Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7375

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

7375. These two kinds of love grow in the measure that the restraints placed on them are loosened and in the measure that a person is carried away into them. They eventually grow beyond measure; they become so great that those people wish to have control not only over everything in their own kingdom but also over everything beyond it, even to the ends of the earth. Indeed when the restraints placed on those kinds of love are loosened they reach even up to the God of the universe, that is, they become so great that the people immersed in those loves wish to mount God's throne and be worshipped as God Himself. Their desire is in keeping with the following words in Isaiah regarding Lucifer, by whom are meant those who are immersed in those loves and who are called 'Babel',

You said in your heart, I will go up the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the farthest parts of the north. I will go up above the heights of the clouds, and I will make myself like the Most High. But you have been sent down to hell. Isa 14:13-15.


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church