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.

6201. The thought appeared in this way among the spirits when I was a little withdrawn from the things of sense. But when the thought was in the things of sense, no such undulating sphere appeared; but it was all material, and not unlike external sight. In this case the man is said to think in the sensuous. But when he thinks interiorly, he is said to be withdrawn from the things of sense. That man can be withdrawn from things of sense was known to the ancients, and therefore also some of them have written about this state. They who think in things of sense are called sensuous, and the like spirits are adjoined to them. Such spirits scarcely apprehend more things with a man than those which come down to his sensation; for they are more gross than all other spirits. It has been observed that when a man is in what is sensuous, and is not elevated therefrom, he thinks of nothing else than what is of the body and of the world, and is not then desirous to know anything about what belongs to eternal life, and is even averse to hearing of that life.

[2] That I might know that this is the case, I have sometimes been let down into what is sensuous, and then such things instantly presented themselves, and then also the spirits who were in that grosser sphere poured in base and scandalous things; but as soon as I was withdrawn from what is sensuous, such things were dissipated. In sensuous life are many who indulge in the pleasures of the body, and also those who have altogether rejected thought beyond what they see and hear, and especially those who have rejected thought about eternal life. Wherefore such persons make light of all such things; and when they hear of them, they loathe them. Spirits of this kind abound in the other life at the present day, for troops of them come from the world; and the influx from them prompts man to indulge his natural inclination, and to live for himself and the world, but not for others except insofar as they favor him and his pleasures. In order for a man to be uplifted from these spirits, he must think about eternal life.