True Christianity: The Portable New Century Edition, Volume 1

sense impressions have the highest priority and are in control. This type
of person can truly be called sense-oriented.
[ 20 ] (t) There are sense impressions that we have in common with
animals and sense impressions that we do not have in common with ani-
mals. The more we lift our thinking above sense impressions, the more
human we are. Without acknowledging God and living by his command-
ments, however, none of us can lift our thinking above sense impressions
and see the truths that relate to the church. It is God who lifts and
enlightens us.

When the Three Universal Categories of Love

Are Prioritized in the Right Way They Improve Us;

When They Are Not Prioritized in the Right Way

They Damage Us and Turn Us Upside Down

First I will say something about the prioritization of the three universal 403
categories of love: love for heaven, love for the world, and love for our-
selves. Then I will talk about the inflow and integration of one into the
other. Finally I will discuss the effect of their prioritization on our state.
These three loves relate to each other as do the three areas of the
body: the highest is the head; the middle is the chest and abdomen; and
our thighs, lower legs, and feet make up the third. When our love for
heaven constitutes the head, our love for the world constitutes the chest
and abdomen, and our love for ourselves constitutes the lower legs and
feet, then we are in the perfect state we were created to be in. In this state
the two lower categories of love serve the higher category the way the
body and everything in it serves the head.
Therefore when a love for heaven constitutes the head, this love flows
into our love for the world, which is chiefly a love for wealth, and takes
advantage of that wealth to do useful things; our love for heaven also flows
through our love for the world into our love for ourselves, which is chiefly
a love for having a high position, and takes advantage of that high position
to do useful things. Therefore an inflow from one love into the next allows
the three categories of love to join forces in order to do useful things.
[ 2 ] Surely everyone realizes that when people intend to do useful
things because they are moved by spiritual love coming from the Lord
(which is what “love for heaven” means), their earthly self uses its wealth

§403 goodwill & good actions 499