4573. About the hells of the Sirens

What sirens are like has been described several times before [see the index]. These women are extremely malicious and have learned in the world how to simulate those who are good, as if they were angels. For the purpose of doing this they radiate good affections and thus slip in among simple spirits that relate to a person's outward qualities of thought or earthly characteristics. In this way they keep themselves in the world of spirits and can be forced out only with difficulty, for such things elevate evil spirits from hell for quite a long time and through such things they enter into people's thoughts and lead them entirely. Consequently, because they are of an inward nature, they are the very worst of spirits who take possession of a person's mind, from whom a person can never be defended except by the Lord. They act very stubbornly and fear nothing, trust in their own arts, and know how to slip in by labyrinthine gyres. They speak from these, sometimes in such a way that they are heard elsewhere than where are they really are, so that they are sought in vain. It has granted me to learn this by many actual experiences.

[2] They are of two kinds. Certain ones have the goal of ruling over others and over every society to which they can gain access, doing so by possessing and leading their thoughts. These women are the most annoying. The second kind does likewise but does not have such a wild obsession with ruling. They take freedom entirely away from those who want to have good thoughts and give freedom to those who want to have evil thoughts. These are very obscene women; they are sorceresses and are against everything good and true. Where this gang comes from has been explained before [cf. 3205 ff]. Their hell was in front at some distance toward the left there; the men who want to rule, a little toward the right, in various caverns. But I saw that their hells had been changed and moved to the back toward the left, rather deep down, from which they can never again break out and attack spirits and people on earth. They are there under a thick cloud which their tricks can in no way get through. They were forced in there in crowds of between fifty and a hundred sirens. This went on for many hours.

Above the hell, there is something like a maw with jaws that open. And the moment they arrived, it opened the maw, twisting and bending it like labyrinths into which they put themselves, and it swallowed them up and then thrust them deep under the disreputable earth there, from which they cannot emerge, this appeared to me in 1752, Aug. 5, 6., for they form snakelike connections, in which they fix themselves and then cannot be moved by others except by means of similar connections. Such it is in the other life.

3696. 'And lay down in that place' means the serenity of that state. This is clear from the meaning of 'lying down' as being in a state of serenity, for lying down or sleeping is nothing else. This meaning which 'lying down' has in the internal sense may also be seen from other places in the Word, which are dealt with immediately below. In the case of those who are to undergo regeneration, and who are the subject here in the representative internal sense, they are first of all in a state of serenity or external peace, for external peace or peace experienced in external things is called serenity. Indeed it is a product of the Divine state of peace which exists inmostly and which manifests itself in external things through the removal of evil desires and false ideas; for it is these that cause all unrest. Furthermore everyone at the start of his life, that is, in early childhood, is in a state of calm, but as one advances in, years or grows up he moves away from that state, for he gives himself up to worldly concerns and consequent anxious cares caused by the desires of self-love and of love of the world, and by falsities that spring from these.

[2] Something very similar to this occurs with the new life with one who is being regenerated. At first he experiences a state of serenity, but as he moves on into the new life so he moves into a state that is not serene. For evils and falsities which he has taken into himself previously now emerge and show themselves, and these trouble him, so much so at length that he undergoes temptations and trials from the devil's crew who try all the time to destroy his state of new life. But despite this a state of peace exists with him inmostly. But for its presence inmostly he would not put up any fight at all, for in all the conflicts he experiences he sees that state as the end in view. If that end were not in view he would never have the power and strength to fight. And this is also what enables him to overcome. And since it is the end in view he also enters that state once conflict or temptations are past. It is like the state of spring which follows that of autumn and winter, or like the state of dawn following evening and night. Regarding the resemblance of the state of peace in spiritual things to spring and dawn in natural ones, see 1726, 2780; and as regards peace being the result of goodness and truth, but unrest the result of evil and falsity, 3170.

[3] That 'lying down' in the Word means a state of serenity may be seen from the following places: In Moses,

If you walk in My statutes and observe My commandments and do them, I will give peace in the land, and you will lie down, and none will make you afraid. And I will cause evil wild animals to cease from the land, and the sword will not pass through your land. Leviticus 26:3, 6.

'Lying down' clearly applies to a state of peace and serenity. 'Evil wild animals' stands for desires for evil, 45, 46, 908, which 'are going to cease'. 'The sword' stands for falsity in conflict with truth, 2799, which 'is not going to pass through the land'. From this it is also evident that peace and the serenity of peace is the result of goodness and truth, and the destruction of it is the result of evils and falsities.

[4] In Isaiah,

The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion together; and a little child will lead them. And the young cow and the beer will feed; their young will lie down together. Isaiah 11:6-7.

This refers to the Lord and to the state of peace existing in His kingdom. 'They will lie down together' stands for their being unable to be infested by anything evil or false. In Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day with the wild beasts of the field, and with the birds of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth. And I will abolish ¹ the bow, and the sword, and war from the land, and I will make them lie down in safety. Hosea 2:18.

Here likewise 'lying down' stands for a state of serenity following the removal of falsities and evils which are responsible for unrest.

[5] In David,

I will lie down and sleep, and will awake again, for Jehovah sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, who set themselves against me round about. Psalms 3:5-6.

'Lying down and sleeping' stands for a state of serenity and security. In the same author,

In peace I will both lie down and sleep, because You, O Jehovah, alone make me dwell with confidence. Psalms 4:8.

And in the same author,

He will make me to down in green pastures; He will lead me to still waters; He will restore my soul. Psalms 23:2-3.

From these places it is evident that a state of peace and serenity is described by 'lying down', and that 'lying down in that place' means the serenity of the state - for 'place' in the internal sense is state, 3692.

Poznámky pod čarou: