Secrets of Heaven · Volume 5 · §§ 4210–4228

4210. And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice in the mountain. That this signifies worship from the good of love, is evident from the signification of a “sacrifice,” as being worship (see n. 922, 923, 2180); and from the signification of a “mountain,” as being the good of love (n. 795, 796, 1430). “Sacrifice” signifies worship because sacrifices and burnt-offerings were the chief things of all the worship in the later or Hebrew representative church. They also sacrificed on mountains, as is evident from various passages in the Word, because “mountains,” from their height, signified things which are high, such as are those which are of heaven and are called celestial; and hence in the supreme sense they signified the Lord, whom these people called the Most High. They thought in this way from the appearance, for things which are more interior appear higher, as does heaven to man. This is interiorly within him, yet man supposes that it is on high. For this reason where what is high is mentioned in the Word, in the internal sense there is signified that which is interior. In the world it must be supposed that heaven is on high, both because the visible heavens spread above us are so called, and because man is in time and place, and therefore thinks from ideas thence derived; and also because few know what that which is interior is, and still fewer that there is there neither place nor time. It is for this reason that the language of the Word is in agreement with the ideas of man’s thought; and if instead of being so it had been in accordance with angelic ideas, the result would have been that men would have perceived nothing at all; but everyone would have stood wondering what it was, and whether it was anything at all, and so would have rejected it as being destitute of anything fit for the understanding.

4211. And called his brethren to eat bread. That this signifies the appropriation of good from the Lord’s Divine natural, is evident from the signification of “brethren,” as being those who were now conjoined by a covenant, that is, by friendship; and in the internal sense those who are in good and truth (that these are called “brethren” may be seen above, n. 367, 2360, 3303, 3459, 3803, 3815, 4121, 4191); from the signification of “eating,” as being appropriation (see n. 3168, 3513, 3832; and that banquets and feasts with the ancients signified appropriation and conjunction by love and charity, see above, n. 3596); and from the signification of “bread,” as being the good of love (n. 276, 680, 1798, 3478, 3735), and in the supreme sense the Lord (n. 2165, 2177, 3478, 3813). As in the supreme sense “bread” signifies the Lord, it therefore signifies everything holy which is from Him, that is, everything good and true; and because there is nothing else good, which is good, except that which is of love and charity, “bread” signifies love and charity. Nor did the sacrifices of old signify anything else, for which reason they were called by the one word “bread” (n. 2165). They also ate together of the flesh of the sacrifices, in order that the heavenly feast might be represented, that is, conjunction by the good of love and charity. This is what is now signified by the Holy Supper; for this succeeded in the place of sacrifices, and of the feasts from the sanctified things; and the Holy Supper is an external of the church that contains within itself an internal, and by means of this internal it conjoins the man who is in love and charity with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord. For in the Holy Supper also, “eating” signifies appropriation, the “bread” celestial love, and the “wine” spiritual love; and this so entirely that when a man is in a holy state while eating it, nothing else is perceived in heaven.

[2] The reason why the expression “the appropriation of good from the Lord’s Divine natural” is made use of, is that the subject treated of is the good of the Gentiles, and it is this good which is now represented by Laban (n. 4189). Man’s conjunction with the Lord is not a conjunction with His Supreme Divine Itself, but with His Divine Human; for man can have no idea whatever of the Lord’s Supreme Divine, which so transcends his idea as altogether to perish and become nothing; but he can have an idea of His Divine Human. For everyone is conjoined by thought and affection with one concerning whom he has some idea, but not with one concerning whom he has no idea. If when anyone is thinking about the Lord’s Human, he has holiness in his idea, he is thinking also of that holy which coming from the Lord fills heaven, so that he is also thinking of heaven; for in its complex heaven bears relation to a man, and it does this from the Lord (n. 684, 1276, 2996, 2998, 3624-3649); and this accounts for the fact that no conjunction is possible with the Lord’s Supreme Divine, but only with His Divine Human, and through His Divine Human with His Supreme Divine. Hence it is said in John that no one hath seen God at any time, except the Only begotten Son (1:18); and that no one can come to the Father except through Him; and hence also He is called the Mediator. That such is the case may be very well known from the fact that all within the church who say they believe in a Supreme Being, and make no account of the Lord, are precisely those who believe nothing at all, not even that there is a heaven, or that there is a hell, and who worship nature. Moreover, if such persons are willing to be instructed by experience, they will see that the evil, even the worst of them, say the same thing.

