§565 evil & falsity 343
Once more I could see from this that no matter how wisely people
may seem to talk in the world from the fi re of self-love, still it is just a
matter of rote memory and not of any rational light. So in the other life,
when they are no longer allowed to retrieve things from their natural
memory, they are more stupid than other people because they are cut off
from the Divine.
There are two ways of being in power. One comes from love for our 564
neighbor and the other from love for ourselves. In essence, these two
kinds of power are exact opposites. People who are empowered by love
for their neighbor intend the good of everyone and love nothing more
than being useful—that is, serving others (serving others means willing
well and helping others, whether that is one’s church, country, commu-
nity, or fellow citizen). This is their love and the delight of their hearts.
As such people are raised to high positions they are delighted; but the
delight is not because of the honor but because of the constructive things
they can now do more abundantly and at a higher level. This is what
empowerment is like in the heavens.
[ 2 ] In contrast, people whose self-love leads them to take power
intend good to no one but themselves. Any services they perform for
others are actually for their own esteem and renown, since only this is
of any use to them. Helping others is for them simply a means to being
waited on and respected and deferred to. They strive for high offi ce not
for the good they ought to do for their country and their church but to
be prominent and praised and therefore in their heart’s delight.
[ 3 ] A love of power does stay with all of us after death. However, peo-
ple whose authority rested on their love for their neighbor are entrusted
with power in the heavens. Actually, it is not they who have power but
the services that they love, and when service rules, the Lord is ruling.
However, people whose authority rested on their self-love in the world
arrive in hell after their life in this world and are miserable slaves there. I
have seen powerful people whose authority had rested on their self-love
in the world abandoned among the most miserable, some of them living
in outhouses.
As for love of the world, it is not so intensely opposed to heavenly 565
love, because there are not so many evils latent in it.
Love of the world is wanting to divert the wealth of others to our-
selves by any means available. It is setting our heart on wealth and allow-
ing the world to distract us from the spiritual love that is love for our
neighbor and therefore from heaven and the Divine.