Spiritual Geography--Part 2:

Jacob's Ladder and Other Psycho-Dynamic Applications

A newer version of some of the charts and definitions continue in this article

Related Articles:

Spiritual Geography--Part 1-- Graphic Maps of Consciousness for Regeneration  ||  Dual Citizenship ||  Spiritual Psychology  ||   Spiritual Time and Space  ||  De Hemelsche Leer Article  ||  Theistic Science ||  Religious Psychology  ||  Discrete Degrees by Ian Thomspson || Discrete Degrees by N.C. Burnham

Introduction: The Harmonizing (Matrix 19b)

NOTE:  We would be delighted to know your reactions to this collaborative research effort in Theistic Science (April 2001).
Please email us both:  Dr. Leon James and Dr. Ian Thompson

The two main articles to read for background are Ian Thompson's Discrete Degrees: A Top Down Presentation and De Hemelsche Leer Article  by Leon James

In this section we are attempting to reconcile and translate Leon's system of matrices in his article and Ian's system in his article. Our intent is to harmonize our two systems, independently conceived, but both grounded in Swedenborg's Writings. The following matrix 19b now includes the Thompson (IJT) labels for each of the James levels, as worked out by Dr. Thompson in April 2001.

Please note that this version was updated in May 2001 and can be viewed here.

Dr. Ian J. Thompson in an e-mail message writes (April 2001):

A full understanding of the relation between the James and Thompson schemes depends on seeing:

1) how the order of sensual externalizing celestial, spiritual and natural (I, II, III) in the Descending pathway is related to the opposite orders of sensual (2.33, 2.32), operational=outer scientific (2.31 ,2.23) and intellectual=inner scientific (2.22, 2.21) in the Thompson scheme. This arises because the 'celestial, spiritual and natural' order describes the order of generative creation of a young person through the heavens, but the Thompson order describes the progressive building up of psychological experience and abilities with cognitive development: the result of the generative creation.

2) why their recursive Thompson order is matched in pairs to the individual levels in various places, and in a different manner after the inversion. This arises because the externalizing is characterized by Leon James as 'sensuousl', whereas in fact there are both 'sensual' and 'scientific' developments necessary before the internalizing rational can be opened after the inversion. The matching in pairs is therefore necessary to 'cover the ground' before the inversion, but, more importantly, it is necessary to relate to the activities of the three heavens in their generative activities in the 'vertical community' associated with the growing child.

(A discussion of this solution is presented below.)

Please note that this version was updated in May 2001 and can be viewed here.

             Jacob's Ladder (Matrix 20c)

Here is the overall matrix of 36 zones. The sub-components and their explanations are given after the matrix.

           Note on how to read the charts

In order to follow these statements, it is necessary to refer to the chart to visually localize each zone number given and its marginals. The narrative is structured in such a way as to allow you to build up the chart's structure in your memory-knowledge so you can come to visualize it, and even reproduce it from memory by following the production logic specified by the marginals and numbers. If you read this on the screen it is necessary to have a printout of the chart, so that you can glance at it each time a zone number is mentioned. Without doing this every time the narrative becomes a meaningless monologue we want to skip without specifically extracting the referent discussed. But by following the narrative visually on the map you will be able to acquire the chart as a productive device in your mind that will generate new knowledge as well as arrange the old. Such is the amazing power of the hexagrammatic and enneadic charts in spiritual geography.

Definitions

Note: this is an earlier version. For the next version please consult this later file.

1) There are six DEGREES in sequence corresponding to the three heavens, three exterior steps and three interior. In between there is an INVERSION. The three INTERIOR steps correspond to the arrangement of the three Heavens: CELESTIAL (Third Heaven--zones 31, 32, 33), SPIRITUAL (Second Heaven--zones 25, 26, 27), NATURAL (First Heaven--19, 20, 21). The three EXTERIOR steps correspond to the REVERSE order: NATURAL (First Heaven--22, 23, 24), SPIRITUAL (Second Heaven--10, 11, 12), CELESTIAL (Third Heaven--4, 5, 6).

2) The Descending steps are for the angels; the Ascending steps are for earthlings. The 6 descending steps and the six ascending steps correspond to each other in inverse order. The six Ascending steps correspond to the six periods of human development: Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Young adulthood, Adulthood, Old age.

3) There are three EXTERNALIZING activities in the mind made of A/C/S units and three INTERNALIZING activities in the mind made of the REVERSE sequence of S/C/A units. In between there is an INVERSION. The left half of the matrix make up the 18 A/C/S/ units called "externalizing" because the sequence starts in the Affective mind (A) and this is the organ of the will which is inmost, so each unit is progressing outward toward the sensory mind. Similarly, the right half of the matrix make up the 18 zones of S/C/A units in the reverse sequence and these are called "internalizing" because the units are progressing inward from the sensory towards the will. Externalizing units [A/C/S] are unconscious while internalizing units [S/C/A] are conscious.

4) The left half of the matrix makes up the 18 externalizing A/C/S/ zones. They are GENERATIVE (=synthetic, productive). They are in themselves unconscious or subconscious but produce SENSUOUS CONSCIOUSNESS as an EFFECT in our awareness. The right half of the matrix make up the 18 internalizing S/C/A zones and are ANALYTIC. They are in themselves conscious and produce RATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS as an EFFECT in our awareness.

5) There are four QUADRANTS made of 9 zones each. Each quadrant is called an ENNEAD zone.

The UPPER LEFT quadrant is called the INTERIOR SENSUOUS ENNEAD made of Zones [1,2,3], [7,8,9], and [13,14,15].

The UPPER RIGHT quadrant is called the INTERIOR RATIONAL ENNEAD made of Zones [4,5,6], [10,11,12], and [16,17,18].

The LOWER LEFT quadrant is called the EXTERIOR SENSUOUS ENNEAD made of Zones [19,20,21], [25.26.27], and [31,32,33].

The LOWER RIGHT quadrant is called the EXTERIOR RATIONAL ENNEAD made of Zones [22,23,24], [28,29,30], and [34,35,36].

6) The INTERIOR RATIONAL MIND (upper right quadrant) is located WITHIN the INTERIOR SENSUOUS MIND (upper left quadrant) in SIMULTANEOUS ORDER.

The EXTERIOR RATIONAL MIND (lower right quadrant) is located WITHIN the EXTERIOR SENSUOUS MIND (lower left quadrant) in SIMULTANEOUS ORDER.

7) The INTERIOR SENSUOUS MIND  (upper left quadrant) is FIRST in SUCCESSIVE ORDER, followed by EXTERIOR SENSUOUS MIND (lower left quadrant).

Similarly, the INTERIOR RATIONAL MIND (upper right quadrant) is FIRST in SUCCESSIVE ORDER, followed by EXTERIOR RATIONAL MIND (lower right quadrant).

8) The label for each zone follows from the marginal definitions of the matrix. Some examples:

Zone 11=THOUGHTS in the INTERIOR RATIONAL MIND during the ADULTHOOD period in communication with the SPIRITUAL ANGELS (Second Heaven)

Zone 16=SENSATIONS in our INTERIOR RATIONAL MIND during the young adulthood period in communication with the NATURAL ANGELS (First Heaven)

Zone 18=FEELINGS in our INTERIOR RATIONAL MIND during the young adulthood period in communication with the NATURAL ANGELS (First Heaven)

Zone 29=THOUGHTS in the EXTERIOR RATIONAL MIND of the SPIRITUAL ANGELS (Second Heaven)

Zone 27=SENSATIONS in the EXTERIOR SENSUOUS MIND of the SPIRITUAL ANGELS (Second Heaven)

Zone 21=SENSATIONS in the EXTERIOR SENSUOUS MIND of the NATURAL ANGELS (First Heaven)

Etc.

9) Now let's use the regeneration map to describe a particular theory of how the Ascending and Descending functions apply to human development as well as to the steps of regeneration. This theory was independently extracted by me (Leon James) in 2001 and by Rutger Perizonius in 1978. Rutger's chart came to me today by mail (April 17, 2001). It was reproduced in the Second Restart Issue of De Hemelsche Leer which is edited and published by Rutger from Holland. The title of the Restart uses the more modern spelling of De Hemelse Leer (a link to this publication will be provided here in the near future). The issue was delivered by the mailman earlier today as I was typing out this article on Phase 2. The issue is a collection of things Dr. Perizonius gathered together to stimulate readers to start writing about the Doctrine of the Church as expounded in De Hemelsche Leer (for my own view on this see De Hemelsche Leer Article. One of the items (p.82) was the chart Dr. Perizonius created on the description of regeneration given in De Hemelsche Leer by Harrie Groeneveld's paper on "The Coming of the Lord for Conjunction with the Church" and the commentary written on it by Ernst Pfeiffer, fellow member to The Hague Society of the New Church around 1932.

Since these two articles are the very same as those I used to create matrix 1 and the derivative matrices as explained in that location. The chart Perizonius drew from those two articles in 1978 and those I drew in 2001 from the same textual material is therefore an independent test of their validity. This assumes that the text of the Hemelsche Leer written by Groeneweld and Pfeiffer in 1932 is valid. There is no doubt about the accuracy of their narrative based entirely on the quoted Numbers from Swedenborg's Writings. They arranged the selections from the Third Testament in such a way as to illumine the Doctrine of the Church that lies within the literal. For these considerations I have confidence in the accuracy of the matrix 1 above (Phase 2) upon which these derivations are based.

Here is matrix 1 above again but marking only the ascending and descending progression of the human mind in conjunction with the angels. The vertical community is such that it links by correspondence the events taking place in the minds of people on earth to the events taking place in the minds of those who already dwell in the spiritual world. The minds of angels--those who have reached the rational degree of consciousness, are linked to our minds here in such a way as to facilitate and guide the events in our mind that pertain to our regeneration. These linkage structures are described in the Writings of Swedenborg using the narrative details of the wanderings and adventures of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Book of Genesis. Swedenborg's exegesis is not his own but given or revealed by the Divine as a sensuous or scientific revelation. The knowledge Swedenborg had to use to reveal the correspondences in the Old and New Testaments had to be experienced by him in actual experience, not through intellectual insights and philosophical constructions. This is why many of the revelations we read in the Writings come from his spiritual travelogues or narrative descriptions of events seen and heard. The sub-title of his principal work in 6 volumes shows this:  "Heavenly Secrets Contained In The Holy Scriptures Or Word Of God Unfolded -- Beginning With The Book Of Genesis Together With Wonderful Things Seen In The World of Spirits And In The Heaven Of Angels." This sensuous consciousness of the spiritual world is possible when our sensual consciousness has a rational consciousness within it. When this state is reached fully, the spirit body is set free in the spiritual world. Normally this happens only at the death of the physical body, but Swedenborg's mission, as the scientific architect of the Second Advent, required special treatment, so that he was admitted into such sensuous consciousness while he still lived in the physical body--and this for 27 years, enough time to write the many volumes of the Third Testament. (A discussion on the Second Advent will be found here.)

