el Señor.

«Since peace means the oneness of the Divine itself and the divine human in the Lord and the union of the Lord with heaven and with the church and with everyone in heaven, and also with everyone in the church who accepts him, the Sabbath was instituted as a reminder of these matters and was named for quietness and peace. It became the holiest symbol of the church, which is why the Lord called himself the Lord of the Sabbath» — §287: la institución del sábado leída como recordatorio de esa unión, y de ahí el título que el Señor se da a sí mismo.

«Heavenly or angelic peace occurs in us when we are attuned to wisdom because of the union of the good and the true and therefore see ourselves as contented in God. However, as long as we are living in this world, that peace lies hidden in our depths. Still, it is unveiled when we leave our bodies behind and enter heaven, because then those depths are opened» — §288: la paz que el libro le concede al hombre en esta vida, oculta en lo hondo hasta que se deja el cuerpo.

«That peace is like the morning time or dawn in spring, when, once the night has passed, all things of earth begin to take new life from the rising of the sun; the dew that falls from heaven spreads a leafy fragrance far and wide, and springtime’s gentle warmth makes meadows fertile and instills its charm in human minds as well» — §289: la imagen del amanecer de primavera con que el libro figura el estado de paz, que no es símil sino correspondencia.

«I have talked with angels about peace as well, and have told them that on earth they call it peace when wars and conflicts between nations are over, or enmities and disagreements between individuals, and that they think inner peace is simply the peace of mind we have when anxieties are banished, or especially the relief and delight when things turn out well for us» — §290: lo que en la tierra se llama paz, según el libro, que es el fin de la guerra o el alivio de la ansiedad.

«The angels have responded, though, that this peace of mind, this relief and delight when anxieties are banished and things turn out well for us, may look like effects of peace; but they do not come from real peace except in people who are focused on heavenly good. This is because peace occurs only in that good» — §290: la objeción angélica a esa noción: aquello parece efecto de la paz pero solo viene de ella en quien está en el bien celestial.

«For people engrossed in evil, though, there is no peace.f There is an apparent calm, tranquillity, and pleasure when they get their way, but this is outward only, with no inward substance. Inside there is raging hostility, hatred, vengefulness, cruelty, and all kinds of evil cravings» — §290: la descripción de la calma aparente de los malos, hueca por dentro.

«There are good spirits and evil spirits with every individual. We have our union with heaven through the good spirits and our union with hell through the evil ones» — §292: la tesis de la doble compañía espiritual de cada hombre, que es la que sostiene el equilibrio y la libertad.

«The reason spirits who are in touch with hell are attached to us as well is that we are born into all kinds of evil, so that our first life is made up of nothing else. Unless spirits of the same kind were associated with us, then, we could not live or be led out of our evils and reformed. So we are kept in our own life by evil spirits and restrained from it by good spirits. Through the two kinds, we are kept in a balance; and since we are in a balance we enjoy an appropriate measure of freedom and can be led out of our evils and turned toward good» — §293: la justificación de la compañía de espíritus malignos, que el libro hace condición del equilibrio, de la libertad y de la reforma.

«We would also have no life if we were not in some freedom, and we cannot be compelled to good: anything compelled does not become part of us. I have also been shown that anything good that we accept in freedom is sown in our intentions and becomes virtually our own» — §293: el principio que el libro repite en toda la obra: lo forzado no se hace propio, y solo lo aceptado en libertad se siembra en la intención.

«The kind of spirit that is associated with us is determined by the kind of person we are in respect to affection and love, though good spirits are assigned to us by the Lord while we ourselves summon the evil ones» — §295: el reparto de responsabilidad en la compañía espiritual: los buenos los asigna el Señor y a los malos los llama uno.

«During our earliest years, spirits who are in innocence are with us, that is, spirits who are in touch with the heaven of innocence, the inmost or third heaven» — §295: la sucesión de compañías espirituales por edades, de la inocencia de la infancia a la sabiduría de la vejez.

«The reason we are controlled by the Lord through spirits is that we are not in the pattern of heaven. We are in fact born into evils that are from hell and are therefore exactly opposite to the divine pattern. This means that we need to be brought back into the pattern, and we cannot be brought back except through the agency of spirits» — §296: la razón de que el hombre necesite intermediarios, que el libro pone en que nace fuera del diseño.

«Animals are also controlled through a general inflow from the spiritual world because they are in the pattern proper to their life, a pattern that they can neither distort nor destroy, because they do not have a rational faculty» — §296: el caso del animal, gobernado por influjo general porque está en su propio diseño y no puede destruirlo.

«They appear extraordinarily simple in outward form, but they are wise and provident inwardly. They are the ones the Lord was referring to when he said, “Be wise as serpents and simple as doves” (Matthew 10:16). This is the nature of the innocence called the innocence of wisdom» — §278: el cierre del retrato del inocente sabio, simple por fuera y previsor por dentro, con la cita de Mateo 10:16.

«when we do get old, our bodies deteriorate and we become like little children again —but like wise little children or angels, for in the highest sense, a wise infant is an angel» — §278: la doctrina de las dos edades de la inocencia, que hace de la vejez un retorno a la infancia, ahora sabia.

«I have talked a lot with angels about innocence and have been told that innocence is the inner reality of everything good and that therefore anything good is good to the extent that there is innocence within it» — §281: la tesis de que la inocencia es lo interior de todo bien y la medida de su bondad.

«Divine peace is within the Lord, arising from the oneness of his divine nature and the divine human nature within him» — §286: el origen de la paz en la unidad de lo divino y lo humano dentro del Señor; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«The Lord takes the greatest care to prevent spirits from knowing whom they are with» — §292: la providencia que impide a los espíritus saber con quién están; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«If they did know, they would talk with them, and then the evil spirits would destroy them; for evil spirits, being united to hell, want nothing more than to destroy us not only as to spirit (that is, as to our love and faith) but as to our bodies as» — §292: la razón de esa providencia, que el libro pone en el afán destructivo de los espíritus unidos al infierno; la frase se remata en la p. 305.

«Heaven’s union with us is not like the union of one person with another, but is a union with the deeper levels of our minds and therefore with our spiritual or inner person» — §300: la precisión sobre el modo de la unión, que se da con lo interior de la mente y no con la persona exterior.

«Yet in fact the union is so vital that we could not think the least thought apart from the spirits who are with us. Our spiritual life depends on this» — §302: la medida que el libro le da a esa unión: sin los espíritus presentes no se pensaría ni un solo pensamiento.

«If we believed the way things really are, that everything good comes from the Lord and everything evil from hell, then we would not take credit for the good within us or blame for the evil. Whenever we thought or did anything good, we would focus on the Lord, and any evil that flowed in we would throw back into the hell it came from. But since we do not believe in any inflow from heaven or from hell and therefore believe that everything we think and intend is in us and from us, we make the evil our own and defile the good with our feeling that we deserve it» — §302: la consecuencia moral que el libro saca de la doctrina del influjo: no atribuirse el bien ni el mal, y el defecto que resulta de no creerla.

«We have been so created that we have a connection and a union with the Lord, while with angels we have only an association» — §304: la distinción entre unión con el Señor y asociación con los ángeles, que el libro no confunde.

«If the human race were cut off from heaven, it would be like a chain with a link removed, and heaven without the human race would be like a house without a foundation» — §304: las dos imágenes con que el libro figura la dependencia recíproca del cielo y el género humano.

«However, since we have broken this connection by turning our inward natures away from heaven and toward the world and ourselves through our self-love and love of the world and have so pulled away that we no longer serve heaven as its basis and foundation, the Lord has provided a medium to serve in place of that basis and foundation and to maintain the union of heaven with humanity. That medium is the Word» — §305: la función que el libro le asigna a la Escritura, que es sustituir el cimiento que el hombre dejó de ser.

«I have been told from heaven that the earliest people had direct revelation because their inner natures were turned toward heaven, and that this was the source of the Lord’s union with the human race at that time. After those times, though, there was not the same kind of direct revelation, but an indirect revelation through correspondences. All their divine worship consisted of these; so the churches of those times were called symbolic churches» — §306: la periodización de la revelación, de la directa de los primeros hombres a la indirecta por correspondencias de las iglesias simbólicas.

«Once all knowledge of correspondences and representations had been lost, then a Word was written in which all the words and the meanings of the words are correspondences and therefore contain that spiritual or inner meaning in which angels are engaged» — §306: la razón histórica que el libro le da a la escritura de la Palabra: sustituir la ciencia perdida de las correspondencias.

«For them, the new heaven and the new earth mean a new church; the city Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven means its heavenly doctrine revealed by the Lord; its length, breadth, and height, which are equal at twelve thousand stadia, mean all the good and true elements of that doctrine grasped as a single whole; the wall means the truths that protect it» — §307: la traducción angélica de esa visión, donde la ciudad que desciende es la enseñanza celestial revelada por el Señor; es uno de los pasajes en que el libro nombra su propia doctrina.

«Consequently, when angels are thinking spiritually like this and we are thinking naturally the way we do, we are united almost like a soul and a body. The inner meaning of the Word is its soul, and the literal meaning is its body» — §307: la fórmula del alma y el cuerpo aplicada a los dos sentidos de la Escritura.

«There is also a union of heaven through the Word with people who are outside the church, where the Word is not found; for the Lord’s church is everywhere and exists with everyone who acknowledges something divine and lives considerately» — §308: la extensión de esa unión a quienes no tienen la Palabra, con la definición amplísima de iglesia que el libro sostiene.

«Heaven’s union through the Word with people who are at a distance can be compared to light that spreads in all directions from a center. The divine light is in the Word, and the Lord is present there with his heaven. People who are far off also receive light from that presence» — §308: la imagen de la luz que se difunde desde un centro con que el libro figura el alcance de esa unión.

«If there had not been this kind of Word on our earth, the humanity of our earth would have separated itself from heaven, and once separated from heaven would no longer have had any rational ability. Our human rational ability in fact arises from an inflow of light from heaven» — §309: la función que el libro le atribuye a la Palabra para la propia racionalidad humana.

«We on this earth are by nature incapable of accepting any direct revelation and being taught about divine truths by that means, unlike the inhabitants of other planets ([whose abilities] have been dealt with in their own separate booklet).202 We more than they are engrossed in worldly concerns and therefore in superficial matters,203 while it is the deeper levels that are open to revelation» — §309: la razón por la que aquí no cabe revelación directa, que el libro pone en el peso de lo mundano y en el cierre de lo interior.

«They have also said that if we knew that this kind of meaning existed and when we read the Word did our thinking with any knowledge of it, we would come into a deeper wisdom and be more closely united to heaven, because in this way we would have access to concepts like those of angels» — §310: la promesa que el libro le hace al lector que lea sabiendo del sentido interno.

«PEOPLE in the Christian world are totally unaware that heaven and hell come from the human race. They actually believe that angels were created in the beginning and constitute heaven, and that the devil or Satan was an angel of light who became rebellious and was cast out together with his faction, and that this gave rise to hell» — §311: la creencia recibida que el libro objeta: ángeles creados como tales y un diablo que fue ángel de luz.

«So they want me to testify on their behalf that in all heaven there is not a single angel who was created as such in the beginning, nor is there in all hell a devil who was created as an angel of light and cast out. Rather, all the people in heaven and in hell are from the human race—in heaven the ones who have lived in heavenly love and faith, and in hell the ones who have lived in hellish love and faith» — §311: la tesis central del capítulo, dicha como testimonio encargado por los ángeles: todos los del cielo y del infierno vienen del género humano.

«Hell as a whole is what is called the devil and Satan. The hell at the back, where the people called evil demons live, is the devil, and the hell that is in front, where the people live who are called evil spirits, is Satan» — §311: la redefinición de los dos nombres tradicionales, que el libro convierte en dos regiones del infierno y no en personas.

«They insisted that the reason the Christian world has adopted this kind of belief about people in heaven and people in hell is that they have taken a few passages of the Word, understanding them only in their literal meaning, with no enlightenment or instruction based on genuine doctrine from the Word. Yet the literal meaning of the Word, without the light of genuine doctrine, leads the mind astray in all directions, giving rise to ignorance, heresy, and error» — §311: la explicación que el libro da de aquella creencia, que atribuye a leer la letra sin doctrina genuina.

«This belief among church people is also the cause of their belief that no one will arrive in heaven or hell before the time of the Last Judgment, which they have come to believe will be a time when everything they can see perishes and new things come into being, when souls will return into their bodies and then begin once more to live as people because of this reunion. This faith implies the other, about angels having been created in the beginning, for it is not possible to believe that heaven and hell come from the human race when you believe that no one is going to get there until the end of the world» — §312: el encadenamiento de dos creencias que el libro objeta, la del juicio aplazado y la de los ángeles creados.

«They are actually saying in their hearts, “How can such a vast heaven and so many stars be destroyed and disappear, along with the sun and the moon? How can stars that are larger than the earth fall on the earth? How can bodies that have been eaten by worms and destroyed by decay and scattered to the four winds be reunited to their souls? Where have these souls been in the meanwhile, and what have they been like without any of the senses they had in their bodies» — §312: las preguntas que el libro pone en boca de los que dudan, que son las objeciones a la resurrección de la carne en el día del juicio.

«I have talked with so many others that it would be no exaggeration to talk in terms of a hundred thousand, many in heaven and many in hell» — §312: la cifra con que el libro mide su propia experiencia, cien mil conversaciones con difuntos.

«to which they have responded that it was a good thing they had cast off what had served them as a body for their functions in our world, wanting me to say that they were not dead at all. They were just as alive and just as human as ever, having simply crossed over from one world to another» — §312: lo que el libro dice haber oído de los recién muertos dos días después de morir, mientras se celebraban sus funerales.

«We may conclude that heaven is from the human race from the fact that angelic minds and our minds are very much alike. Both enjoy abilities to understand, perceive, and intend. Both are formed for the acceptance of heaven» — §314: el argumento por la semejanza de las mentes angélica y humana, que el libro usa para fundar la tesis del capítulo.

«Once we have learned about the divine design, we can understand that we were created to become angels because the ultimate boundary of that design is found in us (§304), which means that in us the substance of heavenly and angelic wisdom can take form and can be restored and multiplied» — §315: la razón de diseño por la que el hombre fue creado para volverse ángel: en él está el límite último del diseño.

«This is why the seedbed of heaven is on this lowest level» — §315: la fórmula con que el libro cierra ese argumento y hace de este mundo el semillero del cielo.

«THE general opinion is that people who have been born outside the church, the people called “the nations” or “non-Christians,”208 cannot be saved because they do not have the Word and therefore do not know the Lord; and without the Lord there is no salvation» — §318: la opinión general que el libro objeta sobre la salvación de los que nacen fuera de la iglesia.

«So anyone who thinks from any enlightened reason at all can see that no one is born for hell. The Lord is actually love itself, and his love is an intent to save everyone. So he provides that everyone shall have some religion, an acknowledgment of the Divine Being through that religion, and an inner life» — §318: la tesis del libro sobre la universalidad de la religión: a todos se les provee una y con ella un reconocimiento de lo Divino.

«The beginning and foundation of every religion is its acknowledgment of the Divine Being; a religion that does not acknowledge the Divine Being is not a religion at all» — §319: la definición mínima de religión que el libro usa para medir a todas.

«It is recognized that non-Christians live lives that are just as moral as the lives of Christians—many of them, in fact, live more moral lives. A moral life may be lived either to satisfy the Divine or to satisfy people in this world. A moral life that is lived to satisfy the Divine is a spiritual life. The two look alike in outward form, but inwardly they are totally different. One saves us, the other does not» — §319: el criterio que el libro aplica a la vida moral, que no mira la conducta sino a quién se busca satisfacer con ella.

«It is a divine truth that there is no salvation apart from the Lord, but this needs to be understood as meaning that there is no salvation that does not come from the Lord» — §321: la distinción con que el libro reinterpreta el axioma de que no hay salvación fuera del Señor.

«People who read this understand it simply according to its literal meaning, namely that this visible sky and earth are going to perish and that a new heaven is going to be established, that on a new earth the holy city Jerusalem is going to descend, and that all its measurements will be as described» — §307: la lectura literal de la Nueva Jerusalén del Apocalipsis, que el libro trae para contrastarla con la angélica.

«They form a single whole almost like the words of a speaker and the understanding of those words by a listener who is focused not on» — §307: la imagen con que el libro explica cómo concuerdan el pensar natural y el espiritual sobre el mismo texto, como quien oye y entiende sin atender a las palabras; la frase se remata en la p. 316.

«I have talked with angels about the Word on occasion, and have told them that it is looked down on by some people because of its pedestrian style» — §310: la objeción que el libro recoge sobre el estilo llano de la Escritura; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«The angels have told me that even though the style of the Word may appear pedestrian in its literal meaning, it is qualitatively incomparable because divine wisdom lies hidden not just in the overall meaning but in every word, and that this wisdom shines out in heaven» — §310: la respuesta que el libro pone en boca de los ángeles: la sabiduría divina está escondida en cada palabra y allá se hace visible.

«When they call to mind what they had thought about life after death, the soul, spirits, and heaven and hell, they are embarrassed and say that they had been thinking nonsense. They say that people of simple faith had been far wiser than they» — §313: el juicio que el libro les atribuye sobre sí mismos, con la ventaja concedida a los de fe simple.

«If I am a good person, I can know what is true simply from its goodness, and I can be open to what I do not know» — §320: la respuesta que el libro le atribuye a un espíritu no cristiano ante la disputa de credos de unos cristianos.

«On wisdom, he said that there was no wisdom that was not a matter of life, and that wisdom could not be an attribute of anything else. On intelligence, he said that it came from wisdom. On the pattern of reality, he said that the pattern comes from the Supreme Deity, and that living in accord with this pattern is being wise and intelligent» — §322: las tesis que el libro le atribuye a ese interlocutor, a quien dice habérsele dado a creer que era Cicerón, sobre la sabiduría, la inteligencia y el orden.

«They said that in their own day, when they were living in our world, their mode of thinking and speaking and even writing was like this, and that this was the focus of their wisdom» — §323: lo que el libro dice haber oído de los antiguos sabios: que su modo de pensar, hablar y escribir era el de las correspondencias.

«I could gather from this that non-Christians come into heaven more readily than Christians nowadays, in keeping with the Lord’s words in Luke: Then they will come from the east and the west and the north and the south and will recline in the kingdom of God; and indeed there will be many of the last who will be first, and of the first who will be last» — §324: la conclusión que el libro saca de ese caso, apoyada en Lucas 13:29 y 30 sobre los últimos y los primeros.

«There was a loving mercy about him and in his ignorance an innocence; and when these are present, all matters of faith are accepted spontaneously, so to speak, and with joy» — §324: la razón que el libro da para esa preferencia: la misericordia y la inocencia en la ignorancia disponen a recibir.

«I talked with them shortly afterward, and eventually mentioned the Lord. When I called him “Christ,” I could sense a kind of» — §325: el episodio de los espíritus chinos y la resistencia que el libro dice haber percibido ante el nombre de Cristo; la frase se remata en la p. 332.

«This derived from their experience in the world, from their having known that Christians lived worse lives than they did, lives devoid of thoughtfulness» — §325: la explicación de esa resistencia, que el libro atribuye al ejemplo de vida de los cristianos que aquellos conocieron.

«Later they were taught by angels that Christian doctrine more than any other in the whole world demands love and thoughtfulness, but that there are not many people who live up to it» — §325: la respuesta que el libro pone en boca de los ángeles, que separa la doctrina cristiana de la conducta de los cristianos.

«Of non-Christians, the Africans are especially valued in heaven. They accept the good and true things of heaven more readily than others do. They want especially to be called obedient, but not faithful. They say that Christians could be called “faithful,” since they have a doctrine of faith, but only if they accept the doctrine— or, as the Africans say, if they can accept it» — §326: la preferencia que el libro le da a los africanos entre los no cristianos, y la distinción que les atribuye entre obedientes y fieles; Lang remite a este parágrafo en su nota de la p. 81.

«By “the early church,” we mean the religious culture [that prevailed] after the flood over many kingdoms, throughout Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistia as far as Tyre and Sidon, and the land of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan» — §327: la definición y el mapa geográfico que el libro le da a la iglesia antigua posterior al diluvio.

«This led me to reflect on the many Christians who are not idolaters outwardly but are inwardly because they actually worship themselves and the world, and at heart deny the Lord. This is the kind of lot that awaits them in the other life» — §327: la aplicación que el libro hace de la suerte de aquellos idólatras a los cristianos que idolatran por dentro.

«SOME people believe that only children born in the church get into heaven, not children born outside the church. They say this is because children born in the church are baptized and are introduced into the faith of the church by this baptism. They do not realize that no one gets either heaven or faith by baptism. Baptism serves only as a sign and reminder that we need to be reborn, and that people born in the church can be reborn because the Word is there, the Word that contains the divine truths that make regeneration possible. The church is where the Lord, who is the source of rebirth, is known» — §329: la objeción del libro a que el bautismo dé cielo o fe, con la función de signo y recordatorio que le deja.

«May it be known, therefore, that every child who dies, no matter where he or she was born, within the church or outside it, of devout or irreverent parents, is accepted by the Lord after death, brought up in heaven, taught according to the divine design and filled with affections for what is good and through them with direct knowledge of the truth; and then, being continually perfected in intelligence and wisdom, all such individuals are led into heaven and become angels» — §329: la tesis del capítulo, que Lang cita en la p. 31: todo niño que muere es acogido, criado en el cielo y hecho ángel.

«Children who die are still children in the other life. They have the same kind of childlike mind, the same innocence in their ignorance, the same total delicateness—they are only in the rudiments of becoming angels; for children are not angels in being but only angels in becoming» — §330: la distinción entre ser ángel y estar haciéndose ángel, con la que el libro objeta la imagen de los niños alados.

«The condition of children in the other life is vastly better than that of children in our world because they are not clothed with an earthly body. Instead, they have an angelic one. An earthly body is inherently heavy. It does not receive its primary sensations and primary impulses from the inner or spiritual world but from the outer or natural one; so children in this world learn by practice to walk, to do things, and to talk—even their senses, such as sight and hearing, are developed by use. It is different for children in the other life. Because they are spirits, their actions are impelled directly by their inner natures» — §331: la razón por la que el niño aprende allá sin práctica, que el libro pone en el cuerpo angélico frente al terrestre.

«As soon as children are reawakened (which happens immediately after their death), they are taken to heaven and given to female angels who had loved children tenderly during their physical lives and had loved God as well. Since in this world they had loved all children with a kind of maternal tenderness, they accept these new ones as their own, and the children love them as their mothers as though this were inborn in them. Each such angel has as many children as her spiritual maternal nature wants» — §332: la crianza de los niños en el cielo, encomendada a ángeles que amaron niños en la tierra.

«We may gather from all this that children do not become angels immediately after their death but are gradually led [into heaven] through awareness of what is good and true, all according to the design of heaven» — §336: la corrección a la idea de un ingreso inmediato: los niños son conducidos por grados.

«Many people think that children remain children in heaven and are like children among the angels. People who do not know what an angel is can corroborate this opinion because of the images here and there in churches, where angels are represented as children. However, things are actually very different. Intelligence and wisdom make an angel, qualities that they do not have as long as they are children. Children are with the angels, but they themselves are not angels yet» — §340: la objeción del libro a la iconografía de los ángeles niños, fundada en que lo que hace al ángel es la sabiduría.

«It does need to be known that children in heaven do not grow up beyond the prime of youth, but remain at that age forever» — §340: el límite que el libro le pone al crecimiento en el cielo, con el testimonio de haber hablado con los mismos en dos edades.

«Children’s innocence, though, is not real innocence, because it still lacks wisdom. Real innocence is wisdom because to the extent that we are wise we want to be led by the Lord; or what amounts to the same thing, to the extent that we love being led by the Lord, we are wise» — §341: la distinción entre la inocencia del niño y la real, con la identificación de esta última con la sabiduría.

«I have talked with angels about children, wondering whether they were free from evils because they did not have any realized evil the way adults do. I was told, though, that they are equally involved in evil, even to the point that they too are nothing but evil» — §342: la respuesta que el libro recibe sobre el mal hereditario de los niños, que no exceptúa a nadie.

«The reason grown-up children are let back into the state of their hereditary evil is not to punish them. It is to make sure they know that on their own they are nothing but evil and that they are borne from hell into heaven by the Lord’s mercy, that they are in heaven not because they deserve it but as a gift from the Lord» — §342: el propósito que el libro le atribuye a esa recaída deliberada, que no es pena sino reconocimiento.

«An example may serve to illustrate how different the upbringing of children on earth is in many instances. I was on the street of a large city and saw some boys fighting with each other. A crowd gathered and watched this with great delight, and I was told that the parents themselves urged their children into fights like these» — §344: el contraste que el libro traza con la crianza terrena, a propósito de una pelea de muchachos jaleada por los padres.

«They said that by doing this they would at the very earliest age stifle all the mutual love and all the innocence that little ones receive from the Lord and lead them into hatred and vindictiveness. So by their own deliberate practices they would shut their children out of heaven, where there is nothing but mutual love. Let any parents who wish well for their children beware of things like this» — §344: el juicio que el libro pone en boca de los ángeles sobre esa crianza, con una advertencia dirigida a los padres.

«We need also to describe the difference between people who die as children and people who die as adults. People who die as adults have a plane223 acquired from the earthly, material world, and they take it with them. This plane is their memory and its natural, physical sensitivity. This stays fixed and then goes dormant; but it still serves their thought after death as an outmost plane because their thinking flows into it. This is why the nature of this plane and the way their rational activity answers to its contents determines the nature of the individual after death» — §345: la doctrina del plano que el adulto se lleva de este mundo, hecho de memoria y sensibilidad, y que fija su estado póstumo.

«However, the state of people who have grown up on earth can become just as perfect as the state of children who have grown up in heaven if they move away from the physical and earthly loves, love for themselves and love for the world, and accept spiritual loves in their stead» — §345: la salvedad con que el libro cierra el capítulo, que iguala al criado en la tierra con el criado en el cielo.

«Heavenly intelligence is a deeper intelligence arising from a love of what is true—not for the sake of any praise in the world or any praise in heaven, but simply for the sake of the truth itself, because it is profoundly moving and delightful» — §347: la definición de inteligencia celestial, que el libro ata al amor de lo verdadero por sí mismo y no por la fama.

«This is because whenever we love divine truths for the sake of our own praise, we are focusing on ourselves in the divine truths and not on the Lord. This switches our sight (which is an activity of our understanding and faith) from heaven to the world and from the Lord to ourselves» — §347: el mecanismo que el libro le atribuye al amor de lo verdadero por la propia gloria, que invierte la dirección de la mirada.

«In heaven people are called wise if they are engaged in what is good, and people are engaged in what is good when they involve divine truths directly in their lives, since divine truth becomes good when it becomes a matter of life. Then it truly becomes a matter of intent and love; and anything that belongs to our intent and love is called good. This is why these individuals are called wise, since wisdom is a matter of life» — §348: la distinción entre sabio e inteligente, que el libro cifra en si lo verdadero pasa directamente a la vida o por la memoria; el tramo cruza a la p. 347.

«Everyone is accepted into heaven who has loved what is true and good for the sake of what is true and good. People who have loved a great deal are the ones who are called “wise,” and people who have loved less are the ones who are called “simple» — §350: la definición de sabio y simple por el grado del amor, no por el saber.

«Seen in our own right, we are nothing but our good and our truth, because the good is the substance of our volition and the true is the substance of our understanding, and the quality of our volition and understanding determines our own quality as persons» — §350: la identificación de la persona con su bien y su verdad, que es la antropología de fondo del libro.

«The only way these inner levels can be formed is by our focusing on the Deity and on heaven, for as already noted, the deeper levels are formed in heaven. We focus on the Deity when we believe the Deity and believe that it is the source of everything true and good and therefore of all intelligence and wisdom. We believe the Deity when we want to be led by the Deity. This is the only way our deeper levels are opened» — §351: la condición única para que se formen los niveles interiores, que el libro pone en mirar a lo Divino y querer ser conducido.

«Of people like this, the simple ones are the ones whose deeper levels have been opened but have not been so much developed through spiritual, moral, civil, and natural truths. They grasp truths when they hear them, but do not see them within themselves. In contrast, the wise ones are the ones whose deeper levels have been not only opened but also developed. They both see truths within themselves and grasp them» — §351: la diferencia entre el simple y el sabio, que aquí no está en la apertura sino en el cultivo de lo abierto.

«Whatever is rationalized takes on the appearance of truth, and there is nothing that cannot be rationalized» — §352: la fórmula con que el libro mide el alcance de esa racionalización.

«The less intelligent and wise people of this sort are those who have convinced themselves of a great many opinions, and the more intelligent and wise are the ones who have convinced themselves of fewer» — §352: la escala invertida con que el libro ordena a los convencidos, que mide por el número de convicciones.

«Later some good spirits talked with him and told him that he should not revere idols and that he could understand this because he himself was a human being» — §324: el consejo que unos espíritus buenos le dan al idólatra, que el libro consigna sin condenarlo.

«We need to explain briefly how children are brought up in heaven. They learn to talk from their nurse. Their first speech is only the sound of their affection, which gradually becomes more articulated to the extent that the concepts they are thinking enter in, since such concepts arising from affections make up the whole angelic language, as may be seen in §§234» — §334: el método de la crianza celestial, que va del sonido del afecto a las ideas articuladas; el tramo se corta antes de la remisión interna.

«The first things instilled into these affections (which all stem from their innocence) are the kinds of thing they see with their eyes that particularly delight them; and since these are from a spiritual origin, aspects of heaven flow into them that serve to open their deeper natures. In this way they become more perfect every day» — §334: la continuación de ese método, con lo que deleita los ojos abriendo por dentro lo espiritual.

«By false intelligence and wisdom we mean any intelligence and wisdom that is devoid of acknowledgment of the Divine» — §353: la definición de la sabiduría falsa, que el libro mide por la ausencia de reconocimiento de lo Divino y no por el error.

«By “branches of knowledge” we mean the various experimental disciplines such as physics, astronomy, chemistry, mechanics, geometry, anatomy, psychology, philosophy, and political history, as well as the realms of literature and criticism and language study» — §353: la lista de disciplinas que el libro nombra como saberes experimentales, que sirven de medio a quien es inteligente de veras.

«I have been allowed to talk with many scholars after their departure from our world, with some who were quite renowned and celebrated throughout the learned world for their publications, as well as with some who were not so well known but who still had within themselves a hidden wisdom. The ones who at heart denied the Deity, whether or not they acknowledged the Deity out loud, had become so stupid that they could scarcely understand any civic truth, let alone any spiritual truth» — §354: el resultado que el libro consigna de sus conversaciones con eruditos que negaron lo Divino en el corazón.

«In the other life, people like this gladly accept anything false. They soak it up like a sponge soaking up water; and they repel anything true the way something bony and springy repels anything that falls on it» — §354: las dos imágenes con que el libro figura esa disposición, la esponja y lo óseo y elástico.

«We actually take with us our entire natural memory, but its contents are not open to our inspection and do not enter into our thought as when we were living in this world. We cannot retrieve anything from it and present it to spiritual light because the contents are not matters of that light» — §355: la doctrina de la memoria natural después de la muerte, que se conserva entera y queda inaccesible.

«So to the extent that our spirit has become rational by means of our insights and learning in this world, we are rational after our departure from the body. For then we are spirits, and it is the spirit that thinks within the body» — §355: lo que sí pasa de este mundo al otro, que es la racionalidad formada por el saber y no el saber mismo.

