428. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. This symbolically means that this was owing to their persuasiveness.

This follows from what we said in no. 427 just above; for the torment symbolizes a mental numbness, which the persuasiveness of those meant by the locusts induces in the intellect, like the numbness a scorpion induces in the body by its sting. A scorpion symbolizes that persuasiveness (no. 425).

In the spiritual world one finds a persuasiveness which takes away an understanding of truth, and which induces a mental numbness and thus an anguish of heart. But this power of persuasion is unknown in the natural world.

138. 4. No one is reformed in states where freedom and rationality are absent. I have already explained [78-81] that nothing becomes part of us except what we do in freedom and in accord with reason. This is because freedom is a matter of our volition and reason is a matter of our discernment. When we do something in freedom and in accord with reason, then we do it of our own volition by means of our own discernment, and whatever is done by these two united becomes part of us.

Since the Lord wants us to be reformed and reborn in order to have eternal life, or the life of heaven, and since we cannot be reformed and regenerated unless goodness is taken into our volition as part of it and truth is taken into our discernment as part of it, and since nothing can become part of us except what is done of our own free volition and in accord with our own rational discernment, it follows that no one is reformed in states that lack freedom and rationality.

There are many states that lack freedom and rationality, but in general they can be assigned to the following categories: states of fear, emergency, mental illness, serious physical illness, ignorance, and intellectual blindness. I need to say something specific about each of these states.