This verse uses "man" in a masculine sense, meaning thoughts and ideas in the intellect. Leaving father and mother means leaving the former state of internal spiritual awareness, and cleaving to his wife means being conjoined instead with the external awareness of life. Being one flesh means that the internal of the man and the external of the wife were together as one in life.

The people of the Most Ancient Church wanted to live from themselves. So the Lord created in them the capacity to feel that, though it meant they had to descend from the spiritual awareness they had enjoyed. But they weren't bad people; they still loved the Lord and wished to be good. They just wanted to feel that they were doing it themselves. By having the man cleave to the wife, the Lord allowed the people's higher internal states to enter into their external lives and be part of that sense of self, so they could indeed love the Lord as if from themselves.

(Referências: Arcana Coelestia 160, 161, 162)

There are two aspects to the life of each person. We might call them "heart" and "mind," a part of us that wants and feels and a part of us that thinks and knows. The Writings usually refer to these as the "will" and the "understanding." They are reflections, and receptacles, of the Lord's infinite love and infinite wisdom. Of the two, the heart or will is ultimately the most important. Who we actually are is determined by what we love, and the things in our heart ultimately determine our place in heaven (or hell). But the will is beyond our control; we can't force ourselves to want something good or to not want something bad; we can control our actions, but not our feelings. Because of this power, the Lord works subtly and carefully in our hearts, in ways we can't sense. Most of the work and interaction goes on in our minds through the working of what the Writings call "Divine Truth," which is essentially the Lord's entire essence expressed in a form that is compatible with our minds. When the Bible talks about the Lord's "spirit," it represents this operation of Divine Truth in our minds, the way he reaches out and embraces us, and invites us to embrace him back. And when the Bible talks about people having "spirit," it is talking about our minds when we embrace Divine Truth.