AC 9049 - the law of order known as The Golden Rule

AC 9049
'You shall pay soul for soul'
(Exodus 21:23)
means the law of order
that you shall do to your neighbor
as you wish him to do to you,
and therefore that it shall be done to you
as you do to another.
. . . The reason why this law was given
to the children of Israel was
that a similar law exists in the spiritual world.
Anyone there who does good to another
with all his heart
receives good in like measure;
and therefore one who does evil to another
with all his heart
receives evil in like measure.
For good done with all one's heart
carries its own reward together with it,
and evil done with all one's heart
carries its own punishment together with it.
So it is that heaven is the reward for good people,
and hell the punishment for evil ones.
. . . The situation with both groups is as follows:
With someone who does good with all his heart
good is flowing in from heaven on every side
into his heart and soul
and inspiring him greatly to act as he does.
At the same time love and affection for the neighbor
to whom he does the good is increasing,
and with this love and affection
a delight that is heavenly delight, beyond description.
The reason why all this happens is
that the good of love from the Lord
reigns everywhere in heaven,
flowing in unceasingly in the same measure
as it is being given out to another.
Similarly with someone evil
who does evil to another with all his heart.
Evil on every side is flowing in from hell into his heart
and spurring him on greatly to act as he does.
At the same time selfish love and affection is increasing,
and with them the delight born of hatred and vengeance
against those unsubmissive to him.
The reason why all this happens is
that the evil of self-love reigns everywhere in hell,
flowing in unceasingly
in the same measure as it is given out to another.
When this happens
those who punish are immediately present,
and they deal roughly with the evil-doer.
In this way evil along with its delight is kept in check.

[2] These things are so
because the laws of order in the next life
are not learned from books
and then stored away in the memory,
as they are with people in the world.
Rather they are laws written on the heart,
laws of evil on the heart of those who are evil,
and laws of good on the heart of those who are good.
For everyone takes with him into the next life
that which has been fixed in his heart by his life in the world,
that is to say evil in the case of evil people
and good in the case of good ones.

[3] The law of order from which these things follow is
that which the Lord has taught in Matthew,

All things whatever you wish people to do to you,
do also to them;
this is the Law and the Prophets.
(Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31)
 
Order arises out of Divine Truth which comes from the Lord.
In heaven the laws of order are truths springing from good,
but in hell they are truths separated from good.
They are said to be separated
not on account of what the Lord does
but of what a person does.
Good is separated when it is unreceived.