Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence Part 22

[5] It is not known, however, that this heightening of enjoyment comes from a man's entering into infernal societies more and more interiorly and deeply as he perpetrates evils from the will as well as from thought.

If the evils are only in the thoughts, and not in the will, he is not yet in an infernal society having that evil; he enters it when the evils are also in the will. Then, if he also thinks the evil is contrary to the precepts of the Decalog and regards these precepts as divine, he commits the evil of set purpose and by so doing plunges to a depth from which he can be brought out only by active repentance. It is to be understood that everyone as to his spirit is in the spiritual world, in one of its societies, an evil man in an infernal society and a good man in a heavenly society; sometimes, when in deep meditation one also appears there. Moreover, as sound and, along with it, speech spread on the air in the natural world, affection and thought with it spread among societies in the spiritual world; there is correspondence, too, affection corresponding to sound and thought to speech.

[7] Third: _Divine providence with the evil is a continual tolerance of evil, to the end that there may be a continual withdrawal from it._ Divine providence with evil men is continual permission because only evil can issue from their life. For whether he is in good or in evil, man cannot be in both at once, nor by turns in one and the other unless he is lukewarm. Evil of life is not introduced into the will and through this into the thought by the Lord but by man, and this is named permission.

[8] Inasmuch as everything which an evil man wills and thinks is by permission, the question arises, what in this case divine providence is, which is said to be in the least things with every person, evil or good.

It consists in this, that it exercises tolerance continually for the sake of its objective, and permits what helps to the end and nothing more. It constantly observes the evils that issue by permission, separates and purifies them, and rejects what is unsuitable and discharges it by unknown ways. This is done princ.i.p.ally in man's interior will and through it in his interior thought. Divine providence also sees to it constantly that what must be rejected and discharged is not received again by the will, since all that is received by the will is appropriated to the man; what is received by the thought, but not by the will, is set aside and banished. Such is the constant divine providence with the evil; as was said, it is a continual tolerance of evil to the end that there may be continual withdrawal from it.

[9] Of these activities man knows scarcely anything, for he does not perceive them. The chief reason why he does not, is that the evils come from the l.u.s.ts of his life's love, and are not felt to be evils but enjoyments, to which one does not give thought. Who gives thought to the enjoyments of his love? His thought floats along in them like a skiff carried along by the current of a stream; and he perceives a fragrant air which he inhales with a deep breath. Only in one's external thought does one have a sense of the enjoyments, but even in it he pays no attention to them unless he knows well that they are evil. More will be said on this in what follows.

[10] Fourth: _Withdrawal from evil is effected by the Lord in a thousand most secret ways._ Only some of these have been disclosed to me, and only the most general ones. For instance, the enjoyments of l.u.s.ts, of which man knows nothing, are let by cl.u.s.ters and bundles into the interior thoughts of his spirit and thence into his exterior thoughts, where they appear in a feeling of pleasure, delight or longing, and mingle with his natural and sensuous enjoyments. There the means to separation and purification and the ways of withdrawal and unburdening are to be found.

The means are chiefly the enjoyments of meditation, thought and reflection on ends that are uses. Such ends are as numerous as the particulars and details of one's business or occupation. Just as numerous are the enjoyments of reflection on such an end as that one shall appear to be a civil and moral and also a spiritual person, no matter what interposes which is unenjoyable. These enjoyments, being those of one's love in the external man, are the means to the separation, purification, expulsion and withdrawal of the enjoyments of the l.u.s.ts in the internal man.

[11] Take, for example, an unjust judge who regards gain or friendship as the end or use of his office. Inwardly he is constantly in those ends, but outwardly must act as one learned in the law and just. He is constantly in the enjoyment of meditation, thought, reflection and intent to bend and turn a decision and adapt and adjust it so that it may still seem to be in conformity with the laws and resemble justice. He does not know that his inward enjoyment consists in craftiness, defrauding, deceit, clandestine theft, and many other evils, and that this enjoyment, made up of so many enjoyments of the l.u.s.ts of evil, governs each and all things of his external thought, in which he enjoys appearing just and sincere. Into the external enjoyment the internal enjoyment is let down, the two are mingled as food is in the stomach, and thereupon the internal enjoyments are separated, purified, and withdrawn. Still this is true only of the more grievous enjoyments of the l.u.s.ts of evil.

