3026. About someone who imagined he could do good and love the neighbor from his own power
A certain spirit having faith based on understanding, I presume, imagined that he could do good from his own power, to whom I was prompted to say that no one can do anything except from the will, everything one does comes from the will. And if anyone still does what is good but not from the will, this is a pretense, which is noticed at once in the other life, nor is it tolerated, because it is a pretense. And if he nevertheless did good, he would then have in view some ulterior motive on account of which he was doing it, thus it would not be from love.
This was better understood by a spiritual mental image. But still he imagined that he could even force the will to act from love, so he tried to withdraw himself, so to speak, from under the command of the will, so as to place himself into love and thus act
3026. CONCERNING A CERTAIN ONE WHO SUPPOSED HE COULD DO GOOD AND LOVE THE NEIGHBOR FROM HIMSELF.
(A certain spirit of intellectual faith, I believe, supposed that he could do good from himself; to whom it was granted to say, that no one can do anything, save from will: from will comes everything that he does, and if and one still does good, and not from will, this is feigned [good], which is immediately apperceived in the other life, and not tolerated, because feigned; and if he should still do something good, that then he viewed something outside of himself, on account of which he did [so], therefore not from love. This was better perceived in spiritual idea. But still he supposed that he could have compelled the will to act from love, wherefore he attempted to withdraw himself, as it were, from the command of the will, so as to put himself into love, so that he might act from love in the will.
3026. De quodam, qui putabat posse facere bonum, et amare proximum ex semet
Quidam spiritus, ut autumo ex fide intellectuali, putabat quod posset facere bonum ex semet, cui dicere dabatur, quod nemo potest aliquid facere nisi ex voluntate, ex voluntate omne quod facit venit; et si aliquis usque bonum facit, et non ex voluntate, hoc est simulatum, quod illico in altera vita appercipitur, nec toleratur, quia simulatum; sique usque ageret aliquid bonum, quod tunc spectaret aliquid extra se, propter quod faceret, sic non ex amore; quod perceptum idea spirituali melius; sed usque putabat, quod potuisset etiam cogere voluntatem, ut ex amore ageret, quare tentabat se removere quasi ab imperio voluntatis, sic
(3027.) ut sisteret se in amorem, ut sic ex amore in voluntate ageret, quare dictum est, quod tentaret quomodo succederet, ideo quaesivit societatem, quae talis esset, nempe qui in amore essent 1
, et tandem invenit, dicens quod invenerit, sic in coelum sublatus, ego exspectans, quid fieret, cum caeteris spiritibus interea loquens, quod si talis ut recipere possit a Domino amorem, quod subsistere posset inter eos, aliter quod non posset, dum exspectabamus, visus erat, seu visi erant, qui se volvebant de coelo, quod indicium est, quod se proripiant a societate, quia non subsistere possunt ibi, sicut in sphaera, in qua vivere non possunt; is nunc apud [spiritus] 2
super caput, dicit, quod ibi fuut, sed non potuit ibi vivere, sed quod angeretur valde, sic ut summe laetatur quod inde potuisset liberari. 1748, 1 Sept.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has esset
2. sic in J.F.I. Tafel's edition