§398 joy 227
body or of the fl esh fl ow from love for ourselves and from love of the
world, and these are also the source of our urges and their gratifi cations.
The pleasures of the soul or spirit, though, all fl ow from love for the
Lord and love for our neighbor, which are also the source of affections
for what is good and true and of our deeper bliss. These loves and their
pleasures fl ow in from the Lord and from heaven by an inner path, from
above, and move our deeper natures. The other loves and their pleasures,
though, fl ow in from the fl esh and the world by an outer path, from
below, and move our outer natures.
To the extent that the two loves of heaven are accepted and affect us,
then, our deeper levels—levels of our souls or spirits—are opened; and
they look away from the world toward heaven. To the extent that the two
loves of the world are accepted and affect us, though, our outer levels—
levels of the body or the fl esh—are opened; and they look away from
heaven toward the world. As loves fl ow in and are accepted, so their plea-
sures fl ow in, pleasures of heaven into our deeper natures and pleasures of
the world into our outer natures, because as already noted all pleasure
comes from love.
By its very nature, heaven is full of pleasures, even to the point that if 397
we see it as it really is, it is nothing but bliss and pleasure. This is because
the divine good that emanates from the Lord’s divine love constitutes
heaven both overall and in detail for everyone there; and divine love is
the intent that everyone should be saved and should be most profoundly
and fully happy. This is why it is all the same whether you say “heaven”
or “heavenly joy.”
Heaven’s pleasures are both indescribable and innumerable; but no one 398
can realize or believe anything about their multitude who is wholly wrapped
up in pleasures of the body or the fl esh. This, as I have already said, is
because their deeper levels are looking away from heaven toward the world,
which is backward. For no one who is wholly involved in pleasures of the
body or the fl esh (or in love for oneself and the world, which is the same
thing) feels any pleasure except in eminence or profi t or in physical and
sensory gratifi cation. These stifl e and smother deeper pleasures of heaven so
completely that people do not even believe such pleasures exist. So they
would be quite bewildered if they were so much as told that any pleasures
remain once the pleasures of eminence and profi t have been taken away;
and they would be even more bewildered if they were told that the plea-
sures that take their place are countless and simply defy comparison with
pleasures of the body and the fl esh, especially pleasures of eminence and
profi t. We can see, then, why people do not know what heavenly joy is.