The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love · Chapter 13Preliminary Relations Respecting the Joys of Heaven and Nuptials There. (12)
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130. XI. CONJUGIAL LOVE IS ACCORDING TO THE STATE OF THE CHURCH, BECAUSE IT IS ACCORDING TO THE STATE OF WISDOM WITH MAN (homo). That conjugial love is according to the state of wisdom with man, has been often said above, and will be often repeated in the following pages: at present therefore we will show what wisdom is, and that it makes one with the church. "There are belonging to man knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. Knowledge relates to information; intelligence, to reason; and wisdom to life. Wisdom considered in its fulness relates at the same time to information, to reason, and to life: information precedes, reason is formed by it, and wisdom by both; as is the case when a man lives rationally according to the truths which he knows. Wisdom therefore relates to both reason and life at once; and it becomes (or is making) wisdom while it is a principle of reason and thence of life; but it is wisdom when it is made a principle of life and thence of reason. The most ancient people in this world acknowledged no other wisdom than the wisdom of life; which was the wisdom of those who were formerly called SOPHI: but the ancient people, who succeeded the most ancient, acknowledged the wisdom of reason as wisdom; and these were called PHILOSOPHERS. At this day, however, many call even knowledge, wisdom; for the learned, the erudite, and the mere sciolists, are called wise; thus wisdom has declined from its mountain-top to its valley. But it may be expedient briefly to shew what wisdom is in its rise, in its progress, and thence in its full state. The things relating to the church, which are called spiritual, reside in the inmost principles with man; those relating to the public weal, which are called things of a civil nature, hold a place below these; and those relating to science, to experience, and to art, which are called natural things, constitute their seat or basis. The reason why the things relating to the church, which are called spiritual, reside in the inmost principles with man, is, because they conjoin themselves with heaven, and by heaven with the Lord; for no other things enter from the Lord through heaven with man. The reason why the things relating to the public weal, which are called things of a civil nature, hold a place beneath spiritual things, is, because they have relation to the world, and conjoin themselves with it; for statutes, laws, and rules, are what bind men, so that a civil society and state may be composed of them in a well-connected order. The reason why the things relating to science, to experience, and to art, which are called natural, constitute their seat or basis, is, because they conjoin themselves closely with the five bodily senses; and these senses are the ultimates on which the interior principles of the mind and the inmost principles of the soul, as it were sit or rest. Now as the things relating to the church, which are called spiritual, reside in the inmost principles, and as the things residing in the inmost principles constitute the head, and the succeeding things beneath them, which are called things of a civil nature, constitute the body, and the ultimate things, which are called natural, constitute the feet; it is evident, that while these three kinds of things follow in their order, a man is a perfect man; for in such case there is an influx like that of the things of the head into those of the body, and through the body into the feet; thus spiritual things flow into things of a civil nature, and through them into natural things. Now as spiritual things are in the light of heaven, it is evident that by their light they illustrate the things which succeed in order, and by their heat, which is love, animate them; and when this is the case the man has wisdom. As wisdom is a principle of life, and thence of reason, as was said above, it may be asked, What is wisdom as a principle of life? In a summary view, it is to shun evils, because they are hurtful to the soul, to the public weal, and to the body; and it is to do goods, because they are profitable to the soul, to the public weal, and to the body. This is the wisdom which is meant by the wisdom to which conjugial love binds itself; for it binds itself thereto by shunning the evil of adultery as the pest of the soul, of the public weal, and of the body: and as this wisdom originates in spiritual things relating to the church, it follows, that conjugial love is according to the state of the church; because it is according to the state of wisdom with men. Hereby also is understood what has been frequently said above, that so far as a man becomes spiritual, so far he is principled in love truly conjugial; for a man becomes spiritual by means of the spiritual things of the church." More observations respecting the wisdom with which conjugial love conjoins itself, may be seen below, n. 163-165.
131. XII. AND AS THE CHURCH IS FROM THE LORD, CONJUGIAL LOVE IS ALSO FROM HIM. As this follows as a consequence from what has been said above, it is needless to dwell upon the confirmation of it. Moreover, that love truly conjugial is from the Lord, all the angels of heaven testify; and also that this love is according to their state of wisdom, and that their state of wisdom is according to the state of the church with them. That the angels of heaven thus testify, is evident from the MEMORABLE RELATIONS annexed to the chapters, containing an account of what was seen and heard in the spiritual world.
