THERE ARE GENERA AND SPECIES OF AFFECTIONS, AND VARIETIES OF SPECIES TO INFINITY; SO OF USES.

This may be shown from the human body, from the human race, from the angelic heaven, and from the animal and vegetable kingdoms. In each of these there are genera of affections or of uses, and species and varieties, in untold numbers; for there can be no single thing the same as another, but it varies; and this variety is everywhere distinguished into genera and species, and both of these into varieties; and the varieties in themselves are infinite, because they are from the Infinite. That this is the case, anyone can see from human faces, of which, from the day of creation, there has never been one so entirely like another as to be the same, nor can there ever be; so in the human body, it is impossible for any least thing therein to be identical with any other. It is the same with affections and their uses. That this is so, man is so profoundly ignorant as to ask what affection is, and what love is; consequently this can be made clear only from heaven, where all are affections from the Divine love, which is life itself.

In heaven the Divine love, which is life itself, is distinguished into two kingdoms; one in which love to the Lord reigns, and another wherein love for the neighbor reigns. In love to the Lord uses as to their source are involved, in love to the neighbor, uses as to their object. The Divine love, which is life itself, is further distinguished into lesser realms, which may be termed provinces; and these again into societies, and these into families and houses. Such in the heavens are distinctions of the Divine love, into genera, and into species, and the species again into their divisions, which are meant by varieties. Affections, and likewise uses, are thus distinguished, for the reason that every angel is an affection, and is also a use. [2] As all things in hell are in opposition to the things that are in heaven, so it is with the love there. Diabolical love, which is death itself, is there also distinguished into two kingdoms; one in which love of self reigns, and another in which love of the world reigns. In the love of self, evil uses as regards their source, which is self, are involved; and in love of the world evil uses as regards their object are involved; these uses because they are done from self, are also done for the sake of self, for all love returns as in a circle to the source from which it comes. This diabolical love is further distinguished into provinces, and these again into societies, and so on. There are like distinctions of affections in the human body, and parallel distinctions of uses; since, as has been said above, all things of man, correspond to all things of heaven. The heart and lungs in man correspond to the two kingdoms of heaven; the members, organs, and viscera in man correspond to the provinces of heaven, and the tissues of the several members, organs, and viscera correspond to the societies of heaven. Since these things in general and in particular are uses, and uses live from the life which is love, their life can be called nothing else than the affection of use. As it is in the human body and also in heaven, so is it in the whole human race; since this, like heaven, is as one man before the Lord, as has been said above.

That the animate things of the earth, and also its plants, are in like manner distinguished into genera and species, and into their varieties, is well known. In the animal kingdom there are two most general divisions, in one are the beasts of the earth, and in the other the birds of heaven. And in the vegetable kingdom there are likewise two most general divisions, in one are fruit-bearing trees, in the other seed-bearing plants. From the distinctions in these it can be seen that there are genera and species of affections, and varieties in the species, to infinity; and in like manner of uses; since, as has been said before, natural affections are the souls of animals, and the uses of affections are the souls of vegetables.