CONCERNING THE JOYS OF HEAVEN AND CONCERNING WEDDINGS THERE
I foresee that many who read the things which follow, and the Memorable Relations at the end of the chapters, will think that they are inventions of the imagination; but I asseverate in truth that they are not inventions but are things actually done and seen; nor were they seen in any state of a mind asleep but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me and to send me to teach the things which shall be of the New Church, meant by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse. To this end, He has opened the interiors of my mind and spirit, whereby it has been granted me to be in the spiritual world with angels and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now for twenty-five years.
* In the original edition, this paragraph is enclosed in inverted commas.
The angel answered: “I am sent to call together from the kingdoms of the Christian world, men dwelling in that region who are renowned for learning, penetrating in genius, and eminent in reputation for wisdom, that they may assemble on this hill where you are now standing, and, from their heart, may express their minds as to what had been their thought, understanding, and wisdom in the world, respecting heavenly joy and eternal happiness. [2] The reason of my mission was this: Certain new-comers from the world, who were admitted into our heavenly society which is in the east, have told us that not a single person in the whole Christian world knows what heavenly joy and eternal happiness are, or, consequently, what heaven is. Greatly wondering at this, my brethren and companions said to me, “Go down, call together and assemble the wisest men in the world of spirits (in which all mortals are first gathered after their departure from the natural world), that from the mouth of many we may ascertain whether it is true that among Christians there is such great darkness and dense ignorance concerning the future life!” He then added, “Wait a little and you will see companies of the wise flocking hither. The Lord will prepare for them a hall of assembly.”
[3] I waited, and lo, after half an hour I saw two companies from the north, two from the west, and two from the south. As they came, they were introduced by the angel of the trumpet into the hall which had been prepared for them, and there took the places assigned them according to the quarters. There were six companies or groups; a seventh, at the east, was not seen by the others on account of the light. When they were assembled, the angel disclosed to them the reason why they had been summoned, and asked that the companies, each in turn, would set forth their wisdom respecting heavenly joy and eternal happiness. After this, each company gathered in a circle, face to face, that they might recall this matter from among the ideas they had entertained in the former world, and then examine it, and after examination and consultation, present their conclusion.
[2] After this speech, the SECOND COMPANY from the north, from their wisdom expressed the following opinion: “Heavenly joy and eternal happiness are nothing else than cheerful companionship with angels, and sweet conversation with them, whereby, from pleasant and witty discourse, the countenance is kept continually expanded with gladness, and the faces of the whole company are wreathed in happy smiles. What are heavenly joys but the variations of such things to eternity?”
[3] The THIRD COMPANY, which was the first of the wise from the western quarter, speaking from the thoughts of their affections declared: “What else is heavenly joy and eternal happiness but feastings with Abram, Isaac, and Jacob, upon whose tables will be rich and delicate foods, with generous and noble wines; and after the feasts, sports and the dances of maidens and young men, tripping to the measures of tabors and flutes, with the sweet singing of odes interspersed; and then, at evening, dramatic representations, and after these, again feastings, and so on every day to eternity.”
[4] After this utterance, the FOURTH COMPANY, which was the second from the western quarter, announced their opinion, saying: “We have entertained many ideas respecting heavenly joy and eternal happiness, and after exploring various joys and comparing them with each other, have come to the conclusion that heavenly joys are paradisal joys. What else is heaven but a paradise, stretching from east to west and from south to north– a paradise wherein are fruit trees and delightful flowers, and in the center the magnificent Tree of Life, around which the blessed will sit, eating fruits of delicate flavor, and adorned with wreaths of the most fragrant flowers. And since, by reason of the breathing of perpetual spring, these fruits and flowers are born and reborn daily and with infinite variety; and since, by their perpetual birth and blossom, and by the constant vernal temperature, the mind is continually renewed; the blessed must needs attract and breathe out new joys from day to day, and thus be restored to the flower of their age, and thereby to the primitive state into which Adam and his wife were created, and so be led back into their paradise which has been transferred from earth to heaven.”
[5] The FIFTH COMPANY, which was the first of the men of genius from the southern quarter, said: “Heavenly joy and eternal happiness are nothing else than supereminent dominion, with boundless wealth, and from this, super-regal magnificence and super-illustrious splendor. That these are the joys of heaven and the continual enjoyment thereof which is eternal happiness, this we have perceived clearly from the case of those who enjoyed them in the former world, and also from the statement that the happy in heaven will reign with the Lord, and, being the sons of Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords, will be kings and princes and will sit upon thrones, with angels ministering to them. We have perceived clearly the magnificence of heaven from the statement that the New Jerusalem, by which is portrayed the glory of heaven, will have gates, each of which will be a single pearl, streets of pure gold, and a wall with foundations of precious stones. Therefore, every one who is received into heaven has his own palace, resplendent with gold and precious things, and a dominion which will pass in turn from one to another. And, knowing that in such things joys are innate and happiness implanted, and that they are God’s promises which cannot be broken, we are unable to deduce the happy state of heavenly life from any other source.”
[6] After this, the SIXTH COMPANY, which was the second from the southern quarter, lifted up its voice and said: “The joy of heaven and its eternal happiness are nothing else than the perpetual glorification of God, a solemn festival continuing to eternity, and most blessed worship, with songs and jubilees; and thus a constant uplifting of the heart to God, with full trust in the acceptance of their prayers and praises because of the Divine munificence, and in their own blessedness.” Some of the company added that it would be a glorification attended with magnificent illuminations and the most fragrant incense–a glorification with stately processions headed by a pontiff with a great trumpet, who would be followed by primates and key-bearers great and small, and after these, men with palms and women with golden images in their hands.
Hearing this, the angel of the trumpet said to the six companies which had been called together from the wise of the Christian world: “Follow me, and I will introduce you into your joys, and thus into your heaven.”
[2] The house had four doors, one towards each quarter; and I noticed that many left their companies and were hastening to get out. Some of these I followed to the eastern door, and saw several sitting near it with a sad countenance. Going up to them, I asked them the cause of their sadness. They answered: “The doors of this house are kept closed against those who would go out. It is now the third day since we entered, and we have exhausted the life of our desire in companies and conversations, and are so utterly wearied, with continual chattering that we can scarcely bear to hear the murmur of the sound thereof. Therefore, in weariness we betook ourselves to this door and knocked. But we are answered: “The doors of this house are not opened for those who would go out but only for those who would come in. Remain and enjoy the joys of heaven.” From this answer, we conclude that we must remain here to eternity, and therefore sadness has invaded our minds. And now our breast begins to be oppressed and anxiety overtakes us.”
[3] The angel then spoke to them and said: “This state is the death of the joys which you believed to be alone heavenly, when yet they are nothing but accessories of heavenly joys.” They then asked the angel, “What then is heavenly joy?” and the angel replied briefly: “It is the delight of doing something which is of use to oneself and to others; and the delight of use derives its essence from love, and its existence from wisdom. The delight of use springing from love by means of wisdom is the soul and life of all heavenly joys. [4] In the heavens there are most cheerful companionships, which exhilarate the minds of the angels, are pleasing to their animi,** delight their breasts and recreate their bodies. But they enjoy these delights after they have performed the uses of their employments and occupations. From these uses comes the soul and life in all their joys and pleasures, and if you take away this soul or life, the accessory joys successively become joyless, becoming first indifferent, then like trifles, and finally sad and distressing.”
When these words had been spoken, the door was opened, and those sitting by it sprang out and fled to their homes, each to his own employment and his own work; and they received new life.
* The “secret committee” was an important arm of the Swedish government. It was elected from the three Houses–Nobles, Clergy, and Burghers–and its members were sworn to keep secret its transactions.
** Throughout Swedenborg’s theological and philosophical works, the word animus (plural, animi) is used to designate the external mind which man has in common with animals, as distinguished from mens designating the rational mind which is peculiar to man. Animus also means the disposition, and is sometimes so translated in the present work.
He then led them through a grove to a level place covered with boards, on which were set tables, fifteen on one side and fifteen on the other. And they asked, “Why so many tables?”
The angel answered: “The first table is Abram’s, the second Isaac’s, the third Jacob’s, and next to these in order come the tables of the twelve Apostles. On the other side is the same number of tables for their wives, the first three being those of Sarah the wife of Abram, Rebekah the wife of Isaac, and Leah and Rachel the wives of Jacob; the twelve others are for the wives of the twelve Apostles.”
[2] After some delay, all the tables were seen to be laden with dishes of food, the little spaces between them being embellished with small pyramids containing sweetmeats. The guests stood around the tables, awaiting their respective hosts. These were shortly seen to enter, in order of precedence from Abram to the last of the Apostles; and presently each approached his own table and reclined upon a couch at its head. They then said to those who stood around, “Recline ye also with us”‘ and they did so, the men with the patriarchs and the women with their wives; and they ate and drank in gladness and with veneration.
After the feast the patriarchs retired, and then began sports, dances of maidens and young men, and after these, public shows. When these were ended, they were again invited to the feast, but with the condition that they were to eat on the first day with Abram, on the second with Isaac, on the third with Jacob, on the fourth with Peter, on the fifth with James, on the sixth with John, on the seventh with Paul, and with the rest in order till the fifteenth day, when the festivities would be renewed in the same order, changing seats, and so on to eternity.
[3] After this, the angel, calling together the men of his company, said to them: “All those whom you saw at the tables had been in like imaginary thought with yourselves concerning the joys of heaven and eternal happiness therefrom; and such mock festivities have been provided and permitted by the Lord to the end that they may see the vanity of their ideas and be led out of them. Those men whom you saw at the heads of the tables were impersonated, being old men, many of them bearded men of the peasant class who, because of some wealth, were prouder than others, and on whom was induced the fantasy that they were the ancient patriarchs. But follow me into the ways leading out of this school of sports.”
[4] Following him, they then saw some fifty here and fifty there who had filled their bellies with food even to nausea, and were longing to return to their home affairs, some to their offices, some to their shops, and some to their trades. But many were detained by the keepers of the grove, and were asked about their days of feasting and whether they had yet eaten at table with peter and with Paul, and whether they were going away before they had done so, which would be unbecoming and so would be to their shame. But most of them answered, “We are sated with our joys; food has become insipid to us, and its flavor dry. Our stomachs loathe it; we cannot bear to taste it. We have dragged out some days and nights in this luxury, and beg earnestly to be allowed to go.” Then, being released, they fled to their homes with panting breath and rapid pace.
[5] The angel then called the men of his company together, and on the way gave them the following instruction concerning heaven: “In heaven, as in the world, there are foods and drinks; there are feasts and banquets; and with the leading men there are tables spread with sumptuous delicacies and choice and delicious foods wherewith the animus is exhilarated and recreated. There are also sports, public shows, and entertainments of music and song; and all these in the highest perfection. Such things are joys to them also, but they are not happiness. The latter must be within the joys, and then from the joys. Happiness within joys makes joys to be joys, enriching them and keeping them from becoming cheap and loathsome; and this happiness, every one has from the performance of use in his own function. [6] Within the affection of every angel’s will is a latent vein which draws the mind on to the doing of something. By this, the mind renders itself tranquil and satisfied. This satisfaction and tranquillity induce a state of mind receptive of the love of use from the Lord; and from the reception of this, comes that heavenly happiness which is the life of the joys previously mentioned. In its essence, heavenly food is nothing else than love, wisdom, and use together, that is, use from love by means of wisdom. Therefore, in heaven, food for the body is given to every one according to the use which he performs, sumptuous to those who are in eminent use, moderate but of exquisite flavor to those in a use of medium degree, common to those in a common use, but none at all to the slothful.”
He then introduced them into a portico constructed with columns and pyramids. Fronting it was a low palace through which the way opened into the portico. It was through this palace that he introduced them. And lo! men were seen, twenty here and twenty there, all waiting in expectation. Then suddenly, one who personated an angel was present, and said to them, “Through this portico lies the way to heaven. Wait a little and prepare yourselves; for the elder among you are to be kings, and the younger, princes.”
[2] When this had been said, then, beside each column appeared a throne, and upon the throne a silken robe, and upon the robe a scepter and a crown; and beside each pyramid appeared a chair of state, raised three cubits from the ground, and on each chair a chain with golden links, and the ribbon of an order of knighthood, joined at the ends with clasps of diamonds. Then a voice cried out, “Come, now, robe yourselves, take your seats, and wait.”
Instantly the older men ran to the thrones, and the younger to the chairs of state, and putting on their robes sat down. There was then seen a kind of mist rising up from the lower regions; and from inhaling this mist, the faces of those sitting on the thrones and chairs began to be puffed up and their chests to be swollen and themselves filled with confidence that now they were kings and princes. This mist was an aura of the fantasy with which they were inspired. Suddenly young men flew to them, as if from heaven, and stood, two behind each throne, and one behind each chair, ready to wait on them; and then from time to time, proclamation was made by a herald: “Ye kings and princes, wait yet a little while. Your palaces in heaven are now being prepared. Courtiers with a retinue will presently come and introduce you.” They waited and waited until their spirits panted for breath and they were utterly wearied with desire. [3] After three hours, heaven was opened above their heads, and angels looked down, and having compassion on them, said: “Why sit ye thus foolish and play the part of actors? They have been playing tricks with you, and have changed you from men to idols, because you have set your hearts upon the idea that you are to reign with Christ as kings and princes, and are to be ministered to by angels. Have you forgotten the Lord’s words, that he who wishes to be great in heaven becomes a servant? Learn then what is meant by kings and princes, and what by reigning with Christ. It is to be wise and perform uses, the kingdom of Christ, which is heaven, being a kingdom of uses; for the Lord loves all men, and from love wills good to all, and good is use. And because the Lord does goods or uses mediately through angels, and in the world through men, therefore to those who perform uses faithfully He gives the love of use and the reward thereof, which is internal blessedness; and this is eternal happiness. [4] In the heavens as on earth there is pre-eminent dominion and boundless wealth; for there are governments there, and forms of governments, and therefore greater and lesser powers and dignities. And these who are in the highest dignity have palaces and courts excelling in magnificence and splendor the palaces and courts of emperors and kings on earth; and, from the number of their courtiers, ministers, and attendants, and the splendor of their apparel, honor and glory surround them. But the highest among them are chosen from those whose heart is in the public welfare, it being [to] the bodily senses alone that they are in the fullness of magnificence, and this for the sake of obedience. And since it is for the public welfare that every one in a society, as in one common body, shall be of some use, and since every use is from the Lord and is done through angels and men as if by them, it is evident that this is what is meant by reigning with the Lord.”
On hearing these words from heaven, the impersonated kings and princes came down from their thrones and chairs of state and threw away their scepters, crowns, and robes. The mist wherein was the aura of fantasy then departed from them, and a bright cloud, wherein was an aura of wisdom, veiled them about, and from this aura sanity returned to their minds.
Then, through a lofty gateway formed by the interlacing boughs and branches of noble trees, he introduced them [into a paradisal garden], and there led them around through winding paths from place to place. It was actually a paradise at the first entrance of heaven into which those are admitted who, in the world, had believed that the whole of heaven is a single paradise because it is so called, and had impressed on themselves the idea, that after death there is complete rest from all labor; that this rest is nothing else than breathing in the very soul of delights, walking upon roses, being gladdened with the most delicate juices of grapes, and celebrating festive banquets; and that this life is found only in the heavenly paradise.
[2] Led by the angel, they beheld a vast multitude of old and young men, and of boys; also of women and girls, some sitting upon beds of roses, in groups of threes and tens, making garlands with which to adorn the heads of the old men and the arms of the young, and bouquets for the breasts of the boys; others plucking fruit from the trees and carrying it in osier baskets to their companions; others pressing into cups and genially quaffing the juice of grapes, cherries and berries; others drawing into their nostrils the fragrant odors exhaled and diffused from flowers and fruits and fragrant leaves; others singing melodious songs with which they softly charmed the listeners’ ears; others sitting by fountains and diverting the waters of the gushing stream into various forms; others walking about, talking together and throwing off witticisms; others running, playing and dancing, here in groups and there in circles; others entering into little summer-houses to repose on couches; not to mention many other paradisal enjoyments. [3] When they had seen all this, the angel led his companions hither and thither through winding ways, and finally to some spirits sitting in a most beautiful rose garden surrounded by olive, orange, and citron trees. With swaying bodies and with their cheeks in their hands, they were wailing and weeping. Addressing them, the companions of the angel said, “Why sit ye thus?”
They answered: “It is now the seventh day since we came into this paradise. When we entered, our minds seemed as though elevated into heaven and admitted to the inmost enjoyment of its joys. But after three days, this happiness began to grow dull and to be diminished in our minds and become imperceptible, and so to become null. And when our imaginary joys thus ended, we feared the loss of all the delight of our life, and became doubtful about eternal happiness, doubtful even whether there is any eternal happiness. We then wandered through paths and open places seeking the gate by which we had entered. We wandered round and round in circle after circle and inquired the way of those we met, some of whom said: “The gate cannot be found because this paradisal garden is so spacious a labyrinth that whoever wishes to go out, enters more deeply in; so there is nothing else for you to do than stay here forever. You are in the midst of it, where all delights are in their very center”.” They said further to the angel’s companions: “Here now have we sat for a day and a half; and being without hope of finding the way out, we have lain down on this bed of roses. We see around us an abundance of olives, grapes, oranges, and citrons, but the more we look at them, the more is our sight wearied with seeing, our smell with smelling, and our taste with tasting. This is the cause of the sadness in which you see us, and of our wailing and weeping.”
[4] Hearing this, the angel of the company said to them: “This paradisal labyrinth is truly an entrance into heaven. I know the way out and will lead you.”
At these words the sitters rose up and embraced the angel. Then together with his group they accompanied him. On the way, the angel taught them what heavenly joy is, and hence eternal happiness; that they are not external paradisal delights unless, together with these, there are also internal paradisal delights. “External paradisal delights are merely delights of the senses of the body, but internal paradisal delights are delights of the affections of the soul. Unless these latter are present in the former there is no heavenly life in them, because no soul, and without its corresponding soul, every delight gradually grows feeble and torpid, and wearies the animus more than labor. In the heavens there are paradisal gardens everywhere, and angels derive joy from them, this joy being a joy to them so far as the delight of the soul is within it.”
[5] Hearing this, they all inquired: “What is delight of the soul, and whence is it?” The angel replied: “Delight of the soul is from love and wisdom from the Lord; and since love is effective, being effective by means of wisdom, therefore the seat of both is in the effect, and the effect is use. This delight flows from the Lord into the soul, and descends through the higher and lower degrees of the mind into all the senses of the body, and there comes to fullness. Hence joy becomes joy and becomes eternal from the Eternal from whom it is. You have seen things paradisal, and I assure you that there is not a single thing therein, not so much as a little leaf, which is not from the marriage of love and wisdom in use. Therefore, if a man is in this marriage, he is in a heavenly paradise and so in heaven.”
He then introduced them into a small city, in the midst of which was a temple, and all the houses of which were called sacred buildings. In this city they saw a great concourse of people flocking in from every corner of the surrounding country, and among them a number of priests. These received the new-comers, and after saluting them, took them by the hand and led them to the temple gate, and from there into some of the buildings round about the temple. There they initiated them into the perpetual worship of God, saying: “This city is an entrance court to heaven, and the city’s temple is the entrance to a magnificent and most spacious temple which is in heaven. There God is glorified by the angels with prayers and praises to eternity. The regulations, both here and there, are that new-comers shall first enter the temple and abide there three days and three nights. After this initiation, they are to go to the houses of the city, which are so many buildings consecrated by us, and from building to building, and, in communion with those assembled therein, are to pray, cry out and recite sermons. Take great care that, within yourselves, you think of nothing and, with your companions, speak of nothing but what is holy, pious and religious.”
[2] The angel then introduced his company into the temple. It was filled and crowded with many who in the world had been in great dignity, and also with many of the common people. At its doors, guards were stationed lest any one go out before he had stayed there three days. And the angel said: “Today is the second day since those here present came in. Observe them and you will see their glorification of God.”
On observation, they saw many of them sleeping, and those who were awake, perpetually yawning. Some, from the continual uplifting of their thoughts to God and no return thereof into the body, they saw as faces shut off from their bodies, for so did they seem to themselves and thus to others also. Some they saw with delirium in their eyes, arising from their perpetual abstraction. In a word, they saw them oppressed in breast and weary in spirit from disgust, all turning away from the pulpit and crying out: “Our ears are stunned. Put an end to your preaching; not a word is any longer listened to and the very sound begins to be loathsome.” And then, rising up, they rushed in a body to the doors and, breaking them open, pressed upon the guards and drove them away.
[3] Seeing this, the priests followed and pressed close to them, teaching, beseeching, sighing, and saying: “Celebrate the festival! Glorify God! Sanctify yourselves! In this entrance court of heaven we will initiate you into the eternal glorification of God in a magnificent and spacious temple which is in heaven, and so into the enjoyment of eternal happiness.” But these entreaties were not understood by them and were hardly heard on account of the dullness caused by their two days’ suspension of mental activity and their detention from their domestic and forensic affairs. When they struggled to tear themselves away from the priests, the latter seized them by their arms and also by their garments, urging them to the sacred buildings where they were to preach, but in vain. “Let us alone”‘ they cried. “We feel as though our body were in a swoon.”
[4] At these words, lo, four men appeared in bright white raiment and wearing miters. In the world, one of them had been an archbishop, and the other three, bishops. They had now become angels. They called the priests together and, addressing them, said: “We saw you from heaven with these sheep, and saw how you feed them. You feed them even to insanity. You do not know what is meant by the glorification of God. It means bringing forth the fruits of love, that is, doing the work of one’s employment faithfully, sincerely, and diligently, this being the effect of love to God and of love to the neighbor. Moreover, it is the bond of society and its good. It is by this that God is glorified, and then by worship at set times. Have you not read these words of the Lord:
[5] Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. And ye shall become my disciples? John 15:8.
You priests can be in the glorification of worship because this is your office, and from it you have honor, glory, and recompense; but even you could not be in that glorification any more than they, were it not that honor, glory, and recompense are connected with your office.”
Having thus spoken, the bishop commanded the keepers of the gate to let all in and out freely, “for there are multitudes who, in their ignorance concerning the state of heaven, can think of no other heavenly joy than perpetual worship of God.”
After some time, there came nine men, each decked with laurel as a mark of his renown. The angel introduced them into the house of assembly wherein all were present who had been called earlier. In their presence, the angel addressed the laurelled nine and said: “I know that, by your wish and in accordance with your idea, it has been granted you to ascend into heaven, and that you have returned into this lower or sub-heavenly earth with full knowledge of the state of heaven. Tell us, therefore, how heaven appeared to you.”
[2] They answered in turn. The FIRST said: “From early boyhood to the end of my life in the world, my idea of heaven had been that it was a place of all blessedness, happiness, enjoyment, pleasantness and pleasure; and that if I should be admitted there, I would be surrounded with an aura of felicities, and would breathe them in with full breast, like a bridegroom when he celebrates his nuptials and enters the bridal chamber with his bride. With this idea, I ascended into heaven and passed the first guards and also the second; but when I came to the third, the officer of the guard addressed me and said: “Friend, who are you?” I answered: “Is not this heaven? From the longing of my desire I have ascended hither. Pray, let me in.” He then let me in, and I saw angels in white raiment. They walked around me, and after examining me, murmured, “Lo, a new guest not clad in the garments of heaven.” Hearing this, I thought: “This seems to me like the case of the man of whom the Lord said that he had come to the wedding without a wedding garment.” So I said, “Give me such a garment.” And they laughed. Then one came running from the court with the command, “Strip him naked, cast him out and throw his garments after him.” And so I was cast out.”
[3] The SECOND in order said: “I believed as he did, that if only I could be let into heaven which is above my head, joys would flow around me and I would be animated by them to eternity, and I, too, obtained my wish. But on seeing me, the angels fled and said among themselves, “What is this monster? How came this bird of night hither?” And I actually had the feeling of being changed from a man [into a bird of night], although I was not changed–a feeling which came upon me from drawing in the heavenly atmosphere. But presently one came running from the court with the command that two servants should lead me out and take me back to my home by the way up which I had come. And when I was at home, I appeared to others and to myself as a man.”
[4] The THIRD said: “My constant idea of heaven was derived from place and not from love. Therefore, when I came into this world I longed for heaven with a great longing; and seeing those who were ascending, I followed them and was admitted, though no farther than a few steps. But when, by reason of my idea of the joys and beatitudes there I wanted to gladden my animus,* then, owing to the light of heaven which was white as snow and the essence of which is said to be wisdom, a stupor invaded my mind, and hence darkness my eyes, and I began to rave; and soon, owing to the heat of heaven which corresponded to the brightness of that light and the essence of which is said to be love, my heart palpitated, anxiety took possession of me and, tormented with inward pain, I threw myself flat on the ground. Then, as I lay prostrate, attendants from the court came with the command to carry me gently away into my own light and heat; and when I came into these, my spirit and my heart returned to me.”
[5] The FOURTH said that he also had been in the idea of a place respecting heaven, and not in an idea of love. “When I first came into the spiritual world”‘ he said, “I asked the wise whether one would be permitted to ascend into heaven. They told me that it was permitted every one, but that men should take heed lest they be cast down. At this I laughed, and I ascended, believing, as do others, that all in the whole world are capable of receiving the joys of heaven in their fullness. But in truth, as soon as I was in, I almost lost my breath, and from pain and consequent torment in head and body, I threw myself on the ground and, writhing like a serpent before a fire, crawled to a precipice and threw myself over it. Afterwards I was picked up by some bystanders below and carried to an inn, where sanity returned to me.”
[6] The five others also gave amazing accounts of their ascent into heaven, comparing the changes of the states of their life to the state of fishes when lifted out of water into the air, and to that of birds in the ether. They said that after these severe experiences, they no longer had any desire for heaven but only for a life in companionship with their like, wherever they were; and they added, “We now know that in the world of spirits where we are, all are first prepared, the good for heaven and the evil for hell; and when prepared, they see ways open for them to societies of their like with whom they will dwell forever. They then enter these ways with delight because they are the ways of their love.”
Upon hearing these accounts, all who were first summoned confessed that they, too, had had no other idea of heaven than as of a place where with open mouth they would drink in to all eternity the joys which surrounded them.
[7] After this, the angel of the trumpet said to them: “You now see that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness are not the joys of a place but of the state of a man’s life, and that the state of heavenly life is from love and wisdom; and because the containant of these two is use, the state of heavenly life is from their conjunction in use. It is the same thing if it be said charity, faith, and good works; for charity is love, faith is truth from whence is wisdom, and good works are uses. Moreover, in our spiritual world there is place just as in the natural world, otherwise there would be no habitations and separate abodes. But here place is not place but an appearance of place according to the state of love and wisdom, or charity and faith. [8] Every one who becomes an angel carries his heaven within him, because he carries within him the love of his heaven; for, by creation, man is a least effigy, image and type of the great heaven, the human form being nothing else. Therefore, every man comes into that society of heaven of which he is the form in individual effigy, and when he enters that society, he enters into a form corresponding to himself. Thus, he enters into that self-form as of himself, and from that form, as it were, into the same form in himself, breathing its life as his own and his own as its. Each society is as one common whole; and the angels there, are as the similar parts from which this common whole coexists. From this it now follows, that they who are in evils and thence in falses have formed within themselves an effigy of hell, and in heaven this effigy is in torment by reason of the influx of opposite into opposite, and of the violence resulting from their activity; for infernal love is opposed to heavenly love, and therefore the delights of the two loves clash with each other as enemies, and when they come together, they destroy each other.”
* Throughout Swedenborg’s theological and philosophical works, the word animus (plural, animi) is used to designate the external mind which man has in common with animals, as distinguished from mens designating the rational mind which is peculiar to man. Animus also means the disposition, and is sometimes so translated in the present work.
Ten were then chosen and these followed the angel. By a steep path they ascended a certain hill, and from this, the mountain upon which was the heaven of those angels. At a distance, this heaven had previously been seen by them as an expanse among the clouds. The gates were opened for them; and when they had Passed the third gate, the angel guide hastened to the prince of that society or heaven and announced their coming. The prince then responded: “Take some of my attendants, and inform them that their coming is acceptable to me. Then, after bringing them into my outer court and assigning to each his room with its bed chamber, take some of my courtiers to minister to them and some of my servants to serve them at their pleasure.” And this was done.
When they were brought in by the angel, they asked whether they would be allowed to go and see the prince; and the angel answered: “It is not allowed before noon, and it is now morning. Until noon, all are engaged in their offices and employments. But you are invited to dinner, and you will then sit at table with our prince. Meanwhile, I will conduct you into his place where you will see things magnificent and splendid.”
[2] While they were standing in amazement at the sight of this magnificence, the angel said: “Marvel not. The things which you see were not made and fashioned by any angelic hand but were formed by the Maker of the universe and presented to our prince as a gift. Here therefore is the art of architecture in its very art; and from it are all the rules of that art in the world.” He then added: “You may suppose that such things enchant our eyes, and so infatuate them that we believe them to be the joys of our heaven; but because our hearts are not in them, they are only accessory to the joys of our hearts. So far, therefore, as we look upon them as accessory and as the work of God, so far we behold in them the Divine omnipotence and clemency.”
At this, the angel said with inspired voice: “This tree is in the center of the garden and is called by us the Tree of our Heaven, and by some the Tree of Life. But go farther in, draw near, and your eyes will be opened and you will see the garden.” They did so; and, their eyes being opened, they saw trees entwined with the tendrils of vines and laden with delicious fruits; and the tree-tops with their fruit were bending towards the Tree of Life in the center.
[2] These trees were planted in an unbroken line which ran out and was extended into ever new circles or gyres after the manner of a perpetual helix. It was a perfect arboreal helix, wherein different species of trees followed each other in unbroken order according to the nobility of their fruits. The beginning of this great gyre was at a considerable distance from the Tree in the center; and the intervening space glittered with a stream of light from which the trees of the gyre shone with a splendor which was successive and continuous from the first trees to the last. The first trees, luxuriant with the choicest fruits, were the most excellent of all. They are called paradisal trees, and are never seen in any country of the natural world because they do not and cannot exist there. Next came trees of oil; after these, trees of wine; then trees of fragrance; and lastly, trees of wood useful for working. Here and there in this arboreal helix or gyre were seats, the backs of which were formed by the converging and intertwining of branches of trees, and were enriched and adorned by their fruits. In this perpetual circle of trees were gates which opened into flower gardens laid out in plots and beds, and from these into lawns.
[3] Seeing these things, the companions of the angel exclaimed: “Lo, heaven in form. Whithersoever we turn the sight of our eyes, some heavenly paradisal thing flows in, which is ineffable.”
Rejoiced at hearing this, the angel said: “All the gardens in our heaven are representative forms or types of heavenly beatitudes in their origins; and it is because an influx of these states of blessedness uplifted your minds that you exclaimed, “Lo, heaven in form.” Those who do not receive that influx view these paradisal things merely as forests. All who are in the love of uses receive the influx; but those do not receive it who are in the love of glory and not of use.” For their instruction, he then explained what the several things in that garden represented and signified.
“I have heard that on the earth which is beneath this heaven, you have been called together to disclose your thoughts respecting the joys of heaven and eternal happiness therefrom; and that you have declared your views differently, each according to the delights of his bodily senses. But what are the delights of the bodily senses without the delights of the soul? It is the soul which makes them delightful. In themselves, the delights of the soul are imperceptible beatitudes; but as they descend into the thoughts of the mind, and from these into the sensations of the body, they become more and more perceptible. In the thoughts of the mind, they are perceived as states of happiness; in the sensations of the body, as delights; and in the body itself as pleasures. From all these together comes eternal happiness; but the happiness which comes from the last alone, is not eternal but temporary. It comes to an end and passes away and sometimes becomes unhappiness. You have now seen that all your joys are joys of heaven also, and are far more excellent than you could ever have imagined; but these joys do not affect our minds interiorly. [3] There are three things which flow from the Lord into our souls as one. These three as one, or this trine, are love, wisdom, and use. Love and wisdom exist only ideally, being solely in the affection and thought of the mind; but in use they exist really, being together in the act and deed of the body; and where they exist really, there they also subsist. And because love and wisdom exist and subsist in use, it is use that affects us; and use is to perform faithfully, sincerely, and diligently the work of one’s function. The love of use and the consequent devotion to use holds the mind together lest it melt away and, wandering about, absorb all the cupidities which flow in from the body and the world through the senses with their allurements, whereby the truths of religion and the truths of morality with their goods are scattered to all the winds. But devotion of the mind to use, retains these truths, and binding them together, disposes the mind into a form capable of receiving wisdom from them; and then at the sides it banishes the mockeries and stage plays of both falsities and vanities. But you will hear more on these subjects from wise men of our society whom I will send to you this afternoon.”
After he had spoken, the prince arose, and with him the guests. After a salutation of peace, he then charged their angel guide to take them back to their apartments and show them every courtesy, and also to invite urbane and affable men to entertain them with conversation concerning the various joys of this society.
Hearing this, the men who had been invited from the city told them the following:
i. “There are here days of festivity appointed by the prince, that the mind may be relaxed from the weariness which desire of emulation brings upon some. On these days, in the public places are concerts of music and songs, and outside the city games and shows. At such times, stages are erected in the public places, surrounded by latticework woven of vines from which hang clusters of grapes, and behind which sit the musicians in three tiers, with string instruments and wind instruments of a high tone and a low, and of an energetic tone and a tranquil; and at the sides, singers, male and female. These entertain the citizens with the most delightful music and singing, both choral and solo, varying in kind at intervals. On these festive days, this continues from morning till noon, and afterwards until evening.
[2] ii. “Moreover, every morning, songs of the utmost sweetness sung by virgins and young girls are heard from houses around the public places, and the whole city resounds with them. Each morning, some special affection of spiritual love is sung, that is, is expressed in sound by modifications or modulations of the singing voice; and this affection is perceived in the song as though itself were the song. It flows into the souls of the listeners, stirring them into correspondence with itself. Such is heavenly song. The singers say that the sound of their song is self-inspired and animated as though from within, and is delightfully exalted of itself according as it is received by the listeners. This ended, the windows and also the doors of the houses on the public places and likewise of the houses on the streets are closed, and the whole city is still. Not a sound is heard anywhere and no loiterers are seen. All the citizens, girt for their work, then engage in the duties of their several occupations.
[3] iii. “But at noon, the doors are opened and, in the afternoon in some places, the windows also, and boys and girls are seen playing in the streets, under the charge of governesses and tutors sitting on the porches of the houses.
[4] iv. “In the outskirts of the city are various games for boys and young men, namely, races, ball games, games with balls driven back and forth called racket, and trials of skill among the boys as to which of them are more and which less ready in speech, action, and perception. To the more active are given some laurel leaves as a prize. There are also many other games calling forth the latent abilities of boys.
[5] v. “Moreover, outside the city there are also theatrical performances by players, representing the varieties of honorableness and virtue characteristic of the moral life; and among them, for the sake of relationship, are also actors.”
Here one of the ten asked, “why for the sake of relationship?” They answered: “No one of the virtues with its display of honorableness and decorum can be presented in a living way except by things related thereto from the greatest of them to the least. The actors present the least of these up to the point of there being none. But it is established by law that nothing of the opposite, which is called dishonorable or unseemly, shall be exhibited except figuratively and, as it were, remotely. The reason why it is so decreed is because nothing honorable or good in any virtue ever passes over by successive progression to what is dishonorable and evil, but only to the least of that virtue until it disappears; and when it disappears, the opposite begins. Therefore, heaven, where all things are honorable and good, has nothing in common with hell where all things are dishonorable and evil.”
On hearing this, the angel of the company said to the wise men: “At the table our prince spoke with these men concerning the seat of wisdom, that it is in uses; will you also be so kind and speak to them on this subject.”
They then said: “As first created, man was imbued with wisdom and the love thereof, not for himself but that from himself he might communicate it to others. Hence, it is inscribed on the wisdom of the wise, that none is wise and none lives for himself alone unless at the same time for others. From this comes society; otherwise society would not exist. To live for others is to perform uses. Uses are the bonds of society, which are as many as there are good uses; and uses are infinite in number. There are spiritual uses, which pertain to love to God and to love towards the neighbor; there are moral and civil uses, which pertain to love of the society and state in which a man resides, and of his companions and fellow citizens among whom he lives; there are natural uses, which pertain to love of the world and of its necessities; and there are uses of the body, which pertain to the love of its preservation for the sake of the higher uses. [2] All these uses are inscribed on man and follow in order one after the other; and when they exist together, the one is within the other. Those who are in the first uses, which are spiritual, are also in the uses which follow; and such men are wise. But those who are not in the first and yet are in the second and from these in the following, are not wise in the same way but only appear to be so from their outer morality and affability. Those who are not in the first and second, but are in the third and fourth, are anything but wise, for they are satans, loving only the world and themselves from the world; and those who are only in the fourth are the least wise of all; for they are devils, living for themselves alone, and if for others, it is only for the sake of themselves. [3] Every love, moreover, has its own delight, it being by delight that love lives; and the delight of the love of uses is a heavenly delight which enters into the delights that follow in order, exalting them according to the order of their succession, and making them eternal.”
They then enumerated the heavenly delights proceeding from the love of use, saying that there are myriads and myriads of them, and that those enter into them, who enter into heaven. And in further wise discourse concerning the love of use, they spent the day with them until the evening.
When the time arrived, the angel said, “Make ready and put on the garments of heaven which our prince has sent you.” And when they put them on, lo! the garments shone as with a flaming light. They then asked the angel as to the cause of this. He replied: “Because you are going to a wedding. At such times our garments are resplendent and become wedding garments.”
[2] While they were observing these things, lo, a door opened from a room adjacent to the bridal chamber, and they saw six virgins coming out. After them came the bridegroom and bride holding each other by the hand, and leading each other to a . seat placed opposite the candlestick. On this they sat down, the bridegroom on the left and the bride at his right, while the six virgins stood by the side of the seat next to the bride.
The bridegroom was clothed in a radiant purple robe and a tunic of shining linen, with an ephod on which was a plate of gold set around with diamonds; and on the plate was engraved a young eagle, the nuptial badge of that society of heaven. On his head, he wore a miter. The bride was clothed with a scarlet mantle, and under that an embroidered gown reaching from the neck to the feet. Below the breast was a golden girdle, and on her head, a crown of gold set with rubies.
