498. The conclusion from this is that true freedom of will in spiritual matters resides in a person's soul in full perfection. From there it flows, like a gush of water into a spring, into both parts of his mind, the will and the understanding, and through these into the bodily senses, and into speech and action. Life in a person exists in three degrees: in the soul, the mind and the body with its senses. Everything in a higher degree excels in perfection what is in a lower degree. It is this freedom a person enjoys by means of which, in which and together with which the Lord makes His presence felt by a person, unceasingly pressing to be received. But He never deflects or does away with his freedom, since, as I said before, nothing which a person does without freedom in spiritual matters lasts. It can therefore be said that it is this freedom which permits the Lord to reside in a person's soul.
[2] It is too obvious to require explanation, that wrongdoing is in both the spiritual and natural worlds curbed by laws, since no society anywhere could otherwise be stable. Yet illustrations are needed to show that without those external constraints not only would society come to an end, but the whole human race would perish too. Man is prey to two loves, that of dominating others and that of possessing everyone's wealth. These loves, if given free rein, race away without limit. The hereditary evils a person acquires by birth come chiefly from those two loves. Adam's crime was simply wishing to become like God, an evil ambition the serpent put into his mind, as we are told. So when he was cursed, he was told that the earth should bring forth thorns and thistles for him (Gen. 3:5, 18), meaning all evil and falsity derived from it. All held in thrall by those loves regard themselves alone as the one person in whom and for whom all others exist. They are without pity, fear of God, or love for the neighbour, so that they are unmerciful, savage and cruel, their greed and longing to rob and steal are worthy of hell, and they are cunning and deceitful in carrying out such crimes. Not even the animals of the earth have such innate wickedness, for the only desire which makes them kill and eat other animals is to fill their bellies and to protect themselves. A wicked man, therefore, looked at from the point of view of those loves is more savage, more fierce and worse than any animal.
[3] It becomes clear in riotous crowds, where the restraints of the law are ineffective, that this is what people are like inwardly, as also in cases of massacre and looting, when the signal is given to wreak one's fury on the defeated or besieged; hardly anyone holds his hand until the drum is heard signalling it to cease. These examples show that if there were no fear of legal penalties to deter people, not only society but the whole human race would be destroyed. The only way to be rid of all these evils is to use one's free will in spiritual matters correctly, that is, to focus the mind on thoughts of the conditions of life after death.
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