A Portion of a Passage from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The goods and truths of heaven penetrate into the internals only with such as make the holy things of heaven and the church their ends, that is, make them to be of their love, and thence of their intention and will; when these are made ends, then the spiritual mind is opened, and through this man is led by the Lord. But it is the exact opposite when the goods and truths of heaven and the church are not made ends, but means; - ends belong to the ruling love of man - and when this is love of self it is also love of his own [proprium], and this regarded in itself is nothing but evil, and so far as man acts from it he acts from hell, and thus against the Divine.
(Apocalypse Explained 693:3)