NEUOFFENBARUNG121. (4) That the spiritual offspring, which are born from the marriage of the Lord with the Church are truths, from which come understanding, perception, and all thought; and goods, from which are love, charity, and all affection. That goods and truths are the spiritual offspring born of the Lord by the Church, is because the Lord is good itself and truth itself, and these in Him are not two but one; and because nothing can proceed from Him but what is in Him, and is Himself. That the marriage of good and truth proceeds from the Lord and flows in with men, and is received according to the state of mind and life of those that are of the church, has been shown in the preceding section, On the Marriage of Good and Truth. The reason why man by truths has understanding, perception, and all thought, and by goods has love, charity, and all affection, is that all things in man have relation to truth and good, and the two things in him which constitute him are will and understanding, and the will is the receptacle of good, and the understanding is the receptacle of truth. That the things proper to the will are love, charity, and affection, and the things proper to the understanding are perception and thought, needs no light from demonstration, for there is light in the proposition from the understanding itself.
122. (5) That from the marriage of good and truth which proceeds and flows in from the Lord, man receives truth, and to this the Lord conjoins good; and that thus the Church is formed with man by the Lord. The reason why, from the good and truth that proceed as one from the Lord, man receives truth, is that he receives it as his own, and appropriates it to himself as his own. For he thinks it as if of himself, and speaks from it in like manner, and this because truth is in the light of the understanding and thence he sees it; and what a man sees within himself, or in his mind, he knows not whence it is, for he does not see the inflowing, as he does things that fall into the sight of the eye; and therefore he supposes it to be in himself. It is given man of the Lord that it should so appear, in order that he may be man, and that there may be in him a reciprocal of conjunction. Add to this, that man is born a faculty of knowing, understanding, and becoming wise, and this faculty receives the truths whereby it has knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. And as the female was created by means of the truth of the male, and is formed into the love of it more and more after marriage, it follows that she also receives her husband’s truth in herself, and conjoins it with her good.
123. That the Lord adjoins and conjoins good to the truths which man receives, is because man cannot take good as of himself, for it is not seen by him. The reason is that it is not a matter of light but of heat, and heat is felt and not seen. Therefore when in thought man sees truth, he rarely reflects upon the good that, from the love of the will, flows into it and gives it life. Nor does the wife reflect upon the good with her, but upon the inclination of the husband towards her, which is according to the ascent of his understanding to wisdom. The good that is with her from the Lord she applies without the husband knowing anything of the application. From these considerations the truth is now manifest, that man receives truth from the Lord, and that the Lord adjoins good to that truth according to his application of the truth to use, thus, as man wills to think wisely, and thence to live wisely.
124. The reason why the church is thus formed with man by the Lord is, that then he is in conjunction with the Lord, in good from Him, and in truth as if from himself; so that the man is in the Lord and the Lord in him, according to His words in John xv. 4, 5. It is similar if for good we say charity, and for truth, faith; for good is of charity and truth is of faith.
125. (6) That the husband does not represent the Lord and the wife the Church; because both together, the husband and wife make the Church. It is a common saying in the church that, as the Lord is the head of the church, so is the husband the head of the wife; from which it would follow that the husband represents the Lord, and the wife the church. But the Lord is the head of the church, and man (homo)-man and woman-are the church; and still more husband and wife together. The church with them is first implanted in the man, and through the man in the wife; because the man receives its truth in his understanding, and the wife from the man. If the contrary it is not according to order. This however does sometimes occur; but with men who either are not lovers of wisdom, and therefore are not of the church; as also with those who depend as slaves on the beck of their wives. But of this matter something may be seen in the Preliminaries, n. 21.
126. (7) Therefore, that in the marriages of angels in the heavens and of men on earth, there is not a correspondence of the husband with the Lord and of the wife with the Church. This follows from what has just been said; to which however it is to be added that it appears as if truth were the primary thing of the church, because it is its first in time. It is from this appearance that prelates of the church have given the palm to faith, which is of truth, rather than to charity, which is of good. In like manner the learned have placed thought, which is of the understanding, before affection, which is of the will. Wherefore it is then as if the knowledge of what the good of charity is, and of what the affection of the will is, were lying hidden away in the grave; and earth also is cast upon them by some, as upon the dead, lest they should rise again. But that the good of charity is the primary thing of the church, may be seen with open eyes by those, who have not closed the way from heaven into their understandings by confirmations in favor of faith, that it alone makes the church, and, in favor of thought, that it alone makes the man. Now, as the good of charity is from the Lord, and truth of faith is with man as if from him, and these two effect such a conjunction of the Lord with man as is meant by the Lord’s saying, that:
He is in them, and they in Him (John xv. 4, 6);
it is plain that this conjunction is the church.
127. (8) But that there is a correspondence with conjugial love, with semination, prolification, the love of children, and like things which are in marriages and from them. These things however are deeper secrets than can enter with any light into the understanding, unless a knowledge of correspondence has preceded. If this has not been unveiled to the understanding, however the subjects of this section might be explained, it would be in vain to grasp at them. But what correspondence is, and that it is the relation of natural things with spiritual, has been shown by many things in the Apocalypse Revealed; also in the Arcana Coelestia; and specifically in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scriptures; also in particular in a Relation respecting it, to follow hereafter. Until this knowledge has been acquired, only these few things shall be presented before the understanding in the shade. That conjugial love corresponds to the affection of genuine truth, to its chastity, purity, and holiness; that semination corresponds to the potency of truth; that prolification corresponds to the propagation of truth; and that the love of infants corresponds to the protecting of truth and good. Now, as truth in man appears as his, and good is adjoined to it by the Lord, it is plain that those correspondences are of the natural man with the spiritual or internal man. But some light will be given on these subjects in the Relations which follow.
128. (9) That the Word is the medium of conjunction, because it is from the Lord and thus is the Lord. The Word is the medium of the Lord’s conjunction with man, and of man’s with the Lord, for the reason that in its essence it is Divine truth united with Divine good, and Divine good united with Divine truth. It may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 373, 483, 689, 881), that this unition is in each and all things of the Word, in its celestial and its spiritual sense. From which it follows that the Word is the perfect marriage of good and truth; and because it is from the Lord, and what is from Him also is Himself, it results that when a man reads the Word, and takes truths therefrom, the Lord adjoins good. For man does not see the goods that affect, because he reads it from the understanding, and the understanding takes from it nothing but its own things, which are truths. That good is adjoined to these by the Lord the understanding feels, from the delight that flows in when it is enlightened. But this does not take place interiorly with others than those who read it to the end that they may become wise; and the end of becoming wise is with those who wish to learn more of genuine truths there; and by means of them to form the church within themselves. But they who read it only for the glory of erudition, and they who read it from an opinion that the mere reading or hearing of it inspires faith and conduces to salvation, do not receive any good from the Lord; because the end of these is to save themselves by the mere words, wherein is nothing of truth; and the end of those is to become eminent for learning, with which end there is no spiritual good conjoined, but only the natural delight that comes of worldly glory. Because the Word is the medium of conjunction it is called the covenant, Old and New; a covenant signifies conjunction.
129. (10) That the Church is from the Lord, and is with those who come to Him and live according to His commandments. It is not denied at this day that the church is the Lord’s, and because it is the Lord’s that it is from the Lord. It is with those who come to Him, because His church in the Christian world is from the Word, and the Word is from Him, yea, from Him in such wise that it is Himself. Therein is the Divine Truth united with the Divine Good, and this also is the Lord. Nothing else is meant in John i. 1-14, by the Word “which was with God, and which was God, from which is the life and the light of men, and which was made flesh.” And further, it is with those who come to Him because it is with them that believe in Him; and no one can believe that He is God, the Saviour and Redeemer; Jehovah the Justice; the Door by which to enter into the sheepfold, that is, into the church; the Way, the Truth, and the Life; that no one. cometh to the Father but by Him; that He and the Father are one; and many more things which He Himself teaches; these things, I say, no man can believe except from Him. That it cannot be unless He is approached, is because He is the God of heaven and earth, as He also teaches. Who else should be approached? Who else can be approached? It is with those who live according to His commandments, because with others there is no conjunction; for He says:-
He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will love him, and will make My abode with him. But he that loveth Me not doth not keep My commandments (John xiv. 21-24).
Love is conjunction; and conjunction with the Lord is the church.
130. (11) That conjugial love is according to the state of the Church, because it is according to the state of wisdom with man. That conjugial love is according to the state of wisdom with man, has often been stated before and will often be said hereafter; it shall therefore be illustrated here what wisdom is, and that it makes one with the church: With man there is knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. Knowledge is of things cognized; intelligence is of reason; and wisdom is of life. Wisdom. considered in its fulness is at the same time of things cognized, of reason, and of life; cognitions precede; through them reason is formed; and wisdom by both, and this when one lives rationally according to the verities that are cognitions. Wisdom therefore is at once of reason and of the life; and it is becoming wisdom while it is of reason and thence of life, and is wisdom when it has become of life and thence of reason. The most ancient people in this world acknowledged no other wisdom but wisdom of life. This was the wisdom of the men of old who were called sophi (wise men). But the ancient people who succeeded the most ancient acknowledged as wisdom the wisdom of reason; and they were called philosophi (lovers of wisdom). But at this day many even call knowledge wisdom; for the learned, the erudite, and the mere sciolists are called wise-wisdom has thus glided down from its summit to its valley.
