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《圣爱与圣智》 第426节

(一滴水,2018)

  426、(21)属灵和属天之爱就是对邻之爱和对主之爱,而属世和感官之爱则是对世界的爱和对自己的爱。我们所说的对邻之爱是指对功用的爱,对主之爱是指对履行功用的爱,如前所示。这些爱是属灵和属天的,因为爱功用并出于对它们的爱而履行功用,不同于对人的自我的爱。事实上,一个以属灵的方式热爱功用的人,不会关注自己,而是关注自己之外的其他人,因为他关心的是他们的福祉。与这些爱对立的,是对自己和世界的爱,因为对自己和世界的爱不是为了他人,而是为了自己而关注功用;那些如此行的人颠倒了神性秩序,把自己摆在了主的位置上,把世界摆在了天堂的位置上。结果,他们背离主和天堂往后看,背离主和天堂往后看就是朝地狱的方向看(关于这些爱的详情,可参看424节)。

然而,人不像感受并察知为了自己而对履行功用的爱那样,去感受并察知为了功用而对履行功用的爱。因此,当他履行功用时,并不知道他履行功用是为了功用,还是为了自己。不过,要让他知道,他避开邪恶到何等程度,就在何等程度上为了功用而履行功用。因为他避开邪恶到何等程度,就在何等程度上不是从自己,而是从主履行功用。事实上,邪恶与良善是对立面,因此人在何等程度上不参与邪恶,就在何等程度上参与良善。没有人能既参与邪恶,同时又参与良善,因为没有人能同时侍奉两个主人。我们说了这么多,是为了叫人们知道,尽管人无法明显感知他所履行的功用是为了功用,还是为了自己,换句话说,这些功用是属灵的,还是纯属世的,但他仍可以知道这一点,只要他考虑一下他有没有将邪恶视为罪。如果他将它们视为罪,并因此避免作恶,那么他所履行的功用就是属灵的。当这个人出于对它们的厌恶而避开这些罪时,他就开始明显感知到为了功用而对功用的爱,这是因为他在功用中找到了属灵的快乐。


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Divine Love and Wisdom #426 (Dole (2003))

426, 21. When love is spiritual and heavenly, it is a love for our neighbor and for the Lord; while when it is limited to nature and our senses, it is a love for the world and for ourselves. "Love for our neighbor" means a love for acts of service, and "love for the Lord" means a love for doing such acts, as already noted [237]. The reason these loves are spiritual and heavenly is that loving acts of service and doing them because we love to is divorced from any concern for our own image. That is, when we love acts of service spiritually, we are not focused on ourselves but on others outside ourselves, others for whom we are doing something good. Love for ourselves and for the world are the opposites of these loves because they focus our attention on doing acts of service not for the sake of others but for our own sake. When we do this, we are turning the divine design upside down, putting ourselves in the Lord's place and the world in heaven's place. This means we are looking away from the Lord and heaven, and looking away from them is looking toward hell. There is more about these loves, though, in 424 above.

Still, we do not have the same kind of feeling and sense of love for doing what is useful for its own sake that we have for doing what is useful for our own sake. This also means that when we are doing something useful we do not know whether we are doing it for its own sake or for our own sake. We might know, though, that we do what is useful for its own sake to the extent that we abstain from evils because to the extent that we do, the source of our acts of service is not ourselves but the Lord. Evil and good are opposites, so to the extent that we are not engaged in something evil, we are engaged in something good. No one can be in evil and in good at the same time because no one can serve two masters at the same time.

I mention this because it helps to know that even though we may have no clear sense of whether we are doing acts of service for their own sake or for ours--whether the acts are spiritual, that is, or merely earthly--we could tell by seeing whether we think evil deeds are sins or not. If we think they are sins and therefore do not do them, then our acts of service are spiritual; and once we begin abstaining from sins because they are distasteful to us, then we begin to have an actual sense of loving service for its own sake because there is a spiritual pleasure in service.