132. To the above I shall add TWO MEMORABLE RELATIONS. FIRST. I was conversing on a time with two angels, one from the eastern heaven and the other from the southern; who perceiving me engaged in meditation on the arcana of wisdom relating to conjugial love, said, "Are you at all acquainted with the SCHOOLS OF WISDOM in our world?" I replied, "Not as yet." And they said, "There are several; and those who love truths from spiritual affection, or because they are truths, and because they are the means of attaining wisdom, meet together on a given signal, and investigate and decide upon such questions as require deeper consideration than common." They then took me by the hand, saying, "Follow us; and you shall see and hear: to-day the signal for meeting is given." I was led across a plain to a hill; and lo! at the foot of the hill was an avenue of palms continued even to its summit, which we entered and ascended: on the summit or top of the hill was a grove, the trees of which, on an elevated plot of ground, formed as it were a theatre, within which was a court paved with various colored stones: around it in a square form were placed seats, on which the lovers of wisdom were seated; and in the middle of the theatre was a table, on which was laid a sealed paper. Those who sat on the seats invited us to sit down where there was room: and I replied, "I was led here by two angels to see and hear, and not to sit down." Then those two angels went into the middle of the court to the table, and broke the seal of the paper, and read in the presence of those who were seated the arcana of wisdom written on the paper, which were now to be investigated and explained. They were written by angels of the third heaven, and let down upon the table. There were three arcana, FIRST, What is the image of God, and what the likeness of God, into which man (homo) was created? SECOND, Why is not a man born into the knowledge of any love, when yet beasts and birds, from the highest to the lowest, are born into the knowledge of all their loves? THIRD, What is signified by the tree of life, and what by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what by eating thereof? Underneath was written, Collect your opinions on these three questions into one decision, and write it on a new piece of paper, and lay it on this table, and we shall see it: if the decision, on examination, appear just and reasonable, each of you shall receive a prize of wisdom. Having read the contents of the paper, the two angels withdrew, and were carried up into their respective heavens.
Then those who sat on the seats began to investigate and explain the arcana proposed to them, and delivered their sentiments in order; first those who sat on the north, next those on the west, afterwards those on the south, and lastly those on the east. They began with the first subject of inquiry, WHAT IS THE IMAGE OF GOD, AND WHAT THE LIKENESS OF GOD, INTO WHICH MAN WAS CREATED? But before they proceeded, these words were read in the presence of them all out of the book of creation, "God said, Let us make man into OUR IMAGE, according to OUR LIKENESS: and God created man into HIS IMAGE; into the IMAGE OF GOD created he him," Gen. i. 26, 27. "In the day that God created man, into the LIKENESS OF GOD made he him," Gen. v. 1. Those who sat on the north spoke first, saying, "The image of God and the likeness of God are the two lives breathed into man by God, which are the life of the understanding; for it is written, 'Jehovah God breathed into Adam's nostril the soul of LIVES; and man became a living soul,' Gen. ii. 7; into the nostrils denotes into the perception, that the will of good and the understanding of truth, and thereby the soul of lives, was in him; and since life from God was breathed into him, the image and likeness of God signify integrity derived from wisdom and love, and from justice and judgment in him." These sentiments were favored by those who sat to the west; only they added, that the state of integrity then breathed in from God is continually breathed into every man since; but that it is a man as in a receptacle; and a man, as he is a receptacle, is an image and likeness of God. After this, the third in order, who were those who were seated on the south, delivered their sentiments as follows: "An image of God and a likeness of God are two distinct things; but in man they are united from creation; and we see, as from an interior light, that the image of God maybe destroyed by man, but not the likeness of God. This appears as clear as the day from this consideration, that Adam retained the likeness of God after that he had lost the image of God; for it is written after the curse, 'Behold the man is as one of us, knowing good and evil,' Gen. iii. 22; and afterwards he is called a likeness of God, and not an image of God, Gen. v. 1. But we will leave to our associates who sit on the east, and are thence in superior light, to say what is properly meant by an image of God, and what by a likeness of God." And then, after silence was obtained, those who sat on the east arose from their seats, and looked up to the Lord, and afterwards sat down again, and thus began: "An image of God is