What is Man? (Part 3)

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THERE IS A CORRESPONDENCE OF ALL THINGS OF HEAVEN
WITH ALL THINGS OF MAN

At the present day it is not known what correspondence is. There are several reasons for this. The chief one is that man has withdrawn himself from heaven by the love of self and the world. For he who loves himself and the world above all things regards only worldly things because they are pleasing to the external senses and gratify his inclination, and he does not regard spiritual things because they are pleasing to the internal senses and gratify the mind. Therefore he casts these aside, saying that they are too high to think about.

The case was different with the ancient peoples. To them the knowledge of correspondences was the chief of all knowledges. By means of it they also derived intelligence and wisdom, and, by means of it, those who were of the Church had communication with heaven, for the knowledge of correspondence is an angelic knowledge. The most ancient people, who were celestial men, thought from correspondence itself, like the angels. So they also spoke with angels, and so the Lord was frequently seen by them and instructed them. But at the present day, that knowledge has been so completely lost that it is not known what correspondence is.

The knowledge of correspondences excels other knowledges; the knowledge of correspondences was the chief knowledge of the ancient people; but at the present day it is wholly forgotten. The knowledge of correspondences flourished among the Orientals and in Egypt.

Since, then, without a perception of what correspondence is, it is impossible for anything to be known clearly about the spiritual world, or of its influx into the natural world, or even of what the spiritual is in relation to the natural, or anything with clearness about the spirit of man which is called the soul and of its operation into the body, or yet of the state of man after death, it is necessary, therefore, to explain what correspondence is and what is its nature. So also is the way prepared for what is to follow.

WHAT CORRESPONDENCE IS

First, it will be stated what correspondence is. The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world, not only the natural world in general but also in every particular. Therefore, whatever in the natural world comes into existence from the spiritual world is said to be in correspondence with it. It must be known that the natural world comes into existence and continues in existence from the spiritual world, precisely like an effect from its effecting cause. By the natural world is meant everything in its whole extent that is under the sun, receiving heat and light from it; and all things that continue in existence therefrom belong to that world. But the spiritual world is heaven, and all things in the heavens belong to that world.

Since man is both a heaven and a world in least form after the image of the greatest, there is, therefore, with him both a spiritual and a natural world. Interior things which belong to his mind and relate to the understanding and the will, make his spiritual world, while exterior things which belong to his body and relate to its senses and actions make his natural world. Consequently, whatever in his natural world, that is, in his body and its senses and actions, comes into existence from his spiritual world, that is, from his mind and its understanding and will, is said to be a correspondence thereof.

What correspondence is, may be seen from the human face. In a face which has not been taught to dissemble, all the affections of the mind come to view in a natural form as in their image. This is why the face is said to be the index of the mind; that is, it is man's spiritual world presented in his natural world. In the same way, the things pertaining to the understanding present themselves in speech, and those pertaining to the will present themselves in the movements of the body. All things, therefore, that are done in the body, whether in the face, in speech or in bodily movements, are called correspondences.

From these observations may also be seen what the internal man is and what the external man. Namely, the internal is what is called the spiritual man, and the external, what is called the natural man; also that the one is distinct from the other as heaven is from the world; and further, that all things that take place and come into existence in the external or natural man, take place and come into existence from the internal or spiritual.

The foregoing has been said about the correspondence of man's internal or spiritual with his external or natural.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE WHOLE HEAVEN WITH EVERY PART OF MAN

It has been shown that the entire heaven resembles one man, and that it is a man in image, and is therefore called the Grand Man. It has also been shown that the angelic societies of which heaven consists are accordingly arranged as are the members, organs and viscera in a man. That is, some are in the head, some in the breast, some in the arms, and some in each particular part of those. Consequently, the societies in any member there correspond to the same member in man, those in the head there corresponding to the head in man, those in the breast there to the breast in man, those in the arms there to the arms in man, and so on with all the rest. It is from this correspondence that man continues in existence, for he does so from no other source than heaven.

That heaven is distinguished into two kingdoms of which one is called the celestial, the other the spiritual kingdom, may be seen above in the relevant section. The celestial kingdom corresponds in general to the heart and to all things of the heart in the whole body, and the spiritual kingdom to the lungs and to all things of the lungs in the whole body. Likewise in man, heart and lungs form two kingdoms, the heart ruling there by means of arteries and veins, the lungs by means of the nerve and motor fibres, both together in every exertion and movement.

