187. III. THESE CHANGES DIFFER IN THE CASE OF MEN AND OF WOMEN; SINCE
MEN FROM CREATION ARE FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE, INTELLIGENCE, AND WISDOM; AND
WOMEN ARE FORMS OF THE LOVE OF THOSE PRINCIPLES AS EXISTING WITH MEN.
That men were created forms of the understanding, and that women were
created forms of the love of the understanding of men, may be explained
above, n. 90. That the changes of state, which succeed both with men and
women from infancy to mature age, are for the perfecting of forms, the
intellectual form with men, and the voluntary with women, follows as a
consequence: hence it is clear, that the changes with men differ from
those with women; nevertheless with both, the external form which is of
the body is perfected according to the perfecting of the internal form
which is of the mind; for the mind acts upon the body, and not _vice
versa_. This is the reason why infants in heaven become men of stature
and comeliness according as they increase in intelligence; it is
otherwise with infants on earth, because they are encompassed with a
material body like the animals; nevertheless they agree in this, that
they first grow in inclination to such things as allure their bodily
senses, and afterwards by little and little to such things as affect the
internal thinking sense, and by degrees to such things as tincture the
will with affection; and when they arrive at an age which is midway
between mature and immature, the conjugial inclination begins, which is
that of a maiden to a youth, and of a youth to a maiden; and as maidens
in the heavens, like those on earth from an innate prudence conceal
their inclination to marriage, the youths there know no other than that
they affect the maidens with love; and this also appears to them in
consequence of their masculine eagerness; which they also derive from an
influx of love from the fair sex; concerning which influx we shall speak
particularly elsewhere.
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