9613. 'And the dwelling-place shall be one' means that the whole heaven is as a result altogether one. This is clear from the meaning of 'the dwelling-place' as heaven, dealt with in 9594. The fact that it is one when it is so completely joined together is self-evident. For heaven consists of tens of thousands of angelic communities, and yet the Lord leads them as one total angel or man. This is so because mutual love springing from the Lord's love exists among them all, and when that love exists among them all and within them all they can all be arranged into the heavenly form, the nature of which is such that many are one, and the more numerous they are, the stronger is their oneness. They are like the countless parts of the human body; although these are distinct and various they nevertheless make one. The reason why they do so is that they exist within a form similar to that in which heaven exists; for they correspond to heaven, as has been shown at the ends of a number of chapters, and by virtue of that correspondence they possess a kind of mutual love and are joined together by it. So it is that a person who is governed by the good of love and faith is heaven in its smallest form, 9279, and that the whole of heaven is seen in the Lord's eyes as one total human being, 9276 (end).

[2] All the joining together of so many countless angelic communities in heaven and the modes by which they are joined were represented by the pattern according to which the dwelling-place and the tent, the subject in the present chapter, were assembled. But the modes by which things are joined together, as those modes exist in heaven, cannot pass from there into the ideas people in the world have, because they are not even aware of the fact that heaven was represented by 'the dwelling-place'. Or if they were aware of it they would still be unaware that heavenly communities have been so joined together by means of love that they present themselves as one. Yet all such considerations enter fully into angels' ideas when those details regarding the dwelling-place are read; for each specific detail in the description has an inner meaning, which, when manifested by the Lord to angels, presents to them the state in which all in the whole of heaven are joined to and interconnected with one another by means of love which comes from the Lord.

[3] The combination of the angelic communities into one heaven takes place in accord with the following laws,

1. Every complete whole in heaven arises from the pattern of many sharing their lives with one another in accord with the harmony of heaven.

2. Love is spiritual togetherness, which leads to the harmony of heaven.

3. There must be a universal bond, in order that the individual constituents may be held in combination and interconnection.

4. The universal bond must enter into and create the individual bonds.

5. The universal bond is the Lord, that is, it is the love that comes from Him, and from this the love directed towards Him.

6. The individual bonds are derived from the universal; they are the bonds of mutual love or charity towards the neighbour.

These are the laws by virtue of which heaven, consisting of countless angelic communities, nevertheless exists as one total human being.

6996. 'Send, I beg You, through the hand [of another] You may send' means that Divine Truth going forth from the Divine Human will be uttered in an indirect way. This is clear from the representation of Moses, who says these words, as the Lord in respect of the Word, that is, of Divine Truth, dealt with in 6752; from the meaning of 'sending', when used in reference to the Lord, as going forth, dealt with in 2397, 4710; and from the meaning of 'sending through the hand' as through another to whom power will be given, power to utter Divine Truth going forth from the Lord's Divine Human. And since it comes through another to whom power has been given it comes in an indirect way. It was shown above in 6982, 6985, that Divine Truth going forth directly from the Lord's Divine Human cannot be heard or discerned by anyone, not even by an angel. If therefore it is to be heard and discerned an intermediary is required; heaven acts as that intermediary, and then the angels and spirits present with a person.

[2] This is plainly recognizable from the consideration that a person does not even hear the spirits who are present with him talking to one another; and if he did he would not discern what they said because spirits' speech does not contain any words used by men but is the universal speech of all languages. What is more, spirits cannot hear angels, and if they did they would not discern what they said, for angels' speech is even more universal. Still less can angels belonging to the inmost heaven be heard or understood, because their speech is not speech consisting of ideas but of the affections immanent in heavenly love. Since these kinds of speech are so remote from a person that he cannot by any means hear or discern them, then how remote must Divine speech be - if one may use that expression - which is infinitely superior to the kinds of speech in the heavens? (The expression 'Divine speech' is being used, but by it Divine Truth going forth from the Lord's Divine Human is meant.) This being so, it may be seen that if Divine Truth going forth from the Lord is to be heard and discerned, it must come to man by way of intermediaries, the final one being a spirit present with a person, whose entrance takes place either into the person's thought or by means of a living voice.

[3] The fact that Divine Truth coming forth directly from the Lord cannot be heard or discerned is also evident from correspondences and from the representatives based on them. That is to say, the things that man says present themselves among spirits in an altogether different form, and the things spirits say present themselves among angels in an altogether different form, as may be recognized from the spiritual sense of the Word and the literal sense of it; the literal sense, which is suitable for man, serves to denote and represent things contained in the spiritual sense. Since this sense cannot be perceived by man - still less the angelic sense - except insofar as it is able to be presented and revealed by means of such things as belong to the world and natural order, how can he discern Divine Truth coming directly from the Lord's Divine? That Truth is infinitely higher than angels' level of understanding and cannot be perceived in heaven either, except insofar as it passes through heaven and in so doing takes on a form suitable for and compatible with the perception of those who are there. This is accomplished by means of an influx that is marvellous and beyond all possible comprehension by anyone. These matters have been stated in order that people may know that Divine Truth going forth from the Lord cannot be heard or discerned by anyone without intermediaries.