THE STATE OF MARRIED COUPLES AFTER DEATH

I have just demonstrated the existence of marriage in the heavens, so I must now show whether or not the marital bond entered into in the world will last and remain stable after death. Since this is not a matter of judgment but of experience, something I have been given by associating with angels and spirits, it is for me to pass it on, but in such a way as to gain support from reason. To know about this is something married couples hope and long for. For husbands who have loved their wives, if their wives are dead, want to know whether all is well with them, and whether they will meet again; and likewise wives who have loved their husbands. Many couples too want to know in advance whether they will be parted after death or will live together. Those whose dispositions are not in harmony want to know if they will be parted; those whose dispositions are in harmony whether they will live together. So to satisfy these wishes I shall pass on my experiences, in the following sequence. (i) Everyone retains his sexual love after death, exactly as it was inwardly; that is, as it was inwardly in his thought and will while in the world. (ii) The same is true of conjugial love. (iii) Married couples generally meet after death, recognise each other, renew their association and for some time live together. This happens in their first state, while they are concerned with outward matters as in the world. (iv) But by stages, as they put off their outward state and enter instead into their inward one, they perceive what their mutual loves and feelings towards each other were like, and whether or not they can live together. (v) If they are able to live together, they remain a married couple. But if not they part, sometimes the husband leaving the wife, sometimes the wife leaving the husband, and sometimes each leaving by mutual agreement. (vi) In this case a man is given a suitable wife, and the woman likewise a husband. (vii) Married couples enjoy living together in the same way as in the world, but this is more pleasant and blessed. It does not, however, lead to the procreation of children, but their place is taken by spiritual offspring, love and wisdom. (viii) This is what happens to those who go to heaven, but not to those who go to hell.

I shall now explain how each of these statements can be demonstrated and proved.