[3] When they were thus seated, the bridegroom turned to the bride and placed on her finger a gold ring. He then drew forth bracelets and a necklace of large pearls, and fastening the bracelets upon her wrists and the necklace around her neck, he said, “Accept these pledges.” And as she took them, he kissed her and said, “Now thou art mine”‘ and he called her his wife. The guests then cried out, first each guest separately and then all together, “Let there be a blessing!” Joining also in the cry was a delegate of the prince who had been sent in his stead; and at that moment the room was filled with an aromatic fragrance, the sign of a blessing from heaven. The attendants then took bread from the two tables beside the candlestick, and cups, now filled with wine, from the tables in the corners and gave to each of the guests his bread and his cup, and they ate and drank. After this, the husband and his wife arose, and the six virgins, holding in their hands the silver lamps now lighted, followed them as far as the threshold, when the married pair entered the bridal chamber and the door was shut.
One of the wedding guests, a wise man, then asked them, “Do you understand what the things you have seen signify?” They answered, “A little.” They then asked him why the bride-groom, now the husband, was arrayed in such apparel.
He answered: “The bridegroom, now the husband, represented the Lord, and the bride, now the wife, represented the Church, because in heaven a wedding represents the marriage of the Lord and the Church. That is why he wore a miter on his head and was arrayed in a robe, a tunic, and an ephod, like Aaron; and why the bride, now the wife, wore upon her head a crown and was attired in a mantle, like a queen. But tomorrow they will be clothed differently, for this representation lasts only today.”
[2] They asked further: “Since he represented the Lord, and she the Church, why did she sit at his right hand?” The wise man replied: “Because there are two things which make the marriage of the Lord and the Church, love and wisdom. The Lord is love and the Church is wisdom, and wisdom is at the right hand of love; for the man of the Church becomes wise as if of himself; and as he becomes wise, he receives love from the Lord. Moreover, the right hand signifies power, and love has power by wisdom. But, as I said before, after the wedding the representation is changed; for then the husband represents wisdom, and the wife the love of his wisdom. This, however, is not a prior but a secondary love which the wife has from the Lord through the wisdom of her husband. With the husband, the love of the Lord, which is the prior love, is the love of growing wise. Therefore, after the nuptials, both together, the husband and his wife, represent the Church.”
[3] Again they asked, “why did you men not stand beside the bridegroom, now the husband, as the six virgins stood beside the bride, now the wife?” The wise man replied: “The reason is because today we are numbered among virgins, and the number six signifies all, and what is complete.” They asked, “what does that mean?” He answered: “Virgins signify the Church, and the Church consists of both sexes. Wherefore, as respects the Church we also are virgins. That this is so, is seen from these words in the Apocalypse:
These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins; and they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. 14:4.
And because virgins signify the Church, therefore the Lord likened it to ten virgins who were invited to the wedding (Matt. 25:1-seq.). It is because the Church is signified by Israel, Zion, and Jerusalem, that the virgin and daughter of Israel, of Zion, and of Jerusalem is so often spoken of in the word. The Lord also describes His marriage with the Church by these words in David:
Upon thy right hand the queen in fine gold of Ophir. Her clothing is of wrought gold; she shall be brought unto the King in garments of needlework; the virgins, her companions that follow her, shall come into the King’s palace.” Ps. 45:9, 13-15.
[4] After this, they asked, “Is it not fitting that in a wedding a priest should be present and perform the ceremony?” The wise man answered: “It is fitting on earth but not in the heavens, and this on account of the representation of the Lord and the Church. This is not known on earth. Yet with us a priest does minister at betrothals, and hears, receives, confirms, and consecrates the consent. Consent is the essential of marriage, all that follows being its formalities.”
The angel then returned to his companions and, after reporting this answer, he added, “I surmise that you do not have a chaste love of the sex. In heaven we love virgins for their beauty and elegance of manners; and we love them exceedingly but chastely.” At this his companions laughed; and they said, “You have surmised rightly. Who is able to behold such beauties near at hand and not feel some desire?”
At dawn they heard a proclamation: “Today is the Sabbath”‘ and they rose and asked the angel what it meant. He answered: It is for the worship of God. This recurs at set times and is proclaimed by the priests. It is celebrated in our temples and continues for about two hours. If you please, therefore, come with me and I will introduce you.” So they made ready and, accompanying the angel, they entered the temple. And lo, it was large, being capable of holding about three thousand, semi- circular, with benches or seats stretching in an unbroken curve which followed the lines of the temple, the back seats being higher than the front. The pulpit in front of the seats was a little back from the center; and behind at the left was a door. The ten new-comers entered with their angel guide, and the angel assigned them the places where they were to sit, saying: “Every one who enters the temple knows his own place. He knows it from an innate perception, nor can he sit anywhere else. If he sits in any other place, he hears nothing and perceives nothing; he also disturbs the order, and when this is disturbed, the priest is not inspired.”
After the audience had left, the angel requested the priest to speak a few words of peace with his ten companions. So he came to them and they talked together for half an hour. He spoke of the Divine Trinity, that it is in Jesus Christ in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, according to the declaration of the Apostle Paul. He then spoke of the union of charity and faith, but because faith is truth, what he said was, “the union of charity and truth.”
* In the original, this paragraph from this point on is enclosed in inverted commas.
That there are marriages in heaven cannot enter into the faith of those who believe that after death man is a soul or spirit, and cherish an idea of the soul and spirit as of a tenuous ether or breath; and who believe that man will not live as a man until after the day of the Last Judgment; in general, who know nothing about the spiritual world wherein are angels and spirits, and, consequently, wherein are the heavens and the hells. Because that world has been hitherto unknown, and because it has been entirely unknown that the angels of heaven are men in perfect human form–and infernal spirits also, but in imperfect form–therefore, nothing could be revealed concerning marriages there; for men would have said, How can a soul be conjoined with a soul, or a breath with a breath, as one married partner with the other on earth? besides much else which, the moment it was said, would take away faith concerning marriages there and dissipate it. But now, because many things have been revealed concerning that world, and because its nature has been described, which was done in the work HEAVEN AND HELL and also in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED, marriages there can be set forth before the reason also, and this by the following propositions:
I. That man lives as a man after death.
II. That the male is then a male, and the female a female.
III. That his own love remains with every one after death.
IV. That especially does love of the sex remain, and with those who come into heaven, being those who become spiritual on earth, conjugial love.
V. These statements fully confirmed by ocular experience.
VI. That consequently there are marriages in the heavens.
VII. That spiritual nuptials are meant by the Lord’s words, that after the resurrection they are not given in marriage.
Now follows the explanation of these propositions in their order.
* Pu and Ubi are respectively the Greek and Latin words meaning “Somewhere”. They were formerly used as theological terms to designate the abode of souls while waiting for reunion with their bodies. Such souls were also said to be “in limbo” (in the border land).
* Pu and Ubi are respectively the Greek and Latin words meaning “Somewhere”. They were formerly used as theological terms to designate the abode of souls while waiting for reunion with their bodies. Such souls were also said to be “in limbo” (in the border land).
Jehovah God… took one of the ribs of the man and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and he builded the rib which he had taken out of the man into a woman, and brought her unto the man. And the man said, This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; hence she shall be called woman (Ishah) because she was taken out of man (Ish). Gen. 2:21-23.
As to what is signified by rib, and what by flesh, this will be told elsewhere.
But although love is so universal in speech, yet scarcely any one knows what love is. When he reflects upon it, being unable to form any idea of thought about it, and so to set it in the light of the understanding (for the reason that it is not a thing of light but of heat), he says either that it is not anything or that it is merely something flowing in from sight, hearing, and conversation, and thus affecting. It is entirely unknown to him that it is his very life, not only the general life of his whole body and the general life of all his thoughts, but also the life of all the single parts thereof. A wise man can perceive this from the following: If you take away the affection of love, can you think anything? can you do anything? Is it not a fact that, so far as affection, which is of the love, grows cold, the thought, speech, and action also grow cold? and that, so far as it grows warm, these grow warm? Love then, is the heat of man’s life, that is, his vital heat; the heat of the blood and its redness are from no other source. What makes all this, is the fire of the angelic sun, which is pure love.
Certain of the Sadducees who deny the resurrection, asked Jesus, saying, Master, Moses wrote, If any man’s brother die, having a wife, and he be childless, his brother shall take his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. There were seven brethren, one after the other of whom took the wife; but they died childless. At last the woman died also.
Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of them shall she be? But Jesus, answering, said unto them, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but they which shall be accounted worthy to attain to another age, and the resurrection from the dead, shall neither marry nor be given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are like unto angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead rise again, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto Him. Luke 20:27-38; Matt. 22:23-32; Mark 12:18-27.
There are two things which the Lord taught by these words: First, that man rises again after death; and second, that in heaven they are not given in marriage. That man rises again after death, He taught by saying, that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, and that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living. He also taught the same in the parable of the rich man in hell and Lazarus in heaven (Luke 16:22-31). [2] The second point, that in heaven they are not given in marriage, He taught by the statement, that those who are accounted worthy to attain to another age neither marry nor are given in marriage. That here no other nuptials are meant than spiritual nuptials is very evident from the words which immediately follow: that they cannot die any more because they are like unto angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. By spiritual nuptials is meant conjunction with the Lord. This is effected on earth, and when effected on earth, it is effected in heaven also. Therefore, in the heavens they are not again married and given in marriage. This is also meant by the words, The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but they which are accounted worthy to attain to another age, neither marry nor are given in marriage. They are also called by the Lord sons of the nuptials* (Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19); and, in the present passage, angels, sons of God, and sons of the resurrection. [3] That marrying means being conjoined with the Lord, and that entering into marriage means being received into heaven by the Lord, is clear from the following passages: The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man, a king, who made a wedding for his son, and sent forth servants and invited to the wedding. (Matt. 22:1-14.)
The kingdom of heaven is like unto ten virgins, who went forth to meet the bridegroom; of whom five, being prepared, went in to the wedding (Matt. 25:1-seq.).
From verse 13 in that chapter, where it is said, Watch, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh, it is evident that by the bridegroom, the Lord meant himself. Also from the Apocalypse:
The time of the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. Blessed are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 19:7, 9.
That there is a spiritual meaning in each and every word which the Lord spoke, is fully shown in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, published in Amsterdam in the year 1763.
* According to the Greek text, this should be “sons of the bridechamber,” as in the A.V.
One morning, looking up to heaven, I beheld above me expanse upon expanse. And I saw that the first expanse, which was near-by, opened, and presently the second, which was higher, and lastly the third, which was the highest; and by enlightenment therefrom, I perceived that upon the first expanse were angels who form the first or lowest heaven; upon the second expanse, angels who form the second or middle heaven; and upon the third expanse, angels who form the third or highest heaven. At first I wondered what this was and why; and presently a voice as of a trumpet was heard from heaven, saying: “We have perceived and do now see that you are meditating on Conjugial Love; and we know that, as yet, no one on earth knows what love truly conjugial is in its origin and in its essence, yet it is important that this be known. Therefore it has pleased the Lord to open the heavens to you, that enlightening light and thence perception may flow into the interiors of your mind. With us in the heavens, especially in the third heaven, our heavenly delights are chiefly from conjugial love. Therefore, by leave given us, we will send down to you a married pair that you may see.”
[2] And lo, a chariot was then seen descending from the highest or third heaven, and in it was seen a single angel, but as it drew near, two were seen. At a distance, the chariot glittered before my eyes like a diamond. Harnessed to it were young horses, white as snow; and they that sat in the chariot held two turtle-doves in their hands. They then called to me, saying: “You wish us to come nearer, but take heed that the scintillation from our heaven whence we have descended, and which is a flamy scintillation, do not penetrate interiorly. By its influx, the higher ideas of your understanding, which in themselves are celestial, are indeed illumined, but in the world in which you are, these ideas are inexpressible. Therefore, receive rationally what you are about to hear, and in the same way present it to the understanding.”
I answered, “I will take heed; come nearer.” They then drew near, and lo! it was a husband and his wife; and they said: “We are married partners. From the first age, called by you the Golden Age, we have lived happily in heaven and always in the same flower of youth in which you now see us.”
[3] I observed them both attentively, for I perceived that they represented conjugial love in its life and in its adornment–in its life in their faces, and in its adornment in their apparel. All angels are affections of love in human form. Their ruling affection shines forth from their faces; and from their affection and in harmony with it are their garments appointed. Therefore it is said in heaven that every one is clothed with his own affection. The husband appeared to be of an age midway between adolescence and early manhood. From his eyes beamed a light sparkling from the wisdom of love, from which light his face was as though inmostly radiant, and by this radiation, the surface of his skin was as though refulgent. Thus his whole face was one resplendent comeliness. He was clothed in a long robe reaching to his ankles, and under the robe was a vestment of blue, girded with a golden girdle on which were three precious stones, two sapphires at the sides and a ruby in the middle. His stockings were of shining linen interwoven with threads of silver, and his shoes were of silk. Such was the representative form of conjugial love with the husband.
[4] As to the wife, her appearance was as follows: To me, her face was both visible and not visible–visible as beauty itself, and not visible because such beauty is inexpressible; for in her face was a splendor of flaming light like the light with angels of the third heaven, and this light so dulled my sight that I became merely stupified with amazement. Observing this, she spoke to me, saying: “What do you see?” I answered: “I see only conjugial love and its form; but I see and do not see.” At this, she turned partly away from her husband, and then I was able to observe her more intently. Her eyes sparkled with the light of her heaven which, as was said, is flamy and therefore partakes of the love of wisdom; for in that heaven, wives love their husbands from their husband’s wisdom and in that wisdom; and husbands love their wives from that love towards themselves and in it. Thus they are united. Hence her beauty–a beauty which no painter can emulate and portray in its form, there being no such sparkle in his colors; nor is such beauty expressible by his art. Her hair was gracefully arranged in correspondence with her beauty, and in it were inserted flowers consisting of diamonds.* She wore a necklace of carbuncles, from which hung a rosary of chrysolites; and she had bracelets of pearls. She was arrayed in a flowing robe of scarlet, under which was a stomacher of purple clasped in front with rubies. But what I marveled at, the colors varied according to her aspect towards her husband. According to this aspect, they also sparkled now more, now less, more When they faced each other directly, and less when their glance was somewhat aslant.
[5] When I had seen all this, they again spoke with me; and when the husband was speaking, he spoke at the same time as though from his wife, and when the wife, she spoke at the same time as though from her husband, such being the union of the minds from which the speech flowed; and then also I heard the sound of conjugial love, that it was inwardly simultaneous and, moreover, was a sound proceeding from the delights of a state of peace and innocence.
At last they said, “We are recalled; we must depart.” And then, as before, they again appeared to be conveyed in a chariot, being conveyed along a road laid out between flower beds, from the borders of which rose olive trees and trees laden with oranges. And as they drew near their heaven, maidens came out to meet them and received them and led them in.
* The text has diadematibus (of diadems), but the context indicates that this is an error for adamantibus, as is in the translation.
Saying this, the angel let down the unrolled parchment; and an angelic spirit took it up and laid it on a table in a room which he immediately shut up. Then, handing me the key, he said, “Write.”
I once saw three spirits newly arrived from the world, who were wandering about, observing and inquiring. They were in wonderment at the fact that they were living as men, just as before, and that they saw the same things as before; for they knew that they had departed from the former or natural world, and that there they had thought they would not live as men until after the day of the Last Judgment, when they would be clothed with the flesh and bones which had been laid in their graves. Therefore, to free themselves of all doubt whether they really were men, they now and again inspected and touched themselves and others. Moreover, they felt objects, and by a thousand proofs convinced themselves that they were now men as in the former world, except that they saw each other in brighter light, and saw objects in greater splendor and thus more perfectly. [2] Just then, two angelic spirits chanced to meet them and, stopping, they asked them: “Whence are you?” They answered: “We have departed from a world, and are again living in a world; thus we have migrated from one world to another. We are now wondering at this.”
The three novitiates then questioned the two angelic spirits about heaven; and because two of the novitiates were adolescents, and from their eyes gleamed a fire as though of lust for the sex, the angelic spirits said: “Perchance you have seen women?” and they replied, “We have.”
Since they had inquired about heaven, the angelic spirits spoke as follows: “In heaven all things are magnificent and splendid such as eye has never seen. There are there maidens and young men, maidens of such beauty that they may be called beauty in its very form, and young men of such morality that they may be called morality in its very form; and the beauty of the maidens and the morality of the young men correspond to each other as reciprocal and mutually adaptable forms.”
The two novitiates then asked whether human forms in heaven were exactly the same as those in the natural world, and they were answered: “They are exactly the same; nothing is taken from man and nothing from woman. In a word, a man is a man and a woman a woman, in all the perfection of form in which they were created. If you like, step aside and examine yourselves and see whether anything whatever is lacking, and whether you are not men just as before.”
[3] The novitiates further said: “In the world from whence we have departed, we heard that in heaven they are not given in marriage because they are angels. Is there then no love of the sex?” The angelic spirits replied: “Not your love of the sex but angelic love of the sex which is chaste, being devoid of all the allurement of lust.
To this the novitiates said: “If it is love of the sex without allurement, what then is love of the sex?” And, thinking of this love, they sighed and exclaimed: “Oh, how dry is the joy of heaven. What young man can then wish for heaven? Is not such a love barren and void of life?”
The angelic spirits, laughing, made answer: “Yet the angelic love of the sex, being that love as it is in heaven, is full of inmost delights. It is a most pleasing expansion of all things of the mind, and thence of all things of the breast; and within the breast it is like the heart sporting with the lungs, from which sport comes respiration, sound, and speech. These delights make the companionship between the sexes, that is, between young men and women, to be heavenly sweetness itself, which is pure. [4] All novitiates ascending into heaven are explored as to their chastity; for they are admitted into the companionship of maidens, the beauties of heaven, and from their tone, their speech, their face, their eyes, their gestures, and the sphere emanating from them, these maidens perceive what their nature is in respect to love of the sex. If it is unchaste, they flee away and tell their companions that they have seen satyrs or priapi. Moreover, before the eyes of angels, such new-comers actually undergo a change, appearing hairy, and as to their feet like calves or leopards; and soon they are cast down, lest with their lust they pollute the aura of heaven.”
Hearing this, the two novitiates again said: “Then there is no love of the sex in heaven. What is a chaste love of the sex but a love emptied of the essence of its life? Are not then the companionships of young men and women there dry joys? We are not stones and stocks but perceptions and affections of life.”
[5] Hearing this, the two angelic spirits indignantly replied: “Because you are not yet chaste, you are entirely ignorant of what chaste love of the sex is. That love is the very delight of the mind, and thence of the heart, but not at the same time of the flesh below the heart. Angelic chastity, which is common to both sexes, prevents the passing of that love below the barrier of the heart; but within that barrier and above it, the morality of the youth is delighted with the beauty of the maid, being delighted with the delights of a chaste love of the sex, delights which are too interior and too rich in pleasantness to be described in words. Angels have this love of the sex because they have conjugial love, and this is not possible simultaneously with an unchaste love of the sex. Love truly conjugial is a chaste love and has nothing in common with unchaste love. It is with one only of the sex, all others being removed; for it is a love of the spirit and thence of the body, and not of the body and thence of the spirit, that is, not a love that infests the spirit.”
[6] The two novitiate adolescents rejoiced at hearing this and said: “Then there is love of the sex there; what else is conjugial love?” But to this the angelic spirits replied: “Think more deeply, reflect, and you will perceive that your love of the sex is an extra-conjugial love, and that conjugial love is wholly different being as distinct from the other love as wheat from chaff, or rather as the human from the bestial. Ask women in heaven what extra-conjugial love is, and I assure you they will answer, “What thing is that? what are you speaking of? How can such an expression which so offends the ears come from your mouth? How can a love not created, be generated in man?” And if you were to ask them what love truly conjugial is, I know they would answer that it is not love of the sex but love of one of the sex. This exists only when a young man sees the virgin provided by the Lord, and the virgin the young man, and both feel the conjugial to be enkindled in their hearts, and perceive, he that she is his, and she that he is hers; for when love meets love, it meets itself, and causes it to recognize itself and at once conjoins their souls and then their minds; and from there it enters into their bosoms, and after the nuptials still farther, and so becomes plenary love; and from day to day this grows into conjunction until they are no more two but as though one. [7] I know also that they would swear that they know no other love of the sex; for they say, “How can there be love of the sex unless it be so mutual and reciprocal that it breathes eternal union, a union which makes the two to be one flesh?”
To this, the angelic spirits added: “In heaven, they are entirely ignorant of what whoredom is, not knowing that it exists or that it is possible. Angels are cold in their whole body to an unchaste or extra-conjugial love, and, on the other hand, are warm in their whole body from chaste or conjugial love. With men there, all the nerves collapse at sight of a harlot, and recover their tension at sight of the wife.”
[8] Hearing this, the three novitiates asked whether there is the same love between married partners in heaven as on earth, and the two angelic spirits answered that it is the same in every respect. Then, perceiving that they wished to know whether there were the same ultimate delights there, they said: “They are the same in every respect, but far more blessed, inasmuch as angelic perception and sensation is far more exquisite than human perception and sensation. And what is the life of that love if not from a vein of potency. If this fails, does not the love fail and grow cold? and is not that vigor the very measure, degree, and basis of the love? is it not its beginning, its foundation, and its completion? It is a universal law, that primes exist, subsist, and persist from ultimates. So is it also with this love. Therefore, unless there were ultimate delights, there would not be any delights of conjugial love.”
[9] The novitiates then asked whether offspring are born there from the ultimate delights of that love? and if offspring are not born, of what use are those delights? The angelic spirits replied that there are no natural offspring but spiritual offspring.
The novitiates then asked, “What are spiritual offspring?” They answered: “By means of ultimate delights, married partners become more united in the marriage of good and truth, and the marriage of good and truth is the marriage of love and wisdom. It is love and wisdom that are the offspring born of that marriage; and because the husband there is wisdom, and the wife the love of that wisdom, and because both are spiritual, therefore no other than spiritual offspring can be conceived and born there. Hence it is, that angels do not become sad after the delights, as some do on earth, but cheerful. This comes from the continual influx of fresh powers which succeed the former and at the same time bring renovation and enlightenment; for all who come into heaven return into their vernal youth and into the vigor of that age, and remain so to eternity.”
[10] Hearing this, the three novitiates said, “Do we not read in the Word that in heaven there are no nuptials because they are angels?” To this the angelic spirits replied, “Look up into heaven and you will be answered.” And they asked, “Why look up into heaven?” They said, “Because it is from thence that we have all interpretations of the word. The word within is spiritual, and angels, being spiritual, will teach its spiritual meaning.”
Then, after some delay, heaven was opened above their head and two angels came into sight; and they said: “There are nuptials in heaven as on earth; but for none save those who are in the marriage of good and truth, nor are any others angels. Thus it is spiritual nuptials that are there meant, being the nuptials of the marriage of good and truth. These nuptials take place on earth and not after death, thus not in the heavens. Therefore it is said of the five foolish virgins who also were invited to the wedding, that they could not enter because there was in them no marriage of good and truth, for they had no oil but only lamps, by oil being meant good, and by lamps truth; and to be given in marriage is to enter into heaven where the marriage of good and truth is.”
On hearing this, the three novitiates were made glad; and, filled with desire for heaven and with the hope of nuptials there, they said, “We will strive eagerly after morality and a virtuous life, that we may realize our desires.”
That there are marriages in the heavens has been shown just above. It is now to be shown whether or not the conjugial covenant entered into in the world will continue after death and be enduring. This is not a matter of judgment but of experience, and since this experience has been granted me through consociation with angels and spirits, the question may be answered by me, but yet in such wise that reason also will assent. Moreover, it is among the wishes and desires of married partners to have this knowledge; for men who have loved their wives, and wives who have loved their husbands, desire to know whether it is well with them after their death, and whether they will meet again. Furthermore many married partners desire to know beforehand whether after death they will be separated or will live together – those who are of discordant dispositions, whether they will be separated, and those who are of concordant dispositions, whether they will live together. This information, being desired, shall be given, and this in the following order:
I. That after death, love of the sex remains with every man such as it had been interiorly, that is, in his interior will and thought, in the world.
II. That the same is true of conjugial love.
III. That after death, two married partners, for the most part, meet, recognize each other, again consociate, and for some time live together; which takes place in the first state, that is, while they are in externals as in the world.
IV. But that successively, as they put off their externals and come into their internals, they perceive the nature of the love and inclination which they had for each other, and hence whether they can live together or not.
V. That if they can live together, they remain married partners; but if they cannot, they separate, sometimes the man from the wife, sometimes the wife from the man, and sometimes each from the other.
VI. And that then a suitable wife is given to the man, and a suitable husband to the woman.
VII. That married partners enjoy similar intercourse with each other as in the world, but more delightful and blessed, yet without prolification; for which, or in place of it, they have spiritual prolification, which is that of love and wisdom.
VIII. That this is the case with those who go to heaven; but not so with those who go to hell.
The explanation now follows whereby these articles are illustrated and confirmed.
As to love of the sex, this is the universal of all loves, for it is implanted by creation in man’s very soul, from which is the essence of the whole man, and this for the sake of the propagation of the human race. This love especially remains because, after death, man is a man and woman a woman, and there is nothing in their soul, mind, or body which is not masculine in the male and feminine in the female. Moreover, the two have been so created that they strive for conjunction, yea, for such conjunction that they may become one. This striving is the love of the sex which precedes conjugial love. Now, because the conjunctive inclination is inscribed upon each and all things of the male and of the female, it follows that this inclination cannot be obliterated and pass away with the body.
Love of the sex is love towards many of the sex and with many; but conjugial love is love towards one of the sex and with one. Love towards many and with many is a natural love, for man has it in common with beasts and birds, and these are natural; but conjugial love is a spiritual love and peculiar and proper to men, because men were created and are therefore born to become spiritual. Therefore, so far as a man becomes spiritual, he puts off love of the sex and puts on conjugial love. In the beginning of marriage, love of the sex appears as if conjoined with conjugial love; but in the progress of marriage, they are separated, and then, with those who are spiritual, love of the sex is expelled and conjugial love insinuated, while with those who are natural, the opposite is the case. From what has now been said, it is evident that love of the sex, being a love shared with many and in itself natural, yea, animal, is impure and unchaste; and being a roving and unlimited love, is scortatory; but it is wholly otherwise with conjugial love. That conjugial love is spiritual and properly human, will be clearly evident from what follows.
48a. III. THAT AFTER DEATH, TWO MARRIED PARTNERS, FOR THE MOST PART, MEET, RECOGNIZE EACH OTHER, [AGAIN] CONSOCIATE, AND FOR SOME TIME LIVE TOGETHER; WHICH TAKES PLACE IN THE FIRST STATE, THAT IS, WHILE THEY ARE IN EXTERNALS AS IN THE WORLD. There are two states through which man passes after death, an external and an internal. He comes first into his external state and afterwards into his internal. If both married partners have died, then, while in the external state, the one meets and recognizes the other, and if they have lived together in the world, they again consociate and for some time live together. When in this state, neither of them knows the inclination of the one to the other, this being concealed in their internals; but afterwards, when they come into their internal state, the inclination manifests itself, and if this is concordant and sympathetic, they continue their conjugial life, but if discordant and antipathetic, they dissolve it. If a man has had several wives, he conjoins himself with them in turn while in the external state; but when he enters the internal state, in which he perceives the nature of the inclinations of his love, he either takes one or leaves them all; for in the spiritual world as in the natural, no Christian is allowed to take more than one wife because this infests and profanes religion. The like happens with a woman who has had several husbands; women, however, do not adjoin themselves to their husbands but only present themselves, and their husbands adjoin them to themselves. It must be known that husbands rarely know their wives, but wives readily know their husbands. The reason is because women have an interior perception of love, and men only an exterior perception.
48b. IV. BUT THAT SUCCESSIVELY, AS THEY PUT OFF THEIR EXTERNALS AND COME INTO THEIR INTERNALS, THEY PERCEIVE THE NATURE OF THE LOVE AND INCLINATION WHICH THEY HAD FOR EACH OTHER, AND HENCE WHETHER THEY CAN LIVE TOGETHER OR NOT. This need not be further explained since it follows from what has been set forth in the preceding article. Here it shall only be shown how, after death, a man puts off his externals and puts on his internals.
After death, every one is first introduced into the world which is called the world of spirits–which is in the middle between heaven and hell–and is there prepared, the good for heaven and the evil for hell. This preparation has for its end, that the internal and external may be concordant and make a one, and not be discordant and make two. [2] In the natural world they make two, and only with the sincere in heart do they make a one. That they are two is evident from crafty and cunning men, especially from hypocrites, flatterers, dissemblers, and liars. In the spiritual world, a man is not permitted thus to have a divided mind, but he who had been evil in internals must be evil also in externals; so likewise the good must be good in both; for after death every man becomes what he had been internally, and not what he had been externally. [3] To this end, he is then let into his external and his internal alternately. While in his external, every man, even the evil, is wise, that is, wishes to appear wise, but in his internal, an evil man is insane. By these alternations, the man is able to see his insanities and repent of them; but if he had not repented in the world, he cannot do so afterwards, for he loves his insanities and wishes to remain in them, and therefore brings his external to be likewise insane. Thus his internal and his external become one, and when this is the case, he is prepared for hell. [4] With a good man, it is the reverse. Because in the world he had looked to God and had repented, he is wiser in his internal than in his external. Moreover, in his external, by reason of the allurements and vanities of the world, he sometimes became insane. Therefore, his external must be brought into concordance with his internal, which latter, as was said, is wise. When this is done, he is prepared for heaven. This illustrates how the putting off of the external and the putting on of the internal is effected after death.
There were many spirits about me at the time, and from some of them I learned that they had heard that sweet melody and that it was the song of some lovely affection, the subject of which they did not know. For this reason they made various conjectures, but in vain. Some conjectured that the song was an expression of the affection of a bridegroom and bride when betrothed; some, that it expressed the affection of a bridegroom and bride when going to their wedding; and others, that it expressed the honey- moon love of husband and wife.
[2] An angel from heaven then appeared in their midst and said that they were singing the chaste love of the sex. But those standing around asked, “What is chaste love of the sex?” The angel answered: “It is the love of a man for a virgin or wife of beautiful form and becoming manners–a love free from any idea of lasciviousness–and the like love of a virgin or wife for a man.” Saying this, the angel vanished.
The singing continued, and because they then knew the subject of the affection it expressed, they heard it quite variously, each one according to the state of his love. Those who looked chastely upon women heard the song as something harmonious and sweet; but those who looked unchastely upon women heard it as inharmonious and sad, while those who looked upon women with loathing heard it as discordant and harsh.
[3] Then suddenly the plain on which they were standing was changed into a theatre, and a voice was heard, saying, “Investigate this love.” And suddenly spirits were present from various societies, and in their midst several angels in white. These angels then spoke, and they said: “In this spiritual world we have inquired into all kinds of love, not only into the love of a man towards a man and of a woman towards a woman, and into the reciprocal love of husband and wife, but also into the love of a man towards a woman and of a woman towards a man. Moreover, it has been granted us to pass through societies and make investigation, and thus far we have not found the general love of the sex to be chaste, except with those who from love truly conjugial are in continual potency, and these are in the highest heavens. It has also been granted us to perceive the influx of this love into the affections of our own hearts; and we clearly felt it to exceed in sweetness every other love except the love of two married partners whose hearts are one. But we beg you to inquire into this love, for to you it is new and unknown. By us in heaven it is called heavenly sweetness because it is pleasantness itself.”
[4] When they then discussed the matter, those spoke first who could not think of chastity as pertaining to marriages. They said: “Who, when he sees a beautiful and lovely maiden or wife, is able so to restrain and purify from concupiscence the ideas of his thought as to love her beauty and yet in no way desire to taste it if permitted? Who is able to change the concupiscence innate in every man into such chastity–that is, into what is not himself– and yet love? Can love of the sex, when entering by the eyes into the thoughts, stop at the face of a woman? Does it not instantly descend to her breast and beyond? The angels spoke empty words when they said that that love can be chaste and yet be the sweetest of all loves, and that it can exist only with husbands who are in love truly conjugial and thence in pre-eminent potency with their wives. When they see beautiful women, can they any more than others keep the ideas of their thoughts on high and hold them in the air, as it were, so that they do not descend and press on to that which makes that love?”
[5] After these, those spoke who were both in cold and in heat; in cold towards their wives and in heat towards the sex. They said: “What is chaste love of the sex? When chastity is added to it, is not love of the sex a contradiction? and what is the contradiction in the addition, other than a thing from which its predicate is removed? and that is not anything. How can chaste love of the sex be the sweetest of all loves when chastity deprives it of its sweetness? You all know wherein the sweetness of that love lies; if then the conjunctive idea associated with the love is banished, where and whence is its sweetness?”
Other speakers then took up the matter and said, “We have been with the most beautiful women and felt no desire; therefore we know what chaste love of the sex is.” But their companions, who knew their lewdness, answered: “You were then in a state of loathing of the sex from lack of potency, and this is not chaste love of the sex but is the last state of unchaste love.:
[6] Indignant at hearing these sentiments, the angels asked that those would speak who were standing on the right or at the south. These then said: “There is a love of man and man, and of woman and woman; and there is a love of a man for a woman and of a woman for a man. These three pairs of loves are entirely different from each other. The love of man and man is as the love of understanding and understanding; for man was created and thence born that he may become understanding. The love of woman and woman is as the love of affection and affection, the affection being the affection of the understanding of men; for woman was created and is born to become the love of man’s understanding. These loves, that is, the love of man and man and of woman and woman, do not enter deeply into the breast but stand without and merely touch each other; thus they do not inwardly conjoin the two. Therefore, two men fight each other with an abundance of arguments like two athletes; and sometimes two women fight each other with an abundance of concupiscences, like two stage players fighting with their fists. But the love between man and woman is the love between the understanding and its affection, and this enters deeply and conjoins. [7] Such conjunction is the love itself. Conjunction of minds and not at the same time of bodies, that is, the striving towards such conjunction alone, is a spiritual and thence a chaste love. This love exists only with those who are in love truly conjugial and from this in eminent potency; for, by reason of their chastity, they do not admit the influx of love from the body of any woman other than their wife; and, being in supereminent potency, they cannot but love the sex and at the same time hold in aversion what is unchaste. Hence they have a chaste love of the sex, and, regarded in itself, this is interior spiritual friendship which derives its sweetness from eminent but chaste potency. They have this eminent potency by reason of their total renunciation of whoredom; and because the wife only is loved, it is chaste. Now because with them that love does not partake of the flesh but only of the spirit, it is chaste; and because, at the same time, from an implanted inclination the woman’s beauty enters into their mind, it is sweet.”
[8] On hearing this, many of the bystanders put their hands to their ears, saying, “These utterances hurt our ears; the words you have spoken are empty nothings.” They were unchaste.
Then the singing from heaven was again heard, and now sweeter than before. But to the unchaste it grated so discordantly that, because of the harshness of the discord, they threw themselves out of the theatre and fled, a few only remaining who from wisdom loved conjugial chastity.
Once, while talking with angels in the world of spirits, I was inspired with a pleasant desire to see the Temple of Wisdom which I had seen once before;* and I asked them the way. They said, “Follow the light and you will find it.” I said, “What do you mean by “Follow the light”?” and they said: “Our light shines more and more brightly as we draw nearer to that temple. Therefore, follow the light according to the increase of its brightness; for our light proceeds from the Lord as a Sun, and hence, considered in itself, is wisdom.”
Then, walking in company with two angels, I followed the increasing brightness of the light and ascended by a steep path to the summit of a hill which lay in the southern quarter. There was a magnificent gate there. Seeing the angels with me, the keeper opened it and, lo, there was seen an avenue of palm trees and laurels, and along this we walked. It was a winding avenue and terminated in a garden in the midst of which was the TEMPLE OF WISDOM. As I looked around me, I saw also small buildings, similar to the temple, and in them were wise men. We approached one of these buildings and, at the entrance, spoke to the host there and told him the reason of our coming and the manner of our approach. He then said, “Welcome; come in; be seated and let us join together in discourse on wisdom.:
[2] Within the house, I saw that it was divided into two and yet was one. It was divided into two by a transparent partition; and it seemed to be one because of the transparency of the partition which was as though of purest crystal. I asked why this was the case. He said, “I am not alone. My wife is with me; and we are two and yet not two but one flesh.”
I then said, “I know that you are a wise man, but what has a wise man or wisdom to do with woman?” At this our host, with some indignation, changed countenance. He then stretched out his hand and, lo, from neighboring houses other wise men were present. To these, he said jestingly, “Our new-comer here, for the purpose of learning, asks what a wise man or wisdom has to do with woman?” At this they all laughed and said, “What is a wise man or wisdom without woman, that is, without love? The wife is the love of a wise man’s wisdom.”
[3] Our host then said, “Let us now join together in some discourse on wisdom. Let the discourse be concerning causes, and for the present concerning the cause of the beauty of the female sex.” They then spoke in turn. The first gave this as the cause: “Women were created, by the Lord, affections of the wisdom of men; and the affection of wisdom is beauty itself.” A second gave this: “Woman was created by the Lord through the wisdom of man because from man. Hence, being a form of wisdom inspired with the affection of love, and the affection of love being life itself, woman is the life of wisdom. The male is wisdom, and the life of wisdom is beauty.” A third gave this: “To women is given a perception of the delights of conjugial love; and because their whole body is an organ of that perception, it cannot be otherwise than that the abode of the delights of conjugial love with its perception is beauty.” [4] A fourth gave this: “The Lord has taken the beauty and grace of life from man and transcribed them into woman. Hence, without reunion with his beauty and grace in woman, a man is stern, austere, dry, and unlovely; nor is he wise save for himself alone, and then he is stupid. But when man is united with his beauty and grace of life in his wife, he becomes agreeable, pleasant, animated, and lovely, and thus wise.” A fifth gave this: “Women are created beauties for the sake not of themselves but of men, that men, of themselves hard, may be softened; that their minds, of themselves severe, may become mild, and their hearts, of themselves cold, warm; and they do become such when they become one flesh with their wives.” [5] A sixth gave this: “The universe was created by the Lord a most perfect work; but in that universe nothing was created more perfect than woman, beautiful in face and graceful in manners; and this to the end that man may render thanks to the Lord for this bounty, and may repay it by the reception of wisdom from Him.