So again in any one man, in his spiritual world called his spiritual man, there are two kingdoms, one of the will and the other of the understanding. The will rules by means of affections of good, and the understanding by means of affections of truth. These kingdoms indeed correspond to the kingdoms of the heart and the lungs in the body. It is the same in the heavens. The celestial kingdom is the voluntary part of heaven, and the good of love rules there. The spiritual kingdom is the intellectual part of heaven and truth rules there, all this corresponding to the functions of the heart and lungs in man. It is on account of this correspondence that, in the Word, the heart signifies the will and also the good of love, and the breath of the lungs signifies the understanding and the truth of faith. For the same reason, affections are ascribed to the heart although they are neither in it nor derived from it.

THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE HEART AND LUNGS
WITH THE GRAND MAN
WHICH IS HEAVEN, FROM EXPERIENCE

(See Arcana Coelestia 3883-3896)

The heart corresponds to those in the celestial kingdom, and the lungs to those in the spiritual kingdom (n. 3885-3887).

There is in heaven a pulse like that of the heart, and a respiration like that of the lungs but interior (n. 3884, 3885, 3887).

There the pulse of the heart varies in conformity with states of love, and the respiration in conformity with states of charity and faith (n. 3886, 3887, 3889).

In the Word the "heart" means the will, and "from the heart" means from the will (n. 2930, 7542, 8910, 9113, 10336).

In the Word the "heart" also signifies love, and "from the heart" means from love (n. 7542, 9050, 10336).

The correspondence of the two kingdoms of heaven with the heart and lungs is the general correspondence of heaven with man.

There is a less general correspondence with each one of his members, organs and viscera, the nature of which will also be noted.

In the Grand Man, which is heaven, those in the head excel others in every good, for they are in love, peace, innocence, wisdom, intelligence and the consequent joy and happiness. These inflow into the head and into those things belonging to the head with a man, and correspond to them. In the Grand Man, which is heaven, those who are in the breast are in the good of charity and faith, and they, in like manner, inflow into the breast of man and correspond to it. Those, however, who in the Grand Man, or heaven, are in the loins and the organs devoted to generation are in conjugial love. Those in the feet are in the lowest good of heaven which is called spiritual natural good. Those in the arms and hands are in the power of truth from good. Those in the eyes are in understanding, those in the ears are in attention and obedience, those in the nostrils are in perception, those in the mouth and tongue are in the ability to converse from understanding and perception. Those in the kidneys are in truth, searching, separating and correcting. Those in the liver, pancreas and spleen are in various purifications of good and truth; and so with the rest. Those inflow into the like things of man and correspond to them. The influx of heaven is into the functions and uses of the bodily members; and since the uses are from the spiritual world they take on a form by means of such things as are in the natural world, and thus present themselves in effect. From this is correspondence.

For the same reason these members, organs and viscera have a like significance in the Word, for everything there has a meaning in accordance with correspondences. Thus the "head" signifies intelligence and wisdom, the "breast" charity, the "loins" conjugial love, the "arms" and "hands" the power of truth, the "feet" what is natural, the "eyes" understanding, the "nostrils" perception, the "ears" obedience, the "kidneys" the examination of truth; and so on.# Hence also, in common speech, it is usual to say of one who is intelligent and wise that he has a head, of one who is in charity that he is a bosom friend, of one who has perception that he is keen-scented, of one who is in intelligence that he is sharp-sighted, of one who is powerful that he is long-handed, of one who wills from love, that it is done from the heart. These and many other sayings in man's speech are from correspondences. For such things are from the spiritual world although man does not know it.

In the Word the "breast" signifies charity (n. 3934, 10081, 10087).

The "loins" and organs of generation signify conjugial love (n. 3021, 4280, 4462, 5050-5052).

The "arms" and "hands" signify the power of truth (n. 878, 3095, 4931-4937, 6947, 7205, 10019).

The "feet" signify the natural (n. 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952).

The "eye" signifies understanding (n. 2701, 4403-4421, 4523-4534, 6923, 9051, 10569).

The "nostrils" signify perception (n. 3577, 4624, 4625, 4748, 5621, 8286, 10054, 10292).

