In some casual references “first” has a pretty literal meaning, as the beginning of a group; on a deeper level the “first” represents the entire group. In connection with measurements of time -- days, months, hours etc. -- it means the beginning of a new spiritual state. It is also used in connection with the Lord, who is the “first” of all existence, because everything is a product of His love. “First” is perhaps most commonly used, however, to represent what people love and desire, because what we love and desire is “first” in us, with our thoughts and intellect following. If we love people around us and desire to serve them, our ideas will follow and find ways to do it. It does not, however, work the other way around -- having ideas of how to be good won't mean anything if we lack the desire to be good. Our loves, then, contain the key elements of all that we are.

78. IT IS FROM THE LORD'S DIVINE HUMAN THAT HEAVEN AS A WHOLE AND IN PART RESEMBLES A MAN

That it is from the Lord's Divine Human that heaven as a whole and in part resembles a man, follows as a conclusion from all that has been stated and shown in the preceding sections, for in them it has been shown,

(1) That the Lord is the God of heaven.

(2) That it is the Divine of the Lord that makes heaven.

(3) That heaven consists of innumerable societies, and that any one society is a heaven in lesser form, and each angel in the least form.

(4) That the entire heaven, as one whole, resembles one man.

(5) That each society in the heavens also resembles one man.

(6) That therefore each angel is in a complete human form.

All this leads to the conclusion that the Divine because It makes heaven is Human in form. That this Divine is the Divine Human of the Lord can be seen still more clearly, because in a compendium, from passages from ARCANA CAELESTIA which have been brought together and added as a corollary [to this section]. That the Lord's Human is Divine, and that it is not true that His Human is not Divine as is believed within the Church, may be seen from the same extracts, and also from the DOCTRINE ¹ OF THE HOLY JERUSALEM towards the end where it treats of the Lord.

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