DLW 263 [2-4]
When the natural mind
is prompted by the delights of its love
and the
gratifications of its thought,
which in themselves are evil and false,
then the reaction of the natural mind
removes those elements
which
belong to the spiritual mind
and bars the door to them
to keep them from
entering,
causing the action to come from such things
as accord with
its reaction.
The result is an action and reaction
of the natural mind
which is opposed to the action and reaction
of the spiritual mind.
This
in turn causes a closing of the spiritual mind,
like the twisting of a
spiral into the opposite direction.
On the other hand, if the spiritual mind is opened,
then the action
and reaction
of the natural mind are reversed.
For the spiritual mind
acts from above or from within
and at the same time
through those
elements in the natural mind
which have been disposed from within
or
from without to obey it,
and it twists into the opposite direction the
spiral
in which the natural mind acts and reacts.
That is because the
natural mind is from birth
in a state of opposition to matters
belonging
to the spiritual mind,
a state it acquires by heredity from parents,
as
people know.
Of such a nature is the change of state called
reformation and
regeneration.
The state of the natural mind before reformation
may be
likened to a spiral
twisting or curving downward,
while after
reformation
it may be likened to a spiral
twisting or curving upward.
Consequently a person before reformation
looks downward to hell,
but
after reformation upward to heaven.
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