Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The very life of man is his love; and such as his love is, such is his life; nay, such is the whole man. But it is the ruling or reigning love, that is, the love of that which he has as the end, which makes the man. This love has subordinate to itself many particular and singular loves, which are derivations, and appear under a different shape, but still the ruling love is in each one of them, and directs them, and through them, as through mediate ends, looks to and aims at its end, which is the first and last of them all and this both directly and indirectly.There are two things in the natural world which make the life there, namely, heat and light. There are two things in the spiritual world which make the life there, namely, love and faith. Heat in the natural world corresponds to love in the spiritual world, and light in the natural world corresponds to faith in the spiritual world. Hence it is that when spiritual heat or fire is mentioned, love is meant; and when spiritual light is mentioned, faith is meant. Moreover, love is actually the vital heat of man, for it is known that man grows warm from love, and faith is actually the light of man, for it can be known that man is illumined from faith.
The heat and light in the natural world arise from the sun of the world; but spiritual heat and light, or love and faith, arise from the sun of heaven. The sun of heaven is the Lord; the heat which comes from Him as a sun is love, and the light which comes from Him as a sun is faith. That the Lord is light is evident from these words in John:
Jesus said, I am the light of the world, he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12);and that the Lord is a sun is evident in Matthew:
When Jesus was transfigured, His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light (Matt. 17:2).From this correspondence it can also be known how the case is with faith and with love. Faith without love is like light without heat, as is the light of winter. Faith with love is like light with heat, as is the light of spring. That in the light of spring each and all things grow and flower, is known and also that in the light of winter all things become torpid and die. It is similar with faith and love.
Now as love is the source of man's life, and as the whole man is such as is his love, and also as love is spiritual conjunction, it follows that all in the other life are consociated according to the loves — for everyone's life, that is, his love, follows him. They who are in love toward the neighbor, and in love to God, are consociate in heaven, but they who are in the love of self and the love of the world are consociate in hell; for the love of self is opposite to love to God, and the love of the world is opposite to love toward the neighbor.
It is said "love to God," and there is meant love to the Lord, because in Him is the Trinity, and He is the Lord of heaven, for He has "all power in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18).
(from Arcana Coelestia 7081-7086)