ght. He who is not in the light of heaven but in thick
darkness, since he sees nothing of God, denies God and acknowledges as
god either nature or some man, or some idol, and even aspires to be
himself worshipped as a god. From this it follows that he who loves
self above all things worships other gods.

The same is true, but in a less degree, of one who loves the world; for
there cannot be so great a love of the world as of one's own (proprium);
therefore the world is loved because of one's own and for the sake of
one's own, because it is serviceable to it. Love of self means
especially the love of ruling over others from a mere delight in ruling
and for the sake of eminence, and not from a delight in uses and for the
sake of public good; while love of the world means especially a love of
possessing goods in the world from a mere delight in possession and for
the sake of riches, and not from a delight in uses from these and for
the sake of the consequent good. These loves are both of them without
limit, and rush on, so far as scope is given, to infinity. (A.E., n.
950.)

It is not believed in the world that the love of ruling from a mere
delight in ruling, and the love of possessing goods from a mere delight
in possession, and not from delight in uses, conceal in themselves all
evils, and also a contempt for and rejection of all things pertaining to
heaven and the church; and for the reason that man is stirred up by the
love of self and love of the world to right doing in respect to the
church, to the country, to society, and to the neighbor, by making good
deeds honorable and looking for reward. Therefore this love is called
by many the fire of life, and the incitement to great things.

But it is to be noted that so far as these two loves give uses the first
place and self the second they are good, while so far as they give self
the first place and uses the second they are evil, since man then does
all things for the sake of self and consequently from self, and thus in
every least thing he does there is self and what is his own (proprium),
which regarded in itself is nothing but evil. But to give uses the first
place and self the second is to do good for the sake of the church, the
country, society, and the neighbor; and the goods that man does to these
for the sake of these are not from man but from the Lord. The
difference between these two is like the difference between heaven and
hell. Man does not know t