towards the neighbor are entrusted with authority in the
heavens; but then it is not they who rule, but the uses which they
love; and when uses rule the Lord rules. But those who have ruled
while in the world are in hell, and are there vile slaves. I have
seen those who had power in the world, but who exercised dominion
from love of self, cast out among the most vile, and some among those
who are in excrementitious places.

565. But in respect to the love of the world: it is a love opposed to
heavenly love in a less degree than love of self, because the evils
hidden within it are lesser evils. The love of the world consists in
one's desiring to secure to himself, by any kind of artifice, the
wealth of others, and in setting his heart upon riches, and
permitting the world to draw him and lead him away from spiritual
love, which is love towards the neighbor, and thus from heaven and
from the Divine. But this love is manifold. There is a love of wealth
for the sake of being exalted to honors, when these alone are loved.
There is a love of honors and dignities with a view to the increase
of wealth. There is a love of wealth for the sake of various uses
that give delight in the world. There is a love of wealth merely for
the sake of wealth, which is a miserly love; and so on. The end for
the sake of which wealth is sought is called its use; and it is the
end or use that gives to love its quality; for the love is such as is
the end in view, and all other things merely serve it as means.

566. LVIV. WHAT HELL FIRE IS AND WHAT THE GNASHING OF TEETH IS.

What eternal fire is, and what the gnashing of teeth is, which are
mentioned in the Word in reference to those who are in hell, scarcely
any one as yet has known, because the contents of the Word have been
thought about only in a material way, and nothing has been known
about its spiritual sense. So fire has been understood by some to
mean material fire, by others to mean torment in general, by others
remorse of conscience, and others have held that it is mentioned
merely to excite terror in the wicked. Likewise some have supposed
the gnashing of teeth to mean actual gnashing, and some only a
horror, such as is excited when such a collision of teeth is heard.
But any one who is acquainted with the spiritual meaning of the Word
may know what eternal fire is, and what the gnashing of teeth is; for
every expression and every meaning of the expressions in the Word
contains