4652. THE MANNER IN WHICH SOME GENTILES, FROM ASIATIC REGIONS MAKE INVESTIGATION AS TO WHETHER THEY ARE TENDING TOWARDS HEAVEN, OR TOWARDS HELL. I saw a certain gentile with a dusky blackish face; and it was seen that he came from a warm region, where such as he dwell. He was seated in a chariot. The horse which drew it, turned all round, and, at length, ran whither he would. He proceeded toward the north there; and, before the horse ran, he [the man] marked, with a staff, the spot where was the beginning of the course, or the starting point, so that he might know it afterwards, when he returned, and, also, whether he was in the same place. The angels said, that certain gentiles thus explore, in the other life, whither they are tending, towards heaven, or towards hell, and with what speed; for, when they return to the first starting point, they then observe how far they are distant from thence, and in what direction, and they thence know the progression of their life, and its trend; for distance shows these things. The reason is, because change and progressions of place, in the other life, are states of life and their progressions: that to progress, to advance, to go, to walk, to journey, have reference to life, see [elsewhere].