The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love. Emanuel Swedenborg

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СКАЧАТЬ are cast out into the delusive lights of the south." On hearing this, I asked, "What he meant by the darkness of the north, the fires of the west, and the delusive lights of the south?" He answered, "The darkness of the north is dulness of mind and ignorance of truths; the fires of the west are the loves of evil; and the delusive lights of the south are the falsifications of truth, which are spiritual whoredoms." After this, he said, "Follow me to our repository of curiosities:" so we followed him, and he shewed us the writings of the most ancient people, which were on the tables of wood and stone, and afterwards on smooth blocks of wood; the writings of the second age were on sheets of parchment; of these he brought me a sheet, on which were copied the rules of the people of the first age from their tables of stone, among which also was the precept concerning marriages. Having seen these and other ancient curiosities, the angel said, "It is now time for us to take our leave;" and immediately our host went into the garden, and plucked some twigs off a tree, and bound them into a little bunch, and gave them to us, saying, "These twigs are from a tree, which is native of or peculiar to our heaven, and whose juice has a balsamic fragrance." We brought the bunch down with us, and descended by the eastern way, which was not guarded; and lo! the twigs were changed into shining brass, and the upper ends of them into gold, as a sign that we had been with the people of the third age, which is named from copper or brass.

      

      78. THE FOURTH MEMORABLE RELATIONS. After two days the angel again addressed me, saying, "Let us complete the period of the ages; the last still remains, which is named from IRON. The people of this age dwell in the north on the side of the west, in the inner parts or breadth-ways: they are all from the old inhabitants of Asia, who were in possession of the ancient Word, and thence derived their worship; consequently they were before the time of our Lord's coming into the world. This is evident from the writings of the ancients, in which those times are so named. These same periods are meant by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar, whose head was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet of iron and of clay, Dan. ii. 32, 33." These particulars the angel related to me in the way, which was contracted and anticipated by changes of state induced in our minds according to the genius or disposition of the inhabitants whom we passed; for spaces and consequent distances in the spiritual world are appearances according to the state of their minds. When we raised our eyes, lo! we were in a forest consisting of beeches, chestnut-trees and oaks: and on looking around us, there appeared bears to the left, and leopards to the right: and when I wondered at this, the angel said, "They are neither bears nor leopards, but men, who guard these inhabitants of the north; by their nostrils they have a scent of the sphere of life of those who pass by, and they rush violently on all who are spiritual, because the inhabitants are natural. Those who only read the Word, and imbibe thence nothing of doctrine, appear at a distance like bears; and those who confirm false principles thence derived, appear like leopards." On seeing us, they turned away, and we proceeded. Beyond the forest there appeared thickets, and afterwards fields of grass divided into areas, bordered with box: this was succeeded by a declivity which led to a valley, wherein were several cities. We passed some of them, and entered into one of a considerable size: its streets were irregular, and so were the houses, which were built of brick, with beams between, and plastered. In the places of public resort were consecrated buildings of hewn lime-stone; the under-structure of which was below the ground, and the super-structure above. We went down into one of them by three steps, and saw on the walls idols of various forms, and a crowd on their knees paying adoration to them: in the middle of the building was a company, above whom might be seen the head of the tutelary god of that city. As we went out, the angel said to me, "Those idols, with the ancients who lived in the silver age, as above described, were images representative of spiritual truths and moral virtues; and when the science of correspondence was forgotten and extinct, they first became objects of worship, and afterwards were adored as deities: hence came idolatry." When we were come out of the consecrated building, we made our observations on the men and their dress. Their faces were like steel, of a grayish color, and they were dressed like comedians, with napkins about their loins hanging from a tunic buttoned close at the breast; and on their heads they wore curled caps like sailors. But the angel said, "Enough of this; let us seek some instruction concerning the marriages of the people of this age." We then entered into the house of one of the grandees, who wore on his head a high cap. He received us kindly, and said, "Come in and let us converse together." We entered into the vestibule, and there seated ourselves; and I asked him about the marriages of his city and country. He said, "We do not here live with one wife, but some with two or three, and some with more, because we are delighted with variety, obedience, and honor, as marks of dignity; and these we receive from our wives according to their number. With one wife there would be no delight arising from variety; but disgust from sameness: neither would there be any flattering courteousness arising from obedience, but a troublesome disquietude from equality; neither would there be any satisfaction arising from dominion and the honor thence derived, but vexation from wrangling about superiority. And what is a woman? Is she not born subject to man's will; to serve, and not to domineer? Wherefore in this place every husband in his own house enjoys as it were royal dignity; and as this is suited to our love, it constitutes also the blessedness of our life." But I asked, "In such case, what becomes of conjugial love, which from two souls makes one, and joins minds together, and renders a man (homo) blessed? This love cannot be divided; for if it be it becomes a heat which effervesces and passes away." To this he replied, "I do not understand what you say; what else renders a man (homo) blessed, but the emulation of wives contending for the honor of the first place in the husband's favor?" As he said this, a man entered into the women's apartment and opened the two doors; whence there issued a libidinous effluvium, which had a stench like mire; this arose from polygamical love, which is connubial, and at the same time adulterous; so I rose and shut the doors. Afterwards I said, "How can you subsist upon this earth, when you are void of any love truly conjugial, and also when you worship idols?" He replied, "As to connubial love, we are so jealous of our wives, that we do not suffer any one to enter further within our houses than the vestibule; and where there is jealousy, there must also be love. In respect to idols, we do not worship them; but we are not able to think of the God of the universe, except by means of such forms presented to our eyes; for we cannot elevate our thoughts above the sensual things of the body, nor think of God above the objects of bodily vision." I then asked him again, "Are not your idols of different forms? How then can they excite the idea of one God?" He replied, "This is a mystery to us; somewhat of the worship of God lies concealed in each form." I then said, "You are merely sensual corporeal spirits; you have neither the love of God nor the love of a married partner grounded in any spiritual principle; and these loves together form a man (homo) and from sensual make him celestial." As I said this, there appeared through the gate as it were lightning: and on my asking what it meant, he said, "Such lightning is a sign to us that there will come the ancient one from the east, who teaches us concerning God, that He is one, the alone omnipotent, who is the first and the last; he also admonishes us not to worship idols, but only to look at them as images representative of the virtues proceeding from the one God, which also together form his worship. This ancient one is our angel, whom we revere and obey. He comes to us, and raises us, when we are falling into obscure worship of God from mere fancies respecting images." On hearing this, we left the house and went out of the city; and in the way, from what we had seen in the heavens, we drew some conclusions respecting the circuit and the progression of conjugial love; of the circuit that it had passed from the east to the south, from the south to the west, and from the west to the north; and of the progression, that it had decreased according to its circulation, namely, that in the east it was celestial, in the south spiritual, in the west natural, and in the north sensual; and also that it had decreased in a similar degree with the love and the worship of God: from which considerations we further concluded, that this love in the first age was like gold, in the second like silver, in the third like brass, and in the fourth like iron, and that at length it ceased. On this occasion the angel, my guide and companion, said, "Nevertheless I entertain a hope that this love will be revived by the God of heaven, who is the Lord, because it is capable of being so revived."

      

      79. THE FIFTH MEMORABLE RELATION, The angel that had been my guide and companion to the ancients who had lived in the four ages, СКАЧАТЬ