What 'Should Be' Common in Society

Selection from Doctrine of Charity ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The general good consists in these things:

That in the society or kingdom there shall be,

I. What is Divine with them.

II. That there shall be justice with them.

III. That there shall be morality with them.

IV. That there shall be industry, knowledge, and uprightness with them.

V. That there shall be the necessaries of life.

VI. That there shall be the things necessary to their occupations.

VII. That there shall be the things necessary for protection.

VIII. That there shall be a sufficiency of wealth; because from this come the three former necessaries.

From these arises the general good; and yet it does not come of these themselves, but from the individuals there, and through the goods of use which individuals perform.

As that what is Divine is there through ministers; and justice through magistrates and judges; so morality exists by means of the Divine and of justice; and necessaries by means of industrial occupations and commerce; and so on.

(Doctrine of Charity 130 - 131)