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God is love, and created human beings as objects and living receivers of that love.

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Some people believe that it is hard to live the life that leads to heaven, which is called a spiritual life, because they have heard that you have to renounce the world and give up the desires people associate with the body and the flesh, and "live spiritually." All they understand by this is rejecting worldly concerns (especially concerns with money and prestige) and going around in constant devout meditation about God, salvation, and eternal life, spending one's life in prayer and in reading the Word and devotional books.... But people who renounce the world and live by the spirit in this way acquire a mournful life, one that is not receptive of heavenly joy.... Rather, in order to be receptive of heaven's life, we should by all means live in the world and be involved in its duties and business. In this way, through a moral and civic life we accept a spiritual life. There is no other way spiritual life can take shape in us, no other way our spirits can be prepared for heaven. (Heaven and Hell 528)

Divine peace arises from the union of the Lord with heaven, and in particular in each angel from the union of the good and the true; so when angels are in a state of love, they are in a state of peace, because then the good is united to the true within them.... It is like this for people who are being regenerated. When a union of the good and the true occurs within them, which happens especially after temptation-trials, then they come into a state of delight that derives from heavenly peace.

Sometimes people think that a spiritual life means a very serious life – denying ourselves pleasure in the hopes of some eternal reward to come. This is a mistaken belief.

God gave people their senses to be used and enjoyed. The beauty of the earth, and all that is in it is ours to enjoy. Even earthly wealth and success are not in themselves evil things to be shunned. The Lord wants everyone to be able to care for themselves and to be successful. The real test is whether things like pleasure and success become more important to people than loving their fellow human being and following their God. Swedenborg says that when the love of heaven, meaning love to God and to the neighbor, takes precedence in people's lives, then the love for self and the pleasure of the world are put in their rightful place and serve the person. When the love for self and the pleasures of the world become the most important driving force in a person's life, they become evil and hurtful to self and to the neighbor. Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." (Matthew 6:22)

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Living a Heaven-Bound Life is not as Hard as People Believe

Some people believe that it is hard to lead a heaven-bound life (which is called a spiritual life), because they have heard that a person needs to renounce the world, give up the appetites that are associated with the body and the flesh, and live like spiritual beings. They take this to mean nothing other than rejecting what is worldly - especially wealth and prestige - walking around in constant devout meditation on God, salvation, and eternal life, passing their lives in prayer and in reading the Word and devotional literature. They think that this is renouncing the world and living by the spirit instead of by the flesh.

But an abundance of experience and discussion with angels has enabled me to know that the situation is completely different from this. In fact, people who renounce the world and live by the spirit in this fashion build up a mournful life for themselves, one that is not receptive of heavenly joy; for everyone's life stays with him or her. On the contrary, if a person is to accept heaven's life, he or she must by all means live in the world, involved in its functions and dealings. Then through a moral and civic life the person receives a spiritual life. This is the only way a spiritual life can be formed in a person, or the spirit prepared for heaven.

For living an inward life and not an outward life at the same time, is like living in a house with no foundation, which gradually either settles or develops cracks and gaps, or totters until it collapses. (Heaven and Hell 528)

The consideration about to be presented will make it possible to see that it is not so hard to lead a heaven-bound life as people believe it is.

Who can't live a civic and moral life? Everyone is introduced to it from the cradle and is acquainted with it from their life in the world. Everyone, good or bad, leads it as well, for who does not want to be called honest and fair?

Almost everyone practices honesty and fairness in outward matters, even to the point of seeming honest and fair at heart, or as though he or she were behaving out of real honesty and fairness. A spiritual person needs to live the same way - which can be done just as easily as a natural person - the only difference being that a spiritual person believes in what is Divine, and behaves honestly and fairly not just because it is in keeping with civil and moral laws, but because it is in keeping with Divine laws. For the person who is thinking about Divine matters while active is in touch with angels of heaven. To the extent that the individual is doing this, he or she is bonded to them, and in this way the inner person is opened, which, seen in its own right, is the spiritual person.

When someone is like this, he or she is adopted and led by the Lord without realizing it. Then anything honest and fair that is done as part of the moral and civic life is done from a spiritual source. Doing something honest and fair from a spiritual source is doing it out of what is genuinely honest and fair, or doing it from the heart.

In outward form, this fairness and honesty look just like the fairness and honesty in a natural person - even like that in evil and hellish people; but in inward form they are wholly unlike. Evil people really behave fairly and honestly only for their own sakes and for the sake of the world. So if they were not afraid of laws and penalties, of losing reputation, prestige, money, and life, they would act with utter dishonesty and unfairness; since they do not fear God or any Divine law, there is no inner restraint to hold them back. So to the extent that they can, they cheat, tear down, and rob, because they enjoy it.

This nature of theirs shows up particularly in people of the same sort in the other life, when everyone's outward aspects are taken away and their inward aspects are opened up in which they will be living to eternity. Since at this point these people do act without outward restraints (which are, as mentioned above, fears of the law and of losing reputation, prestige, money, and life), their behavior is senseless; they laugh at honesty and fairness.

But people who have behaved honestly and fairly because of Divine laws behave wisely after their outward aspects have been removed and they are left to their inward ones, because they have a bond with angels of heaven who convey wisdom to them.

This enables us to conclude, to begin with, that a spiritual person can behave just like a natural person as far as civic and moral living are concerned, provided he or she has a bond with the Divine in respect to the inner person, or in respect to the intention and thought. (Heaven and Hell 530)