DLW 47, 59 - the essence of love; the presence of the Divine

DLW 47

Divine love and wisdom cannot but be

and have expression in

others it creates. 

The essence of love is not to love self,

but to love others

and through love

to be conjoined with them.

It is also the essence of love

to be loved by others,

for thus is conjunction achieved.

The essential ingredient in all love

consists in conjunction;

indeed in it consists its life,

which we call pleasure, gratification, delight,

sweetness, bliss, happiness and felicity.

Love consists in willing what one has to be another's,

and in feeling the other's delight as delight within oneself.

That is what it is to love.

In contrast, to feel one's own delight in another,

and not the other's delight within oneself,

is not to love;

for this is loving self,

whereas the first is loving the neighbor.
   

DLW 59

. . . the Divine is present in

each and every constituent of the created universe,

and consequently that the created universe

is the work of the hands of Jehovah,

as we are told in the Word,

meaning that it is the work

of Divine love and Divine wisdom,

for these are what are meant 

by the hands of Jehovah.

Moreover, even though the Divine is present in

each and every constituent of the created universe,

still there is nothing of the Divine in their being.

For the created universe is not God,

but from God.

And because it is from God,

it has in it His image,

like the image of a person in a mirror,

in which the person indeed appears,

but which nevertheless has nothing of the person in it.