self alone, and not to others except for the sake of oneself, not even to the Church, to one's country, or to any human society; also in doing good to them, but for the sake of one's reputation, honor and glory. Unless he sees these in the services he renders them, he says in his heart, "Of what use is it? Why should I do it? Of what advantage will it be to me? and he leaves it undone. His delight is only that of self-love. And because the delight which springs from his love makes the life of a man, therefore his life is the life of self; and the life of self is life from man's proprium; and the proprium of man, viewed in itself, is nothing but evil. Love of self is of such a quality, too, that, as far as the reins are given it, it rushes on until at length it desires to rule not only over the whole earth, but over the whole heaven, too, and over the Divine Himself. -Heaven and Hell, nn. 554, 556, 559 "OUR NAME IS LEGION" M EN have believed hitherto that there is some one devil who is over the hells, and that he was created an angel of light; but that after he turned rebel, he was cast down with his crew into hell. Men have had this belief because the Devil is named in the Word, and Satan, and also Lucifer, and in these passages the Word has been understood according to the sense of the letter, when yet hell is meant in them by the Devil and Šatan......That there is no single Devil to whom the hells are subject, is also evident from this fact, that all who are in the hells, like all who are in the heavens, are from the human race; and that from the beginning of the creation to this time they amount to myriads of myriads, every one of whom is a devil of a sort according with his opposition to the Divine in the world. -Heaven and Hell, n. 544 COMMUNICATION WITH THE "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night." —Psalm, I, I, 2 COMMUNICATION WITH SPIRITS 93 ONE'S SPIRITUAL COMPANY HE mind of a man is his spirit which T lives after death; and a man's spirit is constantly in company with spirits like himself in the spiritual world. Man does not know that in respect to his mind he is in the midst of spirits because the spirits with whom he is in company in that world, think and speak spiritually. The spirit of man, however, while in the material body, thinks and speaks naturally; and spiritual thought and speech cannot be understood, nor perceived, by the natural human being; nor the reverse. Hence, too, it is that spirits cannot be seen. Yet when a man's spirit is in society with spirits in their world, then he is in spiritual thought and speech with them, too, because his inner mind is spiritual, but the outer natural; wherefore by his inner nature he communicates with them, and by his outer being with men. By this communication a man perceives and thinks analytically. If there were no such communication, man would no more think than a beast, nor any differently from a beast. Indeed, were all commerce with spirits cut off, a man would instantly die. -True Christian Religion, n. 475 |