Author: Emanuel Swedenborg
Date: 2025-09-30T23:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Christianity; Mysticism
Description: Description Divine Love is a book by Emanuel Swedenborg, first published around 1762. In this compact theological treatise, Swedenborg presents an unfolding vision of God’s essential nature as love, treating divine love as the primal source from which all spiritual life and order emanate. He explores how love, in its purest form, acts as a creative and sustaining force, giving rise to wisdom, conscience, and the structure of existence itself. In Divine Love, Swedenborg writes from his experience of spiritual revelation, not merely speculation. The book has long been read by those interested in
Publisher: Global Grey ebooks

Divine Love
by Emanuel Swedenborg

First published in 1762. This translation by John Whitehead was first published in 1914

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Divine Love

1. In The World It Is Little Comprehended What Love Is; And Yet It Is Man's Very Life

That this is little comprehended is evident from the common saying "What is love?" What it is, is not known for the reason that love is not manifest to the understanding, and the understanding is the receptacle of the light of heaven. What comes into that light is interiorly seen, for what a man thinks, that he has knowledge of. For this reason a man says that this or that is in the light of his understanding, also that he sees this to be so; likewise he prays that he may be enlightened and illumined by God. Moreover, there is spiritual light to which natural light corresponds, and it is from this that one says, with reference to his understanding, that he sees. and a wise man prays to be enlightened and to be illumined by God, that is, that he may understand. Man, therefore, can form no idea concerning love, for this reason, that although the understanding, by means of the thought, presents itself to be seen, love does not. And yet love is the very soul or life of thought, and if love be taken away thought grows cold and dies, like a flower deprived of heat; for love enkindles, vivifies, and animates thought. Set your mind at work and consider whether you can think apart from some affection that is of love; and you will find in your own case that it is impossible. From this it is plain that love is the life of the understanding and of thought therefrom; and what is the life of the understanding and of thought therefrom is also the life of the whole man; for it is the life of all the senses and of all motions, thus the life of the organs by means of which senses and motions exist. That it is also the life of the rest of the viscera, will be seen in what follows. It is not known what love is, for the further reason that man's love is universal life. By universal life is meant life that is in most minute particulars; for of these the term universal is used, as the term general is of parts. What is thus universal is perceived simply is a one; and a one without a particular perception of the particulars is obscure, comparatively as it is with an intense light that blinds the eye. Such also is the universal Divine in the most minute particulars of the world; consequently this Divine is so obscure to man as not to be manifest to the eye when opened, but only to the eye, when closed; for the whole of the world is a work of the Divine love and the Divine wisdom; and wisdom in its most minute particulars is, as was said before, an intense Divine light that blinds.

2. The Lord Alone Is Love Itself, Because Life Itself; While Men And Angels Are Only Recipients.

This has already been illustrated by many things, to which the following only are to be added. The Lord, because He is the God of the universe, is uncreate and infinite, but men and angels are created and finite. The uncreate and infinite is the Very Divine in itself. Out of this man cannot be formed, for in such case he would be the Divine in itself; but he can be formed out of things created and finite, in which the Divine can be, and to which it can communicate its own life, and this by heat and light from itself as a sun, thus from its own Divine love; comparatively as it is with germinations in the earth, which cannot be formed from the very essence of the sun of the world, but must needs be formed out of created things of which soil is composed, within which the sun can be by its heat and light, and to which it can communicate its life. From this it is plain that a man and an angel are not in themselves life, but are only recipients of life. From all this it also follows, that the conception of man from his father is not a conception of life, but only of a first and purest form capable of receiving life; to which, as a stamen or initiament, substances and matters, succeeding one another, add themselves in the womb, in forms adapted to the reception of life in their own order and their own degree, even to the last, which is suited to the modes of the nature of the world.

3. Life, Which Is The Divine Love, Is In A Form

The Divine love, which is life itself, is not simply love, but it is the proceeding Divine; and the proceeding Divine is the Lord Himself. The Lord is indeed in the sun which appears to angels in the heavens, and from which proceed love as heat and wisdom as light; yet outside of that sun, love with wisdom is also the Lord. The distance is only in appearance; for the Divine is not in space, but is without distance, as was said above. There is an appearance of distance because the Divine love, such as it is in the Lord, cannot be received by any angel for it would consume them; for in itself it is hotter than the fire in the sun of the world; for this reason it is lessened gradually by infinite circumvolutions, until, tempered and accommodated it reaches the angels, who moreover, are veiled with a thin cloud lest they should be injured by its intensity. This is the cause of the appearance as of distance between the Lord as a sun, and heaven where angels are; nevertheless, the Lord Himself is present in heaven, but in away suited to reception. The Lord's presence is not like the presence of a man who occupies space, but it is a presence apart from space; that is, He is in things greatest and least, so that in things greatest He is Himself, and in things least is Himself. It is difficult, I know, for man to comprehend this, because it is difficult for him to remove space from the ideas of his thought; but it can be comprehended by angels, in whose ideas there are no spaces. In this respect spiritual thought differs from natural thought. Since, therefore, love proceeding from the Lord is a sun is the Lord Himself, and this love is life itself, it follows that the love itself which is life, is Man; thus that it contains in infinite form the things that are in man, one and all. These are conclusions from what has been said about the life of all things from the Lord, and about His providence, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience.

4. That Form Is A Form Of Use In Its Whole Complex

That form is a form of use in its whole complex, since a form of love is a form of use; for the subjects of love are uses, because love wills to do goods, and goods are nothing else than uses; and since the Divine love infinitely transcends, its form is a form of use in its whole complex. That it is actually the Lord Himself who is with angels in the heavens and with men on earth and in those with whom He is conjoined by love, and that He is in them although He is infinite and uncreate, while angel and man are created and finite,-this cannot be comprehended by the natural man until by enlightenment from the Lord he can be withdrawn from the natural idea respecting space, and be brought thereby into light respecting spiritual essence, which, viewed in itself, is the proceeding Divine itself adapted to every angel, as truly to the angel of the highest heaven as to the angel in the lowest, and to every man, both the wise and the simple. For the Divine that proceeds from the Lord is Divine from first things even to ultimates. Ultimates are what are called "flesh and bone." That even these were made Divine by the Lord, He taught the disciples when He said that He hath flesh and bones which a spirit doth not have (Luke 24:39); moreover, He entered through doors that were shut, and became invisible; and this clearly proves that the ultimates of man in Him were made Divine, and that from this there is correspondence with the ultimates of man.

But how the Divine proceeding, which is the very and only life, can be in things created and finite, shall now be told. This life applies itself not to man, but only to uses in man. Uses themselves, viewed in themselves, are spiritual; while the forms of use, which are members, organs, and viscera, are natural. But yet these are series of uses; to such an extent that there cannot be a particle, or the least of any particle, in any member, organ, or viscus, that is not a use in form. The Divine life applies itself to the uses themselves in every series, and thereby gives life to every form; from this man has the life that is called his soul. With men this truth seems beyond comprehension, but it is not so with angels; yet it does not so far transcend the human understanding but that it may be seen as through a lattice, by those who wish to see. It does not transcend my understanding, which is an enlightened rational understanding.

