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412. 當愛的鄰舍是人的聚集——就是大小不等的社群, 以及社群的聚集——就是國家
不知道"鄰舍"真正含義的人認為"鄰舍"是某個人, 有益於此人便是愛鄰舍。然而, 鄰舍與愛鄰舍有更廣泛的含義, 隨著人數的上升而增加到更高的層次。
每個人都明白, 愛一群人中的多個人比只愛這群人中的一個人更加愛鄰舍。因此或大或小的社群也是鄰舍, 因為它由若干人構成。由此得出, 愛一個社群的人也必然愛社群的成員, 以至於倘若他盼望社群好並向社群行善, 也會對其中的成員持同樣的想法。
一個社群如同一個人。從某種意義上來說, 構成社群的人們形成一個身體, 如同身體的各個部分那樣彼此各不相同。主往下看這地, 視全部的社群為一個人; 這個人的形態如何取決於社群中人們的性質如何。主還將這樣的眼界賜給眾天人。實際上, 我曾被允許去看天國中的某個社群為一個人, 此人如同世上之人的身量。
[2]愛鄰舍的形式中, 愛一個社群比愛一個單獨的人更圓滿。這可從以下事實明顯看出:更高的頭銜授予給地方長官, 取決於他們負責社群的大小, 按他們履行服務的程度而領受榮譽。在這個世界上, 統治階層中職務的高與低取決於這些職務對社群統治的責任有多廣大。君王具有最廣泛的責任。每個人照著他職務的重要性以及他完成的有用性的程度如何來獲得報酬,榮譽和大眾的讚賞。
[3]然而現今的統治者們沒有對鄰舍的愛, 也能履行有用的服務, 也能為他們的社群著想。他們履行有用的服務與表示關心, 是為了世界或自己的緣故, 為的是他們看起來是好的統治者, 或者配得更高提拔到更高的地位。儘管這樣的統治者們在這個世界上無法區別, 在天國卻可以。因此, 那些出於愛鄰舍而履行有用的服務在天國仍成為社群的統治者, 享受著尊貴與榮耀。不過他們的心並不在於這些榮華, 而是他們能履行的服務。不過那些出於愛世界或愛自己而履行有用的服務者, 卻被拒絕。
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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.