CL 423. At this threshold, it must first be explained what in the present chapter is meant by scortatory love. The fornicatory love which precedes marriage is not meant; nor that which follows it after the death of the married partner; nor concubinage when entered into for legitimate, just, and weighty reasons. Nor are the mild kinds of adultery meant, nor the grievous kinds of which a man actually repents; for the latter do not become the opposite to conjugial love, and the former are not the opposite; that they are not the opposite will be seen in what follows when each comes to be treated of. By scortatory love opposite to conjugial love is here meant the love of adultery when it is such that it is reputed, not as a sin or as wicked and dishonourable, opposed to reason, but as allowed by reason. This scortatory love not only makes conjugial love one with itself but also debases and destroys it and finally regards it with disgust.

[2] It is the opposition of this love to conjugial love that is treated of in the present chapter. That no other love is treated of, can be manifest from the chapters on Fornication, Concubinage, and the various kinds of Adultery, which follow. That the opposition may be evident before the rational sight, it shall be demonstrated in the following series.:

1. That the nature of scortatory love cannot be known unless the nature of conjugial love is known.

2. That scortatory love is the opposite to conjugial love.

3. That scortatory love is the opposite to conjugial love as the natural man regarded in himself is the opposite to the spiritual man.

4. That scortatory love is the opposite to conjugial love as the connubial connection of evil and falsity is the opposite to the marriage of good and truth.

5. That hence scortatory love is the opposite to conjugial love as hell is the opposite to heaven.

6. That the uncleanness of hell is from scortatory love, and the cleanness of heaven from conjugial love.

7. That it is the same with uncleanness in the Church, and with cleanness there.

8. That scortatory love makes man to be more and more not a man and not a male; and that conjugial love makes man to be more and more a man and a male.

9. That there is a sphere of scortatory love and a sphere of conjugial love.

10. That the sphere of scortatory love ascends from hell, and that the sphere of conjugial love descends from heaven.

11. That these two spheres meet each other in both worlds but do not join.

12. That between these two spheres is an equilibrium, and that man is in this equilibrium.

13. That man is able to turn himself to whichever sphere he pleases, but so far as he turns to the one, he turns away from the other.

14. That each sphere carries with it delights.

15. That the delights of scortatory love commence from the flesh and are delights of the flesh even in the spirit; but that the delights of conjugial love commence in the spirit and are delights of the spirit even in the flesh.

16. That the enjoyments of scortatory love are the pleasures of insanity, but the enjoyments of conjugial love are the delights of wisdom.

Now follows the explanation of the above:

CL 424. I. That the nature of scortatory love cannot be known unless the nature of conjugial love is known. Here, as in (n. 423), by scortatory love is meant the love of adultery which destroys conjugial love. That the nature of this scortatory love cannot be known unless the nature of conjugial love is known, has no need of demonstration; it needs only to be illustrated by comparisons. For instance, who can know what evil and falsity are unless he knows what good and truth are? and who can know what the unchaste is, or the dishonourable, the indecorous, and the ugly, unless he knows what the chaste is, or the honourable, the decorous, and the beautiful? Who can discern insanities save one who is wise, that is, who knows what wisdom is? Who can rightly perceive inharmonious stridors save one who by learning and study has absorbed harmonious numbers? In like manner, who can see clearly the nature of adultery unless he has seen clearly the nature of marriage? or who can set before his judgment the filthiness of the pleasures of scortatory love unless he has previously set before his judgment the cleanness of conjugial love? Because I have now finished The Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love, therefore, from the intelligence thence acquired, I am able to describe the pleasures (of insanity) from scortatory love.

CL 425. II. That scortatory love is the opposite to conjugial love. There is nothing in the universe which has not its opposite; and opposites are not relative to each other but contrary. Relatives are things between the greatest and least of the same thing, while contraries lie over against them from the opposite side, being relatives with respect to each other just as are the former relatives; therefore, the relatives are themselves opposites. That each and everything has its opposite is manifest from light, heat, the times of the world, affections, perceptions, sensations, and many other things. The opposite of light is darkness, the opposite of heat is cold. The opposites of the times of the world are day and night, summer and winter. Opposites in affections are joys and sorrows, gladness and sadness. Opposites in perceptions are goods and evils, and truths and falsities. Opposites in sensations are things delightful and undelightful. Thus the conclusion can be made in all clearness that conjugial love has its opposite. That this opposite is adultery can be seen by everyone if he will, from all the dictates of sound reason. Tell me, if you can, what else is its opposite? Moreover, sound reason, seeing this clearly from its own light, has enacted laws called civil laws of justice in favour of marriages and against adulteries.

