and permanent good, of which the Lord will approve. And this love of self, as I have endeavored to show, is the inmost and essential principle of spiritual evil—of hell.
For the purpose of illustrating a little more fully the views which I have endeavored to present in regard to the essential nature of heaven and hell, I will again introduce a few passages from the writings of him, who in the providence of the Lord was enabled to describe these spiritual states with unparalleled accuracy and truthfulness. The paragraphs that follow are taken from the Ar. Cel., beginning at No. 10715.
The Divine [principle] of the Lord makes the heavens, and heaven is with every one according to the reception of love and faith from the Lord.
With all who receive love and faith from the Lord there is heaven, both with angels and with men; wherefore they who have heaven in themselves, whilst they live in the world, come into heaven after death.
They who have heaven in themselves, will good to all, and perceive a delight in doing good to others, not for the sake of themselves and the world, but for the sake of good and for the sake of truth which ought so to be done. But they who have hell in themselves, will evil to all, and perceive a delight in doing evil to others; or, if they perceive a delight in doing good, it is not for the sake of good and truth, but for the sake of themselves and the world.
When man comes into the other life, as is the case immediately after death, it is evident whether heaven be in him or hell, but not when he liveth in the world; for in the world the external only appears, and not the internal, but in the other life the internal is made manifest, since man then lives as to the spirit.
From these considerations it may be manifest what makes heaven, viz. that it is love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, and likewise faith, but this latter only so far as it hath life from those loves. Hence it is again evident that the Divine [principle] of the Lord makes heaven, for both that love and the faith thence derived are from the Lord; and whatsoever is from the Lord is Divine.