But something shall also be said as to what wisdom is in its origin, in its progress, and thence in its full state. The things which pertain to the church, and are called spiritual, reside in the inmosts with man; those that concern the state, and are called civil affairs, occupy a place below them; and those that pertain to knowledge, experience, and skill, and are called natural, form their seat.* The reason why the things that pertain to the church, and are called spiritual, have their abode in man’s inmosts, is that they conjoin themselves with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; for no other things enter with man from the Lord through heaven. That things pertaining to the state, called civil affairs, occupy a place below the spiritual, is because they conjoin themselves with the world; in fact they are of the world, for they are statutes, laws, and regulations, which bind men, so that there may be formed of them a stable and well ordered society and state. That matters of knowledge, experience, and skill, which are called natural, form the seat, is because they closely conjoin themselves with the five bodily senses, and these are the ultimates, on which interior things, which are of the mind, and inmost things, which are of the soul, are as it were seated. Now, as the things of the church, called spiritual, reside in the inmost, and what resides in the inmost constitutes the head, and as the things that follow under these, called civil, form the body, and the ultimates, called natural, make the feet, it is evident that when these three follow in their order, man is a perfect man. For then they flow in in like manner as things of the head flow into the body, and through the body into the feet; so that spiritual things are within civil, and through the civil within the natural. Now, as spiritual things are in the light of heaven, it is plain that by their light they enlighten those that follow in order, and animate them by their heat which is love; and that when this is so the man has wisdom.
Since wisdom is of life and thence of reason, as was said above, the question arises, What is wisdom of life? In a brief summary it is this: To shun evils because they are hurtful to the soul, hurtful to the state, and hurtful to the body; and to do good deeds because they are of advantage to the soul, to the state, and to the body. This is the wisdom which is meant by wisdom wherewith conjugial love allies itself. For it allies itself therewith by this, that it shuns the evil of adultery as a bane to the soul, to the state, and to the body. And as this wisdom springs from spiritual things which are of the church, it follows that conjugial love is according to the state of the church, because it is according to the state of wisdom with man. It is also meant by this, that-as has been stated many times before-in so far as a man becomes spiritual he is in love truly conjugial; for man is made spiritual by means of the spiritual things of the church. More respecting the wisdom wherewith conjugial love conjoins itself may be seen below, at n. 163-165.
* Latin: subsellium, originally a low seat.
131. (12) And because the Church is from the Lord, conjugial love also is from Him. As this follows from what has been said above, I refrain from further confirmations. Besides, that love truly conjugial is from the Lord all the angels of heaven testify; and also that this love is according to the state of wisdom, and the state of wisdom is according to the state of the church with them. That such is the testimony of the angels of heaven is plain from the Relations after the chapters, which are things seen and heard in the spiritual world.
132. To these I will add two Relations. First, this:-
I once conversed with two angels, one from the eastern heaven, the other from the southern heaven, who, when they perceived that I was meditating on the secrets of wisdom pertaining to conjugial love, said, “Do you know anything about the schools of wisdom in our world?” I said, “That I did not yet.” And they answered, “There are many. And they who love truths from spiritual affection, or because they are truths, and because wisdom is attained by means of them, come together at a given signal, and consider and form conclusions respecting such matters as require a deeper understanding.” Then they took me by the hand, saying, “Follow us, and you shall see and hear. To-day the signal has been given for a meeting.”
I was led across a plain to a hill; and lo! at the foot of the hill an avenue of palms continued even to the summit. We entered it and ascended; and on the top or summit of the hill a grove appeared, the trees of which upon an elevation of ground formed a kind of theater, within which was a level space paved with small stones of various colors. Around this in a square form seats were placed, on which the lovers of wisdom were seated; and in the midst of the theater was a table whereon lay a paper sealed with a seal. Those who were sitting on the seats invited us to seats still vacant; but I responded, “I am led hither by two angels to see and hear and not to sit.” Then the two angels went to the table in the middle of the level area, and broke the seal of the paper, and read before those that were sitting the secrets of wisdom inscribed thereon, which they were now to consider and unfold. They were written and let down upon the table by angels of the third heaven.
The secrets were three: First, What is “the image of God,” and what “the likeness of God,” into which man was created? Second, Why is not man born into the knowledge of any love, when yet beasts and birds, the noble as well as the ignoble, are born into the knowledges of all their loves? Third, What is meant by “the tree of life?” And what by “the tree of knowledge of good and evil?” And what by “eating” of them?
Under these was written, “Combine these three into one statement, and write it on a fresh paper, and place it on the table, and we shall see. If the statement appears of just and even weight upon the scale there will be given to each of you a reward of wisdom.” Having read this the two angels withdrew, and were taken up into their own heavens.
And then they that were sitting on the seats began to consider and unfold the secrets proposed to them; and they spoke in order, first, those who sat on the north side, then those on the west, after them those on the south, and finally those at the east. And they took up the first subject of consideration, which was, What is “the image of God,” and what “the likeness of God,” into which man was created? Then first these words from the Book of Creation were read aloud before all:-
And God said, Let us make man into our image, after our likeness. And God created man into His own image, into the image of God created He him (Gen. i. 26, 27 ).
In the day that God created man, into the likeness of God made He him (v. 1).
They who sat at the north first. spoke; saying, “That the image of God and the likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God; which are the life of the will and the life of the understanding. For we read:-
Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of lives; and man became a living soul (Gen. ii. 7).
Into the nostrils is into the perception, that there was in him the will of good and the understanding of truth, and thus the breath of lives; and as life was breathed into him by God, the image and likeness of God signify integrity, from wisdom and love, and from justice and judgment in him.”
Those who sat at the west favored. these views; adding this, however, “That this state of integrity breathed. into him by God is breathed into every man after him, continually; but it is in man as in a receptacle, and in so far as man is a receptacle, he is an image and likeness of God.”
Then the third in order, those who sat at the south, said, “The image of God and the likeness of God are two distinct things, but in man are united from creation. And we see, as from interior light, that the image of God may be destroyed. by man, but not the likeness of God. This appears as through a veil, from the fact that Adam retained the likeness of God after he had lost the image of God; for we read after the curse:-
Behold the man is as one of us, knowing good and evil (Gen. iii. 22).
And afterwards he is called the likeness of God, but not the image of God (Gen. v. 1). But let us leave it to our associates who sit at the east, and thus are in superior light, to say what the image of God properly is, and what the likeness of God.”
And then after silence was obtained, those sitting at the east rose from their seats and looked up to the Lord; and after that sat down again, and said, “The image of God. is a receptacle of God; and as God is love itself and wisdom itself, the image of God in man is the receptacle in him of love and wisdom from God. But the likeness of God is the perfect semblance and full appearance as if the love and wisdom are in man, and therefore just as if his own; for man feels no otherwise than that he loves of himself and has wisdom of himself, or that he wills good and understands truth of himself, when yet it is not of himself at all, but of God. God alone loves of Himself and is wise of Himself, because God is very love and very wisdom. The semblance or appearance that love and wisdom, or good and truth are in man as if his own, makes man to be man, and capable of being conjoined to God, and so of living to eternity. Whence it follows that man is man from the fact that he can will good and understand truth just as if of himself, and yet know and believe that it is of God. For, through his knowing and believing this, God puts His image in man. This could not be if he should believe that it is from himself and not from God.”
Having said this, there came upon them a zeal from the love of truth, from which they spoke these words: “How can man receive anything of love and wisdom, and retain it and reproduce it, unless he feels it as his own? And how can there be conjunction with God through love and wisdom unless there is given to man something of the reciprocal of conjunction? For there is no conjunction without a reciprocal; and the reciprocal of conjunction is that man shall love God and be wise in the things which are of God as if of himself, and yet believe that it is of God. Then, how can man live to eternity unless he is conjoined with the eternal God? And consequently, how can man be man without the likeness of God in him?”
Having heard these words all approved, and said, “Let the conclusion therefrom be this: �Man is a receptacle of God, and a receptacle of God is an image of God; and as God is love itself and wisdom itself, it is of these that man is a receptacle; and in proportion as he receives, the receptacle becomes an image of God. And man is a likeness of God from the fact that he feels within himself that the things which are of God are in him as his own; and yet from this likeness he is an image of God only so far as he acknowledges that the love and wisdom, or good and truth in him are not his own, and hence are not of him, but are solely in God, and therefore of God.'”
133. After this they took up the second subject of consideration, Why is not man born into the knowledge of any love, when yet beasts and birds, both the noble and the ignoble, are born into the knowledges of all their loves? First they confirmed the truth of the proposition by various considerations, as, with respect to man, that he is born into no knowledge, not even into the knowledge of conjugial love. And they inquired and learned from investigators that an infant cannot of connate knowledge even apply itself to the mother’s breast, but must be moved to it by the mother or the nurse; and that it only knows how to suck, and this is acquired by continual suction in the womb. And afterwards, it does not know how to walk; nor how to articulate sound into any human word, nay, nor even how to sound the affection of its love as beasts do. And further, that it does not know any food suitable for itself, as all beasts do, but seizes whatever is presented, clean or unclean, and puts it into its mouth. The investigators said that man without instruction has not even the knowledge to distinguish sex, and knows absolutely nothing of the modes of loving it; and that not even virgins and youths know them without learning from others, though educated into various sciences. In a word, that man is born corporeal, like a worm; and remains corporeal unless he learns from others to know, to understand, and to become wise.
