424. (xix) Love, defiled in and by the understanding, becomes natural, sensual, and corporeal. Natural love separated from spiritual love is the opposite of spiritual love. The reason is that natural love is the love of self and of the world, and spiritual love is love to the Lord and to the neighbour; and love of self and the world looks downward and outward, and love to the Lord looks upward and inward. Consequently, when natural love is separated from spiritual love, it cannot be elevated from man's proprium, but remains immersed in it, and so far as it loves it, is firmly attached to it. Then if the understanding ascends and sees by the light of heaven such things as are of wisdom, it drags the wisdom down and unites it to itself in its proprium and there either rejects the things of wisdom, or falsifies them, or encircles itself with them to be spoken of for reputation's sake. Just as natural love can ascend by degrees and become spiritual and celestial, so also it can descend by degrees and become sensual and corporeal; and the descent is to the extent that it loves to dominate from no love of use, but solely from the love of self. It is this love which is called the devil. Those who are in this love can speak and act exactly like those who are in spiritual love; but, at the time they do so, it is either from the memory or from the understanding raised by itself into the light of heaven. Nevertheless their speech and actions may be compared to fruit outwardly good but rotten within, or almonds whose shells look sound but are worm-eaten within. In the spiritual world they call these things phantasies, by means of which harlots, who are there called sirens, make themselves look beautiful and adorn themselves with becoming dresses, but when the phantasy is dissipated they look like ghosts, and are like the devils who make themselves angels of light. For when that corporeal love drags its understanding down from its elevation, as it does when alone, and then thinks from its own love, it thinks against God in favour of nature, against heaven in favour of the world, and against the true and good things of the Church in favour of the false and evil things of hell, and thus against wisdom. From these things it can be established what is the character of those called corporeal men, for they are not corporeal in respect of the understanding, but are corporeal in respect of love; that is, they are not corporeal in understanding when speaking in company, but when communing with themselves in spirit; and because they are such in spirit, after death, in respect of both love and understanding, they become what are known as corporeal spirits. Those who in the world had been in the supreme love of ruling from self love, and at the same time had excelled others in elevation of the understanding, then appear in body like Egyptian mummies, and in mind gross and foolish. Who in the world today knows that this love in itself is of such a character? Nevertheless a love of ruling from a love of use is possible, but only from a love of use for the sake of the general good, not for the sake of self. But man can hardly distinguish the one from the other and yet the difference between them is like that between heaven and hell. The difference between these two loves of ruling may be seen in the work on HEAVEN AND HELL (n. 551-565).