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Theistic Psychology:
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| Scientific Thinking About Psychology |
Name of Academic Field |
Foundational Theme |
Main Principles and Activities |
| Level 3 | theistic psychology |
(a) Equating rational with scientific. (b) Extracting scientific knowledge from the Writings of Swedenborg by applying the methods of extraction required to access the correspondential sense hidden within the literal meaning. (c) Formulating spiritual doctrine and applying that knowledge to our regeneration efforts in daily willing and thinking. |
(a) Positive bias mode of thinking--accepting the
possibility that God is a scientific concept. (b) Accepting the Writings as Sacred Scripture written in a natural historical sense and presenting many new scientific topics never heard of before in the history of science or civilizations. (c) Extracting the correspondential sense to construct a scientific account of our regeneration and how we are to cooperate in that lifelong spiritual discipline of character reformation. (d) Developing scientific concepts, charts, and applications having a spiritual content that elevates rational understanding of God, and our immortality in eternity. (e) Constructing scientific accounts of how human minds are created and managed by good and truth, or love and wisdom. |
| Level 2 | religious psychology |
(a) Rational faith and charity in daily life is an expression of the
worship of God as the Divine Human of the Incarnation Event. (b) Rational faith, called the New Church religion, is based on acknowledging the literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture. |
(a) Negative bias mode of thinking--rejecting the
possibility that God is a scientific concept. (b) Accepting dualism of time and eternity. (c) Accepting God's Personal omnipotence in managing every detail of reality and mind. (d) Accepting the Writings of Swedenborg as Sacred Scripture, and part of the "Threefold Word" which includes the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. (e) Rejecting the idea that the Writings of Swedenborg have a hidden correspondential sense and that the literal sense itself is not spiritual. |
| Level 1 | non-theistic psychology | (a) Includes traditional psychology fields such
as experimental, social, clinical psychology. (b) Includes non-traditional fields such as pastoral psychology, transpersonal psychology, psychology of religion, holistic medicine, paranormal phenomena, shamanism, and psychic communication. |
(a) Negative bias mode of thinking--rejecting the
possibility that God is a scientific concept. (b) Denying dualism of time and eternity. (c) Denying God's Personal omnipotence in managing every detail of reality and mind. (d) Rejecting Sacred Scripture as actual Divine Speech and the sole source of all knowledge of truth and good. |
Everyone begins the study of theistic psychology at Level 1, even for people who already have a religion. Psychology majors in college take various psychology courses, some of which may be the fields listed at Level 1. Transpersonal Psychology is taught in many departments around the country and the Psychology of Religion is one of the official Divisions of specialization in the American Psychological Association (APA). Approved clinical psychology programs now recommend that psychologists familiarize themselves with religious attitudes and views of their clients (like sin or salvation), in order to be more effective in the kind of therapy they receive. Nevertheless all these efforts are going within an explicit non-theistic paradigm as indicated in the Level 1 row of the chart. So even if you are already religious or already have a certain relationship with God, nevertheless you are probably not ready to think rationally of God as part of science.
But as you continue studying theistic psychology beyond the quick reading of some pages here and there, you begin to see for yourself that it is presenting a universal scientific account of God that encompasses all religions. Religious psychology is at Level 2 reasoning about God so that the concept of religion could make complete rational sense. Nowhere else but in the Writings of Swedenborg do we have a full rational account of God and Divine Speech. As we study theistic psychology our comprehension is at first limited to a natural understanding of spiritual ideas. The concept of God is a spiritual idea, and so is heaven, and sin, and hell, and salvation. Why are these called spiritual ideas? Because they are dualist concepts that bridge the gap between things in time and things in eternity. This natural-spiritual correspondence is described in the Writings of Swedenborg as the essential characteristic of all Sacred Scripture.
But with more study and rational comprehension of theistic psychology, you discover that the literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture is suitable for the New Church religion, but some of is not suitable for theistic psychology. Hence you begin to be motivated to discover the hidden correspondential sense. You become a "scrutator" of the Writings Sacred Scripture, which means to follow the methodology prescribed in the Writings for extracting the correspondential sense from Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).
Theistic psychology is knowledge of the Writings of Swedenborg viewed from the perspective of modern behaviorist psychology. To mark this feature, I call this volume Religious Psychology.
There is a big difference between the branch of non-theistic psychology known as the "psychology of religion" and the branch of theistic psychology called "religious psychology."
The non-theistic study of the psychology of religion has nothing to do with religious concepts . Rather it studies the religious views of people. The difference is like that between studying shopping patterns in beach clothes vs. designing and manufacturing beach clothes. Studying the religious views of others from an non-theistic perspective is like studying people's shopping patterns, but analyzing and investigating the rationality of religious concepts is like designing and manufacturing the clothes.
Non-theistic psychology and its branch of the "psychology of religion" are outsiders looking in. They have zero understanding of religious ideas like God, sin, heaven, hell, rebirth, immortality and eternity. I say "zero understanding" not to criticize that field, but to indicate that this is not what they would do, by their own declarations. Since they are looking at God, or heaven and hell, from an non-theistic perspective in the negative bias (see Chapter 1), they do not grant that these are real concepts, scientific realities. They think of them as "beliefs" or fiction. They may respect the believer as a human being, but they do not grant the reality of their belief. Hence what could they know rationally or scientifically about God, sin, or salvation? Nothing, since these are not real things from an non-theistic point of view. After much research and investigation of belief systems, non-theistic psychology would still know nothing about sin or hell except as something people believe in and if they believe in it, their behavior is influenced by it.
But theistic psychology knows of the existence of God, heaven, hell, immortality, Divine revelation, Sacred Scripture. These are phenomena defined within the science of theistic psychology. The fact that people also believe in the existence of these phenomena--without scientific proof, as in religion-- does not add anything to their importance and centrality as scientific concepts that make up the theoretical framework of theistic psychology. Swedenborg's observations and experiments in the spiritual world make up the source of data needed for theistic psychology if it's to be an actual science. Religion and theistic psychology do not refer to the same ground or map. Religion refers itself to the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture while theistic psychology refers itself to the universal correspondential meaning of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).
The psychology of religion often relies on the well known book by William James called The Varieties of Religious Experience (see Reading List). James' influence in general psychology is very strong and this is true also of the psychology of religion. He set the pace for studying religious behavior from an non-theistic perspective in psychology. To me this is quite surprising because William and his famous brother Henry, were home schooled by their famous father Henry James, Sr., who was a public champion of Swedenborg and wrote articles and books passionately defending the Writings from polemic attacks. William James edited his father's posthumous publications, including some the Swedenborg articles and manuscripts. Despite this background, neither William nor Henry have ever written anything about Swedenborg or even mention his name in their many publications on science, literature, philosophy, and religion. I find this astounding.
In William James' Varieties book, still well known and referenced today with new paper back printings, there is not a hint that God is a real scientific concept, but only what is real are the experiences people have when they report being in contact with God. The experiences are real but God is not. Or, at least, the experiences are real from the standpoint of psychology as a science, but God is not real from the standpoint of psychology as a science. When someone has a fear of going to hell--this is real, but hell itself, is not--at least not from the perspective of the science of psychology. Guilt from sin is a real feeling, but sin itself is not real--at least not in psychology. The idea of God held by the religious person, moves passions and self-sacrifice, but God does not. The belief in the Bible as Holy, is real, but the holiness of the book is not real. And so on. This approach by William James, rather than being in support of spirituality, is the destruction of it, despite many people writing the contrary.
For example, Bill Wilson, co- founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, is said to have launched his widely successful program after reading William James' Varieties book. The brief half-page statement of the famous 12-Step Program of AA includes the mention or reference to God 12 times. The famous and successful program requires that each member to acknowledge publicly that he or she has no power to fight their addiction and that the only way is to acknowledge God and let God give you His power to defeat the addiction.
Obviously, in the AA system of thinking, God is a real Person to whom the addict appeals and asks for the power to resist. Ironically, according to the perspective in James' Varieties, it is the strong belief in God that gives the addict the power to resist--not God. James' non-theistic psychology destroys the God of the 12-Step Program.
Religious psychology is the name I propose for the branch of theistic psychology that makes a scientific study of religious concepts and phenomena such as God, prayer, heaven, hell, eternity. Both religion and theistic psychology are grounded in Divine Speech or Sacred Scripture. Every culture and civilization on this earth has always possessed a religion based on Sacred Scripture by which God could be known, worshipped, and obeyed. While religion is based on the literal sense of Sacred Scripture, theistic psychology is based on the underlying scientific sense that has now become accessible to us through the Laws of Correspondences by which Divine Speech is given. This previously unsuspected knowledge has now been revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg (1688-1772) (see Volume 1).
The literal language of all Sacred Scripture is historical, descriptive, and poetic. Religion can be based on this sense because there are sufficient parts of the literal language that describe God's attributes of Omnipotence and Omnipresence, as well as the Commandments and rituals that must be followed by those who are sworn into that religion. Individuals who lead a life in accordance with their understanding of this literal meaning, have a conscience by which they are lead by God to make the right choices that will develop in them a character that can live in heaven in eternal conjugial joy. Religion is therefore necessary and sufficient for regeneration and adequate preparation for heavenly life. In other words, the literal plain teaching of Sacred Scripture is sufficient for salvation and regeneration--as long as the person lives by what doctrine teaches.
Swedenborg has observed many people in this category who arrived into the other world upon the death of their physical body (see Section xx). When they were instructed by the angel teachers regarding theistic psychology or the underlying sense of the Sacred Scripture they knew well, they were quite surprised but also delighted of the spiritual truths they were being taught, namely, that God is the Divine-Human who incarnated on this earth, prepared the mental pathways for regeneration, and ascended to the heavens where the human race can see God in His Glorified Natural Body obtained from this earth (see Section xx). Also, that God the Divine-Human, now gives every individual born on earth the power to regenerate and prepare a character that is fit for conjugial life in heaven (see Section xx). And also, that in order to be rational and sane, we ought to recognize that we don't have any power, life, or intelligence on our own, and therefore we must not take credit for any of our accomplishments, but attribute all credit and power to the Divine-Human who manages every thought and feeling from birth to eternity (see Section xx).
Swedenborg reports that those who have lived a life of conscience according to their religion, when they pass on, are instructed in theistic psychology from the Sacred Scripture they know. They are then able to comprehend them, to accept them, and to love them. This shows that their mind was readied for rational spirituality while they lived on earth and followed a life of conscience or doctrine. Whatever dogma or doctrine they had from their religion, they were able to see through them, once they received the new instruction regarding the Divine-Human, and thus to abandon whatever was incompatible with the truth of the Divine-Human. This proves that religion is necessary and sufficient for adequate preparedness for heavenly life--as long as the individual is sincere and honest about living according to the religion.
This is also what explains that religion can be mystical while theistic psychology must be scientific and rational. A religion that is based on the Writings of Swedenborg is called "rational faith" in contrast to "blind faith" or mystical faith. A religion that is based on "rational faith" from the Writings of Swedenborg is obviously closely related to theistic psychology. When you examine the Reading List you will see that many of the entries are from the religious literature of the General Church of the New Jerusalem in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. There is a strong overlap between their literature, insights, and doctrines with theistic psychology.
What happens to those who abandon their religion of childhood, and are no longer willing to live life according to its dictates? Swedenborg observed in the world of spirits that they fall into two categories, those that doubt and never believe, and those that doubt and subsequently believe. The first category of thinkers are stuck in the negative bias, while the second category move on to the positive bias (see Chapter 1). Today in the age of science and modernism, once we have left our childhood religion, there is only sure road back to God, and that is through the scientific approach of theistic psychology. Once we begin to understand rationally who God is, and what God is accomplishing in our lives for our future, we cannot but love God and desire to follow the Commandments that God gives us to prepare ourselves adequately for eternal conjugial joy in heaven. But merely loving God and desiring to be in heaven is not enough by itself. We must be willing to suffer to let God change our character from evil to good. Without calling upon God to help us in our daily temptations, most of us do not have the power or motivation or know how to succeed in character regeneration (see Section xx).
It is important in this development of our mind that we understand fully the rational basis of religion and doctrine. Only if we understand rationally and empirically what consequences follow "sinful" behavior, is it possible for us to acquire rational faith and rational love, two traits absolutely necessary for heavenly life.
Note: Since I'm thoroughly familiar with the Judaeo-Christian tradition or religion, I shall limit my analysis of religious psychology to that tradition. But I expect that future researchers and scholars in theistic psychology will expand the analysis to other religious traditions such as Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on. The Writings reveal that two basic facts about religions. One is that all religions are based on Divine Speech written down as Sacred Scripture. And the second is that all Divine Speech is written in a special style called correspondential (see Section xx). It makes sense therefore to expect that all religions will be able to use theistic psychology to extract from their Sacred Scripture the knowledge they need for regeneration. It's not appropriate to ask other religions to reject their beliefs and culture before they can study theistic psychology. Instead, they can learn scientific facts about their own mind that is extracted from Sacred Scripture given to the Judaeo-Christian tradition, as long they disregard the literal historical sense , and focus only on the underlying universal sense that is extracted from it (see Section xx). The theistic psychology that is extracted applies to the entire human race, not merely to the religion of that Sacred Scripture.
It may seem at first that religious psychology is Western and Judaeo-Christian. But this appearance is only due to my own limitation of knowledge about other religions. Nevertheless, anyone from any religion may benefit from the study of religious psychology even if it is still restricted to the examination of Western Judaeo-Christian ideas. This is because the same God is the God of every religion and of every Sacred Scripture. It is possible for anyone to benefit from the scientific study of Christian ideas about God and the spiritual world since science is rational and universal. Nothing in religious psychology will contradict or be incompatible with any religion when these universal principles and truths are examined without prejudice.
On the surface, the Writings of Swedenborg are Christian as well as scientific. But remember that when we reach our highest heaven there is no religion there that is separate from the rational knowledge of theistic psychology. The Writings are read there as Divine Speech in its universal scientific sense. None of the cultural-historical-natural references, names, and events, appear there, but instead, the spiritual correspondences of these natural, cultural-religious details. All Sacred Scripture is from Divine Speech which filters down from God into the natural mind of a prophet where it is represented by natural and historical events and ideas. But when we apply the code of correspondences to Sacred Scripture we can reconstruct the original content of Divine Speech before it was transformed by correspondences (see Section xx). And the content of the reconstructed Divine Speech is theistic psychology, psychology that God is teaching the human race to help us acquire a heavenly personality that can live in conjugial eternity. For this is God's purpose for creation (see Section xx).
In theistic psychology all religions are resolved into their universal form and expression by translating their cultural-ethnic content into universal spiritual truths and facts.
13.0.1.1 Salvation For Those Who Do Not Know Sacred Scripture
In the following quotes from the Writings Sacred Scripture, certain expressions in the literal can be substituted with equivalent expressions that occur in the literal of other parts of the Writings (see Section xx). Making these substitutions makes it clearer to us what it is that Divine Speech says at the level of theistic psychology.
AC 2589. CONCERNING THE STATE AND LOT IN THE OTHER LIFE OF THE NATIONS AND PEOPLES BORN OUTSIDE OF THE CHURCH.
It is the common opinion that they who are born out of the church, and who are called Pagans and Gentiles, cannot be saved, because they have not the Word, and thus are ignorant of the Lord, without whom there is no salvation. But that these also are saved, may be known from the following considerations: that the Lord's mercy is universal, that is, toward everyone; that these are born men equally with those who are within the church, who are comparatively few; and that it is not their fault that they are ignorant of the Lord. Consequently, their state and lot in the other life, have of the Lord's Divine mercy been shown me.
Consequently, their state and lot in the other life, have of the Lord's Divine mercy been shown me.
|
Original Letter |
Its Meaning in |
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the Word |
Sacred Scripture (Threefold
Word) |
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the nations and peoples |
the affective and cognitive organs (see Section xx) |
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born outside the church |
our character prior to reformation ("rebirth" or "born again") (see Section xx) |
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concerning the state and lot in the other life |
"state" here refers to our mental state between
resuscitation and the second death (see Section xx); |
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Pagans and Gentiles |
the ideas we have of God and heaven prior to reformation (see Section xx) |
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ignorant of the Lord |
the state prior to regeneration before we have a perception of the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx) |
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without whom there is no salvation |
regeneration is effected by the Divine Psychologist whom we must acknowledge consciously in order to acquire a heavenly character (see Section xx) |
| Christians | the ideas we have of God and heaven during reformation and prior to beginning one's regeneration (see Section xx) |
In other words, throughout our childhood religion and culture, followed by our adolescence and young adulthood, we believe that we are saved by our faith in the religion we have, and hence people who are not of our religion are not saved. The people that we call "the other religions" are here called Pagans and Gentiles, in accordance with the historical tradition of Western-Christian culture. But in its inner, universal, scientific sense all people are signified because Divine Speech is addressed to every human mind. In Sacred Scripture we are called Gentiles from birth because our consciousness is rooted in the natural mind and the physical world. We inherit this natural mind from parents who inherit theirs. We know about God and we have a religion, but it is not a spiritual idea of God that we have, and our religion is external, reaching as far as our social personality, but not as deep as our character. Hence this religion is called external religion. We do not know God from His Divine Speech and enlightenment. We do not yet have a spiritual or rational idea of God, nor do we have a spiritual love for God. This is why we believe that we are saved by religion and faith, and that others who have no such religion and such faith, are not saved.
But when we undergo reformation in young adulthood and begin our regeneration, we are enlightened by the co-Presence of the Divine Psychologist and we are led to the realization that it is not our religion that saves us but our character reformation and regeneration. Regeneration is an individual activity and process. Every individual who regenerates, is saved, by definition, since regeneration = acquiring a heavenly character. With such a character at death and resuscitation, the individual can live in eternal conjugial bliss in heaven. No religion or faith is involved here as a pre-condition that God sets up for heavenly life. It would be grossly unfair for the majority of people on this earth to be denied heavenly life because their childhood religion and culture did not include the Sacred Scripture known in the Western-Christian culture.
No matter what our religion and culture, we have only one method of avoiding hell and living in eternal heaven. This method is the same for those who study Sacred Scripture and for those who will never hear of it or read it. It is the method of regeneration. We must put up the effort of changing our inherited natural character which has its roots and life in hell (see Section xx).
Note the last sentence: "Consequently, their state and lot in the other life, have of the Lord's Divine mercy been shown me." This indicates the source of Swedenborg's data. The Divine Psychologist, working with Swedenborg's mind, gave Swedenborg the observational ability to report empirically and factually, what happens to people after resuscitation when they have arrived without prior knowledge of Sacred Scripture.
Continuing:
AC 2590. I have been instructed in many ways that Gentiles who have led a moral life, and have been obedient, and have lived in mutual charity, and have received some sort of conscience according to their religion, are accepted in the other life, and are there instructed by angels with anxious care in the goods and truths of faith. While receiving instruction they conduct themselves modestly, intelligently, and wisely, and easily receive and become imbued with the instruction; for they have formed for themselves no principles contrary to the truths of faith that have to be dispersed, still less stumbling-blocks against the Lord; as have many Christians who have led a life of evil. Moreover such do not hate others, nor avenge injuries, nor plot artifices and deceits. Nay, they wish well to Christians; although on the other hand Christians despise them and even do them violence so far as they can; but they are withdrawn by the Lord from their unmercifulness, and are protected. (AC 2590)
The passage above is a clear message from Divine Speech regarding the scientific basis upon which salvation is based. Clearly, salvation and eternal life in heaven, is achieved by anyone from any culture or religion, who has lived a moral life according to conscience and religion. This means that they have undergone natural temptations and have resisted the evil tendencies form the inherited love of self. This allows them to "live in charity," which means, to refrain from deliberately hurting anyone in any way because this is contrary to conscience, contrary to good, contrary to decency and humanity, and for those who have religion, contrary to God and heaven. That's all. Religion is not required, special membership or ceremonies are not required. They "are accepted in the other life," which means that they arrive with a character that live in heaven. They "are instructed" in the truths of Sacred Scripture that they had now known about. They gladly receive and adopt this new knowledge and enter their heaven.
Those who have religion and Sacred Scripture ("Christians"), but "have led a life of evil," that is, a life contrary to conscience and decency, do not arrive with a character that can live in heaven, and hence are admitted to hell.
Continuing:
AC 2590. [2] For the case of Christians and Gentiles in the other life is such that Christians who have acknowledged the truths of faith, and have at the same time led a life of good, are received in preference to Gentiles; although at the present day such are few; but Gentiles who have lived in obedience and mutual charity are received in preference to Christians who have not led so good a life. For in the wide world all those who have lived in good are of the Lord's mercy received and saved; for good is that which receives truth. The good of life is the very ground for the seed, that is, for the truth. Evil of life cannot possibly receive it, for although such as are in evil be instructed in a thousand ways, nay, even if they become most fully instructed, nevertheless the truths of faith enter no further with them than into the memory, and do not penetrate to the affection which is of the heart; and therefore in the other life their truths of memory are dissipated, and become null and void. (AC 2590)
The passage above distinguishes between the mental states every individual experiences prior to reformation ("Gentiles") and during reformation ("Christians").
Our corporeal mental states ("Gentiles") view God as an impersonal and infinite force, incomprehensible, and invisible. Our life of religion is inherited, not chosen, and consists of performing required rituals to honor and serve this unfathomable force, and in this way, we keep God on our side, favoring us over others. In our corporeal mental states Sacred Scripture is a holy object of God to which we have an external relationship. It is a Book we own, or kiss, or read from on prescribed occasions. Salvation depends on membership in a community that has a special relationship to God.
Our sensual mental states ("Christians") view God in two forms, one invisible and infinite, the other visible as Divine Man. Our life of religion is chosen or self-declared. Inherited religion is no longer valued. The reality of the Divine Man is an internal presence. Salvation does not depend on community membership, but is individual. Our own actions and decisions create the distance between the individual and the Divine Man. Every individual chooses how close to be to God by the daily life choices one makes.
The phrase "Christians who have acknowledged the truths of faith, and have at the same time led a life of good" designates mental states during reformation when we examine our thoughts in the light of the doctrine we have from Sacred Scripture. Our goal during reformation is to establish an external order in our beliefs and intentions in daily life. The old order must be rejected before we can establish the new order. Former ways of thinking and reasoning must cease in favor of new thoughts and justifications based on the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture. The passage says that mental states of reformation "are received in preference to Gentiles," which means that sensual mental states of God lead to regeneration more so than corporeal mental states. When we acknowledge the presence of an internal Divine Man we are able to enter into a more personal relationship of love with God. The sensual mental states of reformation bring us closer to God than the corporeal mental states that precede reformation. It is said "at the present day such are few" which means that there is much resistance to undergoing reformation.
The passage says that "Gentiles who have lived in obedience and mutual charity are received in preference to Christians who have not led so good a life." This means that the corporeal mental states that are sincere allow some closeness to God, in fact a greater closeness to God than the sensual mental states that are insincere.
The passage says that "in the wide world all those who have lived in good are of the Lord's mercy received and saved; for good is that which receives truth." This means that truth about God, and consequent closeness, cannot be received except in mental states that are good or heavenly. Salvation is closeness to God, and this is achieved by means of truth about God that is received in our heavenly traits or character. First we must shun evil affections that hurt others. Next we must acquire and love good affections that benefit others. When we are operating with good affections, then spiritual truth about God is received from Sacred Scripture and is perceived consciously ("the good of life is the very ground for the seed, that is, for the truth").
The passage cautions us: "Evil of life cannot possibly receive it, for although such as are in evil be instructed in a thousand ways, nay, even if they become most fully instructed, nevertheless the truths of faith enter no further with them than into the memory, and do not penetrate to the affection which is of the heart; and therefore in the other life their truths of memory are dissipated, and become null and void." In other words, zzz
AC 2591. Among the Gentiles however, just as among Christians, there are both the wise and the simple. In order that I might be instructed as to the quality of these, it has been granted me to speak with both wise and simple, sometimes for hours and days. But of the wise there are scarcely any at this day, whereas in ancient times there were very many, especially in the Ancient Church, from which wisdom emanated to many nations. In order that I might know of what quality these were, I have been allowed to hold familiar converse with some of them; so that the nature of their wisdom, and its superiority to that of the present day may be seen from what follows.
AC 2592. There was present with me a certain person* who was formerly among the more wise, and was thereby well known in the learned world. I conversed with him on various subjects, and as I knew that he had been a wise man, I spoke with him concerning wisdom, intelligence, order, the Word, and finally concerning the Lord. Concerning wisdom he said that there is no other wisdom than that which is of life, and that wisdom can be predicated of nothing else. Concerning intelligence he said that it was from wisdom. Concerning order he said that it is from the Supreme God, and that to live in that order is to be wise and intelligent.
[2] As regards the Word, when I read to him something from the prophecies, he was very greatly delighted, especially from the fact that each of the names and each of the words signified interior things, wondering greatly that the learned of this day are not delighted with such a study. I plainly perceived that the interiors of his thought or mind had been opened, and at the same time that those of certain Christians who were present had been closed; for ill will against him prevailed with them, and also unbelief that the Word is of this nature. Nay, when I went on reading the Word he said that he could not be present, because he perceived it to be too holy for him to endure, so interiorly was he affected. The Christians on the other hand said aloud that they could be present; and this was because their interiors had been closed, and therefore the holy things did not affect them.
[3] At length I talked with him about the Lord; that He was born a man, but was conceived of God; that He had put off the human and had put on the Divine; and that it is He who governs the universe. To this he made answer that he knew many things about the Lord, and had perceived in his own way that it could not have been done otherwise if the human race was to be saved. Meantime certain wicked Christians injected various difficulties, for which he did not care, saying that it was not surprising, because they had become imbued in the life of the body with unbecoming ideas respecting these things, and that until such ideas were dispersed they could not admit things confirmatory, as could those who are ignorant. This man was a Gentile.
* Probably Cicero; see Heaven and Hell, n. 322. [REVISER.]
AC 2593. I have also been permitted to speak with others who lived in ancient times and who were then among the more wise. They were at first seen in front at a distance, and were there able to perceive the interiors of my thoughts, thus many things in a thorough manner. From one idea of the thought they could know the entire series, and fill it with delightful things of wisdom together with pleasing representations, which showed me that they were among the more wise, and I was told that they were from the Ancients. So they drew nearer, and when I read to them something from the Word they were most highly delighted. It was granted me to perceive their very delight and enjoyment, which arose chiefly from the fact that all the things they heard from the Word were both in general and in particular representative and significative of heavenly and spiritual things. They said that in their time when they lived in the world their mode of thinking and speaking, and also of writing, was of this nature, and that this was their wisdom's study.
AC 2594. But as regards the Gentiles who are on earth at this day, they are not so wise, but are for the most part simple in heart; and yet those of them who have lived in mutual charity receive wisdom in the other life-concerning whom I may relate what follows.
AC 2595. I heard the sound of a certain gyre,* but coarser than usual, and from the sound I at once knew that they were from the Gentiles. I was told by the angels that they were Gentiles who had been raised up three or four days before. The gyre or choir was heard for several hours, and it was perceived that even during the short time in which it was heard they were being perfected more and more. When I wondered at this I was told that these can be initiated into choirs, and thus into harmony, in one night; while most Christians barely can in thirty years. Gyres or choirs exist when many speak together, all as one, and each as all; but concerning gyres or choirs, of the Lord's Divine mercy elsewhere.
* That is, a revolving circle, or gyration. See Arcana Coelestia, n. 4041, 5182, etc. [REVISER.]
AC 2596. One morning there was a choir at a distance from me, and it was given me to know from the representations of the choir that they were Chinese; for they presented a kind of woolly goat, a cake of millet, and an ivory spoon, as also the idea of a floating city. They desired to come nearer to me; and when they had applied themselves they said that they desired to be alone with me, that they might open their thoughts. But they were told that they were not alone, and that there were others who were indignant at their desiring to be alone, when yet they were guests. When they perceived the indignation of the others, they began to think whether they had trespassed against the neighbor, and whether they had claimed anything for themselves that belonged to others. (In the other life all thoughts are communicated.) I was permitted to perceive their trouble: it was that of an acknowledgment that perhaps they had wronged the others, and of shame on that account, and of other good affections at the same time, from which it was known that they were endued with charity. Presently I spoke with them, and at length about the Lord. When I called Him Christ, a kind of repugnance was perceived in them; but the cause was discovered to be that they brought this repugnance from the world, from their having known Christians to live worse than they did themselves, and in no charity. But when I simply called Him the Lord, they were inwardly moved. They were afterwards instructed by the angels that beyond every other doctrine in the whole world the Christian doctrine prescribes love and charity, but that there are but few persons who live in accordance with it.
AC 2597. 2597. There are Gentiles who when they lived in the world had known from social interaction and report that Christians lead the very worst life-in adulteries, in hatreds and quarrels, in drunkenness, and the like things-at which they are affected with horror, because such things are contrary to their laws, their morals, and their religion. In the other life these are more timid than others in receiving the truths of faith; but they are instructed by the angels that the Christian doctrine, and the faith itself, teach the very opposite, but that Christians live less in accordance with their doctrine than do the Gentiles. When they perceive this they receive the truths of faith and adore the Lord, but more tardily.
AC 2598. 2598. When I read the 17th and 18th chapters of Judges, concerning Micah, how the sons of Dan took away his graven image, the teraphim, and the Levite, there was present a spirit from the Gentiles, who in the life of the body had adored a carved image. While he listened attentively to what was done to Micah, and in what grief he was on account of his graven image that the Danites took away, he too was overcome with grief, and was affected to such a degree that he scarcely knew what to think for inward grief. I perceived his grief, and at the same time perceived the innocence in each of his affections. Christian spirits were also present and observed it, and wondered that a worshiper of a graven image should be moved by so strong an affection of mercy and innocence. Afterwards good spirits spoke to him, saying that a graven image ought not to be adored, and that he could understand this because he was a human being; but that he ought to think beyond the graven image of God the Creator and Governor of the universal heaven and earth; and that this God is the Lord. When these things were said I was permitted to perceive the interior emotion of his adoration, which was communicated to me, and was much more holy than that with Christians; from which it could be seen that Gentiles come into heaven more easily than Christians at this day who are not so affected (according to the Lord's words in Luke 13:29, 30); for in the state in which he was he could be imbued with all things of faith, and could receive them with interior affection. There was in him the mercy that is of love, and in his ignorance there was innocence; and when these are present, all things of faith are received as it were spontaneously, and with joy. He was afterwards received among the angels.
AC 2599. 2599. There was also another among the Gentiles, who had lived in the good of charity. When he heard Christian spirits reasoning about things to be believed (spirits reason with one another much more fully and much more acutely than men, especially about goods and truths, because these belong to the other life), he marveled that they should dispute so, and said that he did not want to hear such things, because they were reasoning from fallacies, and he gave them the following instruction: If I am good, I can know from good itself what is true, and what I do not know, I can receive.
AC 2600. 2600. Well-disposed Gentiles are instructed in the other life, for the most part, and so far as possible, in accordance with their states of life and in accordance with their religion, thus in various ways. I may here describe only three.
AC 2601. 2601. Some are reduced into a state of tranquillity, as it were a kind of sleep; and they then seem to themselves to be building small cities, and in the midst of them to hide some secret thing which they wish to preserve from violence. They give these cities to others, with entreaties not to do violence to the secret thing in the midst of them. Innocence is thus insinuated into them, and also charity, together with the idea that the secret thing is concerning the Lord. They are kept in this state a considerable time. It is a state of ignorance in which there is innocence. They are guarded by little children, lest anyone should do them harm. I have spoken with them, and have been much affected by their state of innocence and charity, and also by the solicitude with which they hide the secret, and by the holy fear lest it should be violated.
AC 2602. 2602. There is one nation (I was told that it is from the Indies) which makes it their religion to worship the Greatest God with the following rite. When they are adoring Him they first magnify themselves, but soon prostrate themselves as worms; and at the same time they hold, that above the universe, which they believe to be whirling around, is that Greatest God, looking down on what they are doing. As they have had such religious observances, in the other life they are brought back into them; and I have spoken with them while they imagined such things. They are for the most part modest, obedient, and simple in heart. They are by successive steps freed by the angels from this phantasy; for they are instructed, in accordance with their religion, that the Greatest God is the Lord; and that they can indeed magnify themselves on account of their being able to adore Him; and that nevertheless they are like little worms; and that the Lord from on high sees each and all things. In this manner, by means of their own religion, they are brought into the knowledges of good and truth.
