The Swedenborg Library Vol 1/Chapter 16

by Emanuel Swedenborg

XVI.

THE MEANING OF HELL FIRE.

HAT is meant by the everlasting fire, mentioned in the Word as the portion of those who are in hell, has hitherto been known to scarcely any one. The reason is, that people have thought materially concerning those things which are in the Word, not being acquainted with its spiritual sense. Therefore by fire some have understood material fire; some, torment in general; some, remorse of conscience; and some have supposed that the expression is used merely to excite terror, and thus deter men from crimes.

But whoever is acquainted with the spiritual sense of the Word may know what everlasting fire is. For in every expression and sentence in the Word is contained a spiritual sense, since the Word in its bosom is spiritual; and what is spiritual cannot be expressed before man otherwise than in a natural manner, because man is in the natural world and thinks from the things of that world. What, therefore, is meant by the everlasting fire into which the wicked as to their spirits come after death, or which their spirits which are then in the spiritual world suffer, shall be told in what follows.

That love in its essence is heat, is evident from the fact that the mind, and thence the body, becomes warm from love and according to its degree and quality; and man experiences this alike in winter as in summer. The heating of the blood is a further confirmation of the same truth.

That natural heat which exists from the sun of the world, serves spiritual heat for a receptacle, is manifest from the heat of the body, which is produced by the heat of its spirit and supplies the place thereof in the body. But it is more strikingly evident from the effect of the vernal and summer heat upon animals of every kind, which then every year renew their loves. Not that the latter heat produces this effect, but it disposes their bodies to receive the heat which also flows into them from the spiritual world; for the spiritual world flows into the natural as cause into effect.

Whoever imagines that natural heat produces their loves, is much deceived; for there is an influx of the spiritual world into the natural, and not of the natural world into the spiritual; and all love is spiritual, since it belongs to the life itself.

He, likewise, who imagines that any thing exists in the natural world without the influx of the spiritual world, is equally deceived; for what is natural exists and subsists only from what is spiritual. And the subjects of the vegetable kingdom also derive their germinations from influx out of that world. The natural heat of spring and summer merely disposes the seeds into their natural forms, by expanding and opening them so that influx from the spiritual world may act as the cause of their germination.

These things are adduced that it may be known that there are two kinds of heat, namely, spiritual and natural; and that spiritual heat is from the sun of heaven, and natural heat from the sun of the world; and that the influx of the former into the latter, and the subsequent co-operation of both, present the effects which appear before the eyes of men in the world.

Spiritual heat with man is the heat of his life, because, as was said above, in its essence it is love. This heat is what is meant by fire in the Word; love to the Lord and neighborly love being meant by heavenly fire, and self-love and the love of the world, by infernal fire.

Infernal fire or love exists from the same origin as heavenly fire or love, namely, from the sun of heaven, or the Lord; but it is made infernal by those who receive it. For all influx from the spiritual world varies according to its reception, or according to the forms into which it flows, just as the heat and light of the sun of the world are modified by their recipient subjects. The heat from this sun flowing into shrubberies and beds of flowers, produces vegetation, and likewise draws forth pleasant and delicious odors; but the same heat flowing into excrementitious and cadaverous substances, produces putrefaction, and draws forth noisome and disgusting stenches. So the light from the same sun produces in one object beautiful and pleasing colors, in another, ugly and disagreeable ones.

The case is similar in regard to heat and light from the sun of heaven, which is love. When heat or love from that sun flows into goods [i. e., into good and orderly human forms], as with good men, spirits and angels, it renders their goods fruitful; but when it flows into the wicked it produces the contrary effect, for their evils either suffocate or pervert it. So the light of heaven, when it flows into the truths of good, imparts intelligence and wisdom; but when it flows into the falsities of evil, it is there turned into insanities and fantasies of various kinds. Thus in every instance the effect is according to reception.

Because infernal fire is the love of self and of the world, it is therefore every lust which springs from these loves; for lust is love in its continuity, since what a man loves he continually lusts after; and it is likewise delight, for what a man loves or lusts after, when he obtains it he perceives to be delightful; nor is heart-felt delight communicated to him from any other source.

Infernal fire, therefore, is the lust and delight which spring from the love of self and the world as from their fountain. The evils originating in these two loves, are contempt of others, enmity and hostility against those who do not favor them, envy, hatred and revenge, and as a consequence of these, savageness and cruelty. And in regard to the Divine, they consist in the denial, and thence in the contempt, mocking and reviling of the holy things belonging to the church; and after death when man becomes a spirit, these evils are turned into anger and hatred against those holy things. And because these evils continually breathe the destruction and murder of those whom they regard as enemies, and against whom they burn with hatred and revenge, therefore it is the delight of their life to wish to destroy and kill; and when they are unable to do this, they still delight in the wish to do them mischief and harm, and vent their rage against them. These are the things which are meant by fire in the Word, where the wicked and the hells are treated of. (See Isaiah ix. 17, 18, 19; xxxiv. 9, 10; Joel ii. 30, 31; Mai. iv. 1; Apoc. xviii. 2, 18; xix. 2; ix. 2; xi. 17, 18; xiv. 9, 10; xvi. 8, 9; xix. 20; xx. 14, 15; xxi. 8; Matt, iii. 10; xiii. 41, 42, 50; xxv. 41; xviii. 8, 9; Mark ix. 43-49; Luke xvi. 24; iii. 9.)

Such is the fire or such the heat with those who are in the above-mentioned loves; since, as to their spirits, they are bound to the hells in which those loves prevail, even while they live in the body.

But it is to be observed that they who are in the hells are not in fire, but the fire is an appearance. For they are not sensible of any burning there, but only of a heat such as they before experienced in the world. The appearance of fire is from correspondence; for love corresponds to fire, and all things which appear in the spiritual world, appear according to correspondences.

It is to be borne in mind that this fire or infernal heat is turned into intense cold when heat flows in from heaven. At such times the infernals shiver like persons seized with a cold fever, and are also inwardly tortured. The reason of this is, that they are utterly opposed to the Divine; and the heat of heaven which is divine love, extinguishes the heat of hell which is the love of self, and with it the fire of their life; whence come such cold and consequent shivering and likewise torture. Then, too, thick darkness ensues, and thence infatuation and blindness. This, however, rarely happens; only when violent outrages increase beyond measure, and require to be quelled.

Because infernal fire denotes every lust to do evil which flows from the love of self, therefore it also denotes such torments as exist in the hells. For the lust derived from that love is, with those inflamed by it, the lust of injuring others who do not honor, revere and worship them. And in proportion to the anger thence conceived against such individuals, and to the hatred and revenge arising therefrom, is their lust of exercising cruelty toward them.

And when such lust rages in every one in a society which is restrained by no external bonds, such as the fear of the law and of the loss of reputation, honor, gain and life, then every one from the impulse of his own evil attacks his fellows, and as far as he is able subjugates them, and brings the rest under his control, and takes delight in exercising cruelty toward those who do not submit. This delight is intimately conjoined with the delight of tyrannous rule, insomuch that they exist in a similar degree; since the delight of doing injury is inherent in enmity, envy, hatred and revenge, which are the evils of that love, as was said above.

All the hells are societies of this description. Therefore every one there cherishes hatred in his heart toward every other one; and from hatred breaks out into savage cruelties toward him, so far as he obtains the mastery. These cruelties and the torment which they cause, are also meant by infernal fire; for they are the effects of infernal lusts. (H. H. 566-573.)