DLW 414 - the elevation of love and intellect

DLW 414

. . . the intellect can be elevated into the light of heaven

and draw from it wisdom.

. . . love or the will can be equally elevated,

if it loves such matters

as are matters of the light of heaven,

or matters of wisdom.

However, love or the will

cannot be elevated by any measure

of honor, glory or material gain as its end,

but by a love of useful service,

not so much for its own sake,

but for the sake of the neighbor.

And because this love is bestowed

only from heaven by the Lord,

and is bestowed by the Lord

when a person refrains from evils as being sins,

therefore it is by these means

that love or the will can be elevated also,

and apart from these means it cannot be.

The will's love . . . is elevated into the warmth of heaven,

whereas the intellect is elevated into the light of heaven,

and if both are elevated,

a marriage of the two takes place there,

which we call the heavenly marriage,

because it is a marriage of heavenly love and wisdom.

That is why we say that love is elevated also

if it loves its partner wisdom in the same degree.

Love for the neighbor from the Lord

is the love proper to wisdom,

or the genuine love proper to the human intellect.