CL 157. 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. That woman was taken out of man has been shown just above from the Book of Creation. That hence in each sex there is a faculty and inclination to conjoin themselves into a one, follows as a consequence; for that which has been taken out of another draws on, and retains the proprial characteristic of that other which it makes its own; and this, being homogeneous, breathes reunition, and when reunited, it is as though in itself when in the other, and the reverse. The statement that there is such a faculty of conjunction of the one sex with the other, or that they can be united, presents no difficulty as neither does the statement that there is an inclination to be conjoined, for personal experience teaches both.

CL 158. II. That conjugial love conjoins two souls and thence minds into a one. Every man consists of soul, mind, and body. Being man's inmost, the soul from its origin is celestial; being his mediate, the mind from its origin is spiritual; and being his ultimate, the body from its origin is natural. Things which from their origin are celestial, and those which from their origin are spiritual, are not in space but in the appearances of space. This, moreover, is known in the world; wherefore it is said, that neither extension nor place can be predicated of things spiritual. Since, therefore, spaces are appearances, distance and presence also are appearances. That in the spiritual world the appearances of distance and presence are according to the nearness, relationship, and affinity of love, has been frequently pointed out and confirmed in treatises on that world.

[2] It is mentioned here, that it may be known that the souls and minds of men are not in space as are their bodies; for from their origin, as said above, they are celestial and spiritual. And, not being in space, they can be conjoined as into a one, though not at the same time their bodies. This is especially the case between married partners who inmostly love each other. But because woman is from man, and this conjunction is a kind of reunition, it can be seen from reason that it is not conjunction into a one but adjunction, near and close, according to the love, and, in the case of those who are in love truly conjugial, even to contact. This adjunction may be called spiritual cohabitation, and it exists with partners who tenderly love each other, however distant they are in body. There are many evidences of experience even in the natural world which confirm this. From the above it is evident that conjugial love conjoins two souls and minds into a one.

CL 159. III. That the wife's will conjoins itself with the man's understanding, and hence the man's understanding with the wife's will. The reason is, because the male is born to become understanding and the female to become a will loving the understanding of the male; from which it follows, that conjugial conjunction is a conjunction of the wife's will with the man's understanding, and reciprocally, of the man's understanding with the wife's will. Any one can see that there is the closest conjunction of the understanding and the will, and also that it is such that the one faculty can enter into the other and can be delighted by reason of the conjunction and in it.

CL 160. IV. That the inclination to unite the man to herself is constant and perpetual with the wife, but inconstant and alternating with the man. The reason is, because love cannot do otherwise than love and unite itself (to another) that it may be loved in return, its essence and life being nothing else; and women are born loves, but men, with whom they unite themselves that they may be loved in return, are receptions. Moreover, love is continually working. It is like heat, flame, and fire, which perish if restrained from doing their work. Hence it is, that with the wife, the inclination to unite the man to herself is constant and perpetual. That with the man, there is not the same inclination to the wife, is because man is not love but only a recipient of love, and the state of reception is absent or present according to interrupting cares, according to the changes of heat and non-heat in the mind from various causes, and according to the increase and decrease of virile powers, in the body; and since these do not return constantly and at set times, it follows, that with men the inclination to that conjunction is inconstant and alternating.

CL 161. 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. That love and thence conjunction is inspired into the man by the wife is at this day concealed from men, yea, is universally denied by wives. The reason is because they persuade the men that it is they alone who love, and themselves who receive the love; or that men are loves and themselves obediences. They also rejoice in heart when the men believe this. There are many reasons why they thus persuade them, all of which pertain to the prudence and circumspection of wives. Of this, something shall be told in the following pages, and specifically in the chapter on The Causes of Colds, Separations, and Divorces between Married Partners. That the inspiration or insinuation of love is from the wives into the men is because there is nothing of conjugial love with men, nor even of love of the sex, but only with wives and women. That such is the case was shown me in a living way in the spiritual world.

[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.

