the world know their kindred, relations and friends. The reason is, that in the other life there are no kindreds, relationships and friendships but such as are spiritual, that is, of love and faith. I have several times been permitted to see this, when I have been in the spirit, withdrawn as it were from the body, and thus in company with angels. On such occasions I have seen some who seemed as if I had known them from infancy. But others seemed wholly unknown to me. They who seemed as if known from infancy, were those who were in a state similar to the state of my spirit; but they who were unknown, were in a dissimilar state."—H. H, n. 41-46; also A. R, n. 611.
"The universal heaven is distinguished into societies according to the differences of the love of good, and every spirit who is elevated into heaven and becomes an angel, is conveyed to that society which is distinguished by his ruling love. On his arrival there, he is as though he were at home, and living in the house where he was born. The angel perceives this, and is there consociated with those like himself. When he departs thence, and goes to some other place, he is always sensible of a certain inward resistance, attended with a desire to return to his like, and thus to his ruling love. It is in this way, that consociations in heaven are effected. The like occurs in hell, where also they are consociated according to loves which are the opposite of the loves of heaven."—Ibid. n. 479.All good people, we know, are not quite congenial, and would not be happy in each other's society. Their good is of a different quality; and there are many kinds and degrees of good even in heaven, some of which are widely different from others. "As all in heaven," says Swedenborg, "are distinguished according to goods, it