AC 2603. 2603. There are some Gentiles from those regions where they are black, who bring with them from their life in the world a wish to be treated severely; believing that no one can come into heaven except through punishments and afflictions, and that they will afterwards receive more gladsome things, which they call paradisal. As they have such ideas from their religion they are at first treated severely in the other life by some whom they call devils, and are afterwards taken to the paradises already described (n. 1622). But they are instructed by the angels that their punishments and afflictions are turned by the Lord into what is good for them, as with those who are in temptations; also that paradisal things are not heaven, but that heaven is the affection of the celestial and spiritual things that are in them; and that they have been in a certain way of truth, although in the shade of ignorance. They spoke with me a long time. While in their state of affliction their speech was attended with a kind of collision; thus was distinct from that of others; but after their afflictions were over, and they were taken up to the paradises, they no longer had such a speech, but one that was almost angelic. From their religion they have that they believe, and desire to have interior things. They said that whenever they are treated severely they are black; but that they shortly put off the blackness, and put on whiteness; knowing that their souls are white, but their bodies black.
AC 2604. 2604. It is usual for Gentiles who adore any god under an image or statue, or any carved thing, to be introduced, on coming into the other life, to certain ones who are in the place of their gods or idols, in order that they may put away their phantasies; and when they have been with these for some days, they are taken away from such persons. They who have adored men are also sometimes introduced to them, or to others in their stead; as many of the Jews are to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and David; but when they perceive that these have the same kind of human nature as others have, and can afford them no help, they become ashamed, and are taken to their own places in accordance with their life. Among the Gentiles in the other life the Africans are the most beloved, because they receive the goods and truths of heaven more easily than others. They especially desire to be called the obedient, but not the faithful. They say that Christians can be called faithful, because they have the doctrine of faith; but not they, unless they receive it, or as they say, are able to receive it.
AC 2605. 2605. I have spoken with some who were in the Ancient Church, and who then knew concerning the Lord that He was to come, and who had been imbued with the goods of faith, but yet fell away and became idolaters. They were in front, toward the left, in a darksome place, and in a miserable state. Their speech was like the sound of a fife, of one tone, almost devoid of rationality of thought. They said that they had been there for many ages, and that they are sometimes taken out thence to serve others for some uses, which are vile. From these it was given me to think about many Christians, who are idolaters not exteriorly but interiorly, and who at heart deny the Lord, and thereby also the truths of faith; and to reflect upon what kind of a lot must await them in the other life.
AC 3267. [2] The situation with the Lord's spiritual Church is that it is spread throughout the whole world, and wherever it exists varies so far as matters of belief or truths of faith are concerned. Those variations are the derivatives meant by 'births', which occur either simultaneously or consecutively. The same applies to the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens - that is to say, in matters of faith variety is so great that not one community, nor even one member of a community, is in complete agreement with any other in the things which constitute the truths of faith, 3241. But for all that, the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens is one, the reason being that with everyone charity is the chief thing, for charity makes the spiritual Church, not faith, unless you say that faith is charity.
[3] Anyone who has charity loves the neighbour, and when the latter differs from him in matters of belief he thinks nothing of it provided he leads a life that is good and true. Neither also does he condemn upright gentiles, in spite of the fact that they have no knowledge of the Lord and do not know any truth of faith. For the person who has charity, that is, who leads a good life, receives such truths from the Lord as agree with his good, and gentiles receive such things as can be turned in the next life into the truths of faith, 2599-2603. But the person who has no charity, that is, who does not lead a good life, cannot receive any truth. He can indeed know the truth, but it is not implanted in his life. He is indeed able to speak that truth with his lips, but not have it in his heart, for truth cannot be joined to evil. For this reason also, although they are in the Church because they were born in it, those who know truths which they call matters of belief and yet do not lead a charitable or good life nevertheless do not belong to the Church. For they have nothing of the Church within them, that is, no good at all to which truth may be joined.
AC 7173. Certain spirits knew from heaven that a promise had once been made to the spirits of the earth Mercury that they should see the Lord, and therefore they were asked by the spirits about me whether they remembered this promise. They said that they remembered it, but that they did not know whether the promise was of such a nature that they should have no doubt about it. While they were thus talking together, the sun of heaven appeared to them. *The sun of heaven, which is the Lord, is seen only by those who are in the inmost or third heaven; all others see the light from it, and also the moon, (n. 1529-1531, 4060). When the sun was seen, they said that this was not the Lord God, because they saw no face. Meanwhile the spirits were talking together, but I do not know what they said. Then suddenly the sun appeared again, and in the midst of it the Lord encompassed with a solar circle. On seeing this, the spirits of Mercury humbled themselves profoundly, and settled down. Then also the Lord from the sun was seen by spirits of this earth who when they were men had seen Him in the world; and they all one after another, and thus many in order, confessed that it was the Lord Himself; and this they confessed before all the company. Then also the Lord from the sun was seen by the spirits of the planet Jupiter, who said in a plain voice, that it was He Himself whom they had seen on their earth when the God of the universe appeared to them. (AC 7173)
13.0.2 The Writings of Swedenborg as Sacred Scripture
TCR 779. The second coming of the Lord is effected by means of a man before whom He has manifested Himself in Person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit to teach the doctrines of the New Church through the Word from Him." (TCR 779)
HH 1. That at this day there exists such immediate revelation, is because this is meant by the Advent of the Lord. (HH 1)
INV 55. It has pleased the Lord to prepare me from my earliest youth to perceive the Word, and He has introduced me into the spiritual world, and has enlightened me with the light of His Word more proximately. From this it is manifest that this surpasses all miracles. . .(INV 55)
In place of miracles, there has, at this day, taken place a manifestation of the Lord Himself, an intromission into the spiritual world, and enlightenment there through immediate light from the Lord, in such things as are the interior things of the church; but chiefly, the opening of the correspondential sense in the Word, in which the Lord is in His own Divine light. (Coronis: Miracles Iv)
That this [New] Church is not instituted and established through miracles, but through the revelation of the correspondential sense, and through the introduction of my spirit, and at the same time of my body, into the spiritual world, so that I might know there what heaven and hell are, and in light might imbibe immediately from the Lord the truths of faith whereby man is led to eternal life." (INV vii)
AE 624:15. The prophets of the Old Testament. . . did not have their understanding enlightened, but the words which they were to say or write they received merely by the hearing, and did not even understand their interior sense, still less their correspondential sense." (AE 624:15)
AC 7055:3. The prophets through whom the Word was written. . . wrote as the spirit from the Divine ;dictated, for the very words which they wrote were uttered in their ears. With them was the truth which proceeds mediately from the Divine, that is, through heaven, but not the truth which proceeds immediately; for they had not a perception of what each thing signified. . ." (AC 7055:3) ( Compare AC 5121:3)
SD 1647. That the things which I learned from representations, visions, and discourses with spirits and angels were from the Lord alone.
Whenever there was any representation, vision, and discourse, I was kept interiorly and intimately in reflection upon it, as to what thence was useful and good, thus what I might learn therefrom; which reflection was not thus attended to by those who presented the representations and visions, and who spoke; yea, sometimes they were indignant when they found that I was reflecting. Thus have I been instructed; consequently by no spirit, nor by any angel, but by the Lord alone, from Whom is all truth and good; yea, when they wished to instruct me concerning various things, there was scarcely anything but what was false wherefore I was prohibited from believing anything that they said; nor was I permitted to infer any such thing as was proper to them. Besides, when they wished to persuade me, I perceived an interior or intimate persuasion that the thing was so and so, and not as they wished; which they also wondered at. The perception was manifest, but cannot easily be described to the apprehension of men. - 1748, March 22. (SD 1647)
The Writings of Swedenborg appear on the surface to be a reformulation of the Christian religion as well as a new clarification of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. His last book in the collection is titled The True Christian Religion (1771). Anyone considering this would conclude that the Writings of Swedenborg are books for the Christian religion and for Christians. This conclusion is identical to that one would make for the New Testament Sacred Scripture which also treats of the Christian religion. Similarly with the Old Testament which treats of the Hebrew and Jewish religion upon which modern Judaism is based.
But it was demonstrated in earlier discussions (see Section xx), that the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures are religious books on the surface, but when decoded by means of spiritual correspondences, they make a unified handbook of theistic psychology. The names of Judah, Israel, Abraham, Egypt, Philistines, Jerusalem, Moses, etc., disappear from the Old Testament Sacred Scripture and what is left is their scientific reference about the human mind, the spiritual world, evolution of consciousness, character reformation, and the laws that tie the natural world to the spiritual world. These are universal scientific concepts, principles, and rational laws. These scientific revelations were given and revealed by God to all of humanity for its benefit, both in this world and in the afterlife. Swedenborg saw copies of Sacred Scripture in the spiritual world and none of them had historical-ethnic references. But when he compared the verses, word for word, he saw that they were the same text. Where the natural version of his Bible on earth said "Jerusalem" the heavenly version said "doctrine" and where his Bible said "Abraham" or "David," the spiritual copy in heaven said "the Divine-Human." And so on. Swedenborg analyzed almost every verse of the Bible and gave its spiritual meaning in heaven. For examples of such analyses see Section xx.
In exactly the same fashion it will be demonstrated through future research in theistic psychology that the Writings of Swedenborg contain a scientific sense that is entirely different from its surface meaning, which appears like the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures, to have been written for the creation of a new form of the Christian religion. But this sectarian and cultural perspective and content is a cover for the theistic psychology that lies within it. The reason for this cover is not to prevent people from having access to the Divine scientific revelations contained within it. All Divine Speech, as explained in the Writings, must undergo transformation by correspondences as it filters through the layers of the spiritual world or human mind (see Section xx). The Writings are this Divine Speech filtered through the scientifically prepared mind of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). The literal text of the Writings, as is the case for all Sacred Scripture, is expressed in a natural language (Neo-Latin). This natural language is incomprehensible to those who inhabit the heavens for in that state of mind everyone thinks and speaks in a spiritual language that has nothing in common, content wise, to the natural content except by correspondences.
Swedenborg saw books in heaven that the inhabitants acknowledged as Sacred Scripture. The books were written in a spiritual script that superficially looked somewhat like the Hebrew language Swedenborg had studied on earth. He gives quite a few details about this spiritual language. To be there among the celestial inhabitants, Swedenborg himself had to be raised in consciousness to his heaven. In that state of mind he was able to read the spiritual script. Simultaneously he was in his natural consciousness on earth and was able to hold a Bible and read it. In this way he had experimental proof that the version of Sacred Scripture in heaven is the same as the version of Sacred Scripture on earth, except that one was the correspondence of the other. Both were reconstructed correspondences of the same Divine Speech (see Section xx).
The following passage is a quote from Swedenborg regarding Sacred Scripture in the heavens of our mind. In the passage below, the word "church" in its scientific sense refers to the regenerating mind. Sacred Scripture on this earth is given by God primarily as an aid in regenerating our mind from hellish to heavenly. This regeneration process continues in heaven by means of Sacred Scripture so that our mind can be perfected endlessly to eternity. There are three heavens, or hierarchical layers of mental operations, in every human being. "The Word" refers to Sacred Scripture, which is the script of Divine Speech.
xx Sacred Scripture in the heavens.
The Word exists in all the heavens, and it is read there as it is in the world, and sermons are based on it. For it is the Divine Truth which is the source of the angels' intelligence and wisdom. For without the Word no one knows anything about the Divine-Human, love and faith, redemption, and all the other secrets of heavenly wisdom. In fact without the Word heaven would not exist, just as without the Word there would be no church in the world, so that there would be no linking with the Divine-Human.I demonstrated above that natural theology is impossible without revelation, and in the Christian world without the Word. If it is not granted in the world, neither would it be granted after death. For the nature of a person's religious belief in the world dictates its nature after death, when he becomes a spirit. The whole of heaven is not made up of angels created before the world or at the same time as it, but of those who were people on earth, and were then angels inwardly. By means of the Word these in heaven acquire spiritual, that is, inner wisdom, because the Word there is spiritual.
[2] The Word in the Divine-Human's spiritual kingdom is not the same as the Word in the world. In the world there is the natural Word, but in that kingdom there is a spiritual Word. The difference is like that between its natural and correspondential senses. The nature of the correspondential sense has been demonstrated at length in my Arcana Coelestia, where the whole contents of Genesis and Exodus have been explained in accordance with that sense. The difference is such that no word is the same. Things take the place of names, and likewise of numbers; the histories are replaced by matters concerning the church [refers to the mind and its regeneration].
The surprising thing is that, when an angel reads it, he is unaware that it is not the same as what he read in the Word while in the world. This is because he no longer has any natural ideas, since they are replaced with spiritual ones; and the natural and the spiritual are linked by correspondences into a kind of unity.
So when someone passes from the natural into the spiritual, it seems to him as if they were the same. In fact an angel does not know that he is wiser than he was in the world, though his wisdom is really so superior as to be comparatively indescribable. He is unable to recognize the difference, because in his spiritual state he knows nothing of the natural state, which he had in the world; and he is unable to compare and differentiate them, because he cannot return to his former state so as to make a comparison. Still an angel in heaven is constantly being brought to a higher degree of perfection in wisdom than he had in the world, because his affection for spiritual truth is purer.
[3] However, the Word in the Divine-Human's celestial kingdom is far superior and wiser than the Word in His spiritual kingdom. The difference is of the same kind as that which distinguishes the natural Word in the world from the spiritual Word, as has been stated. For that Word contains an inmost sense, called celestial, which in all its details refers to nothing but the Divine-Human. In this Word the Divine-Human is read in place of Jehovah, and of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and also the Divine-Human is named in place of David, Moses, Elijah and the rest of the Prophets; and His divinity is distinguished by special marks. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and also the names of the Apostles, when read there, convey something about the Divine-Human as regards the church [refers to the mind and its regeneration]; and so with all the rest.
From this it became plain to me that the whole of the Sacred Scripture deals in its inmost sense with nothing but the Divine-Human.
The difference which distinguishes the two Words, the spiritual and the celestial, is like that between thoughts, the province of the intellect, and affections, the province of the will. For the angels of the celestial kingdom are guided by love to the Divine-Human and so affection for good; the angels of the spiritual kingdom are guided by faith in the Divine-Human and so by perception of truth.
[4] Another difference between the celestial and spiritual Words is their script. The script of the spiritual Word is made up of letters resembling the printed letters of our world; but each letter has a meaning. If therefore you were to see that script, you would not understand a single word. For one letter succeeds another without a break, with dashes and dots above and below, since it is in accordance with spiritual speech, which has nothing in common with natural speech. The wiser angels are, the more they see of the inner secrets of their Word so written, more so than the simpler angels. What is stored there is plainly visible to the eyes of the wise, but not to the eyes of the simple. It is similar to what happens with our Word, but to a greater degree; here too the wise see more than the simple.
The script of the celestial Word, however, is made up of letters not known in the world. They are indeed alphabetical, but each one of them is composed of curved lines with serifs above and below, and there are small marks or dots in the letters, and also above and below them. I was told that the most ancient people on this earth had such a script. Some details agree with the Hebrew script, but not much. Such a script expresses the affections which make up a love; so it contains more secrets than they themselves can ever utter. They express these unutterable secrets which they perceive from their Word by means of representations. The wisdom hidden away in this Word surpasses the wisdom in the spiritual Word as a thousand does one.
[5] To make the difference between the three Words, the natural, the spiritual and the celestial, intelligible, let us take as an example the first chapters of Genesis, which deal with Adam, his wife and the Garden. In the natural Word which we have in this world there is a description of the creation of the world, the first creation of man, and the earthly pleasures and delights of man and the world. By the persons named following him up to the Flood are meant his descendants, and the numbers mean their ages. But in the spiritual Word the angels of the spiritual kingdom have, this is not what is meant. The first chapter is a description of the reform and regeneration of the people of the most ancient church [refers to our celestial mind]; this too is called a new creation. The second chapter describes as the Garden the intelligence of the people of that church [refers to our celestial intelligence]; Adam and his wife stand for the church itself [the regenerating mind], and their descendants down to the Flood describe the changes in the state of that church, up to the time when it came to an end and was finally destroyed by the Flood [refers to the spiritual temptations in our mind when we are regenerating].
But in the celestial Word possessed by the angels of the Divine-Human's celestial kingdom, the first chapter describes the glorification of the Divine-Human's Human; the Garden describes his Divine wisdom. Adam himself is understood to mean the Divine-Human as regards the Divine itself and at the same time the Divine-Human. His wife stands for the church, which since it has life from the Divine-Human is called Eve from [the Hebrew word for] life. Adam says of her that she was to be his bone and his flesh, and [they should be] one flesh, because the church [regenerated mind] comes from the Divine-Human, and is out of Him and with Him as if one. The names of the descendants of Adam describe the successive states by which the Divine-Human was received by the people of that church and linked with them, until there was nothing at all received and so no linking [refers to our states of vastation prior to regeneration when we have no spiritual truths].
[6] So when the first chapters in our Word are read by upright people, especially by boys and girls, and they feel joy at the state when everything was created and at the Garden, then these meanings are unfolded, and the spiritual angels understand them in accordance with their Word, and the celestial angels in accordance with theirs, without being aware that a person or a child is reading it [refers to the vertical community--see Section xx].
These meanings are unfolded in their due sequence because they correspond, and correspondences are from creation like this. This makes it plain what the Word is like in its depths, that is, it has three senses. The last is the natural one for men on earth; this deals mainly with worldly matters and where it deals with Divine matters, they are still described by the kind of things which the world contains.
The middle sense is the spiritual one, which describes the kind of things which belong to the church [refers to the regenerating mind]. The inmost sense is the celestial one, which contains the kind of things which belong to the Divine-Human. For the whole of nature is a theatre representing the Divine-Human's kingdom; and the Divine-Human's kingdom, heaven and the church [refers to the mind], is a theatre representing the Divine-Human Himself. For just as the Divine-Human glorified His Human, so too He regenerates a person; and as He regenerates a person, so too did He create him.
[7] These facts may establish what the Word is like in its depths. The natural Word as possessed by the Christian part of the world contains within itself a spiritual and a celestial Word. For the correspondential sense of our Word is the Word in the heavens which make up the Divine-Human's spiritual kingdom; and the celestial sense of our Word, its inmost sense, is the Word in the heavens which make up the Divine-Human's celestial kingdom. Our Word therefore contains both the spiritual and the celestial Words; but the spiritual Word and the celestial Word do not contain the natural Word. The Word of our world is therefore the one most full of Divine wisdom, and consequently more holy than the Word of the heavens. (De Verbo 14)
The first work of the Writings is the 12-volume Arcana Coelestia (=Heavenly Secrets in Latin) in which Swedenborg analyzes the three books of the Bible--Genesis, Exodus, and Revelation. He gives a word by word and verse by verse analysis of the correspondences. In other words, he reconstructs the scientific meaning of these books, the same sense that he was able to see in the spiritual world from the text of Sacred Scripture written in a spiritual script. I illustrate this process in detail with respect to Genesis Chapter 22 (see Section xx). In this way we can prove that Sacred Scripture is written in a Divine style whose content adjusts itself to the level of consciousness of the people reading it. As we study theistic psychology we are able to understand the meanings of Sacred Scripture in a deeper sense, sometimes so deep that the content seems to change. In other words, the meanings of Divine Speech are conveyed in the natural language by means of cognitions or meanings called "natural-rational correspondences." The meanings of Divine Speech are conveyed in the spiritual language by means of cognitions or meanings called "spiritual-rational correspondences." The meanings of Divine Speech are conveyed in the celestial language by means of cognitions or meanings called "spiritual-rational correspondences." (For further discussion of this topic see my Volume 2 of my book A Man of the Field, on the Web at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/volume2-nonduality.html
The Writings do not analyze themselves in this way. Nowhere does Swedenborg state explicitly that the Writings are written in a Divine style like that of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. But they do state that everything Swedenborg wrote down was from "the Divine-Human only." Clearly then, he wrote down Divine Speech, which is described in the Writings as having these multiple layers of content. Nevertheless, because it is not explicitly stated that the Writings themselves are written in the style of Divine Speech, there are those who deny that this is so, saying that the Old and New Testaments are written in correspondences but the Writings are not. Theistic psychology research can alleviate these doubts when it is fully demonstrated what is the content of the inner scientific sense of the Writings of Swedenborg. If the Writings are Sacred Scripture they must contain three levels of meaning even if they don't say explicitly that this is the case. Neither do the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures mention that they have three meanings contained within the literal sentences--and yet Swedenborg has demonstrated that they do.
The Writings contain three major categories of content: (1) historical, (2) rational, and (3) personal. The historical content covers the history of the Sacred Scripture or "the Word" which contained Divine revelations given to a particular nation or area of the globe. Several religions or "Churches" succeeded one another in the form of an Oral Word or tradition, followed by a written Word, and eventually by the Old Testament Sacred Scripture in the Hebrew language. This was to be the first component of the Threefold Sacred Scripture which will usher in the modern rational world and human mind. Following the Old Testament Sacred Scripture came the New Testament Sacred Scripture and finally the Last Testament Sacred Scripture in the form of the Writings of Swedenborg. This Threefold Sacred Scripture is now complete. The process of completion took several thousand years--from Moses to Swedenborg. (See my book Moses, Paul, and Swedenborg for an analysis--available on the Web at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/moses.html
With the completion of the Threefold Sacred Scripture, the evolution of the human race has entered its final phase. From now on people can educate themselves by studying the scientific sense of the Threefold Sacred Scripture whose content is universal since it is the message of God to humankind for all times and places. The content of this message is theistic psychology. This new knowledge changes completely human consciousness from sensuous to rational. We are born sensuous, like animals, but we have the innate capacity to become rational. This growth from sensual consciousness to rational consciousness is called regeneration and is accomplished by character reformation through temptations.
That's what the content is of the Threefold Word or Sacred Scripture when viewed in its scientific sense.
There is no culture, country, religion, nations, times, and places in this scientific sense of Divine Speech. Each of these natural elements are translated or reconstructed into their spiritual correspondence which then yields theistic psychology. The historical content of the Threefold Sacred Scripture disappears so that the rational understanding soars above culture and politics of religion, above this earth, into the universe of the raitonal mind or eternity.
Quoting from Swedenborg:
The inward level of meaning in the Word cannot be seen at all unless the meaning of the letter is almost blotted out. This applies also in other things, as in philosophical material, when the mind dwells on the words by themselves, as on trivialities; or when a person is absorbed in outer and physical objects. A like principle applies when it comes to the more inward level of meaning. (SE 99)
Being Divine the Word contains within itself things that are infinite which come from its first source, and as a consequence contains things beyond description such as constitute angelic wisdom; but in its lowest form it contains only such things as those that man is able to grasp. (AC 4383)
As already pointed out, Divine Speech originates from the Spiritual Sun and enters the highest portion of the human mind called "the third heaven." Obviously there must be a letting down or lowering of rational truths and concepts from the Divine Rational mind to the our mind in the third heaven. This let down is a filtering down. What is it that filters down? Words? Yes, words and sentences that make up a coherent text for the mind to understand. But obviously the operations of our understanding or reasoning in our celestial mind is much higher than in our lower spiritual mind ("second heaven"), which itself is much higher than our understanding in our spiritual-natural mind ("first heaven"), which is much higher than our understanding in the natural-rational mind in which we are conscious while living in the physical body on earth.
You can see from the above that there are four levels of content that are derived from Divine Speech. These four levels of content consist of four levels of mental operations such as feeling, understanding, and perceiving. Our feeling, thinking, and sensing in the third heaven of our mind is celestial, but only spiritual in the second heaven of our mind, and only interior-natural in the first heaven. These three levels of feeling and thinking are far above the external natural level of our everyday consciousness and mental operations. The difference is that our external natural mind is formed by the order of the physical world while our internal spiritual mind is formed by the order of the spiritual world and heaven.
Yet something is innately provided in our mind that saves us from being in constant rational obscurity while living on earth. This is the ability of the natural mind to think rationally. Animals do not have this capacity. It is this capacity that makes us immortal because the rational mind is built up of substances from the Spiritual Sun, and these substances are not in time and space, meaning that they lack the property of being temporal or spatial. This is what makes them immortal. The rational mind being constructed out of these spiritual substances is necessarily immortal.
The sensuous mind is also immortal since it is part of the mind. But its content represents the things of the planet and the physical world. It is built up by sense impressions whose content and structure is formed by the physical environment. The sensuous mind is thus a replica or image of the natural world. It contains many details much of which we are not consciously aware since our conscious awareness in the sensuous mind is limited to a few items at a time, perhaps up to a dozen. This is miniscule compared to the hundreds of impressions that we gather every second for years. The sensuous mind is therefore an impressive database of information about the natural world. When our physical body drops off, and we awaken in the spiritual world, which is the world of the mind, we have this formidable information database with us recorded in the sensuous mind.
We can now recreate the scenes and phenomena of earth while we are in the spiritual world--just as we do in our dreams.
This is one reason why people in the spiritual world are present to each other on the basis of similarity of overlap in their sensuous mind. Swedenborg reports that in the early phases of becoming adjusted to the spiritual world, people rely heavily on the details of their memories of life on earth. The people who know each other or are from the same place, find themselves in company with each other, so much so, that it seems to them at first that they are back in the town on earth where they came from, which leads them to name their cities after those on earth, like London or Amsterdam or Jerusalem. But this external form of life quickly changes as the individual gets more and more into the interior mind, memory, and character. As a result, the environment seems to change drastically and all sorts of strangers are now around. At last, the second death occurs, which is a total separation from the sensuous mind and its external memories from earth (see Section xx).
What is left then? What are we then as we start eternal life?
Only the rational mind is left because only rational operations can have a permanent existence in the rational ether of the spiritual world which contains all our feelings--good or bad, and all thoughts--rational or irrational. Irrational mental operations are tied to evil feelings and motives, while rational mental operations are tied to good feelings and motives. Irrational thoughts are inversions of rational thoughts and evil motives and feelings are inversions of heavenly motives and feelings. So our rational mind has the built in capacity to invert truth and good into falsity and evil. When we are born, this inversion tendency is inherited and tends to form our personality and character. Because of this, God has to provide Divine Speech to allow us to rearrange our feelings and thoughts according to the new map we have from Divine Speech or Sacred Scripture.
Every level of operation in our mind must therefore have its own content from Divine Speech in order to use it at its level. Within our conscious natural-rational operations in the natural mind we are able to reconstruct by representation and correspondence, all the content of Divine Speech or Sacred Scripture. In order to understand Divine Speech at the celestial level, we need to study its celestial-correspondences. Similarly, in order to understand Divine Speech at the spiritual level, we need to study its spiritual-correspondences, and in order to understand Divine Speech at the spiritual-natural level, we need to study spiritual-natural correspondences. These are then the three levels of enlightenment or spiritual growth:
(1) spiritual-natural (or interior-natural) correspondences or content
(2) spiritual-rational correspondences or content
(3) celestial-rational correspondences
All three levels of mental operations are rational operations. They all depend on rational consciousness or understanding. In order to reach our full human potential we must reach a mental state called celestial and this mental state consists of celestial-rational correspondences or content.
But what happens if we arrive into the afterlife still in a state of rational inversion because we were unwilling to suffer ourselves to undergo character reformation by temptations?
Our state of inversion means that the spiritual light that is constantly entering our mind form the Spiritual Sun is automatically inverted into its opposite so that our mental operations get progressively more and more irrational. When we are in this process it is very difficult to free ourselves from it because to our consciousness we are completely convinced that we are right. We see the inverse of truth as truth and the inverse of good as good. We call what is evil, good, and we call what is false, true. So we are stuck, unwilling to listen to rationality. As a result we surround ourselves with others who also live the same type of insanity, and there are endless types. Those who are together in this way produce a joint or communal fantasy life which is called hell because it is so atrocious.
From all this you can now see more clearly why Divine Speech is needed and how Divine Speech is used by the various layers of our mind in the form of correspondences at different levels of content and consciousness.
The Threefold Sacred Scripture replicates in historical development the three layers of correspondences that operate in the human mind or the spiritual world. The Old Testament Sacred Scripture portion of the Threefold Sacred Scripture was given to a civilization whose level of mental operation was sensuous, not rational. This is why the content of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture hardly ever mentions any detail about the spiritual world or the mind, so much so, that when I grew up as a child within a Jewish religion based on the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, I was given no knowledge of a spiritual world. Instead, we believed that at the "end of the world" God will create a new world and we shall be resurrected from the grave into this new world, which would still be earth, so much so, that Jerusalem will still be the main religious city.
The content of the New Testament Sacred Scripture is spiritual-natural (see level 1 above). At this level of mental operation, we have conscious knowledge of many details about the spiritual world, not available before from the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. When I first read the New Testament Sacred Scripture at age 40 I was amazed to discover these details about the spiritual world I did not know about. For instance we are told that "heaven is within you" which, once you figure it out, means that the spiritual world of the afterlife and of eternity is a mental world and that our immortality is dependent on our mind, not the physical body. Other details in the New Testament Sacred Scripture show that what we do in our mind is more important and permanent than what we do in the physical body. We are also taught in the New Testament Sacred Scripture to reason at a spiritual-natural level of thinking. For instance, we are told of spiritual correspondences of many parables that are told in a natural language, as for instance that "seed in the ground" is natural correspondence of a spiritual meaning--"truth in the mind or understanding." And finally, we are told that in order to live in eternity we must "regenerate" which refers to modifying our inverted mental operations through rearranging everything in our thinking in accordance with the interior-natural correspondences of the New Testament Sacred Scripture.
The content of the Writings Sacred Scripture is spiritual-rational correspondences (see level 2 above). When we reflect and understand spiritual-rational correspondences we are rearranging our rational mind in accordance with these patterns. This is the content of the literal meaning of the Writings. It appears rational, in a more advanced or detailed sense than the New and Old Testament Sacred Scripture . With spiritual-rational correspondences in our understanding we are able to think of endless details about the spiritual world and the human mind. This is the level upon which theistic psychology is founded. And yet there are further progressions one can make, by studying the celestial-correspondences that are included within the spiritual-rational correspondences of the literal meaning. These deeper meanings, or more direct details of our mental world, allows us to be enlightened to our full potential.
For further exploration, see what is presented here:
Thompson, Ian. (2004). Spiritual Meaning of Words in the Bible Based on Swedenborg's Correspondences, Compiled by Dr. Thompson at www.biblemeanings.info/Words/index.html
Thompson, Ian. (2004). Spiritual Meaning of Parables in the Bible, Based on Swedenborg's Correspondences, Compiled by Dr. Thompson at www.biblemeanings.info/Parables/index.html
What follows is from my book Moses, Paul and Swedenborg: 6.2 New Testament Sayings of Jesus and their Spiritual Meaning: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/moses.html#_Toc41286014
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New Testament |
Phase 2 Interpretation |
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Matthew 12:28 |
The Kingdom of God is the spiritual realm, and it includes, heaven, hell, and our mind or spirit, with which demons or spirits interact.
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Matthew 19:24 |
A “rich man” designates all those who are in phase 1 or the Moses Old Testament state. The “kingdom of God” is the spiritual realm in our mind, that is, phase 2 understanding. One cannot enter phase 2 without abandoning phase 1. To get into the Paul phase, one must give up the Moses phase (“rich man”). To get into personalism (New Testament perspective), one must abandon sectarianism (Old Testament perspective).
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Matthew 21:31 |
“Tax collectors and prostitutes” designate that part of our external natural life, or religious ritualism, which is harmful to others (like dishonest tax collectors referred to here) and insincere in their show of love (like prostitutes are known to be). External rituals by themselves are corrupt and spiritually useless. We can become spiritual, that is, “enter the kingdom of God,” when we abandon our external corrupted and self-serving ritualisms, for the sake of internal purification of the mind.
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Matthew 21:43 Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
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“Taken away from you" indicates that the phase 1 external sectarianism cannot become a spiritual entry point to the inner realm of heaven within you. Rather, you must adopt a system of worship that produces its fruit, that is, becomes internal, which is the true worship or "fruit" of religion. Internal worship regards our intentions, not merely our outward deeds separate from our intentions. “Fruit” refers to successful character reformation by which we become sincere and have good will towards the neighbor.
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Mark 1:15 |
"The time has come" refers to the crossing from phase 1 to phase 2 religious behavior. This was not possible before. "Repent" means to acknowledge that one's phase 1 worship is not yet spiritual or heavenly, thus, it is self-centered and based on false doctrine (e.g., meritoriousness, personal holiness, predestination or "being chosen"). "The Good News" marks the beginning of a new human evolution in which internal worship (New Testament state) becomes possible. Only external worship was possible before (Old Testament state).
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Mark 4:11 |
"The secret" refers to the existence and availability of the inner church (inner worship), that is, the opening of phase 2 religious behavior. "To you" refers to those who hear and accept this revelation, and have made the decision to abandon their external ritual worship in the form of fundamentalist sectarianism, trading this in for an internal worship of personalism. "To those on the outside" refers to our refusal to hear and accept this revelation of the existence of an inner worship. "Everything is said in parables" means that for them, the statements about inner worship make no sense, that is, they see nothing in the “good news" even as they continue to cling to the former external worship and idea they had of God. To them, their external worship seems internal, and they do not acknowledge another worship that is internal.
