hell or heaven wholly
the same to one as to another; as it is impossible that any one man,
spirit or angel should ever be wholly like another even as to the
face. At my mere thought of two being just alike or equal the angels
expressed horror, saying that everyone thing is formed out of the
harmonious concurrence of many things, and that the one thing is such
as that concurrence is; and that it is thus that a whole society in
heaven becomes a one, and that all the societies of heaven together
become a one, and this from the Lord alone by means of love.{1} Uses
in the heavens are likewise in all variety and diversity, and in no
case is the use of one wholly the same as and identical with the use
of another; so neither is the happiness of one the same as and
identical with the happiness of another. Furthermore, the delights of
each use are innumerable, and these innumerable delights are likewise
various, and yet conjoined in such order that they mutually regard
each other, like the uses of each member, organ, and viscus, in the
body, and still more like the uses of each vessel and fiber in each
member, organ and viscus; each and all of which are so affiliated as
to have regard to another's good in their own good, and thus each in
all, and all in each. From this universal and individual aspect they
act as one.

{Footnote 1} One thing consists of various things, and receives
thereby its form and quality and perfection in accordance with
the quality of the harmony and concurrence (n. 457, 3241,
8003). There is an infinite variety and never any one thing the
same as another (n. 7236, 9002). It is the same in the heavens
(n. 3744, 4005, 7236, 7833, 7836, 9002). In consequence all the
societies in the heavens and all the angels in a society are
distinct from each other because they are in different goods
and uses (n. 690, 3241, 3519, 3804, 3986, 4067, 4149, 4263,
7236, 7833). The Lord's Divine love arranges all into a
heavenly form, and so conjoins them that they are as a single
man (n. 457, 3986, 5598).

406. I have talked at times with spirits that had recently come from
the world about the state of eternal life, saying that it is
important to know who the Lord of the kingdom is, and what kind and
what form of government it has. As nothing is more important for
those entering another kingdom in the world than to know who and what
the king is, and what the government is, and other particulars in