CL 162. 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. The first heat of marriage does not conjoin, for it partakes of love of the sex which is a love belonging to the body and thence to the spirit, and what is in the spirit from the body does not stay long, while love which is in the body from the spirit does. Love which belongs to the spirit and from the spirit to the body is insinuated into the souls and minds of married partners together with friendship and confidence. When these two conjoin themselves with the first love of marriage, that love becomes conjugial; and this opens the breasts and breathes into them the sweets of love, doing this more and more deeply as friendship and confidence adjoin themselves to the primitive love, and the latter enters into them and they into it.

CL 163. 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. Wisdom with men is twofold, rational and moral, their rational wisdom belonging to the understanding alone, and their moral wisdom to the understanding and at the same time to the life. This can be concluded and seen from mere intuition and exploration. But that it may be known what is meant by the rational wisdom of men, and what by their moral wisdom, some specimens thereof shall be enumerated. The things pertaining to their rational wisdom are designated by various names, being called in general, science, intelligence, and wisdom, and in particular, rationality, judgment, genius, learning, sagacity. Science, however, is manifold, there being sciences peculiar to each individual in his particular office--sciences peculiar to the clergy, peculiar to government officials and their subordinates, peculiar to judges, peculiar to physicians and chemists, peculiar to soldiers and sailors, peculiar to mechanics and workmen, peculiar to farmers, and so on. To rational wisdom pertain also all the sciences into which young men are initiated in schools, whereby they are later initiated into intelligence. These also are called by various names, such as philosophy, physics, geometry, mechanics, chemistry, astronomy, jurisprudence, politics, ethics, history, etc., and by them, as by gateways, there is entrance into the rational things from which rational wisdom is formed.

CL 164. The things with man which pertain to moral wisdom are all the moral virtues which have regard to life and enter into it; also all the spiritual virtues which flow from love to God and love towards the neighbour, and which together flow into the moral virtues. The virtues which pertain to the moral wisdom of men are likewise of various names and are called temperance, sobriety, probity, benevolence, friendship, modesty, sincerity, readiness to serve, courtesy; also assiduity, industry, alertness, alacrity, munificence, liberality, generosity, earnestness, intrepidity, prudence, besides many other virtues. The spiritual virtues with men are love of religion, charity, truth, faith, conscience, innocence, and many others. These and the former virtues may in general be referred to love and zeal for religion, for the public good, for country, for fellow-citizens, for parents, for the married partner, and for the children. In all these virtues, justice and judgment are dominant, justice pertaining to moral wisdom and judgment to rational wisdom.

CL 165. That the conjunction of the wife with the rational wisdom of the man is from within, is because this wisdom is proper to the understanding of men and climbs into a light in which women are not. This is the reason why women do not speak from it, and when in the company of men where such matters are discussed, they are silent and simply listen. That nevertheless these rational things are with wives from within, is manifest from their listening, in that they inwardly recognize and favour what they hear and have heard from their husbands.

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.

CL 166. 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. That wives know the affections of their husbands, and that they prudently moderate them, is also among the arcana of conjugial love stored up with wives. They know them by three senses, sight, hearing, and touch; and they moderate them all unknown to their husbands. Since these matters are among the arcana of wives, it does not become me to disclose them circumstantially; but for wives themselves to do so, is becoming. Therefore, at the end of the chapters follow four Memorable Relations in which these arcana are disclosed by them; two (n. 156e, 208) by the three wives dwelling in the hall upon which was seen falling a golden shower, as it were, and two (n. 293, 294) by the seven wives sitting in a rose garden. If these are read, this arcanum will be seen unveiled.

CL 167. 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. The storing up and concealing by wives of their perception of their husband's affections, are called necessities because, if revealed, they would alienate their husbands from bed, from chamber, and from home. The reason is because, with most men, deeply seated within is conjugial cold, and this from many causes which will be set forth in the chapter on The Causes of Colds, Separations, and Divorces between Married Partners.

