262. After that I examined the first universal love of hell, which was a love of governing stemming from a love of self, and then the universal love of heaven corresponding to it, which was a love of governing stemming from a love of accomplishing useful ends. Indeed, I was not allowed to examine one love without the other, because the intellect does not comprehend one without the other, since they are opposites. In order to understand the two, therefore, they must be set in contrast, one against the other. For a beautiful and attractive face shines out by the contrast to it of a homely and ugly one.

When I considered the love of governing stemming from a love of self, I was given to see that this love was supremely hellish, and so is found among those who are in the deepest hell; and that the love of governing from a love of accomplishing useful ends was supremely heavenly, and so is found among those who are in the highest heaven.

[2] A love of governing from a love of self is supremely hellish because to govern from a love of self is to govern from self, and a person's self from birth is the essence of evil, which is diametrically opposed to the Lord. The further people progress into this evil, therefore, the more they reject God and the sanctities of the church, worshiping themselves and nature. Let those who are caught up in this evil please examine it in themselves, and they will see.

This love is also such that the more it is given free rein (which it is as long as some obstacle does not stand in the way), the more it rushes from rung to rung until it reaches the highest it can; nor does it stop there, but if no higher level is possible, it grieves and laments. [3] In politicians this love mounts to the point that they wish to be kings and emperors, and if possible, to rule over all the world and be called kings of kings and emperors of emperors. The same love in clergymen, on the other hand, mounts to the point that they wish to be gods, and as far as possible, to rule over all of heaven and be called gods of gods. (It will be seen in what follows here that neither of these kinds of people acknowledge any god at heart.)

In contrast, however, people who wish to govern from a love of accomplishing useful ends - these do not wish to govern from self but from the Lord, since a love of useful ends comes from the Lord and is the Lord Himself [in them]. People like this look upon positions of authority only as means to performing useful services. They rank the useful services as far more important than the positions, whereas the first people described rank the positions as far more important than the useful services.