5. In Such A Form Is Man Individually

That man is in such a form individually can be seen by those only who survey all things that are in man, not only with the eye of the anatomist but also with the eye of reason. He who surveys them with the eye of reason will see that every particular, and most particular thing therein, is formed from use, and for use; and that each part and particle has a function in general; and that the common use, which is the common good, looks to each minute particular as itself therein; and, on the other hand, the minute particular looks to itself in the general. By this means all things that are in the body, from the head to the soles of the feet, are a one; and this even so that man is wholly unconscious that he consists of so many myriads of parts with various and diverse functions. In illustration of this subject it will be sufficient to survey with the eye of reason the structure of the lungs and of the trachea, and to consider their uses.

In regard to the lungs.-Their most general use is respiration, which is effected by admitting air through the larynx, the trachea, the bronchia and their ramifications, into the vesicles of the lobules, whereby the lungs alternately expand and contract. In doing this they induce reciprocal motions in the whole organic body and in all its members; for the heart and lungs are the two fountains of all the general motions throughout the body, whereby the parts of the body, one and all, are led into their own activities and vital functions. They also consociate the voluntary motor life, which is dependent upon the cerebrum, with the natural motor life, which is controlled by the cerebellum. It is also their use to give such disposition to all the viscera of the body, and especially to its motors called muscles, that the will may carry out its movements harmoniously, and without break in any part. Their use also is, both to act concurrently with all the tones of speech and of song, and also to produce them as from a womb. Another use is, to receive within themselves all the blood of the body from the right side of the heart, to purify it from all that is viscid and unclean, and to cast out these impurities; also to supply it from the inhaled air with new elements that serve as food, and to send it back as if made new into the left chamber of the heart; thus their use consists in converting venous blood into arterial. And so the lungs are of service to the blood as a place for the offices of straining, cleansing, refreshing and preparing it; also as a place for purifying the air. In addition to these uses of the lungs, there are many others, both general and particular; and every pore and every little lobe therein is a partner in all the offices, that is, uses; some more closely and some more, remotely.

In regard to the trachea.-Its uses are, (1) To afford a channel for the auras and breath of the lungs, to pass and re-pass; and to accommodate itself to each and every different mode of action of the lungs, both in inspiration and expiration. (2) To examine and cleanse the air about to pass into the lungs, that nothing hurtful may enter; and to impregnate with vapors the air as it passes out, thus attracting effete exhalations, and expelling them; also in general to clear the lungs of viscid phlegm by expectoration. (3) To serve as a pillar and support to the larynx and the epiglottis; to adapt itself entirely to all their commands and tremulous vibrations; to dispose the walls of its canal so that the air may impinge upon them, and to make tense its membrane, so that when the air impinges, the membrane may tremble; and thus, in a rudimentary way, to excite sound which the larynx and the glottis may form, that is, may modulate, into singing or speech; also to moisten the larynx continually with a vapory dew. (4) To aid and assist it's neighbor, the esophagus, in its office of swallowing. (5) To extend the alternate respiratory movements of the lungs to the neighboring parts, and by means of these to parts more and more remote; namely, to the esophagus, and by this, in connection with the diaphragm, to the stomach, and so to the abdominal viscera; also to the ascending carotid artery and the descending jugular vein, and to the great sympathetic nerves,-the intercostal and the par vagum; thus establishing the motor life of the body. (6) To insinuate into the neighboring parts, and through these into parts highest and lowest, its own sonorous vibrations and those of the larynx; and to excite the arterial blood mounting to the head and the brain, and the venous blood returning to the head and the brain, and to exhilarate and animate them by a general modification; thus establishing the sensual life of the body. [1] Moveover, from the bones that are in relation with the trachea, and at the same time from those belonging to the larynx and epiglottis, which are not here enumerated, a mind endowed with understanding, and cultivated by the sciences, with anatomy only as a teacher and the eye as a guide, may be taught and may know how Nature modulates sounds, and determines their relations in articulation. There is nothing in acoustics, music or harmony, however profound and recondite, nor anything in the vibrations and tremblings of a continuous body, nor in the modifications of a contiguous volume or atmosphere, however hidden and interior, which the spiritual has not here brought forth out of Nature, from her innermost, gathered into one, and conferred upon those two organs, and at the same time on the ear. [2]

There are like arcana in all the other viscera, both of the head and of the body and still more in those that lie inwardly concealed and cannot be examined by any eye; for the more interior a thing is, the more perfect it is. In a word, the preeminent life, or excellency of life, in every member, organ, and viscus, consists in this,-that whatever is proper to any is common to all; and thus in every particular thing there is an idea of the whole man. It is this arcanum that will now be stated as a conclusion:-Man is the complex of all uses; of all that are possible, both in the Spiritual world and in the natural world; and every use, from the idea of the universe in it, is like a man, but such a man as the use is, that is, such is its function is in general. This is true of man because he is a recipient of life from the Lord; for life which is from the Lord is the complex of all things of uses to infinity; since the Lord alone is Man, in Himself having life, from whom is everything of life; and unless the form of use were infinite in the Lord, it could not possibly exist as finite in any man.

6. In Such A Form Is Man In General

By man in the most general sense is meant the whole human race; by man in a general sense are meant the men of one kingdom taken together; in a sense less general those of a single province in a kingdom; in a sense still less general those of a city; in a particular sense those of a house; and in an individual sense every man. In the Lord's view, the whole human race is as one man; all in a kingdom are also as one man; likewise, all in a province, all in a city, and all in a house. It is not the men themselves that are thus seen together, but the uses with them. They that are good uses, that is, that perform uses from the Lord, when viewed together, are seen as a man perfect in form and beautiful; these are such as perform uses for the sake of the uses; that is, that love uses because they are uses of the house, of the city, province, kingdom, or of the whole world. But they that perform uses, not for the sake of uses, but for the sake of themselves alone, or the world alone, likewise appear before the Lord as one man, but as an imperfect and deformed man. From what has now been said, it can be seen that the Lord has regard to men in the world, to each according to his use, and to men in the mass according to uses united in the form of a man. By uses are meant the uses of each one's function, which are the uses of his office, pursuit, and occupation. In the Lord's sight these uses are good works themselves. Whereas all in any kingdom appear before the Lord as one man according to their love of uses, it is plain that all the English appear before Him as one man; likewise all the Dutch, all the Germans, all the Swedes and Danes, also the French, the Spaniards, the Poles, the Russians; but each nation according to its uses. Those in the several kingdoms that love the uses of their offices because they are uses, appear together as a man-angel; and those that love the uses of their offices for the sake of pleasures alone apart from uses appear together as a man-devil. Traders, in the man-angel, are those that love trading, and love wealth for the sake of trading, and at the same time look to God; but traders, in the man-devil, are those that love wealth, and love trading only for the sake of wealth. With the latter there is avarice, which is the root of all evils, but not with the former. For to love wealth alone, and not any use that may come of it, that is, to regard wealth in the first place and trading as secondary, is to be avaricious. Such men are, useful to a kingdom, but chiefly when they die, for then their wealth passes into the public use of those engaged in trade; the benefit that then accrues from such wealth is benefit to the kingdom, but not to the souls of those who gathered it.# In a word, accumulation of wealth by trading for the sake of wealth alone, is Jewish trading; but accumulation of wealth by trading for the sake of trading, is Dutch trading. Opulence is not harmful to the latter, but it is to the former. [#AUTHOR'S NOTE:-] These indeed benefit the common wealth by accumulating wealth in it, and enriching it; but they do not benefit their own souls.

