The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
LOVE IN GENERAL
(pt. 5)
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
LOVE IN GENERAL
(pt. 5)
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 are all goods and truths, are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor.
The two loves from which are all evils and falsities, are the love of self and the love of the world.
The two latter loves are in direct opposition to the two former loves.
The two loves from which are all goods and truths, and which, as has just been stated, are love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, constitute heaven with man, and therefore they reign in heaven; and since they constitute heaven with man, they also constitute the church with him.
The two loves, whence are all evils and falsities, 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 whence are all goods and truths, and which, as already observed, are the loves of heaven, open and form the internal spiritual man, because they reside there. But the two loves whence are all evils and falsities, when they rule, shut and destroy the internal spiritual man, and render man natural and sensual, in proportion to the extent and quality of their dominion.
(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 59-61)
• In the manuscript, the author, Emanuel Swedenborg, annexed to each section of the doctrine extracts from the Arcana Coelestia, because in the Arcana Coelestia the same things are more fully explained. Arcana Coelestia is available in print or online.