8678. 'For this reason, that they behaved proudly over them' means because of the endeavour and the force used to exercise control over those belonging to the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'behaving proudly' as the endeavour and the force used to exercise control, dealt with below; and from the representation of the children of Israel, who are the ones over whom they behaved proudly, as those belonging to the spiritual Church, dealt with above in 8645. The reason why 'behaving proudly' means the endeavour and the force used to exercise control is that kind of endeavour and the force used as a result are present in all pride; for pride consists in loving self more than others, putting self before others, and wishing to rule others. Those who wish to do this also despise others in comparison with themselves, and in addition out of hatred and vengeance persecute others who put themselves before them or do not pay respect to them. The nature of self-love, which is pride, is such that so far as it is given rein it gallops away, gaining speed with every possible step it can take, till eventually it reaches the very throne of God - wishing to usurp God. This is what all in hell are like. What they are like is revealed by their endeavours emanating from there, and also by their intense feelings of hatred for one another and their awful acts of revenge because of their wish to exercise control. That endeavour is one that is curbed by the Lord; and it is what is meant by the head of the serpent which the seed of the woman will tread down, 257. Such spirits also are meant by Lucifer in Isaiah,

How have you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the Dawn? You have been cut down to the earth, you have been weakened below the nations. And you said in your heart, I will go up the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the furthest parts of the north; I will go up above the heights of the clouds, and I will make myself like the Most High. But you have in truth been sent down to hell, to the sides of the pit. You have been cast out of the sepulchre like an abominable branch, [like] a garment of the killed, [like] those pierced with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit like a dead body trodden underfoot. Isaiah 14:12-19.

[2] The fact that pride of heart, which is self-love, drives the Divine away from itself and puts heaven away from itself becomes perfectly clear from that state in which the Divine and heaven find acceptance, which is a state of love towards the neighbour and a state of humility towards God. To the extent that a person can humble himself before the Lord, to the extent that he can love his neighbour as himself, and - as they do in heaven - above himself, he accepts the Divine and for that reason lives in heaven. From this one can see what the state is of those who love themselves more than their neighbour, and who behave proudly towards him, that is, who are ruled by self-love. One can see that it is a state in which they are opposed to heaven and to the Divine; it is therefore the state in which those in hell live. See what has been stated and shown about self-love in 2041, 2045, 2051, 2057, 2219, 2363, 2364, 2444, 3413, 3610, 4225, 4750, 4776, 4947, 5721, 6667, 7178, 7255, 7364, 7366-7377, 7488-7492, 7494, 7643, 7819, 7820, 8318, 8487.

3610. 'Behold, Esau your brother is consoling himself concerning you [by planning] to kill you' means, the intention to invert the state and to remove from truth the life from itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'consoling oneself concerning somebody' as calming a turbulence of mind with a hope concerning some person or thing - the pronoun 'you' embodying an inversion of the state of truth; and from the meaning of 'killing you (Jacob)' as removing from truth the life from itself, dealt with just above in 3607, where it has been shown that removing from truth the life [from itself] is not destroying that truth but giving it life. For the situation with the life of truth is that when people with whom truth or the affection for truth is present do not live according to the truth they know and have an affection for, there is in that case a certain satisfaction and delight, stemming from self-love or love of the world, which attaches itself to the affection for truth. That satisfaction and delight seems to be like good, but it is not good except if considered in relation to the use it serves of enabling truths to be brought in and learned, which subsequently can be of service to good itself and to the life of good. When this is the state in which truth dwells, that is, when the affection for truth exists with people, truth is said to have life from itself. But this is not life, as is clear from the fact that life does not dwell in self-love and love of the world, that is, in the satisfaction and delight that goes with these loves, but in celestial and spiritual love and the delight and satisfaction that belongs to that love. Consequently when truth is removed - that is, when those with whom such an affection for truth is present have that life removed from them - then for the first time they receive life, that is, are given life.

[2] These matters cannot be grasped at all by those whose affection is for themselves and the world, for they believe that no other kind of life can possibly exist, and consequently that if that life were removed they would have no life at all. For people possessing that life cannot by any means know what spiritual and celestial life is. But the truth of the matter is that when that life is removed, that is to say, the life belonging to an affection for self and the world, life flows in from the Lord such as is angelic and heavenly, bringing with it wisdom and intelligence that are beyond description. From the point of view of this life from the Lord, the previous life seems to be none at all or to be like the abject life of beasts, for it entails nothing Divine at all apart from being able to think and to talk, and so to have an outward form like everyone else has.

[3] As regards the intention on the part of good to invert the state and to remove from truth the life from itself, meant by the words 'Esau is consoling himself concerning you [by planning] to kill you', the position is that with someone who is being regenerated good intends constantly to bring about an inversion of state and to produce that order in which truth does not occupy the prior position but, in conformity with the state of heaven, the secondary position. This intention however lies concealed deeply within it and is not discerned until it is actually carried into effect. It is like conjugial love, which does not show itself in infancy and childhood but nevertheless lies concealed within, and does not emerge until every single thing has been properly ordered to enable it to manifest itself. During all that time however it is producing all the means suited to it, that is, they are produced from it. Something similar may be seen in the vegetable kingdom in which within every tree and young plant there lies concealed inmostly the effort to produce fruit or seeds. But that effort cannot manifest itself until all the means have been produced first, that is to say, shoots, leaves, and blossom; and when these have been produced, that effort comes into act.

[4] It is the same with those who are being born anew. The conjugial relationship which exists between good and truth lies concealed for a long time but is nevertheless present as the effort within the efficient cause and from this within the effect itself. But it does not appear until everything has been properly ordered, and once everything has been properly ordered only then does it emerge and manifest itself. This effort is what is meant by the intention to invert the state and to remove from truth the life from itself. From this it is evident that the note which is sounded in the internal sense is altogether different from that in the sense of the letter; that is to say, it speaks of truth being brought into order and receiving life, not of the destruction and removal of life from it.