284 HEAVEN and HELL §481
and in thought as well. People who are heavenly loves are intelligent and
wise, while people who are materialistic loves are dense and rather silly.
[ 3 ] When leave is given to examine the inner and outer aspects of
the thoughts and affections of people engaged in heavenly love, the
inner reaches look as though they were made of light, in some cases like
the light of a fl ame; and their outer manifestations are of various lovely
colors, like a rainbow. In contrast, the inner reaches of people who are
engaged in materialistic love look gloomy because they are closed in, in
some cases like a smoky fi re for people who were inwardly maliciously
deceptive. Their outer manifestations have an ugly color, depressing to
look at (both the inner and outer aspects of the mind and spirit are pre-
sented visually in the spiritual world whenever it so pleases the Lord).
[ 4 ] People who are engaged in materialistic love do not see anything
in heaven’s light. Heaven’s light is darkness to them, while hell’s light,
which is like the light of glowing embers, is like daylight to them. In fact,
in heaven’s light their inner sight is deprived of light to the point that
they become insane. As a result, they run away from it and hide in caves
and caverns of a depth that corresponds to the false convictions that stem
from their evil intentions. Exactly the reverse is true for people who are
engaged in heavenly love, though. The deeper or higher they enter into
heavenly light, the more clearly they see everything and the lovelier it all
looks, and the more intelligently and wisely they grasp what is true.
[ 5 ] There is no way that people who are engaged in materialistic love
can live in heaven’s warmth, because heaven’s warmth is heavenly love.
They can live in hell’s warmth, though, which is a love of cruelty toward
people who do not support them. The pleasures of this love are con-
tempt for others, hostility, hatred, and vengefulness. When such people
are absorbed in these pleasures, they feel truly alive, and they have no
idea whatsoever what it means to do good for others out of sheer good-
ness, for the sake of good itself. They only know how to do good if it is
done for evil reasons and for the sake of evil.
[ 6 ] People who are engaged in materialistic love cannot breathe in
heaven either. When evil spirits are taken there, they draw breath like
someone who is struggling painfully. On the other hand, people who
are engaged in heavenly love breathe more freely and feel more alive the
deeper into heaven they come.
We may gather from this that a heavenly and spiritual love is heaven
for us because everything heavenly is written on that love; and that mate-
rialistic and worldly love apart from heavenly and spiritual love is hell for
us because everything hellish is written on that love.