417. VI
The essence of loving the neighbour is not loving a person, but the good in him.
Everyone knows that what makes a human being human is not having a human face and a human body, but the wisdom in his understanding and the goodness in his will. The higher the levels these reach, the more human he is. Man at birth is more of a brute than any animal, but he becomes a human being by receiving instruction, which forms his mind, and as a result of this and in proportion to it he becomes truly human. There are animals with faces which look like human ones, but they enjoy no ability to understand or to do anything as the result of understanding. They act by instinct, which is aroused by their natural love. The difference is that an animal makes noises to express the affections of its love, while a human being submits these to thought and utters them in words. Also an animal faces downwards and looks at the ground, while a human being holds his face up and looks at the sky all around. From this it can be inferred that a human being is human in so far as he speaks with sound reason and keeps in mind his stay in heaven; and he is not human in so far as he speaks contrary to reason and keeps in mind only his stay on earth. Still such people are human beings, not in fact but potentially. For every person enjoys the potentiality of understanding truths and willing good deeds; but to the extent that he does not wish to do good deeds and understand truths, to that extent he can externally pretend to be human and ape human behaviour.