286 HEAVEN and HELL §484
f. Our own nature is to love ourselves more than God and the world more than heaven, and to
regard our neighbor as nothing in comparison to ourselves, so it is a love for oneself and for the
world: 634 [ 694 ], 731 , 4317. This is the self into which we are born, and it is solid evil: 210 , 215 ,
731 , 874 , 875 , 876 , 987 , 1047 , 2307 , 2318 [ 2308 ], 3518 , 3701 , 3812 , 8480 , 8550 , 10283 , 10284 , 10286 ,
10731 [ 10832 ]. From our self-image comes not only everything evil but also everything false: 1047 ,
10283 , 10284 , 10286. The evils that come from our self-image are contempt for others, hostility,
hatred, vengefulness, cruelty, and deceit: 6667 , 7372 [ 7370 ], 7373 , 7374 , 9348 , 10038 , 10742. To
the extent that our self-image rules, we either reject or stifl e or pervert the goodness of love and
the truth of faith: 2041 , 7491 , 7492 , 7643 , 8487 , 10455 , 10743. Our self-image is hell for us: 694 ,
8480. Anything good that we do because of our self-image is not good but is essentially evil: 8478
[ 8480 , 8487 ].484 We do need to know that all works and deeds are matters of moral
and civic life and therefore focus on what is honest and right and what is
fair and equitable. What is honest and right is a matter of moral life, and
what is fair and equitable is a matter of civic life. The love these come
from is either heavenly or hellish. The works and deeds of our moral and
civic life are heavenly if we do them from a heavenly love, because things
that we do from a heavenly love we do from the Lord, and everything
we do from the Lord is good. On the other hand, the deeds and works
of our moral and civic life are hellish if they come from a hellish love,
since whatever we do from this love, which is a love for ourselves and
the world, we do from ourselves, and whatever we do from ourselves is
intrinsically evil. In fact, seen in our own right, or in terms of what is
actually ours, we are nothing but evil.f
After Death, the Pleasures of Everyone’s Life
Are Turned into Things That Correspond
485
Iexplained in the last chapter that our dominant affection or predomi-
nant love stays with us forever. Now, though, I need to explain that
the pleasures of that affection or love change into things that correspond.
“Changing into things that correspond” means changing into spiritual
things that answer to the natural ones. We may gather that they change