7. V. Both that heat and that light flow into man: the heat into his will, where it produces the good of love; and the light into his understanding, where it produces the truth of wisdom.

It is well known that all things universally have relation to good and truth, and that there is not a single thing in existence in which there is not something related to those two. On this account there are two receptacles of life in man: one, which is the receptacle of good, called the will; and another, which is the receptacle of truth, called the understanding; and, as good is of love and truth is of wisdom, the will is the receptacle of love, and the understanding the receptacle of wisdom. Good is of love, because what a man loves that he wills, and when he brings it into action he calls it good: and truth is of wisdom, because all wisdom is from truths; indeed, the good which a wise man thinks is truth, which becomes good when he wills and does it.

[2] He who does not rightly distinguish between these two receptacles of life, which are the will and the understanding, and does not form for himself a clear notion respecting them, strives in vain to comprehend the nature of spiritual influx. For there is influx into the will, and there is influx into the understanding. Into the will of man there is an influx of the good of love, and into his understanding there is an influx of the truth of wisdom, each proceeding from Jehovah God, directly through the sun in the midst of which He is, and indirectly through the angelic heaven. These two receptacles, the will and the understanding are as distinct as heat and light; for, as was said above, the will receives the heat of heaven, which in its essence is love, and the understanding receives the light of heaven, which in its essence is wisdom.

[3] There is an influx from the human mind into the speech, and there is an influx into the actions; the influx into speech is from the will through the understanding, but the influx into the actions is from the understanding through the will. Those who are only acquainted with the influx into the understanding, and not at the same time with that into the will, and who reason and conclude therefrom, are like one-eyed persons, who only see the objects on one side of them, and not at the same time those on the other; and like maimed persons, who do their work awkwardly with one hand only; and like lame persons, who walk by hopping on one foot, with the assistance of a staff. From these few observations it is plain that spiritual heat flows into the will of man, and produces the good of love, and that spiritual light flows into his understanding, and produces the truth of wisdom.

482. 3. Double adultery is the adultery of a married man with the wife of another, or vice versa. We call this double adultery, because it is committed by each of the two and the covenant of marriage is violated on both sides. Therefore it is doubly more grave than the first kind.

We said above (no. 480) that following the pledge and covenant, the conjugial love of one man with one wife unites their souls; that this union is the love itself in its origin; and that adultery closes it off and stops it up, like one who closes off and stops up the source and flow of a spring. It is clearly apparent that the souls of the two unite when love for the opposite sex is confined to one of the sex - as happens when a young woman has pledged herself wholly to a young man and the young man conversely has pledged himself wholly to the young woman - from the fact their two lives unite, consequently their souls, because these are their life in its beginnings. This union of souls is possible only in monogamous marriages or marriages of one man with one wife; but not in polygamous marriages or marriages of one man with more than one wife; because in the latter love is divided, in the former united.

Conjugial love in this, its highest seat, is spiritual, holy and pure, because the soul of every person from its origin is celestial; consequently it receives influx from the Lord directly; for it receives from Him a marriage of love and wisdom or good and truth, and this influx makes the person a human being and sets him apart from animals.

[2] From this union of souls, where it is in its spiritual holiness and purity, conjugial love flows down into the life of the entire body and fills it with blessed delights, so long as its course remains open, as is the case in people who from the Lord become spiritual.

Nothing else closes off and stops up this seat, source, or wellspring of conjugial love and its flow but adultery, as is apparent from the Lord's words, that only on the ground of licentiousness is it lawful for one to divorce his wife and marry another (Matthew 19:4-9); and from this statement in the same passage, that whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery (Matthew 19:9). When, therefore, this pure and holy wellspring is stopped up, as described above, it is, like a jewel in excrement or bread in vomit, encompassed by foul pollutions that are altogether opposed to the purity and sanctity of that spring which is conjugial love. From that opposition arises coldness to the marriage, and in the measure of that coldness the libidinous lasciviousness of licentious love, which spontaneously consumes itself. This is a sinful evil, because it covers over something holy and thus obstructs its course into the body, allowing something profane to take its place and open its course into the body, so that from being heavenly the person becomes hellish.