1. Evil and good cannot exist together in man's interior being, consequently neither can the falsity of evil and the truth of good. 2. Good and the truth of good can be introduced into man's interior being only so far as evil and the falsity of evil there have been removed. 3. If good with its truth were introduced there before or further than evil with its falsity is removed, man would depart from the good and go back to his evil. 4. When man is in evil many truths may be introduced into his understanding and kept in memory, and yet not be profaned. 5. But the Lord in His divine providence takes the greatest care that they are not received from the understanding by the will sooner or more largely than man as of himself removes evil in the external man. 6. Should it welcome them sooner or in larger measure, the will would adulterate good and the understanding would falsify truth by mingling them with evils and falsities. 7. The Lord therefore admits man inwardly into truths of wisdom and goods of love only so far as man can be kept in them to the close of life. 233. In order, then, that this arcanum of divine providence may be disclosed so that the rational man will see it in his light, the points made will be explained one by one. 1. _Evil and good cannot exist together in man's interior being, consequently neither can the falsity of evil and the truth of good._ By man's interiors the internal of his thought is meant. Of this he knows nothing until he comes into the spiritual world and its light, which happens on death. In the natural world it can be known only by the enjoyment of his love in the external of his thought, and from evils themselves as he examines them in himself. For the internal of thought in man is so closely connected with the external of thought that they cannot be separated (of this more may be seen above). We say "good and truth of good," and "evil and falsity of evil" because good cannot exist apart from its truth nor evil apart from its falsity. They are bedfellows or partners, for the life of good is from its truth and the life of truth is from its good; the same is to be said of evil and its falsity. [2] The rational man can see without explanation that evil with its falsity and good with its truth cannot exist in man's interiors at the same time. For evil is the opposite of good and good the opposite of evil; two opposites cannot coexist. Implanted in all evil, moreover, is a hatred for good, and implanted in all good the love of protecting itself against evil and removing it from itself. Consequently one cannot be where the other is. If they were together conflict and combat would start and destruction ensue, as the Lord teaches also in these words: Every kingdom divided against itself is desolated, and every city or house divided against itself does not stand . . . Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me disperses (Mt 25:30); and in another place,