504. The second memorable occurrence. At one point I was experiencing the inner spiritual sight enjoyed by the angels of the higher heaven, even though I was in the world of spirits. I saw two spirits, who were not far from me although they were quite far from each other. I could tell that one of them loved goodness and truth and was therefore connected to heaven, but the other loved evil and falsity and was therefore connected to hell. I came nearer and called them together. From the sounds and contents of their responses, I gathered that the one was every bit as able as the other to perceive truths and acknowledge them, to think with understanding, and to steer the faculties of his intellect as he pleased and the faculties of his will as he wished. Therefore in the whole rational arena each one had the same level of free choice. Furthermore, I observed that as a result of that freedom in their minds, there was a light in them that extended from the first type of sight (the sight of perception) to the lowest type of sight (the sight of the eye).

[2] Nevertheless, I observed that when the one who loved evil and falsity was left to his own thoughts, a kind of smoke from hell arose and extinguished the light that was above his memory; as a result, that level in him became as dark as midnight. I also noticed that the smoke caught fire and burned like a flame, illuminating the region of his mind below the memory. This led him to think horrendous falsities that were derived from the evils of his self-love.

When the other person, though, who loved goodness and truth, was left to himself, I saw a kind of gentle flame flowing down from heaven, which illuminated the region of his mind above the memory, and the region below it as well, all the way to the eye. Because of this flame, the light in him began to shine more and more as his love for goodness led him to perceive and think truth.

This experience made it clear to me that everyone, whether good or evil, possesses spiritual free choice; but hell often extinguishes that freedom in those who are evil, whereas heaven kindles and exalts it in those who are good.

[3] Afterward I had a conversation with each of them. I spoke first with the one who loved evil and falsity. We talked a little about his situation; but when I mentioned free choice he went into a rage.

He said, "Ah, what insanity it is to believe that we have free choice in spiritual matters! Can any of us acquire faith for ourselves and do good on our own? Doesn't the priesthood today teach us from the Word that no one is able to receive anything unless it is given from heaven [John 3:27], and that Christ the Lord said to his disciples, 'Without me you cannot do anything' [John 15:5]? I might add that none can move their feet or hands to do anything good or make their tongues say anything true that arises from goodness. Therefore the great thinkers of our church have led us to conclude that we human beings are unable to will, understand, or think anything spiritual and cannot even accommodate ourselves to willing, understanding, or thinking anything spiritual, any more than a statue, a log, or a stone could. Therefore God, who alone possesses absolute freedom and limitless power, inspires us with faith as he pleases. By the activity of the Holy Spirit without any effort or power on our part, this faith produces every ability that ignorant people ascribe to us as our own. "

[4] Then I spoke with the other person, the one who loved goodness and truth. After some conversation about his current situation, I mentioned free choice. He said, "What insanity it is to deny that we have free choice in spiritual matters! All have the ability to will and do what is good and to think and say what is true under their own initiative on behalf of the Word and of the Lord, who is the Word. The Word says, 'Produce good fruit,' and 'Believe in the Light'; 'Love one another,' and 'Love God. ' It also says, 'Those who hear and do my commandments are the ones who love me and I will love them' - not to mention a thousand passages like this throughout the Word. What would the point of the Word be if we had no ability to will and think and do and say what it commands us to do? If we lacked these powers, religion and the church would be like a shipwrecked vessel that has run aground, whose captain is standing on the top of its mast, shouting, 'There is nothing I can do,' even though he sees the other sailors hoisting sails and sailing off in the lifeboats.

"Surely, Adam was given freedom to eat from the tree of life and also from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because he freely chose to eat from the latter tree, smoke from the serpent (meaning hell) entered his mind and he was thrown out of paradise and cursed. Yet even then he did not lose free choice: we read that the way to the tree of life was protected by an angel guardian [Genesis 3:24], which implies that if this action had not been taken, he could have tried to eat from that tree again. "

[5] At this point the one who loved evil and falsity said, "I am going to take with me what I said myself, but leave behind what I just heard from you. Everyone knows that God alone is living and active and that of ourselves we are dead and merely passive. How could a being that is intrinsically dead and merely passive take into itself anything alive and active?"

"We are an organism that receives life," I responded. "God alone is life itself. God pours his own life into this organism and every part of it, just as the sun pours its heat into a tree and every part of it. God grants us to feel his life in ourselves as our own. God wants us to feel this so we can live according to the laws of the divine design (that is, the commandments in the Word) as if we did so under our own initiative, and arrange ourselves to receive God's love. Nevertheless, although God constantly keeps his finger on the pointer of the scales to keep us in check, he never violates our free choice by forcing us.

[6] "A tree cannot receive anything that the heat of the sun brings in through the roots unless each individual filament of the roots grows warm. Elements cannot rise up through the root system unless those individual filaments, having received that warmth, give off heat to help the elements pass through. It is similar with us in regard to the heat of life we receive from God; but unlike a tree, we sense this heat as our own, although it is not actually ours. To the extent that we believe this heat belongs to us and not to God, we receive from God the light of life but not the heat of love; instead, the heat of love we feel comes from hell. Because that heat is thick, it blocks and closes off the purer channels within us as an organism, just as impure blood blocks and closes off the capillaries in our bodies. This is how we turn ourselves from spiritual people into merely earthly people.

[7] "Our free choice comes from our sense that we have life within us as if it were our own. God allows us to feel this way for the sake of our partnership [with him]. A partnership with God would not be possible if it were not reciprocal, and it becomes reciprocal when we act freely, and completely as if we were on our own. If we were not allowed by God to feel this way, we would not be human and our life would not be eternal. Our reciprocal partnership with God is what makes us humans and not animals and enables us to live to eternity after death. What makes all this possible is our free choice in spiritual matters. "

[8] Upon hearing this, the evil spirit moved off into the distance. I then saw a flying serpent of the type that is known as a prester on a particular tree. It was offering a piece of fruit to someone there. I went in the spirit in that direction. There in place of the serpent I saw a human monster, whose face was so covered with a huge beard that only the nose protruded. In place of the tree there was a lit torch, next to which stood the person whose mind had filled with smoke and who had then rejected free choice in spiritual matters. Suddenly a similar smoke came out of the torch and poured out in all directions. Because those figures were taken out of my sight at that point, I left. But the other person, the one who loved goodness and truth and who asserted that human beings do have free choice in spiritual matters, remained with me on my journey home.