第四节 群体作为复数意义上的人，乃更充盈的邻舍
412# 凡不知道何为真正意义上的邻舍者，常以为邻舍不过是单数之人，并且以为施惠于他就是爱邻舍。然而，邻舍以及对邻舍之爱，其范围远为广阔；因为它随着人数的增加而上升。谁不能明白，爱聚集为一体的多人，比爱该群体中的某一个单独之人，更是在爱邻舍呢？所以，较小与较大的群体之所以是邻舍，乃因它是复数意义上的人。由此可知，爱群体者，也爱构成该群体的众人；因此，凡善愿于群体并善待群体者，便是在顾及其中每一个人。
群体如同一个人；并且，进入其中的人，也如同组成一个身体，并在彼此之间如同一个身体中的肢体而有分别。主以及由主而来的天使，俯视地上时，所见一个完整的群体，并不异于一个人；其形态则由群体成员的性质而成。我也曾蒙赐，看见天上某一群体全然如一个人，其身量与世上的人相似。
【2】对群体之爱，比对分离的或个别之人的爱，是更充盈的邻舍之爱；这一点显明于：尊位乃按照对群体的主管职分而分配，荣誉也按照他们所施行的功用而给予。因为世上的职分有高有低，乃依照其对群体之治理在普遍性上或大或小而有从属秩序；而王，就是拥有最普遍治理者。各人则按照其职分的广度，并同时按照他所施行之功用的良善，获得报偿、荣耀与共同的爱。
【3】然而，今世的治理者也可能施行功用并顾及群体，却仍不爱邻舍；正如那些为世界、为自己而施行功用并顾及群体的人，他们这样做，是为显扬自己，或为赢得功绩，以便被提升到更高的尊位。这样的人虽在世间不能被分辨，在天上却被分辨出来。因此，那些出于对邻舍之爱而施行功用的人，也被委任为天上群体的治理者，并在那里处于光辉与荣耀之中；然而他们并不把心置于这些之上，而是置于功用之中。至于其余那些出于爱世界和爱自己而施行功用的人，则被弃绝。
412# 那些不知道邻舍这个词在真正意义上是什么意思的人，以为邻舍只是指个体的人，爱邻舍是指给他益处。然而，随着个体的增多，邻舍和爱邻舍具有更广泛和更高的意义。谁不明白，爱形成一个社区的许多人比只爱这个社区中的一个人更是爱邻舍？因此，一个或大或小的社区就是邻舍，因为它是一个集体人。由此可知，爱一个社区的人也爱那些组成这个社区的人；因此，向社区正确地意愿和行动，或说对一个社区怀有美好的愿望，并向它行善，或给予益处的人，就照顾到了它的个体成员。一个社区就像一个人；那些组成它的个体可以说是一个身体，并像一个身体的各个部位一样彼此不同。当主和天使从主那里俯视大地时，他们将一个完整的社区视为一个人，其形式与这个社区的成员相一致。我也被恩准看到天堂里的某个社群就像一个人，身量就像一个世人的身量。
对一个社区的爱，是一种比对一个单独或个体人的爱更充分的对邻之爱，这一点从以下事实明显看出来：高层职位或有尊严的职位是照着人们以前对社区的领导而授予他们的；他们照着他们所履行的功用而拥有地位或荣誉。事实上，世上有高低不等的职位，其等级取决于对社区的普遍管理范围；管理最广泛、最普遍的是国王；每个人都照着他的职责范围和他所履行的良善功用而得到报酬、荣耀和普遍的爱。
然而，当今的领袖或统治者可能履行功用，照顾社区的利益，却仍不爱邻舍；如那些出于世界或自我，或为了表面，或为了他们看起来好像配得上晋升到更高职位而履行功用、照顾他人利益的人。尽管这些人的真实性格在世上看不出来，但在天堂却是显而易见的。因此，那些出于对邻舍的爱而履行功用的人被任命为管理天堂社群的统治者，在那里享有辉煌和荣誉；然而，他们关心的不是这些东西，而是功用。而另一方面，那些出于对世界和自我的爱而履行功用的人被弃绝。
412. The Neighbor We Are to Love Is Humankind on a Wider Scale in the Form of Smaller and Larger Communities and Humankind in the Aggregate as a Country of Such Communities
People who do not know what "our neighbor" really means think that it simply means an individual human being; benefiting that human being is loving our neighbor. Yet our neighbor, and love for our neighbor, also extends more widely than that - in fact it rises as the number of people increases.
Surely everyone understands that loving many people in a group involves more love for our neighbor than loving an individual member of that group. Therefore smaller and larger communities are also our neighbor, because they are a plurality of people. It follows that someone who loves a community loves the individuals who are part of that community; someone who wishes a community well and gives benefit to it cares for its individuals.
A community is like a person. In fact, the people who make up the community form a single body, in a sense. They are differentiated from each other like the parts of a single body. When the Lord looks at the earth, he sees an entire community as an individual person; the form of that individual person is based on the qualities of the people in the community. The Lord gives this sight to angels as well. In fact, I have been allowed to see a community in heaven completely in the form of an individual person; the person had the same proportions as people in the world.
