evils for any other reason than because they are sins, we are not abstaining
from them, but merely making them invisible to the world.331 Evil and good cannot coexist; the more evil is removed, the more
good is focused on and felt. This is the case because all who are in the spir-
itual world have a field of their particular love emanating around them.
This field spreads all around and has an effect on others. It creates feelings
of harmony or antipathy. These fields separate the good from the evil.
The fact that evil has to be removed before goodness is recognized,
perceived, and loved could be compared with many situations that are
possible in our world; for example, the following: Suppose someone
keeps a leopard and a panther in an apartment and, as the one who feeds
them, is able to live safely with them. No one else can visit unless their
owner first removes these wild animals.
[ 2 ] Guests invited to the table of the king and queen would not for-
get to wash their faces and hands before attending. No bridegroom goes
into the bedroom with his bride after the wedding without first washing
himself all over and putting on a wedding garment. Anyone must first
purify ore with fire and remove slag before getting pure gold or silver.
Everyone separates the tares or weeds from the harvested wheat before
taking it into the barn. Everyone removes the beards from harvested bar-
ley with threshing tools before bringing it home.
[ 3 ] Everyone cooks some of the juice out of raw meat before it
becomes edible and is set on the table. Everyone knocks the grubs and
caterpillars off the leaves of trees in the garden to prevent them from
devouring the leaves and causing a loss of fruit. Everyone removes
garbage from the house and the front entrance and cleans up those areas,
especially when expecting a visit from a prince or the prince’s daughter to
whom one is engaged. Does any man love a young woman and propose
to marry her if she is riddled with malignancies or covered all over with
pustules and varicose veins, no matter how much she puts makeup on
her face, wears gorgeous clothing, and makes an effort to be attractive by
saying nice things and paying compliments?
[ 4 ] The need for us to purify ourselves from evils, and not to wait for
the Lord to do it without our participation, is like a servant coming in
with his face and clothes covered in soot and dung, approaching his mas-
ter, and saying, “Lord, wash me.” Surely his master would tell him, “You
foolish servant! What are you saying? Look, there is the water, the soap,
and a towel. Don’t you have hands? Don’t they work? Wash yourself!”
The Lord God is going to say, “The means of being purified come
from me. Your willingness and your power come from me. Therefore use