After these and many like sentiments had been expressed, the wife appeared through the crystal partition and said to her husband, “Speak, if you please.” And when he spoke, the life of wisdom from his wife was perceived in his speech; for her love was in the tone of his voice. Thus experience bore witness to truth.
After this we examined the Temple of wisdom, and also its paradisal surroundings, and then, filled thereby with joy, we departed, and, passing through the avenue to the gate, went down by the way we had come.
* See APOCALYPSE REVEALED (published in 1766), n. 875; the present work was published in 1768.
Conjugial love is of infinite variety, not being the same with one person as with another. With many it does indeed appear to be the same, but it appears so only before the judgment of the body, and from this judgment, seeing that it is gross and dull, man has little discernment of such things. By the judgment of the body is meant the judgment of the mind from the external senses. Before those who see from the judgment of the spirit, the differences are apparent; and more distinctly apparent before those who can elevate the sight of this judgment still higher, which is done by its withdrawal from the senses and its exaltation into higher light. Such men can then confirm themselves by the understanding and so can see that conjugial love is not the same with one person as with another. Yet no one can see the infinite varieties of that love in any light of the understanding, even though elevated, unless he first know the nature of the love itself in its essence and integrity; thus its nature when together with life it was implanted in man by God. Unless its state then be known, a state which was most perfect, its differences cannot be discovered by any inquiry, there being no stable point from which, as a commencement, those differences can be deduced, and to which, by keeping it in view, they can refer themselves and so be seen truly and not fallaciously. This is the reason why we have set out to describe this love in its genuine essence; and, since it was in this essence when together with life it was infused into man by God, to describe it as it was in its primeval state. In this state it was truly conjugial, and therefore this chapter is entitled LOVE TRULY CONJUGIAL. The description shall be given in the following order:
I. That there is a love truly conjugial, which is so rare at this day that it is not known what it is and scarcely that it is.
II. That the origin of this love is from the marriage of good and truth.
III. That the correspondence of this love is with the marriage of the Lord and the Church.
IV. That, regarded from its origin and correspondence, this love is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, above every love which is from the Lord with the angels of heaven and the men of the Church.
V. That it is also the fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves, and thence of all natural loves.
VI. And that into this love are gathered all joys and delights from their first to their last.
VII. But that no others come into this love and can be in it save those who approach the Lord, love the truths of the Church and do its goods.
VIII. That this love was the love of loves with the ancients who lived in the Golden, Silver, and Copper Ages, but that afterwards it gradually departed.
The explanation of these points now follows:
It is known that every man when born is merely corporeal, and that from being corporeal he becomes natural, more and more interior, and then rational, and finally spiritual. The reason why this takes place progressively, is because the corporeal is as the ground wherein, in their due order, are implanted things natural, rational, and spiritual; thus the man becomes more and more a man. [2] It is almost the same when he enters into marriage; the man then becomes a fuller man because conjoined with a consort with whom he acts as one man. In the first state, spoken of above, this is effected in an image; then in like manner he commences from the corporeal and advances into the natural, but now as to the conjugial life and hence as to conjunction into a one. They who then love corporeal natural things, and only from them love things rational, cannot be conjoined with a consort as into a one except as to those externals. And when the externals fail, cold invades the internals and dispels the delights of that love, first expelling them from the mind and so from the body, and then from the body and so from the mind, and this until nothing is left of the remembrance of the early state of their marriage, and consequently no knowledge concerning it. Now since this is the case with most men at the present day, it is clear that it is not known what love truly conjugial is and scarcely that it is. Not so with those who are spiritual. With them, the first state is an initiation into perpetual states of happiness; and these states are promoted in the degree that the spiritual rational of the mind of the one, and from this the sensual natural of the body, conjoins and unites itself with that of the other. But such men are rare.
[2] Conjugial love is called celestial and spiritual because it is with the angels of the heavens, being celestial with the angels of the highest heaven because these angels are called celestial, and spiritual with the angels below that heaven because these angels are called spiritual. The angels are so called because the celestial are loves and hence wisdoms, and the spiritual are wisdoms and hence loves; so likewise their conjugial. [3] Now since conjugial love is with the angels of both the higher and the lower heavens, as also was shown in the first chapter, on Marriages in Heaven, it is evident that it is holy and pure. That this love, regarded in its essence from its derivation, is holy and pure above every love with angels and with men, is because it is the head, as it were, of all other loves. Of this its eminence, something shall be said in the article which now follows.
[3] That such is the case has been proved to me by experience. In the spiritual world, I have seen genii who were being prepared for hell approach an angel who was in delight with his consort. At a distance, as they were approaching, they became like furies and sought for caves and ditches as places of refuge into which they might cast themselves. That evil spirits love what is homogeneous with their affection, howsoever unclean it is, and hold in aversion the spirits of heaven as heterogeneous to their affections, heaven being pure, may be concluded from what is told in the Preliminaries, no. 10.
* In the original edition, this paragraph is enclosed in inverted commas.
Once when meditating on conjugial love, my mind was seized with a desire to know what that love had been with those who lived in the Golden Age, and what it had been later with those who lived in the Ages that followed and which are named from silver, copper, and iron; and, knowing that all who had lived well in those Ages are in the heavens, I prayed the Lord that He would allow me to speak with them and be instructed. And lo, an angel stood by me and said: “I am sent by the Lord to be your guide and companion. First I will guide and accompany you to those who lived in the first age or period called GOLDEN”; and he added, “The way to them is hard. It lies through a dark forest through which no one can pass without a guide given him by the Lord.”
[2] Being in the spirit, I girded myself for the journey, and we turned our faces towards the east. As we went on, I saw a mountain whose height extended above the region of the clouds. We passed through a great desert and came into the forest of which the angel had spoken. It was thick with trees of various kinds, and dark by reason of their density. The forest was intersected by many narrow paths, and the angel said: “These paths are so many tortuous paths of error, and unless his eyes are opened by the Lord to see the olive trees entwined with vine tendrils, and his steps directed from tree to tree, the traveler would wander off into the Tartarean shades which lie round about at the sides. This forest is such, to the end that it may guard the approach; for none but the primeval race dwells on that mountain.”
[3] After entering the forest, our eyes were opened and here and there we saw olive trees entwined with vines from which hung clusters of grapes of a dark blue color. The trees were arranged in continuous gyres, and following these as they came into view we went round and round. At last we saw a grove of lofty cedars and on their branches some eagles. Seeing these, the angel said, “We are now not far from the top of the mountain.”
We continued on, and lo, beyond the grove, a circular plain whereon male and female lambs were feeding. These were forms representative of the state of innocence and peace of those who dwelt on the mountain. We crossed this plain, and lo, in front and at the sides, in every direction as far as the eye could reach, were seen tabernacles after tabernacles to the number of many thousands. The angel then said: “We are now in the camp where dwells the Army of the Lord Jehovih, this being what they call themselves and their habitations. While living in the world, these most ancient peoples dwelt in tabernacles, and therefore they dwell in them now also. But let us bend our way to the south where are the wiser of them, that we may meet some one with whom to converse.”
[4] Walking on, I saw at a distance three boys and three girls sitting at the door of one of the tents, but when we drew near, they were seen as men and women of middle stature. The angel then said: “At a distance, all the inhabitants of this mountain appear like little children, for they are in a state of innocence, and infancy is the appearance of innocence.” On seeing us, the men ran up to us and said: “Whence are you, and how came you hither? Your faces are not of the faces of our mountain.” In reply, the angel told them the means of our approach through the forest and the reason of our coming. Hearing this, one of the three men invited us to his tabernacle and took us in. The man was clothed with a mantle the color of hyacinth, and a tunic of white wool, and his wife with a crimson robe, beneath which on her bosom was a tunic wrought with fine needlework.
[5] Desiring in my thought to learn about the marriages of the most ancients, I looked now at the husband, now at his wife, and in their faces I observed the unity, as it were, of their souls. So I said, “You two are one.” The man replied: “We are one; her life is in me and mine in her. We are two bodies but one soul. The union between us is like the union of the two tents in the breast which are called heart and lungs, she being my heart and I her lungs. But here, by heart we mean love and by lungs wisdom. Thus she is the love of my wisdom and I am the wisdom of her love. Therefore her love veils my wisdom from without, and my wisdom is in her love from within. Hence, as you said, the appearance in our faces of the unity of our souls.”
[6] I then asked him: “If such is the union, can you look at any other woman than your own?” He replied: “I can; but as my wife is united to my soul, we two look together and then nothing of lust can enter in; for when I look at the wives of others, I look at them through my own wife whom alone I love. And because she, my wife, has a perception of all my inclinations, therefore, as an intermediary she directs my thoughts, and removes everything discordant. At the same time she imparts cold and horror for everything unchaste. Therefore it is as impossible for us here to look upon a companion’s wife from lust as it is to look at the light of our heaven from Tartarean shade. With us therefore, there is no idea of thought, still less any word of speech, for the allurements of libidinous love.” He could not utter the word whoredom because the chastity of their heaven strove against it.
Speaking to me, the angel guide then said, “You now hear the speech of the angels of this heaven, that it is the speech of wisdom; for they speak from causes.”
[7] After this, while looking around, I saw their tabernacle. It seemed as though overlaid with gold, and I inquired as to the cause of this. The man replied: “It is from a flaming light which glitters like gold, and whenever we are in discourse concerning conjugial love, this irradiates and tinges the coverings of our tabernacle; for the heat from our sun, which in its essence is love, then bares itself and tinges the light, which in its essence is wisdom, with its own golden color. This is done because in its origin conjugial love is the sport of wisdom and love, man being born that he may be wisdom and woman that she may be the love of the man’s wisdom. Hence, in conjugial love and from it come the delights of that sport between us and our wives. Here, for thousands of years, we have seen clearly that these delights are superlative and eminent in abundance, degree, and vigor, according to the worship among us of the Lord Jehovih, from whom inflows that heavenly union or marriage which is the union or marriage of love and wisdom.”
[8] When he had finished speaking, I saw upon a hill in the center of the tabernacles a great light, and I asked, “Whence comes that light?” He replied, “It is from the sanctuary of the tabernacle of our worship.”
I then asked him whether it was allowed to approach that tabernacle, and he said it was. Going to it, I then saw that both without and within, it was exactly like the tabernacle built for the sons of Israel in the wilderness, the pattern of which was shown to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exod. 25:40; 26:30), and I asked the man, “What is inside that sanctuary from whence comes so great a light?” He replied, “A tablet on which is the inscription, THE COVENANT BETWEEN JEHOVAH* AND THE HEAVENS.” He said no more.
[9] Since we were then ready to depart, I asked him, “When living in the natural world, did any of you live with more than one wife?” He answered, “I know not one, for we could not think of more. Those who had thought of more have told us that the heavenly blessedness of their souls at once withdrew from the inmost parts of their bodies to the extremities, even to the fingernails, and with it the honorable badges of virility. When this was perceived, they were expelled from our land.” Saying this, the man ran to his tent and returned with a pomegranate wherein was an abundance of golden seeds. This he gave to me, and I brought it away as a sign that we had been with those who had lived in the Golden Age. After a salutation of peace, we then departed and returned home.
* In Coronis, no. 37, where the present Relation is repeated is Jehovah; the Coronis, however, is a copy, the original MS. being lost.
The next day, the same angel came to me and said, “You wish me to guide and accompany you to the peoples who lived in the SILVER AGE or period, that from them we may hear about the marriages of their time”; and he added, “These also may not be approached save under the Lord’s auspices.”
Being in the spirit as before, I accompanied my guide. We came first to a hill on the border between the east and the south. And when we were on its summit, he showed me a widely extended stretch of country. In the far distance we saw a height resembling a mountain, between which and the hill on which we stood, was a valley, and beyond that, a plain from which rose a gentle acclivity.
We descended the hill to cross the valley, and here and there on either side we saw images of men and of various beasts, birds, and fishes carved in wood and stone, and I asked the angel, “What are these? Are they idols?” He replied: “No, indeed. They are figures representative of various moral virtues and spiritual truths. Among the peoples of this age flourished the science of correspondences; and as every man, beast, bird, and fish corresponds to some quality, therefore each sculptured form represents some particular aspect of a virtue or truth, and many together represent the virtue or truth itself in a general extended form. They are what in Egypt were called hieroglyphics.”
[2] We pursued our way through the valley, and when we entered the plain, lo, we saw horses and chariots–horses variously harnessed and caparisoned, and chariots of different forms, some carved like eagles, some like whales, some like stags with horns, some like unicorns; and also, at the farther end, some wagons, and round about at the sides, stables. As we drew near, however, both horses and chariots disappeared and in their stead we saw men in couples, walking, talking with each other, and discussing. The angel then said to me: “Seen at a distance, the different kinds of horses, chariots, and stables are appearances of the rational intelligence of the men of this Age; for, from its correspondence, a horse signifies the understanding of truth, a chariot the teaching thereof, and stables the places of instruction. You know that in this world all things appear according to correspondences.”
[3] Passing these by, we went up a long ascent and at last saw a city. This we entered, and walking through its streets and public places, we examined its houses which were so many palaces built of marble. In front of them were steps of alabaster, and at the sides of the steps, columns of jasper. We also saw temples built of precious stone of the color of sapphire and lapis lazuli. The angel then told me: “Their houses are of stone because stones signify natural truths, and precious stones spiritual truths, and all those who lived in the Silver Age had intelligence from spiritual truths and thence from natural. Silver also has a like signification.”
[4] As we wandered through the city, we saw here and there consorts walking in pairs; and as they were husbands and wives, we hoped that we might be invited in somewhere. As we were walking along with this in mind, one couple called us back into their house, and we mounted the steps and entered. Speaking for me, the angel then explained to them the reason why we had come to this heaven, that it was “for the sake of information respecting marriages among the ancients from whom you in this heaven are.”
They answered: “We were from a people in Asia; and the study of our Age was the study of truths, by which we had intelligence. This study was the study of our souls and minds. While the study of our bodily senses was the representation of truths in forms; and the science of correspondences conjoined the sensations of our bodies with the perceptions of our minds and gave us intelligence.”
[5] On hearing this, the angel requested that they would tell us something about marriages among them. The husband then said: “There is a correspondence between spiritual marriage, which is that of truth with good, and natural marriage which is that of a man with one wife. Having studied correspondences, we have seen that the Church with its truths and goods can by no means exist save with those who live with one wife in love truly conjugial; for the marriage of good and truth is the Church with man. Therefore, we who are here, all say that the husband is truth and the wife the good thereof, and that good cannot love any other truth than its own, nor, in return, can truth love any other good than its own. If any other were loved, the internal marriage which makes the Church would vanish. Marriage would then become merely external, and to this corresponds, not the Church, but idolatry. For this reason, we call marriage with one wife a sacrament, but were it to take place among us with more than one, we would call it a sacrilege.”
[6] After he had thus spoken, we were introduced into a room adjoining the bed-chamber. Here, on the walls, were many works of art and some small images as though cast in silver; and I asked “What are these?” He said: “They are pictures and forms representative of the many qualities, attributes, and delights which belong to conjugial love. Some represent the unity of souls, some the conjunction of minds, some the concord of hearts, and some the delights arising therefrom.”
While examining these representations, we saw upon the wall a rainbow, as it were, composed of three colors, crimson, hyacinthine, and white; and we saw how that the crimson passed through the hyacinthine and tinged the white with dark blue, while the white flowed back through the hyacinthine into the crimson and raised it to a flamy beam, as it were.
[7] The husband then asked me, “Do you understand this?” I answered, “Instruct me”; whereupon he said: “From its correspondence, the crimson signifies the conjugial love of the wife, the white the intelligence of the husband, the hyacinthine the beginning of conjugial love in the husband’s perception from the wife, and the dark blue with which the white was tinged, conjugial love then in the husband. The flowing back of this color through the hyacinthine into the crimson and the raising of the latter to a flamy beam, as it were, signifies the conjugial love of the husband flowing back to the wife. Such things are represented on these walls whenever, from meditation on conjugial love and its mutual, successive, and simultaneous union, we look with intent gaze at the rainbows there pictured.”
To this I said: “At the present day, such things are more than mystical for they are representative appearances of the arcana of the conjugial love of one man with one wife.” He replied: “They are; but to us here they are not arcane and therefore are not mystical.”
[8] When he had thus spoken, there appeared at some distance a chariot drawn by small white horses. Seeing this, the angel said, “That chariot is a sign for us to depart.” Then, as we descended the steps, our host gave us a cluster of white grapes with the vine leaves attached; and lo [in our hands],* the leaves became silver; and we brought them away as a sign that we had spoken with people of the Silver Age.
* See CORONIS, n. 44 where this Relation is repeated.
The next day, the angel guide and companion came again and said: “Make ready and let us go to the heavenly inhabitants in the west who are from the men who lived in the third or COPPER AGE. Their dwelling-places extend from the south over the west towards the north, but not into the north.” So I made ready and accompanied him.
We entered their heaven at the southern side, where was a magnificent grove of palm trees and laurels. Having passed through this grove, we then saw, just on the western border, giants of a stature twice as high as the ordinary human stature; and they asked us, “Who let you in through the grove?” “The God of heaven,” said the angel. They responded, “We are guards to the ancient western heaven; but pass through,” and we passed on.
[2] Then from a watch-tower we saw a mountain towering to the clouds; and between us on the watch-tower and that mountain, we saw villa after villa with gardens, groves, and fields between them. Passing by these villas, we went on to the mountain and this we ascended. And lo, its summit was not a peak but a plain, and on this plain was an extensive and spacious city, all whose houses were of the wood of resinous trees and their roofs of planks.
I asked the angel, “Why are the houses here of wood?” and he answered, “Because wood signifies natural good, and in that good were the men of the third Age of the earth. Copper also signifies natural good, and therefore the Age in which they lived was named by the ancients from copper. Here also are sacred buildings constructed of olive wood. In their center is a sanctuary, and there in an Ark lies the Word given to the inhabitants of Asia before the Israelitish Word. The historical books of this Word are called THE WARS OF JEHOVAH, and the prophetical books, ENUNCIATIONS;* both are mentioned by Moses in Numbers 21:14, 15, 27-30. In the kingdoms of Asia, this Word is now lost, being preserved only in Great Tartary.” He then conducted me to one of these sacred buildings, and looking in we saw in its center the sanctuary, the whole sanctuary being in a white light of the utmost brightness. The angel then said, “That light is from that Ancient Asiatic Word; for in the heavens all Divine Truth shines.”
[3] Passing out of the building, we heard that it had been announced in the city that two strangers were there and that they were to be examined as to whence they came and what was their business. An attendant of the court then came up and ordered us to the judgment seat.
To the question whence we came and what was our business there, we answered: “We have come through the grove of palm trees and have also passed the abodes of the giants who are the guards of your heaven, and afterwards through the region of villas; from which you can conclude that it is not of ourselves but of the God of heaven that we are come hither. The business for which we came, is that we may be instructed respecting your marriages, whether they are monogamous or polygamous.” They responded: “What are polygamous marriages? Are they not scortatory?”
[4] The judicial tribunal then delegated an intelligent man to instruct us concerning this matter in his own home. There, in his home, having his wife by his side, he spoke to us in these words: “Preserved among us, we have precepts concerning marriages which have come down to us from primeval or most ancient peoples who, in the world, had been in love truly conjugial and hence above others in the virtue and potency of that love. They are now in a most blessed state in their heaven, which is in the east. We are their posterity, and, as fathers, they gave to us as their sons canons of life, among which is the following respecting marriages: Sons, if you would love God and the neighbor, and if you would be wise and happy to eternity, we counsel you to live as monogamists. If you depart from this precept, all heavenly love and with it internal wisdom will flee from you and you will be destroyed. This precept of our fathers, we as their sons have obeyed. Moreover, we have perceived its truth, which is, that so far as one loves his consort alone, he becomes heavenly and internal, and so far as he does not love his consort alone, he becomes natural and external, and then loves only himself and the images of his own mind and is silly and stupid. [5] It is because of these canons that we in this heaven are all guarded against polygamists, adulterers, and whore mongers. If polygamists invade, they are cast out into the darkness of the north; if adulterers, they are cast out into the fires of the west; and if whore mongers, they are cast out into the fatuous lights of the south.”
On hearing this, I asked him what he meant by the darkness of the north, the fires of the west, and the fatuous lights of the south. He answered: “The darkness of the north is dullness of mind and ignorance of truth; the fires of the west are the loves of evil; and the fatuous lights of the south are falsifications of truth, which are spiritual whoredoms.”
[6] He then said, “Follow me to our treasure house.” We followed him and he showed us the writings of the most ancient peoples, that they were on tablets of wood and stone, and later, on waxed tablets, and that those of the second Age were inscribed on parchments. He then brought us a parchment on which the canons of the primeval men had been copied from stone tablets, and among them was the precept concerning marriages.
[7] Having seen these and other memorable things of ancient times, the angel said, “It is now time for us to depart.” Our host then went out into his garden and plucked some twigs from a tree. These he tied in a bunch which he gave us, saying, “These twigs are from a tree native or proper to our heaven, the sap of which has a balsamic fragrance.”
Bringing the bunch away with us, we descended by a way neighboring on the east, which was not guarded. And lo, the twigs were turned into shining brass, and their tips into gold, as a sign that we had been with a nation of the third Age which is named from copper or brass.
* Translated Proverbs in the A.V.
Two days later, the angel again spoke to me, saying: “Let us complete the period of the Ages; there still remains the last Age which is named from IRON. The people of that Age live in the north, at the side of the west, inwards, that is to say, breadth-wise. They are all from the ancient inhabitants of Asia, with whom was the Ancient Word and worship therefrom; consequently, they lived before the time of the advent of our Lord into the world. This is evident from the writings of the ancients in which those times are so named. The same Ages are meant by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar, the head of which was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet of iron and also of clay” (Dan. 2:32, 33).
[2] All this the angel told me on the way, which was shortened and hastened by changes of state induced upon our minds according to the genius of the inhabitants whom we passed; for in the spiritual world, spaces and hence distances are appearances according to the states of minds. When we raised our eyes, behold, we were in a forest consisting of beeches, chestnuts, and oaks; and there, when we looked about, on the left were seen bears, and on the right leopards. I was wondering at this, when the angel said: “These are neither bears nor leopards. They are men who guard these inhabitants of the north. With their nostrils, they catch the life-spheres of passers-by and rush upon all who are spiritual, for these inhabitants are natural. Those who merely read the Word and draw nothing of doctrine therefrom, appear at a distance like bears, and those who confirm falsities therefrom, appear like leopards.” On seeing us, however, they turned away and we passed on.
[3] After the forest, appeared thickets, and then grassy plains divided into plots and surrounded by box trees. Behind these, the country descended gently into a valley wherein were cities upon cities. Passing by some of these, we entered into a city of large size. Its streets were irregular, as likewise were its houses. The latter were built of brick with intersecting timbers and were plastered over. In the public places were fanes of hewn limestone, the substructure of which was below the ground, and the super-structure above. Into one of these we descended by three steps. Around the walls we saw idols in various forms and a crowd upon their knees adoring them. In the center was a choir, from which the tutelary god of that city emerged as far as his head. As we were going out, the angel told me, that among the ancients who lived in the Silver Age, spoken of above, idols were representative images of spiritual truths and moral virtues; and that when the knowledge of correspondences fell from memory and became extinct, these images first became objects of worship and then were adored as gods, whence arose idolatry.
[4] Outside the fane, we examined the men and their dress. They had a steel-like face of a bluish gray color, and were dressed like clowns, with cloths about their loins hanging from a close-fitting tunic on the chest; and on their heads were caps crimped into the shape of boats. “But enough of this,” said the angel. “Let us get information respecting the marriages of the peoples of this age.”
We then entered the house of one of the magnates, on whose head was a cap in the shape of a turret. He received us courteously and said, “Walk in and let us engage in conversation.” We walked into the vestibule and there sat down. I then asked him about the marriages of that city and country. He said: “We do not live with one wife, but some with two, some with three, and some with more, and this because variety and obedience and honor as of majesty are pleasing to us. These we receive from our wives when there are several. With only one, there would be, not delight from variety but wearisomeness from sameness; not soothing calm from obedience but trouble from equality; not happiness from domination and the honor resulting therefrom but annoyance from contention respecting superiority. And what is a woman? Was she not born subject to the will of man? to serve and not to rule? Therefore, in his own house every husband here has royal majesty, as it were. This, as belonging to our love, is also the blessedness of our life.”
[5] “But,” I asked, “where then is conjugial love which of two souls makes one and which conjoins minds and blesses man? That love cannot be divided; if divided, it becomes a burning heat which effervesces and passes away.”
To this he replied: “I do not understand what you are saying. What else blesses a man but the rivalry of his wives for the honor of supereminence with their husbands?” Saying this, the man went into his harem and opened two doors. But from the harem came a libidinous effluvium which stank like filth; it was from polygamous love, a love which is connubial and at the same time scortatory. I therefore rose up and shut the doors.
[6] I then said, “How can you continue to live on this land when you have nothing of love truly conjugial, and when, moreover, you worship idols?” To this he answered, “As to connubial love, we are so fiercely jealous of our wives that we do not permit any one to enter our houses farther than the vestibule; and because there is jealousy, there is also love. As to the idols, we do not worship them; but we are not able to think of the God of the universe except by means of images set before our eyes; for we cannot raise our thoughts above things sensible to the body, and our thoughts concerning God above things visible thereto.”
I then further asked him, “Are not your idols of different forms? how can these bring the vision of one God?” to which he answered, “That is a mystery to us; something of the worship of God lies hidden in each form.”
I then said: “You are merely sensual corporeal. You have no love of God, nor any love of a married partner which derives anything from what is spiritual, and it is these loves together, that form man and from being sensual make him heavenly.”
[7] When I had said this, there was seen through the outer door something like lightning; and I asked, “What is that?” He said: “To us such lightning is a sign that the Ancient One is about to come from the East who teaches us about God, that He is One, the only Omnipotent, who is the First and the Last. He also admonishes us not to worship idols but to look upon them merely as images representative of the virtues proceeding from the one God, which together form the worship of Him. This Ancient One is our Angel whom we revere and to whom we hearken; and when, by reason of some fantasy respecting the images, We fall into an obscure worship of God, he comes to us and raises us up.”
[8] On hearing this, we left the house and the city; and on our way, we drew conclusions from what we had seen in the heavens, as to the circle and progression of conjugial love–as to its circle, that it passed from the east to the south, thence to the west, and from there to the north; and as to its progression, that it decreased according to its circling, that is to say, that in the east it was celestial, in the south spiritual, in the west natural, and in the north sensual. We also concluded that it decreased in even step with the love and worship of God. From this comes the following conclusion: In the first Age, that love was like gold, in the second like silver, in the third like brass, and in the fourth like iron; and finally it was lacking.
My angel guide and companion then said, “Yet I am nourished by the hope that this love will be resuscitated by the God of heaven, who is the Lord; for its resuscitation is possible.”
The angel who had previously been my guide and companion to the ancient peoples who had lived in the four Ages, the Golden, Silver, Copper, and Iron, came to me once more and said: “You would like to see the nature of the Age which followed these ancient Ages and which still continues. Follow me then, and you shall see. They are those of whom Daniel prophesied:
A kingdom shall arise after those four, wherein iron shall be mixed with miry clay; they shall mingle themselves through the seed of man, but they shall not cleave the one with the other, even as iron is not commingled with clay.” Dan. 2:41-3
and he added, “By the seed of man through which the iron shall be mingled with clay and yet they shall not cleave together, is meant the truth of the word falsified.”
[2] After he had thus spoken, I followed him, and on the way he told me the following: “They dwell on the border between the south and the west, but at a great distance behind those who lived in the four former Ages, and also at a greater depth.” Proceeding through the south to a region bordering upon the west, we passed through a dreadful forest; for in it were stagnant pools, from which crocodiles raised their heads and gaped at us with their wide open jaws beset with teeth. Moreover, between the pools were terrible dogs, some with three heads like Cerberus, some with two; and as we passed they all glared at us with a horrible ravenous look and fierce eyes. We entered the western part of this region and saw dragons and leopards such as are described in the Apocalypse 12:3 and 13:2.
[3] The angel then told me: “All those wild beasts which you saw are not beasts but correspondences. Thus they are representative forms of the lusts in which are the inhabitants whom we are to visit. Their lusts are represented by those horrible dogs; their deceits and cunning by the crocodiles; their falsities and their depraved inclinations in respect to things pertaining to worship, by the dragons and leopards. The inhabitants who are thus represented do not dwell immediately behind the forest but behind a great desert, the desert itself being an intermediate region; and this to the end that they may be kept entirely separate and apart from the peoples of the preceding Ages. Moreover, they are utter aliens, being entirely different from them. Like the primeval men, they do indeed have heads above their breasts, breasts above their loins, and loins above their feet, but there is nothing of gold in their heads, nothing of silver in their breasts, nothing of brass in their loins, yea, nothing of pure iron in their feet; but in their heads is iron mixed with clay; in their breasts, both these mixed with brass; in their loins, both mixed also with silver; and in their feet, all these mixed with gold. By this inversion they have been changed from men into graven images of men within whom nothing is coherent. That which was the highest has become the lowest. Thus what was the head has become the heel, and vice versa. From heaven they appear to us like clowns who rest on their elbows and move forwards with their body upside down; or like beasts lying on their backs, with upraised legs and looking at the sky from a head which they bury in the earth.”
[4] We passed through the forest and entered the desert, which was no less terrible. It consisted of heaps of stones, and between them ditches from which crawled hydras and vipers, and out of which flew fiery flying serpents. The whole desert was one continuous descent. Descending the long declivity, we came at last into the valley where dwell the inhabitants of that region and Age.
Here and there were huts, and finally these were seen to be closer to each other and to be joined together into the form of a city. This we entered, and lo, the houses were constructed of scorched branches of trees stuck together with mud. The roofs were of black slate. The streets were irregular, all narrow at their beginnings but wider as they went on, and quite spacious at their end where they terminated in an open space or forum, there being as many such spaces as there were [converging] streets.
As we entered the city, it became dark because heaven* was not visible. We therefore looked up, and light was given us and we saw. I then asked those whom I met, “can you see, now that the heaven above you is not visible?” They replied, “What are you asking? We see clearly. We walk in full light.” Hearing this, the angel said to me, “To them, just as to birds of night, darkness is light and light darkness, for they look downwards and not upwards.”
[5] Here and there we went into the hovels, and in each hovel we saw a man with his woman. We asked whether all here live in their own house with one wife only. The men answered this with a hissing, [and our host said] “Why with only one wife? Why do you not ask whether we live with only one harlot? What is a wife but a harlot? Our laws do not permit us to go a-whoring with more than one woman, yet we do not count it dishonorable or disgraceful to do this with many–but outside the house. Among ourselves we boast of it. In this way we enjoy license and its pleasures more than do polygamists. Why is a plurality of wives denied us, when yet it was formerly allowed; and even now it is allowed in all the countries around us? What is life with one woman alone but captivity and imprisonment? Here we break down the barrier of this prison and, delivering ourselves from servitude, set ourselves free. Who can be angry with a captive if he sets himself free when he can?”
[6] To this we answered: “Friend, you talk as if you were without religion. Who that is imbued with any reason does not know that adulteries are profane and infernal, and that marriages are holy and heavenly? Do not adulteries exist with the devils in hell, and marriages with the angels in heaven? Have you not read the seventh commandment of the Decalogue? and in Paul,** that adulterers can in no wise come into heaven?” At this, our host laughed heartily and looked upon me as a simpleton and almost as a madman.
At that moment a messenger from the chief man of the city rushed up and said, “Bring the two strangers into the forum, and if they will not come, drag them. We have seen them in the shade of night.*** They came in secret; they are spies.”
The angel then said to me: “The reason we were seen in a shade was because to them the light of heaven, in which we were, is shade, while the shade of hell is light, and this because they count nothing as a sin, not even adultery. Therefore they regard that which is false as being wholly true. Moreover, to satans in hell, that which is false shines, and that which is true darkens their eyes like the shade of night.”
[7] We then said to the messenger, “We will not be forced to the forum, still less will we be dragged, but will go with you of our own accord.” So we went. And lo, a great crowd was there, and from the crowd came men skilled in the law who whispered in our ears, “Take heed that you say nothing against religion, the form of government, and good manners.” We replied, “We speak not against these but for them and from them.”
We then asked them, “What is your religion regarding marriages?” At this, the crowd murmured and said, “What have you to do here with marriages? marriages are marriages.”
We then asked, “What is your religion respecting whoredoms?” At this also the crowd murmured, saying, “What have you to do here with whoredoms? whoredoms are whoredoms. Let him who is without guilt cast the first stone.”
And thirdly we asked, “Does your religion teach concerning marriages, that they are holy and heavenly? and concerning adulteries, that they are profane and infernal?” At this, many in the crowd laughed aloud and mocked and jeered, saying: “As to matters of religion, ask our priests not us; we give entire assent to their utterances, for nothing of religion falls within the judgment of the understanding. Have you not heard that the understanding is insane as regards the mysteries of which the whole of religion consists? And what have deeds to do with religion? Is it not the murmurings of a devout heart concerning expiation, satisfaction, and imputation, and not works, that beatify souls?”
[8] But then some of the city’s wise men, so called, came to us and said, “Go away from here; the crowd is getting angry and soon there will be an outbreak. Let us talk with you on this matter in private. Behind the court is an ambulatory; let us retire thither. Come with us.” So we followed them. They then asked us, “From where do you come and what is your business here?” and we said, “To be informed concerning marriages with you, whether they are sacred as they were with the ancients who lived in the Golden, Silver, and Copper Ages.”
They replied, “Why sacred? are they not deeds of the flesh and the night?” and we answered, “Are they not also deeds of the spirit? What the flesh does from the spirit, is not that spiritual? and whatever the spirit does, it does from the marriage of good and truth. Is not this the spiritual marriage which enters into natural marriage which is the marriage of husband and wife?”
To this, the so-called wise men responded: “You refine and sublimate this thing overmuch. You are passing over things rational and mounting to things spiritual. Who can commence there? Come down and then form a judgment.” To this they added in derision, “Perhaps you have the wings of an eagle and can fly into the uppermost region of heaven and see such things. We cannot.”
[9] We then asked them to tell us from the height or region in which the winged ideas of their minds fly, whether they knew or could know that there is such a thing as the conjugial love of one man with one wife, into which are gathered all the blessings, happiness, delights, amenities and pleasures of heaven; and that this love is from the Lord, according to the reception of good and truth from Him, that is, according to the state of the Church.
[10] Hearing this, they turned away and said, “These men are insane; they enter into the ether with their judgment and, conjecturing vanities, act like little children.”****
Thereupon, turning to us they said, “We will give a straight answer to your windy conjectures and dreams.” They then said: “What has conjugial love in common with religion and with inspiration from God? Is not that love with every man according to the state of his potency? And is it not just as much with those who are outside the Church as with those who are within it? just as much with Gentiles as with Christians? nay, just as much with the impious as with the pious? And has not every one the strength of that love from heredity, or from good health, or from temperance of life, or from the heat of the climate? Can it not also be strengthened and stimulated by medicines? Is it not the same with beasts, especially birds, which love in pairs? Is not that love carnal? and what has a carnal matter in common with the spiritual state of the Church? As to the ultimate effect, does love with a wife differ in the least from love with a harlot? Is not the lust the same? and the delight the same? Therefore it is wrongful to deduce the origin of conjugial love from the holy things of the Church.”
[11] On hearing this, We said to them: “You are reasoning from the heat of lasciviousness and not from conjugial love. You are wholly ignorant of what conjugial love is because with you it is cold. From what you have said, we are assured that you are of that Age which has its name from and consists of iron and clay which do not cohere, according to the prediction by Daniel II. 43; for you make conjugial love and scortatory love to be one and the same thing. Do these two loves cohere any more than iron and clay? You are believed to be wise and are called wise; yet you are anything but wise.”
Inflamed with anger at hearing these words, they raised a cry and called the crowd together to cast us out. But then, by power given us by the Lord, we stretched forth our hands, and lo, the fiery flying serpents, vipers, and hydras from the desert were at hand, and also the dragons; and they rushed in and filled the city, from which the inhabitants fled in terror.
The angel then told me: “New arrivals from the earth come into this region every day and, by turns, the former inhabitants are sent away and cast down into gulfs at the west which at a distance appear like pools of fire and brimstone. All who are there are spiritual adulterers and also natural.”
* As in English, the Latin word for heaven means also the sky.
** 1 Cor. 6:9.
*** The Latin is lucis (of light), but the context indicates that this is a misprint or a slip of the pen for noctis.
**** Literally, they scatter nuts. Because children played with nuts, relinguere noces (to leave the nuts) became a proverbial saying for to give up childish ways.
When these words had been spoken, I looked to the border of the west and behold, there appeared pools as though of fire and brimstone, and I asked the angel, “Why do the hells there appear like that?”
He answered: “They appear as pools from their falsifications of truth, water in the spiritual sense being truth; and fire, as it were, appears around and within them, from the love of evil, and brimstone from the love of what is false. These three, the pool, fire, and brimstone, are appearances because they are correspondences of the evil loves in which they are. All who are there are shut up in eternal workhouses where they labor for food, clothing, and bed; and when they do evil, they are severely and miserably punished.”
[2] I further asked the angel, “Why did you say that in that place are spiritual and natural adulterers? Why not say evil doers and the impious?” He answered, “Because all who repute adulteries as nothing, that is, who believe from confirmation that they are not sins and so commit them of set purpose, are at heart evil doers and impious; for the human conjugial and religion go together in even pace. Every step and every move made from religion and into religion is also a step and a move made from the conjugial which is peculiar and proper to the Christian, and into the conjugial.”
To the question, “What is that conjugial?” he said, “It is the desire to live with one wife alone; and a Christian has this desire according to his religion.”
[3] After this I grieved in spirit that marriages, which in the ancient Ages had been most holy, are so hopelessly changed into adulteries. And the angel said: “It is the same at this day with religion; for the Lord says:
In the consummation of the age there shall be the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel. And there shall be great affliction, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world. Matt. 24:15, 21.
