Spiritual Experiences (Odhner) n. 2519

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2519. Those who want from that kind of urge to get into heaven cannot even come to the first threshold, but go backwards. How far away from them heaven is, consequently heavenly joy, is clear enough from the experiences [recounted, 2395], namely, that if an angel merely looks penetratingly at an evil spirit, without any intention of hurting him, that look alone causes him the greatest anguish and he virtually perishes from distress. And the deceitful [when so looked upon] are seen as a ball of snakes, besides which others, from only a look at the happiness of the angels are tormented by envy. Such becomes the state of someone in the other life who wants to command others, or to be the uppermost in any society.


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