The "ears" signify obedience (n. 2542, 3869, 4523, 4653, 5017, 7216, 8361, 8990, 9311, 9397, 10061).

The "kidneys" signify the scrutiny and correction of truth (n. 5380-5386, 10032).

That there is such a correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man has been shown to me by much experience - by so much as to convince me of it as of an evident fact admitting of no doubt. But it is not necessary here to bring forward all that experience, nor does its abundance permit of so doing.

It may be seen set forth in ARCANA COELESTIA where correspondences, representations, the influx of the spiritual world into the natural world, and the intercourse of the soul and the body are treated of.

• Concerning the correspondence of all the members of the body with the GRAND MAN, or heaven, generally and specifically, from experience (n. 3021, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 3883-3896, 4039-4051, 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4421, 4527-4533, 4622-4633, 4652-4660, 4791-4805, 4931-4953, 5050-5061, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 10030).
• Concerning the influx of the spiritual world into the natural world, or of heaven into the world; and concerning the influx of the soul into all things of the body, from experience (n. 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626).
• Concerning the intercourse between the soul and body from experience (n.6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626).

Now although all bodily things of man correspond to all things of heaven, yet it is not in respect of his external form that man is an image of heaven but in respect of his internal form. For the interiors of man receive heaven and his exteriors receive the world. So far, therefore, as his interiors receive heaven, man is, in respect of them, a heaven in least form after the image of the greatest. But so far as his interiors do not receive heaven, he is not a heaven and an image of the greatest. Nevertheless, his exteriors which receive the world can be in a form in accordance with the order of the world and thus, variously beautiful. For outward beauty which pertains to the body is derived from parents and from formation in the womb, and is afterwards preserved by a general influx from the world. Hence it is that the form of one's natural man differs greatly from the form of his spiritual man. Several times I have been shown what was the form of man's spirit, and in some who were beautiful and charming in appearance the spirit was seen to be so deformed, black and monstrous that you would call it an image of hell, not of heaven; while in others not beautiful in outward form, there was a spirit beautifully formed, pure and angelic. Moreover, the spirit of man after death appears such as it was in the body when living in the world.

But correspondence extends far more widely than to man. For there is a correspondence of the heavens with one another. To the third or inmost heaven the second or middle heaven corresponds, and to the second or middle heaven the first or outermost heaven corresponds, and this corresponds to the bodily forms in man called his members, organs and viscera. Thus it is the bodily part of man in which heaven finally terminates, and upon which it stands firm upon its base. But this arcanum will be fully unfolded elsewhere.

A truth that must by all means be known is that all correspondence with heaven is with the Lord's Divine Human, because heaven is from Him and He is heaven, as has been shown in previous sections. For if the Divine Human did not inflow into all things of the world, there would be neither angel nor man. From this, again, it is evident why the Lord became Man, and clothed His Divine with a Human from first to last. It was because the Divine Human which was the source of heaven before the Lord's coming was no longer sufficient to sustain all things, for the reason that man, who is the foundation of the heavens, had weakened and destroyed order.

Angels are amazed when they hear that there are men who attribute all things to nature and nothing to the Divine, and who also believe that one's body, into which so many wonders of heaven are gathered, is a product of nature. Still more are they amazed that the rational part of man is believed to be from nature, when, if men will but raise their minds a little, they can see that such things are from the Divine and not from nature, and that nature has been created simply for clothing the spiritual and for presenting it in a corresponding form in the ultimate of order. Such men they liken to owls which see in darkness, but in light see nothing.

(from Heaven and Hell 87-102)

What is Man? (Part 2)

Selection from Heaven and Hell ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

IT IS FROM THE LORD'S DIVINE HUMAN THAT HEAVEN AS A WHOLE AND IN PART RESEMBLES A MAN

That it is from the Lord's Divine Human that heaven as a whole and in part resembles a man, follows as a conclusion from all that has been stated and shown in the preceding article, for was shown,

(1) That the Lord is the God of heaven.

(2) That it is the Divine of the Lord that makes heaven.

(3) That heaven consists of innumerable societies, and that any one society is a heaven in lesser form, and each angel in the least form.

(4) That the entire heaven, as one whole, resembles one man.

(5) That each society in the heavens also resembles one man.

