Spiritual Life and the Word of GodSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Spiritual Life and the Word of God
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Spiritual life; Ten commandments; Word of God (Christian theology)
This conjunction or this marriage was thus established from creation.
The man was created to be an understanding of truth, and the woman to be
an affection for good; and thus the man to be a truth, and the woman to
be a good. When understanding of truth which is in the man makes one
with the affection for good which is in the woman, there is a
conjunction of the two minds into one. This conjunction is the
spiritual marriage from which marriage love descends. For when two minds
are so conjoined as to be one mind there is love between them; and when
this love, which is the love of spiritual marriage, descends into the
body it becomes the love of natural marriage. That this is so anyone
can clearly perceive if he will. A married pair who interiorly or in
respect to their minds love each other mutually and reciprocally also
love each other mutually and reciprocally in respect to their bodies.
It is well known that all love descends into the body from an affection
of the mind, and that apart from such an origin no love exists.
Since then the origin of marriage love is the marriage of good and
truth, which marriage in its essence is heaven, it is clear that the
origin of the love of adultery is a marriage of evil and falsity, which
in its essence is hell. Heaven is a marriage because all who are in the
heavens are in a marriage of good and truth; and hell is adultery
because all who are in the hells are in a marriage of evil and falsity.
From this it follows that marriage and adultery are as opposite as
heaven and hell are. (A.E., n. 983.)
Man was so created as to be spiritual and celestial love, and thus an
image and likeness of God. Spiritual love, which is a love for truth,
is an image of God; and celestial love, which is a love for good, is a
likeness of God. All angels in the third heaven are likenesses of God;
and all angels in the second heaven are images of God. Man can become
the love which is an image or likeness of God only by a marriage of good
and truth; for good and truth inmostly love one another, and ardently
long to be united that they may be one; and for the reason that Divine
good and Divine truth go forth from the Lord united, therefore they must
be united in an angel of heaven and in a man of the church.
This union is by no means possible except by a marriage of two minds
into one, since, as has been said before, man was created to be an
understanding of truth, and thus a truth, and woman was created to be an
affection for good, and thus a good; therefore in them a conjunction of
good and truth is possible. For marriage love which descends from that
conjunction is the veriest medium by which man (homo) becomes the love
that is an image or likeness of God. For the married pair who are in
conjugal love from the Lord love one another mutually and reciprocally
from the heart, thus from inmosts; and therefore although apparently two
they are actually one, two in respect to their bodies, but one in
respect to life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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