by Dr. Leon James
Professor of Psychology
University of Hawaii
Published on the Web in 2004
Last update: 2006

Religious Psychology

At age 57 Swedenborg suddenly found himself a dual citizen – conscious in both worlds simultaneously. This means that he was conscious in both the natural mind and the spiritual mind. Our consciousness in the natural mind allows us to see others here on earth who are also conscious in their natural mind. Similarly, Swedenborg’s new consciousness in his spiritual mind allowed him to see others in the spiritual world.

Theistic psychology resolves the issue of how Swedenborg was able to “travel” through the spiritual world by collecting many details about it that are mentioned in various places in the Writings Sacred Scripture and putting them together in an explanatory framework.

Spiritual travel or displacement is nothing else than a series of changes in mental states. In his spiritual mind, Swedenborg was able to “travel” to the spiritual sphere of planets located in distant galaxies by undergoing a series of mental changes that sometimes took several of his earth days (in the natural mind). The same procedure had to be experienced by the spirits who were “traveling” with him.

Swedenborg describes his visits to the three heavens and what he saw there. In order to see the people in each heaven, Swedenborg’s mental states in the spiritual mind, had to be changed to match the mental states of the societies he was visiting, who were in their spiritual mind. He described the location of the heavens relative to each other, their cities and lands, and the layout of the territory in the world of spirits and in the hells located beneath it. This kind of information about the spiritual world may be called spiritual geography.

But it was revealed to humanity two thousand years ago that the “Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21 in the New Testament Sacred Scripture). This revelation may be one of the most astonishing facts in scientific history. For seventeen centuries the meaning of it remained clouded and not understood. Perhaps it was a figure of speech. Perhaps it was a mystery. In the Writings of Swedenborg the mystery was solved. The spiritual world is nothing else than the mental world.

Every human being is born with a physical body on some earth and a mental body, or mind, in the world of spirits. The physical body and the mind grow up together through experiences of life. The physical body is temporary and disintegrates at some point, leaving the mind in the world of spirits free from earthly input and conditions. The human mind is a spiritual organ constructed out of the eternal substances from the Spiritual Sun. Similarly, the physical body is a physical organ constructed out of the temporary materials from the natural sun that is around every earth.

The anatomy of the physical body was well known to Swedenborg from his studies of the sciences of his day in 18th century Europe. The anatomy of the mind was totally unknown to anyone because scientists had no access to observation of the mind. The conscious natural mind has some knowledge of itself because it is constructed of organic layers in discrete degrees, and the higher degree can observe and monitor the lower degree. The highest portion of the natural mind is called the natural-rational degree of thinking and willing, and this is exhibited by what we read in the Letter of the Writings Sacred Scripture.

But it is impossible for the natural mind to observe even a single thing about the operations a discrete degree higher than itself, namely, the spiritual mind. Whatever operations take place in this layer of our mind remain unconscious or inaccessible to the conscious – as long as our mind in the world of spirits is still connected to the physical body on earth. The operations in the spiritual mind originate from Divine Speech exteriorizing across the layers of the mental world. There is a continuous built in organic striving from the unconscious spiritual mind to coordinate by correspondence the operations in the conscious natural mind. The natural mind (“the servant”) is to reform itself and become aligned to the spiritual mind – which occurs progressively during our regeneration on earth.

The consciousness level or, mentality of people’s willing and thinking, is produced by Divine Speech through the progression of correspondences – celestial-rational, spiritual-rational, spiritual-natural or interior natural, natural-rational, natural-sensuous, and natural-corporeal. Divine Speech, or Divine Truth, issues from the Spiritual Sun in the form of spiritual heat and light. These distinct but united uncreate and infinite substances, propagate through the mental world of humanity, that is, through the mind of every human being. This propagation is in successive and simultaneous order so that it continuously permeates every human mind from birth to endless immortality.

Divine Speech enters our celestial mind in the first or highest of the successive degree, which is a above our spiritual mind. This portion of the human organic mind is called the “third heaven” and its mentality level of willing and thinking is produced by the celestial-rational correspondences in Sacred Scripture.

We actually possess in our mind four versions of the Writings Sacred Scripture. The first is in our external natural mind in the form of natural-rational correspondences called the “Letter of the Writings.” This is in the external natural mind which is operating in the world spirits. The second version of the Writings is in our interior-natural mind in the form of spiritual-natural correspondences of the Writings. This is in our first heaven. The third version is in our spiritual mind in the form of spiritual-rational correspondences. This is in our second heaven. The fourth is in our celestial mind in the form of celestial-rational correspondences This is in our third heaven.

There is therefore a perfect overlap between the geography of the spiritual world and the anatomy of the mind. In effect we can write this formula:

All the heavens and all the hells are in every human mind. No other place or plane of existence has been created for heaven and hell except the mental world. Every human being is born with the three heavens and the three hells, separated by the world of spirits. There is only one eternal and infinite Spiritual Sun, and it is located in the mind of every human being.

Everyone can see the Spiritual Sun, the heavens and the hells, the societies and lands and lakes and mountains – but only by elevating our consciousness from the natural mind to the spiritual mind. This cannot be done as long as we are connected to the physical body. Hence during our life on earth we cannot see the Spiritual Sun that is in the upper portions of our mind. Neither can we see the societies of heaven and hell that live in the spiritual world.

All this amounts to the astonishing equation that spiritual geography = mental anatomy. The human race is not spread out as it appears from the earths in the physical world. All human beings live their lives, doing their willing and thinking, in the same mental expanse created by the proceeding substances from the Spiritual Sun. There is only one spiritual world, only one mental world. Despite the experience of privacy in our mind, we are in fact continuously in the presence of the entire humanity through the vertical community of the mental world. The shape of humanity’s vertical community was seen many times by Swedenborg as the Grand Human (“Grand Man”).

The consequences of these facts are staggering to contemplate. It means that every human being at any time from birth to eternity, has access to every other human being in existence. This is a consequence of the fact that there is only one mental world, one spiritual world, and that a change of mental state brings us in the presence of others who are in a similar or compatible mental state. Swedenborg demonstrated this scientific reality by coming into the presence of people in the spiritual world whose names he knew from literature and talking with them – Aristotle, King David, Mary, Luther, Newton, and numerous others.

At this day it is not possible for anyone to become conscious in their spiritual mind and thus come into the conscious presence of people in the afterlife of immortality. The reason for this is explained next.

Theistic psychology from the Writings Sacred Scripture brings to the world a new perspective on what it means to be close to God or to seek closeness with God. The period prior to the publication of the Writings Sacred Scripture (1747-1771), is known in the General Church as the age of the First Coming, while the Writings Sacred Scripture constitute a new era known in the New Church as the Second Coming. These two periods are contrasted in theistic psychology regarding the meaning and process of closeness to God.

The era of the “First Coming,” which extends from the first century A.D. to the eighteenth, is known in theistic psychology as the sensuous consciousness approach to God. The Old Testament Sacred Scripture phase of sensuous consciousness was concrete while the New Testament Sacred Scripture phase of sensuous consciousness was abstract in the form of Christian theology, all of which is based on a sensuous consciousness of the visible “Son of God,” through whom the invisible “God the Father” can be known.

Then begins the new era of the rational consciousness of God as the Divine Human, made possible by the rational revelations of the Writings Sacred Scripture. This changeover regarding humanity’s relationship to God is a new evolutionary creation of the human mind. Today the sensuous consciousness approach to God is still the dominant mode of effort people exert in their longing for closer “union with God.” But it is vital that people begin to acquire the new mode of approaching God that has now been created in the era that began with the Writings Sacred Scripture.

God can always be approached by anyone regardless of knowledge, education, or formal religious association. God is already present in every individual’s mind, managing the endless details of every person’s biography from birth to eternity. Through this management role and presence, God leads and provides for every individual what is needed for heavenly consciousness and eternal life. And yet this relationship is incomplete and not fully effective until the individual consciously reciprocates God’s loving management care with feelings of gratitude and longing for ever higher understanding of God’s Truth and Love.

God’s longing and love for every individual is to have us achieve higher and higher rational consciousness of Him as the Divine Human in whom infinite things are distinguishably one. This is the way God presents Himself in the literal sentences of the Writings Sacred Scripture. We are given there the scientific details of how the Divine Human accomplished this last major evolutionary development of humankind. It included the remaking of the upper portion of the human mind called the “Old Heavens,” which were accessed by people through their sensuous consciousness of God.

The “New Heavens” that were now created in people’s minds (at the end of the 18th century), were no longer accessible by sensuous consciousness, hence the need for the Writings Sacred Scripture on earth to enlighten people to see their way to the new heavens in their mind. God uses the Writings Sacred Scripture as the method for bringing rational consciousness of Him to people’s conscious awareness. This is what God is longing for.

Today in the civilization of cross-cultural diversity, Western culture is permeated through and through with Eastern nonduality which is based on the idea of nonduality between the Divine and the human (see Note 4). The nonduality of new age philosophies was recently reviewed by Rev. Erik E. Sandstrom in a General Church publication (see Note 5). Every single idea, concept, principle, and image in nonduality promotes and preaches the sensuous consciousness of God as a process of union with the Divine called “oneness.” At this level of human consciousness we are being described as no longer human, but Divine, God Itself, of one substance, immensity, and timelessness, without emotion, love, or wisdom such as it is know to human beings. It is a portrayed as a great mystery impossible to convey in words because it is “above thinking with words.”

Sensuous consciousness of God opposes rational consciousness of God. They are in a mortal battle by which one must eliminate the other, like it was commanded to the children of Israel entering the Holy Land that they should exterminate and extirpate every single inhabitant, by which was represented mental states of nonduality. In the nonduality tradition, practitioners and students are given mental exercises to practice allowing them to withdraw from all sensory stimulation coming in from the outside through the physical body. They must also try to eliminate all thinking and consciousness of meaning. And if these exercises are done faithfully for some period of time, the student is promised a new higher type of consciousness which is not human but Divine.

And yet the actual truth and scientific fact is that there is no access to the spiritual mind which is the portion that receives the inner sensory consciousness of the Spiritual Sun. Swedenborg was a unique case because he was able to be conscious in his spiritual mind before he underwent resuscitation in the world of spirits. He therefore had a sensuous consciousness of the spiritual world as well as the natural world. He was able to confirm by years of daily experience in his spiritual mind, that the new heavens in the human mind are heavens produced by the rational consciousness of God.

Our rational consciousness of God begins with dualism and Sacred Scripture. The correspondences of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture create the new rational genes of consciousness, out of which our heavens are constructed. The only access to our heavens in eternity is by means of a rational understanding of higher order correspondences in Sacred Scripture – corporeal, sensuous, natural-rational, spiritual-natural, spiritual-rational, celestial-rational. This is a gradual progression of rational consciousness up the ladder of correspondences of Divine Speech.

Theistic psychology provides the scientific reasoning process for proving that rational consciousness of God is the only road to a happy eternity.

Seeking sensuous consciousness of God today leads to a delusional relationship with oneself. It is not unusual for a Christian today to declare that God spoke to him or her in answer to some question or request. But we know from the Writings that God speaks to people only through Sacred Scripture, that is by enlightenment. Divine Speech with God in a dialog form in the natural mind is not possible (“He said to me...I said to Him...”). Today in the age of rational consciousness, God enlightens our conscious natural mind through the unconscious spiritual mind, the two acting in correspondence – never by direct speech or living voice, as He did in the days of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures.

Every semester I ask my students to explain why God doesn’t appear at the United Nations, or some other world stage, and make a declaration of Himself in the media, and then return to heaven. Such a Divine intervention would constitute the sensuous consciousness of God, materialistic proof of His existence and direct communication with Him. Such physical demonstration of Himself would not turn the world to theism. Science would not be changed. Religion would remain the same mystery as before. Those who did not believe, and then believed because of the sensuous consciousness of God, would then eventually not believe.

The only consciousness of God that can remain in the mind and grow to eternity, is rational consciousness of God.

In our modern age, correspondences of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture are the only mechanism that has been created for elevating rational consciousness of God and making it grow.

Divine Speech is the same as Divine Truth and this is the same as spiritual light streaming out of the Spiritual Sun and entering the mind of every human being throughout its discrete layers. Sacred Scripture (“the Word”) is the only source of genuine or Divine correspondences. God enlightens us through the doctrine of truth that we extract from the Writings Sacred Scripture. This enlightenment is rational speech or communication with God.

We experience communication with God not as a dialog but as new insight or understanding that we perceive as spiritual correspondence. The experience of comprehending spiritual correspondences gives us the rational feeling of God’s immediate co-Presence in our willing and thinking. In the new age for the modern mind this rational consciousness of God is the way to heaven, and nothing else can be.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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).

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:

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.

Here is an article written by Rev. Geoffrey Childs that shows how Swedenborg's revelation was given to him.

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:

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:

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.

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:

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.

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:

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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)

Judaeo-Christian Religious Ideas in the Three Phases of Spiritual Development
Characteristic	Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3
Focus	Ritual piety	Mystified or Blind Faith	Rational Faith, Dualist, Theistic, or True Science
Scriptural Basis	Old Testament	New Testament	Third Testament (the Writings)
Orientation	sectarianism	personalism	particularism
Mind Physiology	External	Intermediate	Inmost
Realm	Natural (natural- rational)	Spiritual (spiritual-rational)	Celestial (celestial-rational)
Order	Material (mass & space)	Substantive (spiritual) (truths)	Substantive (celestial) (goods)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 investigate theistic psychology to see if it is true or not, real or fantasy. But scientists in non-theistic psychology who are in the positive bias regarding God's existence, may want to investigate theistic psychology to see if it is true or not, real or fantasy. Either way, it is a bias.

So from which bias are you thinking about God in your role as a psychology student?

Almost certainly you have been thinking about psychology and God from the negative bias. Almost certainly you are thinking from an assumption you have accepted in your courses or readings about what scientists say and do. It's not because you have thought rationally about whether God is part of history and science, or not. You have accepted what you were told and what you memorized and what you keep reading today in newspapers and science stories. It is the case that the negative bias in science is so complete that you would hardly ever come across anything written in science from the positive bias perspective. We are not talking about religion and God. Only about science and God. This issue -- science and God, is independent of the issue religion and God. People put them together in their mind and in their discussions, but that's only because they are not making the distinction (see Section xx).

This then is what it means to study theistic psychology, namely, to admit that it is possible that God exists, and therefore it is possible that God and science could be together as part of what is reality and how to investigate it rationally.

So God became a man on earth (see Section xx). From the positive bias assumption, this could be an actual true fact. We need to investigate it to see. That's what the study of theistic psychology is.

