4572. Not so far from there are also spirits who infuse chills and through them paroxysms of icy fever. This too has been given me to know from live, palpable experience. They are very malicious there, more highly skilled than other spirits in the art of destroying others and the human race, striving after nothing else. They are constantly seeking new ways to harm others, and they practice these among themselves so as to know how, for they are able to induce swoons, do things that disturb the mind, and deprive people of their outward vitality so that they nearly fall as if sick when it comes over them, besides many other such things. In short, they are extremely wicked and can separate inward and outward matters in various ways, filling the outward with matters offensive to their humanity. As a result, when inward qualities come down into such, they are twisted into foul and deplorable [evils], for if the receiving forms are perverted, then that which comes down into them is perverted. In this way also inner qualities are disunited from outer ones, and when this happens, the person is no longer mentally sound, as also occurs in fevers.

[2] Their operation is chiefly into the stomach and also into the biles, both of the pancreas and of the liver; such things come from there, as does vomiting, which they stimulate an urge to do. They are indescribably obstinate, never desisting unless they are driven off.

[3] There are very hot places in hell, which I was also granted to experience for the sake of knowing about them. The spirits there are of the kind just mentioned who induce fevers. They are familiar with almost all of these places, and from them they emit that unclean, merely physical heat separate from life-giving heat. For in the other life they cleverly know how to transfer such things, and they also know where in the body to direct that heat. Such spirits are extremely destructive and obstinate; they never pause unless driven off by the Lord, and when they are driven off, the heat of fever immediately ceases. Therefore they who have been sick speak rightly when they ascribe the recovery of health to God and give thanks to Him, even though very many do this only from a habit acquired from infancy, and when left to themselves ascribe it to nature.

A "field" in the Bible usually represents the Lord's church, and more specifically the desire for good within the church. It's where good things start, take root, and grow. When you have a desire to be a good person and to do good things, the natural first questions are "What does that mean?", "What should I do?", "What can I do?". You look for ideas, concepts, direction. Once you figure out something you want to do or a change you want to make in yourself, you seek specific knowledge. If you want to volunteer at a food pantry, say, you'd need to know whom to call, when they need help, where to go, what to bring. Armed with that knowhow, you're ready to get to work. That process could be compared to food production. You start with a field -- which is that desire to be good. Then you plant seeds -- those ideas and concepts. Those seeds sprout into plants -- the specific facts and knowledge needed for the task (easily seen in the food pantry example, but also true with deeper tasks like "being more tolerant of my co-workers" or "taking more time for prayer," or "consciously being a more loving spouse"). Finally, those plants produce food -- the actual good thing that you go and do. The Writings also say that in a number of cases a "field" represents the doctrine, or teachings, of the church. This sounds markedly different. The desire for good is emotional, a drive, a wanting; doctrine is a set of ideas. But for a church to be true, its doctrine must be centered on a desire for good, and must lead people toward doing what is good. So sound doctrine is actually closely bound up with the desire for good.