80. Nothing is appropriated to man that he merely thinks, or even that he thinks to will, unless at the same time he wills to such a degree as to do it when opportunity offers. This is because when a man does anything under these circumstances he does it from the will through the understanding, or from the affection of the will through the thought of the understanding; but so long as it is a matter of thought alone it cannot be appropriated, because the understanding does not conjoin itself with the will, or the thought of the understanding does not conjoin itself with the affection of the will; but the will together with its affection conjoins itself with the understanding and its thought, as has been shown in many places in Part Five of the treatise THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM. This is meant by these words of the Lord:
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which goeth out of the heart through the mouth defileth the man. Matt. xv. 11, 17, 18, 19. By "the mouth" in the spiritual sense is meant thought, because thought speaks by means of the mouth; and by "the heart" in that sense is meant affection which is of love. If a man thinks and speaks from this affection, he then defiles himself. Again, in Luke VI. 45, by "the heart" is meant affection which is of the love or will, and by "the mouth", thought which is of the understanding.
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