The Third State: The State of Instruction (HH 512-520)

As we have seen, the initial stages of spiritual awakening involve two states: the state of exteriors and the state of interiors. These first two general states serve the purpose of familiarising spirits with their inner and outer levels of consciousness. The intention behind this is to encourage them to contemplate their thoughts and affections, allowing them to evaluate the quality of their loves and subsequently examine the basis from which they think and act.

Dispositions towards evils are gradually exposed through a process of stripping back inner states of self-denial and concealment. As a result, there comes a realisation and acceptance that these states, which are associated with the hellish proprium, are exactly as the Word describes them. It also becomes clear that these states, being hellish in nature, cannot be improved, converted into good, or reformed. This acceptance has a profound effect on the spirits involved, leading to a decreased motivation to maintain false appearances that mask their true nature.

Consequently, these spirits or spiritual states proceed unhindered towards their destined place in hell, residing on the outskirts of the mind. They willingly embrace and descend into a life that reflects the core essence of their evil and falsehood. Thus, for those states or spirits that can’t be elevated into the life of heaven, this progression constitutes both the second and third stage of awakening.
The third state of man after death, that is, of his spirit, is a state of instruction. This state is for those who come into heaven and become angels. It is not for those who come into hell, because such are incapable of being taught, and therefore their second state is also their third, ending in this, that they are wholly turned to their own love, thus to that infernal society which is in a like love. (HH 512)
On the other hand, the good spirits, which can also be thought of as states of consciousness, are those that acknowledge the Word as the Lord and recognise Him as the source of all goodness and truth. They understand that salvation from the hellish states, or the negative aspects belonging to the proprium, can only be attained through the Word. These spirits, or states of mind, are receptive of goods and truths from the Word and as such, are marked by an openness that allows them to receive and integrate specific teachings and insights from it. This receptiveness serves to enrich and deepen the expression of goodness through uses that flow in constantly from the Lord as the Word.

So, the function of the first and second states of spiritual awakening is to equip spirits with the self-knowledge about what the nature of hell and heaven are in relation to their own states of life and of the Divinity of the Word as the Lord Himself.
… no one can so act until he has been taught, for example, that there is a God, that there is a heaven and a hell, that there is a life after death, that God ought to be loved above all things, and the neighbour as oneself, and that the things in the Word ought to be believed because the Word is Divine. Without a knowledge and acknowledgment of these things man is unable to think spiritually (HH 512)
These foundational knowledges enable the examination and then removal of incompatible states of mind and prepares them for entrance into the third state whereby they are ready to receive the necessary instruction on how to live a heavenly life.
For one can be prepared for heaven only by means of knowledges of good and truth, that is, only by means of instruction, since one can know what spiritual good and truth are, and what evil and falsity are, which are their opposites, only by being taught. (HH 512)
 

Instruction Is From Heaven, Not From The World
… spiritual good and truth are learned, not from the world but from heaven. They can be learned from the Word and from the doctrine of the Church that is dra...

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