«For them, learning served as a means to being wise and for substantiating matters of faith. The deeper levels of their minds are perceived and even seen as transparent to the light, with a bright color, fiery or azure, like that of clear diamonds or rubies or sapphires, depending on the support they derived, from their learning, for the Divine and for divine truths» — §356: la contrapartida del caso anterior, con los colores que el libro atribuye a los niveles interiores de quien usó el saber para confirmar.

«We can see from this that we become spiritual by means of our insights and learning and that these are means of becoming wise only for people who acknowledge the Divine Being in both faith and life» — §356: la conclusión del capítulo sobre el saber: vuelve espiritual solo a quien reconoce lo Divino en la fe y en la vida.

«The human mind is like soil whose quality depends on the way it is tilled» — §356: la imagen agrícola con que el libro cierra la distinción entre el sabio y el simple del cielo.

«THERE are various opinions about acceptance into heaven. Some people think that the poor are accepted but not the rich; some think that rich and poor alike are accepted; some think that rich people cannot be accepted unless they give up their assets and become like the poor—and all of them support their opinions from the Word» — §357: las tres opiniones sobre ricos y pobres que el libro recoge, todas apoyadas en la Escritura.

«Out of a great deal of conversation and living with angels, I have been granted sure knowledge that rich people enter heaven just as easily as poor people do, and that no one is shut out of heaven for having abundant possessions or accepted into heaven because of poverty. There are both rich and poor people there, and many of the rich are in greater splendor and happiness than the poor» — §357: la tesis del capítulo, que niega que la riqueza o la pobreza decidan la entrada.

«I have talked after their death with some people who during their earthly lives had renounced the world and devoted themselves to a virtually solitary life, wanting to make time for devout meditation by withdrawing their thoughts from worldly matters. They believed that this was the way to follow the path to heaven» — §360: el caso de los que renunciaron al mundo para meditar, y el estado en que el libro dice haberlos hallado.

«They covet heaven more than others do; but when they are brought up to where angels are, they cause anxieties that upset the happiness of the angels. So they part company; and once they have parted, they betake themselves to lonely places where they lead the same kind of life they had led in the world» — §360: el desenlace que el libro les da a esos solitarios, que terminan apartándose también en el otro mundo.

«Broadly speaking, what lies in store for rich people in heaven is this. They live more elegantly than others, some in palaces where everything within gleams like gold and silver. They have everything they need for a useful life. However, they do not set their hearts on such things but on their useful activities. These they see clearly and in full light, while the gold and silver are relatively hazy and shadowy» — §361: la suerte de los ricos en el cielo, con el oro y la plata relegados a lo secundario frente al uso.

«Good and useful activities include providing the necessities of life for oneself and one’s own, wanting ample resources for the sake of one’s country and one’s neighbor, whom a rich person can benefit in far more ways than a poor person can. [These activities are useful also] because they lead the mind away from an idle life, which is destructive, since in that kind of life our thoughts turn to evil because of our inborn evil nature» — §361: la lista de usos buenos que el libro le reconoce a la riqueza, incluido el apartar de la vida ociosa.

«I have been allowed to talk with people who lived more than seventeen centuries ago, people whose lives are known from the literature of their own times; and I have been convinced that the same love they had then is still sustaining them» — §363: el argumento que el libro ofrece de esa permanencia, con gente de diecisiete siglos atrás cuya vida consta por su literatura.

«Poverty can actually seduce people and lead them away from heaven just as much as wealth can. There are many people among the poor who are not content with their lot, who covet much more, and who believe that wealth is a blessing;f so when they do not get what they want, they are enraged and harbor evil thoughts about divine providence. They envy other people their assets, and given the chance would just as soon cheat them and live in their own foul pleasures» — §364: la advertencia del libro sobre la pobreza que no se conforma, que envidia y murmura de la providencia.

«So they were told that thoughtfulness is all about living and faith is all about doctrine. This means that thoughtfulness is intending and doing what is fair and right in every task, while faith is thinking what is fair and right; so faith and thoughtfulness go together like doctrine and a life according to it, or like thought and intent» — §364: la respuesta que el libro les da a unos campesinos sobre la diferencia entre fe y solicitud, que reduce a doctrina y vida.

«Rich people in the natural sense are people who have abundant wealth and set their hearts on it, while in a spiritual sense they are people who are amply supplied with insights and knowledge (for these are spiritual wealth) and who want to use them to get themselves into heavenly and ecclesiastical circles by their own intellect» — §365: la doble lectura del camello y el ojo de la aguja, natural y espiritual, con el rico espiritual definido como el que quiere entrar al cielo por su propio entendimiento.

«SINCE heaven comes from the human race, which means that there are angels of both sexes there, and since by creation itself woman is for man and man for woman, each for the other, and since this love is inborn in both sexes, it follows that there are marriages in the heavens just as there are on earth» — §366: la razón por la que hay matrimonios en el cielo, derivada de que el cielo venga del género humano.

«The reason for this kind of union of husband and wife on the deepest levels of their minds goes back to creation itself. The male is born to focus on cognitive processes, and therefore bases his thinking on his intellect. In contrast, the woman is born to focus on intentions, and therefore bases her thinking on her volition» — §368: el fundamento que el libro le da a esa unión, con el reparto del entendimiento y la voluntad entre los sexos.

«This is why a boy or a man, in the spiritual sense of the Word, means the discernment of truth, while a girl or woman means an affection for what is good» — §368: la traducción de ese reparto al sentido interno de la Escritura, donde varón y mujer nombran entendimiento y afecto.

«There is no controlling, though, in marriages in the heavens. The volition of the wife actually belongs to the husband and the intellect of the husband belongs to the wife. This is because each wants to intend and think like the other, mutually, that is, and reciprocally. This is how the two are united into one» — §369: la negación del dominio en el matrimonio celestial, con el intercambio recíproco de voluntad y entendimiento.

«By way of preface, we may note that it is all right to acquire wealth and accumulate any amount of assets, as long as it is not done by fraud or evil devices» — §358: el permiso con que se abre el parágrafo que Lang cita en la p. 49 como el rasgo renacentista del libro; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«This is no obstacle to our acceptance into heaven as long as we keep God appropriately in mind and act honestly and fairly toward our neighbors. Our quality is actually that of our affection and thought, or our love and faith. Everything we do outwardly derives its life from these, since acting is intending and speaking is thinking» — §358: el criterio que el libro pone en lugar de la renuncia, que es la calidad del afecto y del pensamiento de donde sale el acto.

«So when it says in the Word that we are judged according to our deeds and rewarded according to our works,227 it means that we are judged and rewarded according to the thought and affection that give rise to our deeds or that are within our deeds. This is because deeds have no meaning apart from these contents. Their quality is wholly determined by them» — §358: la regla de lectura del juicio por las obras, que el libro traslada del acto a la intención que lo produce.

«Take for example people who behave honestly and do not cheat others solely out of fear of the law and loss of reputation, leading to loss of respect or profit. If that fear did not restrain them, they would cheat others as often as they could. Their thought and intent are fraudulent, even though their actions look honest in outward form. Because they are dishonest and fraudulent inwardly, they have hell within themselves» — §358: el ejemplo del honrado por miedo a la ley y a la pérdida de fama, con el veredicto que el libro le aplica.

«But if people behave honestly and do not cheat others because this is against God and against their neighbor, then even if they could cheat someone they would not want to. Their thought and intent are their conscience, and they have heaven within themselves. In outward form, the actions of the two kinds look alike, but inwardly they are totally different» — §358: el contraejemplo del honrado por conciencia, idéntico por fuera y opuesto por dentro.

«So we can see that it is not as hard to follow the path to heaven as many people believe. The only difficulty is finding the power to resist love for ourselves and love of the world and preventing those loves from taking control, since they are the source of all our evils» — §359: la tesis de que el camino al cielo no es tan difícil como se cree, con la única dificultad que el libro reconoce, resistir el amor propio y el del mundo.

«We can see from this that the life of thoughtfulness toward our neighbor—behaving fairly and uprightly in all our deeds and in all our responsibilities» — §360: la conclusión que Lang cita en la p. 49 como la ruptura del libro con el ascetismo: lo que lleva al cielo es la conducta justa en todo deber.

«What awaits rich people who do not believe in the Divine Being and reject matters of heaven and the church from their minds is quite the opposite. They are in hell, where they find filth and wretchedness and want. When wealth is loved as an end, it turns into things like these, and not only the wealth itself but also what it is used for—the pampered living, the indulgence in pleasures, the wider and freer dedication to amorality, the self-exaltation over people they belittle. Because these riches and these functions have nothing spiritual in them, only earthly qualities, they turn to filth» — §362: el reverso de la suerte de los ricos, con la riqueza amada como fin convertida en inmundicia.

«The spiritual aspect of wealth and its uses is like the soul in a body and like the light of heaven in moist earth. So a body without a soul becomes putrid, as does moist earth without the light of heaven. These are the people whom wealth has seduced and drawn away from heaven» — §362: la analogía del alma en el cuerpo y de la luz del cielo en la tierra húmeda con que el libro explica esa corrupción.

«After death, our ruling affection or love awaits each one of us. This is never rooted out to eternity because our spirit is exactly like our love; and (what has not been known before) the body of every spirit and angel is an outward form of her or his love that is completely responsive to the inner form that is the character and mind of that spirit or angel» — §363: la tesis del amor dominante, que no se arranca jamás y del que el cuerpo del espíritu es forma exterior.

«Poor people do not get into heaven because of their poverty but because of their lives. Our lives follow us whether we are rich or poor. There is no special mercy for the one any more than for the other.e People who have lived well are accepted; people who have lived badly are rejected» — §364: la simetría del criterio, que niega merced especial a la pobreza.

«In the spiritual meaning of the Word, “the rich” means people who are amply supplied with understandings of what is true and good, that is, people in the church where the Word is. “The poor” means people who lack these understandings but who long for them, or people outside the church, where the Word is not found» — §365: la clave con que el libro lee rico y pobre en la Escritura, trasladada del dinero al saber de lo verdadero.

«Marriage in the heavens is the union of two people into one mind. First, I need to explain the nature of this union. The mind consists of two parts, one called intellect and the other called volition» — §367: la definición del matrimonio celestial como unión de dos en una sola mente; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«This means that marriage love is the essential matrix for the divine inflow because it is itself a marriage of the true and the good» — §370: la definición del amor conyugal como matriz del influjo divino, por ser él mismo matrimonio de lo verdadero y lo bueno.

«The union of the true and the good makes an angel, and also makes angels’ intelligence, wisdom, and happiness. The actual nature of angels depends on how what is true in them is united to what is good, and what is good is united to what is true. In other words, the nature of angels depends on the way their love is united to their faith and their faith to their love» — §370: la fórmula que hace del ángel el resultado de esa unión, y que traduce lo bueno y lo verdadero a amor y fe.

«I once heard an angel describe true marriage love and its heavenly pleasures along these lines: It is the Lord’s divine nature in the heavens, that is, divine good and divine truth, united in two individuals to the point that they are no longer two but one» — §374: la definición del amor conyugal verdadero puesta en boca de un ángel, identificada con lo divino mismo unido en dos.

«and the angel described being dumbfounded at the thought that adultery was practiced and even rationalized more within the church than outside it, because spiritually understood (and therefore in the spiritual world), the pleasure of adultery is essentially nothing but the pleasure of a love of the union of what is false and what is evil. This is a hellish pleasure, because it is diametrically opposed to the pleasure of heaven, which is the pleasure of a love of what is true united to the good» — §374: el asombro que el libro le atribuye a ese ángel por el adulterio practicado y razonado dentro de la iglesia, con la lectura espiritual del placer adúltero.

«Genuine marriage love is not possible between one husband and more than one wife. Polygamy in fact destroys the spiritual source of marriage love, whose purpose is to form one mind out of two. It therefore destroys the deeper union of the good and the true that is the very essence of that love. Marriage with more than one is like an intellect divided among more than one will or like a person pledged to more than one church. This actually pulls faith apart so that it becomes no faith at all» — §379: la objeción a la poligamia, derivada del propósito de hacer una mente de dos, con las dos analogías del entendimiento repartido y de la iglesia múltiple.

«Angels say that taking more than one wife is absolutely contrary to the divine design and that they know this for many reasons, including the fact that the moment they think about marriage with more than one, they are estranged from their inner blessedness and heavenly happiness. They become virtually drunk because the good is severed from the true within them; and since the deeper levels of their minds come into this kind of state when they simply think about this with some slight intent, they perceive clearly that marriage with more than one woman closes their own inner nature and makes lust invade where there should be marriage love. Lust leads away from heaven» — §379: la prueba experimental que el libro pone en boca de los ángeles, que pierden su bienaventuranza con solo pensar en ello.

«The delight of real marriage love, though, not only lasts into old age on earth but even becomes heavenly delight after death, when it is filled with a deeper delight that becomes better and better to eternity» — §379: la diferencia que el libro traza entre el deleite del deseo, que se agría, y el del amor conyugal verdadero.

«Any love of control of one over the other utterly destroys marriage love and its heavenly pleasure, for as already noted, marriage love and its pleasure consist of the intent of one belonging to the other, and of this being mutual and reciprocal» — §380: la condena del dominio conyugal que Lang cita en la p. 27, fundada en la reciprocidad que define ese amor.

«One is the servant; and so is the one in control, because he or she is being driven like a servant by a need to be in control» — §380: la fórmula con que el libro iguala al que manda con el siervo, por estar movido por la necesidad de mandar.

«There is a kind of image of marriage love in some people, but it is not marriage love unless they are focused on a love of the good and the true. It is a love that looks like marriage love for a number of reasons—we want to be taken care of at home, to feel secure, to be at peace or at leisure, to be taken care of when we are ill or elderly, or [to work together] for the sake of beloved children. In some cases it arises from a fear of the spouse, because of what people will think, or for evil ends; and for some it is lust that causes it» — §381: la lista de motivos que producen una apariencia de amor conyugal sin serlo, del cuidado doméstico al miedo al cónyuge.

«Marriage love also differs between spouses. It may be more or less in one, little or none in the other; and since it may differ, it may be heaven for one and hell for the other» — §381: la asimetría que el libro admite dentro de un mismo matrimonio, que puede ser cielo para uno e infierno para el otro.

«Genuine marriage love is found in the inmost heaven because the angels there are absorbed in the marriage of the good and the true and are in innocence as well. Angels of lower heavens are in marriage love too, but only to the extent that they are in innocence; because seen in its own right, marriage love is a state of innocence» — §382a: la identificación del amor conyugal verdadero con un estado de inocencia, que lo reparte por cielos.

«Marriages in the heavens differ from marriages on earth in that earthly marriages are also for the purpose of having children, while this is not the case in the heavens. In place of the procreation of children there is the procreation of what is good and true» — §382b: la única diferencia que el libro señala frente a los matrimonios terrenos, que Lang cita en la p. 31.

«Further, since there are no weddings in the heavens, two spouses there are not called husband and wife, but because of the angelic concept of the union of two minds into one, each spouse is identified by a word that means “belonging to each other» — §382b: el nombre que en el cielo sustituye a marido y mujer, derivado del concepto angélico de la unión de dos mentes.

«In the same way, spouse is drawn toward spouse when their minds can be united into one. So at first sight they love each other most deeply, see each other as married partners, and enter into their marriage. This is why all of heaven’s marriages are the work of the Lord alone. They also hold a feast in celebration with many people gathered; these feasts differ from community to community» — §383: el modo en que se contraen los matrimonios del cielo, sin voluntad propia y con fiesta, que Lang cita en la p. 31.

«Marriages on earth are the seedbed of the human race and also of the angels of heaven, for as already noted in its own chapter, heaven is from the human race. For this reason, and because they do have a spiritual origin (from the marriage of the good and the true), and because the Lord’s divine nature flows especially into this love, these earthly marriages are seen as most holy by heaven’s angels» — §384: la santidad que el libro les atribuye a los matrimonios terrenos, derivada de que el cielo venga del género humano.

«I could tell that everyone in hell is opposed to marriage love from the aura that emanated from hell. It was like a ceaseless effort to break up and destroy marriages. This showed that the dominant pleasure in hell is the pleasure of adultery, and that the pleasure of adultery is also the pleasure of destroying the union of the good and the true, the union that makes heaven. It follows from this that the pleasure of adultery is a hellish pleasure, diametrically opposed to the pleasure of marriage, which is a heavenly pleasure» — §384: la oposición del infierno al matrimonio, medida por el aura que el libro dice haber percibido.

«He might realize this simply because marriages are the seedbed of the human race and therefore the seedbed of the kingdom of heaven. Because of this, they should never be violated but should be regarded as holy» — §385: el argumento que el libro le dirige a un adúltero, fundado en que el matrimonio es semillero del reino de los cielos.

«He wanted to quibble about whether this was true or not; but he was told that there is no quibbling about the truth. Quibbling favors whatever pleases us, and therefore supports what is evil and false» — §385: la objeción del libro al razonar que busca justificarse, que llama disputa sobre la verdad y no búsqueda de ella.

«I have been shown how the pleasures of marriage love lead to heaven and how the pleasures of adultery lead to hell. The path of marriage love toward heaven led into constantly increasing blessings and delights until they were beyond number or description. The deeper they were, the more of them there were and the more indescribable they were, all the way to the delights of the inmost heaven, the heaven of innocence» — §386: el camino ascendente del amor conyugal, con deleites crecientes hasta el cielo de la inocencia.

«THERE is no way to list all the functions that people have in the heavens or to describe them in detail, though it is possible to say something on the subject in general terms; they are innumerable and vary depending on the roles of the communities as well. In fact, each community plays a unique role, since the communities differ depending on their virtues (see above, §41) and therefore on their function. This is because virtues for everyone in the heavens are virtues in act, which are functions. Everyone there does something specifically useful, for the Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of uses» — §387: la fórmula del reino de los usos, con la que el libro abre el capítulo sobre lo que hacen los ángeles.

«There are many services in the heavens just as there are on earth, since there are ecclesiastical, civic, and domestic affairs there» — §388: el reparto de los oficios del cielo en tres órdenes, que Lang cita en la p. 31.

«Angels, however, do not claim any importance for themselves but ascribe it all to the use; and since the use is the good that it serves and everything good comes from the Lord, they ascribe it all to the Lord» — §389: la regla de atribución del oficio, que pasa del ángel al uso y del uso al Señor.

«Spiritual love, value, and respect are nothing but love, value, and respect for the use in the role, respect for the role because of the use and not for the use because of the role. If we look at people from a spiritually true perspective, this is the only way to see them. Then we see one person as much like another, whether their rank is great or small. The only difference we see is a difference in wisdom, and wisdom is loving use, which means loving the welfare of our fellow citizens, our community, our country, and the church» — §390: la definición del respeto espiritual, que mira el uso y no el cargo, y la identificación de la sabiduría con amar el uso.

«Broadly speaking, angels of all communities are assigned to us to protect us, to lead us away from evil feelings and the evil thoughts that these cause and to instill good feelings to the extent that we are freely open to them» — §391: el oficio de custodia que el libro les atribuye a los ángeles respecto de los vivos, con la reserva de la libertad de estos.

«However, all these tasks are things the Lord does by means of angels, since angels do them not on their own but from the Lord. This is why in the deeper meaning of the Word “angels” does not mean angels but something of the Lord; and this is why angels are called gods in the Word» — §391: la adjudicación última de todos esos oficios al Señor, de la que el libro deriva el vocabulario de la Escritura.

«Everyone in heaven is engaged in his or her work according to its correspondence, and the correspondence is not with the work itself but with the use of each particular task» — §394: la regla que hace del uso, y no de la tarea, el término de la correspondencia.

«HARDLY anyone nowadays knows what heaven is or what heavenly joy is. People who think about either subject come up with such pedestrian and crude notions that they scarcely amount to anything at all» — §395: la apertura del capítulo sobre el gozo del cielo, con el diagnóstico sobre las nociones recibidas.

«All pleasures flow from love, because what we love we feel as pleasant. There is no other source of any pleasure. It follows, then, that the quality of the love determines the quality of the pleasure» — §396: el axioma del capítulo, que hace del amor la única fuente del deleite y su medida.

«By its very nature, heaven is full of pleasures, even to the point that if we see it as it really is, it is nothing but bliss and pleasure. This is because the divine good that emanates from the Lord’s divine love constitutes heaven both overall and in detail for everyone there; and divine love is the intent that everyone should be saved and should be most profoundly and fully happy. This is why it is all the same whether you say “heaven” or “heavenly joy» — §397: la identificación del cielo con el gozo, derivada de que el amor divino quiera la salvación y la felicidad de todos.

«We may gather the magnitude of heaven’s pleasure simply from the fact that for everyone there it is delightful to share their pleasure and bliss with someone else; and since everyone in the heavens is like this, we can see how immense heaven’s pleasure is» — §399: la medida del gozo del cielo por su carácter comunicable, que crece al compartirse.

«This is why the union of the good and the true in the heavens is called the heavenly marriage and why heaven is compared to a marriage in the Word and is even called “a marriage» — §371: el nombre de matrimonio celestial que el libro le da a la unión de lo bueno y lo verdadero.

«When the good and the true are united in an angel or in one of us, they are not two entities but one, since the good then follows from the true and the true from the good. This union is like the one that occurs when we think what we intend and intend what we think. Then our thought and our intention form a unity; the thought forms or presents in a form what our volition intends, and our volition gives it its appeal» — §372: la analogía con pensar lo que se quiere y querer lo que se piensa, con que el libro explica esa unión.

«It does need to be realized that there is no greater love than the love between the true and the good, which is why real marriage love comes down from that love» — §375: el principio del que todo el capítulo depende, que no hay amor mayor que el de lo verdadero y lo bueno.

«Then there are some who attend to people in the hells and control them so that they do not torture each other beyond set limits» — §391: el oficio que Lang cita en la p. 33 como la única esperanza que el libro les deja a los del infierno: contenerlos para que no se atormenten en exceso.

«The people in heaven who are involved in church affairs are the ones who loved the Word in the world and looked for truths in it with lively interest» — §393: el criterio con que se reparten los oficios eclesiásticos del cielo, que mira el amor a la Palabra y no la eminencia.

«We can see from this that love for oneself and love for the world are destructive of heavenly joy and are therefore diametrically opposed to heavenly loves, whose nature is to share» — §399: la oposición entre el amor propio y los amores del cielo, medida por la merma del deleite ajeno al acercarse quien lo tiene.

«Once communication was established, they began to feel such agony that they did not know how to control their bodies because of the pain. It looked as though they pushed their heads down to their feet and threw themselves on the ground and twisted themselves into loops like snakes, all because of their inner agony» — §400: el experimento del gozo celestial concedido a espíritus de amor propio, con la descripción del tormento que les produjo.

«The reason is that these loves are diametrically opposed, and when a love meets its opposite this kind of pain results. Further, since heavenly pleasure comes in by an inner path and flows into an opposing pleasure, it twists the deeper levels that are engrossed in that pleasure backward, in the opposite direction. This results in this kind of agony» — §400: la explicación de ese tormento, que el libro pone en el choque de dos amores opuestos y en el vuelco de lo interior.

«As long as people who are focused on love for God and love for their neighbor are living in the body, though, they have no obvious sense of the pleasure that stems from those loves and from the good affections that arise from them. All they feel is a sense of well-being that is barely perceptible because it is hidden away in their deeper natures, veiled by the outer sensations of their bodies and dulled by the cares of this world» — §401: la imperceptibilidad del deleite celestial en esta vida, velado por los sentidos del cuerpo y por los cuidados del mundo.

«All the pleasures of heaven are united to forms of service and dwell within them, because forms of service are the good effects of the love and thoughtfulness that angels are immersed in. Consequently, the nature of each individual’s pleasures depends on the nature of that individual’s service, and its intensity depends on the intensity of the affection for service» — §402: la tesis que ata todo deleite del cielo al uso, y lo mide por el afecto que se le tiene.

«We can be assured that heaven’s pleasures are pleasures of service by comparing them with our own five physical senses. Each sense has its own pleasure in accord with the service it performs. Sight has its pleasure, hearing its own, smell its own, taste its own, and touch its own. The pleasure of sight derives from beauty and forms, that of hearing from harmonies, of smell from fragrances, of taste from flavors» — §402: el argumento por los cinco sentidos, cada uno con el deleite que corresponde a su servicio.

«On the basis of an opinion formed in the world, some spirits have believed that heavenly happiness consisted of a life of leisure, being waited on by others; but they were informed that there is never any happiness in idling around in order to be content. This would mean wanting the happiness of others for oneself, in which case no one would have any at all. This kind of life would be idle, not active, a life that would lead to atrophy» — §403: la objeción del libro al cielo de ocio, que sería querer para sí la felicidad de otros.

«They might in fact have known that apart from an active life, a life has no happiness, and that idleness serves that life only for refreshment, in order to return them to the active life with more energy. Then they were shown in many ways that angelic life consists of worthwhile, thoughtful actions, actions that are useful to others, and that all the happiness angels have is found in service, derives from service, and is proportional to service» — §403: la máxima que Lang cita en la p. 50 con su latín, y la definición de la vida angélica como acción útil.

«Some spirits who thought themselves better informed than others claimed that in the world they had held to the belief that heavenly joy consisted solely in praising and glorifying God, and that this was an active life. They have been told, though, that praising and glorifying God is not an appropriate kind of active life, since God has no need of praise and glorification» — §404: la objeción del libro a que el gozo del cielo consista en alabar y glorificar a Dios, fundada en que Dios no lo necesita.

«Rather, God wants us to be useful to each other, to do the worthwhile things that are called works of charity. However, they could not connect any notion of heavenly joy with thoughtful good deeds, only a notion of slavery» — §404: lo que el libro pone en lugar de aquella alabanza, y la dificultad que reconoce en quien lo escucha.

«Almost all the people who arrive in the other life think that hell is the same for everyone and that heaven is the same for everyone, when in fact there are infinite variations and differences in each. Hell is never the same for any two people, nor is heaven» — §405: la negación de un cielo y un infierno uniformes, que el libro sustituye por variación infinita.

«They said that every unity is formed by a harmonious agreement of many constituents and that the nature of the unity depends on the nature of the agreement. This is how every community of heaven forms a unity and how all the communities form a single heaven, which is accomplished solely by the Lord, by means of love» — §405: la doctrina de la unidad por concordancia de muchos, que el libro pone en boca de los ángeles y aplica a todo el cielo.

«They should realize, then, that it is the Lord who governs heaven— and the universe, for whoever rules the one rules the other as well. This means that the kingdom where they now find themselves belongs to the Lord and that the laws of this kingdom are eternal truths all based on the law that they should love the Lord above all and their neighbor as themselves» — §406: la instrucción que el libro le da a los recién llegados sobre las leyes del reino en que van a vivir.

«Life in a physical body cannot by nature progress beyond loving one’s neighbor as the self, because it is immersed in physical concerns. Once these are removed, though, the love becomes purer and ultimately angelic, which is loving one’s neighbor more than oneself» — §406: el grado de amor que el libro reserva para el cielo, superior al que el cuerpo permite.

«As for the possibility of this love, it was said that in this world it might be gathered from the marriage love some people have for each other, people who would rather die than allow their spouse to be hurt. Or they might consider the love of parents for their children, the mother who would rather starve than see her children go hungry; or the true friendship that leads people to face peril for the sake of their friends» — §406: los ejemplos terrenos con que el libro hace verosímil ese grado de amor: el cónyuge, la madre, el amigo.

«I talked with some spirits who thought that heaven and heavenly joy consisted of being important; but I told them that in heaven the greatest is the one who is least. This is because people are called “least” when they have no ability or wisdom and do not want any ability or wisdom on their own, but only from the Lord. This kind of “least person” has the greatest happiness» — §408: la inversión del rango que el libro sostiene: el mayor es el que menos quiere de suyo.

«Actual heavenly joy as it is in and of itself is beyond description because it dwells in the deepest natures of angels. It flows from there into the details of their thought and affection and from these into the details of their speech and action. It is as though their deeper levels were wide open and freed to accept a delight and bliss that spreads out through all their fibers and therefore through their whole being, giving them a kind of perception and feeling that simply cannot be described» — §409: la descripción del gozo celestial por su recorrido, de lo más interior a lo exterior por todas las fibras.

«Some spirits wanted to know what heavenly joy was, so they were allowed to feel it to the point that they could not bear any more. Still, this was not angelic joy, but only the slightest trace of the angelic quality that they were allowed to observe and share» — §410: el experimento del gozo concedido a espíritus que lo pidieron, con la advertencia de que fue solo un rastro.

«I could tell from this not only that there are levels of heavenly joy, but also that the deepest level of one individual barely touches the outmost or some median level of another. I could also see that when we do reach our own deepest level we are in our own heavenly joy and that we could not bear anything deeper because it would become painful for us» — §410: la doctrina de los grados del gozo, con el límite que cada quien no puede pasar sin dolor.

«They said that the angels took no particular delight in these outward things but in what they represented—unutterable, divine things of infinite wisdom; these were their real joy» — §411: lo que el libro dice haber oído de unos espíritus llevados al cielo: que el deleite de los ángeles no está en lo que se ve sino en lo que representa.

«So in order that they may know and recognize it, honest people who do not know what heavenly joy is are first taken to parks that surpass every image of their imagination. Just when they think that this is a heavenly paradise, they are told that this is not real heavenly happiness» — §412: la pedagogía graduada con que el libro dice que se enseña el gozo del cielo a los recién llegados, empezando por los parques.

«People in heaven are continually progressing toward the springtime of life. The more thousands of years they live, the more pleasant and happy is their springtime. This continues forever, increasing according to the growth and level of their love, thoughtfulness, and faith» — §414: la tesis del rejuvenecimiento perpetuo en el cielo, medido por el crecimiento del amor y de la fe.

«In a word, to grow old in heaven is to grow young. People who have lived in love for the Lord and in thoughtfulness toward their neighbor are forms like this, or beauties like this, in the other life. All angels are forms like this, in infinite variety. This is what makes heaven» — §414: la fórmula con que el libro cierra la primera parte, y la identificación de la forma angélica con la solicitud misma hecha visible.

«THE vastness of the Lord’s heaven follows from many of the things that have been presented above, especially from the fact that heaven is from the human race (see §§311–317), not only that portion of it born within the church but also the portion born outside it (§§318–328). This means that heaven includes everyone who has lived a good life since the very beginning of our planet» — §415: el argumento de la vastedad del cielo, derivado de que venga del género humano entero.

«I have been told that most of the earliest people became angels, because they thought more deeply and spiritually and were therefore enveloped in heavenly affection; while for later ages it was not so many because as time passed we became more externally minded and began to think more on the natural level, which meant that we were enveloped in more earthly affection» — §415: la proporción decreciente de ángeles por épocas, que el libro atribuye al paso de lo interior a lo exterior en el modo de pensar.

«The immensity of the Lord’s heaven may also be gathered simply from the fact that all children, whether born within or outside the church, are adopted by the Lord and become angels, and their number amounts to a quarter or a fifth of the whole human race» — §416: la cifra con que el libro mide la parte del cielo que viene de los niños muertos.

«People who believe (as they should) that the Divine created the universe for the sole purpose of the emergence of the human race and a heaven from it (for the human race is the seedbed of heaven) cannot help but believe that there are people wherever there is a planet» — §417: el argumento de la pluralidad de mundos, citado por el libro de su propia obra sobre los otros planetas, con el género humano como semillero del cielo.

«There are so incomprehensibly many stars in it, each one a sun in its own place and its own system, like our sun, of different magnitudes. If people think this through carefully, they will come to the conclusion that this whole vast universe cannot be anything but a means to an end, which is the goal of creation, a heavenly kingdom in which the Divine can dwell with angels and with us» — §417: la lectura del universo estrellado como medio para un fin, que es un reino celestial.

