56. The Second Memorable Relation:
Once, while talking with angels in the world of spirits, I was inspired with a pleasant desire to see the Temple of Wisdom which I had seen once before;* and I asked them the way. They said, "Follow the light and you will find it." I said, "What do you mean by "Follow the light"?" and they said: "Our light shines more and more brightly as we draw nearer to that temple. Therefore, follow the light according to the increase of its brightness; for our light proceeds from the Lord as a Sun, and hence, considered in itself, is wisdom."
Then, walking in company with two angels, I followed the increasing brightness of the light and ascended by a steep path to the summit of a hill which lay in the southern quarter. There was a magnificent gate there. Seeing the angels with me, the keeper opened it and, lo, there was seen an avenue of palm trees and laurels, and along this we walked. It was a winding avenue and terminated in a garden in the midst of which was the TEMPLE OF WISDOM. As I looked around me, I saw also small buildings, similar to the temple, and in them were wise men. We approached one of these buildings and, at the entrance, spoke to the host there and told him the reason of our coming and the manner of our approach. He then said, "Welcome; come in; be seated and let us join together in discourse on wisdom.:
[2] Within the house, I saw that it was divided into two and yet was one. It was divided into two by a transparent partition; and it seemed to be one because of the transparency of the partition which was as though of purest crystal. I asked why this was the case. He said, "I am not alone. My wife is with me; and we are two and yet not two but one flesh."
I then said, "I know that you are a wise man, but what has a wise man or wisdom to do with woman?" At this our host, with some indignation, changed countenance. He then stretched out his hand and, lo, from neighboring houses other wise men were present. To these, he said jestingly, "Our new-comer here, for the purpose of learning, asks what a wise man or wisdom has to do with woman?" At this they all laughed and said, "What is a wise man or wisdom without woman, that is, without love? The wife is the love of a wise man's wisdom."
[3] Our host then said, "Let us now join together in some discourse on wisdom. Let the discourse be concerning causes, and for the present concerning the cause of the beauty of the female sex." They then spoke in turn. The first gave this as the cause: "Women were created, by the Lord, affections of the wisdom of men; and the affection of wisdom is beauty itself." A second gave this: "Woman was created by the Lord through the wisdom of man because from man. Hence, being a form of wisdom inspired with the affection of love, and the affection of love being life itself, woman is the life of wisdom. The male is wisdom, and the life of wisdom is beauty." A third gave this: "To women is given a perception of the delights of conjugial love; and because their whole body is an organ of that perception, it cannot be otherwise than that the abode of the delights of conjugial love with its perception is beauty." [4] A fourth gave this: "The Lord has taken the beauty and grace of life from man and transcribed them into woman. Hence, without reunion with his beauty and grace in woman, a man is stern, austere, dry, and unlovely; nor is he wise save for himself alone, and then he is stupid. But when man is united with his beauty and grace of life in his wife, he becomes agreeable, pleasant, animated, and lovely, and thus wise." A fifth gave this: "Women are created beauties for the sake not of themselves but of men, that men, of themselves hard, may be softened; that their minds, of themselves severe, may become mild, and their hearts, of themselves cold, warm; and they do become such when they become one flesh with their wives." [5] A sixth gave this: "The universe was created by the Lord a most perfect work; but in that universe nothing was created more perfect than woman, beautiful in face and graceful in manners; and this to the end that man may render thanks to the Lord for this bounty, and may repay it by the reception of wisdom from Him.
After these and many like sentiments had been expressed, the wife appeared through the crystal partition and said to her husband, "Speak, if you please." And when he spoke, the life of wisdom from his wife was perceived in his speech; for her love was in the tone of his voice. Thus experience bore witness to truth.
After this we examined the Temple of wisdom, and also its paradisal surroundings, and then, filled thereby with joy, we departed, and, passing through the avenue to the gate, went down by the way we had come.
* See APOCALYPSE REVEALED (published in 1766), n. 875; the present work was published in 1768.