8910. 'You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male slave nor his female slave, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's' means that one must be on one's guard against self-love and love of the world, and so one must take care to prevent the evils contained in the preceding commandments from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'coveting' as a wanting that springs from an evil love. The reason why 'coveting' has this meaning is that all covetousness or craving exists as the result of some kind of love. For nothing is coveted unless there is a love of it, and therefore covetousness extends as a continuation from some kind of love, in this instance from self-love and love of the world. It is so to speak the life of what those loves breathe, for what an evil kind of love breathes is called covetousness or craving, whereas what a good kind breathes is called desire. The love itself belongs to one of two parts of the mind, which is called the will; for what a person loves, that he wills and intends. but covetousness belongs to both parts, to both the will and the understanding, that is, it is an attribute of the will within the understanding, to be precise. All this shows why it is that the words 'you shall not covet the things that are your neighbour's' mean that one must take care to prevent them from becoming present in the will, since what takes possession of the will becomes the person's own; for, to be sure, the will is the real person.

[2] The world believes that thought is the person. But there are two powers that constitute a person's life - understanding and will - and thought belongs to the understanding, the affection inherent in love being what belongs to the will. Thought without the affection inherent in love does not in any way at all constitute a person's life; but thought springing from such affection, that is, the understanding springing from the will, does constitute it. Those two powers are distinct from each other, which is evident to anyone who stops to reflect on the matter from the consideration that with his understanding a person can perceive that that thing is bad which his will desires, and that that thing is good which his will either does or does not desire. From all this it is plain that the will is the real person, not his thought, except so far as anything passes into it from the will. So it is that things which enter a person's thought but do not pass on through it into his will do not render him unclean; only those which pass through thought on into the will do so. The reason why the latter render a person unclean is that he takes them to himself then and makes them his; for the will, as has been stated, is the real person. The things which become part of his will are said to go into his heart and to go out from there, whereas those which are merely part of his thought are said to go into the mouth and to go out by way of the bowels into the sewer, according to the Lord's words in Matthew,

Not what enters the mouth renders a person unclean, but what comes out of the mouth, this renders the person unclean. Everything that goes into the mouth departs into the bowels and is cast out into the sewer. But the things which come out of the mouth come out of the heart, and these render a person unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, ravishments, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Matthew 15:11, 17-19.

[3] From these words as from all the others the nature of the Lord's manner of speaking becomes clear. That is, its nature was such that internal or spiritual matters were meant, but they were expressed by means of external or natural things and in accordance with correspondences. For the mouth corresponds to thought, and so do all parts of the mouth, such as the lips, tongue, and throat, while the heart corresponds to the affection inherent in love, and so to the will. For the correspondence of the heart to these, see 2930, 3313, 3883-3896, 7542. Consequently 'entering the mouth' is entering thought, and 'going out of the heart' is going out of the will. 'Departing into the bowels and being cast out into the sewer (or latrine)' is going away into hell; for the bowels correspond to the way to hell, while the sewer or latrine corresponds to hell itself. Hell also in the Word is called 'the latrine'. All this shows what is meant by 'everything that goes into the mouth departs into the bowels and is cast out into the sewer', namely that evil and falsity are introduced into a person's thought by hell and are discharged back there again. Such evil and falsity cannot render a person unclean because they are discharged from him. For a person cannot help thinking what is evil, but he can refrain from doing it. As soon however as he receives evil from his thought into his will it does not go out but enters into him; and this is said 'to enter the heart'. The things that go out from here are what render him unclean; for what a person desires in his will goes out into speech and action, so far as external restraints do not inhibit him, those restraints being fear of the law, and fear of the loss of reputation, position, gain, or life. From all this it is now evident that 'you shall not covet' means that one must take care to prevent evils from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it.

[4] The fact that 'covetousness' is a craving or lusting on the part of the will, and so of the heart, is also clear from the Lord's words in Matthew,

You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that if anyone looks at a woman ¹ so that he lusts after her he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28.

'Lusting for' is used here to mean desiring in the will, and - but for the fears acting as external restraints - also doing. This is why it says that one who looks at a woman so that he lusts after her has committed adultery with her in his heart.

[5] Lusting after what is evil is also meant by 'the right eye causing one to stumble', and lusting after what is false by 'the right hand causing one to stumble' in the Lord's words, again in Matthew,

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you; for it will be better for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be cast into gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it will be better for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be cast into gehenna. Matthew 5:29-30.

From these words the Lord's way of saying things is again clear. That is to say, He was speaking from the Divine, as in every other place in the Word, in such a way that He expressed inward and heavenly matters through outward or natural ones in accordance with correspondences. In this instance He expressed an affection for evil or lusting after it by 'the right eye causing one to stumble', and an affection for falsity or lusting after it by 'the right hand causing one to stumble'. For the eye corresponds to faith, the left eye to the truth of faith, and the right eye to the good of faith, or in the contrary sense to the evil of faith, so that 'the right eye causing one to stumble' corresponds to lusting after what is evil, 4403-4421, 4523-4534. But the hand corresponds to the power that truth possesses, the right hand to the power of truth coming from good, or in the contrary sense the power of falsity coming from evil, so that 'the right hand causing one to stumble' corresponds to a lusting after it, 3091, 4931-4937, 8281. 'Gehenna' is the hell of lusts, cravings, or covetousness. Anyone may see that here 'the right eye' was not used to mean the right eye or that it was to be plucked out; also that 'the right hand' was not used to mean the right hand or that it was to be cut off, but that something other was meant. What this is cannot be known unless one knows what is really meant by 'the eye', in particular by 'the right eye', also what is meant by 'the hand', and in particular by 'the right hand', as well as what 'causing to stumble' really means. Nor can the meaning of these expressions be known except from the internal sense.