a receptacle of God; and since God is love itself and wisdom itself, an image of God is a receptacle of love and wisdom from God in it; but a likeness of God is a perfect likeness and full appearance, as if love and wisdom are in a man, and thence altogether as his; for a man has no other sensation than that he loves and is wise from himself, or that he wills good and understands truth from himself; when nevertheless nothing of all this is from himself, but from God. God alone loves from himself and is wise from himself; because God is love itself and wisdom itself. The likeness or appearance that love and wisdom, or good and truth, are in a man as his, causes a man to be a man, and makes him capable of being conjoined to God, and thereby of living to eternity: from which consideration it follows, that a man is a man from this circumstance, that he can will good and understand truth altogether as from himself, and yet know and believe that it is from God; for as he knows and believes this, God places his image in him, which could not be if he believed it was from himself and not from God." As they said this, being overpowered with zeal derived from the love of truth, they thus continued: "How can a man receive any thing of love and wisdom, and retain it, and reproduce it, unless he feel it as his own? And how can there be conjunction with God by love and wisdom, unless a man have some reciprocity of conjunction? For without such a reciprocity conjunction is impossible; and the reciprocity of conjunction is, that a man should love God, and enjoy the things which are of God, as from himself, and yet believe that it is from God. Also, how can a man live eternally, unless he be conjoined to an eternal God? Consequently how can a man be a man without such a likeness of God in him?" These words met with the approbation of the whole assembly; and they said, Let this conclusive decision be made from them, "A man is a recipient of God, and a recipient of God is an image of God; and since God is love itself and wisdom itself, a man is a recipient of those principles; and a recipient becomes an image of God in proportion to reception; and a man is a likeness of God from this circumstance, that he feels in himself that the things which are of God are in him as his own; but still from that likeness he is only so far an image of God, as he acknowledges that love and wisdom, or good and truth, are not his own in him, and consequently are not from him, but are only in God, and consequently from God."
133. After this, they entered upon the next subject of discussion, WHY IS NOT A MAN BORN INTO THE KNOWLEDGE OF ANY LOVE, WHEN YET BEASTS AND BIRDS, FROM THE HIGHEST TO THE LOWEST, ARE BORN INTO THE KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THEIR LOVES? They first confirmed the truth of the proposition by various considerations; as in regard to a man, that he is born into no knowledge, not even into the knowledge of conjugial love; and they inquired, and were informed by attentive examiners, that an infant from connate knowledge cannot even move itself to the mother's breast, but must be moved thereto by the mother or nurse; and that it knows only how to suck, and this in consequence of habit acquired by continual suction in the womb; and that afterwards it does not know how to walk, or to articulate any human expression; no, nor even to express by its tone of voice the affection of its love, as the beasts do: and further, that it does not know what is salutary for it in the way of food, as all the beasts do, but catches at whatever falls in its way, whether it be clean or unclean, and puts it into its mouth. The examiners further declared, that a man without instruction is an utter stranger to every thing relating to the sexes and their connection; and that neither virgins nor young men have any knowledge thereof without instruction from others, notwithstanding their being educated in various sciences: in a word, a man is born corporeal as a worm; and he remains such, unless he learns to know, to understand, and to be wise, from others. After this, they gave abundant proofs that beasts, from the highest to the lowest, as the animals of the earth, the fowls of the air, reptiles, fishes, the small creatures called insects, are born into all the knowledges of the loves of their life, as into the knowledge of all things relating to nourishment, to habitation, to the love of the sex and prolification, and to the rearing of their young. This they continued by many wonderful things which they recollected to have seen, heard, and read, in the natural world, (so they called our world, in which they had formerly lived), in which not representative but real beasts exist. When the truth of the proposition was thus fully proved they applied all the powers of their minds to search out and discover the ends and causes which might serve to unfold and explain this arcanum; and they all said, that the divine wisdom must needs have ordained these things, to the end that a man, may be a man, and a beast a beast; and thus, that the imperfection of a man at his birth becomes his perfection, and the perfection of a beast at his birth is his imperfection.
