Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3633which the loins correspond, and also the members adhering to theloins, which are called the members of generation. In general, be itknown that the loins and the members adhering to themcorrespond to genuine conjugial love, and consequently to thesocieties in which are those who are in this love. They who are inthese societies are more celestial than others, and more than otherslive in the delight of peace.5051. In a quiet dream I saw some trees planted in a woodenreceptacle, one of which was tall, another lower, and two weresmall. The lower tree delighted me very greatly, and all the while avery pleasant rest, such as I cannot express, affected my mind. Onawaking from sleep I conversed with those who induced the dream.They were angelic spirits (see n. 1977, 1979), and they told mewhat was signified by what I had seen—that it was conjugial love,the tall tree signifying the husband, the lower tree the wife, and thetwo small ones the children. They told me further that the verypleasant rest which affected my mind indicated what pleasantnessof peace those have in the other life who have lived in genuineconjugial love. They added that such are those who belong to theprovince of the thighs next above the knees, and that those who arein a still more pleasant state belong to the province of the loins. Itwas also shown that this province communicates through the feetwith the soles and the heels. That this is so is plain from that greatnerve in the thigh which sends forth its branches not only throughthe loins to the members of generation (which are the organs ofconjugial love), but also through the feet to the soles and the heels.It was also then discovered what is meant in the Word by thehollow and the nerve of the thigh which was put out of joint inJacob, when he wrestled with the angel (Gen. 32:25, 31, 32; see n.4280, 4281, 4314–4317).[2] I afterward saw a great dog, such as that called Cerberus byancient writers, with a frightful open mouth; and I was told thatsuch a dog signifies a guard to prevent man’s passing over fromheavenly conjugial love to the love of adultery, which is infernal;for heavenly conjugial love exists when a man together with hiswife, whom he loves most tenderly, and with his children, lives