[12] For in an evil man the only separation, purification and withdrawal possible is of the more grievous evils from the less grievous.

In a good man, however, separation, purification and withdrawal is possible not only of the more grievous evils but also of the less grievous. This is effected by the enjoyments of the affections of what is good and true, and of what is just and sincere, affections into which one comes so far as he regards evils as sins and therefore avoids and is averse to them, and still more as he fights against them. It is by these means that the Lord purifies all who are saved. He purifies them by external means also, such as fame and standing and sometimes wealth, but put into these means by the Lord are the enjoyments of affections of good and truth, by which they are directed and fitted to become enjoyments of love for the neighbor.

[13] If one saw the enjoyments of the l.u.s.ts of evil a.s.sembled in some form, or perceived them distinctly by some sense, he would see and perceive that they are too numerous for definition. For h.e.l.l in its entirety is nothing but the form of all the l.u.s.ts of evil, and no one l.u.s.t in it is quite similar to or the same as another, nor can be to eternity. Of these countless l.u.s.ts man knows scarcely anything, and even less how they are connected with one another. Yet the Lord in His divine providence continually allows them to come forth, for them to be drawn away, and this is done in perfect order and sequence. For the evil man is a h.e.l.l in miniature, and the good man a heaven in miniature.

[14] The withdrawal from evils, which the Lord effects in a thousand highly secret ways, may best be seen and concluded about from the secret activities of the soul in the body. Man knows that he examines the food he is about to eat, perceives what it is by its odor, hungers for it, tastes it, chews it, and by the tongue rolls it down into the esophagus and so into the stomach. But then there are the hidden activities of the soul of which he knows nothing, for he has no sensation of them. The stomach rolls about the food it receives, opens and breaks it up by solvents, that is, digests it, and offers fit portions to the little mouths opening in it and to veins which imbibe it. Some it sends to the blood, some to the lymphatic vessels, some to the lacteal vessels of the mesentery, and some down to the intestines. Then the chyle, conveyed through the thoracic duct from its cistern in the mesentery, is carried to the vena cava, and so to the heart. From the heart it is carried into the lungs, from them through the left ventricle of the heart into the aorta, and from this by its branches to viscera throughout the body and also to the kidneys. In each organ separation and purification of the blood are effected and removal of the heterogeneous, not to mention how the heart sends its blood up to the brain after purification in the lungs, which is done by the arteries called carotids, and how the brain returns the blood, now vivified, to the vena cava just above where the thoracic duct brings in the chyle, and so back again to the heart.

[15] These and countless other activities are secret operations of the soul in the body. Man has no sense of them, and unless he is acquainted with the science of anatomy, knows nothing of them. Yet similar activities take place in the interiors of the human mind. Nothing can take place in the body except from the mind, for man's mind is his spirit, and his spirit is equally man; the sole difference being that what is done in the body is done naturally, while what is done in the mind is done spiritually; there is all similarity. Plainly, then, divine providence operates with every man in a thousand hidden ways, and its incessant care is to cleanse him, since its purpose is to save him.

Plainly, too, nothing more is inc.u.mbent on man than to remove evils in the outward man; the Lord sees to the rest, when He is implored.

297. (iii) _The evil cannot be fully withdrawn from evil and led in good by the Lord so long as they believe their own intelligence to be everything and divine providence nothing._ It would seem that man could withdraw himself from evil provided he thought that this or that was contrary to the common good, or to what is useful, or to national or international law, and this an evil as well as a good man can do if by birth or through practice he is such that he can think clearly within himself, a.n.a.lysing and reasoning. But even then he is not capable of withdrawing himself from evil. The faculty of understanding and of perceiving, even abstractly, has indeed been given everyone by the Lord, to the evil as well as to the good, as has been shown above in many places, and yet man cannot deliver himself from evil by means of this faculty. For evil comes of the will, and the understanding influences the will only with light, enlightening and instructing. If the heat of the will, that is, man's love, is hot with the l.u.s.t of evil, it is cold towards the affection of good, therefore does not receive the light but either repels or extinguishes it, or by some fabricated falsity turns it into evil. The light is then like winter light, which is as clear as the light in summer and remains as clear even when it flows into frozen trees. But this can be seen better in the following order:

1. When the will is in evil, one's own intelligence sees only falsity, and neither desires to see, nor can see, anything else.

