But it has
been granted to me now for many years to speak with spirits and to be
with them as one of them, even in full wakefulness of the body.
443. That in respect to his interiors man is a spirit there are
further evidences in what has been said and shown above (n. 311-317),
where it is explained that heaven and hell are from the human race.
444. That man is a spirit in respect to his interiors means in
respect to the things pertaining to his thought and will, for these
are the interiors themselves that make man to be man, and such a man
as he is in respect to these interiors.
445. XLVI. THE RESUSCITATION OF MAN FROM THE DEAD AND HIS ENTRANCE
INTO ETERNAL LIFE.
When the body is no longer able to perform the bodily functions in
the natural world that correspond to the spirit's thoughts and
affections, which the spirit has from the spiritual world, man is
said to die. This takes place when the respiration of the lungs and
the beatings of the heart cease. But the man does not die; he is
merely separated from the bodily part that was of use to him in the
world, while the man himself continues to live. It is said that the
man himself continues to live since man is not a man because of his
body but because of his spirit, for it is the spirit that thinks in
man, and thought with affection is what constitutes man.
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