[2] To make it still more clear that they are opposites, I may be allowed to tell something which I have often seen in the spiritual world. Those who in the natural world were adulterers from confirmation, when they perceive the sphere of conjugial love flowing down out of heaven, at once either flee into caverns and hide themselves, or, if they stand out against it, are aroused to fury and become like the Furies. This is because in the spiritual world all things pertaining to affections, whether delightful or undelightful, are perceived, being sometimes perceived just as clearly as an odour is perceived by the smell; for spirits do not have a material body for the absorption of such things.

[3] That the opposition of scortatory love and conjugial love is unknown to many in the natural world is due to delights of the flesh, which, in their outer appearance, emulate the delights of conjugial love, and those who are in delights alone know nothing of their opposition. Indeed, I can imagine that if you should say that everything has its opposite, and conclude that this applies to conjugial love also, adulterers would reply that this love has no opposite since in no sensation does scortatory love differ from it. From this it is also evident that one who does not know the nature of conjugial love, does not know the nature of scortatory love; and further, that the nature of conjugial love is not known from scortatory love, but the latter is known from the former. No one from evil can know good, but from good he can know what is evil; for evil is in darkness, but good is in light.

CL 426. III. That scortatory love is the opposite to conjugial love as the natural man regarded in himself is the opposite to the spiritual man. That the natural man and the spiritual man are so opposed to each other that the one does not will what the other wills, yea, that they fight against each other, is known in the Church but has not as yet been explained. It shall therefore now be told what distinguishes the spiritual man from the natural and arouses the latter against the former. The natural man is that into which everyone is first introduced during his growth to adult age, this introduction being effected by knowledges and cognitions and by the rational things of the understanding; but the spiritual man is that into which he is introduced by the love of performing uses--a love which is also called charity. So far, therefore, as one is in charity, he is spiritual, but so far as he is not, he is natural even though he be perspicacious in genius and wise in judgment. When separated from the spiritual man, the natural man, howsoever he elevates himself into the light of reason, nevertheless abandons himself to lusts and engages in them. This becomes evident from his genius alone, in that he is void of charity, and one who is void of charity is abandoned to every lasciviousness of scortatory love. Therefore, when it is told him that this libidinous love is the opposite to chaste conjugial love, and he is asked to consult his rational lumen, he does indeed consult that lumen, but only in conjunction with the delight of the evil implanted in the natural man by birth. From this he comes to the conclusion that his reason does not see that there is anything against the sweet sensuous allurements of his body; and after confirming himself in these, his reason becomes numb to all the delights predicated of conjugial love. Indeed, as said above, he fights against them and conquers. Then, like a conqueror after the slaughter, he destroys within himself the camp of conjugial love from its outmost borders to its inmost. This the natural man does from his scortatory love. The above is adduced that it may be known whence comes the opposition of these two loves; for, as previously shown in many places, conjugial love, regarded in itself, is a spiritual love, and scortatory love regarded in itself is a natural love.

CL 427. IV. That scortatory love is the opposite to conjugial love as the connubial connection of evil and falsity is the opposite to the marriage of good and truth. That the origin of conjugial love is the marriage of good and truth has been demonstrated above in its own chapter (n. 83-102). It follows from this that the origin of scortatory love is the connubial connection of evil and falsity, and thus that they are opposite loves just as evil is opposite to good and the falsity of evil to the truth of good. It is the delights of the two loves that are thus opposite, love being nothing without its delights. That they are thus opposite to each other is by no means apparent, and this because in its outer manifestation the delight of the love of evil counterfeits the delight of the love of good. Inwardly, however, the delight of the love of evil consists of mere concupiscences of evil, evil itself being a conglomerate mass or ball of such concupiscences. On the other hand, the delight of the love of good consists of innumerable affections of good, good itself being, as it were, a unified bundle of such affections. The bundle and the ball are sensated by man only as a single delight; and because, as was said, in outer manifestation the delight of evil counterfeits the delight of good, therefore the delight of adultery is like the delight of marriage. After death, however, when everyone puts off externals, and internals are laid bare, it is manifest to the sensation that the evil of adultery is a ball of the concupiscences of evil, and the good of marriage a bundle of the affections of good; thus, that they are wholly opposed to each other.