(6) That therefore each angel is in a complete human form.

All this leads to the conclusion that the Divine because It makes heaven is Human in form.

That this is true has been proved to me by much experience, about which something will now be said.

All the angels who are in the heavens never perceive the Divine in any other than a human form, and what is wonderful, those in the higher heavens are unable to think of the Divine in any other way. The necessity of their thinking in this way comes from the Divine Itself which inflows, and also from the form of heaven in accordance with which their thoughts extend around. For, every thought that an angel has, is extended into heaven, and he has intelligence and wisdom in accordance with that extension. It is in consequence of this that all in heaven acknowledge the Lord, because there is no Divine Human except in Him. Not only have I been told all this by angels, but when elevated into the inner sphere of heaven, I have been enabled also to perceive it. From this it is evident that the wiser the angels are, the more clearly do they perceive this truth; and it is as a result of this that the Lord appears to them. For the Lord appears in a Divine angelic form which is Human to those who acknowledge and believe in a visible Divine, but not to those who believe in an invisible one. For the former can see their Divine, but the latter cannot see theirs.

Because the angels have no perception of an invisible Divine, which they call a Divine devoid of form, but perceive a visible Divine in Human form, they are accustomed to say that the Lord alone is Man, and that they are men from Him, each one being a man in the measure of his reception of the Lord. By receiving the Lord they mean receiving the good and truth which are from Him, since the Lord is in His good and in His truth. This they call wisdom and intelligence. Everyone knows, they say, that it is intelligence and wisdom that make a man, and not a face without these. The truth of this is evident from the appearance of the angels of the interior heavens, for they, being in good and truth from the Lord, and consequently in wisdom and intelligence, are in the most beautiful and perfect human form, while the angels of the lower heavens are in a human form of less perfection and beauty. In hell, the reverse is the case. Those who are there appear in the light of heaven hardly as men, but as monsters. For they are in evil and falsity and not in good and truth, and so are in the opposites of wisdom and intelligence. For this reason, their life is not called life, but spiritual death.

Because from the Divine Human of the Lord heaven as a whole and in part resembles a man, the angels therefore say that they are in the Lord, and some that they are in His body, meaning that they are in the good of His love. This the Lord Himself teaches, saying,

Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me, . . . For without Me, ye can do nothing.. . . Continue ye in My love. If ye keep My Commandments ye shall abide in My love. John 15:4-10.

Such being the perception of the Divine in the heavens, there is implanted in every man who receives any influx from heaven the faculty to think of God in a human shape. The ancients thus thought of Him, and the people of today do so also, both within and outside the Church. The simple see Him in thought as the Ancient One in radiance. But this implanted faculty has been extinguished in all those who, by their self-intelligence and by a life of evil, have driven away the influx from heaven. Those who have extinguished this implanted faculty by self-intelligence desire an invisible God, while those who have extinguished it by a life of evil desire no God. Neither of these are aware that such an implanted faculty is given, because it does not operate with them. Yet it is the very heavenly Divine which primarily inflows from heaven into man, because man has been born for heaven, and no one comes into heaven without an idea of the Divine.

For this reason, he who has no idea of heaven, that is, no idea of the Divine from Whom heaven exists, cannot be raised to the first threshold of heaven. As soon as he comes to it, a resistance and a strong repulsion is perceived. This is because in his case the interiors which should have been receptive of heaven, have been closed on account of their not being in the form of heaven. Indeed, the nearer he comes to heaven, the more tightly are his interiors closed up. Such is the lot of those within the Church who deny the Lord, and of those who, like the Socinians, deny His Divinity. The lot of those, however, who have been born outside the Church and who are ignorant of the Lord because they do not have the Word.

That the ancient peoples had an idea of the Divine as Human is confirmed from the manifestations of the Divine to Abraham, Lot, Joshua, Gideon, Manoah and his wife, and others. They saw God as a Man, but yet adored Him as the God of the universe, calling Him the God of heaven and earth, and Jehovah. That it was the Lord Who was seen by Abraham, He Himself teaches in John 8:56, and that it was He Who was seen by the others is evident from the Lord's words:

No one hath seen the Father, nor His shape, and no one hath heard His voice. John 1:18; 5:37.

