212 HEAVEN and HELL §369
no controlling, though, in marriages in the heavens. The volition of the
wife actually belongs to the husband and the intellect of the husband
belongs to the wife. This is because each wants to intend and think like
the other, mutually, that is, and reciprocally. This is how the two are
united into one.
This is a truly effective union. The intent of the wife actually enters
into the thinking of the husband, and the thinking of the husband
enters into the intent of the wife, especially when they look each other in
the face, since as already noted there is a sharing of thoughts and affec-
tions in the heavens. There is all the more sharing between a wife and a
husband because they love each other.
We may gather from this what the union of minds is like that makes a
marriage and that gives birth to marriage love in the heavens—it is that each
wants his or her blessings to belong to the other, and that this is mutual.370 I have been told by angels that the more two spouses are engaged in
this kind of union, the more they are caught up in marriage love and, at
the same time, in intelligence, wisdom, and happiness. This is because
divine truth and divine good, the source of all intelligence, wisdom, and
happiness, fl ow primarily into marriage love. This means that marriage
love is the essential matrix for the divine infl ow because it is itself a mar-
riage of the true and the good. This in turn is because the nature of the
union of intellect and volition determines the nature of the union of the
true and the good, because the intellect is a receptor of divine truth,
being formed from truths, while volition is a receptor of divine good and
is actually formed from things good. In fact, whatever we intend is good
in our estimation, and whatever we understand is true for us. This is why
it is all the same whether you talk about the union of intellect and intent
or the union of the true and the good.
The union of the true and the good makes an angel, and also makes
angels’ intelligence, wisdom, and happiness. The actual nature of angels
depends on how what is true in them is united to what is good, and what is
good is united to what is true. In other words, the nature of angels depends
on the way their love is united to their faith and their faith to their love.
371 The reason the divine nature that emanates from the Lord fl ows pri-
marily into marriage love is that marriage love fl ows down from the
union of the good and the true, for as already noted, it does not matter
whether you talk about the union of intellect and volition or the union
of the good and the true. The union of the good and the true fi nds its
origin in the Lord’s divine love for everyone in the heavens and on earth.
Divine good emanates from this divine love, and divine good is accepted