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834. As we have treated above concerning celestial love and spiritual love, it now remains to say something on spiritual natural love, in which are the angels of the first or ultimate heaven. This love is properly called charity towards the neighbour. These angels, because they are almost like men in the world as to understanding, and are also natural, have the understanding only a little elevated above what it was when they were in the world; therefore they do not see truths in the light as do the angels of the second heaven, but receive, acknowledge and believe them from doctrine, in which they are instructed before they are permitted to enter heaven. This is why only the more intelligent of them know what charity towards the neighbour is; there the simple believe, that every man is the neighbour, and that charity is to assist the needy, and to do good to the poor, the stranger, and so on. They chiefly consider persons and their conversation, and do not look to the interiors from which these proceed. The reason is that they are natural; and the natural man does not think abstractedly from those things that appear before his eyes, except so far as he admits light (lux) from heaven into his natural light (lumen). Nevertheless they are there taught that by neighbour, in the Word, is not meant a man merely as to his person, but as to the quality of his personality; that this quality causes him to be of a certain character, and that the character of a man is from his understanding and will - that of the understanding being from truths, and that of the will from goods and the quality of both, is from his love. Hence it is known that because every man is a neighbour, everyone is a neighbour from his quality; and, consequently, that the quality of a man, from which he is a man, is meant by neighbour, in the spiritual sense. Were it otherwise, a bad man would be a neighbour equally as a good man; and yet to do good to the evil is in some cases to do evil to the good. That this is the fact, any one may see from natural light (lumen). Suppose you had to make choice of an assistant or servant from amongst those who live in your vicinity, and for this purpose ten of them were brought before you, would you make your choice of one of them from the face merely, or would you not rather make it from some quality which you esteem, as sincerity, modesty, piety and uprightness? These things you would consider in your examination of them. The case is similar with respect to the neighbour. It is the quality of a man which is to be loved. It follows therefore that neighbour in the spiritual sense is that in a man which makes him what he is.
834. As celestial love and spiritual love have been treated of, it now remains to say something about the spiritual-natural love in which are the angels of the first or ultimate heaven. This love is what is properly called charity towards the neighbor. As these angels are nearly alike in respect to the understanding as men in the world are, and as they are natural, their understanding is raised but little above what it was while they were in the world; therefore they do not see truths in the light as the angels of the second heaven do; but they receive, acknowledge, and believe truths from doctrine, in which they are instructed before they are admitted into heaven. For this reason only the more intelligent of them know what charity towards the neighbor is, the simple there believing that every man is the neighbor, and that charity is to assist the needy, and to do good to the poor, the sojourner, and so on. For the most part they consider persons and what they say, and not the interiors which are the source of what they say. This is so because they are natural; and a natural man does not think abstractedly from what his eyes see except to the extent that he admits light from heaven into his natural lumen. Nevertheless, those are there taught that "neighbor" does not mean in the Word a man merely in respect to person, but in respect to the quality in him that makes him to be such and such a man; also that the quality of a man is from his understanding and will, and the quality of his understanding is from truths, and the quality of his will is from goods, and the quality of both the understanding and the will is from his love. From this it is known that while every man is a neighbor, every man is a neighbor from his quality, and consequently that it is the quality of a man from which he is a man that is meant in the spiritual sense by "neighbor;" for otherwise a bad man would be as much a neighbor as a good man; and yet to do good to the evil is sometimes doing evil to the good. That this is so anyone can see from natural lumen. If you were to choose a helper or servant from those in your neighborhood, and ten were brought before your eyes from whom you were to choose one, would you choose from the face alone? Would you not choose from some quality that you love, as integrity, modesty, piety, uprightness? These you would consider as you looked upon them. It is similar in respect to the neighbor; it is the man's quality that is to be loved. From this it follows that the neighbor in the spiritual sense is that with a man which makes him be such and such a man.
834. Quoniam actum est de amore caelesti et de amore spirituali, sequitur ut nunc aliquid dicatur de amore spirituali naturali, in quo sunt angeli primi seu ultimi caeli; hic amor est qui proprie vocatur charitas erga proximum. Hi angeli, quia paene similes sunt hominibus in mundo quoad intellectum, et quia sunt naturales, non habent intellectum, nisi parum, elevatum supra suum in mundo; quare non vident vera in luce, sicut angeli secundi caeli; sed recipiunt, agnoscunt et credunt illa ex doctrina, in qua, antequam intromittuntur in caelum, instruuntur: inde est quod solum intelligentiores illorum sciant quid charitas erga proximum; simplices ibi credunt quod unusquisque homo sit proximus, et quod charitas sit opem ferre indigentibus, ac facere bonum pauperibus, peregrinis, et sic porro; spectant imprimis ad personas et ad loquelas illorum, et non ad interiora ex quibus sunt. Causa est, quia naturales sunt, et naturalis homo non abstracte cogitat ab illis quae oculis videt, nisi quantum in lumen suum naturale admittit lucem e caelo. Sed usque instruuntur ibi, quod per "proximum" in Verbo non intelligatur homo solum quoad personam, sed quoad quale in illo, quod facit ut sit homo talis aut talis; et quod quale hominis sit ex intellectu et voluntate ejus, et quale intellectus ex veris, et quale voluntatis ex bonis, et quale utriusque tam intellectus quam voluntatis ex amore ejus: inde scitur, quod quia unusquisque homo est proximus, sit unusquisque homo proximus ex quali ejus, et inde quod quale hominis, ex quo est homo, in sensu spirituali intelligatur per "proximum": alioqui foret tam malus quam bonus aeque proximus; et tamen benefacere malis quandoque est malefacere bonis. Quod ita sit, quisque potest ex lumine naturali videre. Elige tibi in coadjutorem, aut in famulum, ex vicinis aliquem, et siste decem ante oculos, ex quibus electurus es unum; num eligis aliquem, ex facie? annon ex quali quod amas, quod est sincerum, modestum, pium, probum? haec spectas cum illos intueris. Simile est cum proximo, quod sit quale hominis quod amandum est. Inde sequitur quod proximus in spirituali sensu sit illud apud hominem, ex quo talis aut talis homo est.