Thursday, August 05, 2010

AE 244 - two filthy loves and two pure loves

AE 244
For a person is born into two loves,
which are the love of self and the love of the world,
therefore by heredity
he derives the inclination to love self and the world above all things;
these loves are filthy loves, because out of them all evils flow,
namely, contempt of others in comparison with oneself,
enmity against those who do not favor oneself,
hatred, revenge, craftiness, and deceits of every kind.
These loves with their evils cannot be removed except by the two loves,
which are the love to the Lord and the love towards the neighbor;
from these a person inclines to love the Lord above all things,
and the neighbor as himself.

These two loves are pure loves,
since they are out of heaven from the Lord.
Moreover, from these all goods flow;
so far, therefore, as a person is in these,
so far the filthy loves into which he is born are removed,
even until they do not appear;
and they are removed by the Lord by means of truths.

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