«I have been allowed to see the extent of the inhabited heaven and also the extent of the uninhabited heaven; and I have seen that the uninhabited heaven is so vast that it could never be filled to all eternity even if there were thousands of thousands of planets with as many people on each one as there are on ours» — §419: la medida del cielo deshabitado, que el libro declara inagotable.

«Because they take a few passages from the Word literally, some people think that heaven is not vast but small. For example, there are places where it says that only the poor will be accepted into heaven, or only the elect, or only people in the church and not people from outside, or only people for whom the Lord makes intercession, or that heaven will be closed when it is full, and that the time for this is foreordained» — §420: las lecturas literales que el libro objeta sobre un cielo pequeño, cerrado y de número fijo.

«These people do not realize that heaven will never be closed; that there is no foreordained time, no fixed number; and that “the elect” are people who live lives of goodness and truth;a that “the poor” are people who have not found out what is good and true but who long to (they are also called “the hungry” because of this longing» — §420: la respuesta del libro a esas lecturas, con su clave de elegidos y pobres trasladada a la vida y al anhelo de lo verdadero.

«If only they knew that everyone is born for heaven, that people are accepted into heaven who accept heaven into themselves in this world, and that people who do not accept it are shut out» — §420: el remate de la primera parte, que traslada la elección del decreto divino a la aceptación en esta vida.

«This also enables us to realize why hell is separated from heaven. It is because all the people who are in hell, while they lived in the world, were wholly focused on pleasures of the body and the flesh because of their love for themselves and love for the world; while all the people who are in heaven, while they lived in the world, were focused on pleasures of the soul and the spirit because of their love for the Lord and their love for their neighbor» — §400: la razón de la separación del infierno, que no es decreto sino oposición de los amores con que se vivió en el mundo.

«Since these loves are opposed to each other, the hells and the heavens are completely separated, even to the point that spirits who are in hell do not dare stick out a single finger or raise the top of their heads, for the moment they do so, even the slightest bit, they are in torment and agony» — §400: la consecuencia de esa oposición, medida por lo que basta para el tormento: sacar un dedo o asomar la cabeza.

«There was one man who had been particularly powerful during his physical life, and who in the other life still had his desire to be in control. He was told that he was in another kingdom now, an eternal one, and that his own dominion was in the land of the dead» — §407: el caso del poderoso que llevó al otro mundo su afán de mandar, y lo que se le dijo sobre dónde quedó su dominio.

«Here wealth was virtue and truth, and standing with the leadership was the mercy the individual had enjoyed from the Lord through life in the world. If he wanted to rule on any other basis he was a revolutionary, since he was in someone else’s kingdom» — §407: la conversión de la riqueza y el favor en virtud y misericordia, con la consecuencia para quien quiera mandar por otro título.

«Rather, it means a heartfelt wishing better for others than for oneself, and serving others for the sake of their happiness with no thought of reward, simply out of love» — §408: lo que el libro pone en lugar de ese cálculo: querer mejor para otro que para uno y servir sin pensar en recompensa.

«I have also noticed that heavenly joy and delight seemed to be coming from my heart, spreading very subtly through all my inner fibers and from there into the gatherings of fibers with such a profound sense of pleasure that my fibers seemed to be nothing but joy and delight, and everything I perceived and felt was alive with bliss» — §413: la descripción física del gozo celestial, sentido desde el corazón por todas las fibras.

«THE world of spirits251 is neither heaven nor hell but a place or state between the two. It is where we first arrive after death, being in due time either raised into heaven or cast into hell from it depending on our life in this world» — §421: la definición del mundo de los espíritus con que se abre la segunda parte, que Lang cita en la p. 25 con su latín *mundus spirituum*.

«A state of heaven for us is the union of what is good and true within us, and a state of hell is a union of what is evil and false within us. When the good in a spirit-person is united to the true, then that individual arrives in heaven, because as already stated that union is heaven within us. On the other hand, when the evil is united to the false within us, then we arrive in hell, because that union is hell within us» — §422: la definición de cielo e infierno como uniones que ocurren dentro, y no como lugares a los que se envía.

«Our ability to think from our intellect and not at the same time from our will is provided us so that we can be reformed, for we are reformed by means of truths; and truths, as already noted, are matters of intellect» — §424: la razón de que se pueda pensar sin querer, que el libro pone en la posibilidad de la reforma.

«We are actually born into total evil as far as our wills are concerned, wishing well to no one but ourselves; if we wish well to ourselves alone, we are delighted when harm comes to others, especially when it is to our advantage. We actually want to channel everyone else’s assets to ourselves, whether those assets are high rank or wealth, and are happy to the extent that we succeed» — §424: la antropología del mal hereditario, que el libro describe por el deseo de que lo ajeno pase a uno.

«This is because no one in heaven or in hell is allowed to have a divided mind, to understand one thing and intend something else. What we intend we understand and what we understand we intend. Consequently, anyone in heaven who intends what is good understands what is true, and anyone in hell who intends what is evil understands what is false. So for good people, the false elements are taken away and they are given truths suited and fitted to their virtue, while for evil people truths are taken away and they are given false elements suited and fitted to their vice» — §425: la razón de ser del mundo de los espíritus: allí se acaba la mente dividida, en un sentido o en el otro.

«There is a vast number of people in the world of spirits, because that is where everyone is first gathered, where everyone is examined and prepared. There is no fixed limit to our stay there. Some people barely enter it and are promptly either taken up into heaven or cast down into hell. Some stay there for a few weeks, some for a number of years, though not more than thirty. The variations in length of stay occur because of the correspondence or lack of correspondence between our deeper and our more outward natures» — §426: la duración de la estancia intermedia, de unos días a treinta años, que Lang cita en la p. 29.

«The world of spirits looks like a valley surrounded by mountains and cliffs, with dips and rises here and there. The doors and gates to heavenly communities are visible only to people who are being readied for heaven. No one else finds them. There is one entrance to each community from the world of spirits with a single path beyond it; but as the path climbs, it divides into several» — §429: la descripción del paisaje del mundo de los espíritus y de los accesos al cielo.

«Rank, foul stenches breathe out from them, stenches that good spirits flee because they are repelled by them, while evil spirits are drawn toward them because they find them delightful. In fact, just as we find delight in our own evil in this world we find delight after death in the stench that corresponds to our evil. We might compare this with the delight of carrion birds and beasts like crows and wolves and pigs who fly or run toward rotting corpses as soon as they get wind of them» — §429: el hedor del infierno que Lang cita en la p. 31, con la comparación de las aves y bestias carroñeras.

«In the preceding pages, where it said “spirits,” it meant people in the world of spirits; while “angels” meant people in heaven» — §431: la convención terminológica que el libro declara para todo el volumen, entre espíritus y ángeles.

«ANYONE who thinks things through carefully can see that it is not the body that thinks, because the body is material. Rather, it is the soul, because the soul is spiritual. The human soul, whose immortality has been the topic of many authors, is our spirit; it is in fact immortal in all respects, and it is also what does the thinking in our bodies» — §432: la tesis del capítulo, que identifica el alma con el espíritu y le atribuye el pensar.

«We may of course say that a tool works or moves or strikes, but it is a mistake to believe that this is a property of the tool and not of the person who is wielding it» — §432: la analogía del instrumento con que el libro pone el cuerpo al servicio del espíritu.

«While I was walking through city streets and through the countryside, absorbed in conversation with spirits, it seemed exactly as though I were just as awake and observant as ever, walking without straying, though all the while I was in visions. I was seeing groves, rivers, mansions, houses, people, and more. After I had been walking for some hours, though, I suddenly found myself back in consciousness of my physical sight and realized that I was somewhere else» — §441: el relato del traslado en espíritu por calles y campos, en visión y sin extraviarse.

«But talking with spirits, being with them as one of them—this is something I have been granted when I was fully awake physically, and it has been going on now for years» — §442: el deslinde que el libro hace entre aquellos dos estados extraordinarios y su trato ordinario con espíritus, que declara habitual y en plena vigilia.

«We can see, then, that when we die we simply move from one world into another. This is why in the inner meaning of the Word, “death” means resurrection and a continuation of life» — §445: la fórmula del paso de un mundo a otro y la lectura que de ahí saca para la palabra muerte en la Escritura.

«The deepest communication of our spirit is with our breathing and our heartbeat; thought connects with our breathing, and affection, an attribute of love, with our heart.b Consequently, when these two motions in the body cease, there is an immediate separation. It is these two motions, the respiratory motion of the lungs and the systolic motion of the heart, that are essential ties. Once they are severed, the spirit is left to itself; and the body, being now without the life of its spirit, cools and decays» — §446: la fisiología del morir que el libro sostiene, atada la respiración al pensamiento y el corazón al afecto.

«I was brought into a state in which my physical senses were inoperative—very much, then, like the state of people who are dying. However, my deeper life and thought remained intact so that I could perceive and retain what was happening to me and what does happen to people who are being awakened from death» — §449: el experimento del propio despertar, hecho para poder describir cómo ocurre.

«I was later told that as the body is breathing its last, our spirit is kept in its final thought until eventually it comes back to the thoughts that flowed from our basic or ruling affection in the world» — §449: la doctrina del último pensamiento, que retorna al afecto dominante de la vida.

«Especially, I was enabled to perceive and even to feel that there was a pull, a kind of drawing out of the deeper levels of my mind and therefore of my spirit from my body; and I was told that this was being done by the Lord and is what brings about our resurrection» — §449: la sensación de tirón que el libro describe como la operación misma de la resurrección.

«I was also shown how this is done. It seemed as though the angels rolled back a covering from my left eye toward the center263 of my nose so that my eye was opened and able to see» — §450: la descripción de la apertura de la vista del espíritu, con la salvedad de que es apariencia y no hecho.

«Angels take the greatest care to shield the awakening person from any concept that does not taste of love. Then they tell the individual that he or she is a spirit» — §450: el cuidado con que, según el libro, se le anuncia al recién llegado su condición.

«Still, the angels do not leave us, but we do leave them. Angels really do love everyone. They want nothing more than to help people, to teach them, to lead them into heaven. This is their highest joy» — §450: la asimetría del abandono, que el libro atribuye enteramente al que llega y no a los ángeles.

«They said that they were alive, and that people were burying what had been useful to them in the world. Later on, they were utterly amazed at the fact that while they had been living in their bodies they had not believed in this kind of life after death, and particularly that this was the case for almost everyone in the church» — §452: la respuesta que el libro les atribuye y el asombro con que miran su propia incredulidad anterior.

«Rational individuals can understand what has been said so far because they can see this from the chain of causes and from truths in their pattern. However, people who are not rational do not understand these things» — §455: la distinción con que el libro reparte a sus lectores y la razón que da para la incomprensión: no querer entender.

«I have even heard some hellish people saying that they knew and recognized that what they were doing was evil and what they were thinking was false, but that they could not resist the gratification of their love and therefore of their will. This moved their thoughts to see evil as good and falsity as true» — §455: el testimonio que el libro recoge de los del infierno, que reconocen su mal y no pueden resistir el deleite de su amor.

«Years and years of daily experience have witnessed to me that after separation from the body the human spirit is a person and is in a similar form. I have seen this thousands of times, I have heard such spirits, and I have talked with them even about the fact that people in the world do not believe that they are what they are, and that scholars think people who do believe are simpletons» — §456: la declaración de método del capítulo, con la reserva sobre cómo lo reciben los eruditos.

«They say, however, that this belief stems especially from academics who have thought about the soul on the basis of physical sensory reality. The only concept this can yield is one of pure thought, and when this lacks any medium in which and on the basis of which it is examined, it is like some volatile form of pure ether that can only dissipate when the body dies» — §456: la genealogía que el libro le da a la incredulidad sobre la forma humana del espíritu, que atribuye a pensar el alma desde lo sensorial.

«Further, it is dangerous to use visions to convince people of anything if they are immersed in false opinions, because they will believe at first and then deny. In this way they will desecrate the truth itself, since desecration is believing and then denying» — §456: la razón por la que el libro dice que no se dan visiones a quien está en lo falso, con la definición de profanación que de ahí saca.

«All the hells are closed on the side that faces that world, accessible only through holes and crevices like those in rocks and through broad gaps that are guarded to prevent anyone from coming out without permission, which happens in cases of real need» — §428: la topografía de puertas y guardias del infierno; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«Heaven too is bounded on all sides, and the only access to any heavenly community is by a narrow way whose entry is also guarded. These exits and entrances are what are called the doors and gates of hell and heaven in the Word» — §428: la contraparte celestial de esa topografía, de la que el libro deriva el vocabulario de puertas de la Escritura.

«There are two doors in each of us as well, one facing hell and open to evil and false things from hell, the other facing heaven and open to good and true things from heaven. The door of hell is opened for people who are involved in what is evil and its consequent falsity, though just a little light from heaven flows in through the cracks, which enables us to think, reason, and talk» — §430: la doctrina de las dos puertas, con la rendija de luz celestial que deja razonar aun al que tiene abierta la del infierno.

«We could not think or intend if there were no agent,255 no substance as the source and focal point of thought and intent. Anything we may imagine happening apart from a substantial agent is nothing» — §434: el argumento del sustrato, que el libro usa para atribuirle forma y órganos al espíritu; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«However, the spiritual nature of animals is not the same as ours. We have an inmost nature that animals do not, a nature into which the Divine flows and which it raises toward itself» — §435: el deslinde con el animal, que el libro funda en un nivel supremo propio del hombre; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«So we, unlike animals, can think about God and about divine matters of heaven and the church. We can love God because of these matters and by engaging with them; and can so be united to him; and anything that can be united to the Divine cannot be destroyed. Anything that cannot be united to the Divine, though, does disintegrate» — §435: la consecuencia de ese deslinde: lo que puede unirse a lo Divino no se destruye, y lo que no, se deshace.

«I may add here that even while we are living in our bodies, each one of us is in a community with spirits as to our own spirits even though we are unaware of it» — §438: la doctrina de que cada quien pertenece ya en vida a una comunidad espiritual sin saberlo.

«However, if our thinking is withdrawn from the body we are sometimes visible in our communities because we are then in the spirit. When we are visible, it is easy to tell us from the spirits who live there because we walk along deep in thought, silent, without looking at others, as though we did not see them; and the moment any spirit addresses us, we disappear» — §438: cómo se reconoce allí a un vivo entre los espíritus: camina callado, absorto, sin mirar, y desaparece si alguien le habla.

«We are brought into a particular state that is halfway between sleep and waking» — §440: el estado de salida del cuerpo, a medio camino entre el sueño y la vigilia; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«When we are in this state, it seems exactly as though we were awake; all our senses are as alert as they are when we are fully awake physically—sight, hearing, and strange to say, touch. These senses are more perfect than they can ever be during physical wakefulness. This is the state in which people have seen spirits and angels most vividly, even hearing them and, strange to say, touching them, with hardly anything physical interfering. It is the state described as being taken out of the body and not knowing whether one is in the body or outside it» — §440: la descripción de ese estado, con los sentidos más agudos que en la vigilia física, y el nombre bíblico que el libro le reconoce.

«WHEN someone’s body can no longer perform its functions in the natural world in response to the thoughts and affections of its spirit (which it derives from the spiritual world), then we say that the individual has died» — §445: la definición de la muerte por el cese de las funciones del cuerpo; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«The person, though, has not died at all. We are only separated from the physical nature that was useful to us in the world. The essential person is actually still alive. I say that the essential person is still alive because we are not people because of our bodies but because of our spirits. After all, it is the spirit within us that thinks, and thought and affection together make us the people we are» — §445: la corrección inmediata de esa definición: lo que muere es lo que servía en el mundo, no la persona.

«I sensed a sweet odor like that of an embalmed body, for when heavenly angels are present anything having to do with a corpse smells sweet» — §449: el olor que el libro describe en presencia de los ángeles celestiales.

«I have talked with some people on the third day after their death, when the events described in §§449 and 450 have been completed. I talked with three whom I had known in the world and told them that their funeral services were now being planned so that their bodies could be buried» — §452: el testimonio de las conversaciones al tercer día, con el aviso de los funerales.

«Later, though, our face changes and becomes quite different. It comes to look like the ruling affection in which the deeper reaches of our minds were engaged in the world, the kind of affection characteristic of the spirit within our body, because the face of our spirit is very different from the face of our body» — §457: la mudanza del rostro después de la muerte, que el libro explica por la diferencia entre el rostro del cuerpo y el del espíritu.

«The reason our faces change is that in the other life no one is allowed to pretend to affections they do not really have, so we cannot put on a face that is contrary to the love we are engaged in. We are all refined down to a state in which we say what we think and manifest in expression and act what we intend. This is why our faces all become forms and images of our affections» — §457: la razón de esa mudanza: allí no se puede fingir un afecto que no se tiene.

«The faces of hypocrites change more slowly than those of other people, because by constant practice they have formed the habit of arranging their inner minds into a counterfeit of good affections. So for a long time they look fairly attractive. However, since this false front is gradually stripped off and the deeper elements of their minds are arranged in the form of their affections, eventually they are uglier than other people» — §458: el caso del hipócrita, cuyo rostro tarda más en mudar y termina peor.

«It does need to be known that our human form is lovelier after death to the extent that we have more deeply loved divine truths and have lived by them, since our deeper levels are opened and formed according to both our love of these truths and our life. So the deeper the affection and the more it accords with heaven, the lovelier the face. This is why the angels who are in the inmost heaven are the loveliest—because they are forms of heavenly love» — §459: la proporción entre el amor a lo verdadero divino y la belleza de la forma póstuma, que Lang cita en la p. 62.

«I have seen faces of angels of the third heaven so beautiful that no painters, with all their skill, could render a fraction of their light with their pigments or rival a thousandth part of the light and life that show in their faces. The faces of angels of the outmost heaven, though, can be mirrored to some extent» — §459: el límite que el libro le pone a la pintura para representar esos rostros, y la excepción que concede al cielo más externo.

«We even take with us our natural memory, since we retain everything we have heard, seen, read, learned, or thought in the world from earliest infancy to the very end of life» — §461: la conservación íntegra de la memoria natural, desde la primera infancia hasta el fin.

«People who are in heaven have far more delicate senses. That is, they see and hear and also think more discerningly than when they were in this world» — §462a: la diferencia de los sentidos en el otro mundo, que el libro atribuye a la luz y a la atmósfera de allá.

«There have been people who denied the crimes and transgressions they had committed in the world. To prevent them from believing they were blameless, everything was disclosed and drawn out of their own memory in sequence from the beginning of their life to the end. Most of these transgressions were acts of adultery and promiscuity» — §462b: el procedimiento de la memoria abierta, que el libro describe con casos: aquí, el de los que negaban sus delitos.

«In some cases, remarkably enough, the very diaries in which they had recorded these deeds were opened and read to them, page by page» — §462b: el caso de los jueces venales, con sus propios diarios leídos en voz alta.

«I also heard that angels have seen and displayed from the memory of one individual everything he had thought one day after another over the course of a month, with never an error, recalled as though he himself were back in those very days» — §462b: la medida de detalle de esa memoria, con un mes entero de pensamientos recobrado sin error.

«When we are being faced with our deeds after death, angels who have been given the task of examining look searchingly into the face and continue their examination through the whole body, beginning with the fingers first of one hand and then of the other and continuing through the whole» — §463: el procedimiento del examen, que recorre el rostro y después el cuerpo entero desde los dedos.

«I could therefore see that our overall nature depends on the nature of our intention and consequent thought, so that evil people are their own evil and good people are their own good» — §463: la conclusión de ese procedimiento, que identifica a la persona con su bien o con su mal.

«The reason for this was explained as well; namely, that we have an outer and an inner memory, the outer proper to our natural person and the inner proper to our spiritual person. The details of what we have thought, intended, said, and done, even what we have heard and seen, are inscribed on our inner or spiritual memory» — §463: la distinción entre memoria externa e interna, de la que depende toda la doctrina del recuerdo póstumo.

«Let no one believe, then, that there is anything we have thought or done in secret that will remain hidden after death. Believe rather that absolutely everything will come out into broad daylight» — §463: el remate moral del parágrafo, que el libro dirige al lector.

«This is why we are rational after death to the extent that we have become rational by means of languages and the arts and sciences in this world, and emphatically not to the extent that we have become skilled in them» — §464: la distinción entre haberse vuelto racional por las lenguas y las ciencias y haberlas solo dominado.

«Still, if people had opposed the truths of the church, had based their thinking on the arts and sciences, and had used them to convince themselves of false principles, they had not developed their rational ability but only their skill in argumentation—an ability that is confused with rationality in the world, but is in fact a different ability from rationality» — §464: el deslinde entre racionalidad y habilidad de argumentar, que el libro declara distintas y confundidas en el mundo.

«Our memory is the soil, information and experiential learning are the seeds, while heaven’s light and warmth make them productive. There is no germination without these latter. So there is no germination in us unless heaven’s light, which is divine truth, and heaven’s warmth, which is divine love, are let in. They are the only source of rationality» — §464: la imagen agrícola de la memoria como suelo y del saber como semilla, que nada germina sin la luz y el calor del cielo.

«One particular spirit resented the fact that he could not remember much of what he had known during his physical life. He was grieving over the pleasure he had lost because it had been his chief delight» — §465: el caso del espíritu que lamentaba no poder recordar su saber, y la respuesta que se le dio; el tramo cruza a la p. 444.

«So it was the counsel of ignorance to believe that the removal and dormancy of material concerns in the memory led to the disappearance of intelligence,270 when in fact the more the mind can be led out of the sensory concerns that are proper to the outer person or the body, the more it is raised up to spiritual and heavenly concerns» — §465: la respuesta a ese lamento, que invierte la pérdida en elevación.

«The outer memory there looks like a callus, while the inner looks like the medullary substance found in the human brain. This also enables us to recognize their quality» — §466: la presentación visual de las dos memorias en el otro mundo, con el callo y la sustancia medular.

«While we are living in the world, if we are engaged in a love for the Lord and in thoughtfulness toward our neighbor, we have with and within us an angelic intelligence and wisdom, but it is hidden away in the depths of our inner memory. There is no way this intelligence and wisdom can become visible before we leave our bodies. Then our natural memory is put to sleep and we are awakened into consciousness of our inner memory and eventually of our actual angelic memory» — §467: la sabiduría angélica oculta en la memoria interna del que vive en el amor, que solo se descubre al dejar el cuerpo.

«There are three kinds of true elements: civic, moral, and spiritual. Civic truths have to do with judicial matters and the governmental affairs of nations—in general, with what is fair and equitable. Moral truths have to do with matters of personal life in its societal and social contexts, in general with what is honest and upright, and in particular with all kinds of virtues. Spiritual truths, however, have to do with matters of heaven and the church, in general with what is good in respect to love and what is true in respect to faith» — §468: los tres órdenes de verdades con que el libro explica la formación de la racionalidad.

«We need to realize, though, that our rational ability is not formed and opened simply by virtue of our knowing these truths, but by virtue of our living by them. Living by them means loving them out of a spiritual affection» — §468: la condición de esa formación, que el libro pone en vivir las verdades y no en saberlas.

«When truths become slaves, they do not become part of us or open any level of our life, not even the first. Rather, they stay in our memory like information in material form and unite with love for ourselves there, which is a physical love» — §468: la imagen de las verdades convertidas en siervas del amor propio, que no abren ningún nivel de la vida.

«It should be realized, though, that they are not steeped in insights and a consequent intelligence beyond the level of the affection for what is good and true that engaged them in the world» — §469: el límite del perfeccionamiento póstumo, que no pasa del grado de afecto adquirido en el mundo.

«However, people who are intent on evil do not want to believe that their state after death depends on their life in the world. They think rather, especially when their health begins to fail, that heaven is granted to all on the basis of mercy alone no matter how people have lived, and that this depends on a faith that they keep separate from life» — §470: la creencia que el libro objeta en la apertura del capítulo, la de una salvación por sola misericordia y por una fe separada de la vida.

«We can see that our outward life consists of our works and deeds, and that the quality of our inner life is manifested through them» — §471: la conclusión que el libro saca de su ristra de pasajes bíblicos sobre el juicio por las obras.

«So a deed or work in its own right is simply an effect that derives its soul and life from our volition and thought, even to the point that it is volition and thought in effect, volition and thought in an outward form» — §472: la definición de obra como voluntad y pensamiento en forma exterior, de la que depende la lectura del juicio.

«A thousand people can behave alike—that is, can do the same thing, so much alike that in outward form one can hardly tell the difference. Yet each deed in its own right is unique because it comes from a different intent» — §472: la consecuencia práctica de esa definición: mil actos iguales por fuera son mil actos distintos.

«But even though all of their deeds look good (for behaving honestly and fairly toward a colleague is good), still they are evil because they are not done for the sake of honesty and fairness, not because these qualities are loved, but for the sake of oneself and the world, because these are loved. The honesty and fairness are servants of this love, like the servants of a household whom their lord demeans and dismisses when they do not serve» — §472: el veredicto sobre los siete motivos que el libro enumera para obrar honradamente, y la imagen de las virtudes hechas criadas.

«We do need to recognize, though, that volition makes us who we are. Thought does so only to the extent that it arises from our volition, while deeds and works come from both» — §474: la jerarquía entre voluntad, pensamiento y obra, que el libro traduce a amor, fe y obra.

«We may gather from this what faith is apart from love—no faith at all, only information with no spiritual life in it. The same holds true for deeds apart from love. They are not deeds or works of life at all, only deeds or works of death containing some semblance of life derived from a love of evil and a faith in what is false. This semblance of life is what we call spiritual death» — §474: el veredicto sobre la fe separada del amor, que el libro llama información sin vida espiritual.

«To think and intend without acting when we can is like a flame sealed in a jar and stifled, or it is like seed sown in the sand that does not grow but dies along with its power to reproduce» — §475: las dos imágenes con que el libro condena la intención sin obra, la llama tapada y la semilla en la arena.

«Anyone can see that intending and not acting when we can is not really intending, and loving and not doing good when we can is not really loving. It is only thinking that we intend and love; so it is a matter of isolated thought that disintegrates and vanishes. Love and intent are the very soul of the deed or work. It forms its own body in the honest and fair things that we do. This is the sole source of our spiritual body, the body of our spirit; that is, our spiritual body is formed entirely from what we have done out of love or intent (see above, §463). In a word, everything of our character and our spirit is [embodied] in our works or deeds» — §475: la consecuencia de esas imágenes, hasta hacer de la obra el cuerpo mismo del espíritu.

«There is a dominant love that remains with each of us after death and never changes to eternity. We all have many loves, but they all go back to our dominant love and form a single whole with it, or compose it in the aggregate» — §477: la doctrina del amor dominante como reino de amores subordinados, que no cambia por la eternidad.

«REPEATED experience has witnessed to me that when we move from the natural world into the spiritual, which happens when we die, we take with us everything that pertains to our character except our earthly body» — §461: la tesis del capítulo, que niega toda pérdida en el tránsito salvo la del cuerpo terrestre.

«This body is spiritual, though, so it has been separated or purified from earthly matter. Further, when anything spiritual touches and sees something spiritual, it is just like something natural touching and seeing something natural. So when we have become a spirit, we have no sense that we are not in the body we inhabited in the world, and therefore do not realize that we have died» — §461: la razón por la que el muerto no nota que lo está: el cuerpo espiritual toca y ve lo espiritual como el natural lo natural.

«We may also gather from this what is meant by our book of life, mentioned in the Word» — §463: la lectura que el libro hace del libro de la vida de la Escritura; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«It is the fact that all our deeds and all our thoughts are written on our whole person and seem as though they are read from a book when they are called out of our memory. They appear in a kind of image when our spirit is looked at in heaven’s light» — §463: el contenido de esa lectura: el libro de la vida está escrito en la persona entera y se lee en la luz del cielo.

«The reason our outer memory goes dormant as far as material things are concerned is that they cannot be recreated» — §464: la razón de que la memoria natural quede dormida en el otro mundo, que el libro pone en la imposibilidad de recrear lo material.

«When we arrive there we feel as though we are in our own element, at home, back to our birthplace, so to speak. Angels sense this and associate there with kindred spirits. When they leave and go somewhere else, they feel a constant pull, a longing to go back to their kindred and therefore to their dominant love» — §479: la experiencia de llegar a la comunidad del propio amor, dicha con las imágenes de la casa y del lugar de nacimiento.

«Their love is like a chain or rope tied around them, with which they can be pulled and which they cannot escape. It is the same for people in this world. Our love leads us as well, and it is through our love that we are led by others. It is even more so when we become spirits, though, because then we are not allowed to present a different love or pretend to a love that is not ours» — §479: la imagen de la cadena con que el libro figura el dominio del amor, y la única diferencia con este mundo: allí no se puede fingir otro.

«In the world of spirits you can see paths, some leading to heaven and some leading to hell, each one leading to some specific community. Good spirits travel only the paths that lead to heaven, and to the community engaged in their own quality of love. They do not see paths that lead anywhere else. On the other hand, evil spirits travel only the paths that lead to hell and to that community there which is engaged in the evil of their own love. They do not see paths that lead anywhere else; and if they do see them, they still do not want to follow them» — §479: los caminos del mundo de los espíritus, que solo se ven si llevan adonde el propio amor va.

«A great deal of experience has also convinced me that after death we remain the same forever in regard to our volition or dominant love. I have been allowed to talk with some people who lived more than two thousand years ago, people whose lives are described in history books and are therefore familiar. I discovered273 that they were still the same, just as described, including the love that was the source and determinant of their lives» — §480: la tesis de la permanencia del amor dominante, probada por conversaciones con gente de hace más de dos mil años; el libro imprime en cursiva la tesis del capítulo.

«Angels have told me that the life of our dominant love never changes for anyone to all eternity because we are our love, so to change it in any spirit would be to take away and snuff out his or her life» — §480: la razón de esa permanencia, que el libro pone en boca de los ángeles: cambiarla sería apagar la vida.

«They have also told me that this is because after death we can no longer be reformed by being taught the way we could in this world, since the outmost level, made up of natural insights and affections, is then dormant and cannot be opened because it is not spiritual (see above, §464). The deeper functions of our mind or spirit rest on this level the way a house rests on its foundation, which is why we do stay forever like the life of our love in the world» — §480: la razón de que no quepa reforma después de la muerte, que el libro pone en que el nivel último queda dormido.

«Angels are utterly amazed that people do not realize that our nature is determined by the nature of our dominant love and that many people actually believe they can be saved by instantaneous mercy, simply on the basis of their faith alone, regardless of the kind of life they have led, not realizing that divine mercy operates through means» — §480: la objeción angélica a la salvación por misericordia instantánea, con la tesis de que la misericordia obra por medios.

«Carnal love, though, is loving what is good and honest and fair not for their own sakes but for our own sake, because we can use them to gain prestige, position, and profit. In this case we are not focusing on the Lord and our neighbor within what is good and honest and fair but on ourselves and the world, and we enjoy deceit» — §481: la definición del amor carnal, idéntica por fuera y opuesta en el motivo.

«People who are carnal loves look coarse, dim, dark, and misshapen; while people who are heavenly loves look lively, clear, bright, and lovely. They are completely different in spirit and in thought as well. People who are heavenly loves are intelligent and wise, while people who are carnal loves are dense and rather silly» — §481: la diferencia visible entre los dos amores en el rostro, el cuerpo y el habla.

«In fact, in heaven’s light their inner sight is deprived of light to the point that they become insane. As a result, they run away from it and hide in caves and caverns of a depth that corresponds to the false convictions that stem from their evil intentions» — §481: el efecto de la luz del cielo sobre los del amor carnal, que los lleva a esconderse en cuevas a la profundidad de sus convicciones.