[3] But as regards the Lord’s Human, men think in various ways, one in one way and another in another, and one in a more holy way than another. They who are within the church are able to think that His Human is Divine, and also that as He says He is one with the Father, and that the Father is in Him, and He in the Father. But they who are without the church cannot do this, both because they know nothing about the Lord and because they have no idea of the Divine except from the images which they see with their eyes, and the idols which they can touch with their hands. And yet the Lord conjoins Himself with these by means of the good of their charity and obedience that is within their gross idea of Him. For this reason it is here said that such have an “appropriation of good from the Lord’s Divine natural;” for the conjunction of the Lord with man is according to the state of his thought and the derivative affection. They who are in the most holy idea concerning the Lord, and at the same time in the knowledges and affections of good and truth-as those can be who are within the church-are conjoined with the Lord in respect to His Divine rational; whereas they who are not in such holiness, nor in such interior idea and affection, and yet are in the good of charity, are conjoined with the Lord in respect to His Divine natural. They who have a holiness of a still grosser kind are conjoined with the Lord in respect to His Divine sensuous; and this conjunction is what is represented by the brazen serpent, in that those who looked at it recovered from the bite of the serpents (Num. 21:9). In this conjunction are those among the Gentiles who worship idols, and yet live in charity in accordance with their religion. From all this it is now evident what is meant by the appropriation of good from the Lord’s Divine natural, which is signified by Jacob’s calling his brethren to eat bread.

4212. And they did eat bread. That this signifies the effect, namely, in the external sense friendship, and in the supreme sense conjunction by good and truth in the Lord’s natural, is evident.

4213. And tarried all night in the mountain. That this signifies tranquillity, is evident from the signification of “tarrying all night,” as being to have peace (see n. 3170), thus tranquillity. It was also a rite that those who entered into a covenant should tarry all night in one place, because tarrying all night in one place signified that there was no longer any hostility, and in the internal sense, that there was tranquillity and peace; for they who are conjoined in respect to good and truth are in tranquillity and in peace. It is therefore said here, “in the mountain,” because by a “mountain” is signified the good of love and charity (see n. 4210); for the good of love and charity confers peace. (What peace and tranquillity are, may be seen above, n. 92, 93, 1726, 2780, 3170, 3696, 3780.)

4214. And in the morning Laban arose early. That this signifies the enlightenment of this good from the Lord’s Divine natural, is evident from the signification of “rising early in the morning,” as being enlightenment (see n. 3458, 3723); and from the representation of Laban, as being such good as is that of the Gentiles (n. 4189). That the enlightenment of this good here meant is from the Lord’s Divine natural, is manifest from the series. As regards enlightenment, it is all from the Lord, and through the good that is in the man; and such as is the good, such is the enlightenment.

[2] Most people believe that those men are enlightened who are able to reason about good and truth and about evil and falsity; and that their enlightenment is the greater in proportion to the subtlety and acuteness with which they can speak about these things, and at the same time confirm them by many memory-knowledges, and likewise make what they say appear probable by comparisons, especially those drawn from things of sense, and by other modes of persuasion. And yet such men may be in no enlightenment, in spite of their power of imagination and perception. This power is of two kinds, one which comes from the light of heaven, and the other from a fatuous light; and in the outward form these two appear alike, although in the inward form they are quite different. That which is from the light of heaven is in good, that is, is with those who are in good, and who from good are able to see truth, and to know as in clear day whether a thing is so, or is not so. But that which is from fatuous light is in evil, that is, is with those who are in evil; and their being able to reason about such things comes from the fact that they possess some capacity of knowing them, but no affection of doing them; and that this is to be in no enlightenment everyone can comprehend.

