Part 15 (1/2)
ON THE l.u.s.t OF VARIETIES.
506. The l.u.s.t of varieties here treated of, does not mean the l.u.s.t of fornication, which was treated of above in its proper chapter: the latter l.u.s.t, notwithstanding its being usually promiscuous and vague, still does not occasion the l.u.s.t of varieties, unless when it is immoderate, and the fornicator looks to number, and boasts thereof from a principle of cupidity. This idea causes a beginning of this l.u.s.t; but what its quality is as it advances, cannot be distinctly perceived, unless in some such series as the following: I. _By the l.u.s.t of varieties is meant the entirely dissolute l.u.s.t of adultery._ II. _That l.u.s.t is love and at the same time loathing in regard to the s.e.x._ III.
_That l.u.s.t altogether annihilates conjugial love appertaining to itself._ IV. _The lot of those (who have been addicted to that l.u.s.t), after death, is miserable, since they have not the inmost principle of life._ We proceed to an explanation of each article.
507. I. BY THE l.u.s.t OF VARIETIES IS MEANT THE ENTIRELY DISSOLUTE l.u.s.t OF ADULTERY. This l.u.s.t insinuates itself with those who in youth have relaxed the bonds of modesty, and have had opportunities of a.s.sociation with many loose women, especially if they have not wanted the means of satisfying their pecuniary demands. They implant and root this l.u.s.t in themselves by immoderate and unlimited adulteries, and by shameless thoughts concerning the love of the female s.e.x, and by confirming themselves in the idea that adulteries are not evils, and not at all sins. This l.u.s.t increases with them as it advances, so much so that they desire all the women in the world, and wish for whole troops, and a fresh one every day. Whereas this love separates itself from the common love of the s.e.x implanted in every man, and altogether from the love of one of the s.e.x, which is conjugial love, and inserts itself into the exteriors of the heart as a delight of love separate from those loves, and yet derived from them; therefore it is so thoroughly rooted in the cuticles, that it remains in the touch when the powers are decayed.
Persons addicted to this l.u.s.t make light of adulteries; wherefore they think of the whole female s.e.x as of a common harlot, and of marriage as of a common harlotry, and thereby mix immodesty in modesty, and from the mixture grow insane. From these considerations it is evident what is here meant by the l.u.s.t of varieties, that it is the l.u.s.t of entirely dissolute adultery.
508. II. THAT l.u.s.t IS LOVE AND AT THE SAME TIME LOATHING IN REGARD TO THE s.e.x. Persons addicted to that l.u.s.t have a love for the s.e.x, because they derive variety from the s.e.x; and they have a loathing for the s.e.x, because after enjoying a woman they reject her and l.u.s.t after others.
This obscene l.u.s.t burns towards a fresh woman, and after burning, it grows cold towards her; and cold is loathing. That this l.u.s.t is love and at the same time loathing in regard to the s.e.x, may be ill.u.s.trated as follows: set on the left side a company of the women whom they have enjoyed, and on the right side a company of those whom they have not; would not they look at the latter company from love, but at the former from loathing? and yet each company is the s.e.x.
509. III. THAT l.u.s.t ALTOGETHER ANNIHILATES CONJUGIAL LOVE APPERTAINING TO ITSELF. The reason of this is, because that l.u.s.t is altogether opposite to conjugial love, and so opposite, that it not only rends it asunder, but as it were grinds it to powder, and thereby annihilates it: for conjugial love is confined to one of the s.e.x; whereas that l.u.s.t does not stop at one, but within an hour or a day is as intensely cold as it was before hot towards her; and since cold is loathing, the latter by forced cohabitation and dwelling together is so acc.u.mulated as to become nauseous, and thus conjugial love is consumed to such a degree that nothing of it is left. From these considerations it may be seen, that this l.u.s.t is fatal to conjugial love; and as conjugial love const.i.tutes the inmost principle of life with man, that it is fatal to his life; and that that l.u.s.t, by successive interceptions and closings of the interiors of the mind, at length becomes cuticular, and thus merely alluring; while the faculty of understanding or rationality still remains.
510. IV. THE LOT OF THOSE (WHO HAVE BEEN ADDICTED TO THAT l.u.s.t) AFTER DEATH IS MISERABLE, SINCE THEY HAVE NOT THE INMOST PRINCIPLE OF LIFE.
