354 HEAVEN and HELL §580
these arts are unknown in the world. One kind has to do with the misuse
of correspondences; a second kind has to do with the misuse of the most
superfi cial features of the divine design; a third kind with the sharing
and instilling of thoughts and affections by distractions, focusing inward,
and the use of decoy spirits as well as by emissaries; a fourth kind with
manipulation by hallucinations; a fi fth kind with external projections
that enable the spirits to be present outside their bodies; a sixth kind with
various types of imitation and persuasion and pretense.
The spirits of evil people come into these arts spontaneously when
they are freed from their bodies. These arts are inherent in the evil they
are then absorbed in.
They use these arts to torture each other in the hells. However, since
with the exception of the different varieties of imitation and persua-
sion and pretense these arts are unknown in the world, I do not want to
describe them in detail, both because they would not be understood and
because they are unspeakable.581 The reason tortures are permitted by the Lord in the hells is that
there is no other way evils can be restrained and tamed. Fear of punish-
ment is the only means of controlling and taming evils and keeping the
hellish mob in restraints. There is no other way, for if it were not for the
fear of punishment and torture, evil would plunge into rage and destroy
everything, as would happen in a kingdom on earth where there was nei-
ther law nor punishment.The Appearance, Location,
and Number of the Hells
582
I
N the spiritual world, the world where spirits and angels live, things
look much the same as they do in the natural world where we live—so
similar that at fi rst glance there seems to be no difference. You see plains
there, mountains, hills, and cliffs with valleys between them, you see bod-
ies of water and many other things that we fi nd on earth. However, they