Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4219

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4219. To have a general knowledge concerning the Grand Man it must be kept in mind that heaven in its entirety is the Grand Man, and that heaven is called the Grand Man because it corresponds to the Lord's Divine Human. For the Lord alone is Man, and angels and spirits, as well as people on earth, are likewise men only insofar as they are dependent on Him. Let nobody suppose that anyone is man because he has a human face and a human body, and has a brain and also organs and limbs. All of these he has in common with animals, and therefore these are the things which die and become a corpse. But a person is man by virtue of his being able to think and will as a human being, and so of his being able to receive things that are Divine, that is which are the Lord's. These things mark the human being off from beasts and wild animals; and in the next life too he becomes such a human being in the measure that by accepting those things during his lifetime he has made them his own.


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