Every one has excellence of life according to his conjugial love; for that excellence conjoins itself with the life of the wife, and by conjunction exalts itself; but as with those of whom we are speaking there does not remain the least principle of conjugial love, and consequently not anything of the inmost principle of life, therefore their lot after death is miserable. After pa.s.sing a certain period of time in their externals, in which they converse rationally and act civilly, they are let into their internals, and in this case into a similar l.u.s.t and its delights, in the same degree as in the world: for every one after death is let into the same state of life which he had appropriated to himself, to the intent that he may be withdrawn from it; for no one can be withdrawn from this evil, unless he has first been led into it; if he were not to be led into it, the evil would conceal itself, and defile the interiors of the mind, and spread itself as a plague, and would next burst through all barriers and destroy the external principles of the body. For this end there are opened to them brothels, which are on the side of h.e.l.l, where there are harlots with whom they have an opportunity of varying their l.u.s.ts; but this is granted with the restriction to one harlot in a day, and under a penalty in case of communication with more than one on the same day. Afterwards, when from examination it appears that that l.u.s.t is so inbred that they cannot be withdrawn from it, they are conveyed to a certain place which is next above the h.e.l.l a.s.signed for them, and then they appear to themselves as if they fall into a swoon, and to others as if they fall down with the face upward; and also the ground beneath their backs is actually opened, and they are absorbed, and sink down into h.e.l.l among their like; thus they are gathered to their own. I have been permitted to see them there, and likewise to converse with them. Among themselves they appear as men, which is granted them lest they should be a terror to their companions; but at a certain distance they seem to have white faces consisting only of skin, and this because they have no spiritual life in them, which every one has according to the conjugial principle sown in him. Their speech is dry, parched, and sorrowful: when they are hungry, they lament; and their lamentations are heard as a peculiar clas.h.i.+ng noise. Their garments are tattered, and their lower garments are drawn above the belly round about the breast; because they have no loins, but their ankles commence from the region of the bottom of the belly: the reason of this is, because the loins with men (_homines_) correspond to conjugial love, and they are void of this love. They said that they loathe the s.e.x on account of their having no potency.
Nevertheless, among themselves they can reason as from rationality; but since they are cutaneous, they reason from the fallacies of the senses.
This h.e.l.l is in the western quarter towards the north. These same persons, when seen from afar, appear not as men or as monsters, but as frozen substances. It is however to be observed, that those become of this description who have indulged in the above l.u.s.t to such a degree as to rend and annihilate in themselves the conjugial human principle.
ON THE l.u.s.t OF VIOLATION.
511. The l.u.s.t of violation does not mean the l.u.s.t of defloration, which is the violation of virginities, but not of maidens when it is effected from consent; whereas the l.u.s.t of violation, which is here treated of, retreats in consequence of consent, and is sharpened in consequence of refusal; and it is the pa.s.sion of violating all women whatever, who altogether refuse, and violently resist, whether they be maidens, or widows, or wives. Persons addicted to this l.u.s.t are like robbers and pirates, who are delighted with spoil and plunder, and not with what is given and justly acquired; and they are like malefactors, who covet what is disallowed and forbidden, and despise what is allowed and granted.
These violators are altogether averse to consent, and are set on fire by resistance, which if they observe to be not internal, the ardor of their l.u.s.t is instantly extinguished, as fire is by water thrown upon it. It is well known, that wives do not spontaneously submit themselves to the disposal of their husbands as to the ultimate effects of love, and that from prudence they resist as they would resist violation, to the end that they may take away from their husbands the cold arising from the consideration of enjoyments being cheap in consequence of being continually allowed, and also in consequence of an idea of lasciviousness on their part. These repugnancies, although they enkindle, still are not the causes, but only the beginnings of this l.u.s.t: its cause is, that after conjugial love and also adulterous love have grown insipid by practice, they are willing, in order that those loves may be repaired, to be set on fire by absolute repugnances. This l.u.s.t thus begun, afterwards increases, and as it increases it despises and breaks through all bounds of the love of the s.e.x, and exterminates itself, and from a lascivious, corporeal, and fleshly love, becomes cartilaginous and bony; and then, from the periosteurns, which have an acute feeling, it becomes acute. Nevertheless this l.u.s.t is rare, because it exists only with those who had entered into the married state, and then had lived in the practice of adulteries until they became insipid.
