Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 299
369. Everyone, whether man or woman, possesses
understanding and will; but with the man the understanding
predominates, and with the woman the will predominates, and
the character is determined by that which predominates. Yet in
heavenly marriages there is no predominance; for the will of
the wife is also the husband’s will, and the understanding of
the husband is also the wife’s understanding, since each loves
to will and to think like the other, that is mutually and
reciprocally. Thus are they conjoined into one. This
conjunction is 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 into one another’s faces; for, as has
been repeatedly said above, there is in the heavens a sharing of
thoughts and affections, more especially with husband and
wife, because they reciprocally love each other. This makes
clear what the conjunction of minds is that makes marriage
and produces marriage love in the heavens, namely, that one
wishes what is his own to be the other’s, and this reciprocally.
370. I have been told by angels that so far as a married pair
are so conjoined they are in marriage love, and also to the same
extent in intelligence, wisdom and happiness, because Divine
truth and Divine good, which are the source of all intelligence,
wisdom, and happiness, flow chiefly into marriage love;
consequently marriage love, since it is also the marriage of good
and truth, is the very plane of Divine influx. For that love, as it
is a conjunction of the understanding and will, is also a
conjunction of truth and good, since the understanding
receives Divine truth and is formed out of truths, and the will
receives Divine good and is formed out of goods. For what a
man wills is good to him, and what he understands is truth to
him; therefore it is the same whether you say conjunction of
A “virgin” signifies affection for good (n. 3067, 3110, 3179, 3189,
6729, 6742); likewise the church (n. 2362, 3081, 3963, 4638, 6729, 6775,
6788).