386. 1. Two universal atmospheres emanate from the Lord to preserve the universe in its created state, one of which is an atmosphere of procreating, and the other an atmosphere of protecting what has been procreated. We call the Divinity emanating from the Lord an atmosphere, because it goes out from Him, surrounds Him, fills both worlds - the spiritual and the natural - and brings about the effects of the ends which the Lord ordained at creation and which He subsequently provides.

Everything that flows out from an object, surrounds it and envelops it, is called an atmosphere. As, for example, the atmosphere of light and heat from the sun around it; the atmosphere of life from a person around him; the atmosphere of aroma from a shrub around it; the atmosphere of attraction from a magnet around it; and so on.

[2] But the universal atmospheres which we are discussing here are from the Lord around Him; and they emanate from the sun of the spiritual world, at whose center He is. From the Lord through that sun emanates an atmosphere of warmth and light, or to say the same thing, an atmosphere of love and wisdom, to bring about ends which are of use. However, that atmosphere is designated by various names according to the uses it serves. The Divine atmosphere in regard to the preservation of the universe in its created state by successive generations, is called an atmosphere of procreating; and the Divine atmosphere in regard to the preservation of those generations in their beginnings and afterwards in their advances, is called an atmosphere of protecting what has been procreated.

In addition to these two, there are a number of other Divine atmospheres, which are named according to the uses they serve, having thus various names, as may be seen above in no. 222. Effectuations of useful ends by means of these atmospheres are Divine providence.

223. 14. This atmosphere is received by the female sex and communicated through it to the male sex. The male sex does not have any conjugial love inherent in it, but conjugial love is inherent only in the female sex and is transmitted to the male sex from it. This is something I have seen attested from an experience I had, related above in no. 161. It is supported also by the following argument, that the masculine form is an intellect-oriented one and the feminine form a will-oriented one; and an intellect-oriented form does not have the capacity to develop a conjugial warmth on its own, but can do so only from the associated warmth of another in whom this has been implanted from creation. Consequently the masculine form cannot receive conjugial love except by having adjoined to it the will-oriented form of a woman, because this is at the same time a form of love.

[2] The same point could be further confirmed from the marriage between good and truth, and, to the natural man, from the marriage between the heart and the lungs, because the heart corresponds to love and the lungs to the intellect. However, because most people are without knowledge of these, any confirmation on the basis of them would do more to obscure than enlighten.

The communication of this atmosphere from the female sex to the male sex is what causes the masculine mind to be set on fire even at just the thought of the opposite sex. It follows that it is also what causes the formation of the procreative powers in him and thus his state of arousal. For unless warmth is added to light on earth, nothing flourishes or is aroused to produce any fruit there.