the hope of a life
there immediately after death, quite apart from their doctrinal
concerning the Last Judgment. I related further, that sometimes it had
been matter of surprise to me, that when those who are in faith speak
of a life after death, and of their friends and relatives who are
dying or dead, and do not at the same time think about the Last
Judgment, they believe that they will live or are living as men
immediately on their decease. But as soon as thought concerning the
Last Judgment flows in, this idea is changed into the material idea
concerning their earthly body, that it is again to be conjoined to
their soul; for they do not know that every man is a spirit as to his
interiors, and that this it is which lives in the body and in each of
its parts, and not the body which lives of itself; and that it is the
spirit of every one from which his body has its human form, and which,
consequently, is principally the man, and in a similar form, but
invisible to the eyes of the body, yet visible to the eyes of spirits.
Hence also, when the sight of a man's spirit is opened, which is
effected by the removal of the bodily sight, angels appear as men: in
this manner angels appeared to the ancients, as recorded in the
Word. I have also sometimes spoken with spirits, with whom I had been
acquainted when they lived as men in the world, and I have asked
them whether they had any inclination to be clothed again with their
earthly bodies, as they used to think would be the case. But they fled
far away at the very idea of such a conjunction, being smitten with
amazement that, while in the world, they should have thought in
this manner under the influence of so blind a belief, devoid of all
understanding.

166. Moreover, on that earth I saw the dwellings of the inhabitants:
they were lowly houses, extended in length, with windows at the sides,
according to the number of the rooms or chambers into which they were
divided. The roof was arched, and there was a door on each side at
the end. They told me that they were built of earth, and covered with
turf; and that the windows were formed of filaments of grass woven
together in such a manner that the light shone through. I also saw
little children; and the inhabitants told me that their neighbours
come to them, especially for the sake of the little children, that
they may be in company with other children in the presence and under
the direction of their parents. There also appeare