In the natural world it is not possible to observe that marriage imposes different forms on souls and minds, because there souls and minds are enveloped in a material body, and the mind rarely shows through this. Moreover, people of today are better than the ancients at learning from childhood up how to assume facial expressions which deeply conceal the affections of the mind. This is the reason why it is impossible to recognise the difference between the form people's minds have before and after marriage.

However, in the spiritual world it is plain to see by looking at them that the forms of souls and minds are different after marriage from what they were before it. For then people are spirits and angels, who are nothing but minds and souls in human form, stripped of their covering, which had been composed of aqueous and terrestrial elements and their exhalations scattered around in the air. When these have been discarded, the forms of minds, as they had existed within their bodies, become visible; and it is clear that there is a difference between those who are living in a marriage and those who are not. Generally speaking married couples have an inner beauty of face, since the husband gets from his wife the charming blush of her love, and the wife gets from her husband the bright gleam of his wisdom, since there the two partners are united in soul. Moreover, each appears to be fully human. This happens in heaven, because nowhere else are there true marriages; under heaven there are only pairings which are made and unmade.