48.在灵界，我所看见的对受审判的所有民族和人民的排列如下：聚集在中心的是被称为改革宗的新教徒，他们也照所属国家来划分；德国人朝北；瑞典人朝西；丹麦人在西边；荷兰人朝东南；英国人在中间。新教徒所占据的整个中心区域，其周围聚集的是天主教徒，他们大多在西部，但有些在南部。在他们之外的伊斯兰教徒同样照所属国家来划分，他们出现在西南部。在他们之外聚集着数目庞大的外邦人或异教徒，他们构成外围。在这些人之外可以说是一个海，形成边界。
这些民族之所以按不同方位被如此排列，是因为它们的方位取决于各个民族领受神性真理的共享能力。因此，在灵界，根据各人所住的方位和地方就能认出他；此外，在一个大型社群里面，根据他所居住的位置也能认出他；对此，可参看《天堂与地狱》一书（148-149节）。当他从一个地方到另一个地方时，同样的情形也会发生。无论在哪种情况下，他们经过特定地区所取的路线，都取决于由属于他们自己生活的情感所产生的思维的相继状态。下面我们会看到，这就是他们如何被带到自己的地方。简言之，每个人在灵界所走的路都是其心智思维的实际反映。这就是为何在圣言中，道路、行走等词在灵义上表示属灵生命的方向和进程。
48. The original locations in the spiritual world of all the religions and peoples on whom the judgment was carried out looked like this. The people called Protestants appeared gathered in the central area. They were subdivided according to their native countries: the Germans in the spiritual world were toward the north, the Swedes toward the west, the Danes in the west, the Dutch toward the east and the south, and the British in the middle. Surrounding this whole central area where the Protestants were, there appeared the people from the Catholic religion, the majority of whom were in the western region, although some were in the south.
Beyond them were the Muslims, again subdivided by nationality. They all appeared in the southern part of the west. Beyond them people of other religions were gathered in great abundance. They constituted an outer ring; and beyond them there appeared an ocean, which formed the farthest boundary.
The arrangement of these peoples in these regions was based on each group's receptivity to divine truths. Because this is the basis, in the spiritual world everyone is known by the general region and the particular place within it where he or she lives; and in a community of many, the individuals are known by which quarter 1of the community they are staying in (on this subject see Heaven and Hell 148-149).
It is much the same when people are traveling from place to place. In every case, the route they take goes through particular regions according to the successive states of the thoughts that arise from the emotions at the core of their lives. As we will see below, that is how they are brought to the place that is their own. In short, the paths that people follow in the spiritual world are a reflection of the thoughts in their minds. This is why in the spiritual sense of the Word “paths” and “walking” and the like mean the direction and movement of our spiritual life.
Footnotes:
1. The quarters of the spiritual world referred to here (and in the sections cited from Heaven and Hell) are the four quarters represented by the cardinal directions of east, south, west, and north. For more on these regions, see the entire chapter on the subject in Heaven and Hell 141-153, as well as Divine Love and Wisdom 119-134 and Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) 417, 422. On the south-north axis specifically, see note 3 in Last Judgment 58. [LSW]
48. The arrangement in the spiritual world of all the nations and peoples who were judged was seen to be as follows. In the centre were gathered those who are called the Reformed, and they were divided into groups according to their native countries: the Germans were towards the north, the Swedes towards the west, the Danes in the west, the Dutch towards the east and south, the British in the middle. Surrounding this centre, where all the Reformed were, the Roman Catholics were to be seen gathered, most of them in the western quarter, but some in the southern. Beyond them were the Mohammedans, also grouped according to their native countries; they were all to be seen in the west bordering on the south. Beyond them were gathered immense numbers of the heathen, who thus made up the outermost ring. Outside them appeared what looked like the sea forming a boundary.
The reason the nations were thus arranged by districts was that their position depended upon the shared ability of each group to receive Divine truths. As a result, everyone in the spiritual world can be recognised by the quarter and place where he lives, and also within a large community by the location of his residence, on this see HEAVEN AND HELL 148-149. Much the same happens when they travel from one place to another; then they always move in directions answering to the successive states of their thoughts arising from the affections for the particular way they live. These determine their proper places, to which they are taken, as will be described. In short, the roads along which one walks in the spiritual world are realisations of thoughts in the mind. That is why roads, walking and the like in the Word mean in the spiritual sense realisations and advances in spiritual life.
48. The following was seen to be the arrangement in the spiritual world of all the nations and people to be judged. Collected in the middle, appeared those who are called the Reformed, where they were also distinct according to their countries; the Germans there towards the north; the Swedes there towards the west; the Danes in the west; the Dutch towards the east and the south; the English in the center. Surrounding this whole mid-region in which were the Reformed, appeared collected those of the Papal religion, the greater part of them in the western, some part in the southern quarter. Beyond them were the Mohammedans, also distinct according to their countries, who all appeared in the south-west. Beyond these, the Gentiles were congregated in vast numbers, constituting the very circumference. Beyond these appeared as it were a sea, which was the boundary. This arrangement of the nations in the various quarters, was an arrangement according to each nation's common faculty of receiving Divine truths; for in the spiritual world every one is known from the quarter, and the part of it, in which he dwells; and, moreover, in a society with many, he is known from his tarryings with reference to the quarters; concerning which, see the work on Heaven and Hell (148, 149). It is the same when he goes from place to place; all advance to the quarters is then effected according to the successive states of the thoughts from the affections which belong to his own life; in accordance with which all those who are spoken of in what follows were led to their own places. In a word, the ways in which every one walks in the spiritual world are actual determinations of the thoughts of the mind; whence it is, that "ways," "walking," and the like, in the spiritual sense of the Word, signify the determinations and progressions of spiritual life.
48. Ordinationes omnium gentium et populorum, super quos judicium, in mundo spirituali, visae sunt ut sequitur. In medio collecti apparuerunt illi qui Reformati vocantur, et ibi quoque distincti secundum patrias eorum; Germani ibi versus septentrionem; Sueci ibi versus occidentem; Dani in occidente; Hollandi versus orientem et meridiem; Angli in medio. Circum totum hoc medium, ubi omnes Reformati erant, collecti apparuerunt illi qui a Pontificia religione erant, maxima pars in plaga occidentali, aliqua in meridionali. Ultra illos erant Mahumedani, etiam distincti secundum patrias eorum; omnes tunc apparuerunt in occidente juxta meridiem. Ultra illos congregatae erant Gentes ingenti numero, quae sic constituebant ipsum ambitum. Extra has apparuit sicut mare, quod terminus. Quod nationes ita ordinatae secundum plagas fuerint, erat secundum cujusvis communem facultatem recipiendi Divina vera; quapropter in mundo spirituali quisque cognoscitur a plaga et loco ibi ubi habitat, et quoque in societate cum pluribus ex commoratione respective ad plagas, de qua re videatur in opere De Caelo et Inferno (148-149). Similiter fit cum vadunt a loco ad locum; tunc omnis progressio fit ad plagas secundum status successivos cogitationum ex affectionibus quae sunt vitae propriae illorum: secundum illas deducti sunt ad loca sua illi, de quibus sequitur. Verbo, in mundo spirituali viae, quas quisque ambulat, sunt determinationes actuales cogitationum mentis; inde est, quod "viae," "ambulationes," et similia, in sensu spirituali in Verbo significent determinationes et progressiones vitae spiritualis.