The angels of each heaven are not together in one place, but are
divided into larger and smaller societies in accordance with the
differences of good of love and of faith in which they are, those who
are in like good forming a single society. Goods in the heavens are
in infinite variety, and each angel is as it were his own good.{1}
{Footnote 1} There is infinite variety, and never any thing the
same with any other (n. 7236, 9002). So in the heavens there is
infinite variety (n. 684, 690, 3744, 5598, 7236). Varieties in
the heavens, which are infinite, are varieties of good (n.
3744, 4005, 7236, 7833, 7836, 9002). These varieties exist
through truths, which are manifold from which is each one's
good (n. 3470, 3804, 4149, 6917, 7236). It is because of this
that all the societies in the heavens, and all angels in a
society, are distinct from each other (n. 690, 3241, 3519,
3804, 3986, 4067, 4149, 4263, 7236, 7833, 836). Nevertheless
they all make one through love from the Lord (n. 457, 3986).
42. Moreover, the angelic societies in the heavens are at a distance
from each other as their goods differ in general and in particular.
For in the spiritual world the only ground of distance is difference
in the state of interiors, thus in the heavens difference in the
states of love, those who differ much being far apart, and those who
differ but little being but little apart, and likeness causing them
to be together.{1}
{Footnote 1} All the societies of heaven have a constant
position in accordance with the differences of their state of
life, thus in accordance with the differences of love and faith
(n. 1274, 3638, 3639). Wonderful things in the other life, that
is, in the spiritual world, respecting distance, situation,
place space and time (n. 1273-1277).
43. All who are in the same society are arranged in like manner in
respect to each other; those who are more perfect, that is, who excel
in good, thus in love, wisdom, and intelligence, being in the middle;
those who are less pre-eminent being round about at a distance in
accordance with the decrease of their perfection. The arrangement is
like light diminishing from the middle to the circumference, those
who are in the middle being in the greatest light, and those towards
the circumference in less and less.
44. Like are drawn spontaneously as it were to their like; for with
their like they are as if with their own and at home, but with others
they are as if with strangers and abroad; also when with their like
they are in their freedom, and consequently in every delight of life.
45. All this makes clear that all in the heavens are affiliated by
good, and are distinguished according to the quality of the good.
Nevertheless it is not the angels who thus affiliate themselves, but
the Lord, from whom the good is. The Lord leads them, conjoins and
separates them, and preserves them in freedom proportionate to their
good. Thus He holds everyone in the life of his love and faith, of
his intelligence and wisdom, and the resulting happiness.{1}
{Footnote 1} All freedom pertains to love and affection, since
what a man loves, that he does freely (n. 2870, 3158, 8987,
8990, 9555, 9591). Because freedom pertains to love everyone's
life and delight is therefrom (n. 2873). Nothing appears as
one's own, except what is from his freedom (n. 2880). The
veriest freedom is to be led by the Lord, because one is thus
led by the love of good and truth (n. 892, 905, 2872, 2886,
2890-2892, 9096, 9586-9591).
46. Again, all who are in like good, even though they have never seen
each other before, know each other, just as men in the world do their
kinsmen, near relations, and friends; and for the reason that in the
other life there are none but spiritual kinships, relationships, and
friendships, thus such as spring from love and faith.{1} This it has
sometimes been granted me to see, when I have been in the spirit, and
thus withdrawn from the body, and in the society of angels. Some of
those I then saw seemed as if I had known them from childhood, but
others as if not known at all. Those whom I seemed to have known from
childhood were such as were in a state similar to that of my spirit;
but those who seemed unknown were in a dissimilar state.
{Footnote 1} All nearness, relationship, connections, and as it
were ties of blood, in heaven are from good and in accordance
with its agreements and differences (n. 685, 917, 1394, 2739,
3612, 3815, 4121).
