Divine Love and Divine Wisdom

PART I. THE DIVINE LOVE.

[...continuing from the previous page:] such a person indeed possesses the faculty original: "faculty," meaning a mental power or ability., but by the inward twisting original: "intorsion," referring to a turning away from the truth or toward lower, selfish interests. of their lower nature, they turn it another way, and their reason becomes unsound.

24. Every person, although they are unaware of it, thinks of a collective group of people as if they were a single person. This is why we immediately understand what is meant when it is said that a king is the head and his subjects are the body, or when it is said that this or that person performs such-and-such a role in the public body—that is, in the kingdom. The case is the same with the spiritual body as it is with the civil body: the spiritual body is the church, and its head is the God-Man The author uses "God-Man" (Divine Human) to express that God is the absolute essence and source of all that is truly human.. From this perspective, it is clear how the church would appear as a single person. However, if one thought of several gods instead of one—the Creator and Sustainer of the universe—the church would appear not like a man, but like a monster. It would look like one body with several heads. Even if it were said that those heads have one essence original: "essence," meaning a shared fundamental nature or substance. and together make one head, the only idea that could result is that of one head with several faces, or several heads with one face. Consequently, in such a view, the church would be seen as deformed. In reality, one God is the head and the church is the body, which acts under the control of the head and not on its own, just as it is with a human being. This is also why there is only one king in a kingdom: for more than one would divide and disrupt it, whereas one can preserve it in unity.

25. The situation is similar in the church spread over the whole world, which is called a communion original: "communion," referring to the universal community of believers. because, like one body, it is under one head. It is well known that the head governs and controls the body beneath it; for the understanding and the will reside in the head, and the body is moved by that understanding and will, so much so that the body is nothing but obedience. The body cannot act at all except from the understanding and will in the head; nor can a person of the church act at all except from God. It appears as if the body acts on its own—as if the hands and feet move by themselves when they act, and as if the mouth and tongue move by themselves when they speak—when in fact they do not do so at all, but move from the desire original: "affection" of the will and the resulting thought of the understanding in the head. Consider then: if one body had several heads, and each head was free to decide for itself based on its own understanding and will, could the body survive? Unanimity original: "unanimity," meaning complete agreement or being of one mind., which exists under one head, is impossible in such a case. As it is in the church, so it is in the heavens, which consist of millions upon millions original: "myriads of myriads" of angels. Unless every single one of them looked toward one God, they would fall away from one another and heaven would be dissolved. Therefore, if an angel of heaven even thinks of a plurality of gods, they are immediately separated; they are cast to the furthest boundary of heaven and fall down.

26. Since the universal heaven and everything in it have...