188. And confirm the things remaining that are about to die, signifies in order that the things that belong to the moral life may be vivified. This is evident from the signification of "confirming," as being to vivify the moral life by means of truths; for truths from the Word are what vivify it; and when it is vivified it is also confirmed, for it then acts as one with the spiritual life; for spiritual life and moral life act as one with those who are spiritual, as will and action do; will is of the spiritual man and its life, and action is of the moral (See above, n. 182). It is said, "confirm the things remaining that are about to die," which signifies lest the moral life be destroyed by evils and falsities; for moral life apart from spiritual life is nothing else than natural life; since all the good things that man does from a moral life, apart from the spiritual, are from no other origin than from the love of self and the world, that is, from the proprium [one's own], and from the proprium [one's own] nothing flows out except evil and falsity; man, indeed, wishes to be esteemed moral, because by feigning goodness, sincerity, and righteousness in outward form, he may gain ends that have respect to self and the world.

From this it is that all things that are with him are in themselves dead, that is, are "about to die," unless they are made alive by truths and goods, which may bring about an opening of the internal spiritual man; for it is by this means that the Lord takes away the evils and falsities that are in the natural.

A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They all do different things -- but if they're doing them with a shared underlying purpose, the company -- and the individuals in it -- will likely be successful. The Lord wants all human society to function in a similar way. We have different skills and individual loves, but if we all share a mutual love -- a love of serving others -- then society will function as one, will be a reflection of heaven and will be a good receptacle for the Lord's love. This can also happen within each of us, as we unify our talents and ideas around a central love. And in an abstract sense, it illustrates how a wide collection of varying ideas can be unified around a shared good intention. That is the kind of love pictured when “one” is used in the Bible, either as a specific number or in the sense of several people or objects “being one.” In more casual references -- when used to identify a specific person or object -- the meaning is relatively literal, and is connected to that person or object.