104 HEAVEN and HELL §200
a. The whole heaven—specifi cally, all its angelic communities—is arranged by the Lord accord-
ing to his divine order, since the Lord’s divine [nature] in and around the angels constitutes
heaven: 3038 , 7211 , 9128 , 9338 , 10125 , 10151 , 10157. On the heavenly form: 4040 – 4043 , 6607 , 9877.
b. Heaven’s form is a form that follows from the divine design: 4040 – 4043 , 6607 , 9877.that therefore each community is a heaven in lesser form, and each angel
in least form (§§ 51 – 58 ); that as heaven as a whole resembles a single per-
son, so every community of heaven resembles a person in lesser form and
every individual angel in least form (§§ 59 – 77 ); that the wisest people are
at the center, with the less wise around them all the way to the borders,
and that the same holds true for each community (§ 43 ); and that people
who are engaged in the good of love live along the east-west axis and
people who are engaged in truths that derive from the good along the
south-north axis, which also holds true for each community (§§ 148 – 149 ).
All these things are determined by heaven’s form, so we can fi gure out
what that form is like in a general sense.a201 We need to know what heaven’s form is like because it determines
not only how angels associate with each other but also how all their com-
munication takes place; and since all their communication is also an out-
reach of their thoughts and affections, this means all their intelligence
and wisdom. This is why the extent to which we are in heaven’s form (are
forms of heaven) determines how wise we are. It amounts to the same
thing whether you say “in heaven’s form” or “in heaven’s design,” since
the form of any entity comes from its design and is determined by it.b202 One thing needs to be said fi rst, namely, what it is to be in heaven’s
form. We have been created in the image of heaven and in the image of
this world, our inner being in the image of heaven and our outer in the
image of this world (see above, § 57 ). Whether you say “in the image” or
“according to the form,” it amounts to the same thing. However, since by
the evils of our intention and the distortions of our thinking we have
destroyed the image and therefore the form of heaven within us, and in its
place have imported the image and form of hell, our inner being is closed
from the time of birth. This is why we, unlike all other kinds of animal,
are born into utter ignorance. However, for the image or form of heaven
to be restored for us, we need to be educated in the principles of the
design; for the form, as explained above, depends on the design. The
Word contains all the laws of the divine design, for the laws of the divine
design are the precepts we fi nd there. To the extent that we know them