4172. 'I myself bore the loss of it' means that good came out of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'bearing the loss' as making good, in this case as good coming out of it. With regard to the evil for which a person is blameworthy and the evil for which he is not, meant respectively by 'a carcass' and 'that which has been torn', and dealt with immediately above, the position is this: The evil for which a person is blameworthy - that is, the evil which he has acquired by his own practice of it in life, and which he has also established so firmly in his thinking that he believes in it and is thoroughly convinced of it - cannot be corrected but remains for ever. But the evil for which he is not blameworthy - that which he has not firmly established in his thinking and of which inwardly he has not become thoroughly convinced - does indeed remain. Yet it clings only to what is external, for it does not enter into anything more internal and corrupt the internal man. This kind of evil is such that good can come out of it, for the internal man, which has not yet been affected nor has yet acquiesced, is able to see that evil in the external man is indeed evil. Thus it is able to be removed. Also, because the internal man is able to see this evil, therefore at the same time good can be seen more clearly. For good is shown up more clearly by that which is the opposite of it than by that which is not; and the person himself then feels a deeper affection for that good. This then is what is meant by good coming out of it.