company with angels I have noticed the Lord’s presence before my face, not actually seen, and yet perceptible in a light; and angels have often testified that this is so.  As the Lord is constantly before the faces of the angels, so it is said in the world of those who believe in the Lord and love Him that they have God before their eyes and their face, and that they look to God, and see God.  These expressions have their origin in the spiritual world, from which are many things in human speech, although their source is unknown to men.

{Footnote 1} In the spiritual world all constantly turn themselves to their loves; and the quarters there have their beginning in the face and are determined by it (n. 10130, 10189, 10420, 10702).  The face is formed to a correspondence with the interiors (n. 4791-4805, 5695).  Therefore the interiors shine forth from the face (n. 3527, 4066, 4796).  With angels the face makes one with the interiors (n. 4796, 4797, 4799, 5695, 8250).  The influx of the interiors into the face and its muscles (n. 3631, 4800).

144.  This turning to the Lord is among the wonderful things in heaven.  There may be many together in one place, some turning the face and body one way and some another, and yet all see the Lord before them, and have everyone has the south at his right, the north at his left, and the west behind him.  Another wonderful thing is that, although the angels look only to the east they have also a look towards the other three quarters; but the look to these is from their interior sight, which pertains to their thought.  And it is yet another wonderful thing that in heaven no one is ever permitted to stand behind another and look at the back of his head, for this would disturb the influx of good and truth from the Lord.

145.  The Lord is seen by the angels, and the angels are seen by the Lord in another way.  Angels see the Lord through their eyes; but the Lord sees the angels in the forehead, and this for the reason that the forehead corresponds to love, and it is through love that the Lord flows into their will, while it is through the understanding, to which the eyes correspond, that He causes Himself to be seen.{1}

{Footnote 1} The forehead corresponds to heavenly love; therefore in the Word the “forehead” signifies that love (n. 9936).  The eye corresponds to the understanding, because the understanding is internal sight (n. 2701, 4410, 4526, 9051, 10569).  For this reason “to lift up the eyes” and “to see” signifies to understand, perceive, and observe (n. 2789, 2829, 3198, 3202, 4083, 4086, 4339, 5684).

146.  The quarters in the heavens that give form to the Lord’s celestial kingdom differ from the quarters in the heavens that give form to His spiritual kingdom, for the reason that He is seen by the angels in His celestial kingdom as a sun, but by the angels in His spiritual kingdom as a moon; and where the Lord is seen is the east.  The distance