There are levels of behavior, or morality, in life: civil life, moral life, and spiritual life. Some of us live just a civil life, some a civil and moral life, and some a civil, moral and spiritual life. Each level can be a springboard to the next level if we try to live according to the Lord’s commandments and not just from ourselves or from what society expects. See Heaven and Hell 529 for a thorough explanation of this and how each level supports the next higher level and all are needed for the life of heaven.
True Christian Religion 443:1 describes how we develop moral life from obedience without understanding to moral life from our rationality. And True Christian Religion 443:2 explains that “There are four phases to our lives. We pass through them as we go from infancy to old age. The first phase is when our behavior follows other people's instructions. The second is when our behavior is our own, and our intellect restrains us. The third is when our will pushes our intellect and our intellect restrains our will. The fourth is when our behavior is deliberate and purposeful.”
And so we grow step by step until we love the life the life that leads to heaven.
(Referências: Arcana Coelestia 3690 [3]; Heaven and Hell 528)