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Mark 9:1 |
“Tasting death" means rejecting the "good news" of new internal worship now available, the result of which is spiritual death, or eternal life in the hellish parts of the human mind. Those who "are standing here" are our thoughts and feelings when in a state of inner worship. These phase 2 thoughts and feelings are entirely different from our thoughts and feelings in phase 1 external worship. Instead of leading to hell, this inner worship leads to Heaven, which is "to see the kingdom of God coming with power,” that is, with the reality of truth. These are those who “do not taste death.”
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Mark 9:47 |
"To be thrown into hell" is to stay in external worship which leads to corruption of character or "sin" (e.g., sectarianism, hatred, literalism, intolerance, pride, meritoriousness). This process delivers the person to hell after the death of the body. The "eye to be plucked out" refers to our self-intelligence which is inside all our religious concepts in the state of external worship, and is attached to a virulent virus called "meritoriousness" or egotism. "Two eyes" means unreformed sectarianism, stuck in external worship which is merely natural and egotistical.
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Mark 10:14 |
"Little children" refers to a mental state of reception to truth, that is, a lack of resistance to truth. Resistance to truth is something we acquire as we leave off being children, part of which involves a motive on self-reliance. When, as adults, we hear the "good news" of internal worship and dualism, we have a resistance to it. To overcome this resistance, we must revert to a state of innocent acceptance of inner worship revealed to us in the Word ("kingdom of God"). This "belongs to children" means that inner worship is available only after we reject our former Moses-phase of fundamentalist sectarianism, which is based on salvation by performing external rituals, not on internal recognition and adoration of God as one’s personal Savior (phase 2 “Personalism”). “Little children” represent this inner worship on account of their innocence and absence of egotism and self-reliance.
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Mark 10:23 |
"The disciples of Jesus" refers to our acceptance of the new revelation of inner worship (phase 2 Personalism). "The rich" refers to the intellectually rich, those who rely on secular humanism and materialistic science, and have gathered much knowledge that arouses resistance to dualism and the inner state of eternal heaven. The Moses-phase is called "the rich" because it attributes to self what belongs to God (merit and holiness gained by performing prescribed rituals). This reliance on self is spiritually deadly because it opposes inner worship, hence leads only to life in hell forever.
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Luke 6:20 |
“Disciples” of Jesus refers to His followers, those who accept the “good news” of inner worship. They are called "poor" because they give up the external worship that keeps self at the center, and God on the side (or outside). The "poor," that is, those who give up self-reliance and merit, are "blessed" which means that they are undergoing the mental or spiritual process of rebirth, reformation, and regeneration, the result of which is eternal life in Heaven.
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Luke 7:28 |
"Those born of women" are the thoughts of our external worship, which is merely a natural birth, not spiritual, because it relies on literalism of revelation rather than a spiritual interpretation of it. The literalism leads to natural sectarian thoughts rather than rational universal thoughts. "John the Baptist" represents our Old Testament worship based on literalism and ritualism. John being "the greatest" designates the highest possible form of phase 1 worship. The "least in the kingdom" refers to the initial beginnings of phase 2 worship, and this is "greater than John" because it is in a new paradigm and cannot be reached by going further and further with the old paradigm of worship.
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Luke 9:62 |
"Fit for service" refers to continued development in our New Testament Paul- phase of inner worship. It is not the ultimate phase. Continuing the process of development in this inner worship is necessary, for it is not the final purpose of our journey. To "look back" means to resist the inward journey after beginning it. It means to fall back on the Moses phase of external worship. To "put our hand to the plow" is our inward journey to the celestial mind that is within us. This inward journey is like tilling the ground of our mind. This represents our daily effort at improving our character. In this inward journey, we must rely exclusively on spiritual ideas, and if we fall back or "look back" to our former natural ideas, we cannot complete our journey to heaven.
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Luke 10:9 |
"The sick" refers to our external worship that prevents our rebirth and regeneration in preparation for Heaven. "To heal" means to begin the process of rebirth, that is, reformation and regeneration, and this is accomplished when we accept the good news that the state of inner worship we are seeking, is "near you," that is, it is no farther than our thoughts and feelings. We must abandon our current thoughts and values, which are grounded in self and the material world, and begin daily life with new thoughts and feelings, those that are "near you" or inside of you. Our mind has an outside (which is called the natural mind), and an inside, which is called the rational or spiritual mind.
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Luke 13:28 |
"Gnashing of teeth" refers to false beliefs. Swedenborg witnessed the sound of grating teeth coming from those in the spiritual world he conversed with about their false beliefs, which they took as truths, e.g., "Gnashing of teeth in the other life comes from those who believe that nature is everything and the Divine nothing (AC 5568)." Abraham" and the patriarchs and prophets, designate our external imagination of Heaven in the Moses phase. In this external belief system, we will see ourselves falling into our old idea of hell as some corporeal prison camp where we are held against our will ('thrown out").
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Luke 13:29 |
People from all compass directions indicate all the religions of earth. "The feast" refers to their admission into the inner spiritual realms of the mind ("kingdom of God"). The former sectarianism of history and race will be replaced by the personalism of humankind, where we can see all people as children of the One God. The Word of the Third Testament (or Writings of Swedenborg) reveals that the perfection of Heaven is increased by its multi-religious composition, each Heavenly religion uniquely and most appropriately suited to each "mental genius" dispersed through the Earths in the Universe.
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Luke 17:20-21 |
"Pharisees" refers to our Moses phase of external worship. Our religious idea in that state, of what is spiritual ("the kingdom of God"), is so external and materialistic, that it requires Heaven to be a natural phenomenon, in physical time and space, for us to see it, and hence to believe that it's something real. But the inner world of spirit, or Heaven and hell, cannot be perceived with the physical senses ("with your careful observation"), because it is a mental state ("within you"). The mind is the spiritual world. When the mind, or spirit, is extirpated at the death of the body, it is resuscitated within 36 hours, and awakes in a spiritual body in the spiritual world.
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John 3:3 |
"To be born again" means to abandon our exclusive reliance on thoughts and feelings based in the natural mind (Moses-phase). We cross the threshold into the personalist New Testament Paul-phase, when we reject the idea that our Heavenly place is assigned to us in accordance with our merit, or personal effort at performing strict rituals of religion. We are reborn when our thoughts of ourselves begin to accept the new idea that all humans are God's children and that God does not show preference to a racial or religious group. Inner worship is personal, because spiritual, while outer worship is sectarian, because only natural. |
Innumerable scientific revelations are contained in just these few verses of the New Testament Sacred Scripture. Let’s mention a few:
(1) There are demons and they can keep us from heaven.
(2) There is hell and we have to take care not to end up there.
(3) Only the Lord can defeat the demons, and therefore we must turn to Him to do it in us.
(4) To have an enlightened consciousness, we need to abandon sectarian thinking and feeling.
(5) To prepare ourselves for a life in heaven we must focus on reforming or elevating the inner life of thinking and feeling.
(6) There is external worship of ritual and tradition, which we get first, but then we must replace it with internal worship which looks to the reformation of our intentions and delights, that these may become purified for heavenly life.
(7) God gives us the choice of choosing spiritual death, which is life in hell, or life in heaven.
(8) Preparation for heavenly life is a gradual process of daily struggles to shun evil thoughts and feelings.
(9) Heavenly life is for the entire human race, regardless of religious denomination.
(10) Heaven and hell are in the mind, which overlaps with the spiritual world. They are not “places” or “locations” but states of mind.
(11). The only condition that makes heavenly life possible is the reformation and regeneration of our character, that is, our thoughts and feelings.
As we mature in our intellectual potentials, and to the extent that we cultivate discipline of character and conscience, we enter the Paul-phase of religion or spiritual consciousness. Now our religious behavior extends inward to our thoughts as well as our external conduct. We become intent in keeping our mind from being polluted or corrupted by selfish tendencies that are harmful or, are inconsiderate of others. Consider this earth-shattering, evolution-splitting statement by God-Man in the New Testament Sacred Scripture:
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matt. 5:28
The mind of the Pharisees, that is, our mind in the external phase 1 worship, cannot fathom this Divine statement. How can we equate a sexy daydream with actual adultery in the act. What are the limits of this amazing statement? Does that mean that if I enjoy sexy movies, novels, or magazines and feel aroused, I'm committing adultery and will go to hell unless I change my mind about it? Yes, that's what it means. This is one of those "hard sayings" the Lord's audience was complaining about. Indeed, Swedenborg once accompanied a group of newcomers in the spiritual world for a visit to one of the Heavenly cities. After the men talked to some celestial husbands who greeted them, they were introduced to some young women, still not married. The men silently admired their grace and beauty. But the women quickly withdrew themselves. Later, one of the angel husbands explained that the young women ran away when the men started having lustful thoughts. To which they replied: How is it possible to see and appreciate such beauty of the female sex and not feel aroused? Indeed, one cannot--unless you have trained yourself to do it, while still in the physical body in this world before you pass on.
Such training of oneself is crucial because it confronts our Moses-phase thinking, and challenges it to a death duel. This kind of inner battle is called a spiritual temptation. In the Moses phase we have only natural temptations. The Old Testament Sacred Scripture gives us a number of episodes called temptations, as in these:
Joseph resisting the seductive advances by Potiphar's wife
David giving in to his unlawful union with Uriel's wife Bathsheba
Abraham binding Isaac to sacrifice him according to God's directive
Samson giving in to Dahlia's entreaties and revealing to her the secret of his hair
Our natural mind, bound to the literal meaning of these events, sees each of them as a trial by God to test the people’s loyalty to the ritual command of God. Keep yourself holy means keep yourself separate. The Jewish soldiers were commanded to avoid any intimate contact with women prior to battles in order to keep their body pure and unsoiled by corporeal desires and contact. Uriah touched the Holy Ark that was on a chariot being transported back to the City of David. He was trying to stop it from tumbling to the ground. He died for it, because it is not the intention that is regarded in this Moses phase, but the deed itself. It is an external view that fails to make internal distinctions, and thus gives a false view, an imagined view that fits with one's prejudices, and delights us in them.
Similarly, in the Moses phase we are not capable of understanding the personalist, universal, and symbolic idea that "neighbor" means "any human being" and therefore one is not allowed to mistreat strangers and enemies. In the external natural Moses phase, "Love thy neighbor" means love your family, friends, and all those that we like or share a fate with. To the extent that we accept the New Testament Sacred Scripture re-definition of "neighbor" as universalist and personal, namely, excluding no one, to that extent we have crossed into the inner worship, the spiritual worship of the New Testament Sacred Scripture.
The circle of application for being considerate to others now greatly expands. In the Moses-phase we define "neighbor" as those who are of the same ethnic or denominational group ("tribe", “blood relation”). In the Paul-phase we turn more inward towards the race's common humanity and feel compelled to give the status of "neighbor" to all human beings, irrespective of ethnic-denominational identification. As we be begin to think more interiorly we focus less and less on the external features of culture and religious ritual or regulation. The sentences of Scripture are understood in a more spiritual and personal sense, and one is affected more by the spirit than the letter. Compliance to faith becomes more personal and individual rather than congregational or public. In the Moses-phase "holiness" of a person corresponds to consciensciousness of obeying all regulations with religious fervor. In the Paul-phase holiness is detached from "religious works," that is, from merit or reward, and instead is seen as something imparted to all the faithful through membership status (e.g., those who are baptized). In the Swedenborg-phase (to be discussed later), holiness is no longer seen as a quality of the individual and one's membership, but of God's conscious rational presence within the individual when engaged in striving for good and truth for the sake of character reformation and regeneration.
Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:
AE 915. When the disciples could not heal the lunatic, Jesus said unto them, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?" And Jesus healed him. And he told the disciples, that they could not heal him by reason of their unbelief (Matt. xxvii. 14, and following verses).
Jesus came into his own country, and they were there "offended in him, he said, A prophet is not without honor save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there, because of their unbelief" (Matt. xiii. 57, 58).
The reason why the Lord called, the disciples men of little faith when they could not perform miracles in His name, and why He could not perform miracles in His own country on account of their unbelief was, that the disciples did indeed believe the Lord to be the Messiah or Christ, the Son of God, and the prophet of whom it was written in the Word. They did not yet, however, believe in Him as God Omnipotent, and that Jehovah the Father was in Him; and so far as they believed Him to be a man, and not at the same time God, His Divine, to which Omnipotence belonged, could not be present with the disciples by faith. For faith causes the Lord to be present, as said above; but faith in Him, as a man only, does not cause His Divine Omnipotence to be present. This also is the reason why those cannot be saved, who, at this day in the world, look to His Human only and not at the same time to His Divine; as is the case with Socinians and Arians.
[8] It was for a similar reason that the Lord could not perform miracles in His own country, for they there saw Him from infancy, as any other man; and therefore they could not attach to this the idea of His Divinity; and if this idea is not present, the Lord is indeed present in a man, but not with Divine Omnipotence; for it is faith that causes the presence of the Lord in man according to the nature of the perception concerning Him. Other things a man does not acknowledge, and so he rejects them. For, in order that the Lord may accomplish any thing in man by faith, His Divine must be present in man, and not out of Him.
In John:
"Many of the people believed on" Jesus; "and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?" (vii. 31).
In Mark:
"These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. They went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following" (xvi. 17-20).
[9] That it is a miraculous and not a saving faith which is there meant is evident also from this fact, that the Jewish nation believed in Jehovah only on account of His miracles. For they were external men; and these are moved to Divine worship only by external things, such as miracles, and these strike their minds. A miraculous faith was also the primary faith with those among whom a new church was to be established; and it is also the primary faith with all in the Christian world at this day, therefore the miracles performed by the Lord were described, and are also preached. For the primary faith with all is a historical faith, which afterwards becomes saving when a man by his life becomes spiritual. For it is first of all to be believed, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, infinite, and one with the Father. It is necessary that these things should be known; and so far as they are mere knowledge, they are historical; and historical faith causes the Lord to be present, because it is an intuition of the Lord from the nature of His Divinity. But still that faith does not save, until a man lives the life of faith, which is charity; for he then wills and does what he believes. And to will and to do pertains to the love; and Him whom faith causes to be present love conjoins. What those miracles which the disciples were to do signified, and those which were done by them in the beginning of the church, as the casting out of demons, speaking with new tongues, and others, may be seen above (AE 915)
13.0.4 Swedenborg's Mission in His Own Words
As long as the mind confines itself to the sense of the letter alone one cannot possibly see that its contents are such. Take for instance these first sections of Genesis: From the sense of the letter the only subject matter people recognize is the creation of the world, and the Garden of Eden which is called Paradise, and Adam as the first man to be created. Who thinks anything different? The fact that these things contain arcana however which have never been revealed up to now will be sufficiently clear from what follows - especially clear from the fact that the subject of Genesis 1 is, in the internal sense, the NEW CREATION of man, that is, in general his REGENERATION, and in particular the Most Ancient Church. And the subject is presented in such a way that not the smallest part of any expression fails to have a representation, carry a spiritual meaning, or embody something within itself. (AC 4)
But unless he has it from the Lord no human being can possibly know that this is the situation. By way of introductory remarks therefore it can be disclosed that in the Lord's Divine mercy I have been allowed constantly and without interruption for several years now to share the experiences of spirits and angels, to listen to them speaking and to speak to them myself. I have been allowed therefore to hear and see astounding things in the next life which have never come to any man's knowledge, nor even entered his imagination In that world I have learned about different kinds of spirits, about the state of souls after death, about hell (the miserable state of people who do not have faith), about heaven (the very happy state of those who do have faith), and above all else about the doctrine of the faith that is acknowledged in the whole of heaven. In the Lord's Divine mercy more will be told about these matters in what follows. (AC 5)
I foresee that many who read the Memorable Relations annexed to the chapters in this work will believe them to be inventions of the imagination. But I affirm in truth that they are not inventions, but were truly seen and heard; not seen and heard in any sleeping state of mind, but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Divine-Human to manifest Himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which will belong to His New Church, which is meant by "the New Jerusalem" in the Apocalypse. For this purpose He has opened the interiors of my mind or spirit, whereby I have been permitted to be in the spiritual world with angels, and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now during twenty-seven years.
Who in the Christian world could have known anything about Heaven and Hell, had it not pleased the Divine-Human to open the sight of someone's spirit, and show and teach him? That such things as are described in the Memorable Relations do appear in the heavens is made clear by the like things seen and described by John in the Apocalypse, also in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture written through the prophets.
[2] In the Apocalypse are the following: John saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven candlesticks; he saw in heaven the tabernacle, the temple, the ark, and the altar; he saw a book sealed with seven seals; he saw this opened, and horses going out of it; he saw four animals round about the throne; twelve thousand chosen out of each tribe; locusts ascending from the abyss a woman bringing forth a male child, and fleeing into the desert on account of the dragon; two beasts, one going up out of the sea and the other out of the earth; an angel flying in the midst of heaven having an eternal Gospel; a sea of glass mingled with fire; seven angels having the seven last plagues; bowls poured out by them on the earth, the sea, the rivers, the sun, the throne of the beast, the Euphrates, and the air; a woman sitting on a scarlet beast; the dragon cast into a lake of fire and brimstone; a white horse; a great supper; a new heaven and a new earth; the holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, the gates, walls, and foundations of which he describes; also the river of the water of life, and trees of life bearing fruit every month; with many other things, all of which were seen by John, and seen when as to his spirit he was in the spiritual world and in heaven. Add what was seen by the apostles after the Divine-Human's resurrection, and later by Peter (Acts 11), and what was seen and heard by Paul; and still further what was seen by the prophets in the Old Testament, as by Ezekiel,
That he saw four living creatures, which were cherubs (Ezek. 1 and 10).
A new temple and a new earth, and an angel measuring them (40-48).
He was carried away to Jerusalem and saw the abominations there, and also into Chaldea (8 and 11).[3] With Zechariah like things occurred:
He saw a man riding among myrtle trees (Zech. 1:8-11).
He saw four horns; and afterward a man with a measuring line in his hand (1 and 2).
He saw a flying roll and an ephah (5:1, 6).
He saw four chariots between two mountains, and horses (6:1-8).Likewise with Daniel:
He saw four beasts coming up out of the sea (Dan. 7:1-8).
He saw the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, whose dominion shall not pass away, and whose kingdom shall not be destroyed (7:13, 14).
He saw the battles between the ram and the he-goat (8:1-27).
He saw the angel Gabriel, and he talked with him (9).
The servant of Elisha saw chariots and horses of fire round about Elisha, and saw them when his eyes were opened (2 Kings 6:17).From these and many other passages in the Word it is evident that those things which exist in the spiritual world have appeared to many, both before and since the Divine-Human's coming. What marvel, then, that they should be seen now also, when a New Church is commencing, or when the New Jerusalem is descending from heaven? (TCR 851)
Here is an article written by Rev. Geoffrey Childs that shows how Swedenborg's revelation was given to him.
When the Lord was on earth He said: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." (John 16: 12, 13) Here was a direct prophecy of His second coming, when He would reveal "all truth." Of this coming it is said:
"The Lord will now appear in the Word. The reason why He will not appear in person is that since His ascension into heaven He is in His glorified Human; and in this He cannot appear to any man unless the eyes of his spirit are first opened .... [Rather] He will appear in the Word, which is from Him and is thus Himself." (TCR 777)
"This second coming of the Lord is effected by means of a man [Swedenborg], to whom the Lord has manifested Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His spirit, that he may teach the doctrines of the New Church from the Lord by means of the Word." (TCR 779)
This is our faith: that the Lord has made His second coming through Swedenborg, who was His scribe; and that the Writings are therefore the Lord's alone, and not at all Swedenborg's. This belief is the rock upon which our church is built. Yet there are those who would reject this rock as the head of the corner; for there are those who have read in the Writings and do not consider them a Divine revelation. Most of these describe Swedenborg as an amazing genius and as astonishingly prolific in his ideas. But they readily and easily ascribe these ideas, these truths, to Swedenborg, and not to the Lord. They ignore what Swedenborg himself testifies about the authorship of the Writings.
Those who doubt the Divine authority of the Writings have a probing question to ask: How can a man, who is finite, write what is Divine? This is a valid question, for Swedenborg was only a finite man. To see how the Lord could nevertheless reveal the Divine Word through him is a vital point of doctrine. For since we believe that the Writings are true, we must have a rational answer to critics.
Here we can turn to the past, for knowledge of how previous revelations were given will enable us to understand Swedenborg's inspiration in clearer light. Thus, the Old Testament Sacred Scripture was written through Divinely chosen scribes - Moses, the prophets, and others Divinely chosen. How is it, then, that what they wrote was the Lord's, and not their own? It is because they wrote down, verbatim, what was dictated to them by the Lord. In this, the Lord used angels as His spokesmen. We are told: "Sometimes the Lord so fills an angel with His Divine that the angel does not know that he is not the Lord." (DP 96: 6) When so infilled, the "angel speaks not from himself but from the Lord." His words are the Lord's. (AC 1745: 3) All that is the angel's own is quiescent. Such "subject angels" appeared to the scribes of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. "They [these scribes] wrote as [subject angels] dictated, for the very words which they wrote were uttered in their ears." (AC 7055:3)
This literal dictation was a necessity in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, for in it the very Hebrew letters - every jot and tittle - have a Divine correspondence. Yet the dictation was not as arbitrary as it sounds; for the Old Testament scribes were first prepared and instructed before such Divine dictation was given to them. They were Divinely educated for their roles, and were thus enabled to co-operate willingly, where necessary. The eyes of their spirits were opened, and the things about which they were later to write were portrayed before them. But when they actually wrote their portion of the Word they were not in the spirit but in the body. Then they heard interiorly the literal words, Divinely dictated, which they wrote down, letter by letter; and this they did with joy, as servants of the Lord.
Yet, as scribes, they were far different from Swedenborg. For these early revelators did not understand the meaning of what they wrote; or rather, what was written through them. It is true that they had often seen in the other world the things later written through them; yet they had no idea of the inner meaning of what was dictated. "They were not illustrated as to the understanding." (AE 624:15)
However, the words chosen for them to write were such as they would natively use. (WE 6955) The distinctive style of each scribe was kept. One reason for this was for the sake of the freedom of the scribe. Also, if the entire Old Testament were written in exactly the same style, and yet by many different writers, this would compel belief in Divine authorship. And compelled belief is always avoided in the Divine Providence, for it can lead to one of the worst of all evils - profanation. What an evil person believes through compulsion he later rejects, and in so doing comes into what is profane.
It is a fascinating testimony to the Divine Omniscience that the words in the vocabulary of each prophet were correspondentially highly suitable. Astonishingly, and yet understandably, the Lord supervised the education of each scribe from his infancy.
The Gospels of the New Testament Sacred Scripture and the book of Revelation were written in a similar manner to the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Each of the writers was first thoroughly prepared. They were Divinely led to inquire into all the details of the Lord's life on earth, to come into a deep knowledge of it. Where it was necessary, their spiritual eyes, too, were opened; and when their education and preparation were full and complete, then subject - angels came to them as well, and they received a literal dictation from the Lord through an angel. For in the New Testament Sacred Scripture every Greek word has its correspondence and therefore needed to be Divinely chosen. Nevertheless, the New Testament Sacred Scripture writers could comprehend something of what was written through them: they knew of the Lord's life, and they had an understanding of His moral teachings. But the correspondential sense of what they wrote: this was unknown to them.
As with the scribes of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture, so with the scribe of the Second Coming. There are striking similarities. But there was also a great difference. It is known that Swedenborg was prepared for his use as a revelator from his infancy. His whole life was guided by an especial Providence. Thus Swedenborg testifies: "The Lord prepared me from childhood." (Letter to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, PTW 1, 590) "From my fourth to my tenth year I was constantly engaged in thought upon God, salvation, and the spiritual affections of men . . . ." (Letter to Dr. Beyer, PTW I, 8) He was carefully withheld from confirming the false doctrines of the Old Church, or even from studying them in any depth, for this might have clouded his mind. It was also of the Divine Providence that he loved the sciences and philosophy. He was asked why, as a philosopher, he had been chosen as a revelator; why, for instance, was not a learned priest chosen instead? He answered that the spiritual things which the Writings reveal are to be taught and understood naturally and rationally. For this reason, Swedenborg reveals, "I was introduced by the Lord first into the natural sciences, and thus prepared; and indeed from the year 1710 to 1744, when heaven was opened to me." (Letter to Oetinger, PTW I, 571) The human race as a whole was reaching adult status and attaining scientific rationality. That is why a new revelation was needed: the human race was ready and needed to hear Divine truth on a plane that was not before fully opened. This is why a man like Swedenborg was chosen, a scientist and a highly rational man. The Divine love and the Divine wisdom were now to be revealed on the rational plane. God was to be with us in His glorified Human.
Because the Writings were to be a rational revelation, the Lord willed that Swedenborg understand the new doctrines to be revealed. Therefore before he became a revelator he underwent a lifetime of preparation. First he was led towards spiritual truth through science and philosophy. Then, when he was ready, the Lord appeared to him, revealing the use that was to be his role and honor. But then there were still years of preparation. His spiritual eyes were opened only gradually, and at first he saw the light of heaven dimly. At the same time he read the literal Word, and the universals of its correspondential sense were unfolded to him. For four years this special spiritual education continued; more and more the nature of the spiritual world was revealed to him; by experience he came to know the truths of heaven and the glory behind the clouds.
It was only when he had a real grasp of the heavenly doctrines, of correspondences and of the nature of the other world that he was permitted to enter into his role of revelator. Then, when the Arcana Coelestia was started, the Lord began to reveal the Writings to mankind. And it was the Lord who did this. Thus Swedenborg says: "As for myself, I have not been allowed to take anything from the mouth of any spirit, nor from the mouth of any angel, but from the mouth of the Lord alone." (Verbo 29e) Many spirits and angels spoke to him. But through interior perception given to Swedenborg the Lord chose out what was to be used in the Writings; it was the Lord who chose and ordered and it was from His mouth, using subject spirits and angels as means.
Concerning the Writings Swedenborg states: "When I think of what I am about to write, and while I am in the act of writing, I enjoy a complete inspiration; for otherwise it would be my own; but now I know for certain that what I write is God's living truth." (Docu. 251: 7) His inspiration is defined in these words: "Inspiration is not dictation, but is influx from the Divine." (AC 9094: 4) There is a number in the Arcana that reveals how the Lord inspired Swedenborg. We read:
"There was an influx like a most gentle and almost imperceptible stream, the current of which does not appear, but still leads and draws. This, which flowed in from the Lord, led in this manner all the series of my thoughts into the consequent things, and altogether gently [yet] powerfully, so that I could not wander into other thoughts, which also I was allowed to attempt, but in vain." (AC 6574)
This inspiration extended even into the single words Swedenborg used. (SD 2270)
Thus, for instance, with the Arcana itself, Swedenborg had the letter of the Word open before him. He had studied and been instructed in its correspondences for years. Then, as he was preparing actually to write the Arcana, the Lord, by directing influx, chose what was to be written down. Swedenborg did not choose, the Lord did. Thus Swedenborg states: "When I think about what I am about to write, and while I am writing, I enjoy a complete inspiration; for otherwise it would be my own; but now I know for certain that what I write is God's living truth." He experienced an internal dictation that was absolute; and as he testifies, he was only an instrument. What is marvelous is how the Lord prepared Swedenborg so that he could be a perfect instrument. Beautifully and interiorly, he was the scribe of the Lord his maker. "For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him." (John 3: 34)
Before us stand the Writings in their beauty, in their Divinity. The final Word is the Lord's, even as is the Old Testament Sacred Scripture and the New Testament Sacred Scripture. We rejoice because the "Spirit of truth" has come, to lead us into "all truth." In this revelation, what is finite is removed; the Divine Lord Himself stands fully revealed. He is revealed as the Lord of love, the Divine Comforter who would lead each human being to a home in heaven. In His final Word, the Spirit saith, "Come." And man's answer may be: "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." (Revelation 22: 17, 20)
New Church Life 1973;93:22-26 Reprinted on the Web at: www.baltimorenewchurch.org/gc73.htm
TCR 851 The things contained in the Memorable Relations which follow the chapters are true; and like things were seen and heard by the prophets before the coming of the Lord, and like things by the apostles after His coming, as by Peter, Paul, and especially by John in the Apocalypse; which things are set forth (n. 851). (TCR 851)
TCR 694. The third experience.
Some while later I looked towards the city of Athenaeum which I mentioned in the preceding account. I heard an unusual shouting coming from it. There was a certain amount of laughter in the shouting, and a certain amount of indignation in the laughter, and a certain amount of sadness in the indignation. Yet this shouting was not for this reason discordant; it was harmonious, because one element was not together with the other, but one was inside the other. In the spiritual world one can distinguish in sounds the mixture of differing affections.
I asked from a distance, 'What is happening?' 'A messenger,' they said, 'has come from the place where newcomers from the Christian parts of the world first appear, to say that he had heard from three people there, that in the world they had come from they shared the belief of other people that the blessed and happy would after death have total rest from their labours. Since administrative duties, offices and work are labours, they believed they would have rest from them. The three have now been brought by our emissary, and are standing waiting in front of the gate. So a great shouting has started, and they have deliberated and decided that they should not be brought into the Palladium on Parnassium, as in the previous case, but into the large auditorium, so that they can reveal their news from Christendom. Some people have been despatched to introduce them in due form.'
I was in the spirit, and distances for spirits depend upon the condition of their affections, and I then had a desire to see and hear them, so I found myself in their presence, watching them being brought in and hearing them talking.
[2] The older and wiser people were seated at the sides of the auditorium, and the rest in the middle. There was a raised platform in front of them, and to this the three newcomers together with the messenger were conducted by younger men in a solemn procession through the middle of the auditorium. When silence had been obtained, they were greeted by one of the elders present and asked: 'What is the news from earth?'
'There is a lot of news,' they said, 'please tell us about what.'
'What is the news from earth,' replied the elder, 'about our world and about heaven?'
They replied that when recently they had arrived in this world they had heard that there and in heaven there are administrative duties, ministries, public offices, businesses, studies of all sciences and wonderful work. Yet they had believed that after their migration or transfer from the natural world to this spiritual one, they would come into everlasting rest from labours, and what were duties but labours?
[3] To this the elder said: 'Did you understand everlasting rest from labours to mean everlasting leisure, in which you would continually sit or lie, plying your hearts with delights and filling your mouths with joys?' The three newcomers smiled gently at this, and said they had supposed something of the sort.
'What have joy,' they were asked in reply, 'and delights and so happiness got in common with leisure? The result of leisure is that the mind collapses instead of expanding, or one becomes as dead instead of lively. Imagine someone sitting completely at leisure, with his hands folded, his eyes cast down or withdrawn, and imagine him being at the same time surrounded with an aura of cheerfulness; would not his head and body be gripped by lassitude, the lively expression of his face would collapse, and eventually his every fibre would become so relaxed that he would sway to and fro until he fell to the ground? What is it that keeps the whole system of the body stretched and under tension but the stretching of the mind? And what is it that stretches the mind but administrative duties and tasks, so long as they are enjoyable? So I will tell you some news from heaven: there are there administrative duties, ministries, higher and lower law-courts, as well as crafts and work.'
[4] When the three newcomers heard that in heaven there were higher and lower law-courts, they said: 'Why is that? Are not all in heaven inspired and led by God, so that they know what is just and right? What need then is there of judges?'
'In this world,' replied the elder, 'we are taught and learn what is good and true, and what is just and fair, in the same way as in the natural world. We do not learn these things directly from God, but indirectly through others. Every angel, just as every man, thinks what is true and does what is good as if of himself, and this, depending upon the angel's state, is not pure truth and good, but mixed. Among angels too there are simple and wise people, and it will be for the wise to judge, when the simple as the result of their simplicity or their ignorance are in doubt about what is just, or depart from it. [5] But if you, who have still not been long in this world, would be good enough to accompany me to our city, we shall show you everything.'
So they left the auditorium, and some of the elders went with them. They came first to a large library, which was divided into smaller collections of books by subjects. The three newcomers were astonished to see so many books, and said: 'Are there books in this world too? Where do they get parchment and paper, pens and ink?'
'We perceive,' said the elders, 'that you believed in the previous world that this world is empty, because it is spiritual. The reason for this belief of yours is that you entertained the idea that the spiritual is abstract; and that what is abstract is nothing and so as if empty. Yet here everything is in its fulness. Everything here is substantial, not material; material things owe their origin to what is substantial. We who are present here are spiritual people, because we are substantial, and not material. This is why everything that is in the material world exists here in its perfection; so we have books and writing, and much more.'
