The origins of conjugial love are internal and external, there being many internal origins, likewise many external ones. The inmost or fundamental origin of them all, however, is one. This is the marriage between good and truth, as we will show in the following paragraphs. No one has traced the origin of this love from this source before, because no one has seen that there is any union between good and truth. No one has seen it, moreover, because goodness is not visible to the sight of the understanding as truth is, and therefore knowledge of it has remained hidden and eluded investigation. Since goodness is consequently one of the unknowns in life, no one has been able to discern any marriage between it and truth. Indeed, to the natural sight of reason, good appears so far removed from truth as to have no connection with it. The fact of this can be seen from people's remarks whenever they mention goodness and truth. For instance, when they say, "This is good," they have no thought of truth. And when they say, "This is true," neither do they have any thought of good. As a result, many people today believe that truth is something completely separate, likewise goodness. Many also believe as well that a person is intelligent and wise and thus truly human according to the truths that he thinks, speaks, writes, and believes, and not at the same time according to his goodness. Nevertheless, we will now explain that good does not exist apart from truth, nor truth apart from good, consequently that there is an eternal marriage between them, and that this marriage is the origin of conjugial love. The explanation will be developed according to the following outline:

(1) Goodness and truth are universal in creation, and are therefore in all created things, but they are present in their created vessels according to each one's form. (2) Good does not exist by itself, nor truth by itself, but they are everywhere united. (3) There is good's truth and from this truth's good, or truth resulting from good and good resulting from that truth, and implanted in these two from creation is an inclination to join together into one. (4) In members of the animal kingdom, good's truth or truth resulting from good is masculine, and truth's consequent goodness or good resulting from that truth is feminine. (5) From the marriage of good and truth flowing in from the Lord comes love for the opposite sex and also conjugial love. (6) A love for the opposite sex is a love of the external or natural man, and is therefore common to every animal. (7) But conjugial love is a love of the internal or spiritual man, and is therefore peculiar to mankind. (8) Conjugial love in a person lies within love for the opposite sex, like a gem in its native rock. (9) A love for the opposite sex in a person is not the origin of conjugial love, but it is its first stage, being thus like any external natural quality in which an internal spiritual one is implanted. (10) When conjugial love has been implanted, love for the opposite sex turns around and becomes a chaste love for the opposite sex. (11) Male and female were created to be the very image of the marriage between good and truth. (12) They are an image of that marriage in their inmost qualities and thus in their subsequent ones as the inner faculties of their minds are opened.

Explanation of these statements now follows.