4568. CONCERNING THE LIFE AFTER DEATH: THAT MAN APPEARS TO HIMSELF TO LIVE IN THE WORLD. I was in discussion with some within the church, concerning the life of man after death. They said that the man who dies is not awakened into life till the day of the last judgment; and that, then, he rises again with the body also. But I, as often, replied to them that the day of the last judgment to anyone is immediately when he dies, and that, then, he comes into another life, and, there, plainly appears to himself in a body just as in the world; but that, there, his body is not visible to the eyes of the body in the world, just as the body in the world is not visible to the eyes of that body there. But they of the Church here in the world, wholly denied this, and also scoffed at it, being unaware that I knew this from experience itself. They said they believed that resurrection is only granted when one is at the same time in the body; and that the soul has a body they were utterly unwilling to know at all, not even that the soul has any form, still less that the soul is a spirit in human form after the life of the body. From this, I clearly saw that they had no idea at all concerning the soul, that it is anything, nor concerning the spirit, nor concerning the internal man, and that, to them, it appeared wholly paradoxical, yea, impossible, that man, in the other life - like the angels and spirits, who appeared to many, concerning whom [we read] in the Word - appears in the human form. Hence, I was also able to infer that few within the Church believe in a resurrection. I have also often spoken about this matter with spirits, and they marveled that the man of the Church is at this day of such a character, and especially that they wholly reject the truth that man appears like a man in the other life; and similarly all spirits and angels to each other; and that they mutually see each other much more clearly than in the world; mutually hear each other, converse together, yea, touch each other; so that they are in a body, and also in a world, but in another, which is not visible to the eyes of men living in the earthly body, just as the world of men [is invisible] to the eyes of spirits and angels.