[2] If wives were to disclose the affections and inclinations of their husbands, this cold would break forth from its hiding places and would chill, first the interiors of the mind, then the breast, and from this the ultimate organs of love which are dedicated to generation; and with these chilled, conjugial love would be so far exiled that there would no longer remain any hope of friendship, confidence, and blessedness of cohabitation, or of happiness of life therefrom, when yet it is by this hope that wives are continually nourished. The disclosing of the fact that they know the affections and inclinations of love in their husband carries with it a declaration and publication of their own love; and it is well known that, so far as wives open their mouths about that, men grow cold and desire separation. From this, the truth of the present article is clear, that the reasons why wives store up their perception within themselves and conceal it from their husbands are necessities.

CL 168. 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. This follows from the difference between the masculine and the feminine. It is masculine to perceive from the understanding, and feminine to perceive from love; and the understanding perceives things which are above the body and beyond the world, it being to these that rational and spiritual sight extends; while love does not go beyond what it feels. When it does go beyond, it does this by drawing on that conjunction with the male understanding which was established from creation; for understanding pertains to light, and love to heat, and that which pertains to light is seen, while that which pertains to heat is felt. From this it is manifest, that because of the universal difference which exists between the masculine and the feminine, the wife's wisdom is not possible with the man, nor the man's (rational) wisdom with the wife; nor is man's moral wisdom possible with women so far as it partakes of his rational wisdom.

CL 169. 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.) This coheres with what was previously explained (n. 160), namely, that the inclination to unite the man to herself is constant and perpetual with the wife, but inconstant and alternating with the man. From this it follows, that the thought of the wife about the inclination of her husband to herself with the purpose of conjoining him to herself is continual. The thought of the wife about the husband is indeed interrupted by the domestic affairs which are under her care, still it remains in the affection of her love, and with women this does not separate itself from their thoughts as is the case with men. But these things I report as they were told me; see the two Relations by the seven wives sitting in the rose garden (n. 293, 294) which follow some of the chapters.

CL 170. XII. That the wife conjoins herself to the man by applications to the desires of his will. Being among things familiar to all, explanation of these words is superfluous.

CL 171. XIII. That the wife is conjoined to her husband by the sphere of her life going forth from her love. A spiritual sphere, being the sphere of the affections of his love, emanates, nay, pours forth from every man and encompasses him. Moreover, this sphere implants itself in his natural sphere, being the sphere of the body, and the two join together. That a natural sphere is continually flowing forth from the body, not only from man but also from beasts, yea, from trees, fruits, flowers, and even from metals, is a matter of common knowledge. It is the same in the spiritual world; but the spheres flowing from subjects there, are spiritual, and those which emanate from (good) spirits and angels are deeply spiritual, because with them, affections of love and perceptions and thoughts therefrom are more interior. It is from this that all sympathy and antipathy takes its origin, and also all conjunction and disjunction. In that world, presence and absence are according to these spheres, for what is homogeneous or concordant makes conjunction and presence, and what is heterogeneous and discordant makes disjunction and absence. Therefore, it is these spheres that make distances there. Moreover, some men know what the operation of these spiritual spheres is in the natural world; nor are the inclinations of married partners towards each other from any other origin. Unanimous and concordant spheres unite them, and opposing and discordant spheres disunite them; for concordant spheres are delightful and grateful, and discordant spheres undelightful and ungrateful.

[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.

CL 172. 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. That such is the case, this also I have taken from the mouth of angels. They said that the prolific things expended by husbands are received by wives universally and add themselves to their life; that wives thus lead a life unanimous with their husbands, and successively more unanimous; and that hence the union of souls and conjunction of minds exists in effect. The cause of this, they said, was that in the prolific of the husband is his soul and also his mind as to its interiors which are conjoined to the soul. They added that this was provided from creation in order that the wisdom of the man which makes his soul may be appropriated to the wife, and that thus they may become one flesh, in accordance with the Lord's words; also that this was provided, lest, after conception, the man, from some fantasy, should leave his wife. But they added that with wives, the applications and appropriations of the life of husbands are effected according to the conjugial love, it being love, which is spiritual union, that conjoins; and that for many reasons this too has been provided.

