1、人们知道爱存在，却不知爱为何物。他们从习惯的说法知道爱的存在，如人们会说，他爱我，国王爱他的臣民，臣民也爱他们的国王；丈夫爱他的妻子，母亲爱她的孩子，反之亦然；这人或那人爱他的祖国、同胞、邻舍；同样也这样说从人抽象出来的事物，如人们会说，某人爱此物，爱彼物。尽管爱这个词常挂在嘴上，但鲜有人懂得爱是什么。因为当有人反思爱时，却无法对它形成任何思想观念。因此，他要么说爱并非某种东西，要么说它纯粹是从视觉、听觉、触觉，或与他人互动而流入，因而影响他的某种事物。他完全没有意识到，爱其实就是他的生命，不仅是他整个身体和一切思维的总体生命，还是它们一切细节的生命。如果有人说，若拿走爱的情感，人还能有所思，有所为吗？当爱的情感逐渐冷淡时，思维、言语和行为不也随之冷淡吗？当这情感逐渐升温时，它们不也逐渐强烈吗？聪明人能够明白这些话，但不是因为他们对爱是一个人的生命有任何概念，而是因为从经验观察到事实的确如此。
1. Divine Love and Wisdom
Angelic Wisdom about Divine Love
Part 1
Love is our life. For most people, the existence of love is a given, but the nature of love is a mystery. As for the existence of love, this we know from everyday language. We say that someone loves us, that monarchs love their subjects, and that subjects love their monarch. We say that a husband loves his wife and that a mother loves her children, and vice versa. We say that people love their country, their fellow citizens, their neighbor. We use the same language about impersonal objects, saying that someone loves this or that thing.
Even though the word "love" is so commonly on our tongues, still hardly anyone knows what love is. When we stop to think about it, we find that we cannot form any image of it in our thoughts, so we say either that it is not really anything or that it is simply something that flows into us from our sight, hearing, touch, and conversation and therefore influences us. We are wholly unaware that it is our very life--not just the general life of our whole body and of all our thoughts, but the life of their every least detail. Wise people can grasp this when you ask, "If you take away the effects of love, can you think anything? Can you do anything? As the effects of love lose their warmth, do not thought and speech and action lose theirs as well? Do they not warm up as love warms up?" Still, the grasp of these wise people is not based on the thought that love is our life, but on their experience that this is how things happen.
1. PART ONE
Love is a person's life. People know that love exists, but they do not know what love is. They know from common speech that it exists. For instance, people say that he loves me, that a king loves his subjects and the subjects love their king, that a husband loves his wife, and a mother her children, and vice versa; also that this or that person loves his country, his fellow citizens, his neighbor. So, too, in regard to matters apart from person, as when it is said that someone loves this or that thing.
But even though love is so frequently mentioned, still scarcely anyone knows what love is. Whenever someone reflects on it, he cannot then form for himself any mental idea of it. Therefore he says either that it is not anything, or that it is merely some stimulus flowing in through his vision, hearing, touch, and social interaction, which thus affects him. He is totally unaware that love is his very life, not only the general life in his whole body and the general life in all his thoughts, but also the life in every single particle of them.
This the wise person may perceive from considering the following proposition: If you take away any impulse having to do with love, can you form any thought? Or can you perform any action? Is it not the case that as the affection belonging to love cools, in the same measure thought, speech and action cool? And the warmer the affection grows, the warmer they grow?
Still, the wise person perceives this not from any concept that love is a person's life, but from his empirical observation that it is so.
1. LOVE IS THE LIFE OF MAN
Man knows that love is but he does not know what love is. He knows from common speech that love is, as when it is said, he loves me, the king loves his subjects and the subjects love their king, the husband loves his wife, and the mother her children, and conversely; also, this or that man loves his country, his fellow-citizens, his neighbour; similarly, about things abstracted from person, as for example, one loves this or that thing. But although [the word] love is so generally used in speech, scarcely anyone knows what love is. Because one is unable, when he reflects upon love, to form for himself any idea of thought about it, he says either that it is not anything, or that it is merely something inflowing as a result of sight, hearing, touch and conversation, and thus affecting him. He is quite unaware that love is his very life, not only the common life of his whole body and of all his thoughts, but also the life of all their individual things. A wise man can perceive this, as for instance when it is said: "If you remove the affection which is of love, can you think anything or do anything? Do not thought, speech and action grow cold to the extent that the affection which is of love grows cold? And do they not grow warm to the extent that this affection grows warm?" But a wise man perceives these things, not from knowledge that love is the life of man, but from experience that this is what happens.
1. PART FIRST.
LOVE IS THE LIFE OF MAN.
Man knows that there is such a thing as love, but he does not know what love is. He knows that there is such a thing as love from common speech, as when it is said, he loves me, a king loves his subjects, and subjects love their king, a husband loves his wife, a mother her children, and conversely; also, this or that one loves his country, his fellow citizens, his neighbor; and likewise of things abstracted from person, as when it is said, one loves this or that thing. But although the word love is so universally used, hardly anybody knows what love is. And because one is unable, when he reflects upon it, to form to himself any idea of thought about it, he says either that it is not anything, or that it is merely something flowing in from sight, hearing, touch, or interaction with others, and thus affecting him. He is wholly unaware that love is his very life; not only the general life of his whole body, and the general life of all his thoughts, but also the life of all their particulars. This a man of discernment can perceive when it is said: If you remove the affection which is from love, can you think anything, or do anything? Do not thought, speech, and action, grow cold in the measure in which the affection which is from love grows cold? And do they not grow warm in the measure in which this affection grows warm? But this a man of discernment perceives simply by observing that such is the case, and not from any knowledge that love is the life of man.
1. PARS PRIMA
QUOD AMOR SIT VITA HOMINIS. Homo novit quod amor sit, sed non novit quid amor est: novit quod amor sit, ex communi loquela, ut quod dicatur quod ille me amet, quod Rex amet subditos et quod subditi ament Regem, quod maritus amet uxorem, et quod mater liberos, ac vicissim, tum quod hic et ille amet patriam, concives, proximum; similiter de rebus abstractis a persona, ut quod amet hoc aut illud. Sed tametsi amor tam universale est in loquelis, usque vix aliquis novit quid amor; dum meditatur de eo, quia tunc non potest aliquam ideam cogitationis de eo sibi formare, dicit vel non esse aliquid, vel solum esse aliquod influens ex visu, auditu, tactu et conversatione, et sic movens; nescit prorsus quod sit ipsa ejus vita, non modo vita communis totius ejus corporis, et vita communis omnium ejus cogitationum, sed etiam vita omnium singularium eorum: hoc potest sapiens percipere ex hoc, cum dicitur, "si removes affectionem quae amoris, an potes cogitare aliquid, et an potes agere aliquid; annon quantum frigescit affectio quae amoris, tantum frigescat cogitatio, loquela et actio; et quantum incalescit, tantum incalescant illa:" sed haec sapiens percipit non ex cognitione quod amor sit vita hominis, sed ab experientia quod ita fiat.