950. There was a troop of spirits surging out on one side of Gehenna, 1 rising high up in front. From their aura 2 I could tell that they held the Lord 3 in contempt and despised all worship of God. (At the first approach of spirits, one can sense their character just from their aura.) Their speech rose and fell. One of them made scandalous charges against the Lord and was immediately tossed down to one side of Gehenna.
From in front they moved back over my head, intent on finding kindred souls they could band together with in order to dominate others. They were slowed down along the way, though, and told that they should give up their plan because it would turn out badly for them. So they came to a halt. I then had a look at them. Their faces were black, 4 and around their heads each wore a white headband, meaning that they saw the worship of God — and the Lord's Word 5 too — as something black, useful only for binding the fetters of conscience on the great mass of people. 6
Their residence is near Gehenna, and nonpoisonous flying snakes live there, which is why it is called a snakes' nest. 7 But since they are not charlatans, their hell is not very oppressive.
People like this ascribe everything to themselves and their own shrewdness and boast that they fear nothing, but they were shown that a mere hiss can drive them to terrified flight. Hearing one once, they assumed in their fright that all hell was rising up to carry them off, and from being heroes they suddenly became like women. 8
Footnotes:
1. On Gehenna, see both §374:1 and note 3 in §374. See also §§825-831 and 940-942. [LHC, RS]
2. "Aura" is a translation of the Latin sphaera, literally a "sphere" of influence surrounding an individual. For more on auras, see §§1504-1520 and note 2 in §1512. [RS]
3. By "the Lord" Swedenborg generally means Jesus; see §14 and note 2 in §1. [Editors]
4. The reference to color is not racial here; see both §814:2 and note 1 in §814. [RS, JSR]
5. By "the Lord's Word" here Swedenborg means the Bible. For a more nuanced description of the meaning of "the Word" in Swedenborg's theology, see note 1 in §981. [Editors]
6. The white band around the head does not seem to point to any historically attested group of skeptics; rather, it seems to symbolize the belief in conscience as a "binding" of the mind. The notion that religion is a substitute for public conscience was a philosophical commonplace throughout the Enlightenment period. For example, in the early Enlightenment the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) describes the use of religion "to keep the people in obedience and peace" (Hobbes [1651] 2012; 2:176 [chapter 12]). For a related note, see Swedenborg [1771] 2006, page 731 note 383 [NCBSP: This is a reference to a work in the bibliography from the Swedenborg Foundation]. [SS]
7. This is a reference to a phrase that occurs in Isaiah 34:13; 35:7; Jeremiah 9:11; 10:22; 49:33; 51:37. The Hebrew word that Swedenborg understands as "snakes" (Latin dracones, as in Schmidt 1696) is translated by most scholars as "jackals." The Hebrew is תַּנִּים (tannîm). [LHC]
8. It can be inferred here that these spirits are all male, but that inference is in any case irrelevant to the point of the final metaphor, which is that they stopped acting bold when they were threatened. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the practice of insulting a man's courage by comparing him to a woman goes back at least as far as Old Testament times: see Isaiah 19:16; Jeremiah 50:37; 51:30; to any or all of which Swedenborg may actually be alluding. Although Swedenborg at times mirrors common cultural prejudices against women, as in this passage, in other passages he goes against the current of his age and attributes superior qualities to them. For a general comment on characterizations of women in his works, see the reader's guide in volume 1, pages 55-56. [KK, JLO, LSW]
