281. I have talked a lot with angels about innocence and have been told that innocence is the inner reality of everything good and that therefore anything good is good to the extent that there is innocence within it. Consequently wisdom is wisdom to the extent that it derives from innocence, and the same is true of love, thoughtfulness, and faith. ¹ This is why no one can enter heaven unless he or she has innocence. This is what the Lord meant by saying,

Let the little ones come to me, do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of the heavens. I tell you in truth, whoever will not accept the kingdom of the heavens like a little child will not enter into it. (Mark 10:14-15; Luke 18:16-17)

Little ones in this passage, as elsewhere in the Word, mean the innocent. ² The state of innocence is described by the Lord in Matthew 6, but in pure correspondences. The reason good is good to the extent that there is innocence in it is that all good comes from the Lord, and innocence is being willing to be led by the Lord.

I have also been told that truth cannot be united to good or good to truth except by means of innocence. This is also why angels are not angels of heaven unless there is innocence in them, since heaven is not within anyone until the truth has been united with the good within. So the union of the true and the good is called the heavenly marriage, and the heavenly marriage is heaven.

I have also been told that true marriage love derives its origin from innocence because it comes from the union of the good and the true that engages the two minds, the minds of husband and wife. When this union descends, it takes on the appearance of marriage love because the spouses, like their minds, love each other. This is the source of the childlike and innocent play in marriage love. ³

Footnotes:

5835. 'And his soul being bound up with his soul' means when more closely joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'soul' as life, so that 'the soul of the one bound up with the soul of the other' means the life of the one in that of the other. Consequently a closer joining together is meant, that is to say, of spiritual good, which is 'Israel', to the truth springing from that good, which is 'Benjamin'. The implications of good being joined as closely to truth as the soul of the one is bound up with that of the other are as follows: A person's mind, which is the real person and is where his life resides, has two powers, one of which is assigned to the truths of faith, the other to the good of charity. The mental power assigned to the truths of faith is called the understanding, while the one assigned to the good of charity is called the will. To enable a person to be truly human these two powers must make a unified whole.

[2] But at the present day those two mental powers have become completely set apart from each other, as may be recognized from the fact that a person can understand something as being true and yet be unable to will it. For a person can see in his understanding that all the Ten Commandments are truths and to some extent that the contents of religious teachings drawn from the Word are truths; indeed he can also confirm that they are truths by the use of his understanding and in addition through the preaching he hears. yet the intentions of his will are at variance with those truths, and so as a consequence are his actions. From this it is evident that those two mental powers present in a person have become set apart from each other. Yet they ought not to be set apart, as may be recognized from the consideration that should they be set apart when he enters the next life ¹ the truth in his understanding will raise him up towards heaven, while the evil intentions in his will will draw him down towards hell, thus leaving him suspended between the two. Even so, the intentions in his will, which constitute his actual life, will carry him downwards, thus taking him inevitably into hell. Therefore to prevent this from happening, those two mental powers have to be joined together. This is effected by the Lord through regeneration - through the implantation of the truth of faith within the good of charity. For in this way a person is provided through the truth of faith with a new understanding, and through the good of charity with a new will; and this gives him two mental Powers which make one complete mind.

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