Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 949

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949. To the left and in front there is a vault in which there is no light at all but utter darkness, and which is therefore called 'the dark vault'. It contains spirits who have gazed with envy at other people's goods, all the while intent on having them for themselves, and who, having no conscience, have also made off with them as often as they could under any plausible pretext. Some there are people who when they lived in the world held quite high positions, and who have made a reputation for prudence rest in underhand practices. In that vault they consult among themselves, just as they had done during their lifetime, about how to defraud other people. The darkness in there they call delightful. I have been shown and have seen as in broad daylight what those at length come to look like who are in that place and who have acted fraudulently. Their faces look worse than that of one dead, ashen like that of a corpse, and horridly pitted, the result of living in the torment of anxiety.


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