332 HEAVEN and HELL §546
We can see from this that the Lord is constantly fl owing into every
individual with good, just as much into the evil person as into the good.
The difference is that he is constantly leading evil people away from evil,
while he is constantly leading good people toward the good. The reason
for this difference lies in us, since we are the ones who accept.547 We can gather from this that we do evil from hell and good from
the Lord. However, since we believe that whatever we do comes from
ourselves, the evil we do clings to us as though it were our own. This is
why we are at fault for our evil, never the Lord. The evil within us is hell
within us, for it makes no difference whether you say “evil” or “hell.”
Since we are at fault for our evil, it is we, not the Lord, who lead our-
selves into hell. Far from leading us into hell, the Lord frees us from hell
to the extent that we do not intend and love to be absorbed in our evil.
Our whole volition and love stays with us after death (see §§ 470 – 484 ).
People who have intended and loved what is evil in the world intend and
love what is evil in the other life, and then they no longer allow them-
selves to be led away from it. This is why people who are absorbed in evil
are connected to hell and actually are there in spirit; and after death they
crave above all to be where their evil is. So after death, it is we, not the
Lord, who cast ourselves into hell.
548 I need to mention how this happens. When we arrive in the other
life, we are fi rst taken up by angels who do everything for us and also tell
us about the Lord, heaven, and angelic life and offer us lessons in what
is good and true. However, if we as spirits are the kind of people who
have been familiar with things like this in the world but have denied or
rejected them at heart, then after some conversation we want to get away
from them and try to leave. When the angels notice this, they leave us.
After spending some time with various other people, we eventually take
up with people who are devoted to similar evils (see above, §§ 445 – 452 ).
When this happens, we are turning away from the Lord and turning our
faces toward the hell we were united to in the world, where people live
who are engaged in a similar love of evil.
We can see from this that the Lord is leading every spirit toward him-
self through angels and through an infl ow from heaven, but that spirits
who are absorbed in evil resist strenuously and virtually tear themselves
away from the Lord. They are drawn by their evil—by hell, that is—as
though it were a rope; and because they are drawn and want to follow
because of their love of evil, it follows that they freely cast themselves
into hell.