3615. WHAT ACTUAL EVIL IS. I was informed, that actual evil is not only that which a man has acquired to himself by acts, but also by thoughts without acts; for if external bonds had not prevented, he would, from cupidity confirmed by reasonings, and in reasoning from cupidity, have voluntarily, and without conscience, rushed into evil. An interior bond which restrains man from actual evil, is that which induces him to think, that if he commits evil he shall lose the happiness of eternal life, which he expects and the desire to be chief in heaven is also a bond which restrains him; but this bond is not to be confounded with conscience, which, when it is true, cannot be given without love towards the neighbor, so that a man prefers his neighbor's interests to his own, and this love cannot exist without faith in the Lord. Genuine conscience is given by the Lord through the knowledges of a true faith, thus from genuine faith. This [is said] in the presence of angelic spirits. - 1748, October 19.