Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6936

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6936. The truth of this matter is made still clearer by the following similar consideration. Everyone ought to ensure that his body is properly fed and clothed. He must do this first, yet to the end that there may be a healthy mind in a healthy body. And everyone ought to make sure that his mind is properly fed, that is to say, with such things as are matters of intelligence and wisdom, to the end that it may therefore be in a condition to serve the Lord. The person who does this looks after himself well for evermore. But anyone who looks after his body solely for its own sake, giving no thought to healthiness of mind, or anyone who feeds his mind not with such things as are matters of intelligence and wisdom but with such things as are the opposite of them, looks after himself badly for evermore. From all this one may see that though everyone ought to be a neighbour to himself, this is not of the first but of the last and lowest importance, for the end in view should not be self but others. Where a person's end in view lies, there lies what is of first importance to him.


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