134. Those on the NORTH then began to declare their sentiments, and said, "A man is born without knowledges, to the end that he may receive them all; whereas supposing him to be born into knowledges, he could not receive any but those into which he was born, and in this case neither could he appropriate any to himself; which they illustrated by this comparison: a man at his first birth is like ground in which no seeds are implanted, but which nevertheless is capable of receiving all seeds, and of bringing them forth and fructifying them; whereas a beast is like ground already sown, and tilled with grasses and herbs, which receives no other seeds than what are sown in it, or if it received any it would choke them. Hence it is, that a man requires many years to bring him to maturity of growth; during which time he is capable of being cultivated like ground, and of bringing forth as it were grain, flowers, and trees of every kind; whereas a beast arrives at maturity in a few years, during which no cultivation can produce any thing in him but what is born with him." Afterwards, those on the WEST delivered their sentiments, and said, "A man is not born knowledge, as a beast is; but he is born faculty and inclination; faculty to know, and inclination to love; and he is born faculty not only to know but also to understand and be wise; he is likewise born the most perfect inclination to love not only the things relating to self and the world, but also those relating to God and heaven; consequently a man, by birth from his parents, is an organ which lives merely by the external senses, and at first by no internal senses, to the end that he may successively become a man, first natural, afterwards rational, and lastly spiritual; which could not be the case if he was born into knowledges and loves, as the beasts are: for connate knowledges and affections set bounds to that progression; whereas connate faculty and inclination set no such bounds; therefore a man is capable of being perfected, in knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom to eternity." Those on the SOUTH next took up the debate, and expressed their sentiments as follows: "It is impossible for a man to take any knowledge from himself, since he has no connate knowledge; but he may take it from others; and as he cannot take any knowledge from himself, so neither can he take any love; for where there is no knowledge there is no love; knowledge and love being undivided companions, and no more capable of separation than will and understanding, or affection and thought; yea, no more than essence and form: therefore in proportion as a man takes knowledge from others, so love joins itself thereto as its companion. The universal love which joins itself is the love of knowing, of understanding, and of growing wise; this love is peculiar to man alone, and not to any beast, and flows in from God. We agree with our companions from the west, that a man is not born into any love, and consequently not into any knowledge; but that he is only born into an inclination to love, and thence into a faculty to receive knowledges, not from himself but from others, that is, by others: we say, by others, because neither have these received any thing of knowledge from themselves, but from God. We agree also with our companions to the north, that a man is first born as ground, in which no seeds are sown, but which is capable of receiving all seeds, both useful and hurtful. To these considerations we add, that beasts are born into natural loves, and thereby into knowledges corresponding to them; and that still they do not know, think, understand, and enjoy any knowledges, but are led through them by their loves, almost as blind persons are led through the streets by dogs, for as to understanding they are blind; or rather like people walking in their sleep, who act from the impulse of blind knowledge, the understanding being asleep." Lastly, those on the EAST declared their sentiments, and said, "We agree with our brethren in the opinions they have delivered, that a man knows nothing from himself, but from and by others, to the end that he may know and acknowledge that all knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, is from God; and that a man cannot otherwise be conceived, born, and generated of the Lord, and become an image and likeness of him; for he becomes an image of the Lord by acknowledging and believing, that he has received and does receive from the Lord all the good of love and charity, and all the truth of wisdom and faith, and not the least portion thereof from himself; and he becomes a likeness of the Lord by his being sensible of those principles in himself, as if they were from himself. This he is sensible of, because he is not born into knowledges, but receives them; and what he receives, appears to him as if it was from himself. This sensation is given him by the Lord, to the end that he may be a man and not a beast; since by willing, thinking, loving, knowing, understanding, and growing wise, as from himself, he receives knowledges, and exalts them into intelligence, and by the use thereof into wisdom; thus the Lord conjoins man to himself, and man conjoins himself to the Lord. This could not have been the case, unless it had been provided by the Lord, that man should be born in total ignorance." When they had finished speaking, it was the desire of all present, that a conclusion should be formed from the sentiments which had been expressed; and they agreed upon the following: "That a man is born into no knowledge, to the end that he may come into all knowledge, and may advance into intelligence, and thereby into wisdom, and that he is born into no love, to the intent that he may come into all love, by application of the knowledges from intelligence, and into love to the Lord by love towards his neighbour, and may thereby be conjoined to the Lord, and by such conjunction be made a man, and live for ever."