The abomination of desolation signifies the falsification and deprivation of all truth; affliction signifies the state of the Church infested by evils and falses; and the consummation of the age, of which these words are spoken, signifies the last time or end of the Church. The end is now; for there is no truth left which has not been falsified, and falsification of truth is spiritual whoredom which acts as one with natural whoredom because they cleave together.”
Because the angel understood all this, he told me, first that glorifications and celebrations of the Lord are made from the Word because then they are made from the Lord, He being the Word, that is, the Divine Truth therein. He then added: “Now, in particular, they are glorifying and celebrating the Lord by these words spoken by Daniel the prophet:
Thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves through the seed of man, but they shall not cohere. But in those days, the God of the heavens shall make to arise a kingdom which shall not be destroyed for ages. It shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms; but itself shall stand for ages.” Dan. 2:43, 44.
[2] After this I heard, as it were, the sound of a song, and more deeply in the east, I saw that the sparkling of the light was more brilliant than before; so I asked the angel, “By what are they glorifying there.” He said: “By these words in Daniel:
I was seeing in the visions of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one coming like unto the SON OF MAN; and unto Him was given dominion and a kingdom, and all peoples and nations shall worship Him. His dominion is the dominion of an age which shall not pass away, and His kingdom which shall not perish. Dan. VII. 13, 14.
In addition to the above, they are celebrating the Lord from these words in the Apocalypse:
To JESUS CHRIST be glory and strength. Behold, He cometh with clouds. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, heard this from the SON OF MAN out of the midst of the seven candlesticks. Apoc. 1:5-7, 8, 9, 10-13; 22:13; and also from the words in Matthew 24:30, 31.”
[3] I again looked into the eastern heaven. On the right side it had become luminous, and the luminosity entered the southern expanse. Hearing a sweet sound, I asked the angel, “What of the Lord are they glorifying there?” He said: “These words in the Apocalypse:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth. And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as A BRIDE [ADORNED] FOR HER HUSBAND. And the angel spake with me and said, Come hither, I will show thee THE BRIDE, THE LAMB’S WIFE. And he carried me away in the spirit upon a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem. Apoc. 21:1, 2, 9, 10.
And also these:
I JESUS am the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, COME; AND HE SAID, YEA, I COME QUICKLY. Amen.
Yea, COME, LORD JESUS.” 22:16, 17, 20.
[4] After these and other glorifications, then, from the east of heaven to the west and also from the south to the north, was heard a general glorification. And I asked the angel, “What is it now?” He said: “These words from the Prophets:
Let all flesh know that I, JEHOVAH, AM THY SAVIOR AND THY REDEEMER. Isa. 49:26.
Thus saith JEHOVAH, the King of Israel, and HIS REDEEMER, JEHOVAH ZEBAOTH, I am the first and the last, and BESIDE ME THERE IS NO GOD. Isa. 44:6.
It shall be said in that day, Lo, THIS IS OUR GOD; we have waited for Him that He should deliver us. THIS IS JEHOVAH, WE HAVE WAITED FOR HIM. Isa. 25:9.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of JEHOVAH. Behold, the LORD JEHOVAH cometh in strength. He shall feed his flock like A SHEPHERD.
Isa. 40:3, 5, 10, 11.
Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and his name shall be [called] Wonderful, Counselor, GOD, Hero FATHER OF ETERNITY, Prince of peace. Isa. 9:6.
Behold, the days come, and I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, a King, who shall reign. And this is his name, JEHOVAH OUR JUSTICE. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15,16.
JEHOVAH ZEBAOTH is his name; and THY REDEEMER, the Holy One of Israel, THE GOD OF THE WHOLE EARTH SHALL HE BE CALLED. Isa. 54:5.
IN THAT DAY JEHOVAH SHALL BE FOR A KING OVER ALL THE EARTH; IN THAT DAY THERE SHALL BE ONE JEHOVAH, AND HIS NAME ONE. Zech. 14:8, 9.
[5] Hearing and understanding these glorifications, my heart exulted, and I went home in joy. There, from the state of the spirit I returned into that of the body, in which state I wrote down what had been seen and heard. To this I now add the following: After His advent, conjugial love will be raised up anew by the Lord, such as it was with the ancients; for this love is from the Lord alone and is with those who are made spiritual by Him through the word.
[2] On hearing this, the man’s fury abated for a few moments; but after some deliberation, he again looked at me with a grim countenance and said, “Are these five precepts the doctrinals of the faith and charity of the New Church?” and I answered, “They are.”
He then asked sharply, “How can you demonstrate the first: That there is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that He is the Lord Jesus Christ?” I said: “I demonstrate it thus: Is not God one and indivisible? is there not a Trinity? If God is one and indivisible, is He not one Person? if one Person, is not the Trinity in that Person? That He is the Lord Jesus Christ, I demonstrate by the following: That He was conceived of God the Father (Luke 1:34, 35); that as to His soul He is God, and hence, as He himself says, that the Father and He are one (John 10:30); that He is in the Father and the Father in Him (John 14:10, 11); that he that sees Him and knows Him, sees and knows the Father (John 14:7, 9); that no one sees and knows the Father save He who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18); that all things of the Father are His (John 3:35; 16:15); that He is the way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes to the Father save by Him (John 14:6), thus by Him because He is in Him; and, according to Paul, that in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9). Furthermore we are taught that He has power over all flesh (John 17:2). and that He has all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). From these passages it follows that He is the God of heaven and earth.”
[3] He then asked me, “How do you demonstrate the second: That saving faith is to believe in Him?” I replied: “I demonstrate it by these words of the Lord Himself:
This is the will of the Father, that all who believe in the Son shall have everlasting life. John 6:40.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16.
He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3. 36.
[4] He then said, “Demonstrate also the third and those that follow.” I answered: “What need is there to demonstrate that evils are to be shunned because they are of the devil and from the devil? that goods are to be done because they are of God and from God? and that these are to be done by man as of himself, yet that he must believe that they are done by the Lord with him and through him? That these three doctrinals are true, is confirmed by the whole Sacred Scripture from beginning to end; for in one sum, what else does the Scripture contain save the shunning of evils, the doing of goods, and the believing in the Lord God? Moreover, without these three, there is no religion. Is not religion a matter of life? and what is life but the shunning of evils and the doing of goods? and how can a man do the latter and shun* the former except as of himself? Therefore, if you remove these doctrinals from the Church, you remove the Sacred Scripture, and you also remove religion, and when these are removed from the Church, it is not a Church.” On hearing this, the man withdrew and pondered. Yet he departed in indignation.
* The Latin is illa credere (believe the former), but the context indicates this should be illa fugere as in the translation.
The origins of conjugial love are internal and external. The internal origins are many and likewise the external, but the inmost of all, being the universal origin, is one. That this inmost origin is the marriage of good and truth will be shown in what now follows. No one has hitherto deduced the origin of that love from this source because it has not been known that there is any union between good and truth; and the reason why this has not been known is because good does not appear in the light of the understanding as does truth. Therefore knowledge of it has concealed itself and eluded investigation. And since, from this cause, good is among things unknown, no one could conjecture that there is a marriage between it and truth. Nay, before the natural rational sight, good appears to be so far removed from truth as to have no conjunction with it. That such is the case can be seen from common speech when the two are mentioned. Thus, when it is said, “This is good,” there is no thought about truth; and when it is said, “This is true,” there is no thought about good. Therefore it is believed by many at this day that truth is something entirely separate, and likewise good; and by many, it is also believed that a man is intelligent and wise, and thus is a man, according to the truths which he thinks, speaks, writes, and believes, and not at the same time according to the goods [which he does]. That, nevertheless, there is no good without truth, nor any truth without good; consequently, that there is an eternal marriage between them, and that this marriage is the origin of conjugial love, shall now be explained. This shall be done in the following order:
I. That good and truth are the universals of creation and hence are in all created things; but that they are in created subjects according to the form of each.
II. That there is no solitary good, and no solitary truth, but that they are everywhere conjoined.
III. That there is the truth of good and from this the good of truth, or truth from good and good from that truth; and that in these two there is implanted from creation an inclination to conjoin themselves into a one.
IV. That in subjects of the animal kingdom, the truth of good or truth from good is masculine; and that the good of truth therefrom or good from that truth is feminine.
V. That from the influx of the marriage of good and truth from the Lord, there is love of the sex and there is conjugial love.
VI. That love of the sex belongs to the external or natural man, and hence is common to every animal.
VII. But that conjugial love belongs to the internal or spiritual man, and hence is proper to man.
VIII. That with man, conjugial love is in love of the sex as a gem in its matrix.
IX. That with man, love of the sex is not the origin of conjugial love but is the first thereof; thus is as a natural external wherein is implanted a spiritual internal.
X. That when conjugial love has been implanted, love of the sex is inverted and becomes chaste love of the sex.
XI. That the male and female were created to be the very form of the marriage of good and truth.
XII. That they are that form in their inmosts, and hence, as the interiors of their mind are opened, in all that follows therefrom.
Now follows the explanation of these points.
* Lux and lumen both mean light, but in the Writings luxis used to signify the light of the spiritual sun or of the natural, while lumen is used generally to signify spiritual light in the natural mind. Thus the eye sees in natural lux; angels see in spiritual lux. The natural man, whether good or evil, sees in lumen. See ARCANA COELESTIA. n. 854; DIVINE PROVIDENCE n. 166, and SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES n. 4627.
* The word also suggests that this is a misprint for conjugial. The present passage and n. 203 and also one passage in THE WORD EXPLAINED (n.4486) are the only passages in the theological Writings where the word conjugal appears. The word does indeed appear in four passages in TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, but these passages are reprinted from CONJUGIAL LOVE where the word is conjugial. Swedenborg also uses conjugial throughout his scientific works.
The wisdom which makes this form and receives this love is rational and at the same time moral. Rational wisdom regards the truths and goods which appear interiorly in man, not as his own but as flowing in from the Lord; and moral wisdom shuns evils and falses as leprosies, shunning especially things lascivious which contaminate its conjugial love.
* In the original, the paragraph that follows is enclosed in inverted commas.
One morning before sunrise, when looking towards the east in the spiritual world, I saw four horsemen flying as from a cloud resplendent with the flame of dawn. Upon the horsemen’s heads appeared crested helmets, upon their arms wings, as it were, and about their bodies light orange-colored tunics. Thus clad as racers, they rose up, pulled tight the reins over the manes of their horses, and the horses speeded off as though with winged feet. With my eyes, I followed their course or flight with a mind to know whither they were going; and lo, three of the horsemen spread out to the three quarters, south, west, and north, and after a short course the fourth stopped in the east.
[2] Wondering at this, I looked up to heaven and asked whither those horsemen were going. I received the answer: “To the wise in the kingdoms Of Europe–men of keen reason and acute discernment in the investigation of subjects, and eminent among their fellow countrymen for their ingenuity–that they may come and solve the secret concerning THE ORIGIN OF CONJUGIAL LOVE AND OF ITS VIRTUE OR POTENCY”
Angels then said from heaven, “Wait a little and you will see twenty-seven chariots, three with Spaniards in them, three with Frenchmen or Gauls, three with Italians, three with Germans, three with Batavians or Hollanders, three with Englishmen, three with Swedes, three with Danes, and three with Poles.” Two hours later the chariots appeared, drawn by small light-bay horses elegantly caparisoned. Their riders were swiftly carried towards a spacious house which was seen in the common boundary of the east and the south. Around this house all the riders alighted from their chariots and entered the house in high spirits.
[3] It was then said to me, “Go you also and enter and you shall hear.” So I went and entered. Examining the building within, I saw that it was square, the sides looking to the four quarters. On each side were three lofty windows of crystalline glass, with posts of olive wood. On either side of the posts were projections from the walls, like rooms, vaulted above and containing tables. The walls of these rooms were of cedar, the roof was of noble thyine wood, and the floor was boarded with poplar. Against the eastern wall, where no windows were seen, was set a table overlaid with gold, whereon was placed a tiara set around with precious stones. This was to be given as a prize or reward to him who should search out the secret about to be propounded. [4] As I looked at the several roofed projections which were like stalls set by the windows, I saw in each, five men from one or other of the countries of Europe, all ready, awaiting the subject for the exercise of their judgment.
Then, all at once an angel stood in the middle of the palace and said: “The subject for the exercise of your judgment will be CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF CONJUGIAL LOVE AND OF ITS VIRTUE OR POTENCY. Discuss this subject, come to a decision, and write your decision on paper, signing it with the initial letter of the kingdom from which you come; that is, F for the Frenchmen or Gauls, B for the Batavians or Hollanders, I for the Italians, A for the Anglians or Englishmen, P for the Poles, G for the Germans, H for the Hispanians or Spaniards, D for the Danes, and S for the Swedes. Then put the paper into this silver urn which you see placed beside the golden table.” With these words, the angel departed, saying, “I will return.”
The five compatriots in each of the stalls by the windows then turned their attention to the subject that had been proclaimed, examined into it, and made their decision in accordance with the excellence of their judicial endowments. These decisions they wrote down on papers signed with the initial letter of their kingdom, and put them into the silver receptacle. In three hours, this business being finished, the angel returned and, drawing the papers out of the urn one after the other, read them before the assembly.
Hearing this, the men at the tables cried out, “Remove this paper and draw another from the urn.”
* Muscles in the scrotum whose office is to raise the testes. See the Author’s GENERATION, n. 54.
And a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. Gen. 2:24.
That it can be inspired into Christians is plain from these words:
Jesus said, Have ye not read, that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and he said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh. Matt. 19:4-6.
Thus far respecting the origin of conjugial love. As to the origin of the virtue or potency of love truly conjugial, this we surmise arises from a similarity and unanimity of minds. For when two minds are conjoined conjugially, their thoughts kiss each other spiritually, and these thoughts breathe their virtue or potency into the body.” To this was subscribed the letter S.
One of the strangers then entered and, standing by the table whereon the tiara had been placed, he said: “You Christians deduce the origin of conjugial love from the love itself, but we Africans deduce it from the God of heaven and earth. Is not conjugial love a love chaste, pure, and holy? Are not the angels of heaven in that love? Is not the whole human race and thence the whole angelic heaven the seed of that love? Can a thing so supereminent spring from any other source than God himself, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe? You Christians deduce conjugial virtue or potency from various rational and natural causes, but we Africans deduce it from the state of the conjunction of man with the God of the universe, a state which we call the state of religion, but you the state of the Church; for when the love is from this source and is stable and perpetual, it cannot do otherwise than operate its virtue, and this is like itself and so is also stable and perpetual. Love truly conjugial is known only to those few who are near to God, and therefore to no others is the potency of that love known. This potency with the love is described by angels in the heavens as the delight of perpetual spring.”
Awaking from sleep at midnight, I saw, on an eminence towards the east, an angel holding in his right hand a paper which, from the inflowing light of the sun, was seen in a bright radiance. On the middle of the paper was a writing in letters of gold; and I saw written there: THE MARRIAGE OF GOOD AND TRUTH. From this writing flashed a splendor which spread out in a wide circle around the paper so that the circle or ambit seemed like the dawn as seen in spring-time.
After this, I saw the angel descending with the paper in his hand. And as he descended, the paper seemed less and less bright, and the writing, which was THE MARRIAGE OF GOOD AND TRUTH, changed from the color of gold to that of silver, then to that of copper, afterwards to that of iron, and finally to that of iron and copper rust. Finally, the angel was seen to enter a dark cloud and to descend through the cloud and alight upon the earth. There the paper, though still held in his hand, was no longer visible. This was in the world of spirits where all men first come together after death.
[2] The angel then spoke to me, saying, “Ask those who come hither whether they see me or see anything in my hand.” A great number of spirits was approaching, one company from the east, one from the south, one from the west, and one from the north; and I asked those who came from the east and the south, being those who in the world had been in the pursuit of learning whether they saw any one with me in this place, and anything in his hand. They all said that they saw nothing at all. I then asked those who came from the west and the north, being those who in the world had put faith in the words of the learned. They also said that they saw nothing. But after those in front had gone away, those in the rear, being those who in the world had been in simple faith from charity, or in some truth from good, said that they saw a man with a paper–a man in becoming apparel and a paper upon which, on closer view, they traced letters. Bringing their eyes still closer, they said that they read, THE MARRIAGE OF GOOD AND TRUTH. They then addressed the angel, asking him to tell them what this meant.
[3] The angel then said: “All things in the whole heaven and all things in the entire world are nothing but a marriage of good and truth; for created things, both those which live and breathe and those which do not live and breathe, are one and all created from and into the marriage of good and truth, nothing whatever being created into truth alone, and nothing whatever into good alone. Alone, the latter and the former are not anything; but by marriage they exist and become a thing of like quality as the marriage. In the Lord the Creator is Divine Good and Divine Truth in its very substance, the esse of Substance Itself being Divine Good, and the existere of Substance Itself Divine Truth. They are also in their very union; for in Him they make one infinitely. Since these two are one in the Creator, therefore they are also one in each and every thing created by Him. Moreover, by this the Creator is conjoined with all things created by Himself in an eternal covenant as of marriage.”
[4] The angel said further, that the Sacred Scripture, which proceeded immediately from the Lord, is in general and in particular a marriage of good and truth. And since with Christians, the Church, which is formed by the truth of doctrine, and religion, which is formed by the good of life according to the truth of doctrine, are solely from the Sacred Scripture, it is evident that the Church in general and in particular is the marriage of good and truth.
That such is the case can be seen in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED, nos. 373, 483. What has been said above respecting the marriage of good and truth is also said of THE MARRIAGE OF CHARITY AND FAITH, since good is the good of charity and truth the truth of faith.
Certain of those in front, who had not seen the angel and the writing, were still standing by, and on hearing these words they said, with half-closed lips, “Yes, truly, we comprehend that.” But then the angel said to them, “Turn away from me a little and say the same thing.” And they turned away and said, with open lips, “It is not so.”
[5] After this the angel spoke of THE MARRIAGE OF GOOD AND TRUTH as it is with married partners, saying that if their minds were in that marriage, the husband being truth and the wife the good thereof, they would both be in the delights of the blessedness of innocence, and thence in the happiness in which are the angels of heaven. In that state, the prolific principle of the husband would be in continual Spring and thence in the effort and strength to propagate his truth; and the wife, from love, would be in a continual reception of it: “[In heaven], the wisdom which is with men from the Lord feels nothing more delightful than to propagate its own truths; and the love of wisdom which is with wives there, feels nothing more pleasing than to receive them as though in a womb, and thus to conceive, carry in the womb, and bring forth. Such is the nature of spiritual prolification with the angels of heaven; and if you will believe it, from this origin are also natural prolifications.”
After a salutation of peace, the angel then raised himself from the earth, and passing through the cloud, ascended into heaven; and then, according to the degrees of ascent, the paper shone as before. And lo, the circle of light which had previously appeared as the dawn, then descended and dispelled the cloud which had brought darkness upon the earth, and it became sunny.
That here the marriage of the Lord and the Church and the correspondence thereof is also treated of, is because, in the absence of knowledge and understanding concerning it, hardly any one can know that in its origin, conjugial love is holy, spiritual, and celestial, and that it is from the Lord. Some in the Church do indeed say that marriages have relation to the marriage of the Lord with the Church, but the nature of that relation is not known. In order, therefore, that the subject may be so presented as to be seen in some light of the understanding it is necessary to treat in detail of that holy marriage which is with and in those who are of the Lord’s Church. Moreover, it is these and no others who have love truly conjugial. For the elucidation of this arcanum, the present chapter will be distributed under the following articles:
I. That in the Word, the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband, and the Church Bride and Wife; and that the conjunction of the Lord with the Church, and the reciprocal conjunction of the Church with the Lord, is called Marriage.
II. Also that the Lord is called Father, and the Church Mother.
III. That the offspring from the Lord as Husband and Father and the Church as Wife and Mother are all spiritual, and in the spiritual sense of the Word are meant by sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, and by other names belonging to generation.
IV. That the spiritual offspring which are born from the marriage of the Lord with the Church are truths, from which are understanding, perception, and all thought; and goods, from which are love, charity, and every affection.
V. 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 by the Lord with man.
VI. That the husband does not represent the Lord, and the wife the Church, because both together, the husband and his wife, make the Church.
VII. 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.
VIII. But that there is a correspondence with conjugial love, semination, prolification, the love of infants, and similar things which are in marriages and from them.
IX. That the Word is the medium of conjunction because it is from the Lord and thus is the Lord.
X. That the Church is from the Lord and is with those who approach Him and live according to His commandments.
XI. That conjugial love is according to the state of the Church because according to the state of wisdom with man.
XII. And because the Church is from the Lord, that conjugial love also is from Him.
The explanation of the above now follows:
He that hath the BRIDE is the BRIDEGROOM; but the friend of the BRIDEGROOM, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the BRIDEGROOM’S voice. John 3:29.
these words were spoken by John the Baptist concerning the Lord.
Jesus said, So long as the BRIDEGROOM is with them, the SONS OF THE NUPTIALS cannot fast; the days will come when the BRIDEGROOM shall be taken away from them, then will they fast. Matt. 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34, 35.
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, prepared as a BRIDE adorned for her HUSBAND. Rev. 21:2.
That by the New Jerusalem is meant the Lord’s New Church may be seen in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED, nos. 880, 881. The angel said to John:
Come and I will show thee THE BRIDE, THE LAMB’S WIFE. And He showed him the holy city, Jerusalem. Rev. 21:9, 10.
The time for the MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB, is come, and HIS WIFE hath made herself ready. Blessed are they which are called to THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB. 19:7, 9.
By the Bridegroom whom the five virgins who were ready went forth to meet, and with whom they entered into the wedding (Matt. 25:6-10), is meant the Lord, as is evident from verse 13 where it is said: Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour wherein the SON OF MAN cometh. Besides many passages in the Prophets.
Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, FATHER OF ETERNITY, Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6.
Thou, O JEHOVAH, ART OUR FATHER; REDEEMER FROM ETERNITY is Thy name. Isa. 63:16.
Jesus said, He that seeth Me seeth the FATHER that sent Me. John 12:44, 45.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my FATHER also; and from henceforth ye have known Him, and have seen Him. John 14:7.
Philip saith, Show us the FATHER. Jesus saith unto him, He that hath seen Me hath seen the FATHER. How sayest thou then, Show us the FATHER? John 14:8, 9.
Jesus said, THE FATHER AND I are one. John 10:30.
All things whatsoever the FATHER hath are MINE. John 16:15; 17:10.
THE FATHER IS IN ME, and I IN THE FATHER. John 10:38; 14:10, 11, 20.
That the Lord and His Father are one as soul and body are one; that God the Father descended from heaven and assumed the Human to redeem and save men; and that His Human is what is called the Son sent into the world, is fully shown in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED.
Jehovah said, plead with YOUR MOTHER; she is not my WIFE, and I am not her HUSBAND. Hos. 2:2, 5.
Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that loatheth her HUSBAND. Ezek. 16:45.
Where is the bill of your MOTHER’s divorcement, whom I have put away. Isa. 1:1.
The above passages are said of the Jewish church.
Thy MOTHER is like a vine, planted by the waters, bearing fruit. Ezek. 19:10.
Jesus stretched forth His hand towards His disciples and said, MY MOTHER and My brethren are they which hear the word of God and do it. Luke 8:21; Matt. 12:48, 49; Mark 3:33-5.
by the disciples of the Lord is meant the Church.
There stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother; and Jesus, seeing His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, said unto His mother, Woman, behold thy Son! And He said to the disciple, Behold thy mother! Wherefore from that hour the disciple took her unto his own. John 19:25-7.
By this is meant that the Lord did not acknowledge Mary as mother, but the Church; for which reason He called her woman and the mother of the disciple. He called her the mother of this disciple, that is, of John, because John represented the Church as to the goods of charity, these being the Church in very fact; therefore it is said that he took her unto his own. That Peter represented truth and faith, James charity, and John the works of charity, may be seen in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED, nos. 5, 6, 790, 798, 879; and that the twelve disciples together represented the Church as to all things thereof, in nos. 233, 790, 903, 915.
* ‘or external’ is not in the printed text, but is in the Latin.
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 keepeth not my commandment. John 14:21-4.
Love is conjunction; and conjunction with the Lord is the Church.
With man there is science, intelligence, and wisdom. Science pertains to cognitions, intelligence to reason, and wisdom to life. Considered in its fullness, wisdom pertains simultaneously to cognitions, reason, and life. Cognitions precede, reason is formed by means of them, and wisdom by means of both–and this when a man lives rationally according to the truths which are his cognitions. Wisdom, therefore, pertains to reason and at the same time to life. It is becoming wisdom when it is the wisdom of reason and thence of life; and it is wisdom when it has become the wisdom of life and thence of reason. The most ancient people in this world recognized no other wisdom than wisdom of life. This was the wisdom of those who of old were called SOPHI. The ancients who succeeded the most ancient recognized the wisdom of reason as wisdom, and they were called PHILOSOPHERS. But at this day many call even science wisdom; for learned doctors are called wise, and also the erudite and mere knowers. Thus has wisdom fallen from its mountain peak to its valley.
[2] Something shall also be said as to what wisdom is in its origin and progress, and thence in its full state. With man, things which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, reside in his inmosts; those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below them; and those which pertain to science, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make the seat on which they rest. That those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, have their abode in man’s inmosts is because they conjoin themselves with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; for with man, it is these alone that enter in from the Lord through heaven. That those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below the spiritual, is because they conjoin themselves with the world; for they are things of the world, being the statutes, laws, and regulations which bind men, to the end that from them may be formed a stable and well-knit society and state. That those which pertain to science, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make their seat, is because they closely conjoin themselves with the five senses of the body, and these are the ultimates on which interior things belonging to the mind, and inmost things belonging to the soul, are seated, as it were. [3] Now because those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual reside in inmosts, and those which reside in inmosts make the head, while those which follow under them and are called civil make the body, and ultimate things which are 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 the same way that the things of the head flow into the body and through the body into the feet. So spiritual things flow into civil things and through these into natural. Now because spiritual things are in the light of heaven, it is evident that by their light they enlighten the things which follow in order, and by their heat which is love they animate them; and that when this is the case, the man has wisdom.
[4] Since wisdom pertains to life and thence to reason, as said above, the question arises, What is wisdom of life? In a comprehensive summary it is this: To shun evils because they are hurtful to the soul, hurtful to the commonwealth, and hurtful to the body; and to do goods because they are beneficial to the soul, the commonwealth and the body. This is the wisdom that is meant by the wisdom with which conjugial love binds itself; for it binds itself by shunning the evil of adultery as the pest of the soul, the commonwealth, and the body. And since this wisdom springs from the spiritual things which pertain to the Church, it follows that conjugial love is according to the state of the Church with man because according to the state of wisdom. By this, the same thing is meant as that which has been frequently said in the preceding pages, namely, that so far as a man becomes spiritual, so far he is in love truly conjugial, it being by means of the spiritual things of the Church that man becomes spiritual. More respecting the wisdom with which conjugial love conjoins itself may be seen in nos. 163-5 below.
* In the original, the remainder of this number, except the last sentence, is enclosed in inverted commas.
I once conversed with two angels, one from the eastern heaven, the other from the southern heaven. When they perceived that I was meditating on the arcana of wisdom concerning conjugial love, they said, “Do you know anything about the sports of wisdom in our world?” When I answered, “Not as yet,” they said: “There are many. Those who love truths from spiritual affection, that is, who love truths because they are truths and because they are the means to wisdom, come together at a given signal to discuss matters requiring a deeper understanding, and to form conclusions.” They then took me by the hand, saying, “Follow us and you shall see and hear. Today 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 palm trees stretching all the way to the summit. We entered it and ascended; and on the top or crown of the hill was seen a grove, the trees of which, growing on an elevated piece of ground, formed a kind of theatre. Within this theatre was a level space paved with small stones of various colors, around which, arranged in the form of a square, were chairs of state on which sat the lovers of wisdom. In the center of the theatre was a table whereon lay a paper sealed with a seal.
[2] The men who were sitting on the chairs invited us to seats still vacant; but I answered them, “I have been led hither by two angels to see and hear, not to sit down.” The two angels then went to the table in the center of the level area, and in the presence of those who were seated they broke the seal of the paper and read the arcana of wisdom inscribed thereon which they were now to discuss and unfold. They had been written and let down upon the table by angels of the third heaven. There were three arcana: FIRST, What is the image of God and what the likeness of God into which man was created? SECOND, Why is man not born into the science of any love, when yet beasts and birds, the noble as well as the ignoble, are born into the sciences of all their loves? THIRD, What is signified by the tree of life, what by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what by the eating of them? Underneath was written: “Combine these three into one statement, write it on a fresh sheet of paper, and place the paper on the table and we shall see. If the statement appears well balanced and just, there shall be given to each of you a reward of wisdom.” After reading this, the two angels withdrew and were taken up into their heavens.
[3] Those who were sitting on the chairs then began to discuss and unfold the arcana proposed to them. They spoke in order, first those who sat at the north, then those at the west, after them those at the south, and finally those at the east. They took up the first subject of discussion, namely, WHAT IS THE IMAGE OF GOD AND WHAT THE LIKENESS OF GOD INTO WHICH MAN WAS CREATED? To begin with, the following from the Book of Genesis was then read out in the presence of all:
God said, Let us make man in OUR IMAGE, after OUR LIKENESS. And God created man in HIS OWN IMAGE, in the IMAGE OF GOD created he him. Gen. 1:26, 27.
In the day that God created man, in the LIKENESS OF GOD made he him. 5:1.
Those who sat at the north spoke first, saying, “The image of God and the likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God, being the life of his will and the life of his understanding. for we read that Jehovah God breathed into the nostrils of Adam the breath of lives; and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). Into his nostrils means into the perception that within him was the will of good and the understanding of truth and thus the breath of lives; and because life was breathed into him by God, the image and likeness of God signify the integrity that was in him from wisdom and love, and from righteousness and judgment.”
Those who sat at the west favored these views, but they added the following, “This state of integrity breathed into Adam by God is being continually breathed into every man after him; but it is in man as a receptacle, and man is an image and likeness of God according as he is a receptacle.”
[4] The third in order, being those who sat at the south, then said: “The image of God and the likeness of God are two distinct things, but in man they 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 is seen as through a lattice, from the fact that Adam retained the likeness of God after he had lost the image of God; for after the curse it is said:
Behold the man is as one of us, knowing good and evil. Gen. 3:22.
and later he is called the likeness of God and is not called the image of God (Gen. 5:1). 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.”
[5] Then, after a period of silence, those sitting at the east rose from their seats and looked up to the Lord. Resuming their seats, they then said: “An image of God is a receptacle of God; and because 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 likeness and full appearance as though the love and wisdom were in the man and so were his own; for man feels no other than that he loves from himself and is wise from himself, or that it is from himself that he wills good and understands truth, when yet it is not in the least from himself but from God. God alone loves from Himself and is wise from Himself because God is Love itself and Wisdom itself. The likeness or appearance that love and wisdom or good and truth are in man as his own, makes man a man and able to be conjoined to God and so to live to eternity. Hence it follows that man is man from the fact that he can will good and understand truth altogether as if from himself, and yet can know and believe that it is from God; for, according as man knows and believes this, God puts His image in him; not so if he believed that it is from himself and not from God.”
[6] Having said this, a zeal from the love of truth came over them, and from this they spoke as follows: “How can man receive anything of love and wisdom and retain and reproduce it, unless he feel it as his own? And how can there be conjunction with God through love and wisdom unless there be given man some reciprocal of conjunction? Without a reciprocal, there can be no conjunction; and the reciprocal of conjunction is this: Man loves God, and is wise in the things which are of God, as if from himself, and yet believes that it is from God. Moreover, how can man live to eternity unless he is conjoined with the eternal God? Consequently, how can man be man without this likeness of God within him?”
[7] On hearing these words, all expressed their approval. They then said: “Let the conclusion from this discussion be as follows: 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 the receptacle becomes an image of God according as it receives. Man is a likeness of God from the fact that he feels in himself that the things which are from God are in him as his own; but from this likeness he is an image of God only so far as he acknowledges that the love and wisdom or the good and truth in him are not his own and thus are not from himself, but are solely in God and thus from God.”
[2] They then confirmed the statement that beasts, noble and ignoble, such as animals of the earth, birds of the air, reptiles, fishes, grubs which are called insects, are born into all the sciences of their life’s loves, thus into all that pertain to nourishment, into all that pertain to habitation, into all that pertain to love of the sex and procreation, and into all that pertain to the rearing of their young. This they confirmed by the marvels 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 had formerly lived–where the beasts are not representative but real.
The truth of the proposition being thus established, they then directed their minds to investigate and discover the ends and causes whereby they might unfold and disclose this arcanum. They all said that such things must needs come from Divine Wisdom, to the end that man may be man and beast beast; thus that man’s imperfection at birth becomes his perfection, and the beast’s perfection at birth is its imperfection.
[2] Those at the WEST spoke next. They said: “Man is not born with knowledge like a beast, but is born an ability and an inclination–an ability to learn and an inclination to love. And he is born an ability, not merely to learn but also to understand and be wise. He is also born a most perfect inclination to love, not only things which are of self and the world, but also those which are of God and of heaven. Consequently, from his parents man is born an organ which at first lives in the external senses alone and in none that are internal; and this, that he may successively become a man, first natural, then rational, and finally spiritual. This he would not become were he born into knowledges and loves like the beasts; for connate knowledges and affections limit that progress, but connate ability and inclination limit nothing. Therefore man can be perfected in science, intelligence, and wisdom to eternity.”
[3] Those on the SOUTH then took up the subject and expressed their opinion, saying: “Man cannot possibly acquire any knowledge from himself but must acquire it from others; and being unable to acquire any knowledge from himself, he is also unable to acquire any love, for where there is no knowledge, there is no love. Knowledge and love are inseparable companions and can no more be separated than can will and understanding or affection and thought, yea, no more than essence and form. Therefore, as man acquires knowledge from others, love adjoins itself thereto as its companion. The universal love which adjoins itself is the love of knowing, of understanding, and of being wise. This love, man alone has, and no beast; and it flows in from God. [4] We agree with our companions on the west, that man is not born into any love and thence not into any knowledge, but that he is born only into an inclination to love and thence into an ability to receive knowledge, not from himself but from others, that is, through others. It is said through others because neither have they received any knowledge from themselves but from God. We agree also with our companions on the north, that when first born, man is like ground wherein no seeds have been planted but in which may be planted all kinds of seed, noble as well as ignoble. To this we add, that beasts are born into natural loves and thence into the sciences corresponding thereto. Yet, from these sciences, they do not learn anything, do not think, understand and become wise, but by their means they are carried along by their loves, almost like blind men led through the streets by dogs. As to understanding, they are blind, or rather are like somnambulists who, with their understanding asleep, do what they do from blind science.”
[5] Lastly spoke those on the EAST. They said: “We assent to what our brothers have said, that man knows nothing from himself but from others and through others, and this to the end that he may learn and acknowledge that all that he knows, understands, and is wise in, is from God; also that in no other way can man be conceived, born, and brought forth by the Lord and become His image and likeness. For he becomes an image of the Lord by acknowledging and believing that he has received and does receive every good of love and charity, and every truth of wisdom and faith from the Lord, and not the least thing thereof from himself; and he becomes a likeness of the Lord by sensating them in himself as if they were from himself. He has this sensation because he is not born into knowledges but receives them, and what he receives appears to him as if it were from himself. Moreover, it is granted man by the Lord so to sensate, in order that he may be a man and not a beast; for it is by the fact that he wills, thinks, loves, knows, understands, and is wise, as if from himself, that man receives knowledges and exalts them into intelligence and by their uses into wisdom. In this way the Lord conjoins man to Himself and man conjoins himself to the Lord. All this would not be possible had it not been provided by the Lord that man should be born in total ignorance.”
[6] After this speech, it was the desire of all that some conclusion be formed from the discussion, and the following was formed: “Man is born into no knowledge, that he may come into all knowledge and may advance into intelligence and by means of intelligence into wisdom. And he is born into no love, that by applications of knowledges from intelligence, he may come into all love, and by love towards the neighbor, into love to the Lord, and so may be conjoined to the Lord, and by this conjunction become a man and live to eternity.”
They then 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 because love and wisdom, and charity and faith, or good and truth, make the life of God in man, it is these that are signified by the tree of life, and from them man has life eternal. The like is signified by the tree of life in the Apocalypse of which it will be granted man to eat (Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14). [2] By the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is signified the man who believes that he lives from himself and not from God; thus that love and wisdom, charity and faith, or good and truth, are his own in man and not God’s, believing this because he thinks and wills, and speaks and acts, in all likeness and appearance as if from himself. And because from this belief he persuades himself that God has implanted in him, that is, has infused into him, His own Divine, 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. 3:5
[3] 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 damnation. Therefore both Adam and his wife were accursed together with the serpent. By the serpent is meant the devil, as to the love of self and the pride of self-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 enormous error who believe that Adam was wise and did good from himself, and that this was his state of integrity, when yet Adam was himself accursed on account of that very belief, this being what 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 had been by virtue of believing that he was wise and did good from God and not at all from himself, this being 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 from birth. Therefore He became the Redeemer and Savior by His own power.”
[4] From this and the preceding discussions, they then formed the following conclusion: “By the tree of life, and by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and by eating from them, is signified that for man life is God in him, and he then has heaven and eternal life; but that death for man is the persuasion and belief that life in man is not God but is himself; whence he has hell and eternal death, which is damnation!”
These words they wrote upon a fresh sheet of paper which they placed upon the table. And lo, suddenly angels were present in a bright white light, and they carried the paper to heaven. After it had been read there, those who were sitting on the seats heard thence the words, thrice repeated, “Well said.” And immediately an angel therefrom was seen as though flying. He had two wings about his feet, and two about his temples, and in his hand he held the awards, which consisted of robes, caps, and wreaths of laurel. After alighting, he gave to those sitting at the north, robes of the color of opal; to those at the west, robes of scarlet; to those at the south, hats, the brims of which were adorned with fillets of gold and pearls, and the risings at the left side with diamonds cut in the form of flowers; and to those at the east, wreaths of laurel in which were rubies and sapphires. Adorned with these awards, they all went home from the sport of wisdom; and when they would show themselves to their wives, the latter came out to meet them, they also being distinguished with adornments given them from heaven, whereat the men wondered.
