The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love · Chapter 30Preliminary Relations Respecting the Joys of Heaven and Nuptials There. (29)
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343. The Mahometans also have their heaven; for all in the universe, who acknowledge a God, and from a religious notion shuns evils as sins against him, are saved. That the Mahometan heaven is distinguished into two, the inferior and the superior, I have heard from themselves: and that in the inferior heaven they live with several wives and concubines as in the world; but that those who renounce concubines and live with one wife, are elevated into the superior heaven. I have heard also that it is impossible for them to think of our Lord as one with the Father; but that it is possible for them to think of him as his equal, and that he has dominion over heaven and earth, because he is his Son; therefore such of them as are elevated by the Lord into their superior heaven, hold this belief.
344. On a certain time I was led to perceive the quality of the heat of conjugial love with polygamists. I was conversing with one who personated Mahomet. Mahomet himself is never present, but some one is substituted in his place, to the end that those who are lately deceased may as it were see him. This substitute, after I had been talking with him at a distance, sent me an ebony spoon and other things, which were proofs that they came from him; at the same time a communication was opened for the heat of their conjugial love in that place, which seemed to me like the warm stench of a bath; whereupon I turned myself away, and the communication was closed.
345. X. POLYGAMY IS LASCIVIOUSNESS. The reason of this is, because its love is divided among several, and is the love of the sex, and the love of the external or natural man, and thus is not conjugial love, which alone is chaste. It is well known that polygamical love is divided among several, and divided love is not conjugial love, which cannot be divided from one of the sex; hence the former love is lascivious, and polygamy is lasciviousness. Polygamical love is the love of the sex, differing from it only in this respect, that it is limited to a number, which the polygamist may determine, and that it is bound to the observance of certain laws enacted for the public good; also that it is allowed to take concubines at the same time as wives; and thus, as it is the love of the sex, it is the love of lasciviousness. The reason why polygamical love is the love of the external or natural man is, because it is inherent in that man; and whatever the natural man does from himself is evil, from which he cannot be released except by elevation into the internal spiritual man, which is effected solely by the Lord; and evil respecting the sex, by which the natural man is influenced, is whoredom; but since whoredom is destructive of society, instead thereof was induced its likeness, which is called polygamy. Every evil into which a man is born from his parents, is implanted in his natural man, but not any in his spiritual man; because into this he is born from the Lord. From what has now been adduced, and also from several other reasons, it may evidently be seen, that polygamy is lasciviousness.
346. XI. CONJUGIAL CHASTITY, PURITY, AND SANCTITY CANNOT EXIST WITH POLYGAMISTS. This follows from what has been just now proved, and evidently from what was demonstrated in the chapter ON THE CHASTE PRINCIPLE AND THE NON-CHASTE; especially from these articles of that chapter, namely, that a chaste, pure, and holy principle is predicated only of monogamical marriages, or of the marriage of one man with one wife, n. 141; also, that love truly conjugial is essential chastity, and that hence all the delights of that love, even the ultimate, are chaste, n. 143, 144; and moreover from what was adduced in the chapter ON LOVE TRULY CONJUGIAL, namely, that love truly conjugial, which is that of one man with one wife, from its origin and correspondence, is celestial, spiritual, holy, and clean above every other love, n. 64. Now since chastity, purity, and sanctity exist only in love truly conjugial, it follows, that it neither does nor can exist in polygamical love.
347. XII. A POLYGAMIST, SO LONG AS HE REMAINS SUCH, CANNOT BECOME SPIRITUAL. To become spiritual is to be elevated out of the natural, that is, out of the light and heat of the world, into the light and heat of heaven. Respecting this elevation no one knows anything but he that is elevated; nevertheless the natural man, although not elevated, perceives no other than that he is; because he can elevate his understanding into the light of heaven, and think and talk spiritually, like the spiritual man; but if the will does not at the same time follow the understanding to its altitude, he is still not elevated; for he does not remain in that elevation, but in a short time lets himself down to his will, and there fixes his station. It is said the will, but it is the love that is meant at the same time; because the will is the receptacle of the love; for what a man loves, that he wills. From these few considerations it may appear, that a polygamist, so long as he remains such, or what is the same, a natural man, so long as he remains such, cannot be made spiritual.
