sire to
rule; but he was told that he was now in another kingdom, which is
eternal, and that his rule on earth had perished, and that he was now
where no one is esteemed except in accordance with his goodness and
truth, and that measure of the Lord's mercy which he enjoyed by
virtue of his life in the world; also that the same is true in this
kingdom as on the earth, where men are esteemed for their wealth and
for their favor with the prince, wealth here being good and truth,
and favor with the prince the mercy bestowed on man by the Lord in
accordance with his life in the world. Any wish to rule otherwise
would make him a rebel, since he is in another's kingdom. On hearing
these things he was ashamed.

408. I have talked with spirits who believed heaven and heavenly joy
to consist in their being great; but such were told that in heaven he
that is least is greatest, since he is called least who has, and
wishes to have, no power or wisdom from himself, but only from the
Lord, he that is least in that sense having the greatest happiness,
and as he has the greatest happiness, it follows that he is greatest;
for he has thereby from the Lord all power and excels all in wisdom.
What is it to be the greatest unless to be the most happy? For to be
the most happy is what the powerful seek through power and the rich
through riches. It was further said that heaven does not consist in a
desire to be least for the purpose of being greatest, for that would
be aspiring and longing to be the greatest; but it consists in
desiring from the heart the good of others more than one's own, and
in serving others with a view to their happiness, not with recompense
as an end, but from love.

409. Heavenly joy itself, such as it is in its essence, cannot be
described, because it is in the inmost of the life of angels and
therefrom in everything of their thought and affection, and from this
in every particular of their speech and action. It is as if the
interiors were fully opened and unloosed to receive delight and
blessedness, which are distributed to every least fiber and thus
through the whole. Thus the perception and sensation of this joy is
so great as to be beyond description, for that which starts from the
inmosts flows into every particular derived from the inmosts,
propagating itself away with increase towards the exteriors. Good
spirits who are not yet in that joy, because not yet raised up into
heaven, when they perceive a sense