When the three newcomers heard the term substantial mentioned, they thought this must be so, both because they saw there were books written and because they heard it said that matter originates from substance. To give them further proof of this, they were taken to the houses of scribes, who were making copies of books written by the city's wise men. They looked at the writing and were surprised how neat and elegant it was.
[6] After this they were taken to research institutions, high schools and colleges, and to the places where their literary contests took place. Some of these were called contests of the Maidens of Helicon, some those of the Maidens of Parnassus, some those of the Maidens of Athena and some those of the Maidens of the Spring-waters. They said that they were so named because maidens stand for the affections for branches of knowledge, and everyone's intelligence depends upon his affection for knowledge. The contests so called were spiritual exercises and gymnastics. Later, they were taken around the city to visit controllers, administrators and their officials and these showed them the remarkable work performed by craftsmen in a spiritual manner.
[7] When they had seen this, the elder talked with them again about the everlasting rest from labours the blessed and happy obtain after death. 'Everlasting rest,' he said, 'is not leisure, since that reduces the mind and so the whole body to a state of feebleness, torpidity, stupidness and somnolence. These are not life, but death, much less the everlasting life of the angels in heaven. So everlasting rest is a rest that banishes all those ills and makes people alive. This can only be something that uplifts the mind. So it is some interest or task which excites, enlivens and delights the mind. This depends upon the purpose for which, in which and towards which it aims. This is why the whole of heaven is seen by the Lord as a coherent purpose, and it is the purpose he serves that makes every angel an angel. The pleasure of service carries him along, as a favourable current does a ship, and confers upon him everlasting peace and the rest peace gives. This is what is meant by everlasting rest from labours. The extent to which an angel is alive depends upon his mental commitment arising from service. This is perfectly clear from the fact that the depth of conjugial love anyone enjoys, together with the manliness, potency and delights that accompany it, depend upon his commitment to true service.'
[8] When it had been proved to the three newcomers that everlasting rest is not leisure, but the pleasure of some work that is of service, some girls came with embroidery and sewing, their own handiwork, and presented these to them. Then, as the new spirits took their departure, the girls sang a song expressing in an angelic melody their affection for useful work and its attendant pleasures. (TCR 694)
Quoting from a biography of Swedenborg:
By the spring of 1770 The True Christian Religion was completed, and on June nineteenth Swedenborg wrote the memorable lines:
NOTE. - After this work was finished the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world; and the next day He sent them all forth throughout the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that THE LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ages and ages, according to the prediction in Daniel (7:13, 14), and in Revelation (11:15).
Also that blessed are those that come to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).
This took place on the nineteenth day of June, 1770. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord:
He shall send His angels and they shall gather together His elect, from the end of the heavens to the end thereof (Matt. 24:31). (TCR 791)
The bulky manuscript was now ready for the printer and Swedenborg prepared to set out on his eleventh foreign journey. He seems to have known that it would be his last.
His Divine mission completed, Swedenborg, at the age of 84, passed into the spiritual world, never to return, on March 29, 1772.
A prayer Swedenborg wrote in his Diary at the beginning of his mission and entry into the spiritual world at age 57:
I then arose, full of God. God be thanked and praised! I do not will to be my own: I am certain of it, and believe that Thou, O God, lettest me be Thine, all my life long, and that Thou dost not take away Thy Holy Spirit from me, which strengthens and upholds me. (JD 103)
For more on Swedenborg descriptions of his mission, see
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/index.htm#Swedenborg-writing-about-himself
Perhaps to many psychiatrists it makes no difference whether Swedenborg thought he was the Messiah or whether he thought he was merely announcing the Messiah's Second Coming, with himself as the only earthly witness to it. In both cases modern psychiatry would almost compulsively assign a diagnosis of psychosis. Strengthening this diagnosis, psychiatrists would point to facts acknowledged and commonly accepted in non-theistic psychiatry, such as the following:
Swedenborg kept a diary of his daily conversations with "spirits" who are inhabitants of the spiritual world after their death in this world.
Jesus Christ personally appeared to him in a vision on more than on one occasion and directly instructed Swedenborg to write about his experiences with spirits and their relation to the Bible, and to call these writings Sacred Revelations, the Second Coming of Christ, as a means of effecting a new Christian dispensation for the entire future to come.
As part of this New Christian revelation Swedenborg presents his series of experiences in the spiritual world including the direct communication with spirits who had been born on various planets inside and outside the solar system, and even some episodes that involved actually "seeing through the eyes" of living inhabitants on distant planets, through the mediation of spirits.
Also as part of this new revelation, Swedenborg includes his extensive conversations with "angels" who are the inhabitants of celestial regions after their departure form the planetary life, and who shared with him their knowledge and wisdom about human behavior, about life on planets, about human anatomy, morality, religion, and God.
Swedenborg reports conversations with historically known figures such as Moses, David, Mary, Aristotle, Luther, Newton, as well as contemporaries who had just departed including a Swedish king and other acquaintances and family members. In these conversations, Swedenborg reveals new facts about these people, not known from history, such as for instance, Newton's recantation and rejection of his concept of vacuum (see below), an idea Swedenborg abhors as irrational. Another: his conversations with Luther (SD 5103) who confesses that an angel appeared to him at the beginning of his attempts to effect a religious schism in Catholic Christianity, warning Luther not to continue pushing his idea of "faith alone saves, not works," because he knew that it is a false idea and harmful. But Luther did it anyway because he saw no other way of solidifying the Protestant schism, and then he confessed his regretfulness to Swedenborg.
Swedenborg's description of the afterlife, or "the spiritual world," is universalized in absolute terms. He offered his extensive writings of more than two dozen volumes, self-published in Neo-Latin at his own expense, as the very Word of God, claimed to be equal to the Bible, and describing himself and his work as "the greatest miracle ever granted by the Divine-Human" in the history of humankind.
Swedenborg's Writings cover both spiritual and natural or scientific revelations.
(see also: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/np98.html )
It is important to realize in a rational way how it is possible for God to speak to the human race at the natural level of consciousness. God is infinite in all the uncorrupted attributes that human beings have--intelligence, rationality, love, desire, compassion, creativity, satisfaction, joy, and so on. We have these things with us because God puts us "online" so to speak, so that we can receive a continuous nonstop flow of these "goods" or good things. Once these Divine inflowing attributes are received by our spiritual organs of the mind, we can operate with them in an "as-if" fashion. In other words, God reveals the existence of this inflow for our rational understanding and scientific thinking, so that we don't develop false scientific theories about the human mind. For instance, the materialistic denial of God, or the rejection of the idea that God Personally manages all details all the time. To prevent these non-theistic fallacies from overtaking the entire human race, God provides the written books of scientific revelations that all generations of a civilization can study and form their rationality accordingly.
Therefore we know of God's influx and omnipotence. This is our rational consciousness of God. It is the basis for regeneration, character reformation, and salvation for heavenly life.
But God's Laws of Order deny us the ability to be conscious of God's influx. Instead it seems to us in experience that the good things we do, think, and feel, are our very own. It seems to us as if we are ignorant and foolish until we put up the effort to be educated and informed. This effort of educating ourselves feels really real. Those who are unmotivated or rebellious, and do not put up this effort, do not get educated or informed. Lacking skills required by society, they suffer a lesser life with less opportunities, less abilities, less creativity, and more problems and troubles. Our personality feels to us like our very own achievement, hard-earned habits and skills at the cost of self-denial and postponement of gratification. Our successes in life feel like our very own. This is our sensuous consciousness, the very basis of our "self" a lasting unique human individual.
There is therefore a fundamental disconnectedness in a human life between the Divine rational reality of life 'online' on the one hand, and on the other, the subjective reality of sensed independence and selfhood.
Swedenborg talked to many of the people who are already living in the heaven of their minds. We can therefore anticipate what we will be like when we reach the heavens in our mind. He reports that once human beings climb to the top of their consciousness called heaven, they experience the greatest or maximum possible joy of life, as they live their indescribable immortal life of conjugial unity and blessedness. In that high state of mind we are called by God "Angels" and "Saints" in Sacred Scripture. And angels told Swedenborg that the essence of their happy state is based on the full rational and conscious awareness moment by moment that everything good they sense in themselves is the Divine Good of the Divine-Human inflowing through the spiritual heat and spiritual light of the Spiritual Sun.
It is this constant rational consciousness of God's influx that their blessedness and joy depend on. They confess that the moment they lose rational sight of this central reality, they experience a lowering of consciousness, even a distancing from the Spiritual Sun, and thus a lowering of their joy and even, the beginning of depression and anxiety. It is significant to note that angels have the Spiritual Sun constantly in front of their eyes no matter which way they appear to turn or walk. This amazing external fact is an expression or correspondence to the spiritual inner fact of their rational consciousness, which never for a moment ceases to acknowledge the presence and co-participation of the Divine-Human in every feeling, thought, and sensation.
The Divine influx of Human attributes is the same for every human being, namely, the maximum, that is, "in their fullness" as expressed in Sacred Scripture. God is omnipresent in fullness everywhere. This is a rational necessity since the Infinite cannot divide itself. Hence wherever God is present, that Divine Presence is there in fullness no matter where one considers it. That unchanging perfect presence is received by every thing in a unique way because ever created thing has been created to be a receptor of the Divine-Human Presence through its infinite attributes of goodness and truth or rationality.
The mountain, plant, electron, or human mind--they are all created things to be receptors of the Divine-Human Attributes--various qualities that act in integrated and purposeful unison to produce an environment for immortal human minds.
For the evolution and perfection of the human "self" it is necessary that each self be interconnected and integrated into horizontal and vertical community networks. The perfection of the human race depends on the perfect integration of infinitely variable traits and qualities. Heaven is a perfect place of mental or spiritual development because it encompasses varieties of human genius and character. The more diverse the elements that fit into a unity, the more perfect and elevated that unity is. The highest unity is God because in the Divine-Human infinite things make a One. The universal heavens that Swedenborg visited appear from a distance as land masses in the perfect shape of the human body. This was conveniently used by Swedenborg to describe the location of the mental state he was visiting, as for instance, "in the right eye," or "in the stomach," or "in the region bellow the buttocks" (which are the hells), and so on. This spiritual geography corresponds perfectly to the mental organic structure of the human mind or spiritual body.
Our rational consciousness of God's influx and our sensuous consciousness of as-of self life, create a perfect mental ambiance for developing our spiritual-rational character or mind.
It is necessary that we strengthen our moral life and our rational thinking in order to survive in this experiential paradox. Those who do not, are in danger of falling into materialism and atheism. It is correct that atheism and materialism both allow and support morality and human compassion. Secular humanism and political liberalism are significant major intellectual influences in our Western democracies. They are compatible with public education, universal suffrage, and equal justice and opportunity for all. Clearly, God's management techniques work through these intellectual belief systems and leads people through them, to morality and justice. Nevertheless, we must inquire as to what happens when people leave this earthly environment at the death of the physical body. From Swedenborg's interviews and long term observations of all types of people in the spiritual world, we now know that this morality and secular rationality does not make the jump from here to there.
Obviously this is most important for people to understand in advance. There exists an external natural and temporary morality and an internal spiritual permanent morality. Only the spiritual morality survives to allow us to raise our consciousness to the eternal heavenly state of life. Therefore it is unwise, irrational, and injurious to the quality of our immortal spiritual life, when we deny our dual existence in two worlds, one temporary, the other permanent. Natural morality can only exist in the natural mind. It is devoid of spiritual morality which depends on acknowledgment of God's co-participation in every feeling, plan, or action that we perform. To deny this acknowledgement is to create an inverted "vortex" in the organic coils of our spiritual mind. These inverted fibers have the property of automatically reversing the direction of the Divine-Human influx.
Every attribute of good and truth flowing in through the vertical community from God is received in an inverted manner by a mind aligned against the Divine
Swedenborg proved this fact in various experimental ways, the most direct being the questioning of people in the world of spirits who were unwilling to give up their non-theistic morality and method of reasoning. Whatever true statement he asked them to repeat, they repeated its semantic opposite, being apparently unaware of this fact.
Again the same point. Quoting from Swedenborg's Writings:
[20] In Luke:
"When ye see a cloud rising in the west, straightway it is said, There cometh rain, and so it is; and when the south wind bloweth, it is said, There will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye know how to interpret the face of the earth and of heaven, how is it that ye do not interpret this time?" (xi.; 54-56).
The Divine-Human teaches by this comparison that they see earthly things but not heavenly things; and the comparison itself, as in the case of all comparisons in the Word, is made from correspondences. For by the cloud rising in the west is signified the coming of the Divine-Human at the end of the church, predicted in the Word, the cloud denoting the Word in the letter, the rising of it the coming of the Divine-Human, and the west the end of the church. Straightway it is said, There cometh rain, signifies that then there is the influx of Divine Truth; and when ye perceive the south wind blowing, signifies preaching concerning His coming: it is said, There will be beat, signifies that then there is the influx of Divine Good.
The same words also signify contentions and combats of truth from good with falsities from evil, rain and heat also signifying these contentions and combats; for this comparison follows immediately after the Divine-Human's word, that He came not to send peace on the earth, but division; and that the father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother (Luke xii. 51-53). These words signify such contention and combat; that the same is also signified by rain will be seen below.
Because this comparison considered in its correspondential sense involves the coming of the Divine-Human, and because they would not acknowledge Him through blindness caused by falsities although He might have been known to them from the Word, therefore these words follow, "Ye hypocrites, ye know how to interpret the face of the earth and of heaven, but ye do not interpret this time," namely, the time of His coming, and the conflict which then took place between the falsity of evil and the truth of good. (AE 644)
The "Coming of the Divine-Human" refers to the process of reformation of our character, which begins when we acknowledge the Divine-Human's co-participation in our every feeling, thought, and act. The Writings point out that there is a certain appearance of incongruity in the giving of the Ten Commandments by God Personally, as described by Moses in the Sacred Scripture of the Old Testament. The mind wonders at these commandments when it is discovered from history that similar laws were already in place in Mesopotamia, prior to Moses, as for instance the Code of Hamurabi. Why would God give these Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai with such an awesome Divine appearance when they were already civil and criminal law in other countries? The Writings answer that the purpose of God in that event was to demonstrate to the human mind on earth that these commandments of life are not merely social, legal, or natural. but spiritual and Divine. This was not yet in the consciousness of the human race at that time on earth. It was a revelation that morality must be in the inner spiritual mind and not merely in the external natural mind.
Inner spiritual morality differs from external natural morality by the acknowledgment of the Divine as the source of that morality. Moral rules of life must be motivated by Divine Commandments. Secular, social, legal motives for morality remain external and conditional upon the natural consequences and enforcement procedures in force. We don't steal because we don't want to get into trouble with the law and other people. We don't murder because we respect all people as equal in their humanity and rights. We don't break our marriage vows because it will hurt our reputation. And so on. These external motives for "being good" remain in force only as long as they are enforced by society and the social environment. Whenever people believe that they can get away with it, they secretly break the rules of their morality.
But inner morality is not dependent on external enforcement or threat. God is acknowledged as the source of moral behavior and we know from revelation that breaking God's Commandments hurts us, hurts our eternal future. Our motive for not stealing and lying must be the preservation of our spiritual eternity, so that when we pass on, and start our new life of freedom in the spiritual-mental world, we will still have the same permanent motive to maintain a moral personality. In that way we can live in the eternal heavens in our mind.
But if we arrive into the world of spirits with an externally conditioned motive for a moral character, we are absolutely unwilling to withhold ourselves from immoral behavior since all external restraints are removed in the world of spirits. We then give in to our undisciplined loves or cupidities and we practice deceit and injustice. These behaviors in the world of spirits have their inevitable consequences. They take us down to our corporeal consciousness where we abandon all rational thinking and human restraint. While this is exciting and fun at the beginning, it quickly turns into a miserable life imposed on us by the deceit, cruelty, and domination of others in the same state who are more wicked and powerful than we. But despite their suffering, people in that corporeal state of mind are still unwilling to give it up because their state of infernal suffering is still less of a suffering than their state when they approach the heaven in their mind, as observed many times by Swedenborg.
You can see from all this why God gives revelations to the human race. But now we need to ask why God gives revelations immediately through the minds of human beings. Why doesn't God appear at the United Nations, on TV, on the streets, and give us the Divine message? Would this not be more impressive and effective?
The answer is that Yes, it would be so impressive and effective that people would have no choice but to acknowledge the Divine existence and omnipresence.
And this is the problem with such an approach and why God does not use it. As the Writings reveal:
IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHOULD NOT BE COMPELLED BY EXTERNAL MEANS TO THINK AND WILL, AND THUS TO BELIEVE AND LOVE, THE THINGS OF RELIGION, BUT SHOULD PERSUADE AND AT TIMES COMPEL HIMSELF TO DO SO.
This law of the Divine Providence follows from the two preceding which are, that man should act from freedom according to reason (n. 71-99); and that he should do this of himself although from the Divine-Human, thus as of himself (n. 100-128). Since being compelled is not acting from freedom according to reason, and is not from oneself but is from what is not freedom and is from another, therefore this law of the Divine Providence follows in order after the two former. Moreover, everyone knows that no one can be compelled to think what he is not willing to think, and to will what his thought forbids him to will, and thus to believe what he does not believe, and certainly what he is not willing to believe, and to love what he does not love, and certainly what he is not willing to love; for a man's spirit or mind is in full liberty to think, will, believe and love. It is in this liberty by virtue of influx from the spiritual world which does not compel, for man's spirit or mind is in that world, but not by virtue of influx from the natural world, which is not received unless the two act as one.
[2] A man may be compelled to say that he thinks and wills the things of religion, and that he believes and loves them; but if they are not, or do not become, matters of affection and consequently of his reason, he nevertheless does not think, will, believe and love them. A man may also be compelled to speak in favor of religion and to act according to it; but he cannot be compelled to think in favor of it from any faith in it, or to will the things of religion from any love of it. Moreover, in kingdoms where justice and judgment are guarded, everyone is restrained from speaking and acting against religion; but still no one can be compelled to think and will in favor of it. For it is within the liberty of everyone to think with hell and to will in its favor, and also to think and will in favor of heaven; but reason teaches what man's nature is in the one case and in the other, and the nature of his abiding lot; and it is from reason that the will has liberty to choose and make its selection.
[3] From these considerations it can be seen that the external may not compel the internal; nevertheless, this is sometimes done, but that It is pernicious will be shown in the following order:
I. No one is reformed by miracles and signs, because they compel.
II. No one is reformed by visions and by conversations with the dead, because they compel.
III. No one is reformed by threats and punishments, because they compel.
IV. No one is reformed in states that are not of rationality and liberty.
V. It is not contrary to rationality and liberty to compel oneself.
VI. The external man must be reformed by means of the internal, and not the reverse. (DP 129)
From these rational considerations, when fully understood, it is clear that God cannot appear in the United Nations or on TV without causing a lot of people to feel compelled to believe and acknowledge the Divine-Human. But by giving Sacred Scripture through the mind of a selected individual who writes it down, everyone can read it and feel free to dismiss it. The Written Word of God does not compel the natural mind but gives it a choice.
This method of contacting the human race by means of Sacred Scripture was in danger of becoming ineffective at some point in the history of developing civilizations on earth. Of course God not only had planned for this eventuality, but brought it to existence, in order to protect the human freedom of choice which is essential for our ability to elevate our consciousness to the heavenly state. And thus, the Incarnation became the next solution to save Sacred Scripture from falling into disuse and to strengthen its power to regenerate the human mind for heavenly life.
You can see that it was not possible for God to Incarnate without picking an identity, a gender, a culture, and an epoch. God saved Sacred Scripture for humankind by appearing in history in an appearance of an ordinary man that lived among the people for a few years during which He created mental pathways of inner morality that any individual at any time could follow in order to prepare adequately for heaven.
Although the Incarnation event had to assume a historical-cultural-gender identity, the significance of the event is universal for the entire human race regardless of civilization, epoch, or religion.
The Incarnation is recorded and described in great detail in the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures, and in the Writings of Swedenborg. What is available from the literal sense of the Old and New Testaments is quite limited, yet fully sufficient for religious purposes. The Science of Correspondences revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg, gives us many more details that are encoded and hidden within the literal-historical-poetical meaning of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. When we uncover and consider these scientific revelations hidden within the literal text, we can see God's procedures in a rational way and we can understand all the puzzles that religion and dogma merely impose on the mind. Then it is clear that God does not have a cultural identity but is the God of all humanity, and the procedures God uses to run the universe are fully comprehensible and independent of any religion or culture or history.
Quoting from the the Writings of Swedenborg (Conjugial Love 1-26):
CL 1.
1. I anticipate that many who read the following descriptions and the accounts at the ends of the succeeding chapters will believe they are figments of my imagination. I swear in truth, however, that they are not inventions, but actual occurrences to which I was witness. Nor were they witnessed in any condition of unconsciousness but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Divine-Human to manifest Himself to me and send me to teach the doctrines that will be doctrines of the New Church, the church meant by the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation. To this end He has opened the inner faculties of my mind and spirit. As a result, it has been made possible for me to be in the spiritual world with angels and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now for twenty-five years.
This work was originally published in the year 1768.CL 2.
2. I once saw an angel flying beneath the eastern sky holding a trumpet to his mouth, who sounded towards the north, towards the west, and towards the south. He was wearing a cape which swept backwards as he flew; and he was girded with a sash of garnets and sapphires that seemed ablaze with fire and light.
Flying in horizontal position, facing forward and down, he slowly descended to the tract of ground surrounding me. Landing upright upon his feet, he began to pace back and forth, and then seeing me he headed in my direction. I was in the spirit, and in this state was standing on a hill in the southern zone.
When he drew near, I spoke to him and asked, "What is happening? I heard the sound of your trumpet and saw you descending through the air."
The angel answered, "I have been sent to call together people most renowned for their learning, most discerning in their brilliance, and foremost in their reputation for wisdom, who have come from the kingdoms of the Christian world and are living in this surrounding land. I have been sent to assemble them on this hill where you are standing, to express their honest opinions as to what they had thought, understood and perceived in the world regarding heavenly joy and eternal happiness.
[2] "The reason for my mission is that some newcomers from the world, admitted into our heavenly society in the east, have told us that not even one person in the whole Christian world knows what heavenly joy and eternal happiness are, thus what heaven is. My brothers and companions were very surprised at this, and they said to me, 'Go down, call together and assemble the wisest in the world of spirits (the world into which all mortals are first gathered after they leave the natural world) in order that we may learn from the testimony of many whether it is true that Christians are in such darkness and unenlightened ignorance concerning the life to come.'"
He also added, "Wait here a little, and you will see companies of the wise streaming here. The Divine-Human is going to prepare a hall of assembly for them."
[3] I waited, and behold, after half an hour I saw two bands of people coming from the north, two from the west, and two from the south. As they arrived, they were led by the angel with the trumpet into the hall prepared for them, where they took places assigned to them according to the zones they came from.
They formed six groups or companies. A seventh came from the east, but it was not visible to the others owing to the light.
After they were assembled, the angel explained the reason they had been called together, and he asked the companies to present in turn their wisdom regarding heavenly joy and eternal happiness. Each company then gathered into a circle, its members facing each other, in order to recall the ideas they had acquired on the subject in the previous world, to consider them now, and after conferring to present their conclusion.
CL 3.
3. After conferring, the first company, which came from the north, said that heavenly joy and eternal happiness are the same as the life of heaven. "Consequently," they said, "everyone who enters heaven enters with his life into its festivities, just as one who enters into a wedding celebration enters into its festivities. Is not heaven something we can see above us, thus something that has location? There and nowhere else exists bliss upon bliss and pleasure upon pleasure. On account of the fullness of joys in that place, a person is introduced into this bliss and pleasure with every perception of his mind and every sensation of his body when he is introduced into heaven. Therefore heavenly happiness, which is also eternal happiness, is simply admission into heaven, and admission by Divine grace."
[2] Following that statement, the second company from the north presented in accordance with its wisdom this conjecture: "Heavenly joy and eternal happiness consist simply in delightful associations with angels and enjoyable conversations with them, which keep the countenance in continual expressions of gladness and the mouths of all in pleasant laughter as a result of charming and witty exchanges. What are heavenly joys but varying interchanges of this sort to eternity?"
[3] The third company, which was the first of the wise from the western zone, expressed in accordance with the thoughts of its members' affections this opinion: "What else is heavenly joy and eternal happiness but dining with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, at tables that will be set with rich delicacies and fine vintage wines, followed by exhibitions and dances by young men and women performed to the rhythms of stringed and wind instruments, and from time to time the sweet singing of songs? And finally in the evening there will be theatrical performances, and after that more dining. And so on every day to eternity."
[4] After that pronouncement, the fourth company, the second from the western zone, reported its verdict, saying, "We have entertained many ideas with respect to heavenly joy and eternal happiness, but having considered various kinds of joy and compared them with each other, we have come to the conclusion that heavenly joys are like those of a paradise. What else is heaven but a paradise, stretching from east to west and from the south to the north, containing fruit trees and delightful flowers, and in their midst the magnificent tree of life, around which the blessed will sit, feeding on fruits of exquisite flavor and adorned with garlands of sweet-smelling flowers?
"We conclude, too, that owing to a climate of endless spring, these fruits and flowers are produced again and again daily, with unlimited variety; and that because of their continual production and growth, and at the same time the constantly springlike temperature, minds and hearts cannot help but breathe in and out new joys every day, being forever rejuvenated so as to return to the flower of their youth and through this to the pristine state into which Adam and his wife were created. Thus they are restored to the paradise of old, transferred from earth to heaven."
[5] The fifth company, which was the first of the brilliant from the southern zone, declared the following: "Heavenly joys and eternal happiness are nothing else but positions of great power, possessions of great riches, and so superregal magnificence and superglorious splendor. We have discerned that the joys of heaven and the continual enjoyment of them (which is eternal happiness) consist in such things from observing people in the previous world who there possessed them. Furthermore, we know that the happy in heaven will reign with the Divine-Human and will be kings and princes, because they are the sons of Him who is King of kings and Divine-Human of Divine-Humans. Also that they will sit upon thrones, and that the angels will minister to them.
"As for the magnificence of heaven, we have discerned this from the account of the New Jerusalem, by which the glory of heaven is described, that it will have gates, each one of which will be one pearl, and streets of pure gold, and a wall founded upon precious stones. From this we conclude that everyone received into heaven has his own palace of gold, resplendent with precious things, and that the right of dominion will pass from one to another in turn. And because we know that joys are intrinsic to such things and happiness inherent in them, and that the promises of God are unbreakable, we have been unable to trace the origin of the most happy state of heavenly life from any other source."
[6] After this, the sixth company, the second from the southern zone, raised its voice and said, "The joy of heaven and eternal happiness there consist solely in a continual glorifying of God, a religious celebration lasting to eternity, and blessed worship with singing and exultation, resulting in constant elevation of the heart to God, with full confidence in His acceptance of prayers and praises offered in gratitude for His Divine munificence in rendering the worshipers blessed."
Some members of the company added that this celebration would be accompanied by magnificent lighting and sweet-smelling incense, with solemn processions led by a high priest carrying a great trumpet, followed by prelates and other clergy, great and small, and behind them men with palm branches and women with golden images in their hands.
CL 4.
4. The seventh company, invisible to the rest on account of the light, was from the east part of heaven. Its members were angels from the same society that the angel with the trumpet came from. When they heard in their heaven that not even one person in the Christian world knows what the joy of heaven and eternal happiness are, they said to each other, "This cannot be true! Such great darkness and numbness of mind is not possible among Christians. Let us go down, too, and hear for ourselves whether it is so. If it is, it is without doubt an astonishing event."
[2] These angels now said to the angel with the trumpet, "As you know, everyone who has longed for heaven and has had some particular opinion about the joys there, after death is introduced into the joys of his imagination. Then when he has experienced what those joys are like and found that they reflect empty theories or his own irrational fantasies, he is afterwards taken out of them and instructed. This happens with most in the world of spirits who in their former life thought about heaven and came to some conclusion respecting joys there to the point of longing for them."
Hearing this, the angel with the trumpet said to the six companies assembled from the wise of the Christian world, "Follow me and I will introduce you to your joys and so into heaven."
CL 5.
5. So saying, the angel led the way, accompanied first by the company of those who had persuaded themselves that heavenly joys consisted simply in delightful associations and enjoyable conversations. The angel introduced them to gatherings in the northern zone, comprised of people who in the former world had had the same idea of the joys of heaven. There was a huge house there, into which people like this were brought together. The house had more than fifty rooms, each devoted to a different topic of conversation.
In some of the rooms they were talking about things they had seen or heard in the public square and in the streets. In others they were saying various amiable things about the fair sex, interspersed with witty exchanges that kept increasing until the faces of all in the gathering expanded into merry laughter. In other rooms they were discussing news relating to the royal courts, their ministries, the political condition, and various matters emanating from the privy councils, with arguments and conjectures regarding the outcomes. In other rooms the subject was business. In others, scholarly matters. In others, concerns having to do with citizenship and moral living. In others, affairs having to do with the church and religious denominations. And so on.
It was granted me to look into the house, and I saw people running from room to room, looking for gatherings with their same affection and so in harmony with their joy. In the gatherings I also saw three kinds of people: some practically panting to speak, some anxious to ask questions, and some eager to listen.
[2] The house had four doors, one toward each of the four points of the compass, and I noticed that many were leaving their gatherings and hurrying to get out. Following several of these to the east door, I saw a number of them sitting beside it with downcast faces. I went over to them and asked why they were sitting there so sadly.
They answered, "The doors of this house are kept closed to anyone trying to leave. It is now the third day since we arrived, and having lived the life we longed for in socializing and conversation, we have grown tired of the constant talk, to the point that we can hardly bear to hear the murmur of sounds coming from it. So, out of weariness and boredom we made our way to this door and knocked. But we received the reply that the doors of this house are not opened for people wishing to leave, only for those wanting to enter. 'Stay and enjoy the joys of heaven!' we were told. From this response we concluded that we are to remain here to eternity. Our minds were filled with dejection at this, and now we are becoming oppressed at heart and taken with anxiety."
[3] The angel then spoke to them and said, "This state is the state in which your joys die, joys you believed to be the only heavenly joys, when in fact they are merely subsidiary adjuncts to heavenly joys."
So they asked the angel, "What, then, is heavenly joy?"
The angel answered, briefly, "It is the pleasure of doing something that is of use to oneself and to others, and the pleasure in being useful takes its essence from love and its expression from wisdom. The pleasure in being useful, springing from love through wisdom, is the life and soul of all heavenly joys.
[4] "Angels in heaven enjoy delightful associations which stimulate their minds, gladden their spirits, gratify their hearts, and recreate their bodies. But they enjoy these associations after they have performed useful services in their occupations and employments. The life and soul in all their delights and pleasures comes from the useful services they perform. If you take away that life or soul, however, the subsidiary joys gradually become no longer joys, but first matters of indifference, then stupid, and finally dreary and distressing."
With these words the door was opened, and the people sitting there leapt up and fled away home, each one to his occupation and employment, and so they were revitalized.
CL 6.
6. After this the angel spoke to the ones who had instilled in themselves the idea that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness would be dinners with Abram, Isaac and Jacob, followed by exhibitions and shows and more dining, and so on to eternity. And the angel said to them, "Follow me and I will introduce you to the felicities of your joys." He then led them through a grove of trees to a level clearing overlaid with wooden boards on which stood tables, fifteen on one side and fifteen on the other.
And they asked, "Why so many tables?"
The angel answered that the first table was Abram's, the second Isaac's, the third Jacob's, and the tables after these, in order, the tables of the twelve apostles. "And on the other side," he said, "are again as many tables belonging to their wives. The first three are the tables of Sarah, Abram's wife, of Rebekah, Isaac's wife, and of Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob. The remaining twelve are the tables of the wives of the twelve apostles."
[2] After some delay the tables all appeared filled with plates of food, with the spaces between them decorated with little pyramidal vessels containing condiments. Dinner guests were standing around the tables awaiting the appearance of the hosts of the tables. Following a short wait, the hosts appeared, entering in order of procession from Abram to the last of the apostles. And presently, going over to their tables, they each took a place on the couch at the head of the table. Then they said to the people standing about, "Recline here with us also." And the men reclined with the patriarchs and the women with the patriarchs' wives, and they ate and they drank in gladness and with veneration.
After the meal the patriarchs departed, and then the exhibitions began - the dances of young men and women, and afterwards shows.
When these came to an end, the guests were again invited to dine, but with the stipulation that those who on the first day ate with Abram, on the second would dine with Isaac, on the third with Jacob, on the fourth with Peter, on the fifth with James, on the sixth with John, on the seventh with Paul, and so on with the rest in order until the fifteenth day, whereupon they would change seats and begin the dinner parties again in the same sequence, and so on to eternity.
