Charity is like warmth in springtime or summer that causes grass, plants, and trees to grow. Without charity, or spiritual warmth, nothing grows.
Emanuel SwedenborgRead
Charity means love towards the neighbor and compassion, for anyone who loves his neighbor as himself also has as much compassion for him in his suffering as he does for himself in his own.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Charity embodies love and compassion towards others, treating them as one would oneself.
This quote by Emanuel Swedenborg emphasizes the profound connection between love for others and self-compassion. It suggests that true charity arises when we regard our neighbors with the same care and empathy that we would wish for ourselves, particularly in their times of suffering. This interconnectedness implies that by fostering love for others, we naturally enhance our ability to empathize with their struggles, reflecting a universal compassion that can uplift both the giver and the receiver.
Themes
CharityLoveCompassionNeighborSelflessEmpathy
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about community service, one could use this quote to inspire volunteers.
More from Emanuel Swedenborg
All quotes →It can in no sense be said that heaven is outside of any one; it is within ... and a man, also, so far as he receives heaven, is a recipient, a heaven, and an angel.
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I have seen a thousand times that Angels are human form, or men, for I have conversed with them as man to man, sometimes with one alone, sometimes with many in company.
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True charity is the desire to be useful to others with no thought of recompense.
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Hell and Heaven are near man, yes, in him; and every man after death goes to that Hell or heaven in which he was, or to his spirit, during his abode in the world.
Emanuel SwedenborgRead
For in every particular of the Word there is an internal sense which treats of things spiritual and heavenly, not of things natural and worldly, such as are treated of in the sense of the letter.
Emanuel SwedenborgRead
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