7. In Such A Form Is Heaven

It has been shown in the Arcana Coelestia that the whole heaven is divided, as it were, into provinces, according to the uses of all the members, organs and viscera of the human body; also that it is known by angels in the heavens in what provinces the different societies are; for instance, what societies are in the province of the eyes, of the ears, of the nostrils, of the mouth, and of the tongue; also what are in the province of the liver, of the pancreas, of the spleen, of the kidneys, of the ureters, and what in the province of the generative organs. All societies that are in these provinces correspond perfectly to the uses of the above-mentioned members, organs, and viscera in man. It is from this correspondence that the whole heaven appears before the Lord as one man; in like manner each province of heaven, and every society of a province. It is also from this correspondence that all angels and all spirits are men in every respect like men in the world; and for the reason that the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which is life and form, is Man, both in what is greatest and in what is least, as has often been said before. This correspondence, in general and in particular, has been treated of in the Arcana Coelestia (in the following articles: n. 3021, 3624-3633, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 3883-3896, 4039-4055, 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4421, 4523-4533, 4622-4633, 4652-4660, 4791-4805, 4931-4953, 5050-5061, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 10030). In order that hell, too, may be in that form, everyone there is compelled to works; but because they that are in hell do their works not from the love of use, but from the need of food and clothing, they appear indeed as a man, but as a man-devil (concerning which see above).

8. All Things Of The World Also Tend To Such A Form

By all things of the world are meant animate things including those that walk or crawl on the earth, those that fly in the heavens, and those that swim in the waters; also the things of the vegetable kingdom,-trees and shrubs, flowers, plants, and grains. But the atmosphere, waters, and matters of the earth are only means for the generation and production of these. From the creation of the universe, and finally of the earth, and of all things that are in them, it can be seen more fully than from anything else that the Divine Love, which is life itself and is the Lord, is in the form of forms of all uses, which form is Man. For from creation nothing is found on the earth that is not for use. The entire mineral kingdom is full of uses; there is not in it a grain of dust, nor a lump of such grains, that is not for use. The entire vegetable kingdom is full of uses; not a tree, plant, flower, or blade of grass can be found that is not for use; yea, neither anything in a tree, plant, flower, or blade of grass, that is not for uses; each thing is the form of its own use. The entire animal kingdom, too, is full of uses; not an animal, from the little worm to the lion, can be found, that is not for use, and that is not also the form of its own use. The same is true of all things that are above the earth, even to the sun. In a word, every point in creation and in things created, is a use; yea, it is in an ascending [3] series from use in firsts to use in ultimates, thus from use to use continually;-a manifest proof that the Creator and Former, who is the Lord, is the infinite sum of all uses; in His essence love, and in His form Man, in whom that sum is. Who that is willing to consider these things with common intelligence can be so unsound in his reason as to think that such things are works of the dead sun, and thus of dead Nature?

9. There Are As Many Affections As There Are Uses

There are many things that bear witness that the Divine love is life itself, and that love therefrom with man is his life; but among these proofs, this is especially clear, namely, that man's spirit is nothing but affection, consequently that man after death becomes in affection, an angel of heaven if he be an affection of good use, and a spirit of hell if he be an affection of evil use. For this reason the whole heaven is divided into societies according to the genera and species of affections; and likewise, in an opposite manner, hell. From this it is that whether you speak of affections or of societies in the spiritual world, it is the same. By affections are meant the continuations and derivations of love. Love may be compared to a fountain, and affections to the streams issuing from it. Love may also be compared to the heart, and affections to the vessels leading out and continued from it; and it is well known that the vessels that convey blood from the heart resemble their heart in every point, so as to be as it were extensions of it - from this is the circulation of the blood from the heart through the arteries, and from the arteries into the veins, and back to the heart. So with affections; for these are derived and continued from love, and produce uses in forms, and in these proceed from the firsts of the uses to their ultimates, and from these they return to the love from which they started: from all which it is plain that affection is love in its essence; and that use is love in its form.

The conclusion from this is, that the objects, that is, the ends of affections, are uses, therefore also their subjects are uses, and that the very forms in which affections exist are effects which are effigies of the affections; in which they proceed from the first end to the last, and from the last end to the first, and by them they perform their works, offices, and exercises. From what has now been said, who cannot see that affection alone is not anything, but that it becomes something by being in use; and that affection for use is nothing but an idea, unless it be in form; and that affection for use in form is nothing but a potency, the affection first becoming something when it is in act? This act is the very use that is meant, which in its essence is affection. Now, since affections are the essence of uses, and uses are the subjects of affections, it follows that there are as many affections as there are uses.

10. There Are Genera And Species Of Affections, And Varieties Of Species To Infinity; So Of Uses

This may be shown from the human body, from the human race, from the angelic heaven, and from the animal and vegetable kingdoms. In each of these there are genera of affections or of uses, and species and varieties, in untold numbers; for there can be no single thing the same as another, but it varies; and this variety is everywhere distinguished into genera and species, and both of these into varieties; and the varieties in themselves are infinite, because they are from the Infinite. That this is the case, anyone can see from human faces, of which, from the day of creation, there has never been one so entirely like another as to be the same, nor can there ever be; so in the human body, it is impossible for any least thing therein to be identical with any other. It is the same with affections and their uses. That this is so, man is so profoundly ignorant as to ask what affection is, and what love is; consequently this can be made clear only from heaven, where all are affections from the Divine love, which is life itself. In heaven the Divine love, which is life itself, is distinguished into two kingdoms; one in which love to the Lord reigns, and another wherein love for the neighbor reigns. In love to the Lord uses as to their source are involved, in love to the neighbor, uses as to their object. The Divine love, which is life itself, is further distinguished into lesser realms, which may be termed provinces; and these again into societies, and these into families and houses. Such in the heavens are distinctions of the Divine love, into genera, and into species, and the species again into their divisions, which are meant by varieties. Affections, and likewise uses, are thus distinguished, for the reason that every angel is an affection, and is also a use.

As all things in hell are in opposition to the things that are in heaven, so it is with the love there. Diabolical love, which is death itself, is there also distinguished into two kingdoms; one in which love of self reigns, and another in which love of the world reigns. In the love of self, evil uses as regards their source, which is self, are involved; and in love of the world evil uses as regards their object are involved; these uses because they are done from self, are also done for the sake of self, for all love returns as in a circle to the source from which it comes. This diabolical love is further distinguished into provinces, and these again into societies, and so on. There are like distinctions of affections in the human body, and parallel distinctions of uses; since, as has been said above, all things of man, correspond to all things of heaven. The heart and lungs in man correspond to the two kingdoms of heaven; the members, organs, and viscera in man correspond to the provinces of heaven, and the tissues of the several members, organs, and viscera correspond to the societies of heaven. Since these things in general and in particular are uses, and uses live from the life which is love, their life can be called nothing else than the affection of use. As it is in the human body and also in heaven, so is it in the whole human race; since this, like heaven, is as one man before the Lord, as has been said above. That the animate things of the earth, and also its plants, are in like manner distinguished into genera and species, and into their varieties, is well known. In the animal kingdom there are two most general divisions, in one are the beasts of the earth, and in the other the birds of heaven. And in the vegetable kingdom there are likewise two most general divisions, in one are fruit-bearing trees, in the other seed-bearing plants. From the distinctions in these it can be seen that there are genera and species of affections, and varieties in the species, to infinity; and in like manner of uses; since, as has been said before, natural affections are the souls of animals, and the uses of affections are the souls of vegetables.

