6144. 'Because the famine overwhelmed them' means because the desolation reached the point of despair. This is clear from the meaning of 'the famine' as desolation so far as things of the Church are concerned, dealt with in 5415, 5576. When it is said to 'overwhelm' them, it is despair, as in 5279, for the final stage of desolation is despair. Despair is the final stage of desolation and temptation, 5279, 5280, for a number of reasons, of which let only the following be advanced here: Through despair people are led in an effective and perceptible way to acknowledge that nothing true or good comes from themselves, and to acknowledge that what is their own has caused them to be damned but that with the Lord's aid they are delivered from damnation, with salvation entering in through what is true and good. Despair also exists to the end that life's bliss which the Lord imparts may be felt; for when people come out of that state of despair they are like those who have been condemned to death but then freed from prison. Periods of desolation and temptation also serve as the means by which people gain an insight into states contrary to heavenly life and from them are given a perception and insight into the bliss and happiness of heavenly life. For a perception and insight into bliss and happiness come in no other way than from a contrast with their opposites. Therefore so that they can have the one fully demonstrated as against the other, periods of desolation and temptation are protracted to the utmost, that is, to the point of despair.