Doing Good to Others for No Selfish End

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

In heaven no one is commanded or ordered; but thought is communicated, and the other acts willingly in accordance therewith. Communication of thought together with a desire which wills that something be done, is influx, and on the part of the recipient is perception, and therefore by "commanding" is signified also perception.

Moreover in heaven they not only think, but also talk together, but about things of wisdom; yet in their conversation there is nothing of command from one to another, for no one desires to be master and thereby to look upon another as a servant; but everyone desires to minister to and serve the others. From this it is plain what form of government there is in the heavens, which is described by the Lord in Matthew:

It shall not be so among you; but whosoever would become great among you should be your minister, and whosoever would be first should be your servant (Matt. 20:26, 27);

and again:

He that is greatest among you shall be your minister. Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted (Matt. 23:11, 12).

He does this who loves his neighbor from the heart, or who feels delight and blessedness in doing good to others for no selfish end; that is, who has charity toward the neighbor.

(from Arcana Coelestia 5732)

The Very Being of Life

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Of nothing can Am or Is be predicated except of Love. From this Love - because in Love, or of Love itself - is the very Being [Esse] of all life, that is, Life itself. And because Jehovah alone is Being of life, or Life itself, as He alone is Love, each and all things have thence their being and their life; nor can anyone be and live of himself except Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord alone; and as no one can be and live of himself except the Lord alone. It is a fallacy of sense that men seem to themselves to live of themselves.

The angels plainly perceive that they do not live of themselves, but from the Lord, since they live in the very Being of the Lord's life, because in His love. But yet to them above all others there is given the appearance as of living from themselves, together with ineffable happiness. This therefore is to live in the Lord, which is never possible unless we live in His love, that is, in charity toward the neighbor.

(Arcana Cœlestia 1735)

All Flows in From the Lord

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The Lord is Good itself and Truth itself; and is hence their fountain.

He who lives in good, and believes that the Lord governs the universe, and that all the good which is of love and charity, and all the truth which is of faith, are from the Lord alone; nay, that life is from Him, and thus that from Him we live, move, and have our being, is in such a state that he can be gifted with heavenly freedom, and together with it with peace; for he then trusts solely in the Lord and has no care for other things, and is certain that all things are tending to his good, his blessedness, and his happiness to eternity. But he who believes that he governs himself is continually disquieted, being borne along into cupidities, and into solicitude respecting future things, and thus into manifold anxieties; and because he so believes, the cupidities of evil and the persuasions of falsity also adhere to him.

(Arcana Coelestia 2892)