140. EVERY SPIRIT, WHATEVER HIS QUALITY, TURNS IN LIKE MANNER TO HIS RULING LOVE. It shall first be explained what a spirit is, and what an angel is. Every man after death comes, in the first place, into the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and there passes through his own times, that is, his own states, and becomes prepared, according to his life, either for heaven or for hell. So long as one stays in that world he is called a spirit. He who has been raised out of that world into heaven is called an angel; but he who has been cast down into hell is called either a satan or a devil. So long as these continue in the world of spirits, he who is preparing for heaven is called an angelic spirit; and he who is preparing for hell, an infernal spirit; meanwhile the angelic spirit is conjoined with heaven, and the infernal spirit with hell. All spirits in the world of spirits are adjoined to men; because men, in respect to the interiors of their minds, are in like manner between heaven and hell, and through these spirits they communicate with heaven or with hell according to their life. It is to be observed that the world of spirits is one thing, and the spiritual world another; the world of spirits is that which has just been spoken of; but the spiritual world includes that world, and heaven and hell.