While I was meditating on conjugial love, lo, afar off were seen two naked infants with baskets in their hands and turtle-doves flying around them. When they were nearer, they seemed like naked infants becomingly adorned with garlands of flowers, their heads adorned with chaplets of flowers, and their breasts with garlands of lilies and of roses of a hyacinthine color hanging obliquely from their shoulders to their loins. Around the two and uniting them, as it were, was a common bond, woven of little leaves with olives interspersed. When they came yet nearer, however, they appeared, not as infants, nor naked, but as two persons in the first flower of their age, clad in robes and tunics of shining silk on which were woven flowers of a most beautiful appearance; and when they were beside me, there breathed through them out of heaven a vernal warmth, with a sweet-smelling odor as of the earliest blossomings in gardens and fields. They were two married partners from heaven.
They then spoke to me, and because what I had just seen was in my thought, they asked me, “What have you seen?” [2] When I told them that they had first appeared to me as naked infants, then as infants adorned with garlands, and at last as adults clothed in garments embroidered with flowers, and that then forthwith an odor of spring breathed upon me with all its delights, they smiled pleasantly and said, that on their way, they had not seemed to themselves as infants, nor naked, nor with garlands, but continually the same in appearance as now. What at a distance had been thus represented was their conjugial love–its state of innocence by their appearing as naked infants, its delights by garlands of flowers, and the same now by the flowers woven in their robes and tunics. “And because you said that as we approached, a vernal warmth breathed upon you with its pleasant odors as though from a garden, we will tell you the cause of this.”
[3] They then said: “We have been partners now for ages, and continually in the flower of age in which you now see us. Our first state was like the state of a virgin and a young man when they first consociate in marriage; and we then believed that that state was the very blessedness of our life. But we heard from others in our heaven, and afterwards we ourselves perceived, that that state was a state of heat not tempered with light, and that it is tempered according as the husband is perfected in wisdom and the wife loves that wisdom in her husband; also that this is effected by and according to the uses which each of them with mutual aid performs in society; and that delights follow in accordance with the tempering of heat and light, that is, of wisdom and its love. [4] A warmth as of spring breathed upon you as we approached because in our heaven conjugial love and vernal heat 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 their containant? and so, what are love and wisdom without their use? There is no conjugial in them, for there is no subject wherein to contain them. In heaven, wherever the heat is vernal, there is love truly conjugial; and it is there because nothing vernal is possible save where heat is united with light in equal measure, that is, where there is as much of heat as of light, and the reverse. Moreover, we affirm that, as heat delights itself with light and light in turn with heat, so love delights itself with wisdom and wisdom in turn with love.”
[5] He said further: “With us in heaven there is perpetual light and never any shade of evening, still less darkness; for our sun does not set and rise as does yours, but remains continually midway between the upper pole of the sky and the horizon, which, according to your manner of speech, is in the sky at an angle of forty-five degrees. Therefore, the heat and light proceeding from our sun make perpetual spring and cause something perpetually vernal to breathe upon those with whom love is united with wisdom in equal measure. By the eternal union of heat and light, our Lord breathes forth nothing but uses. From this, moreover, come the germinations on your earth in the spring-time, and the matings of your birds and animals; for the vernal heat opens their interiors even to the inmost things thereof which are called their souls. These it affects; and it imparts to them its own conjugial, causing what is prolific in them to come into its delights, and this from a continual striving to produce the fruits of use, the use being the propagation of their kind. [6] But with men, the influx of vernal heat from the Lord is perpetual, and therefore they can enjoy delights in marriage at any time, even in midwinter; for men were created to receive from the Lord light, that is, wisdom, and women were created to receive from the Lord heat, that is, the love of the wisdom of the man. This then is the reason why, as we approached, a vernal warmth breathed on you, with a sweet-smelling odor as of the early blossomings in gardens and fields.”
[7] Having thus spoken, the man gave me his right hand and led me to homes where were partners in the same flower of age as themselves. He then said: “In the world, these wives whom you now see as maidens were old women; and their husbands, now seen as young men, were infirm and old. They have all been restored by the Lord to this flower of age because they mutually loved each other and from religion shunned adulteries as enormous sins.” He said further: “No one knows the blessed delights of conjugial love save he who rejects the horrid delights of adultery; and no one can reject these save he who is wise from the Lord; and no one is wise from the Lord unless he performs uses from the love of uses.”
Moreover, I then saw their household utensils. They were all in heavenly forms; and from the gold, they were glittering as though in flames from the rubies with which they were studded.
Since I am still at the threshold of the treatment of conjugial love in detail; and since conjugial love in detail can be known only indistinctly and thus obscurely unless in some measure its opposite also be seen, which is the unchaste, and this is seen in a measure or in shade when the chaste is described together with the non-chaste, for chastity* is only the removal of the unchaste from the chaste; [therefore, the chaste and the non-chaste shall now be treated of]. The unchaste, which is entirely opposite to the chaste, is treated of in the latter part of this work, under the title THE PLEASURES OF INSANITY FROM SCORTATORY LOVE, where it is described in its full extent and with its varieties. What the chaste is and the non-chaste, and with whom they are, will be made clear in the following order:
I. That the chaste and the non-chaste are predicated only of marriages and of such things as belong to marriages.
II. That the chaste is predicated only of monogamous marriages, or those of one man with one wife.
III. That the Christian conjugial alone is chaste.
IV. That love truly conjugial is chastity itself.
V. That all the delights of love truly conjugial, even the ultimate, are chaste.
VI. That with those who are made spiritual by the Lord, conjugial love is more and more purified and made chaste.
VII. That the chastity of marriage comes into existence by the total renunciation of whoredoms from religion.
VIII. That chastity cannot be predicated of infants; nor of boys and girls; nor of youths and virgins before they feel the love of the sex in themselves.
IX. That chastity cannot be predicated of eunuchs born such, nor of eunuchs made such.
X. 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.
XI. That chastity cannot be predicated of those who abstain from adulteries solely on account of various external reasons.
XII. That chastity cannot be predicated of those who believe marriages to be unchaste.
XIII. That chastity cannot be predicated of those who have renounced marriages by vowing perpetual celibacy, unless there be and remain in them the love of a life truly conjugial.
XIV. That the state of marriage is to be preferred to the state of celibacy.
The explanation of the above now follows.
* The Latin is non castitas (non-chastity), but the context shows that this is a misprint for nam castitas, as in the translation; see no. 147, 452.]
[2] It may be thought that the external conjugial which remains after the internal has separated itself from it, or it from itself, is the same as the external not separated. But I have heard from angels that they are so entirely unlike, that the external from the internal, which they called the external of the internal, is devoid of all lasciviousness, inasmuch as the internal cannot be lascivious but can be delighted only chastely; and that it carries the like into its external wherein it feels its own delights. It is wholly otherwise with the external separated from the internal. This, they said, is lascivious in its whole 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 this into correspondence with themselves. [3] They also compared the external conjugial from the internal to a granary whose store never diminishes, what is taken from it being constantly restored anew. But the external separated from the internal, they compared to wheat in a winnower, which, if it is scattered about, there remains only chaff which is dissipated by the wind. Such is the case with conjugial love unless what is scortatory is renounced.
* The Latin is conjugii (of marriage), but the apposition of love of the sex indicates that it should be conjugialis as in the translation.
* The Latin is mutum (mute), clearly a misprint for neutrum as in the translation.
As to those who do not believe adulteries to be hurtful to society, these know still less than the former what chastity is, or even that it is; for they are adulterers from purpose. If they say that marriages are less unchaste than adulteries, they say this with the mouth, not from the heart; for with them marriages are cold, and those who, from this cold, speak of chaste heat, can have no idea of chaste heat with respect to conjugial love. Their character and the nature of the ideas of their thoughts and hence of the interiors of their speech, will be seen in Part II respecting the insanities of adulterers.
[2] The reasons for abstinence from adulteries in bodily actions, cannot be enumerated, for they vary according to the state of the marriage and also according to the state of the body. There are those who abstain from them from fear of the civil law and its penalties; from fear of the loss of reputation and thence of honor; from fear of diseases therefrom; from fear of upbraidings by the wife at home, and so of an unquiet life; from fear of the vengeance of the husband or of relatives; and from fear of being beaten by the servants. Then there are those who abstain on account of poverty, or avarice, or weakness arising from disease, abuse, age, or impotence. Among these are also those who, being unable or not daring to commit adulteries in bodily act, condemn them in their spirit and so talk morally against them and in favor of marriages. But if they do not execrate adultery in their spirit and this from religion, they are still adulterers; for though not committing adulteries in bodily act, they yet commit them in spirit. Therefore, after death when they become spirits, they speak openly in favor of them. From this it is clear that even a wicked man can shun adulteries as hurtful, but that none but a Christian can shun them as sins. From the above, the truth of the proposition is now established, that chastity cannot be predicated of those who abstain from adulteries solely on account of various external reasons.
[3] I have asked angels whether women who have devoted themselves to piety and given themselves up to Divine worship, and so have withdrawn from the illusions of the world and the lusts of the flesh and have therefore vowed perpetual virginity, are received into heaven and there become the first among the blessed in accordance with their own belief. The angels answered: “They are indeed received into heaven, but when they feel the sphere of conjugial love there, they become sad and anxious; and then, some of their own free will, some by requested permission, and some by command, they depart and are let out; and when they are outside that heaven, a way is opened for them to their companions who, in the world, were in a similar state of life. Then, from being anxious, they become cheerful and happy in each other’s company.”
[2] If the proposition is made that the state of celibacy is more excellent than the state of marriage, and if this is submitted to examination that it may receive assent and be established by confirmation, the result of the confirmation will then be, that marriages are not holy nor any of them chaste; nay, that in the female sex, those only are chaste who abstain from marriage and vow perpetual virginity; and further, that it is those who vow perpetual celibacy who are meant by eunuchs who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God (Matt. 19:12); besides many other conclusions which, as coming from a proposition which is not true, are themselves not true. By eunuchs who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of God are meant spiritual eunuchs, being those who in marriages abstain from the evils of whoredom. That Italian eunuchs are not meant, is evident.
156a. To the above I will add two Memorable Relations. First:
Returning home from the sport of wisdom spoken of above (no. 132), I saw on the way an angel in raiment of the color of hyacinth. He came to my side and said: “I see that you have come from a sport of wisdom, and have been gladdened by what you heard there. I also perceive that you are not fully in this world, since you are at the same time in the natural world. Therefore you do not know about our Olympic Gymnasiums where the ancient Sophi meet together and learn from those who come from your world what changes and successions of state wisdom has undergone and is still undergoing. If you wish, I will conduct you to a place where dwell many of the ancient Sophi and their sons, that is, their disciples.”
He then led me to the border-land between the north and the east. Looking thitherward from a high place, lo, I saw a city, and on one side of it two hills, the one nearer the city being lower than the other; and the angel remarked, “That city is called Athens, the lower hill Parnassus, and the higher Helicon. They are so called because in and about the city dwell the ancient Sophi of Greece, such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristippus, Xenophon, together with their disciples and novices.” When I asked about Plato and Aristotle, he said: “They and their followers dwell in another region because they taught matters of reason which pertain to the understanding, while the others taught morals which pertain to life. [2] From the city of Athens,” he continued, “studious men are frequently sent to the literati among Christians, that the latter may tell them what men think at this day concerning God, the creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, the state of man relative to that of beasts, and other subjects which are matters of interior wisdom.” He added that a herald had that day announced an assembly, a sign that their emissaries had met new-comers from the earth, from whom they had heard some curious news.
We then saw many men coming from the city and its vicinity, some with laurels on their heads, some carrying 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 an octagonal palace which was called the Palladium. This we entered, and behold, therein were eight hexagonal recesses, and in each a library and also a table at which were sitting the laureates. In the body of the Palladium were seen seats cut out of the rock, and on these the rest had seated themselves.
[3] Then a door at the left was opened, through which were introduced two new-comers from the earth. When they had been duly received, one of the laureates asked them, “WHAT NEWS FROM THE EARTH? They said: “The news is that in the woods have been found men like beasts or beasts like men. From face and body, however, it was recognized that they had been born men and had been lost or abandoned in the woods when they were two or three years old.” They went on to say, “They could not utter a single thing pertaining to thought, nor could they be taught to articulate sound into any word. They did not know what food was suitable to them as do beasts, but put into their mouth the wild growths of the woods, both clean and unclean; not to speak of much else of the same sort. From this, some of the learned among us have made many surmises, and others, many conclusions respecting the state of men relative to that of beasts.”
[4] On hearing this, some of the ancient Sophi asked what the surmises and conclusions from these facts were, and the two new-comers answered: “There were a number of them, but they can be reduced to the following: 1. That of his own nature and by birth, man is more stupid and hence viler than any beast, and if not instructed, he remains such. 2. That he can be instructed, for he has learned to articulate sound and hence to speak, and thereby he began to express thoughts, and this gradually more and more until at last he could put forth laws of society, many of which, however, are impressed on beasts by birth. 3. That beasts have rationality equally with men. 4. Therefore, if beasts could talk, they would reason on any subject as cleverly as men, an indication of which lies in the fact that they think from reason and prudence equally as do men. [5] 5. That understanding is merely a modification of light from the sun by the mediation of ether, and with the co-operation of heat; thus that it is only an activity of interior nature; and this activity can be heightened until it appears as wisdom. 6. That therefore it is idle to believe that a man lives after death any more than a beast; except that possibly, from the exhalation of the life of his body he may appear for a few days after his decease as a vapor under the appearance of a specter, until this is dissipated into nature scarcely otherwise than as a plant resuscitated from its ashes has the appearance of being in the likeness of its original form. 7. Consequently, that religion, which teaches a life after death, is an invention for the purpose of inwardly holding the simple in bonds by its laws, as they are held outwardly by the laws of the state.” To this they added, that the merely ingenious reason in this way, but not the intelligent. When asked what the intelligent think, they said that they had not heard, but this was their opinion.
156b. Hearing these things, all who were sitting at the tables exclaimed, “What times are now on earth! Alas, what changes has wisdom undergone! Is it not turned into fatuous ingenuity? The sun is set and is below the earth diametrically opposite to its meridian! Who cannot see, from the example of those lost and found in the woods, that such is the nature of man when not instructed? Is he not a man according as he is instructed? 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 talk, could he give utterance to any thought? Is not every one a man according as he is taught, insane from falsities, or wise from truths? and, when insane from falsities, is he not entirely possessed with the fantasy that he is wiser than one who is wise from truths? Are there not fatuous and insane men who are no more men than those found in the woods? Are not those who have lost their memory like them? [2] From all this, we conclude that, without instruction, man is neither man nor beast, but is a form which can receive that which 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 which by union with Himself, He can render blessed to eternity. From what you have said, we perceive that at this day wisdom is so far extinguished or infatuated that men know nothing whatever about the state of man’s life relative to that of beasts. Hence it is, that neither do they know the state of man’s life after death; and those who might have known this but do not wish to know it and therefore deny it, as do many of your Christians, we may liken to those found in the woods; not that they have become thus stupid for want of instruction, but that they have made themselves stupid by fallacies of the senses, which are the darkness of truths.”
156c. Upon this, a man standing in the middle of the Palladium and holding a palm in his hand, said: “I beg you to unfold this arcanum: How could man created in the form of God be changed into the 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 these two forms are opposites, the latter being forms of insanity, the former forms of wisdom. Explain how man, created a form of God, could pass from day into such night that he could deny God and eternal life.”
[2] To this, the teachers replied in order, first the Pythagoreans, then the Socratists, and afterwards the others, among whom was a Platonist. This man spoke last and his view, prevailed. It was as follows: “In the Saturnian era or Golden Age, men knew and acknowledged that they were forms receptive of life from God. Wisdom was therefore inscribed on their souls and hearts, and hence they saw truth from the light of truth, and by means of truths perceived good from the delight of the love thereof. But in subsequent ages, as the human race fell away from the acknowledgment that every truth of wisdom with them and thence every good of love continually flowed in from God, they ceased to be habitations of God. Then discourse with God, and consociation with angels also ceased. For from its former direction, their mind, which as to its interiors had been raised upwards to God by God, was bent more and more in an oblique direction outwards to the world and so to God by God through the world; and finally it was turned in the opposite direction, which is downwards to self. And since God cannot be held in view by man when the man is inwardly inverted and thus averted, men separated themselves from God and became forms of hell or of the devil. [3] Whence it follows, that in the first Ages, men acknowledged in heart and soul that every good of love and hence every truth of wisdom was theirs from God; and also, that these were God’s in them, and thus that they themselves were mere receptacles of life from God, and hence were called images of God, sons of God, and born of God. But in the succeeding Ages, they acknowledged this, not in heart and soul but from persuasive and later from historical faith, and finally with the mouth only; and to acknowledge this with the mouth only is not acknowledgment, nay, at heart it is denial. From this it can be seen what is the nature of wisdom among Christians at this day, when, despite the fact that from written revelation they can be inspired by God, they do not know the difference between man and beast, and many therefore believe that if man lives after death so also will a beast, or because a beast does not live after death, neither will man. Has not our spiritual light which enlightens the sight of the mind become thick darkness with them? and their natural light which enlightens only the sight of the body become splendor?”
156d. After this, they all turned to the two new-comers and, thanking them for their coming and their narration, begged them to report what they had heard to their brethren. The new-comers replied that they would confirm their brethren in the truth, that so far as they attribute every good of charity and truth of faith to the Lord and not to themselves, so far are they men and so far do they become angels of heaven.
156e. The second Memorable Relation:
One morning some sweet singing, heard from a height above me, woke me from sleep. Hence, in the first waking moments which are more internal, peaceful, and sweet than the following hours of the day, I could be held for some time in the spirit, as though 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 issuing from the mouth as melody; for the tone springing from an affection of love is what gives life to speech, and this apart from the words of the speaker. In that state, I perceived that it was the affection of the delights of conjugial love which was being expressed in melody by wives in heaven. This I observed from the sound of the singing wherein those delights were varied in marvelous ways.
After this, I arose and looked abroad into the spiritual world. And there, in the east below the sun, was seen what seemed like A GOLDEN SHOWER. It was the morning dew coming down in such abundance that, when touched by the rays of the sun, it presented before my sight the appearance of a golden shower. More fully awakened by this sight, I walked forth in the spirit and asked an angel whom I then chanced to meet, whether he had seen the golden shower coming down from the sun. [2] He answered that he sees it whenever he is in meditation on conjugial love. Then, directing his eyes thither, he said: “That shower is falling upon a hall in which are three husbands with their wives who dwell in the center of an eastern paradise. Such a shower is seen falling from the sun upon that hall because with them abides wisdom concerning conjugial love and its delights with the husbands, concerning conjugial love and with the wives concerning its delights. But I perceive that you are in meditation on the delights of conjugial love. I will therefore conduct you to that hall and introduce you.”
He then led me through paradisal scenes to houses constructed of olive wood, with two columns of cedar before the entrance; and introducing me to the husbands, he asked that I might be permitted, in their presence, to speak with their wives; and the husbands gave their assent and called them. The wives looked searchingly into my eyes, and I asked why. They said, “We are able exquisitely to see what your inclination is in respect to love of the sex, and hence what your affection, and from this what your thought; and we see that you are meditating on it intensely but yet chastely.” They then asked, “What do you wish us to tell you about it?”
I answered, “Tell me, I pray, something about the delights of conjugial love.” Nodding assent, the husbands then said, “If agreeable to you, disclose something about them. Their ears are chaste.”
[3] The wives then asked me, “Who instructed you to question us about the delights of that love? Why not question our husbands?” I answered, “This angel who is with me whispered in my ear that wives are receptacles and sensories of those delights because they are born loves, and all delights pertain to love.”
To this they answered with smiling lips: “Be prudent and do not say any such thing save in an ambiguous sense, for it is a wisdom deeply reserved in the hearts of our sex and not disclosed to any husband unless he is in love truly conjugial. There are many reasons for this–reasons which we hide within ourselves.”
The husbands then said: “Our wives know all the states of our mind, nothing whatever being hidden from them. They see, perceive, and feel all that proceeds from our will, while we on the other hand know nothing of what passes with them. 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 the life of both partners; for, from the wisdom implanted in their love, they have this in view both for their husbands and for themselves. This wisdom is so full of prudence that they do not wish, and so are not able, to say that they love, but only that they are loved.”
I asked the wives why they do not wish and so are not able? They replied that if the least such thing escaped their lips, cold would come over their husbands and separate them from bed and chamber and sight. “But this is the case with husbands who do not regard marriages as holy and therefore do not love their wives from spiritual love. Not so with those who do. In the minds of these, that love is spiritual, and it is from this that it is natural in the body. We in this hall are in the latter love from the former, and therefore entrust to our husbands arcana that concern our delights of conjugial love.”
[4] I courteously requested that they disclose something of these arcana to me also. They at once looked towards a window in the south, and lo, there was seen a white dove, its wings shining as from silver, and its head marked with a crown as of gold. It was perched on a bough from which grew an olive. When the dove was in the effort of spreading its wings, the wives said, “We will disclose something. So long as this dove is seen, it is a sign to us that we may.” They then said: “Every man has five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; but we have in addition a sixth sense, being the sensation of all the delights of the husband’s conjugial love. We have this sense in the palms of our hands, when touching the breasts, arms, hands or cheeks of our husbands, especially the breasts, and also when touched by them; and all the gladness and pleasantness of the thought of their mind, and all the joys and delights of their animus, and the festive and cheerful things of their bosom, pass from them to us and take form and become perceptible, sensible, tangible. We then discern them as exquisitely and distinctly as the ear discerns the modulations of song, or the tongue distinguishes the flavor of delicacies. In a word, in us, the spiritual delights of our husbands put on, as it were, a natural embodiment, and for this reason we are called by our husbands the sensory organs of chaste conjugial love and hence of its delight. 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 we in turn love them for the same in them. In the heavens, this sense of our sex is called the sport of wisdom with its love, and of love with its wisdom.”
[5] Stirred by these words with the desire of learning more, I asked concerning the variety of the delights. They answered, “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.”
I then waited for its return, but in vain. Meanwhile I asked the husbands, “Have you a like sense of conjugial love?” They answered: “We have it in general but not in particular. We have a general blessedness, a general delight, and a general pleasantness from the particulars of these as they are with our wives; and this general sense, which we get from them, is like the serenity of peace.”
After these words, behold, through the window was seen a swan standing on the branch of a fig tree; and he spread his wings and flew away. Seeing this, the husbands said, “That is a sign to us for silence about conjugial love. Return at another time and perhaps more may be disclosed.” They then withdrew and we departed.
156f. THE CONJUNCTION OF SOULS AND MINDS BY MARRIAGE, WHICH IS MEANT BY THE LORD’S WORDS, THEY ARE NO LONGER TWO, BUT ONE FLESH
That from creation there was implanted in man and woman an inclination to conjunction as into a one, and also the faculty thereof, and that these are in 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:
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 is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; her name shall be called Ishah [woman], because she was taken out of Ish, man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh. Gen. II. 22-4.
The same was said by the Lord in Matthew:
Have ye not read, that he who [made them] from the beginning made [them] male and female, 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. 19:4, 5.
[2] From these passages it is evident that woman was created out of man, and that there is in both an inclination and a faculty of reuniting themselves into a one. That the reunion is into one man is also evident from the Book of Creation where both together are called Man; for we read, In the day that God created man, male and female created he them, and called their name Man. It is said here, He called their name Adam, but in the Hebrew language, Adam and Man are the same word. Moreover, in chapters 1:27 and 3:22-4 of the same book, both together are again called Man. “One man” is also meant by “one flesh,” as is evident from passages in the Word where it speaks of all flesh, by which is meant every man; as in Genesis 6:12, 13, 17, 19; Isaiah 40:5, 6; 49:26; 66:16, 23, 24; Jeremiah 25:31; 32:27; 14:5; Ezekiel 20:48; 21:4, 5; and elsewhere.
[3] As to what is meant by the rib of the man which was built into[3] a woman; what by the flesh which was closed up in the place thereof; and so, what by “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh,” and by the father and mother whom after marriage man is to leave; also by “cleave unto his wife”; this has been shown in THE ARCANA CAELESTIA where the two books, Genesis and Exodus are explained as to their spiritual sense. It is there shown that by rib is not meant a rib, nor by flesh, nor by bone, nor by cleave, but the spiritual things which correspond to them and so are signified by them. That what are meant are the spiritual things which of two make one man, is plain from the fact that it is conjugial love that conjoins them, and this love is spiritual. That love of the man’s wisdom is transcribed into the wife has been stated several times above and will be more fully confirmed in the chapters which follow. But for the present we must not turn aside and thus 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.
I. That from creation there has been implanted in each sex, a faculty and inclination, giving them the ability and the will to be conjoined as into a one.
II. That conjugial love conjoins two souls and thence minds into one.
III. That the wife’s will conjoins itself with the man’s understanding, and hence the man’s understanding with the wife’s will.
IV. That the inclination to unite the man to herself is constant and perpetual with the wife, but inconstant and alternating with the man.
V. That conjunction is inspired into the man by the wife according to her love, and is received by the man according to his wisdom.
VI. That from the first days of marriage this conjunction is effected successively, and with those who are in love truly conjugial, more and more deeply to eternity.
VII. That the conjunction of the wife with the rational wisdom of the husband is effected from within, but with his moral wisdom from without.
VIII. That with this conjunction as an end, the wife is given a perception of the affections of the husband and also the highest prudence in moderating them.
IX. That for causes which are necessities, wives store up this perception with themselves and conceal it from their husbands, in order that conjugial love, friendship, and confidence, and thus the blessedness of cohabitation and the happiness of life, may be firmly established.
X. That this perception is the wife’s wisdom, and that it is not possible with the man; nor is the man’s rational wisdom possible with the wife.
XI. That from her love, the wife is continually thinking about the inclination of the man to herself with the purpose of conjoining him to herself, not so the man.
XII. That the wife conjoins herself to the man by applications to the desires of his will.
XIII. That the wife is conjoined to her husband by the sphere of her life going forth from her love.
XIV. That the wife is conjoined to the husband by the appropriation of the forces of his manhood, but that this takes place according to their mutual spiritual love.
XV. That the wife thus receives into herself the image of her husband, and hence perceives, sees, and feels his affections.
XVI. That there are offices proper to the man and offices proper lo the wife; and that the wife cannot enter into the offices proper to the man, nor the man into the offices proper to the wife, and rightly perform them.
XVII. That according as there is mutual aid, these offices also conjoin the two into a one, and at the same time make one home.
XVIII. That according to the above-mentioned conjunctions, married partners become more and more one man.
XIX. That those who are in love truly conjugial feel themselves to be a united man and as one flesh.
XX. That, regarded in itself, love truly conjugial is a union of souls, a conjunction of minds, and an effort to conjunction in breasts and thence in the body.
XXI. That the states of this love are innocence, peace, tranquillity, inmost friendship, full confidence, and a mutual desire of animus and heart to do the other every good; and from these, blessedness, happiness, delight, pleasure; and from the eternal fruition of these, heavenly felicity.
XXII. That these are by no means possible except in the marriage of one man with one wife.
The explanation of the above now follows.
[2] Once during a conversation there on this subject, the men, persuaded by their wives, insisted that it is they who love, and not the wives, and that the wives receive that love from them. To settle the controversy about this arcanum, all the women, including the wives, were withdrawn from the men, and with them was removed the sphere of love of the sex. With this removed, the men came into a state altogether strange and never before perceived, at which they greatly complained. Then, while they were in this state, the women were brought to them, and the wives to their husbands, and both the women and the wives spoke sweetly to them; but the men were cold to their blandishments and, turning away, said among themselves, “What is this? What is a woman?” And when some of the women said that they were their wives, they answered, “What is a wife? We do not know you.” But when the wives began to grieve over this utterly cold indifference on the part of the men, and some of them to weep, the sphere of the love of the female sex and the conjugial sphere which till then had been taken away from the men was restored, and the men at once returned into their former state, the lovers of marriage into theirs, and the lovers of the sex into theirs. In this way the men were convinced that nothing of conjugial love or even of love of the sex resided with them, but solely with wives and women. Nevertheless, after this the wives from their prudence induced the men to believe that love resides with the men, and that from them some spark thereof may pass into themselves.*
[3] This experience is adduced here, that it may be known that wives are loves and men receptions. That men are receptions according to the wisdom with them, especially according to that wisdom from religion which teaches that the wife alone is to be loved, is evident from the consideration that when the wife alone is loved, the love is concentrated; and, being thereby also ennobled, it remains in its strength and is steadfast and enduring. Otherwise it would be as when wheat from the granary is thrown to the dogs, whereby there is want at home.
* In the original edition, this paragraph is enclosed in quotation marks.
* The Latin is in illos, that is, into those loves; but both the construction and the sense indicate that illos is a misprint for illas (into the former, that is, into the moral virtues).
That the conjunction of the wife with the moral wisdom of the men is from without, is because the virtues of that wisdom are for the most part akin to the like virtues with women and partake of the intellectual will of the man, with which the will of the wife unites itself and makes a marriage. And because the wife knows these virtues in a man better than the man knows them in himself, it is said that the wife’s conjunction with them is from without.
[2] I have heard from angels who are in clear perception of these spheres, that in man there is not a single part, whether within him or on the surface, which does not renew itself, doing this by dissolutions and reparations, and that from this comes the sphere which is continually pouring forth. They also said that this sphere presses around man at the back and at the breast, but somewhat thinly at the back, and densely at the breast; that the sphere from the breast conjoins itself with the respiration, and that it is because of this that two partners who disagree in dispositions and are discordant in affections lie in bed turned back to back, while those who are concordant in dispositions and affections turn towards each other. [3] They said further, that because spheres go forth from every part of man and are continually around him in great abundance, they conjoin and disjoin two partners, not only from without but also from within, and that thence are all the differences and varieties of conjugial love. Finally, they said that the sphere of love going forth from a wife who is tenderly loved is perceived in heaven as a sweet fragrance, far more pleasant than that perceived in the world by a newly married husband during the first days after the nuptials. From this, the truth here asserted is evident, namely, that the wife is conjoined to the man by the sphere of her life going forth from her love.
[2] It is thought by many that women can perform the offices of men if only they are initiated into them from their earliest age, as are boys. They can indeed be initiated into the exercise of them, but not into the judgment on which the right performance of the offices inwardly depends. Therefore, in matters of judgment, women who have been initiated into the offices of men are constrained to consult men; and then, if they are in the enjoyment of their own right, they choose from their counsels what favors their own love.
[3] By some it is also supposed that women are equally able to elevate the sight of their understanding into the sphere of light in which men are, and to view things in the same altitude. This opinion has been induced upon them by the writings of some learned authoresses. But in the spiritual world, when these writings were explored in the presence of those authoresses, they were found to be works, not of judgment and wisdom, but of genius and eloquence; and works which proceed from these two, by reason of the elegance and fine style of the verbal composition, appear as though sublime and erudite but only before those who call all ingenuity wisdom.
[4] That men, on the other hand, cannot enter into the offices proper to women and rightly perform them, is because they cannot enter into the affections of women, these being entirely distinct from the affections of men. Because from creation and hence by nature, the affections and perceptions of the male sex are so distinctive, therefore, among the statutes given to the sons of Israel was also this,
The garment of a man shall not be upon a woman, neither the garment of a woman upon a man, for it is an abomination. Deut. 22: 5.
The reason was, because in the spiritual world all are clothed according to their affections, and the two affections, that of woman and that of man, can be united only as between two, and never in a single person.
* The Latin is cum conjuge (with a consort), but this is clearly an error for cum conjugibus as in the translation.
Some weeks after (the meeting on Parnassus (no. 156a)), I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Lo, there is again an assemblage on Parnassus. Come hither, we will show you the way.” I went, and when I was close by, I saw upon Helicon a man with a trumpet, with which he proclaimed the assembly and appointed the place where it was to meet. As on the previous occasion, I then saw the inhabitants of the city of Athens and its suburbs going up, and in their midst three new-comers from the world. All three were from Christian societies, one being a priest, another a statesman, and the third a philosopher. On the way the citizens entertained them with varied conversation, especially about wise men of old whom they mentioned by name. The new-comers asked whether they were to see them, and were told that they were, and if they wished they could pay their respects to them, for they were affable men. They asked about Demosthenes, Diogenes, and Epicurus, and were told: “Demosthenes is not here but with Plato. Diogenes sojourns with his scholars at the foot of Helicon, and this because he esteems worldly things as naught, and employs his mind solely with things heavenly. Epicurus lives on the border at the west and does not come among us, because we distinguish between good and evil affections, and say that good affections are one with wisdom while evil affections are contrary to wisdom.”
[2] When they had ascended the hill Parnassus, some guards of the place brought water in crystal goblets from a fountain there, and said: “This is water from the fountain of which the ancients fabled that it was broken open by the hoof of the horse Pegasus, and was afterwards consecrated to the nine virgins; but by the winged horse Pegasus they meant the understanding of truth by which comes wisdom; by the hoofs of his feet they meant experience by which comes natural intelligence; and by the nine virgins they meant cognitions and sciences of every kind. At this day, these are called fables, but they were correspondences, it being from correspondences that primeval men spoke.”
The companions of the three new-comers said to the latter, “Do not be surprised. The guards have been instructed to speak thus. By drinking water from a fountain, we understand being instructed concerning truths, and, by truths, concerning goods, and thus becoming wise.”
[3] After this they entered the Palladium, and with them the three novitiates from the world, the priest, the statesman and the philosopher. The laureates who sat at the table then asked them, “WHAT NEWS FROM EARTH?” They answered: “This is new. A certain man asserts that he speaks with angels and has open sight into the spiritual world, just as he has open sight into the natural world. From there, he brings many new things, among which are these: That after death, man lives as a man just as he lived before in the world; that he sees, hears, speaks, as before in the world; that he is clothed and adorned as before in the world; that he hungers and thirsts, as before in the world, and eats and drinks; that he enjoys conjugial delight as before in the world; that he sleeps and wakes as before in the world; that there are lands and lakes there, mountains and hills, plains and valleys, fountains and rivers, paradises and groves; also that there are palaces and houses there, and cities and villages, just as in the natural world; and furthermore, that there are writings and books; and employments and trades; also precious stones and gold and silver; in a word, that in that world is found everything that is found on earth, and in the heavens things infinitely more perfect, the only difference being that all things in the spiritual world, being from the sun there which is pure love, are from a spiritual origin and are therefore spiritual, while all things in the natural world, being from the sun there which is pure fire, are from a natural origin and are therefore natural and material. In a word, that after death man is perfectly a man, yea, more perfectly a man than he was before in the world; for formerly, in the world, he had been in a material body, but in this world he is in a spiritual body.”
[4] When the novitiates had thus spoken, the wise men of old asked them, “What do men on earth think about these things?” The three replied: “We know that they are true because we are here and have examined and explored them all. We will therefore tell you what men on earth have said and how they have reasoned about them.”
The priest then said: “Men of our order, when they heard of those things, first called them visions and then inventions. Later they said that he had seen ghosts, and finally they hesitated and said, Believe if you wish; hitherto we have taught that after death man will not be in a body until the day of the Last Judgment.”
They then asked him, “Are there not any intelligent men among them who are able to demonstrate the truth and convince them that man lives as a man after death?” [5] The priest replied: “There are men who demonstrate it, but they do not convince. Those who demonstrate it say, “It is against sound reason to believe that man does not live as a man until after the day of the Last Judgment, and that meanwhile he is a soul without a body. What is the soul? and where is it meanwhile? Is it a breath? or a thing of wind flying about in the air? or an entity hidden away in the center of the earth? Where is its Pu?* And now, after six thousand years or sixty centuries, are the souls of Adam and Eve and of all who followed them still flying about in the universe? or still being held shut up in the center of the earth? and are they awaiting the Last Judgment? What could be more distressing and miserable than such a waiting? May not their lot be likened to the lot of men in prison, bound with chains and fetters? If such is to be the lot of man after death, would it not be better to be born an ass than a man? Moreover, is it not contrary to reason to believe that a soul can be again clothed with its body? Is not the body eaten up by worms, mice, and fishes? and is the bony skeleton, burned up by the sun or fallen into dust, to be clothed anew with that body? How shall these cadaverous and putrid elements be gathered together and united to their soul?” But to such arguments, when they listen to them, men do not give any answer based on reason but stick to their faith, saying, “We hold reason captive under obedience to faith.” As to the gathering of all bodies from their graves at the day of the Last Judgment, they say, This is the work of Omnipotence, and when they name Omnipotence and Faith, reason is banished; and I can say that sound reason is then as nothing, and to some it is a specter; indeed, they can say to sound reason, You are Insane.”
[6] Hearing this, the wise men of Greece said: “Are not such paradoxes dissipated of themselves as contradictions? And yet, in the world at this day they cannot be dissipated by sound reason! What greater paradox could be believed than what is said of the Last Judgment that the universe will then perish and the stars fall from heaven upon the earth, which is smaller than the stars; and that the bodies of men, which will then be corpses, or mummies disembowelled by men, or bits of dust, will coalesce with their souls? When we were in the world, we believed in the immortality of men’s souls on the basis of inductions furnished us by reason. Moreover, we assigned places of abode for the blessed, which we called the Elysian fields, and we believed departed souls to be human effigies or semblances, but tenuous because spiritual.”
[7] Saying this, they turned to the second new-comer, who in the world had been a statesman. He confessed that he had not believed in a life after death. As to the new things concerning that life, he had heard about them but had thought them to be fictions and inventions. “When meditating on them, I said: How can souls be bodies? Does not every part of the man lie dead in the grave? Is not the eye there? How can he see? Is not the ear there? How can he hear? Whence has he a mouth with which to speak? If anything of the man were to live after death, would it be other than the likeness of a ghost? How can a ghost eat and drink? and how can it enjoy conjugial delight? Whence has it clothes, house, food and so on? Moreover, ghosts, which are airy effigies, appear as if they were beings and yet are not. It was such thoughts and the like that I had in the world respecting the life of man after death; but now, having seen all things and touched all with my hands, I am convinced by my own senses that I am a man as in the world, so that I know no other than that I am living as I have lived, the only difference being that now I have sounder reason. Sometimes I have been ashamed of my former thoughts.”
[8] The philosopher told a similar story about himself, but with this difference, that he had classed the new things which he had heard concerning the life after death among opinions and hypotheses which the teller had gathered from ancient and modern authors.
