The Affection of Truth from the Delight of 'Natural' Affection

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

By natural delight is meant the delight that flows forth from the love of self and the love of the world.

They who are in the affection of truth from this, are they who learn the doctrinal things of the church, which are called the truths of faith, either for the sake of gain, or for the sake of honors, and not for the sake of life. ...

everything which has its origin from the love of self, or from love of the world, is not free, but servile

How the case is with the affections of truth that originate from these loves, is described in the internal sense in what now follows.

Bear in mind that the genuine affection of truth is willing and longs to know the veriest truths of faith for the sake of good use as the end, and for the sake of life; but the affection of truth that is not genuine desires and longs for truths for the sake of self, thus for seeking honors, and for hunting gains. They who are in the affection of truth from this origin do not care whether the truths they know are genuine, provided they are such as they can pass off as truths; and therefore they stick in the mere confirmation of the doctrinal things of the church in which they were born, whether these be true or not true. They are also in darkness in respect to truths themselves; for worldly ends which are gains, and bodily ends which are honors, completely blindfold them.

But they who are in the genuine affection of truth, that is, who long to know truths for the sake of good use, and for the sake of life, also abide in the doctrinal things of the church until they arrive at the age when they begin to think for themselves; then they search the Scriptures and supplicate the Lord for enlightenment, and when they are enlightened they rejoice from the heart. For they know that if they had been born where there is another doctrine of the church, nay, the greatest heresy, without searching the Scriptures from the genuine affection of truth, they would have remained in that doctrine....

From this it is plain who and of what quality they are who are in the genuine affection of truth, and who and of what quality they are who are in an affection of truth that is not genuine.

(from Arcana Cœlestia 8993:2-4)

The Face of Truth Turned into the Face of Good

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

It is to be known that no man has any spiritual good from the Lord, except through truths from the Word; for the truths of the Word are in the light of heaven, and its goods are in the heat of that light; wherefore, unless the understanding is in the light of heaven through the Word, the will cannot come into the heat of heaven.

Love and charity cannot be formed except through truths from the Word

a man cannot be reformed except through truths therefrom. The church itself with man is formed by them; but not by those truths in the understanding alone, but by a life according to them; the truths thus enter into the will, and become goods. Thus the face of truth is turned into the face of good; for that which is of the will and thus of the love is called good, and everything which is of the will or love is also of man's life.

(from Apocalypse Revealed 832:2)

The Destructive Nature of the Love of Self and the Love of the World

Selection from Arcana Cœlestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

They who are in the loves of self and of the world cannot possibly believe that they are in things so filthy and unclean as they actually are in, for there is a certain pleasure and delight that soothes, favors, and allures, and causes them to love that life, to prefer it to all other life, and thereby to suppose that there is nothing of evil in it — for whatever favors anyone's love and the life thence derived is believed to be good. Hence also the rational consents, and suggests falsities which confirm and cause such blindness that they see nothing of the nature of heavenly love; and if they were to see it they would say in their hearts that it is a wretched affair, or a thing of naught, or something of the nature of a phantasy that takes hold of the mind, as in sickness.

But that the life of the love of self and of the world, together with its pleasures and delights, is filthy and unclean, may be seen by everyone who is willing to think from the rational faculty with which he is gifted. The love of self is the source of all the evils that destroy civic society. From it as from an unclean pit spring all hatreds, all revenges, all cruelties, nay, all adulteries — for he who loves himself, despises, vituperates, or hates, all others who do not serve him, or do him honor, or favor him; and when he hates, he breathes nothing but revenges and cruelties, and this in proportion to the degree in which he loves himself, so that this love is destructive of society and of the human race. That in the other life the love of self is most filthy, and that it is diametrically opposite to the mutual love in which heaven consists....

And as the love of self is the source of hatreds, revenges, cruelties, and adulteries, it is the source of all things that are called sins, wickednesses, abominations, and profanations, and therefore when this love is in the rational part of man, and is in the cupidities and phantasies of his external man, the influx of heavenly love from the Lord is continually repelled, perverted, and contaminated. It is like foul excrement, which dissipates, nay, defiles, all sweet odor; it is like an object that turns the continually inflowing rays of light into dark and repulsive colors; and it is like a tiger, or a serpent, which repels all fondling, and kills with bite and poison those who offer it food; or like a vicious man who turns even the best intentions of others, and their very kindnesses, into what is blameworthy and malicious....

(from Arcana Cœlestia 2045)