«We may gather from this that a heavenly and spiritual love is heaven for us because everything heavenly is written on that love» — §481: la conclusión del parágrafo, que hace del amor mismo el cielo o el infierno de cada quien.

«They even admitted later that simply believing the truth or the Word is not faith; but faith is loving what is true from a heavenly love and intending and doing it from a deep affection» — §482: la definición de fe que el libro sostiene contra la de mera creencia, atada al amor y a la obra.

«I was also shown that the secondhand belief they called faith was only like the light of winter in which everything on earth lies dormant, bound by the ice and buried in snow because there is no warmth to the light» — §482: la imagen de la luz de invierno con que el libro figura la fe sin amor.

«I can bear witness from all my experiences of what happens in heaven and in hell that people who have confessed faith alone as a matter of doctrine and have engaged in evil as regards their lives are all in hell» — §482: el veredicto del libro sobre la fe sola profesada con vida mala, dicho como testimonio; el tramo cruza a la p. 460.

«We do need to know that all works and deeds are matters of moral and civic life and therefore focus on what is honest and right and what is fair and equitable. What is honest and right is a matter of moral life, and what is fair and equitable is a matter of civic life» — §484: la ubicación de toda obra en la vida moral y civil, y el reparto entre lo honesto y lo justo.

«In fact, seen in our own right, or in terms of what is actually ours, we are nothing but evil» — §484: la fórmula antropológica que el libro repite en toda la obra sobre lo que es propio del hombre.

«All our pleasures stem from our dominant love, for the only things that feel pleasant to us are the ones that we love; so the most pleasant of all is what we love above all» — §486: la derivación de todo deleite del amor dominante, y la equivalencia de los dos términos.

«This is why no one’s face is exactly like that of anyone else, since the face is the image of the mind, and in the spiritual world is an image of the dominant love» — §486: la razón de que no haya dos rostros iguales, que el libro deriva de que no haya dos amores dominantes iguales.

«The only way to know the kinds and qualities of the spiritual pleasures into which natural pleasures turn after death is through a knowledge of correspondences» — §487: la condición que el libro pone para conocer el propio estado póstumo, que es saber de correspondencias.

«However, people who are involved in self-love cannot know what their dominant love is because they love whatever is theirs and call their evils good. They also call false things true, the false notions that support them and that they use to rationalize their evils» — §487: el impedimento que el amor propio pone a ese conocimiento, que llama bien a su mal.

«All this has been presented to encourage people to examine themselves and to identify their dominant love on the basis of their pleasures, so that according to their grasp of the knowledge of correspondences, they may know their state of life after death» — §487: el propósito práctico que el libro le da al capítulo, que es el examen de sí por los propios deleites.

«People who are caught up in evil and who have formed fixed false convictions against the truths of the church, especially people who have rejected the Word, flee from heaven’s light. They plunge into cellars that look murky through their openings and into crevices in the rocks and hide themselves there» — §488: el primero de los casos con que el libro ilustra la conversión de los deleites, el de quienes huyen de la luz a cuevas y grietas.

«People who were filthy misers live in cubicles and love the filth of pigs and the foul odors they breathe out from half-digested food in their stomachs» — §488: el caso de los avaros, con el deleite convertido en la inmundicia que le corresponde.

«People who have loved divine truths and the Word from a deep affection, or from an affection for the truth itself, live in the light, in uplands that look like mountains, and are constantly bathed in the light of heaven there. They know nothing of the kind of darkness we have at night in the world, and they live in a springtime climate as well» — §489: el reverso de esos casos, con el paisaje que el libro les atribuye a quienes amaron lo verdadero por sí mismo.

«They live in gardens where you can see flower beds and lawns beautifully marked off, surrounded by rows of trees with arcades and promenades. The trees and flowers change from day to day. Looking at all this brings pleasure to their minds generally, and the specific changes make it constantly new» — §489: el paisaje de quienes cultivaron el saber reconociendo lo Divino, con jardines que cambian cada día.

«This enables us to know that after death our pleasures do change into corresponding ones, but that the love itself remains the same forever, especially marriage love, the love of what is fair, honest, good, and true, the love of information and insights, the love of intelligence and wisdom, and the rest. The things that flow from these loves like streams from their spring are pleasures that not only last but are raised to a higher level when they are changed from natural pleasures into spiritual ones» — §490: el resumen del capítulo, que distingue el deleite, que se transforma, del amor, que permanece.

«THERE are three states that we pass through after death before we arrive in either heaven or hell. The first state is one of more outward concerns, the second is one of more inward concerns, and the third is one of preparation. We go through these states in the world of spirits» — §491: los tres estados del mundo de los espíritus, que son el esquema que Lang reordena en la p. 28.

«Some people, however, do not go through these states but are either raised into heaven or cast into hell immediately after their death. The people immediately raised into heaven are ones who have been regenerated and thus prepared for heaven in this world. People who have been regenerated and prepared to this extent need only to slough off their natural uncleanness along with their bodies and are immediately taken into heaven by angels» — §491: la excepción de los que no pasan por esos estados, con la razón que el libro da para los que suben de inmediato.

«Our first state after death is like our state in this world, since we are then similarly involved in outward concerns. We have similar faces, voices, and character; we lead similar moral and civil lives. This is why it still seems to us as though we were in this world unless we notice things that are out of the ordinary and remember that angels told us we were spirits when we were awakened (§450). So the one life carries on into the other, and death is only a passage» — §493: la continuidad del primer estado con la vida del mundo, hasta la fórmula de la muerte como paso.

«Almost all of them want to know whether they will make it into heaven. Many of them think they will because they led moral and civic lives in the world, not reflecting that both evil and good people lead similar outward lives, being similarly helpful to others, going to church, listening to sermons, and praying similarly, utterly unaware that outward behavior and outward worship accomplish nothing whatever» — §495: la ilusión que el libro les atribuye a casi todos los recién llegados, fundada en la conducta exterior.

«Eventually, good spirits examine them to determine their nature. This is done in various ways because in this first state evil people can say true things and do good things just the way good people do» — §496: el examen del primer estado y la razón por la que es difícil, que es la semejanza exterior entre buenos y malos.

«However, one can tell evil spirits from good ones particularly by the fact that the evil ones pay close attention when the conversation is about external concerns and little attention when it is about more inward matters, about the true and good principles of the church and heaven. They do hear such things, but without any real attention or pleasure» — §496: el criterio práctico del examen, que mide la atención que se le presta a lo interior frente a lo exterior.

«No one is allowed to think and intend one way and speak and act another way in the spiritual world. Everyone must be an image of his or her affection or love, which means we must be outwardly what we are inwardly» — §498: la ley del mundo espiritual que gobierna todo este tramo del libro: se es por fuera lo que se es por dentro.

«OUR second state after death is called a state of our deeper interests because then we are given access to the deeper reaches of our minds, or of our intentions and thoughts, while the more outward interests that engaged us in the first state become dormant» — §499: la definición del segundo estado por la apertura de lo interior y el adormecimiento de lo exterior.

«Our love is like a spongy, porous wood that absorbs whatever liquids prompt its growth, and repels others. It is like animals of various kinds. They recognize their proper foods, seek out the ones that suit their natures, and avoid the ones that disagree. Every love actually wants to be nourished by what is appropriate to it—an evil love by falsities and a good love by truths» — §479: las dos imágenes con que el libro explica que cada amor se alimente de lo que le conviene, la madera esponjosa y el animal que reconoce su pasto.

«Heavenly love is loving what is good, honest, and fair because it is good, honest, and fair, and doing it because of that love. This is why they have a life of goodness, honesty, and fairness, which is a heavenly life» — §481: la definición del amor celestial, que el libro mide por el motivo y no por el objeto.

«We are trained from infancy to present ourselves as friendly, benevolent, and honest, and to conceal the thoughts of our own intentions. So we acquire a habitual lifestyle that is outwardly moral and civil no matter what we are like inwardly. As a result of this habitual behavior, we scarcely know our own inner natures and pay no attention to them» — §492: el hábito adquirido desde la infancia de presentarse afable y ocultar la intención, del que el libro hace la razón de que uno no se conozca.

«Ultimately, unless they had been united by real marriage love (which is a union of minds from heavenly love), they separate after having been together for a while» — §494: el término de ese reencuentro, que el libro hace depender de si hubo unión de las mentes desde el amor celestial.

«When I speak of volition and thought, “volition” means affection and love as well as every delight and pleasure that derives from affection and love, since these go back to volition as their basis» — §500: la definición del vocabulario del libro, con la voluntad ampliada a todo afecto, amor y deleite.

«Thought, though, also means everything we use to support our affection or love, for thought is nothing but the form of our intention or the means by which what we intend comes to light. This form is constructed by various rational analyses that have their source in the spiritual world and are integral functions of our spirit» — §500: la definición del pensamiento como forma de la intención, que Lang cita en la p. 52 con su latín.

«Spirits in this state think from their own intent and therefore from their own affection or love; and then their thought forms a unity with their intention, such a unity that they scarcely seem to be thinking, only intending. It is almost the same when they talk, except that there is some fear that the thoughts of their intention might appear naked, since their civic life in the world had planted this fear in their intention» — §503: el residuo de temor que el libro les reconoce a los espíritus en ese estado, heredado de la vida civil del mundo.

«When spirits are in this state of their deeper concerns, then it is obvious what kind of people they really were in the world. They actually behave in accord with their own nature. People who were inwardly devoted to the good in the world then behave sanely and wisely, more wisely than when they were living in the world, in fact, because they have been freed from any connection with the body and therefore with the earthly things that darken and cover with a kind of cloud» — §505: lo que el segundo estado revela en los que fueron buenos: obran con más cordura que en el mundo por estar libres del cuerpo.

«An evil person who outwardly pretends to be good can be compared to a brightly polished jar with a cover on, with all kinds of filth hidden inside» — §505: la imagen del frasco pulido con inmundicia dentro, que el libro remata con los sepulcros blanqueados de Mateo 23:27.

«All the people who have lived lives in the world focused on what is good and have acted in accord with their consciences—that is, people who have acknowledged the Divine Being and loved divine truths, and especially people who have applied them to their lives— seem to themselves to have awakened from sleep when they are let into this state of their more inward concerns, like people who have come from darkness into light» — §506: el efecto del segundo estado en los que vivieron según su conciencia, dicho con la imagen del despertar.

«In this way they move away from an outward holiness and into the inner holiness that is the essence of real worship» — §506: el paso de la santidad exterior a la interior, que el libro identifica con el culto verdadero.

«for all the people who live in evil deny the Divine Being inwardly, no matter how convinced they are outwardly that they are not denying but acknowledging. This is because acknowledging the Divine Being and living in evil are opposites» — §506: la tesis que el libro sostiene sobre la negación interior de lo Divino en quien vive en el mal, por incompatibilidad y no por doctrina.

«In short, they lose their rationality because in the world their rationality did not dwell in their deeper natures but in their outer ones. Still, they seem to themselves to be wiser than anyone else» — §506: la razón de que esos espíritus pierdan la racionalidad, que en ellos era exterior, y la ilusión que conservan.

«When spirits are in this second state, they actually look exactly the way they were inwardly in the world. The things they had done and said in secret are made public, too, because now, since outward factors are not restraining them, they say the same things openly; and they keep trying to do the same things without any of the fear for the reputations that they had in the world» — §507: la publicidad de lo oculto en el segundo estado, que el libro liga a Lucas 12:2 y 3.

«Some people have loved themselves above all else. They have focused on their own prestige in their duties and positions, they have done constructive things not for the sake of doing them or from finding pleasure in them but for the sake of their reputation, to be ranked above other people on that account, therefore finding pleasure in their reputation for eminence. When they arrive in the second state, they are supremely stupid because the more they love themselves the farther they move from heaven, and the farther they move from heaven, the farther they move from wisdom» — §508: el primero de los casos del segundo estado, el de quienes buscaron el propio prestigio en su oficio.

«Eventually, they start mulling over how they can climb up to heaven and destroy it, or how they can be worshiped there as gods. Their madness carries them all the way to this» — §508: el extremo al que el libro lleva ese caso, con la locura de querer destruir el cielo o ser adorado allí.

«Good spirits see in them what evil is and what its nature is, and what people are like if they are not led by the Lord» — §508: el uso que el libro le reconoce incluso a los malos declarados, que es mostrar qué es el mal.

«This is because people do not get into hell until they are immersed in their malice and in the falsities that stem from it, because no one is allowed to have a divided mind, to think and say one thing and intend something else» — §508: la condición para entrar al infierno, que es la misma ley de la mente no dividida que rige para el cielo.

«Since evil spirits plunge into all kinds of evils when they are in this second state, it is normal for them to be punished often and severely. There are many kinds of punishments in the world of spirits, and there is no respect for rank, for whether someone was a king or a servant in the world. Every evil brings its own punishment with it. They are united; so whoever is involved in something evil is involved in the punishment of the evil as well» — §509: la doctrina del castigo, que el libro hace inherente al mal mismo y sin acepción de rango.

«Still, no one suffers any punishment for evil things done in the world, only for current evil deeds» — §509: la regla que Lang cita en la p. 32: no se castiga lo hecho en el mundo sino lo que se hace allí.

«The reason they are punished is that fear of punishment is the only means of taming their evils in that state. Encouragement does not work any more, or teaching or fear of the law or fear for their reputation, because they are acting from their nature, which cannot be compelled or broken by anything but punishments» — §509: la razón que el libro da para el castigo, que es el único freno en ese estado.

«Good spirits are never punished, though, even though they have done bad things in the world. This is because their evils do not come back. I have also been granted a knowledge that their evils are of a different kind or nature. They do not stem from any deliberate resistance to what is true, and they are not from any evil heart except the one they acquired by heredity from their parents, which blind pleasure drove them into when they were involved in outward concerns separated from inner ones» — §509: la excepción de los buenos, con la distinción entre el mal heredado y el mal por resistencia deliberada a lo verdadero.

«When the state is completed, then the evil spirits themselves plunge into a hell where there are people of like mind. To the eye, this plunge looks like someone falling backward headfirst. The reason it looks like this is that such people are in an inverted order. They have loved hellish things and spurned heavenly ones» — §510: la caída al infierno como acto propio y no como condena, con la explicación del modo en que se ve.

«The separation of evil spirits from good spirits takes place in this second state, since in the first state they were all together. The reason is that as long as spirits are focused on their outward concerns it is like the situation in the world—evil people together with good ones and good ones with evil ones. It is different when people have been brought into their inner natures and are left to their own nature or intentions» — §511: el momento de la separación, que el libro sitúa en el segundo estado y no antes.

«OUR third state after death, or the third state of our spirits, is one of instruction. This state is for people who are entering heaven and becoming angels, but not for people who are entering hell, because these latter cannot be taught» — §512: la definición del tercer estado como instrucción, y su exclusión para los que van al infierno.

«In fact, no one can be prepared for heaven except by knowing at first hand what is good and true, and therefore only by being taught» — §512: la razón de ese estado, que el libro pone en que lo espiritual no se aprende del mundo.

«We can know in the world what civil and moral good and truth are, what is called fair and honest, because there are civil laws there that teach what is fair, and there are also social situations where we learn to live by moral laws, which all deal with what is honest and equitable. Spiritual good and truth, however, are not learned from the world but from heaven» — §512: el deslinde entre lo que el mundo enseña y lo que solo el cielo enseña.

«These are people who have convinced themselves of false principles but still have lived good lives. False convictions cling hard, and until they are dispelled, truths cannot be seen and therefore cannot be accepted» — §513: el caso de los que vivieron bien con convicciones falsas, que el libro dice que pasan antes por experiencias duras en la tierra baja.

«Behind these, and farther to the north, there are sites for the instruction of various non-Christian people who in the world lived good lives in accord with their own religion, acquired a kind of conscience, and behaved fairly and honestly not because of the laws of their nation but because of the laws of their religion, believing these laws to be holy and not to be violated by their actions in any way. All of them are readily led to recognize the Lord when they have been taught, because at heart they have held that God is not invisible but visible in human form. There are more of these than of any other kind, and the best of them are from Africa» — §514: el lugar de los no cristianos que vivieron según su religión, con la afirmación de que son los más numerosos y que los mejores son de África.

«Muslims, though, are taught by angels who once adhered to that religion but have turned to Christianity. Other non-Christians too are taught by their own angels» — §515: el reparto de maestros por procedencia religiosa, que el libro sostiene también para los musulmanes.

«All the teaching there is from doctrine drawn from the Word, and not from the Word apart from doctrine. Christians are taught on the basis of a heavenly doctrine that is in complete agreement with the inner meaning of the Word. The others, like the Muslims and non-Christians, are taught on the basis of doctrines suited to their grasp» — §516: la regla de que se enseñe por doctrina y no por la letra sola, con doctrinas adaptadas a cada quien.

«Teaching in the heavens differs from teaching on earth in that [there] information is not consigned to memory but to life, since spirits’ memory is in their life. They actually accept and absorb whatever agrees with their life and do not accept, much less absorb, what does not agree. This is because spirits are affections, and therefore have a human form that resembles their affections» — §517: la diferencia entre enseñar allá y aquí, que el libro cifra en que la memoria del espíritu es su vida.

«We may gather from this that awareness, which is an outward form of truth, does not get anyone into heaven. Rather, what gets us in is the useful life that is granted through knowledge» — §517: la conclusión del capítulo sobre el saber: no es lo que hace entrar, sino la vida útil que por él se alcanza.

«There were some spirits who while they were in the world had thought their way into the conviction that they would get into heaven and would be accepted before anyone else because they were well educated and knew a lot about the Word and the doctrine of the churches. They believed that they were wise, that they were the people meant by the prophecy in Daniel 12:3 that “they will shine like the glory of the firmament and like the stars» — §518: el caso de los que esperaban entrar antes que otros por ser doctos, apoyados en Daniel 12:3.

«they were taken up to the first or outmost heaven to be admitted into one particular angelic community. Even as they were entering it, though, their sight began to darken at the inflow of heaven’s light. Then their intellects began to be confused, and eventually they began to labor for breath as though they were dying. Not only that, when they began to feel heaven’s warmth, which is heavenly love, they began to feel profound agonies» — §518: el experimento con que el libro dice que se les quitó esa presunción, con el ahogo y la agonía ante la luz y el calor del cielo.

«and then were taught that knowledge does not make an angel, only the actual life that people have gained through their knowledge. This is because in and of itself, knowledge is outside of heaven; but a life gained through knowledge is inside heaven» — §518: la lección que el libro extrae de ese experimento, que separa el saber de la vida ganada por él.

«The four paths that lead to the Lord’s heavenly kingdom are graced by olive trees and various fruit trees, while the ones that lead to the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are graced by grapevines and laurel. This is because of correspondence, since vines and laurel correspond to an affection for truth and its uses, while olive and fruit trees correspond to an affection for what is good and its uses» — §520: la correspondencia de los árboles que adornan cada camino, olivos y frutales para un reino, vides y laureles para el otro.

«In contrast, people who were focused on evil in the world then behave foolishly and insanely, more insanely than when they were in the world, in fact, because they are in freedom and are no longer constrained» — §505: el reverso del segundo estado en los que fueron malos, que obran con más desatino que en el mundo por estar sin freno.

«The teaching is done by angels from a number of communities, mainly ones in the northern and southern regions, because these angelic communities are focused on intelligence and wisdom based on firsthand knowledge of what is good and true» — §513: quiénes enseñan en el tercer estado y por qué: ángeles de las regiones del norte y del sur, dados a la inteligencia por conocimiento de lo bueno y lo verdadero.

«Behind these again are people who were devoted to Islam and had led a moral life in the world, acknowledged one God, and recognized the Lord as the essential prophet. When they let go of Muhammad because he cannot do anything for them, they turn to the Lord and worship him, recognizing his divine nature; and then they receive instruction in the Christian religion» — §514: el lugar que el libro les asigna a los musulmanes de vida moral en su esquema de instrucción, y el modo en que dice que dejan a Mahoma.

«After spirits have been prepared for heaven in these learning sites (which does not take long, because they are surrounded by spiritual concepts that comprehend a great deal at once), they are dressed in angelic clothing, usually white as linen, taken to a path that leads up toward heaven, and turned over to guardian angels there» — §519: el rito de paso al cielo, con la vestidura blanca como lino y el camino que sube.

«When they arrive at their own communities, their inner natures are opened, and since they are in harmony with the inner natures of the angels who are members of that community, they are recognized instantly and accepted with joy» — §519: la llegada a la comunidad propia, donde el reconocimiento es instantáneo por afinidad interior.

«IF people have not been taught about heaven, the way to heaven, and the life of heaven for those on earth, they think that acceptance into heaven comes from a pure mercy extended to people of faith, people for whom the Lord intercedes, so that admission depends solely on grace» — §521: la creencia que el capítulo objeta, la de una admisión por gracia sin más; es el punto en que el conde Gustaf Bonde objetó el libro desde el luteranismo, según Lang en la p. 66.

«First, though, let me state what divine mercy is. Divine mercy is a pure mercy toward the whole human race with the intent of saving it, and it is constant toward every individual, never withdrawing from anyone» — §522: la definición de la misericordia divina, que el libro declara pura y constante para todos.

«However, no one can be saved except by divine means, the means revealed by the Lord in the Word. Divine means are what we refer to as divine truths. They teach how we are to live in order to be saved» — §522: la restricción que el libro le pone a esa misericordia: obra por medios, que son las verdades divinas.

«We can therefore see that the Lord’s mercy is pure mercy, but not unmediated: that is, it does not save people whenever it feels like it, no matter how they have lived» — §522: la fórmula que resume el capítulo, con la distinción entre misericordia pura y misericordia inmediata.

«The Lord never does anything contrary to his design because he himself is the design. The divine truth that emanates from him is what establishes the design, and divine truths are the laws of the design by which the Lord is leading us. Saving people by unmediated mercy is contrary to the divine design, and anything contrary to the divine design is contrary to the divine nature» — §523: el argumento de fondo: salvar por misericordia inmediata iría contra el diseño, y por tanto contra la naturaleza divina.

«If we could be saved by nothing but mercy then everyone would be saved, even the people in hell. In fact, there would not be any hell because the Lord is mercy itself, love itself, goodness itself. So it goes against his essential divine nature to say that all people can be saved directly and that he does not save them. We know from the Word that the Lord intends the salvation of all and the damnation of no one» — §524: la reducción al absurdo de la misericordia inmediata, que suprimiría el infierno.

«Some who wanted to were actually let in; but at the very threshold, at the touch of heaven’s warmth (that is, of the love angels are engaged in) and the inflow of heaven’s light (which is divine truth), they were seized with such pain in the heart that they felt themselves in the torments of hell rather than in the joys of heaven. Struck by this, they plunged down headlong» — §525: el experimento de la admisión concedida a quien la pedía, con el dolor en el umbral y la caída.

«This is true especially of people who make faith the only means of salvation, since from this fundamental tenet of their religion they do not focus on life or on the deeds of love that make up one’s life. As a result, they do not focus on the other means the Lord uses to instill heaven into us and render us open to heavenly joy» — §526: la genealogía doctrinal que el libro le atribuye a la creencia en la misericordia inmediata, derivada de la fe sola.

«The angels kept insisting that they have never yet seen people who lived an evil life accepted into heaven out of straight mercy, no matter how fervently they had spoken in the world from faith, or from the trust that is meant by faith in its primary sense» — §526: el testimonio angélico contra la salvación por misericordia inmediata de quien vivió mal.

«angels have answered that none of them was. Each one was accepted on the basis of his life in the world. They should realize where they were. No one had more prestige than anyone else» — §526: la respuesta angélica sobre Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David y los apóstoles, a quienes el libro no concede privilegio de admisión.

«They said that the reason these individuals were mentioned in the Word with such respect was that they referred in the deeper meaning to the Lord—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the Lord in respect to his divine nature and his divine human nature, David to the Lord as to the regal divine nature, and the apostles to the Lord as to divine truths» — §526: la lectura por correspondencia de esos nombres, que el libro convierte en aspectos del Señor.

«Some wanted the life of the love they had acquired in the world to be taken away from them and an angelic life or the life of heaven poured in to replace it. Permission was given for even this to be done for them; but once the life of their own love was taken away, they lay there like corpses, with no control over themselves» — §527: el experimento extremo de quitarle a alguien la vida de su amor, que el libro describe por su resultado.

«Angels insist that it is easier to change one owl into a dove or another289 into a bird of paradise than to change a hellish spirit into an angel of heaven» — §527: la fórmula angélica con que el libro cierra el capítulo sobre la imposibilidad de cambiar una vida después de la muerte.

«SOME people believe it is hard to lead the heaven-bound life that is called “spiritual” because they have heard that we need to renounce the world and give up the desires attributed to the body and the flesh and “live spiritually.”290 All they understand by this is spurning worldly interests, especially concerns for money and prestige, going around in constant devout meditation about God, salvation, and eternal life, devoting their lives to prayer, and reading the Word and religious literature» — §528: la definición de vida espiritual que el capítulo objeta, la del retiro y la meditación continua, que Lang cita en la p. 49.

«In fact, people who renounce the world and live for the spirit in this fashion take on a mournful life for themselves, a life that is not open to heavenly joy, since our life does remain with us [after death]. No, if we would accept heaven’s life, we need by all means to live in the world and to participate in its duties and affairs. In this way, we accept a spiritual life by means of our moral and civic life; and there is no other way a spiritual life can be formed within us, no other way our spirits can be prepared for heaven» — §528: la tesis que el libro pone en su lugar: la vida espiritual se forma dentro de la moral y la civil, viviendo en el mundo.

«This is because living an inner life and not an outer life at the same time is like living in a house that has no foundation, that gradually either settles or develops gaping cracks or totters until it collapses» — §528: la imagen de la casa sin cimiento con que el libro figura la vida interior sin la exterior.

«If we look critically at human life with rational insight, it turns out to be threefold—spiritual life, moral life, and civic life. These lives are distinguishable: some people live a civic life but not a moral or spiritual one, some live a moral life but not a spiritual one, and some live a civic and a moral life and a spiritual life as well. These last are the ones who are leading heaven’s life, while the former are leading the world’s life, divorced from heaven’s life» — §529: la partición de la vida humana en tres, espiritual, moral y civil, y las combinaciones que el libro reconoce.

«In fact, moral and civic living is what spiritual life does, for intending well is the essence of spiritual life and behaving well is the essence of moral and civic life. If these are separated from each other, spiritual life consists solely of thinking and talking, and the intent ebbs away because it has no support. Yet intent is our actual spiritual substance» — §529: la relación entre las tres vidas, con la intención como sustancia espiritual y la conducta como su obra.

«Spiritual people have to live in much the same way and can do so just as easily as natural people, the difference being that spiritual people believe in the Divine Being and act honestly and fairly not just because it follows civil and moral laws but also because it follows divine laws» — §530: la única diferencia que el libro reconoce entre el espiritual y el natural en la conducta exterior, que es el motivo.

«The laws of spiritual life, the laws of civil life, and the laws of moral life are handed down to us in the Ten Commandments. The first three commandments contain the laws of spiritual life, the next four the laws of civil life, and the last three the laws of moral life» — §531: el reparto del Decálogo en tres bloques, uno por cada vida.

«Outwardly, purely natural people live by these same commandments just the way spiritual people do. They worship the Divine, go to church, listen to sermons, wear devout faces, do not kill or commit adultery or steal or bear false witness, do not cheat their colleagues of their goods. However, they behave this way solely in their own interest, in order to look good in the world» — §531: la conducta exterior del natural puro, idéntica a la del espiritual y hecha por el qué dirán.

«So if they were not constrained by civil laws and the outward restraints exercised by their fears, they would kill. Because this is what they crave, it follows that they are constantly killing» — §531: la lectura interior del Decálogo, que hace del odio un matar continuo aunque no se mate.

«Anyone may recognize that thoughts tend to follow where intentions lead, or to go where we aim them. Thought is actually our inner sight and behaves like our outward sight. It turns and dwells where it is directed and aimed. If our inner sight or thought is turned toward the world and dwells there, it follows that our thought becomes worldly. If it is turned toward self and our prestige, it becomes carnal. However, if it is turned toward heaven, it becomes heavenly» — §532: la doctrina de la mirada interior, que se vuelve mundana, carnal o celestial según a dónde se dirija.

«This is why people who love themselves and the world above all, since the higher levels of their minds are closed, deny divine truths at heart; and if they do say anything about them from their memory, they still do not understand it» — §532: la consecuencia de esa doctrina para quien ama el mundo: niega en el corazón lo que repite de memoria.

«This is why people in whom the deeper levels of the mind are open can see the evil and false elements in themselves, since these are below their spiritual mind. Conversely, if people’s inner reaches are not open, they cannot see their evil and false elements because they are in them and not above them» — §532: el criterio que el libro le da al examen de sí: solo ve su propio mal quien lo tiene debajo.

«We can now see that it is not so hard to lead the life of heaven as people think, because it is simply a matter of recognizing, when something attractive comes up that we know is dishonest or unfair, that this is not to be done because it is against the divine commandments» — §533: la regla práctica con que el libro reduce la vida del cielo a un solo acto repetido: reconocer que lo deshonesto no se hace porque está contra el mandamiento.

«For no evil can be banished until it has been seen. This is a state we can enter because of our freedom, since everyone is free to think in this way» — §533: la condición del método: no se echa fuera un mal que no se ha visto, y verlo está en la libertad de cualquiera.

«It is important to realize, though, that the difficulty of thinking like this and also of resisting evils increases to the extent that we deliberately do evil things—in fact, to that extent we become used to doing them until ultimately we no longer see them. Then we come to love them and to excuse them to gratify our love and to rationalize them with all kinds of self-deceptions and call them permissible and good» — §533: el límite que el libro le pone a esa facilidad, con el endurecimiento por costumbre y la racionalización del mal.

«At first, everyone was clearly following the same path as far as the large boulder at the fork; but at that point they parted company. The good turned to the left and started along the confined path that led to heaven. The evil did not even see the boulder at the fork but fell over it and hurt themselves. When they got up, they rushed along the broad path to the right that led toward hell» — §534: el momento del reparto en esa visión, con los malos que ni siquiera ven la piedra y tropiezan con ella.

«The stone at the fork or corner where the evil people stumbled, from which they rushed along the path to hell, pictured divine truth, which is denied by people who are focusing on hell. In the highest sense this stone meant the Lord’s divine human nature» — §534: la interpretación que el libro le da a esa piedra, con su sentido supremo.

«The way that leads to life is not narrow because it is difficult but because so few people find it, as stated» — §534: la enmienda que el libro le hace a la lectura recibida del camino angosto, que no lo es por difícil sino por poco hallado.

«I have been allowed to talk with some people in the other life who had distanced themselves from the affairs of the world in order to live in devotions and sanctity, and also with some who had mortified themselves in various ways because they thought this was renouncing the world and taming the desires of the flesh. However, most of them had wound up with a gloomy kind of life from this and had distanced themselves from that life of active thoughtfulness that can be led only in the world, so they could not associate with angels» — §535: el veredicto del libro sobre los que se retiraron del mundo para vivir en devoción, que Lang cita en la p. 28.

«Particularly, people who have led a life withdrawn from worldly concerns are aflame with a sense of their own worth and constantly crave heaven. They think of heavenly joy as their reward, with no knowledge whatever of what heavenly joy actually is» — §535: lo que el libro le atribuye a esa clase de vida: encenderse en estima propia y esperar el cielo como paga.

«I have mentioned all this to let it be known that the life that leads to heaven is not one of withdrawal from the world but a life in the world, and that a life of piety apart from a life of thoughtfulness (which is possible only in the world) does not lead to heaven at all» — §535: el remate de la segunda parte, que niega el camino del retiro y la piedad separada de la solicitud.

