It is impossible to enumerate the
employments in the heavens, still less to describe them in detail, but something
may be said about them in a general way; for they are numberless, and vary in
accordance with the functions of the societies. Each society has its peculiar
function, for as societies are distinct in accordance with goods, so they are distinct in accordance with uses, because with all in the
heavens goods are goods in act, which are uses. Everyone there performs a use,
for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses.
In the heavens as on the earth there are many forms of service, for there are
ecclesiastical affairs, there are civil affairs, and there are domestic affairs. ... all of which show that in every heavenly
society there are many employments and services.
All things in the heavens are organized in accordance with Divine order, which
is everywhere guarded by the services performed by angels, those things that
pertain to the general good or use by the wiser angels, those that pertain to
particular uses by the less wise, and so on. They are subordinated just as uses
are subordinated in the Divine order; and for this reason a dignity is connected
with every function according to the dignity of the use. Nevertheless, an angel
does not claim dignity to himself, but ascribes all dignity to the use; and as
the use is the good that he accomplishes, and all good is from the Lord, so he
ascribes all dignity to the Lord. Therefore he that thinks of honor for himself
and subsequently for the use, and not for the use and subsequently for himself,
can perform no function in heaven, because this is looking away backwards from
the Lord, and putting self in the first place and use in the second. When use is
spoken of the Lord also is meant, because, as has just been said, use is good,
and good is from the Lord.
From this it may be inferred what subordinations in the heavens are, namely,
that as any one loves, esteems, and honors the use he also loves, esteems, and
honors the person with whom the use is connected; also that the person is loved,
esteemed and honored in the measure in which he ascribes the use to the Lord and
not to himself; for to that extent he is wise, and the uses he performs he
performs from good. Spiritual love, esteem, and honor are nothing else than the
love, esteem, and honor of the use in the person, together with the honor to the
person because of the use, and not honor to the use because of the person. This
is the way, moreover, in which men are regarded when they are regarded from
spiritual truth, for one man is then seen to be like another, whether he be in
great or in little dignity, the only perceptible difference being a difference
in wisdom; and wisdom is loving use, that is, loving the good of a fellow
citizen, of society, of one's country, and of the church. It is this that
constitutes love to the Lord, because every good that is a good of use is from
the Lord; and it constitutes also love towards the neighbor, because the
neighbor means the good that is to be loved in a fellow citizen, in society, in
one's country, and in the church, and that is to be done in their behalf.
As all the societies in the heavens are distinct in accordance with their goods, so they are distinct in accordance with their uses,
goods being goods in act, that is, goods of charity which are uses. Some
societies are employed in taking care of little children; others in teaching and
training them as they grow up; others in teaching and training in like manner
the boys and girls that have acquired a good disposition from their education in
the world, and in consequence have come into heaven. There are other societies
that teach the simple good from the Christian world, and lead them into the way
to heaven; there are others that in like manner teach and lead the various
heathen nations. There are some societies that defend from infestations by evil
spirits the newly arrived spirits that have just come from the world; there are
some that attend upon the spirits that are in the lower earth; also some that
attend upon spirits that are in the hells, and restrain them from tormenting
each other beyond prescribed limits; and there are some that attend upon those
who are being raised from the dead. In general, angels from each society are
sent to men to watch over them and to lead them away from evil affections and
consequent thoughts, and to inspire them with good affections so far as they
will receive them in freedom; and by means of these they also direct the deeds
or works of men by removing as far as possible evil intentions. When angels are
with men they dwell as it were in their affections; and they are near to man
just in the degree in which he is in good from truths, and are distant from him
just in the degree in which his life is distant from good. But all these
employments of angels are employments of the Lord through the angels, for the
angels perform them from the Lord and not from themselves. For this reason, in
the Word in its internal sense "angels" mean, not angels, but something
belonging to the Lord; and for the same reason angels are called "gods" in the
Word.
These employments of the angels are their general employments; but each one has
his particular charge; for every general use is composed of innumerable uses
which are called mediate, ministering, and subservient uses, all and each
coordinated and subordinated in accordance with Divine order, and taken together
constituting and perfecting the general use, which is the general good.
Those are concerned with ecclesiastical affairs in heaven who in the world loved
the Word and eagerly sought in it for truths, not with honor or gain as an end,
but uses of life both for themselves and for others. These in heaven are in
enlightenment and in the light of wisdom in the measure of their love and desire
for use; and this light of wisdom they receive from the Word in heaven, which is
not a natural Word, as it is in the world, but a spiritual Word. These
minister in the preaching office; and in accordance with Divine order those are
in higher positions who from enlightenment excel others in wisdom.
Those are concerned with civil affairs who in the
world loved their country, and loved its general good more than their own, and
did what is just and right from a love for what is just and right. So far
as these from the eagerness of love have investigated the laws of justice and
have thereby become intelligent, they have the ability to perform such
functions in heaven, and they perform these in that position or degree that
accords with their intelligence, their intelligence being in equal degree with
their love of use for the general good.
Furthermore, there are in heaven more functions
and services and occupations than can be enumerated; while in the world there
are few in comparison. But however many there may be that are so
employed, they are all in the delight of their work and labor from a love of
use, and no one from a love of self or of gain; and as all the necessaries of
life are furnished them gratuitously they have no love of gain for the sake of
a living. They are housed gratuitously, clothed gratuitously, and fed
gratuitously. Evidently, then, those that have loved themselves and the
world more than use have no lot in heaven; for his love or affection remains
with everyone after his life in the world, and is not extirpated to eternity.
In heaven everyone comes into his own occupation in accordance with
correspondence, and the correspondence is not with the occupation but with the
use of each occupation (see below, n. 112); for there is a correspondence of all
things. He that in heaven comes into the employment or occupation
corresponding to his use is in much the same condition of life as when he was in
the world; since what is spiritual and what is natural make one by
correspondences; yet there is this difference, that he then comes into an
interior delight, because into spiritual life, which is an interior life, and
therefore more receptive of heavenly blessedness.
(Heaven and Hell 387 - 394)
How conjunction of heaven with the world is effected by means of correspondences shall also be told in a few words:
The Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of ends, which are uses; or what is the same thing, a kingdom of uses which are ends. For this reason the universe has been so created and formed by the Divine that uses may be every where clothed in such a way as to be presented in act, or in effect, first in heaven and afterwards in the world, thus by degrees and successively, down to the outmost things of nature. Evidently, then, the correspondence of natural things with spiritual things, or of the world with heaven, is through uses, and uses are what conjoin; and the form in which uses are clothed are correspondences and are conjunctions just to the extent that they are forms of uses. In the nature of the world in its threefold kingdom, all things that exist in accordance with order are forms of uses, or effects formed from use for use, and this is why the things in nature are correspondences.
But in the case of man, so far as he is in accordance with Divine order, that is, so far as he is in love to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbor, are his acts uses in form, and correspondences, and through these he is conjoined to heaven.
To love the Lord and the neighbor means in general to perform uses.
Furthermore, it must be understood that man is the means by which the natural world and the spiritual world are conjoined, that is, man is the medium of conjunction, because in him there is a natural world and there is a spiritual world; consequently to the extent that man is spiritual he is the medium of conjunction; but to the extent that a man is natural, and not spiritual, he is not a medium of conjunction. Nevertheless, apart from this mediumship of man, a Divine influx into the world and into the things pertaining to man that are of the world goes on, but not into man's rational faculty.
