Heaven and Hell (Harley) n. 118

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118. That the Lord is actually seen in heaven as a Sun I have not only been told by angels but it has sometimes been granted me to see it. Therefore, I would hese tell in a few words what I have heard and seen respecting the Lord as a Sun. The Lord is seen as a Sun, not in heaven, but high above the heavens, and not directly overhead or in the zenith but before the faces of the angels at a middle height. He is seen in two distinct places, noticeably apart, one before the right eye and the other before the left eye. Before the right eye He appears exactly like a Sun with, as it were, the same brilliance and size as the sun of the world. Before the left eye, however, He appears not as a Sun but as a Moon, shining white like the moon of our earth, and of like size, but more refulgent and surrounded with many little moons, as it were, of similar whiteness and splendour. The Lord is seen in two places with such a difference because every person sees the Lord in accordance with the quality of his reception of Him. Thus, He is seen in one way by those who receive Him with the good of love, and in another by those who receive Him with the good of faith. Those who receive Him with the good of love see Him as a Sun, fiery and flaming, in accordance with the reception. These are in His celestial kingdom. Those who receive Him with the good of faith see Him as a Moon, white and gleaming in accordance with the reception. These are in His spiritual kingdom.# This is so because the good of love corresponds to fire. Therefore, "fire" in the spiritual sense is love; and the good of faith corresponds to light, for "light" in the spiritual sense is faith.## The Lord appears before the eyes because the interior things of the mind (mens) see through the eyes, through the right eye from the good of love, and through the left eye from the good of faith.### For, with the angels and also with man, all things on the right side correspond to the good from which truth is derived, and all on the left to the truth which is from good.#### The good of faith is, in its essence, truth from good. # The Lord appears in heaven as the Sun, and He is the Sun of heaven (n. 1053, 3636, 3643, 4060). The Lord appears to those who are in the celestial kingdom, where the ruling love is love to Him, as the Sun; and to those who are in the spiritual kingdom, where charity towards the neighbour and faith rule, as the Moon (n. 1521, 1529, 1530, 1531, 1837, 4696). The Lord as the Sun appears at a middle altitude before the right eye, and as the Moon before the left eye (n. 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530, 1531, 3636, 3643, 4321, 5097, 7078, 7083, 7173, 7270, 8812, 10809). The Lord has been seen as the Sun and as the Moon (n. 1531, 7173). The Essential Divine of the Lord is far above His Divine in heaven (n. 7270, 8760). ## "Fire" in the Word, signifies love, in a twofold sense (n. 934, 4906, 5215). "Sacred" or "heavenly fire" signifies Divine Love (n. 934, 6314, 6832); and "infernal fire" signifies the love of self and the world, and every lust which is of those loves (n. 1861, 5071, 6314, 6832, 7575, 10747). Love is the fire of life, and life itself is actually from it (n. 4906, 5071, 6032, 6314). "Light" signifies the truth of faith (n. 3395, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415, 9548, 9684). # The sight of the left eye corresponds to the truths of faith, and the sight of the right eye, to their goods (n. 4410, 6923). ## The things which are on man's right side have reference to good from which is truth, and those which are on the left side have reference to truth from good (n. 9495, 9604).


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