4320. The reason why the life which comes from the Lord alone seems with everyone to be intrinsically his own lies in the Lord's love or mercy towards the whole human race. That is to say, His will is to make that which is His every person's own and to confer eternal happiness on every person. It is well known that love imparts that which is its own to another, for it manifests itself within that other and causes itself to be present within him. What then must the situation be with Divine love? The reception by the evil also of the life which comes from the Lord is like objects in the world, all of which receive light from the sun and as a result colours, though each object receives these according to the form it takes. Objects which absorb the light and pervert it appear black or hideous, and yet they acquire their black and hideous appearance from the light of the sun. So too with the light or life with the evil which comes from the Lord, though this life is not really life but, as it is also called, spiritual death.