452. (7) Fornication is light in the measure that it looks to conjugial love and prefers it. There are degrees in qualities of evil as there are degrees in qualities of good. Consequently every evil is relatively lighter or more serious in the same way that every good is relatively better or more excellent. So it is with fornication. Because it is lust, and a lust of the natural self not yet purified, it is an evil. But because every person can be purified, therefore in the measure that a person progresses toward a purified state - thus in the measure that fornication moves toward conjugial love, which is the purified state of love for the opposite sex - in the same measure that evil becomes a lighter evil; for in that measure it is wiped away. (We will see in the following discussion that the evil of fornication is more serious in the measure that it moves toward a love of adultery.) [2] Fornication is light in the measure that it looks to conjugial love for the reason that the person then looks, from the unchaste state in which he is, toward a chaste state. Moreover, to the extent that he prefers the chaste state, he is to that extent also in it in regard to his intellect; and to the extent that he not only prefers it, but also prizes it more, he is in it as well in regard to his will, thus in regard to his inner self. If he nevertheless persists in fornicating, it is then to him a necessity, for reasons that he has examined in himself. [3] There are two reasons which make fornication light in the case of those who prefer the married state and prize it more. The first is that married life is for them the purpose, intention or end. The second is that they keep evil separate from good in them. As regards the first reason, that married life is for them the purpose, intention or end - that is because a person is a person of such a character as he is in his purpose, intention or end, and so he also appears to the Lord and to angels; indeed, so he is also regarded by wise men in the world. For the intention is the soul in all actions, and it forms the basis for condemnations and exonerations in the world, and imputations after death. [4] As regards the second reason, that people who prefer conjugial love to the lust of fornication keep evil separate from good, thus keeping what is unchaste separate from what is chaste - that is because they separate them in perception and intention; and those who separate these two in perception and intention before they are in a good or chaste state are also separated and purified from the evil of that lust when they come into a conjugial state. This does not happen in the case of those who in fornication look to adultery, as will be seen in the discussion that follows next.