Then they confirmed the statement that beasts, the noble as well as the ignoble, such as the land animals, the birds of the air, reptiles, fishes, the worms that are called insects, are born into all the knowledges of the loves of their life. For example, into all that relate to their nourishment, all that relate to their habitation, all that relate to the love of the sex and procreation, and into all relating to the rearing of their young. They confirmed this by marvellous examples which they recalled to memory from what they had seen, heard, and read in the natural world,-so they called our world in which they formerly lived-where the beasts are not representative but real. When the truth of the proposition was thus established, they directed their minds to investigate and discover the ends and causes through which they might unfold and disclose this secret. And all said that these things could not but spring from Divine Wisdom, in order that man may be man, and beast be beast and that the imperfection of man at his birth thus becomes his perfection, and the perfection of the beast at its birth becomes its imperfection.
134. Then first those on the north began to open their minds, and said, “Man is born without knowledges that he may receive all knowledges. If he were born into knowledges he could receive none but those into which he was born; nor could he then appropriate any to himself, which they illustrated by this comparison: A man just born is as ground into which no seeds have been implanted, but which can yet receive all seeds, and bring them forth and make them fruitful. But a beast is as ground already planted, and filled with grasses and herbs, which does not receive other seeds than those implanted; if it received others it would choke them. Hence it is that man is many years in growing up, within which years he can be cultivated, like the ground, and bring forth, as it were, every kind of grain and flowers and trees; while a beast is but a few years in growing up, during which it cannot be perfected into any other than the things which are connate.”
Next those at the west spoke, and said, “Man is not born with knowledge like a beast, but is born a faculty and an inclination, a faculty for knowing and an inclination for loving; and is born a faculty not merely for knowing, but also for understanding and for becoming wise; and is born to an inclination, the most perfect, not only for loving the things which are of self and of the world, but those also that are of God and of heaven. Consequently, man is born of his parents an organism which lives only in the external senses, and at first in none that are internal, in order that he may become man successively, first natural, then rational, and finally spiritual; which he would not become if he were born into knowledges and loves as beasts are. For connate knowledges and affections limit progression; but a connate faculty and inclination limit nothing. Man can therefore be perfected in knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom to eternity.”
Afterwards those on the south took up the subject, and expressed their opinion, saying, “It is impossible for man to acquire any knowledge from himself, because no knowledge is connate with him, but he can acquire it from others; and as he can get no knowledge, neither can he get love from himself, since there is no love where there is no knowledge, for knowledge and love are inseparable companions. They can no more be separated than will and understanding, or affection and thought, yea, no more than essence and form. Therefore in just so far as man takes knowledge from others, love adjoins itself to it as its companion. The universal love which adjoins itself is the love of knowing, of understanding, and of becoming wise. This love is in man only, and in no beast; and it flows in from God. We agree with our companions from the west, that man is not born into any love, and therefore not into any knowledge, but that he is only born into an inclination to love and hence into a faculty for receiving knowledges, not from himself but from others, that is, through others. It is said through others, because neither have they received anything of knowledge from themselves, but from God. We agree also with our companions from the north, that man when first born is as ground in which no seeds have been planted, but in which all seeds may be implanted, good as well as bad. To these considerations we add that beasts are born into natural loves, and hence into knowledges corresponding to them; and yet they do not know, think of, understand, and become wise from knowledges; but by means of them are led by their loves, almost as the blind along the streets by dogs, for as to understanding they are blind; or rather, as night walkers, who do what they do by blind knowledge, the understanding being asleep.”
Finally those from the east spoke, and said, “We assent to what our brothers have said, that man has no knowledge from himself, but has it from others and through others, to the end that he may come to know and acknowledge that all his knowledge, understanding, and wisdom are of God; and that he cannot otherwise be conceived, born, and generated of the Lord, and become His image and likeness. For he becomes an image of the Lord by his acknowledging and believing that every good of love and of charity, and every truth of wisdom and of faith he has received and does receive from the Lord, and nothing at all from himself. And he becomes a likeness of the Lord by his feeling this within himself as if it were of himself. He feels this because he is not born into knowledges but receives them, and what he receives appears to him as if from himself. So to feel is also given to man by the Lord that he may be man and not a beast; for by his willing, thinking, loving, knowing, understanding, and becoming wise as if of himself, he receives knowledges, and exalts them into intelligence, and, by the uses of them, into wisdom. Thus does the Lord conjoin man to Himself, and man conjoins himself to the Lord. This could not have been if the Lord had not provided that man should be born in total ignorance.”
After this pronouncement all desired that a conclusion should be come to from their deliberations; and the conclusion formed was this: “That man is born into no knowledge in order that he may come into all knowledge, and may progress into intelligence, and by intelligence into wisdom; and that he is born into no love, that he may come into all love, through applications of knowledges from intelligence; and into love to the Lord through love towards the neighbor; and so may be conjoined to the Lord, and through this conjunction may become a man and live to eternity.”
135. Then they took the paper and read the third subject of consideration, which was, What is meant by “the tree of life,” what by “the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” and what by “eating” of them? And all requested that those who were from the east would unfold this secret, because it requires a profounder understanding, and they who are from the east are in flaming light, that is, in the wisdom of love, and that wisdom is meant by the garden of Eden, wherein those two trees were placed.
They answered, “We shall speak; but as man cannot obtain anything whatever from himself, but receives all from the Lord, we shall speak from Him; and yet it will be by us as if from us.” And then they said, “A tree signifies man; and its fruit signifies the good of life. By the tree of life, therefore, is meant man living from God, or God living in man. And as love and wisdom, and charity and faith, or good and truth, make the life of God in man, these are meant by the tree of life, and from these man has life eternal. The like is signified by the tree of life of which it is given to eat, in Rev. ii. 7; xxii. 2, 14. By the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is signified the man who believes that he lives of himself, and not from God; thus, that love and wisdom, charity and faith, that is, good and truth, are in man, his own, and not of God, believing this, because he thinks and wills, and speaks and acts in all similitude and appearance as if from himself. And because from this belief man persuades himself that God has imparted Himself or infused His Divine into him, therefore the serpent said:-
God doth know that in the day that ye eat of the fruit of that tree your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil (Gen. iii. 5).
By eating of those trees is signified reception and appropriation; by eating of the tree of life, the reception of life eternal; and by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the reception of condemnation, and therefore also both Adam and his wife, together with the serpent, were accursed. By the serpent is meant the devil as to the love of self and the pride of one’s own intelligence. This love is the possessor of that tree; and men who are in pride from this love are such trees. They therefore are in a monstrous error who believe that Adam was wise and did good from himself, and that this was his state of integrity; when in fact Adam was himself accursed on account of that belief, for this is signified by his eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Therefore he then fell from the state of integrity, in which he was by virtue of believing that he was wise and did good from God, and not at all from himself; for this is meant by eating of the tree of life. The Lord alone when He was in the world was wise of Himself and did good from Himself; because the Divine Itself was in Him and was His by nativity. And therefore also by His own power He became the Redeemer and Saviour.”
From all that had been said they formed this conclusion: “That by the tree of life, and by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and by eating of them, is signified that life with man is God in him; and that then it is heaven to him and eternal life. And that death to man is the persuasion and belief that the life he has is not God, but himself; from which belief comes hell to him and eternal death, which is damnation.”
136. After this they looked at the paper left by the angels on the table, and saw written underneath, “Join these three into one statement.” And then they brought them together and saw that the three cohered in a series, and that series or statement was this: “That man was created to receive love and wisdom from God, and yet all likeness as if it were from himself, and this for the sake of reception and conjunction; and that for this reason man is not born into any love, nor into any knowledge, nor even into any power of loving or becoming wise of himself; and therefore if he ascribes every good of love and every truth of wisdom to God he becomes a living man; but if he ascribes them to himself he becomes a dead man.”
They wrote this upon a fresh paper and placed it on the table, and lo! angels were suddenly present, in bright white light, and carried the paper away into heaven. And after it was read there, they that were sitting on the seats heard thence the words, “Well, Well, Well.” And immediately one appeared, as if flying from thence, who had two wings about the feet, and two about the temples, bearing in his hand the rewards, which were robes, caps, and wreaths of laurel. And he came down, and to those sitting at the north he gave robes of the color of opal; to those who sat at the west he gave scarlet robes; to those at the south, caps, the borders of which were adorned with fillets of gold and pearls, and the turned up left side adorned with diamonds cut in the form of flowers; and to those on the east he gave wreaths of laurel in which were rubies and sapphires. Decorated with these rewards they all went home from the school of wisdom; and when they showed themselves to their wives, they came out to meet them, decorated also with gifts of honor from heaven, whereat they wondered.
137. The Second Relation:-
While I was meditating on conjugial love, lo! a long way off there appeared two young children, naked, with baskets in their hands and turtle doves flying around them. And when I saw them nearer they still were as if naked, becomingly adorned with wreaths of flowers; chaplets of flowers bedecked their heads, and garlands of lilies and roses of the color of hyacinth obliquely pendent from the shoulders to the loins, adorned their breasts; and round about the two there was as it were a chain in common, woven of leaflets with olives interspersed. But as they came yet nearer they did not appear as infants, nor naked, but as two persons in the first bloom of life, clad in robes and tunics of shining silk, into which were woven flowers most beautiful to the sight. And as they came close to me there breathed upon me from heaven through them a vernal warmth, with fragrant odor as of the earliest blossomings in gardens and fields. They were two married partners from heaven.
