120、人对自己的心智或内在人的内在状态一无所知。尽管那里有无限事物，但其中没有一样进入他的意识。因为人思维的内在，或他的内在人就是他的灵本身；它里面的事物和身体里面的一样是无限的，数不胜数，甚至更加数不胜数。事实上，人的灵在形式上就是一个人，属于它的一切事物都对应于人体内的一切事物。由于人凭感觉无法知道他的心智或灵魂在身体的一切事物中联合和分别运作的方式，所以他也不知道主以哪种方式在他的心智或灵魂的一切事物，或他灵的一切事物中运作。这种运作是持续不断的；人没有参与其中，然而，只要人使他的外在人保持关闭，主就无法将人从他的灵或内在人中的恶欲中洁净出来。人通过邪恶使他的外在人保持关闭，其中每种邪恶在他看来似乎是一个事物，然而每种邪恶里面都有无限事物。当人将如同一个事物的一个邪恶移走时，主就会把它里面的无限事物都移走。这就是“主把人从内在人中的恶欲和外在人中的邪恶本身中洁净出来”这句话的意思。
120. A person knows nothing at all of the interior state of his mind, or of his internal self. Yet present in it are an infinite number of elements, not one of which comes to his consciousness. For the internal component of a person's thought, or his internal self, is his very spirit, and in it are as infinitely many or countless elements as there are in the person's body - indeed, still more, for a person's spirit is, in its form, the person, and all of its constituents correspond to all the constituents of the person in his body.
Now, as a person knows nothing by any sensation of the way his mind or soul operates on all the constituents of his body, all together and individually, so neither does any person know how the Lord operates on all the constituents of his mind or soul, that is to say, on all the constituents of his spirit. The operation is unceasing. The person plays no part in it. And yet the Lord cannot purify a person of any lust for evil in his spirit or internal self as long as the person keeps his external self closed. The devices by which a person keeps his external self closed are evils, every one of which appears to him as a single unit, when in fact countless elements are present in each. When a person puts away such a seemingly single evil, then the Lord puts away the infinite elements present in it.
This is what we mean by the statement that the Lord then purifies the person of the lusts for evil in his internal self and of the evils themselves in his external self.
120. We know absolutely nothing about the inner state of our minds; yet there are infinite things there, none of which comes to our awareness. The inner working of our thought or our inner self is our actual spirit, and there are infinite elements there, innumerable elements, just as there are in our physical bodies. In fact, there are even more, since our spirit is human as to its form, and there are elements in it to answer to everything in our bodies.
Now, since our senses tell us nothing about the way our minds or souls are at work, both together and separately, in all the elements of our bodies, we do not know how the Lord is at work in all the elements of our minds or souls, that is, in all the elements of our spirits. This activity is constant. We have no part in it; but still the Lord cannot cleanse us from any compulsion to evil in our spirits or inner selves as long as we keep the outer self closed. Each of the evils that we use to keep our outer selves closed seems to be a single item, but there are infinite elements within it. When we dismiss it as a single item, then the Lord dismisses the infinite elements that it contains.
This is what it means to say that the Lord then cleanses us from the compulsions to evil in our inner nature and from the evil practices themselves in our outer nature.
120. Man knows nothing whatever about the interior state of his mind, that is, of his internal man; and yet there are infinite things there, not one of which comes to his knowledge. For the internal of man's thought, or his internal man, is his spirit itself, and in it there are things as infinite or innumerable as there are in his body, and indeed more innumerable; for man's spirit is in its form a man, and all things belonging to it correspond to all things of man in his body. Now just as man has no knowledge from any sensation how his mind or soul operates upon all things of his body jointly and singly, so neither does he know how the Lord operates upon all things of his mind or soul, that is, upon all things of his spirit. This operation is continual, and man has no part in it; but still the Lord cannot purify man from any lust of evil in his spirit or internal man so long as man keeps his external closed. Man keeps his external closed by means of evils, each of which seems to him as but one single evil, although there are infinite things in each; and when man removes one such evil the Lord removes the infinity of things in it. This is what is meant by the Lord then purifying man from the lusts of evil in the internal man, and from the evils themselves in the external.
120. Of the interior state of his mind or of his internal man, man knows nothing whatever. Although there are infinite things there, not one of them comes to man's cognizance. For the internal of man's thought, or his internal man, is his spirit itself; and in it there are things as infinite and numberless as there are in his body, and even more innumerable; for man's spirit is a man in its form, and all things belonging to it correspond with all things of man in the body. And just as man has no knowledge from any sensation of the manner in which his mind or his soul operates in all things of the body, conjointly and severally, so neither does he know in what manner the Lord operates in all things of his mind or soul, that is, in all things of his spirit. The operation is unceasing; in it man has no part, and yet the Lord can cleanse man from no lust of evil in his spirit or internal man so long as man holds his external closed. Man holds his external closed by means of evils, every one of which seems to him as a single thing, and yet in every one there are infinite things; and when man puts away an evil as a single thing the Lord puts away the infinite things in it. This is what is meant by the Lord's then cleansing man from the lusts of evil in the internal man, and from evils themselves in the external.
120. Homo ne hilum scit de statu interiori Mentis suae, seu Interno suo homine; sunt tamen ibi infinita, quorum ne unum ad ejus cognitionem venit; Internum enim cogitationis hominis seu Internus ejus homo, est ipse ejus spiritus, et in illo tam infinita seu tot innumerabilia sunt, quot in hominis corpore, imo adhuc innumerabiliora, nam spiritus hominis est in sua forma homo, et omnia ejus correspondent omnibus hominis in ejus corpore. Nunc sicut homo nihil scit ex aliqua sensatione, quomodo mens ejus seu anima in omnia sui corporis conjunctim et singillatim operatur, ita nec scit homo quomodo Dominus in omnia mentis seu animae, hoc est, in omnia spiritus ejus, operatur; operatio est continua; in hoc homo nullam partem habet; at usque non potest Dominus purificare hominem ab ulla concupiscentia mali in ejus spiritu seu interno homine, quamdiu homo tenet externum clausum; sunt mala, per quae homo tenet externum suum clausum, quorum unumquodvis ei apparet sicut unum, tametsi infinita sunt in unoquovis; cum homo hoc sicut unum removet, tunc Dominus infinita in illo removet. Hoc est quod intelligitur per quod Dominus tunc purificet hominem a concupiscentiis mali in interno homine, et ab ipsis malis in externo.