SS61.我曾得着机会与死后许多持以下信念的人交谈，即：他们将像星星那样在天上发光，因为如他们所说的，他们视圣言为神圣，经常通读它，并从中搜集了许多经文，用来证实他们信仰的教义，还由此在世上获得学者的声誉。因此，他们以为自己将是米迦勒或拉斐尔。
然而，他们当中许多人接受检查，以查看他们出于什么样的爱来研究圣言；结果发现，有些人是出于爱自己来研究它的，好叫他们可以在世上显得很伟大，被尊为教会的领袖；有些人是出于爱世界来研究它的，好叫他们可以获得财富。当他们被检查他们从圣言都知道了些什么时，结果发现，他们连一个纯正真理也不知道，只知道可称作被歪曲的真理的东西，这种东西本身就是虚假。他们被告知，这是因为他们的目的，或也可说，他们的爱是自己和世界，而不是主和天堂。当人们以自己和世界为目的来阅读圣言时，他们的心智就会沉浸于自己和世界的事物，这使得他们不断从他们的自我来思考，而这自我在涉及天堂的一切事上都处在幽暗之中；在这种状态下，人无法被主从他的自我中撤回，从而被提升到天堂之光中，因而无法通过天堂接受来自主的任何流注。
我曾看见他们被准许进入天堂，但当发现他们没有真理时，他们就被扔了下去；然而，他们配得天堂的那种自负仍然存在。那些出于对认识真理的情感，因为它是真理，还因为它服务于生活的功用，不仅服务于自己的功用，还服务于邻舍的功用而研究圣言的人，则截然不同。我看见这些人被提升到天堂，从而被提升到那里的神性真理所在的光中，同时被提升到天使的智慧及其幸福，也就是永生中。
61. I have been granted the opportunity to talk with any number of individuals after their death who had believed they were going to shine like stars in heaven because, they said, they had revered the Word, had read it through time and again, and had gained much from their reading that served to support the dogmas of their faith. All this led to their being celebrated as scholars, which in turn led them to believe they would become Michaels and Raphaels.
[2] However, many of them were examined to find out what love had inspired their study of the Word, and it turned out that for some it was self-infatuation, a desire to look important in the eyes of the world and therefore be revered as leaders in the church, while for others it was worldliness and a desire for wealth. When they were asked what they had learned from the Word, it turned out that they knew nothing that was really true. All they knew was distorted truth, which is essentially false. They were told that this was because they themselves and the world were their goals - or were what they loved the most, which amounts to the same thing - and not the Lord and heaven. If ourselves and the world are our goals, then when we read the Word our minds are stuck on ourselves and the world. This means that our thinking is constantly focused on our self-importance, which is in darkness with respect to everything that has to do with heaven. People in this state cannot be lifted out of their self-infatuation by the Lord and thus raised up into heaven’s light, so they are not open to any inflow from the Lord through heaven, either.
[3] I have seen them let into heaven, but when it was found that they were lacking in truths, they were expelled. Even so, they retained the prideful conviction that they were worthy.
It worked out otherwise for individuals who studied the Word from a desire to know what was true because it was true and because it could be put to use in their lives not only for their own benefit but for the benefit of their neighbor. I have seen them raised up into heaven and therefore into the light of divine truth there; and at the same time they have been lifted up into angelic wisdom and into its happiness, which is eternal life.
61. I have been granted to see many people after death who believed they would shine like stars in the sky, because, as they said, they had held the Word holy, read it often, took much from it, used it to affirm the dogmas of their faith, and because of that were celebrated in the world as learned. They believed that on that account they would be Michaels and Raphaels.
[2] But many of them were examined to discover what love prompted them to study the Word, and some were found to have done so out of a love of self, in order to appear great in the world and be worshiped as leaders of the church, and some out of a love of the world, in order to gain riches. When they were examined to discover what they knew from the Word, they were found to know nothing of any genuine truth from it, but only the kind of truth that we call truth falsified, which in itself is false. Moreover, they were told that this was the case with them because they had themselves and the world as their goals — in other words, what they loved — and not the Lord or heaven. And when self and the world are the goals, then when people read the Word, their minds remain fixed on themselves and the world, and as a consequence they think continually in terms of their own self-interest, which is in darkness as regards anything having to do with heaven. A person in this state cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from his self-interest and so be raised into the light of heaven, and so neither can he receive any influx from the Lord through heaven.
[3] I have also seen people like this admitted into heaven; but when they were found there to be without truths, they were cast down. Yet even so the conceit remained in them that they were deserving of heaven.
A different experience befell people who had studied the Word out of an affection to know the truth because it was true, and because it fostered useful life endeavors, not only their own, but also the neighbor’s. I have seen them raised into heaven and so into the light that surrounds Divine truth there, and they were raised at the same time into angelic wisdom, and into its felicity, which is eternal life.
61. I have been permitted to converse with many after death who believed that they would shine like stars in heaven because, as they said, they had regarded the Word as holy and had often read it. They had gathered many passages from it by which they had confirmed the dogmas of their faith. They had therefore acquired the reputation in the world of being learned scholars, and in consequence they supposed they would be Michaels or Raphaels.