And then they spoke to me; and as what I had just seen was in my thought, they asked me, “What did you see?”
And when I told them that they first appeared to me as naked infants; then as infants adorned with wreaths; and at last as adults clothed in garments embroidered with flowers, and that then forthwith spring breathed upon me with its delights; they smiled pleasantly, and said they did not see themselves, on the way, as infants, nor naked, nor with garlands, but continually in similar appearance as now. And that their conjugial love was thus represented at a distance, its state of innocence by their appearing as naked infants, its delights by garlands of flowers, and the same now by the flowers interwoven in their robes and tunics.
And they continued, “As you said that just as we came near a vernal warmth breathed upon you with its pleasant aromas, as of a garden, we will tell you why it was so.” They said, “We have been now for ages married partners and continually in the flower of age in which you see us now. Our first state was as the first state of a virgin and youth when they unite in marriage; and we then believed that state was the very blessedness of our life. But we heard from others in our heaven, and afterwards we ourselves perceived that that was a state of heat not tempered with light, and that it would successively be tempered, as the husband is perfected in wisdom and the wife loves that wisdom in the husband; and that this is effected by uses and according to them, which uses both of them by mutual aid perform in the society; and that delights follow according as heat and light, or wisdom and its love are tempered. A warmth as of spring breathed upon you as we drew near, because conjugial love and vernal heat in our heaven act as one; for with us heat is love, and the light with which heat is united is wisdom; and use is as the atmosphere which contains both of them in its bosom. What are heat and light without a containant? So what are love and wisdom without their use? The conjugial is not in them, because the subject in which they might be is not. In heaven, where the heat is vernal, there is love truly conjugial. That it is there is because it is not vernal elsewhere than where heat is equally united with light, or where there is as much heat as light, and vice versa. And we aver that as heat delights itself with light, and in turn light with heat, so love delights itself with wisdom, and wisdom in turn with love.”
He further said, “With us in heaven there is perpetual light and never the shade of evening; still less is there darkness; because our sun does not set and rise like your sun, but remains continually midway between the zenith and the horizon, which according to your manner of speech is an elevation of 45 degrees. Hence it is that the heat and light proceeding from our sun make perpetual spring; and that a perpetual springtime breathes upon those in whom love is equally united with wisdom. And our Lord, through the eternal union of heat and light, breathes forth nothing else than uses; thence also are the germinations on your earth, and the mating of your birds and animals, in the springtime. For the vernal heat opens their interiors even to their very inmosts, which are called their souls, and affects them and imparts its conjugial, and causes their prolific inclination to come into its delights, by a continual endeavor to produce the fruits of use, which use is the propagation of their kind. But with men there is perpetual influx of vernal heat from the Lord, wherefore they can at any time, even in mid-winter, enjoy the delights of marriage; for men were created receptions of light, that is, of wisdom, from the Lord; and women were created receptions of heat, that is, of the love of the wisdom of the man, from the Lord. Hence now it is that, as we drew near, a vernal warmth breathed on you, with a fragrant odor as of the early blossomings in gardens and fields.”
Having said this the man gave me his right hand and led me to homes where there were married partners in similar bloom of life as themselves. And he said, “These wives, now seen like virgins, were old women in the world; and their husbands, now appearing as young men, were there infirm old men; and they were all brought back by the Lord to this flower of age because they mutually loved each other, and from religion shunned adulteries as heinous sins.”
And they added, “No one knows the blessed delights of conjugial love but he who rejects the horrid delights of adultery; and no one can reject them unless he is wise from the Lord; and no one has wisdom from the Lord unless he performs uses from the love of use.”
At the same time I also saw the furniture of their houses, every article of which was in a heavenly form, and glistened with gold flaming as it were with rubies set therein.
138. ON THE CHASTE AND THE NON-CHASTE.
I am still at the beginning of the treatment of conjugial love in particular, and conjugial love in particular can be but indistinctly and thus obscurely known unless its opposite also, which is the unchaste, in some measure appears; this does appear in a measure, or in the shade, when the chaste is described together with what is not chaste, for chastity is but the removal of the unchaste from the chaste. But the unchaste, which is entirely opposite to the chaste, is treated of in the latter part of this work, where it is described in its full extent, and with its varieties, under the title, The Pleasures of Insanity pertaining to Scortatory Love. But what the chaste is, and the non-chaste, and with whom they are, will be explained in the following order:
(1) That chaste and non-chaste are only predicated of marriages, and of such things as pertain to marriage.
(2) That chaste is predicated only of monogamic marriages, or those of one man with one wife.
(3) That only the Christian conjugial is chaste.
(4) That love truly conjugial is chastity itself.
(5) That all the delights of love truly conjugial, even the ultimate, are chaste.
(6) That with those who become spiritual from the Lord, conjugial love is purified more and more and becomes chaste.
(7) That the chastity of marriage comes through the total renunciation of scortations from religion.
(8) That chastity cannot be predicated of infants; nor of boys and girls; nor of young men and virgins before they feel with themselves the love of the sex.
(9) That chastity cannot be predicated of those born eunuchs; nor of those made eunuchs.
(10) That chastity cannot be predicated of those who do not believe adulteries to be evils of religion; and still less of those who do not believe adulteries to be hurtful to society.
(11) That chastity cannot be predicated of those who abstain from adulteries for various external reasons only.
(12) That chastity cannot be predicated of those who believe marriages to be unchaste.
(13) That chastity cannot be predicated of those who have renounced marriages by vowing perpetual celibacy, unless there is, and remains in them, a love of the life truly conjugial.
(14) That the state of marriage is to be preferred to a state of celibacy.
The explanation of these propositions now follows.
139. (1) That chaste and non-chaste are predicated of marriages, and of such things as pertain to marriages, is because love truly conjugial is chastity itself, as is to be explained; and the love opposite to it, which is called scortatory, is unchastity itself. In so far therefore as the former is purified from the latter it is chaste, for in so far its destructive opposite is taken away. From which it is plain that the purity of conjugial love is what is called chastity. But there is a conjugial love that is not chaste and yet is not unchastity, as between married partners, who for various external reasons, abstain from the effects of lasciviousness so far as not to think of them. Yet if this love in their spirits has not been purified it still is not chaste. Its form is chaste, but the chaste essence is not in it.
140. Chaste and non-chaste are predicated of such things as pertain to marriages, because the conjugial is inscribed upon both sexes, from inmost things to outermost, and according to this inscription is the man, as to thoughts and affections, and thence inwardly as to the acts and gestures of the body. That this is so appears more evidently from the unchaste. The unchastity residing within their minds is heard in the sound of their speech, and from their application of everything in conversation even though it be chaste to things that are lewd. (The sound of speech is from the affection of the will; the speech is from the thought of the understanding.) That is a sign that the will, with all things thereof, and the understanding with all things thereof, thus the whole mind, and all things therefrom in the body, from the inmosts to the ultimates, overflow with unchasties. I have heard from the angels that with the most consummate hypocrites, however chastely they may speak, unchastity is perceived by the ear, and is also felt from the sphere that flows forth from them. This too is a sign that unchastity resides in the inmosts of their minds, and consequently in the inmosts of their bodies; and that these are outwardly veiled from the sight, as with a crust, painted with figures of divers colors. That a sphere of lasciviousness pours forth from the unchaste is plain from the statutes among the sons of Israel, that all things and every thing was unclean that one who was defiled with such impurities only touched with the hand. From these considerations it may be concluded that it is similar with the chaste; that is to say, that with them each and all things are chaste, from inmost to outermost, and that the chastity of conjugial love makes it so. Hence the saying in the world, that to the pure all things are pure, and to the impure all things are impure.
141. (2) That chaste is predicated only of monogamic marriages, or those of one man with one wife. The reason why chaste is predicated only of these marriages is that with them conjugial love resides not in the natural man, but penetrates to the spiritual, and opens a way for itself successively to the very spiritual marriage-that of good and truth-which is its origin, and with which it conjoins itself. For that love enters in according to the increments of wisdom, and this is according to the implantation of the church by the Lord, as has been shown many times before. This cannot be done with polygamists, because they divide conjugial love, and this love divided is not unlike the love of the sex, which in itself is natural. But some things appropriate to this subject will be seen in the chapter on Polygamy.
142. (3) That only the Christian Conjugial is chaste, is because love truly conjugial in man proceeds at an equal pace with the state of the church with man; and because that state is from the Lord, as has been shown in the preceding chapter (n. 130-131) and elsewhere; also because the church in its genuine truths is in the Word, and in them the Lord is present there. From this it follows that there is no chaste conjugial except in the Christian world; and if it be not there, it is yet possible there. By the Christian conjugial is meant the marriage of one man with one wife. That this conjugial can become inherent among Christians, and by inheritance descend to the offspring from parents who are in love truly conjugial, and that from this a faculty and an inclination to become wise in the things of the church and of heaven may become connate, will be seen in its proper place.
That if Christians marry more wives than one, they commit not only natural but also spiritual adultery, will be shown in the chapter on Polygamy.