13.0.11.1.2 Neuro-Physiology of God Man's Incarnation

So the first issue to consider, in order to investigate this rationally, is how can God be a man on earth -- who then is taking care of the universe? The answer is that as a man on earth, God went through two states of existence or life, alternating repeatedly between them. First, a state of existence called humiliation during which the Divine Man fell in consciousness to the mere human level of the people and culture around Him. In this fallen state, the physical Divine Man saw Himself as separate from Himself as God. He saw Himself as having no Divine power, and no Divine knowledge. Then, an hour or a day later, He saw Himself as He really was from within, that is, as God Himself, with omnipotent power and omniscient knowledge. The Incarnate Divine Man managed His life on earth, and all the events surrounding His presence as a citizen, by following the exact biographical blueprint described thousands of years earlier in the prophecies recorded in Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

So we know that the universe was still being managed by God Himself, even though He had made Himself be born as a Divine Man on earth. It is not possible for the omnipotent God to give up power or to abdicate any rule of order that creates reality out of truth.

Why did God go through repeated phases of humiliation ("exinanition") during which He had an obscured vision and lowered powers, which required Him to face temptations by suffering?

When God Man was facing executioners who put Him to death, as described in the New Testament Sacred Scripture, who was managing events? Where did the executioners take the physical power to torture and kill the God Man? Where did the lawyers and judges take the mental power to formulate the legal justifications for the death penalty they imposed on the God Man? Clearly all these details were managed and determined by God Man Himself. He Himself gave them the power and intelligence to arrest Him, condemn Him, and execute Him. God Man Himself did all of this. Not a single finger or thought could have occurred without God Man making it occur. These are logical conclusions that follow from the assumption that God exists (see Section xx).

God Man's purpose was to confine within temporary limits His own Divine infinite power. This is why it is called a state of humiliation during which God humiliated Himself by creating a physical Person who was a mere human on the outside, but whose soul on the inside was the infinite God Himself. How were these two to conjoin and become One? We are each born with a soul that makes us unique with distinct qualities that no other soul has. From this soul we have the quality of our mind and hence, of our experience of self and life. It is our soul that makes us who we really are, thus, who we are going to be in eternity. And yet we know absolutely nothing about our soul. We know that it exists because that is revealed in Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). We are unconscious of anything about our soul, which yet determines the core of who we are. This mere human process models after the Divine Human process by which God united this physically born Person to Himself. This process ;of unification or conjunction between God's physical Body and His spiritual mind and soul, is called the process of glorification (see Section).

The details of this process are fully revealed in the hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). It makes sense that God wants us to know about these details because everything He did during this process of glorification on earth, was actually a process of new creation in the human mind that did not exist before. The mental or spiritual physiology of the mind did not have the components and processes that were initiated in the human race by this process of glorification. IN other words, God Man's glorification steps with Himself on earth in time and space, is the model or physiological blue print our mind follows today in the process of our regeneration or character reformation (see Section xx).

This etiological symbiosis between God Man's glorification of Himself and every individual's regeneration steps, makes it rationally clear to us what God Man did during His thirty-three years of presence on this earth. He was battling the hells!

God Man's states of humiliation are described in intimate detail in the hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). We understand what happens to us when we are undergoing battles with the hells (see Section xx). For instance, you see a beautiful diamond ring on the grass in a park at the very spot where you just saw a young lady get up and walk away half a minute ago. You can still see here slowly walking off and you could easily catch her. You are holding the ring, thinking, maybe it's not hers, maybe it's just my lucky day. Now the temptation starts. You are beginning to think of reasons why it would be all right for you to keep the ring. Your intelligence allows you to fabricate what appear to you good reasons. So you feel a strong emotional pull to keep the ring and the thought makes you breath faster as you're contemplating all the things you can do with the money. But now you feel an opposite pull, as you recoil with horror at the idea that you're going to steal the ring even though you know it belongs to that young woman. Your are now in the very midst of the temptation, which is called a spiritual battle (see why in Section xx).

You are in emotional agony. It's not just the money of the ring. It's your self-image and self-esteem. Can you life with yourself knowing that you are the kind of person who could do this? And if you could do this, what else can you do that's even more horrific? But, but, the money, and, and, what if she says it's hers, when it's not, etc. It's not fair, other people always getting things, going to Las Vegas, and you can never go. Besides, there are many philosophers and politicians in history who have stated that you must be strong and look after yourself first, and then, other people. e I've been living a false philosophy, limiting myself to so-called honesty and morality. Look at how many people cheat and do illegal things in our society. Who doesn't? Etc. Your eternal future hangs in the balance of this battle, and other battles like this every day. It all adds up to character reformation -- if you win your spiritual battles, and remaining in the character you've inherited - if you don't win your spiritual battles (see Section xx).

The reason you can win your battles in spiritual temptations is that you have available the process of regeneration, which is modeled after the process of glorification, as just explained.

The Divine Man in His states of humiliation as a mere human being, was able to face spiritual temptations. This means that He was able to face the hells in the minds of the human race that have evolved for numerous generations (see Section xx). These are the hells that are inherited by every generation since the mind of a newborn is physiologically an "offshoot" of the parents. It is known that the physical body inherits many physical and genetic traits from the physical body of the parents. It is not generally known that the mental body of the newborn is inherited from the mental body of the parents. All the mental impulses and preferences we have are inherited in the mental body. You can see therefore that once a single individual becomes evil, it's only a matter of time before this evil is passed on to the generations, so that there is a cumulative inheritance of evil traits.

By the time you and me have come around, many generations before us have already accumulated so much inherited evil that there can be no hope for us to escape hell in eternity -- except for one thing: The Divine Human's glorification process, which acts ceaselessly today on every human mind, making it possible for anyone who wants to, to undergo the process of regeneration and character preparation for heavenly life in eternity. This is why the Divine Man's glorification is called the salvation of the human race -- because it is making it possible for anyone anywhere anytime to sign up for it, go through with it, and end up in the heavens of the human mind. This is called being saved because we are saved from a miserable life of hell and we are given instead, a life of heaven in eternity.

What actually is heaven and hell?

13.0.11.1.3 Neuro-Physiology of Heaven and Hell

People in the negative bias in science, or people who see themselves as cynics or materialists, tend to ridicule the idea that there is a heaven and a hell. How do you know, they say? Is this not something invented to keep people in check? Besides, who knows what is heaven, what is absolute good, or absolute truth. Your god may not be my god. Etc. etc. But this kind of thinking and clever talking is done our of mere ignorance. It doesn't have to impress us as intelligent or true. It is actually foolish and false. Heaven and hell are real physiological entities or organs in the mental body. If you study the anatomy of the mental body (or spirit or mind), you will discover that the mind is constructed out of vertical layers of spiritual substances from the Spiritual Sun (see Section xx).

The Spiritual Sun is the infinite emanation of good and truth from God. There are infinite different states or qualities of good, and infinite different states or qualities of truth. Our soul and our spirits or mind, is made of organs of the mental body. The uppermost organ in the human mind is called heaven because it receives good and truth from God without distorting it. Swedenborg interviewed many of those who dwell in the heavens of their mind (see Section xx). He was able to study their character and quality of mind. He called them angels. Any person who underwent character reformation prior to death, is resuscitated, instructed, and taken to their heavens where their soul mate spouse awaits, or where they are to await their soul mate spouse (see Section xx). They thus live in conjugial blessedness and joy to eternity, reaching progressively higher and higher states of good and truth, endlessly to eternity.

The Divine Human's glorification process created these heavens. All the older heavens of the human race were recreated in the new form of the Divine Man and His mind or character. From then on the human mind could receive the good and truth streaming forth from the Divine Man through the Spiritual Sun (see Section xx). This allows us to define heaven physiologically as that part of the human mind that can receive good and truth from the Divine Man without appropriating it to self, and thus distorting it into its opposite, or the falsities of evil.

The Incarnation Event is the greatest evolutionary step of creation since the human race was created (see Section xx). During this event God altered the course of the human race. The mental world of humanity had been invaded by the virus of irrationality that falsifies the truths of Sacred Scripture, and by the disease that corrupts good into evil. The human race stood at the brink of insanity and bestiality, which would have destroyed the ability of human beings to live in the eternity of heaven. To prevent this happening, God incarnated as a God Man who alternated between mental states of humiliation during which He did not know He was God, and mental states of glorification during which He acted as God Himself through the Divine Man that He caused to be born in time and history. During the mental states of humiliation, the Divine Man faced down the hells through temptations and victories over them.

The hells constitute the center and source of all human insanities and cruelties. These thoughts and feelings maintain themselves through illogical connections by which evils are justified as allowed, and finally seen as good, while what is good is now seen as evil and what is true is now seen as false. So the mental world of hell is upside down and inside out. When we face temptations we are battling the hells in our mind. For instance, we know that we should not be driving after drinking alcohol, and yet we get into the car and are about to drive off. We are experiencing a temptation. From the hells of our mind we receive the influx of irrational thoughts that attempt to justify our desire to drive off even if in an impaired state. Now if we are willing to battle the temptation, instead of giving in, we appeal to principles or truths that we value and desire to uphold in our life. We might think, "I don't want to cause someone's death." or, "I may feel all right but my intelligence tells me that my reactions must be slower." Etc. In other words, we combat our hells with truths from our heavens.

We want to avoid ending up living our immortality in hellish thoughts and feelings. Hence we must acquire truths from our heavens in order to battle the hells. These heavenly truths are available to us through Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

But what happens if we acquire the habit of contradicting Sacred Scripture? And if we teach these mental habits to our children through socialization and enculturation, within a few generations Sacred Scripture will have lost its ability to save people from their hells. Swedenborg discovered that this is indeed what happened to our race on this earth (see Section xx). It is sometimes called "the Fall" of humankind. The only source of knowledge about how to fight the hells had been perverted. Now the entire sequence of generations of humans stood at the brink of destruction. God foresaw this situation from creation and provided a mechanism for the restoration of the human ability to receive heavenly truths from Sacred Scripture. Not only was this a perfectly effective solution to the problem, but it was also an occasion God used to create the next evolutionary step in permanently elevating the human race to heaven.

This solution and mechanism of salvation was the Incarnation Event.

By causing Himself to be born into the world of time and history, God created something that did not exist before, namely a Divine Human Child growing up in a human society on earth. This Divine Child grew up to be a Divine Man, in the natural world, walking around in cities and having dinner with followers and worshippers. The significant part of this scientific event is what the Divine Man had created in His Own Human mind.

Theistic psychology was created in the mind of this Divine Child as He studied the Old Testament Sacred Scripture and revealed to Himself as God, the hidden correspondential sense it contained.

The Divine Child created theistic psychology in two modalities -- neurobiological and psychological. He altered the neural fibers of the affective organ in the natural mind (see Section xx), introducing into it a new sub-organ with higher order functions than the external-rational thinking we do in our daily living. This new organ within the natural mind is called the interior-natural mind (see Section xx). The existence of this new affective organ in the natural mind of the human race makes it possible to receive higher -order truths from Sacred Scripture, which was not possible before, when this organ was lacking in the human race. It was the Divine Child who created in Himself the first interior-natural organ in the race. Through this new affective organ He empowered Himself to fight the hells with new truths that humanity did not know before. Many of these new truths were recorded in the New Testament Sacred Scripture by the disciples of the Divine Human (see Section xx).

By the union of the Human and the Divine through the Divine Man born in time, God preserved the human and improved it to its final state of perfection from creation.

From then on, union is affected individually with every person through a process of modeling neurophysiologically or, following mentally in the steps of the Divine Man on earth. Each person faces inherited connections to the hells through temptations, which are called spiritual combats fought by means of truths from Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). By overcoming temptations the person is put in a state of union with the Divine Man whose neurobiological steps every person models in the temptations. During the temptation, people experience the feeling of being forsaken by God and that they are fighting on their own. The Divine Psychologist creates this feeling of being separated because the person must go through the effort of fighting as-of self. As soon as the temptation is overcome as-of self, the Divine Psychologist – who was managing things in the background – comes out to your awareness and union is effected. This union is the neurophysiology of immortality in heaven through good and truth.

The consequence of overcoming temptations is that the good inflowing from the Divine Human into our affective organ, is now being conjoined to the person's truths acquired from Sacred Scripture. We first learn truth from Sacred Scripture. But this is half of a step. It does not allow us to change our character until we apply this truth and use it to fight some temptation as-of self. This takes as-of self effort, courage, and struggle. It is the Divine Psychologist who actually does the fighting, the fending off of the hells in the mind. The individual has zero power to resist the hells. Hence all we need to do is to fight as if we had the power, knowing all along that it is the Divine Human who does the fighting, since He alone has power (see Section xx). God supplies the power to the hells to tempt us, and God supplies the power for us to resist. But we must do it as-of self, through the truths in our mind that we acquired through Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

The instant we fight in temptation by means of truths, God adjoins good to our truth. That means we now have the capacity and ability and motivation to have our character modified by God. Until we cooperate consciously by battling temptations, God is not capable of adjoining good to the truths we know. Our truths are useless, powerless to do anything, until good is adjoined to them by God. When this is completed, we can say that we love truths. Until then we only know truths. To know remains in memory and outside our will (affective organ). To love, or to want to do, enters the will and becomes attached to us forever.

What is the neuro-physiology of sinning?

Since good and truth in our mind from God make up the heavens in our mind, you can see that contradicting truth and inverting good make up the hells in our mind. Sinning is nothing but the act of contradicting the truth of our heaven and the act of perverting the good of our heaven. For example, when we overeat and under exercise we are sinning because we are contradicting the truths of a healthy lifestyle and we are perverting the goods of healthy living. As a result we are entering the hellish zones in our mind and begin to experience the things of hell -- lack of energy, depression, malfunctioning of organs, worrying about getting sick, getting sick, not being able to do things because of being sick, worrying those who love us, avoiding activities that give us pleasure and joy of living, lower capacity to function and enjoy, being a burden on the family and community, losing one's pleasant appearance, etc. etc. Sinning puts us in the hells of our mind. Contradicting truth makes us irrational and stupid. Perverting good makes us weak and ineffective, or else, cruel and violent, and these ultimately fail to bring us what we want, and makes the life of others miserable.

Society’s ills and people’s sufferings are the consequences of moral iniquities -- another way of referring to sinning. Sinning brings on ills. The connection between sinning and ills is a built in organic connection that cannot be avoided. Every single act of sinning, that is, of contradicting truth and perverting good, has built in and inevitable consequences to eternity, or endlessly (see Section xx). God does not will or provide evil, but He allows it. Why? We need to understand the answer to this question in a rational way or else we lapse into obscurity, mysticism, irrationality, and intolerance. Truth is the rational understanding of God that forms the basis for created reality. Good is the power to do what God wants us to do. Heaven is the reception in our mind of good and truth from God. Hell is the contradiction of truth and perversion of good into their opposites. God allows every person to do this, to sin. Why?

