302. 6. By betrothal each is made ready for conjugial love. It follows from the arguments presented in the preceding discussion that by betrothal the mind or spirit of one is made ready for union with the mind or spirit of the other, or to say the same thing, the love of one with the love of the other.

To those considerations we should add also the following, that by the order engraved on it truly conjugial love ascends and descends. It ascends from its first warmth progressively upward towards people's souls in an effort to form conjunctions there, and this by continually more interior openings of their minds. There is, moreover, no love which strives for these openings more intensely, or which opens the interior recesses of minds more forcefully and adeptly, than conjugial love; for it is the soul in each which impels it. On the other hand, in the very same moments that this love ascends toward the soul, it also descends toward the body and invests itself in it.

[2] People should know, however, that conjugial love is of the same character in its descent as it is in the height to which it ascends. If it soars aloft, it descends chaste; but if it does not soar aloft, it descends unchaste. That is because the lower elements of the mind are unchaste, while its higher elements are chaste; for the lower elements of the mind cling to the body, whereas the higher elements divorce themselves from such things. (But for more on this subject, see no. 305 below.)

From these few considerations it can be seen that the mind of each is prepared for conjugial love by betrothal, although in various ways depending on their affections.