CL 428. As regards the connubial connection of evil and falsity, it should be known that evil loves falsity, willing that it be one with itself, and they bring themselves into conjunction; likewise, that good loves truth, willing that it be one with itself, and they also bring themselves into conjunction. It is thus evident, that as the spiritual origin of marriage is the marriage of good and truth, so the spiritual origin of adultery is the connubial connection of evil and falsity. Therefore, in the spiritual sense of the Word, it is this connubial connection that is meant by adulteries, whoredoms, and harlotries; see THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED (AR n. 134). It is from this principle that when a man is in evil and weds falsity, or when he is in falsity and takes evil into the partnership of his bed, then, by virtue of this joint covenant, he confirms adultery and commits it so far as he dare and is able. He confirms it from evil by means of falsity, and commits it from falsity by means of evil. On the other hand, when a man is in good and weds truth, or when he is in truth and takes good with him into partnership of his bed, he confirms himself against adultery and in favour of marriage, and embraces a blessed conjugial life.

CL 429. V. That hence scortatory love is the opposite to conjugial love as hell is the opposite to heaven. All who are in hell are in the connubial connection of evil and falsity, and all who are in heaven are in the marriage of good and truth; and since, as just said (n. 427, 428), the connubial connection of evil and falsity is adultery, hell also is adultery. Thence it is that all there, are in the lust, lasciviousness, and shamelessness of scortatory love, and flee the chaste and modest things of conjugial love in horror (n. 428). From this it can be seen that these two loves, the scortatory and the conjugial, are opposed to each other as hell is opposed to heaven and heaven to hell.

CL 430. VI. That the uncleanness of hell is from scortatory love, and the cleanness of heaven from conjugial love. All hell abounds in uncleanness, the universal origin of which is shameless and obscene scortatory love, the delights whereof are turned into such uncleanness. Who can believe that in the spiritual world every delight of love is presented under the form of various appearances that it may be seen, of various odours, that it may be sensed, and of various forms of beasts and birds that it may be observed? In hell the appearances under which the lascivious delights of scortatory love are presented to be seen are excrements and mire; the odours under which they are there presented to be sensed, are stenches and noisome vapours; and the forms of beasts and birds under which they are presented to be observed are swine, serpents, and the birds called ochim and tziim. The reverse is the case with the chaste delights of conjugial love in heaven. The appearances under which these are there presented to be seen are gardens and flowery fields; the odours under which they are there presented to be sensed are odours from fruits and fragrances from flowers; and the forms of animals under which they are there presented to be observed are lambs, kids, turtle-doves, and birds of paradise. The delights of love are turned into these and like forms because all things which exist in the spiritual world are correspondences. The internals of the minds of the inhabitants of that world are turned into such correspondences when they pass over and become external things before the senses. It should be known, however, that there are innumerable varieties of uncleanness into which the lasciviousness of whoredoms is turned when it goes forth into its correspondences. These varieties are according to the general and specific nature of the lasciviousness as described in the following pages where adulteries and their degrees are treated of. But in the case of those who have repented, such uncleanness does not go forth from the delights of their love, for they have been cleansed in the world.

CL 431. VII. That it is the same with uncleanness in the Church, and with cleanness there. The reason is because the Church is the Lord's kingdom on earth corresponding to His kingdom in the heavens, and the Lord so conjoins the two kingdoms that they make one. He also makes distinction among those who are there, just as He makes distinction between heaven and hell, the distinctions being according to loves. Those who are in the shameless and obscene delights of scortatory love join to themselves their like from hell; but those who are in the modest and chaste delights of conjugial love are associated by the Lord with like angels from heaven. When with man, these their angels, if they stand near adulterers who are such from confirmation and purpose, perceive the offensive smells spoken of above (n. 430), and draw somewhat back.

