245. To what we have just affirmed, an objection may be raised on the ground that life is still procreated from the father's life - even if his soul is not united with the soul of the mother - indeed, even if a deep-seated coldness there separates them. But souls or offspring are nevertheless still procreated for the reason that a man's intellect is not so closed up that it cannot be elevated into the light that the soul is in (in contrast with love in his will, which is not elevated into a warmth corresponding to the light there except by his living a life which transforms his character from natural to spiritual).

It is owing to this that life is still procreated, but during its descent, until it becomes seed or sperm, the soul is enveloped by elements of a type that have to do with the father's natural love. This is the source from which hereditary evil springs.

To this I will add a secret, which I have from heaven, that between two disunited souls, especially those of married partners, conjunction is accomplished in the area of some intermediary love. Otherwise conceptions would not occur among human beings.

(For more on the subject of coldness in marriage and where it has its seat - namely, in the highest region of the mind - see the concluding narrative account at the end of this chapter, no. 270.)