that a man, when he dies as to the body, lives a spirit, and in the
human form as before.

124. Since, with many in the church at the present day, there is no
faith in a life after death, and scarcely any faith concerning
heaven, nor concerning the Lord as being the God of heaven and earth,
therefore the interiors that are of my spirit have been opened by the
Lord, so that, while I am in the body, I might at the same time be
with angels in heaven, and not only speak with them, but see the
stupendous things there, and describe the same, lest possibly it might
hereafter be said, Who has come to us from heaven, and told us of its
existence, and of the things that are there? But I know that those
who hitherto have at heart denied heaven and hell, and the life after
death, will still persist in confirming themselves against them, and
in denying them; for it is easier to make a raven white than to make
those believe who have once at heart rejected faith; the reason is,
that they always think about such matters from a negative, and not
from an affirmative, standpoint. Nevertheless, let those facts that
have already been stated, and that yet remain to be stated, concerning
angels and spirits, be for those few who are in faith. In order that
others also may be led to some degree of acknowledgment, it has been
granted me to relate such things as delight and allure the man who is
desirous of acquiring knowledge: of this character are the things that
shall now be related concerning the earths in the starry heaven.

125. He who is not acquainted with the arcana of heaven, cannot
believe that a man can see earths that are so far distant, and give
any account of them from sensuous experience. But let him know that
the spaces and distances, and therefore the progressions, which exist
in the natural world, in their origin and first cause are changes