112、由此可见，人若要从恶欲中洁净，邪恶绝对有必要从外在人中被移走。因为在做到这一点之前，欲望不可能有出口；如果没有出口，欲望仍旧留在里面，并从自己呼出快乐，从而催促人去同意，进而行出来。欲望通过外在思维进入身体；因此，一旦外在思维同意，欲望就立刻存在于身体中；所感受到的快乐就在那里。心智如何，身体就如何，因而整个人就如何，或说心智的性质决定了身体，因而整个人的性质；对此，可参看《圣爱与圣智》一书（362-370节）。这一点可通过类比，也可通过例子来说明。
通过类比：欲望及其快乐好比一场大火；火会越烧越旺；给它的空间越大，它蔓延的范围就越广，直到它焚毁城市里的房屋，或森林中的树木。在圣言中，恶欲被比作火，其邪恶被比作火的燃烧或焚毁。此外，在灵界，恶欲及其快乐就看似火；地狱之火不是别的。欲望还好比决堤时的洪水和水的泛滥，又好比坏疽和溃疡，这些病若肆意发展或无法治愈，就会造成身体死亡。
通过例子：显而易见，除非外在人中的邪恶被移走，否则欲望及其快乐就会急剧增加。小偷偷得越多，就越喜欢去偷，直到最终无法克制。骗子欺骗的次数越多，也是如此。这同样适用于仇恨和报复，奢侈和放纵，淫乱和亵渎等等。众所周知，出于爱自己而对统治或权力的爱会随着约束的放松而增长；出于爱世界而对占有或财产的爱同样如此；这些爱似乎没有限度或尽头。由此可见，只要外在人中的邪恶没有被移走，它们的欲望就会繁殖，并且会随着对邪恶的约束放松而增长。
112. From this it can now be seen that for a person to be purified of his lusts for evil, evils must be entirely removed from his external self. For before that the lusts have no possible exit, and if they have no possible exit, the lusts remain within, inspiring from themselves delights and so driving the person to consent, thus to the deed.
Lusts enter the body through the external level of thought. Consequently, when consent is given in the external level of thought, those lusts are immediately present in the body. The delight felt is experienced there.
In our treatise Divine Love and Wisdom 362-370, it may be seen that the character of the mind is what determines the character of the body, thus the whole person.
This may be illustrated by comparisons and also by examples.
[2] By comparisons: Lusts with their delights may be likened to fire, which blazes the more, the more it is fed, and which spreads the more widely, the freer the course it has, even so that in a city it consumes its houses, and in a forest its trees. In the Word, too, lusts for evil are likened to fire, and the resulting evils to the burning of fire. Lusts for evil with their delights also appear as fires in the spiritual world. That is what hell fire is.
Lusts may also be likened to floods and inundations of water when dikes or dams are removed.
They may be likened as well to cases of gangrene and abscesses, which induce in the body a creeping death as they run their course or are not cured.
[3] By examples: These make it clearly apparent that if evils are not put away in one's external self, lusts with their delights grow and proliferate. The more a thief steals, the greater his lust to steal, until at last he cannot desist. So likewise with a swindler, the more he swindles. It is the same with hatred and vengeance, with prodigality and intemperance, with licentiousness and blasphemy. People know that a love of ruling stemming from a love of self grows to the extent it is given free rein. So, too, a love of accumulating possessions stemming from a love of the world. It seems as though these have no limit or end.
It is apparent from this that to the extent evils are not put away in one's external self, one's lusts for them proliferate, and that to the degree evils are given free rein, the lusts grow.
112. All this shows that if we are to be cleansed from our compulsions to do evil, it is absolutely necessary that the evils be banished from our outer self. Until that happens, there is no vent for our compulsions, and if there is no vent, then they remain pent up inside, breathing out their pleasures and urging us to consent and then to act. Our inner compulsions enter our bodies through our outer thought processes; so the moment there is consent in our outer thought processes, the compulsions are present in our bodies. That is the locus of the pleasure that we feel. (On the quality of the mind determining that of the body and therefore the whole person, see Divine Love and Wisdom 362-370.)
I may illustrate this by comparisons and by examples.
[2] As for comparisons, we can compare our compulsions and their pleasures to a fire that burns more intensely the more it is fed and that spreads wider the more room it is given, until it destroys the houses in a city or the trees in a forest. In fact, our compulsions for what is evil are compared to fire in the Word, and the evils they cause are compared to destruction by fire. Then too, in the spiritual world our cravings for evil and their pleasures look like fires. That is exactly what hellfire is.
We can also compare them to the deluges and floods that happen when dikes or levees are breached, or to cases of gangrene or abscesses that cause physical death if they spread or are not healed.
[3] As for examples, it is obvious that if evils are not banished from our outer self, the compulsions and their pleasures will increase dramatically. The more thieves steal, the more obsessed they are with stealing until eventually they cannot help themselves. It is the same with the cheating of cheaters, with hatred and vengefulness, with hedonism and gluttony, with promiscuity, blasphemy, and the like. Everyone knows that a love of power for self-aggrandizement grows to the extent that restraints are relaxed, and the same holds for a love of possessions for worldly reasons. It seems as though there were no limit to them, no end.
We can see from all this that to the extent that evils are not banished from our outer self, their compulsions flourish, and that as restraints on evil behavior are relaxed, the compulsions intensify.