47. All who form the same angelic society resemble each other in
countenance in a general way, but not in particulars. How these
general resemblances are related to differences in particulars can in
some measure be seen from like things in the world. It is well known
that with every race there is a certain general resemblance of face
and eyes, by which it is known and distinguished from all other
races. This is still more true of different families. In the heavens
this is much more fully the case, because there all the interior
affections appear in and shine forth from the face, for there the
face is the external and representative form of those affections. No
one there can have any other face than that of his own affection. It
was also shown how this general likeness is varied in particulars
with individuals in the same society. A face like an angel's appeared
to me, and this was varied in accordance with such affections for
good and truth as are in those who belong to a single society. These
changes went on for a long time, and I noticed that the same face in
general continued as a ground work, all besides being what was
derived and produced from that. Thus by means of this face the
affections of the whole society were exhibited, whereby the faces of
those in it are varied. For, as has been said above, the faces of
angels are the forms of their interiors, thus of the affections that
belong to their love and faith.
48. From this it also comes to pass that an angel who excels in
wisdom instantly sees the quality of another from his face. In heaven
no one can conceal his interiors by his expression, or feign, or
really deceive and mislead by craft or hypocrisy. There are
hypocrites who are experts in disguising their interiors and
fashioning their exteriors into the form of that good in which those
are who belong to a society, and who thus make themselves appear
angels of light; and these sometimes insinuate themselves into a
society; but they cannot stay there long, for they begin to suffer
inward pain and torture, to grow livid in the face, and to become as
it were lifeless. These changes arise from the contrariety of the
life that flows in and affects them. Therefore they quickly cast
themselves down into hell where their like are, and no longer want to
ascend. These are such as are meant by the man found among the
invited guests at the feast not clothed with a wedding garment, who
was cast out into outer darkness (Matt. 22:11, seq.).
49. All the societies of heaven have communication with one another,
though not by open interaction; for few go out of their own society
into another, since going out of their own society is like going away
from themselves or from their own life, and passing into another life
which is less congenial. But all the societies communicate by an
extension of the sphere that goes forth from the life of each. This
sphere of the life is the sphere of the affections of love and faith.
This sphere extends itself far and wide into the surrounding
societies, and farther and wider in proportion as the affections are
the more interior and perfect.{1} In the measure of that extension do
the angels have intelligence and wisdom. Those that are in the inmost
heaven and in the middle of it have extension into the entire
heavens; thus there is a sharing of all in heaven with each one, and
of each one with all.{2} But this extension will be considered more
fully hereafter, where the form of heaven in accord with which the
angelic societies are arranged, and also the wisdom and intelligence
of angels, will be treated of, for in accordance with that form all
extension of affections and thoughts proceeds.
{Footnote 1} A spiritual sphere, which is the sphere of life
flows out from every man, spirit, and angel, and encompasses
them (n. 4464, 5179, 7454, 5630). It flows forth from the life
of their affection and thought (n. 2459, 4464, 6206). These
spheres extend themselves far into angelic societies in
accordance with the quality and quantity of their good (n.
6598-6612, 8063, 5794, 5797).
{Footnote 2} In the heavens a sharing of all goods is possible
because heavenly love shares with another everything that is
its own (n. 549, 550, 1390, 1391, 1399, 10130, 10723).
50. It has been said above that in the heavens there are larger and
smaller societies. The larger consist of myriads of angels, the
smaller of some thousands, and the least of some hundreds. There are
also some that dwell apart, house by house as it were, and family by
family. Although these live in this scattered way, they are arranged
in order like those who live in societies, the wiser in the middle
and the more simple in the borders. Such are more closely under the
Divine auspices of the Lord, and are the best of the angels.
51. VII. EACH SOCIETY IS A HEAVEN IN A SMALLER FORM, AND EACH ANGEL
IN THE SMALLEST FORM.
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}
{Footnote 1} 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).
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;{1} 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.{2}
{Footnote 1} 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).
{Footnote 2} Heaven is in man (n. 3884).
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.{1}
{Footnote 1} 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).
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.{1} 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.{2} 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.{3} 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.{4} 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.{5}
{Footnote 1} 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).
{Footnote 2} 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]).
{Footnote 3} 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).
{Footnote 4} 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).
{Footnote 5} 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]).
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.{1} 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).
{Footnote 1} 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).