CL 207 - Idleness vs. Eternal Rest of Use

CL 207 [3, 7, 8]

Idleness causes the mind to collapse rather than expand,
or the person to become deader rather than more alive.

Eternal rest does not mean idleness, . . .
because idleness affects the mind
and consequently the whole body
with listlessness, lethargy, insensibility and slumber,
and these are conditions of deadness, not life,
much less the eternal life
experienced by angels of heaven.
Eternal rest, therefore,
is rest that dispels these states and vitalizes a person,
and this must be something which rouses the mind.
Thus it is some pursuit or employment by which
the mind is awakened, animated, and afforded delight,
which in turn depends on some useful service
for the sake of which, in which, and towards which
it is working.
So it is that the whole of heaven is viewed by the Lord
as a world of useful service,
and each angel is an angel
according to the service he renders.
The pleasure in being useful carries him along,
like a boat in a favoring current,
bringing him into a state of eternal peace
and the rest that comes with peace.
This is what is meant by eternal rest from labors

. . . eternal rest does not mean idleness
but the pleasure in some employment that is of use . . ..