§596 equilibrium 363
this from what has already been presented concerning the heavens and
the hells. That is, all the communities of heaven are very precisely dif-
ferentiated according to the genera and species of their goodness, and
all the communities of hell according to the genera and species of their
evils. Further, there is a corresponding community of hell underneath
every community of heaven, and this opposing correspondence yields an
equilibrium. So the Lord is constantly making sure that the hellish com-
munity under any heavenly one does not get too strong. To the extent
that one begins to get too strong, it is brought under control by various
means and returned to its proper balanced relationship. I shall mention
only a few of the many means. Some involve a stronger presence of the
Lord. Some involve closer communication and union of one or more
communities with others. Some involve the exile of extra hellish spirits
into desert places, some the transfer from one hell to another, some the
reorganization of the people in the hells, which also is accomplished in
various ways. Some involve concealing some of the hells under thicker
and heavier coverings, some sending them down deeper. Then there are
other means, some involving the heavens overhead.
I mention this so that there may be some grasp of the fact that only
the Lord provides that there shall be a balance between good and evil
everywhere, and therefore between heaven and hell. On this kind of
equilibrium depends the salvation of everyone in the heavens and every-
one on earth.
It needs to be realized that the hells are constantly attacking heaven 595
and trying to destroy it and that the Lord is constantly protecting the
heavens by restraining the people there from the evils that arise from their
self-concern and by keeping them involved in the good that comes from
him. I have often been granted a sense of the aura that radiates from the
hells—an aura of nothing but efforts to destroy the divine nature of the
Lord and therefore heaven as well. At times I have also perceived forces
boiling up from certain hells, made up of efforts to break free and wreak
destruction. On the other hand, the heavens never attack the hells, since
the divine aura that emanates from the Lord is a constant effort to save
everyone. Since the people in the hells cannot be saved (all the people
there being engrossed in evil and opposed to the Lord’s divine nature),
the attacks within the hells are kept as subdued as possible, and mutual
viciousness is held within bounds. This too is accomplished by countless
exercises of divine power.
The heavens are differentiated into two kingdoms, the heavenly 596
kingdom and the spiritual kingdom (see above, §§ 20 – 28 ). Similarly, the