st together, good cannot be introduced before evil has
been removed. We say man's "interiors" and mean by these the internal of
thought; and in these, now being considered, either the Lord or the devil
must be present. The Lord is there after reformation and the devil before
reformation. So far as man suffers himself to be reformed, therefore, the
devil is cast out, but so far as he does not suffer himself to be
reformed the devil remains. Anyone can see that the Lord cannot enter as
long as the devil is there, and he is there as long as man keeps the door
closed where man acts together with the Lord. The Lord teaches in the
Apocalypse that He enters when that door is opened by man's mediation:

I stand at the door, and knock; if anyone hears my voice, and opens the
door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with Me (3:20).

The door is opened by man's removing evil, fleeing and turning away from
it as infernal and diabolical. Whether one says "evil" or "the devil," it
is one and the same, in turn whether one says "good" or "the Lord," for
within all good is the Lord and within all evil is the devil. From these
considerations the truth of this proposition is plain.

[4] 3. _If good with its truth were introduced before or further than evil
with its falsity is removed, man would depart from the good and go back
to his evil._ This is because evil would be the stronger, and what is
stronger conquers, eventually if not then. As long as evil is stronger,
good cannot be introduced into the inner chambers but only into the entry
hall; for evil and good, as we said, cannot exist together, and what is
in the entry hall is removed by its enemy in the chamber. Thus good is
receded from and evil is returned to, which is the worst kind of
profanation.

[5] Furthermore, it is the enjoyment of man's life to love himself and
the world above all else. This enjoyment cannot be removed in a moment,
but only gradually. In the measure in which it remains in man, evil is
stronger in him and can be removed only as self-love becomes a love of
uses, or as the love of ruling is not for its own sake but for the sake
of uses. Uses then make the head, and self-love or the love of ruling is
at first the body under the head and finally the feet, on which to walk.
Who does not see that good should be the head, and that when it is, the
Lord is there? Good and use are one. Who does not see that when evil is
the head, the devil is there? As