As there are infinite varieties in heaven, and no one society nor any
one angel is exactly like any other,{1} there are in heaven general,
specific, and particular divisions. The general division is into two
kingdoms, the specific into three heavens, and the particular into
innumerable societies. Each of these will be treated of in what
follows. The general division is said to be into kingdoms, because
heaven is called "the kingdom of God."
{Footnote 1} There is infinite variety, and nowhere any thing
the same as another (n. 7236, 9002). Also in the heavens there
is infinite variety (n. 684, 690, 3744, 5598, 7236). Varieties
in heaven are varieties of good (n. 3744, 4005, 7236, 7833,
7836, 9002). All societies in the heavens, and all angels in a
society, are thereby distinguished from each other (n. 690,
3241, 3519, 3804, 3986, 4067, 4149, 4263, 7236, 7833, 7836).
Nevertheless they are all made one by love from the Lord (n.
457, 3986).
21. There are angels that receive more interiorly the Divine that
goes forth from the Lord, and others that receive it less interiorly;
the former are called celestial angels, and the latter spiritual
angels. Because of this difference heaven is divided into two
kingdoms, one called the Celestial Kingdom, the other the Spiritual
Kingdom.{1}
{Footnote 1} Heaven as a whole is divided into two kingdoms, a
celestial kingdom and a spiritual kingdom (n. 3887, 4138). The
angels of the celestial kingdom receive the Divine of the lord
in their voluntary part, thus more interiorly than the
spiritual angels, who receive it in their intellectual part (n.
5113, 6367, 8521, 9936, 9995, 10124).
22. As the angels that constitute the celestial kingdom receive the
Divine of the Lord more interiorly they are called interior and also
higher angels; and for the same reason the heavens that they
constitute are called interior and higher heavens.{1} They are called
higher and lower, because these terms designate what is interior and
what is exterior.{2}
{Footnote 1} The heavens that constitute the celestial kingdom
are called higher while those that constitute the spiritual
kingdom are called lower (n. 10068).
{Footnote 2} Interior things are portrayed by higher things,
and higher things signify interior things (n. 2148, 3084, 4599,
5146, 8325).
23. The love in which those are, who are in the celestial kingdom is
called celestial love, and the love in which those are who are in the
spiritual kingdom is called spiritual love. Celestial love is love to
the Lord, and spiritual love is love towards the neighbor. And as all
good pertains to love (for good to any one is what he loves) the good
also of the other kingdom is called celestial, and the good of the
other spiritual. Evidently, then, the two kingdoms are distinguished
from each other in the same way as good of love to the Lord is
distinguished from good of love towards the neighbor.{1} And as the
good of love to the Lord is an interior good, and that love is
interior love, so the celestial angels are interior angels, and are
called higher angels.
{Footnote 1} The good of the celestial kingdom is good of love
to the Lord, and the good of the spiritual kingdom is good of
charity towards the neighbor (n. 3691, 6435, 9468, 9680, 9683,
9780).
24. The celestial kingdom is called also the Lord's priestly kingdom,
and in the Word "His dwelling-place;" while the spiritual kingdom is
called His royal kingdom, and in the Word "His throne." And from the
celestial Divine the Lord in the world was called "Jesus," while from
the spiritual Divine He was called "Christ."
25. The angels in the Lord's celestial kingdom, from their more
interior reception of the Divine of the Lord, far excel in wisdom and
glory the angels that are in His spiritual kingdom; for they are in
love to the Lord, and consequently are nearer and more closely
conjoined to Him.{1} These angels are such because they have received
and continue to receive Divine truths at once in their life, and not
first in memory and thought, as the spiritual angels do. Consequently
they have Divine truths written in their hearts, and they perceive
them, and as it were see them, in themselves; nor do they ever reason
about them whether they are true or not.{2} They are such as are
described in Jeremiah:
I will put my law in their mind, and will write it in
their heart. They shall teach no more everyone his friend
and everyone his brother, saying, Know ye Jehovah. They
shall know Me, from the least of them even to the greatest
of them (31:33, 34).
And they are called in Isaiah:
Taught of Jehovah (54:13).
That the "taught of Jehovah" are those who are taught by the Lord He
Himself teaches in John (6:45, 46).
{Footnote 1} The celestial angels immeasurably surpass in
wisdom the spiritual angels (n. 2718, 9995). The nature of the
distinction between celestial angels and spiritual angels (n.
2088, 2669, 2708, 2715, 3235, 3240, 4788, 7068, 8521, 9277,
10295).
{Footnote 2} The celestial angels do not reason about truths of
faith, because they perceive them in themselves; but the
spiritual angels reason about them whether they are true or not
(n. 202, 337, 597, 607, 784, 1121, 1384, 1898, 1919, 3246,
4448, 7680, 7877, 8780, 9277, 10786).
26. It has been said that these angels have wisdom and glory above
others for the reason that they have received and continue to receive
Divine truths at once in their life. For as soon as they hear Divine
truths, they will and do them, instead of storing them up in the
memory and afterwards considering whether they are true. They know at
once by influx from the Lord whether the truth they hear is true; for
the Lord flows directly into man's willing, but mediately through his
willing into his thinking. Or what is the same, the Lord flows
directly into good, but mediately through good into truth.{1} That is
called good which belongs to the will and action therefrom, while
that is called truth that belongs to the memory and to the thought
therefrom. Moreover, every truth is turned into good and implanted in
love as soon as it enters into the will; but so long as truth remains
in the memory and in the thought therefrom it does not become good,
nor does it live, nor is it appropriated to man, since man is a man
from his will and understanding therefrom, and not from his
understanding separated from his will.{2}
{Footnote 1} The Lord's influx is into good and through good
into truth, and not the reverse; thus into the will and through
that into the understanding, and not the reverse (n. 5482,
5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153).
{Footnote 2} The will of man is the very being [esse] of his
life, and the receptacle of the good of love, while his
understanding is the outgo [existere] of his life therefrom,
and the receptacle of the truth and good of faith (n. 3619,
5002, 9282). Thus the will's life is the chief life of man, and
the life of the understanding goes forth therefrom (n. 585,
590, 3619, 7342, 8885, 9282, 10076, 10109, 10110). Whatever is
received by the will comes to be the life, and is appropriated
to man (n. 3161, 9386, 9393). Man is a man from his will and
his understanding therefrom (n. 8911, 9069, 9071, 10076, 10109,
10110). Moreover, everyone who wills and understands rightly is
loved and valued by others, while he that understands rightly
and does not will rightly is rejected and despised (n. 8911,
10076). Also, after death man remains such as his will and his
understanding therefrom have been, while the things that
pertain to the understanding and not also to the will then
vanish, because they are not in the man (n. 9069, 9071, 9282,
9386, 10153).
27. Because of this difference between the angels of the celestial
kingdom and the angels of the spiritual kingdom they are not
together, and have no interaction with each other. They are able to
communicate only through intermediate angelic societies, which are
called celestial-spiritual. Through these the celestial kingdom flows
into the spiritual;{1} and from this it comes to pass that although
heaven is divided into two kingdoms it nevertheless makes one. The
Lord always provides such intermediate angels through whom there is
communication and conjunction.
{Footnote 1} Between the two kingdoms there is communication
and conjunction by mean's of angelic societies which are called
celestial-spiritual (n. 4047, 6435, 8796, 8802). The influx of
the Lord through the celestial kingdom into the spiritual (n.
3969, 6366).
28. As the angels of these two kingdoms will be fully treated of in
what follows, particulars are here omitted.