Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 954

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954. The delusions that have been present during a person's lifetime are converted in the next life into different though corresponding delusions. For example, people who on earth have been violent and pitiless have their violence and lack of pity converted into unbelievable cruelty; and to themselves they seem to strike down any fellow spirits they meet and to torment them in various ways, in which they take so much pleasure that such exploits constitute their greatest delights. Those who have been bloodthirsty take delight in tormenting other spirits even to the point of spilling their blood; for not knowing otherwise, they imagine that spirits are men. At the sight of blood - such being their delusion that they actually see what looks like blood - they are extremely delighted. Avarice gives rise to delusions of seeming to be infested by mice and the like, depending on the form which avarice takes. Those who have found satisfaction in mere earthly pleasures, regarding these as their final aim, highest good, and so to speak their heaven, find it their highest delight to loiter in public latrines, where they find it most enjoyable. Some delight in urinous and stinking pools, others in mucky places, and so on.


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