56. Again, heaven is where the Lord is acknowledged, believed in and loved. Variety in worship of the Lord resulting from the variety of good in one society and another is not harmful but beneficial, for the perfection of heaven is therefrom. It can scarcely be made clear to the comprehension that the perfection of heaven is the result of variety, without employing terms in common use in the learned world and by them showing how unity, to be perfect, is formed from various parts. Every unity has its existence from diversity, for a unity that is not the result of diversity is not anything; it has no form and therefore no quality. When, on the other hand, a unity comes into existence from various parts, and these various parts are in a perfect form in which each attaches itself in series, like a congenial friend to another, then the quality is perfect. So heaven is a unity resulting from the arrangements of various parts in the most perfect form, for the heavenly form is the most perfect of all forms. That this is the origin of all perfection is evident from all the beauty, pleasantness and delight that affect the senses as well as the mind (animus). For these exist and flow from no other source than the concert and harmony of many concordant and harmonious parts, either co-existing in order or following in order, and not from a unity apart from plurality. From this comes the saying that variety gives delight, and it is known that it is the nature of the variety which determines the delight. From all this it can be seen, as in a mirror, how perfection comes from variety even in heaven. For the things that are in the spiritual world can be seen as in a mirror ¹ from those that come into existence in the natural world.

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269. It can be deduced that this happens in heaven as a whole from the similar phenomena in each community in heaven. For each community is a heaven on a smaller scale, also resembling a person. (On this see my book HEAVEN AND HELL, 41-87.) In every community in heaven those who are at its centre likewise answer to the heart and lungs, and they enjoy the strongest light. The light itself, and consequently the perception of truth, spreads from that centre in all directions towards the circumference, thus reaching all the members of the community and bringing them spiritual life. A demonstration showed that on the removal of those at the centre, who made up the province of the heart and lungs and enjoyed the strongest light, the surrounding people had a shadow cast upon their understandings, and had such a tenuous perception of truth that they complained. But as soon as those at the centre returned, they saw the light and their perception of truth was as before.

This can be compared with heat and light coming from the sun of the world, which gives trees and plants the power to grow, even if they are placed to one side and are under a cloud, so long as the sun is above the horizon. The same is true of the light and heat of heaven coming from the Lord as the sun there. This light is in essence Divine truth, the source of all intelligence and wisdom for angels as well as men. This is why it is said of the Word that it was with God and was God, that it enlightens everyone who comes into the world; and that the light also shines in the darkness (John 1:1, 5, 9). The Word there means the Lord in respect of Divine truth.

457. When the spirit of man first enters the world of spirits, which takes place shortly after his resuscitation, as described above, his face and his tone of voice resemble those he had in the world, because he is then in the state of his exteriors, and his interiors are not as yet uncovered. This is man's first state after death. But subsequently his face is changed, and becomes entirely different, resembling his ruling affection or ruling love, in conformity with which the interiors of his mind had been while he was in the world and his spirit while it was in the body. For the face of a man's spirit differs greatly from the face of his body. The face of his body is from his parents, but the face of his spirit is from his affection, and is an image of it. The spirit comes into this affection after life in the body, and then exterior things are done away with and interior things are uncovered. This is man's second ¹ state. I have seen some who have recently arrived from the world, and have recognized them from their face and speech; but seeing them afterwards I did not recognize them. Those who had been in good affections appeared with beautiful faces; but those who had been in evil affections with misshapen faces; for man's spirit, viewed in itself, is nothing but his affection; and the face is its outward form. Another reason why faces are changed is that in the other life no one is permitted to counterfeit affections that are not his own, and thus assume looks that are contrary to his love. All in the other life are brought into such a state as to speak as they think, and to manifest in their looks and gestures the inclinations of their will. And because of this the faces of all become forms and images of their affections; and in consequence all who have known each other in the world know each other in the world of spirits, but not in heaven nor in hell (as has been said above, 427). ²

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