4548. About those who live without regard for use, about their hell, about sickness
There are those who live not for the sake of any use but live for the sake of themselves, caring nothing for the public good. Nor do they derive any pleasure from public office but act under constraint so that they may appear [to care about the public good] and may hold a public office. What is more, all their enjoyment is from being in company, in eating and drinking, in being respected. When those persons come into the other life, they can scarcely be received in heaven, because heaven is a kingdom of uses and all who are there receive enjoyment and blessedness according to how great and of what nature the uses were that they attained in their bodily life. They are in a hell deep under the buttocks and answer to blockages in the brain along the union of the suture at the top of the cerebrum.
I was congested by them all through the night and sensed that they were the source, and I felt as if I would die unless I were freed by the Lord. There are many such spirits nowadays. In a word, all receive enjoyment and blessedness in the other life according to their use, its quality and magnitude, for the kingdom of the Lord is a kingdom of uses. For heaven, or the angels, cannot flow into those who turn away from every use to civil society, their country, the Church, and the Lord. Since this is the case in the state and Commonwealth, namely, that no one is tolerated except one who performs some use, how much more must this be so in the Kingdom of the Lord?
4548. CONCERNING THOSE WHO LIVE WITHOUT USE [FOR AN OBJECT] AND CONCERNING THEIR HELL. DISEASES.
(There are some who live not for any use, but for themselves; they have no regard for the public welfare, still less do they find any pleasure in the discharge of public offices; but they act under constraint, so that they may have the appearance [of so doing], and that they may be in office. Moreover, all their enjoyment is in company, in eating and drinking, and in being honored. When they enter into the other life, they cannot be received into heaven, because heaven is a kingdom of uses, and everyone receives enjoyment and happiness in proportion to the quantity and quality of the use which he acquired for himself during his life in the body. These are in a hell deep down under the buttocks, and correspond to obstructions of the cerebrum, along the union of the suture in the top of the cerebrum. I was obstructed for a whole night by them, and perceived what came thence; and I was as if I should die, unless liberated by the Lord. Of such a character are very many at this day. In a word, everyone receives joy and happiness in the other life according to use, its quality and quantity; for the kingdom of the Lord is a kingdom of uses, since neither heaven nor the angels can inflow into those who are averse to all use in behalf of civil society, the country, the Church and the Lord. Since, in civil affairs and the commonwealth, no one is tolerated unless he perform some use, must not this be much more the case in the Lord's kingdom?)
4548. De illis qui absque usu vivunt, de eorum inferno, morbi
Sunt qui vivunt non propter aliquem usum, sed propter vivere sibi, nihil curant publica, minus aliquid jucundi habent in officiis, sed faciunt coacte ut appareant et possint esse in officio, et praeterea omne jucundum iis est in consortiis, in edere et bibere, in honorari, illi cum in alteram vitam veniunt, vix possunt recipi in coelum, quia coelum est regnum usuum, et quisque jucundum et beatum recipit secundum quantum et quale usus quod sibi in vita corporis acquisivit. Illi in inferno sunt alte sub natibus, et correspondent obstructionibus cerebri, circa suturae conjunctionem, in vertice cerebri, obstructus eram per totam noctem ab iis, et percepi quod inde, et eram sicut morerer, nisi liberatus a Domino, tales sunt perplures hodie: verbo quisque accipit jucundum et beatum in altera vita secundum usum, ejus quale, et quantum, nam regnum Domini est regnum usuum, non enim coelum seu angeli influere possunt in illos qui aversantur omnem usum pro societate civili, patria, Ecclesia, Domino; cum idem sit in statu civili, et Republica, quod nemo toleretur nisi qui aliquem usum praestet, quid non magis in Regno Domini?