The Lord's love is the sun of heaven, and it is natural for us to look above ourselves to the sun of this world in thinking about the Lord. It follows, then, that to be closer to the Lord we would climb into the highest places -- and indeed, people have been worshiping on mountains for ages. In fact, even steeples on modern churches are symbolic mountains. It makes sense, then, that a mountain in the Bible represents love to the Lord, the highest, purest love we human beings can experience. Mountains can also represent the desire for good that comes from the love of the Lord. Hills, meanwhile, represent a love of other people and a caring for them, and when "mountains" is used in the plural it generally represents both loves.

7490. It is also evident that to the extent that a person is moved by self-love and love of the world he is not conscious of what charity is, till at length he is unaware of its existence. Also such a person is to the same extent unconscious of what faith is, till at length he is unaware of its being anything at all. He is to the same extent unconscious of what conscience is, as well, till at length he is not aware of its existence. Indeed he is to that same extent unaware of what the spiritual is, and so of what the life of heaven is. Finally, it is evident that he has no belief in the existence of heaven or in the existence of hell, and consequently has no belief in the existence of life after death. These are the things that self-love and love of the world bring about when they reign.