264. After this the earth opened again, but this time to my right, and I saw another devil rising up. On his head he had a kind of miter, wrapped around with what seemed like the coils of a snake, with its head sticking up from the peak. His face was leprous, from forehead to chin, and so were both his hands. His loins were bare and black as soot, with fire glowing darkly through the blackness, as though from a hearth. And the ankles of his feet looked like a pair of vipers. Seeing him, the first devil fell on his knees and worshiped him. When I asked him why he did that, he said, "Because he is God of heaven and earth and is almighty." So then I asked the second devil, "What do you say to that?" He replied, "What can I say? I have all power over heaven and hell. The fate of every soul is in my hand." So I asked the same devil again, "How can he, who is emperor of emperors, submit himself in this way, and how can you accept his adoration?" He answered, "He is still my servant. What is an emperor before God? I hold in my right hand the thunderbolt of excommunicating." [2] At that point I then said to him, "How can you be so insane? In the world you were only an ordinary member of a religious order; but because you labored under the delusion that you, too, had the keys and thus the power of binding and loosing,* you have incited your spirit to such a degree of madness that you now believe you are God Himself!" Angered at this, he swore that he was God, and said that the Lord did not have any power in heaven - "because," he said, "He transferred it all to us.** We have only to command, and heaven and hell reverently obey. If we send anyone to hell, the devils immediately accept him. The angels likewise accept anyone we send to heaven." I inquired further, "How many of you are there in your society?" "Three hundred," he said, "and we are all gods there, but I am god of gods." [3] After that the earth opened under the feet of the two devils, and they sank down into the depths to their hells. And I was granted to see that beneath their hells were workhouses, into which those would fall who inflict injuries on others. For everyone in hell is permitted to keep his delusion and even his exulting in it, but he may not do harm to anyone else. (People in hell are the way they are because every person is then in his spirit, and after the spirit is separated from the body, it comes into full freedom to behave in accordance with its affections and consequent thoughts.) [4] It was granted me next to look into the hells of the two devils, and the hell where the emperors of emperors and kings of kings were was full of every sort of filth. They themselves looked like various species of wild animals with fiercely savage eyes. I likewise looked into the other hell, where the gods and the god of gods were, and in that I saw frightful birds of the night flitting about them - birds which are called ochim*** and iyyim.**** That is how the fantasies of their delusion appeared to me. It was apparent from this experience what a politically oriented love of self is like, and what a church-oriented love of self is like. The first is such that its possessors want to be emperors, while the second is such that its possessors want to be gods. Moreover, this is what they wish to be and also aspire to be to the extent these loves are given free rein. * Based on Matthew 16:13-19, Roman Catholics claim for the Pope the keys of heaven and the power of "binding and loosing," giving him and his proper delegates (cf. Matthew 18:18) all authority over the church and even over heaven. ** Based, again, on Matthew 16:18,19; 18:18. *** A Hebrew word (Oyi'), appearing only once in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:21). It seems to refer to howling or screeching creatures, perhaps screech owls (cf. no. 233:7), but the actual identity is unknown. It may not be a precise term. **** Another Hebrew word (Oyii), appearing only three times in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13:22, 34:14; Jeremiah 50:39). Again, the term seems to refer to howling or screeching creatures, perhaps bats (cf. no. 233:7), but the actual identity is unknown. It, too, may not be a precise term.