2. If then one's own intelligence is confronted with truth, it either turns away from it or falsifies it.

3. Divine providence continually causes man to see truth, and also gives him affection for perceiving and receiving it.

4. Through this means man is withdrawn from evil, not by himself, but by the Lord.

298. For these things to be made apparent to the rational man, whether he is evil or good, thus whether he is in the light of winter or in the light of summer (for colors appear the same in them), they are to be explained in due order.

First: _When the will is in evil, one's own intelligence sees only falsity, and neither desires nor is able to see anything else._ This has often been demonstrated in the spiritual world. Everyone, on becoming a spirit, which takes place after death when he puts off the material body and puts on the spiritual, is introduced by turns into the two states of his life, the external and the internal. In the external state he speaks and acts rationally, quite as a rational and wise man does in the world; he can also instruct others in much that pertains to moral and civil life, and if he has been a preacher he can also give instruction in the spiritual life. But when he is brought from this external state into his internal state, and the external is put to sleep and the internal awakes, the scene changes if he is evil. From being rational he becomes sensuous, and from being wise he becomes insane. For he thinks then from the evil of his will and its enjoyments, thus from his own intelligence, and sees only falsity and does nothing but evil, believing that evil is wisdom and that cunning is prudence. From his own intelligence he believes himself to be a deity and with all his mind sucks up nefarious ways.

[2] I have often seen instances of such insanity. I have also seen spirits introduced into these alternating states two or three times within an hour, and it was granted them to see and also acknowledge their insanities. Nevertheless they were unwilling to remain in a rational and moral state, but voluntarily returned to their internal sensuous and insane state. They loved this more than the other because the enjoyment of their life's love was in it. Who can believe that an evil man is such beneath his outward appearance and that he undergoes such a transformation when he enters on his internal state? This one experience makes plain the nature of one's own intelligence when one thinks and acts from the evil of one's will. It is otherwise with the good. When they are admitted from their external state into their internal state, they become still wiser and still more moral.

[3] Second: _If then one's own intelligence is confronted with truth, it either turns away from it or falsifies it._ The human being has a volitional and an intellectual proprium. The volitional proprium is evil, and the intellectual proprium is falsity derived from evil; the latter is meant by "the will of man" and the former by "the will of the flesh" in John 1:13. The volitional proprium is in essence self-love, and the intellectual proprium is the pride coming of that love. The two are like married partners, and their union is called the marriage of evil and falsity. Into this union each evil spirit is admitted before he enters h.e.l.l; he then does not know what good is; he calls his evil good, because that is what he feels to be enjoyable. He also turns away from truth then and has no desire to see it, because he sees the falsity which accords with his evil as the eye beholds what is beautiful, and hears it as the ear hears what is harmonious.

[4] Third: _Divine providence continually causes man to see truth and also gives him affection for perceiving and receiving it._ For divine providence acts from within and flows thence into the exteriors, that is, flows from what is spiritual into what is in the natural man, by the light of heaven enlightening his understanding and by the heat of heaven quickening his will. The light of heaven in essence is divine wisdom, and the heat of heaven in essence is divine love. From divine wisdom nothing can flow but truth, and from divine love nothing but good. With good the Lord bestows an affection in the understanding for seeing and also perceiving and receiving truth. Man thus becomes man not only in external aspect but in internal aspect, too. Everyone desires to appear a rational and spiritual man, and knows he so desires in order that others may believe him to be truly man. If then he is rational and spiritual in external form only, and not at the same time in his internal form, is he man? Is he different from a player on the stage or from an ape with an almost human face? May one not know from this that only he is a human being who is inwardly what he desires others to think he is? One who acknowledges the one fact must admit the other. Man's own intelligence can induce the human form only on externals, but divine providence induces it on internals and thence on externals. When it has been so induced, a man does not only appear to be a man; he is one.

[5] Fourth: _Through this means man is withdrawn from evil, not by himself, but by the Lord._ When divine providence gives man to see truth and to be affected by it, he can be withdrawn from evil for the reason that truth points the way and dictates; doing what truth dictates, the will unites with truth and within itself turns it into good, for it becomes something one loves, and what is loved is good. All reformation is effected through truth, not without it, for without truth the will continues in its evil, and should it consult the understanding, is not instructed, rather the evil is confirmed by falsities.