[3] As regards fatuous light the case in the other life is this: They who have been in such light in this world are in the like in the other life, and there reason about good and truth and about evil and falsity, and this much more perfectly and excellently than when in the life of the body; for their thoughts are not there beclogged and impeded by the cares of the body and of the world, nor so terminated or bounded in them, as when they were in the body and the world. But still it at once appears (not to them, but to good spirits and angels) that their reasonings are those of fatuous light, and that the light of heaven that inflows with them is instantly turned into such a light; so that that which was the light of heaven with them is either suffocated, as when the light of the sun falls upon something opaque and becomes black; or is reflected, as with those who are in principles of falsity; or is perverted, as when the sun’s light flows into ugly and unclean objects, and produces repulsive colors and offensive smells. Such is the case with those who are in fatuous light and believe themselves to be more enlightened than others simply because they are able to reason intelligently and wisely, while nevertheless living an evil life.

[4] Who these are, and what is their character, appears from everything they speak, provided they do not counterfeit what is good for the sake of deceiving. Among them are those who deny or despise the Lord, and within themselves ridicule those who confess Him. Among them are those who love adulteries, and who ridicule those who believe marriages to be holy, and by no means to be violated. Among them are those who believe the precepts and doctrinal things of the church to be for the sake of the common people, that they may thereby be kept in bonds, and who in themselves make them of no account. Among them in like manner are those who ascribe all things to nature, and believe those to be simple-minded and of feeble judgment who ascribe them to the Divine. Among them also are those who attribute everything to their own prudence, and who say, and have confirmed themselves in the opinion, that there is a Supreme Being that exercises some government in general or in the universal, but nothing in particular or individually. And so in other cases.

[5] Such persons are in fatuous light even in the other life, and among their like they also reason acutely; but when they approach any heavenly society, this light is extinguished and becomes darkness; and consequently their thought is obscured to such a degree that they cannot think at all; for they are then cramped and constricted by the light of heaven, which as before said is with them either suffocated, reflected, or perverted; and they therefore throw themselves down headlong, and cast themselves into hell, where such light prevails. From all this can be seen what true enlightenment is, namely, that it comes from the good which is from the Lord; and also what false enlightenment is, namely, that it comes from the evil which is from hell.

4215. And kissed his sons and his daughters. That this signifies the acknowledgment of these truths, and of the affections of the same, is evident from the signification of “kissing,” as being conjunction from affection (see n. 3573, 3574), consequently acknowledgment (for where there is conjunction by means of good and truth, there is the acknowledgment of these); from the signification of “sons,” as being truths or verities (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3773); and from the signification of “daughters,” here Rachel and Leah, as being the affections of the same, that is, of truths (n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819).

[2] It is from the correspondence that “kissing” signifies conjunction from affection; for there is a correspondence of heaven with all the organs and members of the body, as shown at the end of the chapters. There is a correspondence of the internal things of man with all things of the face, and hence the animus shines forth from the countenance, and the interior animus or mind from the eyes. There is also a correspondence of the thoughts and affections with the actions and gestures of the body; as is well known in regard to those which are of a voluntary as well as those which are of an involuntary character.

For humiliation of heart produces kneeling, which is an external gesture of the body; humiliation still greater and more internal produces prostration to the earth; gladness of heart and joy of mind produce singing and joyful shouting; sadness and internal mourning produce weeping and wailing; but conjunction from affection produces kissing. From all this it is evident that because such external acts correspond, they are signs of things internal; and that in them as signs there is an internal from which they take their quality. But with those who desire to counterfeit internal things by means of external, such externals are also signs, but signs of simulation, hypocrisy, and deceit. Such is the case with kissing, by which everyone wishes to signify that he loves another from the heart; for he knows that the act of kissing comes from such love, and is a mark of conjunction from affection, and he thereby desires to persuade his neighbor that he loves him for the sake of the good that is in him; when in fact it may be for his own sake, and for his own honor and gain, and thus not for the sake of good, but of evil. For he who regards himself as the end, and not as an intermediate end to good, and desires to be conjoined with another as to that end, is in evil.

4216. And blessed them. That this signifies the consequent joy, is evident from the signification of “blessing,” as being to devoutly wish success and happiness (see n. 3185); thus to testify joy when anyone is going away.