348. XIII. POLYGAMY IS NOT SIN WITH THOSE WHO LIVE IN IT FROM A RELIGIOUS NOTION. All that which is contrary to religion is believed to be sin, because it is contrary to God; and on the other hand, all that which agrees with religion, is believed not to be sin, because it agrees with God; and as polygamy existed with the sons of Israel from a principle of religion, and exists at this day with the Mahometans, it could not, and cannot, be imputed to them as sin. Moreover, to prevent its being sin to them, they remain natural, and do not become spiritual; and the natural man cannot see that there is any sin in such things as belong to the received religion: this is seen only by the spiritual man. It is on this account, that although the Mahometans are taught by the Koran to acknowledge our Lord as the Son of God, still they do not come to him, but to Mahomet; and so long they remain natural, and consequently do not know that there is in polygamy any evil, or indeed any lasciviousness. The Lord also saith, "If ye were blind ye would not have sin; but now ye say, We see, therefore your sin remaineth," John ix. 41. Since polygamy cannot convict them of sin, therefore after death they have their heavens, n. 342, 343; and their joys there according to life.
349. XIV. POLYGAMY IS NOT SIN WITH THOSE WHO ARE IN IGNORANCE RESPECTING THE LORD. This is, because love truly conjugial is from the Lord alone, and cannot be imparted by the Lord to any but those who know him, acknowledge him, believe on him, and live the life which is from him; and those to whom that love cannot be imparted know no other than that the love of the sex and conjugial love are the same thing; consequently also polygamy. Moreover, polygamists, who know nothing of the Lord, remain natural: for a man (homo) is made spiritual only from the Lord; and that is not imputed to the natural man as sin, which is according to the laws of religion and at the same time of society: he also acts according to his reason; and the reason of the natural man is in mere darkness respecting love truly conjugial; and this love in excellence is spiritual. Nevertheless the reason of polygamists is taught from experience, that both public and private peace require that promiscuous lust in general should be restrained, and be left to every one within his own house: hence comes polygamy.
350. It is well known, that a man (homo) by birth is viler than the beasts. All the beasts are born into the knowledges corresponding to the love of their life; for as soon as they are born, or are hatched from the egg, they see, hear, walk, know their food, their dam, their friends and foes; and soon after this they show attention to the sex, and to the affairs of love, and also to the rearing of their offspring. Man alone, at his birth, knows nothing of this sort; for no knowledge is connate to him; he has only the faculty and inclination of receiving those things which relate to knowledge and love; and if he does not receive these from others, he remains viler than a beast. That man is born in this condition, to the end that he may attribute nothing to himself, but to others, and at length every thing of wisdom and of the love thereof to God alone, and may hence become an image of God, see the MEMORABLE RELATION, n. 132-136. From these considerations it follows, that a man who does not learn from others that the Lord has come into the world, and that he is God, and has only acquired some knowledge respecting religion and the laws of his country, is not in fault if he thinks no more of conjugial love than of the love of the sex, and if he believes polygamical love to be the only conjugial love. The Lord leads such persons in their ignorance; and by his divine auspices providently withdraws from the imputation of guilt those who, from a religious notion, shun evils as sins, to the end that they may be saved; for every man is born for heaven, and no one for hell; and every one comes into heaven (by influence) from the Lord, and into hell (by influence) from himself.
351. XV. OF THESE, ALTHOUGH POLYGAMISTS, SUCH ARE SAVED AS ACKNOWLEDGE A GOD, AND FROM A RELIGIOUS NOTION LIVE ACCORDING TO THE CIVIL LAWS OF JUSTICE. All throughout the world who acknowledge a God and live according to the civil laws of justice from a religious notion, are saved. By the civil laws of justice we mean such precepts as are contained in the Decalogue, which forbid murder, theft, adultery, and false witness. These precepts are the civil laws of justice in all the kingdoms of the earth; for without them no kingdom could subsist. But some are influenced in the practice of them by fear of the penalties of the law, some by civil obedience, and some also by religion; these last are saved, because in such case God is in them; and every one, in whom God is, is saved. Who does not see, that among the laws given to the sons of Israel, after they had left Egypt, were those which forbid murder, adultery, theft, and false witness, since without those laws their communion or society could not subsist? and yet these laws were promulgated by Jehovah God upon Mount Sinai with a stupendous miracle: but the cause of their being so promulgated was, that they might be also laws of religion, and thus that the people might practise them not only for the sake of the good of society, but also for the sake of God, and that when they practised them from a religious notion for the sake of God, they might be saved. From these considerations it may appear, that the pagans, who acknowledge a God, and live according to the civil laws of justice, are saved; since it is not their fault that they know nothing of the Lord, consequently nothing of the chastity of the marriage with one wife. For it is contrary to the divine justice to condemn those who acknowledge a God, and from their religion practise the laws of justice, which consist in shunning evils because they are contrary to God, and in doing what is good because it is agreeable to God.
