therefore (if this old and once popular view be accepted) would mean simply to enter the place called heaven, as a man might go to a foreign country, or walk into a cathedral or a king's palace. And if entrance into heaven be from immediate mercy, and those who enter are admitted to its blissful enjoyments, why are not all admitted, whatever be their character? For God must desire the happiness of all, since He is a Being of infinite love. If, therefore, going to heaven means simply going to a place called heaven, and if people are admitted by an act of immediate mercy, then it is difficult to understand why everybody should not go there,—unless one accepts the old Calvinistic dogma of unconditional election, and believes that it is God's eternal purpose and desire that some of his intelligent creatures should be forever excluded from the abodes of bliss.
Now, contrary to the old and commonly received doctrine. Swedenborg teaches that heaven is not a place, but a certain state of the soul—a state of love to the Lord and the neighbor, which is one of spiritual likeness to our Maker. It cannot therefore be located in any region of space. Being purely spiritual and within men, it exists wherever human spirits exist that are in a heavenly state—and nowhere else. To cite the seer's own words:
