321. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hell followed with him. This symbolizes the extinction of spiritual life and thus damnation.

Death here symbolizes spiritual death, which is the extinction of spiritual life. And Hell symbolizes damnation, which results from that death.

Everyone from creation and so from birth has, indeed, spiritual life, but that life is extinguished when the person denies God, the sanctity of the Word, and eternal life. He extinguishes it in his will, but it remains in his intellect, or rather, in his ability to understand. This is what distinguishes the human being from animals.

Since death symbolizes the extinction of spiritual life, and hell the resulting damnation, therefore death and hell are mentioned together in several places, as in the following:

From the hand of hell I will redeem them; I will free them from death. O death, I will be your plague! O hell, I will be your destruction! (Hosea 13:14)

The cords of death surrounded me... The cords of hell surrounded me; the snares of death came to meet me. (Psalms 18:4-5, cf. 116:3)

Like sheep they are set for hell; death shall be their shepherd...; hell shall be their home. But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell... (Psalms 49:14-15)

I have the keys of hell and death. (Revelation 1:18)

In Swedenborg's works, “enlightenment” means an ordering and linking of truths in our minds by the Lord, so that we understand them more clearly and deeply than before. Perhaps because of his intense awareness of spiritual world influences on us, Swedenborg does not advocate us seeking our own enlightenment on what is true, but instead to acquire it through hearing and obeying what the Lord reveals to us through the Word.

When people read the Word as a holy book in order to know what’s true, and think about what they are reading, they are inviting the Lord to flow into their minds, and carry out this ordering and linking process.

When someone then tries to put those truths into the acts of his or her life, the order and enlightenment are much increased. Note that the Lord doesn’t reveal new truths this way, but simply casts new light on the truths that the person has freely acquired.

Such enlightenment can go on through this life on earth and on to eternity in heaven. Some translators of Swedenborg's Latin have used the word “illustration” instead of “enlightenment.”

(References: Arcana Coelestia 8211, 9424, 10551, Arcana Coelestia 10551 [2]; The Word 13; The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture 57; The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith 5)