352. XVI. BUT NONE EITHER OF THE LATTER OR OF THE FORMER CAN BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE ANGELS IN THE CHRISTIAN HEAVENS. The reason of this is, because in the Christian heavens there are celestial light, which is divine truth, and celestial heat, which is divine love; and these two discover the quality of goods and truths, and also of evils and falses; hence, there is no communication between the Christian and the Mahometan heavens, and in like manner between the heavens of the Gentiles. If there were a communication, none could have been saved but those who were in celestial light and at the same time in celestial heat from the Lord; yea neither would these be saved if there was a conjunction of the heavens: for in consequence of conjunction all the heavens would so far fall to decay that the angels would not be able to subsist; for an unchaste and lascivious principle would flow from the Mahometans into the Christian heaven, which in that heaven could not be endured; and a chaste and pure principle would flow from the Christians into the Mahometan heaven, which again could not be there endured. In such case, in consequence of communication and thence of conjunction, the Christian angels would become natural and thereby adulterers; or if they remained spiritual, they would be continually sensible of a lascivious principle about them, which would intercept all the blessedness of their life. The case would be somewhat similar with the Mahometan heaven: for the spiritual principles of the Christian heaven would continually encompass and torment them, and would take away all the delight of their life, and would moreover insinuate that polygamy is sin, whereby they would be continually eluded. This is the reason why all the heavens are altogether distinct from each other, so that there is no connection between them, except by an influx of light and heat from the Lord out of the sun, in the midst of which he is: and this influx enlightens and vivifies everyone according to his reception; and reception is according to religion. This communication is granted, but not a communication of the heavens with each other.
353. To the above I shall add TWO MEMORABLE RELATIONS. FIRST. I was once in the midst of the angels and heard their conversation. It was respecting intelligence and wisdom; that a man perceives no other than that each is in himself, and thus that whatever he thinks from his understanding and intends from his will, is from himself; when nevertheless not the least portion thereof is from the man, but only the faculty of receiving the things of the understanding and the will from God: and as every man (homo) is by birth inclined to love himself, it was provided from creation, to prevent man's perishing by self-love and the conceit of his own intelligence, that that love of the man (vir) should be transferred into the wife, and that in her should be implanted from her birth a love for the intelligence and wisdom of her husband, and thereby a love for him; therefore the wife continually attracts to herself her husband's conceit of his own intelligence, and extinguishes it in him, and vivifies it in herself, and thus changes it into conjugial love, and fills it with unbounded pleasantnesses. This is provided by the Lord, lest the conceit of his own intelligence should so far infatuate the man, as to lead him to believe that he has understanding and wisdom from himself and not from the Lord, and thereby make him willing to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and thence to believe himself like unto God, and also a god, as the serpent, which was the love of his own intelligence, said and persuaded him: wherefore the man (homo) after eating was cast out of paradise, and the way to the tree of life was guarded by a cherub. Paradise, spiritually understood, denotes intelligence; to eat of the tree of life, in a spiritual sense, is to be intelligent and wise from the Lord; and to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in a spiritual sense, is to be intelligent and wise from self.
354. The angels having finished this conversation departed; and there came two priests, together with a man who in the world had been an ambassador of a kingdom, and to them I related what I had heard from the angels. On hearing this they began to dispute with each other about intelligence and wisdom, and the prudence thence derived, whether they are from God or from man. The dispute grew warm. All three in heart believed that they are from man because they are in man, and that the perception and sensation of its being so confirm it; but the priests, who on this occasion were influenced by theological zeal, said that there is nothing of intelligence and wisdom, and thus nothing of prudence from man; and when the ambassador retorted, that in such case there is nothing of thought from man, they assented to it. But as it was perceived in heaven, that all the three were in a similar belief, it was said to the ambassador, "Put on the garments of a priest, and believe that you are one, and then speak." He did so; and instantly he declared aloud that nothing of intelligence and wisdom, and consequently nothing of prudence, can possibly exist but from God; and he proved it with his usual eloquence full of rational arguments. It is a peculiar circumstance in the spiritual world, that a spirit thinks himself to be such as is denoted by the garment he wears; because in that world the understanding clothes every one. Afterwards, a voice from heaven said to the two priests, "Put off your own garments, and put on those of political ministers, and believe yourselves to be such." They did so; and in this case they at the same time thought from their interior self, and spoke from arguments which they had inwardly cherished in favor of man's own intelligence. At that instant there appeared a tree near the path; and it was said to them, "It is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; take heed to yourselves lest ye eat of it." Nevertheless all the three, infatuated by their own intelligence, burned with a desire to eat of it, and said to each other, "Why should not we? Is not the fruit good?" And they went to it and eat of it. Immediately all the three, as they were in a like faith, became bosom friends; and they entered together into the way of self-intelligence, which led into hell: nevertheless I saw them return thence, because they were not yet prepared.
