he fact
that the devil himself, with whom he is conjoined and by whom he is led,
is nothing else than the love of ruling from self-love. One who is led by
the devil, that is, by hell, is led into all these evils and is
constantly led by enjoyments of these evils. Hence all who are in hell
want to do evil to all, but those in heaven want to do well by all. From
this opposition there results the intermediate state in which man is and
in it is in equilibrium, as it were, so that he can turn towards hell or
towards heaven. So far as he favors the evils of self-love he turns
towards hell, and so far as he removes them from him he turns towards
heaven.

[9] It has been granted me to feel the nature and also the strength of
the enjoyment of ruling from the love of self. I was let into it that I
might know. It was such as to exceed all worldly enjoyments. It was an
enjoyment of the whole mind from its inmosts to its outmosts, but felt in
the body only as pleasure and gratification, making the chest swell. It
was also granted me to perceive that there issued from this enjoyment as
from their fountainhead the enjoyments of evils of all kinds, such as
adultery, revenge, fraud, slander, and evil-doing in general. There is a
similar enjoyment in the love of possessing the wealth of others by
whatever ruse, and from this love in the lusts derived from it; yet not
the same degree of enjoyment unless this love is conjoined with
self-love. As for distinction and riches sought not for themselves but
for usefulness' sake, this is not love of them but love of uses;
distinction and wealth serve it as means. This love is heavenly. But of
it more in what follows.

[10] Third: _These two loves are distinct from each other, as heaven and
hell are._ This is plain from what has just been said, to which I will
add the following. All who are in the love of ruling from self-love,
whoever they are and whether they are great or small, are in hell in
spirit. They are also in the love of all evils. If they do not commit
them, still in their spirit they believe that they are allowable, and
when honor, standing, or fear of the law do not deter, they commit them
physically. What is more, the love of ruling from self-love hides hatred
of God deeply within itself, consequently of divine things which are of
the church and especially of the Lord. If such men acknowledge God it is
with the lips only, and if they acknowledge the divine things of the
church, it