«Rather, it is a life of thoughtfulness, a life of behaving honestly and fairly in every duty, every affair, every task, from our deeper nature and therefore from a heavenly source. The source of this life is within us when we act honestly and fairly because doing so is in accord with divine laws» — §535: lo que el libro pone en su lugar: obrar con honradez y justicia en cada deber, desde lo interior y porque así lo mandan las leyes divinas.

«I was once shown the way to heaven and the way to hell. There was a broad path leading off to the left or north. There seemed to be a great many spirits traveling along it. In the distance, though, I could see a fairly large boulder where the broad path ended. Then two paths led off from the boulder» — §534: la visión de los dos caminos y de la piedra en la bifurcación, con la que el libro lee Mateo 7:13 y 14.

«However, it is not the kind of equilibrium that occurs between two people who are fighting physically, with one just as strong as the other; it is rather a spiritual balance, one of the false against the true and the evil against the good. Malicious falsity constantly breathes forth from hell and benevolent truth constantly breathes forth from heaven. This is the spiritual balance that provides us with our freedom for thinking and intending, since everything we think and intend depends either on evil and its consequent falsity or on good and its consequent truth» — §537: la definición del equilibrio espiritual, que es el de lo falso contra lo verdadero, y del que el libro hace depender la libertad.

«I have sometimes been allowed to sense the aura of malevolent falsity flowing out of hell. It was like a constant effort to destroy everything good and true» — §538: el testimonio del aura que sube del infierno, descrito como esfuerzo continuo y rabia por no lograrlo.

«All the power in the spiritual world belongs to benevolent truth and none whatsoever to malevolent falsity» — §539: la tesis sobre el reparto de la potencia, que el libro deja entera del lado de lo verdadero.

«Like heaven, hell is differentiated into communities. In fact, there are just as many communities in hell as there are in heaven, since each heavenly community has an opposite number in hell, for the sake of the balance» — §541: la simetría de las comunidades, que el libro hace exacta entre los dos reinos y por razón del equilibrio.

«We may be sure that there is some evil opposite to everything good and some falsity opposite to everything true from the fact that nothing exists without a relationship to its opposite. The opposite enables us to know its actual nature and level. Opposition is the source of all perception and sensation» — §541: el principio del que esa simetría depende: nada existe sin relación con su opuesto, y de la oposición viene toda percepción.

«Because there are three heavens overall, there are also three hells overall. There is a deepest hell that is opposite to the inmost or third heaven; there is a middle hell that is opposite to the middle or second heaven; and there is a highest hell that is opposite to the outmost or first heaven» — §542: los tres infiernos que corresponden a los tres cielos, cada uno opuesto al suyo.

«We do need to realize that the only way of controlling the violent rages of people in the hells is through fear of punishment. There are no other means» — §543: la declaración terminante con que el libro cierra el parágrafo sobre el único freno que reconoce allí.

«However, in these passages the devil and Satan mean hell. The devil means the hell toward the rear where the worst people live, the people called evil demons; and Satan means the hell that is toward the front where the less malevolent people live, the people called evil spirits. Lucifer means the people who are from Babel or Babylon, the ones who extend their control all the way into heaven» — §544: la lectura que el libro le da a los tres nombres, diablo, Satanás y Lucifer, convertidos en regiones y en un pueblo.

«We can also see that there is no devil to whom the hells are subject from the fact that all the people who are in the hells, like all the people in the heavens, are from the human race (see §§311– 317), that there are millions there from the beginning of creation to the present day, and that everyone there is the kind of devil he or she became by opposition to the Deity while in the world» — §544: el argumento que niega un diablo único, derivado de que todos los del infierno vienen del género humano.

«SOME people cherish the notion that God turns his face away from people, spurns them, and casts them into hell, and is angry against them because of their evil. Some people even go so far as to think that God punishes people and does them harm. They support this notion from the literal meaning of the Word where things like this are said, not realizing that the spiritual meaning of the Word, which makes sense of the letter, is wholly different. So the real doctrine of the church, which is from the spiritual meaning of the Word, teaches something else. It teaches that the Lord never turns his face away from anyone or spurns anyone, never casts anyone into hell or is angry» — §545: la creencia que el capítulo objeta y la doctrina que el libro le opone: el Señor no aparta el rostro ni arroja ni se aíra.

«Enlightened minds also see from this that the literal meaning of the Word where things like this are said has a spiritual meaning concealed within it, a meaning needed to explain expressions that in the letter are adapted to human comprehension, things said in accord with our primary and general conceptions» — §545: la regla hermenéutica que el libro aplica a esos pasajes: la letra está acomodada a la comprensión humana.

«We can see from this that the Lord is constantly flowing into every individual with good, just as much into the evil person as into the good. The difference is that he is constantly leading evil people away from evil, while he is constantly leading good people toward the good. The reason for this difference lies in us, since we are the ones who accept» — §546: la tesis de un influjo igual para todos, con la diferencia puesta enteramente del lado del que recibe.

«However, since we believe that whatever we do comes from ourselves, the evil we do clings to us as though it were our own. This is why we are at fault for our evil, never the Lord» — §547: la adjudicación de la culpa, que el libro deriva de que el mal se sienta como propio.

«Far from leading us into hell, the Lord frees us from hell to the extent that we do not intend and love to be absorbed in our evil» — §547: la formulación positiva de la misma tesis, con el límite puesto en la propia intención.

«We can see from this that the Lord is leading every spirit toward himself through angels and through an inflow from heaven, but that spirits who are absorbed in evil resist strenuously and virtually tear themselves away from the Lord. They are drawn by their evil—by hell, that is—as though it were a rope; and because they are drawn and want to follow because of their love of evil, it follows that they freely cast themselves into hell» — §548: la figura de la cuerda con que el libro explica que la caída al infierno sea acto voluntario.

«They are entering voluntarily, and the ones who are doing so out of a burning desire for evil look as though they were diving in headfirst. This is why it looks as though they were being thrown into hell by divine power» — §548: la explicación de por qué parece expulsión lo que es zambullida, que el libro atribuye a la mirada del que está fuera.

«The reason the Lord cannot treat everyone alike from his divine essence, which is goodness, love, and mercy, is that our evil and false preoccupations stand in the way, not only blunting his divine inflow but even rejecting it» — §549: la razón por la que el trato divino no resulta igual para todos, que el libro pone en el estorbo de lo malo y lo falso.

«It comes from the evil itself, since an evil is so closely united to its punishment that they cannot be separated. The hellish mob craves and loves nothing more than inflicting harm, especially punishing and torturing» — §550: la adjudicación del castigo al mal mismo y a la turba infernal, que Lang cita en la p. 32.

«To some extent, this can be illustrated by evil deeds and their punishments in the world, where they are also united. The laws here set penalties for each crime, so anyone who plunges into evil is plunging into its punishment as well. The only difference is that in the world, evil can be hidden, which cannot happen in the other life» — §550: la analogía con la ley penal del mundo, y la única diferencia que el libro reconoce: allí el mal no se puede esconder.

«ALL the people who are in the hells are devoted to evil goals and the distortions that result. There is no one there devoted to evil goals and interested in true perceptions» — §551: la tesis del capítulo, que niega que en el infierno quepa verdad alguna.

«When people like this are let into their inner natures—into their evils, that is—they can no longer say anything true. They can only say what is false because their speech arises from their evil intentions. It is impossible to say anything true for evil ends because by then their spirits are made up of nothing but their own evil, and falsity emanates from evil» — §551: la razón de esa imposibilidad, que el libro pone en el origen del habla en la intención.

«Every evil spirit is distilled to this state before he or she is thrown into hell (see above, §§499–512). This is called being stripped down as to what is true and good» — §551: el nombre técnico que el libro le da a ese proceso y su definición como entrada en lo propio.

«In general, their faces are frightful, as lifeless as corpses. Some of their faces are black, some like little torches, some pimply, with huge ulcerated sores. In many cases there is no visible face, only something hairy or bony in its place, while with others only the teeth show. Their bodies are equally misshapen, and their speech seems to embody wrath or hatred or vengeance, since all their articulation comes from their false perception and all the tone comes from their evil intent. In a word, they are all images of their hell» — §553: la descripción de esos rostros y cuerpos, que Lang cita en la p. 32.

«I have often seen what form particular hells or hellish communities have, since at their entrances (which are called the gates of hell), there often appears a monstrous figure that in a general way represents the form of the people who live there. The savagery of these inhabitants is then imaged by frightful horrors that I forbear to mention» — §553: la forma de cada infierno vista en sus puertas, con la reserva que el libro se impone al describirla.

«this in heaven’s light, but that they look human to each other. This is a gift of the Lord’s mercy, so that they do not look as repulsive to each other as they do to angels» — §553: la misericordia que el libro les reconoce a los del infierno, que se ven humanos entre sí; el tramo arranca en la p. 522 y sigue en la 523.

«it has become clear to me that in general they are all forms of love for oneself and the world and that the evils that give rise to individual forms can all be traced back to these two loves» — §554: la reducción de todos los males del infierno a dos amores, el propio y el del mundo; el tramo cruza a la p. 524.

«At first I wondered why love for oneself and love of the world are so diabolic, why people who are absorbed in them look so frightful. After all, in the world we scarcely give love for ourselves a second thought. We focus only on that outward inflation of spirit called pride, which we believe is the only self-love because it is so visible» — §555: la objeción que el propio libro se plantea, a saber, que en el mundo el amor propio apenas se nota y se confunde con la soberbia.

«Love for oneself is intending well to oneself alone, not to others except for the sake of oneself—not the church, the country, or any human community» — §556: la definición de amor propio que el libro usa en toda la tercera parte.

«It follows that people devoted to a love for themselves want their church, their country, the human community, and their fellow citizens to be their servants rather than wanting to serve them. They station themselves above these neighbors and put them down. So to the extent that people are devoted to a love for themselves, they move themselves away from heaven because they move themselves away from heavenly love» — §557: la consecuencia de ese contraste: quien se ama a sí mismo quiere que la iglesia y el país le sirvan, y por eso se aleja.

«A spiritual love of their neighbor, though, begins with the Lord, and spreads out from him as its center to all who are united to him by love and faith. Its spread depends on the quality of their love and faith» — §558b: la contraparte de ese deslinde, con el amor que parte del Señor y se extiende desde él.

«Picture a community made up of people like this, all totally in love with themselves, not caring about others unless they are allies, and you will see that their love is no different from that of thieves for each other. To the extent that they are acting in concert, they embrace each other and call each other friends; but once they stop cooperating, once anyone resists their control, they attack and butcher each other» — §560: la imagen de la sociedad de ladrones con que el libro figura una comunidad de amor propio.

«In broad terms, the evils characteristic of people focused on love for themselves are contempt for others; envy; enmity toward anyone who is not on their side, and a consequent hostility; various kinds of hatred; vengefulness; craft; deceit; callousness; and cruelty» — §562: la lista de males que el libro deriva del amor propio.

«IN the earlier discussion of heaven, it was made clear throughout (particularly in §§2–6) that the Lord is the God of heaven and that the whole government of the heavens is in the Lord’s hands. Since the relationship of heaven to hell and of hell to heaven is like that of two opposites that act against each other, with the action and reaction yielding the state of equilibrium within which everything exists, in order for absolutely everything to be kept in this balance, it is necessary that the ruler of the one be the ruler of the other as» — §536: la apertura de la tercera parte, que hace del gobierno del infierno una exigencia del equilibrio; la frase se remata con *well*.

«In general, though, all the people in the hells are governed by their fears, some by fears sown and still in place from the world. However, since these fears are not adequate and gradually weaken, they are governed through fears of punishment, which are the primary means of preventing them from doing evil» — §543: el gobierno del infierno por el miedo, que el libro dice que empieza en los temores traídos del mundo y termina en el temor al castigo.

«Most of the time, the relatively malevolent spirits are in power, having gained control by their experience and skill; and they are able to keep the rest in servile obedience by punishments and the fears that these give birth to. These dominant spirits do not dare go beyond fixed limits» — §543: quién manda en el infierno, según el libro, y el límite que ni los que mandan pueden pasar.

«Anyone whose mind is enlightened perceives this while reading the Word simply from the fact that the Lord is goodness itself, love itself, and mercy itself» — §545: el argumento de fondo, que deriva la doctrina del capítulo de la definición del Señor; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«Good itself cannot do harm to anyone. Love itself and mercy itself cannot spurn anyone, because this is contrary to mercy and love and is therefore contrary to the divine nature itself» — §545: la conclusión de ese argumento: rechazar sería contrario a la misericordia y al amor, y por tanto a lo divino mismo.

«These evil and false proclivities are like black clouds that stand between the sun and our eyes and deprive us of the clear sunlight» — §549: el símil de las nubes negras entre el sol y el ojo con que el libro figura el estorbo del mal.

«We can gather what love for oneself is like by comparing it to heavenly love. Heavenly love is loving constructive activity for its own sake, or loving for their own sake the worthwhile things we do for our church, our country, the human community, and our fellow citizens» — §557: la definición del amor celestial por contraste, como amor de la actividad útil por sí misma.

«If you look at their origins and essences, you can see that love for oneself and love of one’s neighbor are opposites. In people who are wrapped up in love for themselves, love of their neighbor begins from self. They claim that everyone is her or his own neighbor; and from this as a center they reach out to all who ally with them, with progressively less intensity depending on the love that unites the others with them» — §558b: el deslinde entre dos amores al prójimo según de dónde partan, del yo o del Señor.

«By nature, self-love runs wild to the extent that its reins are loosened, that is, to the extent that the outward restraints constituted by fears of the law and its penalties, fears of losing» — §559: el crecimiento sin límite que el libro le atribuye al amor propio en cuanto se le sueltan las riendas; la frase sigue en la p. 527.

«It runs wild even to the extent of wanting to rule not only over the whole globe but even over all heaven and the Lord himself. It knows no bound or limit» — §559: el extremo de ese crecimiento, que el libro lleva hasta querer mandar sobre el cielo y sobre el Señor mismo.

«There are two ways of being in power. One comes from love for our neighbor and the other from love for ourselves. In essence, these two kinds of power are exact opposites» — §564: la distinción entre dos modos de mandar según el amor de que salgan.

«As such people are raised to high positions they are delighted; but the delight is not because of the honor but because of the constructive things they can now do more abundantly and at a higher level. This is what empowerment is like in the heavens» — §564: el modo de mandar que el libro le atribuye al cielo, con el gozo puesto en el uso y no en el honor.

«Actually, it is not they who have power but the services that they love, and when service rules, the Lord is ruling» — §564: la fórmula con que el libro adjudica el mando al uso y por él al Señor.

«As for love of the world, it is not so intensely opposed to heavenly love, because there are not so many evils latent in it» — §565: la gradación que el libro enuncia entre los dos amores del infierno, con el del mundo menos opuesto al celestial.

«Love of the world is wanting to divert the wealth of others to ourselves by any means available. It is setting our heart on wealth and allowing the world to distract us from the spiritual love that is love for our neighbor and therefore from heaven and the Divine» — §565: la definición del amor del mundo, que el libro mide por lo que aparta y no solo por lo que codicia.

«The purpose of being wealthy is called its use, and purpose or use is what gives a love its quality. That is, the quality of a love is determined by the goal it aims at. Everything else serves it as means» — §565: la regla que el libro aplica a toda riqueza: su cualidad la fija el fin al que apunta.

«There are two sources of warmth. One is the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, and the other is our world’s sun. The warmth that comes from heaven’s sun or the Lord is spiritual warmth, which in its essence is love (see above, §§126–140). The warmth that comes from our world’s sun, though, is a natural warmth that in its essence is not love but serves spiritual warmth or love as a vessel» — §567: la distinción de los dos calores, con el natural haciendo de vaso del espiritual.

«For us human beings, spiritual warmth is the warmth of life, because as already noted it is essentially love. This love is what fire means in the Word. Heavenly fire means love for the Lord and love for our neighbor, and hellish fire means love for ourselves and love of the world» — §568: la clave de lectura del fuego en la Escritura, que el libro reduce a dos amores.

«Hellish fire or love has the same source as heavenly fire or love, namely heaven’s sun or the Lord. However, it is changed into hellfire by the people who receive it, for all inflow from the spiritual world varies depending on how it is received or depending on the forms into which it flows» — §569: la tesis más fuerte del capítulo: el fuego del infierno tiene el mismo origen que el del cielo y lo cambia quien lo recibe.

«Warmth flowing from this source into woods and flower beds produces vegetation and pleasant, soft aromas. The same warmth flowing into manure or carrion produces decay and foul stenches» — §569: el símil del calor del sol sobre el bosque y sobre la carroña con que el libro explica esa conversión.

«Because hellfire is love for oneself and the world, it is also all the craving of those loves, since craving is love reaching out. Whatever we love we constantly crave, and it is our delight, since we feel delight when we get what we love or crave. There is no other source of our heart’s delight» — §570: la definición del fuego infernal como el deseo mismo de esos dos amores.

«Further, since these evils are constantly breathing out the death and destruction of everyone we see as the enemy, of everyone who is the target of this blazing hatred and vengefulness, the delight of our lives is the intent to destroy and kill, or to the extent that we cannot do this, to inflict harm, to wound, and to savage» — §570: el contenido que el libro le da a ese deseo, que es destruir en la medida en que se pueda.

«Because hellfire means the urge to do the evils prompted by love for oneself and the world, and because this kind of urge is characteristic of everyone in hell (see the preceding chapter), when the hells are opened one sees the kind of smoky fire you get in conflagrations. An intense fire rises from the hells where love for oneself rules, and a flickering one from the hells where love of the world rules» — §571: lo que se ve al abrirse un infierno, con dos clases de fuego según qué amor mande.

«It does need to be known, though, that the people in the hells are not actually in fire. The fire is an appearance. They do not actually feel any burning, only the kind of warmth they knew in the world» — §571: la aclaración que impide leer el fuego como tormento físico: no arde, es apariencia por correspondencia.

«When this impulse is inherent in everyone in a community where there are no external restraints, no fears of the law or of loss of reputation or position or profit or life, everyone attacks everyone else out of sheer malice. The strong conquer and subject the rest to their tyranny, cheerfully torturing any who do not surrender» — §573: la descripción de una comunidad sin frenos exteriores, con el fuerte que somete y goza torturando.

«From each hell there breathes forth an aura of the cravings that obsess its inhabitants. When this aura is sensed by people who are obsessed with a similar craving, it touches their hearts and fills them with delight because the craving and the delight are inseparable—whatever we crave is delightful to us. This is why spirits turn in that direction and are impelled there by their hearts’ delight» — §574: la explicación de por qué se entra voluntariamente a un lugar de tormento, que el libro pone en el aura del deseo compartido.

«In the spiritual world we are all incapable of resisting our impulses because the impulses come from our love and the love comes from our intent and the intent comes from our nature, and we all act from our nature there» — §574: la cadena que el libro traza del deseo al amor, del amor a la intención y de la intención a la naturaleza.

«The gnashing of teeth, though, is the constant clash and strife of false convictions with each other (and therefore the warfare of the individuals who hold the false convictions) united to contempt for others, hostility, derision, mockery, and blasphemy. These even break out into various kinds of butchery» — §575: la lectura del crujir de dientes como choque perpetuo de convicciones falsas, que Lang cita en la p. 32.

«In these hells dwell all the people who acknowledged nature and denied the Divine. The people who deliberately convinced themselves are in the deeper hells. Since they cannot accept any ray of light from heaven and can therefore not see anything within themselves, most of them focus on their senses and their bodies. These are people who do not believe anything they cannot see with their eyes and touch with their hands» — §575: quiénes habitan esos infiernos según el libro, con el retrato del que solo cree lo que ve y toca.

«ANYONE who thinks deeply and knows anything about the workings of the human mind can see and understand how significantly superior spirits are to other people. In a minute, we can consider and turn over and decide in our minds more than we can express in speech or writing» — §576: el argumento por la rapidez del pensar con que el libro mide la superioridad del espíritu sobre el cuerpo.

«It was different while they were living in the flesh because then the evil of their spirits was under the restraints that apply to all because of the law, or because of money, position, reputation, and their fears of losing these things. So the evil of their spirits could not break out and show itself in its true colors» — §577: la razón por la que esa malicia no se ve en el mundo, que el libro pone en los frenos de la ley, el dinero y la fama.

«All the while, the evil remained so hidden and veiled that they themselves scarcely knew that there was so much malice and craft in their spirits, that they were therefore intrinsically the very devils they would become after death when their spirits would come into their own and display their own nature» — §577: la consecuencia más dura del parágrafo: ni ellos mismos sabían cuánta malicia había en su espíritu.

«This I can testify: their malice is so great that scarcely a thousandth part of it can be described» — §577: la reserva que el libro se impone al describir esa malicia, medida en una milésima parte.

«The worst people of all are the ones who have been absorbed in evil pursuits because of their love for themselves and whose inward behavior has been deceitful throughout. This is because the deceit wholly permeates their thoughts and intentions and infects them with venom, destroying all their spiritual life. Most of them are in the hells toward the rear and are called demons. They take particular delight in making themselves unnoticeable and floating around others like ghosts, doing their harm covertly, spraying it around like the venom of snakes» — §578: el retrato de los que el libro llama demonios, que Lang cita en la p. 33.

«People engaged in evils because of their love of the world are in the hells toward the front, though, and are called spirits. They do not have the same kinds of evil, the same kinds of hatred and vengefulness, as people involved in love for themselves, so they do not have the same kind of malice and craft. As a result, their hells are milder» — §578: el reparto entre demonios y espíritus según el amor que los mueve, con la gradación de sus infiernos.

«They use these arts to torture each other in the hells. However, since with the exception of the different varieties of imitation and persuasion and pretense these arts are unknown in the world, I do not want to describe them in detail, both because they would not be understood and because they are unspeakable» — §580: la razón por la que el libro se niega a detallar esas artes, que declara desconocidas en el mundo e indecibles.

«The reason tortures are permitted by the Lord in the hells is that there is no other way evils can be restrained and tamed. Fear of punishment is the only means of controlling and taming evils and keeping the hellish mob in restraints. There is no other way, for if it were not for the fear of punishment and torture, evil would plunge into rage and destroy everything, as would happen in a kingdom on earth where there was neither law nor punishment» — §581: la justificación del tormento que el libro ofrece, con la comparación de un reino sin ley ni castigo.

«IN the spiritual world, the world where spirits and angels live, things look much the same as they do in the natural world where we live—so similar that at first glance there seems to be no difference. You see plains there, mountains, hills, and cliffs with valleys between them, you see bodies of water and many other things that we find on earth» — §582: la semejanza entre los dos mundos, que el libro declara tan grande que a primera vista no se distinguen.

«Because of this resemblance between the spiritual world and the natural world, it is hard for people after death to realize that they are not in the world where they were born, the world they have just left; so they actually call death nothing but a crossing from one world into another like it» — §582: la consecuencia de esa semejanza para el recién muerto, que llama a la muerte un paso de un mundo a otro parecido.

«The hells themselves, though, are not visible, because they are closed. All one can see are the entrances, called gates, when they open to admit spirits like the ones already there. All the gates into the hells open from the world of spirits, none from heaven» — §583: la invisibilidad de los infiernos y la regla de que todas sus puertas abran desde el mundo de los espíritus.

«There are hells everywhere. They are under the mountains and hills and cliffs and under the plains and valleys. The openings or gates to the hells that are under the mountains and hills and cliffs look at first sight like crevices or fissures in the rocks» — §584: la topografía de los infiernos y la apariencia de sus bocas.

«The entrances or gates to the hells that are under the plains and valleys have different forms. Some of them are like the ones under the mountains, hills, and cliffs; some of them are like caves and caverns; some are like large chasms and quagmires, some like swamps; and some like stagnant ponds» — §585: las formas de las puertas de los infiernos bajo llanuras y valles.

«I have heard that evil spirits neither see nor feel this because when they are in it, they are in their element and therefore in the delight of their life. This is because these appearances correspond to the evils and distortions they are absorbed in, the fire corresponding to their hatred and vengefulness and the smoke and soot to their consequent distortions, the flame to the evils of their self-love, and the dark storm cloud to the distortions that follow from it» — §585: la correspondencia de cada una de esas apariencias con el mal que la produce, y la razón por la que quien está dentro no las siente.

«People who are empowered by love for their neighbor intend the good of everyone and love nothing more than being useful—that is, serving others (serving others means willing well and helping others, whether that is one’s church, country, community, or fellow citizen). This is their love and the delight of their hearts» — §564: el modo de mandar que el libro le atribuye al cielo, con el gozo puesto en el servicio.

«UNTIL now, hardly anyone has known the meaning of the eternal fire and gnashing of teeth ascribed to people in hell in the Word» — §566: la apertura del capítulo sobre el fuego eterno y el crujir de dientes; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota, releída en el crudo.

«This is because people think materialistically about statements in the Word, in ignorance of its spiritual meaning. So some of them understand the fire to be material fire, some think it is torment in general, some the pangs of conscience, some that it is just words meant to strike a terror of evil into us. Some understand the gnashing of teeth to be a kind of grinding, some only the kind of shudder we feel when we hear this kind of clash of teeth» — §566: las lecturas recibidas de esas dos expresiones que el capítulo objeta, todas por pensar la Escritura materialmente.

«The level of wisdom and intelligence for angels is also the level of malice and craft among hellish spirits» — §577: la simetría entre la sabiduría angélica y la malicia infernal, que el libro deriva de que cada espíritu sea su propio amor.

«Demons do not flow into people’s thoughts but into their affections. They observe them and sniff them out the way dogs sniff out wild animals in the woods» — §579: el modo de obrar que el libro les atribuye a los demonios, que trabajan el afecto y no el pensamiento, con el símil del perro que rastrea.

«You can gather from their unspeakable arts what the malice of these hellish spirits is like. There are so many of these arts that listing them would fill a book, and describing them would take volumes. Most of these arts are unknown in the world» — §580: la advertencia con que el libro introduce las artes de los espíritus infernales.

«One kind has to do with the misuse of correspondences; a second kind has to do with the misuse of the most superficial features of the divine design; a third kind with the sharing and instilling of thoughts and affections by distractions, focusing inward, and the use of decoy spirits as well as by emissaries; a fourth kind with manipulation by hallucinations; a fifth kind with external projections that enable the spirits to be present outside their bodies; a sixth kind with various types of imitation and persuasion and pretense» — §580: la lista de seis artes que el libro les atribuye, con el abuso de las correspondencias a la cabeza.

«As to the location of specific hells, no one can know this, not even an angel in heaven—only the Lord. Roughly, though, their location is recognized by the quarter where they are found» — §587: el límite de conocimiento que el libro declara sobre la ubicación de cada infierno.

«Like the heavens, the hells are differentiated into regions; and in the spiritual world, regions are marked off according to loves because all regions in heaven start from the Lord as the sun, who is the east. So since the hells are the opposite of the heavens, their regions start from the opposite direction, the west» — §587: la regla que ordena los infiernos por regiones, contada desde el poniente por ser opuesta a la del cielo.

«There are a good many hells in the northern and southern regions. The people there were absorbed in love of the world during their lives and therefore in various kinds of evil such as enmity, hostility, thievery, robbery, fraud, avarice, and callousness» — §587: los infiernos del amor del mundo y la lista de males que el libro les adjudica.

«I have been given some knowledge of the number of the hells from the fact that they are underneath every mountain, hill, and cliff, every plain and valley, and that they stretch out there far and wide and deep. In short, it is as though the whole heaven and the whole world of spirits are hollowed out with one continuous hell under them» — §588: la imagen con que el libro figura la extensión de los infiernos bajo todo el mundo espiritual.

«FOR anything to happen, there needs to be an equilibrium of everything involved. If there is no equilibrium, there is no action and reaction because the equilibrium occurs between two forces, one acting and the other reacting. The state of rest arising from equal agents and reagents is called an equilibrium» — §589: la definición general de equilibrio con que se abre el capítulo, aplicable también a la naturaleza.

«In the natural world, what acts and reacts is called force or energy,315 but in the spiritual world what acts and reacts is called life and volition. Life there is a living force and volition is a living energy, and the actual equilibrium is called a state of freedom» — §589: la traducción de ese equilibrio al mundo espiritual, donde se llama libertad.

«There is a constant balance between heaven and hell. An effort to do evil is constantly emanating upward from hell, and an effort to do good is constantly emanating down from heaven» — §590: la formulación del equilibrio permanente entre los dos reinos.

«This allows everyone to be examined there as to quality, since we keep the same kind of freedom we had in the world» — §590: la función que ese equilibrio cumple en el mundo de los espíritus, que conserva la libertad de cada quien.

«The reason evil is constantly emanating up from hell and good emanating down from heaven is that everyone is surrounded by a spiritual aura, an aura that flows out in waves from the life of our affections and their thoughts» — §591: la explicación del equilibrio por las auras espirituales que emanan de cada quien y de cada comunidad.

«All the good that comes from heaven is from the Lord, since the angels who are in the heavens are all kept out of their self-image and kept in the Lord’s image, which is goodness itself. On the other hand, all the spirits who are in the hells are in their own self-image and everyone’s own self-image is nothing but evil; and since it is nothing but evil, it is hell» — §591: la adjudicación del bien al Señor y del mal a lo que cada quien reclama como propio.

«If the Lord were not in control of both the heavens and the hells, there would be no equilibrium; and if there were no equilibrium, there would be no heaven or hell» — §592: la dependencia que el libro enuncia entre el gobierno único y la existencia misma de los dos reinos.

«Not only that, all the hells act in unison because the evil energies of the hells are all interconnected the way the good energies are in the heavens; and nothing but the only divine power can resist all the countless hells acting in concert against heaven and everyone there. That one divine power emanates from the Lord» — §592: la razón por la que solo un poder divino puede resistir a los infiernos, que obran en concierto.

«The balance point between the heavens and the hells shifts down and up depending on the number of people entering heaven and entering hell, which amounts to thousands every day. Knowing and grasping this, adjusting and centering the pointer of the scales, is something no angel can do, only the Lord, since the emanating divine nature is everywhere present and is everywhere watching every deviation» — §593: el desplazamiento diario del fiel de la balanza, que el libro mide en miles de entradas y reserva al Señor.

«So the Lord is constantly making sure that the hellish community under any heavenly one does not get too strong. To the extent that one begins to get too strong, it is brought under control by various means and returned to its proper balanced relationship» — §594: el ajuste continuo del equilibrio comunidad por comunidad.

«It needs to be realized that the hells are constantly attacking heaven and trying to destroy it and that the Lord is constantly protecting the heavens by restraining the people there from the evils that arise from their self-concern and by keeping them involved in the good that comes from him» — §595: el ataque permanente del infierno al cielo y la forma de la defensa, que no es contraataque sino sostén.

«On the other hand, the heavens never attack the hells, since the divine aura that emanates from the Lord is a constant effort to save everyone. Since the people in the hells cannot be saved (all the people there being engrossed in evil and opposed to the Lord’s divine nature), the attacks within the hells are kept as subdued as possible, and mutual viciousness is held within bounds» — §595: la asimetría de esa guerra, con la fórmula que Lang cita en la p. 33 sobre los que no pueden salvarse.

«This has enabled me to see that love for the Lord and love for oneself are opposites, as are love for our neighbor and love of the world» — §596: la conclusión del capítulo, que fija los cuatro amores en dos pares de opuestos.

«The reason this spiritual balance is essentially a freedom is that it exists between what is good and what is evil and between what is true and what is false, and these are spiritual realities. So the ability to intend either good or evil and to think either truth or falsity, the ability to choose one instead of the other, is the freedom I am dealing with here» — §597: la definición de libertad con que se abre el último capítulo, como poder de elegir entre lo bueno y lo malo.

