135. Since I know that it will be doubted whether it is in any way possible for a man to see with the eyes of his spirit anything on an earth so distant, it is allowed me to say how this thing is. Distances in the other life are not like distances on earth. In the other life distances are altogether according to the states of the interiors of any one. Those who are in a like state, are together in one society and in one place. Everything is present there according to similarity of state and everything is distant according to dissimilarity of state. Hence it was that I was near that earth when I was led by the Lord into a state similar to that of its spirits and inhabitants, and that being then present I spoke with them. From this it is plain that the earths in the spiritual world are not distant in the same way as in the natural world; but only apparently, according to the states of life of the inhabitants and spirits there, The state of life is the state of affections as to love and faith. In regard to a spirit being able to see the things which are on an earth, or what is the same, a man as to his spirit, it is allowed me to explain how this also is. Neither spirits nor angels can, by their own sight, see anything that is in the world; for to them the light of the world, or of the sun, is as dense thick darkness, just as man by his bodily sight cannot see anything that is in the other life; for to him the light of heaven is as dense thick darkness. But still, spirits and angels, when it is the Lord's good pleasure, can see the things that are in the world through the eyes of man. But this the Lord does not grant to any others than those whom He gives to speak with spirits and angels, and to be together with them, Through my eyes it has been given them to see the things which are in the world, and as plainly as I did; and also to hear men speaking with me. It has sometimes happened, that some through me have seen their friends whom they had in the life of the body, just at present as before, and they were astounded. They have also seen their husbands, or wives, and their children, and wished to tell them that they were present and saw them, and also wanted me to tell them about their state in the other life. But I was prohibited from telling them and revealing to them that they were thus seen, even for the reason that they would have called me insane, or would have thought that it was delirium of mind. For it was known to me, that although they acknowledged with the lips, still they did not believe in the heart, that there were spirits, and that the dead had risen and were among spirits, and that these could see and hear through a man. When my interior sight was first opened, and those who were in the other life saw through my eyes the world and the things that were in it, they were so astonished that they called this the miracle of miracles, and were affected with a new joy, that thus there was granted a communication of earth with heaven, and of heaven with earth. This joy lasted for months; but afterwards it became familiar. Now they have ceased to wonder. I have been instructed that the spirits and angels with other men, see nothing at all of what is in the world, but only perceive the thoughts and affections of those with whom they are. From this it may be evident that man was so created, that while living in the world among men, he might at the same time also live in heaven among angels, and the converse; thus that heaven and the world with a man might be together, and act as one; and that men might know what is in heaven, and angels what is in the world; and when men die, they might thus pass out of the Lord's kingdom on earth into the Lord's kingdom in heaven, not as into a different kingdom, but as into the same in which they also were when they lived in the body. But because man has become so corporeal, he has closed heaven to himself.