Hypocrites are such as have
been accustomed to talk like angels, but interiorly have acknowledged
nature alone and not the Divine, and have therefore denied what
pertains to heaven and the church.
459. It should be known that everyone's human form after death is the
more beautiful in proportion as he has more interiorly loved Divine
truths and lived according to them; for everyone's interiors are
opened and formed in accordance with his love and life; therefore the
more interior the affection is the more like heaven it is, and in
consequence the more beautiful the face is. This is why the angels in
the inmost heaven are the most beautiful, for they are forms of
celestial love. But those that have loved Divine truths more
exteriorly, and thus have lived in accordance with them in a more
external way, are less beautiful; for exterior affections only shine
forth from their faces; and through these no interior heavenly love
shines, consequently nothing of the form of heaven as it is in
itself. There is seen in the faces of such something comparatively
obscure, not vivified by any thing of interior life shining through
it. In a word, all perfection increases toward interiors and
decreases toward exteriors, and as perfection increases and decreases
so does beauty.
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