Heaven and Hell/7
VII
Each Society is a Heaven in Smaller Form, and each Angel in the Smallest Form
51. Each society is a heaven in a smaller form, and each angel in the smallest form, because it is the good of love and of faith that makes heaven, and this good is in each society of heaven and in each angel of a society. It does not matter that this good everywhere differs and varies, it is still the good of heaven; and there is no difference except that heaven has one quality here and another there. So when any one is raised up into any society of heaven he is said to come into heaven; and those who are there are said to be in heaven, and each one in his own. This is known to all in the other life; consequently those standing outside of or beneath heaven, when they see at a distance companies of angels, say that heaven is in this or that place. It is comparatively like civil and military officers and attendants in a royal palace or castle, who, although dwelling apart in their own quarters or chambers above and below, are yet in the same palace or castle, each in his own position in the royal service. This makes evident the meaning of the Lord's words, that:
In His Father's house are many abiding places (John 14:2);
also what is meant by the dwelling-places of heaven, and the heavens of heavens, in the prophets.
52. That each society is a heaven in a smaller form can be seen from
this also, that each society there has a heavenly form like that of
heaven as a whole. In the whole heavens those who are superior to the
rest are in the middle, with the less excellent round about in a
decreasing order even to the borders (as stated in a preceding
chapter, n. 43). It can be seen also from this, that the Lord directs
all in the whole heaven as if they were a single angel; and the same
is true of all in each society; and as a consequence an entire
angelic society sometimes appears in angelic form like a single
angel, as I have been permitted by the Lord to see. Moreover, when
the Lord appears in the midst of the angels He does not appear as one
surrounded by many, but the appearance is as a one, in an angelic
form. This is why the Lord is called "an angel" in the Word, and why
an entire society is so called. "Michael," "Gabriel," and "Raphael"
are no other than angelic societies so named from their function.[1]
53. As an entire society is a heaven in a smaller form, so an angel
is a heaven in the smallest form. For heaven is not outside of the
angel, but is within him, since the interior things which belong to
his mind are arranged into the form of heaven, thus for the reception
of all things of heaven that are outside of him. These also he
receives according to the quality of the good that is in him from the
Lord. It is from this that an angel is a heaven.
54. It can in no sense be said that heaven is outside of any one; it
is within him. For it is in accordance with the heaven that is within
him that each angel receives the heaven that is outside of him. This
makes clear how greatly misled is he who believes that to come into
heaven is simply to be taken up among angels, without regard to what
one's interior life may be, thus that heaven is granted to each one
by mercy apart from means;[2] when, in fact, unless heaven is within
one, nothing of the heaven that is outside can flow in and be
received. There are many spirits who have this idea. Because of this
belief they have been taken up into heaven; but when they came there,
because their interior life was contrary to the angelic life, their
intellectual faculties began to be blinded until they became like
fools; and they began to be tortured in their voluntary faculties
until they became like madmen. In a word, if those that have lived
wickedly come into heaven they gasp for breath and writhe about, like
fishes out of water in the air, or like animals in ether in an
airpump when the air has been exhausted. From this it can be seen
that heaven is not outside of a man, but within him.[3]
55. As everyone receives the heaven that is outside of him in
accordance with the quality of the heaven that is within him, so in
like manner does everyone receive the Lord, since it is the Divine of
the Lord that makes heaven. And for this reason when the Lord becomes
manifestly present in any society His appearance there is in accord
with the quality of the good in which the society is, thus not the
same in one society as in another. This diversity is not in the Lord;
it is in the angels who behold Him from their own good, and thus in
accordance with their good. And they are affected by His appearance
in accordance with the quality of their love, those who love Him
inmostly being inmostly affected, and those who love Him less being
less affected; while the evil who are outside of heaven are tortured
by His presence. When the Lord is seen in any society He is seen as
an angel, but is distinguished from others by the Divine that shines
through.
