teaches that “in the male the masculine
is masculine in every part of his body
even the most minute; and also in
every idea of his thought, and in every
least impulse of his affection. And so
is the feminine in the female. And as
one cannot therefore be changed into
the other, it follows that after death
the male is a male and the female is a
female.” (Ibid. 33)
This distinction between the sexes
is a prerequisite for conjugial love.
It is the complementary differences
between male and female which come
together to form a more perfect whole
to eternity.
We all know that men and women
are different, and perhaps we have even
noticed this with children. In Conjugial Love the Lord, through Swedenborg,
confirms these observations about the differences between men and women
that we can see in children from an early age:
This distinction
between the sexes
is a prerequisite for
conjugial love. It is
the complementary
differences between
male and female
which come together
to form a more perfect
whole to eternity.
How much, from very birth, the nature of men differs from that of women has been
made very manifest to me by the sight of boys and girls in their gatherings. Several
times from my window I have observed them, in an open place in a great city, where
more than twenty came together every day. The boys, according to their innate
disposition, pl ayed together by making a great noise, shouting, fighting, beating,
and throwing stones at each other; while the girls sat quietly at the doors of the
houses, some playing with infants, some dressing their dolls, some piecing together
bits of linen, some kissing each other. And, what astonished me, they yet looked
with pleased eyes upon the boys who were so boisterous. (Conjugial Love 218)
These early signs of differences between male and female mature with a
woman to the point where she perceives especially from love, and with a man
to the point where he perceives especially from his intellect or understanding.
(Ibid. 168) The complete union of these two distinct strengths is possible only
in a marriage. We are taught that this union works like the heat and light of
the sun:
For understanding is of light, and love is of heat; and things that are of light are
plainly seen, and things of love are felt. From these considerations it is manifest
that, on account of the universal difference that exists between the masculine and
the feminine, the wisdom of the wife cannot be with the man, nor the wisdom of
the man with the wife. (Ibid. 168)
131