Conjugial Love (Rogers) n. 272

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272. (1) Nearly all people in the natural world can be associated together in respect to their outward affections, but not in respect to their inner affections if these differ and become apparent. The reason is that in the world a person is invested with a material body, and this is filled with urges, which in it are like dregs that settle to the bottom when newly fermented wine is being clarified. From such elements come the materials of which the bodies of people in the world are composed. As a result, inward affections that belong to the mind do not appear, and in many cases scarcely a trace of them is visible. For either the body swallows them up and immerses them in its dregs, or from a habit of dissembling learned from early childhood, it hides them deep within and conceals them from the sight of others. This also enables it to enter into the state of some affection which it observes in someone else, and to attract the other's affection to it, so that they form a relationship. They form a relationship, because every affection has its delight, and delights are what join hearts together. It would be different, however, if inward affections were like outward ones, visible in the expression of the face and gesture and audible in the sound of the speech, or if their delights were noticeable to the nose and smelled, as is the case in the spiritual world. If these affections were then dissimilar to the point of friction and conflict, they would separate their hearts from each other and part, removing themselves to a distance commensurate with their perception of antipathy. It is apparent from this that nearly all people in the natural world can be associated together in respect to outward affections, but not in respect to their inner affections, if these differ and become apparent.


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