§552 evil & falsity 335
a. Before evil people are thrown down into hell they are stripped of what is true and good, and
once these elements have been taken away, they move voluntarily into hell: 6977 , 7039 , 7795 , 8210 ,
8232 , 9330. The Lord does not strip them [of good and truth]—they do it to themselves: 7642
[ 7643 ], 7926. Every evil has something false within it; so people who are intent on evil are intent on
what is false, even though some of them do not realize it: 7577 , 8094. People who are intent on evil
cannot help but think falsely when they are thinking on their own: 7437. All the people who are in
hell say what is false, with evil intent: 1695 , 7351 , 7352 , 7357 , 7392 , 7698 [ 7689 ].
When people like this are let into their inner natures—into their
evils, that is—they can no longer say anything true. They can only say
what is false because their speech arises from their evil intentions. It is
impossible to say anything true for evil ends because by then their spirits
are made up of nothing but their own evil, and falsity emanates from evil.
Every evil spirit is distilled to this state before he or she is thrown into
hell (see above, §§ 499 – 512 ). This is called being stripped down as to what
is true and good.a The stripping down is simply the process of being let
into their own inner natures, into what they have claimed as spirits, then,
or into their spirits themselves. See also § 425 above on these matters.
When we are like this after death, then we are no longer spirit-people 552
the way we were in the fi rst state (described above, §§ 491 – 498 ); we are
truly spirits, since people who are truly spirits have faces and bodies
responsive to the inner natures of their minds. So they are in an outward
form that is the imprint or image of their inner natures. Spirits are like
this once the fi rst and second states described above have been com-
pleted. This means that when they are seen by [spiritual] eyes, one can
tell instantly what their nature is not only from their faces but also from
their bodies, and especially from their speech and behavior. Further,
because they are now their essential selves, they can only be where kin-
dred souls are. [ 2 ] There is a complete sharing of affections and conse-
quent thoughts in the spiritual world; so spirits move spontaneously
toward kindred spirits because they are motivated by what attracts and
delights them. In fact, they actually turn in that direction because that is
how they breathe in their life, or draw their breath freely, and not when
they turn elsewhere. We need to realize that in the spiritual world, com-
munication depends on which way we face, and that the people in front
of us are always the ones who are in a love like our own. This applies no
matter which way we turn our bodies (see above, § 151 ).
[ 3 ] This is why hellish spirits all turn away from the Lord toward the
gloomy and dark objects there that are in the location of earth’s sun and