Divine Love and Wisdom #426 (Rogers (1999))

426. (21) Spiritual and celestial love is love for the neighbor and love toward the Lord, while natural and sensual love is love of the world and love of self. By love for the neighbor we mean a love of useful services, and by love toward the Lord we mean a love of performing useful services, as we have previously shown.

These loves are spiritual and celestial for the reason that to love useful services and to perform them from a love of them is divorced from a person's love of his own self-interest. For one who loves useful services spiritually regards not himself but others apart from himself, being affected by a concern for their welfare.

Opposed to these loves are loves of self and the world, for loves of self and the world have regard for useful services not for the sake of others but for the sake of self; and people who do this invert Divine order, putting themselves in place of the Lord, and the world in place of heaven. Consequently they look away from the Lord and heaven, and to look away from them is to look in the direction of hell. But for more on the subject of these loves, see no. 424 above.

[2] Still, a person is not as sensible and cognizant of a love of performing useful services for the sake of those useful services as he is of a love of performing useful services for the sake of himself. Therefore he also does not know, when performing useful services, whether he is doing them for the sake of the useful services or for the sake of self. Let him know, however, that he performs useful services for the sake of the useful services to the extent that he refrains from evils. For to the extent that he refrains from these, to the same extent he performs useful services, not from himself, but from the Lord. Evil and good, indeed, are opposites, and consequently to the extent that someone is not engaged in evil, to the same extent he is engaged in good. No one can be engaged in evil and in good at the same time, because no one can simultaneously serve two masters. 1

We have said this much to make it known that even though a person does not sensibly perceive whether the useful services he performs are for the sake of the useful services or whether they are for the sake of himself, or in other words, whether the useful services are spiritual or whether they are merely natural, still he can know it from considering whether he thinks evils are sins or not. If he thinks they are sins, and on that account does not do them, then the useful services he performs are spiritual. And when the same person refrains from sins from an aversion to them, he also begins to perceive sensibly in himself then a love of useful services for the sake of the useful services, and this because of the spiritual delight he finds in them.

Footnotes:

1. See Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13.

Divine Love and Wisdom #426 (Harley and Harley (1969))

426. (xxi) Spiritual and celestial love is love towards the neighbour and to the Lord, and natural and sensual love is love of the world and of self. By love towards the neighbour is meant the love of uses, and by love to the Lord is meant the love of doing uses, as has been shown before. The reason that these loves are spiritual and celestial is that the love of uses and doing them from love for them is distinct from man's proprium; for he who loves uses spiritually, regards not himself but others outside self, for whose good he is concerned. The loves of self and of the world are opposed to these loves, for they have no regard to uses for the sake of others, but only for the sake of self; and those who perform uses in this way invert the Divine order, and put themselves in the Lord's place, and the world in place of heaven. Thus it comes about that they look backwards, away from the Lord and from heaven, and to look backwards is to look towards hell; but more concerning these loves may be seen above (424). But man does not feel and perceive the love of performing uses for the sakes of uses, as he does feel and perceive a love of performing uses for the sake of self; hence also he does not know, when he does them, whether he is doing them for the sake of uses or for the sake of self. But he may know that in the degree he shuns evils, he is performing uses for the sake of uses; for so far as he shuns them, he does them not from himself, but from the Lord. For evil and good are opposites, and for this reason one comes into good to the extent that one comes out of evil. No one can be in evil and in good at the same time, because no one can serve two masters at the same time. These things are said so that it may be known that, although man does not perceive by sense whether the uses performed are for the sake of use or for the sake of self, that is, whether the uses are spiritual or merely natural, he may yet know it by this, whether or not he considers evils to be sins. If he regards them as sins, and if, on that account, he refrains from doing them, then the uses he performs are spiritual; and when, from a feeling of aversion, he shuns sins, he also begins to have a sensible perception of the love of uses for the sake of uses, and this from a spiritual delight in them.

