Charity is like warmth in springtime or summer that causes grass, plants, and trees to grow. Without charity, or spiritual warmth, nothing grows.
Emanuel SwedenborgRead
Hell and Heaven are near man, yes, in him; and every man after death goes to that Hell or heaven in which he was, or to his spirit, during his abode in the world.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that our experiences of heaven and hell are shaped by our inner selves and choices during life.
Emanuel Swedenborg's quote reflects the idea that the concepts of heaven and hell are not merely external places, but rather states of being that reside within each individual. It posits that one's moral and spiritual condition during earthly life directly influences their afterlife experience, emphasizing the significance of personal responsibility and the impact of internal choices on one's fate beyond death.
Themes
HeavenHellSpiritSelfChoices
In practice
Example use cases
In a philosophical discussion about the afterlife at a community seminar.
More from Emanuel Swedenborg
All quotes →It can in no sense be said that heaven is outside of any one; it is within ... and a man, also, so far as he receives heaven, is a recipient, a heaven, and an angel.
Emanuel SwedenborgRead
I have seen a thousand times that Angels are human form, or men, for I have conversed with them as man to man, sometimes with one alone, sometimes with many in company.
Emanuel SwedenborgRead
True charity is the desire to be useful to others with no thought of recompense.
Emanuel SwedenborgRead
For in every particular of the Word there is an internal sense which treats of things spiritual and heavenly, not of things natural and worldly, such as are treated of in the sense of the letter.
Emanuel SwedenborgRead
If love is not married to wisdom (or if goodness is not married to truth), it cannot accomplish anything.
Emanuel SwedenborgRead
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