ht of heaven, because it is Divine truth, for that which shines in
heaven is the Divine truth (see n. 132). Again, they said that
without such a Word there would be no light of heaven with the men of
our earth, nor would there be any conjunction of heaven with them;
for there is conjunction only so far as the light of heaven is
present with man, and that light is present only so far as Divine
truth is revealed to man by means of the Word. This conjunction by
means of the correspondence of the spiritual sense of the Word with
its natural sense is unknown to man, because the man of this earth
knows nothing about the spiritual thought and speech of angels, and
how it differs from the natural thought and speech of men; and until
this is known it cannot in the least be known what the internal sense
is, and that such conjunction is therefore possible by means of that
sense. They said, furthermore, that if this sense were known to man,
and if man in reading the Word were to think in accordance with some
knowledge of it, he would come into interior wisdom, and would be
still more conjoined with heaven, since by this means he would enter
into ideas like the ideas of the angels.

311. XXXV. HEAVEN AND HELL ARE FROM THE HUMAN RACE.

In the Christian world it is wholly unknown that heaven and hell are
from the human race, for it is believed that in the beginning angels
were created and heaven was thus formed; also that the devil or Satan
was an angel of light, but having rebelled he was cast down with his
crew, and thus hell was formed. The angels never cease to wonder at
such a belief in the Christian world, and still more that nothing is
really known about heaven, when in fact that is the primary principle
of all doctrine in the church. But since such ignorance prevails they
rejoice in heart that it has pleased the Lord to reveal to mankind at
this time many things about heaven and about hell, thereby dispelling
as far as possible the darkness that has been daily increasing
because the church has come to its end. [2] They wish for this reason
that I should declare from their lips that in the entire heaven there
is not a single angel who was created such from the beginning, nor in
hell any devil who was created an angel of light and cast down; but
that all, both in heaven and in hell, are from the human race; in
heaven those who lived in the world in heavenly love and belief, in
hell those who lived in infernal love and belie