528. IT IS NOT SO DIFFICULT TO LIVE THE LIFE THAT LEADS TO HEAVEN AS IS BELIEVED
There are some who believe that to live the life that leads to heaven, which is called the spiritual life, is difficult, because they have heard that man must renounce the world, must divest himself of the lusts called the lusts of the body and the flesh, and must live spiritually; and they take this to mean that they must discard worldly things, which consist chiefly in riches and honours; that they must walk continually in pious meditation about God, salvation, and eternal life; and must spend their life in prayers and in reading the Word and pious books. They suppose these things to be renouncing the world, and living in the spirit and not in the flesh. But that the fact is entirely different has been given me to know by much experience and from conversation with the angels. I have learned, indeed, that those who renounce the world and live in the spirit in this manner acquire a sorrowful life that is not receptive of heavenly joy, since everyone's life continues the same after death. On the contrary, to receive the life of heaven a man must needs live in the world and engage in the duties and employments there, and by means of a moral and civil life receive the spiritual life. In no other way can the spiritual life be formed with man, or his spirit prepared for heaven; for to live an internal life and not at the same time an external life is like dwelling in a house that has no foundation, that gradually sinks or becomes cracked and rent asunder, or totters till it falls.