Here is Matrix 20c again for convenience. It is used as a description of how this is accomplished. It applies to all levels: evolution of civilizations, history of ages and Churches on earth, biographical descriptions of the periods of life, and the attainment of illustration with some particular truth. Thus the progression described can take thousands of years or a couple of seconds. It is the same progression working itself out in different media.

See also:  Discrete Degrees by Ian Thomspson || Discrete Degrees by N.C. Burnham

                 Descending and Ascending Paths

Note that the PRIMARY ZONES shown on the matrix make an X with four components. One side of the X goes from zone 1 to zone 36. These are the six primary steps we must make in our regeneration before we leave the physical body. The other side of the X goes from zone 31 to zone 6. These are the six primary steps we must make after we leave the physical body--when we have become angels. Therefore the path marked by zones [1,8,15] and [22,29,36] is called "our path of regeneration" (also: earthlings), while the path marked by zones [31,26,21] and [16,11,6] is called "the angels' path of regeneration."

Further, both paths consist of an ASCENDING segment and a DESCENDING segment. For us, the descending segment is marked by the primary zones [1,18,15],  which is followed by the Inversion, and the ascending segment marked by the primary zones [22,29,36]. For the angels, the descending segment is marked by the primary zones [31,26,21],  which is followed by the Inversion, and the ascending segment marked by the primary zones [16,11,6].

The paths of regeneration in the human race are united by the Lord as in one person. Our regeneration and the regeneration of the angels are connected into a vertical community. The angels communicate with components of our mind and our regeneration cannot take place without their support, influx, or attendance. Conversely, their regeneration cannot take place without their connection to us. Since their regeneration goes on to eternity, it is necessary for earthlings to also exist to perpetuity. This insures that the physical universe will never cease as an environment for earthlings who are being regenerated. Remember that when we discuss "angels" we mean us after the death of the body. This is why the basic chart has 36 zones of regeneration and all 36 belong to "us." But half of these (or 18) for the phase in our physical body, and the other half of the phase in our eternal spirit body.

It is important to remember something about the description in the Word of the vision Jacob saw of the ladder standing on earth upon which angels were "ascending and descending". This is a description of the sensual natural vision seen by Jacob in a dream. The spiritual meaning of the vision needs to be extracted by applying considerations from the correspondences that produced the vision and its details. Spiritual events create natural events. We need to consider what caused the vision to include Jacob, his seeing a ladder, angels, and their going up and down. In reality, angels stay put but what descends is the influx from the Lord. Swedenborg saw steps and going up and down when truth in the mind was modified from more interior to less, and vice versa. Angels refers to truths. The consciousness of truths is modified either closer to the Lord (ascending path) or more distant (descending path), and this appears in the spiritual world as steps or a ladder, according to what Swedenborg witnessed many times. The steps of descent and ascent as discussed in Swedenborg's exegesis of the Book of Genesis will be discussed more fully in subsequent sections (e.g., click here now), but to give a brief explanation here:

Jacob in this stage of his journeyings represents us in our early steps of sensuous consciousness, that is, infancy-childhood (zones 1,2,3 and 7,8,9). The ladder he saw standing on earth and reaching to heaven, even unto Jehovah, is the ladder of our regeneration which the Lord closely oversees as the path to Him, that is, to conjoining with Him, for it is through conjunction alone that He can bestow eternal heavenly blessings and powers to our mind. This is the purpose of regeneration and why it is so crucial for us to understand it, that we may cooperate in our ascending and descending. But the ascending and descending is done spiritually, the vision of Jacob merely being the effect, the appearance it gives rise to. The real event in our regeneration is the "lifting of our spirit" and more specifically God's lifting our spirit up closer to His Divine Love and Wisdom. The lifting of the spirit is not accomplished by fiat or Divine pronouncement or snapping of Divine fingers. If this were possible the Lord would do this instantly for us, such is His Love and Mercy. But in reality and in Divine Order the lifting of our spirit is accomplished ORGANICALLY by the opening or growth of our organs of consciousness in the mind or spirit body.

Therefore when we say that we are ascending and descending we are actually referring to our conscious awareness suddenly finding itself here or there in the spiritual geography places as portrayed in the charts and its zones and movements. When we move in our regeneration from infancy to childhood, we "descend" from primary zone 1 to 8, from influx from celestial angels into our affective mind (zone 1) to a new influx into the cognitive mind (zone 8) from spiritual angels. We say that we took a step down, and this means that our awards suddenly finds itself no longer focused in the affective mind but in the cognitive (zone 8). Further, it is a "down" only in the sense that the prior awareness in the affective mind was from celestial angels and the current awareness in the cognitive mind is from the spiritual angels. This is "down" in relation to the Lord, for the celestial angels are in the Third Heaven, and this is nearer to the Spiritual Sun were the Lord is than the Second Heaven where the spiritual angels are. We start life and consciousness with celestial felicity from unconscious influx in our affective mind. This is our infancy. but then we must move out and down, away from closeness to the Divine, that we may develop our physical body, natural mind, and scientific intellect. Only when that is sufficiently prepared can we go on to rational and true human consciousness as we climb back up to God and influx from the celestial angels (zone 36). In between the three descending and three ascending steps (zones 1 to 36) lies our whole life and development on earth. First, we are born close to God; then, we descend and put distance between us and God so that we can develop our sensuous consciousness of our body, other people, nature, and society; finally, we ascend back up to God using our rational consciousness.

Similarly when we say that the angels are ascending and descending we are referring to something that is happening to their mind. Remember that their mind is just our mind later when we become angels! So when we are angels in our spirit body in heaven we are either celestial, spiritual, or natural, depending on where we dwell in our consciousness, which in turn is determined by how far we have been regenerated when we pass into the spiritual world. If we ascend and consummate all the steps in the chart our spirit body is matured to its old age period (zones 34, 35, 36). This means that we are living with influx from the celestial angels. In that case upon passing we continue life as celestial angels (zones 4, 5, 6). Otherwise we become inhabitants of the spiritual heaven (zones 10, 11, 12) or the natural heavens (zones 16, 17, 18). The celestial angels have their consciousness focused in the affective mind (zone 6) which is why they appear as infants from a distance, as testified by Swedenborg. The spiritual angels have their consciousness focused in the cognitive mind (zone 11), so that they may be called "children" of God. The natural angels have their consciousness focused in the sensorimotor mind (zone 16) which why we can look upon them as angelic "adolescents." But all this refers to the PRIMARY ZONE of consciousness which represents the center of our being in any particular phase of regeneration. Angels therefore must take descending and ascending steps to continue their life in eternal progression and felicity. Every angel enjoys the maximum amount of the specific happinesses and powers they can support.

When angels are said to descend we're referring to a certain modification taking place in their mind, corresponding to the modification taking place in ours since we are connected by the Lord's arrangements of the vertical community. For instance, when we say on the chart that angels descend from zone 31 to zone 26 we are referring to influx from the Spiritual Sun into the affective mind of the celestial angels (zone 31), which in turn (successively) produces a corresponding influx into the cognitive mind of the spiritual angels. The original influx from the Spiritual Sun descends from a distance into the affective of the celestials and then into the cognitive of the spirituals, and finally into the sensorimotor of the natural angels. So strictly speaking what is "descending" is the influx, while the angels remain in place that they normally inhabit, carrying on their daily fun of activities and uses, perhaps not even mindful of this influx. The celestial angels are more aware of the influx than the lower angels. While the Divine influx thus descends through the successive parts of the mind of angels, it also descends through the successive parts of the minds of people still tied to the physical body (earthlings). So the vertical community ties us and them together into a pathway for the Divine influx. Each time the influx makes a descending step it has different consequences. These consequences are determined not by the influx, which remains Divinely constant, but the degree of the mind that receives it.

Moreover, the path taken by influx through the angels corresponds specifically to our path. When we take our three descending steps--zones [1,8,15], the angels take their three descending steps--zones [31,26,21]. Then, after we both cross the Inversion, we take our three ascending steps--zones [22,29,36], and the angels take their three ascending steps--zones [16,11,6].

Note how our three descending steps--zones [1,8,15], are marked by the marginals. On the right: infancy, childhood, adolescence. On the left: celestial, spiritual, natural. As our physical body grows from infancy to adolescence, our mind also grows. Our path of regeneration indicates that it is a "descent" because we go from being supported by celestial angels (our infancy period, zone 1), to being supported by spiritual angels (our childhood period, zone 8), to being supported by natural angels (our adolescence period, zone 15). These are our three descending steps with regards to regeneration. It is necessary for the up-building of our external sensuous mind (upper left quadrant) to make this descent. In the Word it is called "descending into Egypt." Also, in the story about the good Samaritan, it is referred to as "a man going from Jerusalem to Jericho." This is a descent geographically since Jerusalem is on high ground and Jericho on low ground. Similarly in spiritual geography, we descend in our regeneration as we communicate with the highest angels called celestial, leave them and communicate with the angels of the middle heaven called spiritual, and finally with the angels of the lowest heaven called natural. This is why we are descending in regeneration as we are growing physically. But then there is an inversion. As we continue to grow physically from adolescence to young adulthood, we are beginning our ascending steps in regeneration.

The big change in the inversion is that we are then leaving sensuous consciousness, which is external, and are entering rational consciousness, which is internal. This is an equivalent steps in the history of the Churches (in an earlier matrix) where civilization leaves the sensuous idea of God and enter a rational idea of God. This occurred during the Incarnation when the Christian Church was established, but not fully until the Resurrection and Ascension when the Holy Spirit was given. The Holy Spirit can only be seen in rational consciousness, which is an internal state. So in our physical growth we enter young adulthood in our first ascending step of regeneration (zone 22). Then we continue our ascent in regeneration as we enter adulthood (zone 29) and at last old age (zone 36). Always keep in mind that these periods of development refer to all regeneration steps at all recursive levels. At the level of history a single regeneration step might take thousands of years, as for instance the infancy state of human kind in the Golden Age of the Most Ancients on this earth. The old age state was not reached until the Writings were given and completed at the end of the 18th century AD. At the level of an individual, the infancy step and the old age step are just a few decades. At the level of temptations, the six steps from infancy to old age might take just a few days or hours. And so on.