CL 173. XV. That the wife thus receives into herself the image of her husband, and hence perceives, sees, and feels his affections. From the reasons adduced above, it follows as an attested truth that wives receive into themselves the things pertaining to the wisdom of their husbands, thus the properties of their souls and minds, and so, from being virgins, make themselves wives. The causes from which this follows are:

1. That woman was created from man.

2. That in her there is thus an inclination to unite and, as it were, reunite herself with man.

3. That from this union with her fellow pair and for the sake of it, woman is born the love of man, and by marriage becomes more and more the love of him inasmuch as her love is continually devoting its thoughts to the conjoining of the man to herself.

4. That she is conjoined to her only one by applications to the desires of his life.

5. That they are conjoined by the spheres encompassing them and uniting the one with the other, both universally and as to every single part, according to the nature of the conjugial love with the wives, and according also to the nature of the recipient wisdom with the husbands.

6. That they are conjoined also by the appropriation by wives of the virile forces of their husbands.

7. From which appropriation, it is clear that something of the husband is continually being transcribed into the wife and is inscribed upon her as her own.

From all this it follows, that an image of the husband is being formed in the wife, and from this image, the wife perceives, sees, and feels within herself the things which are in her husband, and thence, as it were, herself in him. She perceives from the communication, sees from the aspect, and feels from the touch. That from the touch, she feels the reception of her love by her husband in the palms of his hands, on his cheeks, arms, hands, and breasts, was disclosed to me by the three wives in the hall and the seven wives in the rose garden spoken of in the Memorable Relations (n. 156e, 208, 293-294).

CL 174. XVI. That there are offices proper to the man, and offices proper to 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. That there are offices proper to the man, and offices proper to the wife, has no need of being illustrated by a recountal of those offices; for they are many and various, and everyone knows how to classify them according to their genera and species if only he exert his mind to the distinguishing of them. The offices above all others by which women conjoin themselves to their husbands are the education of the little children of both sexes, and of girls up to the age when they are given in marriage.

CL 175. That the wife cannot enter into the offices proper to the man, nor, on the other hand, the man into the offices proper to the wife, is because they differ as do wisdom and the love thereof, or thought and its affection, or the intellect and its will. In the offices proper to men, understanding, thought, and wisdom play the leading part, but in the offices proper to wives, the leading part is played by will, affection, and love; and the wife performs her offices from the latter, and the man performs his from the former. Therefore, by their very nature their offices are divergent, yet in their successive series they are conjunctive.

[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 favours 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.

CL 176. 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. That in some affairs, the offices of the husband conjoin themselves with the offices of the wife, and the offices of the wife adjoin themselves to the offices of the husband; also that these conjunctions and adjunctions are a mutual aid and are effected according to that aid--this is among things well known in the world. But the main office which confederates and consociates the souls and lives of two partners, and gathers them into a one, is their common concern in the education of their children. In this the offices of the husband and those of the wife are distinct, and at the same time conjoint. They are distinct because the charge of suckling and educating the infants of both sexes, and also the instruction of girls up to the age when they may be addressed by men and associate with them, is an office proper to the wife, while the charge of the instruction of boys from childhood to puberty and from then until they become their own masters, is an office proper to the husband. But these offices become conjoint by consultations and mutual support and by much else which is of mutual assistance. That these offices, both the joint and the distinct, or those that are common to both partners and those that are individual, bind the animi of the partners together into a one, and that the love called storge also has this effect is well known. It is also well known that these offices, regarded in their separation and in their conjunction, make one home.

CL 177. XVIII. That according to the above-mentioned conjunctions, married partners become more and more one man. This coincides with the contents of article VI, where it was explained that from the first days of marriage, conjunction is effected successively, and with those who are in love truly conjugial, more and more deeply to eternity. They become one man according to the increase of conjugial love; and because in the heavens that love is genuine by reason of the celestial and spiritual life of the angels, therefore two partners are there called two when named husband and wife, but one when named angels.

