in one society as in another.  This diversity is not in the Lord; it is in the angels who behold Him from their own good, and thus in accordance with their good.  And they are affected by His appearance in accordance with the quality of their love, those who love Him inmostly being inmostly affected, and those who love Him less being less affected; while the evil who are outside of heaven are tortured by His presence.  When the Lord is seen in any society He is seen as an angel, but is distinguished from others by the Divine that shines through.

56.  Again, heaven is where the Lord is acknowledged, believed in, and loved.  Variety in worship of the Lord from the variety of good in different societies is not harmful, but beneficial, for the perfection of heaven is therefrom.  This can scarcely be made clear to the comprehension without employing terms that are in common use in the learned world, and showing by means of these how unity, that it may be perfect, must be formed from variety.  Every whole exists from various parts, since a whole without constituents is not anything; it has no form, and therefore no quality.  But when a whole exists from various parts, and the various parts are in a perfect form, in which each attaches itself like a congenial friend to another in series, then the quality is perfect.  So heaven is a whole from various parts arranged in a most perfect form, for the heavenly form is the most perfect of all forms.  That this is the ground of all perfection is evident from the nature of all beauty, agreeableness and delight, by which the senses and the mind are affected; for these qualities spring and flow from no other source than the concert and harmony of many concordant and congenial parts, either coexisting in order or following in order, and never from a whole without many parts.  From this is the saying that variety gives delight; and the nature of variety, as is known, is what determines the delight.  From all this it can be seen as in a mirror how perfection comes from variety even in heaven.  For from the things that exist in the natural world the things of the spiritual world can be seen as in a mirror.{1}

{Footnote 1} Every whole is from the harmony and concert of many parts.  Otherwise it has no quality (n. 457).  From this the entire heaven is a whole (n. 457).  And for the reason that all there have regard to one end, which is the Lord (n. 9828).

57.  What has been said of heaven may be said also of the church, for the church is the Lord’s heaven on earth.  There are also many churches, each one of which is called a church, and so far as the good of love and faith reigns therein is a church.  Here, too, the Lord out of various parts forms a unity, that is, one church out of many churches.{1} And the like may be said of the man of the church in particular that is said of the church in general, namely, that the church is within man and not outside of him; and that every man is a church in whom the Lord is present