8885. 'Remember' means what is perpetually in the thoughts. This is clear from the meaning of 'remembering', when said in connection with the kind of thing which must by no means be forgotten, as what is perpetually in the power of thought. What is perpetually in the thoughts is that which reigns universally there; and that reigns universally with a person which is present perpetually in his thoughts, even when his mind is on other things or he is occupied with his work. A person's thoughts contain a number of things existing together with one another, for it is the form produced by a number of things which have entered in successive stages. The ones which are clearly perceptible lie in the middle then and so are in the light that inner sight possesses, while the remainder then are to the sides round about. Those which lie in the surrounding parts are in obscurity and are not plainly visible, except when the kinds of matters which they have been connected with crop up. But those which are even more outlying, and are not on the same level but slope away downwards, are the kinds of things which a person has thrown aside and which he detests. The latter are evils and falsities in the case of people who are good, and forms of good and truths in the case of those who are bad.

[2] Within a person's thoughts there are things which are there perpetually, that is, they reign universally there; these are his inmost things. From them the person regards others which are not perpetually there, that is, are not yet reigning universally, as being outside himself, and also as beneath himself and not as yet related to him. From these others he can at that time choose and link to himself ones which accord with the inmost; and when they have been linked to and at length combined with them, the inmost, that is, those reigning universally, are made stronger. This is done by means of new truths in the case of those who are good, and by means of new falsities, or by wrong application of truths, in the case of those who are bad.

[3] It should be recognized in addition that that which reigns universally is whatever has been instilled into the actual will, which is the inmost part of a person because it has been formed from his love. For whatever a person loves, that is what he wills; and what he loves above all he wills in his inmost being. The understanding however serves to make plain to others the things a person wills, that is, loves. But also it serves to bend other people's wills; the person uses ideas formulated in various ways to make their wills comply with his own. When this happens love or affection also passes from the will into ideas in the understanding, and by means of a kind of inspiration breathes life and movement into them.

[4] In the case of people who are good those ideas in the understanding make one with affections belonging to the will. But in the case of people who are bad it is different. With them thought and will inmostly do indeed accord with each other; for the evil desired by the will occupies the understanding in the form of falsity according with that evil. But this agreement is not evident to people in the world; for they learn from earliest childhood to speak other than they think, and to do other than they will. In short they learn to separate their inner man from their outer man, to develop in the latter a will and also thought other than what is in the inner man, and so by means of their outer man to feign good that is altogether out of keeping with their inner man, which in the same instant desires evil and also imperceptibly is thinking it. But what the inner will and thought are like is evident in the next life, as in broad daylight; for there externals are taken away and internals are laid bare.

8853. EXODUS CHAPTER 20.

TEACHINGS ABOUT CHARITY

In everyone there is something his own which he loves above all things. It is called that which is dominant or, if you will, that which reigns universally with him. It is unceasingly present in his thought and also his will; and it composes his very life.