IX.
EVERY SOCIETY AND EVERY ANGEL IS IN THE HUMAN FORM.
ALTHOUGH all in a heavenly society when viewed collectively, appear as one in the likeness of a man, still each society is a different man from every other. They differ like the faces of different individuals of the same family, and for a similar reason; that is, they differ according to the varieties of good in which they are, and which determines the form. The societies which are in the inmost or supreme heaven, and in the centre there, appear in the most perfect and beautiful human form.
It is worthy of remark that the greater the number in a society of heaven, and the more they act as one, the more perfectly human is the form of that society; for variety arranged in a heavenly form produces perfection; and where there are many there is variety. Every society of heaven also increases in number daily, and as it increases it becomes more perfect. And not only does the society become more perfect in this way, but the whole heaven also, because heaven is composed of societies.
Since increasing numbers make heaven more perfect,
