447.死后，爱的友谊是有害的，这可从天堂与地狱的情形，以及与它们相关的人之灵的情形得以证实。天堂的情形是：天堂被划分为无数社群，这些社群根据喜爱良善的所有不同情感而各异。而另一方面，地狱同样根据喜爱邪恶的所有不同情感而被划分为无数社群。死后，人就是一个灵，会立刻被分配到与其在世时的生命相一致的社群中，这就是他的主导爱所在之处。若他的爱以爱神爱邻为主，该社群就是天堂社群；若以我欲和物欲为主，则是地狱社群。一进入灵界，也就是死后尸体被送进坟墓之后，人会花一些时间为他所判归的社群做准备。准备的过程是通过弃绝与他的主导爱不相协调的爱完成的。因此，人与人、朋友与朋友、领主与手下、父母与子女、兄弟与兄弟，都要彼此分离。其中每一个都要被带入内在性情与自己类似的人当中，他要与他们过一种和谐的生活，一种真正属他自己的生活，直到永远。不过，在准备的最初阶段，他们如在世时那样见面，友好交谈；但渐渐地就不知不觉疏远了。
447. 這種交心的友誼在死後是有害的, 這可從天國與地獄的情形, 以及人的靈與天國地獄相關的情形看得出來。
天國的情形:按照對良善喜愛的情感不同, 天國被分為無數個社群。類似地, 地獄也按照對邪惡喜愛的情感不同, 被分成無數個社群。
人死後, 便是一個靈, 基於這人在世的生活方式, 被分配到某個與他有相同主導欲的社群。如果愛上帝或愛鄰舍在他全部所愛之事中占主導, 這個社群便在天國。如果愛自己或愛世界是他的主導欲, 便在地獄社群。
進入靈界之後(也就是在人死後, 肉身留在墳墓, 靈魂進入靈界), 會花一些時間來預備進入被分配的社群。這個預備過程所做的事情就是棄絕與他的主導欲不相融洽的愛欲。在這個過程中, 人們被分開——朋友與朋友分開, 僕人與主人分開, 父母與兒女分開, 兄弟姊妹分開。然後每一位都與性情類似之人深切地相處, 與他們一同過著和諧的生活, 並活出真我, 真到永遠。
在預備階段的最初環節, 人們彼此友好地會面與交談, 如同在世時那樣。不過, 會漸漸地彼此被分開, 他們並不知覺此事的發生。
447. A bond of love like this is damaging after death, as we can see from the state of heaven, the state of hell, and the state of our spirit in relation to both.
The state of heaven is that it has been divided into countless communities according to all the different feelings of love for what is good. Hell on the other hand has been divided according to all the different feelings of love for what is evil.
After we die and become spirits, we are immediately attached to the community that shares our dominant love, based on the way we lived in the world. This community is in heaven if love for God or for our neighbor was primary among all the things we love. We are assigned to a community of hell if love for ourselves or for the world was primary among all the things we love.
After we have entered the spiritual world - which happens as a result of our dying and our physical body being laid to rest in the grave - we next spend a while being prepared for the community to which we have been assigned. This preparation is a matter of our rejecting things we love that do not agree with our primary love. During this same period of time, people are separated from each other - friends are separated, followers are separated from their leaders, parents are separated from their offspring, and siblings are separated from each other. Then we all become deeply attached to people similar to ourselves with whom we are going to live a life that is both shared and is truly our own to eternity.
During the first part of this preparation people meet and talk in a friendly way as they had in the world. Little by little, however, they are separated from each other. It happens without their realizing it.
447. Bosom friendship is harmful after death, as can be established by considering the situation of heaven, that of hell, and that of a person's spirit relative to them. The situation in heaven is that it is divided into countless communities which differ in keeping with all the varieties of affections belonging to love for good. Hell on the other hand is similarly divided in keeping with all the varieties of affections belonging to the love for evil. After death a person, being then a spirit, is at once allotted to a community in keeping with his life in the world, and this is where his dominant love is. It is a heavenly community, if love to God and towards the neighbour were chief among his loves, a community in hell, if self-love and love of the world were his chief loves. Immediately after entering the spiritual world, a process accomplished by dying and consigning the material body to the grave, a person is over a period prepared for the community to which he is allotted. This preparation is effected by rejecting the loves which are not in harmony with his principal one. One person is therefore parted from another, one friend from another, an underling from his lord, and a parent from his children, and a brother from his brother. Each of them is inwardly brought into contact with people of like disposition, with whom he is destined to live a harmonious life, one that is really his own, for ever. But in the first stage of preparation they meet and have friendly conversations as they did in the world; but little by little they drift apart without being aware of it.