143. (4) That love truly conjugial is chastity itself The reasons are these: (1) Because it is from the Lord, and corresponds to the marriage of the Lord and the church. (2) Because it descends from the marriage of good and truth. (3) Because it is spiritual, just in the degree that the church is with man. (4) Because it is the fundamental love, and the head of all loves, celestial and spiritual. (5) Because it is the true seminary of the human race, and thence of the angelic heaven. (6) Because it therefore exists also among the angels of heaven, and with them spiritual offspring are born of it, which are love and wisdom. (7) And because its use is thus pre-eminent above all the other uses of creation. From this it follows that love truly conjugial, viewed from its origin and in its essence, is pure and holy, so that it may be called purity and holiness, and therefore chastity itself. And yet that it is not absolutely pure either with men or angels, may be seen presently in a following section (6, n. 146).
144. (5) That all the delights of love truly conjugial even the ultimate, are chaste. This follows from what has been shown above, that love truly conjugial is chastity itself, and the delights constitute the life of it. That the delights of that love ascend to heaven and enter it, and on the way pass through the joys of the heavenly loves in which the angels of heaven are; so also that they conjoin themselves with the delights of their conjugial love, has been mentioned above. Moreover, I have heard from the angels that they perceive those delights within themselves to be exalted and filled when they ascend from chaste married partners on earth. And, on account of some that were standing by who were unchaste, to the question, whether they meant also the ultimate delights? They nodded assent, and said tacitly, “Why not? Are not these delights those in their fulness?” From whence these delights are, and of what quality they are, may be seen above in n. 69, and in the Relations, especially in those that follow.
145. (6) That with those who become spiritual from the Lord conjugial love is purified more and more and becomes chaste. (1) Because the first love, by which is meant the love before the nuptials and just after the nuptials, partakes somewhat of the love of the sex, thus of the ardor peculiar to the body, not yet moderated by the love of the spirit. (2) Because a man from natural becomes spiritual successively; for he becomes spiritual in the degree that the rational, which is in the middle between heaven and the world, begins to draw its breath from the influx out of heaven; which it does in proportion as it is affected and gladdened with wisdom (of which above, at n. 130); and in so far as this takes place, his mind is elevated into a superior aura, which is the containant of heavenly light and heat, or what is the same, of the wisdom and love in which angels are. For heavenly light acts as one with wisdom, and heavenly heat with love. And as wisdom and its love increase with married partners conjugial love with them is purified. As this takes place successively, it follows that the love becomes more and more chaste. This spiritual purification may be compared with the purification of natural spirits which is done by chemists, and is called defecation, rectification, castigation, cohobation, acuition, decantation, sublimation; and the purified wisdom may be compared with alcohol, which is spirit most highly rectified.
(3) Now, spiritual wisdom being in itself such that it grows more and more warm from the love of becoming wise, and from this increases to eternity, which goes on in proportion as it is purified, as if by defecations, castigations, rectifications, acuitions, decantations, and sublimations; and these are effected by removing and drawing off the understanding from the fallacies of the senses, and the will from the allurements of the body, it is plain that conjugial love likewise, whose parent is wisdom, successively becomes more and more pure, thus chaste.
That the first state of love between married partners is a state of heat not yet tempered with light; but that it is successively tempered, as the husband is perfected in wisdom and the wife loves that wisdom in the husband, may be seen in the Relation, n. 137.
146. But it should be known that there is no conjugial love altogether chaste or pure among men, nor among angels. There is yet a something not chaste or not pure which adjoins or subjoins itself to it. But this is of another nature than what is unchaste. For with them the chaste is above and the not chaste beneath; and there is interposed by the Lord as it were a door on a pivot which is opened by determination; and care is taken that it may not stand open, lest one should pass into the other and they should commingle. For the natural man is by birth contaminated and crammed with evils; but his spiritual is not so, because its birth is from the Lord, for it is regeneration, and this is a successive separation from the evils to which he is inclined by birth.
That no love with men or angels is entirely pure, nor can it become so; but that the end, purpose, or intention of the will is primarily regarded by the Lord; and that therefore so far as a man is in these, and perseveres in them, he is initiated into purity, and makes progress towards it, may be seen above at n. 71.
147. (7) That the chastity of marriage comes through the total renunciation of scortations from religion. The reason is that chastity is the putting away of unchastity. It is a universal rule that in so far as any one puts away evil there is given an opportunity for good to succeed it; and further, in so far as evil is hated, good is loved, and vice versa; consequently, in so far as scortation is renounced the chastity of marriage enters. That conjugial love is purified and rectified in proportion to the renunciation of scortations any one may see, by common perception, as soon as it is said and heard, thus before it is confirmed. But as not every one has common perception it is important that it be also illustrated by confirmations. The confirmations are, that conjugial love grows cold as soon as it is divided, and increasing coldness causes it to perish; for the heat of an unchaste love extinguishes it. There cannot be two opposite heats together, but that the one rejects the other, and deprives it of its potency. When, therefore, the heat of conjugial love removes and rejects the heat of scortatory love, conjugial love begins to grow pleasantly warm, and from a sense of its delights begins to bud and blossom, as an orchard and a rosary in the time of spring, the latter from the vernal temperature of the light and heat of the sun of the natural world, the former from the vernal temperature of the light and heat from the sun of the spiritual world.
148. There is inherent in every man from creation, and therefore by birth, an internal conjugial and an external conjugial. The internal is spiritual, and the external is natural. Man comes first into this; and comes into that as he becomes spiritual. If therefore he remains in the external or natural conjugial, the internal or spiritual conjugial is veiled,-even until he knows nothing of it, yea, until he calls it an empty conceit. And yet if man becomes spiritual he begins to know something of it; after that to have some perception of its quality; and successively to feel its pleasantness, its delights, and its exquisite enjoyments. And as these are experienced, the veil above mentioned between the external and the internal begins to grow thin, then as it were to melt away, and finally to dissolve and disappear. When this has come to pass, the external conjugial still remains, but is continually purged and purified of its dross by the internal; and this until the external becomes as the face of the internal, and derives its delight, and at the same time its life, and the delights of its potency, from the blessedness that is in the internal. Such is the renunciation of scortations, through which comes the chastity of marriage. It may be believed, that the external conjugial, remaining after the internal has separated itself from it, or separated it from itself, is similar to the external not separated. But I have heard from the angels that they are entirely unlike; for that the external from the internal, which they call the external of the internal, is devoid of any lasciviousness; because the internal cannot be lascivious, but only be chastely delighted; and that it carries the like into its external wherein it sensates its delights. With the external separated from the internal it is altogether otherwise. This they declared to be lascivious in general and in every part. They compared the external conjugial from the internal to a noble fruit, whose pleasant savor and fragrance insinuate themselves into its surface, and form that into correspondence with them. They also compared the external conjugial from the internal to a granary, whose store never grows less, but what is taken from it is constantly renewed. But the external separated from the internal they compared to wheat in a winnower, which if it is scattered about only the chaff remains, which is dissipated by a breeze of air. Thus it is with conjugial love if what is scortatory be not renounced.
149. The reason why the chastity of marriage does not exist through the renunciation of scortations, unless this be done from religion, is that without religion a man does not become spiritual, but remains natural; and if the natural man renounces scortations, still his spirit does not renounce them. And thus, though it appear to him that he is chaste through the renunciation, nevertheless unchastity lurks within, like corruption in a wound but superficially healed.
That conjugial love is according to the state of the church with man, may be seen above, n. 130. More may be seen on this subject in the exposition of section 11 below.
150. (8) That chastity cannot be predicated of infants; nor of boys and girls; nor of young men and virgins before they feel with themselves the love of the sex. The reason is that chaste and unchaste are solely predicated of marriages, and of such things as pertain to marriages (see above n. 139). In the case of those who know nothing of things conjugial, chastity is not predicable; for it is as nothing to them, and there is no affection of nothing, and no thought about it. But after that nothing a something springs up when the first of marriage, which is the love of the sex, is felt. That virgins and youths are commonly called chaste before they feel the love of the sex within them, is from ignorance of what chastity is.
151 (1). (9) That chastity cannot be predicated of those born eunuchs; nor of those made eunuchs. By those born eunuchs are meant especially those with whom from birth the ultimate of love is wanting. And as in such case the first and mediate are without a foundation on which to subsist, they cannot come to exist; or if they do exist, such have no care to distinguish between the chaste and the unchaste, for both are indifferent to them. But among these there are many differences. The case is nearly similar with those made eunuchs as with those born eunuchs. But those made eunuchs, because they are both men and women, cannot but regard conjugial love as a phantasy and its delights as fables. If there is anything of inclination in them it becomes mute, that is neither chaste nor unchaste; and being neither, it takes no name either from the one or from the other.
152 (1). (10) That chastity cannot be predicated of those who do not believe adulteries to be evils of religion; and still less of those who do not believe adulteries to be hurtful to society. The reason why chastity cannot be predicated of these is that they do not know what chastity is, nor that there is chastity; for chastity is of marriage, as was shown in the first section of this chapter. And they that do not believe adulteries to be evils of religion make marriages also unchaste, and yet religion in married partners makes their chastity. Thus nothing is chaste to them, and chastity is therefore named to them in vain. They are adulterers by confirmation. But those that do not believe adulteries to be hurtful to society know still less than the former what chastity is, or that there is chastity, for they are adulterers of purpose. If they say that marriages are less unchaste than adulteries, they say this with the mouth and not from the heart, for marriages with them are cold; and they who from this cold speak of chaste heat can have no idea of the chaste heat of conjugial love. Of what character they are, what are the ideas of their thought, and what therefore are the interiors of their speech, will be seen in Part II, respecting the Insanities of Adulterers.
