404. We take on a completely different condition if love for the world or for wealth constitutes the head, meaning that this is our dominant love. Then love for heaven leaves the head and goes into exile in the body. People who are in this state prefer the world to heaven. They do indeed worship God, but they do so from a love that is merely earthly, a love that leads them to take credit for all their acts of worship. They also do good things for their neighbor, but they do them to get something back in return.

In the case of people like this, heavenly things are like the clothes in which they strut about, garments that we see as shining but angels see as drab. When love for the world inhabits our inner self and love for heaven inhabits our outer self, then love for the world dims all things related to the church and hides them as if they were behind a piece of cloth.

Love for the world or for wealth comes in many forms, however. It gets worse the closer it approaches to miserliness. At the point of miserliness the love for heaven becomes dark. This love also gets worse the closer it approaches to arrogance and a sense of superiority over others based on love for oneself. It is not as detrimental when it tends toward wasteful indulgence. It is even less damaging if its goal is to have the finest things the world has to offer, like a mansion, fine furniture, fashionable clothing, servants, horses and carriages in grand style, and things like that. With any love, its quality depends on the goal that it focuses on and intends to reach.

Love for the world and for wealth is like a dark crystal that suffocates light and breaks it only into colors that are dull and faded. It is like fog or cloudiness that blocks the rays of the sun. It is also like wine in its first stages - the liquid tastes sweet, but it upsets your stomach.

From heavens point of view, people like this look hunchbacked, walking with their head bent down looking at the ground. When they lift their head toward the sky, they strain their muscles and quickly go back to looking downward. The ancient people who were part of the church called people of this kind "Mammons. " The Greeks called them "Plutos. "

353. Just above I made the statement that every truth shines in heaven, and as a result, faith in its essence is truth shining [348, 349]. When the truths of this faith are multiplied, their shining light gives faith a beauty and attractiveness like that of forms, objects, and works of art whose colors harmonize well. It is like the precious stones of different colors on Aaron's breastplate that were collectively called the Urim and Thummim. It is also like the precious stones that the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem were made of (Revelation 21); and also like precious stones of different colors in a royal crown. In fact, precious stones mean the truths that constitute faith. One could also draw a comparison with the beauty of a rainbow, and with the beauty of a field full of flowers or a garden in bloom during early spring.

Faith that is composed of a quantity of truths takes on a light and a glory that are like the lighting of church buildings with more and more candles, of homes with more and more lamps, and of streets with more and more streetlamps.

The elevation of faith through a quantity of truths can be compared to the increase in volume and the heightened musical effect that occurs when many instruments play together; also, the increase in fragrance that comes from putting together a whole garland of sweet-smelling flowers; and so on.

The power that faith acquires from a plurality of truths assembled to combat things that are false and evil can be compared to the solidity that a church building gains from well-crafted stonework and from columns that buttress its walls and support its vaulted ceilings. That power can also be compared to a squadron in a square formation in which the soldiers stand side to side and thus form, and move as, a single force. That power can also be compared to the muscles all over our body: although there are many of them and some are far apart, they still make one power in our actions; and so on.