“As heaven is from the human race, and angels
therefore are of both sexes, and from creation woman is for man and man is for
woman, thus the one belongs to the other, and this love is innate in both, it
follows that there are marriages in heaven as well as on the earth. But
marriages in heaven differ widely from marriages on the earth. Therefore what
marriages in heaven are, and how they differ from marriages on the earth and
wherein they are like them, shall now be told.
Marriage in heaven is a conjunction of two into one mind. It must first
be explained what this conjunction is. The mind consists of two parts, one
called the understanding and the other the will. When these two parts act as
one they are called one mind. In heaven the husband acts the part called the
understanding and the wife acts the part called the will. When this
conjunction, which belongs to man's interiors, descends into the lower parts
pertaining to the body, it is perceived and felt as love, and this love is
marriage love. This shows that marriage love has its origin in the conjunction
of two into one mind. This in heaven is called cohabitation; and the two are
not called two but one. So in heaven a married pair is spoken of, not as two,
but as one angel.”
Which was not to be outdone by what this chapter possessed
in its conclusions:
“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.”
Taken from this footnote (p. 382):
“[a.] 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 the angels in heaven have all their beauty
from marriage love. Affections and thought flowing from that love are
represented by diamond-like auras with scintillations as if from carbuncles and
rubies, which are attended by delights that affect the interiors of the mind.
In a word, heaven itself is represented in marriage love, because heaven with
the angels is the conjunction of good and truth, and it is this conjunction
that makes marriage love. [b.] Marriages in heaven differ from marriages on the
earth in that the procreation of offspring is another purpose of marriages on
the earth, but not of marriages in heaven, since in heaven the procreation of
good and truth takes the place of procreation of offspring. The former takes
the place of the latter because marriage in heaven is a marriage of good and
truth (as has been shown above); and as in that marriage good and truth and
their conjunction are loved above all things so these are what are propagated
by marriages in heaven. And because of this, in the Word births and generations
signify spiritual births and generations, which are births and generations of
good and truth; mother and father signify truth conjoined to good, which is
what procreates; sons and daughters signify the truths and goods that are
procreated; and sons-in-law and daughters-in-law conjunction of these, and so
on.
All this makes clear that marriages in heaven are not like marriages on
earth. In heaven marryings are spiritual, and cannot properly be called marryings,
but conjunctions of minds from the conjunction of good and truth. But on earth
there are marryings, because these are not of the spirit alone but also of the
flesh. And as there are no marryings in heaven, consorts there are not called
husband and wife; but from the angelic idea of the joining of two minds into
one, each consort designates the other by a name signifying one's own, mutually
and reciprocally. This shows how the Lord's words in regard to marrying and
giving in marriage (Luke 20:35, 36), are to be understood.
I have also been permitted to see how marriages are contracted in the
heavens. As everywhere in heaven those who are alike are united and those who
are unlike are separated, so every society in heaven consists of those who are
alike. Like are brought to like not by themselves but by the Lord (see above,
n. 41, 43, 44, seq.); and equally consort to consort whose minds can be joined
into one are drawn together; and consequently at first sight they inmostly love
each other, and see themselves to be consorts, and enter into marriage. For
this reason all marriages in heaven are from the Lord alone. They have also
marriage feasts; and these are attended by many; but the festivities differ in
different societies.”
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