On account of the correspondence of filthy loves with excrement and mire, it was commanded the sons of Israel that they should carry with them a paddle with which they should cover their excrement, lest Jehovah God walking in the midst of their camp should see the nakedness of the thing and turn back (Deut. 23:13, 14). This was commanded because the camp of the sons of Israel represented the Church, and those unclean things corresponded to the lascivious things of whoredom. By Jehovah God walking in the midst of their camp was signified His presence together with angels. That they should cover it, was because all those places in hell where troops of such lascivious spirits dwell, are covered over and shut up. Therefore it is also said, "lest He see the nakedness of the thing." That all places in hell are shut up--this it has been given me to see; and also that when they were opened, which was done when a new demon entered, so offensive a smell exhaled therefrom that it troubled my stomach with a feeling of heaviness; and what is surprising, those stenches are as delightful to them as dung is to swine. From the above, the meaning of the statement that uncleanness in the Church is from scortatory love, and cleanness there from conjugial love, is evident.

CL 432. VIII. That scortatory love makes man to be more and more not a man and not a male; and that conjugial love makes man to be more and more a man and a male. That conjugial love makes man (to be man) is illustrated and confirmed by all that has been demonstrated in light before the reason in the First Part, on (Conjugial) Love and its Delights of Wisdom, as:

1. That one who is in love truly conjugial becomes more and more spiritual; and the more he becomes spiritual, the more he is a man.

2. That he becomes more and more wise; and the more one becomes wise, the more he is a man.

3. That with him, the interiors of the mind are opened more and more, even to his seeing the Lord, that is, acknowledging Him interiorly; and the more one is in that sight or that acknowledgment, the more he is a man.

4. That he becomes more and more moral and civil, there being a spiritual soul in his morality and civility; and the more one is morally civil, the more he is a man.

5. Also, that after death he becomes an angel of heaven; and an angel is a man in essence and form; moreover, what is genuinely human shines out in his face (and is seen) from his speech and manners.

Thus it is evident that conjugial love makes man more and more a man.

[2] That the contrary is the case with adulterers follows inevitably from the opposition of adultery and marriage treated of previously in the present chapter, and also now, as:

1. That they are not spiritual but in the lowest degree natural; and the natural man separate from the spiritual is a man only as to his understanding but not as to his will. This he immerses in the body and in the concupiscences of the flesh, and at such times the understanding accompanies it. That he is but half a man, he himself can see from the reason of his own understanding if he elevates it.

2. That adulterers are not wise except in their conversation and also in their behaviour when in company with men eminent in dignity, renowned for erudition or of good morals; and that when alone they are insane, making light of the Divine and holy things of the Church, and defiling the moralities of life with things shameless and unchaste--this will be proved in the chapter on Adulteries. Who does not see that such gesticulators are men only as to their external figure, and are not men as to their internal form?

3. That adulterers become more and more not men. As to this, my own observation from having seen them in hell has served me as clear confirmation; for there they are demons, whose faces, when seen in the light of heaven, are pustulous, their bodies humpbacked, their speech rough, and their gestures theatrical.

[3] It should be known, however, that it is adulterers from purpose and confirmation that are such, not unpremeditated adulterers; for there are four kinds of adulterers, concerning whom, see the chapter on Adulteries and their Degrees. Adulterers from purpose are those who are adulterers from the lust of the will; adulterers from confirmation are those who are adulterers from the persuasion of the understanding; adulterers from premeditation are those who are adulterers from the allurements of the senses; and unpremeditated adulterers are those who do not have the ability or the freedom of consulting their understanding. It is the first two kinds of adulterers who become more and more not men; but the latter two kinds become men as they recede from those errors and afterwards become wise.

CL 433. That conjugial love makes man more and more a male, is also illustrated by what was adduced in the preceding part, on Conjugial Love and its Delights, as:

1. That the ability and vigour called virile accompanies wisdom according as the latter is animated from the spiritual things of the Church; that it is then present in the conjugial love; and that wisdom opens the vein of that love from its fountain in the soul, and thus invigorates the intellectual life, which is masculine life itself, and blesses it with perpetuity.