[6] With regard to intelligence, this seems to the good man as well as to an evil man to be his and proper to him. Like an evil man, he is also bound to act from intelligence as if it were his own. But one who believes in divine providence is withdrawn from evil, and one who does not believe in it is not withdrawn; he believes who acknowledges that evil is sin and desires to be withdrawn from it, and he does not believe who does not so acknowledge and desire. The difference between the two kinds of intelligence is like that between what is believed to exist in itself and what is believed not to exist in itself but to appear as if it did. It is also like the difference between an external without an internal similar to it and an external with a similar internal. Thus it is like the difference between impersonations of kings, princes or generals by mimes and actors through word and bearing, and actual kings, princes or generals. The latter are such in fact as well as outwardly, but the former only outwardly, and when the exterior is laid off, are known only as comedians, actors or players.

299. (iv) _The Lord governs h.e.l.l by means of opposites, and those in the world who are evil He governs in h.e.l.l as to their interiors but not as to their exteriors._ One who does not know the character of heaven and h.e.l.l cannot know at all that of man's mind; his mind is his spirit which survives death. For the mind or spirit of man is altogether in form what heaven or h.e.l.l is. The only difference is that one is vast and the other very small, or one is archetype and the other a copy. As to his mind or spirit, accordingly, the human being is either heaven or h.e.l.l in least form, heaven if he is led by the Lord, and h.e.l.l if he is led by his proprium. Inasmuch as it has been granted me to know what heaven and h.e.l.l are, and it is important to know what the human being is in respect to his mind or spirit, I will describe both heaven and h.e.l.l briefly.

300. All who are in heaven are nothing other than affections of good and thoughts thence of truth, and all who are in h.e.l.l are nothing other than l.u.s.ts of evil and imaginations thence of falsity. These are so arranged respectively that the l.u.s.ts of evil and the imaginings of falsity in h.e.l.l are precisely opposite to the affections of good and the thoughts of truth in heaven. Therefore h.e.l.l is under heaven and diametrically opposite, that is, the two are like two men lying in opposite directions, or standing, invertedly, like men at the antipodes, only the soles of their feet meeting and their heels. .h.i.tting. At times h.e.l.l also appears to be so situated or inverted relatively to heaven, for the reason that those in h.e.l.l make l.u.s.ts of evil the head and affections of good the feet, while those in heaven make affections of good the head and l.u.s.ts of evil the soles of the feet; hence the mutual opposition. When it is said that in heaven there are affections of good and thoughts of truth from them, and in h.e.l.l l.u.s.ts of evil and imaginations of falsity from them, the meaning is that there are spirits and angels who are such. For everyone is his affection or his l.u.s.t, an angel of heaven his affection and a spirit of h.e.l.l his l.u.s.t.

301. The angels of heaven are affections of good and thoughts thence of truth because they are recipients of divine love and wisdom from the Lord; for all affections of good are from the divine love and all thoughts of truth are from the divine wisdom. But the spirits of h.e.l.l are l.u.s.ts of evil and the imaginations thence of falsity because they are in self-love and their own intelligence, and all l.u.s.ts of evil come of self-love and imaginations of falsity from one's own intelligence.

302. The ordering of affections in heaven and of l.u.s.ts in h.e.l.l is marvelous, and is known to the Lord alone. They are each distinguished into genera and species, and are so conjoined as to make a unit. As they are distinguished into genera and species, they are distinguished into larger and smaller societies, and as they are so conjoined as to make a unit, they are conjoined as all things in man are. Hence in its form heaven is like a comely man, whose soul is divine love and wisdom, thus the Lord, and h.e.l.l in its form is like a monstrous man, his soul self-love and self-intelligence, thus the devil. No devil is sole lord there; self-love is so called.

