AC 4997 - What Good Is, What Evil Is

AC 4997

. . . good is conjunction,
because all good is of love to the Lord
and of love toward the neighbor.
The good of love to the Lord
conjoins the person with the Lord,
and consequently
with all the good which proceeds from Him;
and the good of love toward the neighbor
conjoins him with heaven,
and the societies there;
and therefore by this love also
the person is conjoined with the Lord;
for heaven properly so called is the Lord,
because He is the all in all there.

But with evil the reverse is the case.
Evil is of the love of self and of the love of the world.
The evil of the love of self disjoins the person
not only from the Lord, but also from heaven;
for he loves no one but himself,
others only so far as he regards them in himself,
or so far as they make one with him.