AC 5368 - The Natural Ought to Apply Itself and Obey

AC 5368

Those who are in worldly things only,
and yet more those who are in bodily things,
and still more those who are in earthly ones,
cannot apprehend what is meant by saying that
the natural ought to apply itself and obey.
They suppose that there is only one thing
that acts in a person,
and therefore that there is not one thing in him
to command,
and another to obey;
and yet it is the internal person that should command,
and the external that should obey,
and that does obey when the person
has not the world as the end,
but heaven,
and not self
but the neighbor,
consequently when he regards bodily and worldly things
as means and not as the end;
and he so regards them
when he loves his neighbor more than himself,
and the things of heaven more than those of the world.
When this is the case,
the natural obeys;
the natural is the same as the external person.