When a spirit is in the state of his inward nature and life, it
appears plainly what manner of man he was in the world; for then he
acts from his very self. A man who was inwardly in good in the world,
then acts rationally and wisely--more wisely, in fact, than he did in
the world; for he has been loosed from connection with the body, and
so with worldly things, which caused obscurity and, as it were,
interposed a cloud. But a man who was in evil in the world, then acts
foolishly and insanely--more insanely, in fact, than he did in the
world, for now he is in freedom and not coerced. For when he lived in
the world, he was sane in his outward life, for so he assumed the
appearance of a rational man. When, therefore, his outward life is
laid off, his insanities reveal themselves.

--_Heaven and Hell, nn._ 502, 505


INSTRUCTED FOR HEAVEN

The third state of a man after death is a state of instruction. This
is a state in the experience of those who enter heaven and become
angels.

Instruction in heaven differs from instruction on earth, in that
knowledge is not committed to memory, but to life; for the memory of
spirits is in their life, inasmuch as they receive and become imbued
with everything that agrees with their life, and they do not receive,
still less do they become imbued with, anything that disagrees with
it; for spirits are affections, and are in a human form like their
affections. Being such, they have inspired in them continually an
affection for truth for the sake of the uses of life; for the Lord