355. THE SECOND MEMORABLE RELATION. On a time as I was looking into the spiritual world, I saw in a certain green field some men, whose garments were like those worn by men of this world; from which circumstance I knew that they were lately deceased. I approached them and stood near them, that I might hear what they were conversing about. Their conversation was about heaven; and one of them who knew something respecting it, said, "In heaven there are wonderful things, such as no one can believe unless he has seen them: there are paradisiacal gardens, magnificent palaces constructed according to the rules of architecture, because the work of the art itself, resplendent with gold; in the front of which are columns of silver; and on the columns heavenly forms made of precious stones; also houses of jasper and sapphire, in the front of which are stately porticos, through which the angels enter; and within the houses handsome furniture, which no art or words can describe. The angels themselves are of both sexes: there are youths and husbands, also maidens and wives: maids so beautiful, that nothing in the world bears any resemblance to their beauty; and wives still more beautiful, who are genuine images of celestial love, and their husbands images of celestial wisdom; and all these are ever approaching the full bloom of youth; and what is more, they know no other love of the sex than conjugial love; and, what you will be surprised to hear, the husbands there have a perpetual faculty of enjoyment." When the novitiate spirits heard that no other love of the sex prevailed in heaven than conjugial love, and that they had a perpetual faculty of enjoyment, they smiled at each other, and said, "What you tell us is incredible; there cannot be such a faculty: possibly you are amusing us with idle tales." But at that instant a certain angel from heaven unexpectedly stood in the midst of them, and said, "Hear me, I beseech you; I am an angel of heaven, and have lived now a thousand years with my wife, and during that time have been in the same flower of my age in which you here see me. This is in consequence of the conjugial love in which I have lived with my wife; and I can affirm, that the above faculty has been and is perpetual with me; and because I perceive that you believe this to be impossible, I will talk with you on the subject from a ground of rational argument according to the light of your understanding. You do not know anything of the primeval state of man, which you call a state of integrity. In that state all the interiors of the mind were open even to the Lord; and hence they were in the marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth; and as the good of love and the truth of wisdom perpetually love each other, they also perpetually desire to be united; and when the interiors of the mind are open, the conjugial spiritual love flows down freely with its perpetual endeavour, and presents the above faculty. The very soul of a man (homo), being in the marriage of good and truth, is not only in the perpetual endeavour of that union, but also in the perpetual endeavour of the fructification and production of its own likeness; and since the interiors of a man even from the soul are open by virtue of that marriage, and the interiors continually regard as an end the effect in ultimates that they may exist, therefore that perpetual endeavor for fructifying and producing its like, which is the property of the soul, becomes also of the body: and since the ultimate of the operation of the soul in the body with two conjugial partners is into the ultimates of love therein, and these depend on the state of the soul, it is evident whence they derive this perpetuality. Fructification also is perpetual, because the universal sphere of generating and propagating the celestial things which are of love, and the spiritual things which are of wisdom, and thence the natural things which are of offspring, proceeds from the Lord, and fills all heaven and all the world; and that celestial sphere fills the souls of all men, and descends through their minds into the body even to its ultimates, and gives the power of generating. But this cannot be the case with any but those with whom a passage is open from the soul through the superior and inferior principles of the mind into the body to its ultimates, as is the case with those who suffer themselves to be led back by the Lord into the primeval state of creation. I can confirm that now for a thousand years I have never wanted faculty, strength, or vigor, and that I am altogether a stranger to any diminution of powers, which are continually renewed by the influx of the above-mentioned sphere, and in such case also cheer the mind (animum), and do not make it sad, as is the case with those who suffer the loss of those powers. Moreover love truly conjugial is just like the vernal heat, from the influx of which all things tend to germination and fructification; nor is there any other heat in our heaven: wherefore with conjugial partners in that heaven there is spring in its perpetual conatus, and it is this perpetual conatus from which the above virtue is derived. But fructifications with us in heaven are different from those with men on earth. With us fructifications are spiritual, which are the fructifications