Conjugial Love (Chadwick) n. 427

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427. (iv) Scortatory love is the opposite of conjugial love, just as the pairing of evil and falsity is the opposite of the marriage of good and truth.

It was shown above in the chapter on this subject ([V] 83-102) that the source of conjugial love is the marriage of good and truth. It follows from this that the source of scortatory love is the pairing of evil and falsity. Hence they are opposites, just as evil is the opposite of good, and the falsity of evil is the opposite of the truth of good. Each love has its own pleasures which are likewise opposites; for a love is nothing without its pleasures. It is not at all apparent that these are so opposed. This is because the pleasure of the love of evil counterfeits at the outward level the pleasure of the love of good. But inwardly the pleasure of the love of evil is composed of nothing but lusts after evil. Evil itself is the mass or heap of these rolled into a ball. But the pleasure of the love of good is composed of countless affections for good, and good itself is like a bundle of these united into a single entity. This bundle and that heap are not felt by human beings except as a single pleasure, and since the pleasure of evil outwardly counterfeits that of good, as already said, so too does the pleasure of adultery counterfeit that of marriage. But after death when everyone sets aside his outward character and his inward character is laid bare, then it is plainly to be felt that the evil of adultery is a heap of lusts after evil, and the good of marriage is a bundle of affections for good, so that they are the direct opposite of each other.


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