2. That it is from this that the angels of heaven are in this vigour to eternity. This is according to the utterances of their own lips as given in the Memorable Relation, (n. 355, 356). I have heard from their own mouth that the most ancient peoples in the Golden and Silver ages were in enduring efficacy because they loved the caresses of their wives and shuddered at the caresses of harlots. See the Memorable Relations, (n. 75, 76). Moreover, it was told me from heaven that with those who approach the Lord and abominate adulteries as infernal, this spiritual sufficiency will not be lacking today in the natural world also. The contrary is the case with adulterers from purpose and adulterers from confirmation, of whom just above (n. 432). That with these, the ability and vigour which is called virile becomes enfeebled until none is left; and that then comes cold even to the sex, and after this a loathing (of the sex) verging on disgust--all this is known though little divulged. That these adulterers are such in hell this I have heard at a distance from sirens there, who are worn-out lusts of venery; and also from brothels.

From the above it is clear that scortatory love makes man more and more not a man and not a male; and that conjugial love makes man more and more a man and more and more a male.

CL 434. IX. That there is a sphere of scortatory love and a sphere of conjugial love. What is meant by spheres was shown above (n. 222-225 and 386-397), where it was also shown that they are manifold, and that those which are spheres of love and wisdom proceed from the Lord and descend through the angelic heavens into the world and pervade it even to its ultimates. That there is nothing in the universe which has not its opposite may be seen above (n. 425). From this it follows that since there is a sphere of conjugial love, there is also a sphere opposite thereto which is called the sphere of scortatory love; for the two spheres are opposed to each other, just as the love of adultery is opposed to the love of marriage--an opposition which was treated of in preceding parts of this chapter.

CL 435. X. That the sphere of scortatory love ascends from hell, and that the sphere of conjugial love descends from heaven. That the sphere of conjugial love descends from heaven was shown in the passages cited just above (n. 434); and that the sphere of scortatory love ascends from hell is because that love is from hell (n. 429). The latter sphere ascends from the unclean things into which are turned the delights of adultery of those who are there--and they are of both sexes. As to this, see above (n. 430, 431).

CL 436. XI. That these two spheres meet each other in both worlds but do not join. By both worlds are meant the spiritual world and the natural. In the spiritual world these two spheres meet each other in the world of spirits, this being in the middle between heaven and hell; but in the natural world with man, they meet on the rational plane, which also is mediate between heaven and hell, the marriage of good and truth flowing into it from above, and the marriage of evil and falsity from below. The latter flows in through the world, but the former through heaven. Hence it is that the human rational can turn to whichever side it pleases and receive influx therefrom; if to good, it receives it from above and then the man's rational is formed more and more for the reception of heaven; but if to evil, it receives the influx from below and then his rational is formed more and more for the reception of hell. That these two spheres do not join is because they are opposites, and when opposite acts upon opposite, they can act no otherwise than as enemies, of whom the one burns with deadly hatred and attacks the other with fury, while the other is in no hatred but only in the zeal of self-protection. From this it is evident that these two spheres merely meet but do not join. On the one side, the middle interstice which they make is from evil not of falsity and from falsity not of evil; and on the other side, it is from good not of truth and from truth not of good. These two can indeed touch each other but cannot join.

CL 437. XII. That between these two spheres is an equilibrium, and that man is in this equilibrium. The equilibrium between them is a spiritual equilibrium because between good and evil. By reason of this equilibrium, man has free determination. In it and by it, he thinks and wills and hence speaks and acts as if of himself. His rational is in a position where it can choose an elect as to whether it wishes to receive good or to receive evil; thus whether, from free determination, rationally to dispose itself for conjugial love, or rationally to dispose itself for scortatory love; if for the latter, the man turns his occiput and back to the Lord, if for the former, he turns his face and breast to the Lord. If he turns to the Lord, his rationality and liberty are led by Him, but if backwards from the Lord, his rationality and liberty are led by hell.

CL 438. XIII. That man is able to turn himself to whichever sphere he pleases, but so far as he turns to the one, he turns away from the other. Man was created to do what he does from freedom according to reason and altogether as of himself. Without these two he would be, not a man but a beast, for he would not receive and appropriate to himself as his own anything flowing to him out of heaven. Then nothing of eternal life could be inscribed on him; for if this is to be his, it must be inscribed on him as his own. And since there is no freedom of turning to the one side unless there is a like freedom of turning to the other, just as there can be no weighing unless the scales by virtue of equilibrium can incline to either side, so with man, unless from reason he has freedom to approach evil also, thus to turn from right to left and from left to right--alike to the infernal sphere, which is the sphere of adultery, as to the heavenly sphere, which is that of marriage.