[3] At this point the angel called together the men of the company and said to them, "All these people that you saw at the tables had the same imaginary idea of the joys of heaven and consequent eternal happiness that you did. So in order that they may see the foolishness of their ideas and be weaned from them, dinner scenes like this have been instituted and have been permitted by the Divine-Human. The leaders you saw at the heads of the tables were actors playing old men, most of them from a backward people, who let their beards grow and developed a haughtiness over the rest on account of their possessing a certain wealth. A fantasy has been produced them that they are those patriarchs.
"But follow me to the paths leading out of this arena."
[4] So they followed, and they saw fifty people here and fifty there, people who had stuffed their bellies with food to the point of nausea, and who longed to return to the familiar settings of their homes, some to their professional duties, some to their businesses, and some to their employments. But the guards of the grove detained many of them and interrogated them about the days of their dining, as to whether they had eaten yet at the tables of Peter and Paul, telling them that if they were leaving before doing so, it would be to their disgrace, because it was impolite.
But most of them answered, "We have had enough of our joys. The food has become tasteless to us and our ability to taste has run dry. Our stomachs are sick of food. We cannot bear to taste it. Having dragged out several days and nights in this dissipation, we earnestly beg to be released."
And being released, with panting breath and hurried step they fled away home.
[5] Afterwards the angel called the men of the company and on the way explained to them the following things about heaven:
"In heaven they have food and drink just as in the world, also dinner parties and festive meals. And in the homes of the leading citizens there they have tables set with rich, choice and exquisite foods, which enliven and refresh their spirits. They also have exhibitions and shows, and instrumental and vocal musical performances, all in the highest perfection. Such things, too, they regard as joys, but not as happiness. Happiness must be in the joys in order to come from the joys. Happiness in the joys causes the joys to be joys. It enriches them and sustains them so that they do not become common and loathsome. This happiness everyone has from being useful in his occupation.
[6] "Latent in the affection of every angel's will is a certain inner tendency which draws the mind to accomplish something. By accomplishment the mind finds peace and satisfaction. This satisfaction and peace produce a state of mind receptive of a love of useful service from the Divine-Human. From the reception of this love comes heavenly happiness, which is the life in the joys just referred to.
"Heavenly food in its essence is nothing else than love, wisdom and useful service combined, that is, useful service accomplished through wisdom out of love. Consequently in heaven everyone is given food for the body in accordance with the useful service he performs - magnificent food in the case of those engaged in outstanding service, modest food but of excellent flavor and taste in the case of those in an intermediate degree of useful service, and humble food in the case of those in humble service, while the lazy receive none."
Cf. Matthew 8:11.CL 7.
7. After that the angel called to himself the company of the so-called wise who had placed heavenly joys, and because of them eternal happiness, in positions of great power, possessions of great riches, and so superregal magnificence and superglorious splendor, because it says in the Word that they will be kings and princes, that they will reign with Christ to eternity, and that the angels will minister to them, among other things.
The angel said to them, "Follow me and I will introduce you to your joys." And he led them to a gallery constructed out of columns and pyramidal piers. In front of it was a humble palace, through which the entrance to the gallery opened. The angel led them through the palace, and behold, they saw people waiting, twenty here and twenty there. Then suddenly an actor appeared, playing the part of an angel, who said to them, "The way to heaven lies through this gallery. Wait here a little while and prepare yourselves, because the older ones among you are going to become kings and the younger princes."
[2] At these words a throne appeared next to each column, with a silk robe upon the throne, and upon the robe a scepter and crown. And next to each pier appeared a chair of state raised three cubits from the ground, with a chain made of links of gold upon the chair and sashes of knighthood fastened at the ends with circlets of diamonds. Then the proclamation rang out, "Go now, dress yourselves, take your seats, and wait!"
And instantly the older ones ran to the thrones and the younger ones to the chairs of state, and they dressed themselves and took their seats.
But then a kind of mist appeared rising from below, which the people sitting upon the thrones and chairs of state breathed in, and because of it their faces began to swell and their chests to rise, and they became filled with confidence that they were now kings and princes. The mist was an aura of fantasy, with which they were infused.
And suddenly young men flew to their sides, as though from heaven, and they stood two behind each throne and one behind each chair of state, to serve in attendance on them. Then from time to time some herald would cry out, "You kings and princes, wait a little while longer. Your courts are now being prepared in heaven. Your courtiers will arrive presently with attendants to conduct you."
They waited and waited, until their spirits were panting and they grew weary with longing.
[3] After three hours heaven opened above their heads and angels looked down, and taking pity on them the angels said, "Why are you sitting there so foolishly and behaving like play-actors? They are playing games with you and have turned you from men into idols, because you have instilled in your hearts that you will reign with Christ as kings and princes and that angels will then minister to you. Have you forgotten the Divine-Human's words, that in heaven whoever desires to be great becomes a servant?
"Learn therefore what is meant by kings and princes and by reigning with Christ. It means to be wise and perform useful services. For the kingdom of Christ, namely, heaven, is a kingdom of useful services. The reason is that the Divine-Human loves all people and so wills good to all, and good means useful service. Now because the Divine-Human performs good or useful services indirectly through angels, and in the world through people, therefore to those who faithfully perform useful services He gives a love of being useful and its reward. The reward is internal blessedness, and this blessedness is eternal happiness.
[4] "Positions of great power and possessions of great riches exist in heaven as well as on earth, for they have governments and forms of government in heaven and so also greater and lesser positions of power and rank. Moreover, people who are in the highest positions have palaces and courts which surpass in magnificence and splendor the palaces and courts of emperors and kings on earth. And because of the number of their courtiers, ministers and attendants and the magnificent vestments in which these are appareled, they are surrounded with honor and glory.
"Yet the people in the highest positions are chosen from those whose heart is in the public welfare, and only their bodily senses in the grandeur of magnificence for the sake of being obeyed. And because it contributes to the public welfare for everyone to be of some useful service in society, as in a common body, and because all useful service comes from the Divine-Human and is rendered through angels and men as though from them, it is evident that this is what it is to reign with the Divine-Human."
When they heard these words from heaven, the people playing at being kings and princes descended from their thrones and chairs of state and threw away their scepters, crowns and robes. And the mist which contained the aura of fantasy receded from them, and a bright cloud enveloped them, which contained an aura of wisdom. So sanity returned to their minds.
See Revelation 1:6, 5:10. 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 5:10, 20:4,6, 22:5. See Hebrews 1:13,14. About four and a half feet. Matthew 20:26,27, 23:11, Mark 9:35, 10:43.CL 8.
8. After this the angel returned to the house where the wise from the Christian world were assembled, and he called to him those who had instilled in themselves the belief that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness were the delights of a paradise.
He said to them, "Follow me and I will introduce you to paradise, your heaven, so that you may start on the blessings of your eternal happiness." And he led them through a high gateway constructed out of the interwoven branches and boughs of stately trees. Beyond the entrance he led them around through winding paths from place to place.
It was, in fact, an actual paradise at the first entrance to heaven, to which people are admitted who in the world had believed that the whole of heaven is a single paradise, because it is called Paradise, and who had fixed in themselves the idea that after death they would find complete rest from their labors, rest that would consist solely in breathing in delightful essences, walking on rose petals, enjoying the delicate juices of grapes, and partaking of liquid refreshments at festive parties, a way of life they believed possible only in a heavenly paradise.
[2] Led by the angel they saw an immense number of people - of men, old and young, and boys, and also women and girls. Some of them were sitting by beds of roses, in groups of three and groups of ten, weaving garlands with which to adorn the heads of the older men, the arms of the youths, and - as though with sashes - the breasts of the boys. Other groups were picking fruits from the trees and carrying them in baskets to their companions. Others were pressing the juice from grapes, cherries and berries into cups and good-naturedly drinking. Others were breathing in and smelling the wafting aromas given off by the flowers, fruits and fragrant leaves. Others were singing sweet songs with which they delighted the ears of those present. Others were sitting at fountains and spraying the jets of water into various patterns. Others were walking, talking and exchanging pleasantries. Others were running, playing, and dancing, sometimes in sets, and sometimes in circles. Others were going into garden houses to lie down on the couches. And so on with other pleasures suitable to a paradise.
[3] After they had viewed these scenes, the angel led his companions along by-paths here and there, and finally to some people sitting in a beautiful rose garden surrounded by olive trees, orange trees, and citrons. Rocking back and forth, they sat with their cheeks in their hands, grieving and weeping. The companions of the angel spoke to them and said, "Why are you sitting here like this?"
And they replied, "It is now the seventh day since we came into this paradise. When we arrived it seemed as though our minds had been raised into heaven and admitted into the inmost blessings of its joys. But after three days these blessings began to grow dull and vanish in our minds, becoming no longer perceptible and so no longer blessings. And when our imagined joys thus died, we became afraid of losing all delight in our lives, and we started to doubt whether there is any eternal happiness.
"Moreover, we then wandered about through the paths and areas to look for the gate through which we entered. But we went around and around in circles. When we asked the people we met, some of them said the gate is never found, because this garden paradise is an immense maze, of the sort that if anyone tries to leave, he goes in deeper. 'Consequently you have no choice but to remain here to eternity,' we were told. 'You are at the center of the paradise, where all its delights are at their focus.'"
And they said further to the companions of the angel, "We have been sitting here now for a day and a half. And because we have lost hope of finding the way out, we have set ourselves down by this rose garden, and we look about us at the abundance of olive trees, grapes, oranges, and citrons. But the more we look at them, the wearier our eyes grow of seeing them, our noses of smelling them, and our mouths of tasting them. This is the reason for the sorrow, grief and tears in which you see us."
[4] On hearing this, the angel with the company said to them, "This maze or paradise actually is an entrance into heaven. I know the way out and will take you."
At that, the people sitting there got up and embraced the angel, and went with him along with his company. And on the way the angel explained to them what heavenly joy and so eternal happiness are, saying that they are not the outward delights of a paradise unless they include at the same time the inward delights of a paradise.
"The outward delights of a paradise," he said, "are only delights of the physical senses, while the inward delights of a paradise are delights of the affections of the soul. Unless the inward delights are in the outward, there is no heavenly life, because the soul is not in them, and every delight without its corresponding soul at once grows weak and dull, wearying the mind more than labor. Garden paradises exist everywhere in the heavens, and they are also sources of joy to the angels, but the joys are joys to the angels to the degree that a delight of the soul is in them."
[5] When they heard this, they all asked, "What is a delight of the soul, and where does it come from?"
The angel answered, "Delight of the soul comes from love and wisdom from the Divine-Human. And because love is creative of effects, and is effective through wisdom, therefore the abode of both love and wisdom is in the effect, and the effect is useful service. This delight flows from the Divine-Human into the soul, and it descends through the higher and lower regions of the mind into all the senses of the body and fulfills itself in them. Joy becomes joy from this, and it becomes eternal from Him who is its eternal source.
"You have seen what paradise holds, but I assure you that there is not one thing there, not even a tiny leaf, that does not originate from a marriage of love and wisdom in useful service. Consequently if a person is in this marriage, he is in a heavenly paradise, thus in heaven."
Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 12:2-4.CL 9.
9. After that the angel guide returned to the hall, to the ones who had firmly persuaded themselves that heavenly joy and eternal happiness are a continual glorifying of God and a religious celebration lasting to eternity, because in the world they had believed that then they would see God, and because the life of heaven is called a perpetual Sabbath on account of its worship of God.
To them the angel said, "Follow me and I will introduce you to your joy." And he led them to a small city, in the middle of which was a temple, and all the houses were called sacred halls.
In that city they saw a flood of people from every corner of the surrounding land, and among them a number of priests. The priests met and greeted the people as they arrived and, taking them by the hand, led them to the doors of the temple and from there to some of the buildings around the temple. Then they introduced them into a never-ending worship of God, saying that this city was a forecourt to heaven, and that the temple of the city was an introduction to the magnificent and grand temple existing in heaven, where God is glorified by the angels with prayers and praises to eternity.
"The rules," they said, "both here and there, are that people must first enter the temple and stay there three days and three nights. Then after that initiation they must go into the houses of the city (all of them sacred halls that we have sanctified), and passing from building to building, in communion with the congregations there they must pray, cry out, and deliver sermons.
"Above all," they said, "be careful that you do not think to yourselves or say to your companions anything that is not reverent, pious and religious."
[2] Afterwards the angel led his company into the temple. It was packed full of people, many of whom had been in high position in the world, and also many who had been of the common people. Moreover, guards had been stationed at the doors to prevent anyone from leaving before his three days were up.
Then the angel said, "Today is the second day since these people came in. Look at them and you will see their glorifying of God."
So they looked, and they saw most of the people sleeping, and the ones who were awake kept yawning and yawning. Furthermore, because of the continual elevation of their thoughts to God without returning again back down into the body, some of them appeared to have faces separated from their bodies, for that is how they seemed to themselves, and so that is how they appeared to others as well. Some looked wild-eyed from constantly averting their gaze.
In short, they all looked oppressed at heart and weary in spirit with boredom, and turning away from the pulpit they began crying, "Our ears are growing numb! Put an end to your sermons! No one is listening to a word any more, and the very sound is becoming detestable."
And then they got up and rushed en masse to the doors, broke them open, and pressing upon the guards drove them away.
[3] Seeing this, the priests followed them and attached themselves to their sides, preaching and teaching, praying, sighing, and saying, "Join in the religious celebration! Glorify God! Sanctify yourselves! In this forecourt of heaven we will prepare you for the eternal glorifying of God in the magnificent and grand temple which is in heaven, that you may enter the enjoyment of eternal happiness."
But the people did not understand and scarcely even heard what the priests were saying, owing to their numbness from having their minds suspended for two days and from being withheld from their domestic and occupational concerns.
When they tried to pull away from the priests, however, the priests took hold of their arms and also their garments, urging them to the halls where the sermons were to be delivered. But in vain. And the people began crying out, "Leave us alone. Our bodies feel as though we are about to faint!"
[4] At these words, behold, four men appeared in bright white clothing and wearing miters. One of them had been an archbishop in the world, and the other three, bishops. Now they had become angels.
They called together the priests and addressing them said, "From heaven we have seen you with your flock and how you feed them. You feed them to insanity! You do not know what is meant by glorifying God. It means to bring forth the fruits of love, that is, to perform the work of one's occupation faithfully, honestly, and diligently. For this is the effect of love of God and love of the neighbor, and it is what binds society together and makes its goodness. It is by this that God is glorified, and afterwards by worship at prescribed times. Have you not read these words of the Divine-Human:
By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples. (John 15:8)
[5] "You priests can go on glorifying in worship because it is your profession, and from it you have honor, glory and remuneration. But even you could not go on glorifying like that any more than they if honor, glory and remuneration did not come with your office."
So saying, the bishops ordered the keepers of the doors to let everyone pass in and out. "For," they said, "there is a host of people who have been unable to imagine any other heavenly joy than everlasting worship of God, because they have known nothing about the state of heaven."
CL 10.
10. After this the angel returned with his companions to the place of assembly, which the companies of the wise had not yet left, and there he called to him the ones who believed that heavenly joy and eternal happiness are simply admission into heaven, and admission by Divine grace, thinking that then they would have joy, as people do in the world who are admitted into the courts of kings on days of celebration or who are admitted by invitation to the celebration of a wedding.
To them the angel said, "Wait here a while, and I will sound my trumpet, and some distinguished people will come to this hall who are renowned for their wisdom in spiritual matters connected with the church."
Several hours later nine men appeared, each wreathed with laurel as a mark of his reputation. The angel led them into the hall of assembly, where all those previously called together were waiting.
Addressing the nine laureates in their presence, the angel said, "I know that in answer to your prayer in accordance with your belief, it was granted you to ascend into heaven, and that you have returned to this lower or subcelestial land with full knowledge regarding the state of heaven. Tell us, therefore, what heaven seemed like to you."
[2] Then they replied in turn, and the first of them said, "From earliest childhood to the end of my life in the world my idea of heaven had been that it was a place of all blessings, felicities, delights, gratifications, and pleasures. And I thought that if I should be allowed in, I would be surrounded with an atmosphere of enjoyments of this sort and would drink them in with full breast, like a bridegroom when he celebrates his wedding and enters the marriage chamber with his bride.
"With this idea I ascended into heaven, and I passed the first sentries and also the second, but when I came to the third, the captain of the guard spoke to me and said, 'Who are you, friend?'
"So I replied, 'Is this heaven? I have longed and prayed for it and therefore I have come up here. Please let me in.' And he let me in.
"And I saw angels in white garments. And surrounding me and looking me over, and they began to murmur, 'Look, a new visitor not dressed in a garment of heaven.'
"Hearing this, I thought to myself, 'It appears I am in a similar situation as the one who the Divine-Human says went to a wedding without a wedding garment.' So I said, 'Give me such garments.'
"But they laughed. And then one of them came running from the court with the order, 'Strip him naked, throw him out, and throw his clothes out after him.' And so I was thrown out."
[3] The second of the laureates in turn said, "I believed as he did, that if I should only be let into heaven (heaven being above my head), I would be surrounded with joys and breathe them in to eternity. I, too, got my wish. But when the angels saw me, they fled away, and they said to each other, 'What monstrosity is this? How did this bird of the night get here?'
"And I actually felt a change in myself from being human, even though I was not changed. It was an effect I experienced from breathing in the heavenly atmosphere.
"But presently one of them came running from the court with an order for two servants to lead me away and take me back by the way I had ascended till I reached my home. And once I was home I appeared to myself and others as a human being."
[4] The third laureate said, "I constantly thought of heaven in terms of a place and not in terms of love. Therefore when I arrived in this world, I longed for heaven with a great longing. And seeing others ascending, I followed them and was let in, though no more than a few paces.
"But when I went to enjoy myself in accordance with my idea of the joys and blessings there, the light of heaven (which was as white as snow and whose essence is said to be wisdom) caused a numbness to seize my mind and then darkness my eyes, and I began to lose my reason. And shortly the heat of heaven (which matched in intensity the brightness of its light and whose essence is said to be love) caused my heart to pound, and I was seized with anxiety, and being tormented by an inward pain, I threw myself flat on my back on the ground.
"Then as I lay there, an attendant came from the court with an order for them to carry me down slowly into my own light and heat, on reaching which, my spirit and my heart were restored to me."
[5] The fourth laureate said that he, too, had thought of heaven in terms of a place and not in terms of love. "And as soon as I arrived in the spiritual world," he said, "I asked the wise whether I might be allowed to ascend into heaven. They told me that everyone is allowed to, but people should beware of being cast down.
"I laughed at this and ascended, believing as others do that all in the entire world are capable of receiving the joys there in their fullness.
"But in fact, once I was in, I almost died, and from pain and then torment in head and body, I flung myself to the ground, and writhing like a snake held next to a fire, I wriggled along to a precipice and threw myself over the edge.
"Afterwards I was taken up by some bystanders below and carried to an inn, where I was restored to health."
[6] The five remaining laureates also told surprising tales about their attempts to ascend into heaven. And they likened the changes they experienced in the state of their lives to the state of fish lifted out of the water into the air, and to the state of birds in outer space.
They said further that after those harsh experiences they no longer yearned for heaven, but only for a life shared in common with people like themselves, wherever they may be. Moreover, they know that in the world of spirits, "where we are now," they said, all are first prepared, the good for heaven and the evil for hell, and that when they have been prepared, they see paths opened to them leading to societies of people like themselves, with whom they will remain to eternity; and that they then enter upon these paths with delight, because they lead in the direction of their love.
Hearing these accounts, the people who had been called together originally all confessed as well that the only idea they, too, had had of heaven was an idea of some place, where with open mouth they would drink their fill of the surrounding joys to eternity.
[7] Afterwards the angel with the trumpet said to them, "You see now that the joys of heaven and eternal happiness do not have to do with location, but with the state of a person's life. The state of heavenly life comes from love and wisdom. And because useful service is the containing vessel of both love and wisdom, the state of heavenly life comes from a combination of these two in useful service.
"It is the same if we use the terms charity, faith, and good work, since charity is love, faith is truth that results in wisdom, and good work is useful service.
"Furthermore, in our spiritual world we have locations just as in the natural world. Otherwise we would not have dwellings and separate places to stay. Still a location there is not a place, but it is an appearance of place according to some state of love and wisdom or of charity and faith.
[8] "Everyone who becomes an angel carries his own heaven within him, because he carries the love that belongs to his heaven. For man from creation is a little effigy, image and replica of the larger heaven. The human form is nothing else. Therefore everyone comes into a society of heaven of which he is a form in individual effigy. Consequently when he comes into that society, he enters into a form corresponding to himself, thus passing as if out of himself into that larger self, and entering as if from that larger self into the same self within him, so that he draws its life as his own, and his own life as life belonging to it.
"Every society is like a whole unit, and the angels in it like similar parts out of which the whole is formed.
"From this it now follows that people who are caught up in evils and their resulting falsities have formed in themselves an effigy of hell, and this effigy suffers torment in heaven as a result of the activity flowing in and the violent action of opposite upon opposite. For hellish love is opposed to heavenly love, and consequently the delights of the two loves clash with each other like enemies and destroy each other when they meet."
Matthew 22:11,12. Cf. Matthew 22:13.CL 11.
11. Following these events, a voice was heard out of heaven saying to the angel with the trumpet, "Choose ten of all the people assembled and bring them to us. We have heard from the Divine-Human that He will prepare them so that the heat and light, or love and wisdom, of our heaven will not do them any harm for three days."
So the angel chose ten, and they followed him. And they ascended by a steep path to a certain hilltop, and from there to a mountaintop, on which those angels had their heaven, which before had appeared to them in the distance like an expanse in the clouds. The gates were also opened for them, and after they passed the third of these, the angel guide hurried to the prince of that society or heaven and reported their arrival.
And the prince replied, "Take some of my attendants and report to the visitors that I welcome their arrival, and bring them to my outer hall and assign each of them his apartment with his bedroom. Take some of my courtiers and servants, too, to wait on them and serve them at their bidding."
And so it was done.
However, when the angel brought them to the outer hall, they asked whether they might go and see the prince, and the angel answered, "It is now morning and visits are not allowed before noon. Till then they are all engaged in their official duties and employments. But you are invited to the midday luncheon, and then you will sit down to dine with our prince. Meanwhile, I will take you into the palace, where you will see magnificent and splendid things."
CL 12.
12. As they were being taken to the palace, they first viewed it from the outside. It was large, built out of porphyry, with a foundation of jasper, and in front of the entrance there were six tall columns of lapis lazuli. Its roof was covered with sheets of gold. Its high windows were made of the clearest crystal, and their frames were also of gold.
After this they were ushered into the palace and taken around from room to room, and they saw ornaments of indescribable beauty, with carvings beyond imitation decorating the ceilings. Positioned along the walls they saw tables of silver mixed with gold, and on them various utensils made of precious stones and of whole gems in heavenly forms. They also saw many other things which no eye on earth had ever seen, and consequently no one could ever have persuaded himself to believe that such things exist in heaven.
[2] As they stood in amazement at these magnificent sights, the angel said, "Do not marvel. The wonders you see were not made or crafted by the hand of any angel, but were fashioned by the Maker of the Universe and given as a gift to our prince. Therefore architectural art exists here in its quintessential form, and from it come all the rules of the same art in the world."
The angel said further, "You may suppose that wonders like these enchant our eyes and captivate them to the point that we believe them to be the joys of our heaven. But since our hearts do not lie in them, they are only subsidiary adjuncts to the joys of our hearts. As a result, to the extent that we view them as subsidiary adjuncts, and as works of God, to that extent we view in them the Divine omnipotence and benevolence."
CL 13.
13. After that the angel said to them, "It is not yet noon. Come with me to our prince's garden, adjacent to this palace."
So they went, and at the entrance he said, "Look, the most magnificent garden in this heavenly society!"
But they replied, "What do you mean? This is not a garden. We see only one tree, with what appear to be fruits of gold on its branches and at the top, and what seem to be leaves of silver, whose edges are adorned with emeralds. And under the tree we see children with their nursemaids."
At this the angel said with inspired voice, "This tree is in the middle of the garden. We call it the tree of our heaven, and some call it the tree of life. But go, get closer, and your eyes will be opened and you will see the garden."
So they did so. And their eyes were opened, and they saw trees loaded with flavorful fruits and covered with leafy vines, the tops of which swayed with their fruits towards the tree of life in the center.
[2] These trees had been planted in a continuous series which went out and around in perpetual circles or rings, in a seemingly endless spiral. It was a perfect spiral of trees, with one species following another in unbroken succession in the order of the excellence of their fruits. The beginning of the spiral started at a considerable distance from the tree in the middle, and the intervening space was lit up by a sparkling stream of light, which caused the trees in the spiral to shine with a successive and continued radiance from the first to the last of them.
The first trees were the most excellent of them all, abounding with rich fruits, and called trees of paradise, which the visitors had never seen because these trees do not and cannot exist in the lands of the natural world. After them came trees whose fruits are used in the production of oil. Next, trees whose fruits are used in making wine. Then trees marked by their fragrance. And finally timber trees whose wood is used in construction.
Here and there in this spiral or circular course of trees were places to sit, formed by the trained and interwoven branches of the trees behind them, and loaded and adorned with their fruits. This unending circle of trees had openings which led out into flower gardens, and from these to lawns, divided into areas and beds.
[3] Seeing all this, the companions of the angel exclaimed, "Look, a model of heaven! Wherever we turn the gaze of our eyes, some sight of a heavenly paradise comes flooding in that is beyond description!"
On hearing this the angel rejoiced and said, "All the gardens of our heaven are, in their origin, representative forms or images of heavenly blessings. And because your minds were elevated by the flowing in of these blessings, you cried out, 'Look, a model of heaven!' But people who do not receive that influx see these sights of paradise simply as woodsy scenes. Moreover, all people receive the influx who are motivated by a love of being useful. But people who are motivated by a love of glory, and this not for the sake of any useful purpose, do not receive it."
Afterwards the angel explained to them and taught them what each thing in the garden represented and symbolized.
CL 14.
14. While they were thus engaged, a messenger arrived from the prince, who invited them to break bread with him. And at the same time two attendants of the court brought linen garments and said, "Put these on, because no one is allowed at the table of the prince without being dressed in the garments of heaven."
So they girded themselves and accompanied their angel, and they were led into a cloister, the enclosed courtyard of the palace, where they waited for the prince. And the angel introduced them there into gatherings that included dignitaries and officials who were also awaiting the prince.
Then behold, a short while later the doors were opened, and through one broader doorway on the west side they saw the prince entering in the line of a grand procession. Preceding him were the privy councillors. After these came the cabinet councillors, and behind them the principal officials of the court. In the middle of them was the prince, followed by courtiers of various distinction and finally attendants. All told, they numbered up to one hundred and twenty persons.
[2] Standing before the ten newcomers (who by their dress then looked like residents), the angel went with them to the prince and respectfully presented them. And the prince without pausing in the procession said to them, "Come take bread with me."
So they followed into the dining hall, where they saw a table magnificently set. In the center of the table they saw a high pyramid of gold with a hundred saucers in three rows upon its tiers, containing cakes and wine jellies, along with other delicacies made from cake and wine. And up through the middle of the pyramid gushed what appeared to be a spurting fountain of nectarlike wine, whose stream sprayed out from the top of the pyramid and filled the goblets.
Around the sides of this high pyramid were various heavenly forms of gold, holding plates and dishes filled with all sorts of foods. The heavenly forms holding the plates and dishes were forms of art arising from wisdom, forms which in the world cannot be depicted in any field of art or described in words. The plates and dishes were made of silver, engraved all around their surface with forms like the forms on which they rested. The goblets were made of translucent gems.
That was how the table was set.
CL 15.
15. The dress of the prince and his ministers, moreover, was as follows. The prince wore a full-length purple robe decorated with embroidered silver-colored stars. Under the robe he had on a blue tunic of shiny silk. It was open around the chest, revealing the front part of a kind of cummerbund bearing the emblem of his society. The emblem was an eagle brooding over her young at the top of a tree. It was made of gleaming gold bordered with diamonds.
The privy councillors were dressed in almost the same manner, but without the emblem. Instead of the emblem they had carved sapphires hanging from the neck by a golden chain. The courtiers were in gowns of a light brown color, inwoven with flowers surrounding young eaglets. Their tunics underneath were of silk having an opalescent color. So, too, were their breeches and stockings.
That was what their dress was like.
CL 16.
16. The privy councillors, cabinet councillors and officials were standing around the table, and at the bidding of the prince they folded their hands and murmured together a prayer of praise to the Divine-Human. After this at a sign from the prince they took their places on the couches at the table. Then the prince said to the ten visitors, "Recline here with me also. See, there are your seats."
So they reclined, and the courtiers previously sent by the prince to wait on them stood in attendance behind them.
Then the prince said to them, "Take a plate, each of you, from its serving ring and afterwards a saucer from the pyramid."
So they did so, and behold, immediately new plates and saucers appeared, taking the place of the ones they removed. And their goblets were kept filled with wine by the fountain spurting from the great pyramid. So they ate and they drank.
[2] Halfway through the meal, the prince spoke to the ten guests and said, "I have heard that you were called together in the land which is below this heaven, to reveal your thoughts about the joys of heaven and so eternal happiness, and that you presented divergent views, each according to the delights of his physical senses.
"But what are delights of the physical senses apart from delights of the soul? It is the soul that makes them delightful.
"Delights of the soul in themselves are imperceptible states of bliss, but they become more and more perceptible as they descend into the thoughts of the mind and from these into the sensations of the body. In the thoughts of the mind they are perceived as states of happiness, in the sensations of the body as delights, and in the body itself as pleasures.
"Eternal happiness results from all these combined. But happiness resulting from the latter delights and pleasures alone is not eternal but temporary. It comes to an end and passes away, and sometimes turns into unhappiness.
"You have now seen that all your joys are also joys of heaven, joys more excellent than you ever could have imagined. But even so, they still do not affect our minds inwardly.
[3] "There are three things which flow as one from the Divine-Human into our souls. These three things together, or this trinity, are love, wisdom, and usefulness. Love and wisdom, however, do not occur by themselves except in imagination, because by themselves they exist only in the affection and thought of the mind. In useful service, on the other hand, they exist in actuality, because they exist at the same time in the action and activity of the body. And where they exist actually, there they also remain.
"Now because love and wisdom exist and endure in useful service, it is useful service that affects us, and useful service is to carry out the duties of one's occupation faithfully, honestly and diligently.
"The love of being useful, and its consequent application in useful service, keeps the mind from being dissipated and wandering, and from taking in all sorts of seductions which pour in alluringly through the senses from the body and from the world. As a result of these seductions, the truths of religion and the truths of morality are scattered with their goodness to the four winds. In contrast, application of the mind in useful service holds these truths and anchors them, and orders the mind into a form receptive of wisdom as a consequence of them. Moreover, the mind then thrusts aside the shams and pretenses of both falsities and illusions.
"But you will hear more about this from some of the wise of our society, whom I will send to you this afternoon."
So saying, the prince arose, followed by his companions, and he bade them farewell, having told their angel guide to take them back to their apartments and to show them all the considerations of courtesy. He also told the angel to call urbane and affable men as well, to entertain them with conversation about the various joys of that society.
CL 17.
17. When they got back to their apartments, it happened as arranged, and men summoned from the city arrived to entertain them with conversation about the various joys of the society. After an exchange of greetings, they went walking, and the men made polite conversation with them. But their angel guide said that the ten visitors had been invited into that heaven to see its joys and so gain a new idea of eternal happiness.
"Tell them, therefore, something about its joys," he said, "the joys that affect the physical senses. Later some men of wisdom will come to explain some of the things that make those joys pleasing and delightful."
Heeding the angel, the men summoned from the city told them the following:
(1) "We have days of celebration here, proclaimed by the prince, to relax people's spirits from the fatigue that the drive to excel may have produced in some of them. These days are accompanied by instrumental and choral musical performances in the public squares, and by athletic and theatrical performances outside the city.
"Bandstands are erected in the public squares on such occasions, surrounded by latticework woven out of vines, with clusters of grapes hanging from them. The musicians sit inside in three tiers, with stringed and wind instruments, both high-voiced and low, shrill-voiced and mellow. On either side of them are singers, male and female, and they entertain the citizens with delightful exultation and singing, in concert and solo, varying the type of music periodically. On these days of celebration, such performances last from morning to noon, and after noon till evening."
[2] (2) "In addition, every morning we hear the most charming singing of young women and girls coming from the houses around the public squares, filling the whole city with its sound. Each morning they express some particular affection of spiritual love in song, which is to say that they express it in sound by the variations or modulations of the singing voice, and the affection is perceived in the singing as though the singing were the affection itself. The sound infuses itself into the souls of its hearers and stirs them to a corresponding state. Such is the nature of heavenly song.