153 (1). (11) That chastity cannot be predicated of those who abstain from adulteries for various external reasons only. Many believe that mere abstinence from adulteries with the body is chastity, when in truth it is not chastity unless it be at the same time with the spirit also. The spirit of man, by which here is meant his mind as to affections and thoughts, makes him chaste or unchaste; for from thence he is so in the body. This, in fact, is altogether such as is the mind or spirit. Whence it follows that they are not chaste who abstain from adulteries with the body and not from the spirit; neither are they who abstain from them in the spirit from the body. There are many reasons which cause a man to abstain from them in the body; and also in the spirit from the body; but whoever does not desist from them in the body from the spirit is unchaste. For the Lord says:-
If any one looketh on the woman of another so that he lust after her, he hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matt. v. 28).
The reasons for abstinence from adulteries with the body only cannot all be enumerated; for they vary according to the states of marriage and also according to the states of the body. For example, there are those who abstain from them for fear of the civil law and its penalties; for fear of the loss of reputation, and thence of honor; for fear of diseases therefrom; for fear of quarrels with the wife at home and hence of disquietude of life; for fear of the vengeance of the husband, or of relatives; and for fear of flogging by the servants. Then there are those who abstain on account of poverty; or of avarice; or of imbecility, arising from disease, or from abuse, or from age, or from impotence. Among them are those also, who because they cannot or dare not commit adulteries with the body, therefore condemn them in spirit, and so talk morally against them and in favor of marriages. But if they do not in spirit, and the spirit does not from religion execrate adulteries, they are yet adulterers; for, though not with the body, yet with the spirit they commit them. And therefore after death, when they become spirits, they openly speak in favor of them. From this it is plain that even the impious can shun adulteries as hurtful; but that none but a Christian can shun them as sins. Now, from these things, the truth of the proposition is established, that chastity cannot be predicated of those who abstain from adulteries merely for various external reasons.
154 (1). (12) That chastity cannot be predicated of those who believe marriages to be unchaste. Like those of whom we have spoken above (n. 152), neither do these know what chastity is, nor that there is chastity; and like those who make chastity to consist only in celibacy, of whom below.
155 (1). (13) That chastity cannot be predicated of those who have renounced marriages by vowing perpetual celibacy, unless there is, and remains in them, a love of the life truly conjugial. Chastity cannot be predicated of these for the reason that after the vow of perpetual celibacy conjugial love is driven out, of which alone, nevertheless, chastity is predicable. And because an inclination to the sex is yet inherent from creation, and hence by birth; and when this is restrained and repressed it cannot be but that this inclination will break forth into heat, and with some into a ferment, which as it rises up from the body into the spirit infests, and with some befouls, it; and it may be that the spirit thence befouled will befoul also the things of religion, and cast them down from their internal seat, where they are in holiness, into externals, where they become but a thing of the mouth and of gesticulation; for which reason it is provided of the Lord that this celibacy is only with those who are in external worship, in which they are because they do not approach the Lord and do not read the Word. With them eternal life is not so much imperilled by injunctions of celibacy, with at the same time a solemn promise of chastity, as it would be with those who are in internal worship. Add to this, that many do not enter into that state of life of their own free will, but some before they come into freedom from reason, and some on account of alluring causes from the world. Among those who adopt that state of life for the sake of the withdrawal of the mind from the world, that they may have leisure for Divine worship, they only are chaste with whom either there was a love of life truly conjugial before that state, or with whom it comes and remains after it; because it is of the love of this life that chastity is predicated. And on this account after death, all who have lived in monasteries are at length absolved from their vows and set at liberty, that they may be brought to choose either a married life, or a life outside of the conjugial, according to their interior vows and the desires of their love. If then they enter into conjugial life, those who also have loved the spiritual things of worship are given in marriage in heaven. But those that choose a life outside of the conjugial are sent to their like who dwell on the sides of heaven. I have asked the angels whether they who have devoted themselves to piety, and have given themselves up to Divine worship, and so have withdrawn themselves from the illusions of the world, and from the lusts of the flesh, and have with this purpose vowed perpetual virginity, are received in heaven, and there become first among the blessed, according to their faith? But the angels replied that they are indeed received, but when they feel the sphere of conjugial love there they become sad and troubled; and then some of their own free will, some by asking leave, and some by command, go, or are sent away; and that when they are outside of that heaven a way is opened for them to their companions who were in a similar state of life in the world; and then from being troubled they become cheerful and rejoice together.
156 (I). (14) That the state of marriage is to be preferred to a state of celibacy. This is evident from what has thus far been said concerning marriage and concerning celibacy. That the state of marriage is to be preferred is because it is from creation; because its origin is the marriage of good and truth; because its correspondence is with the marriage of the Lord and the church; because the church and conjugial love are constant companions; because its use is pre-eminent above the uses of all things of creation, for thence according to order is the propagation of the human race, and also of the angelic heaven, for this is from the human race. Add to this that marriage is the fulness of man; for through this man becomes a full man, as will be shown in the following chapter. In celibacy all these things are wanting.
But if the proposition be made, that the state of celibacy is preferable to the state of marriage, and if this be submitted to examination so that it may be assented to, and may be established by confirmations, then these conclusions follow therefrom: That marriages are not holy and that they are not chaste; nay, that chastity in the female sex is with none others but those who abstain from marriage and vow perpetual virginity; and besides, that they who vow perpetual celibacy are meant by:
Eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God (Matt. xix. 12).
And many other conclusions, which, coming from an untrue proposition are also not true. By “eunuchs who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God,” are meant spiritual eunuchs, who are those that in marriages abstain from the evils of scortation. That Italian eunuchs are not meant is plain.
151 (2). To this I add two Relations. First:-
While I was returning home from the school of wisdom, spoken of above (n. 132), on the way I saw an angel in raiment of the color of hyacinth. He came to my side and said: “I see that you have come from the school of wisdom, and that you have been gladdened by what you have heard there. And as I perceive that you are not fully in this world, being at the same time in the natural world, and therefore do not know about our Olympic gymnasia where the ancient Sages meet, and learn from those that come from your world what changes and successions of state wisdom has undergone and is still passing through; if you please I will conduct you to a place where many of the ancient Sages dwell and many of their sons, that is of their disciples.”
And he led me towards the boundary between the north and the east. And looking thitherward from an elevated place, lo! I beheld a city, and on one side of it two hills, the one nearer the city being lower than the other. And he told me, “This city is called Athenaeum; the lower hill, Parnassium; and the higher, Heliconeum. They are so called because in and about that city dwell the ancient sages of Greece, such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristippus, Xenophon, with their disciples and novices.”
And I asked about Plato and Aristotle. He said, “They and their followers dwell in another region, because they taught matters of reason which are of the understanding; but the others taught morals which are of the life.” He said that from this city Athenaeum students are frequently sent to the learned from the Christians, that they may report what at this day they think about God, the creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, the state of man in comparison with that of beasts, and about other things which are matters of interior wisdom. And he told me that a herald had this day announced an assembly,-an indication that their emissaries have met with new-comers from the earth, from whom they have heard strange things. And we saw many going out from the city and from its vicinity, some with laurels on their heads, some bearing palms in their hands, some with books under their arms, and some with pens under the hair of the left temple.
We mingled with them and went up together. And lo! on the hill was an octagonal palace, which was called the Palladium, and we entered. And behold, eight hexagonal recesses there in each of which was a library, and also a table at which those crowned with laurel were sitting. And in the Palladium itself appeared seats cut out of the rock, on which the others seated themselves. Then a door was opened at the left through which two new-comers from the earth were introduced. And, after salutation, one of the laureates asked them, “What news from the earth?”
They said, “It is new that men like beasts have been found in the woods, or beasts like men. But they were known by their face and body to have been born men, and to have been lost or left in the woods in the second or third year of their age.” They said, “That they could not express anything of thought by sound, nor learn to articulate sound into any word. Nor did they know the food suitable to them as beasts do, but what they found in the woods they put into their mouths, both clean and unclean,” and many other like things; “From which,” they said, “some of the learned among us have conjectured, and some inferred, many things respecting the state of men relative to that of beasts.”
On hearing this some of the ancient Sages asked what the conjectures and inferences from these facts were. The two new-comers answered, “They were many, which however might be reduced to these. (i.) That man of his own nature and also by birth is more stupid and thence viler than any beast; and so becomes if not instructed. (ii.) That he can be instructed, for he has learned to articulate sound and thence to speak; and by this means he began to express thoughts, and this gradually more and more, until he could express the laws of society, many of which, however, have been stamped upon beasts by birth. (iii.) That beasts have rationality in like manner with men. (iv.) Therefore if beasts could speak they would reason about every thing as skillfully as men, an indication of which is the fact that they, equally with men think from reason and prudence. (v.) That understanding is but a modification of light from the sun, heat co-operating by means of the ether; so that it is only an activity of interior nature; and that it can be exalted until it appears as wisdom. (vi.) That it is therefore vain to believe that a man lives after death any more than a beast; except perhaps that for some days after death, from the exhalation of the life of the body, he may appear as a vapor under the form of a specter, before he is dissipated into nature, somewhat as a twig raised up from the ashes appears in the likeness of its own form. (vii.) Consequently that religion which teaches that there is a life after death is an invention to keep the simple inwardly in restraint by its laws, as they are outwardly restrained by civil laws.” To this they added that, “The merely ingenious reason in this way, but not the intelligent.”
