599. And he had in his hand a little book open.- That this signifies the Word manifested, is evident from the signification of a little book open, as denoting the Word manifested. That this is denoted by the little book open, is clear from this fact, that by the strong angel coming down out of heaven, and having in his hand the little book, is represented the Lord as to the Word, and indeed as to its ultimate sense, which is called the sense of the letter (see above, n. 593); and since the Word is manifested as well to angels as to men, it is therefore said, a little book open.

575. The gnashing of teeth, though, is the constant clash and strife of false convictions with each other (and therefore the warfare of the individuals who hold the false convictions) united to contempt for others, hostility, derision, mockery, and blasphemy. These even break out into various kinds of butchery. Everyone there is defending his or her own false convictions and calling them true. From outside the hells, these clashes and battles sound like gnashing teeth, and they turn into the gnashing of teeth when truths from heaven flow into hell.

In these hells dwell all the people who acknowledged nature and denied the Divine. The people who deliberately convinced themselves are in the deeper hells. Since they cannot accept any ray of light from heaven and can therefore not see anything within themselves, most of them focus on their senses and their bodies. These are people who do not believe anything they cannot see with their eyes and touch with their hands. So for them, all sensory illusions are the truths on which they base their arguments. This is why their arguments sound like the gnashing of teeth. It is because in the spiritual world all false statements grate, and teeth correspond to the outmost aspects of nature and to our own outmost natures, which have to do with our senses and our bodies. ¹

On the gnashing of teeth in the hells, see Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30, and Luke 13:28.

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