Because the consequences are that the population of the human heavens keeps growing at an accelerated rate, endlessly to eternity. This is God's purpose, intent, and desire in creating human beings and a universe for them to live in. First in a universe of time and physical things, then, in a universe of eternity outside time, namely, a rational world of thinking truth and feeling good. This universe in eternity is the mental world of the human race (see Section xx). So when you were born, your mind or spirit, was born in the world of eternity. Your thoughts and feelings are not material things, hence it is not possible for them to exist in a physical plane in time and space. Every single thought you have and every single sensation and feeling, occurs in your mind, in you mental body (see anatomy in Section xx). They are immortal. They cannot die or disappear. Hence your personality or self-identity or self-consciousness is immortal and can never die.

But where is your self or personal identity? Our thoughts and feelings cannot exist in the brain because the brain can only support electrical and chemical, and other physical activity, not mental. All mental activity can only occur outside physical space and time, that is, in eternity only. So we are dual citizens at birth -- physical body and organs in physical world of time, and mental body and organs in eternity and immortality. As we grow our thoughts and feelings accumulate and hold together as a unique immortal indestructible individual self (see Section xx). But where is this self constructed out of accumulated thoughts and feelings of each unique individual?

This unique subjective self called "a person" exists through the operations of the organs in the mental body. Inspect this chart of the mental body in eternity.

First read the left hand column up and down. You can see here a schematic representation of the anatomical and functional levels of our mental organs. They are arranged in a vertical order of levels and each level operates its own operations. The organic levels of the mind are created out of the substances of good and truth that stream out of the Spiritual Sun, as shown in the chart. These organic levels are created for each individual at birth. Note that the highest level is closest to the "influx" of good and truth from God through the substances of the Spiritual Sun. This level of our mind is called the celestial level, or the celestial organ, or the celestial heaven or Third Heaven. At this level of reception of influx we are closest in character to God who is the One and Only and Original Divine Human (see Section xx). We are "human" only in the sense that we are in the "image and likeness" of God the only true Human. This is the Divine Human or universal God, creator and manager of all things in existence.

What is human?

As the chart above shows, the highest form of being human is the celestial organ of the mind which is capable of receiving good and truth from God with the least amount of distortion possible. So to be human means to be able to receive good and truth from God without distortion.

According to this definition it is clear that only the highest level of our mind is truly human. The chart describes the celestial mental state as the "inmost rational" and Third Heaven in our mind. In other words, we begin our true humanity only when we are truly rational, which is the celestial state. All the levels below the celestial functioning are not yet fully human but necessary preparatory steps on the way to becoming fully human.

You might want to print the chart so you can have it in front of you as you read this -- select the chart, copy it, paste it into a word processor, print it, or else have it show in another browser window so you can go back and forth. As the chart shows the next level lower is called the "spiritual mind" or Second Heaven. This is characterized as the "intermediate rational" because it fulfills the function of being an intermediary connector to the "inmost rational" (above itself) and the "external rational" (below itself). Our conscious awareness in everyday life activities, like you reading this now and figuring out its meaning, is called the "natural mind" which consists of three organic sub-zones called (1) the external rational mind; (2) the sensuous corporeal mind; (3) the hells.

Other anatomical charts (see Section xx) give you the details of the organs at each level. Briefly, you should remember that each level of the mind consists of three distinct organs or functional systems of operation called the affective organ, the cognitive organ and the sensorimotor organ (see Section xx). Consider for instance the operations of the external rational mind that you are familiar with on a daily basis. When you are thinking about organizing a schedule for some project you want to do, you are using rational methods of thinking to select among alternatives available to you. These sequences of thoughts called "cognitive planning operations" take place in the cognitive organ under the guidance of the affective organ. Your mind is active at the external rational level of operation. Note from the chart what makes it possible for you to perform cognitive planning operations in the natural mind.

What do you see?

Each level of operation of the mental body organs are determined by the operations going on at the immediate level above itself. This psychobiological principle of the mental organs is known to some extent to psychologists interested in control mechanisms for constructing artificial intelligence machines. Control mechanisms are arranged in vertical levels so that what is higher controls what is lower. This is familiar to you in external physical organizations in the natural world -- the lowest level of the chart. The natural world is mostly physical in time-space, but some of its elements that border the natural mind are of seemingly intermediary composition. According to Swedenborg's scientific studies there are elements or essences of "nature in their purest form" that make up the composition of the inmost portion of each neuron in the brain (see Section xx). Swedenborg called each neuron a "brain in miniscule" and asserted that its interior composition gets more and more complex as you look into smaller and smaller portions of it. The inert chemical elements are formed into a super-thin material that is so sensitive and carries so much information that the sensorimotor organ of our corporeal mind can react to it by pure mental correspondence (see chart).

So to understand how our immortal mental self is built up from experiences through our physical body, consider the entire chain process. When we are born we possess all four levels of functioning shown on the chart. Now consider what happens when you are doing something, like eating and thinking about your plans. The food and the hand that takes it to your mouth and the taste buds are all physical matter in time-space that evoke automatic built in sensations in your brain and in each neuron of your brain, and the inmost of each neuron. This is not yet your mind for no human sensations are involved. But now, the corporeal zone of the natural mind reacts to what is happening in the inmost of each neuron. This reaction is purely mental and is called experiencing a sensation. Sensing is a mental operation if it refers to human sensations of experience, rather than brain reactions to sensory input. Brain reactions to input from the sensory organs is not mental. This is not the sensation.

The sensation begins only at the instant the sensorimotor organ reacts to the activity in the neuron.

All incoming information from the physical neuron is recorded in the sensuous-corporeal mind. Nothing ever can get lost through this process. Every single sensation, feeling, thought, or imagery is permanently recorded in our sensuous-corporeal mind (see Section xx). Now with all this activity going on in the lower zones of the natural mind, the external-rational mind reacts to it. You experience this reaction by monitoring your thoughts and feelings. If your brain neurons react to a signal from the ear when exposed to a sound, you may stop what you are doing and monitor the sound trying to figure out what it was. You are consciously aware of the sensation of the sound in your natural mind and your rational operations process the meaning of the sensation or sound.

So now you can see that unless your natural-rational mind were operating, you could not hear a sound. It could be a meaningful sound or a new and puzzling sound. In either case it is the rational processing that is needed to be going on in order to attach meaning to the sound ("It's a car coming." or, "It can't be. Sounds like a loose lion in the street." etc.). But now your external-rational mind would not be able to think these thoughts were it not for the spiritual mind right above, controlled the syntax of thinking so that it remains rational and does not become illogical. The spiritual mind operates at the level of "intermediate rational" which is built to function by receiving truth or rationality from the celestial mind. So it is the celestial mind that must be involved if we are going to be able to give meaning to that sound in a rational way.

And finally about this chart, look at the hells. They are located in the natural mind that we inherit from our parents in a long line of cumulative inheritance of mental traits (see Section xx). This portion of the mind is separated in a distinct zone of its own in the natural mind. This organ belongs to the affective system and is hooked into the vertical community in the world of spirits (see Section xx). From this organ we experience the impulse to pervert the good into something selfish and irrational. These impulses connect us to the hells of the human race that are situated in the natural mind of every individual born on this earth. These irrational thoughts and perverted feelings are not human. They are sub-human or perverted-human or monster-human. The rational thoughts and the non-perverted feelings are human or angelic (celestial).

So now you can understand heaven and hell in anatomical and psychobiological terms or logic. These are two organs of the human mind in the eternal mental world. The operations in the celestial organs of the mind create the experience and existence we call heaven, while the operations of the inherited sensuous-natural organs of the mind create the experience and existence we call hell. Does this mean that heaven and hell are in our mind? Yes, that is correct. Heaven and hell are mental operations of the opposite kind, like matter and anti-matter. Hence we have the absolute opposition between the evils and irrationalities in our hells and the goods and truths in our heavens. These are contradictory thoughts and feelings that annihilate each other, ending all existence and life -- were it not for the sole fact that God keeps the hells separate and isolated in our mind so that it cannot contaminate our heavens. Nothing from our hells can influence anything in our heavens because the heavens are far above the hells.

To eliminate or reduce the ills of individual and society, we need to eliminate the causes of ills – which are the moral iniquities we live when we go along with our inherited impulses. To neutralize and eliminate the impulses of the hells in our mind, the neurobiology of the mind requires a mental victory over the temptations brought to our awareness by the Divine Psychologist as a psycho-therapeutic opportunity of improving our character. This is possible for God to do the very instant that the person starts loving truths, which means, starts aligning acts, feelings, and thinking with these truths on a daily and hourly basis. The truths are always obtained from one source only, namely from the Divine Psychologist speaking to our rational mind when we are figuring out what Sacred Scripture is saying in its hidden correspondential sense (see Section xx). This is the essence of rational spirituality and rational faith (see Section xx).

The Divine Man during mental states of humiliation (see above), faced the entire hierarch of lusts and insanities that had accumulated in the mental world of the human race since almost the beginning, with the first person who willfully chose to contradict truth. After that, the population of occupants in the hells of the human mental world, rose with each cumulative generation. The evolution of the mental world in eternity comprises the steady increase in the population of both heaven and hell. Remember that every newborn person inherits he mental world of their parents, up the long chain of inheritance in the human race since the beginning. Every baby born today has a mental body living in the eternity of the human mental world. All human minds are interconnected (see Section xx).

There is therefore complete freedom for every individual to choose where they prefer to exist in the eternity of their mental world.

This freedom is the essence of being human and rational. Without it, we cease to be human, and we cease to have the capacity to be immortal in heavenly life and experience. Without this freedom we lose everything for which God created us. Hence it is that the primary rule that governs all other rules of reality is that nothing can happen or exist that takes away this freedom. God manages every detail of existence within the limits of this primary rule of order of creation and possibility. Hence it is that God allows individuals to contradict truth and pervert good (see above). God allows it by making it look like He is not present and not making it happen. For instance God's power activates the muscles we use to steal, deceive, or kill. God's rationality or truth activates the thinking process that is illogical and irrational, and leads a person to believe what is wrong or false. And similarly, God's power of good and love activates the feeling process that we call cruelty and shamelessness. Everything that happens in the heavens of our mind and in the hells, is activated by God through good and truth. But in the hells of our mind we use our freedom to invert and contradict the truth because it gives us justification to enjoy evil and thereby to harm others.

13.0.11.1.4 Contemporary Religious Expressions of the New Church

Contemporary life within the New Church intellectual community is exemplified by a selection of articles formulated from the perspective of the Writings of Swedenborg as Sacred Scripture.

Quoting from:

Teachings For a New Spiritual Day

www.baltimorenewchurch.org/index2.htm#MF

The Baltimore New Church

The reason God created the universe was to make spiritual free will possible, so the decision to go to heaven and relate to Him is meaningful. God could have loved Himself more perfectly than anyone outside Him could love Him. But self-love is the essence of aloneness, of evil. God, (,,,) Thus it is that everyone begins life in our physical universe, where there's no proof of God or spiritual reality (for proof by definition interferes with free will). [More about this: Creation: Why and How, Who is God?]

God allows people to do all the sad and terrible things they do since, again, you're not really free to choose good if you could not also have chosen evil. (...) [More about this: Divine Providence and Evil]

You go to heaven or hell of your own free will. You are the same person after death that you were in this world except that you can no longer hide your motives. Hypocrisy of any kind is impossible. If your motive in life was to do the best you could according to your principles, you will want to be with other people with the same motive - in heaven. If you basically love to have your own way and are hard on other people, you will want to go to hell. (...) [More about this: Heaven and Hell]

Dying is not an end but an awakening. Your spirit is already in the spiritual world, but you are not aware of it. At death you become conscious in that world as you lose consciousness in this one. You leave the body your spirit has been driving around in this world and take on a new spiritual body that's far more perfectly fit to the "real (spiritual) you" than your present body. (...) [More about this: The Death Process]

Life in heaven and hell are more real and vivid than life here. There are mountains and plains, trees and rivers, houses and towns, lovely in heaven, grim and ugly in hell (because that's how the inhabitants prefer it, in both cases). Men are men and women are women in every detail. [More about this: Heaven and Hell]

Men and women are spiritually different. In a true marriage, they are spiritually "in the image of God" as neither can be alone. Each is incomplete for each is only half of "man" - as in humankind. It is man, male plus female, that is the image of God-Man. (...) [More about this: Building a Spiritual Marriage]

Everyone in heaven is wonderfully happily and romantically married, even if they had not been married in this world. Death never parts a married pair who truly love each other, and those who have not found their true spiritual partner in this world will find him or her in the spiritual world since, again, everyone in heaven is married to eternity. [More about this: Marriage in Heaven, Building a Spiritual Marriage]

Heaven isn't happy due to endless parties, church services or vacations. Its secret for happiness is everybody being useful - a secret that applies in this world too. There are many aspects to life in heaven, but a central one is that everyone there is useful, because being able to be useful is fundamental to being happy. (...) [More on this: On Being Useful]

Children who die go directly to heaven, where loving angel parents raise them. The children grow up, as children do here, but in a far more wonderful place. They then meet the person they will marry in an almost fairy tale way, have a lovely wedding, and move on into eternity where all those who love them will meet them again someday. [More on this: Children in Heaven, and a gentle explanation of this topic for children]

The human race has grown up intellectually. So have God's explanations, up through, finally, the Second Coming. There have been several revelations over the history of the human race, each adapted to the states of people at the time when it was given. Each contained more truth than the previous one, just as fuller explanations are given to people as they grow from children to having the understanding of adults. (...) The Writings, in other words, claim to be, at last, the full "adult" revelation, providing more truth than anyone can absorb in a lifetime. They are thus the final revelation, in fact the Second Coming; (...) [More about this: The Revelation Process, The Second Coming: Revelation Grows up with the Human Race, The Word of God, Swedenborg and His Revelation: An Anthology]

The Bible is not just history but an enormous parable from God. Even its apparently trivial details contain symbolically important teachings. Seen in light of these inner meanings, the puzzling and apparently inconsistent statements of Scripture, its many apparently cruel and strange stories, miracles that apparently violate the laws of science, and its great amount of apparently trivial detail all take on a dramatically new aspect. (...) [More about this: Correspondences, The Word of God, How Miracles Worked, The Bible and the Writings]

Creation is a parable too, a living physical symbol of deeper spiritual realities. The complex and beautiful relationships of physical ecosystems are symbols of the even more complex and beautiful relationships of the spiritual ecosystem, which in turn is a parable of God. [More about this: Correspondences, Creation: Why and How]

There is only one God and only one Truth. That Truth has been revealed to mankind several times. (...) The Writings claim to be the revelation that "gets it all together," unifying all the Truth fragments and providing a fuller explanation of spiritual reality than has ever been given before.