4217. And Laban departed and returned to his place. That this signifies the end of the representation by Laban, is evident from the signification of “returning to his place,” as being to return to the former state. (That “place” is state, see above, n. 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 3404.) Consequently by these words is signified the end of the representation by Laban. From all that has been shown it may be seen that all things in the Word both in general and particular contain interior things, and that the interior things are of such a nature as to be adapted to the perception of the angels who are with man. For example: when “bread” is mentioned in the Word, the angels become aware not of material but of spiritual bread; thus instead of bread they perceive the Lord, who is the Bread of life, as He Himself teaches in John 6:33, 35.

And because they perceive the Lord, they perceive what is from the Lord, thus His love toward the universal human race; and they then perceive at the same time man’s reciprocal love to the Lord; for these two things cohere in one idea of thought and affection.

[2] Not unlike this are the thoughts of the man who is in a holy state when receiving the bread of the Holy Supper; for he then thinks not of bread, but of the Lord and His mercy, and of what is of love to Him and of charity toward the neighbor, because he thinks of repentance and amendment of life; but this with variety according to the holiness in which he is, not only as to his thought, but also as to his affection. From this it is manifest that “bread” as mentioned in the Word suggests to the angels no idea of bread, but the idea of love, together with innumerable things that are of love. It is the same with “wine,” which when read of in the Word, and also when received in the Holy Supper, suggests to the angels no thought of wine, but of charity toward the neighbor. This being the case, and as in this way there is a connection of man with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord, the bread and wine have become symbols, and unite the man who is in holiness of life with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord.

[3] The same is the case with everything in the Word, and therefore the Word is a medium uniting man with the Lord; and unless there were such a uniting medium, heaven could not inflow with man; for without a medium there would be no unition, but heaven would remove itself away from man; and if this were removed, no one could any longer be led to good, not even to corporeal and worldly good; but all bonds whatever, even those which are external, would be broken. For the Lord rules the man who is in good by means of internal bonds, which are of conscience; but one who is in evil by external bonds alone; and if these should be broken, every such man would become insane; even as is the man who is without fear of the law, without fear for his life, and without fear of the loss of honor and gain, and thus of reputation-for these are the external bonds-and so the human race would perish. From all this it may be seen why the Word exists, and what the character of the Word is. (That the church of the Lord where the Word is, is like the heart and the lungs, and that the church of the Lord where the Word is not, is like the rest of the viscera which live from the heart and the lungs, may be seen above, n. 637, 931, 2054, 2853.)

4218. CONTINUATION CONCERNING THE GRAND MAN, AND CONCERNING CORRESPONDENCE.

At the end of the preceding chapters, I have related matters granted me to see and perceive in the world of spirits and in the heavens of angels; and in the last place the subject of the Grand Man and Correspondence has been dealt with. In order to make fully known how the case is with man, and that he is in connection with heaven, not only as to the thoughts and affections, but also as to the organic forms both interior and exterior, and that without this connection he could not subsist for a single moment, we may in this volume continue the consideration of the subject of correspondence with the Grand Man which was commenced at the end of the preceding chapters.

4219. In order that the reader may have a general knowledge of how the case is with the Grand Man, let him bear in mind that the universal heaven is the Grand Man, and that heaven is called the Grand Man because it corresponds to the Divine Human of the Lord; for the Lord alone is Man, and an angel and a spirit, and also a man on earth, are men in exact proportion to what they have from Him. Let no one believe that man is man from his possession of a natural human face, body, brain, and organs and members; for all these are common to him with brute animals, and therefore these are what die and become a carcass. But man is man from being able to think and will as a man, and thus to receive what is Divine, that is, what is of the Lord. By this man distinguishes himself from beasts and wild animals; and in the other life also his quality as a man is determined by what he has received from the Lord and made his own in the life of the body.

4220. They who in the life of the body have received the Divine things of the Lord, that is, His love toward the universal human race; and consequently they who have received charity toward the neighbor; and also they who have received reciprocal love to the Lord, are in the other life endowed with intelligence and wisdom, and with ineffable happiness; for they become angels and thus truly men. But they who in the life of the body have not received the Divine things of the Lord, that is, who have not received love toward the human race, and still less reciprocal love to the Lord, but who have loved and indeed worshiped themselves only, and consequently have had as their end what is of self and of the world, they, in the other life, after some brief passages of life there, are deprived of all intelligence, and become utterly stupid, being among the stupid infernals there.

