There are two aspects to the life of each person. We might call them "heart" and "mind," a part of us that wants and feels and a part of us that thinks and knows. The Writings usually refer to these as the "will" and the "understanding." They are reflections, and receptacles, of the Lord's infinite love and infinite wisdom. Of the two, the heart or will is ultimately the most important. Who we actually are is determined by what we love, and the things in our heart ultimately determine our place in heaven (or hell). But the will is beyond our control; we can't force ourselves to want something good or to not want something bad; we can control our actions, but not our feelings. Because of this power, the Lord works subtly and carefully in our hearts, in ways we can't sense. Most of the work and interaction goes on in our minds through the working of what the Writings call "Divine Truth," which is essentially the Lord's entire essence expressed in a form that is compatible with our minds. When the Bible talks about the Lord's "spirit," it represents this operation of Divine Truth in our minds, the way he reaches out and embraces us, and invites us to embrace him back. And when the Bible talks about people having "spirit," it is talking about our minds when we embrace Divine Truth.

7575. 'And fire ran down to the earth' means evil desires. This is clear from the meaning of 'fire' as evil desires, dealt with in 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324; and from the meaning of 'running down to the earth' ¹ as taking possession of the natural mind right down to the lowest levels of it, 'the land of Egypt' being the natural mind, see 5276, 5178, 5280, 5188, 5301. Since 'hail' means falsities and 'fire' the evils from which they spring, when 'hail' is mentioned so too is 'fire' in Isaiah 30:30-31; Psalms 18:12-15; 78:47-49; Revelation 8:7, as well as in the verse immediately after this,

And there was hail, and fire at the same time running down in the midst of the hail, extremely heavy.

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