From what has been said above it can be seen that all who are in evils in respect to life, and in the falsities therefrom, are murderers; for they are enemies and haters of good and truth, since evil hates good and falsity hates truth.  The evil man does not know he is in such hatred until he becomes a spirit; then hatred is the very delight of his life.  Consequently from hell, where all the evil are, there constantly breathes forth a delight in doing evil from hatred; while from heaven, where all the good are, there constantly breathes forth a delight in doing good from love.  Therefore two opposite spheres meet each other in the middle region between heaven and hell, and engage in reciprocal combat.  While man lives in the world he is in this middle region.  If he is then in evil and in falsities therefrom he passes over to the side of hell, and thus comes into a delight in doing evil from hatred.  But if he is in good and in truths therefrom, he passes over to the side of heaven, and thus comes into a delight in doing good from love.

The delight in doing evil from hatred, which breathes forth from hell, is a delight in killing.  But as they cannot kill the body they wish to kill the spirit; and to kill the spirit is to take away spiritual life, which is the life of heaven.  This makes clear that the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” involves also thou shalt not hate thy neighbor, also thou shalt not hate the good of the church and its truth; for if one hates good and truth he hates the neighbor; and to hate is to wish to kill.  This is why the devil, by whom hell in the whole complex is meant, is called by the Lord,

“A murderer from the beginning” (John viii, 44).

Since hatred, which is a desire to kill, is the opposite of love to the Lord and also of love toward the neighbor, and since these loves are what make heaven in man, it is evident that hatred, being thus opposite, is what makes hell in him.  Nor is infernal fire anything else than hatred; and in consequence the hells appear to be in a fire with a dusky glow according to the quality and quantity of the hatred, and in a fire with a dusky flame according to the quantity and quality of the revenge from hatred.

Since hatred and love are direct opposites, and since hatred in consequence constitutes hell in man, just as love constitutes heaven in him, so the Lord teaches,

“If thou shalt offer thy gift upon the altar, and shalt there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go; first be reconciled to they brother, and then coming offer thy gift.  Be well disposed toward thine adversary whiles thou art in the way with him; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.  Verily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing” (Matt. v. 23-26).