241. Hoofdstuk 19. Over de Kerk.

Wat bij de mens de hemel maakt, dat maakt ook de kerk, want zoals de liefde en het geloof de hemel maken, aldus maken ook de liefde en het geloof de kerk. Alsus blijkt uit wat over de hemel eerder is gezegd, wat de kerk is.

159. That thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, signifies the delight of the love of self and of the world. This is evident from the signification of "the woman Jezebel," as being the church wholly perverted; for "woman" in the Word signifies the church (SeeArcana Coelestia 252, 253, 749, 770, 6014, 7337, 8994), here the church perverted. And as all perversion of the church springs from those two loves, namely, from the love of self and the love of the world, "Jezebel" signifies the delight of these loves. The church in which these loves reign is called "the woman Jezebel," because Jezebel the wife of Ahab represented in the Word the delight of these loves, and the perversion of the church thereby. For all things that are written in the Word, even in the historical portion, are representative of such things as are of the church (See The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 249-266).

Every perversion of the church springs from these two loves when they reign over the heavenly loves, because these two loves are altogether opposite to the two loves that constitute heaven and the church, which are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, and because from these two loves all evils and the falsities thence spring (See in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 59, 61, 65-82 and in the work on Heaven and Hell 252, 396, 399, 400, 486, 551-565, 566-575).

[2] That Jezebel the wife of Ahab represented what has been said will be seen presently; but something shall first be said about the delights of loves. Every man is such as his love is, and every delight of his life is from his love; for whatever favors his love he perceives as delightful, and whatever is adverse to his love he perceives as undelightful; consequently it is the same whether it be said that man is such as his love is, or such as his life's delight is. Those, therefore, who are loves of self and of the world, that is, they, with whom these loves reign, have no other life's delight or no other life than infernal life. For these loves, or the life's delights from them that are permanent, turn all their thoughts and intentions to self and the world; and so far as they turn them to self and to the world, they so far immerse them in man's proprium [what is his own], which he has by inheritance, thus at the same time in evils of every kind; and so far as man's thoughts and intentions are turned to his inherited proprium, which in itself is nothing but evil, so far are they turned away from heaven. For man's interiors, which are of his mind, that is, of his thought and intention, or of his understanding and will, are actually turned to his own loves, that is, downwards to self where the love of self and its delights reign, and outwards, that is, away from heaven towards the world, where the love of the world and its delights reign. It is otherwise when man loves God above all things, and his neighbor as himself; then the Lord turns the interiors which are of man's mind, or of his thought and intention, to Himself, thus turning them away from man's proprium [what is his own], and elevating them; and this without man's knowing anything about it. From this it is that man's spirit, which is the man himself, after its release from the body is actually turned to its own love, because that constitutes his life's delight, that is, his life. (That all spirits are actually turned to their own loves, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 17, 123, 142-145, 151, 153, 272, 510, 548, 552, 561; and above, n. 41)

[3] This may be illustrated somewhat by the fact that all the least parts of the body turn themselves to the common center of our earth, which is called the center of gravity; and from this it is that wheresoever men are, even those who are in directly opposite positions, and are called antipodes, all stand upon their feet. Yet this center of gravity is merely nature's center of gravity; but there is another center of gravity in the spiritual world, and this, with man, is determined by the love in which he is, downwards if his love is infernal, but upwards if his love is heavenly; and whichever way man's love is determined, in the same way his thoughts and intentions are determined; for these are in the spiritual world, and are impelled by the forces that are there.

[4] From this it can now be seen that the perversion of the church with men, which is signified by "the woman Jezebel," is solely from the loves of self and of the world, since these turn man's interiors, which are of his mind, downward, thus turning them away from heaven. It is said "the perversion of the church with men," because the church is in man, as heaven is in the angel; every church is constituted of those that are of the church, and not of any others, even though they may be born where the church is; as can be clearly seen from this, that love and faith constitute the church, and love and faith must be in man, consequently the church must be in him. (That heaven is in the angel, and the church in man, see in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 33, 53, 54, 57, 454; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 232, 233, 241, 245, 246.)

551. All the People Who Are in the Hells Are Absorbed in Evils and Consequent Falsities because of Their Love for Themselves and the World

All the people who are in the hells are devoted to evil goals and the distortions that result. There is no one there devoted to evil goals and interested in true perceptions. Many evil people in the world know about spiritual truths, the truths of the church, since they have learned them first in childhood and later from sermons and from reading the Word and have gone on to take them for granted in their conversations. Some of them have even led others to believe that they were Christians at heart because they had learned from these truths how to talk with apparent affection and to behave honestly as though motivated by a spiritual faith. As for the ones who inwardly thought the opposite, though, and who carefully refrained from doing the evil things they were thinking of simply because of civil laws and for the sake of their reputation and rank and profit, they are all evil at heart, involved in what is true and good only physically, not in spirit. So when their outer layers are stripped off in the other life and the inner natures that constituted their spirits are unveiled, they are wholly absorbed in evil and false concerns, unconcerned with anything true and good. Then one can see that the true and good values simply dwelt in their memories as things they had learned about, and that they retrieved them from memory when they were talking and imitated good deeds as though they were motivated by a spiritual love and faith.

When people like this are let into their inner natures - into their evils, that is - they can no longer say anything true. They can only say what is false because their speech arises from their evil intentions. It is impossible to say anything true for evil ends because by then their spirits are made up of nothing but their own evil, and falsity emanates from evil.

Every evil spirit is distilled to this state before he or she is thrown into hell (see above, 499-512). This is called being stripped down as to what is true and good. ¹ The stripping down is simply the process of being let into their own inner natures, into what they have claimed as spirits, then, or into their spirits themselves. See also 425 above on these matters.

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