Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 472
565. But in respect to the love of the world: it is a love
opposed to heavenly love in a less degree than love of self,
because the evils hidden within it are lesser evils. The love of
the world consists in one’s desiring to secure to himself, by any
kind of artifice, the wealth of others, and in setting his heart
upon riches, and permitting the world to draw him and lead
him away from spiritual love, which is love toward the
neighbor, and thus from heaven and from the Divine.
But this love is manifold. There is a love of wealth for the
sake of being exalted to honors, when these alone are loved.
There is a love of honors and dignities with a view to the
increase of wealth. There is a love of wealth for the sake of
various uses that give delight in the world. There is a love of
wealth merely for the sake of wealth, which is a miserly love;
and so on. The end for the sake of which wealth is sought is
called its use; and it is the end or use that gives to love its
quality; for the love is such as is the end in view, and all other
things merely serve it as means.