Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2873

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2873. Just how far removed heavenly freedom is which flows from the affection for good and truth from the freedom of hell which flows from the affection for evil and falsity becomes clear from the fact that angels in heaven are instantly seized by pain within at the mere thought of such freedom as flows from the affection for evil and falsity, or what amounts to the same, from the desires that belong to self-love and love of the world. And conversely at the mere thought of the freedom that flows from the affection for good and truth, or what amounts to the same, from the desires that belong to mutual love, evil spirits instantly feel intense pains. And what is remarkable, the one type of freedom is so much the contrary of the other that for good spirits the freedom which goes with self-love and love of the world is hell, while conversely for evil spirits the freedom that goes with love to the Lord and with mutual love is hell. Therefore all in the next life are distinguished according to their different kinds of freedom, or what amounts to the same, according to their different kinds of love and affection, and consequently according to their delights of life, which is the same as saying according to their lives, since people's lives consist in nothing else than delights, and these delights in nothing else than the affections which go with people's loves.


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