CL 178. XIX. That those who are in love truly conjugial feel themselves to be a united man and as one flesh. That this is the case must be confirmed, not from the mouth of any inhabitant of earth but from the mouth of inhabitants of heaven; for with men on earth at this day, there is no love truly conjugial. Moreover, men are enveloped with a gross body, and this dulls and absorbs the sensation that two partners are a united man and as one flesh. Furthermore, those in the world who love their partners only outwardly and not inwardly, do not wish to hear this; they also think of this matter from the flesh, lasciviously. Such is not the case with angels of heaven, inasmuch as they are in spiritual and celestial conjugial love and are not enveloped in so gross a body as are men on earth. I have heard it attested by those who have lived for ages with their partners in heaven, that they feel themselves to be thus united, the husband feeling himself to be united with his wife, and the wife with her husband, and each having the feeling of being in the other, as though united even in the flesh, although they are separate beings.

[2] They said that on earth, the cause of this rare phenomenon was that the unition of their souls and minds is felt in their flesh, and this because the soul makes not only the inmost things of the head but also the inmost of the body. So likewise the mind, which is midway between soul and body; this appears to be in the head, yet actually it is also in the whole body. Furthermore, they said that it is because of this that actions which the soul and mind intend, flow out from the body in an instant; also that it is because of this that after the rejection of the body they had in the former world, they themselves are perfect men. Now since the soul and mind closely adjoin themselves to the flesh of the body to the end that they may operate and produce their effects, it follows that with married partners, the unition of soul and mind is felt as being one flesh even in the body. When the angels said this, I heard from some spirits who were standing by, "These are matters of angelic wisdom which are transcendental"; but these spirits were natural-rational and not spiritual-rational.

CL 179. 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. That it is a union of souls and a conjunction of minds may be seen above (n. 158). That it is an effort to conjunction in the breast is because the breast is a place of assembly and a royal court, as it were, with the body as a populous city around it. That the breast is as a place of assembly is because everything determined from the soul and mind into the body flows first into the breast. That it is a royal court, as it were, is because the breast is the seat of dominion over all things of the body; for there, are the heart and lungs, and these reign everywhere, the heart by the blood, and the lungs by the respiration. That the body is as a populous city round about, is apparent. When, therefore, the souls and minds of partners are united--and it is love truly conjugial that unites them--it follows that this loving union flows into their breasts and through these into their bodies and causes a striving to conjunction, and this the more, because, for the fulfilment of its blissful pleasures, conjugial love determines this striving to its ultimates; and since the breast is the place where the two ways meet, it is clear whence it is that conjugial love has there found the seat of its delicate sense.

CL 180. 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 to the other every good; and from all these, blessedness, happiness, delight, pleasure; and from the eternal fruition of these, heavenly felicity. The reason why all these are within conjugial love and thus come from it, is because its origin is the marriage of good and truth, and this marriage is from the Lord. The nature of love is such that it desires to be in communion with another whom it loves from the heart, yea, to confer joys on that other and therein to take its own joys. Infinitely more is this true of the Divine Love which is in the Lord, in respect to man whom He created a receptacle of the love and wisdom proceeding from Himself. And because He created him for the reception of these--man for the reception of wisdom, woman for the reception of the love of man's wisdom-- therefore, from their very inmost, He infused into them conjugial love, that into this, and consequently into those who are in love truly conjugial, these alone being recipients, He might gather all things blessed, happy, delightful, and pleasurable, which, together with life, proceed and flow in solely from His Divine Love through His Divine Wisdom. Innocence, peace, tranquillity, inmost friendship, full confidence, and the mutual desire of animus and heart to do to the other every good, are mentioned, because innocence and peace are predicated of the soul, tranquillity of the mind, inmost friendship of the breast, full confidence of the heart, and the mutual desire of animus and heart to do to the other every good, of the body from these.

CL 181. XXII. That these are by no means possible except in the marriage of one man with one wife. This is the conclusion from all that has hitherto been said. It also forms the conclusion from all that is to be said hereafter. Therefore there is no need to confirm it by any special comment.

CL 182. To the above shall be added two Memorable Relations. First:

Some weeks after (the meeting on Parnassus (n. 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."

[5] 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?" 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 centre 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 centre 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 spectre; 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.

CL 183. The second Memorable Relation:

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 centre 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 centre 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 marvellous 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.