There Are Three Universal Categories of Love:
Love for Heaven; Love for the World; and Love for OurselvesWe are starting with these three categories of love because they are univer- 394
sal and fundamental to all types of love and because goodwill has some-
thing in common with each of the three.
Love for heavenmeans love for the Lord and also love for our neigh-
bor. Love for heaven could be called love for usefulness, because both
love for the Lord and love for our neighbor have usefulness as their goal.
Love for the worldis not only love for wealth and possessions but also
love for all the things that the world provides that please our physical
senses: beauty pleases our eye, harmony pleases our ear, fragrances please
our nose, excellent food pleases our palate, soft touches please our skin. It
also includes beautiful clothes, spacious accommodations, and social
groups to belong to—all the pleasures that we get from these and many
other things.
Love for ourselvesis not only a love for respect, glory, fame, and sta-
tus but also a love for seeking and getting high positions and becoming
a leader.
Goodwill has something in common with each of these categories
of love, because goodwill is by definition a love for usefulness of all
kinds. Goodwill wants to do what is good for our neighbor, and good-
nessis the same as usefulness.Each of the categories of love just men-
tioned have usefulness as their goal: love for heaven has the goal of
being useful in spiritual ways; love for the world has the goal of being
useful in earthly ways, which could also be called forms of civil service;
and love for ourselves has the goal of being useful in physical ways,
which could also be labeled benefits at home for ourselves and our
loved ones.
The next part of this discussion [§§ 403 – 405 ] will show that these 395
three categories of love are in each one of us from creation and by birth;
when they are prioritized in the right way they improve us, but when they
are not prioritized in the right way they damage us. At present it is enough
to mention that these three loves are prioritized in the right way when our
love for heaven plays the part of the head; our love for the world, the part
of the chest and abdomen; and our love for ourselves, the part of the lower
legs and feet.
§395 goodwill & good actions 485