Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 307
sake of tranquillity. The collision and antagonism of the
interiors of such are disclosed after their death, when
commonly they come together and fight like enemies and tear
each other; for they then act in accordance with the state of the
interiors. Frequently I have been permitted to see them
fighting and tearing one another, sometimes with great
vengeance and cruelty. For in the other life everyone’s interiors
are set at liberty; and they are no longer restrained by outward
bounds or by worldly considerations, everyone then being just
such as he is interiorly.
381. To some a likeness of marriage love is granted. Yet
unless they are in the love of good and truth there is no
marriage love, but only a love which from several causes
appears like marriage love, namely, that they may secure good
service at home; that they may be free from care, or at peace, or
at ease; that they may be cared for in sickness or in old age; or
that the children whom they love may be attended to. Some
are constrained by fear of the other consort, or by fear of the
loss of reputation, or other evil consequences, and some by a
controlling lust. Moreover, in the two consorts marriage love
may differ; in one there may be more or less of it, in the other
little or none; and because of this difference heaven may be the
portion of one and hell the portion of the other.
382a. In the inmost heaven there is genuine marriage love
because the angels there are in the marriage of good and truth,
and also in innocence. The angels of the lower heavens are also
in marriage love, but only so far as they are in innocence; for
marriage love viewed in itself is a state of innocence; and this is
why consorts who are in the marriage love enjoy heavenly
delights together, which appear before their minds almost like
the sports of innocence, as between little children; for
everything delights their minds, since heaven with its joy flows
into every particular of their lives. For the same reason
marriage love is represented in heaven by the most beautiful
objects. I have seen it represented by a maiden of indescribable
beauty encompassed with a bright white cloud. It is said that