9、整个天堂类似于一个人，故可称作巨人。人里面的一切细节，无论外在还是内在，都对应于这个巨人，也就是天堂。这是至今不为世人所知的奥秘，但我已详细说明，事实的确如此。从我们世界到达天堂的人相对来说很少，不足以构成这个巨人，所以必须有来自众多其它星球的人。主命定，在对应的质或量方面，凡有地方出现不足，马上就有人从另一个星球被召唤来补足数目，以此保持比例，维持天堂的稳定。天堂对应于主，人在一切细节对应于天堂，因此天堂在主眼里就是一个规模宏大的人，可称作巨人(AC 2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 4625)。关于人及其所属一切事物与巨人，也就是天堂的这种对应关系这个主题，已通过记事被大体描述出来(AC 3021, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 3883-3896, 4039-4051, 4215-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4421, 4527-4533, 4622-4633, 4652-4660, 4791-4805, 4931-4953, 5050-5061, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 10,030)。
9. The Planet Mercury and Its Spirits and Inhabitants 1
One of the secrets not yet known in this world is that heaven in its entirety is like one individual, which is therefore called the universal human, and that absolutely everything in us, on both our inner and outer levels, corresponds to something in that universal human, or heaven. I have demonstrated this many times elsewhere, though. 2
Not enough people come into heaven from our world to make up that universal human. We are relatively few, so people from many other planets are needed as well. As a result, the Lord has provided that the moment there is any deficiency anywhere in the quality or quantity of people needed to embody this correspondence, people from another planet are immediately summoned to fill the need, so that the proper proportion is maintained and heaven therefore stands firm. 3
Footnotes:
1. The Latin here translated “The Planet Mercury” is tellure seu planeta Mercurii, literally, “the earth or planet Mercury,” where “earth” is used in the generic sense of an earthlike astronomical body. It seems likely that Swedenborg doubled the nouns (using both “earth” and “planet”) here and in another seven passages farther on because the Latin word for “earth,” tellus, is ambiguous by itself; in classical Latin usage it refers to the ground or the earth as a surface, and in some cases even to a goddess of the soil. In this translation, “planet” alone has been used for the phrase, since that English word is unambiguous and idiomatic. [SS]
2. [Swedenborg note] See note f on 5.
3. The action here described, that of filling the needs of various parts of heaven by moving appropriate people into it from elsewhere, is in accordance with the general principle stated many times in Swedenborg’s theological writings that a whole is more complete and more fully functional when it consists of many differing parts that work harmoniously together, each part contributing its unique qualities and capabilities to the whole. See Secrets of Heaven 457, 3241:2, 3744-3746, 3986:2-3, 7836; Heaven and Hell 56-57; Last Judgment 12; Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) 348-349, 1362-1364. The notion can be summed up in a motto that appears as early as 1734, in a work from Swedenborg’s scientific period, Basic Principles of Nature part 3, chapter 2 (= Swedenborg [1734] 1988, 2:242): Varietas est perfectio mundi, “Variety is the perfection of the world.” In the theological period his most general statement of the principle is: “A form makes a unity more perfectly as its constituents are distinguishably different, and yet united” (Divine Providence 4[4]). This theme is in accord with the “principle of plenitude” commonly accepted from ancient times until the advent of modern thought. Historian of ideas Arthur O. Lovejoy (1873-1962) defines this principle as including not only the thesis that the universe is a plenum formarum [fullness of forms] in which the range of conceivable diversity of kinds of living things is exhaustively exemplified, but also any other deductions from the assumption that no genuine potentiality of being can remain unfulfilled, that the extent and abundance of the creation must be as great as the possibility of existence and commensurate with the productive capacity of a “perfect” and inexhaustible Source, and that the world is better, the more things it contains. (Lovejoy 1960b, 52)
See also Swedenborg’s Commonplace Book (= Swedenborg 1966), 228, where he copies material on this topic from the Ontologia (= Wolff 1730) of the German philosopher Christian Wolff (1679-1754): “Perfection is consensus in variety: . . . the Scholastics call it the Transcendental Good.” [SS, LSW, GFD]
9. II. THE WORLD OR PLANET MERCURY, AND ITS SPIRITS AND INHABITANTS
The whole heaven is in the form of a single human being, who is therefore called the Grand Man. Every detail, both outward and inward, in the human being answers to that Grand Man, that is, to heaven. This is a secret so far unknown in the world, but I have shown the truth of it at great length. 1But those who reach heaven from our world are not enough to make up that Grand Man, being relatively few, so there will need to be people from many other worlds. The Lord's providence ensures that as soon as a deficiency in quality or quantity occurs at any point in the correspondence, people are instantly summoned from another world to fill up the numbers, so maintaining the proportion and keeping heaven stable.
