136. 3. No one is reformed by threats or by punishment, because they compel. It is generally recognized that what is outside us cannot control what is inside us, but that what is inside can control what is outside. It is also recognized that what is inside us resists compulsion from the outside so definitely that it turns the other way; and it is recognized that outward pleasures attract what is inside toward assent and toward love. We might also realize that there is inner compulsion and inner freedom.

Even though these facts are generally recognized, we still need examples, because there are a great many things that we sense to be true as soon as we hear them, simply because they are true; so we affirm them. If they are not supported by rational considerations, though, they can be undermined by arguments based on deceptive appearances and eventually denied. So I need to go back to the principles I have just described as "recognized" and give them rational support.

[2] First, what is outside us cannot control what is inside us, but what is inside can control what is outside. Can anyone be forced to believe and to love? We can no more be forced to believe than we can be forced to think what we do not think. We can no more be compelled to love than we can be compelled to intend what we do not intend. Faith, too, is a matter of thought, and love is a matter of volition. However, what is inside can be compelled from the outside not to speak maliciously against the laws of the realm, the customs of everyday living, and the holy values of the church. What is inside can be compelled in this regard by threats and by punishments. It is so compelled, and it needs to be. However, this internal part of us is not truly human. It is an inner nature that we have in common with animals who can also be controlled. Our human inner nature dwells on a higher level than this animal inner nature. This is what I mean by the inner human nature that cannot be compelled.

[3] Second, what is inside us resists compulsion from the outside so definitely that it turns the other way. This is because our inner nature wants to be in freedom and loves its freedom. As I have already explained [73], freedom is a matter of our love or our life; so when something free feels that it is being controlled, it withdraws into itself, so to speak, and turns in the opposite direction. It looks at the compulsion as an enemy. The love that is the substance of our life is irritated, which makes us think that we are not in control of ourselves and that we are therefore not living our own life.

The reason our inner nature is like this is found in the law of the Lord's divine providence that says we should act in freedom and in accord with reason.

[4] We can see from this that it is harmful to compel people to worship God by threats and punishments.

Still, there are people who are willing to be compelled to religious observance and people who are not. Most of the ones who are willing to be compelled to religious observance are Roman Catholics, but this applies to the ones whose worship has no inner substance but is all on the surface. Most of the ones who are not willing to be compelled are Anglicans; and the result is that there is an inner substance to their worship so that what they do outwardly comes from an inner source. In a spiritual light, the religious aspects of their inner natures look like bright clouds, while in heaven's light the religious aspects of the inner natures of the others look like dark clouds. I have been allowed to see both of them in the spiritual world; and anyone who wants to do so will see the same on arrival in that world after death.

Further, compulsory worship pens in our evils, so that they lie hidden like fire in bits of wood buried in ashes that keep smoldering and spreading until they break out in flame. Worship that is not compulsory but completely voluntary does not pen in our evils, so they are like flames that flare up quickly and then go out. We can see from this that our inner nature resists compulsion so definitely that it turns in the opposite direction.

The reason what is inside us can control what is outside is that what is inside is like a master and what is outside is like a servant.

[5] Third, outward pleasures attract what is inside toward assent and toward love. There are two kinds of pleasure, mental and volitional. Mental pleasures are also the pleasures of wisdom, and volitional pleasures are the pleasures of love, because wisdom is a matter of discernment and love is a matter of volition. Next, since the pleasures of our bodies and their senses (which are outward pleasures) work in unison with our inner pleasures--pleasures of mind and feeling--it follows that just as our inner nature resists compulsion from the outside so definitely that it turns in the opposite direction, so our inner nature turns spontaneously toward pleasure in our outer being until it is actually facing it. This brings about agreement on the part of our discernment, and brings about love on the part of our volition.

[6] In the spiritual world, all little children are led by the Lord into angelic wisdom, and through angelic wisdom into heavenly love, by means of things that are delightful and charming: at first by beautiful objects indoors and charming things in their gardens, then by portrayals of spiritual things that touch the inner levels of their minds with delight, and ultimately by truths of wisdom and virtues of love. So the children are led throughout by pleasures in their proper sequence: first by the pleasures of a love for discernment and its wisdom, and finally by the pleasures of a willing love that becomes their life's love. Then whatever they have internalized through the earlier pleasures is kept in order under this love.

[7] It happens like this because everything that has to do with our discernment and volition is given form by outward means before it is given form by inward means. In fact, everything that makes up our discernment and volition is first given form by things that come in through our physical senses, especially sight and hearing. Then, once our first discernment and first volition have taken shape, our inner thinking regards them as the outside of its own thought processes and either unites with them or distances itself from them. It unites with them if they are pleasing and distances itself from them if they are not.

[8] We need to realize quite clearly, though, that the inside of our discernment does not unite with the inside of our volition. No, the inside of our volition unites with the inside of our discernment and arranges things so that the union is mutual. But all of this is accomplished by the inside of our volition, and none of it by the inside of our discernment. This is why we cannot be reformed by faith alone. It takes our volition's love, which constructs a faith for itself.

[9] Fourth, there is inner compulsion and inner freedom. Inner compulsion is found in people who are busy with outward worship alone and not with inner worship. Their inner process is to think and intend whatever is demanded of their outward nature. These are people who are caught up in worship of living or dead individuals and are therefore involved in the worship of idols and in belief in miracles. The only inner nature they have is one that is superficial at the same time.

For people involved in inner worship, though, there are two kinds of inner compulsion, one based on fear and the other based on love. The inner compulsion that is based on fear is characteristic of people who engage in worship out of fear of the torment of hell and its flames. However, this inner compulsion is not the inner thought process mentioned above [103-105, 110, 111, 120, 130] but an outer thought process, one that we call "inner" at this point simply because it has to do with thinking. The inner thought process discussed earlier cannot be controlled by any kind of fear. It can be compelled, though, by love and by a fear of losing love. This is precisely what is meant by a real "fear of God." Being controlled by love and by a fear of losing it is self-compulsion. It will become clear later [ 145-149] that self-compulsion is not contrary to our freedom and rationality.