Spiritual Experiences (Buss) n. 5155

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5155. CONCERNING HEAVEN AND ITS JOY. All joy, bliss, prosperity, happiness and delight, in the heavens, is in the affection of use for the sake of use, and is according to the quality and quantity of the affection, and according to the quality of the use; in fact, heaven is a kingdom of uses; and if anything else than use is regarded as an end, as eminence, self-glory, or gain, which looks elsewhere than to use itself, thus [any end] which regards self, and the world for the sake of self - then, in proportion to the extent to which it [i.e. the end of use for the sake of use] perishes from the affection, in the same proportion is the quality of the affection changed; since it is use on account of self which is the end; and, as far as this is regarded, so far is [a man] not in heaven, and is destitute of the life of heaven. And if use for the sake of self has dominion, then he is no longer in heaven, but in hell and, then, he enjoys no reception of any prosperity, or happiness, interiorly.


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