2890-2892, 9096, 9586-9591).


46. Again, all who are in like good, even though they have never seen
each other before, know each other, just as men in the world do their
kinsmen, near relations, and friends; and for the reason that in the
other life there are none but spiritual kinships, relationships, and
friendships, thus such as spring from love and faith.{1} This it has
sometimes been granted me to see, when I have been in the spirit, and
thus withdrawn from the body, and in the society of angels. Some of
those I then saw seemed as if I had known them from childhood, but
others as if not known at all. Those whom I seemed to have known from
childhood were such as were in a state similar to that of my spirit;
but those who seemed unknown were in a dissimilar state.

{Footnote 1} All nearness, relationship, connections, and as it
were ties of blood, in heaven are from good and in accordance
with its agreements and differences (n. 685, 917, 1394, 2739,
3612, 3815, 4121).


47. All who form the same angelic society resemble each other in
countenance in a general way, but not in particulars. How these
general resemblances are related to differences in particulars can in
some measure be seen from like things in the world. It is well known
that with every race there is a certain general resemblance of face
and eyes, by which it is known and distinguished from all other
races. This is still more true of different families. In the heavens
this is much more fully the case, because there all the interior
affections appear in and shine forth from the face, for there the