of love and wisdom, or of good and truth: the wife from the husband's wisdom receives into herself the love thereof; and the husband from the love thereof in the wife receives into himself wisdom; yea the wife is actually formed into the love of the husband's wisdom, which is effected by her receiving the propagations of his soul with the delight arising therefrom, in that she desires to be the love of her husband's wisdom: thus from a maiden she becomes a wife and a likeness. Hence also love with its inmost friendship with the wife, and wisdom with its happiness with the husband, are continually increasing, and this to eternity. This is the state of the angels of heaven." When the angel had thus spoken, he looked at those who had lately come from the world, and said to them, "You know that, while you were in the vigor of love, you loved your married partners; but when your appetite was gratified, you regarded them with aversion; but you do not know that we in heaven do not love our married partners in consequence of that vigor, but that we have vigor in consequence of love and derived from it; and that as we perpetually love our married partners, we have perpetual vigor: if therefore you can invert the state, you may be able to comprehend this. Does not he who perpetually loves a married partner, love her with the whole mind and with the whole body? for love turns every thing of the mind and of the body to that which it loves; and as this is done reciprocally, it conjoins the objects so that they become a one." He further said, "I will not speak to you of the conjugial love implanted from the creation in males and females, and of their inclination to legitimate conjunction, or of the faculty of prolification in the males, which makes one with the faculty of multiplying wisdom from the love of truth; and that so far as a man loves wisdom from the love thereof, or truth from good, so far he is in love truly conjugial and in its attendant vigor."
356. When he had spoken these words, the angel was silent; and from the spirit of his discourse the novitiates comprehended that a perpetual faculty of enjoyment is communicable; and as this consideration rejoiced their minds, they exclaimed, "O how happy is the state of angels! We perceive that you in the heavens remain for ever in a state of youth, and thence in the vigor of that age; but tell us how we also may enjoy that vigor." The angel replied, "Shun adulteries as internal, and approach the Lord, and you will possess it." They said, "We will do so." But the angel replied, "You cannot shun adulteries as infernal evils, unless you in like manner shun all other evils, because adulteries are the complex of all; and unless you shun them, you cannot approach the Lord; for the Lord receives no others." After this the angel took his leave, and the novitiate spirits departed sorrowful.
ON JEALOUSY.
357. The subject of jealousy is here treated of, because it also has relation to conjugial love. There is a just jealousy and an unjust;—a just jealousy with married partners who mutually love each other, with whom it is a just and prudent zeal lest their conjugial love should be violated, and thence a just grief if it is violated; and an unjust jealousy with those who are naturally suspicious, and whose minds are sickly in consequence of viscous and bilious blood. Moreover, all jealousy is by some accounted a vice; which is particularly the case with whoremongers, who censure even a just jealousy. The term JEALOUSY (zelotypia) is derived from ZELI TYPUS (the type of zeal), and there is a type or image of just and also of unjust zeal; but we will explain these distinctions in the following series of articles: I. Zeal, considered in itself, is like the ardent fire, of love. II. The burning or flame of that love, which is zeal, is a spiritual burning or flame, arising from an infestation and assault of the love. III. The quality of a man's (homo) zeal is according to the quality of his love; thus it differs according as the love is good or evil. IV. The zeal of a good love and the zeal of an evil love are alike in externals, but altogether unlike in internals. V. The zeal of a good love in its internals contains a hidden store of love and friendship; but the zeal of an evil love in its internals contains a hidden store of hatred and revenge. VI. The zeal of conjugial love is called jealousy. VII. Jealousy is like an ardent fire against those who infest love exercised towards a married partner, and like a terrible fear for the loss of that love. VIII. There is spiritual jealousy with monogamists, and natural with polygamists. IX. Jealousy with those married partners who tenderly love each other, is a just grief grounded in sound reason lest conjugial love should be divided, and should thereby perish. X. Jealousy with married partners who do not love each other, is grounded in several causes: arising in some instances from various mental weaknesses. XI. In some instances there is not any jealousy; and this also from various causes. XII. There is a jealousy also in regard to concubines, but not such as in regard to wives. XIII. Jealousy likewise exists among beasts and birds. XIV. The jealousy of men and husbands is different from that of women and wives. We proceed to an explanation of the above articles.