11. There Are Degrees Of Affections And Of Uses

There are continuous degrees and there are discrete degrees. Both of these are in every form in the spiritual world and in the natural world. All are acquainted with continuous degrees; few, however, have any knowledge of discrete degrees, and those who have no knowledge of these grope as in the dark when they are investigating the causes of things. Degrees of both kinds are described in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 38). Continuous degrees, which all know about, are like the degrees from light to shade, from heat to cold, from rarity to density. Such gradations of light, of heat, of wisdom and of love, are in every society of heaven within itself. They who are in the midst of a society are in clearer light than those who are in the ultimates, the light diminishing according to distance from the center even to the ultimates. It is the same with wisdom; those who are in the midst or center of a society are in the light of wisdom, while those who are in the ultimates or circumferences are in the shade of wisdom and are simple. It is the same with love within societies. The affections of love, which make the wisdom of those in societies and the uses of the affections which make their life, continually lessen from the midst or center even to the ultimates or circumferences.

Such are continuous degrees. But discrete degrees are wholly different. These do not advance in one plane to the sides around, but from highest to lowest; and for this reason they are called descending degrees. They are separated as efficient causes and effects are, which in their turn become efficient causes even to the lowest effect. They are also like a producing force in relation to the forces produced, which in turn become producing even to the last product. In a word, they are degrees of the formation of one thing from another; thus they are the degrees from first or highest to last or lowest, where formation subsists. Therefore things prior and posterior, also things higher and lower, are such degrees. All creation was effected through such degrees, and all production is by means of them, and likewise all composition in the nature that belongs to this world; for in analyzing anything that is composite you will see that one thing therein is from another, even to the very last, which is the general of them all.

The three angelic heavens are distinguished from each other by such degrees and in consequence one is above another. The interiors of man, which belong to his mind, are distinguished from each other by such degrees; so, too, are light which is wisdom and heat which is love, in the heavens of angels and in the interiors of men; and the same is true of the light itself that proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and of the heat itself that also proceeds from Him; and for this reason the light in the third heaven is so refulgent, and the light in the second heaven is of such shining whiteness as to exceed the noonday light of the world a thousand fold. The same is true of the wisdom, for in the spiritual world light and wisdom are in equal degree of perfection. The same is true of the degrees of affections; and as this is true of the degrees of affections it is true also of the degrees of uses, for the subjects of affections are uses. It is to be known further that in every form, both spiritual and natural, there are both discrete and continuous degrees. Without discrete degrees there is not that within a form that constitutes a cause or soul, and without continuous degrees there is no extension or appearance of it.

12. Each Use Draws Its Life From The General Use And From That The Necessary, Useful And Enjoyable Things Of Life Flow In According To The Quality Of The Use And The Quality Of Its Affection

This is an arcanum that has not yet been disclosed. Something of it, indeed, appears in the world, but not in such clearness that it can be seen to be so, for in the world every man receives from the general use the necessary, useful and enjoyable things of life according to the excellence and extent of his service. Some are remunerated from the general use, some are enriched from it. The general use is like a lake from which remunerations and riches flow. These are determined and produced by uses and pursuits which pertain to the affection; nevertheless what the uses themselves are in themselves cannot be concluded from these results; for in the world the evil as well as the good, those who perform no uses, and those who perform evil uses as well as those who perform good uses, are sometimes remunerated and grow rich. In the spiritual world it is otherwise; uses are there laid bare, and their origin is revealed, and their place in the spiritual Man which is the Lord in the heavens. There everyone is rewarded according to the nobleness of his use, and at the same time according to his affection for use. There no idler is tolerated, no lazy vagabond, no indolent boaster claiming credit for the zeal and vigor of others; but everyone must be active, skillful, attentive and diligent in his office and business, and must put honor and reward not in the first place, but in the second or third.

So far as this is the case, the necessary, useful, and enjoyable things of life flow in with them. These flow in from the general use, because they are not gotten together for oneself, as in this world; but they exist in a moment, and are bestowed by the Lord gratuitously. And because in the spiritual world there is communication and extension of all thoughts and affections, and in heaven communication and extension of the affections of use according to their quality, and because all who are in the heavens are affected by uses and delight in them, on this account the necessary, useful, and enjoyable things of life flow abundantly out from the general use into the use of the man, and into the man who does the use, as a usufruct.

The necessary things of life that are bestowed by the Lord gratuitously and that exist in a moment, are food, clothing and habitation, and these correspond throughout to the use in which the angel is. Things useful are those that are tributary to these three, and are delightful to him who receives them, as well as a variety of embellishments for the table, dress, and home, which are beautiful according to the angel's use, and of a splendor commensurate to his affection. Things enjoyable are those connected with wife, friends, and associates, all of whom love him and are loved by him. Such mutual and reciprocal love springs from every affection for use.

There are such things in heaven because there are such things in man, for heaven corresponds to all things of man; and the man who is in the affection of use from use or for the sake of use is a heaven in the least form. There can be in man no member, or any part in a member, that does not draw from the general use what is necessary, useful, and enjoyable, here the general use provides for every part according to its use; whatever is needed for its work by any part is conveyed to it from neighboring parts, and to these from parts that are near them, and thus from the whole; and the part in like manner shares its own with the rest according to their need. And so it is in the Divine spiritual Man, which is heaven, for so it is in the Lord. From all this it is clear that every use is representative of all the uses in the whole body, and thus in every use there is the idea of the whole, and thereby an image of man. From this it is that an angel of heaven is a man according to use; and if it is permissible here to speak spiritually, it is from this that a use is a man-angel.

13. So Far As Man Is In The Love Of Use, So Far Is He In The Lord, So Far He Loves The Lord And Loves The Neighbor, And So Far He Is A Man

From the love of uses we are taught what is meant by loving the Lord and loving the neighbor, also what is meant by being in the Lord and being a man. To love the Lord means to do uses from Him and for His sake. To love the neighbor means to do uses to the church, to one's country, to human society, and to the fellow-citizen. To be in the Lord means to be a use. And to be a man means to perform uses to the neighbor from the Lord for the Lord's sake. To love the Lord means to do uses from Him and for His sake, for the reason that all the good uses that man does are from the Lord; good uses are goods, and it is well known that these are from the Lord. Loving these is doing them, for what a man loves he does. No one can love the Lord in any other way; for uses, which are goods, are from the Lord, and consequently are Divine; yea they are the Lord Himself with man. These are the things that the Lord can love. The Lord cannot be conjoined by love to any man, and consequently cannot enable man to love Him, except through His own Divine things; for man from himself cannot love the Lord; the Lord Himself must draw him and conjoin him to Himself; and therefore loving the Lord as a Person, and not loving uses, is loving the Lord from oneself, which is not loving. He that performs uses or goods from the Lord performs them also for the Lord's sake. These things may be illustrated by the celestial love in which the angels of the third heaven are. These angels are in love to the Lord more than the angels in the other heavens are; and they have no idea that loving the Lord is anything else than doing goods which are uses, and they say that uses are the Lord with them. By uses they understand the uses and good works of ministry, administration, and employment, as well with priests and magistrates as with merchants and workmen; the good works that are not connected with their occupation they do not call uses; they call them alms, benefactions, and gratuities.