As the teachings of Christ were given "not to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matt. 5:17) those of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, so the Writings don't conflict with but "fulfill" - give new meaning and insight to - the Bible. [More about this: The Bible and the Writings, The Word of God] The Writings also relate the teachings of revelation to the discoveries of science. In the Writings'’ thousands of information-packed pages are found at last explanations of the single seamless web of law that governs all creation, from the spiritual to the physical. For instance, they explain how the Biblical miracles worked. [More about this: How Miracles Worked]

God is a human being, a Divine Human. What makes us human? Our mind, which is made up of our feelings and thoughts, our will and understanding. Where did we get that mind? From God, in whose image it is made (Gen. 1:27). God is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself. (...) [More about this: Who is God?]

God appeared in this world as Jesus Christ. To understand how this could be, it is useful to look at human beings, created in His image. (...) More about this: Who is God?]

God and eternity exist outside of time and there is no time (or space) in heaven. Time here in the physical world is only an appearance. It is difficult for our minds, which exist in the space and time of this world, to conceive of what it means to be outside of these characteristics of our reality. On the other hand, it makes it easier to understand how God can foresee the future since, to Him, the Writings teach, all time is now. [More about this: Time and Eternity]

True religion and science do not conflict. God created the universe with a single integrated set of spiritual and physical laws. (...)Integrating the truths of revelation and science, on the other hand, provides answers in areas ranging from "evolution" to the relation of the different planes, or "discrete degrees," of existence that we will never know otherwise. [More about this: Science and Religion, Creation: Why and How]

Religion is most fundamentally between you and God, in free will. We talk to God in prayer, and, the Writings say, He does answer us, though in a very quiet way. (...) [More about this: Conversation with God, The Lord's Prayer]

You don't have to belong to any church to get to heaven. On the other hand, you can't choose teachings that may help you on the road to heaven if you've never heard of those teachings. So God, Who always plays fair, provides revelation about the spiritual reality we could not discover on our own. True revelation is given by a process similar to what everyone experiences in the transition to spiritual awareness we call death. [More about this: The Revelation Process]

Your religion is your whole waking life. Religious study is useful, as is religious ritual. But it is the life-long collection of daily thought, decision and action that defines your basic motive in life (or what the Writings call "ruling love"), the one that will take you to heaven or to hell. In the words of the Writings, "All religion is of life, and the life of religion is to do good." (Doctrine of Life 1)

The human race, not God, invented evil and founded hell. (...) [More on this: Getting Rid of Evil]

God permits evil, but only evil that can produce good. As noted above, there must be evil for there to be free will. But God's Providence sees to it that no specific evil is allowed unless it can serve some good use. (...) [More about this: Divine Providence and Evil]

Are the Writings the voice of God, or just Swedenborg? The Writings only ask that you read them with an open mind and see. The Writings are without precedent in religious history in terms of their scope, sheer size (30 volumes), and both originality and plain sensibleness of the answers they provide, in many cases to questions that have puzzled people for centuries. Could a person, even one as brilliant as Swedenborg, have written the Writings (especially when he didn't even start work on them till he was 57 years old)? (...) More on this: Who was Emanuel Swedenborg? | The Revelation Process |
Swedenborg and His Revelation: An Anthology

See also:
Marriage in Heaven: www.baltimorenewchurch.org/marr.htm
The Eternity of Marriage: www.baltimorenewchurch.org/marr.htm
The State of Married Partners After Death: www.baltimorenewchurch.org/cl2.htm
Building a Spiritual Marriage: www.baltimorenewchurch.org/marriage/smint.htm
Divorce: www.baltimorenewchurch.org/marriage/wdp74
Apparent Love in a Covenant for Life (conjugial simulation"):
www.baltimorenewchurch.org/pc/rsj66.htm

13.0.11.2 The Nine Zones of the Ennead Matrix of Rational Spirituality in the New Church Mind

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

TCR 775. The situation with the people who make up the church en masse or taken collectively is much the same as with the person by himself or taken individually. People en masse or taken collectively are a church of many members; and the person by himself or taken individually is the church in each of those many members. It is in accordance with Divine order that there should be general and particular levels, co-existing in any thing you like to mention, and the particular levels could not otherwise come into or continue in existence. In this way there could not be any particular part within the human body unless there were general layers surrounding it. Particular parts in the human body are the viscera and each part of them; the general layers are the coverings which envelop not only the whole body, but also each of the viscera and each part of them. It is much the same in every animal, bird and worm, as well as in every tree, shrub and seed. Nor can strings or wind instruments produce any sound, unless there were a very general level, from which the individual notes derive the general sound which allows them to be produced. It is also similar with all the bodily senses, such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; and with all the inward senses which exist in the mind.

[2] These illustrations have been given to make it known that in the church too there are general and particular levels, as well as the very general ones. It is also intended to show that this is why the four churches have succeeded in order. This succession gave rise to the most general level of the churches as a whole, and one after another the general and particular level of each. In the human body too there are two very general levels which give rise to the existence of all the other general and particular levels. The two most general items in the body are the heart and the lungs, those in the spirit, the will and the understanding. On these two sets of items depend all the details of a person's life generally and particularly; without them these would fall apart and die off. It would be much the same with the whole heaven of angels and with the whole human race, in fact, with the whole created world, if everything in general, and the details in particular, were not dependent upon God, His love and His wisdom. (TCR 775)

The passage above, and others dealing with this same topic, reveal one of the most amazing concepts of scientific dualism, or True Science. I searched for a word in the dictionary that might be allied to this concept and found the word “synecdoche” which is defined as “the rhetorical or metaphorical substitution of a part for the whole, or vice versa.” The general is what belongs to the whole, while the particular belongs to the part. The general, or what belongs to the whole, must also belong to the particular, or what belongs to the part – and vice versa. Note that the concept of synecdoche is considered by the dictionary a “rhetorical” or “metaphorical” device, which means that it is not to be taken literally or physically. This shows that there is not yet a conscious awareness of phase 3 thinking, as in the Writings, where it is revealed that that general-particular, or whole-part, relationship is also actual and real, being a spiritual law governing all objects in both the natural and spiritual worlds.

This spiritual law can be stated in several interlocking rational ideas that only come into our understanding in phase 3 thinking – see how many you already thought of, and how many you can agree with:

the end is contained in the beginning part, and in every following part
the smallest part of a whole, contains the whole
the highest is contained within the lowest
the internal is contained within the external
uncreate non-material substances form the foundation structure for material things -- mass, motion, space, time
natural history recapitulates spiritual history because the two are synchronously tied by creation
individual biography recapitulates spiritual history because from the same source
the infinite is within the finite, not the other way round

This does not exhaust the series. For now, you can see that smaller cycles of development would recapitulate larger cycles. In the case of religious behavior, the three phases of the entire developmental scale, namely, Moses-Paul-Swedenborg, repeat themselves within each phase, cyclically. Further cyclical patterns no doubt occur, and will be discovered by future researchers in True Science. Here is a matrix that shows the recursive property of phases within phases. Since there are 3 phases, laying them against each other creates a ennead or matrix of nine cells. These type of matrices place levels or developmental steps on the vertical dimension, starting with the bottom level first, then ascending in steps to the top. The horizontal dimension is laid out from left to right and indicate three steps of internalization (initial, intermediate, mature). I have numbered the cells accordingly.

ENNEAD MATRIX OF RATIONAL SPIRITUALITY (9 zones of development)	Old Testament State (initial)	New Testament State (intermediate)	Third Testament State (mature)
Swedenborg Phase 3 (Particularism) (celestial mind)	7	8	9
Paul Phase 2 (Personalism) (spiritual mind)	4	5	6
Moses Phase 1 (Sectarianism) (natural mind)	1	2	3

I have discovered in three decades of research that this type of ennead matrix appears over and over again when you try to describe organic mental structures. For additional explanations with diagrams, consult the articles listed just below. When I first started reading the Writings two decades ago I immediately noticed the ennead matrix is a universal spiritual structure, so I called it the “genes of consciousness.” I tried to put many of these ennead structures together and it seemed to me that our talk and discourse is organized on this fundamental spiritual structure. Future research in True Science will reveal the many amazing properties of this structure. I noticed that some of these appear in the literal meaning of the Writings, but many are underlying or hidden, and need to be extracted scientifically through the method of correspondences as outlined in the Writings which gives detail rules on how to extract knowledge from the Letter of the Threefold Sacred Scripture. The laws of spiritual-natural correspondences can be discovered from the Writings, and confirmed from the Bible, from children stories and fables, from our everyday linguistic expressions, and from inventive creations which we are inspired to do, notice, or perform.

But applying the correspondences mechanically does not yield spiritual meaning – try it and you’ll be convinced. We also need to be enlightened by the Lord synchronously to applying the knowledge of correspondences. This protects every individual and researcher from profaning holy things and thereby suffer irreparable damage to their spirit. Therefore no one can understand or perceive anything spiritual unless at the same time enlightened by the Lord. The Lord enlightens all who seek truth for the sake of being good, and further, acknowledge that all good is from God. Illustration is another word used for enlightenment. The laws of illustration are empirical and experiential. They relate to the level of access to spiritual perception or understanding. Every spiritual idea that is part of a greater idea, contains the entire idea within itself. This law insures that we can begin anywhere and arrive at the truth as long as we locomote inward, which is upward. The Laws of Divine Providence operate the level of height, or inwardness, of the illustration we are given at any moment.

As you look at the above ennead matrix you can see its horizontal and vertical orientations. The ennead structure is composed of parts that contain its entirety. Each zone or zone contains all nine cells, and each of those contain them, and so on, recursively as it cycles from part to whole, from within to without. Another was of saying this is that all developmental steps are contained in each step. This means that the past and the future and contained in the present. Note carefully that the ennead relationship of developmental laws are functional relationships, not substantive identities. In other words, every level and state is isolated from every other level and state by discrete degrees of creation. Every object is created into three discrete degrees simultaneously. This is why all of the future, which is called “the end” (or ultimate goal), is contained within the present, but this containing is of discrete degrees, not continuous contact. It is impossible to reach the next higher level of mental state by keeping on improving at the prior level or state of mind. It’s not like a physical destination where you keep on getting closer to it and at last, you’re there. You can see this if you’re on an island and your destination is the mainland. No matter how long you keep on walking you can never get to the mainland. You need a different level of transportation, like a boat or air carrier. In spiritual development it is the same law operating. No matter how much you improve in one direction or at one level of thinking and feeling, you cannot break into the next level. Instead, a discrete jump is necessary.

How do you jump from phase 1 thinking to phase 2 thinking? If you’ve been socialized into the culture of sectarianism, fundamentalism, and literalism, you oppose, resist, and despise the ideas of personalism and universalism, which is phase 2 thinking and feeling. An explanation for this still needs to be presented here, I admit, and I will. It will help if you continue noting some additional properties of the ennead matrix. Note in the matrix that phase 1 (“Moses” phase) has three states to be matured – cells 1, 2, and 3. These three states are discretely separate from each other, so it will require a jump to go from one to the next. Note also that zone or zone 1 is Phase 1 based on the Old Testament Sacred Scripture portion of the Threefold Sacred Scripture. Similarly, zone 2 is Phase 1 based on the New Testament portion of the Threefold Sacred Scripture. Finally, zone 3 is Phase 1 based on the Third Testament portion of the Threefold Sacred Scripture. It is evident from this that phase 1 thinking undergoes three discrete steps of change or spiritual ascension. Again, phase 2 thinking undergoes the same prior three discrete states, but this time at a higher level of the Threefold Sacred Scripture.

Remember that the Threefold Sacred Scripture contains all discrete levels, but at different depths of availability. Finally, when we reach phase three thinking (cells 7, 8, 9), we still need to undergo the three developmental states based on the Threefold Sacred Scripture. When we reach zone 9, we are ready to depart from this earth since zone 9 is the mental state we need to exist in heaven. Once ready, there is no need for us to stay around here, and the Lord performs the transfer called resuscitation. Isn’t it wonderful that True Science has now given us a spiritual map of our regeneration so that we may consciously follow the road to heaven, which is the Lord’s goal or end for every soul. Once we’ve been brought into the state of zone 9, our creation is complete and the Lord can then keep us continually in youthful maturity, wisdom, and love forever and ever. Now that we have the map, all we need is to compel ourselves to follow it. The Lord supplies the power for our every choice and sub-goal along the way.

Here is another way of diagramming the ennead structure (also shown above):

I base this diagram directly on the explanations of “discrete degrees,” including the contrast “simultaneous” vs. “discrete” degrees. The vertical dimension, like the ennead matrix, represents developmental steps, which are called “successive degrees” because level 2 succeeds level 1 in development. What’s especially notable is that developmental steps are from creation, from necessity, and they represent or replicate the steps of creation. Every galaxy, planet, rock, tree, animal’s organ, house, computer chip, or jacket, etc., is created, or comes into existence, by successive discrete steps called “degrees.” The steps proceed from the Spiritual Sun which descends and externalizes along each successive step in order.

First, the highest, which is the inmost, which is the closest to the Spiritual Sun amidst of which the Lord appears to the angels. Second, the middle or intermediate level, which is the level of thinking and feeling of the angelic spirits in our mind. And third, the lowest most externalized or outermost, which is the level of good spirits in our mind. This is the natural level of the mind and of all things in the natural world. Once the ultimate is reached, the goal is reached, and creation is complete. Now for the object or state to persist, to continue existing or subsisting, the successive process now ended is replaced by the simultaneous process which refers to the maintenance in existence of each level. The Lord does this for every object or state. Creation doesn’t just begin and end, after which things run on their own (phase 1 and 2 thinking). Rather, creation continues ceaselessly, because existence is perpetual subsistence. In other words, to keep on existing, an object or state must be re-created by the Lord continuously, or else it falls apart and disintegrates out of existence. Look at the diagram above and see if this important idea can gain a foothold in your mind!

See the following related articles:

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/ennead.html (ennead matrix)

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/harmonizing3.htm (genes of culture

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/correspondences.html (spiritual-natural correspondences)

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/dhl.html (De Hemelsche Leer article)

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/marriage/table1.html (Mental Health and Personality)

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499ss99/man/citizenship.html (dual citizenship)

Theistic psychology throws a new rational light on the religious idea of inherited sin. This idea has been revealed through the literal meaning of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures, and now, through the Writings of Swedenborg.