Footnotes:
1. Heaven has a correspondence to the Lord, and a human being has in every detail a correspondence to heaven, so that in the Lord's eyes heaven is a man on the grand scale, and may be called the Grand Man (Arcana Caelestia 2996, 2998, 3624-3649 [original adds 3636-3643], 3741-3745, 4625). The whole subject of the correspondence of man and all his parts to the Grand Man who is heaven has been described from experience (Arcana Caelestia 3021, 3624-3649, 3741-3750 [3741 in original], Arcana Caelestia 3883-3896, 4039-4055 [4051 in original], Arcana Caelestia 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4421, 4523-4533 [from 4527 in original], Arcana Caelestia 4622-4633, 4652-4660, 4791-4805, 4931-4953, 5050-5061, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 10030).
9. THE EARTH OR PLANET MERCURY, ITS SPIRITS AND INHABITANTS.
That the whole heaven resembles one man, which is therefore called the Greatest Man, and that each and all things with man, both his exteriors and interiors, correspond to that man or heaven, is an arcanum not yet known in the world; but that it is so, has been abundantly shown. 1To constitute that Greatest Man, there is need of spirits from many earths, those who come from our earth into heaven not being sufficient for this purpose, being respectively few; and it is provided by the Lord, that whenever there is a deficiency in any place as to the quality or quantity of correspondence, immediately those are summoned from another earth who can fill up the deficiency, that the proportion may be preserved, and thus heaven be kept in due consistence.
Footnotes:
1. Heaven corresponds to the Lord, and man as to each and all things corresponds to heaven, and hence heaven, before the Lord, is a man in a large effigy, and may be called the Greatest Man (Arcana Coelestia 2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3636-3643, 3741-3745, 4625). Concerning the correspondence of man, and of all things pertaining to him, with the Greatest Man, which is heaven, in general, from experience (Arcana Coelestia 3021, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 3883-3896, 4039-4051, 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4421, 4527-4533, 4622-4633, 4652-4660, 4791-4805, 4931-4953, 5050-5061, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 10030).
9. DE TELLURE SEU PLANETA MERCURII, et DE EJUS SPIRITIBUS et INCOLIS
Quod universum Caelum referat unum Hominem, qui ideo maximus Homo vocatur, et quod omnia et singula apud hominem, tam ejus exteriora quam interiora, illi Homini seu Caelo correspondeant, est Arcanum nondum in mundo notum, quod ita sit, multis ostensum est. 1Sed ad maximum illum Hominem constituendum, non sufficiunt qui ex nostra Tellure in Caelum veniunt, sunt hi pauci respective, erunt ex pluribus aliis Telluribus; et providetur a Domino, quod, ut primum deest alicubi quale aut quantum Correspondentiae ex alia Tellure arcessantur, qui impleant, ut ratio constet, ac ita caelum consistat.
Footnotes:
1. Quod Caelum correspondeat Domino, et quod homo quoad omnia et singula caelo, quod inde Caelum coram Domino sit in magna effigie Homo, et vocandum Maximus Homo, Arcana Coelestia 2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3636, 3643, 3741-3745, 4625. De correspondentia hominis et omnium ejus cum Maximo Homine, qui est Caelum, in summa, ab experientia, Arcana Coelestia 3021, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 3883-3896, 4039-4051, 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4421, 4527-4533, 4622-4633, 4652-4660, 4791-4805, 4931-4953, 5050-5061, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 10030.