447. That the friendship of love is detrimental after death, can be seen from the state of heaven, of hell, and of man's spirit in relation to them. As to the state of heaven, it is divided into innumerable societies according to all the varieties of affections of the love of good; while hell, on the other hand, is divided according to all the varieties of affections of the love of evil; and after death, man, who is then a spirit, is at once adjudged, according to his life in the world, to the society where his ruling love prevails - to some heavenly society, if love to God and love towards the neighbor has formed the head of his loves, and to some infernal society, if love of self and the world has formed the head of his loves. Immediately after his entrance into the spiritual world, which is effected through the death of the material body and its rejection to the sepulchre, man for some time undergoes a preparation for the society to which he has been adjudged, which preparation is effected by the rejection of such loves as are not in accord with his chief love. Thus one is then separated from another, friend from friend, dependent from patron, also parent from children, and brother from brother; and each one of these is connected with those interiorly like himself, with whom he is to live to eternity a life in common with them and yet properly his own. Nevertheless, during the first period of the preparation they all come together, and converse in a friendly way, as in the world. But little by little they are separated, and in ways they are not sensible of.
447. Friendship grounded in love without discrimination may be harmful after death, as can be seen from the state of heaven and of hell, and from the state of man in relation to these. Heaven is divided into innumerable societies, according to all the varieties of the affections of the love of good; whereas hell is divided according to all the varieties of the affections of the love of evil. After death a man, who is now a spirit, is at once attached, in accordance with what his life has been in the world, to that society where his ruling love is; to some heavenly society, if he has made love to God and towards the neighbor his chief love; and to some infernal society, if he has made his chief love the love of self and of the world. Immediately on his entrance into the spiritual world, which takes place at death and the consignment of the natural body to the grave, the man enters into a state of preparation for the society to which he belongs. This preparation which takes some time, is effected by the rejection of the loves that are not in agreement with his chief love. During this time, therefore, one person is separated from another; friends are separated from friends, dependants from their patrons, parents from their children, and brother from brother; and each of them enters into interior conjunction with his like, with whom he is to live for ever a life suited to his state and properly his own. At the commencement of this preparation they come together and converse with one another in a friendly manner, as they used to do in the world; by degrees, however, and in a way not perceived by themselves, the separations are effected.
447. Quod amicitia amoris post mortem detrimentosa sit, constare potest ex 1 statu coeli, ex statu inferni, et ex statu spiritus hominis respectivo. Quod Coeli statum attinet, est illud in innumeras Societates secundum omnes varietates affectionum amoris boni distinctum; Infernum vicissim secundum omnes varietates affectionum amoris mali; et homo post mortem, qui tunc est Spiritus, secundum suam vitam in Mundo statim addicitur societati, ubi ejus regnans amor est; societati alicui coelesti, si amor in Deum et erga proximum fecerat Caput ejus amorum, et alicui societati infernali, si amor sui et mundi fecerat caput ejus amorum. Statim post introitum in Mundum spiritualem, quod fit per mortem et rejectionem corporis materialis in sepulchrum, homo per aliquod tempus ad societatem suam, cui addictus est, praeparatur, et praeparatio fit per rejectiones amorum cum principali ejus non concordantium, quare tunc separatur unus ab altero, amicus ab amico, cliens a domino, et quoque parens a liberis, et frater a fratre, et quisque eorum interius adjungitur similaribus, cum quibus vitam consortem et proprie suam in aeternum victurus est. At primo tempore praeparationis conveniunt, et amice colloquuntur 2 sicut in Mundo, sed paullatim dirimuntur, quod fit insensibiliter.
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