1384. Wat de eerste soort betreft, die de engelen eigen is, en daarin bestaat, dat zij innerlijk gewaarworden, wat waar en goed is, en gewaarworden wat van de Heer komt, en wat van henzelf, en verder ook van waar en hoedanig datgene is wat zij denken, spreken en doen, wanneer het uit henzelf komt. Het werd mij gegeven met de zonen van de Oudste Kerk te spreken over hun innerlijke gewaarwording; zij zeiden dat zij niets uit zichzelf denken of denken kunnen, en niets uit zichzelf willen, maar dat zij bij alles, wat zij in het algemeen en in het bijzonder denken en willen en gewaarworden, wat van de Heer en wat van elders komt, en dat zij niet alleen gewaarworden, hoeveel van de Heer en hoeveel als van henzelf komt, maar ook, wanneer iets als van henzelf komt, waar het dan vandaan komt, van welke engelen, en verder van welke aard die engelen zijn, van welke aard hun gedachten, met alle verscheidenheid, en zo dus welke invloed het is, en ontelbare andere dingen meer. De innerlijke gewaarwording van deze soort zijn van een grote verscheidenheid; bij de hemelse engelen, die in de liefde tot de Heer zijn, bestaat een innerlijke gewaarwording van het goede en vandaar van al wat tot het ware behoort, en omdat zij uit het goede het ware gewaarworden, laten zij niet toe dat er gesproken, nog minder dat er geredeneerd wordt over het ware, maar zij zeggen: zo is het of zo is het niet. De geestelijke engelen echter, die ook innerlijke gewaarwording hebben, maar niet van dien aard als de hemelse engelen, spreken over het ware en het goede; niettemin worden zij het ware en het goede gewaar, maar met onderscheid, want de verscheidenheden van deze innerlijke gewaarwording zijn ontelbaar. De verscheidenheden rusten hierop, dat zij gewaarworden of iets komt van de wil van de Heer, of dat Hij het vergunt, of dat Hij het toelaat, waartussen een scherp onderscheid ligt.

4626. When any spirit is approaching, even though still a long way off and out of sight, his presence is detected, as often as the Lord allows it to be, from a certain kind of spiritual sphere. From that sphere one recognizes what his life is like, what his affection is like, and what his faith is like. Angelic spirits with keener perception know from his sphere countless things about the state of his life and faith, as has been demonstrated to me many times. When it pleases the Lord these spheres are also converted into odours; one smells quite distinctly an actual odour. The reason those spheres are converted into odours is that odour corresponds to perception and that perception is so to speak spiritual odour, from which also [natural] odour descends. But see what has been brought forward already on these matters - regarding spheres, in 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1519, 1695, 2401, 2489, 4464; perception, in 483, 495, 503, 521, 536, 1383, 1384, 1388, 1391, 1397, 1398, 1504, 1640; and odours produced by these, in 1514, 1517-1519, 1631, 3577.

7280. 'And may the Egyptians know that I am Jehovah' means that they will have a fear of the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'knowing that I am Jehovah' as having a fear of the Divine, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the Egyptians' as those who are steeped in falsities and engage in molestation. As regards the fear which those steeped in falsities and engaging in molestation will have of the Divine, it should be recognized that fear is the one and only means by which those in hell can be constrained and held in bonds. For fear is a bond shared by both those who are upright and those who are evil. But with the upright it is an inward fear, that is, fear for their salvation, or fear lest they should lose their own souls, to be exact, and on that account lest they should do anything contrary to conscience, that is, contrary to the truth and goodness which compose conscience. Consequently they fear lest they should do anything contrary to what is just and fair, thus contrary to their neighbour. But this fear becomes holy fear to the extent that it is wedded to charitable affection in them, and especially to the extent that it is wedded to love to the Lord. Such fear then becomes like that which young children feel towards their parents whom they love. When this happens, then so far as they are governed by the good of love fear is not apparent; but so far as they are not governed by good it is apparent, and develops into anxiety. This is what the fear of God is like to which the Word refers many times.

[2] But with those who are evil there is no inward fear - no fear for their salvation - and therefore no fear that belongs to conscience, for in the world they completely rejected that kind of fear both by the life they led and by basic ideas of falsity that were used to justify it. But in place of inward fear there is with them an outward fear, the fear, to be exact, lest they should be stripped of important positions, monetary gain, and reputation on account of these, be legally punished, and be deprived of life. These are the things that those governed by evil fear for when they are in the world. And on entering the next life, since they cannot be constrained and held in bonds by inward fear, they are held in bonds by outward fear, which is instilled into them by means of punishments. These give them a fear of doing evil, which at length becomes a fear of the Divine, though it is, as has been stated, an outward fear, which is devoid of any wish to refrain from doing evil that is motivated by an affection for good. Any such wish is motivated only by a great fear of punishments, which finally they utterly dread.

[3] From all this one may now see that fear is the one and only means by which people are held in bonds. One may see that outward fear, the fear of punishments, is the one and only means by which the evil are constrained, and that this is what causes the torment suffered by the evil in hell. For the evil, on entering the next life, when the outward bonds which they had in the world are taken away from them and they are left to their own desires, are like wild beasts, simply longing to exercise dominion and to destroy any who do not support them. This is the greatest delight of their life; for to the extent that anyone loves himself he hates others who do not support him, and to the extent that each one has hatred within him the delight of destroying is present within him. But in the world that delight lies hidden.