dge of good and
truth. The places of instruction are towards the north and are
various, arranged and distinguished according to the kinds and
varieties of heavenly goods, that all and each may be instructed
there according to their disposition and ability to receive; the
places extending round about to a great distance. The good spirits
who are to be instructed are brought by the Lord to these places when
they have completed their second state in the world of spirits, and
yet not all; for there are some that have been instructed in the
world, and have been prepared there by the Lord for heaven, and these
are taken up into heaven by another way-some immediately after death,
some after a short stay with good spirits, where the grosser things
of their thoughts and affections which they had contracted from
honors and riches in the world are removed, and in that way they are
purified. Some first endure vastations, which is effected in places
under the soles of the feet, called the lower earth, where some
suffer severely. These are such as had confirmed themselves in
falsities and yet had led good lives, for when falsities have been
confirmed they inhere with much force, and until they have been
dispersed truths cannot be seen, and thus cannot be accepted. But
vastations and how they are effected have been treated of in the
Arcana Coelestia, from which the notes below have been collected.{1}

{Footnote 1} Vastations are effected in the other life, that
is, those that pass into the other life from the world are
vastated (n. 698, 7122, 7474, 9763). The well disposed are
vastated in respect to falsities, while the evil are vastated
in respect to truths (n, 7474, 7541, 7542). The well disposed
undergo vastations that they also may be divested of what
pertains to the earth and the world, which they had contracted
while living in the world (n. 7186, 9763). Also that evils and
falsities may be removed, and thus there may be room for the
influx of goods and truths out of heaven from the Lord, and
ability to accept these (n. 7122, 9330). Elevation into heaven
is impossible until such things have been removed, because they
obstruct heavenly things and are not in harmony with them (n.
6928, 7122, 7186, 7541, 7542, 9763). Those who are to be raised
up into heaven are thus prepared for it (n. 4728, 7090). It is
dangerous to come into heaven before being prepared (n. 537,
538). The state of enlightenment