7218. 'And for hard servitude' means as a result of molestations by utter falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'servitude' as molestation by falsities, dealt with in 7120, 7129, so that 'hard servitude' is molestation by utter falsities. For those who are molested by utter falsities and are not refreshed with truths to dispel those falsities, even though the life they lead is a life made up of the truth of faith and the good of charity, suffer the greatest agony; and as long as that state lasts they are subject to a kind of hard servitude. So it is that such molestations are meant by 'hard servitude'. It should be recognized that every element of thought flows in from an outside source, but that when spirits pass through the state of evening and night they are compelled during that state to think about the falsities which are introduced, and are totally unable to break free from that state of compulsion. But when they pass through the state of morning and noon their thought is in a state of freedom; for then they are allowed to think about the things they love, thus about the truths and forms of good that compose faith and charity since these are the objects of their love. Freedom consists in whatever springs from love, see 2870-2893.