It is the intellect alone which is convinced, and on being convinced it enlists the will and ranges it around itself, so bending it to obedience. Being convinced is the result of reasonings, which the mind seeks either from its upper or its lower region. If they come from the upper region, which is in touch with heaven, it approves marriage and condemns adultery; if from the lower region, which is in touch with the world, it approves adultery and treats marriage as worthless.

Everyone is just as able to be convinced of evil as of good, and likewise of falsity as easily as of truth. Being convinced of evil is perceived as more delightful than being convinced of good, and being convinced of falsity seems clearer than of truth. The reason is that to be convinced of evil and falsity one's reasonings are taken from pleasures, joys, appearances and fallacies of the bodily senses. But to be convinced of good and truth, one's reasons are taken from the region above bodily sense-impressions. Now since it is equally possible to be convinced of evils and falsities as it is of forms of good and truth, and since the intellect which is convinced draws the will to take its side, and the will together with the intellect forms the mind, it follows that the form of the human mind depends upon its convictions. If these favour marriage, it is turned towards heaven, but if they favour adultery, towards hell. It is the nature of the form of a person's mind which determines the nature of his spirit, and so the nature of the person. These considerations now establish that acts of adultery in this degree are imputed after death in proportion to their convictions.