21. [1]. Of those who are in falsities from evil, and of those who are in falsities not from evil; thus of falsities from evil, and of falsities not from evil.

There are innumerable kinds of falsities, namely, as many as there are evils; and the origins of evils, and thence of falsities, are many (n. 1188, 1212, 4729, 4822, 7574). There is falsity from evil, or falsity of evil; and there is evil from falsity, or evil of falsity, and again falsity thence, thus derivative (n. 1679, 2243). From one falsity, especially if it is in the place of a principle, there flow falsities in a continual series (n. 1510-1511, 4717, 4721). There is falsity from the cupidities of the love of self and of the world; and there is falsity from the fallacies of the senses (n. 1295, 4729). There are falsities of religion, and there are falsities of ignorance (n. 4729, 8318, 9258). There is falsity in which there is good, and falsity in which there is not good (n. 2863, 9304, 10109, 10302). There is what is falsified (n. 7318-7319, 10648). All evil has falsity with it (n. 7577, 8094). Falsity from the cupidities of the love of self is the very falsity of evil; and the worst kinds of falsities are thence (n. 4729).

Evil is heavy, and has in itself a tendency to fall into hell, but not so falsity, unless derived from evil (n. 8279, 8298). Good is turned into evil, and truth into falsity, when it descends from heaven into hell, because as it were into a gross and impure atmosphere (n. 3607). Falsities from evil appear as mists and foul waters over the hells (n. 8137-8138, 8146). They who are in the hells speak falsities from evil (n. 1695, 7351-7352, 7357, 7392, 7699). They who are in evil cannot but think falsities, when they think from themselves (n. 7437). More is said concerning evil of falsity (n. 2408, 4818, 7272, 8265, 8279); and concerning falsities of evil (n. 6359, 7272, (Arcana Coelestia 7272), 9304, 10302).

Every falsity may be confirmed, and when confirmed appears as truth (n. 5033, 6865, 8521, 8780). Therefore everything should be examined to see whether it is true before it is confirmed (n. 4741, 7012, 7680, 7950, 8521). Care should be taken that the falsities of religion be not confirmed, because the persuasion of falsity arises thence, which adheres to man after death (n. 845, 8780). How hurtful the persuasion of falsity is (n. 794, 806, 5096, 7686).

Good cannot flow into truths so long as man is in evil (n. 2434). Goods and truths are so far removed from man as he is in evil, and thereby in falsities (n. 3402). The greatest care is taken by the Lord lest truth be conjoined to evil, and the falsity of evil to good (n. 3110, 3116, 4416, 5217). Profanation arises from such mixture (n. 6348). Truths exterminate falsities, and falsities truths (n. 5207). Truths cannot be deeply received so long as incredulity reigns (n. 3399).

How truths may be falsified, from examples (n. 7318). The evil are permitted to falsify truths, the reason (n. 7332). Truths are falsified by the evil, by being applied and thus turned aside to evil (n. 8094, 8149). Truth is said to be falsified when it is applied to evil, which is done especially by fallacies and appearances in externals (n. 7334, 8062). The evil are allowed to assault truth, but not good, because they can falsify truth by various interpretations and applications (n. 6677). Truth falsified from evil, is contrary to truth and good (n. 8062). Truth falsified from evil has a grievous stench in the other life (n. 7319). More is said concerning the falsification of truth (n. 7318-7319, 10648).

There are falsities of religion which agree with good, and others which disagree (n. 9258-9259). Falsities of religion, if they do not disagree with good, do not produce evil, except with those who are in evil (n. 8318). Falsities of religion are not imputed to those who are in good, but to those who are in evil (n. 8051, 8149). Truths not genuine, and also falsities, may be consociated with genuine truths with those who are in good, but not with those who are in evil (n. 3470-3471, 4551-4552, 7344, 8149,9298). Falsities and truths are consociated by appearances from the sense of the letter of the Word (n. 7344). Falsities are made true by good, and grow soft when they are applied and turned to good, and evil is removed (n. 8149). Falsities of religion with those who are in good, are received by the Lord as truths (n. 4736, 8149). Good whose quality is from the falsity of religion, is accepted by the Lord, if there is ignorance, and therein innocence, and a good end (n. 7887). Truths with man are appearances of truth and good imbued with fallacies; but nevertheless the Lord adapts them to genuine truths with the man who lives in good (n. 2053). Falsities in which is good are given with those who are out of the church, and thence in ignorance of truth; also with those who are within the church where are falsities of doctrine (n. 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263, 3778, 4189-4190, 4197, 6700, 9256). Falsities in which there is not good are more grievous with those who are within the church, than with those who are out of the church (n. 7688). Truths and goods are taken away from the evil in the other life, and given to the good, according to the words of the Lord:

To him that hath shall be given that he may abound; and from him who hath not shall be taken away that which he hath (Matthew 25:29, n. 7770).

7437. 'behold, he goes out to the water' means that they proceeded from those evils to contemplate further falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'going out' as proceeding in one's thinking from evils to falsities, for when people immersed in evils proceed in their thinking from those evils to falsities they are said 'to go out' because evil, belonging as it does to the will, is inmost, and falsity, since it belongs to the understanding and therefore to thought, is outside it, and this is what 'going out' means in the spiritual sense (it also means evil action proceeding from an evil will, as stated in Mark 7:20-23); and from the meaning of 'water' as truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, dealt with in 739, 790, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 'the water of the river of Egypt' to which Pharaoh is going to go out meaning falsities, 7307.

[2] As regards proceeding in one's thinking from evils to falsities, it should be recognized that those who are immersed in evils cannot in their thinking do anything other than proceed from those evils to falsities, since evils are what they will and consequently love, and falsities are what they think and consequently believe. For what a person wills he also loves, and what he loves he also bolsters and defends. And evils cannot be bolstered or defended except by means of falsities, which is why, when evil is compared in the Word to a city, falsities are compared to the defensive walls surrounding the city. The reason why those immersed in evils proceed in their thinking to falsities, which they use to defend evils, is that evils are the very delights of their life, to so great an extent that they constitute their life itself. This being so, when they learn from others that those evils are indeed evils, then to guard against their being seen as such they think up falsities which they use to make people believe that the evils are not evils. But if the evils do not dare to make their appearance through falsities they are concealed inwardly and do not reveal themselves, except when fear of the law ceases to exist, or else fear of the loss of reputation for the sake of making gain or for the sake of attaining important positions. When these fears cease to exist the evils burst forth into the open either by way of duplicity or by way of hostility.

[3] From all this one may see that those who are immersed in evils cannot in their thinking do anything other than proceed from evils to falsities. The situation is also similar with those living in a state of goodness, in that in their thinking they cannot do anything other than proceed from good to truths. For goodness and truth go together, as also do evil and falsity, joined to each other so completely that a person who knows that someone is governed by good can know that he is guided by the truth that goes with his good. He can know too that a person who is immersed in evil is steeped in the falsity that goes with his evil, and that the extent to which he is steeped in falsity is determined by the strength of his ability to engage in reasoning and to pervert, and then the extent to which he fears loss of the reputation he needs to have for the sake of gain and position, and how much freedom he wishes to have to do evil. It is astonishing how after using falsities for a certain length of time to defend evils such people then convince themselves that evils are forms of good and that falsities are truths.