Arcana Coelestia 7628. In this chapter in the internal sense there is further continued the subject of the vastation of those who infest those who are of the spiritual church. The ninth and tenth states or degrees of vastation, which are described by the "locust" and by the "thick darkness," whereby is signified falsity from evil devastating all things of the church with them, are now treated of.

7627. The inferior light which his natural man possesses is alone sufficient to enable anyone to see that truth and good are compatible with each other and also capable of being linked together, while truth and evil are incompatible and incapable of being linked, and that faith and charity are in a similar way compatible. Actual experience bears witness to the same thing; one knows from experience that the person who pursues an evil life either has faith that is false, no faith at all, or an altogether antagonistic attitude towards faith. And - this is an arcanum - the person who pursues an evil life is directed by falsity attached to his evil, although he imagines that he is guided by truth. The reason why he imagines he is guided by truth is that he is under the influence of faith which is mere persuasion, a kind of faith that will be dealt with later on.