CL 439. XIV. That each sphere carries with it delights, that is to say, each sphere--that of scortatory love which ascends from hell, and that of conjugial love which descends from heaven-- affects with its delights the man who receives it. The reason is because the ultimate plane is the same, the plane namely, wherein the delights of each love terminate, where also they are fulfilled and completed, and which makes their presence manifest by its sensation of them. Hence it is, that in outmost manifestation, scortatory embraces and conjugial embraces are perceived as being alike, although inwardly they are wholly unlike. That they are therefore unlike in their outmost manifestation cannot be judged from any sensation of the difference, for no others can sensate dissimilitudes from differences in outmosts save those who are in love truly conjugial. Evil is recognized from good but not good from evil, as neither is a sweet odour perceived by nostrils to which a foul odour is clinging. I have heard from angels that they distinguish the lascivious from the non-lascivious in outmosts, as one distinguishes a fire from dung, or burning horn with its offensive smell, from a fire of spice or of burning cinnamon-wood with its fragrant odour; and that this is due to the distinction between the internal delights which enter into the external and compose them.

CL 440. XV. That the delights of scortatory love commence from the flesh and are delights of the flesh even in the spirit; but that the delights of conjugial love commence in the spirit and are delights of the spirit even in the flesh. That the delights of scortatory love commence from the flesh is because the burning heats of the flesh are their initiaments. That they infect the spirit, and are delights of the flesh even in the spirit, is because it is not the flesh that sensates the things which happen in the flesh, but the spirit. It is the same with this sense as with the others. Thus it is not the eye that sees and distinguishes the varieties in objects, but the spirit. So neither is it the ear that hears and distinguishes the harmonies of melodies in song, and the fitness of the articulation of sounds in speech, but the spirit. And the spirit sensates everything according to its own elevation into wisdom. The spirit which is not elevated above the sensual things of the body and so sticks in them, sensates no other delights than those which flow in from the flesh, and from the world through the senses of the body. These it seizes upon, with these it is delighted, and these it make its own. Now because the initiaments of scortatory love are only the burning heats and prurient itchings of the flesh, it is evident that in the spirit these are filthy allurements which ascend and descend and go back and forth, and thus excite and inflame. In general, the cupidities of the flesh regarded in themselves are nothing else than conglomerated concupiscences of evil and falsity. Hence the truth of the saying in the Church, The flesh lusteth against the spirit, that is, against the spiritual man. It follows therefore, that in their relation to the delights of scortatory love, the delights of the flesh are nothing but effervescences of lusts which, in the spirit, become the ebullitions of shamelessness.

CL 441. The delights of conjugial love have nothing in common with the feculent delights of scortatory love. These latter are indeed in the flesh of every man, but they are separated and removed in proportion as the spirit of the man is elevated above the sensual things of the body, and from this elevation sees their appearances and fallacies as below him. Then he likewise perceives carnal delights, first as apparent and fallacious, afterwards as lustful and lascivious delights which are to be shunned, and successively as damnable and hurtful to the soul; and finally he sensates them as undelightful, foul, and disgusting. And in the degree that he thus perceives and sensates these delights, in the same degree he also perceives the delights of conjugial love as harmless and chaste, and finally as delightsome and blessed.

That the delights of conjugial love become also delights of the spirit in the flesh is because, when the delights of scortatory love have been removed, as said just above, the spirit, released from them, enters into the body chaste, and fills the breast, and from the breast the ultimates of that love in the body, with the delights of its own beatitude. Hence the spirit then acts in full communion with these ultimates, and they with the spirit.

CL 442. XVI. That the enjoyments of scortatory love are the pleasures of insanity, but the enjoyments of conjugial love are the delights of wisdom. That the enjoyments of scortatory love are the pleasures of insanity is because no others are in that love but natural men, and in spiritual things the natural man, being against them, is insane. Therefore he embraces only natural, sensual, and corporeal enjoyments. It is said that he embraces natural, sensual, and corporeal enjoyments because the natural is distinguished into three degrees. Natural men in the highest degree are those who from rational sight see the insanities and yet are carried away by the enjoyments thereof, as boats by the current of a stream. Natural men in a lower degree are those who see and judge only from the senses of the body, spurn things rational as being contrary to appearances and fallacies, and reject them as worthless trifles. Natural men in the lowest degree are those who, being without judgment, are carried away by the alluring heats of their body. The latter are called corporeal-natural, the former sensual-natural, and the first natural. With them are also the same degrees of scortatory love and of its insanities and pleasures.