Every regeneration step we take, at all levels long or short, the angels must make a corresponding step or else the step cannot be made. As we descend, the angels descend, and as we ascend the angels ascend, both mutually necessary to one another. Thus, we proceed with our activities in zone 1 while being connected, or receiving influx, from the celestial angels who are in zone 31. Zones 1 (us) and 31 (angels) correspond and are active synchronously or simultaneously. Similarly as we descend to the next step, zone 8, the angels in zone 26 connect with us. Similarly with zones 15 (us) and 21 (angels). The as we ascend, our zone 22 communicates with their zone 16, our zone 29 with their zone 11, and our zone 36 with their zone 6.

Note that our descent (zones 1,8,15) and their descent (zones 31,26,21) are both in sensuous consciousness which is a state external to the rational, which is not yet. Then as we enter the inversion and start the ascent (young adulthood period--zone 22), we begin life in rational consciousness which is interior to sensuous consciousness. Similarly, the angels also enter their rational consciousness as the cross the inversion and ascend (zone 16). But the angels go from interior sensuous consciousness (lower left quadrant) to exterior rational consciousness (upper right quadrant), which is the mirror image of our going from exterior sensuous consciousness (upper left quadrant) to interior rational consciousness (lower right quadrant).

Let's look at these relationships through a visual representation--graphic ennead 1:

Note that in sensuous consciousness the angels are on the inside and we are on the outside. The reverse is the case with rational consciousness: we are on the inside and angels are on the outside. Note also that the inside is always made of internalizing [S/C/A] units and the outside is always made of externalizing [A/C/S] units. In the infancy period of sensuous consciousness, we are on the outside in a descending externalizing unit (zones 1,2,3) while inside of us are the angels in an ascending internalizing unit (zones 4,5,6) that corresponds to ours. In the childhood period of sensuous consciousness, we are on the outside in a descending externalizing unit (zones 7,8,9) while inside of us are the angels in an ascending internalizing unit (zones 10,11,12) that corresponds to ours. In the adolescence period of sensuous consciousness, we are on the outside in a descending externalizing unit (zones 13,14,15) while inside of us are the angels in an ascending internalizing unit (zones 16,17,18) that corresponds to ours. Then there is the inversion and we change places in terms of inside and outside. In the adolescence period of rational consciousness, we are on the inside in an ascending internalizing unit (zones 22,23,24) while outside of us are the angels in an descending externalizing unit (zones 19,20,21) that corresponds to ours. In the young adulthood period of rational consciousness, we are on the inside in an ascending internalizing unit (zones 28,29,30) while outside of us are the angels in an descending externalizing unit (zones 25,26,27) that corresponds to ours. Finally, in the old age period of rational consciousness, we are on the inside in an ascending internalizing unit (zones 34,35,36) while outside of us are the angels in a descending externalizing unit (zones 31,32,33) that corresponds to ours.

Note that the 36 zones of consciousness are organized in specific structures of dyads, triads, hexagrams, and enneads (see these articles on ethnosemantic structures for explanations on these "discourse structures" as they constitute our consciousness-- article 1 ||   article 2  ||  article 3).

One dyadic structure relates to sensuous consciousness vs. rational consciousness. Another dyadic structure is pre-inversion vs. post-inversion. A third is externalizing [A/C/S] units vs. internalizing [S/C/A] structures. A fourth is the mind of angels vs. our mind.

One triadic or trigrammatic structure relates to units of experience and behavior. Both externalizing and internalizing units are made of three components--A (affective mind), C (cognitive mind), and S (sensorimotor mind). A second trigrammatic structure relates to sequenced periods--the three pre-inversion periods (infancy, childhood, and adolescence) vs. the three post-inversion periods (young adulthood, adulthood, old age). A third trigrammatic structure relates to degrees as defined by the heavens--the three descending steps (celestial, spiritual, natural) vs. the three ascending steps (natural, spiritual, celestial).

One hexagrammatic structure relates to the six movements (us vs. angels dyads) of sensuous consciousness vs. the six movements of rational consciousness, as can be seen by the six arrows for the two types of consciousness. For instance, in the infancy period, celestial angels inside of us experience an internalizing unit (zones 4,5,6) synchronously with us experiencing an externalizing unit (zones 1,2,3). these two units together constitute one hexagram. There is a contrasting hexagram in the old age period--this time we are inside the celestial angels as we experience an internalizing unit (zones 34,35,36) synchronously with the angels who are experiencing an externalizing unit (zones 31,32,33).

Future research will have to determine how these formal relations apply to content, that is, how they help us understand what's going on in the human mind as it grows and regenerates. I will present some applications following this section. Especially it will be important to figure out how influx varies with gender of the angels and the earthlings, since it is a universal principle given in the Writings that nothing whatsoever in a woman is like anything in a man, and vice versa. Hence the dynamics of influx and regeneration must be contrastive for men and women.

                    The Affective Mind, Cognitive Mind, and Sensorimotor Mind

In our descending path of regeneration our physical development progresses by increasing strength and maturity of organs and muscles, and our mental development progresses by externalizing steps. This means building-up the [A/C/S] units of our mind. The A component refers to our affective mind or the organ of the will. The C component refers to our cognitive mind or the organ of understanding. The S component refers to our sensorimotor mind or the sensory (sensations). The building up of these [A/C/S] units constitutes the growth of our sensuous consciousness (exterior). Note from the chart that this development of of our sensuous consciousness (upper left quadrant), has three primary zones: [1,8,15]. During the infancy period (zone 1) our sensuous consciousness is built up with the support of influx from the celestial angels (third heaven) (zone 31). There is communication between their affective mind and our affective mind. But in the next descending step we switch to spiritual angels (middle heaven) and now our cognitive mind in zone 8 communicates with their cognitive mind in zone 26. And next for our third descent we switch to natural angels who communicate with us from their sensorimotor mind (zone 21) to ours (zone 15). Our sensuous development thus depends on our descending from the celestials in the infancy period, to the spiritual in the childhood period, to the natural in the adolescent period. This procedure is necessary for our mind to grow intellectually through knowledge and reasoning skills.

Note how this intellectual growth is accomplished. In infancy (zone 1) our primary zone is the affective and it receives influx into the affective. This is unconscious as is all influx into any of the primary zones. When the primary zone of influx is the affective, as in infancy, it is us who as-of-self must struggle to acquire and adjoin the other two components of externalizing (C and S).  As the unconscious influx of the celestials into our affective mind proceeds in zone 1, we adjoin to it elements from zone 2 and zone 3. This is how we share the growth effort: the angels into the affective, and us adjoining the cognitive and the sensorimotor. But in the next step, our primary zone is cognitive with the spiritual angels (zone 8) and we adjoin as-of-self the A and S components. And in our adolescent period, the unconscious influx is from the natural angels into our sensorimotor mind (zone 15) and we must adjoin as-of-self the A and C components. When the adolescent period is consummated, the nine zones of the upper left quadrant contain all the [A/C/S] units needed to cross the inversion and enter rational consciousness. Then the ascending path commences and a comparable growth process must take place. Illustrations of these events will be given in the next section where the journeyings of the patriarchs in Genesis is taken up.

              Externalizing (Sensuous) and Internalizing (Rational) Units

In the ascending path the units we must build up are rational units, not synthetic (sensuous). Rational units are analytic, thus the reverse of synthetic: [S/C/A]. We make our first rational ascending step in the period called young adulthood. This is accomplished when the natural angels switch from zone 21 to 16. From their zone 16 they are in their sensorimotor mind and communicate with our sensorimotor mind (zone 22). As we climb in rational consciousness, the spiritual angels then communicate into our cognitive mind (zone 29) from their cognitive mind (zone 11). At last in the period called old age, we receive influx from the celestial angels into our affective mind (zone 36) from their affective mind (zone 6). Now our rational consciousness is fully interior, fully celestial (for that unit of regeneration at whatever level is being discussed. The chart therefore maps all the zones of regeneration. In our ascending path of more interior rational consciousness the same psychodynamic principles operate in the up-building of the [S/C/A] units. In the period of young adulthood, our primary zone is 22 which is an S component. This influx is unconscious and we do not control any of it. Instead we adjoin as-of-self seemingly through our own efforts the C and A components. When the necessary [S/C/A] units are built and consummated, we make our next step into rational consciousness in zone 29. This period is called adulthood during which we receive unconscious influx into our cognitive mind (zone 29) from the spiritual angels in their cognitive mind (zone 11). We then adjoin through our own effort the S and A components. Finally, in the old age period we reach our inmost rational consciousness as the celestial angels flow in unconsciously into our affective mind (zone 36) from their affective mind (zone 6). Thus is completed another unit of regeneration at whatever level is being considered.

Sensuous consciousness (left half of the matrix) is made of externalizing units called [A/C/S] since the movement is from affective (the will--inmost) to the sensorimotor mind (sensory--outmost). Then there is an Inversion and the units are reversed: [S/C/A]. This is called internalizing since the movement is from sensorimotor (the sensory--outmost) to the affective mind (the will--inmost). Thus, descending paths are externalizing units of sensuous consciousness while ascending paths are internalizing units of rational consciousness.

                    Successive and Simultaneous Relations

A general principle in the chart is: When the angels descend, we descend, and when the angels ascend, we ascend. This is one meaning of Jacob's Ladder in the Book of Genesis. The Lord has hooked angels in the spiritual world and people on earth together so that the parts of their mind can communicate with each other, that is, play into each other and be modified together by the regeneration process itself. So the first half of the cross in the chart consists of both angels descending (zones 31, 26, 21) and us descending (zones 1,8,15). This is called SUCCESSIVE order because the steps are taken in succession as a sequence of progression. Both our descent and the descent of the angels are called successive steps. There is also a SIMULTANEOUS order which connects the angels and us at each step insuring synchronous influx. The first descending step for both of us is in the affective mind (zone 31 for them and zone 1 for us). The affective mind of celestial angels communicates with our affective mind. This is called our infancy period (zone 1). Things that are in the celestial angel's affective mind are called celestial good, celestial love, and celestial feelings. So these celestial things are communicated to us unconsciously so that we now have celestial good and love in our affective mind. This is the simultaneous order so that zone 31 of the celestial angels communicates or infills our zone 1. These two zones correspond by simultaneous degrees and are connected by influx. The basis of vertical community lies in simultaneous degrees while the basis of development lies in successive degrees.

