THE DERIVATION OF CONJUGIAL LOVE FROM THE MARRIAGE OF GOOD AND TRUTH

There are both inward and outward sources of conjugial love; the inward ones are many, and so are the outward ones. But there is but one inmost or truly universal source, and this is the marriage of good and truth, as will be proved in the following pages. Up to now no one has traced the origin of this love to that source, because the existence of a union between good and truth has remained a secret. This is because good, unlike truth, cannot be seen by the light of the intellect, so that knowledge of it has been concealed and has escaped research. Since good therefore is an unknown entity, no one could guess that there was a marriage between it and truth.

In fact, on a natural, rational view good seems to be so far removed from truth as to have no connexion with it. This can easily be seen by considering the forms of language we use in speaking about them. When we say 'This is good,' we do not have any thought of truth; and when we say 'This is true,' we do not have any thought of good. Many people nowadays therefore believe that truth is something totally different from good, and likewise good from truth. Many too believe that if a human being is intelligent and wise, his humanity depends upon the truths he thinks, speaks, writes about and believes, without any reference to his goodness. I shall now explain how good cannot exist without truth, nor truth without good, and in consequence there is a permanent marriage between them, and it is this which is the source of conjugial love. This will be proved in the following series of propositions:

(i) Good and truth are universal principles of creation, and are thus in everything that has been created; but the form of each thing determines their presence in created objects. (ii) There is no such thing as good in isolation or truth in isolation, but they are everywhere linked. (iii) There is the truth of good, and from this the good of truth, that is to say, truth coming from good and good from that truth; both of them have a tendency implanted from creation to join themselves into one. (iv) In the members of the animal kingdom the truth of good, that is, truth coming from good, is male; and from this the good of truth, that is, the good coming from that truth, is female. (v) The influence of the marriage of good and truth coming from the Lord produces sexual love and also conjugial love. (vi) Sexual love belongs to the outward or natural person, and consequently is shared by all animals. (vii) Conjugial love belongs to the inward or spiritual person, and consequently is peculiar to human beings. (viii) In a human being conjugial love is in sexual love, like a gem in its native rock. (ix) Sexual love in a human being is not the source of conjugial love, but is its first phase, being as it were the natural exterior in which the spiritual interior is implanted. (x) When conjugial love has been implanted, sexual love turns upside down and becomes chaste sexual love. (xi) Male and female were created to be a true likeness of the marriage of good and truth. (xii) They are this likeness at the inmost levels, and the likeness ascends from these to the following levels, as the interiors of the mind are opened up.

An explanation of these points now follows.