303. But that the nature of heaven and of h.e.l.l respectively may be better known, instead of affections of good let enjoyments of good be understood, and enjoyments of evil instead of l.u.s.ts of evil, for no affections or l.u.s.ts are without their enjoyments, and enjoyments make one's life. These enjoyments are distinguished and conjoined as we said affections of good and l.u.s.ts of evil are. The enjoyment of his affection fills and surrounds each angel, the enjoyment common to a society of heaven fills and surrounds each society, and the enjoyment of all the angels together or the most widely shared enjoyment fills and envelops heaven as a whole. Similarly, the pleasure of his l.u.s.t fills and envelops each spirit of h.e.l.l, a common enjoyment every society in h.e.l.l, and the enjoyment of all or the most widely shared enjoyment fills and envelops all h.e.l.l. Since, as was said, the affections of heaven and the l.u.s.ts of h.e.l.l are diametrically opposite to each other, plainly a heavenly joy is so unenjoyable to h.e.l.l that it is unbearable, and in turn an infernal joy is so unenjoyable to heaven that it is unbearable, too. Hence the antipathy, aversion and separateness.

304. As these enjoyments const.i.tute the life of each individual and of all in general, they are not sensed by those in them, but the opposite enjoyments are sensed when brought near, especially if they are turned into odors; for every enjoyment corresponds to an odor and in the spiritual world may be converted into it. Then the general enjoyment in heaven is sensed as the odor of a garden, varied according to the fragrance of flowers and fruits; the general enjoyment in h.e.l.l is sensed as the odor of stagnant water, into which filth of various sorts has been thrown, the odor varied according to the stench of the things decaying and reeking in it. While I have been given to know how the enjoyment of a particular affection of good is sensed in heaven, and the enjoyment of some l.u.s.t of evil in h.e.l.l, it would take too long to relate it here.

305. I have heard many newcomers from the world complain that they had not known that their destiny would be according to the affections of their love. To these, they said, they had given no thought in the world, much less to the enjoyments of the affections, for they loved what they found enjoyable. They had believed that each person's lot would be according to his thoughts from his intelligence, especially according to thoughts of piety and of faith. But they were answered, that they could have known, if they wished, that evil of life is unacceptable to heaven and displeasing to G.o.d, but acceptable to h.e.l.l and pleasing to the devil, and the other way about, that good of life is acceptable to heaven and pleasing to G.o.d, but unacceptable to h.e.l.l and displeasing to the devil; consequently that evil in itself is malodorous and good is fragrant. As they might have known this if they wished, why did they not shun evils as infernal and diabolical, but indulge in them merely because they were enjoyable? Aware now that the enjoyments of evil smell so foully, they might also know that those full of them cannot enter heaven. Upon this reply they betook themselves to those who were in similar enjoyments, for only there could they breathe.

306. From the idea of heaven and h.e.l.l just given, it may be evident what the nature of man's mind is. For, as was said, man's mind or spirit is either a heaven or a h.e.l.l in least form, that is, his interiors are nothing other than affections and thoughts thence, distinguished into genera and species, like the larger and smaller societies of heaven or h.e.l.l, and so connected as to act as a unit. The Lord governs them as He does heaven or h.e.l.l. That the human being is either heaven or h.e.l.l in least form may be seen in the work _Heaven and h.e.l.l,_ published at London in 1758.

307. Now to the subject proposed, that the Lord governs h.e.l.l by means of opposites, and those in the world who are evil He governs in h.e.l.l as to their interiors but not as to their exteriors. On the first point, that _the Lord governs h.e.l.l through opposites,_ it was shown above (nn. 288, 289) that the angels of heaven are not in love and wisdom, or in the affection of good and thence in thought of truth from themselves, but from the Lord, likewise that good and truth flow from heaven into h.e.l.l where good is turned into evil and truth into falsity because the interiors of the minds of those in heaven and in h.e.l.l respectively are turned in opposite directions. Inasmuch then as all things in h.e.l.l are the opposite of all things in heaven, the Lord governs h.e.l.l by means of opposites.

[2] The second point, that _the Lord governs in h.e.l.l those in the world who are evil._ This is for the reason that the human being as to his spirit is in the spiritual world and in some society there, in an infernal society if he is evil, in a heavenly one if he is good. For his mind, which in itself is spiritual, cannot be anywhere but among spiritual beings, of whom he becomes one after death. This has also been stated and demonstrated above. A man is not there, however, in the same way as a spirit is who has been a.s.signed to the society, for man is constantly in a state to be reformed, and therefore, if he is evil, is transferred by the Lord from one infernal society to another according to his life and the changes in it. But if he permits himself to be reformed, he is led out of h.e.l.l and elevated to heaven, and there, too, he is carried from one society to another until his death, after which this does not take place as he is then no longer in a state to be reformed, but remains in the state which is his from his life. When a person dies, therefore, he is a.s.signed his place.