56. Again, heaven is where the Lord is acknowledged, believed in, and
loved. Variety in worship of the Lord from the variety of good in
different societies is not harmful, but beneficial, for the
perfection of heaven is therefrom. This can scarcely be made clear to
the comprehension without employing terms that are in common use in
the learned world, and showing by means of these how unity, that it
may be perfect, must be formed from variety. Every whole exists from
various parts, since a whole without constituents is not anything; it
has no form, and therefore no quality. But when a whole exists from
various parts, and the various parts are in a perfect form, in which
each attaches itself like a congenial friend to another in series,
then the quality is perfect. So heaven is a whole from various parts
arranged in a most perfect form, for the heavenly form is the most
perfect of all forms. That this is the ground of all perfection is
evident from the nature of all beauty, agreeableness and delight, by
which the senses and the mind are affected; for these qualities
spring and flow from no other source than the concert and harmony of
many concordant and congenial parts, either coexisting in order or
following in order, and never from a whole without many parts. From
this is the saying that variety gives delight; and the nature of
variety, as is known, is what determines the delight. From all this
it can be seen as in a mirror how perfection comes from variety even
in heaven. For from the things that exist in the natural world the
things of the spiritual world can be seen as in a mirror.[4]
57. What has been said of heaven may be said also of the church, for
the church is the Lord's heaven on earth. There are also many
churches, each one of which is called a church, and so far as the
good of love and faith reigns therein is a church. Here, too, the
Lord out of various parts forms a unity, that is, one church out of
many churches.[5] And the like may be said of the man of the church
in particular that is said of the church in general, namely, that the
church is within man and not outside of him; and that every man is a
church in whom the Lord is present in the good of love and of
faith.[6] Again, the same may be said of a man that has the church in
him as of an angel that has heaven in him, namely, that he is a
church in the smallest form, as an angel is a heaven in the smallest
form; and furthermore that a man that has the church in him, equally
with an angel, is a heaven. For man was created that he might come
into heaven and become an angel; consequently he that has good from
the Lord is a man-angel.[7] What man has in common with an angel and
what he has in contrast with angels may be mentioned. It is granted
to man, equally with the angel, to have his interiors conformed to
the image of heaven, and to become, so far as he is in the good of
love and faith, an image of heaven. But it is granted to man and not
to angels to have his exteriors conform to the image of the world;
and so far as he is in good to have the world in him subordinated to
heaven and made to serve heaven.[8] And then the Lord is present in
him both in the world and in heaven just as if he were in his heaven.
For the Lord is in His Divine order in both worlds, since God is
order.[9]
58. Finally it should be said that he who has heaven in himself has
it not only in the largest or most general things pertaining to him
but also in every least or particular thing, and that these least
things repeat in an image the greatest. This comes from the fact that
everyone is his own love, and is such as his ruling love is. That
which reigns flows into the particulars and arranges them, and every
where induces a likeness of itself.[10] In the heavens love to the
Lord is the ruling love, for there the Lord is loved above all
things. Hence the Lord there is the All-in-all, flowing into all and
each, arranging them, clothing them with a likeness of Himself, and
making it to be heaven wherever He is. This is what makes an angel to
be a heaven in the smallest form, a society to be a heaven in a
larger form, and all the societies taken together a heaven in the
largest form. That the Divine of the Lord is what makes heaven, and
that He is the All-in-all, may be seen above (n. 7-12).
- ↑ In the Word the Lord is called an angel (n. 6280, 6831, 8192, 9303). A whole angelic society is called an angel, and Michael and Raphael are angelic societies, so called from their functions (n. 8192). The societies of heaven and the angels have no names, but are distinguished by the quality of their good, and by the idea of it (n. 1705, 1754).
- ↑ Heaven is not granted from mercy apart from means, but in accordance with the life; yet everything of the life by which man is led to heaven by the Lord belongs to mercy; this is what is meant by mercy (n. 5057, 10659). If heaven were granted from mercy apart from means it would be granted to all (n. 2401). About some evil spirits cast down from heaven who believed that heaven was granted to everyone from mercy apart from means (n. 4226).
- ↑ Heaven is in man (n. 3884).
- ↑ Every whole is from the harmony and concert of many parts. Otherwise it has no quality (n. 457). From this the entire heaven is a whole (n. 457). And for the reason that all there have regard to one end, which is the Lord (n. 9828).
- ↑ If good were the characteristic and essential of the church, and not truth apart from good, the church would be one (n. 1255, 1316, 2952, 3267, 3445, 3451. 3452). From good all churches make one church before the Lord (n. 7396, 9276).
- ↑ The church is in man, and not outside of him, and the church in general is made up of men that have the church in them (n. 3884 [6637]).
- ↑ A man who is a church is a heaven in the smallest form after the image of the greatest, because his interiors, which belong to his mind, are arranged after the form of heaven, and consequently for reception of all things of heaven (n. 911, 1900, 1928, 3624-3631, 3634, 3884, 4041, 4279, 4523, 4524, 4625, 6013, 6057 9279, 9632).
- ↑ Man has an internal and an external; hid internal is formed by creation after the image of heaven, and his external after the image of the world; and for this reason man was called by the ancients a microcosm (n. 3628, 4523, 4524, 5115, 5368, 6013, 6057, 9279, 9706, 10156, 10472). Therefore man was created to have the world in him serve heaven, and this takes place with the good; but it is the reverse with the evil, in whom heaven serves the world (n. 9278, 9283).
- ↑ The Lord is order, since the Divine good and truth that go forth from the Lord make order (n. 1728, 1919, 2011, 2258, 5110, 5703, 8988, 10336, 10619). Divine truths are laws of order (n. 2447, 7995). So far as a man lives according to order, that is, so far as he lives in good in accordance with Divine truths, he is a man, and the church and heaven are in him (n. 4839, 6605, 8513, [8547]).
- ↑ The ruling or dominant love with everyone is in each thing and all things of his life, thus in each thing and all things of his thought and will (n. 6159, 7648, 8067, 8853). Man is such as is the ruling quality of his life (n. 987, 1040, 1568, 3570, 6571, 6935, 6938, 8853-8858, 10076, 10109, 10110, 10284). When love and faith rule they are in all the particulars of man's life, although he does not know it (n. 8854, 8864, 8865).