Loving the neighbor means performing uses to the church, one's country, society, and the fellow-citizen, because these are the neighbor in the broad and in the limited sense; neither can these be loved otherwise than by the uses that belong to each one's office. A priest loves the church, the country, society, the citizen, and thus the neighbor, if he teaches and leads his hearers from zeal for their salvation. Magistrates and officers love the church, the country, society, the citizen, and thus the neighbor, if they discharge their respective functions from zeal for the common good; judges, if from zeal for justice; merchants, if from zeal for sincerity; workmen, if from rectitude; servants, if from faithfulness; and so forth. When with all these there is faithfulness, rectitude, sincerity, justice, and zeal, there is the love, of use from the Lord; and from Him they have love to the neighbor in the broad and in the limited sense; for who that in heart is faithful, upright, sincere and just, does not love the church, the country, and his fellow-citizen? From what has now been said it is plain that loving the Lord is performing uses from Him, and loving the neighbor is performing uses to him, and the object on account of whom uses are performed is the neighbor, use, and the Lord; and that love thus returns to Him from whom it is. For every love as source through love for its object returns to love as source, which return constitutes its reciprocal. And love continually goes forth and returns through deeds, which are uses, since to love is to do. For love, unless it becomes deed, ceases to be love, since deed is the effect of love's end, and is that in which it exists.

So far as man is in the love of use so far is he in the Lord; because so far is he in the Church, and so far in heaven; and the church and heaven from the Lord are as one man; the forms of which (called higher or lower organic forms, also interior and exterior) are made up of all who love uses by doing them; and the uses themselves are what compose that Man, because it is a spiritual Man, that does not consist of persons, but of the uses with them. Yet all those are there who receive from the Lord the love of uses; and these are they who do them for the neighbor's sake, for use's sake, and for the Lord's sake; and since this Man is the Divine that proceeds from the Lord, and the Divine proceeding is the Lord in the church and in heaven, it follows that they all are in the Lord. These are a Man, because every use that in any way promotes the general good or serves the public, is a man, beautiful and perfect according to the quality of the use, and at the same time the quality of its affection. The reason of this is, that in each single part of the human body there is, from its use, an idea of the whole; for the part looks to the whole as its source, and the whole sees the part in itself, as its agent. It is from this idea of the whole in each part that each use therein is a man, in small as well as in greater parts; there are organic forms in the part as well as in the whole; in fact, the parts of parts, which are interior, are men more than the composite parts, because all perfection increases toward the interiors. For all organic forms in man are composed of interior forms, and these of forms still more interior, even to inmosts, by means of which communication is given with every affection and thought of man's mind. For man's mind, in all its particulars, extends into all things of his body; its range is into all things of the body; for it is the very form of life. Unless the mind had such a field, there would be neither mind nor man. From this it is that the choice and decision of man's will are determined instantly, and produce and determine actions, just as if thought and will were themselves in the things of the body, and not above them. That every least thing in man, from its use, is a man, does not fall into the natural idea as it does into the spiritual; in the spiritual idea man is not a person, but a use; for the spiritual idea is apart from an idea of person, as it is apart from an idea of matter, space, and time; therefore when one sees another in heaven, he sees him indeed as a man, but he thinks of him as a use. An angel also appears in face according to the use in which he is, and affection for the use makes the life of the face. From all this it can be seen that every good use is in form a man.

14. Those Who Love Themselves Above All Things, And The World As Themselves, Are Not Men, Nor Are They In The Lord

Those who love themselves and the world are able to perform good uses, and do perform them; but the affections of use with them are not good, because such affections are from self and have regard to self, and are not from the Lord, and do not have regard to the neighbor. They say, indeed, and persuade that these affections have regard to the neighbor in the broad and in the restricted sense; that is, have regard to the church, their country, society, and their fellow-citizens. Some of them even dare to say that they have regard to God, because they are from His commandments in the Word; and also that they are from God, because they are goods, and every good is from God; when yet the uses they perform have regard to self, because they are from self, and have regard to the neighbor only that they may return to self.

These are known, and are distinguished from those who perform uses from the Lord, having regard to the neighbor in the broad and in the restricted sense, in that such look to self and the world in everything, and love reputation on account of various ends that are uses in behalf of self. Such persons are moved to perform uses so far as in them they see self and what is their own; moreover, their enjoyments are all bodily enjoyments, and these are what they seek from the world.

What kind of men they are may be shown by this comparison:-They themselves are the head; the world is the body; church, country, and fellow-citizens are the soles of the feet; and God is the shoe. But with those that love [4] uses from the love of uses, the Lord is the head; church, country, and citizens (which are the neighbor) are the body down to the knees; and the world is the feet, from the knees to the soles; and they themselves are the soles beautifully shod. Thus it is plain that they who perform uses from self, that is, from the love of self, are wholly inverted, and that there is nothing of man in them.

There are two origins of all loves and affections; one from the sun of heaven, which is pure love; the other from the sun of the world, which is pure fire. They whose love is from the sun of heaven are spiritual and alive, and are raised by the Lord out of their selfhood (proprium); while they whose love is from the sun of the world are natural and dead, and they are plunged by themselves into their selfhood (proprium). From this it is that they see nature alone in all the objects of sight; and if they acknowledge God, it is with the mouth and not with the heart.

These are they that in the Word are meant by worshipers of the sun, moon, and all the host of the heavens. In the spiritual world they appear indeed as men, but in the light of heaven as monsters; and to themselves their life appears as life, but to the angels as death. Among these are many who in the world were accounted as learned; and, what I have often wondered at, they believe themselves wise because they ascribe all things to nature and to prudence, even regarding all others as simple.

15. Unless Use Be The Affection Or Occupation Of Man, He Is Not Of Sound Mind

Man has external thought, and he has internal thought. A man is in external thought when he is in company, that is, when listening or speaking or teaching or acting, and also when writing; but he is in internal thought when he is at home and gives free rein to his interior affection. Internal thought is the proper thought of his spirit within himself; but external thought is the proper thought of his spirit in the body. Both remain with man after death, and even then it is not known what the quality of the man is until external thought is taken away from him; after that he thinks, speaks, and acts from his affection. The man who is of sound mind will then see and hear wonderful things. He will hear and see that many who in the world talked wisely, preached learnedly, taught with erudition, wrote knowingly, and also acted discreetly, as soon as the external of their mind has been taken away, think, speak, and act as insanely as crazy people in the world; and what is wonderful, they then believe themselves to be wiser than others.