CL 443. That the enjoyments of conjugial love are delights of wisdom is because spiritual men alone are in that love, and the spiritual man is in wisdom. Hence he embraces no other enjoyments than those which are concordant with spiritual wisdom. The nature of the enjoyments of scortatory love and of the enjoyments of conjugial love can be elucidated by a comparison with houses, the enjoyments of scortatory love being compared with a house whose walls are outwardly reddish like seashells or, from their spurious golden colour, are like the mirror stones called selenites, while in the rooms within the walls, is filth and refuse of every kind. But the enjoyments of conjugial love can be likened to a house with walls shining as from pure gold, and the rooms within resplendent as though filled with precious treasures of many kinds.

CL 444. To the above shall be added the following Memorable Relation:

After I had finished my meditations on conjugial love and had commenced the meditations on scortatory love, suddenly two angels stood by me and said, "We perceived and understood what you were previously meditating on, but the things on which you are now meditating are beyond us and we do not perceive them. Lay them aside, for they amount to nothing." But I answered, "The love on which I am now meditating does not amount to nothing for it exists."

To this the angels said: "How can there be any love which is not from creation? Is not conjugial love thence? Is not this love a love between two who can become a one? How can there be a love which divides and separates? What young man loves any other maiden than the one who loves him in return? Will not the love of the one know and acknowledge the love of the other? and when they meet, Will they not join together of themselves? Who can love non-love? Is not conjugial love alone mutual and reciprocal? If not reciprocal, does not the love rebound and become nothing?"

[2] On hearing this, I asked the two angels from what society in heaven they were. They said: "We are from the heaven of innocence. We came into this heavenly world as infants and were brought up under the Lord's auspices; and when I became a young man and my wife who is here with me became a marriageable girl, we were betrothed and contracted and were joined in marriage. And because we have not known of any other love than love truly nuptial and conjugial, therefore, when the ideas of your thought concerning a strange love entirely opposite to our love were communicated to us, we did not comprehend anything. We have therefore descended to inquire of you why you are meditating on things imperceptible. Tell us, therefore, how can a love be possible which not only is not from creation but is also against creation. We regard things opposite to creation as objects of no reality."

[3] When he had said this, I was glad at heart that it was granted me to speak with angels of such innocence as to be entirely ignorant of what whoredom is. I therefore opened my mouth and taught them, saying: "Do you not know of the existence of good and evil? and that good is from creation, but not evil? Yet evil, regarded in itself, is not nothing although it is the nullity of good. Good is from creation, both good in its greatest degree and good in its least; and when this least becomes nothing, then from the other side arises evil. There is therefore no relation between them, nor any progression of good to evil, but only a relation and progression of good to greater and less good, and of evil to greater and less evil, the two being opposites at each and every point. And since good and evil are opposites, there is an intermediate between them wherein is an equilibrium in which evil acts against good; but because it does not prevail, it stops in the endeavour. Every man is brought up in this equilibrium. Being between good and evil or, what is the same thing, between heaven and hell, it is a spiritual equilibrium, and for those who are in it, it brings freedom. The Lord draws all men away from this equilibrium to Himself; and the man who from freedom follows Him, He leads from evil into good and so to heaven. It is the same with love, especially conjugial love and scortatory love, the latter being evil and the former good. Every man who hears the Lord's voice, and from freedom follows Him, is introduced by the Lord into conjugial love and into all its delights and bliss; but he who does not hear and follow, introduces himself into scortatory love--first into its delights, then into its undelights, and finally into its unhappiness."

[4] After I had spoken, the two angels asked: "How could evil come into existence when by creation nothing but good existed? If a thing is to exist, it must have an origin. Good could not be the origin of evil, for evil is the privation and destruction of good and therefore its nullity. Yet, since it is and is sensated, it is not nothing but something. Tell us, then, whence this something had its existence after being nothing."

