409. Heavenly joy itself, such as it is in its essence, cannot be described, because it is in the inmost of the life of angels and therefrom in every single thing of their thought and affection, and from these in every particular of their speech and action. It is as if the interiors were fully opened and unloosed for the reception of delight and blessedness, which are distributed to every least fibre and thus through the whole. Thus, the perception and sensation of this joy is so great as to be beyond description. For that which starts from the inmosts flows into every particular derived from the inmosts, propagating itself always with increase towards the exteriors. Good spirits who are not yet in that joy, because not yet raised up into heaven, when they perceive a sense of that joy from an angel from the sphere of his love, are filled with such delight that they come, as it were, into a delicious swoon. This sometimes took place with those who were desirous of knowing what heavenly joy is.