In other words the religious or doctrinal beliefs that have been adduced from the literal language of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture is not compatible with scientific revelations contained in Sacred Scripture. When Divine revelation is understood spiritually it never contradicts what is known from natural science independently

Swedenborg appeals to what is commonly known about the inheritance of family traits, the differentiation of species, and the varieties of plants. Family traits are inherited by one's parents in a natural way and not by a spiritual curse initiated by the sin of Adam.

This passage indicates that we are to make a rational distinction between the idea of "inherited evil" and "inherited sin." Sin itself is not inherited because every human being is responsible for their own sins. It would not be a just world if we were to inherit and be held accountable for the sins of our parents and forefathers. Everyone must pay for their own sins and not the sins of others, just like a parent cannot be held legally responsible for the crimes of their adult children. If this is seen as unjust in natural life, it is even less to be expected that God would attribute sins to people in an unjust manner.

Everyone inherits mental traits from their parents. Some traits are heavenly and some are hellish (see Chapter 12). Hence we inherit both types of traits. We cannot enter heaven on the basis of what we inherit, since this would be favoritism or "pre-destination," an idea described by the Writings as abominable and contrary to God's Love and Justice. Nor can we enter hell by inheritance, as is supposed by the religious idea of Adam's original sin that infects the entire human race, for this would be injustice. Instead, we inherit traits which we then make our own by practice and acceptance. If we practice the heavenly traits we inherit, we prepare our mind for heavenly life, and if we practice the hellish traits we inherit, we prepare ourselves for life in hell. It is the appropriation of traits by our own loves that makes them our own responsibility.

If we do not fight against the evil traits we've inherited, we "die" in them, which means that we are going to be unwilling to choose life in heaven. In this sense, sin is "deadly" for it is the appropriation of evil as one's own by means of love and habitual practice.

Remember that what is appropriated is the evil tendency which we build into a habit by engaging in evil behavior. When we arrive into the other life with such a character filled with evil habits, we cannot get rid of them by a Divine act of Mercy. The Writings reveal that God is pure Mercy and desires to forgive everyone no matter what, and in fact, God does forgive everyone. Nevertheless this Mercy and forgiveness cannot compel the unwilling person to give up the evil habits. Isn't this amazing?

And yet it makes rational sense when we consider that God is unwilling to compel anyone to be good for this would remove any humanity from people. God could use Divine omnipotence to remove the evil habits and to compel the person to receive the influx of good and truth. But God is unwilling to do this for this would injure the humanity of the person. The person would become a heavenly robot, not a human being. Such an angel-robot is not capable of being happy, only of obeying the influx. While this would produce many angel-robots it would not produce any human beings.

Therefore it is that God does not and cannot remove evil habits once these are brought into the world of spirits at the death of the physical body. This is why it is so crucial that people understand this process scientifically and not rely on the subjective idea of God's Compassion and Mercy.

The Christian religion was established by the Incarnated God-Man known in history as Jesus Christ. This religion was originally based on rational-scientific ideas that are visible both in the literal meaning of the New Testament Sacred Scripture and in its coded correspondential meaning. But it took only a few years for the original message to be changed into a form that was contrary to the its rational basis. Much of the rationale for this modification has been fabricated by Paul in his Epistles, which was that salvation of the human race was achieved by the religious sacrifice of the Son of God. In the Jewish religion to which Paul belonged, animal sacrifices were believed to wipe off the sins of the people, or the specific individuals who offer the sacrifice. The belief in the removal of sins by animal sacrifice was a common practice in many ancient religions, including the Jewish, and so this was an accepted idea that Paul was able to apply to the sacrifice of the Messiah on the cross of crucifixion.

The sacrifice of the Messiah to come for the salvation of the Jews was an idea that can be extracted from various passages in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Hence it is possible that Paul actually believed that forgiveness of sins can be obtained vicariously by the sacrifice of someone else, especially someone like the Messiah, who was held to be sinless, and so described in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. The sinless Messiah was represented by the red cow to be sacrificed who was to be physically perfect and without blemishes. Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg:

It was a natural transition of the thinking of the Jews whereby they saw the Messiah as a sacrifice of the innocent which would placate God the Father, alienated from the human race because of their sins inherited from Adam's original sin. God hates sins and therefore, according to this way of thinking, God had to be placated by the supreme sacrifice of His Son on the Cross of Calvary. Once this sacrifice was made, God could look upon the human race "an no longer remember their sins." Today, Christians declare as their faith that anyone can be saved as long as they acknowledge Jesus as Divine-Human and that He died on the Cross for them.

This belief system of salvation by vicarious sacrifice is strongly ingrained in Christians today as is shown by the reception of the public of the Mel Gibson movie The Passion, released in 2004. It has broken attendance records for all previous movies and it has been the subject of every news and talk show on TV and radio. The Christian clergy, from the Evangelists all the way to the Protestant bishops and the Catholic Pope in Rome, have been unanimous in acclaiming the movie as veridical and inspiring, and have recommended their flock to go see it by the tens of millions in the United States alone. The Mexican government has banned children from seeing the movie on account of its violence. The movie covers only the last few hours of Jesus and graphically depicts the brutal torture to which it is believed that the Roman soldiers subjected Him. The attitude has been frequently expressed that by identifying with the enormousness of the suffering of Jesus, one would be more inclined to acknowledge God and to renew and strengthen one's feelings for religion.

It is likely that the majority of Christians who think this way are sincere in their attitude. But in the context of religious psychology we need to ask an objective and scientific question about this attitude or belief system. Is it rational or mystical? Many Christians talk about the "mysteries of faith" and believe in the "healing power of the Blood of Christ" by which God the Father forgives their sins and saves them for heaven, if only they believe this with a strong faith. The saving power of physical blood shed by Jesus is a mystical idea that has no rational justification or explanation. It encourages the idea that God is incomprehensible, or that the mysteries that cannot be understood today, will be understood at the time of the return of Jesus to earth and all who died in the acknowledgment of the sacrifice of Jesus, will be resurrected from their graves and begin a new life on earth that will be like a paradise.

While these beliefs are sincere, they represent the tradition of worship and atonement by animal sacrifices, and sometimes, by human sacrifices by which an "angry" God could be placated. This is believed by many despite the fact that Jesus stated that the old dispensation of the Jewish Church given through Moses has now ceased as the Divinely sanctioned means for atonement of sins for the descendants of the children of Jacob. Forgiveness of sins through performing sacrifices was no longer Divinely sanctioned or effective. A new method was now created by God, and announced by Jesus, the Son of God. From now on every person had to be "reborn." The New Testament Sacred Scripture gives many details about what this means. It was a difficult concept at the dawn of the rational age (Greek and Hebrew civilizations).

In those early days of the new human rational mind people still believed that heaven is an external place and that to get there you need to be very strict and careful about following religious laws every minute of the day. It was thought that by doing this one was able to gain "merit" in the eyes of God, and thus receive holiness above that of others. Jesus had to establish for them the reality of the mental world and elevate it far above the physical. He taught them that heaven "is inside you" and that thinking evil was even more serious a sin then doing it. He also explained to them that in order for them to be with Him, He must remove Himself physically from them. He will continue His reality and Presence with them, from within, that is mentally. His mental presence with them He called "My Spirit" and the "Holy Spirit."

They had difficulty understanding this fully. As they saw Him ascend to heaven, they only saw His physical Natural Body rising in the physical sky and disappearing way high. They did not immediately see that His disappearing meant His real reappearing within their mind. They could have figured this out because He had told them (1) that heaven is within you, and (2) that He was ascending to heaven. And within the mind, the Divine-Human is now present in every individual in the universe. This is now the new method of salvation for the Fallen human race.

The Divine-Human on earth, while growing up a Child and a Man, created the new mental pathways that are now opened for every individual to step through and thereby achieve "rebirth" or a heavenly character that can live in eternal conjugial bliss as an angel. This is salvation. God's Blood was indeed spilled on the Cross of Calvary, and this did indeed represent the sacrificial Lamb for the atonement of the people's sins. But it did not remove the necessity of rebirth by character reformation. If vicarious atonement by the Blood of Christ were possible, would not God use it and bring everyone to heaven? But you can see that some go to heaven and many go to hell. Faith in the saving power of the Blood of Christ still requires character reformation or rebirth. This activity produces a heavenly character that can live in heaven. This requires long term daily effort and victory in many temptations of different kinds, that the Divine-Human brings to the individual who has acquired knowledge of Him through Sacred Scripture. (See Chapter 7).

Today in the modern age of science and rationality it is easier to understand that the mental world of every individual contains the same objective spiritual world and that it is in this spiritual reality that we live in eternity. This is what Jesus taught by saying that heaven is within you and that the inner mental reality is more real than the outward natural world. It stands to reason therefore that "rebirth" or regeneration of character, must take place here in this world. This is salvation--acquiring for yourself a heavenly character, that is, a character that can exist in the heavenly spheres of eternal life. Swedenborg observed many Christians who, immediately after being resuscitated, asked that they be admitted to heaven. They were. But it was not a heaven they could like or support or survive in. They discovered that in heaven none of their unregenerate personality habits could function.

They could not be proud of themselves; they could envy others; they could not feel resentment; they were unable to be deceitful, to say one thing and thin another; they were unable to hide anything; they were unable to feel anger, or think lecherous thoughts, and so on. They felt that all their life was leaving them. They had no loves left and without loves we do not feel alive, let alone happy. And so they quickly left heaven and sought others with a states of mind similar to their own. Would God not have kept them in heaven? He is pure Divine Love and cannot feel the desire to punish or keep a human being from their love. But it is against the rational order to live in heaven without heavenly traits--self-effacing, compassionate, honest, truthful, industrious, obedient, rational, wise, decent, loving truth, innocence, and conjugial loyalty and exclusivity. Unless we acquire these heavenly traits here on earth, through daily struggles against temptations, we cannot arrive in the other world with a mind that is capable of being happy in heaven.

This is the message of Jesus that many have forgotten today. A reliance on being saved by vicarious sacrifice of the innocent and blameless Lamb of God, contributes to the difficulty of regeneration and character reformation. The motive and determination to put up the daily and hourly effort and struggle (to carry the Cross), is weakened when we can enter heaven anyway, as long as we have blind faith in the saving power of the Blood of Christ. Religious psychology and theistic psychology can help people understand rationally what it takes to live in heaven and therefore what we must do every day to acquire a character that can exist in heaven (see Section xx).

Here is what the Writings Sacred Scripture reveal about the subject of sacrifices in Old Testament days. This explanation is given in connection with the verse by verse explication of the Books of Genesis and Exodus in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Swedenborg painstakingly goes through every word, gives its hidden correspondential spiritual meaning, and puts the pieces together into a science of human development as revealed by the infinite knowledge extractable from Divine Speech (see Section xx). The following passage analyzes one verse in the dramatic episode regarding the Sacrificial Binding of Isaac by his father Abraham. This passage reveals each different mental state that corresponds to the species of the animals that were commanded for use in worship sacrifices. Note that these correspondences are not poetic or figurative or personal to Swedenborg, as Emerson misunderstood when he read about correspondences in Arcana Coelestia. Emerson rejected many of Swedenborg's correspondences and substituted his own, that he preferred in terms of his secular belief system about human intelligence and nature.

But correspondences are absolute fixed laws that govern the functional cause-effect relationships of every phenomenon in the universe (see Section xx). Because Swedenborg was consciously aware in both the physical world in time and the mental world of the afterlife, he was able to determine empirically what correspondences were. He was able to observe what animals were visually present when people in eternity discussed some topic together. For instance, whenever they were discussing religious topics horses could be seen all around, and the type and appearance of each horse depended on what specifically was being said about a religious subject (see Section xx). Or, a group of people together would be seen surrounded by dark clouds in the air and scorpions and poisonous snakes on the ground. When Swedenborg listened to what they were saying, he determined that they were plotting injury against others, and that their surrounding appearance were the things that corresponded to the evil thoughts and feelings they were having. When people expressed good thoughts and feelings, the surrounding environment was filled with pleasant things like flowers with nice scents, and peaceful and useful animals like sheep and butterflies (see Section xx).

Emerson missed the central point about correspondences in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, namely, that they are not figurative or poetic but real and actual. Swedenborg's dual consciousness allowed him to observe what animals appear in the other world and he observed the relation between the thoughts and feelings of the people there and the animals that appeared around them. In general, hellish feelings and thoughts bring around fierce, dangerous, and destructive animals, while heavenly feelings and thoughts produce gentle, harmless, and useful animals. Correspondences are not poetic or figurative interpretations, they are scientific determinations by which mental or spiritual events instantiate natural appearances like animals, mountains, lakes, palaces, caverns, darkness, light, fruits, stones, etc. etc. Specific kinds of animals were commanded for specific occasions for sacrifices and the cooccurrence was always determined by the scientific laws of correspondences by which natural appearances are instantiated by mental operations.

The prophets of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture and the Apostles John and Paul in the New Testament Sacred Scripture, were all witnesses of heavenly scenes they were able to see when their spiritual mind was made consciously operational for a brief time, sometimes during sleep, sometimes when awake. They were then able to write down the visions they were given to see and hear. All this is explained in the passage below and similar passages throughout the Writings Sacred Scripture.

From this passage, and many others like it, we discover the reason why God gave Commandments to the Jews through Moses regarding animal sacrifices as part of their worship. the Writings Sacred Scripture explain that the Jewish Church was built on spiritual representatives and these dictated what kind of ritual acts they must perform. It is explained that no one knew these correspondences and they were not revealed to the Jewish prophets who acted as the chosen minds through whom God gave these highly specific instructions. The Jews were willing to obey these ritual laws to their tiniest detail even though they were not informed as to the specific spiritual reasons for them. Neither were these revelations uncovered by Jesus, the Incarnated form that God took on in the midst of the Jewish nation.

The Writings Sacred Scripture explain that these rational secrets were not revealable until the human mind was prepared to receive modern scientific concepts. Swedenborg's mind was the first to be able to think of religious mysteries in a scientific and rational way. He did this years before he was given the ability to be conscious in both worlds, proving that his theistic science was ripened in his mind on the basis solely of the facts of natural science that everyone knew of, and the facts of spiritual science he was able to see in the Bible.