Besides this natural cause of this l.u.s.t, there is also a spiritual cause, of which something will be said in what follows.
512. The lot of persons of this character after death is as follows: these violators then separate themselves from those who are in the limited love of the s.e.x, and altogether from those who are in conjugial love, thus from heaven: afterwards they are sent to the most cunning harlots, who not only by persuasion, but also by imitation perfectly like that of a stage-player, can feign and represent as if they were chast.i.ty itself. These harlots clearly discern those who are principled in the above l.u.s.t: in their presence they speak of chast.i.ty and its value; and when the violator comes near and touches them, they are full of wrath, and fly away as through terror into a closet, where there is a couch and a bed, and slightly close the door after them, and recline themselves; and hence by their art they inspire the violator with an ungovernable desire of breaking down the door, of rus.h.i.+ng in, and attacking them; and when this is effected, the harlot raising herself erect with the violator begins to fight with her hands and nails, tearing his face, rending his clothes, and with a furious voice crying to the harlots her companions, as to her female servants, for a.s.sistance, and opening the window with a loud outcry of thief, robber, and murderer; and when the violator is at hand she bemoans herself and weeps: and after violation she prostrates herself, howls, and calls out that she is undone, and at the same time threatens in a serious tone, that unless he expiates the violation by paying a considerable sum, she will attempt his destruction. While they are engaged in these venereal scenes, they appear at a distance like cats, which nearly in like manner before their conjunctions combat together, run forward, and make an outcry. After some such brothel-contests, they are taken away, and conveyed into a cavern, where they are forced to some work: but as their smell is offensive, in consequence of having rent asunder the conjugial principle, which is the chief jewel of human life, they are sent to the borders of the western quarters, where at a certain distance they appear lean, as if consisting of bones covered over with skin only; but when seen at a distance they appear like panthers. When I was permitted to see them nearer, I was surprised that some of them held books in their hands, and were reading; and I was told that this is the case, because in the world they said various things concerning the spiritual things of the church, and yet defiled them by adulteries, even to their extremities, and that such was the correspondence of this l.u.s.t with the violation of spiritual marriage. But it is to be observed, that the instances of those who are principled in this l.u.s.t are rare: certain it is, that women, because it is unbecoming for them to prost.i.tute love, are repugnant thereto, and that repugnance enervates; nevertheless this is not from any l.u.s.t of violation.
THE l.u.s.t OF SEDUCING INNOCENCIES.
513. The l.u.s.t of seducing innocencies is neither the l.u.s.t of defloration, nor the l.u.s.t of violation, but is peculiar and singular by itself; it prevails more especially with the deceitful. The women, who appear to them as innocencies, are such as regard the evil of adultery as an enormous sin, and who therefore highly prize chast.i.ty, and at the same time piety: these women are the objects which set them on fire. In Roman Catholic countries there are maidens devoted to the monastic life; and because they believe these maidens to be pious innocencies above the rest of their s.e.x, they view them as the dainties and delicacies of their l.u.s.t. With a view of seducing either the latter or the former because they are deceitful, they first devise arts, and next, when they have well digested them, without receiving any check from shame, they practise them as from nature. These arts are princ.i.p.ally pretences of innocence, love, chast.i.ty, and piety; by these and other cunning stratagems, they enter into the interior friends.h.i.+p of such women, and thence into their love, which they change from spiritual into natural by various persuasions and at the same time by insinuations, and afterwards into corporeal-carnal by irritations, and then they take possession of them at pleasure; and when they have attained this end, they rejoice in heart, and make a mock of those whom they have violated.
