| Class of neighbor | How helped | Summary (AC 4956) | States of Life (AC 10225) | Preparation for Heaven (HH 445-452, 491-520) | Days of Creation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungry | You gave Me food | those who from affection desire good | The first state is from birth to his fifth year; this is a state of ignorance and of innocence in ignorance, and is called infancy. During the continuance of this state, the interiors are being formed for use, consequently are not manifest, but only the most external [faculties], which belong to the sensuous man. And when these alone are manifest, there is ignorance; for whatever man understands and perceives is from the interiors. From this it can also be seen that the innocence which exists at that time and is called the innocence of infancy is most external innocence. | Celestial angels: protect from evil spirits; silent, sharing their thoughts; keep in the thought of eternal life; hold in one’s own last thought; love everyone | The first state is when a person begins for the first time to know that his goods are not good. And when he comes more into the light, [he sees] that the Lord is, and that He is good and truth itself. (AC 20) |
| Thirsty | You gave Me a drink | those who from affection desire truth | The second state is from the fifth year to the twentieth; this is a state of instruction and of memory-knowledge, and is called childhood. This state is not as yet a state of intelligence, because at that time the child or youth does not form any conclusions from himself, neither does he from himself discriminate between truths and truths, nor even between truths and falsities, but from others. He merely thinks and speaks things of memory, thus from mere memory-knowledge. Nor does he see and perceive whether a thing is so except on the authority of his teacher, consequently because another has said so. …With those who are in a state of infancy and childhood, thus who are under twenty years of age, truths and goods have not been so set in order as to enable them to go forth into the army and into warfare, because, as before said, they do not as yet from themselves discriminate, and form any conclusions. Consequently they cannot as yet by means of the rational dispel anything of falsity or evil; and they who are not able to do this are not let into combats. For this reason a man is not admitted into temptations, which are spiritual combats against falsities and evils, until he is in a state of intelligence, that is, until he comes to his own judgment. | Spiritual angels: give the use of light; roll off a covering from the face = passing from natural to spiritual thought; only allow ideas that savor of love; tell him he is a spirit; render every service and teach about the other life | The second state is when a distinction is made between those things which are the Lord’s [waters above] and those which are proper to man. The things which are the Lord’s are called in the Word "remains" and here are especially knowledges of faith, which have been learned from infancy, and which are stored up, and are not manifested until the man comes into this state. At the present day this state seldom exists without temptation (AC 8) |
| Sojourner | You gathered Me [in] | those who want to be instructed | The third state is from the twentieth year to the sixtieth, which is a state of intelligence, and is called early adulthood, young manhood, and manhood. The third is called a state of intelligence, because the man then thinks from himself, and discriminates and forms conclusions; and that which he then concludes is his own and not another's. At this time faith begins, for faith is not the faith of the man himself until he has confirmed what he believes by the ideas of his own thought. Previous to this, faith was not his, but another's in him, for his belief was in the person, not in the thing. From this it can be seen that the state of intelligence commences with man when he no longer thinks from a teacher, but from himself, which is not the case until the interiors are opened toward heaven. Be it known that the exteriors with man are in the world, and the interiors in heaven; and that in proportion as light flows in from heaven into what is from the world, the man is intelligent and wise; and this according to the degree and quality of the opening of his interiors, which are opened so far as the man lives for heaven and not for the world. | Good spirits: welcome into their company; do everything they can for him. Then newcomer finds spirits completely in harmony with himself and resumes life as in the world. | The third state is that of repentance, in which the man, from his internal man, speaks piously and devoutly and brings forth good things like works of charity, but which nevertheless are inanimate, because he thinks they are from himself. These good [works] are called the "tender grass," the "herb yielding seed," and the "tree bearing fruit." (AC 9) |
| Naked | You clothed Me | those who acknowledge that in themselves there is nothing of good and of truth | Young manhood [age 30-45?] | Exteriors: immediately after death; habitual virtuous behavior; doesn’t know he’s died; greets old friends; surprised to be in a body; eager to learn about heaven & hell; shown all around; most believe they’ll come into heaven – unaware of their internals; explored by their interests; this state lasts no more than a year. [He is about to shed habits, like clothes, that don’t correspond to his love.] | The fourth state is when the man is moved by love and enlightened by faith. Previously he did indeed speak pious things and brought forth good [works], but he did so from a state of temptation and anguish, and not from faith and charity. Therefore faith and charity are now kindled in his internal man and are called the two great lights. (AC 10) |
| Sick | You visited Me | those who acknowledge that in themselves there is nothing but evil | Manhood or Adult Age [age 45-60?] | Interiors: exteriors laid asleep; unconsciously glides into state of interiors, as when left to think freely in the world = his very life; a good man then acts even more wisely because released from bodily things that caused obscurity, with inner blessedness; but an evil man acts more insanely; sometimes ashamed or angry, but not safe to maintain pretenses lest they be destroyed; visibly evil; frequent punishments; separated from good spirits | The fifth state is when the man speaks from faith, and thereby confirms himself in truth and good. What he brings forth at this point are animate, and are called the "fish of the sea" and the "birds of the heavens." (AC 11) Up to now he can scarcely be said to have lived, for he supposed that the good which he did he had done from himself, and that the truth which he spoke he had spoken from himself. And since man of himself is dead, and in him there is nothing but what is evil and false, therefore whatever he produces from himself is not alive, even to the point that he cannot even do good that in itself is good from himself. (AC 39) |
| In prison | You came to Me | those who acknowledge that in themselves there is nothing but falsity | The fourth or last state is from the sixtieth year upward, which is a state of wisdom, and of innocence in wisdom. But the last state is a state of wisdom and of innocence in wisdom; which is when the man is no longer concerned about understanding truths and goods, but about willing and living them; for this is to be wise. And a man is able to will truths and goods, and to live them, just insofar as he is in innocence, that is, insofar as he believes that he has nothing of wisdom from himself, but that whatever he has of wisdom is from the Lord; also insofar as he loves to have it so; hence it is that this state is also a state of innocence in wisdom.… For he who knows that of himself he is ignorant of all things, and that whatever he knows is from the Lord, is in the ignorance of wisdom, and also in the innocence of wisdom. | Instruction for those who come into heaven: Spiritual truth and good can be learned only from the Word, and only if man acknowledges the Divine and acts justly for His sake. All & each are instructed according to their disposition & ability to receive. Some need to be vastated of confirmed falsities. Truths are learned for uses of life; given white garments and led by pathways to their heaven. | The sixth state is when, from faith and hence from love, he speaks what is true and does what is good.… And because he then begins to act from faith and also from love at the same time, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an "image." His spiritual life is delighted and sustained by such things as belong to the knowledges of faith and to works of charity, which are called his "food." His natural life is delighted and sustained by those which belong to the body and the senses, from which a combat arises, until love rules and he becomes a celestial man. (AC 12) |
