Divine Love and Wisdom (Harleys) n. 275

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275. (iii) The three degrees of the natural mind which is a form and image of hell, are opposite to the three degrees of the spiritual mind which is a form and image of heaven. It has been shown above that there are three degrees of the mind, called natural, spiritual and celestial, and that the human mind, made up of these degrees, looks towards heaven and turns itself in that direction. From this it can be seen that the natural mind, looking downwards and turning itself towards hell, likewise is made up of three degrees, and that each degree of it is opposite to the degree of that mind which is a heaven. That such is the case has been made very clear to me from those things seen in the spiritual world; namely, that there are three heavens, and that these are distinguished according to three degrees of height; that there are three hells, and that these are also distinguished according to three degrees of height or depth; that the hells are opposed to the heavens in each and every particular; also that the lowest hell is opposite to the highest heaven, the middle hell opposite to the middle heaven, and the uppermost hell to the lowest heaven. It is the same with the natural mind which is in form a hell, for spiritual forms are like themselves in things greatest and least. The heavens and hells are thus in opposition because their loves are opposed. Love to the Lord and hence love towards the neighbour form the inmost degree in the heavens. But love of self and love of the world form the inmost degree in the hells. Wisdom and intelligence, arising from their own loves, form the middle degree in the heavens, while foolishness and insanity, arising from their own loves and appearing as wisdom and intelligence, form the middle degree in the hells. Conclusions from the two degrees, whether laid up in the memory as knowledges, or determined in actions in the body, form the lowest degree in the heavens, conclusions from the two degrees, whether they become know-ledges or actions, forming the lowest degree in the hells. How the goods and truths of heaven are turned, in the hells, into evils and falsities, thus into what is opposite, can be established from the following experience. I heard that a certain Divine truth flowed down out of heaven into hell, and I heard that, on the way, in its descent, through degrees, it was converted into something false so that at the lowest hell it became the exact opposite of the truth. From this it was clear that the hells according to degrees are in opposition to the heavens as regards all goods and truths, these becoming, by influx into forms turned the wrong way, evils and falsities. For it is well known that all inflowing is perceived and felt according to the recipient forms and their states. This conversion into the opposite was also made clear to me from this experience. It was granted me to see the hells as they are placed relatively to the heavens, and those who were there appeared upside down, the head downward and the feet upward. But it was said that they yet appear to themselves to be upright upon their feet, comparatively as in the antipodes. It can be established from these evidences of experience, that the three degrees of the natural mind which, in form and image, is a hell, are opposite to the three degrees of the spiritual mind which, in form and image, is a heaven.


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