4046. Concerning love
That love is the fundamental, from which and by means of which heaven [exists], is evident from this, that there must be such a harmony, unanimity, and hence such a universal consociation, such that the universal heaven, the universal world of spirits, that is, the universal human race from the first creation, should form a unity, just as all and the least things of a human being, containing countless components, form one body, and thus constitute one human being. In that body, if any part should prefer itself to any other, not loving the other more than itself - because in the other, one who has true love has the reflection of the common good and the universal human being, in comparison to which every human being ought to be nothing, as is well known - so that unless we picture ourselves together with our fellow man, regarding ourselves as nothing compared to the community, and thus unless we love the neighbor more than ourselves, we can in no wise be in the unanimous body, and necessarily cast ourselves out, according to our distance from that love. 1748, 23 Nov.
4046. CONCERNING LOVE.
That love is the fundamental principle from which and by which heaven exists and subsists, is evident from the circumstance, that there must be such harmony and unanimity, and hence so universal a consociation, that the whole heaven, the whole world of spirits, that is, the whole human race from its first creation, should form a ONE, as all and every particular in man, in whom there are indefinite things, forms one body, and thus constitutes one man; in which body if anything were to prefer itself to any other thing, and not to love another thing better than itself [it could not subsist]. He who is in genuine love has an idea of the common good and of the universal human race, in respect to which every individual man should be as nothing, as is known; wherefore unless a man regards himself as associated with his fellow, and esteems himself as nothing in respect to the common good, and love his neighbor better than himself, he can by no means be in the unanimous body [heaven], but he necessarily expels himself from it, so much as he removes himself from that love. - 1748, November 23.
4046. De amore
Quod amor sit fundamentalis, ex quo et per quem coelum, constare potest, exinde, quod talis harmonia et unanimitas, inde consociatio universalis esse debeat, ut universum coelum, et universus mundus spirituum, hoc est, universum genus humanum a prima creatione, unum formare debeat, sicut omnia et singula hominis, ubi indefinita sunt, unum corpus, et sic unum hominem constituunt, in quo corpore, si quicquam se praeferret prae alio, et non amaret alterum plus quam se, quia in alio, qui in vero amore, habet ideam boni communis et universi hominis, cujus respectu omnis homo nihil esse debet, ut notum est - quare nisi in idea sit cum socio, ut se nihil aestimet, respectu communis, et sic amet proximum plus quam se - nusquam potest in unanimo corpore esse, sed se necessario expellit, quantum distat ab amore illo. 1748, 23 Nov.