new church life: march/april 2016
We are further taught that because
they receive the special warmth of love,
women are vessels of conjugial love
from the Lord and it is only through
women that men have any inclination
to marriage. (Ibid. 223) Society, in fact,
depends upon this civilizing feminine
function.
After Swedenborg observed the
children from his window that we
read in one of the lessons, he was then,
through the Lord’s Holy Spirit, able
to see, “what a man’s intellect in its
development would be like without
conjunction with feminine love and
eventually conjugial love.” (Ibid. 218)
When feminine love is absent from a
man’s upbringing and socialization he
is not pleasant to be around – think
of the boys throwing stones. This gift
to the human race through women
is the parent love of all loves and the
inspiration for every use.
On the other hand, the Lord brings
something special to the world through masculinity too. Through the light of
heaven that a man especially receives, a woman can perceive with love beyond
what she directly feels. The masculine influence in the world seems to allow
love to reach even further by shining light into darkness, by lighting the path
for love to follow. (Ibid. 168)
It is these complementary differences in men and women that make the
special love in marriage possible. It is these complementary differences that
unite masculine and feminine souls, masculine and feminine minds and
masculine and feminine bodies. (Ibid. 179) This union of soul, mind and body
continues to eternity in a cycle whereby a husband becomes more and more a
husband and a wife more and more a wife. (Ibid. 200)
But these beautiful teachings are being attacked today just as they were
more than 2,000 years ago when Pharisees “tempted” the Lord as it says in
Matthew. As a result there is great confusion, and for some, tremendous pain
associated with these truths. But they have not changed. That is why the Lord
referred to Genesis and explained that what He was teaching about marriage
was true “from the beginning,” true from the very first moment of the creation
These beautiful
teachings are being
attacked today just as
they were more than
2,000 years ago when
Pharisees “tempted”
the Lord as it says
in Matthew. As a
result there is great
confusion, and for
some, tremendous
pain associated with
these truths. But they
have not changed.
132