514. The lot of these seducers after death is sad, since such seduction is not only impiety, but also malignity. After they have pa.s.sed through their first period in the spiritual world, which is in externals, wherein they excel many others in the elegance of their manners and the courteousness of their speech, they are reduced to another period of their life, which is in internals, wherein their l.u.s.t is set at liberty, and commences its sport; and then they are first conveyed to women who had made vows of chast.i.ty, and with these they are examined as to the quality of their malignant concupiscence, to the intent that they may not be judged except on conviction: when they are made sensible of the chast.i.ty of those women, their deceit begins to act, and to attempt its crafty arts; but as this is to no purpose, they depart from them. They are afterwards introduced to women of genuine innocence; and when they attempt to deceive these in like manner, by virtue of a power given to those women, they are heavily fined; for they occasion in their hands and feet a grievous numbness; likewise in their necks, and at length make them feel as it were a swoon; and when they have inflicted this punishment, they run away and escape from the sufferers. After this there is a way opened to them to a certain company of courtezans, who have been versed in the art of cunningly feigning innocence: and these first expose them to laughter among themselves, and at length after various engagements suffer themselves to be violated. After some such scenes, a third period takes place, which is that of judgement; and in this case, being convicted, they sink down, and are gathered to their like in the h.e.l.l which is in the northern quarter, and there they appear at a distance like weasels; but if they have allured by deceit, they are conveyed down from this h.e.l.l to that of the deceitful, which is in the western quarter at a depth to the back; in this h.e.l.l they appear at a distance like serpents of various kinds; and the most deceitful like vipers: but in the h.e.l.l into which I was permitted to look, they appeared to me as if they were ghastly pale, with faces of chalk: and as they are mere concupiscences, they do not like to speak: and if they do speak, they only mutter and stammer various things, which are understood by none but their companions who are near them; but presently, as they sit or stand, they make themselves unseen, and fly about in the cavern like phantoms; for on this occasion they are in phantasy, and phantasy appears to fly: after flying they rest themselves, and then, what is wonderful, one does not know another; the cause of this is, because they are principled in deceit, and deceit does not believe another, and thereby withdraws itself. When they are made sensible of any thing proceeding from conjugial love, they fly away into hiding places and conceal themselves. They are also void of all love of the s.e.x, and are real impotencies, and are called infernal genii.
ON THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ADULTERIES WITH THE VIOLATION OF SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE.
515. I should here say something, in the way of preface, concerning correspondence; but the subject does not properly belong to the present work. The nature and meaning of correspondence may be seen in a brief summary above, n. 76, and n. 342; and fully in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, from beginning to end, that it is between the natural sense of the Word and the spiritual sense. That in the Word there is a natural and a spiritual sense, and a correspondence between them, has been demonstrated in the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, and especially, n. 5-26.
516. The spiritual marriage means the marriage of the Lord and the church, spoken of above, n. 116-131; and hence also the marriage of good and truth, likewise spoken of above, n. 83-102; and as this marriage of the Lord and the church, and the consequent marriage of good and truth, is in everything of the Word, it is the violation of this which is here meant by the violation of the spiritual marriage; for the church is from the Word, and the Word is the Lord: the Lord is the Word, because he is divine good and divine truth therein. That the Word is that marriage, may be seen fully confirmed in the DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, n. 80-90.
517. Since therefore the violation of the spiritual marriage is the violation of the Word, it is evident that this violation is the adulteration of good and the falsification of truth, for the spiritual marriage is the marriage of good and truth; whence it follows, that when the good of the Word is adulterated, and its truth falsified, the above marriage is violated. How this violation is effected, and by whom, is in some measure evident from what follows.
518. Above, in treating of the marriage of the Lord and the church, n.
116, and the following numbers, and in treating of the marriage of good and truth, n. 83, and the following numbers, it was shewn, that that marriage corresponds to marriages in the world: hence it follows, that the violation of that marriage corresponds to wh.o.r.edoms and adulteries.
That this is the case, is very manifest from the Word itself, in that wh.o.r.edoms and adulteries there signify the falsifications of truth and the adulterations of good, as may be plainly seen from numerous pa.s.sages adduced out of the Word in the APOCALYPSE REVEALED, n. 134.
519. The Word is violated by those in the Christian church who adulterate its goods and truths; and those do this who separate truth from good and good from truth; also, who a.s.sume and confirm appearances of truth and fallacies for genuine truths; and likewise, who know truths of doctrine derived from the Word, and live evil lives, not to mention other like cases. These violations of the Word and the church correspond to the prohibited degrees, mentioned in Levit, chap. xviii.