"The singers say that the sound of their singing seems to be inspired and to take life on its own from within, and by itself to rise delightfully in quality, according to the reception of it by its hearers.
"When the singing comes to an end, the windows are closed in the houses on the square and at the same time in the houses along the streets, and the doors are shut, too, and then the whole city falls silent. Not a sound is heard anywhere, nor is anyone seen wandering about. All are then ready to carry on the duties of their appointed tasks."
[3] (3) "Around noon, however, the doors are opened, and here and there in the afternoon the windows, too, and boys and girls are seen playing games in the streets, under the supervision of their nursemaids and teachers sitting on the porches of the houses."
[4] (4) "On the edges of the city, in its outskirts, various activities go on for boys and adolescent youths. There are running games, ball games, and games with rebounding balls, called rackets. Competitive exercises are held among the boys to show who is quicker and who is slower in speaking, acting and comprehending. And the quicker ones receive several laurel leaves as a prize. There are also many other activities which serve to encourage the latent abilities in boys."
[5] (5) "Moreover, outside the city theatrical performances are put on by comic actors on stages, who portray the various honorable qualities and virtues of moral life, with dramatic actors among them also to provide points of comparison."
At that, one of the ten visitors asked, "What do you mean, 'to provide points of comparison'?"
And the men answered, "No virtue with its honorable and becoming qualities can be presented convincingly except through relative comparisons of those qualities, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The dramatic actors portray the least of those qualities even to the point that they become non-existent. But it has been prescribed by law that they may not exhibit anything of the opposite that is called dishonorable and unbecoming, except symbolically and, so to speak, from a distance.
"The reason it has been so prescribed by law is that no honorable or good quality of any virtue ever passes through diminishing stages to the point of becoming dishonorable and bad, but only to the point of becoming so very little that it dies, and when it dies, then the opposite begins. That is why heaven, where all things are honorable and good, has nothing in common with hell, where all things are dishonorable and bad."
CL 18.
18. While they were speaking, a servant ran up and announced that eight men of wisdom were there by order of the prince and were waiting to enter. Hearing this, the angel went out and welcomed them and brought them in. Then after a brief exchange of the customary courtesies of greeting, the men of wisdom first spoke with them about the initial and developmental stages of wisdom, including various remarks on the way it progresses, saying that wisdom in the case of angels never comes to an end and stops, but grows and increases to eternity.
Listening to the discussion, the angel with the company said to the men, "At luncheon our prince talked to them about the abode of wisdom, saying that it lies in useful service. Speak to them, if you please, about this as well."
So they said, "When human beings were first created, they were imbued with wisdom and a love of wisdom, not for their own sake, but for the sake of their having it to share with others. Therefore it was engraved on the wisdom of the wise that no one should be wise and live for himself alone, unless he was wise and lived at the same time for others. This was the origin of society, which otherwise would not exist. To live for others is to perform useful services. Useful services are the bonds of society, there being as many bonds as there are good and useful services, and useful services are unlimited in number.
"Useful services are spiritual when they have to do with love toward God and love for the neighbor. They are moral and civic services when they have to do with love for the society or civil state in which a person resides, and with love of the companions and fellow citizens with whom he is associated. Useful services are natural when they have to do with love of the world and its necessities. And they are corporeal when they have to do with the love of self-preservation for the sake of higher uses.
[2] "All these capacities for being useful are engraved on the human spirit, and they follow in sequence, one after another, and when they are combined, one exists within another.
"People who concern themselves with the first useful services, which are spiritual, also concern themselves with the ones that follow, and these people are wise. People who do not concern themselves with the first useful services, however, and yet concern themselves with the second kind and those that follow after, are not so wise, but only appear as if they were on account of their outward morality and civic-mindedness.
"People who are not concerned with the first and second types of useful service, but with the third and fourth kinds, are hardly wise at all, for they are followers of Satan, in that they love only the world, and themselves for worldly ends; while people who concern themselves only with useful services of the fourth kind are the least wise of all, being devils, because they live for themselves alone, and if they do anything for others, it is merely for the sake of themselves.
[3] "Furthermore, every love has its own delight, for love lives through delight, and the delight of the love of performing useful services is heavenly delight, which descends into the succeeding delights in turn and in the order of its descent ennobles them and makes them eternal."
Afterwards the men recounted some of the heavenly delights resulting from the love of being useful, saying that there are millions of them and that people enter into those delights who enter into heaven. And speaking further about the love of being useful, they drew out the day with them with wise discussions until evening.
CL 19.
19. Around evening, however, a runner dressed in linen came looking for the ten visitors accompanying the angel and invited them to a wedding to be celebrated the following day. And the visitors greatly rejoiced that they would also see a wedding in heaven.
After this they were taken to one of the privy councillors and they dined with him. Then after dinner they came back, and taking their departure from each other, they separated, each to his own bedroom, where they slept till morning.
On waking in the morning, they then heard the singing of young women and girls coming from the houses around the public square, as previously described. The affection expressed in the singing that morning was one of conjugial love. Being deeply affected and moved by the sweetness of it, they began to perceive a pleasant sense of bliss being implanted in their feelings of joy, which elevated those feelings and gave them a new quality.
When it was time, the angel said, "Get yourselves ready and put on the garments of heaven which our prince sent to you before."
So they dressed, and suddenly their garments began to shine as if with a flaming light. And they asked the angel, "Why is this happening?"
The angel replied, "It is because you are going to a wedding. It happens with us that on such occasions our garments shine and they become wedding garments."
CL 20.
20. Afterwards the angel took them to the house where the wedding was to take place, and a doorman opened the doors for them. Then shortly, inside the doorway, they were welcomed and greeted by an angel sent by the bridegroom, and they were taken in and escorted to seats reserved for them. Presently, then, they were invited into an anteroom outside the marriage chamber, where they saw a table in the center. On the table stood a magnificent candelabrum with seven branches and cups of gold. Over on the walls hung lampholders of silver, which, once lit, caused the surroundings to appear as though golden. And to the sides of the candelabrum they saw two tables holding cakes placed in three rows, and in the four corners of the room, tables set with crystal goblets.
[2] While they were looking at these things, suddenly a door opened from a room next to the bridal chamber, and they saw six young women coming out, and behind them the bridegroom and bride, holding each other by the hand and escorting each other to a seat of honor. The seat was placed facing the candelabrum, and they took their places on it, the bridegroom on the left side of the bride, and the bride on his right. And the six young women stood to the side of the seat, next to the bride.
The bridegroom was dressed in a glistening purple robe and a tunic of shining linen, with an ephod bearing a gold plaque studded around the edges with diamonds. Engraved on the plaque was a young eaglet, the wedding emblem of that society of heaven. And on his head the bridegroom wore a turban.
The bride, moreover, was dressed in a scarlet mantle, and under it an embroidered gown, extending from her neck to her feet, and about the waist she wore a golden cummerbund, and on her head a crown of gold studded with rubies.
[3] When they were thus seated together, the bridegroom turned to the bride and placed a gold ring on her finger, and taking out bracelets and a necklace of pearls, he fastened the bracelets on her wrists and the necklace around her neck. Then he said, "Accept these tokens." And when she accepted them, he kissed her and said, "Now you are mine," and he called her his wife.
This done, the guests cried out, "May there be a blessing!" They each called this out individually, and then all together. One sent by the prince in the prince's stead also called out. And at that moment the room was filled with an aromatic smoke, which was the sign of a blessing from heaven.
Then servants in attendance took cakes from the two tables next to the candelabrum, and goblets, now filled with wine, from the tables in the four corners of the room, and they gave each guest a piece of cake and a goblet, and they ate and they drank.
Later the husband and his wife arose, followed to the doorway by the six young women carrying silver lamps, which were now lit. And the married couple entered the marriage chamber, and the door was closed.
CL 21.
21. Afterwards the angel guide spoke with the guests regarding his ten companions, saying that he had brought them in by command and had shown them the magnificence of the prince's palace with the wonders it contained, and that they had dined at luncheon with the prince. He said, too, that they had subsequently spoken with some of the wise men of the society, and he asked the guests if they would permit the visitors to engage in some conversation with them as well.
So they came and spoke with them. And one of the wise among the men at the wedding said, "Do you understand the meanings of the things you have seen?"
They said, a little. And then they asked him why the bridegroom - now the husband - was dressed as he was.
The wise man replied that the bridegroom - now the husband - represented the Divine-Human, and the bride - now the wife - represented the church, because weddings in heaven represent a marriage of the Divine-Human with the church.
"That is why the groom had a turban on his head," the wise man said, "and why he was dressed in a robe, tunic and ephod like Aaron. And that is why the bride - now the wife - wore a crown on her head and was dressed in a mantle like a queen. Tomorrow, however, they will be dressed differently, because this representation lasts only this one day."
[2] Again the visitors asked, "If the groom represented the Divine-Human and the bride the church, why did she sit on his right side?"
The wise man answered, "It is because a marriage of the Divine-Human and the church is formed by two things, namely, love and wisdom, the Divine-Human being the love and the church being the wisdom, and wisdom sits on the right hand of love. For a person of the church becomes wise as though on his own, and as he becomes wise, he receives love from the Divine-Human. The right hand also symbolizes power, and love has power through wisdom.
"But as I said, after the wedding the representation changes, for then the husband represents wisdom and the wife represents love of that wisdom. This love, however, is not the first love referred to before, but a secondary love which the wife has from the Divine-Human through the wisdom of her husband. The Divine-Human's love, which is the first love, is the love in the husband of becoming wise. Consequently, after the wedding the two together, the husband and his wife, represent the church."
[3] The visitors further asked, "Why did you men not stand beside the bridegroom - now the husband - as the six bridesmaids stood beside the bride - now the wife?"
The wise man answered, "The reason is that on this day we are counted among the maidens, and the number six symbolizes all people and completeness."
But they said, "What do you mean?"
He replied, "Maidens symbolize the church, and the church is made up of both sexes. Therefore we, too, are maidens in terms of the church. That this is so appears from these words in the book of Revelation:
These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins and follow the Lamb wherever He goes. (Revelation 14:4)
"Moreover, because maidens symbolize the church, therefore the Divine-Human likened the church to ten virgins invited to a wedding (Matthew 25:1ff.). And because the church is symbolized by Israel, Zion and Jerusalem, therefore the Word so often refers to the 'virgin' and 'daughter' of Israel, of Zion and of Jerusalem. The Divine-Human also describes His marriage with the church by these words in the Psalms of David:
At your right hand, the queen in the fine gold of Ophir..., her clothing of inweavings of gold, she shall be brought to the King in garments of needlework, the virgins after her, her companions..., they shall come into the palace of the King. (Psalms 45:9-15)"
[4] Afterwards the visitors asked, "Is it not proper for a priest to be present and officiate in these ceremonies?"
The wise man answered, "It is proper on earth, but not in heaven because of the couple's representing the Divine-Human and the church. People on earth do not know this. But among us a priest still performs betrothals and hears, receives, confirms and consecrates the consent. The consent is the essential element in marriage, and the rest of the things that follow are its formalities."
CL 22.
22. After this the angel guide went over to the six bridesmaids and told them as well about his companions, and he asked them to grace the visitors with their company. So they started to approach, but when they drew near, they suddenly turned back and went into the women's quarters where their friends, young women like them, were.
Seeing this, the angel guide followed them and asked them why they had turned away so suddenly without speaking to the visitors. They replied, "We could not go near." And the angel said, "Why not?" And they answered, "We do not know, but we felt something that repelled us and drew us back. We hope they forgive us."
So the angel returned to his companions and told them the young women's response, and he added, "I divine that you do not have a chaste love for the opposite sex. In heaven we love young women for their beauty and elegance of manners, and we love them very much, but chastely."
At this his companions laughed and said, "You divine correctly. Who can see such beauties near and not feel some desire?"
CL 23.
23. At the end of this festive reception, the wedding guests all departed, including the ten men with their angel. It was late evening and they went to bed.
At dawn they heard a cry proclaiming, "Today is the Sabbath." So they arose and asked the angel, "What does this mean?"
The angel replied that it was a call to worship of God, which recurs at prescribed times and is proclaimed by the priests. "The worship takes place in our temples," he said, "and lasts about two hours. Come with me, therefore, if you like, and I will take you in."
So they readied themselves, and accompanying the angel, they went in. And lo, the temple was huge, capable of holding about three thousand people. It was semicircular, with benches or pews arranged around in circular fashion following the contour of the temple, and the seats in back were higher than those in front. The pulpit was in front of the seats, placed a little way back from the center. There was a door behind the pulpit on the left.
The ten newcomers entered with their angel guide, and the angel gave them places to sit, saying to them, "Everyone who comes into the temple knows his own place. He knows this by instinct, nor can he sit anywhere else. If he sits elsewhere, he hears nothing and understands nothing, and he also disturbs the order of things; and when the order is disturbed, the priest is not inspired."
CL 24.
24. When the congregation was assembled, a priest went up into the pulpit, and he preached a sermon full of the spirit of wisdom. He preached on the sacredness of the Holy Scripture and on the conjunction of the Divine-Human with each world, the spiritual and the natural, by means of it. In the enlightenment in which he was, he established fully that that Holy Book was dictated by Jehovah the Divine-Human, and that the Divine-Human is therefore present in it, even so that He is the wisdom in it. But that wisdom, he said, which is the Divine-Human in it, lies hidden beneath the literal meaning and is not disclosed except to people who are concerned with truths of doctrine and at the same time with goodness in life, thus who are in the Divine-Human and the Divine-Human in them.
He concluded the sermon with a reverent prayer and descended.
As the members of the congregation were leaving, the angel asked the priest to say a few words of farewell to his ten companions. So he came over to them, and they talked for half an hour. The priest spoke about the Divine Trinity, saying that it exists in Jesus Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, according to the statement of the apostle Paul. Then he spoke of the union of charity and faith, though he said the union of charity and truth, because faith is truth.
Colossians 2:9.CL 25.
25. After expressing their thanks, the visitors went home, and there the angel said to them, "Today is the third day since your ascent into the society of this heaven, and you were prepared by the Divine-Human to stay here for three days. Consequently it is time for us to part. Take off the garments sent by the prince, therefore, and put on your own."
Then, when they were in their own clothing, they were filled with a desire to leave, and they left and descended, with the angel accompanying them till they reached the place of assembly. And there they gave thanks to the Divine-Human, that He had deigned to bless them with knowledge and so with understanding regarding heavenly joys and eternal happiness.
CL 26.
26. Again I swear in truth that these events and words occurred as I have related them, the first ones in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and the subsequent ones in a society of heaven, the society from which came the angel with the trumpet, who acted as guide.
Who in the Christian world would know anything about heaven and the joys and happiness there - knowledge of which is also knowledge of salvation - unless it pleased the Divine-Human to open to someone the sight of his spirit and to show him and teach him?
Corroboration that things like these occur in the spiritual world appears plainly from the things seen and heard by the apostle John, as described in the book of Revelation. For example, he describes having seen the following:
The Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands.
A tabernacle, temple, ark, and altar in heaven.
A book sealed with seven seals. The book opened, and horses going out of it.
Four living creatures around a throne.
Twelve thousand taken from each tribe.
Locusts arising out of the abyss.
A dragon and its fight with Michael.
A woman giving birth to a male child and fleeing into the wilderness because of the dragon.
Two beasts, one rising up out of the sea, the other out of the earth.
A woman sitting on a scarlet beast.
The dragon cast into a lake of fire and brimstone.
A white horse, and a great supper.
A new heaven and a new earth, and the holy Jerusalem coming down, described as to its gates, wall, and foundations.
Also a river of water of life, and trees of life yielding fruits every month.
Besides many other things, all of which were seen by John, and seen when he was in the spiritin the spiritual world and in heaven. In addition, those things which were seen by the apostles after the Divine-Human's resurrection.And which were later seen by Peter (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 11).Also which were then seen and heard by Paul.
Moreover, there were the things seen by the prophets. For example, Ezekiel saw the following:
Four living creatures, which were cherubs. (Ezekiel 1 and 10)
A new temple and a new earth, and an angel measuring them. (Ezekiel 40-48)
Being carried off to Jerusalem, he saw the abominations there. (Ezekiel 8) And he was also carried off into Chaldea, to those in captivity. (Ezekiel 11)
Something similar happened with Zechariah:
He saw a man riding among myrtle trees. (Zechariah 1:8ff.)
He saw four horns, and then a man with a measuring line in his hand. (Zechariah 1:18ff., 2:1ff.)
He saw a lampstand and two olive trees. (Zechariah 4:1ff.)
He saw a flying scroll, and an ephah. (Zechariah 5:1,6)
He saw four chariots coming from between two mountains, with horses. (Zechariah 6:1ff.)
Likewise with Daniel:
He saw four beasts come up from the sea. (Daniel 7:1ff.)
Also the combats of a ram and a goat. (Daniel 8:1ff.)
He saw the angel Gabriel, who spoke at length with him. (Daniel 9)
Moreover, Elisha's young man saw fiery chariots and horses around Elisha, and he saw them when his eyes were opened.
From these and many other passages in the Word, it is evident that the things which exist in the spiritual world have appeared to many, before and after the Divine-Human's Advent. Why should it be surprising for them to appear also now, when the Church is beginning and the New Jerusalem is coming down from the Divine-Human out of heaven?
A key issue in theistic psychology is whether it is a universal science or a hidden form of the Christian religion.
It appears at first that the Writings of Swedenborg are books of theology
written for a new religion. This appearance is real because the Writings serve
as the Word for the New Church (see my article here:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/newchurch.html
or consult the many Web sites of New Church organizations:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/swedenborg.html
So it is the case that the Writings of Swedenborg are books of religion for a Christian Church. In fact, the title of the last book in the collection of the Writings is The True Christian Religion (1771). Swedenborg's biographer's point out that Swedenborg never tried to create a church, and there is no passage in any of his books or published letters, where he says he was intending to begin a new church through his Writings. Instead, Swedenborg mentions that it is the Lord who is creating a New Church that will be based on the Writings. This was true of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, upon which the Jewish Church was founded, and it was true of the New Testament Sacred Scripture, upon which the Christian Church was founded. Today, in 2004, it is also true of the Writings of Swedenborg, upon which the New Church is based (see the Web site at: www.newchurch.org
But Swedenborg was never given the mission to create a Church. He was a scientist, a mining engineer, an inventor, a publisher, a traveler, a member of the legislature (Swedish Housel of Lords). His father was a bishop but Emanuel never even considered a formal relationship to the Church, even though he was a devout student of the Bible and his science was dualist on account of this, unlike his contemporaries who left God out of their scientific theories and treatises. Swedenborg was a theistic scientist, the first in modern times. Theistic psychology is knowledge of the Writings viewed from the perspective of modern behaviorist psychology. To mark this feature, I call this volume Religious Psychology.
Prior and current study of religion within non-theistic psychology does not deal with the rational content of Sacred Scripture. Religious psychology does. Non-theistic psychology today is not capable of dealing scientifically with the content of Christian doctrine based on Sacred Scripture. Because religious psychology is based on theistic psychology, it has access to the dualist concepts of the Writings and the empirical revelations about the spiritual world or the universal human mind.
The Writings of Swedenborg contain the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. This means that the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures are shown to contain a hidden coded inner spiritual meaning. Without the Writings the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures cannot be deciphered. The Old Testament Sacred Scripture, the New Testament Sacred Scripture, and the Writings Sacred Scripture constitute a whole or unit. If any one is taken away, the other two cannot stand. This unit is visible only if you decode the Old and New Testaments using the Code of Correspondences reveled in the Writings Sacred Scripture. Today anyone in the world who can read school textbooks has sufficient rational thinking skills to verify whether it is indeed true that the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures indeed contain such a double meaning, one surface literal historical, the other underlying hidden coded. I have verified it from the perspective of my decades long training in higher education and as a practitioner and contributor to scientific research and publication.
The point is that any scientist can verify Swedenborg's several types of proofs of the absolute Divinity of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. these proofs are rational, empirical, and experimental. They are given throughout theistic psychology under various topics (see Volumes 1 and 2, especially).
If we adopt the positive bias in science and allow for the possibility of dualism and God, then we put ourselves in a strong position of being able to examine this evidence from our own personal rational understanding.
As we go through the process of verifying the rationality and truth of the Writings, we struggle intellectually to integrate its content with our knowledge and our culture and religion.
This integration is facilitated through the study of theistic psychology because theistic psychology is a scientific effort to integrate human behavior with Divine revelation.
The only way this integration can be scientific is to not base it on the literal meaning of Divine revelations. Anything based on the literal meaning of Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures will necessarily be interpreted as religious, cultural, and ethnic. Therefore the literal of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures cannot serve adequately for modern science. Instead, theistic psychology and theistic science generally, are based on decoding the scientific content that is hidden within the literal verses and chapters. When viewed through this process, the entire text of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures make a rational unified whole, like the DNA code of cells. Each piece of the text of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures, written by different people in different centuries, hold together in a rational series of facts and scientific revelations. Of course, the original authors knew nothing of this inner sense of the text they were inspired, even compelled by God, to write down word for word as witnessed.
In this way God insured that there is a written record of Divine Speech that can be put together by the rational individual by applying the code of correspondences. This code has been revealed through Swedenborg in order to usher in a new and final age for the human race called the Second Coming. This refers to the universal evolutionary event of the Incarnation, which is therefore called the First Coming. God's Second Coming was an approach in the rational mind of the human race. Now the human mind is completed in its creation because the rational truths and facts have been revealed about what we are unable to see from this earth--our eternal future in the spiritual world.
Divine Speech filtered through the natural-historical language of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures was given in a style that fits the times and cultures of the peoples who adopt the Divine Speech as a way of life called religion. Meanwhile unbeknownst to those peoples over the centuries, God was gradually developing and evolving the human rational mind. Modernity is one of the results. When modern science and public education created a natural-rational mind, the human mind was ready to be told about the secrets scientific facts and principles hidden in the literal meaning of the text they revered from religion. This is called the Second Coming because it is a revelation of God's Scientific Mind while the First Coming was a revelation of God's Human Mind. God's revelation of His Human Divine Mind was anticipated in many ways in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, but not enough. People who worshiped the Old Testament Sacred Scripture as their religion did not know that God was a Human, but only that God had no shape or form and only spoke like a human in Sacred Scripture so that we can relate to God in worship and love. Through this worship and love God was able to benefit them in many ways that without this worship of God they could not have obtained. God gives rationality to both those who acknowledge Him and to those who deny Him. But there is a great difference. A more genuine and purer form of rationality can be received when we put ourselves into a state of positive bias toward God, heaven, and hell.
God's interest and desire to be acknowledged, honored, and worshipped is altruistic not selfish. The Divine-Human is filled with infinite burning desire to make each created person eternally happy, rational, and never ceasing to learn and develop. If we know this, we are immediately attracted to the Divine-Human. How could we not? There is no anger or rejection possible in such Divine Love. We can feel unconditionally safe, accepted, protected, loved, pampered. God would instantly transport any human being, even hypocrites, deceivers, rapists, serial killers, and maniacal war lords. Everyone. But He can't. He can't because of His very omnipotence and omniscience.
Who gets to go to heaven or to hell?
It is well known that religions commonly think that their members go to heaven if living their faith sincerely. This is the very point of religion, namely to prepare people to acquire a heavenly character that can live in heaven and to avoid a hellish character that pulls them into hell. So it makes good sense to think that unless you live sincerely according to the doctrines and understanding of your religion, you will enter heaven. But what about those who are not members of your religion? There are two trends diametrically opposed to each other. One set of religious beliefs says that everyone else goes to hell. The other set of beliefs says that God is the God of all people and therefore anyone of any religion can go to heaven if they develop a character that can live in heaven.
The Writings show clearly in different ways that religious membership or belief system is not the determining factor, and in fact, is an irrelevant factor. Viewed scientifically, every human mind is mortal and every human mind ends up in the spiritual world. Life in eternity in the spiritual world is identical with live in your own mind. The spiritual world is the apparent "place" where every human mind is or exists. The only reason we cannot now see those who are there, who have "passed on" as we say, is because we are permitted to be conscious in our spiritual mind. This sensuous consciousness of the spiritual world starts operating when the physical body is lost and the natural mind can no longer receive input from the physical senses.
When we awaken in the spiritual-body as "spirits" we begin to explore how we are to live in this new environment. Quickly we learn that the environment around us doesn't stay fixed, as on earth, but is more like what happens in our dreams, where the surrounds are instantaneously created in our dream. Only this time it's as if we have awakened inside our dream world. We learn that what gets instantiated or created around us is determined by the thoughts and feelings we have. And these thoughts and feelings have the innate power to instantiate our living conditions and the quality of life according to the spiritual order established by God the Divine-Human. Now comes the moment of truth: it is called the "second death" when we are compelled by the forces of the spiritual world to rise in consciousness or to go down. Everyone arrives with hellish and heavenly traits in their character. But some people have the hellish in the first place and the heavenly in the second place. Others have it reversed. Which you are depends on whether you've suffered yourself to undergo character reformation in your earthly life.
Regeneration refers to the creation of a spiritual organ called the spiritual-rational level of thinking and feeling. This is the organ of the mind that allows us to live in heaven. It has nothing to do with some arbitrary judgment that depends on your former membership in some religion or ethnic group. Although this dogma is taught in some religions or cultures, it is not in Divine Revelation for the simple reason that it is not true or factual. The scientific truth is that anyone possessing an operational spiritual-rational level of consciousness is automatically sucked into heaven and anyone not capable or willing to have the thoughts and feelings at this level, is automatically sucked into hell. Either way we continue immortal life but under totally different surrounds and lifestyles, one very high and human, the other very low and savage.
In order to be able to fully understand in a rational way for your own self whether you can agree with this account or not, one needs to keep examining the evidence. Here is a passage in the Writings that shows how one can put into background focus the literal meaning of Divine Speech by applying to it the code of correspondences. When this is done, there emerges an entirely new topic which is about the mental development of every human being in relation to the universal God. On the surface God is saying something in a natural language about angels blowing trumpets and teaching from the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. This sounds like something for the Christians. But in the spiritual language that is within the natural, God is talking to us about the scientific details we need to know about how every person is to develop mentally in order to enter heaven. To develop mentally means to acquire the right kind of thinking and feeling that is necessary for avoiding a fate in hell and for acquiring a life of eternal happiness in heaven. The spiritual language talks about universal scientific knowledge while the natural language talks about wild visions of the prophet John who wrote the last book in the New Testament Sacred Scripture called the Apocalypse or the Book of Revelation. Quoting from Swedenborg's 6-volume work titled Apocalypse Explained Number 624:
Verse 11. And he said to me, Thou must again prophesy [Revelation 10:11] , signifies Divine command to still teach the Word. This is evident from the signification of "saying," when the angel speaks, by whom in this chapter the Divine-Human in relation to the Word is represented, as being command, for what the Divine-Human says is a command; also from the signification of "to prophesy," as being to teach the Word (of which presently). It is said he must still teach the Word, because such understanding of the Word as still remained in the church was explored, and it was found that the Word was delightful in respect to the sense of the letter, for this is signified by "the little book was in the mouth sweet as honey," "the little book" meaning the Word. It was commanded to still teach the Word in the church, because its end was not yet come. The end of the church is described by "the sounding of the seventh angel;" but here the state of the church next before the end is described by "the sounding of the sixth angel;" this state of the church is here treated of. Before the end, the Word when taught is still delightful to some, but not so in the last state of the church or its end, for then the Divine-Human opens the interior things of the Word, which are undelightful, as has been said above in treating of the eating up of the little book and its making the belly bitter. (AE 624)
The decoded scientific meaning of the Book of Revelation deals with the mental history of civilization called "the church." We must go through a series of developmental steps in order to accomplish regeneration and plant a new spiritual organ in our mind. Without this knowledge we cannot make the steps because the steps must be consciously understood and desired. Hence it is necessary for us modern rational minds to have the scientific meaning disclosed to us so that we can use for ourselves whether we can go along with it and desire the next and the next step until we have acquired this "spiritual-rational organ" we need to live in heaven. We are not born with this organ and it cannot grow on its own or be made grown by God. It must our free choice, our love for it, that brings the next phase and the next. It is said in the above paragraph that this mental growth process is painful. We don't like it at first. We don't like giving up the thoughts and desires we love for the sake of new thoughts that we are told by God that we must have. Nevertheless the literal sense of Sacred Scripture must be taught because without this foundation in our knowledge and memory, we cannot go the next step of decoding the scientific meaning.
The next paragraph mentions "the consummation." This concept refers to the end of one phase prior to the beginning of a new mental phase. The kinds of thinking and feeling that we do at a prior level prevent us from going on to the next level of consciousness unless we are willing to "consummate" that phase, that is, willing to fully end it, to stop loving it and holding on to it. "The men of the church" refers to any person who is in a particular mental phase. When we are willing to consummate a phase and give up its way of thinking, reasoning, and feeling, it is said that "there is no longer any good or truth remaining with the men of the church."
In other words, we have reached the end of the road thinking and feeling at that level. We cannot go on in our spiritual development any longer without altering our mental course in accordance with the mental map given in Divine revelation. "The Last Judgment" refers to transition point between the consummation or end of one stage, and the "new day" or new phase in our consciousness by which we are able to think and feel at a more spiritual-rational level than before. This new ability that comes after the "last judgment" when we are separated by God from our older way of thinking and feeling. It is called a "judgment" because it so appears to those who are unwilling to move on to the next phase by consummating the current phase they are in. By holding on to a wrong way of thinking and feeling they are precipitating themselves into a hellish environment from which they suffer greatly--hence the idea of a "judgment." But for those who move on the next phase, the judgment is actually a blessing and a facilitation.
[2] Why the Word must still be taught although its interior truths are undelightful, and why the Last Judgment does not come until the consummation, that is, when there is no longer any good or truth remaining with the men of the church, is wholly unknown in the world, although known in heaven.
The reason is that there are two classes of men upon whom judgment is effected; one class consists of the well-disposed, and the other of those who are not well-disposed. The well-disposed are the angels in the ultimate heaven, most of whom are simple, because they have not cultivated the understanding by interior truths, but only by exterior truths from the sense of the letter of the Word, according to which they have lived; for this reason their spiritual mind, which is the interior mind, was not indeed, closed, but neither has it been opened, as it is with those who have received interior truths in doctrine and in life; this is why they have become simple in respect to spiritual things, and are called well-disposed. (AE 624)
The above passage says that two things can happen when we need to move on from one phase to the next. We can take the road called "well-disposed" which refers to the being well disposed toward Divine revelations as the only map for our new way of thinking and feeling. The other road is called "not well-disposed" and refers to our entrenchment or fossilization in the current phase of thinking and feeling. We are unwilling to give up what we think and what we want for the sake of adopting something new that God wants. It is said above that we can take the well-disposed route by learning what Divine revelation says for us to do.
This is called learning the "exterior truths from the sense of the letter of the Word." God's Divine Speech in the natural language is called the "Letter of the Word." To study the Letter of the Word and to live sincerely according to our rational understanding of it, is the new phase discussed in this passage. From being materialists, we need to turn our thinking towards dualism, looking at what Divine Speech tells us about the spiritual world in which we are to live in the afterlife. For instance, the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures both inform us that a good life leads to heaven but an evil life leads to hell, and we are also told what constitutes good acts and evil acts without which we could merely call good what we like and evil what we don't like.
In the next portion we are told that it is not what we pretend to be outwardly that counts but how we think and feel privately in the conscious mind. Outward acts can be simulated for selfish or even sinister purposes. These insincere acts that appear good and decent benefit others, which is why God allows them, but they do not contribute to the person's development of a spiritual mind that can live in heaven. Only if we perform decent acts from a decent motive can we move on in our development of a heavenly character. The name "Christians" is used here in the universal sense of anyone in any religion who acts on the basis of Divine commandments known to them. "To live outwardly as Christians" means to act outwardly in accordance with one's religious practices.
But the ill-disposed are those who have lived outwardly as Christians but inwardly have admitted evils of every kind into the thought and into the will, so that while in the external form they appeared to be angels, in internal form they were devils.
When such come into the other life they come into association for the most part with the well-disposed, that is, with the simple good who are in the ultimate heaven; for exterior things consociate, and the simple good are such that what appears in external form to be good they believe to be good, their thought not penetrating farther. These ill-disposed must be separated from the well-disposed before the Last Judgment comes, and also afterward and they can only be separated successively. This is why before the time of the Last Judgment the Word must still be taught, although interiorly, that is, in respect to its interiors, it is undelightful; and as these interior things are undelightful they do not receive them, but only such things from the sense of the letter of the Word as favor their loves and the principles derived from them, on account of which the Word in respect to the sense of the letter is delightful to them. It is therefore by means of these interior things that the well-disposed are separated from the ill-disposed. (AE 624)
In the above passage it is stated that everyone has ways of thinking and feeling called "well-disposed" as well ways of thinking and feeling called "not well-disposed." We can accumulate both of these in our daily living, but they cannot be mixed up with each other. In other words, we can think and react according to a former lower phase of our thinking, especially when we are being challenged by circumstances and striving to cope with what can be experienced as overwhelming. But this is only a temporary set back, and we soon come out of that older phase into our newer higher, more heavenly phase. We can alternate between heavenly and hellish ways of thinking and reacting.
