Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/252

XVIII.

A CRUCIAL TEST OF CHARACTER.

MAN is so created that he can look upward or above himself, and downward or below himself. To look above himself is to look to his neighbor, his country, the church, heaven, and especially to the Lord; but to look below himself is to look to the earth, the world, and especially to himself.

That to look to his neighbor, his country and the church, is to look above himself, is because this is to look to the Lord; for the Lord is in charity. And it is of charity to look to a man's neighbor, his country and the church, that is, to will well to them. But they look below themselves, who avert themselves from these and will well only to themselves.

By looking above self and below self, is meant to regard as an end, or to love above all things; thus by looking above self, is meant to regard as an end, or to love above all things, what is of the Lord and heaven; and by looking below self, is meant to regard as an end, and to love above all things, what is of self and the world. The interiors of man also actually turn themselves whither the love turns itself.

Man, who is in the good of charity and faith, loves