It is clear that the first step in the new birth is a reception of truths by the understanding, and the second is the will to act in accordance with truths, and finally to practice them. No one, however, can be said to be reformed by mere knowledge of truth; for man is able to acquire these and to talk about, teach, and preach them… But he is a reformed man who has affection for truth for the sake of truth.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 – 1772)