34 HEAVEN and HELL §62
62 Actually, angels do not see heaven in a single overview in this kind of
form, since the entire heaven does not lie within the scope of any angel’s
sight. However, they do consistently see particular communities that are
made up of many thousands of angels as single units in this kind of form;
and from the community as a sample they draw their inference about
the totality that is heaven. This is because in the most perfect form the
greater elements are arranged like the parts, and the parts like the greater
elements. The only distinction is between what is greater and what is
lesser. Therefore they say that the entire heaven looks like this in the
Lord’s sight, because the Divine sees everything from the very center and
summit.
63 Since heaven is of this nature, it is also governed by the Lord as
though it were a single individual and therefore a single unit. We our-
selves consist of countless different things, both overall and in our parts.
We are made up overall of our limbs, organs, and viscera, and in our parts
of series of nerves, fi bers, and blood vessels—made up of members within
members, then, and parts within parts. Still, we do of course recognize
that when we do anything, we do it as whole individuals. This is what
heaven is like, too, under the Lord’s guardianship and guidance.64 The reason so many varied elements act as one in an individual is
that there is nothing whatever there that does not contribute something
to the common good and do something useful. The inclusive body serves
its parts and the parts serve the inclusive body because the inclusive body
is made up of parts and the parts make up the inclusive body. So they
provide for each other respectively, they focus on each other mutually,
and they are united in the kind of form that gives every single compo-
nent a relationship to the inclusive entity and its well-being. This is what
enables them to act as a unit.
[ 2 ] It is the same with assemblies in the heavens. People there unite
in this kind of form in pursuit of any worthwhile activity. As a result
any individuals who do not serve some use for the larger body are cast
out of heaven because they are misfi ts. To “serve some use” is to intend
well to others for the sake of the common good, while “not to serve
some use” is to intend well to others not for the sake of the common
good but for the sake of oneself. People who act in this latter fashion are
people who love themselves above all, while people who act in the for-
mer fashion are the ones who love the Lord above all. This is why peo-
ple in heaven act in unison not from themselves but from the Lord.
They in fact focus on him as the unique source of all, and on his kingdom