299、⑷主通过对立面掌控地狱；对尚在尘世的恶人来说，主在地狱掌控他们的内层，而不是他们的外层。人若不知道何为天堂，何为地狱，对何为人的心智可能一无所知。人的心智就是他死后活着的灵。这是因为人的心智或灵的整个形式就像天堂或地狱的形式。没有一丁点区别，只是一个是最大的，一个是最小的，或一个是原件，一个是复制品。因此，就心智或灵而言，人要么是一个最小形式的天堂，要么是一个最小形式的地狱。他若被主引领，就是一个天堂，若被自己引领，就是一个地狱。由于我被允许知道何为天堂，何为地狱，并且知道人在心智或灵方面是何性质非常重要，所以我想简要描述这两者。
299. (4) The Lord governs hell through opposing forces, and He governs evil people in the world in respect to their interiors in hell, and not in respect to their exteriors. Someone who does not know the nature of heaven and the nature of hell is utterly incapable of knowing the nature of the human mind. A person's mind is his spirit which lives after death. The reason is that a person's mind or spirit has exactly the same form as heaven or hell. The only difference is that one is grand in scale and the other miniature, or that one is a representation and the other a replica. As to his mind or spirit, therefore, a person is either a heaven or a hell in miniature form - a heaven if he is led by the Lord, and a hell if he is guided by his own native character.
Now because I have been granted to know the nature of heaven and the nature of hell, and it is important to know the nature of a human being in respect to his mind or spirit, I wish to briefly describe each.
299. 4. The Lord controls the hells by means of opposites. As for evil people who are still in this world, he controls them in hell as to their deeper natures, but not as to their more outward natures. People who do not know what heaven and hell are like have no way whatever of knowing what the human mind is like. Our mind is our spirit, the spirit that lives after death. This is because the whole form of our mind or spirit is like the form of heaven or hell. There is no difference whatever except that the one is immense and the other minute, or that the one is the model and the other the impression. As far as our minds or spirits are concerned, then, we are either a miniature heaven or a miniature hell, a heaven if we are being led by the Lord and a hell if we are leading ourselves.
Since I have been allowed to know what heaven is like and what hell is like, and since it is important that we know our nature as to mind or spirit, I want to offer a brief description of each.
299. IV. THE LORD GOVERNS HELL BY MEANS OF OPPOSITES AND THE WICKED WHILE IN THE WORLD HE GOVERNS IN HELL AS TO THEIR INTERIORS BUT NOT AS TO THEIR EXTERIORS. He who does not know the nature of heaven and hell cannot at all know the nature of man's mind. His mind is his spirit which lives after death. The reason of this is that the mind or spirit of man is in every detail in the same form as heaven or hell. There is no difference except that one is very great and the other very small, or that one is the type and the other an effigy; therefore, man with respect to his mind or spirit is either a heaven or a hell in its least form. He that is led by the Lord is a heaven, and he that is led by his proprium is a hell. Now as it has been granted me to know the nature of heaven and of hell, and as it is important to know the nature of man with respect to his mind or spirit, I will briefly describe both.
299. (4) The Lord governs hell by opposites; and He governs in hell the evil who are in the world in respect to their interiors, but not in respect to their exteriors. He that does not know what heaven is and what hell is can know nothing whatever about what man's mind is. The mind of man is his spirit that lives after death. This is because the mind or spirit of man is wholly in the form in which heaven is or in which hell is; there is not the slightest difference, except that one is the greatest and the other the least, or that one is the effigy and the other the type. Consequently in respect to his mind or spirit man is either a heaven or a hell in the least form. He that is led by the Lord is a heaven, and he that is led by what is his own is a hell. Since, then, it has been granted me to know what heaven is and what hell is, and it is important to know what man is in respect to his mind or spirit, I will describe both briefly.
299. IV. Quod Dominus regat Infernum per opposita, et quod malos qui in mundo sunt, regat in inferno quoad interiora et non quoad exteriora. Qui non scit quale coelum est et quale infernum, prorsus non scire potest, qualis hominis Mens est; mens hominis est ejus spiritus qui vivit post mortem; causa est, quia mens seu spiritus hominis in omni forma est, in qua est coelum aut infernum; non differt quicquam, solum quod unum sit maximum, et alterum minimum, seu quod unum sit effigies 1et alterum typus; quare homo quoad mentem seu spiritum est in minima forma vel coelum vel infernum; est Coelum qui a Domino ducitur, et est infernum qui a suo proprio. Nunc quia mihi datum est scire quale est coelum, et quale est infernum, ac interest scire qualis est homo quoad mentem seu spiritum suum, volo utrumque breviter describere.
Footnotes:
1 Prima editio: effigies