[2] Several of these were examined as to the love from which they had studied the Word; and it was found that some had done so from self-love, that they might appear great in the world, and that they might be held in reverence as leaders of the Church; and others from love of the world, that they might acquire wealth. When these were examined as to what they knew from the Word, it was discovered that they did not know a single genuine truth, but only what may be called truth falsified, which in itself is falsity. They were informed that this was because they themselves and the world were the ends in view, or what is the same, their loves and not the Lord and heaven. For when themselves and the world are the ends in view, while they read the Word the mind is immersed in the things of self and the world, and therefore men constantly think from their proprium, which is in thick darkness respecting everything relating to heaven. In this state man cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from his proprium and so be raised into the light of heaven; and consequently he cannot receive any influx from the Lord through heaven.
[3] I have also seen such persons admitted into heaven; when, however, they were discovered there to be without truths, they were cast out; but there still remained with them the conceit that they merited heaven. It is different with those who have studied the Word from the affection of knowing the truth because it is truth, and because it is serviceable to the uses not only of their own life but also the life of their neighbour. I have seen these persons raised up into heaven and thus into the light in which Divine Truth is there, and then at the same time exalted into angelic wisdom and its happiness which is life eternal.
61. I have been permitted to converse with many after death who had believed that they would shine in heaven like the stars, because, as they said, they had regarded the Word as holy, had often read it through, had collected from it many things by which they had confirmed the tenets of their faith, and had thereby been celebrated in the world as learned men. On this account they believed they would be Michaels and Raphaels.
[2] Many of them however have been examined in respect to what was the love from which they had studied the Word, and some of them were found to have done so from the love of self, that they might appear great in the world, and be revered as dignitaries of the church; and others of them had done so from the love of the world, that they might get rich. When examined as to what they knew from the Word, it was found that they knew nothing of genuine truth from it, but only such as is called truth falsified, which in itself is falsity. And they were told that this was because their ends (or what is the same their loves) had been themselves and the world, and not the Lord and heaven. When men read the Word while themselves and the world are the ends in view, their minds cleave to themselves and the world, and this causes them to be constantly thinking from their own, 1which is in thick darkness in respect to all things of heaven, in which state the man cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from his own, and thus be raised into the light of heaven, and consequently cannot receive through heaven any influx from the Lord.
[3] I have even seen them admitted into heaven, but when they were found to be devoid of truths, they were cast down; yet the conceit remained that they deserved heaven. Very different has it been with those who had studied the Word from the affection of knowing truth because it is truth, and because it is of service to the uses of life, not only to their own uses but also to those of the neighbor. I have seen these raised up into heaven, and thus into the light in which is Divine truth there, and at the same time exalted into angelic wisdom and its happiness, which is eternal life.
Footnotes:
1. The Latin word proprium is the term used in the original text that in this and other places has been rendered by the expression "own." The dictionary meaning of proprius, as an adjective, is "one's own," "proper," "belonging to one's self alone," "special," "particular," "peculiar." The neuter of this, which is the word proprium, when used as a noun means "possession," "property"; also "a peculiarity," "characteristic mark," "distinguishing sign," "characteristic." The English adjective "own" is defined by Webster to mean "belonging to," "belonging exclusively or especially to," "peculiar"; so that our word "own" is a very exact equivalent of proprius, and if we make it a noun by writing it "own," in order to answer to the Latin proprium, we effect a very close translation. [Translator]
61. Datum est loqui cum multis post mortem, qui crediderunt se sicut stellae lucituros in caelo; quia, ut dixerunt, sanctum habuerunt Verbum, saepius perlegerunt illud, plura inde collegerunt, per quae fidei suae dogmata confirmaverunt, et per id in mundo ut docti celebrati sunt, ex quo credebant se Michaeles et Raphaeles futuros. Sed plures ex illis explorati sunt, ex quo amore studuerunt Verbo; ac inventi, quod aliqui ex amore sui, ut magni in mundo apparerent, et sicut primates ecclesiae colerentur; aliqui autem ex amore mundi ut lucrarentur opes. Hi dum explorati sunt, quid scirent ex Verbo, compertum est quod inde nihil genuini veri scirent, sed modo tale quod vocatur verum falsificatum, quod in se est falsum; et dictum est illis, quod hoc illis esset ex causa, quia ipsi et mundus fuerunt fines, seu quod idem est, amores; et non Dominus et caelum: et cum ipsi et mundus sunt fines, tunc cum legunt Verbum, haeret mens illorum in se ipsis et in mundo; et inde cogitant jugiter ex suo proprio, quod in caligine est quoad omnia quae caeli sunt; in quo statu non potest homo a Domino subduci ex proprio, et sic elevari in lucem caeli, proinde nec aliquem influxum a Domino per caelum recipere. Vidi etiam hos in caelum admissos; at cum ibi inventi sunt quod absque veris essent, dejecti sunt; sed usque remansit apud illos fastus quod meruerint. Aliter factum est cum illis qui studuerunt Verbo ex affectione sciendi Verum quia est Verum, et quia inservit usibus vitae; non modo suae, sed etiam proximi. Illos vidi elevatos in caelum, et sic in lucem in qua est Divinum Verum ibi; et simul tunc exaltatos in sapientiam angelicam, et in felicitatem ejus, quae est vita aeterna.