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 it is the nature of
those loves not to share but to take away, except so far as the
delights of others have some relation to self.
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