Note that these relations refer to the primary zones which support the unconscious influx. From this influx the effects play themselves out in each zone as we adjoin the other two components as-of-self seemingly through our own effort and struggle.

See also:  Discrete Degrees by Ian Thomspson || Discrete Degrees by N.C. Burnham

                    First Step: Infancy Period of Regeneration

Our first step in regeneration, overall and in each recursive segment, has this characteristic of containing celestial love and good. This type of good is in our unconscious in itself where it enters, but it then affects our sensuous consciousness as we adjoin the other two components. In this case with the infancy period, zone 1, it is our affective sensuous consciousness that is involved, thus, our feelings,   affections, motives, intentions. These affective states of the infancy period are called "remains" and later form the basis for heavenly life if our mind continues to be regenerated. For now, in the process of regeneration, their role is to bind together [A/C/S] units where the A component are the things in zone 1, and the C component are cognitive things that are congruent with the affective things. So zone 2 refer to the cognitions or truths that we must acquire as-of-self, apparently through our own effort, in such a way that these cognitions or thoughts be consistent with the affections in zone 1. Similarly with the S component shown as zone 3. So the [A/C/S] unit involving zones 1, 2, 3 constitute those mental habits and character tendencies that pertain to regeneration in the infancy period.

This communication with the celestial angels is entirely unconscious since at this point (Zone 1), we are in exterior sensuous consciousness. This state of our mind is called the infancy period of the regeneration unit during which we are like infants in that celestial angels from within give us delightful perceptions of the rich sensual world around us, including the proprioceptive sensations we have when engaging in voluntary motion. There must be something within this rich and delightful sensuous consciousness or experience, or else it cannot occur. This "within" is the communicating of the celestial angels with our sensuous in the affective mind, and the effect of this is to give our sensuous consciousness their characteristic delight. As a consequence it has value for up building our knowledges that we may grow in intellect. This up-building of our corresponding cognitive mind (zone 2) and our corresponding sensorimotor mind (Zone 3) completes the adjoining and conjoining of the [A/C/S] unit of infancy (Zones 1, 2, 3). When this is consummated, we step into Zone 8 as the spiritual angels communicate with us from their Zone 26. Thus we begin the period called childhood.

                    Second Step: Childhood Period of Regeneration

Note that this step is zone 8 and is marked as spiritual. While the first step had its primary focus in the affective mind, this second step has its primary focus in the cognitive mind. There is a change of communication from ascending step 1 (zone 1) to ascending step 2 (zone 8). Now, in the childhood period of regeneration we are primarily with the spiritual angels. This is called a descent since we left the celestial angels and we are now communicating primarily with the spiritual angels, even if this is totally unconscious to our awareness. Meanwhile the second step of the angels' descent is zone 26, so our zone 8 now communicates with their zone 26. The things that are in the cognitive mind of the spiritual angels are truths and understandings of spiritual things, and now these truths and understandings are communicated unconsciously to our cognitive mind in this second period (childhood). Note that physical development from infancy to childhood is a strengthening and growth process. The physical prowess and capacity of the child is much greater than that of the infant. This represents the power we gain mentally as our sensuous consciousness descends from the celestial in our affective mind (zone 1) to the spiritual in our cognitive mind (zone 8). We gain power and ability in the physical world as our intellect gains knowledges and reasonings under the supportive influence of the spiritual angels (their zone 26 produces influx into our zone 8). Remember that we are unconscious of their influx. We are in the sensuous consciousness phase (upper left quadrant) and we are only conscious of the other two components we adjoin as-of-self in each zone and phase. In the period of childhood we adjoin the A and S components, and we are aware of them, We also build up awareness of things in the C component (cognitive mind), but these conscious thoughts are not the same as the unconscious influx of the spiritual angels.

Note however that in order for this influx to become permanent and habitual they must be connected in [A/C/S] units. So the unconscious cognitions and thoughts of this period (childhood) which we have from the spiritual angels must now be connected by us, as-of-self through our own conscious efforts, to the affections that support these cognitions (zone 7) as well as to the sensations and actions that are compatible with them as uses, effects, and outcomes (zone 9). When these [A/C/S] units in the second descending step are built up, the childhood period of regeneration is consummated. We are ready for the third and final descending step called adolescence (zone 15).

                    Third Step: Adolescence Period of Regeneration

Note that Zone 15 is marked natural so that our new influx now is from the natural angels of the first heaven. The angels' path in its third step goes from   zone 26 to zone 21, thus a change of guards from the second heaven to the first. Now it is the natural angels playing into our sensorimotor mind that forms the primary influx. Thus their zone 21 communicates with our zone 15. The things that are in the angels' sensorimotor mind are sensations and motor movements, that is, sensory skills and motor skills carried into the body as physical prowess, ability, endurance, rhythm, pleasure, and so on. Thus in adolescence our primary focus changes to these sensorimotor things under the unconscious influence. From the cognitions and reasonings of childhood we move into the sensations of adolescence. In the childhood period we also have sensations and sensory skills (zone 9) but these are as-of-self acquisitions that we cumulated through our own effort under the influence of the unconscious spiritual cognitions (zone 8). But now the sensory and motor skills are not from ourselves but from the natural angels, and so they are more exterior to those we adjoined on our own from the prior period. Hence they are more "advanced" in their externalization. At this time we also expend as-of-self effort to acquire cognitions and affections that support these unconscious sensory motor skills from the angels. These are the zones 13 and 14, and when these are fully consummated, our descending path ends.

                        The Inversion

The crossover from descending to ascending is called the Inversion. This refers to a fundamental change as we cross from sensuous consciousness (upper left quadrant) to rational consciousness (lower right quadrant). Sensuous consciousness is a descending path for both angels and us (from celestial to natural), while rational consciousness is an ascending path for both (from natural to celestial). We and the angels both cross the inversion simultaneously or synchronously, but in different ways. We cross into the interior rational consciousness (lower right quadrant) and they cross into exterior rational consciousness (upper right quadrant). The implications of this need to be further explored in future research!  Note also that prior to Inversion, during sensuous consciousness, the zones are made of [A/C/S] units ("externalizing") while after the Inversion, during rational consciousness, the zones are made of [S/C/A] units ("internalizing"). Also for future research we will need to investigate how the unconscious influx into the primary zones facilitates the up-building of the conscious components in the two secondary components. As well, how the these two secondary components interact with the up-building of the conscious component in the primary zone.

Our rational consciousness develops from relatively outer regions in the period of young adulthood to truly interior regions in the old age period of regeneration. This applies of course to all recursive levels within each segment or period (don't forget that!). The early rational in the period of young adulthood (zones 22,23,24) is a natural-rational and is intermediate to further ascending steps of rational consciousness (internalizing activities). This lower rational is called Ishmael. The next more interior rational is spiritual-rational and is called Isaac (zones 28,29,30). The inmost rational is a celestial rational and is called Judah (zones 34, 35, 36).

                    Fourth Step: Young Adulthood Period of Regeneration

Now we have reached what's called the inversion as we move from zone 15 to zone 22. This is our first step in the ascending path that will end with the celestial attendants again in our old age period (zone 36).  Note that this first step is in the sensorimotor mind (zone 22). The units to be established now are going to be [S/C/A] units, which is the reverse of the prior units we had to establish in the descending path (A/C/S units). The reversed order is very significant. It marks the difference between the descending path and the ascending path. Now as we move up in steps, we follow the sequence of sensorimotor, then cognitive, then affective--thus the reverse of before. As we take our first ascending step, so does the path of the angels take the first ascending step: from their zone 21 to their zone 16.  Zone 16 is the sensorimotor of the natural angels, as in their prior step (zone 21), but now with a big difference. While zone 21 is their interior sensorimotor, zone 16 is their exterior sensorimotor.  Now their exterior sensorimotor communicates with our interior sensorimotor. Thus, there is influx from their zone 16 into our zone 22. This new relationship is highly significant and starts the young adulthood period of our regeneration. Now we need to acquire compatible cognitive and affective elements to form the new (reversed) [S/C/A] units (zones 22, 23, and 24).

                    Fifth Step: Adulthood Period of Regeneration

Now we have reached the adulthood period of our regeneration as our the influx from the spiritual angels act into our cognitive mind (zone 29). This is our second step in the ascending path. The units to be established as-of-self as [S/C/A] units, will be for us to adjoin the S component (zone 28) and A component (zone 30). Zone 11 is the cognitive of the spiritual angels, so that their zone 11 communicates with our zone 29. This new relationship gives us new perceptions of more interior truths). Our previous communication with the spiritual angels took place in the second step of our descent (childhood period--zone 8). This prior relationship was quite a different since their influx was into sensuous consciousness, and this is relatively external. But now (adulthood--zone 29) their influx is into the rational, which is more interior. This zone (29) is called the interior spiritual in the cognitive mind (sometimes: the external rational). When this step is fully consummated after all the requisite [S/C/A] units have been built up, we are ready to move into the last ascending step.

                    Sixth Step: Old Age Period of Regeneration

This step is the old age period and is taken when influx occurs into our affective from the celestial angels (zone 36). Now at last we have reached the full human consciousness for whatever segment or recursive level of regeneration we are considering. The angels make their last ascending step as well as the affective mind of the celestial angels (zone 6) communicates with our affective mind in zone 36. This is the home coming because we are back with the celestial angels we started with in the infancy period (zone 1). But note that there is a big difference between our first descending step in infancy (zone 1), which is called "the innocence of ignorance" and our last ascending step (zone 36), which is called "the wisdom of old age." Specifically, the difference is that in the infancy period the celestial angels communicate with our sensuous consciousness (which is relatively external), while in the old age period the celestial angels communicate with our rational consciousness (which is internal).

