head downward and feet upward; and others in other ways.
There are also some, who immediately after death are cast into caverns, and are thus separated from those who are in the world of spirits, and are taken out thence and let in thither by turns. These are they who, under civil pretences, have dealt wickedly with the neighbor. But the latter and the former are few in comparison with those who are kept in the world of spirits, and there according to divine order are prepared for heaven or for hell.
As to what concerns the first state, which is the state of the exteriors, man comes into that immediately after death. Every man as to his spirit has exteriors and interiors. The exteriors of the spirit are those whereby he accommodates his body in the world, especially his face, speech and gestures, to consociation with others. But the interiors of the spirit are those which belong to his own proper will and consequent thought, which are rarely manifested in the face, the speech and the manner. For man is accustomed from infancy to assume the appearance of friendship, of benevolence and of sincerity, and to conceal thoughts of his own proper will. Hence from habit he assumes a moral and civil life in externals, whatever he may be in internals. In consequence of this habit, a man scarcely knows what his interiors are, nor does he pay any attention to them.