When asked, “What do the intelligent think?” they answered, “That they had not heard, but they so supposed.”
152 (2). Hearing these things all who were sitting at the tables exclaimed, “Oh, what times are there now on earth! Alas, what changes has wisdom undergone! How transformed into foolish ingenuity! The sun is set, and is beneath the earth diametrically opposite to its meridian! Who might not know from the evidence of those lost and found in the woods that man is such without instruction? Is he not as he is taught? Is he not born in greater ignorance than beasts? Must he not learn to walk? and to talk? If he did not learn to walk would he stand erect upon his feet? And if he did not learn to speak could he give utterance to any thought? Is not every man just as he is taught, insane from falsities, or wise from truths? And when insane from falsities is he not in all phantasy that he is wiser than he who is wise from truths? Are there not men, fatuous and insane, who are no more men than those found in the woods? Are not those who have lost their memory like them? We conclude from all this that without instruction man is not man; and is not a beast; but that he is a form which can receive within him what makes a man; thus that he is not born a man, but becomes a man; and that man is born such a form in order that he may be an organ receiving life from God, to the end that he may be a subject into which God can bring every good, and by union with Himself can render him blessed to eternity. We perceive from what you have said that wisdom is at this day so far extinct, or rendered so foolish, that men know nothing at all about the state of life of men relative to that of beasts. Hence it is that they do not know man’s state of life after death; and those who might know this but are not willing to know it, and therefore deny it, as many of your Christians do, we may liken to those found in the woods. Not that they have become so stupid for want of instruction, but that they have made themselves so stupid by fallacies of the senses, which are the darkness of truths.”
153 (2). But then one standing in the middle of the Palladium, holding a palm in his hand, said: “I beg you to unfold this secret; How man created in the form of God could be changed into a form of the devil. I know that the angels of heaven are forms of God; and that the angels of hell are forms of the devil; and the two forms are opposite, these of insanity, those of wisdom. Say, then, how man created a form of God could pass from day into such night, that he could deny God and eternal life?”
To this the tutors replied in order; first the Pythagoreans, then the Socratists, and afterwards the others. But there was a certain Platonist among them who spoke last, and his view prevailed; which was this: “In the Saturnian period or golden age, men knew and acknowledged that they were forms receptive of life from God; and therefore wisdom was inscribed on their souls and hearts. Hence they saw truth from the light of truth; and by truths perceived good from the delight of its love. But as in subsequent ages the human race fell away from the acknowledgment that every truth of wisdom and thence every good of love with them, continually flowed in from God, they ceased to be habitations of God; and then also discourse with God and consociations with angels ceased. For the interior of their minds-which had been elevated by God upwards to God-were bent out of their course, in a more and more oblique direction outwards to the world, and so by God through the world to God; and at length were inverted into the opposite direction, which is downwards to their own selves. And as God cannot be kept in view by man inwardly inverted, and thus turned away, men separated themselves from God, and became forms of hell, or of the devil. Whence it follows that in the first ages men acknowledged with heart and soul that every good of love, and thence every truth of wisdom in them was from God; and also that these were God’s in them, and thus that they were mere receptacles of life from God; and for that reason they were called images of God, sons of God, and born of God. But that in the succeeding ages this was not acknowledged in heart and soul, but with a kind of persuasive faith; and afterwards as an historical faith; and finally with the mouth only, and to acknowledge such a truth only with the mouth is not to acknowledge, yea, is to deny it in heart. From these facts it may be seen what wisdom is at this day on earth, among Christians, when, though they may be inspired of God by written revelation, they do not know the difference between man and beast, and many therefore believe that if man lives after death a beast must live also, or because a beast does not live after death neither does man live. Has not our spiritual light which enlightens the sight of the mind become thick darkness with them? And their natural light which only enlightens the sight of the body, has it not become splendor to them?
154 (2). After this they all turned to the two new-comers and thanked them for their visit and information; and begged them to report what they had heard to their brethren. The new-comers replied that they would confirm them in this truth that, in so far as they attribute every good of charity, and every truth of faith to the Lord, and not to themselves, they are men; and in so far do they become angels of heaven.
155 (2). The Second Relation:-
One morning most sweet singing heard at some height above me woke me from sleep; and in that first vigil, which is more internal, peaceful, and sweet than the following hours of the day, I was enabled to be kept for some time in the spirit, as if out of the body, and could give exquisite attention to the affection which was being sung. The singing of heaven is nothing else than an affection of the mind emitted out of the mouth as melody; for it is sound, distinct from the discourse of one speaking from an affection of love which gives life to speech. In that state I perceived that it was an affection of the delights of conjugial love, which was made tuneful by wives in heaven. I discerned that it was so from the sound of the singing, wherein those delights were varied in marvellous ways.
After this I arose and looked abroad into the spiritual world. And lo! in the east beneath the sun there appeared as it were a golden rain. It was the morning dew falling in such abundance which, touched by the rays of the sun, presented before my sight the appearance of golden rain. Waked still more fully by this, I walked forth in the spirit and asked an angel, who just then by chance met me, whether he saw the golden rain descending from the sun. He answered that he saw it as often as he was in meditation on conjugial love. And then turning his eyes in that direction he said:
“That rain is falling over a hall in which there are three husbands with their wives, who dwell in the midst of an eastern paradise. Such rain appears to be falling upon that hall from the sun, because wisdom concerning conjugial love and its delights dwells with them, with the husbands wisdom respecting conjugial love, and with the wives, respecting its delights. But I perceive that you are meditating on the delights of conjugial love. I will therefore conduct you to that hall and introduce you.”
And he led me through paradisal scenes to houses built of the wood of the olive tree, with two columns of cedar before the entrance; and introduced me to the husbands, and begged that I might be permitted, in their presence, to converse with their wives. And they bowed assent and called them.
The wives looked searchingly into my eyes. And I asked, “Why is this?” They said, “We can see exactly what your inclination is, and the affection from it, and what is your thought from this about the love of the sex; and we see that you are thinking intensely about it, and yet chastely.” And they asked:
“What would you that we tell you about it?”
I answered, “Tell me, I pray you, something about the delights of conjugial love.”
The husbands nodded assent, saying, “If agreeable to you tell something about them. Their ears are chaste.”
And they inquired, “Who taught you to ask us about the delights of that love? Why not ask our husbands?”
I responded, “This angel who is with me whispered in my ear that wives are receptacles and sensories of them, because they are born loves, and all delights are of love.”
To this, with smiling lips, they answered, “Be prudent, and do not tell such a thing, unless in an ambiguous sense; for it is a wisdom profoundly reserved in the hearts of our sex; and not disclosed to any husband unless he is in love truly conjugial. The reasons are many which are deeply concealed by us.”
And then the husbands said, “The wives know all the states of our mind, and nothing at all is hidden from them. They see, perceive, and feel whatever goes forth from our will; while we, on the other hand, know nothing with the wives. Wives have this gift because they are most tender loves and ardent zeals as it were, for the preservation of conjugial friendship and confidence, and so for the happiness of life of both, which they look out for, for their husbands and for themselves, from the wisdom inherent in their love; which is so full of prudence that they will not, and hence cannot say that they love, but that they are loved.”
I asked, “Why will they not and hence cannot?”
They replied, that if the least such thing escaped from their mouth cold would come over their husbands, and separate them from bed and chamber and from sight. But this is with those who do not regard marriages as holy, and therefore do not love their wives from spiritual love.
It is otherwise with those that do so love. In their minds that love is spiritual, and from this in the body is natural. “We, in this hall, are in this love from that; and therefore we intrust the secrets of the delights of conjugial love to our husbands.”
I courteously asked that they would disclose some of these secrets to me also. And instantly they looked towards a window to the south, and lo! a white dove, whose wings glistened as with silver, and whose head was decked with a crest as of gold. It was standing on a bough from which an olive put forth.
When this was in the effort to expand its wings the wives said, “We will disclose something. While this dove appears it is a sign to us that we may.” And they said, “Every man has five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. But we have also a sixth sense, which is the sense of all the delights of the conjugial love of the husband. We have this sense in the palms of our hands, while we touch the breasts, arms, hands, or cheeks, especially the breasts of our husbands, and also while we are touched by them. All the gladnesses and pleasantnesses of the thoughts of their inner mind (mens), and all the joys and delights of their outer mind (animus), and the cheer and mirth of their bosoms, pass from them into us and take form and become perceptible, sensible, tactile; and we as exquisitely and distinctly discern them as the ear discerns the modulations of song, or as the tongue distinguishes the flavors of dainties. In a word, the spiritual delights of our husbands put on with us, as it were a natural embodiment. For that reason we are called by our husbands the sensory organs of chaste conjugial love and thence of its delights. But this sense of our sex exists, subsists, persists, and is exalted in the degree that our husbands love us from wisdom and judgment, and as we in turn love them from the same in them. This sense of our sex is called in the heavens the sport of wisdom with its love and of love with its wisdom.”