When we pass on and arrive as angels, our spirit body or mind, has undergone regeneration in exterior sensuous consciousness (upper left quadrant) and in interior rational consciousness (lower right quadrant). Now as novitiate angels we begin our regeneration in the remaining two quadrants: interior sensuous consciousness (lower left quadrant) and exterior rational consciousness (upper right quadrant). Our regeneration as angels functions to help the regeneration of people on earth. But if we arrive in the spiritual world at death with a spirit body that has not been regenerated there is not available an anatomical plane in the mind for completing the remaining two quadrants, or enneads, in Jacob's Ladder. In that case, the unregenerate exterior sensuous consciousness now sinks into a corporeal consciousness that is empty of an interior rational consciousness. In such a state the individual can only exist in hell.

                 Psycho-Dynamic Movements in Regeneration

To really understand how the mind or spirit is regenerated, we must understand what is the Inversion that is marked in all the maps or charts of regeneration. The inversion itself refers to the reversal of mental units that build up the regenerated mind. Prior to inversion the units are called [A/C/S] but after inversion the units are called [S/C/A]. In the first three stages of regeneration called the periods of infancy, childhood and adolescence our mind or spirit body is built up through learned habits made of [A/C/S] units of behavior. These units can only be of use to the build up of sensuous consciousness. This phase before our inversion is therefore made entirely of learned habits that relate to sensuous consciousness. Rational consciousness is not built up during this phase because it requires [S/C/A] which are only available after the inversion. Here lies the importance of understanding the inversion.

The three steps of sensuous consciousness in its development are called descending because in each succeeding degree or period, we journey further and further from the Divine. In infancy we are closest to the Divine because the Divine influx descends through the celestial angels and they are the closest to the Divine in consciousness, in love, in wisdom, in blessed felicity, and in awesome power. When we are in childhood we receive the Divine influx through the spiritual angels, and the dwell in the second or middle heaven. This second spiritual heaven is as different from the third celestial heaven as the moon is from the sun. So our reception of the Divine influx is more distant in childhood than in infancy. And this is of course true not just of our periods of growth in biography but at all levels of analysis. It is true of ages of civilization in that the infancy age of humankind is called Golden and Celestial while the next phase of evolution brought a descent into what's called the Silver Age, and the next step brought humankind down to the Bronze, which when it deteriorated, gave rise to vastated states such as the Iron Age or the Age of Iron Mixed with Clay. The third period of descent is called adolescence and this is even more distant from God, as the angels of the first heaven are distant from the second heaven. These lower angels are called natural and they are so distant from God that they constantly loose their way without appropriate teachers, leaders, and judges.

Clearly then, as our physical and mental development progresses through infancy, childhood, and adolescence, we are moving away from God and true reality. Just as the people called "Adam and Eve" in the Genesis story, were catapulted away from the reality of paradise when they rejected the supreme authority of God and made a conscious decision to trust their self-intelligence more than God's intelligence. The commandments we are taught as infants--Don't touch this, Don't eat that, Sit down now, Be quiet, Get dressed now, Don't go there, Remember this, etc., are commandments that issue from an intelligence greater than the infant's intelligence. To infants, adults and especially parents and teachers, are a higher intelligence than themselves. In the infancy period of a civilization, a biography, or a learned habit, it can be recognized that there is a higher intelligence than the individual's. This certitude or perception is spiritual in origin. It only will last during the infancy period when the individual receives the Divine influx through celestial angels. When the next step of regeneration is taken, the perception is no longer given and the certitude weakens. In childhood we have a more distant concept of God than in infancy.

This distance is created by the fact that the Divine influx is no longer through the celestial angels but through the spiritual angels. Therefore our distance to God increases since our distance matches the distance of those through whom the Divine influx comes in. The second step of descent away from God allows us to actually acquire more advanced and sophisticated truths than we could in the infancy period. In the infancy period our affective mind receives the influx which means that the celestial affections of the angels are felt in our affective mind, but the source of these feelings is unknown to us. Now to continue growing during this infancy period we cannot merely receive celestial affections in our affective mind. We must acquire appropriate C and S components to create the [A/C/S] units our mind or spirit body needs to create our sensuous consciousness. A characteristic quality of this build up in the infancy stage is its passion and intensity. In this period our affective mind is filled with celestial love, celestial good, celestial affections, celestial affinities and attractions. As these externalize from A to C to S, the intensity of the process is very high. We are passionate about any new subject we love, or activity, or person. We love intensely and passionately when we fall in love, which is the infancy period of a dating or marriage relationship. We passionately love our new car, our new job, our new opportunity and dream.

But this closeness to God's Love and God's Commandments, must recede, and the passion must yield to the intellect. In the childhood period it is our cognitive mind that receives the Divine influx. Our sensuous consciousness can take its second step of growth by stepping away from this Divine passion. We turn from God, from true reality, from the highest heavenly life, to something that is external to it. Instead of being primarily focused on the affective mind and its feelings of love and strivings towards obedience to the good, we are now focused on the cognitive mind and its thoughts of truth and self-intelligence. As children we stop loving the commandments and start fear them. We lose our close connection to God and God's commandments. We lose our close connection to our parents and nurses. We want to go after our own mind. This now becomes a much greater delight than obeying God's mind or the parent's mind or any authority whatsoever. The greatest delight now becomes that of following our own mind, and this is called the love of self-intelligence.

The step down from infancy to childhood becomes a loss of reality, a putting on of irreality. Our self-intelligence will lead us astray, but we don't suspect it, and when we are warned, we disregard the warning. And yet, we feel weak and fearful of many things we become aware of, so we stay connected to God, to parents, to authority to the extent of those fears. The affections we gather for ourselves in this second period are lower than the affections we have as remains from the infancy period. Those affections were from the celestial angels directly while the affections we gather now are through our own intelligence. The cognitions we receive from the spiritual angels must have their appropriate affections and we ourselves must gather them to make the A/C units, and the A/C/S units. These affections are less loving, less passionate for good, less generous and altruistic, less idealistic and pure. Similarly with the S components that we must acquire for ourselves through habit formation. Our personality in childhood is build up of coarser sensorimotor elements than in infancy. A lower cognitive demands on a lower affective, and a lower A/C pack demands a lower sensorimotor. The sensations and movements of infants are less well formed and less integrated because the infant's capacity to create C/S units is limited by physical immaturity and lack of experience. In childhood our physical development takes a big step forward and the A/C and C/S packets we can acquire from ourselves are more advanced and skilled.

Even more so as we step down for the third time and into the period of adolescence. Our focus changes specifically into the sensorimotor mind from the natural angels. our experience and physical capacities help us build still more advanced C/S and A/C/S units. They are of a different quality or use. We start caring more about sensory appearances. We value beauty and are attracted to it. Physical attractiveness becomes of primary importance in our strivings and achievements. The affections we gather for ourselves and appropriate as part of our personality are feelings and loves that are married to pleasures and physical excitement of all sorts. We expand our activities in diversity and variety. We are devastated by physical deformations, even as small as pimples and acne or as hidden as breasts or as inconspicuous as skinny legs. External measures of evaluation become all important--How popular are you, How much money does it pay, How often did you score, How many times did you miss, and so on. This interest in things external is characteristic of adolescence and is due to the influx of the natural angles into our sensorimotor mind.

The third step down matures, the [A/C/S] units are built up, and we run into the big crisis of our life, of an age or period, or of a habit or activity--the point of Inversion.

This becomes the narrow door through which we must go through or else die. That is, our regeneration is halted, our consciousness cannot grow, our distance from God and reality is as far as an iceberg is from the equator. We are sinking into un-reality or irreality. This irreality is a necessary and inevitable outcome of self-intelligence and refusal to accept a higher form of intelligence to which we must be obedient or lose a grip on true reality.

The natural angels with whom we are in this period become the architects of our inversion. This is because the natural angels are angels, which means they have been regenerated. Not as far as the spiritual angels, but as far as the natural mind can be regenerated. As regenerated natural angels we of course continue our regeneration to eternity. To be regenerated means that a rational plane has been built up so that rational consciousness is alive and well, even if in the lower regions of the rational degree. This regeneration continues in our consciousness in this region and never stops. This lower rational is called the natural-rational to identify the fact that it is with the natural angels. The higher rational degrees are with the spiritual angels and the celestial angels. The rational that is with the spiritual angels is called spiritual-rational, and that of the celestials is called celestial-rational. This is the most interior form of the rational, and so it is also called interior celestial rational. The mid-level rational or spiritual-rational is also called external rational to distinguish it from the interior rational of the celestials. These distinctions of the rational must be kept clearly in mind.

Prior to the inversion, in the period of adolescence, the natural angels are in our external sensuous region (zone 15) in the sensorimotor mind. From there they exert constant pressure to make us cross the inversion line into rational consciousness. To do this we must step into zone 22 by adjoining entirely new cognitions that we gather for ourselves and store up in zone 23. Through the help and influence of this natural angels we are able to cross the river of Jordan into the Land of Canaan, which is the rational consciousness, the Promised Land. Unless we cross into this region we cannot change the direction of our steps. We then must keep going down and away from God and reality and our heavenly life and happiness. We must be saved from this! And this can happen only if we take our first ascending step, back to God. We must acknowledge a higher power than ourselves. This is one step back to reality.

We begin to learn what is an [S/C/A] unit of consciousness  We are saved. We are on our way back to the spiritual angels, and eventually even all the way back to the celestials. This first ascending step is called the period of young adulthood in regeneration. In the history of the Churches this happened during the Incarnation when the Christian religion was established by the Lord Himself. In our biography, this happens when we arrest the irrealities of self-intelligence, reverse ourselves ("inversion"), and begin thoughts about the causes of effects (zone 23) thus creating S/C components. THIS IS THE BIRTH OF RATIONAL CONSIOUSNESS. It is the most momentous point of our regeneration, the point of the Incarnation of God in our mind, its growth there from a seed into a mature person grounded in reality and conjoined with the Creator. The birth of our rational consciousness is called by Harrie Groeneveld the "Readvent" (see the De Hemelsche Leer article.)

The implantation of the Divine seed of consciousness into our zone 22, and our response to it, is the first step of our ascending path back to the Divine. When we climb up the ladder of regeneration we are re-ascending in a new suit, one that is truly human. The rational is the beginning of the true human, the likeness of God. Before the inversion our consciousness is sensuous, external to our true human. Sensuous consciousness is made of animal affections, animal cognitions, and animal sensations and movements. These are devoid of rationality. The truths and realities and reasoning abilities we have are on the ground floor of our mental house--they provide us with down to earth vision, limited and blocked by all sorts of objects and walls. Though our mental capacities far surpass that of animals, these more advanced cognitions are not different in discrete height from that of chimpanzees or dolphins, to take two examples that have been much researched by scientists in the 20th century. Indeed, a new science was born as a result of this research, that is goes by the name of Cognitive Science. You can type these two words into any search engine and you'll see the vastness of this scientific and intellectual project.