But that they may not continue in their insanity, they are at times remitted into externals, and thereby into their own civil and moral life in which they were in the world. When in company there and in heaven, a remembrance of those insanities is given them; and then they themselves see and confess that they spoke insanely and acted foolishly; but the moment they are remitted into their interiors, that is, into what is proper to their spirits, in like manner as before, they are insane. Their insanities are of many kinds; which may all be included in this, that they will to have dominion, to steal, to commit adultery, to blaspheme, to do evil; to despise, reject, or deride what is honest, just, and sincere, and every truth and good of the church and heaven. And, what is more, they love this state of their spirit; for the experiment has been tried with many whether they would rather think sanely or insanely, and it has been found that they would rather think insanely. Moreover, it has been disclosed that they are such because they loved self and the world above all things, and gave thought to uses only for the sake of honor and gain, and greatly preferred enjoyments of the body to enjoyments of the soul. In the world they were such that they never thought sanely within themselves except when they saw men. There is this sole remedy for their insanity: to be put to work in hell under a judge. So long as they are at work there, they are not insane; for the works with which they are occupied hold the mind, as it were, in prison and bonds, to prevent its wandering into the delirious fancies of their lusts. Their tasks are done for the sake of food, clothing, and a bed, thus unwillingly from necessity, and not freely from affection.

But on the other hand, all those who in the world have loved uses and who have performed uses from the love of them, think sanely in their spirits, and their spirits think sanely in their bodies; for with such, interior thought is also exterior thought, and from the former through the latter is their speech, and likewise their action. Affection of use has kept their mind in itself, nor does it suffer them to stray into vanities, into what is lascivious and filthy, into what is insincere and deceitful, into the mockeries of various lusts. After death they are of a like character; their minds are in themselves angelic; and when the outer thought is taken away, they become spiritual, and angels, and thus recipients of heavenly wisdom from the Lord. From all that has been said, it is now plain that unless use be the affection or occupation of a man, he is not of sound mind.

16. Every Man Is An Affection; And There Are As Many Various Affections As There Are Men That Have Been Born, And Will Be Born To Eternity

This can be seen especially from the angels of heaven and from the spirits of hell, all of whom are affections; the spirits of hell evil affections, which are lusts, and the angels of heaven good affections. Every man is an affection, for the reason that his life is love, and the continuations and derivations of love are what are called affections; consequently affections in themselves are loves, but subordinate to the general love as their lord or head. Since, therefore, life itself is love, it follows that each and all things of life are affections, and consequently that man himself is an affection.

Most persons in the world will wonder that this is so, as it has been granted me to know from the testimony of all who pass from the natural world into the spiritual world. Thus far I have not found one who had known that he was an affection; few even knew what affection is; and when I said that affection is love in its continuation and derivation, they inquired what love is; saying that, they know what thought is, because they perceive it; but not what affection is, because no one perceives this. That in the nature of things there is love, they said that they knew from the love of a bride before marriage, and from a mother's love towards infants, and in some small measure from a father's love when he kisses a betrothed wife or his infant; and some in place of these said harlot.

When I said to them that thought is nothing whatever by itself, but is something by affection, which is of man's life's love, because thought is from affection, as a thing is formed by that which forms it; also that thought is perceived, and not affection, because the thing formed is perceived and not what forms it, just as the body is perceived by the bodily senses and the soul is not,-inasmuch as they were amazed at what was said to them, they were instructed in the subject by many experiments; as for example, that all things of thought are from affection and according to it; again that they could neither think without affection nor contrary to it, also that every one is such as his affection is, and therefore every one is explored from his affection, and no one from his speech; for speech proceeds from the thought belonging to external affection, which is a desire to be courteous, to please, to be praised, to be regarded as good citizens, and men of morality and wisdom, and all these things for the sake of ends belonging to internal affection, of which ends such things are means. And yet from the sound of his speech, unless a man be a consummate hypocrite, the affection itself is heard; for vocal speech belongs to thought, but its sound belongs to affection. Wherefore they were told that as there is no speech without sound, neither can there be thought without affection; and that it is plain therefore that affection is the all of thought, as sound is the all of speech, [5] for speech is only the articulation of sound. By all this they were instructed that man is nothing but affection; and further, as a consequence, that all heaven is divided, and all hell, as a kingdom is, into provinces and societies, according to generic and specific differences of affections, and not at all in accordance with any differences of thoughts; also that the Lord alone has knowledge of these differences. From this it follows that there are infinite varieties and differences of affections, as many as there are men that have been born and will be born to eternity.

17. Man Has Eternal Life According To His Affection Of Use

Since affection is the man himself, and use is its effect and work, and is as a field or theater for its exercise, and since affection is not found apart from its subject, even so the affection of man's life is not found apart from use; and since affection and use make one, so man, who is affection, is known as to his quality from use,-imperfectly and slightly in the natural world, but clearly and fully in the spiritual world. For the spiritual discloses the affection and all its particulars, since in its essence the spiritual is Divine love and Divine wisdom, and in its manifestation is the heat and the light of heaven; and these disclose the affections of uses, as the heat of the sun of the world discloses objects of the earth by odors and flavors, and its light discloses them by its various colors and distinctions of shade. Every man has eternal life according to his affection of use, for the reason that affection is the man himself; consequently such as the affection is, such is the man.

But affection of use in general is of two kinds; there is the spiritual affection of use and there is the natural affection of use. In external form the two are alike, but in internal wholly unlike; for this reason they are not known the one from the other by men in the world, but are readily known by angels in heaven; for they are wholly opposite, since the spiritual affection of use gives heaven to man, while natural affection of use, without the spiritual, gives hell; for the natural affection of use looks only to honors and gains, thus to self and the world as ends, while spiritual affection of use looks to the glory of God and to uses themselves, thus to the Lord and the neighbor as ends.

For there are men in the world who discharge their duties and offices with much zeal, labor, and earnestness; magistrates, overseers, and officers, performing their functions with all diligence and industry; priests, leaders, ministers, preaching with warmth as if from zeal; learned men who write books full of piety, doctrine and learning; and others of a like character; and thereby they perform eminent uses to the church, to their country, to society, and to their fellow-citizens; and yet many do these things from natural affection alone, which is for the sake of self, that they may be honored and exalted to dignities, or for the sake of the world, that they may gain wealth and become rich. In some these ends so enkindle the affection for doing uses that they sometimes perform more excellent uses than those do who are in the spiritual affection of use. I have spoken with many after death when they had become spirits, who had been in this kind of affection of use, and who then demanded heaven on the ground of merit; but as they had performed uses from merely natural affection, thus for the sake of self and the world, and not for the sake of God and the neighbor, they received answer like this in Matthew: Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied by Thy name, and by Thy name have cast out demons, and by Thy name done many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I know you not; depart from Me all ye that work iniquity (7:22, 23). And in Luke. Then shall ye begin to say, We did eat and drink before Thee, and Thou didst teach in our streets. But He shall say, I say unto you, I know you not whence ye are, depart from Me all ye workers of iniquity (13:26, 27).

