Secrets of Heaven #2758

By Emanuel Swedenborg

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

2758. True marriage love is heaven, and this fact is represented in the kingdoms of nature. Nothing exists anywhere throughout creation that does not in some way represent the Lord's kingdom as a whole. The physical realm traces its entire origin to the spiritual kingdom. Whatever does not arise from something prior to itself is nothing. Nothing exists that is not linked to its cause and therefore to its purpose. Anything that lacks connection instantly collapses and disappears. This, then, is why the Lord's kingdom is portrayed in the kingdoms of nature.

The fact that marriage love is heaven can be seen in the metamorphosis of larvae into nymphs or chrysalises and then into flying creatures. When their wedding day arrives–that is, when they shed their earthly, wormlike form, sprout beautiful wings, and become capable of flight–they soar into the air, which is their heaven. There they frolic together, marry, lay eggs, and feed on the sap of flowers. They are then at their loveliest, too, because they have wings adorned with pretty flecks of gold, silver, and other colors.

That is the effect the urge to marry produces even in tiny, insignificant creatures like these.

  
/ 10837  
  

Many thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation and its New Century Edition team.