But not forever. When we pass on, and we are ready for the second death, there is a "last judgment" to face which is the new state in which the heavenly and the hellish ways of thinking and feeling are separated or segregated forever--hence the expression "Last Judgment." This involves losing the operation of one of them. Either we keep the heavenly and lose the hellish traits, or we lose the hellish traits and keep the heavenly. Those who lose the heavenly traits, sink into hell and a way of life that is sub-human and irrational. Those who lose the hellish traits, rise to the heaven of their mind in the spiritual world, where they live in conjugial bliss to eternity with other like-minded friends.
The passage above also specifies the scientific mechanisms used by God to effect the change discussed. "It is therefore by means of these interior things that the well-disposed are separated from the ill-disposed. " In other words, spiritual development towards heavenly life is by means of understanding Divine Speech ("the little book" or "the Word") more and more "interiorly" which means more and more rationally. The rational has to become spiritual. More specifically, the natural-rational way of thinking must give way to the spiritual-rational way of thinking. The natural-rational way of thinking is based on our materialistic mental framework from nature, while the spiritual-natural way of thinking is based on the new dualist mental framework we obtain through the positive bias (see Chapter 1, Volume 1).
The passage above indicates that the second death is determined by the type of rational thinking we come with into the afterlife. If our morality is an outward veneer of the personality we have developed only our natural-rational way of thinking that leaves God out of the formula. If our morality refers itself to God and has caused us to develop a heavenly character, then our way of thinking and feeling has entered deep into our character and our ruling love. We are then capable of going deeper into spiritual rationality, and thus all the way to heaven. This is called "interior truths" contained in Divine Speech. These interior truths are scientific understandings of God and our everlasting relation to the Divine-Human.
Going to the next portion. It speaks of the decoded scientific facts revealed in the interior truths of a passage in the New Testament Sacred Scripture that discusses the second death when we have to undergo separation between our good traits and our evil traits. In the excerpt from the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament Sacred Scripture it is easy to see that Jesus Himself showed explicitly that Divine Speech has an internal sense that is entirely different from the literal sense, e.g., the "sewer of the good seed"=the Divine-Human or "Son of man", a "field"=the world or everyone in the world, the "good seeds"=those who live sincerely according to their religion or "sons of the kingdom," the consummation or end of the age, that is, of a mental phase="the harvest," and "burning of the tares" evidently refers to entering hell for those who do not live sincerely according to their faith.
[3] That for this reason the time is extended after the Last Judgment before the new church is fully established, is an arcanum from heaven which at this day cannot enter the understanding except with a few; yet this is what the Divine-Human teaches in Matthew:
The servants of the householder coming said unto him, Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? Whence then are these tares? And they said, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up at the same time the wheat with them. Let both, therefore, grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into the barn. He that hath sowed the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the kingdom; the harvest is the consummation of the age. As then the tares are gathered up and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the consummation of this age (13:27-30, 37-43).
"The consummation of the age" signifies the last time of the church; that until then the well-disposed are not to be separated from the ill-disposed, because they are consociated by outward things, is signified by "lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up at the same time the wheat with them." (On this see the small work on The Last Judgment, n. 70.) (AE 624)
You can see that Divine Speech hides scientific statements, principles, and facts about reality, the mind, God's work with the human race, heaven, and hell. It is not just the parables in the New Testament Sacred Scripture that contain a hidden meaning to be deciphered, but every word and phrase belonging to Divine Speech necessarily contains different layers of meaning intended for the entire human race, some of whom are in their highest human consciousness called "the Third Heaven," others in a lower consciousness called spiritual, and others who are enlightened in the natural mind. Finally, divine speech has an outermost layer within which are hidden all the inner layers. This outer layer is the natural language history and poetry we are familiar with in the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures, as well as the literal rational language in which the Writings were written by Swedenborg.
Continuing with the next portion we can see that again that the coded scientific sense (or "correspondential sense") of Divine Speech talks about the methods of achieving salvation, in this case, referring to the important fact that we cannot be saved by knowing Divine revelation, but only by doing it, that is, acting daily in accordance with our understanding of Divine revelation. Salvation is therefore not a matter of membership or declaration of faith, but living according to that faith. God is informing us here that faith is necessary but not sufficient.
[4] "To prophesy" signifies to teach the Word, because a "prophet" means in the highest sense the Divine-Human in relation to the Word, and in a relative sense one who teaches the Word, but in an abstract sense the Word itself, and also doctrine from the Word. This a "prophet" signifies, therefore "to prophesy" signifies to teach the Word and doctrine from the Word. That such is the signification of "to prophesy" and "prophet" can be seen from passages in the Word where these are mentioned, understood in the correspondential sense, as in the following. In Matthew:
Many will say to Me in that day, Divine-Human, Divine-Human, have we not prophesied by Thy name, and by Thy name cast out demons, and in Thy name done many mighty works? But then will I profess unto them, I know you not; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity (7:22, 23).
This treats of salvation, that one is saved not by knowing the Word and teaching it, but by doing it; for just before, it is said that those only will enter the kingdom of the heavens who do the will of God (verse 21); and just after, that he who hears the Divine-Human's words and does them is a prudent man, but he who hears and does not is a foolish man (verses 24-27).
This makes clear what these words mean, namely, that worship of the Divine-Human by prayers and by words of the mouth only is meant by "Many will say to Me in that day, Divine-Human, Divine-Human;" and to teach the Word and doctrinals from the Word is meant by "have we not prophesied by Thy name?;" "name" signifying according to doctrine from the Word, and "to prophesy" to teach; "to cast out demons" signifies to deliver from falsities of religion, "demons" meaning the falsities of religion; "to do many mighty works" signifies to convert many. But because these works were done not for the Divine-Human's sake, nor for the sake of truth and good and the salvation of souls, but for the sake of self and the world, thus only that they might appear in outward form, so in reference to themselves it was not good but evil that was done; this is meant by the Divine-Human's saying "I know you not, ye that work iniquity." Doing such things does not appear to be working iniquity, and yet everything that a man does for the sake of self and of the world is iniquity, since there is in it no love of the Divine-Human and of the neighbor, but only the love of self and the world; and his own love awaits everyone after death. (AE 624)
It is clear that scientific revelations in Divine Speech are for the entire human race, for everyone from all religions, and for those without religion, unlike the literal sense of Divine Speech which appears to be addressed to a particular culture, ethnic group, or religion.
In the scientific sense "Church" refers to the regenerating human mind, "the Word" refers to Divine scientific revelations, and "the Divine-Human" refers to God. Those who are "outside the Church" are called "the heathen" which refers to our state prior to starting regeneration. Think of this scientific sense as you read the passage below. If you merely focus on the literal sense of many passages in the Writings, you might get the impression that it is a sectarian book for Christians and about the Bible. But if you focus on the scientific sense that is applicable universally, regardless of religion, the Writings of Swedenborg are clearly seen as books of Divine scientific revelations for the entire human race, both in the natural world, and in the spiritual world.
Quoting from Swedenborg's Writings:
HH 308. There is also a conjunction of heaven by means of the Word with those who are outside the Church where there is no Word; for the Divine-Human's Church is universal, and is with all who acknowledge the Divine and live in charity. Moreover, such are taught after death by angels and receive Divine truths;# on which subject more may be seen below, in a specific section on the heathen. The universal Church on the earth in the sight of the Divine-Human resembles one man, just as heaven does (see above, n. 59-72); but the Church where the Word is and where the Divine-Human is known by means of it is like the heart and lungs in that man. It is known that all the viscera and members of the entire body draw their life from the heart and lungs through various derivations; and it is thus that those of the human race live who are outside the Church where the Word is, and who constitute the members of that man. Again, the conjunction of heaven by means of the Word with those who are at a distance may be compared to light radiating from a centre all around. The Divine light is in the Word, and there the Divine-Human with heaven is present, and from that presence those at a distance are in light; but it would be otherwise if there were no Word. This may be more clearly seen from what has been shown above respecting the form of heaven in accordance with which all who are in heaven have association and communication. But while this arcanum may be comprehended by those who are in spiritual light, it cannot be comprehended by those who are only in natural light; for those who are in spiritual light clearly see innumerable things, while those who are only in natural light do not see, or see as one obscure thing.
# The Church specifically is where the Word is and where the Divine-Human is known by means of it, thus where Divine truths from heaven are revealed (n. 3857, 10761).
The Divine-Human's Church is with all in the whole globe who live in good in accordance with religious belief (n. 3263, 6637, 10765).
All wherever they are who live in good in accordance with the principles of their religion and who acknowledge the Divine are accepted by the Divine-Human (n.
2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263, 4190, 4197, 6700, 9256).
And besides these all children wheresoever they are born (n. 2289-2309, 4792). (HH 308)
One would need to explore all the citations to other Numbered passages in order to get a clear understanding of the universal relationship God has with every person regardless of religion.
13.0.9 The Church
In the scientific sense "the Church" always refers to the mental states that involve regeneration or the series of developmental steps an individual must grow through for spiritual development. On the surface, "the Church" appears to be a reference to the Christian Church, and this makes sense historically. But in its universal scientific sense the historical and religious disappear from focus and what is left is the scientific sense. In the following the various levels of mental operation called "the Church" are being described. Try to read it by focusing on the scientific sense, namely the levels of mental operation in the various states of regeneration and enlightenment. Theistic psychology is based on the scientific sense of the Threefold Sacred Scripture.
The church is internal and external (n. 1242, 6587, 9375, 9680, 10762). The internal of the church is love to the Divine-Human and charity towards the neighbor. Thence they who are in the affection of good and truth from love to the Divine-Human and from charity towards the neighbor, constitute the internal church; and they who are in external worship from obedience and faith, constitute the external church (n. 1083, 1098, 4288, 6380, 6587, 7840, 8762). To know truth and good, and to act from thence, is the external of the church, but to will and love truth and good, and to act from thence, is the internal of the church (n. 4899, 6775). The internal of the church is in the worship of those who are of the external church, although in obscurity (n. 6775). The internal and external church make one church (n. 409, 10762). Man has an internal and an external, an internal after the image of heaven, and an external after the image of the world; and therefore, in order that the man may be a church, his external must act in unity with his internal (n. 3628, 4523, 4524, 6057, 6314, 9706, 10472). The church is in the internal of man and at the same time in the external, but not in the external without the internal (n. 1795, 6580, 10691). The internal of the church is according to truths and their quality, and according to their implantation in good by life (n. 1238).
The church like heaven is in man, and thus the church in general consists of the men in whom the church is (n. 3884). In order that a church may exist, there must be the doctrine of life, that is, the doctrine of charity (n. 3445, 10763, 10764). Charity makes the church, and not faith separated from charity (n. 916). Consequently, not the doctrine of faith separated from charity, but the doctrine of faith conjoined therewith, and a life conformable to it (n. 809, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 4468, 4672, 4689, 4766, 5826, 6637). The church is not with man, unless the truths of doctrine are implanted in the good of charity with him, thus in the life (n. 3310, 3963, 5826). There is no church with man, if he is only in the truths, which are called the truths of faith (n. 5826). How much good would be in the church, if charity were in the first place and faith in the second (n. 6269). And how much evil, if faith is in the first place (n. 6272). In the ancient churches charity was the principal and essential of the church (n. 4680). The church would be like heaven, if all had charity (n. 2385, 2853). If good were the characteristic of the church, and not truth without good, thus if charity were its characteristic, and not faith separate, the church would be one, and differences with respect to the doctrinals of faith, and external worship, would be accounted as nothing (n. 1285, 1316, 2982, 3267, 3445, 3451).
Every church begins from charity, but declines therefrom in process of time (n. 494, 501, 1327, 3773, 4689). Thus to falsities from evil, and at length to evils (n. 1834, 1835, 2910, 4683, 4689). A comparison of the church at its beginning and decline with the infancy and old age of man (n. 10134). And also with the rising and the setting of the sun (n. 1837). Concerning the successive states of the Christian Church even to its last state; wherein are explained the particulars which the Divine-Human foretold concerning "the consummation of the age," and His "coming," in Matt. chap. 24 from the beginning to the end (n. 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3571-3757, 3897-3901, 4057-4060, 4229-4335, 4422-4424, 4635-4638, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071). The Christian church is at this day in its last states, there being no faith therein because there is no charity (n. 3489, 4689). The Last Judgment is the last time of the church (n. 2118, 3353, 4057, 4333, 4535). Of the vastation of the church (n. 407-411). The consummation of the age and the coming of the Divine-Human is the last time of the old church and the beginning of the new (n. 2243, 4535, 10622). When the old church is vastated, interior truths are revealed for the service of the new church which is then established (n. 3398, 3786). Concerning the establishment of the church with the Gentiles (n. 1366, 2986, 4747, 9256). (NJHD 246)
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↑ Please Read Table From Bottom Up ↑ |
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Sacred Scripture |
Timeline |
Consciousness Level or Mentality |
Brain anatomy |
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Writings Sacred Scripture (Final Testament in Latin) |
1771 AD onward |
Rational level Consciousness Rational Spirituality Start of Age of Modern Science and Democracies |
Split-Brain race (will and understanding are reunited in affective behaviors) |
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New Testament in Greek |
33 AD to 1771 AD |
Sensuous level Consciousness Rational Spirituality Growth of Science |
Split-Brain race (will and understanding are reunited in cognitive behaviors) |
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Old Testament in Hebrew |
1500 BC to 33 AD |
Corporeal level Consciousness Rational Spirituality Pre-scientific Mentality |
Split-Brain race (will and understanding are reunited in sensorimotor behaviors) |
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Ancient Sacred Scripture |
10,000 BC to 1500 BC |
Spiritual level Consciousness Start of Rational Spirituality |
Start of Split-Brain race (will and understanding are separated) |
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Flood Story in OT (celestial human race dies out) |
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Most Ancient Sacred Scripture |
unknown |
Sensuous Consciousness of spirits Celestial Mind |
One brain (will and understanding are united) |
13.0.10 God's Incarnation Viewed Scientifically
It is possible to think rationally about God's Incarnation if we consider what God has revealed in scientific revelations. We can view the Incarnation Event as part of the rational and perfect plan God is evolving and managing in relation to the created universe and the human race. God has revealed that the purpose of the universe is to create a heaven out of the human race where people would live forever in perfect conjugial happiness in a sheltered celestial environment that caters to their every joy and desire. We can certainly appreciate that such a wonderful Divine Motive is a creative or existential expression of God's Infinite Love for the human race, past, present, and future. Since every human being is born immortal you can see how vast the human race is by now, and how much more numerous it will become in the endless future.
Since God is perfectly rational, it follows that everything that exists in the universe is solely for the purpose of contributing to this Divine ruling Love. And since God is infinite power and intelligence, it follows that everything that happens or exists must contribute to this goal and nothing happens that has not been Divinely provided and planned for. Clearly then, God's Incarnation is part of the overall plan which Divine Providence manages and inexorably brings about. This principle is discussed in the Writings as the Divine Laws of Providence.
But this is not enough to explain the puzzle rationally. Specifically, we can ask why God had to incarnate. Or we can ask why God doesn't bring about the grand purpose faster and with less mayhem and suffering on the part of those poor human beings who were created to live a joyous eternal life in heaven. Why all the evil around us that plagues our race with sickness, pain, depression, cruelty for one another, stupidity, mental illness, hereditary diseases, wars, murders, rapes, and the abuse of innocent children. Why these things, given the heavenly purpose and the perfect power and wisdom of God?
The traditional answer has been that God created a perfect world but it is the wickedness of human beings that introduced evil. This is true, but it's not a sufficient answer to understand the puzzle rationally. Why did God allow such evil things to come into existence? The Writings reveal that God manages the universe by two sets of rational laws: the Laws of Divine Providence and the Laws of Divine Permissions. God's Laws of Order make allowance for the spiritual development of the human race and of every human being. The ultimate goal for creating human beings is for them to become angelic minds that can live happily forever in a celestial sphere of life or "heaven." For human beings to be happy they must be allowed to choose their life according to their loves. Every human being is created to be a unique person to eternity, with a unique personality and intelligence. To achieve this end God must make allowances for people's loves.
God must therefore create mental pathways that people can follow in their effort to become celestial minds capable of living in heaven. God must manage every individual's affective and cognitive operations, from the moment of birth to the endless eternity. Furthermore, God must manage to keep the human race evolving endlessly in love, intelligence, and happiness. The heavenly state of life does not consist of a place where you are admitted and then remain the same forever after that. Human beings cannot remain happy unless they constantly evolve and improve in their feeling and thinking operations. Swedenborg reports that the people who reach the heavens in their mind are called angels, and that they go through a daily cycle of evening and morning in their feelings and thoughts. In other words, their consciousness wakes up to a new morning on a cyclical basis, and this is experienced by them as a new excitement, a new appreciation, and new experiences that gives them a feeling of moving forward in their endless progression of development.
It is not in accordance with God's Laws of Order to produce angels that are always the same robotic self, in obedience to God's Will by habit rather than conscious choice at every turn. Instead, God's Order produces angels in heaven out of the people born on the natural earths in the universe, people who are responsible for developing their personality through unique experiences brought by God to every individual. A personality cannot be produced by downloading feelings and thoughts like an artificial intelligence machine. The only way to produce a human personality is to activate and operate one's conscious awareness of choices to be made and consequences to follow. Unless our life experience on earth is dependent on our free choices made according to our feelings and thoughts, we cannot turn into a human person that is capable of being an angel. Neither is it possible to create just one human being or angel, for being human means being social. Again, this means that people are influences on each other, by inheritance and culture. In fact, it has now been revealed in the Writings that the entire human race is before God as one individual. God keeps the race united in evolution and daily operation, as discussed in this book under the issue of the "vertical community."
The evil traits we develop through our choices and then transmit to our offspring by spiritual inheritance, cannot be suppressed by God without destroying our freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of our choices. To manage this operation God controls the evils that will be allowed to come into existence through the choices people make. Only those evil traits and acts are allowed to come into existence that God can regenerate. Every evil trait must be regenerated prior to our entering the eternal heavenly state of life in our mind. It has been revealed that today the human race on this earth has reached a full state of evil so that every child being born inherits the entire long chain of evils developed through each individual's life choices and transmitted through heredity.
To manage the regeneration needs of people God must create pathways that human minds can follow through their feelings and thoughts. It has been revealed that God uses two rational methods for creating these experiential pathways, one called "immediate influx" and the other "mediate influx." Immediate influx refers to God's exercise of control over out thoughts and feelings in an unconscious manner. God does not allow us to be aware of how some impulse or some thought is either suppressed or triggered at every moment and minute of our life. This is necessarily an unconscious control mechanism because human beings cannot develop and be happy if we sense this Divine control of our mind. Yet is necessary for God to exercise this kind of control over the affairs of society and the historical course of civilization and events. Any event, act, feeling, memory, or thought that cannot be regenerated and turned into something good and heavenly, is suppressed by God and cannot come into existence. Only those evil traits and choices can come into existence that God can turn into good, both for the individual's spiritual future as an angel, and for the spiritual evolution of the human race as a whole.
This unconscious control of our mental operations would not be sufficient to regenerate the human race since the evils that are permitted by God to occur are still with each person, and God must use the mediate influx mechanism to give people the power to modify their own traits. Mediate influx is conscious and involves our conscious effort at character reformation. The method of mediate influx involves conscious enlightenment of our reasoning so that we can understand how we are to cooperate with God in regeneration. Two types of conscious enlightenment operations have been created, one is by perception of Divine Truth and the other is by understanding of Divine Truth. In either case, Divine Truth is the conscious method by which people are regenerated by God.
Understanding of Divine Truth is provided by means of Divine revelation in the form of Divine Speech or Sacred Scripture, as discussed elsewhere in this book. When we acknowledge Divine Revelation as Divine Speech as the source of all spiritual truth, we are consciously acquiring truths about God, about reality, about regeneration, and about heaven. These truths must be understood with our rational capacity so that we must read, think about, and apply these truths to our daily choices. God supplies all the operational power that is needed to carry out these mental processes. God supplies the rationality by which our mind can operate and process information. God supplies the willpower to apply the truths we understand to our choices and daily lives. God also supplies the power to reject the truths, which involves turning them around into their opposites or "falsified truths." God supplies the willpower to pursue falsified truths instead of truths. Why? Because if we sensed that God is forcing us to choose this or that, we would no longer feel that we are free to pursue our own loves, and without that, we cannot be happy, nor become angles in our heaven.
This then explains why God has allowed certain evils to come into existence. It is solely for the benefit of the human race.
God's Divine Speech or Revelation and God's Incarnation are both supplied for the sake of our regeneration.
God's Incarnation has been revealed long before it actually took place. It was already known to the early generations on this planet which Swedenborg calls the Ancient Church civilization. They received Divine scientific revelations that were collected in a book named the Ancient Word. Swedenborg saw a copy of this book when he visited the heavens where live the people of this civilization. It was a written on the surface like a nature book for children and adults employing the "Science of Correspondences" which they had inherited from the culture of the Most Ancient civilization on earth. A selected sample from the Ancient Word was still extant when Moses wrote the Book of Genesis. Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg:
That there was a Word among the ancients is evident from Moses, who mentions it, and who took some things from it (Num. 21:14, 15, 27-30); the historical parts of that Word being called Wars of Jehovah, and its prophetical parts Enunciations. From the historical parts of that Word Moses took the following:
Wherefore it is said in the book of the Wars of Jehovah, At Vaheb in Suphah, and the rivers of Arnon; and the watercourse of the rivers that inclineth toward the dwelling of Ar, and betaketh itself to the border of Moab (Num. 21:14, 15).
In that Word, as in ours, the "Wars of Jehovah" meant and described the Divine-Human's combats with hell and his victories over it at the time when He should come into the world. The same combats are meant, and are described, in many passages of the historical parts of our Word, such as the wars of Joshua with the nations of the land of Canaan, and those of the judges and kings of Israel.
[2] From the prophetical parts of that Word Moses took the following:
Wherefore the Enunciators say, Come ye to Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and strengthened; for a fire is gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon, it hath devoured Ar of Moab, the possessors of the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab! Thou hast perished, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites. With darts have we destroyed them. Heshbon hath perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid waste even unto Nophah, which reacheth unto Medeba (Num. 21:27-30).
The translators say "They that speak in Proverbs," but the rendering should be "Enunciators," or "Prophetic Enunciations," as is evident from the meaning of the word m'shalim in the Hebrew tongue, which is not merely proverbs, but also prophetic enunciations, as in Num. 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15, where it is said that Balaam uttered "his enunciation" which was prophetic, and which also was about the Divine-Human. His enunciation is called mashal, in the singular. Consider also that the things taken from them by Moses are not proverbs, but prophecies.
[3] That the Ancient Word, like ours, was Divine or Divinely inspired, is evident from Jeremiah, where almost the same words occur:
A fire is gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, that hath devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the sons of clamor. Woe unto thee, O Moab! The people of Chemosh is undone, for thy sons have been carried off into captivity, and thy daughters into captivity (Jer. 48:45-46).
Besides these books, a prophetic book of the Ancient Word called the Book of Jashar, or the Book of the Upright, is mentioned by David and by Joshua. By David:
David lamented over Saul and over Jonathan, and wrote, To teach the sons of Judah the bow. Behold it is written in the Book of Jashar (2 Sam. 1:17, 18).
And by Joshua:
Joshua said, Sun, be silent in Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon. Is not this written in the Book of Jashar? (Josh. 10:12, 13).
Furthermore: I have been told that the first seven chapters of Genesis appear in that Ancient Word complete to the slightest expression. (SS 103)
Swedenborg doesn't mention here who had told him but from other passages it is clear that he is referring to the angels who acted as his guides on many of his "excursions" to the heavens. These angels had access to the original Ancient Word and Most Ancient Word that existed in the heavens of those who had lived on earth in those ancient times. This is not surprising in view of the fact that all books written on earth are inspired by attendant spirits, or what I have called elsewhere, the "vertical community" that ties together in one great network called the "Grand Human." As mentioned just above, the entire human race is as one individual in the integrating eyes of God. God wills that all created human minds be not merely immortal, but integrated in one network, like a spider's web, so that no matter what happens in one mind is communicated throughout the entire network (see the section titled "The Perizonius Thesis" below).
You can see therefore that whatever an author must do to write a book involves not just the individual author but numerous other individuals in that individual's vertical community. All mental operations of an individual involve co-participants in the world of spirits who are in communication with the spiritual body, or mind, of those still active on earth. Swedenborg saw his own books in the world of spirits and in the heavens. Interestingly, his name was not on it, nor any of the references to earthly history such as the people and times of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures, or the cultures and religions Swedenborg writes about--Jewish, Moslem, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, etc., and likewise the nations he talks about like Sweden, England, France, and so on. Instead of these earthly historical names, the spiritual version of the Writings contains only details about the anatomy and function of the human mind and of the Laws of Order by which God manages the phenomena of the natural world and the mental world (that is, the spiritual world). We can have some idea of what this topic consists of by applying the laws of correspondences to decipher the scientific meaning of Divine Speech or Sacred Scripture, as discussed elsewhere.
For every civilization on earth God provided scientific revelations in Sacred Scripture, which is Divine Speech produced by God through the mind of a selected individual who was prepared for the task of revelation. The written form of each revelation was protected and transmitted by the religion or "Church" for which it was given. The overt surface or literal meaning of all Divine revelation appears historical and natural. It gives enough detail of the Commandments God gives for leading an upright life. Often there are rituals to perform because this was considered an essential component of worship by people of all cultures and epochs. But in actuality these rituals did not add to the regeneration of the people. The only thing that allowed actual regeneration was character reformation by following the Commandments.
The people already in the spiritual world received the same revelation as the people on earth, since Divine Speech proceeds from the mind of God and progressively filters through the degrees or layers of height in the spiritual world, or the human mind. By the time Divine Speech filters down to the natural mind in the form of a written book it has undergone several major transformations according to the Laws of Correspondences. For instance, the natural language and events described in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture are exact natural correspondences of the spiritual meanings in Divine Speech, as read by the angels in heaven. Since it was given to Swedenborg to reveal once more these Laws of Correspondence our generation is now capable of discovering what the scientific meaning of revelation deals with. Indeed, this is the major effort Swedenborg performed in his work called Arcana Coelestia (in 12 volumes) and Apocalypse Revealed (in 6 volumes).
The topics of theistic psychology in Volumes 2 and 3 of this book indicate what is the content of the scientific meaning of Divine Speech, namely, the anatomy and development of the human mind. This scientific knowledge is given by God to humankind for the express purpose of facilitating regeneration and thus insuring the survival of the human race for heavenly life in eternity.
Quoting from an article by Rev. Theodore Pitcairn:
THE COMINGS OF THE LORD TO MAN
As is known, the history of the Churches from the beginning is repeated in the man who is regenerated.
The two greatest events in the history of the human race are the first and second Comings of the Lord.
Since the coming of the Lord on earth, the Divine Human of the Lord is present in the soul of everyone born into the world. Since this coming, the Lord is present in the Sun of Heaven, and thence in the soul of man. Hence it is, that the source of all influx of the Good and the True is from the Divine Human; while before His birth on earth, it was from Jehovah God, through the Human Divine in the heavens.
Since the Lord's First Coming the Divine Human has therefore taken upon itself, by becoming one with the Divine Itself, the function of the Divine Itself before His coming.
We are told that every morning is a coming of the Lord, thus there was a coming of the Lord to instaurate each church. But the birth of the Lord on earth was a different coming from His other comings. The other Comings took place by influx and the giving of the Word or Doctrine; but the birth of the Lord on earth was not only an influx, but it was also a taking on of a human by birth.
There is a corresponding coming of the Lord to man. Before the birth of the Lord with man, the Lord is present by influx of His Divine Human which is in the soul of man into the human man has from creation. As long as there is something of innocence with man this is possible. But the time comes that man loses his innocence, by turning to the loves of self and the world. A total damnation then stands at the door and threatens. This total damnation can only be removed, by the Lord's descending, into the natural of man, by birth in the natural mind, and thus by His taking to Himself a Human of His own in man's natural mind; not a Human as before by influx, but His own Human by birth. The Lord then in this Human, which has adjoined to it a maternal human from man, then goes through all the corresponding states to the Lord on earth, and finally glorified returns to the Divine Human, which was in the soul of man, and becomes one with it.
In the Gospels, there is described the Life of the Lord, and of the Apostles, Disciples and women who followed Him, and who constituted the beginnings of the Christian Church; and who represented the Divine Goods and Trues of the Church.
In relation to the Birth of the Lord on earth with man, we must distinguish between, the Lord Himself, on earth with man and the goods and trues with man represented by the Apostles who follow Him.
Just as the Apostles only saw the natural life of the Lord who was with them on earth, but knew nothing of the interior life of the Lord, His temptations, in His combats with the hells, and the processes by which He glorified His human. So likewise man in the state corresponding to the presence of the Lord on earth does not see or comprehend the wonderful work that the Lord undergoes in his natural to save him. He indeed sees the Lord’s miraculous works in the natural and believes on Him, but he knows nothing of the Lord’s internal working for the sake of his salvation.
In the Second Coming of the Lord, to man, just as Swedenborg was elevated into heaven and the Lord appeared to him and revealed the internal sense of the Word concerning Himself. So with man in the corresponding state there is that of the human of man which is elevated into the interior mind where the Lord appears to him and reveals to him the internal of the Word, that is the internal life of the Lord, while He was on earth, and in relation to man the internal working the Lord has performed when He lived in man’s natural.
After the Lord has made His Comings to man, salvation depends not only in believing in the Divine Human which is in the soul of every man, but also in the Divine Human which the Lord takes upon Himself by His birth and glorification of His own Human in man, which He unites and makes one with the Divine Human which was present in the soul of man from birth.
