ry heaven is also seen from their earth; and that a star larger
than the rest appears to them towards the west; it was said from
heaven that this is our sun.

134. My sight was afterwards opened, so that I could in some measure
gaze upon that earth itself; and there appeared many meadows and
forests with trees covered with leaves; likewise fleecy sheep.
Afterwards I saw some of the inhabitants, who belonged to the lower
class, clothed nearly like the country folk in Europe. I also saw a
man (_vir_) with his wife (_mulier_). She appeared of handsome stature
and of graceful mien; so did the man; but, what surprised me, he
walked about pompously, with as it were a haughty gait, while the
woman's gait, on the contrary, was humble. The angels told me that
such is the custom on that earth, and that notwithstanding this
peculiarity, the men are loved, because they are good. I was further
told that they are not allowed to have more than one wife, because it
is contrary to the laws. The woman I saw had an ample garment before
her breast, behind which she could conceal herself, and which was so
made that she could put her arms in it, and wrap herself in it, and in
this wise go away: the lower portion of it could be gathered up,
and, when gathered up and folded about the body, it looked like
a stomacher, such as is worn by the women of our Earth. The same
garment, however, also served the man for an article of clothing. He
was seen to take it from the woman and throw it over his own back, and
loosening the lower part, which thus flowed down to his feet like a
robe, he walked about clad in this manner. What I saw on that earth
was not seen with the eyes of my body, but with the eyes of my spirit,
and a spirit can see the objects that are on an earth, when it is
permitted by the Lord.

135. As I know that many will doubt the possibility of a man's being
able, with the eyes of his spirit, to see anything on an earth so
distant, I may state how the matter is. Distances in the other life
are not as distances on the Earth. In the other life distances are
altogether according to the states of the interiors of each one. They
who are in a similar state are together in one society and in one
place. All presence there results from likeness of state, and all
distance results from unlikeness of state. Hence it was that I was
near to that earth when I was brought by the Lord into a state similar
to that of its spirits and inhabitants, and tha