That heaven in its whole complex reflects a single man is an arcanum
hitherto unknown in the world, but fully recognized in the heavens.
To know this and the specific and particular things relating to it is
the chief thing in the intelligence of the angels there, and on it
many things depend which without it as their general principle would
not enter distinctly and clearly into the ideas of their minds.
Knowing that all the heavens with their societies reflect a single
man they call heaven the Greatest Man and the Divine Man;{1}--Divine
because it is the Divine of the Lord that makes heaven (see above,
n. 7-12).
{Footnote 1} Heaven in the whole complex appears in form like a
man, and for this reason heaven is called the Greatest Man (n.
2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3745, 4625).
60. That into such a form and image celestial and spiritual things
are arranged and joined cannot be seen by those who have no right
idea of spiritual and heavenly things. Such think that the earthy and
material things of which man's outmost nature is composed are what
makes the man; and that apart from these man is not a man. But let
them know that it is not from these that man is a man, but from his
ability to understand what is true and to will what is good. Such
understanding and willing are the spiritual and celestial things of
which man is made. Moreover, it is known that everyone's quality is
determined by the quality of his understanding and will; and it can
also be known that his earthly body is formed to serve the
understanding and the will in the world, and to skillfully accomplish
their uses in the outmost sphere of nature. For this reason the body
by itself can do nothing, but is moved always in entire subservience
to the bidding of the understanding and will, even to the extent that
whatever a man thinks he speaks with his tongue and lips, and
whatever he wills he does with his body and limbs, and thus the
understanding and the will are what act, while the body by itself
does nothing. Evidently, then, the things of the understanding and
will are what make man; and as these act into the minutest
particulars of the body, as what is internal into what is external,
they must be in a like form, and on this account man is called an
internal or spiritual man. Heaven is such a man in its greatest and
most perfect form.
61. Such being the angelic idea of man, the angels give no thought to
what a man does with his body, but only to the will from which the
body acts. This they call the man himself, and the understanding they
call the man so far as it acts in unison with the will.{1}
{Footnote 1} The will of man is the very being [esse] of his
life, and his understanding is the outgo [existere] of his life
therefrom (n. 3619, 5002, 9282). The chief life of man is the
life of his will, and from that the life of the understanding
proceeds (n. 585, 590, 3619, 7342, 8885, 9282, 10076, 10109,
10110). Man is man by virtue of his will and his understanding
therefrom (n. 8911, 9069, 9071, 10076, 10109, 10110).
62. The angels, it is true, do not see heaven in its whole complex in
the human form, for heaven as a whole does not come within view of
any angel; but remote societies, consisting of many thousands of
angels, they sometimes see as a one in the human form; and from a
society, as from a part, they draw their conclusion as to the
general, which is heaven. For in the most perfect form generals are
like the parts, and parts are like the generals, with simply such a
difference as there is between like things of greater or less
magnitude; consequently, the angels say that since the Divine from
what is inmost or highest sees all things, so in the Lord's sight
heaven as a whole must be in the human form.
63. Heaven being such, it is ruled by the Lord as a single man is
ruled, thus as a one. For although man, as we know, consists of an
innumerable variety of parts, not only as a whole but also in each
part-as a whole, of members, organs, and viscera; and in each part,
of series of fibers, nerves, and blood-vessels, thus of members
within members, and of parts within parts-nevertheless, when he acts
he acts as a single man. Such likewise is heaven under the auspices
and direction of the Lord.
64. So many different things in man act as a one, because there is no
least thing in him that does not do something for the general welfare
and perform some use. The general performs a use for its parts, and
the parts for the general, for the general is composed of the parts
and the parts constitute the general; therefore they provide for each
other, have regard for each other, and are joined together in such a
form that each thing and all things have reference to the general and
its good; thus it is that they act as one. [2] In the heavens there
are like affiliations. Those there are conjoined according to uses in
a like form; and consequently those who do not perform uses for the
common good are cast out of heaven as something heterogeneous. To
perform use is to will well to others for the sake of the common
good; but to will well to others not for the sake of the common good
but for the sake of self is not to perform use. These latter are such
as love themselves supremely, while the former are such as love the
Lord supremely. Thence it is that those who are in heaven act as a
one; and this they do from the Lord, not from themselves, for they
look to Him as the Only One, the source of all things, and they
regard His kingdom as the general, the good of which is to be sought.
This is what is meant by the Lord's words,
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,
and all things shall be added unto you (Matt. 6:33).
"To seek His righteousness" means to seek His good.{1} [3] Those who
in the world love their country's good more than their own, and their
neighbor's good as their own, are they who in the other life love and
seek the Lord's kingdom; for there the Lord's kingdom takes the place
of country; and those who love doing good to others, not with self as
an end but with good as an end, love the neighbor; for in heaven good
is the neighbor.{2} All such are in the Greatest Man, that is,
heaven.
{Footnote 1} In the Wood "righteousness" is predicated of good,
and "judgment" of truth; therefore "to do righteousness and
judgment" is to do what is good and true (n. 2235, 9857).
{Footnote 2} In the highest sense the Lord is the neighbor;
consequently to love the Lord is to love that which is from
Him, that is to love good and truth because the Lord is in
everything that is from Him (n. 2425, 3419, 6706, 6711 6819,
6823, 8123). Therefore all good that is from the Lord is the
neighbor, and to will and do that good is to love the neighbor
(n. 5028, 10336).
65. As the whole heaven reflects a single man, and is a Divine
spiritual man in the largest form, even in figure, so heaven like a
man is arranged into members and parts, and these are similarly
named. Moreover, angels know in what member this or that society is.
This society, they say, is in a certain part or province of the head,
that in a certain part or province of the breast, that in a certain
part or province of the loins, and so on. In general, the highest or
third heaven forms the head down to the neck; the middle or second
heaven forms the breast down to the loins and knees; the lowest or
first heaven forms the feet down to the soles, and also the arms down
to the fingers. For the arms and hands belong to the lowest parts of
man, although at the sides. From this again it is plain why there are
three heavens.
66. The spirits that are beneath heaven are greatly astonished when
they hear that heaven is not only above but below, for they have a
like faith and opinion as men in the world, that heaven is nowhere
but above, for they do not know that the arrangement of the heavens
is like the arrangement of the members, organs, and viscera in man,
some of which are above and some below; or like the arrangement of
the parts in each of the members, organs, and viscera, some of which
are within and some without. Hence their confused notions about
heaven.
67. These things about heaven as the Greatest Man are set forth,
because what follows in regard to heaven cannot be at all
comprehended until these things are known, neither can there be any
clear idea of the form of heaven, of the conjunction of the Lord with
heaven, of the conjunction of heaven with man, of the influx of the
spiritual world into the natural, or any idea at all of
correspondence-subjects to be treated of in their proper order in
what now follows. To throw some light on these subjects, therefore,
the above has been premised.