170. These spirits with whom I had just conversed were from the northern part of their world. Then I was taken to others who were from the western part. They too wanted to investigate who I was and what sort of person, and said straight off that there was nothing but evil in me. They thought this would deter me from going any closer. I realised that they started by saying this to all comers; but I was able to reply that I was well aware of that fact, and that likewise there was nothing but evil in them, since everyone acquires evil by birth. So whatever comes from a person, spirit or angel as from his own or the self is nothing but evil, all good in anyone being from the Lord. From this they realised that I was in possession of the truth and they allowed me to talk with them.
Then they demonstrated to me their concept of evil in a person and of good in the Lord, showing how they are kept apart. They set one next to the other, so that they were almost touching, but still retaining their identity. But they were as if tied together in a way I cannot describe, so that good guided evil and restrained it from acting as it pleased; and good thus bent evil in the direction it wished, without evil being aware of it. This is how they represented the control of good over evil and at the same time a state of freedom.
[2] Then they asked how the Lord appears in the presence of angels from our world. I said that He appears in the sun as a man, surrounded by the fire of the sun, which is the source of all the light the angels in the heavens enjoy. The heat which is radiated from it is Divine good, and the light from it is Divine truth; both of these come from Divine love, which is the fiery appearance to be seen surrounding the Lord in that sun. But that sun is only seen by angels in heaven, not by spirits below heaven, since these are further distanced from the reception of the good of love and the truth of faith than the angels in the heavens (see 40 above). The answer to their questions about the Lord and His appearance in the presence of angels from this world was granted to them, because it then pleased the Lord to manifest Himself before them, and to restore to order what had been upset by evil spirits there, about whom they had complained. The reason why I was taken there was to witness this.
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