Cognitive scientists today operate in the zones of the mind prior to the inversion. Their theories therefore will all be from the limited perspective of the ground floor observer of the scene. But the cognitive scientist of the future will ascend to the upper floors, or to a mountain, and from there will have the perspective that is called rational. From this higher and more inward perspective of reality and the mind, the scientist, observer, or scrutator will construct rational theories and will themselves see rational things or trues. This will be the birth of theistic science, which already in this generation is pregnant with birthing pangs (see Dr. Ian Thompson's Web site Theistic Science.org and the Swedenborg Glossary articles by Dr. Leon James).

Note especially Groeneveld's insight regarding the relation between the First Advent as "a coming from within outwards" and the Readvent as "a returning through the Word from without inwards." His insight is itself the birth of a new age in our regeneration. The Writings of Swedenborg constitute the literal corpus of the Second Advent, the Physical Body of the Divine Human, but not yet actual birth of the Divine Rational in our consciousness. When we acknowledge the Writings as the Word of the Third Testament we are still in the sensuous consciousness quadrant (upper left) of the New Church period in our regeneration. We have not yet crossed the New Church inversion point, that is, not yet entered fully into the rational, not yet opened the Nunc Licet commandment of the Divine Rational. We are yet distant from the Divine Rational of the Divine Human. In fact we are turned opposite to the true God even as we read the Writings and acknowledge its Divinity. This is because we are still in sensuous consciousness and we see the literal itself as the flesh of God, when it is not. Such is sensuous consciousness. It is pre-rational, pre-human, not yet true and genuine. But when the Doctrine of the Church is born from the seed of the literal, then we our own birth begins, our rebirth, our new existence in rational consciousness, the inner reality which is the true reality.

Psychologically viewed, the inversion involves changing our mode of feeling, thinking, and sensing with externalizing units [A/C/S] to sensing, thinking, and feeling with internalizing units [S/C/A]. The first ever explicit statement of this difference may be the statement by Harrie Groeneveld quoted above, so that the year 1928 may mark the actual beginning of rational consciousness in the human race. Now anyone can move into that age and that explicit, conscious recognition that begins with our first construction of an [S/C/A] unit: zones 22, 22, 24. The First Advent is a coming FROM WITHIN OUTWARDS and this involves EXTERNALIZING [A/C/S/] units that serve to build up our sensual consciousness of reality--the period from infancy to adolescence. But if remain in merely sensuous consciousness we cannot become human. Therefore a Second Advent is necessary, which is not an entirely novel event, but more accurately, a Readvent, since it is the opening up of the sensuous consciousness we already have. By crossing the inversion and turning around, we are "returning through the Word from without inwards." The Word here signifies the Divine Rational Word, the Third Testament, not in its literal or sensuous flesh, but in its rational body. This is a spirit body, not physical. It is the inner sense of the literal that we can see only by illustration (see De Hemelsche Leer article).

This brand new consciousness of rational existence is the interior-natural intelligence (zone 23) which is as far from the external sensuous intelligence (zone 14) as atheism is from religion, or as a delusional person is from a sane one. The affections that we adjoin to this rational intelligence are now entirely of a different kind (zone 24) than the affections in the adolescent step prior to the inversion (zone 13). As young adults we have left behind the sensuous focus of the previous period. It is no longer pleasure for its own sake that we seek. We acquire a love (zone 24) that is consistent with the S/C packet (zones 22 and 23). This is a more internal love than before since it goes with a more internal cognitive and sensorimotor [S/C/A]. This natural-rational cognitive is more spiritual than before because the rational is the human spiritual itself. The angels of the natural heaven are in an interior-natural not an external natural. The first heaven is an interior natural inhabitation while the physical globe is an external natural inhabitation. This is why the inversion is our salvation because we begin life in the spiritual world with regards to our consciousness. We wake up to the its reality.

Our idealism and life philosophy, our loyalties, our membership, our lifestyle--all now reflect the young adulthood period and content.

You can also consult this discussion of the Second Advent

See also:  Discrete Degrees by Ian Thomspson || Discrete Degrees by N.C. Burnham

The new awareness of the process of inversion can also be seen in the current work of Ian Thompson, whom I quote above from an email message to me:

Matrix 20c, Jacob's Ladder, is reproduced below to facilitate the following narrative about Dr. Thompson's system:

If I'm interpreting his statements correctly, the externalizing activity of our sensuous consciousness are the [A/C/S] units in the upper and lower left quadrants while the "opposite" order is the "psychological building up" of [S/C/A] units. This psychological build up is rational consciousness in the upper and lower right quadrants. For instance, in the infancy period of development, our sensuous consciousness is active in zones 1, 2, 3. This partly unconscious activity in conjunction with the celestial angels is generative. As a result of this activity, our external rational consciousness develops in full conscious awareness--zones 4, 5, 6. The overall psychological effect of this infancy period can be called "sensual-objective" (2.33 and 2.32). As we take our next step of regeneration, we are connected to the spiritual angels in the childhood period. In the generative or externalizing order that builds our sensuous consciousness, this is represented by the activities in zones 7, 8, 8. Then, the resultant psychological activities build up the external rational consciousness in zones 10, 11, 12, which is called "pre-operational-operational-outer scientific" (2.31 and 2.23). Then in the their period of adolescence, the generative sensuous [A/C/S] units give rise to the analytic rational [S/C/A] units (zones 7, 8, 9 and 10, 11, 12). In the third step of the adolescence period, the [A/C/S] units in zones 13, 14, 15 generate the external rational activities of zones 16, 17, 18, which are called "intellectual-inner scientific-creative-formal."

Then comes the inversion in young adulthood, from external sensuous generative units (upper left quadrant) to internal sensuous generative units (lower left quadrant). As a result there is a matching psychological build up from external rational consciousness (upper right quadrant) to internal rational consciousness (lower right quadrant). Thus, the interior sensuous generative zones 19, 20, 21 create the interior synthetic rational zones 22, 23, 24. The latter can be called "conscience" (2.13) and this now involves more interior rational concepts than the prior "inner scientific" and "formal" (2.22 and 2.21). The next period of adulthood involves the internal sensuous zones of 25, 26, 27, giving rise to the interior rational zones of 28, 29, 30. The latter can be called psychologically the state of "reformation" (2.12). At last in the old age period of development the internal sensuous zones of 31, 32, 33, generate the interior rational activities in zones 28, 29, 30, which can be called "wisdom" (2.11).

Thus the James and Thompson two systems are both represented on the chart and can be fully harmonized. Victory! The practical value of the chart and our  two proposals now needs to be established.

Let's now continue the narrative of Jacob's Ladder begun at the beginning of this section  (Psycho-Dynamic Movements in Regeneration). The young adulthood build up of rational [S/C/A] units (zones 22, 23, 24) is at one point consummated and our new influx from the spiritual angels marks the period of adulthood. Our cognitive mind (zone 29) is infilled with the thoughts of the angels of the middle heaven (zone 11). These are from their external rational (zone 11) that communicates with our internal rational (zone 29). These are thoughts about interior causes and give us a deeper perception of the rational-spiritual. The prior activity and content of our cognitive mind (zone 23) were thoughts and reasonings that we needed to adjoin to the influx that was coming into our sensorimotor mind from the natural in zone 22. These self-initiated thoughts (zone 23) are relatively external rational thoughts also called "interior-natural." While the cognitions that inflow directly from the angels (zone 29) are spiritual rational thoughts, also called external rational in relation to zone 35 which are internal rational thoughts and celestial. The spiritual rational thoughts in zone 29 are purged of any natural content. The difference between the two types of intellect (zone 23 vs. 29) is also indicated by Dr. Thompson labels "conscience" (2.13) vs. "reformation" (2.12). Reformation of one's character requires more internal rational concepts than the activity of conscience, which is a more external rational, even a natural rational. We have no interior insights into our conscience, only its resulting strictures and pangs in our awareness that we can follow or disregard. But in reformation of character we need to unpack what is conscience and appropriate it to our own conscious awareness. This requires more internal [S/C/A] units to build up our new perceptions and powers.

Thus we go through the spiritual temptations that are given us by the Divine to go through in the adulthood period of our regeneration. By struggling and overcoming the temptations we are building up the [S/C/A] packets we need. Our last step in regeneration comes in the old age period of any recursive segment or sub-level, and consists of influx into our affective mind (zone 36) from the celestial angels in zone 6. This is called the homecoming in the circuit of regeneration. Every time we complete a regeneration unit, we end with the homecoming. Every time we begin a regeneration unit we are with the celestial angels and then again upon completion. This is our spiritual homecoming. But we are with the celestials in different ways. In the initiating infancy period, we receive influx into the affective mind that is then in sensuous consciousness (zone 1). This is made of [A/C/S] units called the "innocence of ignorance" (zone 2). But in our last period called old age, we receive influx into the affective mind that is then in rational consciousness (zone 36). This is made of [S/C/A] units called the "innocence of wisdom" (zone 35). In the chart immediately above, Dr. Thompson's label for this degree is "wisdom" (2.11) which is a deeper level than "reformation" (2.12).

                                    The Negative and Positive Bias in Thinking--Crossing from Sensuous to Rational Consciousness

Perhaps the biggest jump in awareness in our conscious thinking is the fateful move we make from zone 14 to 23. Here we cross the inversion in our cognitive mind from sensuous consciousness to rational consciousness (see matrix 20c immediately above). It is the move from atheistic science to theistic science. In the history of Churches on earth this movement is represented by the contrast between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The morality structure of our zone 14 prior to the inversion is represented by the ideal of "an eye for an eye" and also the idea that external membership and ritual gain us salvation, and many other such things that will be discussed below. In contrast the morality that gets established in zone 23 after the inversion is represented by the idea of the Golden Rule and the commandment about loving our enemies and forgiving untold number of times. Similarly, the sectarianism and externalism of religion in zone 14 uses harsh punishment for adultery when it is in external behavior, yet is silent on inner adultery, an idea from zone 23 that is represented by the commandment against mental adultery ("lusting in the heart after another woman"). In science, zone 14 is "creative and formal" (as characterized by Dr. Thompson--2.22 + 2.21) while zone 23 is characterized as "conscience" (2.13). In zone 13 our explanations are abstract and objectified while in zone 23 they are from an "inner" knowledge and refers to realities that are are discounted in zone 14 as merely subjective, thus less real than those based on outer knowledge (from sensory input relating to the physical world), In individual development, the cognitions we have in our adolescent period (zone 14) are resistant to any reality that is softer than brute force, or more remote than what counts for self and the environment on which the self depends for comfort and security. Similarly with the periods that succeed the acquisition of a habit, or the discovery of a principle, or the completion of a project.