4221. In order that I might know that such is the case, I have been permitted to speak with those who have lived in this manner, and likewise with one with whom I had been acquainted in the life of the body. During this man’s life on earth, all the good he had done to the neighbor had been done for the sake of himself, that is, for his own honor and gain. All who could not be made subservient to these ends he had despised, and even hated. He had indeed made an oral confession of God, but at heart acknowledged Him not; and when I was permitted to speak to him there exhaled from him a sphere that was as it were corporeal. His speech was not like that of spirits, but was like that of a mortal still in the flesh; for the speech of spirits is distinguished from that of men in being full of ideas, or in having within it something spiritual, thus something alive that is inexpressible; but this was not the case with this man’s speech. Such was the sphere that exhaled from him and that was perceived in everything that he said. He appeared there among the vile; and I was told that persons of this character successively become so gross and stupid in respect to their thoughts and affections, that no one in this world is more so. They have their abode under the buttocks, where their hell is. From the same place there had previously appeared a certain person (not as a spirit, but as a grossly corporeal man, appears), in whom there was so little of the life of intelligence which is properly human, that you would call it stupidity personified. From these examples it was evident what kind of spirits those become who are in no love toward the neighbor, nor toward the state, and still less toward the Lord’s kingdom; but who are exclusively in the love of self, and who in everything regard themselves alone, even adoring themselves as gods, and also desiring to be so adored by others, and having this intent in everything they do.

4222. As regards the correspondence of the Grand Man with the things that appertain to man, it is a correspondence with all things of him both in general and in particular, that is to say, with his organs, members, and viscera, and this so perfect that there is not a single organ or member in the body, nor any part in an organ or member, nor even any particle of a part, with which there is not correspondence. It is well known that each organ and member in the body consists of parts, and of parts of parts-as the brain, for example, which consists in general of the cerebrum, cerebellum, medulla oblongata, and medulla spinalis, for this last is a continuation, or kind of appendix. Again, the cerebrum consists of many members, which are its parts, namely, of the membranes called the dura mater and pia mater, of the corpus callosum, the corpora striata, the ventricles and cavities, the smaller glands, the septa, in general of the cineritious substance and the medullary substance, and furthermore of the sinuses, blood vessels, and plexuses. The like is the case with the bodily organs of sense and motion, and with the viscera, as is well known from anatomical studies. All these things both in general and in particular correspond most exactly to the Grand Man, and to so many heavens, as it were, therein. For the heaven of the Lord is distinguished in like manner into lesser heavens, and these into heavens still less, and these into least, and finally into angels, each one of whom is a little heaven corresponding to the greatest. These heavens are most distinct from one another, each one belonging to its own general heaven, and the general heavens to the most general, or whole, which is the Grand Man.

4223. But as regards this correspondence, the fact is that although the heavens above mentioned do indeed correspond to the very organic forms of the human body, and therefore it is said that these societies or those angels belong to the province of the brain, to the province of the heart, to the province of the lungs, or to the province of the eye, and so on, they nevertheless correspond chiefly to the functions of these viscera or organs. The case herein is as with the organs or viscera themselves, in that their functions constitute a one with their organic forms; for no function can be conceived of except from forms, that is, from substances, for the substances are the subjects from which they exist. Sight, for example, cannot be conceived of apart from the eye; nor breathing apart from the lungs. The eye is the organic form from which and by means of which the sight exists, and the lungs are the organic form from which and by means of which the breathing exists; and so with all the rest. It is the functions therefore to which the heavenly societies chiefly correspond; and as they correspond to the functions, they correspond also to the organic forms; for the one is indivisible and inseparable from the other, inasmuch that whether you speak of the function or the organic form by which and from which is the function, it comes to the same thing. Hence there is correspondence with the organs, members, and viscera, because there is with the functions; and therefore when the function is brought into exercise, the organ also is excited. The same is the case with everything that man does; when he wills to do this or that, in this manner or that, and is thinking of it, the organs then move in concurrence, thus in accordance with the intention of the function or use; for it is the use that commands the forms.

