The Swedenborg Library Vol 2/Chapter 7
VII.
HEAVEN IN ITS LESSER AND LEAST FORMS.
VERY society is a heaven in a less form, and every angel in the least, because the good of love and faith is what makes heaven; and this good is in every society of heaven, and in every angel of the society. It matters not that it is everywhere different or various; it is still the good of heaven. The only difference is, that heaven is of one quality in one part and of another in another.
It is therefore said, when one is elevated into any society of heaven, that he is gone to heaven; and of those who are there, that they are in heaven, and every one in his own heaven. It is, comparatively, as with governors, officers and servants in a royal palace or court; although they live by themselves in separate apartments or chambers, one above and another below, still they are all in one palace or court, each one ready to serve the king in his respective function. Hence is evident what is meant by the words of the Lord, "In my Father's house are many mansions;" John xiv. 2; and what by the habitations of heaven, and by the heavens of heavens in the prophets.
That every society is a heaven in a less form is also evident from this: that the heavenly form of each one is similar to that of the whole heaven. In the whole heaven they who excel the rest are in the centre; and around them, even to the boundaries, in a decreasing order, are they who excel less. The same is evident from this also, that the Lord leads all in the whole heaven as if they were one angel; and in like manner those in each society. Hence an entire angelic society sometimes appears as a single individual in the form of an angel, which also the Lord has permitted me to see.
When the Lord appears in the midst of the angels, He does not appear encompassed by a multitude, but as one in an angelic form. Hence it is that in the Word He is called an angel; as is also an entire society. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are only angelic societies which are so named from their functions.
As an entire society is a heaven in a less form, so likewise is every angel a heaven in the least. For heaven is not without an angel but within him; for his interiors which belong to his mind are arranged into the form of heaven, and thus for the reception of all things of heaven which are without him. He also receives them according to the quality of the good which is in him from the Lord. Hence an angel also is a heaven.
HEAVEN WITHIN THE SOUL.
It can in no case be said that heaven is without one, but that it is within him; for every angel receives the heaven which is without him according to the heaven that is within him. This plainly shows how much he is deceived, who believes that to go to heaven is merely to be elevated among the angels, without regard to the quality of one's interior life; thus that heaven may be given to every one from immediate mercy; when yet, unless heaven be within a person, nothing of the heaven which is without him flows-in and is received. Many spirits entertain this opinion [that heaven is granted from immediate mercy]. And because of their belief, they have been taken up into heaven. But when they came there, because their interior life was contrary to that of the angels, they grew blind as to their intellectual faculties till they became like idiots; and were tortured as to their will faculties so that they behaved like madmen.
In a word, they who go to heaven after living wicked lives, gasp there for breath, and writhe about like fishes taken from the water into the air, and like animals in the ether of an air-pump after the air has been exhausted. Hence it is evident that heaven is not without one, but within him.
Since all receive the heaven which is without them according to the quality of the heaven that is within them, therefore they receive the Lord in like manner; for the Divine of the Lord makes heaven. Hence it is, that when the Lord presents Himself in any society, He appears there according to the quality of the good in which the society is principled; thus not the same in one society as in another. Not that the dissimilitude is in the Lord, but in those who see Him from their own good, thus according to that good.
The angels are also affected at the sight of the Lord according to the quality of their love. They who love Him deeply, are deeply affected; they who love Him less, are less affected; and the evil who are out of heaven, are tormented at his presence. When the Lord appears in any society, He appears there as an angel; but He is distinguished from others by the Divine which shines through Him.
HEAVEN PERFECTED BY VARIETY.
Heaven also exists wherever the Lord is acknowledged, believed in and loved. Variety in the worship of Him arising from the variety of good in different societies, is not injurious but advantageous; for the perfection of heaven results from such variety. It is difficult to explain intelligibly how the perfection of heaven is the result of such variety, unless we employ some terms familiar to the learned world, and by means of these show how a perfect unit is formed of various parts.
Every whole is composed of a variety of parts; for a whole which is not composed of various parts is nothing; therefore it has no form and no quality. But when a whole is composed of various parts, and these are arranged in a perfect form wherein each part joins itself to another as a sympathizing friend in the series, then it is complete.
Now heaven is a whole composed of various parts arranged in the most perfect form; for the heavenly form is the most perfect of all forms. That all perfection results from this harmonious arrangement of parts that are different, is evident from all the beauty, pleasantness and delight which affect both the senses and the mind; for these exist and flow from no other source than from the concert and harmony of many concordant and sympathizing parts, either coexistent or successive, and not from one thing alone. Hence it is said that variety is charming, and it is known that its charms depend upon its quality.
From these considerations it may be seen as in a mirror how perfection results from variety, even in heaven; for from the things existing in the natural world those in the spiritual world may be seen as in a mirror
THE SAME IS TRUE OF THE CHURCH.
The same may be said concerning the church as concerning heaven; for the church is the Lord's heaven on earth. There are also many churches; and each one is called a church, and likewise is a church so far as the good of love and faith rules therein. Here also the Lord makes a whole from different parts; thus from several churches He makes one church.
The same, too, may be said of each member of the church in particular, as of the church in general; namely, that the church is within him and not without him; and that every man in whom the Lord is present in the good of love and faith, is a church. The same may be said also of a man in whom the church is, as of an angel in whom heaven is; that he is a church in the least form as an angel is a heaven in the least form; and further, that a man in whom the church is, is a heaven equally with an angel; for man was created that he might go to heaven and become an angel. Therefore he who receives good from the Lord, is a man-angel.
Lastly, it is to be observed that whoever has heaven in himself, not only has heaven in his greatest or general principles, but also in his least or most particular ones; and that the least things in him are an image of the greatest. This results from the fact that every one is his own love, and is of the same quality as his ruling love. Whatever rules flows into and arranges all the particulars, and everywhere induces a likeness of itself.
The ruling love in heaven is love to the Lord, because the Lord is there loved above all things. Hence He is there the All in all. He flows into all and each of the angels, arranges them, and induces in them a likeness of Himself, and causes heaven to be wherever He is. Hence an angel is a heaven in the least form, a society in a greater, and all the societies taken together in the greatest. (H. H., n.. 51-58.)