«The Lord grants this freedom to every individual, and it is never taken away. By virtue of its source it in fact belongs to the Lord and not to us because it comes from the Lord; yet still it is given us along with our life as though it were ours. This is so that we can be reformed and saved, for without freedom there can be no reformation or salvation» — §597: el estatuto de esa libertad, que es del Señor por su origen y del hombre como si fuera suya, y sin la cual no hay reforma.

«We can see from this that the freedom applies to our spirit, which does our thinking and intending, but not to our outer nature, which does our talking and acting, except as this follows the aforementioned laws» — §597: el alcance de esa libertad, que el libro limita al pensar y al querer y no al obrar exterior.

«As for the number of the hells, there are just as many hells as there are angelic communities in the heavens» — §588: la simetría numérica entre comunidades del cielo y del infierno; la frase sigue en la p. 550 con la correspondencia inversa.

«Similarly, the hells are differentiated into two kingdoms, one opposite to the heavenly kingdom and one opposite the spiritual kingdom. The one opposite to the heavenly kingdom is in the western quarter, and the people who live there are called demons» — §596: la división del infierno en dos reinos opuestos a los del cielo, con el nombre que el libro les da a los del primero.

«This cannot happen unless we are exposed to both good and evil, since it is from good that we can see evils, though we cannot see what is good from evil. We learn the good spiritual things we can think from infancy from the reading of the Word and from sermons. We learn the moral and civic values from our life in the world. This is the primary reason we need to be in freedom» — §598: la razón última de esa condición: solo desde el bien se ve el mal, y nunca al revés.

«Nothing is ever free unless it comes from our volition, or what amounts to the same thing, from a particular affection that stems from our love. Whatever we intend or love, we do freely» — §598: la identificación de la libertad con la voluntad y con el amor, que Lang cita en la p. 52.

«In a word, anything that does not enter us in freedom does not stay with us, because it does not belong to our love or intentions; and anything that does not belong to our love or intentions does not belong to our spirit. The actual reality318 of our spirit is love or volition—using the phrase “love or volition” because whatever we love, we intend» — §598: la consecuencia de esa identificación: lo que no entra en libertad no se queda, porque no es del amor ni de la intención.

«We need to be aware that our union with heaven and with hell is not directly with them but is mediated by spirits who are in the world of spirits. These spirits are with us, none from hell itself or heaven itself. We are united to hell through evil spirits in the world of spirits and with heaven through the good spirits there. Because of this arrangement, the world of spirits is halfway between heaven and hell and is at the point of balance» — §600: la precisión que Lang cita en la p. 27: la unión no es directa sino por espíritus del mundo intermedio.

«A whole community can establish communication with another community or with another individual in any location through a spirit emissary. This spirit is called the “agent” of the group» — §601: la figura del espíritu emisario o agente, con que el libro explica la comunicación entre comunidades.

«Then the questioners asked them what they believed about their state after death, and they said they believed they would live as spirits. Next they were asked what kind of belief they had about spirits, and they said that spirits were people» — §602: el diálogo con que el libro muestra la noción instintiva de la vida futura en la gente sencilla; el tramo cruza a la p. 560.

«The intelligent people were amazed that simple people had this kind of faith when they themselves did not» — §602: el remate de ese diálogo, con la ventaja concedida a la fe simple sobre la de los entendidos.

«However, the soul is nothing more nor less than our life, while the spirit is the actual person, and the body is an earthly thing we carry around in the world. It is only an agent through which our spirit, the actual person, acts in a way that is adapted to the natural world» — §602: la definición final de alma, espíritu y cuerpo con que el libro cierra su antropología.

«What I have been saying in this book about heaven, the world of spirits, and hell will be obscure to people who find no delight in knowing about spiritual truths; but it will be clear to people who do have this delight, especially to people involved in an affection for truth for its own sake—that is, people who love truth because it is true. Anything that is loved enters into the concepts of our minds with light, especially when what is loved is true, because all truth is in the light» — §603: el último parágrafo del libro, que reparte a sus lectores por el deleite que hallen en lo verdadero y remata con la razón de esa diferencia.

«All my experience in heaven bears witness to the fact that the divine nature that comes from the Lord, affects angels, and constitutes heaven, is love. In fact, all the people there are forms of love and thoughtfulness. They look indescribably beautiful. Love radiates from their faces, from their speech, from every detail of their behavior» — §17: el testimonio con que el libro apoya que lo divino que hace el cielo sea amor, con los ángeles descritos como formas del amor.

«People actually recognize this fact, since the love within them surveys memory, so to speak, and draws out from it the items that agree with it. It gathers these together and arranges them within and beneath itself—within itself so that it may possess them and beneath itself so that they may serve it. It discards and eradicates, though, the items that do not agree with it» — §18: la operación del amor sobre la memoria, que recoge lo que le conviene y desecha lo demás.

«Even people who were simple folk in this world have arrived at angelic wisdom and heavenly happiness in the company of angels. This was because they loved what is good and true for the sake of what is good and true. They had grafted these qualities into their lives and had thereby become capable of accepting heaven and all its indescribable riches» — §18: el caso de los sencillos llevados al cielo, que el libro explica por haber amado lo bueno y lo verdadero por sí mismos.

«because this follows from what the Lord himself said about these two loves: “You shall love your God with all your heart and with all your soul: this is the greatest and first commandment. The second, which is like it, is that you should love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37–40). The Law and the Prophets are the whole Word, which means all divine truth» — §19: los dos mandamientos de Mateo 22:37 a 40 como fundamento escriturario de los dos amores del cielo, con la identificación de la Ley y los Profetas con la Palabra entera.

«The single love that is the origin of everything good in heaven is love for the Lord from the Lord. This is why all heaven is a likeness of him on the grand scale, every community a likeness on a less grand scale, and every angel in specific» — §72: la razón de que la semejanza humana se repita en todas las escalas, que el libro pone en un amor único como origen.

«This means that hell’s inhabitants have directions opposite to those of heaven. Their east is where they see that dark or gloomy object and their west is where heaven’s sun is. Their south is to their right and their north to their left, no matter which way they turn their bodies. Nothing else is possible for them, because the whole tendency of their deeper natures, their whole orientation therefore, aims and strives in this direction» — §151: la rosa de los vientos invertida del infierno, con el oriente puesto donde ellos ven lo oscuro.

«I have been able to see how much power angels have through truths from good» — §232: el efecto que el libro le atribuye a la sola mirada de un ángel sobre un espíritu maligno, explicado por la correspondencia del ojo.

«Further still, the language of heavenly angels lacks any hard consonants and rarely puts two consonants together without inserting a word that begins with a vowel. This is why the little word and152 is inserted so often in the Word, as can be determined by people who read the Word in Hebrew, in which language that word is soft and in either pronunciation is a vowel sound. We can also learn some of this from the vocabulary of the Hebrew Bible, since the words belong to either a heavenly or a spiritual category» — §241: la fonética que el libro le atribuye a la lengua de los ángeles celestiales y la consecuencia que saca para el vocabulario hebreo.

«The reason angels and spirits are so intimately united to us that it seems to them as though our characteristics were their own is that there is such an intimate union» — §247: la razón de la unión íntima con los espíritus, que el libro deriva de la separación del hombre respecto del cielo.

«An angel, out of his168 wisdom, described the process of regeneration169 and presented mysteries about it in their proper sequence, amounting to a hundred. He filled out each single mystery with concepts containing even deeper mysteries, and did this from beginning to end, explaining how the spiritual person is conceived anew; is carried in the womb, so to speak; is born; matures; and is gradually perfected. He said that he could multiply the number of mysteries into the thousands, and that the things he was talking about involved only the regeneration of the outer person. There were countless more about the regeneration of the inner person» — §269: el ejemplo mayor de sabiduría angélica que el libro ofrece, con cien misterios de la regeneración desplegados en orden.

«consists primarily of their seeing divine and heavenly things in individual objects and wonders in series of objects, for everything that appears to their eyes has a correspondence. When they see palaces and gardens, for instance, their insight does not dwell on the things in front of their eyes but sees the deeper things they stem from, the things, that is, to which they correspond. This goes on with constant variety in keeping with the appearance of the objects; so at any given time there are countless things in a pattern and a connectedness so delightful to their minds that they seem to be transported» — §270: en qué consiste la sabiduría de los ángeles del tercer cielo, que ven en cada objeto lo divino a lo que corresponde.

«inmost of the Lord was the Divine itself, and its clothing was from his mother: 5041. The Divine itself was the very reality of the Lord’s life, and his human nature then emerged and became the manifestation from that reality» — muestra de las References to Passages in Secrets of Heaven que el propio Swedenborg anexó al capítulo del Humano Divino: son sumarios de su obra anterior, no texto nuevo, y esta ficha las levanta por muestra.

«The Lord made the divine truth that was himself one with the divine good that was in himself: 10047, 10052, 10076. This uniting was reciprocal» — segunda muestra de ese mismo anexo de remisiones, sobre la unión de lo verdadero y lo bueno divinos en el Señor.

«It is impossible to think about God except in human form, and what is incomprehensible does not accord76 with any concept, so it does not accord with any faith» — tercera muestra del anexo, con la tesis de que no se puede pensar a Dios sino en forma humana.

«In the Christian world, the Lord’s human is not recognized as divine, a situation that has come about in order that the pope might be recognized as his vicar» — cuarta muestra del anexo, que adjudica a un interés eclesiástico el no reconocer lo divino en lo humano del Señor.

«Because the Lord rules the entire heaven, he also rules everything that depends on it—therefore everything in the world» — cierre del anexo de remisiones del capítulo del Humano Divino.

«Angels who are in the good of love live on mountains, angels in the good of charity on hills, and angels in the good of faith on cliffs» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §188, con el reparto del relieve del cielo por clases de bien.

«For innocent and chaste people, nudity is not a matter of shame because there is no occasion for offense» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §179, sobre la desnudez sin vergüenza de los inocentes.

«Wood means what is good: 643, 3720, 8354. So for the earliest people, who were attuned to heavenly good, buildings were wooden» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §223, que explica por correspondencia los templos de madera del reino celestial.

«there is never any state exactly like any other, which results in a perpetual process of perfecting» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §158, que hace de la variación continua de los estados un perfeccionamiento sin término.

«This divine inflow is unceasing and is accepted in what is good in good people, but not in evil ones. In them it is either rejected or stifled or distorted. So they have an evil life that spiritually understood is a death» — §297: la constancia del influjo divino y su suerte distinta según quien lo recibe.

«People who are in the Lord’s heavenly kingdom, especially the ones in the third or inmost heaven, are called the just because they do not ascribe any justice to themselves, but all justice to the Lord. The Lord’s justice in heaven is the good that comes from the Lord,b so these are the people meant by “those who justify» — §348: la razón por la que el libro llama justos a los del reino celestial, que es no atribuirse justicia alguna.

«because it is through them that we learn to think, then to sort out what is true and good, and ultimately to be wise» — muestra del segundo anexo de remisiones que Swedenborg añadió al capítulo de los sabios y los simples, sobre el papel del saber en la formación de la sabiduría.

«It is not a matter of intelligence simply to confirm a dogma, but to see whether it is true or not before one confirms it» — muestra del mismo anexo, con el criterio que separa confirmar un dogma de ver si es verdadero.

«Without knowledge of these and many other matters, only incongruous concepts can be grasped and formed of truths on the spiritual and heavenly levels» — cierre de ese anexo, que hace de los principios universales enumerados la condición para pensar con rectitud lo espiritual.

«On this level of meaning, a camel means our cognitive and informational level in general, and the eye of a needle means spiritual truth» — §365: la lectura por correspondencia del camello y del ojo de la aguja que el libro propone.

«Without a life of thoughtfulness, a life of piety is of no use, but with it, it is immensely productive» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §360, que gradúa el valor de la piedad por su unión con la solicitud.

«So the rest on the Sabbath day meant the state of that oneness, because then the Lord has rest, through which peace and salvation come to the heavens and to earth; and in a relative sense it means the union of the Lord with us, because then we have peace and salvation» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §287, con la lectura del descanso del sábado como estado de unión.

«Some people believe that conscience is nothing, some that it is a kind of natural, distressing sadness that arises either from events in the body or events in the world, and some that it is something common people get from their religion» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §299, que recoge tres opiniones corrientes sobre la conciencia sin arbitrar entre ellas.

«For this reason, “the First and the Last” means everything in detail, the whole: 10044, 10329, 10335; and for this reason, strength and power are in ultimate things» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §304, con la lectura del Primero y el Último y la tesis de que la fuerza está en lo último.

«People engaged in the literal meaning apart from any doctrine do not attain any understanding of divine truths» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §311, que hace de la doctrina genuina la condición para entender la letra.

«The deeper levels are not as closed in non-Christians as they are in Christians: 9256» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §328, con la comparación entre cristianos y no cristianos en cuanto a lo interior abierto.

«The light of ratification is a natural and not a spiritual light; it is a sensory light that can be found among evil people as well» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §352, que niega valor espiritual a la luz de la confirmación.

«I have also been shown how all these things are instilled using delightful and charming means that are suited to their natures. I have in fact been allowed to see children clothed most becomingly, with garlands of flowers around their chests glowing with the most charming and heavenly colors, and similar ones around their slender arms» — §337: la escena de los niños vestidos con guirnaldas, que el libro ofrece como muestra de la pedagogía del cielo.

«Once I was even allowed to see some children with their nurses, in the company of some young women in a paradisal garden—not a garden of trees, but one with vaulted arches of something like laurels making the most intricate doorways with paths offering access inward—and the children themselves dressed with like beauty. When they entered, the flowers over the entrance radiated the most joyous light imaginable» — §337: la segunda escena, con el jardín de arcos de laurel y la luz que despedían las flores del umbral.

«THE fact that the form264 of a spirit-person is the human form or that a spirit is a person as far as form is concerned follows from what has been presented in a number of the earlier chapters, especially where I explained that every angel is in a perfect human form (§§73–77), that everyone is a spirit inwardly (§§432–444), and that the angels in heaven are from the human race» — §453: la apertura del capítulo sobre la forma humana del espíritu, que el libro deriva de tres tesis ya probadas.

«Anyone may realize this by considering that thought and intent activate absolutely everything in the body and are so completely in control that» — §453: el argumento por el dominio del pensamiento y de la intención sobre cada parte del cuerpo; la frase sigue en la p. 429.

«The fact that spirits and angels are constantly being perfected in intelligence and wisdom by means of insights into what is true and good has been presented in the chapters on the wisdom of heaven’s angels (§§265–275); on non-Christians or people outside the church in heaven (§§318–328); and on infants in heaven (§§329–345). This happens at the level of the affection for the good and the true that engaged them in the world, and not beyond it» — §469: el remate del capítulo sobre la memoria, que remite a tres capítulos previos y repite el límite del perfeccionamiento.

«The good spirits turn away as soon as they see them; and as they turn away, so the evil spirits who are being led around turn away as well, facing the hellish community that is their destination. I forbear to mention other modes of separation; there are many of them» — §511: el modo en que se consuma la separación de los malos, con los buenos que se apartan y los malos que giran hacia su comunidad.

«I will make great portents in heaven and on earth—blood and fire and columns of smoke; the sun will turn into darkness. (Joel 2:30, 31)310 The earth will become burning pitch, night and day it will not be put out, its smoke will rise up forever» — §570: muestra de la ristra de pasajes bíblicos con que el libro apoya su lectura del fuego, aquí Joel 2 e Isaías 34.

«Heavenly freedom comes from heavenly love, or a love of what is good and true: 1947, 2870, 2872, and since a love of what is good and true comes from the Lord, we are truly free only when we are led by the Lord» — muestra del último anexo de remisiones del volumen, que Swedenborg añadió al capítulo de la libertad.

«Nothing is united to us that happens under compulsion: 8700, 2875. If we could be forcibly reformed, everyone would be saved: 2881. Compulsion in matters of reformation is destructive» — muestra del mismo anexo, con la regla de que lo forzado no se une y la objeción a la reforma por coacción.

«the false within us: 6348. The only people who can desecrate what is true and good, or the holy things of the Word and the church» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §456, sobre quiénes pueden profanar lo sagrado.

«Any elements that are matters of faith but not at the same time of love vanish then because they are not within us and therefore are not part of us» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §474, que declara que lo creído sin amor se desvanece después de la muerte.

«Precious stones mean truths of heaven and of the church translucent from the good: 114, 9863, 9865, 9868, 9873, 9905. Windows mean the intellectual function of our inner sight» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §489, con las correspondencias de las piedras preciosas y de las ventanas.

«It is dangerous for people to enter heaven before they have been prepared» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §513, sobre el peligro de entrar al cielo sin preparación.

«It is impossible for someone who is living in evil to be saved out of pure mercy, because this goes against the divine design» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §523, que repite en forma de remisión la tesis central de ese capítulo.

«There are as many different kinds of neighbor as there are different kinds of good from the Lord, and good is to be done differently toward each individual depending on the quality of that individual’s state, which is a matter of Christian prudence» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §558, que gradúa el bien que se debe a cada prójimo y lo llama prudencia cristiana.

«What you will find there has been revealed and shown to me to let people know that the Lord’s heaven is vast and that it is all from the human race, and also that our Lord is recognized everywhere as the God of heaven and earth» — §417: el propósito que el libro le da a la remisión a su obra sobre los otros planetas, que es medir la vastedad del cielo y el reconocimiento universal del Señor.

«after death] we enjoy a deeper delight because we are engaged in a spiritual life. This is a deeper life, and therefore more open to heavenly blessedness» — §394: el cierre del capítulo sobre los oficios del cielo, con el deleite más hondo que le atribuye a la misma tarea hecha en vida espiritual.

«What is good loves what is true, and from its love desires it and desires its union with itself, so it is in an unceasing effort toward union» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §375, que hace del esfuerzo hacia la unión una propiedad de lo bueno.

«Judges who punish evildoers in order to correct them and to keep them from corrupting and harming good people are loving their neighbor» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §390, que cuenta el castigo del juez entre los actos de amor al prójimo.

«while those that constitute the spiritual kingdom are called “lower”: 10068. d. Deeper matters are expressed as higher, and higher matters as deeper: 2148, 3084, 4599, 5146, 8325. e. The good of the heavenly kingdom is the good of love for the Lord, and the good of the spiritual kingdom is the good of thoughtfulness toward one’s neighbor» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §23, con el vocabulario de lo alto y lo bajo aplicado a los dos reinos.

«First. They are maintained in being in the same way, since continuance in being is constant coming into being. Therefore, nothing unconnected exists» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §37, que repite en forma de remisión la fórmula de la permanencia como surgir continuo.

«The very essence of freedom is to be led by the Lord, because in this way we are led by a love for what is good and true» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §45, con la definición de libertad como ser conducido por el Señor.

«the image of heaven, and our outer in the image of the world, which is why the ancients called the human being a microcosm» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §57, con el término *microcosmo* que el libro atribuye a los antiguos.

«loving what comes from him, since he is present in everything that comes from him, and therefore what is good and true is also our neighbor» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §64, que identifica al prójimo con lo bueno y lo verdadero que vienen del Señor.

«Sacred or heavenly fire means divine love: 934, 6314, 6832. Hellfire means love for oneself and the world, and all the craving that belongs to those loves» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §118, con las dos lecturas del fuego que el capítulo del infierno desarrollará.

«Discernment is enlightened to the extent that we accept what is true in what is good from the Lord: 3619» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §128, sobre la condición de la iluminación del entendimiento.

«outreach, into the surrounding angelic communities in accord with the amount and quality of his or her good» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §203, sobre el alcance del pensamiento y del afecto en las comunidades vecinas.

«and in a universal sense the Lord’s kingdom, is our neighbor; and supporting them out of a love for their welfare, in keeping with the quality of their state, is “loving our neighbor» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §217, que extiende el prójimo hasta el reino del Señor.

«The concepts of angels of the inmost heaven look like the light of a flame: 6615. The concepts of angels of the outmost heaven look like faint, bright clouds» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §240, con la apariencia visible que atribuye a las ideas de cada cielo.

«In our inner nature there are thousands and thousands of things that outwardly look like a single generalization: 5707. So the deeper our thought and perception are, the clearer they are» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §275, con la regla de que lo más hondo es lo más claro.

«witnessing to their innocence by taking off their clothes and standing naked» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §280, sobre el testimonio de inocencia por la desnudez.

«Divine truth is the means of order and divine good is the essence of order» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §77, con el reparto entre lo verdadero como medio del orden y lo bueno como su esencia.

«b. Everything in both heaven and this world that is in accord with the design goes back to what is good and what is true: 2451, 3166, 4390, 4409, 5232, 7256, 10122; and to the union of the two, if it is actually to be anything» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §107, que reduce todo lo conforme al diseño a lo bueno y lo verdadero unidos.

«Further, the deeper structures of our mind are formed as we mature from function and for function» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §112, sobre la formación de la mente desde el uso y para el uso.

«g. The manner of the Lord’s presence with angels depends on their acceptance of the good of love and faith from him» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §120, que hace depender el modo de la presencia divina de lo que el ángel acepta.

«k. There is a spiritual inflow and not a physical one, so the inflow is from the spiritual world into the natural and not from the natural into the spiritual» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §138, con la dirección única del influjo.

«f. The east in the Word means love clearly perceived: 1250, 3708. The west means love dimly perceived: 3708, 9653. The south means a state of light of wisdom and intelligence: 1458, 3708, 5672; and the north means that state dimly perceived» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §150, con las cuatro correspondencias de los puntos cardinales.

«All the things that are visible in the heavens are in accord with correspondences and are called representations» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §175, que define las representaciones por su acuerdo con las correspondencias.

«g. What is good recognizes its appropriate truth, and what is true recognizes its good» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §205, con el reconocimiento recíproco de lo bueno y lo verdadero.

«e. Eyes correspond to truths from good: 4403–4421, 4523–4534, 6923. f. Falsity from evil has no power because truth from good has it all» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §233, con la correspondencia del ojo y la negativa de potencia a lo falso.

«Heavenly angels do not think and talk on the basis of faith the way spiritual angels do, because they are gifted by the Lord with a perception of everything that has to do with faith» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §271, sobre por qué los ángeles celestiales no razonan desde la fe.

«Suitable facts are grafted onto our loves step by step, and, so to speak, dwell in them» — muestra del anexo de remisiones del §356, con la imagen del injerto del saber en el amor.

«We need first to acknowledge the truths of the Word and the church, and then it is all right to take our secular learning into account; but not the other way around» — la única línea que el troceo imprime en esta plana, cierre del anexo de remisiones del §356, con el orden que el libro exige entre la doctrina y el saber secular.

«A son-in-law means something true connected with an affection for the good: 2389. A daughter-in-law means something good connected with its truth» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §382b, con las correspondencias del yerno y de la nuera.

«with it the face itself in regard to its responsiveness to our deeper natures» — la única línea que el troceo imprime en esta plana, cola de las notas del §457 sobre el cambio histórico del influjo del cerebro en el rostro.

«of the early church was a doctrine of charity, and this was the source of their wisdom» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §481, que hace de la doctrina de la caridad el origen de la sabiduría de la iglesia antigua.

«We become more solidly free in those temptation struggles in which we win, because then we are inwardly compelling ourselves to» — muestra del anexo de remisiones del §603, con la tesis de que la libertad se afirma en las tentaciones vencidas.

«All of life flows in from the first wellspring of life because this is its source; and it is constantly flowing in, so it comes from the Lord» — muestra del mismo anexo, con la fórmula del manantial primero del que la vida fluye de continuo.

«who are sent out to act as emissaries do not think for themselves but think from the spirits who commissioned them: 5985, 5986, 5987. More about these spirits» — la última entrada del anexo de remisiones y, con ella, del volumen: los espíritus enviados como emisarios no piensan por sí mismos.

«The chest in the Word means charity: 3934, 10081, 10087. The loins and reproductive organs mean marriage love: 3021, 4280, 4462, 5050, 5051, 5052. The arms and hands mean the power of truth: 878, 3091, 4931– 4937, 6947, 7205, 10017 [10019]. The feet mean the natural» — muestra de las notas del propio Swedenborg al §96, con la serie de correspondencias del cuerpo: el pecho, los lomos, los brazos y los pies.

«The New Century Edition of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg Jonathan S. Rose Series Editor Stuart Shotwell Managing Editor EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Lisa Hyatt Cooper George F. Dole David B. Eller Robert H. Kirven Sylvia Shaw» — la portadilla de serie declara el marco editorial en que sale el volumen: Jonathan S. Rose como editor de la serie, Stuart Shotwell como editor gerente y un comité en el que están Lisa Hyatt Cooper, George F. Dole, David B. Eller, Robert H. Kirven y Sylvia Shaw.

«Translated from the Latin by George F. Dole With an Introduction by Bernhard Lang And Notes by George F. Dole, Robert H. Kirven, and Jonathan S. Rose SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION West Chester, Pennsylvania» — la portada reparte las voces del volumen: Dole traduce del latín, Bernhard Lang firma la introducción, y las notas son de Dole, Kirven y Rose, con el pie editorial de la Swedenborg Foundation en West Chester, Pensilvania.

«Swedenborg, Emanuel, 1688–1722. [De coelo et ejus mirabilibus. English] Heaven and its wonders and hell : drawn from things heard and seen/Emanuel Swedenborg; translated from the Latin by George F. Dole; with an introduction by Bernhard Lang; and notes by George F. Dole, Robert H. Kirven, and Jonathan S. Rose. p. cm.— (The new century edition of the works of Emanuel Swedenborg) Includes bibliographical references» — la ficha catalográfica de la Library of Congress registra entre corchetes el título latino original y las fechas del autor tal cual las imprime el volumen, *1688–1722*, que discrepan del *1688–1772* con que Bernhard Lang lo data en la p. 23; la discrepancia se consigna sin arbitrar.

«Part I. Heaven and Hell §1 [Author’s Preface] [1] §§2–6 / The Lord Is God of Heaven» — el índice fija la unidad de cita de la obra: cada capítulo se anuncia por su número entre corchetes y por el tramo de parágrafos que abarca, y el §1 es el prefacio del autor.

«Part III. Hell [56] §§536–544 / The Lord Governs the Hells [57] §§545–550 / The Lord Does Not Cast Anyone into Hell: Spirits Cast Themselves In» — la tercera parte arranca en el §536 con el gobierno divino de los infiernos y sigue con la tesis de que nadie es arrojado allí.

«Notes and Indexes Notes Works Cited in the Notes Index to Preface, Introduction, and Notes Index to Scriptural Passages in Heaven and Hell Table of Parallel Passages Index to Heaven and Hell Biographical Note» — el aparato final del volumen se compone de notas, obras citadas en las notas, cuatro índices, una tabla de pasajes paralelos y una nota biográfica; es la parte que esta ficha recorre por muestra.

«HEAVEN and Hell is one of five works that Emanuel Swedenborg published in 1758.1 These works differ markedly from Secrets of Heaven, Swedenborg’s first theological work, which he had published between 1749 and 1756» — Dole sitúa el libro entre los cinco que Swedenborg publicó en 1758 y lo separa de su primera obra teológica.

«It involves both a shift in genre from exegesis to topical theology and a shift in form from the multivolume to the book and even the booklet. Secrets of Heaven belongs on the theologian’s bookshelf. Heaven and Hell might feel at home in the airport book rack» — Dole describe el cambio de rumbo de 1758 como doble, de género y de formato, y lo remata con una comparación que mide el alcance de lector que le atribuye.

«While it was surely unrealistic to expect “people of simple heart and simple faith” to read Latin, the book would be quite accessible to the parish clergy closest to such people. It would be accessible also to “amateur intellectuals,” often in positions of responsibility, who delighted in keeping up with new discoveries. Further, its ideas were vivid and concrete, easy to remember and to communicate, and its Latin simple and accessible. It may be no accident that Heaven and Hell has been far and away the most popular of Swedenborg’s works» — Dole deriva el público del libro de su lengua y de su estilo: el latín simple lo hacía accesible al clero de parroquia y a los aficionados ilustrados, y de ahí, dice, su popularidad.

«In his table of the repeated passages that appear in Swedenborg’s works, John Faulkner Potts identifies just thirty-four of Heaven and Hell’s 603 sections as cited from Secrets of Heaven» — Dole trae el cómputo de John Faulkner Potts para medir cuánto de esta obra viene de la anterior: treinta y cuatro de los seiscientos tres parágrafos.

«The obvious conclusion is that Swedenborg intended Heaven and Hell at least in part as a vehicle for information already published in Secrets of Heaven. As well as demonstrating a striking concern for consistency, the cross-references clearly indicate a hope that it would attract the reader to that larger work» — Dole lee las remisiones internas como propósito editorial declarado: el libro sirve de vehículo a lo ya publicado y de anzuelo hacia la obra mayor.

«The most probable reason is that this diary records specific incidents, while Heaven and Hell usually generalizes from this experience and takes the form of a spiritual guidebook rather than a traveler’s narrative» — Dole explica por qué el diario de experiencias apenas se duplica aquí: este libro generaliza y toma forma de guía espiritual, no de relato de viaje.

«For him personally, that is, experiences of the spiritual world were not an avenue of escape from earthly responsibilities. There is a recurrent emphasis in Heaven and Hell on a generous, honest, and useful life here and now as the only viable foundation for heavenly life hereafter» — Dole señala la preocupación ética que recorre el libro y la ancla en la biografía del autor: para Swedenborg la experiencia del mundo espiritual no era huida de las responsabilidades terrenas.

«The first edition of one thousand copies was printed by John Lewis, 1 Paternoster Row, in London, the proof sheets being read by John Marchant» — Dole toma de James Hyde los datos materiales de la primera edición: mil ejemplares, impresos por John Lewis en Paternoster Row, con pruebas leídas por John Marchant.

«The first English translation of the work, by William Cookworthy and Thomas Hartley, was published in 1778» — Dole abre la serie de traducciones inglesas con la de Cookworthy y Hartley.

«The present translation is a fresh effort and not a revision: I regard myself as responsible for the previous version, but not responsible to it» — Dole declara la relación de esta versión con la suya de 1976 y fija su criterio de traductor con una distinción entre responsabilidad *por* y responsabilidad *ante*.

«The Latin style of the book is remarkable for its simplicity—not really colloquial, but perhaps not far from that of courteous conversation. While there are touches of poetic imagery and phrasing from time to time, there is nothing that could be called sentimental and certainly nothing sensationalist» — Dole caracteriza el latín del original y niega en él lo sentimental y lo sensacionalista.

«It is the effort of the present edition to represent these qualities as faithfully as possible, qualities that the members of the editorial committee feel have too often been slighted in favor of a rather Latinate literalism. If at times the language of the present version seems stilted or obscure, the fault is with the translator, not with Swedenborg» — Dole enuncia el criterio de la New Century Edition frente a las anteriores, que a su juicio sacrificaron claridad y accesibilidad a un literalismo latinizante, y se atribuye a sí mismo cualquier oscuridad del resultado.

«That of the redoubtable John Clowes appeared in 1817 and served as a guide to Samuel Noble for his 1839 version, which became the standard in England until 1899, when J. R. Rendell’s translation was published» — Dole sigue la genealogía inglesa: Clowes en 1817 guía la versión de Samuel Noble de 1839, que fue la estándar en Inglaterra hasta la de J. R. Rendell.

«In the United States, Benjamin Barrett’s translation was published in 1867, and served (with various revisions) until that of John Ager» — la rama estadounidense de la misma genealogía, en la cuenta de Dole; el tramo se corta antes del año entre paréntesis con que el libro fecha la versión de Ager.

