130. XI. THAT CONJUGIAL LOVE IS ACCORDING TO THE STATE OF THE CHURCH BECAUSE ACCORDING TO THE STATE OF WISDOM WITH MAN. That conjugial love is according to the state of wisdom with man has often been said before and will often be said hereafter. Here, therefore, light shall be given as to what wisdom is, and that it makes one with the Church.*
With man there is science, intelligence, and wisdom. Science pertains to cognitions, intelligence to reason, and wisdom to life. Considered in its fullness, wisdom pertains simultaneously to cognitions, reason, and life. Cognitions precede, reason is formed by means of them, and wisdom by means of both--and this when a man lives rationally according to the truths which are his cognitions. Wisdom, therefore, pertains to reason and at the same time to life. It is becoming wisdom when it is the wisdom of reason and thence of life; and it is wisdom when it has become the wisdom of life and thence of reason. The most ancient people in this world recognized no other wisdom than wisdom of life. This was the wisdom of those who of old were called SOPHI. The ancients who succeeded the most ancient recognized the wisdom of reason as wisdom, and they were called PHILOSOPHERS. But at this day many call even science wisdom; for learned doctors are called wise, and also the erudite and mere knowers. Thus has wisdom fallen from its mountain peak to its valley.
[2] Something shall also be said as to what wisdom is in its origin and progress, and thence in its full state. With man, things which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, reside in his inmosts; those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below them; and those which pertain to science, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make the seat on which they rest. That those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual, have their abode in man's inmosts is because they conjoin themselves with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; for with man, it is these alone that enter in from the Lord through heaven. That those which pertain to the commonwealth and are called civil, occupy a place below the spiritual, is because they conjoin themselves with the world; for they are things of the world, being the statutes, laws, and regulations which bind men, to the end that from them may be formed a stable and well-knit society and state. That those which pertain to science, experience, and skill, and are called natural, make their seat, is because they closely conjoin themselves with the five senses of the body, and these are the ultimates on which interior things belonging to the mind, and inmost things belonging to the soul, are seated, as it were. [3] Now because those which pertain to the Church and are called spiritual reside in inmosts, and those which reside in inmosts make the head, while those which follow under them and are called civil make the body, and ultimate things which are called natural make the feet, it is evident, that when these three follow in their order, man is a perfect man; for then they flow in, in the same way that the things of the head flow into the body and through the body into the feet. So spiritual things flow into civil things and through these into natural. Now because spiritual things are in the light of heaven, it is evident that by their light they enlighten the things which follow in order, and by their heat which is love they animate them; and that when this is the case, the man has wisdom.
[4] Since wisdom pertains to life and thence to reason, as said above, the question arises, What is wisdom of life? In a comprehensive summary it is this: To shun evils because they are hurtful to the soul, hurtful to the commonwealth, and hurtful to the body; and to do goods because they are beneficial to the soul, the commonwealth and the body. This is the wisdom that is meant by the wisdom with which conjugial love binds itself; for it binds itself by shunning the evil of adultery as the pest of the soul, the commonwealth, and the body. And since this wisdom springs from the spiritual things which pertain to the Church, it follows that conjugial love is according to the state of the Church with man because according to the state of wisdom. By this, the same thing is meant as that which has been frequently said in the preceding pages, namely, that so far as a man becomes spiritual, so far he is in love truly conjugial, it being by means of the spiritual things of the Church that man becomes spiritual. More respecting the wisdom with which conjugial love conjoins itself may be seen in nos. 163-5 below.
* In the original, the remainder of this number, except the last sentence, is enclosed in inverted commas.