It should be remembered that each zone is itself made of six steps so that the actual transition point at the inversion is from the last phase of zone 14 to the first phase of zone 23. This is called the BLACK OF GREEN and the WHITE OF BLUE, respectively (see the scheme portrayed in chart 19b above). These are also called the old age of adolescence and the infancy of young adulthood. Future research will uncover these finer distinctions that help us understand the mind's workings more specifically. For example, one of our neighbors is a 13-year old girl with whom I have a chance to interact from time to time. As the time of this writing she seems to be going through a YELLOW OF GREEN sub-period, also called "childhood of adolescence." One of the difficulties she has is to acknowledge responsibility for some of the things her father accuses her, which brings her into conflict with him. She will use her reasoning powers to justify herself, refusing to consider the possibility that her father is at least partly right in attributing fault to her, as when she got a low grade in a class after she had been absent and missed some homework assignments. She insisted that she had done all she could to find out what the homework was and everyone negligently told her there wasn't any. But it turns out there was and she got marked down for not making it up. She would not allow for the option that she could have asked the teacher since her classmates were unanimous there was no homework. Besides, she insisted, the teacher should have told her. She then insisted that the teacher didn't tell her "because she doesn't like me." She seems to be threatened by anything that requires her to consider a new logic that she is not used to. In the "childhood" phase of any period our mind is revisited by the same plagues--egocentric resistances that bring us unhappiness and injuries. In the sub-level of the childhood of "adolescence" this egocentric weakness plays itself out in the exterior natural of sensuous consciousness--the most external of the main six degrees (zones 13, 14, 15).

The "creative" and "formal" sub-periods of the adolescence phase only come later, after the inversion within zone 14, when the adulthood and old age phase are consummated. Then one's logic becomes more objectified and the mind can comprehend and produce the abstract explanations of at which scientists  are so skilled. Similarly with artists. The infancy period of a new project is filled with overpowering excitement for a grand idea we are passionately in love with. But this passes, and we are faced with the childhood phase of the project. Here we are in sensuous consciousness with the spiritual angels (zone 9) who act into our cognitive mind. Our project now is given a plan and a structure, a framework and method. This is far less exciting, far less celestial. The affections we now have are adjoined by us to the grist and effort of the plan, the details, the sequences to follow. Then we step into the adolescence of the project and we are with the spiritual angels inflowing into our sensorimotor mind (zone 15). We now adjoin to this our own "scientific" or "educated" and trained intelligence (zone 14) and our project now takes on an external life--something is produced, something is changed, some function is there that is new. We can now grow in expertise, in competence, in skill and craftsmanship and experience. Our self-intelligence has reached its pinnacle. We have cities, engineering, global communication, the Web. Meanwhile back in our adolescent [A/C/S] units that we so skillfully built up for ourselves, there lurks a Divine trigger mechanism that wants to catapult us across the inversion into zone 23. This upgrading of our consciousness is effected with the help of the natural angels already with us, and they are going to stay with us in the first period following the inversion (zones 22, 23, 24).

What then happens at this extraordinary and awesome crossing? Why do so many resist the crossing even to refusal? And what happens when we refuse?

Sad things happen--because if we refuse to cross we cannot give birth to our rational consciousness, hence we cannot be regenerated, hence we cannot live in heaven. And the alternative to heaven is sad, horribly sad. For as beautiful and wise we are as eternal angels in our rational consciousness, so are we monstrous and insane as eternal inhabitants of corporeal sensuous consciousness. We are created SPIRITS and exist in a spiritual world even while we still are in a physical body on earth. When we exit the physical body we suddenly experience our sensuous consciousness WITHOUT THE PHYSICAL BODY. We are now in a spirit body and the laws of the spiritual environment are now quite different. The mind is suddenly a billion times more powerful. We literally create our environment through our mental powers. Such is the environment of the spiritual world. It is for the mind. The physical world is against the mind. This is what the Big Dilemma of our life is--to acknowledge this rational truth about the physical world and the mind--or not. To refuse to cross the inversion point.

When we are willing to acknowledge this rational truth, we cross the point of inversion, we enter the narrow door. Suddenly we are acknowledging a higher power than our own, really acknowledging. This is our infancy period of rational consciousness (WHITE infancy segment of zone 22). It is a Divinely given gift of a conscious foretaste of what is rational consciousness. Zone 22 is in our sensorimotor mind and the natural angels are busy in there showing how rational consciousness is something WITHIN sensuous consciousness, not outside of it, or something independent of it. In the infancy period of zone 22 the celestial angels are acting from a more interior region than the natural angels, and from this, we receive a flash of the real thing. Suddenly we can see and comprehend that the rational is within the sensuous. We don't give up the sensuous, no not at all. We magnify it. We infill it with reality. We animate it from the Divine. We make the sensuous amazingly more sensuous by seeing the rational that is already within it. Where the angels are.

The rational is not something abstract, less real, less touchable than the physical. The INVERSE (or opposite) is the case. The rational is made of substances from the spiritual world. It is a real and powerful thing like dynamite and atomic energy. The rational is incalculably more powerful than these two. God is not some distant idea or energy. God is right here, This. And a lot more.

This unmerited advance vision ends with the infancy period of zone 22 and we now have to adjoin to it our own interpretations and explanations of this fantastic vision of reality. While going through the other five steps of this sensuous consciousness of the rational, we need to adjoin our own interoperations, our own theory of these visions of a new reality (zone 23). For the first time in our life, or in any particular sub-period, we are building up [S/C/A] units of rational consciousness. This is our salvation, our eternal life.

It is crucial in our age to understand this transition. Our civilization is poised to make this crossing which we call the Second Advent. The birth pangs of theistic science are now being heard all over the Web. What in our mind is going to resist the crossing? Remember this: each of us must cross on our own! The disturbing signs that individuals are not crossing into rational consciousness are plain to be seen everywhere. The contrast between the abundance of intelligence and engineering sophistication, on the one hand, and on the other, the dearth of goodness and wisdom of life is very obvious. For example, it is common to see intelligent and successful scientists, lawyers, political leaders, business men, clergy, and so on, live unhealthy and self-injurious lifestyles. They eat more than the body can assimilate so they make themselves sick. They do not floss their teeth properly; they do not exercise enough or effectively; they bully their way through family and workplace; they have road rage and they cheat on their income tax and perhaps in many other places, lying, making false declarations. They abuse their spouses, children, neighbors, competitors, and those who do not favor them. Thus they are anything but wise, anything but good, even as they rack up achievements in science, leadership, and popularity. This trend only worsens after the consummation of sensuous consciousness. a

And so it's important to get into this topic in as much detail as we can. Our research must create the tools that will make this self-examination or self-witnessing possible with those who depend on them for their crossing.

I shall discuss the subject under the topic of the negative and positive bias.

I have characterized some details about this intellectual change in several otther articles where this change is called "the positive and negative bias."

Here is a directory of references to this topic. When you get to each document, give the Find On This Page command (located under the Edit menu),  and type in "positive bias." In this way, you can get to the relevant paragraphs without having to read the entire file. Or if you don't want to see the actual context, you can proceed with the selections I have pasted below.

1. Swedenborg Revolution in the Social Sciences by Leon James and Diane Nahl
2. Scientific Dualism in Swedenborg Glossary by Leon James
3. Discovering Swedenborg by Leon James and Diane Nahl
4. Religious Psychology or Theistic Science in Swedenborg Glossary by Leon James
5. Swedenborg and the History of Psychology: College Students Speak Out
6. Swedenborg Glossary by Leon James
7. Comprehensive Discourse Analysis Part 1  by Leon James and Diane Nahl
8. Spiritual Geography:  The Horizontal and Vertical Communities of our Dual Citizenship
9. Workbook for the Study of Social Psychology
10. A Summary Outline of Rudlof Steiner's Principles of Education by Leon James and Diane Nahl
11. Moses, Paul, and Swedenborg in Swedenborg Glossary by Leon James
12. Society's Witnesses by Leon James and Diane Nahl
13. Will and Understanding in Swedenborg Glossary by Leon James
14. The Universal Modes of Enactment in Human Experience by Leon James
15. Heaven and Hell in Swedenborg Glossary by Leon James

Here are some selections from these sources:

From Heaven and Hell in Swedenborg Glossary by Leon James:

The Third Testament teaches that the heathen equally with the Christians are saved (Heaven and Hell 318). As well, Christians are not saved unless they act in life what their faith dictates. Thus all people, Christian, Jew, Moslem, Buddhist, or agnostic and atheist are equal in that their external beliefs and faith are not going to determine their spiritual lot. Only that counts which is confirmed in life. Whatever our external creed is, the only thing that matters is our internal creed -- and this creed is nothing but the state of the Church within, whether we approve or disapprove what our conscience dictates. The external creeds are not crucial because all those who have lived a good life according to their conscience, are instructed by angels when they come into the afterlife, and thereupon acknowledge the trues with thankfulness and delight (Heaven and Hell 321). Conscience is to remain the ruling influence and not some ethic or creed learned from others. Conscience is the ability to perceive what is right or wrong in the light of doctrines from the Word. Thus the criteria for right and wrong are from the spiritual world, and it is not permitted to construct one's own ethical standards, not taken from the Word  based on Heaven and Hell (365).

