The Swedenborg Library Vol 2/Chapter 9
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, it is evident how much deceived they are who believe that heaven will be shut when full. When yet the contrary is true, that it will never be shut; and that the greater its fullness, the greater its perfection. Therefore the angels desire nothing more earnestly than the arrival of new angelic guests.
As heaven is a man in the greatest form, and a society of heaven in a less, so is an angel in the least. For in the most perfect form, which is the form of heaven, there is a likeness of the whole in every part, and of every part in the whole. The reason is, that heaven is a communion; for it communicates all its own to each one, and each one receives all that he has from that communion. An angel is a receptacle [of all heavenly things], and thence a heaven in the least form.
Man, too, so far as he receives heaven, is also a receptacle, a heaven and an angel. This is described in the Apocalypse in these words: "He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem, a hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is, of an angel." xxi. 17. In this passage Jerusalem is the Lord's church, and in a more eminent sense heaven; the wall is truth which protects from the assault of falsities and evils; a hundred and forty-four are all truths and goods in the complex; the measure is its quality; man is the subject in whom reside all these things in general and in particular, and therefore heaven is in him; and because an angel also is a man from these same things, therefore it is said, the measure of a man, which is that of an angel. This is the spiritual sense of these words. Without that sense, who could understand what is meant by the wall of the holy Jerusalem being the measure of a man, which is that of an angel?
THIS TRUTH LEARNED FROM EXPERIENCE.
But to proceed now to experience. I have seen a thousand times that angels are human forms, or men; for I have conversed with them as man with man, sometimes with one alone, sometimes with many in company; nor did I discover in their form anything different from the form of man. And I have repeatedly wondered that they were such. And lest it should be said that it was a fallacy or a visionary fancy, I have been permitted to see them in a state of full wakefulness, when I was in the exercise of every bodily sense, and in a state of clear perception.
I have also frequently told them that men in the Christian world are in such blind ignorance concerning angels and spirits, as to believe them to be minds without form, and mere thoughts, concerning which they have no other idea than as of something ethereal in which there is somewhat vital. And because they thus ascribe to them nothing human except a thinking principle, they imagine that they cannot see, because they have no eyes; nor hear, because they have no ears; nor speak, because they have neither mouth nor tongue.
The angels said in reply, that they knew such a belief exists with many in the world, and that it is the prevailing belief among the learned, and also to their astonishment among the clergy. They also assigned as a reason for this, that the learned who were the leaders, and who first broached such ideas concerning angels and spirits, thought of them from the sensual conceptions of the external man; and they who think from these, and not from interior light and the general idea implanted in every one, must of necessity adopt such fictions; because the sensuals of the external man can comprehend only what is within nature, but not what is above it, that is, nothing whatever of the spiritual world.
From these leaders as guides, the false notion concerning the angels was communicated to others who did not think for themselves, but from them. And they who first think from others, and make the things so thought matters of their faith, and afterwards view them as such from their own understanding, can with difficulty recede from them. Therefore they generally acquiesce in confirming them.
They further said that the simple in faith and heart have no such idea concerning the angels, but think of them as heavenly men, because they have not extinguished by erudition what was implanted in them from heaven, nor can they conceive of anything without a form. Hence it is that angels are always represented in temples, both in sculpture and painting, as men. Concerning what is thus implanted from heaven, they added, that it is the Divine communicated by iuflux to those who are in the good of faith and life.
From all my experience which is now of many years, I can declare that the form of the angels is in every respect human; that they have faces, eyes, ears, breasts, arms, hands and feet; that they see, hear, and converse with each other; in a word, that they lack nothing which belongs to man, except the material body. I have seen them in a light which exceeds by many degrees the noon-day light of the world; and in that light I observed all parts of their faces more distinctly and clearly than ever I did the face of men on earth. I have also been permitted to see an angel of the inmost heaven. His countenance was brighter and more resplendent than the faces of the angels of the inferior heavens. I examined him closely, and his form was perfectly human.
ANGELS NOT SEEN WITH THE NATURAL EYES.
It is, however, to be observed that angels cannot be seen by man with his bodily eyes, but with the eyes of the spirit which is within him; because the spirit is in the spiritual world, and all things of the body are in the natural world. Like sees like, because from like.
Besides, every one knows that the organ of bodily vision which is the eye, is so gross that it cannot see even the smaller things of nature except by the aid of optical glasses; much less, then, can it discern those which are above the sphere of nature, as are all things in the spiritual world. Nevertheless, these are seen by man when he is withdrawn from the bodily sight, and the sight of his spirit is opened. This is effected in a moment when it pleases the Lord that man should see spiritual things. And then he does not know but that he sees them with the eyes of the body.
Thus were angels seen by Abraham, Lot, Manoah, and the prophets. Thus the Lord also was seen by His disciples after His resurrection; and in like manner, too, have angels been seen by me. The prophets were called seers, and men whose eyes were open,—1 Sam. ix. 9; Numb. xxiv. 3,—because they saw with the eyes of the spirit; and the opening of this spiritual sight was called opening the eyes. This was the case with the servant of Elisha, of whom we read, "Elisha prayed and said, Jehovah, open, I pray thee, his eyes, that he may see: and Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 2 Kings vi. 17.
Good spirits with whom I have conversed on this subject, were deeply grieved that there should be such ignorance within the church concerning the nature of heaven, and concerning spirits and angels. And being displeased, they charged me by all means to make it known that they are not formless minds, nor ethereal breaths, but that they are men in form, and that they see, hear and feel equally as men in the world. (H. H., n. 70-77.)