[2] Love for a community is a fuller form of love for our neighbor than love for a single individual. This is clear from the fact that high positions are given to people according to their previous leadership of large groups. They have a level of status according to the job they do. In the world, in fact, positions in a hierarchy are considered to be higher or lower based on how wide a governmental responsibility these positions have over other people. The monarch is the person who has the widest government of all. Each person gets pay, glory, and general admiration according to the scope of the position and also the useful functions performed.
[3] But in this day and age, leaders may be useful and care for a community and still not love their neighbor. They perform functions and show concern for the sake of the world or themselves in order to deserve, or look as if they deserve, promotion to higher positions. Although these people may not be identified as such in the world, they are identified as such in heaven. People who have performed useful services out of love for their neighbor are put in leadership positions over a heavenly community as well; there they have splendor and honor. Yet still they do not take that splendor or honor to heart, just the usefulness. The rest, however, who were useful because they loved the world or themselves, are rejected.
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412. IV. Man collectively, which is one's community, great or small, and as a group of communities, which is one's country, is the neighbour who is to be loved.
Those who are ignorant of the true meaning of the term 'the neighbour' think that it is an individual, and doing him kindnesses is loving the neighbour. But the neighbour and love for him have a wider range of meaning, rising to a higher level as the number of people increases. Can anyone fail to grasp that loving a number of people in a group is loving the neighbour more than just loving one out of the group? The reason why a community, great or small, is the neighbour is that it consists of a number of people. It follows from this that a person who loves a community loves its members, so that if he wishes well and does good to the community, he takes thought for each of its members. A community resembles an individual, and those who belong to it make up as it were a single body, with mutual differences like those of the parts of the body. The Lord, and by His guidance the angels, on looking down to the earth see a whole community in the form of a single person, whose appearance depends upon what its members are like. I too have been permitted to see a certain community in heaven looking exactly like a person, and of the same size as a person in the world.
[2] Love towards the neighbour takes a fuller form when it is love towards a community than when its object is a separate individual. This is clearly shown by the fact that higher rank is granted to governors depending on the size of the communities in their charge, and they are honoured in proportion to the services they perform. Offices in the world are of higher or lower rank in a hierarchy depending upon whether their control of a community is more or less universal, the king having the most universal control; each person is rewarded, honoured and generally loved in proportion to the importance of his office and the good his service does.
[3] But rulers of the present time can perform useful functions and take thought for their community without loving the neighbour, as in the case of those who are motivated to perform useful functions and take thought for worldly or selfish reasons, so that they may seem good rulers or deserving promotion to higher ranks. But although such rulers are not distinguishable in the world, they are in heaven. Those therefore who have been led by love towards the neighbour to perform useful functions are also made rulers of a community in heaven, and enjoy magnificent surroundings and honours; but they do not set their hearts on these things, but on the services they can perform. The rest, however, who have been led by love of the world or self-love to perform useful functions, are rejected.
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412. IV. THE COLLECTIVE MAN, THAT IS, A COMMUNITY SMALLER OR GREATER, AND THE COMPOSITE MAN FORMED OF COMMUNITIES, THAT IS, ONE'S COUNTRY, IS THE NEIGHBOR THAT IS TO BE LOVED.
Those who do not know what the term neighbor means in its true sense, suppose that it means nothing else than the individual man, and that loving the neighbor means conferring benefits upon him. But the neighbor and love to him have a wider meaning and a higher meaning as individuals are multiplied. Who cannot understand that loving many men in a body is loving the neighbor more than loving one individual of a body? Thus, a community smaller or greater is the neighbor because it is a collective man; and from this it follows that he who loves a community loves those of whom the community consists; therefore he who wills and acts rightly towards a community consults the good of each individual. A community is like a single man; and those who enter into it form as it were one body, and are distinct from each other like the members of one body. When the Lord and the angels from Him look down upon the earth, they see an entire community just like a single man, with a form according to the qualities of those in it. It has been granted me to see a certain community in heaven precisely as a single man, in stature like that of a man in the world.
[2] That love towards a community is a fuller love to the neighbor than love towards a separate or individual man, is obvious from this, that dignities are measured out according to the kind of administration over communities, and honors are attached to offices according to the uses they promote. For in the world there are higher and lower offices subordinated according to their more or less universal government over communities; and the king is he whose government is the most universal; and each one has remuneration, glory, and the general love according to the extent of his duties, and the goods of use which he promotes.
[3] Nevertheless, the rulers of this age can perform uses and consult the good of society, and not love the neighbor; as those do who perform uses and consult the good of others with reference to the world or to self, or for the sake of appearances, or that they may be thought worthy to be elevated to higher dignities. But although the character of such is not discerned in the world, it is discerned in heaven; and in consequence those who have promoted uses from love to the neighbor, are the ones placed as rulers over heavenly communities, and there enjoy splendor and honor; and yet such do not set their hearts upon these things, but upon uses. But the others, who have performed uses from love of the world and of self, are rejected.
