AE 864 - to follow the Lord

AE 864 [2, 3, 5, 6]

He that abides In Me and I in him,
the same bears much fruit;
for without Me you can do nothing.
(John 15:5)

To acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human
and to do His commandments is to follow Him,
because only those who do this 
can be conjoined to the Lord.

Jesus said, I am the light of the world;
he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life.
(John 8:12)

"I am the light of the world"
signifies that He is the Divine truth itself;
"he that follows Me"
signifies he that acknowledges His Divine
and does His commandments;
"shall not walk in darkness"
signifies that he shall not be in falsities;
"but shall have the light of life"
signifies that he shall be in Divine truths,
which teach man eternal life and lead to heaven.
Here evidently "to follow the Lord"
does not mean to follow Him,
but to acknowledge His Divine and obey Him. 

Whosoever wills to come after Me
let him deny himself and follow Me.
(Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23)

Evidently "to go after the Lord and to follow Him"
is to deny self;
and to deny self is to be led not by self
but by the Lord;
and he denies self who shuns and turns away from evils
because they are sins;
and when man turns away from evils
he is led by the Lord;
for he does the Lord's commandments,
not from self but from the Lord.

All this makes clear that to "follow the Lord"
is to be led by Him and not by self;
and only those who are not led by self
can be led by the Lord;
and everyone is led by self 
who does not shun evils
because they are contrary to the Word
and thus contrary to God;
consequently because they are sins and are from hell.
Everyone who does not thus shun and turn away from evils
is led by self;
and for the reason
that the evil that is in man by heredity constitutes his life,
because that is his own [proprium];
and until such evils have been removed
man does all things from them,
thus from self.
But it is otherwise when evils have been removed,
which is done when he shuns them
because they are infernal;
then the Lord enters with truths and goods from heaven,
and leads him.
The chief reason is that every man is his own love;
and man, as to his spirit,
which lives after death,
is nothing else than the affection which is of his love,
and all evil is from his love,
and thus belongs to his love;
from which it follows
that a man's love or affection is reformed
only by a spiritual shunning of evils
and turning away from them,
which is shunning them and turning away from them
because they are infernal.