New Church Life March/April 2016 | Page 30

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