lief in a single one of these innumerable
delights; for his interiors, as has just been said, look away from
heaven towards the world, thus backwards. For he that is wholly in
the delight of the body or of the flesh, or what is the same, in the
love of self and of the world, has no sense of delight except in
honor, in gain, and in the pleasures of the body and the senses; and
these so extinguish and suffocate the interior delights that belong
to heaven as to destroy all belief in them; consequently he would be
greatly astonished if he were told that when the delights of honor
and of gain are set aside other delights are given, and still more if
he were told that the delights of heaven that take the place of these
are innumerable, and are such as cannot be compared with the delights
of the body and the flesh, which are chiefly the delights of honor
and of gain. All this makes clear why it is not known what heavenly
joy is.

399. One can see how great the delight of heaven must be from the
fact that it is the delight of everyone in heaven to share his
delights and blessings with others; and as such is the character of
all that are in the heavens it is clear how immeasurable is the
delight of heaven. It has been shown above (n. 268), that in the
heavens there is a sharing of all with each and of each with all.
Such sharing goes forth from the two loves of heaven, which are, as
has been said, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; and to
share their delights is the very nature of these loves. Love to the
Lord is such because the Lord's love is a love of sharing everything
it has with all, since it wills the happiness of all. There is a like
love in everyone of those who love the Lord, because the Lord is in
them; and from this comes the mutual sharing of the delights of
angels with one another. Love towards the neighbor is of such a
nature, as will be seen in what follows. All this shows that it is
the nature of these loves to share their delights. It is otherwise
with the loves of self and of the world. The love of self takes away
from others and robs others of all delight, and directs it to itself,
for it wishes well to itself alone; while the love of the world
wishes to have as its own what belongs to the neighbor. Therefore
these loves are destructive of the delights of others; or if there is
any disposition to share, it is for the sake of themselves and not
for the sake of others. Thus in respect to others