Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Divine love and Divine wisdom go forth from the Lord as a one.
Anyone who thinks intently can see clearly that a one is impossible apart from a form, and if it exists it is a form; for whatever has existence derives from form that which is called quality, and that which is called predicate, also that which is called change of state, also that which is called relativity, and the like. Consequently, that which is not in a form has no power to affect; and what has no power to affect has no reality. It is the form that gives all these things; and as all the things that are in a form, when the form is perfect, have a mutual regard for each other, as link has to link in a chain, therefore it follows that it is the form that makes the one, and thus the subject, of which quality, state, power to affect, and anything that accords with the perfection of the form, can be predicated.
Every object seen by the eyes in the world is such a one; also every object not seen by the eyes, whether in interior nature or in the spiritual world. Man is such a one, human society is such a one, the church is such a one, also the whole angelic heaven before the Lord; in a word, the created universe, not only in general but also in every particular, is such a one. But in order that each thing and all things may be forms, it is necessary that He who created all things should be Form itself, and that all things that are created in forms should be from Form itself. This, therefore, is what has been shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, as follows: Divine love and Divine wisdom are substance and are form (n. 40-43). Divine love and Divine wisdom are form in itself, thus the Very and the Only (n. 44-46). In the Lord Divine love and Divine wisdom are one (n. 14-22). They go forth from the Lord as a one (n. 99-102, and elsewhere).
The form makes a one the more perfectly as the things entering into the form, are distinctly different and yet united: —
Unless the understanding is raised up it can scarcely comprehend this, since the appearance is that a form can make a one only through likenesses of uniformity in the things that make up the form. On this subject I have often talked with angels, who said that this is an arcanum their wiser ones perceive clearly, and the less wise obscurely; yet it is a truth that a form is the more perfect as the things that constitute it are distinctly different, and yet have become united each in its own way. This they showed by the societies in the heavens, which taken together constitute the form of heaven; also by the angels of each society, in that the form of the society is more perfect in proportion as each angel is more distinctly his own, and therefore free, and thus loves his companions as if from himself and from his own affection. They illustrated it also by the marriage of good and truth, in that the more distinctly these are two, the more perfectly they can make a one; and the same is true of love and wisdom; while what is not distinct is mixed up, giving rise to every imperfection of form.
Furthermore, how perfectly distinct things are united and thus make a one, they showed by many things, especially by the things that are in the human body, where innumerable parts are thus distinct and yet united, distinct by their coverings and united by their ligaments, showing that it is the same with love and all things of it, and with wisdom and all things of it, which are perceived only as a one. ... This has been adduced because it is of angelic wisdom.
(from Divine Providence 4)