9613. And it shall be one Habitation. That this signifies the whole heaven thus altogether one, is evident from the signification of “the Habitation,” as being heaven (see n. 9594). That heaven is one when it is so conjoined, is manifest; for heaven consists of myriads of angelic societies, and yet the Lord leads them as one angel, or as one man. The reason of this is that among all there is mutual love from the love of the Lord. When this love is among all, and in all, then all can be disposed into a heavenly form, which is such that many are a one, and the more in number they are, the more strongly they are a one. The case herein is like that of the countless things in the human body, which, though distinct and various, yet make a one. The reason is that they are in a form like that of heaven, for the two correspond, as has been shown at the end of many chapters; and from this correspondence they are in mutual love, and in this way are conjoined. Hence it is that the man who is in the good of love and of faith is a heaven in the least form (n. 9279); and that before the Lord the whole heaven is as one man (see n. 9276).

[2] All the conjunction of the countless angelic societies in heaven, together with the methods of their conjunction, was represented in the form of the construction of the Habitation and of the Tent, as treated of in this chapter. But these methods of conjunction, such as they are in heaven, cannot come from this to a man’s idea, for the reason that man does not even know that heaven was represented by the Habitation; and even if he knew this, still he does not know that the heavenly societies have been so joined together by means of love as to represent a one. But all these things flow fully into the idea of the angels, when these things relating to the Habitation are read; for each and all things of the description have an internal sense, which when made manifest by the Lord before the angels, exhibits the state of conjunction together, by means of the love which is from the Lord, of all in the universal heaven.

[3] The conjunction of the angelic societies into one heaven has reference to these laws: 1. Everyone in the form of the heavens comes forth in accordance with the heavenly harmony of many associated together. 2. Love is spiritual conjunction, whence comes heavenly harmony. 3. There must be a universal bond, in order that all the individuals may be held together in conjunction. 4. The universal bond must flow into the individual bonds, and must make them. 5. The universal bond is the Lord, thus love from Him, and consequently love to Him. 6. The individual bonds are derived from this, and are those of mutual love, or of charity toward the neighbor. These are the laws by virtue of which heaven, consisting of innumerable angelic societies, is nevertheless as one man.

4523. CONTINUATION CONCERNING THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE EYE AND OF LIGHT WITH THE GRAND MAN.

Everyone who has any knowledge of air and sound may know that the ear is formed in precise adaptation to the nature of their modifications, thus that in respect to its bodily and material form, the ear corresponds to them; and he who has acquired any knowledge of the ether and light, knows that in respect to its bodily and material form, the eye has been formed so as to correspond to the modifications of these; and that this is so much the case that whatever secret thing has been stored up in the nature of air and of sound is inscribed on the organism of the ear, and whatever secret thing has been stored up in the nature of the ether and of light is inscribed on the organism of the eye.

[2] Consequently he who is skilled in anatomy and also in physics may know by investigation that as regards their bodily and material forms, the organs both of sense and of motion, together with all the viscera, correspond to various things that exist in the nature of the world; and thus that the whole body is an organ composed of the most secret things in the nature of the world, and in accordance with their secret forces of acting and their wonderful modes of flowing. For this reason man was called by the ancients a little world or microcosm.

[3] He who knows this may also know that whatever exists in the world and its nature does not come forth from itself, but from what is prior to itself; and that this prior cannot come forth from itself, but from something prior to itself; and so on even to the First, from whom the things that follow come forth in order. And as they come forth from this, they also subsist from it; for subsistence is a perpetual coming forth. Hence it follows that all things in nature both in general and in particular, down to its last things, have not only come forth from the First, but also subsist from the First; for unless they were perpetually coming forth, and unless there were a continuous nexus, from the First, and thus with the First, they would fall to pieces and perish in an instant.