205. (V.) As far as anyone does not take cognizance of and know what sins are, he does not see but that he is without sins. Every man loves his proprium, both the proprium of his will and the proprium of his understanding. The proprium of his will is evil and the proprium of his understanding is falsity from that evil; thus it is the falsity of evil. And as every man loves his own, he therefore loves the evil and its falsity. And as everything that is loved is delightful, he does not therefore know but that the evil in him is good, and its falsity truth. For everything is pronounced good that is delightful. From these considerations it may now be seen, that if a man does not take cognizance of and know what sins are, so far he does not see but that he is without sins. But because a man loves his evil and its falsity, because he loves his proprium, he cannot of himself know what evil is and the falsity therefrom, but must see it from another source. He will see it from the precepts of religion, all of which refer to the ten commandments of the Decalogue. If he in his heart rejects these precepts, he can in no wise see but that he is without sins. And yet as he is initiated from childhood into the worship of God, and knows from the doctrine of the church that, from primal origin and afterwards from birth he is a sinner, he begins to confess that he is a sinner. But as he does not know what sin is, he nevertheless still believes that he is not a sinner. I have heard some declare that they were sinners, that from conception and from birth they were in every kind of sin, that from the head to the sole of the foot there is no soundness in them, and many such things; yet, because they knew not what sins were, they did not know that the love of self and pride are the heads of all sins; they did not know that to indulge in hatred and revenge if one is not honored and worshipped like a demigod, is a sin; nor that to slander the neighbor on account of his enmity, and so bear false witness against him, is a sin; nor that to deceive anyone, by word or deed, is a sin; nor that to despise another in comparison with one's self, to envy him his goods, to covet them, is a sin; nor again that it is a sin to attach merit to all that pertains to one's worship of God, either to one's faith or charity, besides innumerable other things. I have heard from them that they did not know such things were sins; nay, nor anything, whatever it is, that anyone thinks and does not speak, or that he wills and does not do. From this ignorance one said he did not know that he was a sinner, "And if I am," he said, "I have been purified from them when I prayed, 'O God, I do not know my sins, remit them.'" But when the same person examined himself, which took place in the world of spirits, he saw that his sins were so many they could not be told; and yet that he could if he would take cognizance of and know them. But he said he did not wish, because he should thus abstain from them in thought and will, which would be acting against the delight of his life. From all this now it is plain that as far as anyone does not take cognizance of sins and know what they are, he does not see but that he is without sins.