112. From these things it may now be evident that for man to be purified from the lusts of evil, evils must be completely removed from the external man; for until this is done the lusts have no outlet; and if there is no outlet the lusts remain within and breathe out delights from themselves, and so urge man on to the consent and thus to the deed itself. Lusts enter the body through the external of thought; and therefore when there is consent in the external of thought, the lusts are at once in the body, the delight which is felt being there. That the nature of the mind determines that of the body and thus of the whole man may be seen in the treatise THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM (n. 362-370). This may be illustrated by comparisons and also by examples.
[2] By comparisons. Lusts with their delights may be compared to fire: the more fire is fed the more fiercely it burns, and the freer the course given to it the wider it spreads until, if in a city, it consumes the houses and, if in a wood, the trees. Lusts of evil are compared in the Word to fire, and their evils to the conflagration. The lusts of evil with their delights also appear in the spiritual world as fires, infernal fire being nothing else. They may also be compared to floods and inundations of water when dykes or dams give way. Moreover, lusts may be compared to gangrenous sores and ulcers which, if they run their course, or are not cured, bring death to the body.
[3] By examples. It is clearly evident that if evils in the external man are not removed lusts with their delights grow and multiply. The more a thief steals the more he lusts to steal till at length he cannot refrain. The same is true of a fraudulent person, in proportion as he defrauds. It is the same with hatred and revenge, with luxury and intemperance, with adultery and blasphemy. It is well known that the love of ruling grounded in the love of self increases in proportion as restraints are relaxed, and in like manner the love of possessing wealth grounded in the love of the world; it would appear as if these evils had no limit or end. From these considerations it is clear that so far as evils in the external man are not removed their lusts multiply, and also that lusts increase in the degree that restraints on evils are relaxed.
112. From all this it can now be seen that evils must surely be put away from the external man that man may be cleansed from the lusts of evil; for until this is done there is no possible exit for lusts; and if there is no exit the lusts remain within and breathe out enjoyments from themselves, and so they urge men on to the consent, thus to the doing. Through the external of thought the lusts enter the body; when therefore there is consent in the external of thought the lusts are at once present in the body; and the enjoyment that is felt is there. That as the mind is such is the body, thus the whole man, may be seen in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom 362-370. This may be made clear by comparisons and also by examples.
[2] By comparisons: Lusts with their enjoyments may be likened to fire; the more a fire is fed the more it burns; and the freer the course given it the further it spreads, until in a city it consumes the houses, and in a forest the trees. In the Word the lusts of evil are likened to fire, and their evils to its burning. Moreover, in the spiritual world, lusts of evil with their enjoyments appear like fires; infernal fire is nothing else. Lusts may also be likened to floods and inundations of water when dikes or dams give way. They may also be likened to gangrenous sores and ulcers, which, if they run their course or are not cured, bring death to the body.
[3] By examples: It is made clear that unless the evils in the external man are put away the lusts and their enjoyments grow and multiply. The more a thief steals the more he loves to steal, till at last he cannot refrain; so with the defrauder, the more he defrauds. The same is true of hatred and revenge, of luxury and intemperance, of whoredom and blasphemy, and the like. Every one knows that the love of ruling from the love of self increases as rein is given to it; equally the love of possessing from love of the world; these seem to be without limit or end. All this makes clear that so far as the evils in the external are not put away their lusts multiply, and that lusts increase to the extent that evils have loose rein.
112. Ex his nunc constare potest, quod ut homo purificetur a concupiscentiis mali, omnino removenda sint mala ab externo homine, non enim prius datur concupiscentiis exitus, et si non datur exitus, manent concupiscentiae 1intus, et exspirant jucunda a se, et sic adigunt hominem ad consensum, ita ad factum: concupiscentiae per externum cogitationis intrant corpus, quare cum consensus est in externo cogitationis, sunt illico in corpore; jucundum quod sentitur, ibi est: quod qualis est mens, tale sit corpus, ita totus homo, videatur in Transactione de DIVINO AMORE ET DIVINA SAPIENTIA 362-370. Hoc potest per comparationes illustrari, et quoque per exempla:
[2] Per comparationes; 2concupiscentiae cum earum jucundis comparari possunt Igni, qui quo plus fomentatur, eo plus flagrat; et quo liberior excursus ei est, eo latius se spargit, usque ut in urbe consumat domos ejus, et in sylva arbores ejus; concupiscentiae mali etiam in Verbo comparantur 3igni, ac mala inde incendio; concupiscentiae mali cum jucundis illarum in mundo spirituali etiam 4apparent sicut ignes; ignis infernalis non aliud est. 5Comparari etiam possunt diluviis et inundationibus ab aquis, remotis aggeribus seu vallis. Comparari etiam possunt gangraenis et apostematibus, quae lethum inducunt corpori, sicut excurrunt, aut sicut non sanantur.
[3] Per Exempla patet clare, quod si non mala in externo homine removentur, concupiscentiae cum illarum jucundis crescant et exuberent: fur, quantum furatur, tantum concupiscit furari, usque tandem ut non possit desistere: defraudator similiter quantum defraudat: cum odio et vindicta, cum luxurie et intemperantia, cum scortatione, blasphematione, est similiter; quod amor dominandi ex amore sui in tantum crescat quantum ei laxantur fraena, notum est; pariter amor possidendi bona ex amore mundi; apparet sicut illis non sit terminus aut finis. Ex quibus patet, quod quantum mala in externo homine non removentur, tantum concupiscentiae illorum exuberent; tum quo gradu malis relaxantur fraena, eo gradu concupiscentiae crescant.
Footnotes:
1 Prima editio: concupiscentiae
2 Prima editio: comparatioues;
3 Prima editio: camparantur
4 Prima editio: eriam
5 Prima editio: est,