rection. From this it can be seen that the
natural mind, looking downwards and turning itself about towards hell,
is made up in like manner of three degrees, and that each degree of it is
opposite to a degree of that mind which is a heaven. That this is so has
been made very clear to me by things seen in the spiritual world; namely,
that there are three heavens, and these distinct according to three
degrees of height; that there are three hells, and these also distinct
according to three degrees of height or depth; that the hells are opposed
to the heavens in each and every particular; also that the lowest hell is
opposite to the highest heaven, and the middle hell to the middle heaven,
and the uppermost hell to the lowest heaven. It is the same with the
natural mind that is in the form of hell; for spiritual forms are like
themselves in things greatest and least. The heavens and hells are thus
opposite, because their loves are opposed. In the heavens, love to the
Lord, and consequent love to the neighbor, constitute the inmost degree;
in the hells, love of self and love of the world constitute the inmost
degree. In the heavens, wisdom and intelligence, springing from their
loves, constitute the middle degree; in the hells folly and insanity,
springing from their loves and appearing like wisdom and intelligence,
constitute the middle degree. In the heavens, the results from the two
other degrees, either laid up in the memory as knowledges, or determined
into actions in the body, constitute the lowest degree; in the hells, the
results from the two other degrees, which have become either knowledges
or acts, constitute the outermost degree. How the goods and truths of
heaven are turned, in the hells, into evils and falsities, thus into what
is opposite, may be seen from this experience: I heard that a certain
Divine truth flowed down out of heaven into hell, and that in its descent
by degrees it was converted on the way into what is false, until at the
lowest hell, it became the exact opposite of that truth; from which it
was manifest that the hells according to degrees are in opposition to the
heavens in regard to all goods and truths, these becoming evils and
falsities by influx into forms turned the reverse way; for all inflowing,
it is well known, is perceived and felt according to recipient forms and
their states. This conversion into the opposite was made further evident
to me from this experience: it was granted me to