LOVE IN GENERAL

Selection from
The New Jerusalem
and its
Heavenly Doctrine
from
What has been heard from heaven

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

A MAN'S very life is his love; and such as the love is, such is the life, yea, such is the whole man: but it is the ruling or reigning love that constitutes the man. This love holds in subordination many loves, which are derivations; these loves appear under a different form, but still are contained in the ruling love, and together with it constitute one kingdom. The ruling love is like their king and head - it directs them, and through them, as mediate ends, it has respect to, and intends its own end, which is the chief and ultimate end of all the loves, and it does this both directly and indirectly. It is what belongs to the ruling love which is loved above all things.

What a man loves above all things is constantly present in his thought, and also in his will, and it constitutes his veriest life. For example, he who loves wealth above all things, whether it be money or possessions, constantly turns over in his mind how he may attain it: when he does attain it, he rejoices inwardly, when he loses it, he grieves inwardly; for his heart is in it. He who loves himself above all things, remembers himself in everything; he thinks of himself, speaks of himself, acts for the sake of himself: for his life is a life for self.

A man has for an end what he loves above all things, and has respect to it in each and all things; it is in his will, like the hidden current of a stream which draws and bears him away even when busy with something else; for it is that which animates him. This is what one man seeks for, and also sees, in another; and according to which he either leads him or acts with him.

A man is altogether of such a quality as is that which rules his life; by this he is distinguished from others; and the nature of his heaven, if he is good, is formed according to it; and also the nature of his hell, if he is bad. It constitutes his very will, his own Self (proprium), and his character; for it is the very Esse of his life, which cannot be changed after death; because it is the man himself.

Every feeling of delight, satisfaction, and happiness is derived to everyone from his ruling love, and is according to it, for what a man loves he calls delightful, because he feels it; but what he thinks, and does not love, that also he may, indeed, call delightful, but it is not the delight of his life. The delight of love is what in a man's estimation is good; but what is undelightful he deems evil.

There are two loves, from which, as from their very fountains, all goods and truths exist; and there are two loves, from which all evils and falsities exist. The two loves, from which all goods and truths originate, are love to the Lord, and love towards the neighbour; and the two loves, from which all evils and falsities arise, are the love of self and the love of the world. The two latter loves are diametrically opposed to the two former loves.

The two loves from which are all goods and truths, and which, as has just been observed, are love to the Lord, and love towards the neighbour, constitute heaven with man, and therefore also they reign in heaven; and since they constitute heaven with man, they also constitute the Church with him. The two loves from which all evils and falsities proceed, and which, as has just been said, are the love of self and the love of the world, constitute hell with man; wherefore also, they reign in hell.

The two loves, from which are all goods and truths, and which as already observed, are the loves of heaven, open and form the internal, spiritual man; for they reside in it. But the two loves from which arise all evils and falsities, when they become dominant, close up and destroy the internal, spiritual man, and render a man natural and sensual in proportion to the extent and quality of their rule.

FROM THE HEAVENLY ARCANA.

Love is the Esse of man's life, no. 5002. Man, spirit, and angel, are altogether such as their love is, nos. 6872, 10177, 10284. What a man loves he has for an end, no. 3796. What a man loves and has for an end, reigns with him universally, that is, in each and all things, nos. 3796, 5130, 5949. Love is spiritual heat, and the very vital [element] of man, nos. 1589, 2146, 3338, 4906, 7081-7086, 9954, 10740. All the interior things with a man, which belong to his understanding and will, are arranged into a form according to his ruling love, nos. 2023, 3189, 6690. Love is spiritual conjunction, nos. 1594, 2057, 3939, 4018, 5807, 6195, 6196, 7081-7086, 7501, 10130. Hence all in the spiritual world are consociated according to their loves, Ibid. Affection is the continuity of love, no. 3938. All delight, pleasure, satisfaction, happiness, and all joy of heart, belong to love and their quality is according to the quality of the love, nos. 994, 995, 2204. There are as many genera and species of delights and pleasures as there are affections belonging to love, nos. 994, 995, 2204. The delight of the love is lower, the more external it is, no. 996. The life of a man after death is of the same quality as his love, no. 2363.

Further particulars concerning Love and its essence and quality may be known from what has been said and shewn above concerning Good and Truth; also from what has been said and shewn above concerning Will and Understanding; and also from what has been said and shewn concerning the Internal and External Man; for all things which belong to love are referable either to goods or to evils; in like manner all the things which belong to the will: and as the two Loves of heaven open and form the internal spiritual man, and the two Loves of hell close and destroy it, therefore applications may be made and conclusions drawn therefrom respecting the quality of Love in general and particular.

Love has also been treated of in the work on Heaven and Hell, where it has been shewn, that the Lord's Divine in the heavens is love to Him and love towards the neighbour, nos. 13-19. That all who are in the hells are in the evils, and in the falsities therefrom which originate in the loves of self and of the world, nos. 551-565. That the delights of every love are changed in the other life into corresponding objects, nos. 485-490. That spiritual heat in its essence is love, nos. 133-140.

(The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 54 - 64)

Continue to: The Loves of Self and The Loves of the World