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412. IV. MAN COLLECTIVELY, CONSTITUTING NOT ONLY SMALL AND GREAT SOCIETIES BUT ALSO ONE'S COUNTRY, WHICH IS COMPOSED OF SUCH SOCIETIES, IS THE NEIGHBOR THAT OUGHT TO BE LOVED.
Those who do not know what the neighbor is in the true sense of the term consider that only man as an individual is the neighbor, and that to confer benefits upon individuals is to love the neighbor. The neighbor, however, with love towards him, has a much wider application; it grows as the number of men embraced by the term increases. Who cannot see that to love many men forming a community is to show a greater love towards the neighbor than to love a single individual of that community? Therefore a society, small or great, is the neighbor because it is man collectively. Consequently, he who loves a society loves those of whom the society consists; and therefore he who wishes well to, and does good to, a society consults the good of its individual members. A society is like one man; and the individuals that compose it form, as it were, one body and are distinct from one another like the members in that body. When the Lord, and the angels from Him, look down upon the earth, they see a whole society as one man, whose form is in accordance with the character of its members. It has also been granted me to see a particular society in heaven exactly like a man, even in stature like a man in the world.
[2] Love towards the neighbor is a fuller love when it is directed towards a society than when directed towards a single individual. This is evident from the circumstance that positions of dignity are assigned to governors according to the number of provinces throughout their societies, and honors are bestowed upon them according to the uses which they perform. For there are in the world higher and lower offices, ranking according to the extent of the rule exercised throughout particular societies, the most extensive rule being exercised by a king; and every one receives remuneration, glory, and the love of the community in proportion to the greatness of his office as well as the good uses which he performs.
[3] Rulers of to-day, however, can perform uses and consult the good of society, and yet not love the neighbor. This is the case with those who discharge their public functions from worldly and selfish motives, for the sake of appearances, or that they may merit promotion to higher dignities. The real character of such persons does not appear in the world, but in heaven it is made manifest. Those who have performed uses from love towards the neighbor are appointed rulers over societies in heaven, and there they live in splendor and honor, though they care less for these than for the uses of their office. On the other hand, those who have performed uses from the love of the world and the love of self are cast out.
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412. Quod Homo in plurali, qui est Societas minor et major, et quod Homo in composito ex illis, qui est Patria, sit Proximus qui amandus est.
Illi, qui non sciunt quid Proximus in genuino sensu, opinantur quod non alius sit quam homo in singulari, et quod beneficia ei praestare sit amare proximum; sed proximus et amor in illum se latius extendit, ascendit enim sicut multiplicantur homines: quis non potest comprehendere, quod amare plures homines in congregatione, sit plus amare proximum, quam unum in singulari e Congregatione; quare quod Societas minor et major sit Proximus, est causa, quia illa est homo in plurali, inde sequitur quod qui amat Societatem, amet illos ex quibus Societas consistit, quapropter qui Societati bene vult et bene facit, ille consulit singulis. Societas est sicut unus homo, etiam illi qui intrant illam, componunt sicut unum Corpus, et distinguuntur inter se sicut membra in uno corpore. Dominus et ab Ipso Angeli, cum despiciunt in terram, integram Societatem non aliter vident, quam sicut unum hominem, ac formam 1 ejus ex qualitatibus illorum; datum etiam est mihi videre Societatem quandam in Coelo prorsus sicut unum hominem, in simili statura in qua homo in Mundo.
[2] Quod plenior amor erga proximum sit amor erga Societatem, quam erga hominem separatum aut individuum, se manifestat in eo, quod Dignitates dispensentur secundum Praefecturas super Societates, et illis honores secundum usus quos praestant: sunt enim Officia in Mundo superiora et inferiora in subordinatione 2 secundum plus et minus universale regimen super Societates, et ille est Rex, cui universalissimum regimen est; et cuivis secundum amplitudinem muneris, et simul bona usus quae praestat, est remuneratio, gloria, et communis amor.
[3] Sed Moderatores hujus saeculi possunt usus facere et consulere Societati, et usque non amare proximum; quemadmodum illi, qui usus faciunt et consulunt propter Mundum, et propter se, ut appareant, aut ut mereantur ad dignitates superiores evehi; sed hi tametsi non discernuntur in Mundo, usque discernuntur in Coelo, quare illi 3 qui ex Amore erga proximum 4 praestiterant usus, praeficiuntur etiam ut Moderatores Societati coelesti, et ibi in splendore et honore sunt; sed hi usque non in his ponunt cor, sed in usibus. Caeteri autem, qui ex Amore Mundi et sui fecerunt usus, rejiciuntur.
Footnotes:
1. Sic Errores Typographici.
2. Prima editio: sobordinatione.
3. Prima editio: illis.
4. Prima editio: preximum.