[3] Thirdly, _the Lord governs the evil who are in the world in this way as to their interiors, but in another way as to their exteriors._ The Lord governs the interiors of man's mind in the manner just stated, but governs the exteriors in the world of spirits, which is between heaven and h.e.l.l. The reason is that commonly man is different in externals from what he is in internals. He can feign outwardly to be an angel of light and yet inwardly be a spirit of darkness. His external is therefore governed in one way, and his internal in another; as long as he is in the world, his external is governed in the world of spirits, and his internal in either heaven or h.e.l.l. On death one also enters the world of spirits first, therefore, and comes into his external, which he puts off there; having put it off, he is conducted to the place a.s.signed as his. What the world of spirits is and its nature may be seen in the work _Heaven and h.e.l.l,_ published at London in 1758, nn. 421-535.

XVI. DIVINE PROVIDENCE APPROPRIATES NEITHER EVIL NOR GOOD TO ANYONE, BUT ONE'S OWN PRUDENCE APPROPRIATES BOTH

308. Almost everyone believes that man thinks and wills, hence speaks and acts, from himself. Who of himself can believe otherwise? For the appearance that he does is so strong that it differs not at all from actually thinking, willing, speaking and acting from oneself, which is impossible. In _Angelic Wisdom about Divine Love and Wisdom_ it was shown that there is only one life and that men are recipients of life; also that the human will is the receptacle of love, and the human understanding the receptacle of wisdom; love and wisdom are the one life.

It was also demonstrated that by creation and steadily therefore by divine providence this life appears in the human being quite as though it sprang from him and hence was his own, but that this is the appearance so that man can be a receptacle. It was also shown above (nn. 288-294) that no one thinks from himself but from others, nor the others from themselves, but all from the Lord, an evil person as well as a good person. We showed further that this is well known in Christendom, especially to those who not only say but also believe that all good and truth, all wisdom and thus all faith and charity are from the Lord, also that all evil and falsity are from the devil or h.e.l.l.

[2] One can only conclude from all this that everything which a man thinks and wills flows into him. And since all speech flows from thought as an effect from its cause, and all action flows similarly from the will, it follows that everything which one speaks and does also flows in, albeit derivatively or indirectly. It is undeniable that all which one sees, hears, smells, tastes or feels flows in; why not then what he thinks and wills? Can there be any difference other than this, that ent.i.ties in the natural world flow into the organs of the external senses or of the body, while ent.i.ties in the spiritual world flow into the organic substances of the internal senses or of the mind? Hence as the organs of the external senses or of the body are receptacles of natural objects, so the organic substances of the internal senses or of the mind are receptacles of spiritual objects. As this is man's situation, what then is his proprium? It cannot consist in his being such or such a receptacle, for then it would only be the man's manner of reception, not the life's proprium. No one understands by proprium anything else than that he lives of himself and consequently thinks and wills of himself; but that there is no such proprium and indeed cannot be with anyone follows from what was said above.

309. But let me relate what I have heard from some in the spiritual world. They were of those who believe that one's own prudence is everything and divine providence nothing. I remarked that man has no proprium unless you want to call it his proprium that he is such or such a subject or organ or form. This is not the proprium that is meant, however, for it is only descriptive of the nature of man. No man, I said, has any proprium as the word is commonly understood. At this those who ascribed everything to their own prudence and who may be called the very picture of proprietorship, flared up so that flames seemed to come from their nostrils as they said, "You speak paradox and insanity! Would man not be an empty nothing then? Or an idea or fancy? Or a graven image or statue?"

[2] To this I could only reply that it is paradox and insanity to believe that man has life of himself, and that wisdom and prudence, likewise the good of charity and the truth of faith, do not flow in from G.o.d but are in man. To attribute them to oneself every wise person calls insane and also paradoxical. Those who attribute them to themselves are like tenants of another's house and property who persuade themselves by living there that it is their own; or like stewards and administrators who consider all that their master owns to be theirs; or like servants in business to whom their master gave talents and pounds to trade with, but who rendered no account to him but kept all as theirs and thus behaved like robbers.

