268、⑶被确认的邪恶和虚假会永远留在人里面，并成为他的爱，因而成为他生命的一部分。确认邪恶和虚假无非就是移除良善和真理，若再升级就是对它们的弃绝。因为邪恶移除并弃绝良善，而虚假移除并弃绝真理。因此，确认邪恶和虚假就是关闭天堂，因为一切良善从主经由天堂流入。当天堂被关闭时，人就在地狱里，在一个类似邪恶和虚假掌权的社群中，以后无法从中抽身。
我被恩准与几个世纪前确认其宗教虚假的人交谈，发现他们仍留在那些虚假中，和在世时一模一样。原因在于，人所确认的一切都会成为他的爱和生命的一部分。它们之所以成为他爱的一部分，是因为它们成为其意愿和理解力的一部分，而意愿和理解力构成每个人的生命。当它们成为一个人的生命的一部分时，不仅会成为他整个心智的一部分，还成为他整个身体的一部分。由此明显可知，一个确认邪恶和虚假的人从头到脚都是这样。当他全然如此时，就无法通过转回或扭转恢复到一种与之相反的状态，因而无法从地狱抽身。从这一切和本章前面的内容可以看出邪恶的根源在哪里。
268, 3. The evil and false things that we have validated stay with us, becoming part of our love and therefore of our life. "Proofs" of what is evil and false are simply motions away from what is good and true; and as they are multiplied, they become rejections, since what is evil distances and rejects what is good, and what is false does the same to what is true. As a result, proofs of what is evil and false amount to closures of heaven because everything good and true flows in from the Lord through heaven. Once heaven is closed, we are in hell, in some community there where congenial forms of evil and falsity hold sway, with no possibility of getting out.
I have been allowed to talk with people who had justified for themselves the false principles of their religion centuries ago, and I saw that they were still centered in the same principles they had adopted in the world. This is because everything we justify internally becomes part of our love and our life. It becomes part of our love because it becomes part of our intentions and our discernment, and intention and discernment constitute our life. When it becomes part of our life, it becomes part not only of our whole mind but of our whole body as well. So we can see that once we have justified ourselves in our evil and false principles, that is what we are from head to toe; and once we are wholly of this nature, there is no kind of inversion or reversal of direction that will bring us back into the opposite state and thereby drag us out of hell.
This, together with what has been said earlier in this section, shows where evil comes from.
268. (3) Confirmed evils and falsities remain in a person and become matters of his love and so of his life. Arguments in defense of evil and falsity are nothing other than dismissals of good and truth, and if they escalate, are rejections of them. For evil dismisses and rejects good, while falsity dismisses and rejects truth.
Consequently arguments in defense of evil and falsity are also closures of heaven; for every good and truth flows in from the Lord through heaven. And when heaven has been closed, the person is then in hell, and in a society there where a like evil and falsity reign, from which he cannot afterward be withdrawn.
[2] I have been granted to speak with some who centuries ago had confirmed themselves in the falsities of their religion, and I saw that they continued to be caught up in the same falsities in the same way that they had been caught up in them in the world. The reason is that everything a person confirms himself in becomes a matter of his love and life. It becomes a matter of his love because it becomes a matter of his will and intellect, and the will and intellect constitute everyone's life. And when something becomes a matter of a person's life, it becomes a matter not only of his whole mind but also of his entire material being.
It is apparent from this that a person who has confirmed himself in evils and falsities is of the same character from head to toe. And when he has become of such character, he cannot by any inversion or reversal of state be forcibly returned into a state contrary to it and so be withdrawn from hell.
It can be seen from these and previous observations in this discussion where the origin of evil lies.
268. (iii) Confirmed evils and falsities with man are permanent, and come to be of his love, and consequently of his life. Confirmations of evil and falsity are nothing else than removals of good and truth, and if they increase, they are rejections, for evil removes and rejects good as falsity does truth. Hence indeed it is that confirmations of evil and falsity are closures of heaven, for every good and truth flows in from the Lord through heaven, and when heaven is closed, then man is in hell, and in a society there in which a like evil and falsity reigns, from which hell he cannot afterwards be released. It has been granted me to speak with some who, ages ago, had confirmed themselves in the falsities of their religion, and I saw that they remain in the same falsities, in the same way as they were in them in the world. The reason is that all things in which a man confirms himself come to be of his love and life. They come to be of his love because they come to be of his will and understanding, and the will and understanding form the life of everyone, and when they come to be of man's life they come to be not only of his whole mind but also of his whole body. And so it is clear that a man who has confirmed himself in evils and falsities, is such from head to foot, and when he is wholly such, by no turning or twisting back can he be led back to an opposite state and thus be withdrawn from hell. From these considerations and from what precedes in this section, it can be seen whence the origin of evil comes.
268. (3) Evils and falsities confirmed in man are permanent, and come to be of his love and life. Confirming evil and falsity is nothing else than putting away good and truth, and if persisted in, it is their rejection; for evil removes and rejects good, and falsity truth. For this reason confirming evil and falsity is a closing up of heaven, - for every good and truth flows in from the Lord through heaven, - and when heaven is closed, man is in hell, and in a society therein which a like evil prevails and a like falsity; from which hell he cannot afterwards be delivered. It has been granted me to speak with some who ages ago confirmed themselves in the falsities of their religion, and I saw that they remained in the same falsities, in the same way as they were in them in the world. The reason is, that all things in which a man confirms himself come to be of his love and life. They come to be of his love because they come to be of his will and understanding; and will and understanding constitute the life of every one; and when they come to be of man's life, they come to be not only of his whole mind but also of his whole body. From this it is evident that a man who has confirmed himself in evils and falsities is such from head to foot, and when he is wholly such, by no turning or twisting back can he be reduced to an opposite state, and thus withdrawn from hell. From all this, and from what precedes in this chapter, it can be seen what the origin of evil is.
268. III. Quod mala et falsa confirmata apud hominem permaneant, ac fiant amoris et vitae ejus. Confirmationes mali et falsi non sunt aliud quam remotiones boni et veri, et si increscunt sunt rejectiones, nam malum removet et rejicit bonum, ac falsum verum: inde etiam confirmationes 1 mali et falsi sunt occlusiones Coeli, nam omne bonum et verum a Domino per Coelum influit; et cum Coelum clausum est, tunc homo in Inferno est, et ibi in societate ubi simile malum et falsum regnat, a quo dein eximi nequit.
[2] Datum est loqui cum aliquibus, qui ante saecula apud se confirmaverunt falsa religionis suae, et vidi quod in iisdem, similiter ut in illis fuerunt in Mundo, permaneant; causa est, quia omnia, quae homo apud se confirmat, fiunt amoris et vitae ejus; fiunt amoris, quia fiunt voluntatis et intellectus, ac voluntas et intellectus faciunt vitam cujusvis; et cum fiunt vitae hominis, fiunt non solum totius mentis ejus sed etiam totius corporis ejus: inde patet, quod homo, qui se confirmaverat in malis et falsis, a capite ad calcem sit talis, et cum totus talis est, non potest per aliquam inversionem aut retorsionem redigi in statum ei oppositum, et sic ab inferno extrahi. Ex his et ex praecedentibus in hoc Articulo videri potest, unde origo mali est.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: confitmationes