What the Heavenly Proprium is

What the Heavenly Proprium is

As regards the heavenly proprium, it arises out of the new will which is given by the Lord, and differs from the proprium of man in this; that men no longer regard themselves in all and every thing that they do, and in all and every thing that they learn and teach; but they then regard the neighbour, the public, the church, the kingdom of the Lord, and so the Lord Himself. The ends of life are what are changed; the ends regarding lower things, namely, the world, and self, are removed, and ends regarding higher things are substituted in their place. The ends of life are nothing else than the very life of man; for his ends are the very will of a man, and his very loves; for what a man loves that he wills and has for an end. He who is gifted with a heavenly proprium is also in tranquillity, and in peace; for he trusts in the Lord, and believes that nothing of evil befalls him, and is conscious that concupiscences do not infest him. And moreover they who are in a heavenly proprium are in very freedom; for to be led of the Lord is freedom, because it is to be led in good, from good to good. It is therefore evident that they are in blessedness and happiness, for there is nothing that disturbs,—nothing of self-love, consequently nothing of enmity, of hatred, of revenge; nor anything of the love of the world, and therefore nothing of fraud, of fear, of restlessness. (AC n. 5660)

All that is good which comes of genuine charity towards the neighbour. But no one of himself can be in this good; for it is the very celestial which flows in from the Lord. This celestial continually flows in, but evils and falsities oppose its reception; that it may be received therefore it is necessary that man should remove evils, and as far as he is able falsities also, and so dispose himself to receive the influx. When, evils being removed, man receives the influx, he then receives a new voluntary and a new intellectual [faculty]; and from the new voluntary he feels delight in doing good to his neighbour for no selfish end, and from the new intellectual he apperceives delight in learning what is good and true for the sake of good and truth, and for the sake of life. Since this new intellectual and new voluntary exists by influx from the Lord, therefore he who is regenerated acknowledges and believes that the good and the truth with which he is affected are not from himself, but from the Lord; and that whatever is from himself, or from his proprium, is nothing but evil. From this it is evident what it is to be born again; and what the new voluntary and the new intellectual are. (ibid. n. 5354)

Goodness of disposition manifests itself by gentleness and sweetness; by gentleness, in that it is afraid to do harm, and by sweetness, in that it loves to do good. (EU n. 50)