I was once talking with angels in the spiritual world when I was filled with a delightful longing to see the Temple of Wisdom, which I had visited once before. I asked them the way to it, and they replied, 'Follow the light and you will find it.' 'What do you mean,' I said, 'by following the light?' 'Our light,' they said, 'gets more and more brilliant, the closer you come to that temple. So follow the light as its brilliance increases. Our light comes from the Lord as a sun, so regarded in essence it is wisdom.'

Then accompanied by two angels I went towards the increasing light, climbing by a sloping path to the top of a hill in the southern region. There was a magnificent gateway there, and on seeing the angels with me the porter opened it. Inside we saw an arcade made of palms and laurels, along which we walked. It led us in a curve and ended in a garden, in the middle of which was the Temple of Wisdom. Arriving there I looked around and saw small buildings resembling the temple, each containing a wise man. We went up to one, and on the door-step spoke with our host, explaining why we had come and how we had arrived there. 'You are welcome,' said our host, 'come in and sit down and let us engage in wise conversation.'

[2] On looking into the building I saw it was divided into two, though still one. It was cut in half by a transparent wall, but being of the purest crystal its transparency made the room appear to be one. I asked why this was.

'I am not alone,' he said, 'my wife is with me, and though we are two, we are still not two, but one flesh.' 'I know,' I said. 'that you are wise; but what has a wise man or wisdom to do with a woman?' At this our host's face dropped in some show of annoyance, and he held out his hand. At once other wise men came from the nearest buildings, to whom he said in a joking manner, 'Our guest here asked the question, "What has a wise man or wisdom to do with a woman?"' This provoked general laughter, and they said, 'What is a wise man or wisdom without a woman, or without love? A wife is the love of a man's wisdom.'

[3] 'Let us have a wise conversation,' our host said, 'on the subject of causation, beginning with the cause of the beauty of the female sex.' So they took turns to speak. The first said that the reason was that women were created by the Lord as affections for the wisdom of men, and the affection for wisdom is the height of beauty.

The second said the reason was that woman was created by the Lord by means of a man's wisdom, being created from a man, so that she is a form of wisdom inspired by the affection of love. And since the affection of love is really life, a woman is the life of wisdom, but the male is wisdom, and the life of wisdom is the height of beauty.

The third said that the reason was that women have been endowed with a feeling for the delights of conjugial love, and since their whole body is an organ of this feeling, it must inevitably be that, where the delights of conjugial love reside and are felt, there is beauty.

[4] The fourth said the reason was that the Lord took the beauty and elegance of life from man and placed it in woman. So a man, unless reunited with his beauty and elegance in a woman, is grim, stern, dry and unlovable. He is not wise, except to himself, which makes him insensitive. But when a man is united with his beauty and elegance of life in a wife, he becomes pleasant, charming, lively and loveable, and so is wise.

The fifth said that the reason was that women were created as models of beauty, not for their own sakes, but for the sake of men, so that men, being of themselves hard, should be softened, their characters, being of themselves serious, should be made mild, and their hearts, being of themselves cold, should grow warm. This is what happens to them, when they become one flesh with their wives.

[5] The sixth said the reason was that the universe was created by the Lord as the most perfect work. But nothing more perfect was created in it than a woman with a lovely face and proper manners. This was to make men thank the Lord for that act of munificence, and repay it by receiving wisdom from Him.

When these and many similar opinions had been expressed, his wife was seen through the crystal wall. She said to her husband, 'Please speak.' While he spoke, we could perceive in his words the life of wisdom coming from his wife, for her love was present in the sound of his speech. So experience bore witness to this truth.

Afterwards we visited the Temple of Wisdom and the gardens surrounding it. So we went away full of joy, passing through the arcade to the gateway, and went down by the way by which we had come up.