On hearing all this, the Sophi were astonished. Those who were of the Socratic School then said, that from this news from earth they perceived that the interiors of men’s minds had been successively closed, and that in the world the faith of falsity now shines as truth, and fatuous ingenuity as wisdom; and that, since their times, the light of wisdom has gone down from the interiors of the brain into the mouth under the nose. There it appears before the eyes as a brightness of the lip, and the speech of the mouth therefrom seems like wisdom.
Hearing this, one of the pupils added, “And how stupid are the minds of the inhabitants of earth at this day! If only the disciples of Heraclitus and Democritus were here, who laugh at all things and weep at all, we would hear great laughter and great weeping.”
When the meeting was ended, they gave the three new-comers from the earth the insignia of that domain, being small copperplates on which were engraved hieroglyphics; and with these the new-comers departed.
* Pu and Ubi are respectively the Greek and Latin words meaning “Somewhere”. They were formerly used as theological terms to designate the abode of souls while waiting for reunion with their bodies. Such souls were also said to be “in limbo” (in the border land).
Seen by me in the eastern quarter was a grove of palm trees and laurels arranged in spiral gyres. I approached it, and entering, walked on its paths which wound around in several spirals. At the end of the windings, I saw a garden which formed the center of the grove. Separating the two was a small bridge, and on it, a gate on the grove side and another on the garden side. I drew near, and the gates were opened by a guard. To my question, “What is the name of this garden?” he answered, “Adramandoni,” which means the delight of conjugial love. I entered in, and lo, I saw olive trees, and from tree to tree vines hanging in festoons, while under the trees and between them were bushes in flower-beds.* In the middle of the garden was a grassy circle on which husbands and wives and young men and maidens were sitting in pairs; and on a raised ground in the center of the circle was a small fountain leaping high by reason of the force of its stream. When close to the circle, I saw two angels in purple and scarlet speaking with those who were sitting on the grass. They were speaking about the origin of conjugial love and about its delights. Because their speech concerned this love, there was eager attention and complete acceptance, and this produced an exaltation in the discourse of the angels as from the fire of love.
[2] From their speech, I gathered the following summary: They spoke first of the difficulty in investigating and perceiving the origin of conjugial love, inasmuch as its origin is Divine-celestial, being Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, and Divine Use. These three proceed from the Lord as one, and hence inflow as one into the souls of men and through their souls into their minds and into the interior affections and thoughts there. Through these they flow into the desires next to the body, and from these through the breast into the genital region. There all the derivatives from the first origin are present simultaneously, and, together with the successives, make conjugial love.
After this, the angels said, “Let us have an exchange of speech by questions and answers; for when a subject is taken in solely from hearing, the perception of that subject does indeed flow in, but unless the hearer think of it from himself and ask questions, it does not remain.”
[3] Some among that conjugial gathering then said to the angels, “We have heard that the origin of conjugial love is Divine-celestial because it is from influx from the Lord into men’s souls; and that, being from the Lord, it is love, wisdom, and use, these being the three essentials which together make the one Divine essence, and nothing can proceed from Him and flow into man’s inmost which is called his soul save what is of the Divine essence; also that, in their descent into the body, these three essentials are changed into things analogous and correspondential. Therefore, we now ask you first, What is meant by the third essential–the proceeding Divine which is called use?”
The angels replied: “Without use, love and wisdom are merely abstract ideas of thought, and after some tarrying in the mind, these pass away like the wind; but in use, the two are brought together and become a one which is called real. Love, being the activity of life, cannot rest unless it is doing something; nor can wisdom exist and subsist except when doing something from love and with it; and doing is use. Therefore we define use as the doing of good from love by means of wisdom. Use is good itself. [4] Since these three, love, wisdom, and use, flow into the souls of men, it can be evident whence comes the saying that all good is from God; for every deed done from love by means of wisdom is called good, and use is also a deed. What is love without wisdom but something fatuous? and, without use, what is love together with wisdom but a state of the mind? But with use, love and wisdom not only make the man, they are the man. Indeed, and this perhaps will astonish you, they propagate man; for in man’s seed is his soul in perfect human form, covered over with substances from the purest things of nature, from which, in the mother’s womb, is formed a body. This use is the supreme and ultimate use of Divine Love by means of Divine Wisdom.”
[5] Finally the angels said: “The conclusion then must be that in its origin all fructification, all propagation, and all prolification is from the influx of love, wisdom, and use from the Lord—from immediate influx from the Lord into the souls of men, from mediate influx into the souls of animals, and from influx yet more mediate into the inmost parts of plants; and all are effected in ultimates from firsts. That fructifications, propagations, and prolifications are continuations of creation is evident; for creation can come from no other source than Divine Love by means of Divine wisdom in Divine Use. Therefore, all things in the universe are procreated and formed from use, in use, and for use.”
[6] After this, those sitting on the grassy couches asked the angels, “Whence are the delights of conjugial love, which are innumerable and ineffable?” The angels answered: “They are from the uses of love and wisdom. This can be seen from the fact, that so far as one loves to be wise for the sake of genuine use he is in the vein and potency of conjugial love, and so far as he is in these two he is in its delights. It is use that does this; for when love acts by means of wisdom,** the two are in mutual delight, and they sport together like little children, as it were. Then, as they come to adolescence, they join together productively, this being done as though by betrothals, nuptials, marriages, and propagations, and this continually and with variety, to all eternity. This is what takes place between love and wisdom, inwardly present in use. In their beginnings, however, these delights are imperceptible, but by degrees as they descend therefrom and enter the body they become more and more perceptible. From the soul they enter by degrees into the interiors of man’s mind, from these into its exteriors, thence into his breast, and from this into the genital region. [7] The heavenly nuptial sports in the soul are not in the least perceived by man; but from there they insinuate themselves into the interiors of the mind, under the appearance of peace and innocence, and into the exteriors of the mind under the appearance of blessedness, happiness, and delight. In the breast, they are present under the appearance of the delights of inmost friendship, and in the genital region from continuous influx from the soul itself, together with the actual sensation of conjugial love, as the delight of delights. In the soul, these nuptial sports of love and wisdom in use are persistent in their proceeding towards the breast, and in that breast they present themselves sensibly under an infinite variety of delights. Then, by reason of the marvelous communication of the breast with the genital region, in the latter these delights become the delights of conjugial love–delights which are exalted above all delights in heaven and in the world. This is because the use of conjugial love is the most excellent of all uses, for thence is the procreation of the human race, and from the human race, the angelic heaven.”
[8] To this, the angels added: “Those who are not in the love of becoming wise from the Lord for the sake of use, know nothing of the variety of the innumerable delights of love truly conjugial; for with those who do not love to become wise from genuine truths but love to be insane from falsities, and by means of this insanity do evil uses from some love, the way to the soul is closed. Hence the heavenly nuptial sports of love and wisdom in the soul, being more and more intercepted, cease, and with them conjugial love, with its vein, its potency, and its delights.”
Thereupon the hearers said that they perceived that conjugial love is according to the love of becoming wise from the Lord for the sake of use. The angels replied that it was so. And then, upon the heads of some of the audience appeared wreaths of flowers, and they asked, “Why is this?” The angels said, “Because they have understood more profoundly.” They then left the garden with these men in their midst.
* The Latin is floribus (in flowers). The translation is based on the assumption that this is a misprint for floretis.
** Reading quia quando amor agit per sapientiam inter se deliantur for quia amor per sapientiam, etc.
What is meant by states of life and their changes is well known to the learned and wise, but is unknown to the unlearned and simple. Something concerning them must therefore be premised. The state of a man’s life is its quality; and because in every man there are two faculties which make his life, being the faculties called understanding and will, the state of a man’s life is its quality as to understanding and will. It is clear from this that by changes of the state of life are meant changes in respect to the things which belong to the understanding, and to those which belong to the will. That every man is continually changing in respect to these two, but with a difference in the varieties of the changes before marriage and after marriage, will be taken up for demonstration in the present chapter. This shall be done in the following order:
I. That the state of man’s life from infancy to the end of life, and afterwards to eternity, is continually changing.
II. So likewise the internal form which is that of his spirit.
III. That these changes are of one kind with men and of another kind with women, because, by creation, men are forms of science, intelligence, and wisdom, and women, forms of the love of these with men.
IV. That with men there is elevation of the mind into superior light, and with women elevation of the mind into superior heat; and that woman feels the delights of her heat in the light of the man.
V. That the states of life with men and women are of one kind before marriage and of another after marriage.
VI. That with married partners, the states of life after marriage are changed, and follow one after the other according to the conjunctions of their minds by conjugial love.
VII. That marriages also induce new forms upon the souls and minds of the partners.
VIII. That the woman is formed into the man’s wife actually according to the description in the Book of Creation.
IX. That this formation is effected by the wife in secret ways; and that this is what is meant by the woman being created while the man slept.
X. That this formation by the wife is effected by the conjunction of her will with the internal will of the man.
XI. To the end that the will of both may become one will, and thus the two, one man.
XII. That this formation by the wife is effected by the appropriation of the affections of the husband.
XIII. That this formation is effected by the wife by the reception of the propagations of the soul of the husband with the delight arising from this, that she wills to be the love of her husband’s wisdom.
XIV. That thus a virgin is formed into a wife, and a young man into a husband.
XV. That in the marriage of one man with one wife between whom there is love truly conjugial, the wife becomes more and more a wife, and the husband more and more a husband.
XVI. That thus their forms also are successively perfected from within, and ennobled.
XVII. That offspring born of two who are in love truly conjugial derive from their parents the conjugial of good and truth, from which they have an inclination and faculty, if a son, for perceiving the things which are of wisdom, and if a daughter, for loving the things which wisdom teaches.
XVIII. That this comes to pass because the soul of the offspring is from the father, and its clothing from the mother.
* The Latin text is qui [sol]… est amor, but the context shows that this should be quae [lux]… est sapientia in apposition to qui [calor]…est amor.
In the Word in its spiritual sense, by a rib of the breast nothing else is signified than natural truth. This is signified by the ribs which the bear carried between his teeth (Daniel 7:5), by bears, being signified those who read the Word in its natural sense and see truths therein without understanding. By the breast of a man is signified that essential and characteristic thing which is distinct from the breast of a woman. This is wisdom, as may be seen above (no. 187); for truth supports wisdom as a rib supports the breast. These are the significations because the breast is the region in which everything belonging to the man is present as in its center.
[2] From the above it is evident, that woman was created out of man by the transcription of his proprial wisdom, which is wisdom from natural truth; and that the love of this wisdom was transferred from man into woman that it might become conjugial love; also that this was done, to the end that in the man there may be, not self love but love of his wife, and she from her innate disposition cannot do otherwise than convert the self love with the man into his love to her. Moreover, I have heard that this is effected by the wife’s love, neither the man nor the wife being conscious of it. Hence it is that no man can ever truly love his partner conjugially if he is in the pride of self- intelligence from love of self.
[3] When this arcanum of the creation of woman out of man is understood, it can be seen that in marriage woman is likewise created, as it were, that is, is formed from man; and that this is effected by the wife, or rather through the wife, by the Lord, it being the Lord who infuses into women the inclination so to act; for the wife receives the man’s image into herself by appropriating to herself his affections (see above, no. 183); also by conjoining the man’s internal will to her own will, of which hereafter; and, moreover, by appropriating to herself the propagations of his soul, of which likewise hereafter. From this it is evident, that in accordance with the description in the Book of Creation interiorly understood, a woman is formed into a wife by means of such things as she takes from her husband and from his breast and inscribes on herself.
* The word also suggests that this is a misprint for conjugial. The present passage and n. 98 and also one passage in THE WORD EXPLAINED (n. 4486) are the only passages in the theological Writings where the word conjugal appears. The word does indeed appear in four passages in TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, but these passages are reprinted from CONJUGIAL LOVE where the word is conjugial. Swedenborg also uses conjugial throughout his scientific works.
While still at some distance, I asked what it meant, and received the answer: “A messenger has come from the place where new-comers from the Christian world first appear, saying that he had heard from three new-comers there, that in the world whence they came, they with others had believed that after death the blessed and happy would have entire rest from labors; and since administrations, offices, and employments are labors, that they would have rest from these. Clamor was made because the three have now been conducted hither by our emissary and are standing at the gate waiting. It has been decreed in council that for the purpose of disclosing their news from the Christian world, they were to be introduced, not into the Palladium on Parnassus like the previous new-comers, but into the great auditorium there; and some delegates have been sent to introduce them formally.”
[2] Because I was in the spirit, and with spirits distances are according to the states of their affections; and because my affection was then moved to see and hear these new-comers, I seemed to myself to be present in the auditorium. There I saw the new-comers introduced and heard them speak. The seniors or wiser men were seated at the sides, the rest being in the middle. In front of the latter was a raised platform. Thither, in formal procession through the middle of the auditorium, the three new-comers and the herald were conducted by some younger men; and when silence had been obtained and they had been greeted by one of the elders, the new-comers, being asked, “What news from earth?” answered, “There is much news, but tell us, pray, on what subject?” When the elder replied, “What is the news from earth respecting our world and respecting heaven”, they answered: “On first coming into this world, we heard that here and in heaven there were administrations, ministries, employments, businesses, studies in all kinds of learning, and wonderful handicrafts; and yet we had thought that after removal or transition from the natural world to this spiritual world, we should come into eternal rest from labors; and what are employments but labors?”
[3] To this the elder replied: “By eternal rest from labors, did you mean eternal idleness in which you would be continually sitting and lying down, inhaling delights into your breasts and drinking in joys with your mouth?” Smiling blandly, the three new-comers said that they had supposed something of the kind.
Answer was then given them: “What have joys and delights and the happiness therefrom in common with idleness? By idleness the mind becomes, not expanded, but collapsed, that is, a man is not enlivened but deadened. Picture a man sitting in complete idleness, hands hanging down, eyes withdrawn; and suppose that at the same time he is surrounded by an aura of gladness; would not drowsiness take possession of his head and body? Would not the living expansion of his face fall away? and at last, with fiber relaxed, would he not nod again and again until he fell to the ground? What keeps the whole bodily system expanded and tense but intentness of mind? and whence comes intentness of mind but from administrations and occupations when done from delight? Let me, therefore, tell you something new from heaven: There are administrations and ministries there, and courts of justice, higher and lower, and also mechanical arts and handicrafts.”
[4] When the three new-comers heard that there were higher and lower courts of justice in heaven, they said: “Why these; are not all in heaven inspired and led of God, and so, do they not know what is just and right? What need then of judges?” The presiding elder replied: “In this world we are taught what is good and true and what is just and equitable, and we learn this just as in the natural world, learning it, not immediately from God, but mediately through others. Every angel, like every man, thinks truth and does good as of himself; and this good is not pure but mixed, according to the state of the angel. Moreover, among angels there are the simple and the wise; and when, from simplicity and ignorance, the simple are in doubt as to what is just, or when they swerve from it, the wise must give judgment. But since you have newly come into this world, follow me into our city, if that is your pleasure, and we will show you everything.”
[5] They then left the auditorium, some of the elders accompanying them. They went first into a large library which was divided into smaller libraries according to the sciences. The three new-comers were amazed at seeing so many books, and said, “Are there also books in this world? Where do the parchment and paper come from? and the pens and ink?”
To this the elders replied: “We perceive that in the former world you thought that this world was empty because spiritual; and that you so thought because the idea you entertained concerning the spiritual world was an idea abstracted from what is material, and to you, what is abstracted from the material appeared as nothing and thus as a vacuum. Yet in this world is a plenitude of all things. Here all things are SUBSTANTIAL not material; and material things derive their origin from things substantial. We who are here are spiritual men because substantial and not material. Hence all things which are found in the natural world are here in their perfection, even books and writings and much else.”
When the three new-comers heard them called SUBSTANTIAL, they thought that they were substantial, and this both because they saw the written books and because they heard the statement that matter originated from substances. That they might be still further confirmed, they were taken to the dwellings of scribes who were making copies of the writings of the wise men of the city; and they inspected the writings and admired their neatness and elegance.
[6] After this they were conducted to museums, gymnasiums and colleges, and to places where literary sports were being held. Some of these were called sports of the Heliconians, some sports of the Parnassians, some sports of the Athenians, and some sports of the Virgins of the Fountain. They were told that these latter were so called because virgins signify affections for he sciences, and every one has intelligence according to his affection for the sciences. The so-called sports were spiritual exercises and trials of skill. They were then taken around the city to its rulers and administrators and their subordinate officials; and by the latter they were shown the marvelous productions wrought by artisans in a spiritual manner.
[7] After they had seen all this, the presiding elder, again addressing them on the subject of the eternal rest from labor into which the blessed and happy come after death, said: “Eternal rest is not idleness, for from idleness come languor, torpidity, stupor and drowsiness of the mind and so of the whole body. These are death not life, still less the eternal life in which are the angels of heaven. Eternal rest, therefore, is a rest which dispels them and makes a man live. Such rest can be nothing else than something which elevates the mind, and therefore some study and work whereby the mind is aroused, vivified and delighted, being thus affected according to the use from which, in which, and for which the work is done. Hence it is that the whole of heaven is regarded by the Lord as a containant of uses, and every angel is an angel according to his use. The delight of use carries him along as a favoring current carries a ship, and causes him to be in eternal peace and in the rest that belongs to peace. This is what is meant by eternal rest from labors. That an angel is living, according to the devotion of his mind [to use] from use, is clearly manifest from the fact that every angel has conjugial love, with its virtue, its potency, and its delights, according to his devotion to the genuine use in which he is.”
[8] When the three new-comers had been convinced that eternal rest is not idleness but the delight of some work which is of use, there came some virgins with pieces of embroidery and netting, the work of their own hands. These they gave them; and when the novitiates were leaving, these virgins sang an ode wherein, in an angelic melody, they expressed the affection for works of use together with the pleasantness thereof.
When I was in meditation on the arcana of conjugial love stored up with wives, the GOLDEN SHOWER described above (no. 156e) was again seen, and I remembered that it was falling upon a hall in the east where lived three conjugial loves, that is, three consorts who tenderly loved each other. Seeing the shower, I hastened thither as though invited by the sweetness of the meditation on that love. As I drew near, the shower, from being golden became purple, then scarlet, and when I was close by, it was opalescent like dew. I then knocked at the door, and when it was opened, I said to the attendant, “Announce to the husbands that one who previously came here with an angel is again here and begs that he be allowed to enter and talk with them.” On his return, the attendant, on behalf of the husbands, gave his assent and I went in.
The three husbands with their wives were together in an open court and returned my greeting with good-will. I then asked the wives whether the white dove had appeared at the window later.
They said, “[Yes, and] also today. Moreover, it spread out its wings, and from this we surmised your presence and your solicitation for the disclosure of yet one more arcanum respecting conjugial love.”
[2] When I asked, “Why do you say one, when yet I have come hither to learn many?” they answered: “There are [many] arcana, and some so far surpass your wisdom that the understanding of your thought cannot apprehend them. You men glory over us on account of your wisdom, but we do not glory over you on account of ours; and yet ours excels yours because it enters into your inclinations and affections and sees, perceives, and feels them. You know nothing whatever about the inclinations and affections of your love, though it is these from which and according to which your understanding thinks: consequently, from which and according to which you are wise. Yet wives know them in their husbands so well that they see them in their face and hear them in the tones of the speech of their mouth, yea, feel them by touch on their breasts, arms, and cheeks; but from the zeal of love for your happiness, and at the same time for our own, we feign not to know them. Yet we moderate them so prudently that, by permission and sufferance, we acquiesce in everything that pertains to the desire, pleasure, and will of our husbands, merely bending it when possible but never forcing.”
[3] I asked, ” Whence do you have that wisdom?” They answered: “It is implanted in us from creation and thence from birth. Our husbands liken it to instinct, but we say it is of Divine Providence, in order that men may be made happy by their wives. We have heard from our husbands that the Lord wills that the male man shall act from freedom according to reason, and that his freedom which has regard to his inclinations and affections is therefore moderated from within by the Lord Himself, and from without by means of his wife; also that in this way the Lord forms the man with his wife into an angel of heaven. Moreover, if forced, the love changes its essence and does not become conjugial love. But let us speak of this more openly. We are moved to this, that is, to prudence in so moderating the inclinations and affections of our husbands that they appear to themselves to act from freedom according to their reason, because we are in delight from their love and love nothing more than that they shall be in delight from our delights; and if these become cheap to them, they also become dulled with us.”
[4] After these words, one of the wives went into her bed-chamber, and on returning said, “My dove still flutters its wings, which is a sign that we may disclose more.” They then added: “We have observed various changes in the inclinations and affections of men; as, for instance, that husbands grow cold to their wives when they think vain thoughts against the Lord and the Church; that they are cold when in the pride of their own intelligence; that they are cold when they look upon other women from concupiscence; that they are cold when urged by their wives in respect to love, besides on many other occasions; also that they are cold with varying coldness. We observe this from the withdrawal of sensation from their eyes, ears, and body at the presence of our senses. From these few examples you can see that we know better than the men whether it is well with them or ill. If they are cold towards their wives, it is ill with them, and if they are warm towards their wives it is well with them. Therefore, in their minds wives are continually reflecting on the means whereby their men shall be warm towards them and not cold; and they reflect on them with a penetration inscrutable to men.”
[5] When they had thus spoken, a sound was heard as though the dove were moaning. The wives then said, “That is a sign to us that though we are eager to divulge deeper arcana, it is not allowed us. Perhaps you will disclose to men what you have heard.” I answered, “I intend to do so; what harm can come from that?”
After speaking about this among themselves, the wives said: “Disclose them if you will. The power of persuasion that wives possess is not hidden from us; for they will say to their husbands, “The man is fooling you. These are fables. He is jesting from appearances and from the silly fancies common to men. Do not believe him; believe us. We know that you are loves and we obediences.” Disclose them, then, if you will, but husbands will not put any dependence on your mouth, but on the mouths of their wives which they kiss.”
There are many things about marriages which, if treated of in detail, would swell this small work into a large volume; for it might treat in detail of similitude and dissimilitude in married partners; of the elevation of natural conjugial love into spiritual conjugial love and of their conjunction; of the increments of the one and the decrements of the other; of the varieties and diversities of each; of the intelligence of wives; of the universal conjugial sphere from heaven and of its opposite from hell; of their influx and reception,* besides much else which, if set forth in detail, would swell this work into a book so bulky as to tire the reader. For this reason and to avoid empty prolixity, these subjects are condensed into Universals concerning Marriages, and these, like the preceding subjects, shall be distributed into articles, as follows:
I. That the sense proper to conjugial love is the sense of touch.
II. That with those who are in love truly conjugial, the faculty of becoming wise increases, but with those who are not in conjugial love it decreases.
III. That with those who are in love truly conjugial, the happiness of cohabitation increases, but with those who are not in conjugial love it decreases.
IV. That with those who are in love truly conjugial, conjunction of minds and therewith friendship increases, but with those who are not in conjugial love, the latter together with the former decreases.
V. That those who are in love truly conjugial continually will to be one man, but those who are not in conjugial love will to be two.
VI. That those who are in love truly conjugial look to what is eternal in marriage; not so those who are not in conjugial love.
VII. That conjugial love resides with chaste wives, yet their love depends on their husbands.
VIII. That wives love the bonds of marriage if only the men love those bonds.
IX. That in itself the intelligence of women is modest, elegant, pacific, yielding, gentle, tender; and the intelligence of men in itself is grave, harsh, hard, spirited, fond of license.
X. That wives are in no excitation as men are, but that with them there is a state of preparation for reception.
XI. That men have abundance according to their love of propagating the truths of their wisdom, and according to their love of performing uses.
XII. That determinations are at the good pleasure of the husband.
XIII. That there is a conjugial sphere which inflows from the Lord through heaven into every single thing of the universe even to its ultimates.
XIV. That this sphere is received by the female sex, and through this sex is transferred into the male sex, and not the reverse.
XV. That where there is love truly conjugial, this sphere is received by the wife and by the husband solely through the wife.
XVI. That where there is no conjugial love, this sphere is indeed received by the wife but not by the husband through her.
XVII. That love truly conjugial may exist with one of the partners and not at the same time with the other.
XVIII. That with married partners there are various similitudes and various dissimilitudes, both internal and external.
XIX. That various similitudes can be conjoined, but not with dissimilitudes.
XX. That for those who desire love truly conjugial, the Lord provides similitudes; and if not given on earth, He provides them in the heavens.
XXI. That according to the defect and loss of conjugial love, man approaches to the nature of a beast.
Now follows the explanation of these articles.
* In the Author’s ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING MARRIAGE, of which only the Index is extant, each of these subjects formed a separate chapter.
[3] That the contrary is the case with those who are not in conjugial love is well known. With these, the first friendship, which is insinuated at the time of betrothal and then during the first days after the nuptials, recedes more and more from the interiors of the mind, and gradually departing therefrom, goes finally to the cuticles. Then, with those who think of separation, it passes away altogether, but with those who do not think of separation, the love remains in externals but is cold in internals.
[3] In addition to this, I have heard two married partners who, in respect to their marriage, entertained, now the idea of what is eternal, and now the idea of what is temporal, the reason being that within them was an internal dissimilitude. When they were in the idea of what is eternal, they were in mutual gladness, but when in the idea of what is temporal, they said, “It is no longer a marriage”; and the wife said, “I am no longer a wife but a concubine”; and the man, “I am no longer a husband but an adulterer.” Therefore, when their internal dissimilitude became clear to them, the man left the woman and the woman the man; but afterwards, because both had the idea of what is eternal in respect to marriage, they were consociated with partners who were similitudes.
[4] From these experiences, it can be clearly seen that those who are in love truly conjugial look to what is eternal; and that if from inmosts this slips from their thought, they are disunited as to conjugial love though not at the same time as to friendship; for the latter dwells in externals but conjugial love in internals. It is the same in marriages on earth. There, when the partners tenderly love each other, they think of their covenant as being eternal and have no thought whatever concerning its end by death; and if they do think of this, they grieve; yet, at the thought of its continuance after death, they are revived by hope.
216a. VII. THAT CONJUGIAL LOVE RESIDES WITH CHASTE WIVES, YET THEIR LOVE DEPENDS ON THEIR HUSBANDS, and this because wives are born loves. Hence it is implanted in them to will to be one with their husbands, and from this thought of their will, they continually nurse their love. Therefore, to recede from the endeavor to unite themselves with their husbands would be to recede from their very selves. Not so with husbands, these being born, not loves but recipients of that love from their wives. Therefore, in proportion as they receive, the wives enter in with their love, but in proportion as they do not receive, the wives with their love stand without and wait. This, however, is the case with chaste wives; not so with the unchaste. From the above it is evident that conjugial love resides with [chaste] wives, but that their love depends on their husbands.
[2] How greatly, from their very birth, the genius of men differs from that of women was made clearly manifest to me from seeing gatherings of boys and girls. In a great city, looking through my window, I have several times seen them in the street where more than twenty were gathered together every day. There the boys, following their connate disposition, played together by making a great noise, shouting, fighting, striking blows, and throwing stones at each other; while the girls sat quietly at the doors of the houses, some playing with infants, some dressing dolls, some embroidering pieces of linen, some kissing each other and, what astonished me, they yet watched the boys just as they were, with pleased looks. From this I could clearly see that man is born understanding and woman love. I could also see the nature of understanding and love in their beginnings; and thus, what the understanding of man would be in its progression without conjunction with feminine and later with conjugial love.
* The text has et inde pulchritudines, but the et inde shows that this is an error for pulchriore (as in the translation), in apposition to the preceding impulchriore.
* Swedenborg distinguishes between universal and singular on the one hand, and general and particular on the other. The universal is wholly present in every singular thereof, e.g., the soul is universally present in the blood and in every globule thereof. But a general has no existence apart from particulars, e.g., a general body has no existence apart from its particular members. To illustrate both usages: A heavenly society as a society exists only from its members, but the love of God is universally present in the whole society and in each single member thereof. See no. 388.
I once heard shouts which gurgled up from the lower regions as though through water; one on the left, OH, HOW JUST! another on the right, OH, HOW LEARNED! and a third from behind, OH, HOW WISE! And because I fell to thinking as to whether there were just, learned, and wise men even in hell, I felt a desire to see whether there are such men there. It was then said to me out of heaven, “You shall see and hear.” In spirit I then went out of the house and saw before me an open hole. Drawing near, I looked down it and lo, a ladder. Descending by this, I saw at the bottom plains overgrown with trees intermingled with thorns and nettles, and I asked whether this was hell. They said, “It is the lower earth which is next above hell.”
Following the cries in order, I then went to the first cry, OH, HOW JUST! and saw an assembly of those who in the world had been judges with an eye to friendship and bribes; then to the second cry, OH, HOW LEARNED! and saw an assembly of those who in the world had been reasoners; then to the third cry, OH, HOW WISE! and saw an assembly of those who in the world had been confirmers.
[2] From the latter I turned back to the first cry, where were judges with an eye to friendship and bribes who were being proclaimed as just. At one side I saw something like an amphitheater built of brick and roofed over with black tiles, and it was told me that they called it the Tribunal. It had three entrances on the north side and three on the west, but none on the south side or on the east, a sign that their judgments were not judgments of justice but arbitrary decisions. In the middle of the amphitheater was seen a fire-place, into which the servants of the hearth were throwing logs full of sulfur and pitch, the flickering lights from which presented on the plastered walls pictured images of birds of evening and night. This fire-place and the flickerings of the light into the forms of these images were representations of their judgments, in that they could illumine the facts of any case with colored paints, and induce upon them appearances in accordance with their inclinations.
[3] After half an hour, I saw men, old and young, enter, wearing long robes and cloaks. Putting off their caps, they took their seats at the tables to sit in judgment. I then heard and perceived how, with a view to friendship, they skillfully and ingeniously bent and twisted their judgments into the appearance of justice, and this even to the point that they themselves viewed what was unjust no otherwise than as just, and conversely, what was just as unjust. Their persuasions in these respects were apparent from their faces, and they came to the ear from their speeches. From the enlightenment which was then given me from heaven, I perceived the several judgments, as to whether or not they were judgments of justice; and I saw how assiduously they covered over what was unjust and induced upon it the appearance of what is just; and how they selected from the laws one that favored them and, by skilful reasonings, forced the others to their side. Following the judgments, the decisions were conveyed outside to the judges’ clients, friends, and favorers, and these, in return for their favors, were shouting all along a lengthy road, OH, HOW JUST! OH, HOW JUST!
[4] After this, I spoke of the matter with angels of heaven, telling them something of what I had seen and heard; and the angels said: “Such judges appear to others as gifted with the most penetrating acuteness of understanding, when yet they do not see the least thing of what is just and equitable. If you take away their friendship for a party in a suit, they sit in judgment mute as statues and say merely “I agree, I adjust myself to this or that judgment.” The reason is because all their judgments are prejudices, and prejudice together with favor follows the case from beginning to end. Hence they see nothing but what favors their friend. Everything which is against him they set aside, and if they again take it up, they involve it in reasonings, as a spider its captives in the threads of its web, and distort it.* Hence it is that, when not following the thread of their prejudice, they see nothing of justice. They have been explored as to whether they can, and it was found that they cannot. The inhabitants of your world will wonder at this, but tell them that it is a truth explored by angels of heaven. Because these judges see nothing of what is just, we in heaven view them, not as men, but as monsters whose heads are made of matters of friendship, their bodies of matters of injustice, their feet of matters of confirmation, and the soles of their feet of matters of justice; and if the latter do not favor their friend, they throw them to the ground and trample them under foot. But you yourself will see how they appear to us from heaven, for their end is at hand.”
[5] Then, behold, the ground suddenly yawned open, the tables fell one upon another, and the judges together with the whole amphitheater were swallowed up and cast into caverns and imprisoned.
The angels then said to me, “Do you wish to see them there?” And lo, they were seen with faces as of polished steel, their bodies from the neck to the loins like sculptures carved of stone and dressed in leopard skins, and their feet like serpents. And I saw the law-books which they had laid upon the tables, turned to playing-cards. Instead of sitting in judgment, they are now given the task of making vermilion into rouge, wherewith to deck the faces of harlots and thus transform them into beauties.
[6] After seeing this, I wished to go to the two other assemblies the one where they were mere reasoners and the other where they were mere confirmers, but it was told me, “Rest a while; angel companions will be given you from the society next above them. Through these, light will be given you by the Lord and you will see marvels.”
* The Latin is et consumunt (and consume it), but this plainly refers to the spider and the fly.
Some time later I again heard from the lower earth the voices previously heard, OH, HOW LEARNED! and OH, HOW WISE! As I looked around to see what angels were then present, lo, they were angels from the heaven immediately over those who were crying, OH, HOW LEARNED. When I spoke to them about the cry, they said: “These learned men are men who merely reason, Is this so or Is it not so, and rarely think It is. They are therefore like winds which blow and pass away, or like the bark around trees without a core, or like the shells of almonds without a kernel, or the rinds upon fruits with no pulp; for their minds are devoid of interior judgment, being united only with the senses of the body, and if the senses do not make the judgment, they can come to no conclusion. In a word, they are merely sensual. By us they are called Reasoners, because they never come to any conclusion but take up whatever they hear, and then, with perpetual contradictions, dispute as to whether it is. They like nothing better than to attack truths, and by bringing them into dispute to tear them to pieces. They are men who think themselves more learned than all the world.”
[2] Hearing this, I asked the angels to take me down to them. They then brought me to a cavern from which steps led to the lower earth. We descended and followed the cry OH, HOW LEARNED! And behold, some hundreds were standing in one place beating the ground with their feet. At first I wondered at this and asked, “Why do they stand in that way and beat the ground with the soles of their feet?” and I added, “They may thus make a hole in the ground with their feet.” At this the angels smiled and said, “They appear to stand thus because they do not think of anything that it is so, but only whether it is, and this they make a matter of controversy; and since their thought makes no further progress, they appear merely to tread on a single clod and trample it without any progression.”
I then approached the men there assembled, and lo, they seemed to me to be men with faces not unhandsome and in fine clothes; but the angels said, “They appear thus in their own light, but when light from heaven flows in, their faces are changed and also their clothes.” This indeed came to pass, and they were then seen with swarthy countenances and clothed in black sacking; but when the light was withdrawn, they appeared as before.
Presently I spoke to some of them and said: “I heard the cry of the crowd around you, Oh, how learned; may I therefore be allowed to exchange some words with you on matters which are of the highest learning?” [3] to which they answered, “Say whatever you please and we will satisfy you.”
I then asked them, “What must be the nature of religion whereby man is saved?” They replied: “We must distribute this question into several questions, and until we have come to some conclusion respecting these, we cannot give you any answer. The questions that must be discussed are: 1. Is religion anything? 2. Is there or is there not such a thing as salvation? 3. Is one religion more effective than another? 4. Is there a heaven and a hell? 5. Is life after death eternal? besides many other questions.”
When I asked about the first question, “Is religion anything?” they began, with an abundance of arguments, to discuss whether there is such a thing as religion, and whether what is so called is anything. I then begged them to refer the question to the assembly. This they did, and the general answer was that this proposition required so much investigation that it could not be finished within the evening. To my question, “Can you finish it in a year?” one of them said that it could not be finished in a hundred years, whereupon I said, “Meanwhile you are without religion,” and he answered: “Must it not first be shown whether there is such a thing as religion, and whether what is so called is anything? If it is, it must be for the wise also; if not, then it must be only for the common people. It is well known that religion is called a bond, but the question is, For whom? If it is only for the common people, then in itself it is not anything; if also for the wise, it is something.”
[4] On hearing this, I said to them: “You are anything but learned, for you are only able to think whether a thing is, and to turn the answer to either side. Who can become learned unless he knows something for certain and progresses into it as a man progresses into wisdom, step by step and so successively. Otherwise you do not touch truths even with the finger-nail but remove them more and more out of sight. Reasoning merely as to whether a thing is, is it not like reasoning from a cap which is never put on? or a shoe which is never worn? What comes of it except that you do not know whether there is anything; yea, whether there is such a thing as salvation; whether life after death is eternal; whether one religion is more effective than another; whether there is a heaven and a hell. You cannot think anything about these things so long as you stick fast in the first step and, beating the sand there, do not set foot beyond foot and go forwards. Beware lest your minds, standing thus on the outside at the door of judgment, grow inwardly hard and become statues of salt, and you yourselves friends of Lot’s wife.”
[5] Saying this, I went away, and in their indignation they threw stones at me. They then seemed to me like stone sculptures wherein is nothing of human reason. I asked the angels respecting their lot, and they said, “Their lot is, that they are sent down into the deep and there into a desert where they are driven to carrying loads. Being unable to proffer anything from reason, they then chatter and indulge in empty talk. From a distance they appear there like asses carrying burdens.”
After this one of the angels said, “Follow me to the place where they are shouting, OH, HOW WISE”; and he added, “You will see monstrosities of men. You will see faces and bodies which are those of men and yet they are not men.”
To my question, “Are they then beasts?” he answered: “They are not beasts but beast-men, being entirely unable to see whether a truth is true or not, and yet able to make whatever they will to be true. With us, such men are called Confirmers.” Following the shouting, we came to the place and, behold, a group of men. Around the group was a crowd, and in the crowd, some men of noble descent. These, when they heard them confirming every statement they made, and favoring them with such manifest assent, turned around and said, “Oh, how wise!”
[2] The angel then said to me, “Let us not go to them but let us call out one of the group.” We then called one out and with him we went aside and conversed on various subjects. He then so confirmed every statement that it seemed as though it was absolutely true. We asked him whether he could also confirm the opposite statement. He answered, “Just as easily as the former.” Then, speaking openly and from the heart, he continued: “What is truth? Is there anything true in the nature of things other than what a man makes true? Tell me anything you please and I will make it true.”
I said, “Make it true that faith is the all of the Church.” This he did, and so dexterously and skillfully that the learned standing around were astonished and gave their applause. I then asked him to make it true that charity is the all of the Church, and this also he did; and afterwards, that charity is nothing of the Church; and he so clothed and adorned both propositions with appearances that the bystanders looked at each other and said, “Is he not wise?”
But I said: “Do you not know that to live well is charity, and that to believe well is faith? that he who lives well also believes well? thus that faith is of charity and charity of faith? Do you not see that this is true?”
