598. Man cannot be reformed unless he has freedom, for the reason
that he is born into evils of every kind; and these must be removed
in order that he may be saved; and they cannot be removed unless he
sees them in himself and acknowledges them, and afterwards ceases to
will them, and finally holds them in aversion. Not until then are
they removed. And this cannot be done unless man is in good as well
as in evil, since it is from good that he is able to see evils, while
from evil he cannot see good. The spiritual goods that man is capable
of thinking he learns from childhood by reading the Word and from
preaching; and he learns moral and civil good from his life in the
world. This is the first reason why man ought to be in freedom. [2]
Another reason is that nothing is appropriated to man except what is
done from an affection of his love. Other things may gain entrance,
but no farther than the thought, not reaching the will; and whatever
does not gain entrance into the will of man does not become his, for
thought derives what pertains to it from memory, while the will
derives what pertains to it from the life itself. Only what is from
the will, or what is the same, from the affection of love, can be
called free, for whatever a man wills or loves that he does freely;
consequently man's freedom and the affection of his love or of his
will are a one.
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