Some definitions:

• The word “coveting” means to will from an evil love, that is, from the [self-centered] love of self or the [self-centered] love of the world.

• [Editorial note: Emanuel Swedenborg suggests that there is a good and healthy form of self-love, also a good and healthy form of love for the things of the world. He also suggests that if love for ourselves and love for the things of the world become more important to us than loving our neighbor and loving God/the Lord, these two forms of love tend to become selfish, self-centered, and hateful of others and the Lord. Most often, when Swedenborg talks about these two forms of love (which he refers to as “love of self” and “love of the world”) he is talking about the selfish forms of these loves. For purposes of this outline, then, the words “self-centered” are added, to make it clear that it is the selfish forms of these two loves that are being talked about, not the good and healthy forms. For a fuller explanation of this, see Sourcebook Section B, Assumption #4, There are four universal kinds (or levels) of love.]

• Jesus said, “If anyone looks on a strange woman so that he lusts after her, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

• “Lusting after,” in this scripture, means to will, and unless fears held you back, to do.

• “Coveting” and “lusting after” have to do with desire and longing for evil and falsity.

• They are desire and longing the come forth from the self-centered love of self or of the world.

• They are what an evil love breathes forth.

• This desire and this longing also come from an evil will, thus from an evil heart.

• Other things that come forth from an evil will/heart are murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, and false witness.

• “Coveting” and “lusting after” therefore have to do not only with desires and longings that come from the self-centered love of self and love of the world; they also have to do with all forms of evil that come forth from these loves.
  

Not coveting includes being wary of certain things:

• Beware of the self-centered love of self and love of the world, lest the evils that are contained in the preceding commandments of the Decalogue (especially murder, adultery, stealing, and bearing false witness against your neighbor) enter your will, and so come forth from there.

• Note: All evils (especially murder, adultery, stealing, and bearing false witness against your neighbor) come forth from the self-centered love of self and love of the world as from a fountain.

• Beware lest evils enter through your thought into your will and come forth from there.

• In other words, beware lest evil be received from your thought into your will, and go forth from there into speech and action.

• Notes:

• The things that enter only into the thought of a person, and not through the thought into the will, do not defile him or her. These things are said in New Testament Scripture to go out through the belly into the toilet. But the things that enter through the thought into the will, these things defile a person, because they become his or her own. They are said to enter a person’s heart and to come forth from there.

• Evil and falsity are injected into the thought of a person from hell, and they are sent back again to that place. These things cannot defile the person, because they are sent back. For people cannot stand apart from thinking evil, but from doing it. But as soon as they receive evil from their thought into their will, then it does not go out of them but enters into them, and this is called “coming forth out of the heart.” The things that come forth from there defile a person, because what a person desires in his or her will goes forth into speech and action, to the extent that external bonds do not forbid, which are fear of the law, and fear for the loss of reputation, honor, gain, and life.

• Beware of “striving” and “motion” within yourself. In other words, beware of will and action.

• Beware of your underlying goals or “ends” in life.

• This caution is evident in the Lord’s words, “Whoever looks on a strange woman in order to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

• Note: To do evil to a person is not only to do so in act, but also to will to do it.
  

What is meant by a person’s “house,” and by the things within that house:

• The things that are mentioned in the ninth and tenth commandments of the Decalogue, and that are not to be coveted, symbolically mean all the goods of love and truths of faith in one network, as follows:

• “House” symbolically means all good in general.

• “Wife” means all truth in general.

• “Male servant” means desire or affection for spiritual truth.

• “Female servant” means desire or affection for spiritual good.

• “Ox” means desire or affection for earthly good.

• “Donkey” means desire or affection for earthly truth.

• These are the things that are “not to be coveted,” that is, which are not to be taken away from anyone, or to which harm must not be done.

• Note: Not coveting includes not taking away the goods and truths of faith from anyone, and not doing harm to anyone.