«In England, Doris Harley’s revision of the Ager translation succeeded the Rendell version in 1958. My own 1976 translation was intended for the paperback market and omitted the references to Secrets of Heaven» — Dole cierra la serie con la revisión de Doris Harley y con su propia versión de 1976, y declara qué le quitó a aquella: las remisiones a la obra mayor.

«The work has also been translated into Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish» — Dole mide el alcance del libro por la lista de lenguas a las que se ha traducido; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la lista sigue en la p. 15 con *Swedish, Tamil, Ukranian, Welsh, and Zulu*.

«In the sixth and final volume of his Swedenborg Concordance, published in 1902, Potts advised readers to mark in their own copies the “repeated passages” that he had identified, “until such time as an annotated edition of the Writings is made, which will of course contain them» — Dole funda la razón de ser de la New Century Edition en un encargo de Potts de 1902: marcar los pasajes repetidos hasta que existiera una edición anotada.

«The New Century Edition owes its inception to the vision and energy of David Eller. This volume, as the first of the series to be published, although not first in Swedenborg’s bibliography» — Dole adjudica la iniciativa de la serie a David Eller y sitúa este volumen como el primero publicado, aunque no el primero en el orden bibliográfico del autor.

«GEORGE F. DOLE Bath, Maine February, 2000» — la firma y la fecha del prefacio del traductor, que son la fuente del año de esta edición.

«Hyde, who in the nineteenth century gave generously of his time and resources toward the publication of Latin editions of Swedenborg’s theological works. Those volumes are now paying the price of their acid-bleached elegance; they stand as a reminder that we are limited by our times, and can do no more than our best» — Dole cierra su prefacio con una reserva sobre el propio oficio: los volúmenes latinos que costeó Zina Hyde se deshacen por la elegancia de su papel blanqueado, y de ahí saca que toda edición está limitada por su tiempo; el nombre del mecenas queda partido por el cambio de plana y empieza en la p. 15, y la frase sigue *May this edition be good enough for now, and lead in time to something better*, cortada por el límite de chunk.

«1. The other four are New Jerusalem, Last Judgment, White Horse, and Other Planets. (See the list of short titles in this volume for details about the full Latin and English titles of these and other works by Swedenborg» — la primera nota de Dole nombra los otros cuatro libros de 1758; el tramo arranca en el aparato de notas del prefacio, que en este volumen va al pie de la plana.

«Any discussion of the works of 1758 should note that it is difficult to determine in what order they were written or published» — Dole declara el límite de lo que se puede saber del orden de los cinco libros de 1758, y en la misma nota reconstruye el argumento por las remisiones cruzadas entre ellos.

«Another possible reason for the shift from major exegesis to the shorter topical works is Swedenborg’s reaction to the Last Judgment, which he reports as an event he witnessed in the spiritual world in 1757. However, this connection remains speculative, as we have no evidence to support it» — Dole propone el Juicio Final de 1757, que Swedenborg dice haber presenciado, como otra causa posible del cambio a obras breves, y marca la propuesta como especulativa por falta de evidencia.

«5. As is common in Swedenborgian studies, text citations refer not to page numbers but to Swedenborg’s section numbers, which are uniform in all editions» — la convención de cita del campo, declarada por Dole: no se cita por página sino por el número de parágrafo, que es el mismo en todas las ediciones; de ahí que esta ficha conserve el §N en la glosa aunque el locator sea la plana.

«9. His task of making these cross-references was made easier by an index to Secrets of Heaven that he had compiled himself. (There are extant a first and a second draft of this index in his own hand» — Dole explica de dónde salieron las remisiones internas: un índice de la obra mayor que el propio Swedenborg compiló y del que quedan dos borradores de su mano.

«10. Clowes (1743–1831), an Anglican clergyman, accepted Swedenborg’s doctrines in 1773 with such enthusiasm that, without leaving the established church, he devoted the remainder of his life to translating Swedenborg’s theological works, and to teaching and preaching their contents» — la nota biográfica de Dole sobre John Clowes: clérigo anglicano que adoptó las doctrinas de Swedenborg sin dejar la iglesia establecida y dedicó el resto de su vida a traducirlas, enseñarlas y predicarlas.

«Swedenborg, Emanuel. 1758. De Coelo et Ejus Mirabilibus, et de Inferno, ex Auditis et Visis. London» — la lista selecta de ediciones abre con el original latino, con el título completo y el lugar de impresión.

«1817. A Treatise Concerning Heaven and Its Wonders, and Also Concerning Hell: Being a Relation of Things Heard and Seen. Translated by John Clowes» — muestra de la lista de traducciones inglesas: el título con que Clowes vertió la obra en 1817, que traduce *ex auditis et visis* como relación de cosas oídas y vistas.

«On Heaven and Hell A Historical Introduction to Swedenborg’s Most Popular Book BERNHARD LANG» — el encabezado y el firmante de la introducción histórica del volumen, que es la voz del aparato moderno y no la de la obra.

«But I again repeat my conviction, that Swedenborg’s Meaning is the truth—and the duty of his followers is, to secure this meaning to the Readers of his works by collecting from his numerous Volumes those passages, in which this meaning is conveyed in terms so plain as not to be misconceived: an introduction of 50 pages would suffice for this purpose» — el segundo epígrafe es una nota marginal de Samuel Taylor Coleridge en su ejemplar del libro: da por verdadero el sentido de Swedenborg y le encarga a sus seguidores una antología de cincuenta páginas que lo haga claro.

«EMANUEL Swedenborg (1688–1772) was a man of two careers: one in science and one in theology. The first career ended in 1747 when he retired from his position on the Royal Board of Mines in his home country, Sweden» — Lang parte la biografía en dos carreras, la científica y la teológica, y fecha el corte en el retiro de 1747 del Real Colegio de Minas.

«London was the city where in April 1745 he had had a vision of “the Lord God, the Creator of the world and the Redeemer,” who permitted him to see “the worlds of spirits, heaven, and hell» — Lang data en abril de 1745 y en Londres la visión que Swedenborg declaró como origen de su acceso al otro mundo, y cita las palabras del testimonio recogido por Tafel.

«At the express will of the writer, the volumes appeared without indication of authorship» — Lang consigna que la obra mayor previa salió anónima por voluntad del propio autor, dato que vale también para los cinco libros de 1758.

«Swedenborg must have felt that a work of eight huge quarto tomes of biblical exegesis, theological reflection, and reports on the author’s visions would not find many readers, at least not immediately. So he prepared a number of smaller, less forbidding books, some of which were closely based on Secrets of Heaven» — Lang atribuye los libros breves de 1758 a un cálculo de lectoría: ocho tomos en cuarto no encontrarían lectores pronto.

«All of these books were in Latin, printed in London by John Lewis, who had a bookshop in Paternoster Row (Acton 1955, 523). They appeared anonymously and drew heavily on Secrets of Heaven, to which they seem meant to draw attention» — Lang da la materialidad de la serie de 1758: latín, Londres, John Lewis, anonimato, y la función de reclamo hacia la obra mayor.

«Designed as a kind of introduction to some of the ideas of Secrets of Heaven, it was short, concise, and well organized; the pedagogical aim is visible throughout in the uncomplicated Latin style, the frequent announcements of what will be discussed next, and the summaries that punctuate the book» — Lang describe el propósito pedagógico que le lee al libro y lo localiza en tres rasgos de forma: el latín sin complicación, los anuncios de lo que sigue y los resúmenes.

«As an introductory text based on a more comprehensive theological work, Heaven and Hell forms part of a larger corpus of texts» — la tesis de lectura de Lang: el libro no se sostiene solo, sino como parte de un corpus.

«What Swedenborg really means, one might say, can be found out only by way of a thorough study of the entire corpus, not by a consideration of just one isolated, small part of it» — Lang lleva esa tesis a su consecuencia de método y señala que la obra aislada no basta para decir qué sostiene su autor.

«Instead, Heaven and Hell is examined as a representative fragment that echoes and conveys the spirit and meaning of Swedenborg’s theological oeuvre. It is viewed here as if it were a complete work, the contents of which can be summarized and understood as a coherent presentation of the author’s teaching» — Lang declara la convención con que escribe su introducción: tratar el libro como si fuera obra completa, por comodidad del lector primerizo, y no insistir en su carácter fragmentario.

«The best way to summarize the contents of Heaven and Hell is to reconstruct its teaching in the form of a maplike representation of the universe (see figure 1). The material world (mundus) in which we live is only a small part within the whole. Surrounded by vast spiritual worlds, it is comparable to a small principality surrounded by vast empires» — Lang propone el mapa del universo como forma de resumen y sitúa el mundo material como principado pequeño rodeado de imperios vastos.

«The entire structure is encompassed and animated by the Lord» — el cierre del mapa de Lang: el Señor abarca y anima la estructura entera; el nombre latino *Dominus* con que lo remata queda en la plana siguiente por el corte de plana.

«On the earth, we find the church, defined as “the Lord’s heaven on earth” (§57). In the world, the Christian church is responsible for teaching people the proper worldview— that is, all about the various spiritual worlds surrounding and» — Lang consigna la definición de iglesia que el libro da en el §57 y el encargo doctrinal que le atribuye; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue con *encompassing the mundus*.

«Structurally, a most important feature of the world is its location between heaven and hell. Both of these realms try to influence the world and impinge upon individual lives; as a result, the two forces neutralize each other, so that humans are free—neither forced to submit to evil nor forced to yield to good (§§597–602). They can freely decide between good and evil» — Lang deriva la libertad humana de una posición en el mapa: el mundo está entre el cielo y el infierno, y las dos fuerzas se neutralizan; remite a los §§597 a 602.

«Idleness never makes one happy (§403), and withdrawal from active life, as takes place in monastic communities, tends to inflate people with a sense of their own worth and thus leads away from the divine forces with which one must associate to be happy both here and hereafter» — Lang resume la advertencia ética del libro contra la ociosidad y el ascetismo, con los §§403 y 535: el retiro monástico, dice, infla la estima propia y aparta.

«Whereas in the Middle Ages Dante could present his worldview in the form of a coherent narrative, Swedenborg prefers a more systematic, philosophical description» — Lang contrasta la forma de la obra con la Comedia de Dante: donde uno narra, el otro describe de manera sistemática.

«There is nothing strange about this communication, Swedenborg assures us, for all the beings he encounters are people who once lived a normal human life in this world» — Lang recoge la razón con que el propio libro naturaliza el trato con los habitantes del otro mundo: todos vivieron antes una vida humana ordinaria.

«optimism: “It is not so hard to lead a heaven-bound life as people think it is” (title of §§528» — Lang cifra el mensaje ético del libro en el título de su penúltimo capítulo y lo llama optimismo; la frase arranca en la p. 27 con *In sum, the seer's ethical message is one of* y el corte es de límite de chunk, no de plana.

«Among all visionaries, Herr Swedenborg is probably the one who has written most explicitly. He discusses, quotes sources, adduces arguments and causes, etc. The whole edifice has a kind of coherence and with all its peculiarity is erected with studied thought. The book, moreover, has so many new and unexpected turns that it may be read through without boredom» — Lang abre con un epígrafe del diario de Carl Gustaf Tessin, fechado el 4 de julio de 1760, que es un juicio de lector contemporáneo: entre los visionarios, el que escribe con más claridad, con coherencia y sin aburrir; el mismo pasaje se reimprime dentro de la introducción en la p. 67, y el ancla está puesta en su primera aparición.

«The book also warns against marriage between partners of divergent religions, for true marital love does not develop between them (§378). Even an interpretation of marital intimacy is offered: “Marital pleasure, which is a purer and more delicate pleasure of touch, surpasses all others because of its service, the procreation of the human race and thus of the angelic heaven» — Lang consigna dos cosas más del libro sobre el matrimonio: la advertencia contra las uniones entre religiones distintas (§378) y la interpretación del placer conyugal por su servicio, la procreación (§402).

«He knew the limits and spiritual dangers of what outwardly appears to be a holy and devout life» — Lang atribuye a Swedenborg una reserva sobre la devoción exterior, a propósito del veredicto del §535 sobre quienes creen que basta con ir a la iglesia y rezar.

«The world of spirits (mundus spirituum) is the realm immediately encasing our material world. Swedenborg’s observations about this realm can be found under the heading “The World of Spirits and Our State after Death” (§§421–535). As this heading indicates, death shifts people’s primary consciousness from the material world into the world of spirits» — Lang define el mundo de los espíritus con su nombre latino y con la función que le lee: la muerte traslada allí la consciencia primaria.

«2. The second stage is a stage of transformation. People meet angels—former material human beings, delegated from heaven to offer instruction about the Lord, heavenly existence, and the values of goodness and truth» — segundo de los tres estados con que Lang ordena el paso por el mundo de los espíritus: la instrucción angélica del §548.

«They shed the form of the physical body that they had from their parents, so that their own, individual, previously concealed inner form becomes visible, a form shaped by their true nature, character, and orientation. People of good character now have lovely faces, while people of evil orientation have ugly ones» — Lang describe el cambio de forma del §457: se abandona el cuerpo heredado de los padres y aflora la forma interior, que el carácter determina.

«Although some people stay very long in the world of spirits—up to thirty years—most of the newcomers soon find their way either up to heaven or down into hell (§426). Which way one goes depends on the inner orientation that one has acquired during one’s life in the flesh and that has asserted itself in response to angelic instruction. Evil people choose hell; good people, heaven» — Lang mide la duración del paso intermedio con el §426 —hasta treinta años en algunos casos— y adjudica la dirección a la orientación interior adquirida en vida.

«Speaking of all humans, Swedenborg says, “We have been created to enter heaven and become angels” (homo creatus est ut in coelum veniat, & fiat Angelus, §57» — Lang cita la tesis antropológica del §57 y conserva el latín original entre paréntesis; el aparato tipográfico del paréntesis va dentro de las comillas porque es letra de la fuente.

«Whereas many people think of angels as “minds without form,” as “something airy with something alive within it,” Swedenborg insists on their truly human form» — Lang contrapone la creencia común sobre los ángeles con lo que el §74 sostiene: la forma humana verdadera.

«Like his father, the Lutheran bishop Jesper Swedberg (1653– 1735), Swedenborg insists that the inhabitants of heaven are not deprived of the most elementary means of communication, language» — Lang traza una continuidad con el padre, el obispo luterano Jesper Swedberg, en el punto del lenguaje en el cielo.

«While his father had speculated that the Swedes would speak Swedish in heaven, but would understand other languages without difficulty, Swedenborg advances the more philosophical view that “all people in heaven have the same language,” no matter where they come from» — Lang marca dónde el hijo se aparta del padre: donde aquel imaginaba a los suecos hablando sueco en el cielo, este sostiene en el §236 una lengua única para todos.

«The seer repeatedly insists on the fact that the communities are not formed by a law imposed from outside; rather, each heavenly community is constituted from the inner being of every member. In Swedenborg’s words: “Heaven is not outside angels but within them» — Lang recoge del §53 la razón por la que las comunidades celestiales no son ordenamiento impuesto: se constituyen desde el ser interior de cada miembro.

«As former men and women, the angels are male and female (§366). As a consequence, they form couples. Mate is drawn toward mate when their minds can be united into one. They love each other at first sight and enter into marriage. With many people gathered around them, they also hold a feast in celebration of their union (§383). The Lord blesses their mutual love and makes them happy. Heavenly couples differ from their earthly counterparts only in that they have no children» — Lang consigna los matrimonios celestiales de los §§366, 383 y 382b y la única diferencia que el libro les señala frente a los terrenos.

«As a rule, heavenly societies are assigned specific duties. The inhabitants of some work as guardian angels in the world; their task is leading people away from evil feelings and thoughts and helping them to control their deeds (§391). Others work among the spirits that have newly arrived in the world of spirits. Again others raise the children who have died in infancy» — Lang reparte los oficios del cielo según el §391: unos guardan a los vivos, otros atienden a los recién llegados, otros crían a los niños muertos en la infancia.

«The infernal regions (inferna), with their division into an upper level called the region of spirits (regnum spirituum) and a lower level called the region of demons (regnum geniorum, see §596), are dealt with at length, though not nearly as extensively as the heavenly realms (§§536–588). The spirits (spiritûs) and demons (genii) are none other than former human beings» — Lang da la topografía del infierno con sus nombres latinos, la región de los espíritus y la de los genios del §596, y niega para ambas cualquier origen distinto del humano.

«According to Swedenborg, there are no devils and demons made by God in a separate act of creation; this common belief, Swedenborg says, is quite unjustified» — Lang consigna la negativa del libro a una creación aparte de diablos y demonios, y la califica con las palabras que el propio autor emplea.

«We must beware, however, of misunderstanding Swedenborg: He does not psychologize the tortures of hell by speaking of it in terms of inner unhappiness;8 instead, he consistently refers to the tortures of hell as harm inflicted from the outside» — Lang pone un límite a la lectura psicologizante del infierno: el libro habla de daño infligido desde fuera, no de infelicidad interior.

«Swedenborg specifically comments on the biblical text, but takes it to refer to “clashes and battles” between the citizens of hell» — Lang muestra cómo el libro lee el llanto y el crujir de dientes de Mateo 8:12 en el §575: como choques y batallas entre los habitantes del infierno.

«Unlike Swedenborg, his contemporary Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) comes close to defining hell in psychological terms. According to book 4 of Émile, human hearts are “eaten away by envy, avarice, and ambition,” so that hell is “in the hearts of the wicked» — Lang introduce a Rousseau como contraste: el libro cuarto del *Émile* pone el infierno en el corazón de los malvados.

«Yet, despite this similarity, Rousseau emphasizes the human heart, and Swedenborg accentuates the acts. Rousseau’s hell can be described as an insane asylum, whereas Swedenborg’s inferno is a society in which the wicked reign» — Lang cierra el contraste con dos imágenes: el infierno de Rousseau como manicomio y el de Swedenborg como sociedad gobernada por los malos.

«What about punishment? In hell, punishment does exist, but it is never based on records of sins committed during the earthly life. Instead, punishment is incurred exclusively for deeds done in hell» — Lang consigna la regla del castigo que le lee al §509: no hay pena por los pecados de la vida terrena, solo por los actos cometidos en el infierno.

«Once the evil character of someone has asserted itself, there will be no more change, and so there will be no escape from hell, in all eternity. “A great deal of experience has convinced me that after death we remain the same forever” (§480). Consequently, “the people in the hells cannot be saved» — Lang enuncia la irreversibilidad que el libro sostiene en los §§480 y 595, y la ancla en la tesis de que es en el mundo del tiempo y del espacio donde se elige.

«Yet Swedenborg gives those in hell a little hope: Sometimes the Lord sends angels to people in hell to prevent them from tormenting each other excessively» — Lang matiza esa irreversibilidad con el §391: el Señor envía ángeles a los del infierno para que no se atormenten en exceso.

«Supervised and regulated by the Lord, who always supports the heavenly forces, the play of antagonistic powers results in a great cosmic equilibrium (§§592, 593). Far from being in a sterile state of homeostasis, the universe teems with life» — Lang describe el resultado del conflicto permanente entre los dos reinos como equilibrio cósmico, y niega que sea homeostasis estéril.

«Heaven, a dynamic reality, means harmonious life under divine inflowing, whereas hell means disharmonious life apart from the Lord. For the author of Heaven and Hell, human life will continue forever—both in this world and in the spiritual universes that surround it» — Lang opone la escatología del libro a la escolástica: cielo e infierno no son término de la vida sino formas de continuarla, armónica una y desarmónica la otra.

«All of this life comes from the Lord (Dominus), who encompasses and sustains the entire cosmic structure. Everything that exists and lives owes its being to the Lord, and indeed draws its power of being at any moment from the Lord (§9). Cut off from its source of being, everything would immediately vanish into nothingness» — Lang enuncia la dependencia ontológica que el §9 sostiene: todo lo que es toma su ser del Señor a cada instante y sin esa fuente se desvanecería.

«The solar metaphor for the Lord is used in a way that gives Swedenborg’s theocentric universe a heliocentric structure: “Since the Lord is the sun of heaven . . . the Lord is the common center [Dominus est Centrum commune» — Lang lee la metáfora solar del §124 como estructura heliocéntrica de un universo teocéntrico, y conserva entre corchetes el latín del original.

«However, a close reading reveals that Swedenborg often switches his language from vertical to centric metaphors. Thus the higher angels and heavens are also called “more inward” ones, that is, those that are closer to the divine center» — Lang señala el trueque de metáforas que le lee al texto: de lo alto y lo bajo a lo interior y lo exterior, con los ángeles superiores llamados también más internos.

«Swedenborg takes care to correct common misunderstandings of the notion of God. Theologians have often misrepresented the nature of the Lord by believing in three divine beings (§2) or denying the divinity of the Lord while recognizing only the Father» — Lang consigna las dos objeciones del libro a la teología recibida sobre Dios: creer en tres seres divinos (§2) y negar la divinidad del Señor reconociendo solo al Padre (§3).

«There is only one God, one Lord, who manifested himself on earth as Jesus, and who manifests himself in heaven as the sun or the moon» — el monoteísmo del libro en la formulación de Lang: un solo Dios, manifiesto en la tierra como Jesús y en el cielo como sol o luna.

«The seer was given that knowledge in two mutually supportive ways—by way of mystical communication with angels and by being enabled to understand the inner meaning of the biblical writings» — Lang reduce a dos las vías de conocimiento que el libro declara: el trato con los ángeles y la lectura del sentido interior de la Escritura.

«During the last years of his life, Emanuel Swedenborg became a kind of celebrity, and people sought him out in his homes in Stockholm and London, or wherever they could find him» — Lang consigna la fama del autor en sus últimos años y la búsqueda que hacían de él en Estocolmo y en Londres.

«One of these visitors, the German poet Gottlieb Friedrich Klopstock (1724–1803), wanted to be put in touch with his departed friends—which, however, Swedenborg refused to do» — Lang trae el caso de Klopstock, que quiso que lo pusiera en contacto con sus amigos muertos y recibió una negativa; el nombre va tal cual lo imprime el volumen.

«Klopstock and many others considered him a spirit-seer, and people wanted to hear him talk about angels or dead relatives, out of pure curiosity. They relied on hearsay and perhaps on a very superficial reading of books like Heaven and Hell, which seemed to them a conglomerate of disparate hallucinations» — Lang describe la recepción que le atribuye a esos visitantes: lo tomaban por vidente de espíritus y leían el libro, de oídas, como amasijo de alucinaciones.

«While it is true that Swedenborg did claim to be in contact with the other world, many contemporaries misunderstood or simply overlooked the fact that he wanted to lay the foundation of a new theology» — Lang separa la fama de espiritista del propósito declarado del autor, que era fundar una teología nueva; el pasaje es el que esta ficha usa para dejar la tradición como deuda.

«The metaphor of layers immediately makes sense when the reader considers the fact that Swedenborg’s philosophy belongs to the eclectic tradition» — Lang declara la clave de su lectura histórica: la filosofía de Swedenborg pertenece a la tradición ecléctica, y por eso la trata por capas.

«In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by contrast, many philosophers and scientists celebrated eclecticism as the only adequate procedure. Truth, they claimed, cannot be attained by committing oneself wholeheartedly to a traditional school such as the one founded by Plato (427–347 B.C.E.), Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.), or the Stoics; it can only be found by experience and by carefully scrutinizing and possibly refining received ideas and notions found in the huge repertoire of already accumulated insight» — Lang restituye el sentido de honor que el eclecticismo tenía en los siglos XVII y XVIII, contra el que hoy tiene: no era mezcla arbitraria sino método de verdad por experiencia y revisión de lo recibido.

«Eclectic minds were open to all sorts of ideas, combined them into ever new configurations, developed them in ever new ways, and rarely sought to trace—or to reveal—their ultimate sources» — Lang añade el rasgo que más pesa para leer a Swedenborg: los eclécticos rara vez rastreaban o declaraban sus fuentes últimas.

«When Swedenborg studied mathematics and physics in the early eighteenth century, the foremost scientists shared Sturm’s basic philosophy, and the Swede made it his own» — Lang adjudica al joven Swedenborg la filosofía ecléctica de Johann Christoph Sturm, que dominaba entre los científicos de su formación.

«In retrospect, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)—a man well acquainted with the merits of eclecticism—could write: “Swedenborg was born into an atmosphere of great ideas. It is hard to say what was his own» — Lang cita el juicio de Emerson sobre las deudas del sistema: nació en una atmósfera de grandes ideas y es difícil decir qué era suyo.

«If Swedenborg’s thought were to be compared to a house, it would be one in which building materials from different sources were combined to form a new, solid unity» — la imagen con que Lang resume su tesis sobre las fuentes: materiales de procedencias distintas combinados en una unidad nueva.

«Archaic, Neoplatonic, Renaissance, baroque, and romantic elements can be discerned. The first subject will be the archaic character of his worldview» — Lang enumera las cinco capas con que va a leer el libro y anuncia el orden; es el índice de la segunda parte de su introducción.

«The blissful realm is repeatedly described in the Rig-Veda, the ancient Sanskrit hymns composed around 1200 B.C.E. in India (Cohn 1993, 76). In these hymns, heaven appears as full of light, harmony, and joy. Its denizens are nourished on milk and honey. They make love—all the more deliciously because they have been freed from every bodily defect. The sound of sweet singing and of the flute is readily available» — Lang busca el cielo arcaico en los himnos del Rig-Veda y describe lo que allí se dice del reino dichoso: luz, leche y miel, amor sin defecto corporal y música.

«A typical hell was that of the ancient Mesopotamians: a netherworld peopled by demons who sometimes swarm out into the world of the living and even make assaults on the world of the gods. The same nether world also housed the spirits of dead human beings, or at least most of them. Pictured as a realm of darkness and ruled by an unfriendly goddess, hell was a gloomy, unpleasant place» — el infierno arcaico en la reconstrucción de Lang: el inframundo mesopotámico, con sus demonios que salen al mundo de los vivos y su diosa hostil.

«visibility are facts much emphasized by Swedenborg; only misguided philosophers think of God as invisible and consequently as incomprehensible» — Lang contrapone la visibilidad divina que el libro subraya a la invisibilidad de los filósofos, con los §§82 y 86; la frase arranca en la p. 35 con *The Lord's self-manifestation and*.

«In his dialogue Phaedo, the Greek philosopher Plato discusses the fate of souls after death, assigning them places according to sinfulness or saintliness in life» — Lang trae el Fedón como precedente de la asignación de destinos póstumos según la conducta, y a continuación cita el pasaje entero.

«Plato seems to have added certain ideas of his own—calling the body the soul’s prison and seeing philosophy as the most powerful means of achieving a higher postmortem status; yet, when designating a particular destination for each type of soul, his basic view agrees with archaic notions» — Lang separa lo propio de Platón —el cuerpo como cárcel y la filosofía como vía— de lo que comparte con la visión arcaica.

«The Iranian prophet Zoroaster, who lived sometime around 1200 B.C.E., revised the archaic worldview by intensifying its dramatic dimension» — Lang atribuye a Zoroastro la dramatización del cuadro arcaico: el conflicto deja de ser eterno y se encamina a un choque final.

«Zoroaster’s worldview influenced ancient Jewish beliefs and through them Christian eschatological doctrines. The war scenario was supplemented by a judgment scenario, so that the dramatic end and consummation of human history came to be seen as consisting of two final acts—Satan’s defeat and the Last Judgment» — Lang traza la cadena que va de Zoroastro a las creencias judías antiguas y de ahí a la escatología cristiana, con la suma del escenario de guerra y el de juicio.

«For him, history will continue forever as a place of conflict between good and evil, truth and falsehood, order and disorder» — Lang lee el libro como un retorno a la visión arcaica frente a la doctrina cristiana recibida: la historia no termina, sigue como lugar de conflicto.

«He offers a radical new interpretation of traditional Christian teachings on the Last Judgment, arguing that the relevant biblical texts have been misunderstood (§§1, 307, 312). He claims to have been granted the discovery of the real meaning concealed in the Bible» — Lang consigna la objeción del libro a la doctrina recibida del Juicio Final y la declaración de haber recibido el sentido real oculto en la Biblia.

«one can infer that for Swedenborg the Last Judgment has already taken place as an event not on earth, but in the spiritual world. In Last Judgment 45 he describes it as an event he had himself witnessed in 1757» — Lang infiere del libro, y remite a otro título del autor, que el Juicio Final ya ocurrió en 1757 y no en la tierra sino en el mundo espiritual.

«Although this report is accompanied by a reference to Last Judgment, which describes the actual event in detail, uninformed readers will hardly suspect that the author here speaks about the Last Judgment as a past event, an episode contemporaneous with human history rather than the culmination and end of this history» — Lang advierte que el lector desprevenido no notará que el §229 describe el Juicio Final como suceso pasado y contemporáneo de la historia humana.

«One of the very first things we are told in Heaven and Hell is that “the Divine is one” (quod Divinum unum sit» — Lang abre la capa neoplatónica con la primera tesis del libro y conserva su latín, del §2.

«These statements form the elementary ontological lesson not only of Swedenborg, but of a long and venerable philosophical tradition begun in ancient Greece by Plato in the fourth century B.C.E., and renewed as well as developed by Plotinus (205–270) in the third century» — Lang inscribe la ontología del libro en la línea que va de Platón a Plotino.

«Platonic philosophy teaches three main doctrines. First, that there are two worlds—a material one and a spiritual, transcendent one, with the spiritual world being the purer and more powerful realm. Second, that both worlds are ultimately derived from a common source of being and power that transcends everything spiritual and material. This source can be spoken of as the Good, the One, the First, or the Deity. Third, the human being belongs essentially to the spiritual or divine world and therefore transcends death; the general way of referring to this doctrine is to say that the individual human soul is immortal» — Lang enuncia las tres doctrinas platónicas con las que va a medir el libro: dos mundos, un origen común que a los dos trasciende, y la pertenencia del hombre al mundo espiritual.

«Stated in these very general terms, much if not all of Christian theology parallels Platonic or Neoplatonic thought. However, Swedenborg sometimes uses the very terminology employed by the school of Plato—for example, when calling God “the First» — Lang acota su propio argumento: en términos generales toda la teología cristiana es paralela al platonismo, y lo que singulariza a este libro es que usa la terminología misma de la escuela.

«Platonists have spent much time trying to define this intermedium; Plotinus, for instance, developed the theory of a cosmic soul that binds all things together, connecting them with the One or the First» — Lang sitúa el problema del intermediario en la tradición platónica y recuerda la solución de Plotino, el alma cósmica.

«The “outflow” (from the Divine) and “inflow” (into the soul) that in Plotinus excites the soul to love is in Swedenborg generalized to all movements of human will and human thought» — Lang mide la distancia entre los dos: lo que en Plotino excita al alma al amor, aquí se generaliza a todo movimiento de la voluntad y del pensamiento.

«Plotinus and Swedenborg share a conspicuous feature of their writing and their way of arguing: the alternation of conceptual discussion with the vivid description of spiritual experiences» — Lang señala el rasgo de escritura que a su juicio los hermana: alternar la discusión conceptual con la descripción viva de experiencias espirituales.

«The author of Heaven and Hell often uses the human body as an illuminating analogy in his arguments. Thus he asserts that the universe as a whole is in human form and that the highest or third heaven corresponds to the head of the Universal Human» — Lang consigna la analogía corporal del §65: el universo entero tiene forma humana y el tercer cielo corresponde a la cabeza del Hombre Universal.

