8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

8865. How to understand 'reigning universally' becomes clear from what has been stated and shown above in 8853-8858. What reigns universally with a person is that which is present in every idea of his thought and every desire of his will, consequently which constitutes his actual mind or life. That which reigns universally within a person should be the Lord, for that which reigns universally within the angels in heaven is the Lord, and they are for this reason said to be 'in the Lord'. The Lord starts to reign in a person when he not only believes that everything good and everything true comes from Him but also loves it to be so. Angels not only truly believe but also perceive it to be so, and that is why their life is the Lord's life within them. The life of their will is the life of love coming from the Lord, and the life of their understanding is the life of faith coming from the Lord. All this shows what is meant when it is said that the Lord is the All in all of heaven, and that He is heaven. When the Lord reigns universally with a member of the Church, as He does with angels in heaven, the Lord is within every truth and good of faith residing with him, just as the heart is within all the blood vessels, since they derive from it their origin, and the blood which is their life.

[2] In addition it should be recognized that the kind of spirits or the kind of angels who are present with a person is determined by the nature of what reigns universally in him. The reason for this is that what reigns universally is the being (esse) of anyone's life, 8853, 8858. All the cheerfulness and all the contentment a person has, even when thinking about other matters, springs from it. For in it the angels and spirits present with him reside and so to speak have a dwelling-place; their gladness enters the person and creates the cheerfulness and contentment. The person does not realize that they are the source of it because a person does not know that his life flows in, or that what reigns universally constitutes his life, or that when something touches this core of his life the effect is like that which visual objects have on the pupil of the eye, that is, pleasure when they are beautiful and pain when they are not beautiful. The term 'universally' is used because it implies every single thing within the whole, so that what reigns universally is that which exists in each individual part, see 1919 (end), 5949, 6159, 6338, 6482, 6483, 6571, 7648, 8067.

8241. 'In Jehovah and in Moses His servant' means the Lord in respect of Divine Goodness, and in respect of Divine Truth going forth from Him and ministering. This is clear from the consideration that in the Word 'Jehovah' is used to mean the Lord, see 1343, 1736, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6281, 6303, 6945, 6956, and in particular the Lord in respect of Divine Goodness, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 4402, 6905; from the representation of 'Moses' as Divine Truth going forth from Him, dealt with in 6752, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382 (the expression 'the Lord in respect of Divine Goodness and in respect of Divine Truth' is used because Divine Goodness exists within the Lord and Divine Truth goes forth from the Lord, for the situation with Divine Goodness and Divine Truth is like that with the fire of the sun and the light radiating from it; the light is not within the sun but comes forth from the sun); and from the meaning of 'servant' as ministering. The word 'servant' is used to describe one who serves, that is, who ministers, see 7143. This is why the Lord in respect of His Divine Human when He was in the world is called 'a servant' in the Word, 3441; for during that time He ministered, as also He Himself says,

Whoever has the wish to become great among you must be your minister, and whoever has the wish to become first must be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered to but to minister.

Matthew 20:26-28; Luke 22:26-27; Mark 10:43-45.