894. 'At the beginning, on the first of the month' means a starting point. This is now clear from what has been said above. Everything that this statement embodies is an arcanum so deep that it cannot be described, except for just the point that no definite period of time ever exists when anyone is regenerate enough to be able to say, 'Now I am perfect'. In fact an unlimited number of states of evil and falsity exist with everyone, not only simple states but also varied and complex ones which, as has been stated, have to be disposed of in such a way that they do not recur. In some states a person can be called fairly perfect, but in countless others he cannot. People who have been regenerated during their lifetime, and in whose lives faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour have been present, are in the next life being perfected all the time.

2727. HOW MARRIAGES ARE REGARDED IN HEAVEN AND ALSO ADULTEROUS SITUATIONS

What genuine conjugial love is and where it originates few know at the present day, the reason being that it exists with few. Almost everyone believes that it is inborn and so flows from, they say, a kind of natural instinct, such belief being strengthened by the fact that the inclination to pair off as in marriage also occurs among animals. But the difference between conjugial love with human beings and that inclination with animals is as the difference between the human condition and that of any animal.