DP 282 - 283 - the Lord heals

DP 282 - 283
The Lord could heal the intellect in everyone
and so cause him to entertain in thought not evils but goods,
and this by various fears, by miracles,
by conversations with the deceased,
and by visions and dreams.
But to heal the intellect only is to heal the person only outwardly.
For the intellect with its thought is the outer constituent of a person's life,
while the will with its affection is the inner constituent of his life.
Consequently a healing of the intellect alone
would be a kind of palliative cure,
which would allow the inner malignity,
being shut in and prevented from emerging,
to consume first the neighboring areas and afterward the outlying ones,
until the whole was necrotic and dying.
It is the underlying will that must be healed,
not by an influx of the intellect into it,
because that is impossible,
but by being instructed and exhorted by the intellect.

A person is permitted to entertain evils in thought
even to the point of intending them
in order that they may be displaced, as we said,
by civil, moral and spiritual precepts,
and this is the case when he thinks
that something is contrary to justice and equity,
contrary to honor and decorum,
and contrary to goodness and truth,
thus contrary to peace, happiness and blessedness of life.
Through these three classes of precepts
the Lord heals the will's love in a person
at first, indeed by fears, and afterward by loves.

But still, evils are not separated and cast out of a person,
but are only displaced and banished to the sides;
and when that is where they are,
and good at the center,
then the evils do not appear.
For whatever is at the center is directly in view
and is seen and perceived.