Moreover, they were examined as to what they had been in the world, and their interiors were found to be full of lusts and evils therefrom pressed together, and with some these appeared fiery from the love of self, with some livid from the love of the world, with some dusky from the rejection of things spiritual; while their exteriors from uses in external form still appeared snow-white and purple. From all this it is clear that although they had done uses, yet with themselves they had given no thought to anything but reputation with a view to honors and gains, and that these belonged to their spirit, and they were in them and these were their life, also that their good actions were either purely deceptive appearances, or merely means conducive to these things as ends. Thus much about the natural affection of uses.

But the spiritual affection of use is both internal and external, and it is external or natural to the same extent that it is spiritual; for what is spiritual flows into what is natural, and arranges it in correspondence, thus into an image of itself. But as there is in the world at the present day no knowledge of what the spiritual affection of use is, and what distinguishes it from the natural affection, since in outward appearance they are alike, it shall be told how spiritual affection is acquired. It is not acquired by faith alone, which is faith separated from charity, for such faith is merely a thought-faith, with nothing actual in it; and as it is separated from charity it is also separated from affection, which is the man himself; and for this reason it is dissipated after death like something aerial. But spiritual affection is acquired by shunning evils because they are sins; which is done by means of combat against them. The evils that man must shun are all set forth written in the Decalogue. So far as man fights against them because they are sins he becomes a spiritual affection, and thus he performs uses from spiritual life. By means of combat against evils those things that possess one's interiors are dispersed; and these, as has been said above, with some appear fiery, with some dusky, and with some livid. In this way one's spiritual mind is opened, through which the Lord enters into his natural mind and arranges it for performing spiritual uses which appear like natural uses. To these and to no others is it granted by the Lord to love Him above all things and the neighbor as oneself. If a man by means of combat against evils as sins has acquired anything spiritual in the world, be it ever so small, he is saved, and afterwards his uses grow like a grain of mustard seed into a tree (according to the Lord's words, Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18, 19).

18. The Will Of Man Is His Affection

The will of man is his affection for the reason that the will of man is the receptacle of his love and the understanding the receptacle of his wisdom; and that which is the receptacle of love is also the receptacle of all affections, because affections are merely continuations and derivations of love, as has been said above. It is called the receptacle of love because love cannot be given with man except in a recipient form which is substantial; without such a form love would have no ability to effect, to reciprocate, and thereby to be permanent. This recipient form might be described, but this is not the place for it. It is from this that the will is called the receptacle of love.

That the will is man's all, and is in all things of man, and thus is the man himself, as love in its whole complex is the man, is evident from this:-As to anything pertaining to his love or affection, and in fact to his life, man speaks of willing, as that be wills to act, wills to speak, wills to think, wills to perceive. The will is in all of these things; and if it were not in them man could not act, could not speak, could not think, could not perceive; and if the will were not present in the particular and most particular things of these operations, they would instantly cease; for the will is in them as the soul or life is in the body and in every least particular of it. In place of will, one can say love, as that one loves to do, to speak, to think, to perceive. In like manner of the external senses of the body it is said that one wills to see, wills to hear, wills to eat, drink, and taste, wills to smell, also wills to walk, to associate with others, to seek amusement, and so on. In each one of these the will is the active force; for if it should be withdrawn there would instantly be a stop; and in fact these operations are suspended by the will.

That the will is man's love in form is clearly evident from this, that every enjoyment, pleasure, pleasantness, satisfaction and bliss which belong to man's love are so felt and perceived; and that these belong to the will is plain, since whatever is enjoyable, pleasurable, pleasant, satisfactory and blissful, this also man wills; and he says of them that he wills them. Man speaks in like manner of good and truth; for that which he loves he calls good, thereby making it to be of his will; and what confirms the good of his love or of his will he calls truth, and this he loves, and wills to think and speak of. Again, in respect to everything that a man wishes, solicits, longs for, strives for, seeks, and intends, he says that he wills all these since they pertain to his love; for he wills what he wishes because he loves it; he wills what he solicits or longs for because he loves it; he wills what he strives for and seeks because he loves it; and he wills what he purposes, and he purposes it because he loves. From all this it can be seen that the will and the love or the will and the affection are one with man; and that the will, because it is the love, is also the life, and is the man himself. That the will is also the life of man's understanding and of his thought therefrom will be shown in what follows.

Man does not know that the will is the man himself, for the same reason that he does not know that the love or affection is the man himself. Moreover, every one gives attention to those things that he sees or feels, but not to the life, the soul, or the essence from which he sees or feels; this lies concealed within the things pertaining to sensation, and the thought of the natural man does not go so far as that; but it is otherwise with the spiritual man, for the object of his wisdom is not the sense-plane, but the essential that is in it, which in itself is spiritual. It is in consequence of this that many say that thought is the all of man, and is the very man, that is, that man is man because he thinks; and yet the all of his thought is affection. Take away affection from thought, and you will be but a stock. A man who is rational from what is spiritual, who knows what is good and what is true, and thus what is evil and what is false, may know from what has been said what his affections are and what his reigning affection is; for there are as many indications of them as there are delights of thought, speech, action, sight, hearing, and as many as there are ambitions, desires, and intentions. He needs only to attend and reflect.

19. In The Word To Love Means To Perform Uses

In the Word to love means to perform uses, because love is will, and to will is to do. That to love is to will has been shown just above; but that to will is to do remains to be shown. The will viewed in itself is not love, but is a receptacle of love, and such a receptacle that it not only receives it but also takes on its states and assumes forms in accordance with those states; for everything of man's life flows in, since man is not life but a recipient of life, consequently he is a recipient of love, for love is life. This can be illustrated by the organs of man's senses. The eye is not light but a recipient of light formed to receive all varieties of light. The ear is not sound but a recipient of sound and of its modulation and articulation. The same is true of man's other external senses. And the same is true of the internal organs of sense, which are modified and moved by spiritual light and heat; and consequently the same is true of the will, which is a receptacle of spiritual heat, which in its essence is love. This receptacle is in man throughout; but in its first principles it is in the brains. These first principles or beginnings or heads are the substances that are called cortical and cineritious. From these through ray-like fibers it descends on every side into all things of the face and all things of the body, and there performs its gyrations and circlings in accordance with its form, which is the spiritual animal form that has been treated of elsewhere. And thus each and all things therein from things first to ultimates are moved, and in ultimates effects are presented. It is well known that everything is put in motion by an endeavor (conatus); and that when the endeavor ceases the motion ceases. Thus every voluntary action of man's will is a living endeavor in man, and it acts in ultimates by means of fibers and nerves, which in themselves are nothing else than perpetual endeavors continued from the beginnings in the brains even to the ultimates in the bodily parts, where endeavors become acts. These things have been presented to make known what the will is, and that it is the receptacle of love in a perpetual endeavor to act; and this endeavor is excited and determined into acts by the love that flows in and is received.