THOSE WHO JUDGE ALL THINGS FROM THE SENSE-EXPERIENCES

But, that God is Man can scarcely be comprehended by those who judge all things from the sense-experiences of the external man. For the sensual man can think of the Divine only from the world and the things that are therein, thus of a Divine and Spiritual Man in the same way as of a corporeal and natural man. From this he concludes that, if God were a man He would be as large as the universe, and if He ruled heaven and earth it would be done through many, after the manner of kings in the world. If told that in heaven there is no extension of space as in the world, he would not in the least comprehend. For he who thinks from nature and its light only, never thinks otherwise than from an extension such as there is before his eyes. But they are completely deceived when they think in this way about heaven. The extension there is not like extension in the world. In the world, extension is determinate and thus measurable, but in heaven it is not determinate and therefore not measurable. ... Besides, everyone knows how far the sight of the eye extends, namely, to the sun and stars which are so remote. Whoever thinks more deeply knows that the internal sight, which is that of thought, has a still wider extension and therefore that a still more interior sight must extend even more widely. What, then, must not the Divine sight be which is the inmost and highest of all? Because thoughts are capable of such extension, all things of heaven are communicated with everyone there, so too are all things of the Divine which makes heaven and fills it - as has been shown in the preceding sections.

Those in heaven were amazed that men believe themselves intelligent, who, in thinking of God, think of something invisible, that is, incomprehensible under any form, and that they call those who think differently, unintelligent and simple, when yet the reverse is the case. They say if those who thus believe themselves to be intelligent were to examine themselves, would they not see nature as God-some, nature as it is before their eyes, others, the invisible side of nature? And further, are they not so blind that they know not what God is, what an angel is, or a spirit, or their soul which is to live after death, what the life of heaven with man and many other things that are matters of intelligence? Yet, those they call simple know all these things in their way, having an idea of their God that He is the Divine in a Human form, of an angel that he is a heavenly man, of their soul that it is to live after death, that it is like an angel, and of the life of heaven with man that it is to live in accordance with the Divine precepts. These are the ones whom angels call intelligent and fitted for heaven, but the others, on the contrary, not intelligent.

(from Heaven and Hell 78-86)

What is Man? (Part I)

Selections from The Heavenly Doctrines ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalm 8:4)

