ss approaching to
loathing, is well known, although but little talked of. That this is the
case with such adulterers in hell, I have heard at a distance, from the
sirens, who are obsolete venereal lusts, and also from the harlots
there. From these considerations it follows, that adulterous love makes
a man (_homo_) more and more not a man (_homo_) and not a man (_vir_)
and that conjugial love makes a man more and more a man (_homo_) and a
man (_vir_).

434. IX. THERE ARE A SPHERE OF ADULTEROUS LOVE AND A SPHERE OF CONJUGIAL
LOVE. What is meant by spheres, and that they are various, and that
those which are of love and wisdom proceed from the Lord, and through
the angelic heavens descend into the world, and pervade it even to its
ultimates, was shewn above, n. 222-225; and n. 386-397. That every thing
in the universe has its opposites, may be seen above, n. 425: hence it
follows, that whereas there is a sphere of conjugial love, there is also
a sphere opposite to it, which is called a sphere of adulterous love;
for those spheres are opposed to each other, as the love of adultery is
opposed the love of marriage. This opposition has been treated of in the
preceding parts of this chapter.

435. X. THE SPHERE OF ADULTEROUS LOVE ASCENDS FROM HELL, AND THE SPHERE
OF CONJUGIAL LOVE DESCENDS FROM HEAVEN. That the sphere of conjugial
love descends from heaven, was shewn in the places cited just above, n.
434; but the reason why the sphere of adulterous love ascends from hell,
is, because this love is from thence, see n. 429. That sphere ascends
thence from the impurities into which the delights of adultery are
changed with those who are of each sex there; concerning which delight
see above, n. 430, 431.

436. XI. THOSE TWO SPHERES MEET EACH OTHER IN EACH WORLD; BUT THEY DO
NOT UNITE. By each world is meant the spiritual world and the natural
world. In the spiritual world those spheres meet each other in the world
of spirits, because this is the medium between heaven and hell; but in
the natural world they meet each other in the rational plane
appertaining to man, which also is the medium between heaven and hell:
for the marriage of good and truth flows into it from above, and the
marriage of evil and the false flows into it from beneath. The latter
marriage flows in through the world, but the former through heaven.
Hence it is, that the human rational principle can turn itself to either
side as it pleases, and receive influx.