506. The lust of varieties here treated of, does not mean the lust of
fornication, which was treated of above in its proper chapter: the
latter lust, notwithstanding its being usually promiscuous and vague,
still does not occasion the lust of varieties, unless when it is
immoderate, and the fornicator looks to number, and boasts thereof from
a principle of cupidity. This idea causes a beginning of this lust; but
what its quality is as it advances, cannot be distinctly perceived,
unless in some such series as the following: I. _By the lust of
varieties is meant the entirely dissolute lust of adultery._ II. _That
lust is love and at the same time loathing in regard to the sex._ III.
_That lust altogether annihilates conjugial love appertaining to
itself._ IV. _The lot of those (who have been addicted to that lust),
after death, is miserable, since they have not the inmost principle of
life._ We proceed to an explanation of each article.
507. I. BY THE LUST OF VARIETIES IS MEANT THE ENTIRELY DISSOLUTE LUST OF
ADULTERY. This lust insinuates itself with those who in youth have
relaxed the bonds of modesty, and have had opportunities of association
with many loose women, especially if they have not wanted the means of
satisfying their pecuniary demands. They implant and root this lust in
themselves by immoderate and unlimited adulteries, and by shameless
thoughts concerning the love of the female sex, and by confirming
themselves in the idea that adulteries are not evils, and not at all
sins. This lust increases with them as it advances, so much so that they
desire all the women in the world, and wish for whole troops, and a
fresh one every day. Whereas this love separates itself from the common
love of the sex implanted in every man, and altogether from the love of
one of the sex, which is conjugial love, and inserts itself into the
exteriors of the heart as a delight of love separate from those loves,
and yet derived from them; therefore it is so thoroughly rooted in the
cuticles, that it remains in the touch when the powers are decayed.
Persons addicted to this lust make light of adulteries; wherefore they
think of the whole female sex as of a common harlot, and of marriage as
of a common harlotry, and thereby mix immodesty in modesty, and from the
mixture grow insane. From these considerations it is evident what is
here meant by the lust of varieties, that it is the lust of entirely
dissolute adultery.
508. II. THAT LUST IS LOVE AND AT THE SAME TIME LOATHING IN REGARD TO
THE SEX. Persons addicted to that lust have a love for the sex, because
they derive variety from the sex; and they have a loathing for the sex,
because after enjoying a woman they reject her and lust after others.
This obscene lust burns towards a fresh woman, and after burning, it
grows cold towards her; and cold is loathing. That this lust is love and
at the same time loathing in regard to the sex, may be illustrated as
follows: set on the left side a company of the women whom they have
enjoyed, and on the right side a company of those whom they have not;
would not they look at the latter company from love, but at the former
from loathing? and yet each company is the sex.
509. III. THAT LUST ALTOGETHER ANNIHILATES CONJUGIAL LOVE APPERTAINING
TO ITSELF. The reason of this is, because that lust is altogether
opposite to conjugial love, and so opposite, that it not only rends it
asunder, but as it were grinds it to powder, and thereby annihilates it:
for conjugial love is confined to one of the sex; whereas that lust does
not stop at one, but within an hour or a day is as intensely cold as it
was before hot towards her; and since cold is loathing, the latter by
forced cohabitation and dwelling together is so accumulated as to become
nauseous, and thus conjugial love is consumed to such a degree that
nothing of it is left. From these considerations it may be seen, that
this lust is fatal to conjugial love; and as conjugial love constitutes
the inmost principle of life with man, that it is fatal to his life; and
that that lust, by successive interceptions and closings of the
interiors of the mind, at length becomes cuticular, and thus merely
alluring; while the faculty of understanding or rationality still
remains.
510. IV. THE LOT OF THOSE (WHO HAVE BEEN ADDICTED TO THAT LUST) AFTER
DEATH IS MISERABLE, SINCE THEY HAVE NOT THE INMOST PRINCIPLE OF LIFE.
Every one has excellence of life according to his conjugial love; for
that excellence conjoins itself with the life of the wife, and by
conjunction exalts itself; but as with those of whom we are speaking
there does not remain the least principle of conjugial love, and
consequently not anything of the inmost principle of life, therefore
their lot after death is miserable. After passing a certain period of
time in their externals, in which they converse rationally and act
civilly, they are let into their internals, and in this case into a
similar lust and its delights, in the same degree as in the world: for
every one after death is let into the same state of life which he had
appropriated to himself, to the intent that he may be withdrawn from it;
for no one can be withdrawn from this evil, unless he has first been led
into it; if he were not to be led into it, the evil would conceal
itself, and defile the interiors of the mind, and spread itself as a
plague, and would next burst through all barriers and destroy the
external principles of the body. For this end there are opened to them
brothels, which are on the side of hell, where there are harlots with
whom they have an opportunity of varying their lusts; but this is
granted with the restriction to one harlot in a day, and under a penalty
in case of communication with more than one on the same day. Afterwards,
when from examination it appears that that lust is so inbred that they
cannot be withdrawn from it, they are conveyed to a certain place which
is next above the hell assigned for them, and then they appear to
themselves as if they fall into a swoon, and to others as if they fall
down with the face upward; and also the ground beneath their backs is
actually opened, and they are absorbed, and sink down into hell among
their like; thus they are gathered to their own. I have been permitted
to see them there, and likewise to converse with them. Among themselves
they appear as men, which is granted them lest they should be a terror
to their companions; but at a certain distance they seem to have white
faces consisting only of skin, and this because they have no spiritual
life in them, which every one has according to the conjugial principle
sown in him. Their speech is dry, parched, and sorrowful: when they are
hungry, they lament; and their lamentations are heard as a peculiar
clashing noise. Their garments are tattered, and their lower garments
are drawn above the belly round about the breast; because they have no
loins, but their ankles commence from the region of the bottom of the
belly: the reason of this is, because the loins with men (_homines_)
correspond to conjugial love, and they are void of this love. They said
that they loathe the sex on account of their having no potency.
Nevertheless, among themselves they can reason as from rationality; but
since they are cutaneous, they reason from the fallacies of the senses.
This hell is in the western quarter towards the north. These same
persons, when seen from afar, appear not as men or as monsters, but as
frozen substances. It is however to be observed, that those become of
this description who have indulged in the above lust to such a degree as
to rend and annihilate in themselves the conjugial human principle.
* * * * *