6571. 'And you thought evil against me' means that the things which have become alienated intend nothing but evil. This is clear from the representation of the sons of Jacob, to whom 'you refers here, as the things which have become alienated from truth and good, dealt with above in 6557, for when the brothers contemplated evil against Joseph they represented things which have become alienated; and from the meaning of 'thinking evil against me' as intending evil, for evil that is contemplated against someone is evil that is intended. And since things which have become alienated cannot intend what is good, it is therefore said that they intend nothing but evil. What is implied when it is said that the things which have become alienated from truth and good intend nothing but evil is this: A person who has become alienated from good and truth intends nothing but evil, since he cannot intend good; and what he intends reigns in him and is therefore present in all his thoughts, and in every smallest part of his being. For that which is a person's intention or end in view constitutes his actual life, that end in view being his love, and that love his life. What is more, a person's essential character is exactly like the end he holds in view; and the image of him seen in the light of heaven is also exactly like it. And what will perhaps astonish you, as is the image that he presents overall, so is the image presented in every smallest feature of his will. This means that a person is wholly and completely identifiable with his end in view.

[2] From this it may be seen that a person who is in himself an evil end cannot possibly be among those who are good ends, that is, one who is in hell cannot possibly be in heaven; for these ends conflict with each other, though the good ends triumph because they are from the Divine. From this it may also be seen that those people do not think correctly who believe that anyone at all can be admitted into heaven solely through an act of mercy. If one who is in himself an evil end comes into heaven, he finds it difficult to stay alive, like one in mortal agony, and is grievously tormented, quite apart from the fact that he looks like a devil there in the light of heaven. From this it is evident that those who have become alienated from truth and good cannot help contemplating what is evil. This is so in the smallest details of their thought and will, as is plainly evident from the sphere that emanates from people like this when a long way off. For one detects from that sphere what they are like; that sphere is so to speak a spiritual vapour appearing out of every detail of their life.