§72 communities reflect individuals 37
If it is in the interest of others, it is for the sake of appearance, and there-
fore in their own interest.
I have also been allowed to see that a whole angelic community 69
appears as a single entity in human form when the Lord makes himself
present. High up toward the east, there appeared something that looked
like a cloud, white at fi rst and then reddening, surrounded by little
stars. It came down, and as it gradually did so, it became brighter and
fi nally took on a perfect human form. The little stars that surrounded
the cloud were angels, who looked like that because of the light from
the Lord.
We do need to realize that even though all the individuals in a com- 70
munity of heaven look like a single entity in human likeness when they
are all together, still one community is not the same person as any other.
They are differentiated like the faces of individuals of one lineage. The
reason for this is the same as that given in § 47 above, namely, that they
differ depending on the various good activities that they participate in
and that give them their form. Those communities that are in the central
or highest heaven and are at its center appear in the most perfect and
lovely human form.
It is worth noting that the more members there are in a single com- 71
munity and the more united they are in action, the more perfect is their
human form. This is because variety arranged in a heavenly form makes
perfection, as explained above in § 56 ; and variety occurs where there are
many individuals.
Every community in heaven is growing in numbers daily, and the
more it grows, the more perfect it becomes. In this way, not only is the
community perfected, but heaven in general is perfected as well, since
the communities constitute heaven.
Since heaven is perfected by its numerical growth, we can see how
mistaken people are who believe that heaven will be closed to prevent
overcrowding. Actually, it is just the reverse. It will never be closed, and
its ever increasing fullness makes it more perfect. So angels long for noth-
ing more than to have new angel guests arrive there.
The reason each community appears in human likeness when it is 72
seen all together as a unit is that heaven as a whole has this likeness, as
may be seen in the preceding chapter; and in the most perfect form, like
the form of heaven, there is a likeness of parts and whole, of lesser and
greatest. The lesser elements and parts of heaven are the communities of
which it consists, each of which is a heaven in lesser form, as may be seen
above in §§ 51 – 58.