It is permissible to confirm the ethics of the Word but not to draw up one's own apart from the Word. This means that we must retain the positive bias towards the Word and towards doctrines drawn from the Word, or else we destroy our conscience, and hence the ability to do the right thing and be saved (Heaven and Hell 455). Our conscience is completely destroyed when we deliberately ignore it after we've acknowledged its holy origin; this is called a state of profanation of the Word and leads a person to sure hell (Heaven and Hell 456). Conscience is the state of the Church within us, that is, the state of our good and true within our will and understanding. We get rewarded with the life of heaven in accordance with our demonstrated actions and thoughts: our recompense is received into our good intentions, our deeds with a good purpose, what in the Word is called "works." The person who has lived in evil, that is, approved of unlawful thoughts and feelings, cannot be saved by the mercy of the Lord (Heaven and Hell 523) -- or else the Lord would will that all should be saved. Salvation is possible only when doing good is joined with willing and thinking good (Heaven and Hell 535).

From Religious Psychology or Theistic Science in Swedenborg Glossary by Leon James:

Religious psychology is the psychology in the positive bias which the Writings of Swedenborg unfold for our rational understanding. The religious psychologist acknowledges that though we must be empiricists, yet we cannot discover the spiritual facts about ourselves by ourselves. Instead, we must revive them through revelation in the Word. Swedenborg reports that Through his spiritual communications he was able to discover that the most ancient cultures on this planet were in conscious communication with their departed ancestors who came to them as angels in their meditations and dreams. Their ancestors from the afterlife appeared to them in their spiritual bodies, which resembled their former physical bodies in outward appearance. In this way they were instructed by them regarding their ideas of nature, God, heaven, hell, and the inner life of memory, morality, and feeling. These ancient wise people were thus able to read in natural events their spiritual significance and origin. They did this through a perception of correspondences which came to them by intuition. They thus had the law inscribed in their hearts; that is, they did not have to accumulate knowledges by education and science. Instead, they knew by instinct anything they wanted to know. Subsequent cultures gradually lost this inner ability as people insisted more and more to know from the external senses alone. Eventually all direct, conscious connection with the other world was lost. As a result, a written Word had to be given to humankind and all knowledges had to be learned through education and the accumulation of scientific discoveries. Nevertheless, the science of correspondences was retained in shredded form in many subsequent religions, Sacred Scriptures, and mythologies. Today, some of this knowledge is still evident in poetic and metaphoric language.

Religious psychology offers the possibility of a partial return to that state in which we can once again understand the natural in terms of the spiritual. This return is now possible because the Writings of Swedenborg give us a complete rational system of correspondences of the Word. The religious psychologist now has the new ability of investigating and researching the facts of our dual citizenship. Because we acknowledge that we cannot discover these facts by ourselves, we need to be given a method by which these facts can be discovered and applied to human welfare. Yet we must remain empiricists: we cannot merely accept the authority of a "seer" or "prophet." We need to confirm every fact through our own confirmations.

From Swedenborg Revolution in the Social Sciences by Leon James and Diane Nahl:

The Age of Reason of the 18th century fortified the Baconian method (which until then was in the minority), ushered in the modern 'materialistic' conception of the universe, and laid the foundations for Darwin's evolution theory which was largely responsible for modern genetics, agriculture, and the highly visible bio-medical research enterprise of today. These achievements were made possible by the development of 'statistics' -- a powerful new research paradigm pioneered by Darwin's students of the Scottish school, Galton, Fisher, and Pearson. This paradigm now dictates research standards in medicine, genetics, psychology, business management and economics, agriculture, and many more. Its kingpin is the "null hypothesis" which is the modern version of the Baconian motto that nothing is to be considered as existing until it is proven to exist. Among the vicissitudes of this approach is its excessive negativity, to the point where it drove Descartes, the inventor of trigonometry, to doubt his own existence! The traditional drawbacks of the negative bias paradigm in science have been known to be reductionism and exclusion. In other words it excludes from research many of the most important topics for humanists and the religious namely, faith, wisdom, love, morality, life after death, goodness, truth, aesthetics, freedom; or, when these topics are being investigated, the tendency) because of the method1is to reduce them to operational measures which no longer represent adequately the topic under study. Many serious and well-known researchers recognize these traditional limitations of the negative bias method. Their general assessment is that these topics are beyond the scope of their investigation.

SWEDENBORG himself cautioned scholars to reject the Baconian paradigm of the null hypothesis, saw it as ultimately sterile, and urged the continuation of the classic Aristotelian paradigm of investigation. We have been calling this "the positive bias in science." It seems to us that it was held by every major scientist and discoverer in history (except Bacon) up until the Age of Reason when a split occurred in the ranks of European scientists. Swedenborg was unique in that he worked within the positive bias even during his earlier years of interest in the natural sciences. This is why his natural science contributions and methods were excluded from the history of science books, since the latter espoused the negative bias paradigm. However we predict that Swedenborg's influence in the natural sciences will grow after the paradigm switch in the social sciences which we are foreseeing. Swedenborg's positive bias paradigm in the natural sciences may also provide a viable alternative to "Creationism" in that it reconciles the Bible's spiritual meaning with contemporary science (Swedenborg is one of the originators of the nebular theory of galactic formation!)

The positive bias paradigm requires us first to accept something, which is asserted by a trustworthy source, and then requires us to confirm it through experience and experiment. Swedenborg clearly saw that there was absolutely no way to prove the existence of the spiritual and celestial worlds by first assuming they did not exist -- as is required by the negative bias paradigm. He was right in this as shown by the history of the negative bias paradigm in the past two hundred years, namely, that the spiritual and celestial worlds are still today being denied as real by the current paradigms in all the natural and all the social sciences. Swedenborg proceeded within the positive bias just as Aristotle had done long before him and all those in between. Thus, he first accepted what his rational mind discovered and then labored to confirm it by facts, observations, argument, experiment, and experience. It is wonderful to see his ingenuity in accomplishing this, as will be appreciated by those who read his works.

For example, his neuroanatomical studies went beyond his contemporaries by observing that the left side of the brain is influxed by intel1ectual impulses from the spirit world while the right side of the brain is influxed by affective impulses from the celestial world; similarly, that the cerebrum deals with the intellect while the cerebellum with the will or voluntary systems. All of Swedenborg's anatomical and neurological studies were excellent models of scientific observations through the positive bias paradigm. The extraordinary discoveries he reports on the relation between the spiritual/celestial degrees (or "The Grand Man") and the natural as observed in body functioning are still to be accepted and applied by those in the service professions today such as medicine, psychology, business, and education. To confirm these facts in practical applications now becomes the task of those in the sciences that are willing to start working within the positive bias paradigm. Clinical psychologist Wilson Van Dusen is a contemporary scientist who has already espoused the positive bias methodology, and no doubt there are others. We'd be pleased to hear from them!

Swedenborg and the History of Psychology: College Students Speak Out

The relationship between science and the Bible is also clarified by Swedenborg. To me the necessity of this connection had become central in the fourth decade of my life. I became less and less inclined to continue in the traditional mode of Christian men of science. This attitude required a separation of my mind into two non-communicating regions. One is 'my scientific hat' while the other is 'my spiritual hat.' According to this attitude, science is made of hard nosed facts about the real world we live in right now; religion is of mystery and abstract theology. I revolted against this irrational tyranny. I fervently desired to maintain consistency in my understanding of life. I felt constrained by an attitude that pointed to rocks and electric circuits as the real basis of reality, and which viewed the inner world of thoughts and feelings as less real, and perhaps even, unreal. Respectable and respected psychologists made it acceptable to refer to human consciousness as a "pseudophenomenon" or an "epiphenomenon," words that imply false reality and byproducts. I needed a theory and a method that looked upon the mind and the spirit benignly and with favor, not with antipathy and skepticism. This I found in the Swedenborg reports.

Here is a characterization of positive bias thinking extracted from Arcana Coelestia (AC 2654:3-7)

1. We do not live of ourselves but only appear so

2. We live best the more we accept this

3. We have nothing of our own

4. The less we think we have our own the more we have

5. Whatever we do from our own is evil

6. We are organs of life only (merely human)

7. We are not were until we think that all good is from God and perceive thall all evil in from hell

8. All our wisdom is from angels who are within our true beliefs and right perceptions

9. Wisdom is to believe one self to be the least wise

10. Greatness is to desire to be least

11. Happiness is to desire others to be most happy and oneself the least so

12. Heaven is to with to be below all

13. Hell is to wish to be above all

14. Real truths ("glory of heaven") are pure opposites to appearances of truths ("glory of the world") (AC 2654:5)

15. The afterlife if life without space and time but with states which create appearance, of space and time

16. Life is the more heavenly when eternal (i.e. apart from space and time)

17. The eternal is apart from space and time and cannot be comprehended with concepts based by analogy on space and time

18. Life in space/time/matter is less real and blissful than apart from it

In this document, the move from negative to positive bias was discussed in three matrices. The relevant portions are reproduced below. In each case some particular aspect of this transition is revealed:

Here is the segment in question from matrix 19b above:

Zones 14 and 23 from matrix 20b above:

Zones 14 and 23 from matrix 20c above:

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NOTE:  We would be delighted to know your reactions to this collaborative research effort in Theistic Science (April 2001).
Please email us both:  Dr. Leon James and Dr. Ian Thompson

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Related articles

De Hemelsche Leer--A Spiritual Bombshell (related article by Leon James)

The text of De Hemelsche Leer

See also:  Discrete Degrees by Ian Thomspson || Discrete Degrees by N.C. Burnham

You might also be interested in consulting related matrices involving the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor domains in the following articles:

The Will and Understanding  ||  The Heart and Lungs  ||  Good and Truth  ||  Religious Behaviorism   ||  Religious Psychology   ||  Comprehensive Discourse Analysis   ||  Driving Behavior  ||  Phases of Development in Becoming Internet Literate ||  In Psychotherapy   ||  The Threefold Self || Symbols and Drawings ||  Topical Organization in Social Psychology || Titles of Articles  ||  Resistance to Health Behaviors  ||  Language Teaching    ||  Song Analysis  ||  Genetic Culture  ||  Cross-cultural Atlas of Affective Meanings ||  Swedenborg's Theory of Trisubstantivism


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Some additional articles are available here:

Discrete Degrees by Ian Thomspson || Discrete Degrees by N.C. Burnham

Spiritual Associations or The Vertical Community  ||  The Vertical Community  ||  Spiritual Psychology  ||  Cyberpsychology: Cyberspace and the Spiritual World  ||  The Postmodern Paradigm Shift in Psychology  ||  Swedenborg's Status and Significance: A Great Paradox  ||  Elements of Biological Theology

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