"Man" signifies the understanding of truth and the perception of good, because it is by virtue of these that man is man, therefore when "man" is mentioned in the Word it means in the spiritual sense that by virtue of which man is man, for this is his spiritual [part]. Man has two faculties of which his whole life is made up, namely, understanding and will; therefore such as is the quality of his understanding and will such is the man. If he has the understanding of truth and the will of good he is truly a man, for truth and good are from the Lord, and it is from the Lord alone that man is man. But if he has not the understanding of truth and the will of good, but falsity in the place of truth and evil in the place of good, he is still called a man, yet he is not a man except from this alone, that he has the faculty of understanding truth and perceiving good. From this it can be seen that in the Word by "men" such things as constitute them men are meant, and here the understanding of truth and the perception of good. (Apocalypse Explained 546:2)

~~~

THE ENTIRE HEAVEN, AS ONE WHOLE, RESEMBLES ONE MAN

That heaven in its whole complex resembles one man is an arcanum not yet known in the world, but it is very well known 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. Indeed, on it many things depend which, without it as their general principle, would not enter distinctly and clearly into the ideas of the angels' minds. Since they know that all the heavens with their societies resemble one man they therefore call heaven the GRAND AND DIVINE MAN — Divine because it is the Divine of the Lord that makes heaven.

Those who have not a right idea of spiritual and celestial things cannot perceive that celestial and spiritual things are arranged and conjoined into such a form and image. They think that the earthly and material things of which a man's ultimate part is composed, make the man, and that, apart from these, the man is not a man. But they should know that it is not from these that the 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 that make a man.

Moreover, it is acknowledged that everyone's quality is determined by the quality of his understanding and will; and it can also be known that his earthly body has been formed to serve the understanding and the will in the world, and to perform uses in conformity with them in the ultimate sphere of nature. For this reason, the body does nothing of itself, but is actuated always in complete subservience to the bidding of the understanding and will, even to the extent that whatever a man thinks, he speaks with his tongue and mouth, and whatever he wills, he does with his body and limbs, so that the understanding and the will are what act while the body of 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 the same form, and on this account, man is called an internal and spiritual man. Heaven is such a man in the greatest and most perfect form.

Such being the idea of angels about man, they (the angels) never pay any attention to what a man does with his body, but they are concerned with 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 as one with the will.

The will of man is the very being (esse) of his life, and his understanding is the existing (existere) of his life therefrom

The chief life of man is the life of his will, and from that the life of the understanding proceeds.

Man is man by virtue of his will and his understanding therefrom

The angels, it is true, do not see heaven in its whole complex in such a form, for the whole heaven does not come within the view of any angel, but now and then they see, as a one in such a form, remote societies consisting of many thousands of angels; and from a society as from a part, they draw their conclusion as to the whole community which heaven is. For in the most perfect forms, the general things are conditioned like the parts and the parts like the general things with simply such a difference as there is between a large and small edition of the same thing. Hence the angels say, that because the Divine sees all things from what is inmost and highest, so in the Lord's sight, the whole heaven is such a form.

Such being the form of heaven, it is ruled by the Lord as one man, thus as a unit. For although man, as is well known, consists of an innumerable variety of things 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 fibres, nerves and blood - vessels, thus of members within members and of parts within parts - yet the man when he acts, does so as a one. Such then is heaven under the oversight and leadership of the Lord.

CONJOINED IN A LIKE FORM IN ACCORDANCE WITH USES

So many different things act as one in a man, because there is nothing whatever in him which does not contribute something to the general welfare and perform a 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 make up the general. Therefore, they provide for one another, have regard to one another and are conjoined in such a form that each single thing and all things have reference to the general and its good. So it comes about that they act as one.

In the heavens there are the same sort of consociations. Those there are conjoined in a like form in accordance with uses. Consequently, those who do not perform a use for the community are cast out of heaven because they are heterogeneous. To perform use is to will well to others for the sake of the common good, and not to perform use is to will well to others, not for the sake of the common good but for the sake of self. The latter are those who love themselves above all things while the former are those who love the Lord above all things. Thus it is that those who are in heaven act as a one. This, however, they do, not from themselves but from the Lord, for they look to Him as the one and only Source of all things, and to His kingdom as the community whose welfare is to be considered. This is what is meant by the Lord's words,

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all things shall be added unto you. Matt. 6:33.

To seek His justice is to seek His good. Those who in the world love their country's good more than their own, and their neighbour's good as their own, are those who in the other life love and seek the Lord's kingdom, for there the Lord's kingdom takes the place of their country. Also, those who love to do good to others, not for the sake of self but for the sake of good, love the neighbour, for in heaven good is the neighbour. All such are in the Grand Man, that is, in heaven.

Justice in the Word is predicated of good, and judgment of truth, and hence to do justice and judgment is to do what is good and true.

