s become a spirit he does not know otherwise than that he is in the
same body that he had in the world and thus does not know that he has
died. [2] Moreover, a man's spirit enjoys every sense, both outer and
inner, that he enjoyed in the world; he sees as before, he hears and
speaks as before, smells and tastes, and when touched, he feels the
touch as before; he also longs, desires, craves, thinks, reflects, is
stirred, loves, wills, as before; and one who takes delight in
studies, reads and writes as before. In a word, when a man passes
from one life into the other, or from one world into the other, it is
like passing from one place into another, carrying with him all
things that he had possessed in himself as a man; so that by death,
which is only the death of the earthly body, man cannot be said to
have lost anything really his own. [3] Furthermore, he carries with
him his natural memory, retaining everything that he has heard, seen,
read, learned, or thought, in the world from earliest infancy even to
the end of life; although the natural objects that are contained in
the memory, since they cannot be reproduced in the spiritual world,
are quiescent, just as they are when one is not thinking of them.
Nevertheless, they are reproduced when the Lord so wills. But more
will be said presently about this memory and its state after death. A
sensual man finds it impossible to believe that such is the state of
man after death, because he cannot comprehend it; for a sensual man
must needs think naturally even about spiritual things; therefore,
any thing that does not appeal to his senses, that is, that he does
not see with his bodily eyes and touch with his hands (as is said of
Thomas, John 20:25, 27, 29) he denies the existence of. (What the
sensual man is may be seen above, n. 267 and notes.)

462. [a.] And yet there is a great difference between man's life in
the spiritual world and his life in the natural world, in regard both
to his outer senses and their affections and his inner senses and
their affections. Those that are in heaven have more exquisite
senses, that is, a keener sight and hearing, and also think more
wisely than when they were in the world; for they see in the light of
heaven, which surpasses by many degrees the light of the world (see
above, n. 126); and they hear by means of a spiritual atmosphere,
which likewise surpasses by many degrees the earthly atmosphere (n.
235). This difference in respect to