Anything spiritual to do with the church which enters freely and is freely accepted lasts, anything that does not, does not last.

The reason why anything freely accepted by a person lasts with him is that freedom has to do with his will; and if so, it also has to do with his love. It has been shown elsewhere [397] that the will is a receiver for love. Anyone can understand that all freedom has to do with love, and also with the will, when people say, 'I want this because I love it', and conversely, 'I love this, so I want it.'

But man's will is twofold; there is an interior and an exterior, or a will belonging to the internal man and one belonging to the external man. A person can therefore be a sycophant, and act and talk in one way in front of the world and in another with his close friends. In front of the world he uses the will of his external man to act and talk, with his close friends that of his internal man. By the will of the internal man is meant where his dominant love is. These brief remarks are enough to establish that the interior will is the real man, since that is where the being and essence of his life resides. The understanding is the form it takes to enable the will to make its love visible. Everything a person loves and wants as a result of his love for it is a free choice; for whatever arises from the love of the interior will is the pleasure of his life. And because the love of the interior will is the being of his life, it is also his self (proprium). This is why what is freely accepted by this will lasts, because it attaches itself to the self. The converse is that if anything is not freely introduced, it is not accepted; but more will be said on this in what follows.