From all this it now follows that to love is to do because it is to will; for whatever a man loves that he wills; and what he wills that he does if it is possible; and if he does not do it because it is not possible, it still comes into interior act, which is not made manifest. For no endeavor or volition can exist in man unless it comes into ultimates; and when it is in ultimates it is in interior act, although this act is not perceived by anyone, not even by the man himself, because it exists in his spirit. From this it is that volition and act are a one, and that the volition is counted as the act. This does not apply to the natural world, because in that world the interior act of the will does not appear, but it applies to the spiritual world, for there it is seen. For all in the spiritual world act according to their loves; those who are in heavenly love act sanely; those who are in infernal love act insanely; and if because of any fear they do not act, their will is interiorly active, but is restrained by them from breaking forth; nor does this action cease until the volition ceases. Since, then, the will and the act are a one, and will is the endeavor of love, it follows that in the Word "to love" has no other meaning than to do; thus that "to love the Lord and to love the neighbor" means to perform uses to the neighbor from love which is from the Lord. That this is so the Lord Himself teaches in John: He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; but he that loveth Me not keepeth not My words (14:21, 24). In the same: Abide ye in My love. If ye have kept My commandments ye shall abide in My love (15:9, 10). And in the same: The Lord said three times to Peter, Lovest thou Me? and three times Peter answered that he loved; and the Lord three times said to him Feed My lambs and My sheep (21:15-17). Moreover, there are two things that cannot be separated; namely, being (esse) and existing (existere). Being is nothing unless it exists; and it becomes something by existing. So it is with loving and doing, or with willing and acting; for to love, and not do, and to will and not act, are impossible, for they do not exist; but they exist in doing and acting; consequently, when man does and acts, then love and will have being. In this and in no other way is the Lord loved and the neighbor loved.

20. Love Produces Heat

Love produces heat for the reason that love is the very life, and living force of all things in the whole, world. All endeavors, forces, activities, and movements therein have no other origin than the Divine love which is the Lord, who appears in the heavens before the angels as a sun. That love is one thing and heat another is clearly evident from the difference between them in angel and in man. It is from love that an angel wills and thinks, and has perception and wisdom, and inmostly in himself is sensible of what is blissful and satisfactory, and also loves it. The same is true of man. All this is in their minds; while in their bodies they both feel what is hot apart from any sense of happiness or satisfaction. This makes clear that heat is an effect of the activity of life or of love.

That heat is an effect of love can be seen from many things, as that man from inmosts grows warm according to his life's loves, even in midwinter, and that the heat of the sun of this world has nothing in common with this heat; also that man grows warm, is enkindled, and is inflamed according to the increase of love; and he grows torpid, becomes cold, and dies according to the decrease of love; thus in exact accordance with the activities of love. The same is true of the animals of the earth and the flying things of heaven; for these are sometimes warmer in midwinter than in midsummer, for the heart then throbs, the blood becomes heated, the fibers grow warm, and every least part with the greatest performs its vital functions; and this heat is not from the sun but from the life of their soul, which is affection. Love produces heat for the reason that it is the life of all the forces in the universe; and this life can enter the recipient substances that have been created only through an active medium which is heat. In the creation of the universe the Lord prepared for Himself all the means, from firsts even to lasts, by which He might produce uses in every degree; and the universal and nearest means of conjunction is heat, in which the essence of the activity of love can exist.

As heat exists most nearly from love, there is a correspondence between love and heat, for there is a correspondence between every cause and its effect. It is from correspondence that the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, appears fiery; also that the love that goes forth therefrom is perceived by the angels as heat; likewise that the Lord's Divine wisdom in the heavens appears as light; also that: The face of the Lord, when He was transfigured, shone as the sun (Matt. 17:2). It is from the same correspondence that the holiness of the Lord's love was represented by the fire of the altar, and by the fire of the lamps of the lampstand in the tabernacle; also that the Lord appeared in fire on mount Sinai, and likewise in a flame of fire by night over the tabernacle. It was from this also that many nations made a sacred fire, and that they appointed virgins to its care, who at Rome were called the vestal virgins.

It is from the same correspondence that in the Word "fire" and "flame" in many passages mean love, and it is from an interior perception of that correspondence that we pray that holy fire may enkindle our hearts, meaning a holy love. It is from the same correspondence that celestial love appears in heaven at a distance as a fire, and for this reason the Lord said that: The just shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the Father (Matt. 13:43). It is from the same correspondence that infernal love appears in hell at a distance as a fire (on which see the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 566-575).

21. The Divine Love, Which Is Life Itself, By Means Of Heat Produces Spiritual Animal Forms, With Each And Everything In Them

There are in general two forms which the Lord, the Creator of the universe, from His sun, which is Divine love and life itself, has produced in the ultimates and in the inmosts of the world, the animal form and the vegetable form. By animal forms both animals of every kind and men and angels are meant; and by vegetable forms vegetables of every kind, as trees, plants, and flowers, are meant. These two forms have already been treated of (AE 1196-1212); but as the Divine love is the subject here treated of, and as from this all things have been created, and all things from creation are being formed continually, it is permitted here to say something about the first form, that is, the animal form.

The Divine love, which is life itself, from its author who is the Lord, bears nothing else in its bosom than to create and form images and likenesses of itself, which images and likenesses are men and angels from men; and also to cover with a correspondent body affections of every kind, which are animals.

All these forms, perfect and imperfect, are forms of love, and are alike in what pertains to their life in externals, which is an inclination to move, to walk, to act, to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to feel, to eat, to drink, to associate with others, to propagate themselves. But they are unlike in what pertains to their life in internals, which is an inclination to think, to will, to speak, to know, to understand, to be wise, and from these things to find enjoyment and blessedness.

Men and angels are forms of the latter class, animate things of many kinds are forms of the former class. That these several faculties may exist in effect and in use, they have been made and wonderfully organized from created substances and matters.

That the Lord, who is Man, and His Divine love, which is life itself from its spiritual which proceeds from Him as a sun, formed all these, is clearly evident from this, that living souls are also affections, and in externals are all similar, the imperfect as well as the perfect. Who cannot see, unless he is near-sighted or can see by night only, or one whose sight is failing from amaurosis, that such things can have no other source? Elevate your reason only a little above the deep of Nature, and you will become wise.

That heat is a means of formation is well known from the fluids in which is the embryo in the womb, and the chick in the egg. The belief that the heat of the sun of the world produces, originates in a mind blinded by the fallacies of the bodily senses. The heat of that sun operates only in opening the outermost parts of the body or the cuticles, that internal heat also may flow into them; for in this way life comes into full effect from firsts to ultimates.

It is from this that the animals of the earth and the flying things of the heaven every year in the spring-time and in the summer enter upon and renew the functions, works, and joys of their prolifications. It is otherwise with man who has heat from an interior love that is excited by the allurements of his thoughts, and who has garments to protect him against the cold that falls upon the cuticles, which are the outermost parts of his body.

THE END

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Notes

[←1]

See The Animal Kingdom published 1744, Part Second, p. 38

[←2]

See The Animal Kingdom published 1744, Part Second, p. 38

[←3]

The Latin has "ascending." The context seems to call for "descending."

[←4]

Latin has "love uses"; the context calls for "do uses," which the Latin editor gives in the text.

[←5]

"Sound is the all of speech." In original it reads reversely, "speech is the all of sound." See also AR 875, and TCR 386.