259. The Word is like a garden, which may be called the heavenly paradise, containing dainties and delights of every kind. The dainties are composed of fruits, the delights of flowers, and in their midst are the trees of life growing hard by springs of living water; and the garden is surrounded by woodland trees. A person who through doctrine has possession of Divine truths is in the middle of this garden, where the trees of life are, and in fact he enjoys the dainties and delights. A person whose knowledge of truths is not from doctrine, but only drawn from the literal sense, is on the circumference and sees only the woodland. But one who has been taught a false religion, and has convinced himself of that falsity, is not even in the wood, but outside it in a sandy plain, where there is not even any grass. I have shown in my book HEAVEN AND HELL that such is the condition of these people after death.