He replied, “Let me make it true and I shall see it.” And he did so and said, “Now I see it.” But presently he made its opposite true and said, “I see that this also is true.”
Smiling at this, we said, “Are they not opposites? How can two opposites be seen as truth?” Indignant at this, he replied, “You are in error. Each is true, for nothing is true but what a man makes true.”
[3] Standing near by was one who in the world had been an ambassador of the first rank. He was astonished at this statement and said, “I acknowledge that there is something like this in the world, but still you are insane. Make it true, if you can, that light is darkness and darkness light.”
The confirmer replied: “I can do that easily. What are light and darkness but states of the eye? Is not light changed to shade when the eye passes out of a sunny place? and also when it looks intently at the sun? Who does not know that the state of the eye is then changed, and that hence light appears as shade; and on the other hand, that when the state of the eye returns, the shade appears as light. Does not an owl see the darkness of night as the light of day, and the light of day as the darkness of night, and even the sun itself as an opaque and dusky globe? If any man had eyes like an owl, which would he call light and which darkness? What then is light but a state of the eye; and being a state of the eye, is not light darkness and darkness light? Therefore the one statement is true and the other also is true.”
[4] The ambassador then asked him to make it true that the raven is white and not black; and he answered. “That also I can do easily.” He then said: “Take a needle or a razor and open the feathers or quills of a raven. Are they not white within? Then remove the feathers and quills and look at the raven’s skin, is it not white? What is the black which is around it but a shade from which no judgment should be made respecting the raven’s color. As to black being only shade, consult experts in the science of optics and they will tell you; or grind black stone or glass to a fine powder and you will see that the powder is white.”
“But,” the ambassador answered, “does not the raven appear black to the sight?” To this the confirmer replied: “Do you, who are a man, wish to think anything from appearances? From appearance you can indeed say that the raven is black, but you cannot think it. For example, you can say from appearance that the sun rises, progresses, and sets, but being a man, you cannot think it because the sun stands unmoved and it is the earth that progresses. It is the same with the raven. Appearance Is appearance. Say what you will, the raven is entirely white; moreover, it grows white as it grows old. This I have seen.”
[5] We then asked him to tell us, from the heart, whether he was jesting or whether he believed that nothing is true but what a man makes true, and he answered, “I swear that I believe it.”
After this, the ambassador asked him if he could make it true that he was insane. He said, “I can, but I do not wish to. Who is not insane?”
This universal confirmer was then sent to angels who explored him as to his true nature. After the exploration, they said that he did not possess a single grain of understanding, because with him all that is above the rational was closed and that only was open which is below the rational. Above the rational is heavenly light, while below it, is natural light, and the latter is such that one can confirm whatsoever he pleases; but if heavenly light does not flow into his natural light, he does not see whether any truth is true or, consequently, whether any falsity is false. The ability to see the latter and the former comes from heavenly light in natural light; and heavenly light comes from the God of heaven who is the Lord. Wherefore, this universal confirmer is neither a man nor a beast but a beast-man.
[6] I asked the angel concerning the lot of such men, and whether they are able to be with the living, since man has life from heavenly light and from this light is his understanding. He answered: “When alone, such men are not able to think anything and so are not able to speak, but stand dumb as machines and as though in deep sleep; but as soon as they catch anything with their ears, they wake up.” He then added, “Such do they become who inmostly are evil. Heavenly light cannot flow into them from above, but only a spiritual something through the world, and from this they have the faculty of confirming.”
[7] When he had said this, I heard a voice from the angels who had explored the confirmer saying to me, “From what you have heard, form now a universal conclusion.” I then formed the following: To be able to confirm whatsoever one pleases is not the mark of an intelligent man; but to be able to see that truth is true and falsity false, and to confirm it, is the mark of an intelligent man.
After this, I looked towards the group where the confirmers were standing with the crowd around them shouting “Oh, how wise!” and lo, a dusky cloud covered them, and in the cloud were flying screech-owls and bats. It was then told me: “The screech-owls and bats flying in the dusky cloud are the correspondences and thus the appearances of their thoughts; for in this world, confirmations of falsities so that they seem like truths are represented under the forms of birds of night whose eyes are illumined inwardly by a fatuous light, whereby they see objects in the dark as though in light. A fatuous spiritual light of this kind is in those who confirm falsities until they seem like truths. The falsities are then believed to be truths and are so called. All such men are in vision a posteriori and not in any vision a priori.”
Here, together with the causes of colds in marriages, the causes of separations and also of divorces are likewise treated of. The reason is because they cohere, the one with the other, for separations come solely from cold gradually engendered after the marriage, or from causes giving rise to cold, which come to view after the marriage; while divorces are from adulteries inasmuch as these are directly opposed to marriages, and opposites induce cold, if not in both partners, yet in one. This is the reason why the causes of colds, separations, and divorces are brought together in a single chapter. The close connection of these causes will become more clearly evident from seeing them in a series. This series is as follows:
I. That there is spiritual heat and spiritual cold; and that spiritual heat is love and spiritual cold the deprivation thereof.
II. That in marriages, spiritual cold is disunion of souls and disjunction of minds, whence comes indifference, discord, contempt, loathing, aversion; from which, with many, comes finally separation from bed, chamber, and house.
III. That the causes of cold in their successions are many, some internal, some external, and some accidental.
IV. That the internal causes of cold are from religion.
V. That of these causes, the First is rejection of religion by both partners.
VI. The Second, that the one has religion and the other has not.
VII. The Third, that the one has one religion and the other another.
VIII. The Fourth, is imbued falsity of religion.
IX. That these are causes of internal cold, but with many, not at the same time of external cold.
X. That the external causes of cold are also many, and of these the First is dissimilitude in animus and manners.
XI. The Second, the believing that conjugial love is one with scortatory love except that by law, the latter is illicit and the former is not.
XII. The Third, rivalry for supremacy between the partners.
XIII. The Fourth, lack of determination to any study or business, whence comes wandering lust.
XIV. The Fifth, inequality of station and condition in externals.
XV. That there are also several causes of separation.
XVI. That of these the First is a blemish of the mind.
XVII. That the Second is a blemish of the body.
XVIII. The Third is impotence before marriage.
XIX. That Adultery is the cause of divorce.
XX. That there are also many accidental causes; and of these the First is commonness from being continually allowed.
XXI. The Second, that because of the covenant and the law, living with the married partner seems forced and not free.
XXII. The Third, affirmation by the wife and talk by her about love.
XXIII. The Fourth, the man’s thought of the wife day and night, that she is desirous; and on the other hand, the wife’s thought of the man, that he is not willing.
XXIV. That when cold is in the mind, it is also in the body; and according to the increase of the former cold, the externals of the body are closed.
The explication of the above now follows.
[2] The source of spiritual cold shall also be explained in a few words. It is from the sun of the natural world and from the heat and light thereof. The sun of the natural world was created, that its heat and light may receive into themselves spiritual heat and light, and by the mediation of atmospheres, may convey them to things ultimate on earth, in order to make actual the effects of the ends which are the Lord’s in His sun; and also to clothe spiritual things with adequate garments, that is, with matters, that ultimate ends may become operative in nature. This is effected when spiritual heat is joined from within to natural heat. But the opposite comes to pass when natural heat is separated from spiritual heat, which is the case with those who love natural things and reject spiritual. With them, spiritual heat becomes cold. That these two [heats or] loves, which from creation are concordant, then become opposed, is because the master heat then becomes the servant, and the reverse. That this may not happen, spiritual heat, which by its lineage is the master, withdraws. In these subjects, spiritual heat then grows cold because it becomes the opposite. What spiritual cold is, namely, that it is the deprivation of spiritual heat, is thus evident.
[3] In what has been said above, by [spiritual] heat is meant love, because in living subjects that heat is felt as love. I have heard in the spiritual world that spirits who are merely natural grow intensely cold when they place themselves at the side of an angel who is in a state of love, and that it is the same with the spirits of hell when heat flows into them out of heaven; and yet, that among themselves, when the heat of heaven is shut off from them, they burn with great heat.
* The Latin is existentia, but the general teaching of the Writings indicates that this a slip for essentia as in the translation. See no. 380:11; TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION NO 33; FIVE MEMORABLE RELATIONS NO. 16.
Once when going through the streets of a great city, seeking a place of abode, I entered a house where dwelt married partners who were of diverse religions. While I was still unaware of this, angels addressed me and said, “We cannot stay with you in this house because the partners there are in discordant religions.” They perceived this from the internal disunion of their souls.
* Throughout Swedenborg’s theological and philosophical works, the word animus (plural, animi) is used to designate the external mind which man has in common with animals, as distinguished from mens designating the rational mind which is peculiar to man. Animus also means the disposition, and is sometimes so translated in the present work.
Similitudes and dissimilitudes are internal and external. The internal take their origin from no other source than religion; for this is implanted in souls, and through souls is derived from parents to offspring as a supreme inclination. The soul of every man derives its life from the marriage of good and truth, and from this marriage is the Church; and because the latter is various and diverse in different parts of the globe, the souls of all men are likewise various and diverse. From this source, therefore, come the internal similitudes and dissimilitudes and the consequent conjugial conjunctions here treated of.
[2] External similitudes and dissimilitudes are not predicated of the soul but of the animus. By the animus is meant external affections and the inclinations therefrom. After birth, these are insinuated chiefly by education, associations with others, and the resultant habits; for when one says, “I have a mind (animus) to do this or that,” his affection is perceived and his inclination to that thing. Moreover, the animus is usually formed by accepted persuasions concerning this or that kind of life. Hence come inclinations to enter into marriage even with unequals, and also to refuse entering into marriage with equals. Yet, after the partners have lived together for a time, these marriages vary according to the similitudes and dissimilitudes contracted from heredity and at the same time by education, the dissimilitudes inducing cold. [3] So likewise dissimilitudes in manners, as, for example, in the marriage of an uncultured man or woman with a refined man or woman; of a cleanly man or woman with an uncleanly; of a quarrelsome man or woman with a peaceable; in a word, of an ill-bred man or woman with a well-bred. Marriages of such dissimilitudes are not unlike conjunctions of different kinds of animals which do not consociate because of their dissimilitudes; as of sheep and goats, of stags and mules, of hens and geese, of sparrows and noble birds, yea, of dogs and cats. In the human race, faces do not indicate these dissimilitudes but habits. Therefore, from this source come colds.
* The Latin is conjugiale (the conjugial), but the context indicates that this is a misprint for conjugium as in the translation.
* Iliac Passion. A dangerous disease characterized by deep-seated pain in the abdomen, stercoraceous vomiting and obstinate constipation. It is often caused by hernia or obstructing the passage of the faeces (Dunglison, Medical Dict.).
** Celiac Affection or flux, a species of diarrhea in which food is discharged by the bowels in undigested condition (ibid.)
Whosoever shall put away his wife except for whoredom, and shall marry another, committeth adultery. Matt. 19:9.
He says that he commits adultery if he put away his wife, except for whoredom, and take anther, because putting away for this reason is a complete separation of minds. This is called divorce; but all other cases of putting away for specific reasons are the separations which have here been treated of. If after such separation another wife is taken, adultery is committed; but not after divorce.
In the spiritual world, in the upper northern quarter near the east, are places of instruction for boys, for youths, and for men and also for old men. Into these places are sent all who die in infancy and are being brought up in heaven; likewise all who have newly come from the world and desire knowledge respecting heaven and hell. This region is near the east in order that all may be instructed by influx from the Lord; for in the spiritual world, the Lord is the East, being in the sun which is pure love from Him. Hence, in its essence, the heat from that sun is love and the light is wisdom. These are inspired into them by the Lord from that sun, the inspiration being according to their reception, and their reception according to their love of becoming wise. After a period of instruction, those who have become intelligent are sent out and are called Disciples of the Lord. They are sent first to the west, those who do not remain there being sent on to the south and some through the south to the east; and are introduced into the societies where will be their dwellings.
[2] Once, after meditating on heaven and hell, I began to desire a universal knowledge of the state of each, knowing that he who has a knowledge of universals can afterwards comprehend singulars,* the latter being in the former as the parts in a whole. While in this desire, I looked towards that region in the northern quarter near the east where were the places of instruction, and by a way then opened to me, I walked thither and entered one of the colleges where were young men. Going to the head teachers who gave instruction there, I asked them if they knew the universals respecting heaven and hell.
[3] They replied that they had some little knowledge of them, “but if we look towards the east, to the Lord, we shall be enlightened and shall know.” After doing so, they said: “There are [three universals of heaven and] three universals of hell, but the universals of hell are diametrically opposed to the universals of heaven. The universals of hell are the following three loves: The love of ruling from the love of self, the love of possessing the goods of others from the love of the world, and scortatory love. The universals of heaven are the three opposite loves: The love of ruling from the love of use, the love of possessing the goods of the world from the love of performing uses by their means, and love truly conjugial.”
When they had said this, I wished them peace, and leaving them returned home. On reaching home, it was said to me from heaven, “Examine those three universals, both those above and those below, and afterwards we shall see them in your hand.” It was said in your hand because all that a man examines with his understanding appears to the angels as written on his hands.
* Swedenborg distinguishes between universal and singular on the one hand, and the general and particular on the other. The universal is wholly present in every globule thereof. But a general has no existence apart from particulars, e.g., a general body has no existence apart from its particular members. To illustrate both usages: A heavenly society as a society exists only from its members, but the love of God is universally present in the whole society and in each single member thereof. See no. 388.
[2] Terrified at sight of him, I called out, “Do not come near. Tell me whence you are.” He answered hoarsely: “I am from the lower regions and am there with two hundred in a society which is pre-eminent above all societies. There we are all emperors of emperors, kings of kings, dukes of dukes, and princes of princes. No one there is a mere emperor or a mere king, duke or prince. There we sit upon thrones of thrones and send out our mandates into all the world and beyond.”
I then said to him, “Do you not see that from the fantasy of pre-eminence you are insane?” and he replied, “How can you speak in that way? To ourselves we seem such as I have said. Moreover, by our companions we are recognized as such.” Hearing this, I did not wish to repeat “You are insane,” because from his fantasy he really was insane. It was then granted me to learn that, while living in the world, that devil had been merely a house steward, and that he was then so greatly elated in spirit that he despised the whole human race in comparison with himself, and indulged the fantasy that he was more worthy than a king and even than an emperor. From this pride he had denied God and counted all the holy things of the Church as nothing for himself and as something only for the stupid multitude.
[3] At last I asked him, “As to your two hundred there, how long do you thus boast among yourselves?” He said, “For ever; but those of us who torment others for denying their pre-eminence sink down, it being allowed us to boast but not to bring evil on any one.”
I then asked him, “Do you know what is the lot of those who sink down?” He said, “They sink into a prison where they are called viler than the vile or the very vilest, and there they labor.” To that devil I then said, “Have a care then lest you also sink down.”
Seeing him, the former devil fell upon his knees and adored him. “Why do you do that?” I asked. He answered, “He is the God of heaven and earth and is omnipotent.”
I then asked the other, “What do you say to that?” He replied, “What can I say? I have all power over heaven and hell. The lot of all souls is in my hand.”
I asked further, “How can one who is the emperor of emperors thus submit himself, and you receive his adoration?” He answered “He is nevertheless my servant. What is an emperor before God? In my right hand is the thunderbolt of excommunication.”
[2] I then said: “How can you be so insane? In the world you were only a canon; and because you labored under the fantasy that you also had the keys and hence the power of binding and loosing, you raised your spirit to such a degree of insanity that now you believe you are God himself.”
Indignant at this, he swore that he was, and added, “The Lord has no power in heaven because He has transferred it all to us. We need only to command, and heaven and hell reverently obey. If we send any one to hell, the devils immediately receive him; so likewise do the angels him whom we send to heaven.”
When asked, “How many are you in your society?” he said, “Three hundred; and there we are all gods, but I am the god of gods.”
[3] After this, the earth opened under their feet and each sank down into his hell. It was then granted me to see that under their hells were workhouses into which those sink down who do harm to others; for it is left to every one in hell to remain in his own fantasy and also to boast therein, but he is not allowed to do evil to another. The reason why they are such is because man is then in his spirit, and when separated from the body, the spirit comes into the full liberty of acting according to its affections and the thoughts therefrom.
[4] After this it was granted me to look into their hells. The hell where they were emperors of emperors and kings of kings was full of all manner of uncleanness and they seemed like different kinds of wild beasts with fierce eyes. So likewise in the other hell where were the gods and the god of gods. Here, flying about them, were seen dreadful birds of night which are called ochim and ijim.* Thus did the images of their fantasy appear to me.
From these experiences, the nature of the political love of self, and that of the ecclesiastical love of self became evident, namely, that the nature of the latter is to wish to be gods, and that of the former, to wish to be emperors; and men have this wish and aspiration so far as the reins to these loves are loosed.
* These are two Hebrew words occurring in the Prophets and signifying evil birds of night of some unknown kind.
[2] The prince then said that he was the servant of his society because he served it by performing uses; and the other, that he was the minister of the Church there because it was in the service of his brethren that he administered holy things for the uses of their souls; and that both of them were in perpetual joys from the eternal happiness which was in them from the Lord. “In that society everything is resplendent and magnificent, being resplendent from the gold and precious stones there, and magnificent from the palaces and paradises. The reason is because our love of ruling is not from the love of self but from the love of uses; and since the love of uses is from the Lord, all good uses in the heavens are resplendent and refulgent. In our society we are all in this love and, therefore, from the light there which is derived from the flamy red of the sun, the atmosphere appears golden, for the flamy red of the sun corresponds to that love.”
[3] When they had thus spoken, a like sphere was seen by me also. It surrounded them, and from it I sensed something aromatic. I told them of this and asked if they would not add something more to what they had said about the love of use. They then continued, saying: “We did indeed seek after the dignities in which we are, but we did this for no other purpose than that we might be able to perform uses more fully, and extend them more widely. We are also surrounded with honor, and this we receive, not on our own account but for the good of the society. Our brothers and fellow-men who are of the common people know scarcely other than that the honors pertaining to our dignities are in us, and thus that the uses we perform are from ourselves; but we feel otherwise. We feel that the honors of the dignities are outside us, being like garments with which we are clothed; while the uses which we perform are from the love of those uses within us from the Lord. This love receives its blessedness from being communicated with others by means of uses. We know from experience that so far as we perform uses from the love of them, the love increases, and with the love, the wisdom whereby the communication is effected; but so far as we retain the uses within ourselves and do not communicate them, the blessedness perishes and the uses then become as food stored up in the stomach which is not distributed for the nourishment of the body and its parts, but remains an undigested mass from which comes nausea. In a word, the whole of heaven, from the first things thereof to the last, is nothing but a containant of uses; and what are uses but actual love of the neighbor? and what but this love holds the heavens together?”
[4] Hearing this, I asked: “How can one know whether he performs uses from the love of self or from the love of uses? Every man, both good and evil, performs uses, and he performs them from some love. Suppose that in the world there were a society composed only of devils, and a society composed only of angels, I opine that from the fire of the love of self and the splendor of their own glory, the devils in their society would perform as many uses as the angels in theirs. Who then can know from what love and from what origin the uses are?”
[5] To this the two angels responded: “Devils perform uses for the sake of themselves and their reputation, that they may be advanced to honors or may acquire wealth. It is not for these that angels perform uses but for the sake of the uses themselves and from love of them. Man cannot discern between these uses; but they are discerned by the Lord. Every one who believes in the Lord and shuns evils as sins performs uses from the Lord; but every one who does not believe in the Lord, and does not shun evils as sins, performs uses from himself and for the sake of himself. This is the distinction between uses performed by devils and uses performed by angels.”
Saying this, the two angels departed, and at a distance they appeared to be carried like Elijah in a chariot of fire and taken up into their heaven.
Some time later I entered a grove, and while walking there in meditation upon those who are in the concupiscence and hence in the fantasy of possessing the things of the world, I saw at some distance from me two angels conversing together and every now and then looking at me. Therefore I went nearer to them, and as I was approaching, they spoke to me and said, “We perceive within us that you are meditating on the subject of which we are speaking, or that we are speaking of the subject on which you are meditating; this comes from a reciprocal communication of affections.”
[2] I therefore asked them what was the subject of their conversation. They said that it was fantasy, concupiscence, and intelligence, and that just now they were speaking of those who take delight in the vision and imagination of possessing all things in the world. I then asked them to express their minds on those three subjects, concupiscence, fantasy, and intelligence.
Commencing their discourse. they said: “From birth everyone is inwardly in concupiscence, and from education outwardly in intelligence, but no one is in intelligence inwardly, thus as to his spirit, still less in wisdom, except from the Lord; for every one is withheld from the concupiscence of evil and held in intelligence according as he looks to the Lord and at the same time is conjoined with Him. Without this, man is nothing but concupiscence. Yet, from education he is in intelligence in external matters, that is, as to the body; for man lusts after honors and riches, or eminence and wealth, and he cannot attain these two unless he has the appearance of being moral and spiritual, thus intelligent and wise. Therefore he learns to put on this appearance from very infancy. This is the reason why, as soon as he comes among men or into company, he inverts his spirit, removes it from concupiscence, and speaks and acts from becoming and honorable principles which he has learned from infancy and retains in the memory of his body, taking the greatest care that nothing of the insanity of concupiscence in which his spirit is shall come out. [3] Hence every man who is not inwardly led by the Lord is a dissembler, a sycophant, and a hypocrite, thus an apparent man and yet not a man. Of such a man it can be said that his shell or body is wise and his kernel or spirit insane, and that his external is human and his internal ferine. Such men look upwards with the back of their head and downwards with the front, and thus walk as if beset with heaviness, with head hanging down and face turned to the earth. When they put off the body and become spirits and so are set free, they become the insanities of their concupiscence; for those who are in the love of self, desire to have dominion over the universe, yea, to extend its limits, that they may enlarge their dominion; they never see the end. Those who are in the love of the world desire to possess all things thereof and are grieved and envious if any treasures lie hidden with others. Therefore, in the natural world,* lest such men become mere concupiscences and thus not men, it is granted them to think from fear of the loss of reputation and thus of honor and gain, and also from fear of the law and its punishments. It is also granted them to apply their mind to some study or occupation whereby they are kept in externals and thus in a state of intelligence, however delirious and insane they are inwardly.”
[4] I then asked whether all who are in concupiscence are also in the fantasy thereof. They replied: “Those are in the fantasy of their concupiscence who think inwardly within themselves and over-indulge their imagination by talking with themselves; for they almost separate their spirit from its connection with the body, and from vision, overwhelm the understanding and fatuously divert themselves as though from universal ownership. Into this delirium is that man let after death who has abstracted his spirit from the body and has not wished to withdraw from the delight of his delirium by some thought from religion concerning evils and falsities, and still less by thought concerning the unbridled love of self as destructive of love to the Lord, and the unbridled love of the world as destructive of love towards the neighbor.”
* The Latin is in mundo spirituali (in the spiritual world) but this is manifestly an error.
There was then seen an opening, and in it a ladder. After descending this ladder, we were told that they must be approached from the east lest we enter into the mist of their fantasy and be obscured as to our understanding and then at the same time as to our sight. [2] And lo, there was seen a house, constructed of reeds, being thus full of chinks. It stood surrounded by a mist which poured continually through the chinks of three of the walls like smoke. Entering, we saw men, fifty here and fifty there, sitting upon benches. They had their backs to the east and south, and were directing their gaze to the west and north. In front of each man was a table, and on the table bulging purses, and around the purses an abundance of gold coins. To our question, “Are these the riches of all the men in the world?” they said, “Not of all in the world but of all in the kingdom.”
Their speech had a hissing sound, and they themselves were seen to have round faces which had a reddish glow like a snail-shell. Moreover, from the light of fantasy, the pupils of their eyes were as though glittering in a background of green.
Standing in their midst, we asked, “Do you believe that you possess all the riches of the kingdom?” to which they replied, “We do possess them.”
We then asked them, “Which of you?” and they answered, “Each one of us.” “How each one?” we asked, “you are many.” They said, “Each one of us knows that all his are mine. No one is allowed to think, still less to say, “Mine are not yours” but it is allowed us to think and say, “Yours are mine”.”
The coins on the tables seemed as though they were coins of pure gold, and this even to us. But when we let in light from the east, they were granules of gold which these men, by their common united fantasy, had magnified into coins. They said that it behooves every one who comes in, to bring some gold with him. This they cut up into little pieces, and these into granules; then, by the united power of their fantasy they enlarge these into coins of the larger sort.
[3] We then said, “Were you not born men of reason? Whence do you have this visionary foolishness?” to which they answered, “We know that it is an imaginary vanity, but because it delights the interiors of our minds, we come in here and are delighted as from the possession of all things. But we remain here only a few hours. When these have passed we go out, and each time we leave, a sound mind returns to us. Yet, every now and then our visionary delight comes over us and makes us again come in, and [we come in and] go out by turns. Thus we are alternately wise and insane. We know also that a hard lot awaits those who by craft deprive others of their goods.”
We asked, “What lot?” and they said: “They are swallowed up and thrust naked into some infernal prison where they are made to work for clothing and food, and afterwards for a few small coins. These they hoard up and in them they set the joy of their heart; but if they do evil to their companions, they must give up a part of their small coins as a fine.”
[2] “There are three universal loves, of which, from creation, every man is made up: Love of the neighbor which is also the love of performing uses, love of the world which is also the love of possessing wealth, and love of self which is also the love of ruling over others. Love of the neighbor or the love of performing uses is a spiritual love; love of the world or the love of possessing wealth is a material love; and love of self or the love of ruling over others is a corporeal love. [3] Man is a man when love of the neighbor or the love of performing uses makes the head, love of the world the body, and love of self the feet. But if love of the world makes the head, the man is not a man save as a humpback is a man; and when love of self makes the head, he is not a man standing on his feet but a man resting on his hands, with his head downwards and his buttocks upwards. When love of the neighbor makes the head, and the other two loves in their order make the body and the feet, then, from heaven, the man is seen to be of an angelic countenance, with a beautiful rainbow around his head; but if love of the world makes the head, he is seen from heaven to be of a pallid countenance, like that of a corpse, with a yellow circle around his head; while, if love of self makes the head, he is seen from heaven to be of a dusky countenance, with a white circle around his head.”
At this I asked, “What do the circles around their heads represent?” They answered: “They represent intelligence. A white circle around a head with a dusky countenance represents that the man’s intelligence is in his externals, that is, is around him, while in his internals, that is, within him, is insanity. Moreover, a man who is such is wise when in the body but insane when in the spirit. No man is wise in the spirit except from the Lord; and he becomes wise when he is generated by Him and created again or anew.”
[4] After these words, the earth at the left opened and, rising up through the opening, I saw a devil with a bright white circle around his head. I asked him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am Lucifer, Son of the Dawn; and because I made myself like the Most High, I was cast down.” Yet he was not that Lucifer, though he thought he was.
I then said, “Since you were cast down, how can you again rise up out of hell?” He replied: “There I am a devil but here I am an angel of light. Do you not see my head encircled with a sphere of light? and if you wish, you will also see that I am super-moral among the moral, super-rational among the rational, nay, and super-spiritual among the spiritual. Moreover, I can preach, and I have preached.”
When I asked him, “What have you preached?” he said: “Against defrauders, against adulterers, and against all infernal loves. Yea, I, Lucifer, then called myself the devil and hurled curses against myself–him–and for this I was extolled to the sky with praises. It is because of this that I am called the Son of the Dawn. And, what I myself have wondered at, when I was in the pulpit I thought no other than that I was speaking uprightly and piously. But I have discovered to myself that the reason was because I was in externals, and these were then separated from my internals. Yet, despite this discovery, I could not change because, on account of my arrogance, I had not looked to God.”
[5] I then asked him, “How can you speak so when you yourself are a defrauder, an adulterer, and a devil?” He replied: “I am one person when in externals or in the body and another when in internals or in the spirit. In the body I am an angel, but in the spirit a devil: for in the body I am in the understanding, but in the spirit I am in the will, and the understanding carries me upwards but the will carries me downwards. When I am in the understanding, a white band encircles my head, but when my understanding wholly surrenders itself to my will and becomes its understanding, which is our final lot, then the band grows black and disappears; and when this happens, we are no longer able to ascend into this light.”
He then spoke of his twofold state, the external and the internal, more rationally than any one; but on seeing the angels with me, he was suddenly inflamed in face and voice and became black, even as to the band around his head. He then sank down into hell through the opening through which he had risen.
From what they had thus seen, the bystanders formed the following conclusion: A man is such as his love is, and not his understanding, because the love easily carries the understanding to its side and enslaves it.
[6] I then asked the angels, “Whence do devils have such rationality?” and they said, “It is from the vainglory of the love of self; for the love of self is girt about with vainglory, and the vainglory elevates the understanding into the light of heaven. The understanding can be elevated with every man according to his knowledge, but not the will except by a life according to the truths of the Church and of reason. Hence it is that men, even atheists, who are in the vainglory of reputation from the love of self and thence are in the pride of self- intelligence, enjoy a more sublime rationality than many others–but only when they are in the thought of their understanding, not when in the affection of their will. The affection of the will possesses man’s internal, but the thought of the understanding, his external.”
Furthermore, the angel told me the reason why man is made up of the three loves mentioned above–the love of use, the love of the world, and the love of self–namely, that he may think from God, though as if from himself. He said: “The supreme things in man are turned upwards to God, the intermediate outwards to the world, and the lowest downwards to self, and because these are turned downwards, man thinks as if from himself, when yet he thinks from God.”
One morning after sleep, my thought was deeply engaged on certain arcana of conjugial love, and finally, on the following: In what region of the human mind does love truly conjugial reside, and hence in what, conjugial cold? I knew that there are three regions of the human mind, one above the other, and that natural love dwells in the lowest region, spiritual love in the higher, and celestial love in the highest; also that in each region there is a marriage of good and truth; and because good pertains to love and truth to wisdom, that in each region there is a marriage of love and wisdom, and that this marriage is the same as the marriage of the will and understanding, the will being the receptacle of love and the understanding the receptacle of wisdom.
[2] While in deep thought concerning this, lo, I saw two swans flying towards the north, and presently two birds of paradise flying towards the south, and also two turtle-doves flying in the east. As I followed their flight with my sight, I saw that the two swans bent their northerly course to the east, as likewise did the two birds of paradise on their southerly course; and that, joining the two turtle-doves in the east, they flew with them to a lofty palace there, around which were olive trees, palms and beeches. The palace had three tiers of windows, one above the other; and, directing my attention to them, I saw the swans fly into the palace through open windows in the lowest tier, the birds of paradise through open windows in the middle tier, and the turtle-doves through open windows in the highest tier.
[3] As I was looking at this, an angel stood by my side and said, “Do you understand these sights?” I replied, “Partly.” He then said: “That palace represents the abodes of conjugial love as they are in human minds. Its highest part into which the doves betook themselves represents the highest region of the mind where conjugial love with its wisdom dwells in the love of good; its middle into which the birds of paradise betook themselves represents the middle region where conjugial love with its intelligence dwells in the love of truth; and its lowest part into which the swans betook themselves represents the lowest region of the mind where conjugial love with its knowledge dwells in the love of what is just and right. [4] Moreover, the three pairs of birds signify these same things–the pair of turtle-doves, the conjugial love of the highest region, the pair of birds of paradise the conjugial love of the middle region, and the pair of swans the conjugial love of the lowest region. The like are signified by the three kinds of trees around the palace–the olive, the palm, and the beech. In heaven, we call the highest region of the mind celestial, the middle spiritual, and the lowest natural; and we perceive them as abiding places in a house, one above the other, and the ascent from one to the other by degrees, as being made by stairs. In each story are two rooms, as it were, one for love the other for wisdom. In front is a bedchamber, as it were, where love with its wisdom, or good with its truth, or, what is the same thing, the will with its understanding, consociate in bed. In that palace stand forth as in effigy all the arcana of conjugial love.”
[5] On hearing this, being kindled with a desire to see the palace, I asked whether, being a representative palace, it was granted any one to enter in and view it. He answered: “To none save those who are in the third heaven, because to them every representative of love and wisdom becomes real. It is from them that I heard what I have reported to you, and also this, that in the highest region love truly conjugial dwells, in the chamber or room of the will, in the midst of mutual love, and in the chamber or room of the understanding, in the midst of the perceptions of wisdom; and that, in the bedchamber which is at the front and in the east, they are consociated in bed.”
To my question, “Why are there two chambers?” he said, “The husband is in the chamber of the understanding and the wife in the chamber of the will.”
[6] I then asked, “Since conjugial love dwells there, where then does conjugial cold dwell?” He answered: “This also dwells in the highest region, but only in the chamber of the understanding, the chamber of the will there being closed; for the understanding with its truths can ascend by a spiral stairway into its chamber in the highest region whenever it wills; but if the will with the good of its love does not at the same time ascend into the neighboring chamber, the latter is shut and in the other chamber it becomes cold; and this cold is conjugial cold. When there is such cold towards the wife, then from this highest region the understanding looks down to the lowest, and if fear does not restrain it, it also descends thither that it may there grow warm from an illicit fire.”
After saying this, he wished to recount still further particulars concerning conjugial love on the basis of its effigies in that palace, but he said: “Enough for the present. Inquire first whether these things are above the common understanding. If they are, why more? but if not, more will be disclosed.”
Since the causes of cold and separation have been treated of, it follows in order, that the causes of apparent love, friendship, and favor in marriages should also be treated of; for it is well known that, although at this day cold separates the minds of married partners, they yet dwell together and procreate; and this would not be the case were there not apparent loves which, at alternate times, are similar to the heat of genuine love or emulate it. That these appearances are necessities and utilities, and that without them homes and hence societies could not hold together, will be seen in what follows. Besides this, some conscientious persons labor under the idea that disagreements of minds between them and their partner, and the consequent internal alienations, are their own fault and will be imputed to them; and because of this they grieve at heart. But since it is not in their power to relieve internal dissidences, it is enough for them to still the troubles which arise from conscience by apparent loves and favors. Moreover, in this way there can be a return of a friendship, within which, on the one side if not on the other, lies conjugial love.
But because of the great variety of material, this chapter, like the preceding, shall be divided into articles. The articles are the following:
I. That in the natural world almost all can be conjoined as to external affections, but not as to internal if these are dissident and come to view.
II. That in the spiritual world all are conjoined according to internal affections, but not according to external unless these act as one with the internal.
III. That it is external affections according to which matrimonies are commonly contracted in the world.
IV. But that if internal affections which conjoin minds are not within them, matrimonies are dissolved in the home.
V. That nevertheless, in the world, matrimonies are to continue to the end of life.
VI. That in matrimonies wherein internal affections do not conjoin, there are external affections which simulate the internal and consociate.
VII. That thence is apparent love between married partners, or apparent friendship and favor.
VIII. That these appearances are conjugial simulations which are praiseworthy because useful and necessary.
IX. That with a spiritual man conjoined to a natural, these conjugial simulations savor of justice and judgment.
X. That with natural men these conjugial simulations savor of prudence for the sake of various causes.
XI. That they are for the sake of amendments and for the sake of accommodations.
XII. That they are for the sake of preserving order in domestic affairs, and for the sake of mutual aid.
XIII. That they are for the sake of the care of the infants, and of concordance in relation to the children.
XIV. That they are for the sake of peace in the home.
XV. That they are for the sake of reputation outside the home.
XVI. That they are for the sake of various favors expected from the partner or from the partner’s kindred; thus because of the fear of losing them.
XVII. That they are for the sake of the excusing of blemishes and the avoiding of ill-repute therefrom.
XVIII. That they are for the sake of reconciliations.
XIX. That when the partners grow old, if favor does not cease with the wife when ability ceases with the man, there may arise a friendship emulous of conjugial friendship.
XX. That there are various kinds of apparent love and friendship between married partners, of whom the one is subjugated and hence is subject to the other.
XXI. That in the world there are infernal marriages between partners who inwardly are bitter enemies and outwardly like close friends.
Now follows the explanation of the above.
[2] Since angels and spirits equally with men in the world have internal and external affections, and since, with them, the internal affections cannot be concealed by the external, therefore they show through and manifest themselves. Hence with them, the two are brought into similitude and correspondence, and then their internal affections through the external are effigied in their faces, perceived in the tones of their speech, and seen in their habitual gestures. Angels and spirits have internal and external affections because they have a mind and a body, and affections and the thoughts therefrom belong to the mind, and the sensations and the pleasures therefrom to the body.
[3] In the spiritual world it often occurs, that after death friends meet and remember their friendship in the former world; and they then think that they are to associate together in a life of friendship as before. But when that association which is merely of the external affections is perceived in heaven, a separation takes place according to the internal affections. Then, from that first meeting, some are sent away to the north and some to the west, being sent to such a distance from each other that they never more see or know each other; for in the place of their abode they are changed in face, the face becoming the effigy of their internal affections. From this it is evident that in the spiritual world, all are conjoined according to internal affections and not according to external, unless these make one with the internal.
If the case of a man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. 19:3-10.
[2] Since, therefore, the covenant of marriage is a covenant for life, it follows that appearances of love and friendship between the partners are necessities. That matrimonies once contracted must continue to the end of life in the world, is from Divine law; and being from this, it is also from rational law, and hence from civil law–from Divine law in that it is not lawful for one to put away his wife and marry another except for whoredom, as above; from rational law because this is founded upon spiritual law, Divine law and rational law being one. From the latter and the former together, or through the latter from the former, can be seen the great number of enormities and social destructions [that would result from] the dissolutions of marriages before death, or the putting away of wives at the good pleasure of their husbands. Since these enormities and social destructions can be seen in some fullness in the Memorable Relations, nos. 103-15, concerning the origin of conjugial love as discussed by men gathered together from nine kingdoms, there is no need to add further reasons. These causes, however, do not stand in the way of separations being permitted for their own causes, as above (nos. 252-54), and also concubinage, of which in the Second Part.
[2] The same thing is possible, but for the sake of other ends, with partners of whom neither one is spiritual but both are natural. If the conjugial simulation is for the sake of amendment and accommodation, either it has in view that the one partner may be brought into similarity of manners with the other and be subordinated to the desires of that other; or it is for the sake of certain offices which may be of service to one’s own; or of peace in the home or reputation outside the home; or of favors hoped for from the partner or from the partner’s relations; besides other ends. With some persons, however, these ends are from the prudence of their reason, with some from native civility, with some from the delights of cupidities familiar to them from birth and the loss of which is feared; besides many other ends from which the assumed favors as though of conjugial love become more or less of a simulated character. There are also favors as though of conjugial love which are assumed outside the home, there being none within the home; but these have in view the reputation of both partners, otherwise they are theatrical.
