Divine Love and Divine Wisdom

39. In a human being, love and wisdom appear to be two separate things, but they are still distinctly one within themselves. This is because a person's wisdom is exactly like their love, and their love is exactly like their wisdom. Wisdom that does not act as one with its love may appear to be wisdom, but it is not; and love that does not act as one with its wisdom may appear to be the love of wisdom, but it is not. This is because each derives its essence and life from the other reciprocally. The reason why wisdom and love in a person appear to be two separate things is that the faculty of understanding can be elevated into the light of heaven, while the faculty of loving cannot—unless the person actually does what they understand. Therefore, that appearance of wisdom which is not united with the love of wisdom eventually collapses back into whatever love it is united with—which might be a love of insanity rather than wisdom. For a person may know through wisdom that they ought to do one thing or another, yet still not do it because they do not love it. However, to the extent that a person acts from love upon what wisdom teaches, they are an image of God.

40. THAT THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM ARE A SUBSTANCE AND A FORM. The common idea people have regarding love and wisdom is that they are something volatile and floating in subtle air or ether, or perhaps an exhalation from something of that kind. Hardly anyone thinks that they are really and actually a substance and a form. Even those who do see that they are a substance and a form still perceive love and wisdom as something coming out of a subject In philosophy, a "subject" is the underlying entity or thing in which qualities or attributes exist. and issuing from it. What they perceive as issuing from the subject—even if they call it a substance and a form—they still think of as something volatile and floating. They do not realize that love and wisdom are the subject itself, and that what is perceived outside of it as something floating is only an appearance of the state of the subject within itself. There are several reasons why this has not been seen before. One is that appearances are the first things the human mind uses to form its understanding, and it cannot shake them off except by investigating the cause. If the cause lies very deep, the mind cannot investigate it without keeping the understanding in "spiritual light" for some time—something it cannot do for long because "natural life" continually pulls the mind back down. Nevertheless, the truth is that love and wisdom are a real and actual substance and form, and they constitute the subject itself.

41. But since this contradicts appearances, it may not seem to deserve belief unless it is demonstrated. Since it can only be demonstrated through things a person can perceive with their physical senses, it shall be demonstrated through them. A person has five senses, which are touch original: "feeling", taste, smell, hearing, and sight. The subject of touch is the skin that encompasses a person; the substance and form of the skin cause it to feel...