or highest something, into which the Divine of the Lord primarily or
proximately flows, and from which it disposes the other interiors in
him that follow in accordance with the degrees of order. This inmost
or highest degree may be called the entrance of the Lord to the angel
or man, and His veriest dwelling-place in them. It is by virtue of
this inmost or highest that a man is a man, and is distinguished from
irrational animals, for these do not have it. From this it is that
man, unlike the animals, is capable, in respect to all his interiors
which pertain to his mind and disposition, of being raised up by the
Lord to Himself, of believing in the Lord, of being moved by love to
the Lord, and thereby beholding Him, and of receiving intelligence
and wisdom, and speaking from reason. Also, it is by virtue of this
that he lives to eternity. But what is arranged and provided by the
Lord in this inmost does not distinctly flow into the perception of
any angel, because it is above his thought and transcends his wisdom.


40. These now are the general truths respecting the three heavens;
but in what follows each heaven will be particularly treated of.



41. VI. THE HEAVENS CONSIST OF INNUMERABLE SOCIETIES.

The angels of each heaven are not together in one place, but are
divided into larger and smaller societies in accordance with the
differences of good of love and of faith in which they are, those who
are in like good forming a single society. Goods in the heavens are
in infinite variety, and each angel is as it were his own good.{1}