491. Comparisons can be drawn to illustrate the propositions that God bestowed freedom, not only on every human being, but also on every animal, and indeed an analogous faculty even on inanimate objects, giving each the power to receive it according to its nature; and that God intends good to all, but this is turned into evil by the objects upon which it acts. The atmosphere enables everyone to breathe, and likewise every animal and wild beast, every bird, the owl as much as the dove; it also enables birds to fly. Yet the atmosphere is not to blame for the opportunity given to creatures of contrary nature and character. The ocean affords in itself a home and provides food for every fish; but it is not to blame for one fish swallowing another, or for the crocodile turning its food into poison to kill people. The sun provides light and heat for all, but the objects it acts upon, the various plants on earth, receive them in different ways; a good tree or shrub does so in one way, a thorn or briar in another, and a harmless plant in a different way from a poisonous one.

[2] Rain from the upper levels of the atmosphere falls to the ground everywhere, and the ground supplies water from this source to every tree, plant and grass, each of which uses the water to serve its own needs. This is what is meant by the faculty analogous to free will: the plants freely suck up the water through their openings, pores and passages, which in warm weather stand open, and the earth merely provides moisture and elements, which the plants take up in a manner reminiscent of thirst and hunger. It is much the same with people. The Lord flows in to provide every person with spiritual heat, which is in essence the good of love, and with spiritual light, which is in essence the truth of wisdom. But the way the person receives these depends upon which way he turns, whether to God or to himself. That is why the Lord says where He teaches us about love towards the neighbour:

So that you may be sons of the Father, who makes the sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous, Matthew 5:45.

And in another passage He speaks of Him desiring the salvation of all.

151. The reverse is true of those in the hells. Those who are there do not look to the Lord as a Sun nor as a Moon, but they look backward away from the Lord to that dense blackness that is in the place of the sun of the world, and to the darkness that is in the place of the earth's moon, those called genii looking to the dense blackness which is in place of the sun of the world, and those called spirits to the darkness which is in place of the earth's moon. ¹ It may be seen above (122) that the world's sun and the earth's moon are not seen in the spiritual world, but in place of the sun a dense blackness over against the Sun of heaven, and in place of the moon a darkness over against the Moon of heaven. For this reason the quarters with those in the hells are opposite to the quarters of heaven. To them, the east is where that dense blackness and darkness are, the west is where the Sun of heaven is, the south is to their right, and the north to their left, and this also in every turning of their bodies. Nor can they face otherwise, because the whole bent and consequent determination of their interiors tends and strives that way. It may be seen in 143 that the bent and consequent actual determination of the interiors of all in the other life are in accordance with their love. The love of those in the hells is the love of self and the world, and these loves are what are signified by the world's sun and the earth's moon, (see 122), and these loves are opposite to love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. ² This is the cause of their turning backwards away from the Lord to those dense blacknesses. Moreover, those in the hells dwell likewise in accordance with their quarters, those who are in evils from love of self dwelling from their east to their west, and those in the falsities of evil from their south to their north. But more will be said of this further on where the hells are treated of.

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