45. The description of the essence of the Divine Love allows us also to see its opposite, the essence of devilish love. Devilish love is self-love, and it goes by the name of love, but regarded in itself is hatred, for it loves no one other than itself, and has no wish to be linked with others for their happiness, but only its own. Its inmost nature is a continual attempt to rule over everyone, to possess everyone's goods, and finally to be adored like a god. This is why the inhabitants of hell do not acknowledge God, but treat as gods those who are more powerful than others; so they have lower and higher, or minor and major deities, depending on the extent of their power. Because each person there has his heart set on that, he has a burning hatred of his own deity; and he in turn of those who are under his control. He looks upon them as worthless servants, to whom he talks politely so long as they worship him, but is fired with rage against the rest, and inwardly or in his heart against his own followers. Self-love is the same as love among thieves, who hug each other when they are engaged in robberies, but later on they ardently long to murder the others and steal their booty from them.

[2] This love is the reason why its desires in hell, where it is sovereign, look at a distance like various kinds of wild beasts; some like foxes and leopards, some like wolves and tigers, some like crocodiles and poisonous snakes. The deserts where they live consist of nothing but piles of stones or bare gravel, interspersed with marshes full of croaking frogs. Mournful birds swoop over their huts wailing. These are the ochim, tziim and iyim mentioned in the prophetic books of the Word which describe the love of domination arising from self-love (Isaiah 13:21; Jeremiah 50:39; Psalms 74:14).

Babylon was an ancient city built on the Euphrates river in what is now southern Iraq. It once was the capital of a great empire which at one point conquered the land of Judah as mentioned in the second book of Kings and in Daniel. But the river changed its course and the city was abandoned long ago. Both the historic city in Mesopotamia and the parable city with its tower, mentioned in Genesis, represent the same thing, a worship that appears holy in externals, while the internals are profane. This representation expands to mean a church whose leaders use this kind of worship to gain dominion over others for their own gain and for the gain and power of the church. The city itself is the doctrinal structure that supports this kind of worship and dominion.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 1029; Arcana Coelestia 1283, 1302, 1304, 1310, 1311)