With this I was excited with the desire to inquire more, as to the variety of the delights; and they said, “It is infinite. But we do not wish to say more and therefore cannot; for the dove at our window, with the olive branch under its feet, has flown away.”
And I waited for its return but in vain.
Meanwhile I asked the husbands, “Have you a similar sense of conjugial love?”
They answered, “We have it in general but not in particular. We have a general blessedness, a general delight, and general pleasantness from the particular sensations of our wives; and this general sense which we have from them is as the serenity of peace.”
As this was said, behold beyond the window a swan appeared, standing on a branch of a fig-tree; and he spread his wings and flew away. Seeing this the husbands said, “This is a sign to us for silence about conjugial love. Return at another time and perhaps more may be disclosed.”
And they withdrew and we went away.
156 (2). ON THE CONJUNCTION OF SOULS AND MINDS BY MARRIAGE; WHICH IS MEANT BY THE LORD’S WORDS, THEY SHALL BE NO MORE TWAIN BUT ONE FLESH.
That by creation there was given to man and to woman an inclination and also the faculty of conjunction as into one, and that they are in both man and woman still, is evident from the Book of Creation, and at the same time from the Lord’s words. In the Book of Creation, which is called Genesis, we read that:-
Jehovah God built the rib which He had taken from man into a woman; and brought her to the man; and the man said, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; her name shall be called woman (Ishah) because she was taken out of man (Ish). Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh (Gen. ii. 22-24).
Likewise the Lord said in Matthew:
Have ye not read that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh (xix. 4-5).
From these passages it is plain that woman was created out of man, and that there is in both an inclination and a faculty of reuniting themselves into one. That the reunion is into one man (homo) is also plain from the Book of Creation, where both together are called man (homo); for we read that, “In the day that God created man (homo), male and female created He them, and called their name Man (Homo).” It is said here, “He called their name Adam,” but Adam in the Hebrew language and Man (Homo) are one word. They are also together called man in chapter i. 27, and iii. 22-24 of the same book. And one man is also meant by one flesh, as is plain from passages in the Word where it speaks of all flesh, meaning every man; thus in Gen. vi. 12, 13, 17, 19; Isa. xl. 5, 6; xlix. 26; lxvi. 16, 23, 24; Jer. xxv. 31; xxxii. 27; xlv. 5; Ezek. xx. 48; xxi. 4, 5; and elsewhere.
But what is meant by the rib of the man which was built into a woman; what by the flesh which was closed up in the place thereof; and so what is meant by “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” and by “father and mother” whom after marriage man is to leave; and by “cleave unto his wife,” all this is shown in the Arcana Coelestia where the two books, Genesis and Exodus are explained as to the spiritual sense. It is there shown that a rib is not meant by “rib,” nor flesh by “flesh,” nor bone by “bone,” nor cleave by “cleave,” but that the spiritual things which correspond to these are meant and hence are signified by them. That spiritual things are meant, which of two make one man, is plain from the fact that conjugial love conjoins them, and that love is spiritual. It has been stated several times above that the love of man’s wisdom is transcribed into the wife; and in the sections that follow this it will be more fully confirmed; but at present we may not turn aside and so far digress from the subject here proposed, which is the conjunction of two married partners into one flesh by the union of souls and minds. This union shall be elucidated in the following order:-
(1) That there is inherent in each sex, by creation, the faculty and the inclination whereby they are able and desire to be conjoined as into one.
(2) That conjugial love conjoins two souls and hence two minds in one.
(3) That the will of the wife conjoins itself with the understanding of the man; and hence the understanding of the man with the will of the wife.
(4) That the inclination to unite the man to herself is constant and perpetual with the wife; but with the man it is inconstant and alternating.
(5) That conjunction is inspired into the man by the wife according to her love; and is received by the man according to his wisdom.
(6) That this conjunction is effected successively from the first days of marriage; and with those who are in love truly conjugial it is effected more and more inwardly to eternity.
(7) That the conjunction of the wife with the rational wisdom of the husband is effected from within; but with his moral wisdom from without.
(8) That for the sake of this conjunction as an end the wife is gifted with a perception of the husband’s affections; and also with consummate prudence in moderating them.
(9) That wives hide this perception with themselves, and conceal it from their husbands, for reasons which are necessities; in order that conjugial love, friendship, and confidence, and thus the blessedness of living together, and happiness of life, may be confirmed.
(10) That this perception is the wisdom of the wife; that it cannot be with the man; and that the rational wisdom of the man cannot be with the wife.
(11) That the wife, from love, is constantly thinking about the inclination of the man to herself with the purpose of conjoining him to herself; with the man it is otherwise.
(12) That the wife conjoins herself to the man by applying herself to the desires of his will.
(13) That the wife is conjoined to the husband through the sphere of her life going forth from her love.
(14) That the wife is conjoined to the husband by the appropriation of the powers of his manhood; but that this takes place according to their mutual spiritual love.
(15) That the wife thus receives into herself the image of her husband, and from this perceives, sees, and feels his affections.
(16) That there are duties proper to the man and duties proper to the wife; and that the wife cannot enter into the duties proper to the man, nor the man into the duties proper to the wife, and rightly perform them.
(17) That these duties also, according to mutual aid, conjoin the two into one; and at the same time make one house.
(18) That married partners, according to the above mentioned conjunctions, become one man more and more.
(19) That they who are in love truly conjugial feel themselves a united man, and as one flesh.
(20) That love truly conjugial regarded in itself is a union of souls, a conjunction of minds, and an effort to conjunction in bosoms and hence in the body.
(21) That the states of this love are innocence, peace, tranquillity, inmost friendship, full confidence, and mutual desire of mind and heart to do each other every good; and from all these come blessedness, happiness, joy, pleasure, and from their eternal fruition, heavenly felicity.
(22) That these things can by no means be except in the marriage of one man with one wife.
The explanation of these now follows.
157. (1) That there is inherent in each sex, by creation, the faculty and inclination whereby they are able and desire to be conjoined as into one. It has been shown just above, from the Book of Creation, that the woman was taken out of the man. It results from this that in both sexes there is the faculty and inclination to conjoin themselves into one. For that which is taken out of any thing derives and retains from its peculiar nature what makes its own; which being of like nature aspires to reunion, and when reunited is as if in itself when in that, and this reciprocally. That there is this faculty of conjunction of one sex with the other, or that they can be united admits of no doubt; nor that there is the inclination to be conjoined, for ocular experience teaches both.
158. (2) That conjugial love conjoins two souls and hence two minds in one. Every man consists of soul, mind, and body. The soul is his inmost, the mind is his mediate, and the body is the ultimate. As the soul is the inmost of man it is from its origin celestial; his mind being intermediate is from its origin spiritual; and the body being the ultimate is from its origin natural. Things that are celestial from their origin, and those which from their origin are spiritual, are not in space, but are in the appearances of space. And this is also known in the world; hence it is said that extent and place, cannot be predicated of things spiritual. Since spaces are appearances, therefore distance and presence also are appearances. That the appearances of distance and of presence in the spiritual world are according to the nearness, relationships, and affinities of love, has been often stated and confirmed in the small treatises on that world. These things are said here in order that it may be understood that the souls and minds of men are not in space as their bodies are; because, as was said above, they are celestial and spiritual from their origin. And not being in space they can be conjoined as into one even if the bodies at the same time are not. This is realized especially between married partners who inmostly mutually love each other. But as the woman was taken out of the man, and this con junction is a kind of reunition, it may be seen from reason that it is not conjunction into one, but adjunction, near and close according to the love, and in the case of those who are in love truly conjugial even to contact. This adjunction may be called spiritual cohabitation, which there is with married partners who tenderly love each other, however distant they are in body. There are many evidences of experience which confirm this, even in the natural world. From this it is plain that conjugial love conjoins two souls and minds in one.
159. (3) That the will of the wife conjoins itself with the understanding of the man; and hence the understanding of the man, with the will of the wife. The reason is that the male is born to become understanding and the female to become will, loving the understanding of the male. Whence it follows that conjugial conjunction is a conjunction of the will of the wife with the understanding of the man, and reciprocally, of the understanding of the man with the will of the wife. Every one sees that there is the closest conjunction of the understanding and the will; and that it is such that the one faculty can enter into the other and take delight from conjunction and in it.
160. (4) That the inclination to unite the man to herself is constant and perpetual with the wife; but with the man it is inconstant and alternating. The reason is, that love cannot do otherwise than love and unite itself, in order that it may be loved in return. Its essence and life are nothing else; and women are born loves, and men, with whom they unite themselves that they may be loved in return, are receptions. And besides, love is continually efficient, It is like heat, flame, and fire, which if restrained so that they go not forth into effect, perish. Hence it is that with the wife the inclination to unite the man to herself is constant and perpetual But that with the man there is not a similar inclination to the wife, is because the man is not love but only a recipient of love, and because the state of reception comes and goes, according to interrupting cares, according to the changes of heat and want of heat in the mind from various causes, and according to increase and decrease of the powers in the body, which, not returning constantly and at stated periods, it follows that with men the inclination to conjunction is inconstant and alternating.
Emanuel Swedenborg · English translation by Samuel M. Warren, revised by Louis H. Tafel · Source edition · German edition.