362 HEAVEN and HELL §591
We may gather from this that the equilibrium angels in the heavens
and spirits in the hells are kept in is not like the balance that obtains in
the world of spirits. The equilibrium of angels in the heavens depends on
how much they had wanted to be involved in good or had lived in good-
ness in the world—how opposed they were to evil; while the equilibrium
of spirits in hell depends on how much they had wanted to be involved
in evil or had lived in evil in the world—that is, how resistant they had
been to the good, in heart and in spirit.592 If the Lord were not in control of both the heavens and the hells,
there would be no equilibrium; and if there were no equilibrium, there
would be no heaven or hell. Absolutely everything in the universe, every-
thing in both the natural world and the spiritual world, is constituted by
an equilibrium. Any rational person can grasp this. Let one side outweigh
the other, with no resistance offered, and will not both be destroyed?
This is what would happen in the spiritual world if the good did not
react against the evil and constantly suppress its rebellions. Unless the
divine power, and nothing else, did this, heaven and hell would perish,
and the whole human race along with them. I refer to the “divine power
and nothing else” because the selfhood of every angel, every spirit, and
every one of us is nothing but evil (see above, § 591 ). This means that
no angel or spirit can ever resist the evil infl uences that are constantly
breathed out of the hells since we all incline toward hell because of our
self-concern. We can see from this that if the Lord alone were not in
control of both the heavens and the hells, there would be no salvation for
anyone.
Not only that, all the hells act in unison because the evil energies
of the hells are all interconnected the way the good energies are in the
heavens; and nothing but the only divine power can resist all the count-
less hells acting in concert against heaven and everyone there. That one
divine power emanates from the Lord.
593 The balance point between the heavens and the hells shifts down and
up depending on the number of people entering heaven and entering
hell, which amounts to thousands every day. Knowing and grasping this,
adjusting and centering the pointer of the scales, is something no angel
can do, only the Lord, since the emanating divine nature is everywhere
present and is everywhere watching every deviation. Angels see only what
is around them, and do not even sense within themselves what is hap-
pening in their own community.594 Everything in the heavens and the hells is so arranged that each indi-
vidual there is in a personal equilibrium. We can to some extent gather