246. This spiritual heat is obtained only by shunning evils as sins, and at the same time looking to the Lord. For so long as a man is in evils he is also in the love of them, because he lusts after them, and the love of evil or lust is a love contrary to spiritual love and affection. And this love or lust can be removed only by shunning evils as sins, and because a man cannot shun evils from himself, but from the Lord, therefore he must look to Him. When therefore he shuns these from the Lord, then the love of evil with its heat is removed, and in place of it, the love of good with its heat is introduced, and by this means a higher degree is opened. For the Lord flows in from above and opens it, and then conjoins love, or spiritual heat, to wisdom or spiritual light. From this conjunction the man begins to flourish spiritually, like a tree in springtime.