Spiritual Wisdom:

"There are many more possibilities how the infinite variety of divine attributes can change into its opposite nature and create the corresponding worlds in the world of darkness, just as there are infinite possibilities in the divine worlds. These spheres of fire or of icy coldness -- in the spiritual sense, of course -- are just two examples. There are the spheres of slime and dirt. There are the spheres of intense suffering through overcrowding, or through isolation, and many, many other varieties.
 
"Since one of the most important divine aspects is free will and liberty of choice, this had to turn into the opposite too! The spirit who was the first to succumb to the temptation of abusing this power, who is sometimes referred to as Lucifer or Satan or the Devil, who influenced and affected others to follow him, would naturally be the first one in this new world that came into existence. And he would have complete power over all those who followed him, and, contrary to God, he would use this power. God gives the freedom of choice, and this has deeper significance than most of you realize. With that freedom, the possibility to abuse the power given, to use it contrary to divine laws, must perforce exist. If no choice were available, there would be no freedom and no power. There can be no divine happiness, in fact no divinity at all, if it cannot be attained or maintained by free choice. By the same token, the opposite of God and His laws must of course be the prohibiting of such free choice and the domination of the stronger over the weaker ones." (PL #21)

"Long before the existence of the material world, a part of the created beings who have been endowed, not only with free will, but also with a certain power, have abused this power. I have explained how this came about in a very slow process. This fall of the angels, as it is called, has happened very slowly -- a slow process of degeneration it might be called, whereby everything divine very slowly and gradually turned into its opposite aspect. And, with this, a separation occurred between those who abused their power and those who did not. I have often said -- and this applies to all beings, spirit or man -- that your attitudes, your opinions, your feelings, your thoughts create the spiritual worlds even though you may still live on earth. Thus you each create the world which will be yours. In the same way, the spirits participating in the fall created new worlds according to their changing attitudes -- dark worlds, worlds that are often referred to as hell."(PL #21)

"The disharmonious worlds coming into existence through this division from God, through the so-called fall, are also called hell. These worlds simply reflect the state of mind of the creatures living there; that is, these spheres came into existence as a direct result of the state of mind of these beings. But hell is not just one sphere, but there are many spheres there just as there are many spheres in the divine world, or so-called heaven. When the fall took place, not all who participated came into an equal state of disharmony and evil. The degree was very individual and different. Thus, again as an automatic result, different spheres came into being within the world of darkness, always corresponding to the individual's state of mind. But on the whole, one can say that every divine aspect turned -- here more, there less -- into the opposite." (PL #20)''