All Divine Speech in the form of Sacred Scripture was always delivered through correspondences. In the passage above, Swedenborg explains the correspondential reason for the details about animal sacrifices that were commanded to the Jewish Church. Hundreds of years later, when God incarnated as a member of that Church, all animal sacrifices were abolished. Jesus then began to reveal some of the mysteries about sacrifices, but in a limited fashion, mindful of the ability of the people to understand it and therefore of their willingness to accept it and believe it. A mere blind faith is useless to everyone as shown by the fact that those who arrive in the afterlife with a blind faith are no longer willing to continue believing despite how the truth is being demonstrated to them. Only those people are willing to be instructed in the truths of the spiritual world who have made an attempt, in this life, to understand their religious ideas in a rational fashion rather than leaving it to hidden mystery. What one understands, one can believe and love, and what one loves, remains in the afterlife.

The passage quoted above reveals this important fact: "that the sacrifices and burnt-offerings in general signified the regeneration of man through the truths of faith and the goods of love from the Divine-Human; and in the supreme sense the glorification of the Divine-Human's Human." In other words, it was indeed true what Jesus revealed to the writers of the New Testament Sacred Scripture that the sacrifices in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture were representative allusions to His task of salvation for which He came down to earth as a Divine-Natural Man. But note carefully that this revelation and truth does not say that His work of salvation consisted of His being sacrificed on the Cross. True, this was a necessary part in order to fulfill the consciousness of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture in people's mind and faith. Nevertheless, this was not the main method which He used to achieve the salvation of the human race, as He repeatedly explained regarding the necessity of being reborn, and acquiring an angelic personality.

the Writings Sacred Scripture reveal that the principal way that God-Man incarnate accomplished salvation of the race is by His "glorification." This is a technical scientific term referring to the unition between the Divine and the Human in Jesus. God made Himself to incarnate as a Natural Divine Child by means of a conception that was not possible for any human being, namely the Virgin Conception. This makes sense when you consider that God had to "Father" Himself or else the incarnate form would not be Divine or God Himself. The Jesus Child was therefore totally unique in structure. From the Jewish woman called Mary He made Himself inherit all the hereditary evils that anyone born in that time had to inherit from parents. This was His external mind. But His internal mind was the Mind of God, also called His Divine Soul. Therefore the Jesus Child was a schizophrenic Person, partly ordinary human and partly Human Divine. God was the Human Divine, but without a Natural Body or existence--until the Incarnation event. Now God was acquiring a new Form for Himself in relation to the human race. While God in Himself is forever the same and never changes from eternity to eternity, He nevertheless can create new Forms of interaction between Himself and the human race.

The Incarnation event marks the time in history in the natural world that God created a Divine Natural Body made of the elements of this earth. With that came a Natural Mind that was not yet perfect, not yet infinite, not yet completely Himself. For 33 years He fought to regenerate this imperfect mind and thereby He created the new mental pathways or operations that any human being can now employ to accomplish regeneration. The Glorification work He accomplished expelled all infirmity and evil from His merely human so that His merely human died on the Cross and what was left was His Glorified Human, which is called the Divine-Human, now visible in the spiritual world, seen often by Swedenborg and all the inhabitants of the heavens. Anyone can see this Divine-Human by lifting our consciousness to the heaven in our mind, where He dwells.

This new Form was to be called the Divine-Human, to distinguish God's earlier relationship to the human race, which is known as the Human Divine. In other words, the God of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture is called the Human Divine or "Jehovah" in Hebrew, which means Essential Being. In the New Testament Sacred Scripture, during the transition phase, Jehovah is called "God the Father" while Jesus is called "God the Son." God prior to Incarnation was God the Father, Jehovah, the Human Divine. God after the Incarnation, was the Son of God, which refers to the Divine-Human that now possesses a Divine Natural Body in which God can be seen in the heavens by all there.

But it took Jesus 33 years to accomplish this unition between His external imperfect human from the mother, and His internal perfect Human Divine Mind from Himself.

During these 33 years Jesus worked feverishly to prepare His Natural Body and imperfect natural mind to be nothing but an expression of all that the Divine that He was within. To do this He had to create new mental pathways that no human before had been able to undergo. This is revealed to some slight extent in the literal meaning of the New Testament Sacred Scripture where Jesus makes allusions to His "suffering" that will fulfill the representations of Him in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. But nothing more. The real details of what Jesus did in His mind in order to "glorify" His Human, that is, to unite His Natural Human to His Human Divine, the mental battles during His Childhood, and thereafter, this story is told in the inner sense of the story of the patriarchs in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture--Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, and Joseph. Swedenborg demonstrates how we can extract the scientific details of the Glorification process by applying the science of correspondences to the Old Testament verses.

This is indeed stupendous! Only God could accomplish such a feat. It is proof that the Bible is Divine Speech. Think about it, how astounding it is. Historical and biographical events are described in the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures in books written by different authors or prophets over many centuries. Unbeknownst to anyone on this earth, the biographical details correspond to the feelings, thoughts, and struggles of the Divine Jesus Child! The thoughts and mental struggles Jesus experienced were already described in great detail through these events taking place over hundreds of years involving multitudes of people and nations. How can this be? Swedenborg analysis proves it and you or anyone can verify it. Only God could create such a an amazing fabric of meaning and truth.

The "glorification series" are hidden by correspondence in the stories of the four patriarchs and describe the step by step mental struggles undergone by Jesus by which He fashioned the ideas and truths that we can think of today and through them overcome our own battles with the hells as we undergo regeneration or character reformation. Through the inherited tendencies in our natural mind, tendencies for what is evil and contrary to truth, we are in continuous communication with the societies of those who live in the hells of their mind. Their joy of life, or lust, consists in sensing the evils in our natural mind. God uses them to help us effect our own character reformation. Their presence is felt most strongly in our temptations, when our conscience warns us not to do something that we enjoy but is evil and contrary to heaven.

The influence the hells have on our mind is through our inherited evil tendencies and enjoyments. The human race was about to be overwhelmed by the hells so that the new generations of people would have been prevented from changing their inherited character tendencies. This would have condemned every person to a life in hell right from birth. It is to prevent this calamity that necessitated God's plan to incarnate and to break the stronghold of the hells upon the human race. Mediate influx through Sacred Scripture was no longer effective as before. God had to use a new method, long foreseen, which was to put Himself in a position or state where He could be attacked by the hells. This could not take place without the Incarnation. If God had attempted to forcefully break the stronghold of the hells over the human race, the result would have been the destruction of the hells, and the destruction of the entire system of checks and balances through which the human race was guided to salvation for heaven.

The only way God could restore order in the spiritual world was to incarnate, acquire an imperfect and infirm human body, with its natural mind tied to the hells, and then from Himself as the Divine, to strengthen this infirm human, to teach it truths by which it could fight the hells, and put them into submission again. This was the purpose and method of the Incarnation. This was the method of salvation. It was not the incredible suffering and pain Jesus endured on the Cross that constitutes salvation, but His fight against the hells, by which He ordered them and contained them, through allowing them to attack His infirm human, by which He fought back, without destroying them.

This is what constitutes salvation of the human race accomplished by God's Incarnation:

Now, through this Divine-Human, God gave Himself the power to save every individual who

Recall why the human race needed rescuing by salvation. Swedenborg spoke to the people from the earliest civilization on earth which he calls the Most Ancient Church. He visited them in their heavenly habitations. They told him that they were a celestial race on earth long ago. Swedenborg marveled at their handsome youthful appearance as they were each joined by their indescribably beautiful wife. Swedenborg learned of their lives on earth as celestial minds, the original human creation before the Fall of the race. These people from the Most Ancient Church on earth were physiologically different from the Ancient race that succeeded them, and from which we are descendants.

The celestial people of the original race on this earth had dual consciousness, like Swedenborg at the time he talked to them (around 1750 in Europe where Swedenborg was traveling). Swedenborg was able to continue functioning on his duties as a Chief Government mining engineer and publisher in Latin of scientific journals read by European scientists. Meanwhile he was writing voluminous notes day and night as he recorded his observations and experiments in the spiritual world. What is amazing to realize is that each of us can do what he did, if only we could become conscious of our spiritual mind, which is existing right now for you, not in this world, but in the spiritual world. Our mind is a spiritual organ born in the spiritual world while our body was born in this world. When we drop the physical body--vroom! we awaken in the spiritual world where our spiritual mind has been since birth. We then continue our immortal life under entirely new conditions, as described in this Volume.

Swedenborg was given this special ability of becoming conscious in his spiritual mind by the Divine-Human who appeared to him when he was 57 years old, at the height of his scientific career, of which he was quite proud. The Divine-Human told him to get off his high horse and begin the work of revelator, for which he was being Divinely prepared since early childhood. From age 57 to 82, Swedenborg took daily notes about his observations. In English translation, his notes add up to approximately 30 volumes. They are known in the literature as the Writings of Swedenborg and are to be found in most libraries in the United States and elsewhere. Many famous names in American and European literature have acknowledged Swedenborg (see Volumes 1 and 2). Not so in the history of science where he is entirely absent, as you can imagine, given his unprecedented claims. You can examine the Writings online at this Web location: www.theheavenlydoctrines.org Now for the first time in the normal practice of academic psychology, Swedenborg's Writings in their entirety, emerge into the rational light of scientific examination through the concept of the positive bias (see Volume 1, Chapter 1).

Note however that Swedenborg had no special ability each of us don't have, namely a spiritual mind. Normally however the spiritual mind isn't conscious until we pass into the spiritual world at the death of the physical body. So only the special condition Swedenborg had was premature consciousness of the spiritual mind, while he was still functioning normally in his physical body. After a few weeks of confusion and inexperience in his new dual consciousness, Swedenborg resumed normal work activity as a scientist and active member of the Swedish legislature. The 30 volumes of records he left us are written in an impeccable scientific style that exhibits his talent and probity as an accurate observer and a rational mind that has been acknowledged by many as one of the greatest geniuses in the history of literature.

I found the Writings in English while browsing in our university library in 1981 along with my wife Diane. We were both astounded as soon as we started reading the Volumes of the Writings, and we never stopped since. It is the only written scientific record by a reputable scientist of empirical, objective observations and experiments in the spiritual world. It is the first and only scientific proof of the existence of the spiritual world and the immortality of every human being. It is the first scientific and complete description of the process of resuscitation, which occurs about 30 hours after the cessation of the brain and heart in the physical body. It is the only source of objective reports about life in heaven and hell. And further--this may be the MOST amazing--he proves beyond possible doubt that the places he "visited" as the spiritual world, heaven, and hell, are places in the human mind, yours and mine.

In other words, every individual is born in the dual existence, with the physical being temporary, and the spiritual being eternal. While you are reading this, it is your mind that thinks about it, and your mind is not in the physical world--a total impossibility, but in the spiritual world. You are not conscious of the surrounds of the spiritual portion of your mind, but only of the natural mind which is only aware of the natural or physical surround. You therefore have the feeling and sensation that your are here on earth. But in fact you are in your mind in the spiritual world. Your natural mind receives input from your physical senses, while your spiritual mind receives input from your spiritual body and its senses. The senses of the spiritual body is far keener, sharp, and intense than your senses in the physical body. Hence the conscious life of senses we now live in the natural mind is pretty tame to what we experience in the senses when we cut off the physical body.

When the physical body is cut off from the mind ("death"), the natural mind shuts down and we experience instant conscious awareness in our spiritual mind. We appear to ourselves and to others around us in a body just as before, but it is a spiritual body and far more alive and capable than our physical body was. How very nice! We have that to look forward to! We will then be able to sensuously verify all that Swedenborg had reported in the Writings. It was necessary for Swedenborg to be given dual consciousness so that he may create a scientific record of the spiritual world and its laws of functioning in correspondence with the physical world. Swedenborg's Writings therefore represent perhaps the greatest single gift bestowed upon the human race by the Divine-Human. Everyone in the spiritual world has the ability to see and encounter this Divine-Human.

Swedenborg was therefore the first to enjoy of a new capacity for the human race in its evolution. As mentioned above, he visited the earliest generations of humans on this planet who are living in their heavens in eternal conjugial youthfulness and creativity. They were created celestial minds, which means that they had the capacity of dual consciousness, simultaneously in this world and in the spiritual world. It was common for them to be instructed by their parents or grandparents speaking to them directly from heaven. You can find more details about them in the Writings Sacred Scripture.

Now I want to point out again how amazing Swedenborg's discovery was. His spiritual mind, when conscious, gives him the appearance of being in a spiritual world. Now note this: everyone's spiritual mind, when conscious, experiences the appearance that they are in the same spiritual world. I repeat: in the same spiritual world! Do you see how stupendous this is? It means that the inside of my mind is the same place as the inside of everyone else's mind. In other words, any human being anywhere from any time can meet and talk to any other human being anywhere, merely by becoming conscious in the spiritual mind. Have you ever heard of anything more stupendous about reality?

Swedenborg observed thousands of people passing on from the consciousness in their natural mind to the consciousness in their spiritual mind. This transition process is called "resuscitation" and takes about 30 hours, viewed from the natural mind that relates to concepts of time and space. Amazingly, our spiritual mind does not relate to time and space, but only to the appearances of time and place, not unlike in our dreams.

Swedenborg contrasted the personalities of the Most Ancient people with those of the subsequent generations. Their minds were so different that even today the heavens in their mind are unreachable to the people of our race called the Fallen race. We are called this in comparison to the Most Ancient race. They are called celestial minds while we are called spiritual minds. They had celestial perception on earth while we have spiritual understanding on earth. Theirs was a direct sensuous consciousness of the spiritual world and the Divine, while ours is a rational consciousness of the spiritual world and the Divine.

The original race of celestial minds on earth ended in a dead end evolutionary cul-de-sac when their civilization began the misuse of the Science of Correspondences which they knew from their dual consciousness. More and more people corrupted the power of correspondences for egotistical use like magic and idol worship. In other words, they became insane, and this was passed on to the offspring cumulatively until God cut off their capacity to reproduce naturally. The race thus ended. The new race that then evolved was a spiritual race whose conscious awareness was restricted to the natural mind. The spiritual mind became unconscious until resuscitation, when the natural mind was put to sleep.

The new race of humans had no direct perception of God or the spiritual world. This is why it is called the Fallen race. We are a materialistically oriented race because we are only conscious of the natural mind which is built up by a rationality based on physical space, time, number, size, temporality, physical sequence, layout, segmentation, categorization, "time-binding" concepts and reasoning operations. This characteristic of the natural mind is retained somewhat in the content of the spiritual mind. We are familiar with this overlap when we dream and we appear to be moving around in physical space surrounded by objects and people that appear physical moving in physical timing and sequence. All these creations in our dream are instantaneous appearances that come and go, in accordance with our feelings, thoughts, and memories. It is similar to our life in the spiritual mind, except for this amazing difference, mentioned above: In the spiritual mind we are in the same mind called the spiritual world.

