8865. What is meant by "universally reigning" can be seen from what has been said and shown above (see n. 8853-8858), namely, that that is universally regnant with man which is in each and all things of his thought, and in each and all things of his will, consequently which constitutes his very mind, or life. Such a regnant must the Lord be with man, for such a regnant is the Lord with the angels in heaven, of whom therefore it is said that they are "in the Lord." The Lord becomes regnant when it is not only believed that all good and all truth are from Him, but also when it is loved to be so. The angels are not only in the faith, but also in the perception, that it is so. Hence it is that their life is the Lord's life in them; the life of their will is the life of love from the Lord, and the life of their understanding is the life of faith from the Lord. From all this it is evident how it is that the Lord is the all in all of heaven, and that He Himself is heaven. When the Lord universally reigns with a man of the church, as with the angels of heaven, then the Lord is in all the truths and goods of faith with him, as the heart is in all the blood-vessels, because these derive from it their origin, and the blood which is their life.
[2] Be it further known that such spirits and such angels are with a man as is his universal regnant. The reason is that that which reigns universally is the being of the life of everyone (n. 8853-8858). All the cheerfulness and all the content a man has, even when he is thinking about other things, are therefrom; for therein the angels and spirits who are with him dwell and as it were have their abode, and their gladness flows into the man, and causes his cheerfulness and content. That such is its source does not come to the perception of the man, because he does not know that his life flows in, nor that the universal regnant makes his life, nor that when this regnant of his life is touched, it is as if the pupil of the eye is touched; with delight when by beautiful objects; and with pain when by ugly ones. It is called universal from the fact that it is the whole singular in the complex, and thus the universal regnant is that which is in each and all things (see n. 1919e, 5949, 6159, 6338, 6482, 6483, 6571, 7648, 8067).