(AC 2819, 1661, 1692)
13.0.11 Theistic Psychology and the Judaeo-Christian Religion
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The Relationship of the Letter of Sacred
Scripture to
Its correspondential sense |
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first ====> |
middle ====> |
ultimate |
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end |
cause |
effect |
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esse (being) |
fieri (becoming) |
existere (subsistence) |
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Divine Itself |
Son of God |
Divine Human |
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Old Testament phase of understanding the Writings |
New Testament phase of understanding the Writings |
Third Testament phase of understanding the Writings |
|
understanding the
Writings |
understanding the
Writings |
understanding the
Writings |
|
basis for the |
containant for the |
support for the |
|
The phase of the representative of a New Church in the New Church mind, with attachment to literalism, external rituals, and religious identity |
The Christian Church phase in the New Church mind, which takes the literal sense of the Writings to be the spiritual meaning of the Old and New Testaments |
The New Church phase in the New Church mind, which acknowledges that the Writings also are written in pure correspondences, which are natural in the literal sense |
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Convention phase of the NC mind in historical recapitulation |
General Church phase of the NC mind in historical recapitulation |
Lord's New Church phase of the NC mind in historical recapitulation |
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first degree priesthood or regeneration of the NC mind |
second degree priesthood or regeneration of the NC mind |
third degree priesthood or regeneration of the NC mind |
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state of life prior to regeneration, with moral temptations, natural good and truth, and an attachment to faith in the absence of charity |
state of life after reformation in young adulthood, with spiritual-natural temptations and a stronger commitment to faith than to charity |
state of life with spiritual-rational temptations, the possession of truth from good (enlightenment), and a commitment to charity as greater than faith |
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natural-corporeal doctrine which is the literal sense of the Writings without comparative context |
natural-rational doctrine which is the interior-natural sense of the Writings, not yet spiritual-rational (First Heaven) |
spiritual Doctrine which is the genuine Doctrine of the Church from Celestial origin, and hence Divine (Second and Third Heaven) |
Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:
SS 28. "... in every complete thing there is a trine, which is called first, middle, and ultimate; also end, cause, and effect; and also esse, fieri, and existere. When these things are comprehended, it is also comprehended that every Divine work is complete and perfect in its ultimate; and likewise that the whole is in the ultimate, which is a trine, because the prior things are together, or simultaneously, in it." (SS 28)
TCR 210. "... in every complete thing there is a trine, which is called the first, the middle, and the last, also end, cause, and effect. When this is understood, it can also be understood that every Divine work is complete and perfect in its last; also that the whole is in the last, because in it prior things are together." (TCR 210)
This diagram is contributed by David Chambers (see Astronomica Section xx):
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The following is based on
Moses, Paul and Swedenborg by Leon James. Section 11. Spiritual Development is Cyclical and
Recursive: Comparison of Religious Ideas in the Three Phases:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/moses.html#_Toc41286028
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Judaeo-Christian Religious Ideas in the Three Phases of Spiritual Development |
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Characteristic |
Phase 1 |
Phase 2 |
Phase 3 |
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Focus |
Ritual piety |
Mystified or Blind Faith |
Rational Faith, Dualist, Theistic, or True Science |
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Scriptural Basis |
Old Testament
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New Testament
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Third Testament
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Orientation |
sectarianism |
personalism |
particularism |
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Mind Physiology |
External |
Intermediate |
Inmost |
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Realm |
Natural |
Spiritual |
Celestial |
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Order |
Material |
Substantive (spiritual) (truths) |
Substantive (celestial) (goods) |
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Faith |
Orthodoxy and strict adherence to rituals brings purification, holiness, merit, power, and rewards. Emphasis on literalism. Contains superstition. Tribal basis of worship and salvation. Exclusionary and does not seek converts. Disdain for other religions. Restricts God to own tribe or sect. Heaven will be on earth and is reserved for the people of one’s sect. Ritual is more important than understanding doctrine from Sacred Scripture. |
Blind faith in the saving power of the Blood of Christ earns one's entrance into Heaven. Faith alone saves, not good works, which contribute nothing to salvation. Reliance on miracles. Combines literalism and symbolism. Contains mysticism. Seeks converts. Sometimes believes in eternal hell, sometimes in temporary hell, sometimes in no hell. Strength of blind faith is more important than understanding doctrine from Sacred Scripture. |
Rational faith, True Science, absence of all mysticism. All go to heaven regardless of religious background, who respect their innate conscience and shun evils of life as character traits that prevent entry into heavenly life. Ability to shun one’s evils depends on appealing to God to give the power. Cannot be done without this conscious daily reliance on God. This process of regeneration goes on all of life on earth, then continues to eternity in heaven. Without this process people sink into the insanities of hell and are stubbornly unwilling to come out of it, even though it is made possible for them to do so. Only the rational understanding of doctrine from Sacred Scripture can make the faith to be genuine. |
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God |
Invisible and incomprehensible, sometimes punishing and unforgiving. Created universe by voice out of nothing. Uses the devil to rule over earth. Has a special relationship to one’s sect. |
Trinity of Divine Persons in One Godhead, which is a mystery of blind faith. Need to pray to the Father God in the Name of the Son God. God’s nature of Justice condemns people to hell, but His nature of Mercy saves them for Heaven. |
Trinity of Aspects belonging to One Visible Divine Human Person – at once Creator, Savior, and Regenerator. No other power exists in the universe except His. He intervenes and manages every singular detail of the universe and of our mind. He maintains every individual in spiritual freedom of choice from birth to eternity, in heaven, in hell, and on the many earths in the universe. |
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The Future (On earth and afterlife) |
Destruction of current world and recreation of a new world. Resurrection of the dead into new physical bodies on earth. End of all evil on earth. Jews are to rule all other nations. Sacrifices will be reinstituted as part of worship. God will retain a special relationship to the Chosen people. |
Destruction of the natural world, leading to universal resurrection of the dead for eternal life in Heaven without a sensual body. No one knows what this heavenly life is. All those go to hell who refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Savior. |
Earths in the universe continue to be multiplied endlessly. Upon death, every person undergoes immediate resuscitation for eternal life in Heaven as a married couple with a sensual spirit-body and a rational mind that continues to develop daily forever. Those refusing to regenerate will insanely insist on keeping themselves in hell forever. |
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Repentance and Regeneration |
Performing cycles of rituals is repentance, and thereby attaining collective atonement with one's tribe. Regeneration of character is not a concept for this phase since salvation is achieved by tribal membership in good standing. |
Examining oneself regularly and giving up behaviors contrary to faith because they are sins against God and lead to hell. However, this is tempered by the Faith Alone doctrine which makes salvation not dependent on character change. |
Regeneration is a physiological process of the mind requiring daily conscious effort, not unlike muscle building, and must be motivated by our desire for good and truth to be received from the Lord and to be applied to daily living. All thoughts and feelings that are contrary to good and truth must be shunned and stopped for regeneration to proceed. |
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Temptations and Consciousness Raising |
Able to overcome natural temptations based on shame and fear of punishment or loss of health, money, affiliation, and status. Morality is based on external deeds. |
In addition, able to overcome spiritual temptations based on anxiety and guilt about loss of connection with God. Morality is based on thoughts as well as on external deeds. |
In addition, able to overcome celestial temptations based on doubt or obscurity of comprehension, as well as the tendency to revert to former, more external states (phases 2 and 1). Morality is based on feelings, intentions, and thoughts, as much as on external deeds. |
|
Charity |
Charity is giving to the poor and fulfilling religious rituals consistently and literally. Some charity (e.g., Church and widows) earns more merit than others (e.g., giving to strangers). Meaning of charity restricted to overt acts. |
Charity is giving one’s ten percent (or equivalent) to the Church and the poor, and praying for one’s enemies as well as for family and friends. Being tolerant and compassionate to all people. Charity ranks lower than faith. |
Charity is being motivated to be useful to others and society. There is no spiritual merit or reward in giving. But care must be exercised not to give indiscriminately (e.g., people dangerous to the community). Human dignity is owed to all human beings regardless of anything else. Charity ranks higher than faith. |
|
Conjugial Love |
External marriage relationship with allowable divorce. Marriage is to last this life only. Faith ranks higher than marriage in God’s eyes. Men rank higher than women in all things. Women are expected to be sub-servient. Men exclude women from many activities, privileges, and rights. |
External marriage on earth, with divorce not allowed. No marriage in heaven and no sensual body there. Unclear what you do in heaven. Faith ranks higher than marriage in God’s eyes. Women have their place in the Church affairs, men have theirs. Women are expected to let men lead. |
Internal marriage formed on earth, to continue in a spiritual body in the afterlife with the same person when both pass on. Divorce allowed under certain conditions of incompatibility. Marriage love ranks higher than faith in the Lord’s eyes. Sometimes women are expected to let the men lead in Church affairs, sometimes they are considered equal. In regeneration, husbands are encouraged to accept the wife’s leading in his own character change because the wife receives from the Lord a special perception of their husband’s mental states, which husbands do not have about their own states. |
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Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:
AE 817. And he spake as a dragon. [Apocalypse Ch. XIII, v. 11]
That this signifies in affection, thought, doctrine, and preaching, similar to what prevails with those who separate faith from the life of faith, which is charity, is evident from the signification of speaking, as denoting affection, thought, doctrine, and preaching. The reason why speaking signifies these things is, that all of a man's speech is from affection and thought thence, the affection itself being expressed by the sound of the speech, and the thought by the words. That both the affection and the thought are in the speech, is evident to every one who reflects.
Affection alone cannot speak, it can only make a noise and sing; nor can thought alone speak except as an automaton without life. For it is the affection which gives life to every expression of speech.
This is also the reason why man is regarded by others according to the affection in his speech, and not according to the words. The reason why speaking also signifies preaching from doctrine, thus doctrine and preaching thence is, that it is said that the beast spake as a dragon; and by the dragon are meant those who are in faith separate from charity both in doctrine and in life (as may be seen above, n. 714). And by this beast are meant confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word in favour of the separation of faith from life, and the resulting falsifications of the Word. That religious persuasion, as to doctrine and as to preaching, is signified therefore by speaking as a dragon.
Because by the dragon and by his two beasts is described faith separate from charity, and the resulting falsification of the Word, it shall be shown in this article, that a similar heresy is described in the Word by Cain, Reuben, and the Philistines; and is also meant by the he-goat in Daniel. For there have been several churches upon this earth - the Most Ancient, which was before the flood; the Ancient Church, which was after the flood; the Jewish, which succeeded the Ancient, and lastly the Christian Church.
All these churches, in process of time, degenerated into two great errors, one which has adulterated all the goods of the church, and the other which has falsified all its truths. The church which has adulterated all the goods of the church is described in the Word by the Babylonians and Chaldeans; and the church which has falsified all the truths of the church is described by Cain, Reuben, and the Philistines; and also by the he-goat in Daniel, which fought with the ram and overcame it.
Concerning the adulteration of the good of the church, which is described by the Babylonians and Chaldeans, we shall speak in the following parts of this work, where Babylon is treated of in the Apocalypse. At present we shall confine ourselves to the subject of the falsification of truth, described here by the dragon and his two beasts. That the same is described also by Cain, and by the rest above-mentioned, shall now be explained.
[3] That those who separate the knowledges of truth and good from a life in agreement with them, and believe that they may be saved by these alone, were represented by Cain, has been briefly shown in the Arcana Coelestia, where Cain and Abel are treated of, to which we shall add the following observations. It is written of Cain,
That he was the first-born of Adam, and that he tilled the ground, and brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to Jehovah; and that Abel was a shepherd of the flock, and brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fatness thereof; also that Jehovah had respect unto the offering of Abel, and not unto the offering of Cain, wherefore anger was kindled in Cain, and he slew his brother; that Cain, was therefore accursed, and banished from the ground, and became a vagabond and fugitive on the earth; and that Jehovah set a mark upon Cain, lest he should be slain, and appointed that whoever should slay him, should have vengeance taken on him seven-fold (Gen. iv.).
It is to be observed, that all the names of persons and places in the Word signify things and states of the church; and especially the names in the first chapters of Genesis, because the historicals in those chapters are constructed historicals, containing in them the deepest mysteries of heaven, but which are, nevertheless, most holy in the sense of the letter; because in every word there is a correspondential sense which unites the heavens with the men of the church. What those historicals involve in the correspondential sense, and what the names of the persons there signify, is explained in the Arcana Coelestia. By Cain are signified the knowledges of truth and good separate from a life in agreement with them, thus from heavenly love; and by Abel is signified heavenly love; or, what amounts to the same, by Cain is signified truth separate from good, and by Abel good conjoined to truth.
And because truth is the primary thing of the church, every church being formed by truths, for from truths, or from the knowledges of truth and good, every church first commences - therefore Cain was the first-born, and was named a man (vir) of Jehovah; for by a man of Jehovah, in the Word, is signified the truth of heaven and the church; and by the ground which Cain tilled, is signified the church. The separation of truth from good is signified by the murder of Abel by Cain. For when every thing of the church is placed in truths or in knowledges, and not in goods, or in the affection of living according to truths; then good with its affections is slain. And because every thing of the church perishes when truth is separated from good; therefore Cain was banished from the ground, by which, as was said, is signified the church.
But because truths are the primary things of the church, for truths will teach men how to live, therefore a mark was set on Cain, lest any one should kill him; and it was appointed that if any one should kill him, he should be avenged seven-fold. And because truth without good is carried hither and thither, having nothing to lead it, consequently it successively wanders into falsities, and falls away from the way that leads to heaven; therefore Cain was banished from before the face of Jehovah, and became a vagabond and fugitive. The case is similar with respect to faith and charity, because faith belongs to truth, and charity to good. Thus the case is similar with respect to faith separate from charity as with what is said concerning Cain, that is, that it kills Abel its brother, which is charity, whence the church perishes. And this is signified by being banished from the ground, and becoming a vagabond and fugitive; for when faith is separated by charity then truth is successively turned into falsity, and so falls to decay.
[4] That Reuben, the first-born of Jacob, signified the light of truth, and thence the understanding of the Word, and thereby truth from good, or faith from charity, as was also the case with the apostle Peter; and that Reuben also, on the other hand, represented truth separated from good, or faith separated from charity; and that this faith is signified by his adultery with Bilhah his father's concubine, in consequence whereof the primogeniture was taken away from him and given to Joseph, may be seen above (n. 434). To these things is to be added, that all heresies, so far as they are adulterations and falsifications of the Word, correspond to adulteries and whoredoms of various kinds, which, because of such correspondence, are also actually perceived in the spiritual world, from those who are in heresies.
The reason is, that marriages, such as they are in the heavens, derive their spiritual origin from the conjunction of good and truth; and, on the other hand, adulteries derive their origin from the conjunction of evil and falsity. This is why heaven, in the Word, is compared to marriage, and hell to adultery. And because in the hells there is a conjunction of evil and falsity, therefore a sphere of adultery continually exhales from them. This is the reason why adulteries and whoredoms, in the Word, signify adulterations of the good of the church and falsifications of the truth thereof (as may be seen above, n. 141, 161).
[5] Faith separate from charity is perceived in the spiritual world as the adultery of a son with a mother, and also with a mother-in-law. The reason is, that faith shuts out the good of charity; and this being so, the evil of the love of self and of the world succeeds in its place, and such faith conjoins itself with it. For all faith must necessarily conjoin itself with some love; wherefore when spiritual love, which is charity, is separated, then the faith conjoins itself with the love of self or the love of the world, these being the loves that rule in the natural man; this is why such a horrible adultery results from faith separated from charity. And it is evident therefore what the adultery of Reuben with Bilhah his father's concubine signifies, and why he was therefore rejected from the right of primogeniture. This is also meant by the prophecy of Israel concerning Reuben:
"Reuben, my first-born, thou art my might, and the beginning of my strength, excellent in dignity, and excellent in power. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch" (Gen. xlix. 3, 4):
which words may be seen explained in the Arcana Coelestia (n. 6341-6350).
That such adultery from faith separated from charity is perceived in the spiritual world, has been made evident to me from correspondences in that world; for as often as I have perceived from afar the sphere of adultery with a mother or mother-in-law, I have known at once that they were at hand who had confirmed themselves in faith alone both in doctrine and in life, and they were also then discovered; and being examined as to their quality, they were found to have been such in the world.
[6] Thus far concerning Reuben. Something shall now be said concerning the Philistines. These also in the Word represent faith separated from love. This is why they were called the uncircumcised; for to be uncircumcised signifies to be without spiritual love, and to be solely in natural love, with which love alone not anything of religion, much less anything of the church, can be conjoined. For everything pertaining to religion and the church regards the Divine, heaven, and spiritual life; and these cannot be conjoined with any other than a spiritual love, consequently, they cannot be conjoined with a natural love separate from a spiritual. For natural separate from spiritual love is man's proprium, which, in itself, is nothing but evil.
All the wars which the sons of Israel waged with the Philistines represented the combats of the spiritual man with the natural man, and also the combats of truth conjoined to good, with truth separated from good, which in itself is not truth but falsity. For truth separated from good is falsified in the thought concerning it; the reason being, that there is nothing spiritual in the thought to impart enlightenment. This is also the reason why those who are in faith separated from charity have no truth, except that used in speech or preaching from the Word. For the idea of the truth perishes as soon as such people exercise their thought about it.
[7] Because this religion in the churches prevails with all those who love to live a natural life, therefore in the land of Canaan the Philistines were not subjugated, like the other nations of that land, and hence so many battles took place between them. For all the historicals of the Word are representative of such things as pertain to the church; and all the nations of the land of Canaan represented things heretical confirming either falsities of faith or evils of love; and the sons of Israel represented the truths of faith and the goods of love, consequently the church.
But what the wars represented which the inhabitants of the land of Canaan carried on will be shown in due course. Here we shall merely show that the Philistines represented a religious persuasion separated from spiritual good, such as that of faith alone separated from its life, which is charity. This is why as often as the sons of Israel departed from the worship of Jehovah to the worship of other gods, they were delivered up to their enemies, or were conquered by them. Thus they were delivered up to the Philistines, and served them eighteen years, and afterwards forty years (Judges x., xiii.). This represented their receding from worship from the good of love and the truths of faith, to a worship from the evils of love and the falsities of faith. It is mentioned that they were conquered and brought into straits by the Philistines (1 Sam. iv., xiii., xxviii., xxix., xxxi.); but when the sons of Israel returned to the worship of Jehovah, which was worship from the good of love and the truths of faith, they then conquered the Philistines (as 1 Sam. vii., xiv.; 2 Sam. v., viii., xxi., xxiii.; 2 Kings xviii.).
That those historicals involve such things, can only be seen from the series of things there described in the internal sense, which we have not the time here to explain. We shall adduce only one passage from the prophetical parts of the Word, from which it will be evident that such things as pertain to the church were represented in those historicals by the Philistines. (AE 817)
AC 6777. And they filled the troughs. That this signifies that from this they enriched the doctrine of charity, is evident from the signification of "filling from a well," as being to enrich from this, or from the Word; and from the signification of a "trough," as being the doctrine of charity. That a "trough" or "basin" is the doctrine of charity, is because it is a trough of wood into which water is drawn from a well to give drink to flocks; for what is of "wood" in the internal sense signifies the good of charity (n. 3720); "to draw" signifies to be instructed (n. 3058, 3071); the "water" which is drawn, signifies the truth of faith (n. 2702, 3058, 4976, 5668); the "well" from which it is drawn signifies the Word (n. 2702, 3424, 6774); and "to give drink to the flocks" signifies to instruct in good from the Word (n. 3772). From all this it is evident that a "trough" is the doctrine of charity. (AC 6777)
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13.0.11.1 Rational Faith or The Beliefs of the New Church Mind
A more elaborate discussion of
the New Church Mind, its formation today in a modern world, is presented in
another electronic book by Leon James available here:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/nonduality.html
Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:
AE 151. These things saith the Son of man. That this signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human, from which is that constituent of the church, is evident from the signification of the Son of God, as denoting the Lord as to his Divine Human, and as to Divine truth, inasmuch as the latter proceeds from Him (concerning which see above, n. 63). That it also denotes from whom is that constituent of the church, that is, the opening of the internal or spiritual man and its conjunction with the external, is, that everything of the church pertaining to man is from the Lord's Divine Human.
For everything of love and faith constituting the church proceeds from the Divine Human of the Lord, and not immediately from the Divine itself; for what immediately proceeds from the Divine itself does not enter into any thought or affection of man, and consequently not into faith and love, because it is far above them, as is evident from the fact that a man cannot think of the Divine without connecting with such thought the human form, unless he thinks of nature, as it were, in its minutest parts. The thought which is not directed to some particular form is diffused in all directions, and what is thus diffused is dissipated. This it has been specially granted me to know, from those in the other life who come from the Christian world, and who have thought only of the Father, and not of the Lord, that they make nature in its minutest parts their God, and at length fall away from any idea of God, consequently from the idea and faith of all things of heaven and the church.
[2] It is different with those who have thought of God in the human form; all these have their ideas directed to the Divine, nor do their thoughts, like those of the former, wander in every direction. And, inasmuch as the Divine under a human form, is the Divine Human of the Lord, therefore the Lord bends and determines their thoughts and affections to Himself. Because this is the essential of the church, therefore it continually flows in from heaven with man, consequently it is, as it were, implanted in every one to think of the Divine under a human form, and thus inwardly in themselves to see the Divine, except in the case of those who have extinguished this impression in themselves (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell, n. 82).
It is therefore evident why all men after death, however vast their number, when they become spirits, are turned to their own loves, and that hence those who have worshipped the Divine under the human form turn to the Lord, who is seen by them as a Sun above the heavens. But those who have not worshipped Him under the human form are turned to the loves of their own natural man, all of which have reference to the loves of self and of the world; thus they turn backwards from the Lord; and to turn themselves backwards from the Lord, is to turn towards hell. (That all turn themselves to their own loves in the spiritual world, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell, n. 17, 123, 142-145, 151, 153, 255, 272, 510, 548, 552, 561.
[3] All those who lived in ancient times, and worshipped the Divine, saw the Divine, in thought, under a human form, and scarcely any one thought of an invisible Divine; and the Divine under the human form, even at that time, was the Divine Human. But because this Divine Human was the Lord's Divine in the heavens and passing through the heavens, when heaven became weakened for the reason that men, of whom heaven consists, from internal became successively external, and thus natural, it therefore pleased the Divine Himself to put on the Human, and to glorify this, or make it Divine, that thus from Himself He might affect all, both those who are in the spiritual world and those who are in the natural world, and save those who acknowledge and worship His Divine in the Human.
[4] This Is manifest from many passages in the Prophets of the Old Testament, and also in the Evangelists, from which we shall adduce only the following in John
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world knew him not. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory" (i. 1-14).
That the Lord as to the Human is there meant by the Word, is quite clear, for it is said, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory;" and that the Lord made His Human Divine, is also plain from these words, "the Word was with God, and God was the Word," and this was made flesh, that is, man. And whereas all Divine truth proceeds from the Divine Human of the Lord, and this is His Divine in the heavens, therefore by the Word is also signified Divine truth; and it is said, He was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Light also is Divine truth; and because men, from being internal, became external or natural, because they no longer acknowledged Divine truth, or the Lord, therefore it is said that the darkness comprehended not the light, and that the world acknowledged Him not. (That the Word is the Lord as to the Divine Human, and Divine truth thence proceeding, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n. 263 and 304. That light is Divine truth, and that darkness denotes the falsities in which those are who are not in the light, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell, n. 126-140, 275.)
[5] That those who acknowledge the Lord, and worship Him from love and faith, and are not in the loves of self and of the world, are regenerated and saved, is also taught in these words,
"As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, to them that believe in his name; which were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (vir), but of God" (i. 12, 13).
Those who are born of bloods, are those who destroy love and charity; the will of the flesh denotes all evil derived from the loves of self and of the world, and is man's voluntary proprium, which in itself is nothing but evil; the will of man is falsity derived from that voluntary proprium. That those who are not in these loves receive the Lord, are regenerated and saved, is meant by them that believe in His name becoming the sons of God, and being born of God. (That to believe in the name of the Lord, is to acknowledge His Divine Human, and to receive from Him love and faith, may be seen above, n. 102, 135.
That bloods denote those things that destroy love and charity, see Arcana Coelestia, n. 4735, 5476, 9127: that flesh denotes the voluntary proprium of man, which in itself is nothing but evil, n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307, 2308, 3518, 3701, 3812, 4328, 8480, 8550, 10,283-10,286, 10,731; and that man's proprium is the love of self and the love of the world, n. 694, 731, 4317, 5660. That man (vir) denotes the Intellectual, and hence truth or falsity, because the Intellectual is from the one or the other, see n. 3134, 3309, 9007, thus the will of man (vir) denotes the intellectual proprium, which, when it exists from the voluntary proprium, which in itself is nothing but evil, if; nothing but falsity; for where evil is in the will there falsity is in the understanding. That to be born of God is to be regenerated by the Lord, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n. 173-184. Moreover, that all in the universe, from influx out of heaven, and from revelation, worship the Divine under the human form, may be seen in the small work, The Earths in the Universe, n. 98, 121, 141, 154, 158, 159, 169; and likewise all the angels of the higher heavens, in the work, Heaven and Hell, n. 78-86.)
[6] From these considerations it is now evident that the all of the church, thus also the all of heaven pertaining to men, is from the Lord's Divine Human. It is on this account that the Son of Man, who is the Divine Human, is described, in the first chapter of the Apocalypse, by various representatives, and afterwards from that description are taken the exhortations to the several churches (as may be seen above, n. 113), and specifically to this church, in writing to which this great essential of the church is treated of, that is, the conjunction of the internal and external, or the regeneration of the man of the church; for it is said to the angel of this church, "These things saith the Son of man, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire." (AE 151)
AE 10370. And the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to perform the Sabbath to their generations. That this signifies that the very essential of the church is the acknowledgment of the union of the Divine Itself in the Lord's Human, and that this must be in each and all things of worship, is evident from the signification of "keeping the Sabbath," as being continual holy thought about the union of the Divine Itself with the Lord's Human (see above, n. 10356), thus also acknowledgment, for thought without acknowledgment and faith is not spiritual thought; from the representation of the sons of Israel, as being the church (see the places cited in n. 9340); from the signification of "performing the Sabbath," as being devoutly to worship this union, thus to worship the Lord as to the Divine Human, for this union is in the Divine Human; and from the signification of "to the generations of the sons of Israel," as being in each and all things of the church (n. 10282).
From all this it is evident that by "the sons of Israel keeping the Sabbath to perform the Sabbath to their generations," is signified the acknowledgment of the Divine Itself in the Lord's Human in each and all things of worship.
The reason why this is an essential of the church, and consequently an essential of its worship, is that the salvation of the human race depends solely upon this union. Moreover the Lord came into the world for the sake of effecting this union. Therefore also in its inmost sense the whole Word treats of this, and the rituals of the church instituted among the sons of Israel represented it and signified it. [2] That the salvation of the human race is therefrom, consequently that this acknowledgment is an essential of the church and of its worship, the Lord teaches in many passages, as in John: He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life (John 3:36; also verses 15, 16; 6:40; 11:25, 26; 20:31).
"The Son" denotes the Divine Human of the Lord. The reason why those have no eternal life who do not from faith acknowledge the Lord, is that the whole heaven is in this acknowledgment; for the Lord is the Lord of heaven and earth, as He teaches in Matthew: All power hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18); and therefore heaven is closed to those who do not acknowledge Him; and he who (being within the church) does not make acknowledgment in the world, does not make it in the other life. Such is the state of man after death. (AC 10370)
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13.0.11.1.1 History and Evolution Leading Up to the Incarnation Event
God created the human race out of good and truth, without evil, but with spiritual freedom to think that which contradicts truth, and with spiritual freedom to want to do that which is contrary to good.
When the first person with an evil mind was resuscitated (see Section xx), during the early generations of the human race on this earth, this person was physiologically unable to continue surviving in the atmosphere of the human heavens where everyone else was living in their blissful state of heaven in the eternity of the human mind. Hence, God had to create a new state of mind in humanity's eternity. This new expanse of life-support system in eternity is called the Grand Monster, while the older expanse of life-support system is called the Grand Human (see Section xx). The Grand Human was seen by Swedenborg as he was given a bird's eye view of the human heavens and their shape. This shape is the human form or body (see Section xx). The Grand Human appears as one handsome angel person, while the Grand Monster, as one deformed devil person. They each have this appearance because the outside of something presents to view the quality of the inner feelings and thoughts of a person.
This effect is somewhat masked in the physical body because it is comparatively like a rigid plaster that encases the soft and responsive mental body within. When this relatively inert plaster drops off at death, the mental body at last is able to sense, think, and feel like a spirit, that is, like a mental being, not physical. While still connected to the physical body, the mental body could not fully experience the true quality and intensity of the spirit's ability to experience. All along we were encased in this rigid non-responsive physical cast while we were experiencing pleasurable sensations and having feelings and thoughts. But now, during resuscitation a few hours after death, we for the first time begin to feel a new quality to our experiences. Swedenborg was able to compare the two while he was conscious in both worlds of time and eternity. He reports that the sensations we have through the physical body are like candle light at night compared to the midday brilliant and warm sun as a spirit in the mental body in eternity (see Section xx).
Think about the sad day when the first evil mind was resuscitated and God had to construct a new living expanse in the human mind where this individual could exist and live as a human. This new place of creation in the evolution of the human mind is known as the hells. We all know what the hells in our mind feel like. We are in the hells of our mind when we are experiencing these things: anger, annoyance, frustration, fear, laziness, neglect of self and responsibilities, stupidity, envy, enjoyment of vengeance, willingness to steal and kill for selfish motives, cynicism, atheism, rejection of truth, ignorance, irrationality, prejudice, carelessness, addiction, enjoyment of corrupting innocence, acting foolishly without proper planning, etc. etc. All these familiar things are the hells of the human mind, and we are in those hells when we experience any one of these feelings and thoughts. These hells, these experiences, these thoughts and feelings did not exist until those first few people in our race a long time ago, started contradicting the truth in their mind, and through that, started justifying evil habits, practices, and lifestyles. Since then the hells of the human race have immeasurably grown in population (see Section xx).
Furthermore, the individual's mental connection to these human hells is passed on hereditarily (see Section xx). This means that people who merely live a life of following their impulses and inborn preferences, are resuscitated with a mental body that contains a personality that is not able to tolerate the atmosphere, lifestyle, and relationships that make up the heavenly thoughts, ideas, and feelings (see Section xx). God has insured that every generation has access to Sacred Scripture that is written in a language anyone can understand. This is the source of knowledge for the person who wants to acquire a new reborn character that is capable of supporting eternal life in heaven (see Section xx). The understanding of Sacred Scripture refers to the memorization, reflection, and study of it as Divine Speech ("the Word of God") (see Section xx). Once some of this knowledge is in our memory and understanding, we are then able to apply the knowledge to guide our willing and thinking in daily life (see Section xx). To the extent that we engage in this character "regeneration" effort on a daily and hourly basis, to that extent we receive enlightenment and power from the Divine Psychologist (or God), that is, understanding of truth and reality, and the motivation and ability to act in accordance with that truth. Through this endlessly recurrent process or cycle of escalation, our consciousness ascends gradually to become that of a heavenly angel in eternity (see Section xx).
Although there are many religions in the human race there is only one God. All religions belong to the One God when they are still genuine, before they are corrupted by false ideas and hijacked by evil purposes. When people are resuscitated, they are instructed in the truth of Divine Speech that is hidden within all Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). The literal sense of Sacred Scripture is written in a style and with a content that is accommodated to a historical time, culture, and mentality (see Section xx). They are not transferable from one religion to another. But when you extract the universal correspondential sense hidden within the literal sense, then the same rational scientific descriptions are found in them (see Section xx). This is the basis of theistic psychology (see Section xx).
For many generations people were able to receive the enlightenment and power from God to allow their character to be regenerated by God. This process was possible because people believed in Sacred Scripture as being Divine Speech and hence, containing absolute truth. This was sufficient as long as they were willing to acquire and understand these Divine truths for the purpose of using them to acquire a new character of good and truth from God. But when people lost this true motivation, they started acquiring these truths from Sacred Scripture as a means of reputation, gain, and power. The result was that their rational understanding was more and more darkened, and all they could do is to contradict whatever they read, instead of finding rational ways of agreeing with them (positive bias) (see Section xx). At that point of human evolution it appeared that the entire race would be eventually swallowed up by evil. This would mean that every new born child would have no longer the power to end up in heaven in eternity. The entire human race in both time and eternity, was at the brink of extinction -- past, present, and future (see Section xx).
To overcome evil in the human race, God had a special strategy that was foreseen since humanity was created. This special strategy was known to the ancients through their knowledge of the correspondential sense that lay hidden in Sacred Scripture. They discussed it as the Incarnation Event ("Coming of Messiah"). Once the process of devolution of the human race reached its lowest possible level, God entered history and the physical reality. The process of birth, its location and time, were specified in Sacred Scripture. It is recorded in the New Testament Sacred Scripture, written more than 2000 years ago, that the Messiah, or Son of God, would be born in the city of Bethlehem in the Holy Land which is the historical location discussed by the Sacred Scripture in the Bible and the Koran, as well as previous Sacred Books containing Divine Speech.
The Incarnation Event is the entry of God into the natural world, into its history and science.
History and science are both concerned with evidence and facts of reality and truth. An event X either did happen or it did not happen. An object or quality Y either does exist or it does not. Reality is about what exists. History and science are rational methods for acquiring knowledge and understanding of reality or truth. God either exists or does not exist. God made Himself be born as a Divine Child on this earth, or He did not. God entered reality and history as a Divine Child, or He did not. Since none of these propositions can be proven by means of physical evidence, to assume that the Incarnation Event (God's birth on earth) is a real historical event that occurred, is called the positive bias in science (see Section xx). Conversely, to assume that the Incarnation Event (God's birth on earth) is not a real historical event that occurred, is called the negative bias in science (see Section xx).
Which bias do you uphold in your role as a scientist? We all know that non-theistic psychology and science assume the negative bias. Any journal article or textbook that presents explanations in psychology referring to God is carefully excluded by editorial policy. In fact, talking about God in non-theistic psychology -- what you have been studying until now, is considered automatically as non-scientific, and is rejected. This rejection is called the negative bias in science. It is not the same with the rejection of magic, superstition, or psychic powers. In fact, the positive bias was adopted towards psychic research and paranormal phenomena. Scientists gave it chance to be proven right. They accepted the possibility that paranormal phenomena may be real and true, even though they did not know whether it is or not. Hence they had to adopt the positive bias, just so they could investigate it.
Question: Could researchers have investigated paranormal phenomena if they had retained the negative bias towards it?
The answer is No. When researchers investigate anything scientifically, like the existence of the Loch Ness monster, they must grant the possibility that the phenomenon exists. Then they can investigate empirically whether they can prove that it exists. But those researchers who assume that such a phenomenon is made up fiction or imagination, and cannot possibly exist in reality, then they are in the negative bias, and they would never investigate its so-called existence. It is the same with God in science and history. Scientists in non-theistic psychology who are in the negative bias regarding God's existence, would never want to
