§400 joy 229
cravings. So it is diametrically opposed to the pleasure of heaven. They
attain the pleasure of their cravings when they succeed in stealing and tak-
ing away heavenly pleasure from people who are absorbed in it. It is differ-
ent when no theft or removal occurs. Then they cannot get nearer because
to the extent that they do, they are plunged into pain and torment. This is
why they rarely dare to approach. This too I have been shown by an abun-
dance of experience, some of which I should like to present.
[ 2 ] There is nothing spirits want more when they are arriving in the
other life from this world than to get into heaven. Almost all of them
expect to because they believe that heaven is simply a matter of being let
in and accepted. Because this is what they want, then, they are taken to
some community of the outmost heaven. If they are devoted to love for
themselves and the world, then the moment they reach the fi rst border of
that heaven they begin to feel pain and to be so tormented within that
they feel as though they were in hell rather than in heaven. So they them-
selves dive down headlong and are not at rest until they are with their
own kind in the hells.
[ 3 ] It has also often happened that spirits like this have wanted to
fi nd out what heavenly joy is, and when they have heard that it is within
the deeper nature of angels, they have sought to share in it for them-
selves. So this too was done, because when spirits are not yet in heaven or
in hell, whatever they want is granted if it may do any good. Once com-
munication was established, they began to feel such agony that they did
not know how to control their bodies because of the pain. It looked as
though they pushed their heads down to their feet and threw themselves
on the ground and twisted themselves into loops like snakes, all because
of their inner agony. This was the effect that heavenly pleasure had on
people whose pleasures stemmed from love for themselves and love for
the world. The reason is that these loves are diametrically opposed, and
when a love meets its opposite this kind of pain results. Further, since
heavenly pleasure comes in by an inner path and fl ows into an opposing
pleasure, it twists the deeper levels that are engrossed in that pleasure
backward, in the opposite direction. This results in this kind of agony.
[ 4 ] As I have already noted, the reason these loves are contrary to
each other is that love for the Lord and love for our neighbor want to
share everything with others. This is in fact their delight. But self-love
and love for the world want to take things away from others for them-
selves, and fi nd pleasure to the extent that they can succeed.
This also enables us to realize why hell is separated from heaven. It is
because all the people who are in hell, while they lived in the world, were