Hence the life in the spiritual mind is a social life that involves intense interactions with others, much more intense than in the natural mind where our experiences are restricted and limited by physical rules.

Now you are beginning to see what it means that we are a Fallen race and what it means that the human race must be saved. God's original plan for the evolution of the human race has not changed at all and continues as intended by the Divine Love and Wisdom of the Divine-Human. The spiritual human race (us), had to be saved for heaven, that is, we had to be given a mental pathway through which we can reach our celestial mind, which is the portion of the spiritual world called the "heavens." This new method of preparing the human mind for heavenly life in eternity, is called salvation.

The spiritual generations on earth had to be prepared or evolved through many steps in order for people of a spiritual genius to gain the ability and willingness to develop a character that can live in heaven. It may not be the original human genius, like that of the Most Ancient race in their heavens, but it is a new mental creation within the spiritual mind, that functions as a real heaven for the spiritual race. The two sets of heavens--the original celestial genius and the modern spiritual genius--are segregated because of these differences, so there is no contact between them, except in an unconscious manner, as the entire human race is interconnected.

The preparation for the mental pathways to be taken before the "new spiritual heavens" could be created took many generations. In the meantime, where did these people go when resuscitated? They were kept in a state of their mind called by the Writings Sacred Scripture "imaginary heavens" which created a portion of the spiritual world. Since these were not real or mature heavens their life experiences were not purely heavenly but mixed, as in the natural mind on earth. Their hellish traits and beliefs were not gone and they did not possess the mental ability to reason their way out of these false lives. They were not truly happy or safe. Their eternal life was not yet happening. This continued until the Incarnation event when the new Divine-Human glorified left the natural world and appeared to the people in the spiritual mind (i.e., in the spiritual world). This new reality began with the event called the Resurrection of the Son of God. "Son of God" is the Name used for God-Man while still being in the natural world. But after leaving the natural world, He is called the Divine-Human to eternity.

After the Resurrection marking the new rational consciousness of the human race, which is two thousand years ago in history, the new "spiritual" generations had the capacity to step through the mental pathways created by the God-Man as He grew up on this earth from Natural Childhood to Natural Adulthood. In the span of three decades, viewed historically, the Son of God created the mental reasoning and the motivational capacity, to undergo regeneration so that the Divine-Human can form a new heaven within our spiritual genius. IN these New Heavens, we can ascend in our mind through character reformations, and live there in conjugial bliss to eternity.

All this then depends on our acknowledgment and rational understanding of the revelations given by the Divine-Human in the Writings Sacred Scripture. Such acknowledgment and rational consciousness of the Divine-Human, is called enlightenment (see Section xx).

Because God's Incarnation as a God-Man had to occur in the physical world the Incarnation event has two components, one natural and historical, the other universal and spiritual or eternal and timeless. The local historical component rationally required that the Divine Child be born somewhere on some earth in some country on a particular date within a specific culture, and assuming a gender, either male or female, and a name. These are all rational and logical requirements of the Divine Birth in the natural world. For many reasons made clear in the Writings Sacred Scripture, the Divine restricted the choices to two thousand years ago in the city of Bethlehem in the Jewish Church that had been chosen by God centuries ago and prepared for this reception by many generations of descendants. Remember that the Incarnation as a universal event involved the entire human race then alive on this earth, and the entire human race from the past that were congregated in the spiritual world and lived there, also awaiting "the Coming of the Messiah."

This event was known and expected since the earliest generation on earth to who God had revealed it. It was important for the entire race to be involved in this event. It was part of the final completion of the creation of the human race. The race's evolution or mental development is a gradual process like the geological formation of planets. God uses this slow method by necessity, given the rate of spiritual absorption that the race on earth is capable of at any time. Every generation is created out of the spirit or mind of the prior generation, like a growing vine that if not stopped, will grow to cover all the available surface on an island or planet. Hence whatever mental traits and habit tendencies one generation acquires, are transmitted by the laws of inheritance to the next generation, which add its acquired traits and habit tendencies, so that the generation after that has more to inherit. There is no limit to this process of human multiplication

A celestial race is created on every inhabitable planet, according to the revelations in the Writings Sacred Scripture. The dawn of every new human life on a planet is a celestial civilization. Swedenborg met the celestials of this earth who now live in their isolated heavens. They do not possess the deep fissure in the brain that gives us a distinct left brain and right brain, each with their separate specialization of function. The current split-brain race (as I call it) is of a spiritual "genius" not celestial. We were evolved into the separation of the organs of the will and understanding in order to allow our regeneration. The mental affective function is represented by the right brain operations while the mental cognitive function is represented by the left brain operations. Swedenborg was the first scientist in the literature to have noted this correspondence of functions. The split-brain physiology gave the spiritual race on earth a new pragmatic ability that the celestials did not have, because they did not need it. It is the ability our race has to simulate, to lie, to deceive, to act hypocritically, to have privacy and secrets, to plot and conspire against others.

The spiritual human race on this earth was a Fallen race, in relation to the extinct celestial race. The reference to the Fall is about the fall of consciousness. The celestial race on every planet is capable of dual consciousness, like Swedenborg. They have conscious awareness simultaneously of the natural mind and the spiritual mind. They can therefore direct their focus of attention either to scenes on earth and their topics, or to scenes in the spiritual world and their topics. This was a huge advantage in terms of their ability to prepare themselves for angelic life, which began for them as soon as they were ready, normally in their third decade of life. They then partook in a Resurrection Ceremony during which they joyfully said good bye and went to sleep. The relatives and friends could follow the person's phases of resuscitation as a spirit, which took about 30 hours. After resuscitation, the celestial mind joined relatives and friends in heaven, from which state they were now able to communicate with those left behind. It was an orderly process, a perfect process for God's purpose of creation, namely, to provide a natural world in which humans could acquire an adult rational natural mind that could be in perfect correspondence with the rational celestial mind, and thus allow the creation of an eternal heaven for them where they could live in conjugial blessedness with the utmost happiness each is capable of.

The creation and development of the celestial race was the first step in the overall Divine plan. The heavens of the celestial race could not be fully perfected until the spiritual race was formed and completely established in the Divine plan. The spiritual and the celestial, along with the natural, constitute the three degrees of creation or existence. Today, in the Age of the Second Coming, when creation is at last completed, the perfection of the heavens is far greater than it ever was before. But again, the full establishment of the spiritual race took several millennia of history, science, and civilization. God had to be patient and true to His own Rational Order so that He could not compel people to be wise and good sooner than they freely chose this out of their understanding of truth.

In the generations immediately following the Most Ancient Church civilization, the spiritual split-brain Fallen human race went through several civilizations of developing their rational consciousness of God. The celestial generation could do this easily and spontaneously because they had direct sensuous consciousness of the spiritual world, heaven, and the Divine Presence. Given this perceptual ability they were able easily to form a rational consciousness of God through instruction from their heavenly teachers with whom they were in communication. But the spiritual race were in total darkness perceptually of anything spiritual. They were called a spiritual race because they had the capacity to regenerate into a spiritual race. In conscious awareness they were born in spiritual darkness and the only light they could see was the light of the natural sun. Their natural conscious mind was therefore formed out of a material world of time, space, matter, sequence, fixity, and self-destruction. They were complete materialists in thinking and mechanized logic. The only way they could develop their higher rational powers, which alone were spiritual, was to study the correspondences of Sacred Scripture they were given by God for that purpose.

From then on the spiritual split-brain race on earth was redeemable for heavenly life as long as they continued to honor and love the rational information about God and heaven that was given them through their prophets and revelators. The materialist intellect operates within the negative bias (see Chapter 1). The mental and spiritual world is easily denied by them as something not real, the bottom line of what is real being what can be sensed with the physical senses of the physical body. In this they become irrational since they do not recognize the most fundamental rational facts of reality. As a result, many of the spiritual race willfully oppose being regenerated, which means that they are not generating or giving birth in themselves, to a new character or personality that bases its conclusions on revealed facts, not materialistic appearances. They have no conscious spiritual life, nor do they acknowledge a higher authority than the human.

Swedenborg reports their behavior when they are resuscitated. They at first do not believe they are in the world of spirits since the external appearances are similar to what they remember. But soon they are forced to admit it when they learn the new reality and life in the spiritual world. They are then instructed regarding the truths of Sacred Scripture, the Divine-Human, heaven, and hell. They then undergo a series of experiences by which their true inward private loves and desires are brought out to the fore of their consciousness. They become those loves and desires and motives. Their external appearance changes to reflect these loves. They then appear as comely young handsome angels or devilish monstrosities, continuing life forever in that state of choice. Swedenborg confirms from his visual reports what is revealed in Sacred Scripture, that many end in hell, few in heaven.

What a colossal waste! For every particular heaven, specializing in some wonderful human love or trait, there is a corresponding hell specializing is the opposition, resistance, and inversion of that angelic love or trait. The human mind, to be a complete creation, must contain a heaven and a hell. There is a unique personal heaven and a corresponding unique personal hell in every individual's mind. Every truth we learn can be contradicted by our cognitive mind (or understanding), and every good love we experience can be inverted by our affective mind (or will). If we did not possess this dual balancing capacity we would not be fully human, and we could not develop into Angels, a state for which every individual is created.

You can see therefore that the Fall of the human race was a necessary step in its evolution and ultimate perfection. God relates to the human race differently than to other created objects. An object is maintained in existence by continuous influx of the Divine substances. This is called "immediate influx." Human minds or spirits are also sustained in existence by this continuous and immediate influx, beginning at conception and continuing to eternity. God cannot 'remove Himself' from us or else we become non-existent. But in addition to this immediate influx that keeps all things 'online' in existence, there is also a "mediate influx" that requires human or rational intelligence. This mediate influx is not possible with inanimate objects, plants, animals, because it requires a spiritual organ that is created to receive mediate influx by conscious meaning.

The history of Mediate Influx for the human race is the evolution of human consciousness.

First a celestial race was created to receive the mediate influx of love and truth simultaneously into their mind which was consciously operational from top to bottom, from higher spiritual-rational to lower natural, sensuous, and corporeal. Because they received love in the will and truth in the understanding they were unable to think or speak except according to their loves and affections. They could not simulate, lie, or deceive. In some sense they were incapable of being bad and rejecting the love and truth streaming into their celestial mind. Hellish traits could not be born and develop in their character. In that sense they were not yet full fledged human beings because they were not in complete unconditional freedom. Therefore their happiness in heaven was extremely intense but not perfect, as if they still had a maturation phase to go through. For instance they were unable to see God with their eyes. They were told that they will reach the state where they could see God with their eyes and touch Him. This was the prophecy of the Coming of the Divine-Human into existence. They were looking forward to that ultimate moment.

Indeed, many generations later, after the new spiritual race had been grown on the earths, and human civilization on this earth progressed to true spiritual rationality, the Divine child was at last born, and as He grew to adulthood as a Divine Natural Man, He fashioned the mental pathways and operations that the spiritual race could use for regeneration. Once the new spiritual heavens was being populated, the celestial minds in their heavens experienced a progressively greater capacity to receive the mediate influx and their rational consciousness, so much so, that they were at last raised to their perfect consciousness where they could behold the Divine-Human Himself, see Him, touch Him, serve God and love Him in a new closer way.

The final completion of creation of the human race occurred with the ushering in of the new age called the Second Coming, beginning in history with the publication of the Writings of Swedenborg (1688-1772).

It is commonly believed today, as it has been for many centuries, that the Second Coming of Christ is to take place in the physical world. This belief is based on the literal language of Sacred Scripture. Even Swedenborg had this idea prior to the start of his dual consciousness at age 57. The inner spiritual or scientific sense of Sacred Scripture had not been revealed until the Writings Sacred Scripture. Swedenborg himself discovered it only after his dual consciousness status began. During those early months and years he made a concentrated effort to learn Hebrew to be able to read the Old Testament Sacred Scripture in its original text. He was already familiar with the Greek text of the New Testament Sacred Scripture from his classic education. Now as his dual consciousness began, he was able to read a verse of the Testaments in its natural language (Hebrew and Greek) and observe simultaneously what was happening around him in the spiritual world. By dint of repetition and study he was able to learn the correspondences of the natural expressions in the Testaments to the spiritual meanings they evoked in the spiritual world.

Swedenborg reports that every verse of the Testaments communicates with a particular society in heaven in which are gathered the people who have an inner affectional relationship to what the verse expresses spiritually. And all the verses together, in their scientific meaning, make a complete statement like the DNA code in a cell makes a complete statement of how the cell can perfectly reproduce or duplicate itself. Swedenborg witnessed the unity of the heavenly societies into one by being taken to a distancing mental position or state in which he could observe the shape of the heavenly lands. It gave the appearance of a perfect human body, with all its internal organs visible. Swedenborg called it the "Grand Man of Heaven" or the Grand Human--it contained both male and female organs.

Swedenborg was able to establish this astounding fact: that the societies that lived in the apparent location of each organ had a different genius or intellect that corresponded perfectly to the function of the human organ. He often localized his visits to the societies by referring to their location as "in the province of the right eye," or "in the region of gallbladder, or "in the right testicle," etc. In fact, he found out that the "angels" of each of these societies participated in the specific functions of the organ which corresponded to them. This was a universal operation, so that that organ's function in any individual on any planet in the universe, was effected and kept in perfection by the loves and thoughts of the people in the heaven corresponding to the organ.

As well, Swedenborg was given to see the shape of the hellish inhabitations. It appeared as a Giant Human Monster or Devil. Once again the universal balance holds, namely, that every perfection in an organ's functioning, brought about by the heavenly societies, could be resisted, opposed, and corrupted by the corresponding hellish society.

The salvation of the human race is now assured as there is a perfect balance between the Grand Human of Heaven and the Giant Monster of Hell. This universal balance operates in the mind of every human being already alive or being born from now to the endless future. Now human consciousness can travel from its lowest corporeal hell to its highest rational heaven. Our freedom to choose life is complete and guaranteed forever.

Three expressions are used in theistic psychology that are equivalent in meaning: regeneration, character reformation, and spiritual development. The word "regeneration" is associated with religion and is used in the literal language of Sacred Scripture. "Character reformation" is used in a moral instruction context. "Spiritual development" is used in philosophy and literature. all three terms are used in an equivalent sense in theistic psychology . Their meaning in theistic psychology is defined by the theory and method outlined in this book.

