Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/542

446 woman is for the man, and the man for the woman, thus that the one is the other's; and as with both this love is innate; it follows that there are marriages in the heavens as well as on earth. Yet the marriages in the heavens are very different from the marriages on earth.

In the heavens marriage is the conjunction of two in one mind. It shall first be explained what the nature of this conjunction is:—The mind consists of two parts, of which one is called the understanding, the other the will. When these two parts act as one they are called one mind. In heaven the husband acts the part which is called the understanding, and the wife the part which is called the will. When this conjunction, which is of the interiors, descends into the lower things that are of their body, it is perceived and felt as love. This love is conjugial love. It is plain from this that conjugial love derives its origin from the conjunction of two in one mind. This in heaven is called cohabitation; and it is said that they are not two, but one. For this reason a married pair in heaven are not called two, but one angel.

That there is such conjunction of husband and wife even in the inmosts, which are of their minds, comes from creation itself. For the man is born to be intellectual, thus to think from the understanding, and the woman is born to be voluntary, and thus to think from the will; and this is evident from the inclination or connate disposition of each, as also from their form. From disposition, in that the man acts from reason, and the woman from affection. From form, in that the man has a rougher and less beautiful face, a heavier voice, and harder body; and the woman a milder and more beautiful face, a more tender voice, and softer body. There is a similar difference between the understanding and the will, or between thought and affection; a similar difference also between truth and good, and between faith and love; for truth and faith are of the understanding, and good and love are of the will.

Every one, both man and woman, has an understanding and will; but yet in man the understanding predominates, and in woman the will predominates, and the character of the person is according to that which predominates. But in marriages in the heavens there is no predominance; for the will of the wife is also that of the husband, and the understanding of the husband is that also of the wife, since the one loves to will and to think as the other, thus mutually and reciprocally. Hence their conjunction in one. This conjunction is an actual conjunction; for the will of the wife enters into the understanding of the husband, and the understanding of the husband into the will of the wife, and this especially when they look each other in