Divine Love and Wisdom #426 (Ager (1890))

426. (21) Spiritual and celestial love is love toward the neighbor and love to the Lord; and natural and sensual love is love of the world and love of self. By love toward the neighbor is meant the love of uses, and by love to the Lord is meant the love of doing uses (as has been shown before). These loves are spiritual and celestial, because loving uses and doing them from a love of them, is distinct from the love of what is man's own; for whoever loves uses spiritually looks not to self, but to others outside of self for whose good he is moved. Opposed to these loves are the loves of self and of the world, for these look to uses not for the sake of others but for the sake of self; and those who do this invert Divine order, and put self in the Lord's place, and the world in the place of heaven; as a consequence they look backward, away from the Lord and away from heaven, and looking backward away from these is looking to hell. (More about these loves may be seen above, n. 424.) Yet man does not feel and perceive the love of performing uses for the sake of uses as he feels and perceives the love of performing uses for the sake of self; consequently when he is performing uses he does not know whether he is doing them for the sake of uses or for the sake of self. But let him know that he is performing uses for the sake of uses in the measure in which he flees from evils; for so far as he flees from evils, he performs uses not for himself, but from the Lord. For evil and good are opposites; so far as one is not in evil he is in good. No one can be in evil and in good at the same time, because no one can serve two masters at the same time. All this has been said to show that although man does not sensibly perceive whether the uses which he performs are for the sake of use or for the sake of self, that is, whether the uses are spiritual or merely natural, still he can know it by this, whether or not he considers evils to be sins. If he regards them as sins, and for that reason abstains from doing them, the uses which he does are spiritual. And when one who does this flees from sins from a feeling of aversion, he then begins to have a sensible perception of the love of uses for the sake of uses, and this from spiritual enjoyment in them.

De Divino Amore et de Divina Sapientia #426 (original Latin,1763)

426. XXI. Quod Amor spiritualis et coelestis sit Amor erga proximum et Amor in Dominum; et quod amor naturalis et sensualis sit amor mundi et amor sui. Per amorem erga proximum intelligitur amor usuum, et per amorem in Dominum intelligitur amor faciendi usus, ut prius ostensum est. Causa quod hi amores sint spirituales et coelestes, est quia amare usus, et facere illos ex amore illorum, est separatum ab amore proprii hominis; nam qui spiritualiter amat usus, is non se, sed alios extra se, quorum bono afficitur, spectat: his amoribus oppositi sunt amores sui et mundi, nam hi non spectant usus propter alios, sed propter se, et qui hoc faciunt, invertunt ordinem Divinum, ac se ponunt loco Domini, et mundum loco coeli; inde est quod spectent retro a Domino et a coelo, et spectare retro ab illis, est ad infernum; sed plura de his amoribus videantur supra 424.

[2] Sed homo amorem faciendi usus propter usus non sentit et percipit, sicut amorem faciendi usus propter se; inde quoque nescit, dum usus facit, num illos propter usus aut propter se faciat; at sciat, quod tantum faciat usus propter usus, quantum fugit mala; nam quantum haec fugit, tantum non a se facit usus, sed a Domino; malum enim et bonum sunt opposita, quare quantum quis non in malo est, tantum in bono est; nemo in malo et in bono potest simul esse, quia nemo potest duobus dominis simul servire. Haec dicta sunt, ut sciatur, quod tametsi homo non sensu percipit, num usus quos facit, sint propter usus, aut num sint propter se, hoc est, num usus sint spirituales, 1 vel num sint mere naturales, usque id scire possit ex eo, num cogitat mala esse peccata vel non[;] si cogitat esse peccata, et propterea non facit illa, tunc usus quos facit sunt spirituales; et hic dum ex aversatione fugit peccata, tunc etiam incipit sensu percipere amorem usuum propter usus, et hoc ex spirituali jucundo in illis.

Footnotes:

1. Prima editio: spitituales,


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