In the highest sense the Lord is the neighbour, and hence to love the Lord is to love that which is from Him, because He Himself is in everything that is from Him; thus good and truth. Therefore, all good which is from the Lord is the neighbour, and to will and to do that good is to love the neighbour.

Since the whole heaven resembles one man and is a Divine spiritual man in the greatest form in its very likeness, so heaven, like a man, is arranged into members and parts which are similarly named. Moreover, angels know in what member this or that society is. This society, they say, is in the head or a certain province of the head, another in the breast or a certain province of the breast, that, in the loins or a certain province of the loins, and so forth. 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 are the ultimates of a man, although at the sides. This again makes it evident why there are three heavens.

The spirits who are beneath heaven are greatly astonished when they hear and see that heaven is not only above but below, for they have the same idea and belief as men have in the world, that heaven is above only. For they do not know that the position of the heavens is like that of the members, organs, and viscera in man, some of which are above and some below, or like the position of the parts in any one of the members, organs and viscera, some of which are within and some without. Hence they have confused notions about heaven.

These things about heaven being the Grand Man have been set forth because without that knowledge in advance the things about heaven which follow cannot be at all comprehended. Nor without it can one have any clear idea about the form of heaven, the conjunction of the Lord with heaven, the conjunction of heaven with man, the influx of the spiritual world into the natural, or indeed any idea at all about correspondence - subjects to be treated of in order in what now follows. The above has therefore been premised to throw some light on these subjects.

ANY ONE SOCIETY IN THE HEAVENS RESEMBLES ONE MAN

I have frequently been permitted to see that each society of heaven resembles one man and is in the likeness of a man. There was a society into which many who knew how to feign themselves angels of light had insinuated themselves. They were hypocrites. When these were being separated from the angels, I saw that the entire society appeared at first like a single indistinct body, then by degrees in a human form but still indistinctly, and at last, clearly as a man. Those who were in that man and made up the man were such as were in the good of that society. The others who were not in the man and did not make up the man were hypocrites. The latter were cast out, the former retained. Thus a separation was effected.

Hypocrites are those who talk well and do well but regard themselves in everything. They talk as do the angels about the Lord, about heaven, love and heavenly life, and they also act rightly that they may appear to be such as they are in speech, BUT they think otherwise, believe nothing and wish good to none but themselves. Their doing good is for the sake of self, or if for the sake of others, it is in order to be seen and thus still for the sake of self.

I have also been permitted to see that an entire angelic society, when the Lord manifests Himself as present, appears as a one in the human form. There was visible on high, towards the east, something like a cloud, from dazzling white becoming led, with little stars round about, which were descending; by degrees as it descended, it became brighter and at last was seen in a perfect human form. The little stars round about the cloud were angels, who so appeared by virtue of light from the Lord.

It ought to be known that, whenever all in one society of heaven appear together as one, it is in the likeness of a man, yet no one society is just such a man as another. They differ from one another like the faces of individuals of one family, that is, they vary in accordance with the varieties of the good in which they are, and this determines their form. The societies of the inmost or highest heaven and in the centre of it appear in the most perfect and most beautiful human form.

HEAVEN NEVER CLOSES

It is worthy of mention that the more there are in one society of heaven, all acting as one, the more perfect is its human form, for variety arranged in a heavenly form is what makes perfection, and variety results from plurality. Moreover, every society of heaven increases in number from day to day and as it increases, it becomes more perfect. Thus not only does the society become more perfect, but also heaven in general because it is made up of societies. As heaven gains in perfection by increase of numbers, it is evident how mistaken are those who believe that heaven may be closed by becoming full. For the opposite is true, that it is never closed but is perfected by greater and greater fullness. Therefore, the angels wish for nothing more than to have new angel guests come to them.

Each society, when it appears as one whole, is in the likeness of a man for the reason that heaven as a whole so appears. Moreover, in the most perfect form such as that of heaven is, there is likeness of the parts with the whole, and of lesser parts with the greatest. The lesser forms and parts of heaven are the societies of which it consists which also are heavens in lesser form. This likeness is continuous throughout because in the heavens the goods of all are from one love, thus from one origin. The one love which is the origin of the good of all in heaven is love to the Lord from the Lord. It is from this that the entire heaven in general, any one society less generally, and each angel in particular is a likeness of the Lord.

THEREFORE EACH ANGEL IS IN A COMPLETE HUMAN FORM

In the two preceding sections it has been shown that heaven in its whole complex resembles one man, as does any one society in heaven. From the sequence of reasons there set forth, it follows that this is equally true of each angel. As heaven is man in the greatest form, and a society of heaven in a less form, so is an angel in the least form. For, in the most perfect form such as that of heaven is, there is a likeness of the whole in the part and of the part in the whole. This is the case for the reason that heaven is a communion, for it communicates all it has with each one, and each one receives all he has from that communion. An angel is a receptacle, and by virtue of this, a heaven in least form. A man, too, so far as he receives heaven, is also a receptacle, a heaven and an angel This is described in the Revelation as follows,