135. After this they took the paper, and read the third subject of investigation, which was, WHAT IS DIGNIFIED BY THE TREE OF LIFE, WHAT BY THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, AND WHAT BY EATING THEREOF? and all the others intreated as a favor, that those who were from the east would unfold this arcanum, because it required a more than ordinary depth of understanding, and because those who were from the east are in flaming light, that is, in the wisdom of love, this wisdom being understood by the garden of Eden, in which those two trees were placed. They said, "We will declare our sentiments; but as man does not take any thing from himself, but from the Lord, therefore we will speak from him; but yet from ourselves as of ourselves:" and then they continued, "A tree signifies a man, and the fruit thereof the good of life; hence the tree of life signifies a man living from God, or God living in man; and since love and wisdom, and charity and faith, or good and truth, constitute the life of God in man, therefore these are signified by the tree of life, and hence man has eternal life: the like is signified by the tree of life, of which it will be given to eat, Rev. ii. 7; chap xxii. 2, 14. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies a man believing that he lives from himself and not from God; thus that in man love and wisdom, charity and faith, that is, good and truth, are his and not God's; believing this, because he thinks and wills, and speaks and acts to all appearance, as from himself: and as a man from this faith persuades himself, that God has implanted himself, or infused his divine into him, therefore the serpent said, 'God doth know, in the day that ye eat of the fruit of that tree, your eyes will be opened, and ye will be as God, knowing good and evil,' Gen. iii. 5. Eating of those trees signifies reception and appropriation; eating of the tree of life, the reception of life eternal, and eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the reception of damnation; therefore also both Adam and his wife, together with the serpent, were cursed: the serpent means the devil as to self-love and the conceit of his own intelligence. This love is the possessor of that tree; and the men who are in conceit, grounded in that love, are those trees. Those persons, therefore, are grievously mistaken who believe that Adam was wise and did good from himself, and that this was his state of integrity; when yet Adam himself was cursed by reason of that belief; for this is signified by eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; therefore he then fell from the state of integrity in which he had been, in consequence of believing that he was wise and did good from God and not at all from himself; for this is meant by eating of the tree of life. The Lord alone, when he was in the world, was wise and did good from himself; because the essential divine from birth was in him and was his; therefore also from his own ability he was made the Redeemer and Saviour." From all these considerations they came to this conclusion, "That by the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and eating thereof, is signified that life for man is God in him, and that in this case he has heaven and eternal life; but that death for man is the persuasion and belief, that life for him is not God but self; whence he has hell and eternal death, which is condemnation."
136. After this they looked into the paper left by the angels upon the table, and saw written underneath, COLLECT YOUR OPINIONS ON THESE THREE QUESTIONS INTO ONE DECISION. Then they collected them, and saw that they cohered in one series, and that the series or decision was this, "That man is created to receive love and wisdom from God, and yet to all appearance as from himself; and this for the sake of reception and conjunction: and that therefore a man is not born into any love, or into any knowledge, and also not into any ability of loving and growing wise from himself; therefore if he ascribes all the good of love and truth of wisdom to God, he becomes a living man; but if he ascribes them to himself, he becomes a dead man." These words they wrote on a new piece of paper, and placed it on the table: and lo! on a sudden the angels appeared in bright light, and carried the paper away into heaven; and after it was read there, those who sat on the seats heard these words from thence, "Well, well;" and instantly there appeared a single angel as it were flying from heaven, with two wings about his feet, and two about his temples, having in his hand prizes, consisting of robes, caps, and wreaths of laurel; and he alighted on the ground, and gave those who sat on the north robes of an opaline color; those who sat on the west robes of scarlet color; those who sat on the south caps whose borders were ornamented with bindings of gold and pearls, and which on the left side upwards were set with diamonds cut in the form of flowers; but to those who sat to the east he gave wreaths of laurel, intermixed with rubies and sapphires. Then all of them, adorned with their respective prizes, went home from the school of wisdom; and when they shewed themselves to their wives, their wives came to meet them, being distinguished also with ornaments presented to them from heaven; at which the husbands wondered.