«This being said, one major difference between Heaven and Hell and the Neoplatonic view of God must be pointed out. In classical Neoplatonism the First or One stays remote from creation and is difficult to reach even by philosophical meditation. Swedenborg’s Christian Neoplatonism insists that the One is the Lord, that is, Jesus Christ who manifested himself within the realm of the created world and therefore can be thought about, believed in, and loved» — la diferencia que Lang marca con el neoplatonismo clásico: allí el Uno queda remoto, y aquí el Uno es el Señor manifestado en el mundo creado, y por eso pensable, creíble y amable.

«Not only the Enneads of Plotinus but also other Neoplatonic works can be compared fruitfully with Heaven and Hell. Here the most prominent source is the Corpus Hermeticum, a series of religious and philosophical treatises dating from the second and third centuries» — Lang nombra el Corpus Hermeticum como la otra fuente neoplatónica que le parece comparable con el libro y lo data en los siglos II y III.

«True to its Neoplatonic elitism, the Corpus Hermeticum argues that only a few people have been touched by the divine light» — Lang cierra la comparación hermética con lo que a su juicio la separa del libro: el elitismo de los pocos tocados por la luz divina.

«The Italian philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499), enamored by the thought of Plotinus, translated that author’s Greek works into Latin, making them accessible to European readers. Ficino also produced a Latin version of the Corpus Hermeticum, then thought to belong to the world’s most ancient literature—a literature predating the biblical books written by Moses» — Lang recuerda el papel de Ficino como traductor de Plotino y del Corpus Hermeticum al latín, y la datación antigua que entonces se le daba a ese corpus.

«In the seventeenth century the so-called Cambridge Platonists, a school represented by Henry More (1614–1687) and Ralph Cudworth (1617–1688), reinvigorated Platonic thought, defending it against those scientists who adopted a mechanistic worldview» — Lang sitúa a los platónicos de Cambridge, More y Cudworth, como la reactivación inmediatamente anterior del platonismo frente al mecanicismo.

«Although always religious, Swedenborg had adopted a mechanistic worldview in his early, philosophical works. Ultimately he found it wanting and came to prefer a more Neoplatonic perspective» — Lang data un cambio de posición en el propio autor: el mecanicismo de sus obras filosóficas tempranas le resultó insuficiente.

«Plotinus recommended a life of poverty and world-renouncement, preferring contemplation and meditation to active life in the world. In its Augustinian form, Neoplatonic philosophy suited Christian ascetics and worldrenouncers and could be invoked by medieval monks. Swedenborg would have none of this» — Lang marca la ruptura con el modelo ascético neoplatónico y monástico, que el libro rechaza; *worldrenouncers* sale del guion de fin de renglón unido por la herramienta y el volumen imprime *world-renouncers*.

«What Swedenborg says of the life of worldly duties also applies to wealth: it does not stand in the way of spiritual authenticity» — Lang extiende la misma regla a la riqueza y a continuación cita el §358, donde el libro autoriza acumular bienes, comer con elegancia y alojarse según la propia condición.

«scenarios. Swedenborg’s Last Judgment is unique, however, inasmuch as he describes it as a single significant event that has already taken place» — tras repasar tres estrategias de la teología moderna sobre la escatología, Lang marca en qué se aparta el libro de todas ellas: el Juicio es aquí un suceso único ya ocurrido; la frase arranca en la p. 42 con *Like Swedenborg, much of modern theology eliminates apocalyptic*.

«The cosmic soul, for Plotinus, is an emanation from the One that, through presence in everything, connects everything with the One» — Lang define el alma cósmica plotiniana como emanación del Uno presente en todo, tras citar dos parábolas de las Enéadas; la frase termina en la p. 46 con *as its ultimate, divine source of being*.

«Hell mentions Plotinus by name only once, in a quotation from Augustine (Swedenborg 1931, 138), but he seems to have known Plotinus’ works in Ficino’s translation. The Diocesan Library of Linköping in Sweden owns a Latin copy of Plotinus’s works (published in Basel 1580) which Swedenborg had signed with his name in 1705» — Lang mide la evidencia de esa lectura: una sola mención de Plotino por nombre y dentro de una cita de Agustín, y un ejemplar latino de Basilea firmado por Swedenborg en 1705 en la biblioteca diocesana de Linköping.

«mould our souls into another shape, and pull them away to themselves, being seated in our nerves [or sinews] and marrow and veins and arteries, and penetrating even to our inmost organs. . . . These demons then make their way through the body, and enter into the two irrational parts of the soul; and each demon perverts the soul in a different way, according to his special mode of action» — el pasaje del *libellus* 16 del Corpus Hermeticum que Lang trae como paralelo, en la traducción de Scott: los demonios se asientan en nervios, médula, venas y arterias y pervierten las dos partes irracionales del alma.

«But the rational part of the human soul remains free from the dominion of the demons, and fit to receive God into itself. If then the rational part of the human soul is illumined by a ray of light from God, for that human being the working of the demons is brought to naught, for no demon and no god has power against a single ray of light of God. But such humans are few indeed» — la contraparte del mismo pasaje hermético: la parte racional queda libre del dominio demoníaco y apta para recibir a Dios, aunque de pocos se diga.

«not the outward behavior but the inner state, for “our quality is actually that of our affection and thought, or our love and faith” (homo enim talis est qualis ejus affectio & cogitatio, §358» — la regla con que el libro mide una vida, en la cita latina que Lang conserva: lo que uno es, es su afecto y su pensamiento, su amor y su fe.

«In his negative attitude toward world-renouncement and in his appreciation of wealth, the author of Heaven and Hell departs from the Neoplatonic and medieval Catholic traditions. His values are those of the Renaissance» — Lang adjudica la posición del libro sobre el mundo y la riqueza al Renacimiento y no al neoplatonismo ni al catolicismo medieval.

«Scholars and merchants, poets and prelates considered life “in the world” to be at least as pure and valuable as that of the monk’s retreat. Rather than renouncing the world, they said, we should shape and enjoy it» — Lang describe el cambio de valoración renacentista de la vida en el mundo frente al retiro monástico.

«In the eighteenth century, the very same interests still fascinated the intellectual and cultural elite, and Swedenborg’s dictum “apart from an active life, a life has no happiness” (absque vita activa, nulla vitae felicitas, §403) can easily pass for a Renaissance maxim» — Lang lee la máxima del §403 sobre la vida activa como fórmula renacentista, y conserva su latín.

«Lorenzo Valla (1405–1457), one of the most important Renaissance authors, broke with many medieval Catholic ideas. In The Profession of the Religious he denied that institutionalized monastic virtue had superior validity and asserted that spontaneous good actions were higher (Trinkaus 1948, 151). Swedenborg’s critical attitude toward monasticism and his preference for giving to the poor “as the spirit moves us” (§358) speak the same language» — Lang emparenta la crítica del libro al monacato con la de Lorenzo Valla, que negaba validez superior a la virtud monástica institucionalizada frente a la acción buena espontánea; el tramo cruza a la p. 51.

«It also rests on a philosophical foundation—on the idea of human freedom and self-determination. Unlike animals, human beings can determine their fate free from the constraints of inborn dispositions» — Lang señala el otro cimiento de esa valoración: la libertad y la autodeterminación humanas, que separan al hombre del animal.

«Neither a fixed abode nor a form that is yours alone nor any function peculiar to yourself have we given you, Adam, to the end that according to your longing and according to your judgment you may have and possess what abode, what form, and what functions you yourself shall desire. The nature of all other beings is limited and constrained within the bounds of laws prescribed by us. You, constrained by no limits, in accordance with your own free will, in whose hand we have placed you, shall ordain for yourself the limits of your nature» — primer tramo del discurso que Pico della Mirandola pone en boca de Dios ante Adán, citado por Lang como el ambiente en que piensa el libro: ni morada fija ni forma propia, sino la que uno quiera.

«We have made you neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with freedom of choice and with honor, as though the maker and moulder of yourself, you may fashion yourself in whatever shape you shall prefer. You shall have the power to degenerate into the lower forms of life, which are brutish. You shall have the power, out of your soul’s judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, which are divine» — cierre de la misma cita de Pico: ni de cielo ni de tierra, ni mortal ni inmortal, con poder de degenerar en lo bestial o de renacer en lo divino.

«Freedom, for Renaissance philosophers and for Swedenborg, has to do with the human faculty of will or volition. In this context, as in many others, the author of Heaven and Hell focuses on the distinction between volition and intellect as our basic mental capacities» — Lang ancla la libertad en la voluntad y anuncia la distinción entre volición e intelecto de los §§423 a 425 y 500.

«Here we have to remember that in the Renaissance, philosophical discussion supported the idea that the action-oriented human will, rather than the contemplation-oriented intellect, was the noblest human faculty» — Lang sitúa la jerarquía de facultades en su contexto: el Renacimiento prefería la voluntad orientada a la acción sobre el intelecto orientado a la contemplación.

«While medieval scholastics invoked the authority of Aristotle to defend their contemplative ideals, Renaissance writers preferred Cicero (106–43 B.C.E.), the active statesman and orator, the man of the will» — Lang opone las autoridades de cada bando: Aristóteles para los escolásticos contemplativos, Cicerón para los renacentistas.

«According to Swedenborg, the human faculty of volition (voluntas) also ranks above the intellect or cognitive ability. Priority is given to the human will and, consequently, to everything that is in the center of the diagram—volition, love, good» — Lang consigna la jerarquía que el libro sostiene: la volición por encima del intelecto, y con ella el amor y el bien.

«In more philosophical terms, “thought is nothing but the form of our intention” (cogitatio non aliud est quam voluntatis forma, §500» — la fórmula del §500 con su latín: el pensamiento no es más que la forma de la intención.

«As the only free beings in the universe, men and women stand at the center of the cosmos. It is up to them whether they open themselves to the inflowing of good and truth from the Lord, or close themselves to such inflowing. Thus both heaven and hell are peopled with free beings. The Renaissance idea of human freedom has never been asserted more consistently» — Lang lleva la libertad a su consecuencia cosmológica: por ser los únicos libres, hombres y mujeres están en el centro del cosmos, y cielo e infierno se pueblan de seres libres.

«While traditional Christian theology was prepared to relegate pagans to hell (as did Dante in his Inferno), Swedenborg recognizes their capacity to enter heaven» — Lang marca la distancia con la teología tradicional en el punto de los paganos, con los §§318 a 328, y nombra el Infierno de Dante como el caso contrario.

«For Erasmus, one does not have to be a Christian to become a saint; and Christians may even rely on pagan intercession in heaven; so why not pray, “Sancte Socrates, ora pro nobis—Saint Socrates, pray for us» — Lang trae a Erasmo como antecedente humanista de esa apertura, con la jaculatoria a Sócrates que el propio Erasmo escribió.

«Unlike the other, less liberal reformers, Zwingli also admitted pagans to heaven. Hoping to lure the French king François I (1494–1547) to the Protestant cause, Zwingli promised him eternal felicity in the company of his own pious ancestors as well as biblical figures. With a splendid humanist flourish he added that characters like Hercules, Socrates, the Catos, and the Scipios would also await the king in heaven» — Lang añade a Zuinglio, que prometía al rey de Francia la compañía celestial de Hércules, Sócrates, los Catones y los Escipiones.

«Within every human being there is “a central and highest something [intimum & supremum quoddam], where the Lord’s divine life flows in first and most intimately» — la formulación del §39 que Lang cita con su latín entre corchetes: un centro supremo por donde entra primero la vida divina.

«Infinite worlds, more perfect than this one, lie hid in the mind of God. . . . It is possible that the species of each of these worlds is distinguished from those of our world» — la formulación del franciscano Guillaume de Vaurouillon que Lang cita: mundos infinitos escondidos en la mente de Dios, con especies distintas de las nuestras.

«In the sixteenth century, scientific support came from Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), whose heliocentric redescription of the universe made the earth a planet among other, possibly inhabited planets» — Lang cierra esa genealogía con Copérnico, cuya redescripción heliocéntrica hizo de la tierra un planeta entre otros.

«When Pope Benedict XIV (1675–1758) lifted the ban on works expounding heliocentrism in 1757 (Randles 1999, 217), the story of the medieval cosmos ended, and a new story could begin—the story of an infinite universe with a plurality of worlds» — Lang fecha en 1757 el levantamiento de la prohibición papal sobre las obras heliocéntricas y lo toma como corte entre dos relatos del cosmos.

«In the fifteenth century the cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464) in Of Learned Ignorance» — Lang abre la genealogía de la pluralidad de mundos con Nicolás de Cusa y su tratado sobre la docta ignorancia, que sostenía vida en la luna y en el sol; el tramo se corta antes del año entre paréntesis que dispara la guarda anticosido.

«encounter the good we have from the Lord. As a result, we are in a spiritual equilibrium—that is, in freedom» — cierre del §599 citado por Lang: el resultado de los dos influjos es un equilibrio espiritual, que es la libertad; la frase arranca en la p. 52 con los espíritus del infierno.

«Baroque religiosity can be measured by the intensity of its will to imagine scenes of the Bible, of the lives of the saints, and of the heavenly world. Theologians, visionaries, and poets all strove to include as much detail in their writing about the other world as historypainters used in their effort to put it on canvas» — Lang define el clima barroco en que sitúa al libro: teólogos, videntes y poetas compitiendo en detalle al describir el otro mundo, como los pintores de historia en el lienzo; *historypainters* sale del guion de fin de renglón unido por la herramienta y el volumen imprime *history-painters*.

«Swedenborg was not a historian; but was he not of a kindred spirit as he strove to describe the other world as vividly as possible, while at the same time explaining the innermost dispositions of people, and God’s dealing with them» — Lang propone leer el procedimiento del libro por analogía con el del historiador barroco: describir el otro mundo con viveza y a la vez explicar las disposiciones íntimas.

«A first move in this direction was the assumption, so ably argued by the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), that the eternal abode of the blessed must be a truly human environment, one in which the physical senses function, colors can be seen, sounds can be heard, and so on» — Lang fecha en Athanasius Kircher el giro hacia un más allá con sentidos, colores y sonidos, es decir hacia un cielo humano.

«Why, Sir, the happiness of an unembodied spirit will consist in the consciousness of the favour of God, in the contemplation of truth, and in the possession of felicitating ideas» — la respuesta de Samuel Johnson en el diálogo que Boswell registra, traído por Lang como muestra del clima de especulación barroca sobre la otra vida.

«Both Johnson and Boswell were normal Englishmen of their age, interested in everything, but not overly concerned about religion. In listening to them, we can get a glimpse of the baroque spirit: It was considered normal—“not doing any harm”—to offer speculations about heavenly life» — Lang lee ese diálogo como muestra de lo que en el siglo se tenía por normal: especular sobre la vida celestial no hacía daño.

«Moreover, the idea that at death the soul exchanges its terrestrial vehicle for one of air or a more refined one of ether was common to all Platonists of the period» — Lang consigna la doctrina del vehículo del alma como lugar común de los platónicos del periodo: al morir se cambia el vehículo terrestre por uno de aire o de éter.

«The theory of the vehicle of the soul kept spirits, demons, and angels within the physical realm and thus susceptible to scientific investigation or, at least, reasonable speculation» — Lang señala la consecuencia de esa doctrina en la escuela platónica moderna: al quedar dentro del universo físico, espíritus, demonios y ángeles se vuelven objeto de investigación.

«Second, among the works considered, Heaven and Hell—and its parent work, Secrets of Heaven—offers by far the most detailed description» — segunda de las cuatro observaciones con que Lang compara el libro con la literatura barroca del más allá: es la descripción más detallada de todas.

«Fourth, Swedenborg is the only author who claimed to have been in contact with the other world. In doing so, he was unique in his day» — cuarta observación de Lang: entre los autores comparados, el único que declaró haber estado en contacto con el otro mundo.

«Some considered him insane, and Immanuel Kant’s Träume eines Geistersehers (Dreams of a Spirit-Seer, [1766] 1969), with its apparently scathing critique of the Swedish visionary’s work, demonstrates how foreign the visionary mode was to the Enlightenment temper» — Lang trae los *Sueños de un visionario* de Kant como medida de la distancia entre el modo visionario y el temple ilustrado.

«For the baroque age, speculation about the other world was possible, as even Kant conceded; yet it had to be done within the limits of reason, Kant argued, for there cannot be any real experience of the beyond» — Lang resume la concesión y el límite que le atribuye a Kant: especular sobre el más allá se puede, dentro de los límites de la razón, porque experiencia de él no puede haberla.

«According to the romantic tradition, only a thin veil divides our world from the divine realm, and dreams, mystical experiences, visions, clairvoyance, even telepathy and somnambulism were thought to give access to it» — Lang define lo romántico por el velo delgado entre los dos mundos y por las vías de acceso que se le atribuían: sueños, experiencias místicas, visiones, clarividencia, telepatía y sonambulismo.

«Some dabbled in the occult arts and formed circles that eagerly sought information about the state of deceased persons through spiritistic messages» — Lang consigna la práctica de los círculos que buscaban noticias de los muertos por mensajes espiritistas en el ambiente romántico contemporáneo del autor.

«An analysis that includes Swedenborg in the romantic movement should at the same time emphasize his independence from it. Rather than being dependent on that movement, he must be considered its forerunner and source of inspiration» — Lang fija la relación con el romanticismo en un solo sentido: no lo considera dependiente del movimiento sino su precursor y fuente.

«The outward appearance of every angel expresses her or his inner being; thus inner goodness appears as shining beauty (§459), and an evil character manifests itself as visible ugliness» — Lang describe la doctrina de las apariencias del libro, que a su juicio le da su cualidad visionaria: lo interior se hace visible en la forma.

«One may compare this psychological world to one projected by a magic lantern: the lantern and its repertoire of images correspond to the angelic soul and its states, the projecting light corresponds to divine inflow, and the projected images to the angel’s environment. All inner states not only manifest themselves in the outside world, but actually create that world» — la imagen con que Lang explica el mundo angélico: linterna mágica en que el alma es la linterna, el influjo divino la luz y el entorno la imagen proyectada.

«In other words: heavenly reality, though originating with the Lord, is constantly shaped and reshaped by the angels. As a result, the individual angels always find themselves in an environment congenial to their mental state, as if that environment were a projection or emanation of that state» — Lang enuncia la consecuencia: la realidad celestial, aunque venga del Señor, la configuran de continuo los ángeles, y cada uno queda en un entorno afín a su estado.

«The visionary’s romantic notion of an ideal world in which everything emerges from the inner being of eternally young, beautiful men and women (§414) has inspired one of his most reserved biographers to acknowledge the master’s achievement» — Lang introduce el juicio de Martin Lamm, a quien llama uno de los biógrafos más reservados del autor, sobre el logro de esa construcción.

«In addition to the visionary mode of experience and description, one more feature foreshadows—and eventually deeply impresses— the romantic age: the theme of heavenly love between men and women» — Lang anuncia el segundo rasgo que anticipa el romanticismo: el amor celestial entre hombres y mujeres.

«The classical canon of Christian thought does not allow for the subject to be dealt with, for in heaven, according to standard Christian doctrine, all bliss derives from the soul’s enjoyment of God alone» — Lang mide la novedad de ese tema contra la doctrina cristiana estándar, para la que toda bienaventuranza deriva del solo goce de Dios.

«During the age of the baroque, as has been shown, the classical teaching as expressed by Nicole was gradually modified, and the idea of love, even erotic love, between the blessed could be imagined. But while the subject itself occasionally surfaces in earlier writing, it never became so developed as in Swedenborg’s work» — Lang sitúa el desarrollo del amor entre los bienaventurados como algo que ya asomaba en el barroco y que aquí llega más lejos.

«A closer reading reveals that Swedenborg is more nuanced than this quotation seems to suggest. Feelings, for him, are related to volition, which as has been shown is valued more highly than the faculty of thinking and reasoning; thus Heaven and Hell comes close to admitting the superiority of women» — Lang matiza lo que a primera vista parece convencional en el §368 sobre hombres y mujeres: como el sentimiento pertenece a la volición, que el libro valora por encima del pensar, la lectura se acerca a conceder superioridad a la mujer.

«He celebrates the heavenly marital union as a merging of the two sexes, and the union is so complete that the two appear as one angel rather than two different beings» — lo que a Lang le interesa del §367 no es la superioridad femenina sino la fusión: los dos aparecen como un solo ángel.

«Despite the avowed aim of serving as a compendium of and introduction to the many-volumed Secrets of Heaven for “people of simple heart and simple faith” (§1), Heaven and Hell waits for intelligent, educated readers» — Lang señala la tensión entre el destinatario declarado en el §1 y el lector que a su juicio el libro requiere.

«While the relevant sources are scarce, they nevertheless permit a classification into four types: the reader of the gentle class, the translator, the theologian, and the founder of a new church» — Lang declara la escasez de fuentes sobre los primeros lectores y la tipología con que los ordena: el lector de clase acomodada, el traductor, el teólogo y el fundador de una iglesia nueva.

«In the seventeenth century, the classical book on heaven came from the Puritan divine Richard Baxter (1615–1691). Titled The Saints’ Everlasting Rest» — Lang pone como término de comparación el libro clásico del barroco sobre el cielo, el del puritano Richard Baxter, que describía un cielo teocéntrico de santos alabando al Señor.

«No one has the idea that there could be an even higher heaven, the heavenly kingdom, in which the angels live in primitive, noble-savage circumstances, are naked, and have simple, wooden churches» — segunda mitad de la misma observación de Lang: sobre ese reino, un cielo más alto cuyos ángeles viven desnudos y en condiciones primitivas, con capillas de madera, según los §§179 y 223.

«Unlike the advocates of the new Platonic paradigm, Swedenborg does not include heaven and hell within the material universe as we know it, but rather asserts the existence of a spiritual universe connected to the physical by correspondences» — continuación de esa tercera observación, y la que más lo separa: cielo e infierno no caben dentro del universo material sino en un universo espiritual unido a este por correspondencias.

«spoke through all senses and the entire body, in whose bosom the angels lived: the glory of this man should radiate on him, and, if possible, make him aglow, so that he can feel the bliss and appreciate the stammering voice of the prophets whose spirit is filled with unspeakable words» — cierre del elogio anónimo de una reseña de 1772 que Lang atribuye al joven Goethe; el recomendado, dice, era Swedenborg sin nombrarlo, y el tramo arranca en la p. 60.

«In Europe, from the middle of the eighteenth century, three intellectual and cultural movements vied with each other: the older baroque temper, represented by the pious and learned Lavater; the Enlightenment, which, in the person of Kant, was critical of traditional religion, hostile to mystical claims, and insisted on the limits of philosophical and theological speculation» — Lang reparte el siglo en tres corrientes y describe las dos primeras: el temple barroco de Lavater y la Ilustración de Kant, crítica de la religión tradicional y hostil a lo místico.

«and romanticism, which, firmly standing within the Christian tradition, expressed an interest in mysticism, dreams, and visionary experience, and often gave expression to its sentiments in poetry and novels. The spirit of the young Goethe was tinged with romantic sentiment, and Swedenborg united the baroque and the romantic temper within one single soul» — la tercera corriente en la partición de Lang, el romanticismo, y la posición que le adjudica al autor: reunió en una sola alma el temple barroco y el romántico.

«Building on archaic views of the permanent conflict between good and evil; adopting Neoplatonic notions of the Deity; drawing on the Renaissance appreciation of the human will and a life in which wealth can be enjoyed legitimately; describing heaven and hell in the detailed manner» — el resumen con que Lang cierra su segunda parte y enumera las capas que fue midiendo: la arcaica del conflicto permanente, la neoplatónica de la deidad, la renacentista de la voluntad y la riqueza, y la barroca del detalle.

«Writing private notes or memoirs between 1759 and 1770, Count Gustaf Bonde, Carl Gustaf Tessin, and Johann Christian Cuno have left us the earliest readers’ responses to the original Latin edition of Heaven and Hell» — Lang nombra a los tres primeros lectores documentados de la edición latina: Gustaf Bonde, Carl Gustaf Tessin y Johann Christian Cuno.

«After having published Heaven and Hell as well as four other books in London in 1758, Swedenborg returned to Sweden, carrying with him, it seems, only very few copies of his new publications» — Lang consigna que el autor volvió a Suecia con muy pocos ejemplares de lo publicado en Londres, dato del que depende la historia de la primera recepción sueca.

«One copy came into Sweden through unknown channels and was sold to Count Gustaf Bonde (1682–1764), then chancellor of the University of Uppsala, an old acquaintance of Swedenborg» — el primer ejemplar que entró en Suecia, según Lang, llegó por vías desconocidas al conde Gustaf Bonde, canciller de la Universidad de Upsala.

«Lutherans believe in the essential sinfulness of every human being, so that, were Swedenborg right, all of them would end in hell» — Lang reconstruye la objeción luterana de Bonde al §§470 a 484: si la suerte depende de la vida llevada, todos acabarían en el infierno.

«It is not the life we lead on earth, Bonde contends, but God’s mercy that determines life everlasting; therefore there is the hope of everlasting life even for a poor sinner» — la tesis con que Bonde opone la misericordia divina a la doctrina del libro, en el resumen de Lang.

«The count fears that if, instead of basing one’s faith on the plain letter of Scripture, one has to look into it for an “internal sense,” then anyone could make up a special religion to suit oneself, by searching out whatever meaning one pleases» — la segunda objeción de Bonde, sobre el sentido interno de la Escritura: si se busca uno, cualquiera puede hacerse una religión a su medida.

«Interestingly, Bonde does not seem to have been surprised by the author’s claim of contact with angels. Bonde’s Lutheran beliefs were tolerant of angelic revelations, but intolerant of everything that contradicted their doctrine of divine mercy» — Lang señala qué no escandalizó a Bonde: no la pretensión de tratar con ángeles, que su luteranismo toleraba, sino lo que chocaba con la doctrina de la misericordia.

«He [Swedenborg] said that besides his own copy he had only two others, which he had intended, at the next Riksdag [meeting of parliament], to hand over to two bishops; but as he had heard that one copy of it had come into the country without his knowledge, having been sold to His Excellency Count Bonde, he had reconsidered the matter and given one of his copies to Senator Count Höpken and the other one to Councillor Oelreich, the censor of books. He expects fifty more copies from England next spring and then he will send one to me» — Tessin registra el reparto de los pocos ejemplares que había en Suecia, entre obispos, el conde Höpken y el censor de libros Oelreich, y la espera de cincuenta más desde Inglaterra.

«What he says in [§]191 . . . concerning space in heaven is a well-reasoned dream. Throughout the entire work one recognizes Bishop Swedberg’s son, who is dreaming with far greater profundity than the father. . . . All this may be read with the same credence one gives to Mohammed’s Alkoran» — el cierre del juicio de Tessin: llama sueño bien razonado lo que el §191 dice del espacio en el cielo, ve en el autor al hijo del obispo Swedberg soñando con más hondura que el padre, y le da el mismo crédito que al Corán.

«Tessin read Heaven and Hell with much interest, recognized its coherence, appreciated its novelty and even profundity, but eventually decided to place it with the Qur’an—a book of other people’s revelation, a book not accepted and acceptable as our normative source of religion» — Lang resume la posición de Tessin: interés, coherencia reconocida y colocación final del libro junto al Corán, revelación de otros que no obliga.

«The reference to the Qur’an was to become standard in anti-Swedenborg polemics; it will also appear in the discussion below of the reactions of Johann Christian Cuno and John Wesley, but Tessin’s note of 1760 seems to be the first attestation» — Lang data en la nota de Tessin de 1760 el primer testimonio de un recurso que se volvería estándar en la polémica contra Swedenborg.

«Cuno happened to meet Swedenborg in an Amsterdam bookstore on November 4, 1768, and the two men took a liking to each other. At the time Swedenborg was living in Amsterdam to supervise the printing of some of his books, and it was in this city that Cuno became one of his friends and avid readers» — Lang fecha el encuentro de Cuno con el autor en una librería de Ámsterdam el 4 de noviembre de 1768, cuando este vigilaba la impresión de sus libros.

«He noted that in Swedenborg’s theology all the angels and evil spirits have formerly been humans on earth; there are marriages in heaven; resurrection actually means introduction into the world of spirits» — los tres puntos en que Cuno vio apartarse el libro de la enseñanza bíblica recibida: el origen humano de ángeles y espíritus, los matrimonios del cielo y la resurrección entendida como entrada al mundo de los espíritus.

«He also suspected the author of falling into the trap of Manicheism, a heresy that posits the eternal coexistence of two conflicting principles, one good and one evil—the one realized in heaven, the other in hell» — la acusación de maniqueísmo que Cuno le hizo, por la coexistencia eterna de dos principios opuestos, uno realizado en el cielo y otro en el infierno.

«Swedenborg himself had written about enthusiasts who, with their minds focused exclusively on matters of religion, delved into the world of spirits and were deceived by lying spirits (§249). Was it possible that Swedenborg, despite his claims to the contrary, belonged to these enthusiasts» — la objeción que Cuno construye con el propio §249: si el libro advierte contra los entusiastas engañados por espíritus mentirosos, cabe preguntar si su autor era uno de ellos.

«I myself [Cuno] cannot in the least defend the upright Swedenborg. But if, eleven years ago, when this work of his whereof I am speaking, namely Heaven and Hell, was published, a well-grounded theologian had left what is good therein in its place, and soberly refuted what was erroneous and contradictory, then the good man, if not diverted from his imaginations, would nevertheless have been constrained to be more careful in the future, and not to flood the world with his multifarious writings» — el balance de Cuno en sus propias palabras: no puede defenderlo, y lamenta que nadie con formación teológica separara a tiempo lo bueno de lo erróneo.

«If the statements of Bonde, Tessin, and Cuno were representative of the early readers of Heaven and Hell, then one would have to say that the response was largely critical and only marginally appreciative» — Lang resume la primera recepción de los tres lectores suecos y alemán como mayormente crítica.

«No contemporary reader will have missed the friendly tone of the review, and so it may be concluded that in 1778, when the first public statement on Swedenborg’s book appeared, the educated readers of England took the work seriously» — Lang lee esa reseña como prueba de que en 1778 los lectores cultos de Inglaterra tomaban en serio el libro.

«Swedenborg’s book had the chance to capture the attention not only of people of the gentle class with a passing interest in the subject, but also of pious people who sought to promote it in vernacular translations» — Lang abre su segunda categoría de lectores, la de los traductores, definida por el propósito de difundir.

«Most likely, he found Swedenborg’s books more interesting than others and therefore chose two of them for translation» — Lang identifica al primer traductor del libro, el alemán Johann Christoph Lenz, contador de la Universidad de Leipzig, que escogió dos títulos del autor entre su colección de obras que clasificaba como alquímicas y teosóficas.

«the former has met with a very able advocate in the preface-writer, the latter will need no justification» — remate de la reseña anónima de *The Gentleman's Magazine* de 1778: separa la parte visionaria de la doctrinal y declara esta última irreprochable; la frase arranca en la p. 69.

«During the 1760s, the two came to be interested in Swedenborg’s work, eventually met each other, developed a friendship, and also visited the master in London. Their story is one of devotion to the work of Swedenborg. After Swedenborg’s death, the two men collaborated on the translation of Heaven and Hell» — Lang cuenta cómo el clérigo anglicano Thomas Hartley y el químico cuáquero William Cookworthy llegaron a la obra y colaboraron en la primera traducción inglesa tras la muerte del autor.

«Hartley wrote a long introduction to A Treatise Concerning Heaven and Hell in which he defended Swedenborg’s claim to have knowledge of the spiritual world from experience» — Lang consigna el contenido del prólogo de Hartley a la primera traducción inglesa: una defensa de que el conocimiento del mundo espiritual viene de experiencia.

«He knew that his times were not favorable to such claims, for “the belief of all extraordinary or supernatural dispensations is at a very low ebb with us» — Hartley mide el clima de su época para esa clase de pretensiones, en la cita que Lang trae de su prefacio de 1778.