Heaven and its Wonders and HellSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Heaven and its Wonders and Hell
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Future life -- Christianity -- Early work to 1800; Heaven -- Christianity; Hell -- Christianity
(The interiors and
exteriors of the mind and disposition are made visible in the
spiritual world whenever the Lord pleases.) [4] Those that are in
corporeal love see nothing in the light of heaven; to them the light
of heaven is thick darkness; but the light of hell, which is like
light from burning coals, is to them as clear light. Moreover, in the
light of heaven their inward sight is so darkened that they become
insane; consequently they shun that light and hide themselves in dens
and caverns, more or less deeply in accordance with the falsities in
them derived from their evils. On the other hand those who are in
heavenly love, the more interiorly and deeply they enter into the
light of heaven, see all things more clearly and all things appear
more beautiful to them, and they perceive truths more intelligently
and wisely. [5] Again, it is impossible for those who are in
corporeal love to live at all in the heat of heaven, for the heat of
heaven is heavenly love; but they can live in the heat of hell, which
is the love of raging against others that do not favor them. The
delights of that love are contempt of others, enmity, hatred and
revenge; and when they are in these delights they are in their life,
and have no idea what it is to do good to others from good itself and
for the sake of good itself, knowing only what it is to do good from
evil and for the sake of evil. [6] Those who are in corporeal love
are unable to breathe in heaven. When any evil spirit is brought into
heaven he draws his breath like one struggling in a contest; while
those that are in heavenly love have a freer respiration and a fuller
life the more interiorly they are in heaven. All this shows that
heaven with man is heavenly and spiritual love, because on that love
all things of heaven are inscribed; also that hell in man is
corporeal and worldly love apart from heavenly and spiritual love,
because on such loves all things of hell are inscribed. Evidently,
then, he whose love is heavenly and spiritual enters heaven, and he
whose love is corporeal and worldly apart from heavenly and spiritual
love enters hell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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