Verses 1-8. A General Summary.

Verses 9-18. The selection of right principles in the mind.

Verses 19-21. Invitation to enter upon the heavenly life.

Verses 22-25. A search into what constitutes the heavenly life.

Verses 26-40. The unwillingness of the unregenerate heart to enter upon it.

Verses 41-46. The attempt to do so from selfhood and defeat in temptation.

43. All the individuals in a single community are distanced from each other by the same principle. The better ones, that is, the ones who are more complete in goodness and therefore in love, wisdom, and intelligence, are in the center. Those who are less outstanding surround them at distances graded in proportion to their lessened perfection. It is like the way light decreases from a center toward a circumference. The ones who are in the middle are in the greatest light, while the ones who are toward the perimeter are in less and less.