and in the spiritual world quarters are determined in
accordance with loves; for in heaven all the quarters begin from the
Lord as the sun, who is the East; and as the hells are opposite to
the heavens their quarters begin from the opposite point, that is,
from the west. (On this see the chapter on the four quarters in
heaven, n. 141-153.) [2] For this reason the hells in the western
quarter are the worst of all, and the most horrible, becoming
gradually worse and more horrible by degrees the more remote they are
from the east. In the western hells are those who in the world were
in the love of self, and in consequent contempt of others, and in
enmity against those who did not favor them, also in hatred and
revenge against those who did not render them respect and homage. In
the most remote hells in that quarter are those that had belonged to
the Catholic religion, so called, and that had wished to be worshiped
as gods, and consequently had burned with hatred and revenge against
all who did not acknowledge their power over the souls of men and
over heaven. These continue to have the same disposition, that is,
the same hatred and revenge against those who oppose them, that they
had in the world. Their greatest delight is to practice cruelties;
but in the other life this delight is turned against themselves; for
in their hells, with which the western quarter is filled, one rages
against everyone who detracts from his Divine power. (But more will
be said about this in the treatise on The Last Judgment and the
Destruction of Babylon.) [3] Nevertheless, no one can know how the
hells in that quarter are arranged, except that the most dreadful
hells of that kind are at the sides towards the northern quarter, and
the less dreadful towards the southern quarter; thus the dreadfulness
of the hells decreases from the northern quarter to the southern, and
likewise by degrees towards the east. Towards the east are the
dwelling places of the haughty, who have not believed in the Divine,
and yet have not been in such hatred and revenge, or in such deceit,
as those have who are in a greater depth in the western quarter. [4]
In the eastern quarter there are at present no hells, those that were
there having been transferred to the western quarter in front. In the
northern and southern quarters there are many hells; and in them are
those who while in the world were in love of the world, and in
various kinds of evil therefrom, such as enmit