[3] It may be said of such that they are insane, indeed are nothing and empty, likewise are idealists, since they do not have in them from the Lord good which is the esse itself of life, thus do not have truth, either. They are also called "dead" therefore and "nothing and empty"

(Isa 40:17, 23), and elsewhere "makers of images," "graven images" and "statues." More about them in what follows, to be done in this order:

i. What one's own prudence is, and what prudence not one's own is.

ii. By his own prudence man persuades himself and confirms in himself that all good and truth are from him and in him; similarly all evil and falsity.

iii. All that a man is persuaded of and confirms remains with him as his own.

iv. If man believed, as is the truth, that all good and truth are from the Lord, and all evil and falsity from h.e.l.l, he would not appropriate good to himself and consider it merited, nor appropriate evil to himself and make himself responsible for it.

310. (i) _What one's own prudence is, and what prudence not one's own is._ Those are in prudence of their own who confirm appearances in themselves and make them truths, especially the appearance that one's own prudence is all and divine providence nothing--unless it is something universal, which it cannot be without singulars to const.i.tute it, as was shown above. They are also in fallacies, for every appearance confirmed as truth becomes a fallacy, and so far as they confirm themselves by fallacies they become naturalists and to that extent believe nothing that they cannot perceive by one of the bodily senses, particularly that of sight, for this especially acts as one with thought. They finally become sensuous. If they confirm themselves in favor of nature instead of G.o.d, they close the interiors of their mind, interpose a veil as it were, and then do their thinking below it and not at all above it. Such sense-ridden men were called serpents of the tree of knowledge by the ancients. It is also said of them in the spiritual world that as they confirm themselves they at length close the interiors of their mind "to the nose," for the nose signifies perception of truth, of which they have none. What their nature is will be told now.

[2] They are more cunning and crafty than others and are ingenious reasoners. They call cunning and craftiness intelligence and wisdom, nor do they know otherwise. They look on those who are not like themselves as simple and stupid, especially those who worship G.o.d and acknowledge divine providence. In respect of the interior principles of their minds, of which they know little, they are like those called Machiavellians, who make murder, adultery, theft and false witness, viewed in themselves, of no account; if they reason against them it is only out of prudence not to appear to be of that nature.

[3] Of man's life in the world they think it is like that of a beast, and of his life after death that it is like a vital vapor which, rising from the body or the grave, sinks back again and dies. From this madness comes the notion that spirits and angels are airy ent.i.ties, and with those who have been enjoined to believe in everlasting life that the souls of men also are. They therefore do not see, hear or speak, but are blind, deaf and dumb, and only cogitate in their particle of air. The sense-ridden ask, "How can the soul be anything else? The external senses died with the body, did they not? They cannot be resumed before the soul is reunited with the body." Inasmuch as they could comprehend the state of the soul after death only sensuously and not spiritually, they have fixed upon the state described; otherwise their belief in everlasting life would have perished. Above all, they confirm self-love in themselves, calling it the fire of life and the incentive to various uses in the kingdom. Being of this nature, they are their own idols, and their thoughts, being fallacies and from fallacies, are images of falsity.

Indulging in the enjoyments of l.u.s.ts, they are satans and devils; those who confirm l.u.s.ts of evil in themselves are satans, and those who live them are called devils.

[4] It has also been granted me to know the nature of the most crafty sensuous men. Their h.e.l.l is deep down at the back, and they want to be inconspicuous. Therefore they appear to hover about there like spectres, which are their fantasies, and they are called _genii._ Some were sent out from that h.e.l.l once for me to learn what they are like. They immediately addressed themselves to my neck below the occiput and thus entered my affections, not wanting to enter my thoughts, which they adroitly avoided. They altered my affections one by one with a mind to bend them imperceptibly into their opposites, which are l.u.s.ts of evil; and as they did not touch my thought at all they would have bent and inverted my affections without my knowledge, had not the Lord prevented it.

[5] Such do they become who do not believe that there can be any divine providence, and who search only for cupidities and cravings in others and thus lead them along until they dominate them. They do this so secretly and artfully that one does not know it, and they remain the same on death; therefore they are cast down into that h.e.l.l as soon as they enter the spiritual world. Seen in heaven's light they appear to be without a nose, and it is remarkable that although they are so crafty they are more sense-ridden than others.

[6] The ancients called a sensuous man a serpent, and such a man is more cunning and crafty and a more ingenious reasoner than others; therefore it is said,