[3] As to the nature of the love and friendship between a dominant wife and a servant husband, or a dominant husband and a servant wife, this cannot be described in a few words. Indeed, were the differences between them compared in detail, and the differences themselves enumerated, pages would not suffice; for they are various and diverse. With the men they are various according to the nature of their ambition, being in like manner various with the wives; and those of men are diverse from those which are with women. Such men are in none but a fatuous friendship of love, and such women from lust are in the friendship of a spurious love. By what art wives acquire power over their men shall be told in the article now following.
[2] Now because the men themselves greatly wondered whence such antipathy had sprung up in the wives’* internals, and such sympathy in their externals, they had searched into the causes by consulting women to whom that secret art was known. From their mouth they said they had learned that women deeply conceal within themselves the knowledge whereby they have the skill, if they wish to use it, to subject men to the yoke of their dominion. In the case of the vulgar, with some wives this is done by alternate scoldings and favors; with some by constantly harsh and unpleasant looks; and with others in other ways. In the case of refined wives, it is done by obstinate and incessant pressing of their requests, and by tenacious opposition to their husbands if they suffer hardships from them, insisting upon their right of equality by law, and on the basis of this right boldly persisting in their obstinacy; yea, insisting that if thrown out of the house, they will return at their pleasure and continue the same insistence; for they know that from their very nature men can never withstand the obstinate persistency of their wives, and that after yielding to their will they become submissive; then, to husbands under their dominion, the wives show civility and kindness. The genuine cause of the domination of wives through this cunning is, that while man acts from the understanding woman acts from the will, and the will can be obstinate but not the understanding. It was told me that the worst women of this sort, being inwardly consumed with the ambition to dominate, can stick tenaciously to their resistance even to the last breath of life.
[3] I have also heard the women’s excuses, why they entered into the practice of this art. They said that they would not have entered into it had they not foreseen supreme contempt and future rejection, and hence their ruin, if they were subjugated by their husbands; thus, that they took up these their arms from necessity. To this they added, as a warning to men, that they should leave to wives their rights, and when in their alternations of cold, should not count them as lower than maid-servants. They said further that many of their sex are not in a state to practice this art because of their innate timidity; but I added, “because of their innate modesty.”
From the above it is now made known what is meant by infernal marriages in the world between partners who are inwardly bitter enemies and outwardly like the closest of friends.
* The Latin is illorum (their–meaning the men), but the context indicates that it should be illarum (their – meaning the wives).
Once when looking through a window towards the east, I saw seven women sitting on a bed of roses by a fountain, drinking water. I strained my sight to see what they were doing, and the intentness of my gaze affected them; whereupon, one of them by a nod invited me, and I left the house and quickly went to them. When I arrived, I asked them politely whence they came. They said, “We are wives and are talking here about the delights of conjugial love, and from much confirmation we conclude that those delights are also the delights of wisdom.”
This answer so delighted my mind that I seemed to myself to be in the spirit and hence in a perception more interior and clearer than ever before, whereupon I said to them, “Permit me to ask a few questions about these delights.” They nodded assent, and I asked, “How do you wives know that the delights of conjugial love are the same as the delights of wisdom?”
[2] They replied: “We know it from the correspondence of the wisdom in our husbands with the delights of conjugial love in us; for in us the delights of this love are exalted and diminished, and thus qualified, entirely according to the wisdom of our husbands.”
On hearing this, I asked them, saying: “I know that the fair words of your husbands and the cheerfulness of their minds affect you, and that from these you experience delights in your whole bosom, but I wonder at your saying that it is their wisdom that does this. But tell me, what is wisdom? and what wisdom does this?”
[3] Indignant at this, the wives responded: “You think we do not know what wisdom is and what wisdom it is that does this, when yet we are continually reflecting on the wisdom in our husbands and learn it daily from their lips; for we wives think about the state of our husbands from morning to evening. Scarcely a moment in the day passes in which our intuitive thought is entirely withdrawn or absent from them. On the other hand, during the day our husbands think very little about our state. Hence it is that we know what wisdom of theirs it is that is in its delight in us. Our husbands call that wisdom spiritual-rational and spiritual-moral. Spiritual-rational wisdom, they say, pertains to the understanding and to cognitions, and spiritual-moral wisdom to the will and to life; but they join these two together to make a single wisdom. They also declare that from their minds the amenities of this wisdom are transcribed in our bosoms into delights; and from our bosoms they return into theirs and so to wisdom, their origin.”
[4] To my question, “Do you know anything more about the wisdom of your husbands becoming delight in you?” they said: “We do. There is spiritual wisdom and from this, rational and moral wisdom. Spiritual wisdom is to acknowledge the Lord the Savior as the God of heaven and earth; to acquire from Him the truths of the Church whence comes spiritual rationality, this being done by means of the Word and preaching therefrom; and from Him to live according to them, whence comes spiritual morality. It is these two that our husbands call the wisdom which in general effectuates love truly conjugial. We have also heard from them the reason, namely, that by this wisdom the interiors of their minds and thence of their bodies are opened whereby free passage is given, from firsts even to lasts for that vein of love, on the afflux, sufficiency, and strength of which conjugial love depends and from which it lives. The spiritual-rational and spiritual-moral wisdom of our husbands, especially in respect to marriage, has for its end and goal the loving of the wife only and the putting off of every concupiscence for other women. So far as this is done, so far is that love exalted in degree and perfected in quality, and so far also do we the more distinctly and exquisitely sensate within ourselves those delights which correspond to the enjoyments of our husbands’ affections and the amenities of their thoughts.”
[5] I then asked whether they know how the communication is effected. They said: “In all conjunction by love there must be action, reception, and reaction. The delightful state of our love is the agent or action. The state of the wisdom of our husbands is the receiving or reception; it is also the reagent or reaction according to the reception.* This reaction with its delights is perceived by us in our bosom according to our state–a state which is continually expanded and prepared for receiving the things which in some way cohere with the virtue in our husbands–and thus also with the extreme state of love in ourselves–and which proceed therefrom.” They said further: “Be careful that you do not interpret the delights we have mentioned, as meaning the ultimate delights of that love. Of these we never speak. What we are now speaking of is our bosom delights, which are in perpetual correspondence with the state of the wisdom of our husbands.”
[6] After these words, there was seen at a distance what seemed like a dove flying with the leaf of a tree in its mouth; but as it drew near, in place of a dove was seen a little boy with a paper in his hand. Coming to us, he held it out to me saying, “Read this to these Virgins of the Fountain.” I then read these words: “Tell the inhabitants of earth with whom you are, that there is a love truly conjugial, the delights of which are myriad. As yet scarcely any of them are known to the world; but the world will know them when the Church betroths herself to her Lord and becomes His bride.”
I then asked, “Why did that boy call you Virgins of the Fountain?” They replied: “We are called virgins when sitting at this fountain because we are affections of the truths of our husbands’ wisdom, and the affection of truth is called a virgin. Moreover, a fountain signifies the truth of wisdom, and the rose-bed whereon we are sitting signifies its delights.”
[7] One of the seven then twined a wreath of roses and, sprinkling it with the water of the fountain, placed it on the boy’s cap around his little head and said: “Receive the delights of intelligence. You know that a cap signifies intelligence, and a wreath from this rose-bed, delights.” Adorned with these, the boy then went away; and at a distance he again appeared like a dove flying, but with a wreath upon its head.
* The Latin is perceptionem (perception), but the context shows that this is an error for receptionem as in the translation.
Some days later I again saw the seven wives in a rose garden, but not in the same one as before. It was a magnificent garden, the like of which I had never seen before. It was round, and the roses there formed a curve like that of a rainbow, the outer circle being formed by roses or flowers of a crimson color, the next inner circle by roses of a golden yellow color, the circle within this by roses of a cerulean color, and the inmost circle by roses of a prasinous or bright green color. Within this rainbow-garden was a small lake of limpid water. Sitting there, were the seven wives previously called Virgins of the Fountain. Seeing me at the window, they again called me to them; and when I came, they said, “Did you ever see anything more beautiful on earth?” I said, “Never!”
They then said: “A garden such as this, is created by the Lord in a moment and it represents some new thing on earth; for everything created by the Lord represents something. Divine, if you can, as to what this garden represents? We divine that it represents the delights of conjugial love.”
[2] On hearing this, I said: “What! the delights of conjugial love–those delights of which, on a previous occasion, you spoke so fully both from wisdom and with eloquence? After I left you, I related your discourse to some wives dwelling in our part of the country, and said, “Having been instructed, I now know that you have bosom delights arising from your conjugial love–delights which you can impart to your husbands according to their wisdom; and that therefore, from morning to evening, you are continually looking upon your husbands with the eyes of your spirit, and studying to bend and lead their minds to becoming wise, to the end that you may secure those delights.” I also told them what you mean by wisdom, namely, spiritual-rational and moral wisdom, and, as regards marriage, the wisdom to love the wife alone and to put off all concupiscence for other women. But to this, the wives of our part of the country responded with laughter, saying, “What is all this? your words are empty nothings. We do not know what conjugial love is; and if our husbands have any, still, we do not. How then can its delights be with us? As for the delights which you call ultimate, we sometimes violently refuse them, for to us they are unpleasant, being scarcely other than violations. Indeed, if you observe us, you will see no sign of such love in our faces. You are therefore trifling or jesting if you join with those seven wives in saying that we are thinking of our husbands from morning to evening, and are continually attentive to their good pleasure and their wishes, to the end that from them we may obtain such delights.” From all that they said, I have retained these words that I might report them to you, since they militate against the discourse which I heard from you at the fountain and took in with such avidity, and also believed; indeed, they completely contradict it.”
[3] To this, the wives sitting in the garden replied: “Friend, you do not know the wisdom and prudence of wives because they entirely conceal it from men, concealing it for no other purpose than that they may be loved; for in every man who is not spiritually rational and moral but only naturally, there is coldness towards his wife, such coldness being latent with him in his inmosts. This a wise and prudent wife exquisitely and keenly observes, and in equal measure she conceals her conjugial love, withdrawing it into her bosom and there hiding it so deeply that not the least trace of it is discerned, whether in her face, the tone of her voice, or her gestures. The reason is, because in the degree that this love appears, the conjugial cold of the man pours forth from the inmosts of his mind where it resides, into his ultimates, and induces on his body total coldness and a consequent urge for separation from bed and bed-chamber.”
[4] To my question, “Whence comes this cold which you call conjugial cold?” they answered: “It is from their insanity in spiritual things. Every man who is insane in spiritual things is inmostly cold to his wife and inmostly warm to harlots. And because conjugial love and scortatory love are opposites, it follows that conjugial love becomes cold when scortatory love is warm; and when cold rules in a man, he cannot bear any sensation of love from his wife, and so cannot bear any breath thereof. It is for this reason that the wife so wisely and prudently conceals it, and so far as she conceals it by denying and refusing, so far the man is revived and restored by an inflowing meretricious sphere. Hence it is that the wife of such a man has no bosom delights such as we have but only pleasures, and on the man’s side, these, being the pleasures of scortatory love, are to be called pleasures of insanity. [5] Every chaste wife loves her husband, even if he is unchaste; but because wisdom alone is recipient of her love, therefore the wife uses every effort to turn his insanity into wisdom, that is, that he may feel desire for no other woman than herself. This she does in a thousand ways, taking the greatest care that none of them shall be discovered by the man; for she well knows that love cannot be forced but is insinuated in freedom. Wherefore, it is given to women to know from sight, hearing, and touch every state of their husbands’ minds; but to husbands, on the other hand, it is not given to know any state of their wives’ minds. [6] A chaste wife can look at her husband with an austere countenance, can speak to him in a sharp tone, and can also be angry with him and quarrel, and yet cherish in her heart a soothing and tender love for him. That her anger and these dissimulations have as their end wisdom and hence the reception of her love by her husband, is clearly evident from the fact that she can be reconciled in a moment. Moreover, wives have these means of concealing the love implanted in their heart and their very marrow, to the end that the conjugial cold in the man may not break forth and extinguish even the fire of his scortatory heat, and thus from green wood make him, as it were, a dry stick.”
[7] After the seven wives had said these words and much else of the same kind, their husbands came with clusters of grapes in their hands, some of which were of a delicious flavor and some of an offensive. The wives then said, “Why have you brought bad or wild grapes?” The husbands replied: “Because we perceived in our souls, with which yours are united, that you were speaking with this man about love truly conjugial, that its delights are delights of wisdom; and also about scortatory love, that its delights are pleasures of insanity. The latter are the grapes of offensive flavor, being wild grapes, but the former are the grapes of delicious flavor.” They then confirmed the discourse of their wives and added: “Externally, but not internally, the pleasures of insanity seem the same as the delights of wisdom, just like the good and bad grapes which we brought; for externally, chaste men and unchaste have a like wisdom, but internally it is wholly unlike.”
[8] After this, the little boy again came with a paper in his hand and, holding it out to me, he said, “Read.” I then read these words: “Know that the delights of conjugial love ascend to the highest heaven, and on the way and when there, they conjoin themselves with the delights of all heavenly loves, and thus enter into their happiness which endures to eternity. The reason is because the delights of that love are also the delights of wisdom. And know also that the pleasures of scortatory love descend even to the lowest hell, and on the way and when there, conjoin themselves with the pleasures of all infernal loves. They thus enter into their unhappiness which consists in the deprivation of all joys of the heart. The reason is because the pleasures of that love are also the pleasures of insanity.” After this the husbands with their wives departed and accompanied the little boy as far as the path of his ascent into heaven. They knew the society from which he was sent, that it was a society of the new heaven with which the New Church on earth will be conjoined.
In this chapter, betrothals and weddings and the solemn ceremonies connected therewith are treated of chiefly from reason which pertains to the understanding; for what is written in this book has for its end that the reader may see truths from his rational understanding and so may give them his assent. In this way his spirit is convinced, and that of which the spirit is convinced is allotted a higher place in the mind than that which enters from authority and the faith thereof, without any consultation of the reason. What enters from authority alone, enters the head no farther than the memory, and there, is commingled with fallacies and falsities. Thus it has its place below things rational which pertain to the understanding. Any man can talk from the things of his memory as though rationally, but in inverted order; for he then thinks as a crab walks, the sight following the tail. Not so if he thinks from his understanding. When he does this, his rational sight makes suitable selections from the memory, and by these he confirms a truth which is seen in itself. [2] It is for this reason that in the present chapter many things are adduced which are accepted customs; as, for instance, that choice belongs to the man; that parents are to be consulted; that pledges are to be given; that a conjugial covenant is to be entered into before the wedding; that this covenant is to be consecrated by a priest; also that the wedding should be celebrated [with festivity]; and many other things. These are adduced to the end that, from his rational understanding, man may see that they are inscribed on conjugial love as the requisites thereof, promoting and completing it. [3] The articles into which this lucubration is divided are, in their order, the following:
I. That choice belongs to the man and not to the woman.
II. That it behooves the man to court the woman and ask her respecting marriage with him, and not the reverse.
III. That before she consents, it behooves the woman to consult her parents or those in the place of parents, and then to deliberate with herself.
IV. That after the declaration of consent, pledges are to be given.
V. That consent is to be strengthened and confirmed by a solemn betrothal.
VI. That by betrothal each is prepared for conjugial love.
VII. That by betrothal the mind of the one is conjoined to the mind of the other in order that a marriage of the spirit may take place before that of the body.
VIII. That this is the case with those who think of marriages chastely; not so with those who think of them unchastely.
IX. That during the time of betrothal it is not lawful to be conjoined corporeally.
X. That when the time of betrothal is completed, the wedding ought to take place.
XI. That before the celebration of the wedding, a conjugial covenant is to be entered into in the presence of witnesses.
XII. That the marriage is to be consecrated by a priest.
XIII. That the wedding is to be celebrated with festivity.
XIV. That after the wedding, the marriage of the spirit becomes also a marriage of the body and thus complete.
XV. That such is the order of conjugial love, with its modes, from its first heat to its first torch.
XVI. That conjugial love, precipitated without order and its modes, burns out the marrows and is consumed.
XVII. That the states of the mind of each, proceeding in successive order, inflow into the state of marriage, yet in one way with the spiritual and in another with the natural.
XVIII. Because there is successive order and simultaneous order, and the latter is from the former and according to it.
Now follows the explanation of the above.
As regards the first reason, that choice belongs to men because they are born for understanding, this is because the understanding can see compatibilities and incompatibilities, and can discriminate between them and from judgment can choose the suitable. This is not the case with women. Being born for love, they do not have the clear-sightedness of that light and hence would have no determination towards marriage save from the inclinations of their love. If they have the knowledge of how to distinguish between men, their love is still carried along according to appearances.
[2] As to the second reason why choice lies with men and not with women, that with men is love of the sex in general and with women love of one of the sex, this is because those who have love of the sex have freedom to look around and also to decide. Not so with women, for in them is implanted love of one of the sex. If you wish to confirm this, take any man whom you may meet and ask him about monogamous and polygamous marriage; rarely will you find one who will not answer in favor of polygamous marriage–and this also is love of the sex. But ask women about these marriages, and nearly all except prostitutes will reject polygamous marriages. From this it is clear that with women is the love of one of the sex, thus conjugial love.
[3] As regards the third reason, that with men it is not unbecoming to speak of love and to speak of it openly, and that with women it is unbecoming, this is self-evident. It further follows that to man belongs also the declaration, and if the declaration, also the choice. That women have the right of choice from among their suitors is known, but this kind of choice is restricted and limited, while that of men is extended and unlimited.
[2] The reason why it yet behooves a daughter to deliberate on the matter with herself before consenting is lest she be carried unwillingly into a tie with a man unloved, for then, on her part, consent is lacking; yet it is this which makes marriage* and initiates her spirit into that love. Unwilling or extorted consent does not initiate the spirit, though it may the body; thus it converts chastity which resides in the spirit into lust, whereby conjugial love is corrupted in its first heat.
* The context suggests that this should be into conjugial love.
[2] Wholly different is it with the unchaste, being those who do not think of marriages and the holiness thereof from religion. With them, there is a marriage of the body and none of the spirit. If anything of a marriage of the spirit appears during the state of betrothal, yet, if this ascends by an elevation of the thoughts respecting it, it nevertheless falls back to the concupiscences which are in the will from the flesh; and so, by reason of the unchaste things there, casts itself headlong into the body and pollutes the ultimates of its love with alluring ardor. The result is, that as in the beginning it burned, so, suddenly it burns out and passes off into the cold of winter whereby its disappearance is accelerated. With such men, the state of betrothal does hardly aught else than help to fill their concupiscences with things lascivious, and from these to contaminate the conjugial of love.
* The Latin is superiorem (higher), but the context indicates that this is an error for supremam, as in the translation.
[2] With these premises, let us now look at marriage. When conjugial love conjoins the minds of two and forms them into a marriage, it also conjoins and forms their bodies for that marriage; for, as was said, the form of the mind is also interiorly the form of the body, with the sole difference that the latter is outwardly organized for bringing into effect that to which the interior form of the body is determined by the mind. But the mind which has been formed by reason of conjugial love is not only inwardly present in the whole body and its every part, but in addition is inwardly present in the organs devoted to generation, which are situated in their own region below the other regions of the body. With those who are united in conjugial love, the forms of their minds terminate in these organs; consequently, the affections and thoughts of their minds are determined thither. In this respect, it is different with the activities of minds arising from other loves, for these do not reach thus far. From this comes the conclusion, that according to the nature of the conjugial love in the minds or spirits of two, such is it interiorly in these its organs. That after the wedding the marriage of the spirit becomes also a marriage of the body and thus complete, is self-evident. Consequently, that if the marriage in the spirit is chaste and partakes of the holiness of marriage, it is likewise chaste when in its fullness in the body; and the reverse, if the marriage in the spirit is unchaste.
[2] From what is known and visible in the world, it can be adequately confirmed and made clear before the reason that all order proceeds from first things to last, and that the last of one order becomes the first of the next following order; also that all things of an intermediate order are the last of a prior and the first of a posterior order; and that it is in this way that ends go forth continually through causes into effects. But these matters are passed by, since all that is here treated of is the order in which [conjugial] love goes forth from its first starting point to its goal. Respecting this, we say only the following: As is the order of this love from its first heat to its first torch, such for the most part it is, in and within its subsequent progress; for in that progress, this first heat reveals itself such as it was in itself; if chaste, then, in its progressions, its chasteness is strengthened; but if unchaste, then in its progress its unchasteness increases until it is deprived of all the chasteness in which it had been outwardly but not inwardly from the time of betrothal.
From this it can be seen that the states of the mind of each married partner, proceeding in successive order, flow into the state of marriage. But after marriage they are in complete ignorance concerning the successive things in their animi, which are insinuated from things antecedent; yet it is these that give form to their conjugial love and make that state of mind from which they act with each other. [3] That with spiritual men as compared with natural, a different state is formed from a different origin, is because spiritual men proceed in just order and natural men in unjust. The spiritual look to the Lord, and the Lord provides the order and directs it; but the natural look to themselves and hence proceed in inverted order. Therefore, the state of their marriage is inwardly full of things unchaste, and these are so many colds, and the colds so many obstructions to inmost life, closing its stream and drying up its fountain.
[2] “Both in heaven and in the world there is successive order and simultaneous order. In successive order, one thing follows after another from the highest to the lowest, but in simultaneous order one thing is next to another from the inmost to the outmost. Successive order is like a column with steps from the top to the bottom; simultaneous order is like a work coherent from the center to the circumference. In the ultimate, successive order becomes simultaneous in the following way: The highest things of successive order become the inmost of simultaneous order; and the lowest things of successive order become the outmost of simultaneous order. It is comparatively like as when a column of steps by subsiding becomes a body cohering in a plane. In this way, what is simultaneous is formed from things successive, and this in each and every thing of the spiritual world, and in each and every thing of the natural world.” See also no. 65 in that work, and further on this subject in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, nos. 205-29.
[3] It is the same with the successive order leading to marriage and the simultaneous order in marriage, that is to say, the latter is from the former and according to it. He who knows the influx of things successive into things simultaneous can comprehend the reason why angels are able to see in a man’s hand all the thoughts and intentions of his mind; and also why it is, that wives, from their husbands’ hands upon their breasts, can feel their affections, of which matter mention has been made at times in the Memorable Relations. The reason is because the hands are the ultimates of man into which the deliberations and conclusions of his mind are determined and become simultaneous. Therefore it is said in the Word that it is “written upon the hands” (Isa. 49:16).
[2] Hearing this, I went in with them, being in the spirit, that is, in a state like that in which are men in the spiritual world who are called spirits and angels. And lo, in the gymnasium, in front was seen a stately chair with steps; in the middle, benches; round about at the sides, seats, and over the entrance a balcony. The chair was for the young men who gave answer to the problem then to be proposed; the benches were for the auditors; the seats at the sides for those who had answered wisely on previous occasions; and the balcony for the elders who were to be the arbiters and judges. In the middle of the balcony was a tribune where sat a wise man whom they called Chief Teacher. It was he who proposed the problems which the young men were to answer from the chair.
After they were assembled, this man arose from the tribune and said, “Give answer now, I pray, to this problem, and solve it if you can: What is the soul, and what is its nature?”
[3] On hearing this problem all were amazed, and there was a general murmur. Some of the assembly sitting on the benches then exclaimed, “Who among men, from the Saturnian age to the present time, has been able to see and apprehend with any rational thought what the soul is, and still less what its nature? Is not this above the sphere of the understanding of all men?” But to this those in the balcony replied, “It is not above the understanding but within it and before it; only answer.”
The young men chosen for that day to mount the chair and give answer to the problem then rose up. They were five young men who had been examined by the elders and found to excel in sagacity. They were then sitting on couches at the sides of the chair. Later they mounted the chair in the order in which they were sitting. When going up, each put on a silk tunic of an opaline color, over this a robe of soft wool in which flowers were embroidered, and on his head a cap, upon the crown of which was a chaplet of roses encircled with small sapphires.
[4] I saw the first young man go up thus clothed. He said: “What the soul is and what its nature, has not been revealed to any one since the day of creation. It is an arcanum among the treasures of God alone. It has, however, been disclosed that the soul resides in man as a queen, and learned seers have conjectured as to the place of her court. Some conjecture that it is in a small tubercle between the cerebrum and cerebellum, called the pineal gland. They fixed the seat of the soul there because the whole man is ruled from those two brains, and this tubercle regulates them. Therefore, regulating the brains at its will, it also regulates the whole man from head to heel.” He then added, “To many in the world this appeared to be true or probable, but a later age has rejected it as a figment.”
[5] When he had said this, he put off the robe, tunic, and cap, and the second of the chosen young men put them on and entered the chair. His statement respecting the soul was as follows: “What the soul is and what its nature is unknown in the whole of heaven and in all the world. That there is a soul is known, and also that it is within man, but where, is a matter of conjecture. That it is in the head is certain, since there the understanding thinks and the will intends; moreover, frontwards in the face of the head are man’s five sensories. Nothing gives life to the latter as well as to the former save the soul which resides in the head. But where in the head its court is, this I do not venture to say, though in the past I have agreed sometimes with those who place its seat in the three ventricles of the cerebrum, sometimes with those who place its seat in the corpora striata there, sometimes with those who place its seat in the medullary substance of each brain, sometimes with those who place it in the cortical substance, sometimes with those who place it in the dura mater. [6] Votes based on confirmations in favor of each of these seats have not been lacking. The arguments favoring the three ventricles were, that these ventricles are the receptacles of animal spirits and lymphs from all parts of the cerebrum. The arguments favoring the striated bodies* were, that these bodies furnish the medulla through which the nerves have their exit and through which both brains are continued into the spine, and from the latter and the former issue the fiber of which the whole body is contextured. The arguments favoring the medullary substance of the two brains were, that this substance is a collection and congeries of all the fiber which are the initiaments of the whole man. The arguments favoring the cortical substance were, that in this substance are the first ends and the last, and thus the beginnings of all the fiber, and so of all sensations and motions. The arguments favoring the dura mater were that this mater is the common covering of both brains, and from these, by a kind of continuity, extends over the heart and over the viscera of the body. As for myself, I make no decision concerning any one argument more than another. Do you yourselves decide, I pray, and elect which of them is the preferable.”
[7] Having thus spoken, he descended from the chair and passed the tunic, robe, and cap to the third young man. Ascending the chair, the latter then said: “What have I, a young man, to do with so sublime a theorem? I appeal to the learned men sitting here at the sides; I appeal to you wise men in the balcony; yea, I appeal to the angels of the highest heaven, whether any one from his own rational light can get any idea of the soul. As to its seat in man, however, I, like others, can make conjecture; and I conjecture that it is in the heart and thence in the blood. This is my conjecture because the heart by its blood rules both the body and the head; for it sends out the great vessel called the aorta into the whole body, and the vessels called the carotids into the whole head. Hence there is general agreement that it is from the heart by means of the blood that the soul sustains, nourishes, vivifies the whole organic system of the body and head. What adds to the credibility of this assertion is the fact that soul and heart are so often mentioned in Sacred Scripture, as that thou shalt love God from the whole heart and the whole soul, and that God creates in man a new soul and a new heart (Deut. 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jer. 32:41; Matt. 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33; Luke 10:27; and other passages); and in Leviticus 17:11, 14, it is openly said that the blood is the soul of the flesh.” On hearing this, some raised their voices and exclaimed, “Learnedly spoken, learnedly spoken.” They were of the clergy.
[8] Then the fourth young man put on the vestments of the former speaker, and entering the chair, said: “I also suspect that no one is of a genius so subtle and refined that he can discern what the soul is and what its nature. I opine therefore, that in the man who wishes to investigate it, subtlety is wasted in vain efforts. Yet, from boyhood I have retained a belief in the opinion held by the ancients, that man’s soul is in the whole of him and in every part of that whole; thus, that it is both in the head and the several parts thereof, and in the body and in its several parts; and that the assigning it a seat in some special place and not everywhere was a vain notion invented by the moderns. The soul, moreover, is a spiritual substance, and of this, extension cannot be predicated, nor can place, but only habitation and impletion. Besides, when any one mentions soul, does he not mean life? and is not life in the whole and in every part?” Many in the audience showed their approval of these remarks.
[9] The fifth young man then arose and, adorned with the same insignia, spoke from the chair as follows: “I do not dwell on telling where the soul is, whether in some one part or everywhere in the whole; but from my stock and store, I will open my mind on the question, What is the soul and what its nature? No one thinks of the soul as being aught else than a pure something which can be likened to ether or air or wind, wherein, by reason of the rationality which man has above beasts, is something vital. I base this opinion upon the fact that when a man expires, he is said to breathe out or give up his soul or spirit. Moreover, it is from this that the soul, when living after death, is thought to be such a breath wherein is the cogitative life called soul. What else can the soul be? But as I heard you say from the balcony that the problem concerning the soul, what it is and what its nature, is not above the understanding but in it and before it, I beg and pray that you yourselves will open up this eternal arcanum.”
[10] The elders in the balcony then looked to the Chief Teacher who had proposed the problem. Understanding from their nods that they wished him to go down and teach, he at once descended from the tribune, passed through the auditorium, and entered the chair. Then, extending his hand, he said: “Listen, I pray. Who does not believe the soul to be the inmost and subtlest essence of man! and what is an essence without a form but an imaginary entity? The soul, therefore, is a form. As to the nature of its form, this shall now be told. It is the form of all things pertaining to love, and of all things pertaining to wisdom. All things pertaining to love are called affections, and all pertaining to wisdom are called perceptions. The latter are from the former, and the two together thus make one form wherein innumerable things are in such order, series, and coherence, that they can be called a one. They can be called a one because, if that one is to remain what it is, nothing can be taken away from it, nor anything be added. What is the human soul but such a form? Are not all things pertaining to love, and all things pertaining to wisdom, the essentials of that form? And with man these are in his soul and, from his soul, in his head and body. [11] You are called spirits and angels; and in the world you thought that spirits and angels and thus minds and animi are as winds or ethers. But now you see clearly that you are truly, really, and actually men–men who in the world had lived and thought in a material body. You knew that it is not the material body that lives and thinks but the spiritual substance in that body. You called this the soul, but did not know its form. Yet, you have now seen it and still see it. All here present are souls, about the immortality of which you have heard, thought, spoken, and written so much; and being forms of love and wisdom from God, you cannot die to all eternity. The soul then is a human form from which not the least thing can be taken away, and to which not the least can be added. It is also the inmost form of all the forms of the entire body. And since the forms which are outside it take their essence and form from this inmost form, therefore you, just as you appear to yourselves and to us, are souls. In a word, the soul, being the inmost man, is the man himself, and therefore its form is the human form in all fullness and perfection. Yet it is not life but the nearest receptacle of life from God, and thus the dwelling-place of God.” [12] Many applauded these words, but some said, “We must weigh them.” I then went home and lo, in place of the former meteor there was seen above the gymnasium a bright white cloud, devoid of contending streaks or rays. This cloud, penetrating the roof, entered the gymnasium and illumined its walls, and I heard that they saw inscriptions there, and among others the following: Jehovah God breathed into man’s nostrils the SOUL OF LIVES and man became a LIVING SOUL. Gen. 2:7.
* i.e., the corpora striata and the optic thalami.
Walking once in tranquillity of animus and delightful peace of mind, I saw in the distance a grove, midway in which was an avenue leading to a small palace; and I saw maidens and young men and husbands and wives entering therein. In the spirit, I also went thither, and asked a guard standing at the entrance whether I too might enter. He looked at me, and I said, “Why do you look at me?” He answered: “I look at you to see whether the delight of peace which is in your face is in any way derived from the delight of conjugial love. Behind this avenue is a small garden, and in its center a house where are two newly married partners, and today their friends of both sexes are coming to them to wish them happiness. Those whom I admit, I myself do not know, but I was told that I would know them by their faces; if in their faces I saw the delight of conjugial love I was to admit, but not others.”
All angels can perceive the heart’s delights of others from their faces, and because I was meditating on conjugial love, it was the delight of that love that he saw in my face; the meditation shone forth from my eyes and thence entered the interiors of my face. Therefore he told me I might enter.
[2] The avenue by which I entered was an avenue of fruit trees joined together by their branches, thus forming a continuous wall of trees on either side. Through this avenue I passed into a small garden which breathed a pleasant fragrance from its shrubs and flowers. The shrubs and the flowers were in pairs, and I heard that gardens of this kind appear around houses where there are or have been weddings, and that they are therefore called nuptial gardens.
I then went into the house and there saw the two partners holding each other by the hand and conversing together from love truly conjugial; and it was given me to see from their faces the effigy of conjugial love, and from their conversation its vitality.
With many others, I offered my congratulations and wished them happiness, after which I went into the nuptial garden. There, on the right, I saw a group of young men to which all who came from the house were hastening. The reason they were all hastening was because the discourse there was about conjugial love, and by some hidden power such discourse attracts the minds of all. I then heard a wise man speaking of that love, and what I heard was in brief as follows:
[3] “The Lord’s Divine Providence is most singular and at the same time most universal in regard to marriages in the heavens, and in the marriages themselves, because all the happiness of heaven springs from the delights of conjugial love, as sweet waters from the sweet vein of a fountain. Therefore it is provided by the Lord that conjugial pairs be born, and that, all unknown to the boy and girl, they be continually educated for marriage; that in due time, the girl, then a marriageable maiden, and the boy then a young man fit for entrance into marriage, meet somewhere as if by chance and see each other; that, as if by instinct, they instantly know that they are mates, and, as though from a kind of inner dictate, think within themselves, the young man, “She is mine”, and the maiden, “He is mine”; and that after this thought has dwelt for some time in the minds of both, they deliberately address each other and are betrothed. It is said, as if by fate and as if by instinct, but what is meant is by Divine Providence because, when not known, Divine Providence has this appearance.”
That conjugial pairs are born, and, unknown to both, are educated for marriage, this he confirmed by the conjugial similitude visible in the faces of both; also by their inmost and eternal union, in animus and mind. Unions of this kind, such as they are in heaven, are not possible unless foreseen and provided by the Lord.
[4] After the wise man had thus spoken and the company had applauded, he said further: “There is something conjugial in the very minutest particulars with man, both male and female; but this conjugial is one thing with the male and another with the female. In the masculine conjugial there is something conjunctive with the feminine conjugial, and vice versa, and this in their most single parts.” This he confirmed by the marriage of the will and understanding in each individual. “These two act together upon the most single parts of the mind, and upon the most single parts of the body, and from this it can be seen that the conjugial is present in each individual substance, even the least. This becomes evident from their compound substances, these being made up of simple substances. Thus there are two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two cheeks, two lips, two arms and hands, two loins, two feet; and within man, two hemispheres of the brain, two ventricles of the heart, two lobes of the lungs, two kidneys, two testicles; and where the organs are not dual they are yet divided into two parts. They are two because the one pertains to the will and the other to the understanding, and these act upon each other so marvelously that they present a one. Thus the two eyes make one sight, the two ears one hearing, the two nostrils one smell, the two lips one speech, the two hands one labor, the two feet one walking, the two hemispheres of the brain one dwelling-place of the mind, the two chambers of the heart one life of the body by means of the blood, the two lobes of the lungs one respiration, and so on; but the masculine and feminine when united by love truly conjugial make one life completely human.”
[5] While these words were being spoken, there appeared on the right, lightning which became red; and on the left, lightning which became a bright white. Both were mild, and through the eyes they entered into the mind and enlightened this also. After these lightnings came thunder, being a gentle murmur flowing down from the angelic heaven and growing louder. Hearing and seeing this, the wise man said: “This is a sign and admonition to me that I should add these words to my discourse: The right of those pairs signifies their good, and the left their truth. This is from the marriage of good and truth which is inscribed on the whole man and on his every single part; and good harks back to the will, and truth to the understanding, and both together to a one. It is because of this that in heaven the right eye is the good of sight, and the left its truth; the right ear the good of hearing, and the left its truth; the right hand the good of man’s power, and the left its truth; and so likewise with the other pairs. It was because the right and left have these significations that the Lord said:
If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out; and if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off Matt. 5:29, 30. by which He meant that if good becomes evil, it is to be cast out; and also that He told His Disciples that they should cast the net on the right side of the ship, and when they did so, they took a great multitude of fishes (John 21:6, 7), by which He meant that they should teach the good of charity and thus would gather men.”
[6] After these words, the two lightnings were again seen but milder than before; and it was then seen that the lightning on the left derived its bright whiteness from the ruddy fire of the lightning on the right. Seeing this, the wise man said, “This is a sign from heaven confirmatory of what I have said; for in heaven the fiery is good, and bright white is truth. The sight of the lightning on the left taking its brightness from the ruddy fire of the lightning on the right is a sign showing that the bright whiteness of light, or light itself, is nothing else than the brilliance of fire.”
On hearing this, all went home, kindled by those lightnings and by the discourse concerning them, with the good and truth of gladness.
The question may come under discussion as to whether, after the death of the partner, conjugial love, which is the love of one man with one wife, can be separated or transferred or superinduced; and also, as to whether repeated marriages have anything in common with polygamy and so may be called successive polygamy; besides many other questions which with reasoners are wont to pile up doubt on doubt. Therefore, in order that masters of casuistry, who reason in the shade about these marriages, may see some light, I have thought it worth while to present to their judgment the following articles concerning them, to wit:
I. That after the death of the partner, again to contract matrimony depends on the preceding conjugial love.
II. That it depends also on the state of marriage in which they had lived.
III. That in the case of those with whom there had been no love truly conjugial, there is nothing to prevent and hinder them from again contracting matrimony.
IV. That those who have lived together in love truly conjugial do not wish to marry again, unless for reasons apart from conjugial love.
V. That the state of marriage of a young man with a virgin is different from that of a young man with a widow.
VI. Also that the state of marriage of a widower with a virgin is different from that of a widower with a widow.
VII. That the varieties and diversities of these marriages, with respect to love and its attributes, exceed all number.
VIII. That the state of a widow is more grievous than that of a widower.
Now follows the explanation of the above.