[6] Lusts, cravings, or covetous desires are what spring from an evil will, thus from a heart that is such; and according to the Lord's words in Matthew 15:19, murders, adulteries, ravishments, thefts, false witness, blasphemies come out of the heart or will, that is, the kinds of evils contained in the preceding commandments of the Decalogue. In all this lies the reason for saying that this - 'you must not covet the things which are your neighbour's' - means that one must take care to prevent the evils contained in the ''receding commandments from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it. The reason why 'you shall not covet the things which are your neighbour's' also means that one must be on one's guard against self-love and love of the world is that all the evils composing covetousness well up from those loves as their source, see 2045, 7178, 7255, 7366 7377, 7488, 8318, 8678.

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170. From Secrets of Heaven

Sin and evil. There are countless kinds of evil and falsity: 1188, 1212, 4818, 4822, 7574. There is evil that results from falsity and there is falsity that results from evil, and these lead to still more falsity and still more evil: 1679, 2243, 4818. The nature and characteristics of evil that results from falsity: 2408, 4818, 7272, 8265, 8279. The nature and characteristics of falsity that results from evil: 6359, 7272, 9304, 10302. Evils that are our own fault and evils that are not our fault: 4171, 4172. Evils that come from our understanding and evils that come from our will: 9009. The distinctions among transgression, wickedness, and sin: 6563, 9156.

[2] All our evils cling to us: 2116. Evils cannot be removed from us; we can only be held back from them and be kept focused on doing what is good: 865, 868, 887, 894, 1581, 4564, 8206, 8393, 9014, 9333, 9446, 9447, 9448, 9451, 10057, 10109. Our being held back from doing evil and kept focused on doing good is something accomplished by the Lord alone: 929, 2406, 8206, 10109. Evils and sins are only put aside, and this happens gradually: 9334, 9335, 9336. It happens through our being regenerated by the Lord: 9445, 9452, 9453, 9454, 9938. Our evils cut us off from the Lord: 5696. We need to abstain from evils in order to accept goodness from the Lord: 10109. Goodness and truth flow in to the extent that we abstain from evils: 2388, 2411, 10675. Being held back from doing evil and being kept focused on doing good is what is meant by forgiveness of sins: 8391, 8393, 9014, 9444-9450. Some signs indicating whether our sins have been forgiven or not: 9449, 9450. The forgiveness of our sins means that we are seen from the perspective of our goodness, not of our evil: 7697.

[3] Evil and sin are a separation and a turning away from the Lord; this is what evil and sin mean in the Word: 4997, 5229, 5474, 5746, 5841, 9346. Evil and sin also are, and mean, a separation and a turning away from goodness and truth: 7589. Evil and sin are, and mean, what is contrary to the divine design: 4839, 5076. Evil is hell and damnation: 3513, 6279, 7155. No one knows what hell is who does not know what evil is: 7181. Evils are heavy, so to speak, and naturally fall into hell, and the same holds true for falsities that result from evil: 8279, 8298. No one knows what evil is who does not know what love for ourselves and love for the world are: 4997, 7178, 8318. All evils come from these loves: 1307, 1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 3413, 7255, 7376, 7488, 7489, 8318, 9335, 9348, 10038, 10742.

[4] All the people who exist are born with evils of all kinds, even to the point that their intrinsic characteristics are nothing but evil: 210, 215, 731, 874, 875, 876, 987, 1047, 2307, 2308, 3518, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283, 10284, 10731. That is why we need to be reborn and regenerated in order to accept a life of goodness: 3701.

[5] We cast ourselves into hell when we do evil willingly, then deliberately, and finally with delight: 6203. When we are consumed with leading an evil life, we are also consumed, whether we realize it or not, with the false beliefs that go with that evil: 7577, 8094. If we believe what is actually the case, namely, that everything evil comes from hell and that everything good comes from the Lord, evil does not become part of us: 6206, 4151, 6324, 6325. In the other life, evil characteristics are put aside in good people and good characteristics are put aside in evil people: 2256. In the other life, all are brought into their inner nature, so evil people are brought into their evil nature: 8870.

In the other life, there is inherent in every evil its own punishment, and in every good its own reward: 696, 967, 1857, 6559, 8214, 8223, 8226, 9049. In the other life we are not punished for evils we inherited, because they are not our fault; but we are punished for evils that we ourselves have put into practice: 966, 2308. What lies within evil is filthy and foul, no matter how unlike that it may look in outward form: 7046.

In the Word, evil is attributed to the Lord, when in fact nothing but good comes from him: 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7926, 8227, 8228, 8632, 9306. The same holds true for the anger that is attributed to him there: 5798, 6997, 8284, 8483, 9306, 10431. Why it says things like this in the Word: 6071, 6991, 6997, 7643, 7632, 7679, 7710, 7926, 8282, 9010. What "carrying iniquity" means when it is said of the Lord: 9937, 9965. ¹ When good people are being assailed and tested, the Lord turns that evil into a good thing for them: 8631. God's allowing us the freedom to do evil is called "permission": 10778. Evil and falsity are governed by the Lord according to the laws of permission; they are tolerated for the sake of the divine design as a whole: 7877, 8700, 10778. The Lord tolerates evil, but not because he wants it to happen; he does not want it to happen, but it cannot be remedied completely, because his overall goal takes precedence: 7877.

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