He Came as a Thief in the Night

"And all the birds were satiated with their flesh" (Revelation 19:21) signifies that from their lusts of evil, which are their proprium, the infernal genii are as it were nourished" (Apocalypse Revealed 802). In other words, evil spirits harvest loosh when you appropriate, for instance, wrath, accepting it as your own and writing it on your inner man. Your assent to and your delight in their winding you up is even the extent of your culpability, since thoughts are not your own but your assent thereto.  The insinuation of fantasies into a human being's train of thought by an evil spirit invites you to "be led away and enticed by your lusts", as James would have it, or to appropriate evil as the Writings term it. Intrusive thoughts, the spat of the enemies, indicate that another mind has some objective in relation to us. It could be, for instance, that that mind is enticing us to resent an authority figure and in association with this to commit breakages o...

One of my favourite correspondences of the Writings so far is "Naphtali", an inner meaning expounded upon significantly in Arcana Coelestia. At first glance this might seem arcane as the title of the book, but consider if this passage does not clinically as is possible detail an actual state of mind that human beings experience and can recognise: Genesis 49:21 - King James Version (KJV) <21> Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. "And she called his name Naphtali. That this signifies its quality, namely, the quality of the temptation in which there is victory, and also the quality of the resistance by the natural man, is evident from the signification of “name,” and of “calling a name,” as being quality (see n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3421). The quality itself is that which is signified by “Naphtali,” for he was named “Naphtali” from “wrestling.” Hence also by Naphtali is represented this second general truth of the church, for temptat...