To this I replied: "This arcanum cannot be opened unless it be known that none is good save God alone, and that there is no good which in itself is good save from God. Therefore, he who looks to God and wills to be led by God is in good; but he who turns away from God and wills to be led by himself is not in good; for the good which he does is done either for the sake of himself or for the sake of the world, and so is meritorious or simulated or hypocritical. It is clear, therefore, that man himself is the origin of evil; not that this origin was planted in man from creation but, by turning away from God, he planted it in himself. This origin of evil was not (primitively) in Adam and his wife; but they made the origin of evil in themselves, and this because, when the serpent said, In the day that ye eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ye shall be as God (Gen. 3:5), they turned away from God and turned to themselves as God. To eat of that tree signified to believe that one knows good and evil and is wise from himself and not from God."

[5] The two angels then asked, "How could man turn away from God and turn to himself, when yet he can think, will, and thence do nothing except from God? Why did God permit this?" I replied: "Man was so created that everything which he wills, thinks, and does appears to him as if in himself and thus from himself. Without this appearance, man would not be a man for he could not receive, retain, and, as it were, appropriate to himself anything of good and truth or of love and wisdom. From this it follows that without this appearance--a living appearance, as it were--man would have no conjunction with God, nor any eternal life therefrom. But if from this appearance he induces on himself the belief that he wills, thinks, and hence does good from himself and not from the Lord, though in all appearance as from himself, he then turns good with him into evil, and thus makes in himself the origin of evil.

[6] This was Adam's sin. But I will open up this subject somewhat more clearly. The Lord looks at every man in his forehead, and this look passes into his occiput. Under the forehead is the cerebrum, and under the occiput is the cerebellum, the latter being dedicated to love and its goods, and the former to wisdom and its truths. Therefore, he who looks with his face to the Lord receives wisdom from Him, and through wisdom, love; but he who looks backwards away from the Lord receives love and not wisdom, and love without wisdom is love from man and not from the Lord. This love, because it conjoins itself with falsities, does not acknowledge God but acknowledges itself as God, and it tacitly confirms this acknowledgment by the faculty, implanted in man from creation, of being wise as if from himself. This love, therefore, is the origin of evil. That such is the case can be demonstrated to the sight. I will call hither some evil spirit who turns himself away from God, and will speak to him from behind, that is, into his occiput, and you will see that the words spoken will be turned into their opposites."

[7] I then called one such spirit. He was at hand, and I spoke to him from behind, saying, "Do you know anything about hell, damnation, and the torment there?" and then, when he turned round to me, I asked him, "What did you hear?" He answered, "I heard this, Do you know anything about heaven, salvation, and the happiness there." Then, when the latter words were spoken to him behind his back, he said that he had heard the former. After this, the following words were said to him behind his back, "Do you not know that those who are in hell are insane from falsities?" and when asked about them by me, as to what he had heard, he said, "I heard, Do you not know that those who are in heaven are wise from truths?" and when these latter words were said to him behind his back, he said that he had heard, "Do you not know that those who are in hell are insane from falsities?" And so on. "From this, it is clearly evident that when the mind turns away from the Lord, it turns to itself and then perceives things contrary. This is the reason why in this spiritual world, as you know, it s not allowed anyone to stand behind another and speak to him, for then a love is inspired into him which, because of its delight, his self-intelligence favours and obeys, but which, being from man and not from God, is a love of evil or a love of falsity.

[8] Besides this, I will tell you something else of a similar nature, namely, that I have sometimes heard goods and truths let down from heaven into hell, and there they were progressively turned into their opposites, good into evil and truth into falsity. This is due to the same cause, namely, because all who are in hell turn themselves away from the Lord."

After hearing this, the two angels thanked me and said, "Since you are now meditating and writing on a love opposite to our conjugial love, and the opposite to that love saddens our minds, we will depart"; and when they said, "Peace be to you," I begged them not to tell anything about this love to their brothers and sisters in heaven because it would hurt their innocence.

That those who die as infants grow up in heaven, and when they attain to the stature of young men in the world, of eighteen years, and of maidens of fifteen, they remain at that age; that marriages are then provided for them by the Lord; and that both before marriage and after it they are entirely ignorant of what whoredom is, or that it is possible--this I can asseverate with certainty.