52. Dat ieder gezelschap de hemel in kleineren vorm is, kan blijken uit het feit dat in ieder gezelschap een hemels patroon of vorm aanwezig is gelijk aan dat van de gehele hemel. Overal in de hemel bevinden zij die beter zijn dan de anderen zich in het midden, met daar omheen de minder goeden in afnemende orde tot aan de grenzen toe, zoals men dat in voorgaand nummer 43 kan zien. Verdere bevestiging hiervan kan men zien in het feit dat de Heer allen in de gehele hemel leidt alsof ze één engel zijn. Hij doet dit ook met al diegenen die in één gezelschap zijn. Vandaar verschijnt soms een geheel engelengezelschap als één in de gedaante van een engel, hetgeen de Heer mij heeft laten zien. Ook als de Heer temidden van engelen verschijnt, dan verschijnen zij niet als een menigte om Hem heen, maar als één in de gedaante van een engel. Hierdoor wordt de Heer, en eveneens een geheel gezelschap, in het Woord één engel genoemd. Michaël, Gabriël en Rafaël zijn niets anders dan zulke engelengezelschappen, die vanwege hun functie zo genoemd worden.

273, 1. An earthly mind engaged in things evil and false is a form and an image of hell. I cannot describe at this point what an earthly mind is like in its substantive form within us, what it is like in the form derived from the substances of the two worlds woven together in our brains, where that mind primarily dwells. A general picture of this form will be offered later, where I will be dealing with the correspondence of the mind and the body. At this point, I need only say something about the states of that form and the changes of state that give rise to perceptions, thoughts, aims, intentions, and what is associated with them, since it is in regard to these that an earthly mind engaged in evil and false pursuits is a form and an image of hell. This form establishes a substantive form as a ground--changes of state cannot occur apart from a substantive form as their ground, just as there can be no sight without an eye and no hearing without an ear.

As for the form or image by which the earthly mind reflects hell, that form and image is like this. The dominant love, together with its urges, being the general state of this mind, acts the part of a devil in hell; and the distorted thoughts that arise from that dominant love are like that devil's gang. Nothing more nor less than this is meant in the Word by "the Devil and its cohorts."

The situation is much the same, since the dominant love in hell is a love of power for selfish reasons. That is what is referred to as "the Devil" there; and attractions to what is false, with the thoughts that arise from that love, are referred to as "the Devil's gang." It is the same in each of hell's communities, with differences like individual variations on a single theme.

An earthly mind that is engaged in evil and therefore false pursuits has a similar form; so after death, earthly-minded people of this kind come into a community of hell that resembles themselves. They then behave in unison with that hell in every respect. They are actually coming into their own form, that is, into the state of their own minds.

There is also another love, called satan, secondary to the earlier love called the devil. This is the love of owning the assets of other people, using fair means or foul. Malice, deviousness, and deceit are its gang.

People who are in this hell are called satans collectively, while people in the former hell are called devils collectively. In fact, the ones who do not act in secret do not reject the title. This is why the hells as a whole are called "the Devil" and "Satan."

The reason the two hells are broadly distinguished by these two loves is that all the heavens are distinguished by two loves into two realms, a heavenly one and a spiritual one. The demonic hell is an inverse parallel to the heavenly realm and the satanic hell an inverse parallel to the spiritual one. (On heaven's division into two realms, a heavenly one and a spiritual one, see Heaven and Hell 26-28 [20-28].)

The reason this kind of earthly mind is a hell in form is that every spiritual form is the same in its largest and smallest manifestations. This is why every angel is a heaven in smaller form, as has also been explained in Heaven and Hell 51-58. It also follows from this that every individual or spirit who is a devil or satan is a hell in smaller form.