276、⑷作为一个地狱的属世心智在各个方面都与作为一个天堂的属灵心智对立。当爱是对立的时，感知，以及与感知有关的一切都变得对立。因为一切事物都从构成人之生命的爱流出，就像溪水从它们的源头流出一样。在属世心智中，并非从那源头流出之物与从那源头流出之物是分离的。凡源于人的主导爱之物都在中间，其余的在周边。如果后者是教会从圣言所获得的真理，那么它们就会从中间进一步被赶到周边，最终被逐出；然后，属世人或属世心智就会视邪恶为良善，视良善为邪恶，视虚假为真理，视真理为虚假。这就是为何他认为恶毒就是智慧，疯狂就是聪明，狡诈就是谨慎，奸计就是足智多谋。此外，在这种情况下，他认为与教会和敬拜有关的天上神性事物是毫无价值的，却视肉体和世俗事物为最有价值的。他就这样颠倒了自己的生命状态，将属于头的东西归给了脚底，并踩在脚下，而将属于脚底的东西归给了头。因此，这个人从一个活人变成了一个死人。心智为一个天堂的人可以说是活的，而心智为一个地狱的人可以说是死的。
276, 4. An earthly mind that is a hell is absolutely opposed to a spiritual mind that is a heaven. When loves are opposite, then all perceptive functions are opposite. It is from love, which constitutes our essential life, that everything else flows, like streams from their spring. In the earthly mind, things that are not from that source separate themselves from things that are. What comes from the dominant love is in the center, and everything else is at the sides. If these latter elements are truths of the church drawn from the Word, they are pushed even farther away and eventually are exiled. Then the individual, or the earthly mind, feels evil as good and sees falsity as truth, and vice versa. This is why it believes that malice is wisdom, insanity is intelligence, deviousness is prudence, and evil arts are skillfulness. Then too, it completely trivializes the divine and heavenly things that are proper to the church and its worship and puts supreme value on bodily concerns and the world. By doing this it inverts the state of its life, assigning matters of the head to the soles of the feet and walking all over them, and promoting matters of the soles of the feet to the head. When we do this, we move from life to death. (We may call someone "alive" whose mind is a heaven, and someone "dead" whose mind is a hell.)
276. (4) The natural mind which is a hell stands in complete opposition to the spiritual mind, which is a heaven. When loves are opposed, then perception and everything connected with it becomes opposed. For from the love which forms a person's life flows all else, like streams from their wellspring. Matters which do not spring from that fountainhead stand apart in the natural mind from those which do. Those which spring from its dominant love are at the center and the rest off to the sides. If the latter are truths that the church has from the Word, they are banished still further from the center to the sides and are at last expelled, and the natural self or mind then perceives evil as good and good as evil and sees falsity as truth and truth as falsity. Consequently the person believes malice to be wisdom, irrationality to be intelligence, cunning to be prudence, and evil devices to be cleverness. And in that case, too, he deems Divine and heavenly matters which are connected with the church and worship to be worthless, and places the greatest value in carnal and worldly considerations.
Thus he turns the state of his life upside down so as to assign to the sole of the foot what belongs to the head and to tread upon it, while assigning to the head what belongs to the sole of the foot.
The person is consequently transformed from a living being into a dead one. One is said to be a living being whose mind is a heaven, while one is said to be dead whose mind is a hell.
276. (iv) The natural mind which is a hell is in everything opposed to the spiritual mind which is a heaven. When the loves are opposite, then all things belonging to perception become opposites. For out of love, which makes the very life of man, all other things flow like streams from their source. Things which are not from that source separate themselves in the natural mind from those which are. Those things arising from man's reigning love are in the middle, and other things at the sides. If these are truths of the Church from the Word, they are relegated from the middle further away to the sides, and are finally exterminated. And then the man, that is, the natural mind perceives evil as good, and sees falsity as truth, and conversely. This is why he believes maliciousness to be wisdom, insanity to be intelligence, cunning to be prudence, and evil devices to be ingenuity. Added to this, he regards as nothing the Divine and heavenly things belonging to the Church and to worship, and regards bodily and worldly things as of the greatest importance. Thus he inverts the state of his life, so that what belongs to the head he makes as the sole of his foot, and tramples upon it. So the man, from being alive, becomes dead. He whose mind is a heaven is said to be alive, while he whose mind is a hell is said to be dead.
276. (4) The natural mind that is a hell is in complete opposition to the spiritual mind which is a heaven. When the loves are opposite all things of perception become opposites; for out of love, which makes the very life of man, everything else flows like streams from their source; the things not from that source separating in the natural mind from those which are. Whatever springs from man's reigning love is in the middle, and other things are at the sides. If these latter are truths of the church from the Word, they are transferred from the middle further away to the sides, and are finally exterminated; and then the man, that is, the natural mind, perceives evil as good, and sees falsity as truth; and conversely. This is why he believes perfidy to be wisdom, insanity to be intelligence, cunning to be prudence, and evil devices to be ingenuity; moreover, he makes nothing of Divine and heavenly things pertaining to the church and worship, while he regards bodily and worldly things as of the greatest worth. He thus inverts the state of his life, making what is of the head to be of the sole of the foot, and trampling upon it; and making what is of the sole of the foot to be of the head. Thus from being alive he becomes dead. One is said to be alive whose mind is a heaven, and one is said to be dead whose mind is a hell.
276. IV. Quod Mens naturalis quae [est] infernum, in omni opposito sit contra Mentem spiritualem quae [est] Coelum. Quando amores sunt oppositi, tunc omnia quae perceptionis sunt, fiunt opposita; ex amore enim, qui ipsam vitam hominis facit, fluunt omnia reliqua, sicut rivi a suo fonte; illa quae non inde sunt, in Mente naturali se separant ab illis quae inde sunt; illa quae ex amore ejus regnante sunt, in medio sunt, et reliqua ad latera; haec si vera Ecclesiae ex Verbo sunt, a medio remotius ad latera ablegantur, et tandem exterminantur, et tunc homo seu mens naturalis percipit malum sicut bonum, et videt falsum sicut verum, ac vicissim; ex eo est, quod malitiam credat sapientiam, insaniam intelligentiam, astutiam prudentiam, artes malas ingeniositatem; et tunc quoque Divina et coelestia, quae sunt Ecclesiae et cultus, facit nihili, ac corporea et mundana facit maximi: ita invertit statum vitae suae, ut quod capitis est, faciat plantae pedis, et proculcet, et quod plantae pedis est, faciat capitis: sic homo a vivo fit mortuus; vivus dicitur cujus mens est Coelum, ac mortuus, cujus mens est infernum.