3539. WHAT THE QUALITY OF THE LIFE OF THE EVIL IS. The life of the affections or of the will of the evil is like the fire of a torch, or of a wax candle, or of sulfur; for into such a life, which is one of cupidities, is the life of the Lord's love and mercy turned. The life of their understanding is as a dim lumen thence, which extends to a considerable distance, but yet verges to obscurity or goes out altogether. But when true celestial love approaches and spreads to a distance, as when the light of the sun dawns upon the world, it is extinguished. The fiery part first dies away, and is afterwards turned to cold because contrary to true love. The difference in the degree of cold is according to the nearness and quantity of the love, that is, according to the measure of mutual love, of conjugial love, of parental love, as also of mercy, peace, and innocence that there is in it. But at the approach of truth, which is intellectual light, their fiery lumen begins to grow dim, and at length turns into darkness, and that too according to the distance and quality of the light, the degrees of which are indefinite. Hence we may learn the nature of the rainbows, which correspond to affections and truths, or to will and understanding.