[2] This shows that the use existed before the organic forms of the body came forth; and that the use produced and adapted them to itself, and not the reverse. But when the forms have been produced, and the organs adapted, the uses proceed from them; and then it appears as if the forms or organs were prior to the uses, when yet such is not the case. For use flows in from the Lord, and this through heaven, according to order, and according to the form in which heaven has been ordinated by the Lord, thus according to correspondences. Thus does man come into existence, and thus also does he subsist. And hence again does it appear why it is that man corresponds to the heavens in regard to both generals and particulars.

4224. Organic forms are not only those apparent to the eye, and that can be detected by microscopes; for there are also organic forms still more pure, which can never be discovered by any eye, whether naked or assisted. The latter forms are interior forms such as are those of the internal sight, and which in the last analysis are of the understanding. These are inscrutable, but still they are forms, that is, substances; for no sight, not even intellectual sight, is possible except from something. This is also known in the learned world; that is to say, that without a substance, which is the subject, there is not any mode, nor any modification, nor any quality which manifests itself in an active manner. These purer or interior forms which are inscrutable, are those which form and set forth the internal senses, and also produce the interior affections. It is to these forms that the interior things of heaven correspond, because they correspond to the senses which they set forth, and to the affections of these senses. But as very many things have been disclosed to me respecting these matters and their correspondence, they cannot be clearly presented unless each one is treated of specifically; and therefore of the Lord’s Divine mercy I may continue below the consideration of the subject of the correspondence of man with the Grand Man that was commenced in a preceding volume, to the intent that man may at last know, not from any ratiocination, and still less from any hypothesis, but from experience itself, how the case is with him, and with his internal man which is called his soul, and in consequence with his conjunction with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; and consequently whence man is man, and by what he is distinguished from beasts; and furthermore, how man himself separates himself from this conjunction, and conjoins himself with hell.

4225. At the outset it must be stated who are within the Grand Man, and who are out of it. All those are within the Grand Man who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, and who do good to the neighbor from the heart according to the good that is in him, and who have a conscience of what is just and equitable; for these are in the Lord, and consequently in heaven. But all those are outside the Grand Man who are in the love of self and the love of the world and the derivative concupiscences, and who do what is good solely on account of the laws, and for the sake of their own honor and the world’s wealth and the consequent reputation, and who thus are interiorly unmerciful and in hatred and revenge against the neighbor for their own and the world’s sake, and are delighted with the neighbor’s injury when he does not favor them for these are in hell. These do not correspond to any organs and members in the body, but to various corruptions and diseases induced in them; concerning which also of the Lord’s Divine mercy, I shall speak from experience in the following pages. [2] They who are out of the Grand Man (that is, out of heaven), cannot enter into it, for their lives are contrary to it. Nay, if in any way they do enter, which is sometimes done by such as have learned in the life of the body to counterfeit angels of light; nevertheless on arriving there, as is sometimes permitted in order that they may learn their own character, they are admitted only to the first entrance, that is, to those who are as yet simple-minded, and who have not as yet been fully instructed. And even there those who enter as angels of light are scarcely able to tarry a few moments, because the life there is that of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; and as there is nothing there which corresponds to their life, they are hardly able to breathe. (That spirits and angels breathe, may be seen above, n. 3884-3893.) Consequently they begin to be distressed, for respiration takes place in accordance with freedom of life; and wonderful to say they are finally scarcely able to move, but become like those who are in, anguish and torment taking possession of their interiors, and they therefore cast themselves down headlong, even into hell, where they recover their respiration and power of motion. Hence it is that in the Word life is represented by mobility.

[3] But they who are in the Grand Man breathe freely when they are in the good of love; but nevertheless they are distinguished according to the quality and the amount of the good. Hence there are so many heavens, which in the Word are called “mansions” (John 14:2). And everyone when in his own heaven is in his life, and receives influx from the universal heaven, each person there being a center of all the influxes, and therefore in the most perfect equilibrium; and this according to the amazing form of heaven, which is from the Lord alone; thus with all variety.

