24 HEAVEN and HELL §41
a. There is an infi nite variety, and there is never anything the same as anything else: 7236 , 9002.
There is an infi nite variety in the heavens: 684 , 690 , 3744 , 5598 , 7236. The infi nite varieties that
exist in the heavens are varieties of the good: 3744 , 4005 , 7236 , 7833 , 7836 , 9002. These varieties
arise by means of truths, which are manifold, and which provide individuals with their good:
3470 , 3804 , 4149 , 6917 , 7236. As a result, all the communities in the heavens, and all the angels in
the communities, are differentiated from each other: 690 , 3241 , 3519 , 3804 , 3986 , 4067 , 4149 ,
4263 , 7236 , 7833 , 7836. Still, they all act in concert because of love from the Lord: 457 , 3986.
b. All the communities of heaven have permanent locations depending on differences in their
state of life, therefore depending on their differences in love and faith: 1274 , 3638 , 3639. Remark-
able information about distance, location, place, space, and time in the other life or in the spiri-
tual world: 1273 – 1277.infi nite variety of good activities in heaven, and each individual angel is,
so to speak, his or her own activity.a42 The distances between angelic communities in the heavens also vary
as their activities vary, in general and in detail. This is because the only
cause of distance in the spiritual world is the difference of the state of our
more inward natures—in the heavens, then, differences in the state of
love. When communities are very different, the distance between them is
great; when the difference is slight, the distance is slight. Likeness makes
for unity.b
43 All the individuals in a single community are distanced from each
other by the same principle. The better ones, that is, the ones who are
more complete in goodness and therefore in love, wisdom, and intelli-
gence, are in the center. Those who are less outstanding surround them
at distances graded in proportion to their lessened perfection. It is like
the way light decreases from a center toward a circumference. The ones
who are in the middle are in the greatest light, while the ones who are
toward the perimeter are in less and less.44 Kindred souls gravitate toward each other spontaneously, as it were,
for with each other they feel as though they are with their own family, at
home, while with others they feel like foreigners, as though they were
abroad. When they are with kindred souls, they enjoy the fullest freedom
and fi nd life totally delightful.
45 We can see from this that the good gathers everyone together in the
heavens, and that angels are differentiated by what good they do. Still, it
is not the angels who gather themselves, but the Lord, the source of all
that is good. He leads them, unites them, differentiates them, and keeps
them in freedom to the extent that they are engaged in what is good. So