He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem, a hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is of an angel. Rev. 21:17.

"Jerusalem" there is the Lord's Church, and, in a higher sense, heaven

the "wall" is the truth that is a defence against the assault of falsities and evils

the "hundred and forty-four" are all truths and goods in the complex

the "measure" is the quality; a "man" is one in whom are all goods and truths in general and particular, that is, in whom is heaven, and as it is from these that an angel also is a man, it is said, the "measure of a man" which is that of an angel.

This is the spiritual sense of the words. Without that sense, who could understand that the wall of the Holy Jerusalem is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel?

THOSE WHO THINK FROM THE SENSE IMPRESSIONS

Sometimes I have marvelled at their being such. Lest this might be said to be a delusion or a vision of fancy, I have been permitted to see them when I was fully awake, in possession of all my bodily senses, and in a state of clear perception. Indeed, I have quite often told them that men in the Christian world are in such blind ignorance about angels and spirits as to believe them to be minds without form, even pure thoughts, of which they have no idea except as something ethereal in which there is some vitality. Because they thus ascribe to them nothing human except a thinking faculty, they believe that, having no eyes they see not, having no ears they hear not, and having no mouth or tongue they speak not.

To this the angels replied that they are aware that such a belief is held by many in the world, and is prevalent among the learned and also, to their amazement, among the clergy. The reason, they said, is that the learned who were the leaders and first propounded such an idea about angels and spirits, thought about them from the sense impressions of the external man, and that men who think from those, and not from interior light and the general idea implanted in everyone, can do no other than invent such notions, since the sense impressions of the external man take in only what belongs to nature, and nothing above nature, thus nothing whatever of the spiritual world. From these leaders as guides, this falsity of thought about angels extended to others who did not think from themselves but from the thoughts of their leaders. Those who first form their thoughts from others, make that thought their belief, and afterwards view it with their understanding, cannot easily recede from it and so, for the most part, acquiesce in confirmation of it.

The angels said, furthermore, that the simple in faith and heart do not have this idea about angels but have an idea of them as men of heaven, for the reason that they have not extinguished, by erudition, what is implanted in them from heaven, neither do they apprehend anything without a form. For a like reason, angels in churches, whether sculptured or painted, are always depicted as men. In respect of what is implanted from heaven they said that it is the Divine flowing into such as are in the good of faith and life.

Unless man is raised above the sensual impressions of the external man he has very little wisdom.

The wise man thinks above these sensual impressions.

When man is raised above these, he comes into clearer light, and finally into heavenly light.

Elevation and withdrawal from these was known to the ancients.

From all my experience which is now of several years, I can declare and avow that angels as to their form are wholly men, having faces, eyes, ears, bodies, arms, hands and feet, and that they see and hear one another and talk together. In a word, they lack nothing at all that a man has, except that they are not clothed over all with a material body. I have seen them in their own light which exceeds by many degrees the noonday light of the world, and in that light all their features were seen more distinctly and clearly than the faces of men on the earth. It has also been granted me to see an angel of the inmost heaven. He had a more radiant and resplendent face than the angels of the lower heavens. I observed him attentively, and he had a human form in all perfection.

It ought to be known, however, that angels cannot be seen by a man through the eyes of his body but through the eyes of the spirit within him, because this is in the spiritual world, while all things of the body are in the natural world. Like sees like from being alike. Besides, as everyone knows, the bodily organ of sight which is the eye is so gross as to be unable even to see, except through magnifying glasses, the smaller things of nature; still less then can it see the things that are above the sphere of nature such as are all things in the spiritual world. But these things may be seen by a man when he is withdrawn from the sight of the body, and the sight of his spirit is opened. This takes place instantly whenever it pleases the Lord that these things should be seen. In that case, the man does not know but that he is seeing them with his bodily eyes. Angels were seen in this way by Abraham, Lot, Manoah and the Prophets. Thus, too, was the Lord seen by the disciples after the resurrection, and angels have been seen by me in the same way. Because the Prophets saw in this way, they were called "seers", and were said "to have their eyes opened" 1 Sam. 9:9, Num. 24:3, and enabling them to see thus was called "opening their eyes" as with Elisha's lad of whom we read,

Elisha prayed and said, Jehovah, I pray Thee, open his eyes that he may see; and when Jehovah opened the eyes of his young man, behold, he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.  2 Kings 6:17.

Man, as to his interiors, is a spirit

The spirit is the man himself, for the body lives from the spirit.

Upright spirits, with whom I have spoken on this matter, have been grieved at heart that there should be such ignorance within the Church about the condition of heaven, and about spirits and angels, and, in their displeasure, they charged me to declare that they are not minds without a form, nor ethereal breaths, but are men in very likeness, and that they see, hear and feel as fully as those who are in the world.

Every angel, because he is a recipient of Divine order from the Lord, is in a human form, perfect and beautiful according to the measure of the reception.

Divine Truth is that by which order is effected, but the Divine Good is the essential of order.

(from Heaven and Hell 59-77)