4226. Spirits recently arrived, who when they lived in the world had been inwardly evil, but had outwardly assumed the appearance of good by means of the works which they had done to others for the sake of themselves and the world, have sometimes complained that they were not admitted into heaven; for they had no other notion about heaven than that of admission from favor. But they have sometimes received for answer that heaven is denied to no one; and that if they desire it, they will be admitted. Some have also been admitted into the heavenly societies nearest the entrance; but on arriving there, they, as before said, observed a cessation of their breathing on account of the contrariety and resistance of their life, together with distress and torment as it were infernal, and they cast themselves down and afterwards said that to them heaven was hell, and that they would never have believed heaven to be of such a character.

4227. There are many of both sexes who in this life have been of such a character that whenever possible they sought by art and deceit to subjugate to themselves the minds of others, with the end of ruling over them, especially those who were powerful and rich, in order that they alone might rule in their name; and who had acted in a secret manner, and had removed other men, especially the upright, and this in various ways-not indeed by censuring them, for uprightness defends itself; but by other modes, such as by misrepresenting their suggestions by calling these simple and evil; and by attributing to them any misfortunes that might occur; together with other similar detractions. They who have been of this character in the life of the body are the same in the other life, for the life of everyone follows him.

[2] I discovered this by living experience among such spirits when they have been with me, for they then acted in a similar manner, but still more craftily and ingeniously; for spirits act more subtly than men, being released from all connection with the body, and from the bonds of gross modes of sensation. They were so subtle that sometimes I did not perceive that their intention and end was to exercise command; and when they spoke among themselves they took care that I should not hear and perceive it; but I was told by others who heard them that their designs were wicked; and that they were studying to attain their end by magic arts, and thus by assistance from the diabolical crew. The murder of the upright they accounted as a matter of no moment; and as for the Lord (under whom they said that they desired to exercise command), they made Him very cheap, regarding Him merely as another man, to whom worship is paid by ancient custom, as among other nations which made men gods and worshiped them, and whom they durst not speak against, because they were born in that worship, and would thereby injure their reputation. Concerning these spirits I am able to state that they obsess the thoughts and the will of the men who are like them, and insinuate themselves into their affection and intention, so that without the Lord’s mercy the men cannot possibly know that such spirits are present, and that they themselves are in a society of such.

[3] These spirits correspond to the corruptions of man’s purer blood, called the animal spirit, into which corruptions enter in a disorderly manner; and wherever they diffuse themselves they are like poisons which induce cold and torpor upon the nerves and fibers, from which break forth the most grievous and fatal diseases. When such act together in company, they are known by their acting-so to speak-in a quadruped manner,* and they beset the back of the head under the cerebellum to the left; for they who act under the occiput operate more clandestinely than others, and they who act upon the back parts desire to exercise command.

[4] They reasoned with me about the Lord, and said that it was strange that when they prayed He did not hear their prayers, and thus did not aid those who made supplication. But I was permitted to reply that they could not be heard, because they had as their end such things as are contrary to the welfare of the human race; and because they pray for themselves against all others; and that when they pray in this manner heaven is closed, for they who are in heaven attend solely to the ends of those who are praying. These things they indeed would not acknowledge, but still they could make no answer.

[5] I have met male spirits of this kind who were accompanied by some of the female sex, and who said that they can avail themselves of many of the suggestions of women, because these are more quick-witted and deft in seeing how to manage such matters. These men are greatly pleased with the society of women who had been harlots. In the other life such persons for the most part apply themselves to secret and magical arts; for a host of such arts are there known which are quite unknown in this world; and no sooner do persons of this character arrive in the other life than they apply themselves to these arts, and learn to fascinate those with whom they are, and especially those under whom they desire to reign. For wicked deeds they have no abhorrence. Their hell, and the nature of this their abode when not in the world of spirits, shall be spoken of elsewhere. From all that has been said it is evident that after death every man’s life remains with him.

* That is, with “a quadruplicate step, so that the sound is like a quadruped” (Spiritual Experiences 1031, 1127). The reason why the speech and action of such spirits is attended with this bestial sound is doubtless on account of the abnormal development within them of what is merely natural. A quadruped has no hands, but only feet, and the feet correspond to that which is lowest and most external in man. [Reviser.]

4228. The subject of the grand man and correspondence will be continued at the end of the following chapter, where correspondence with the senses in general will be treated of.