32. To these things I will add a certain heavenly arcanum, which is indeed mentioned in the work on Heaven and Hell, but has not yet been described. Every one after death is bound to some society, even when first he comes into the spiritual world (see that work, n. 427-497). But a spirit in his first state is ignorant of it, for he is then in his externals and not yet in his internals. When he is in this state, he goes hither and thither, wherever the desires of his mind impel him; but still actually, he is where his love is, that is, in a society where those are who are in a love like his own. When a spirit is in such a state he then appears in many other places, in all of them also present as it were with the body, but this is only an appearance. Wherefore as soon as he is led by the Lord into his own ruling love, he vanishes instantly from the eyes of others, and is among his own, in the society to which he was bound. This peculiarity exists in the spiritual world, and is wonderful to those who are ignorant of its cause. Hence now it is, that as soon as spirits are gathered together, and separated, they are also judged, and every one is presently in his own place, the good in heaven, and in a society there among their own, and the evil in hell, and in a society there among their own. From these things it is moreover evident, that the Last Judgment can exist nowhere but in the spiritual world, both because every one there is in the likeness of his own life, and because he is with those who are in similar life, and thus everyone is with his own. But it is otherwise in the natural world; the good and the evil can dwell together there, the one ignorant of what the other is, nor are they separated from each other according to the love of their life. Indeed it is impossible for any one in the natural body, to be either in heaven or in hell; wherefore in order that man may come into one or the other, it is necessary that he put off his natural body, and be judged the spiritual body. Hence it is, as was said above, that the spiritual man is judged, and not the natural.