Quoting John Clowes on "co-operation" with God that is required of each of us in regeneration:

Theistic psychology is a workable innovation in scientific thinking that is based on by-passing the religious and cultural content of the Writings Sacred Scripture. My students today, and generally people in the future, are able to study the Writings Sacred Scripture within their own religious and cultural context. This is made possible by applying the method of correspondences with enlightenment, which makes the “literal of the Word to vanish” (AC 1405; 3776). What then stands revealed in the understanding, is theistic psychology, the science of immortality and how to prepare for a heavenly life, which is available to any individual from any background or religion.

My students have been able to make the religious and cultural content of the Writings Sacred Scripture to vanish. They have been successful in reading the Writings Sacred Scripture (small portions thereof), without feeling attacked in their religious beliefs, because they could accept the scientific meaning that was extracted. Of course, the students did not do this themselves, but were presented with the fruits of my labor as theistic psychology.

The style I use to present theistic psychology is to make use of quoted passages from the Writings Sacred Scripture, which I then analyze by using the extraction techniques. In this way students follow the technique, though they do not yet perform it themselves. However, I can foresee the situation where students would want to specialize and continue their study as a life involvement. Then it may be possible for them to perform the method of correspondences with enlightenment.

It is a unique new development in science to tie research and expertise to “enlightenment.” Non-theistic science separates the scientist’s character or personality from the quality of his science. A wicked scientist, an obese scientist, a criminal scientist, an adulterous scientist, all have the same ability to become experts in some field and to produce valuable research that helps other scientists to progress. But this attitude is totally reversed in theistic psychology. The only source of knowledge is the Writings Sacred Scripture, and the only method of obtaining knowledge is the one prescribed there, which requires enlightenment.

Enlightenment is immediate illumination from God. Spiritual light from the Spiritual Sun enters all human minds simultaneously and operates the cognitive organ called understanding. This operation is duplicated through discrete levels across the layers of the mind, until we become conscious of it in the natural mind. Should God block the continuous input of this spiritual light, we immediately lose all rationality and understanding. Hence it is God who works with us to enlighten our rational understanding and to give us the knowledge of theistic psychology.

God gives this spiritual light or understanding into every cognitive organ of every human being, regardless of culture, religion, or background. But we can become conscious of this higher understanding only in proportion to our spiritual progress. The more we progress spiritually, the more we can be enlightened with higher and higher knowledge and understanding.

Hence theistic psychology is understood at different levels, depending on one’s progress in character reformation, regeneration, or spiritual growth. It is called character reformation because every individual is born with inherited tendencies and inclinations that are evil, injurious to others, and self-destructive. Every individual is born with a mind that contains heavenly states and hellish states. Theistic psychology describes what happens when people arrive into the afterlife state of human development. Swedenborg was able to observe and monitor the mental phases that they go through. Eventually (“second death”), every person’s inner character comes to the fore and determines the quality of their experiences into the eternal future.

The study of theistic psychology helps people understand the process of their mental development into immortality. It helps people realize that they are now going through the natural phase of their eternity. Human development is the transformation of an evil character, which is our consciousness in the hell of our mind, to an angelic character, which is our consciousness in the heaven of our mind. Swedenborg has described the hellish and heavenly traits by the special ability he was given to become conscious simultaneously in his natural mind and in his spiritual mind. What happened when he suddenly found himself at age 57, conscious in his spiritual mind?

He became aware of being in the presence of other people, namely those who had passed on and were living in their state of immortality or afterlife. If right now you became likewise conscious in your spiritual mind, which is now unconscious, you too would be able to see all the people who are in their afterlife. And in fact you will see them, when your physical ties to earth are removed from your natural mind at the moment of the death of the physical body.

Theistic psychology is written in a scientific style, as may be observed from this article and the selections provided. I found a way of talking about “the holy things of the Word” in a scientific way, as long as the positive bias is granted. Because it is for pan-human use, theistic psychology avoids certain terms, except when explaining them from the Writings Sacred Scripture. I don’t use the expression “the Lord” or “Holy Spirit” which have a historical reference. I use “God” when referring to a general topic, like dualism in science, and “Divine Human” when referring to a more specific topic, like the Spiritual Sun or creation. I use “the Divine Psychologist” when discussing regeneration and how we are to cooperate by self-examination and by being willing to face spiritual temptations. Instead of “Jesus” I use the expression “the Divine Child,” and instead of “the birth of Jesus” I use the expression “the Incarnation Event.”

By way of social interest I may mention that after three semesters of teaching theistic psychology I still react emotionally from within, when a student uses the word God or Lord or Divine Human. Throughout the first semester I found myself instinctively looking over my shoulder to the open classroom door whenever I was talking out loud about God or spirits. This nervousness gradually disappeared for me, but I sense it present with the students in each new semester. This conflictual socio-emotional climate about God exists in public schools in the

United States

because of the perennial and divisive news topic known as the “separation of Church and state.”

Now the making of theistic psychology is introducing God into public classrooms -- not from Church or religion, but from science. Recently in the news, upper level court decisions went against Church based lawsuits trying to compel textbook publishers to label evolution as “a theory” and to present competing theories such as Creationism. Of course it is known from the Writings Sacred Scripture that the creation story in the first eleven chapters of Genesis, are not science, nor are they historical. They are written in correspondences in the style of writing of the Word of the Ancient Church, mentioned in other parts of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, and portions of which Moses was given to quote from (De Verbo 15).

It is not possible to introduce God into science and public schools by teaching through the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture. This is obvious for the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures because they were written many centuries ago. But it is also true for the Writings Sacred Scripture which was written in the modern age of science. The obvious reason is that the literal meaning of the Writings Sacred Scripture is intended and necessary for forming the New Church religion (Sum Exp Apoc 1). Hence the issue of separation of Church and state applies also to the Writings Sacred Scripture – when viewed in its literal sense.

But the making of theistic psychology brings an entirely new possibility because it is based on the principle that the literal meaning of the Writings Sacred Scripture is not theistic psychology. The literal expressions are viewed only as correspondences that “vanish” from view when the method of correspondences with enlightenment is applied in the extraction process (AC 1405). There is no issue of Church or religion, and hence no issue about protecting people’s religious freedoms.

The only issue now is dualism in the positive bias vs. materialism in the negative bias, and this is strictly a scientific issue about methodology and theoretical paradigms. The argument about theistic psychology is a scientific one, not a political or religious one. People on both sides of this argument are scientists discussing their normal scientific justifications and assumptions based on evaluating the empirical evidence brought forth by Swedenborg during 27 years of direct experimentation and observation in the spiritual world.

Theistic psychology brings the universal knowledge that acquiring heavenly traits is the key to reaching our full human potential in immortality.

In the Writings Sacred Scripture, God reveals to all humankind the method by which we can acquire for ourselves a heavenly character. There are only two general steps to make. First, we must stop thinking our own thoughts and willing our own purposes. Second, we must start thinking God’s thoughts and willing God’s purposes. This makes sense rationally since God created us in that way. Every human being is created to be eternally happy and productive in their conjugial heaven. God creates therefore a method by which every individual can develop into a human being who prefers by far to think God’s thoughts to thinking their own, and prefers by far to be led by God and be animated by Him, than to be led and animated by self.

Swedenborg saw what happens in the world of the afterlife to those who prefer to be led by themselves. They are in a miserable state of life because the human self is born spiritually insane, unable to tell the difference between evil and good. Hence it is that God gives us Sacred Scripture by which we may know what is good and true that lead to the eternal heavens in our mind, and how to avoid what is evil and self-centered, which leads to the hells in our mind. We make the choice by the way we align our mind to be agreeable to the mind of the Divine Human, or away and contrary to that.

Theistic psychology makes regeneration and character reformation the central theme around which all other human issues revolve. Theistic psychology shows how the Divine Psychologist (“Holy Spirit”) is co-Present in our conscious natural mind. He is in charge of operations in the cognitive and affective organs of our mind –

Can you think of anything more intimate and close than this relationship that every human being has with the Divine Psychologist in their conscious rational consciousness of God? The central theme of theistic psychology is therefore the psychology of cooperation with the Divine Psychologist.

The teaching of theistic psychology in a public state university ushers in a new era for humankind. God is now entering modern science. It is a development made possible by the Writings of Swedenborg, but they are only now put to use for this purpose in a public institution of higher learning. If this effort is successful it can put an end to the current schizophrenic attitudes and conflicts attendant to the science-religion controversy.

The benefits of theistic psychology to the human race are extraordinary and extensive, touching society, community, family, marriage, and individual development. Everyone will know about the two worlds, the three heavens in the mind, and the hells. People in every country and from every religion will be given the invaluable opportunity to know scientifically that they are immortal, and to know how they can prepare for a heavenly eternity by avoiding an endless life of horror in the insanities and delusions of the mind’s hells.

At this point in time theistic psychology is in the process of childbirth in the consciousness of humanity. The future growth of theistic psychology here on earth affects the entire humanity of the Grand Human. The people of this earth have a mental genius that is located by correspondence in the skin of the Grand Human. Our race on this earth has evolved a specialized rational function that the rest of humanity depends on for use. We are deeply involved in “scientifics” and “mechanics” – as this work on the “science of immortality” testifies. This specialized mechanistic genius of the people born on this planet is one reason why the Divine Child was born on this earth.

The location of this universal event on this particular earth, rather than on another, continues the theme of Divine Speech which exteriorizes from “firsts to ultimates” in the natural mind of humanity. Our mental capacities and inclinations are formalistic and analytic, constructed on a semantic web of empiricism or abstractions of “sensuous” thinking. This deep seated inclination of the people born on this earth allows the specialized development of theistic psychology, which may also be referred to as “the mechanics of Divine doctrine.”

The more theistic psychology develops in the minds of the future generations born on this earth, the more the rest of humanity in the Grand Human will be able to evolve in consciousness of the Divine Human and in a heavenly character from Him. (see Note 11). The Writings Sacred Scripture will remain forever such as it is now. But theistic psychology will forever change as it develops and evolves, progressively forming the consciousness of humanity into a heaven.

For General Church audiences theistic psychology can also be useful because it fully legitimizes the New Church mentality and worldview. No longer will Bryn Athyn, and its related religious communities, be relegated to “a tiny weird Christian sect,” as it is sometimes described by outsiders. The General Church institution and intellect will be universally recognized by all religions as the organization on earth that has been given the Divine mission of protecting, preserving, and broadcasting the Writings of Swedenborg (see Note 12). Now, these Writings can be claimed by all people as their own because they can read it by a method that makes the historical and sectarian religious sentences “vanish” (AC 1405; 3776).

Theistic psychology can be beneficial for General Church schools at all levels because it broadens and deepens the students’ rational faith that “the Writings are the Word,” by showing that the Writings Sacred Scripture have also been given for science. It strengthens the power of the Writings Sacred Scripture in the natural mind when it is seen as containing science as well as religion. Theistic psychology presents new ideas from the Writings Sacred Scripture that are not available from religious study only because that is a more general level of discussion than theistic psychology as a science.

It is not injurious for the General Church mind to reconstruct a more detailed format for their religious explanations. The “rational faith” we are promised in “Nunc Licet” does not limit itself to the general level of discussion employed by the literal meaning of the Writings Sacred Scripture. Theistic psychology gives us the techniques for entering the particulars and singulars of the discussion, which are not available in the surface literal expressions.

Theistic psychology shows that a universal science is hidden within the religious sentences of the Writings Sacred Scripture. For the General Church mind there is potentially here a double pleasure and love. First, there is the love and worship of the Divine Human in His Second Coming. This is the relationship of the General Church mind to the literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture as “the Word.” Second, there is the power and pragmatism of theistic psychology as the knowledge that can be reconstructed from its Letter. It is the Letter of the Writings Sacred Scripture that gives us the knowledge and methodology of how to extract theistic psychology from it.

Theistic psychology strengthens the importance of the Writings Sacred Scripture in the world scene because it makes the Writings Sacred Scripture to be absolutely the exclusive source for every concept and fact in theistic psychology.

Anyone can engage in this extraction activity from their own ideas and intelligence, but nothing spiritual can be extracted and understood except from enlightenment by the Divine Psychologist.

To the New Church mind, theistic psychology brings a scientific register that is compatible with the rational faith based on the literal meaning of the Writings Sacred Scripture. Any New Church person now has available an academic and scientific language of description, explanation, and justification for the all foundational concepts of the New Church religion – the Word, the Divine Human, discrete degrees, resuscitation, heaven, hell, sin, salvation, the birth of the Lord, the work of the Holy Spirit, Divine Love and Divine Truth, etc.

These spiritual concepts are difficult to discuss with those who are not of the New Church. But theistic psychology gives a scientific register for discussing, reasoning about, explaining, and researching these New Church concepts that are the foundation of its religion.

The New Church person’s relationship to the Divine Human is made more visible when we know the details of regeneration, not just the generals, and when we know the specifics of how we are to cooperate. This information is given to us by the Writings Sacred Scripture when we acknowledge it as Divine Speech coming forth to our natural mind in the from of natural-rational correspondences that Swedenborg’s natural mind wrote out in Latin. He wrote from the spiritual doctrine in his spiritual mind that was revealed to him by the Divine Human so that Swedenborg could write and publish the Heavenly Doctrines for the New Church. The sentences Swedenborg wrote in his Divine mission were the ultimates of the chain of descent of Divine Speech from the celestial mind, to the spiritual mind, the interior-natural mind, and at last, to the external natural mind.

Theistic psychology gives the understanding of why the process of regeneration requires cooperation with the Divine Psychologist. This cooperation is effective to the extent that we are willing to learn how to receive more from Him. Studying theistic psychology gives us the skills of cooperation in our regeneration. We perform our willingness to cooperate by becoming an expert in theistic psychology, which any person can do by ordinary study methods.

To be an expert in theistic psychology means nothing else than to practice the skills of extracting one’s doctrine from the Writings Sacred Scripture and practicing its truth. This is regeneration.

To love the Writings Sacred Scripture means to study it, to memorize it, and to learn how to extract doctrine from it. This doctrine in our understanding applied to our willing and thinking is what effects regeneration, and nothing else. The process of regeneration, from the perspective of human beings, is made of cooperation through the doctrine of truth in our understanding. The Divine Psychologist arranges everything so that we can face a particular type of spiritual temptation regarding some specific inherited evil enjoyment. The process of temptation is experienced as a combat between the forces of heaven and hell in our conscious willing and thinking. The Divine Psychologist prepares us for this battle by means of doctrine of truth from the Writings Sacred Scripture in our understanding.

Theistic psychology gives us the register of thinking and reasoning for our combat in temptation. The Divine Psychologist’s power of healing and regenerating our deep seated inherited character is effective in proportion to our willingness to have the doctrine of truth from the Writings Sacred Scripture in our understanding, not merely in our memory. To have doctrine of truth in the understanding, not merely in the memory, we are commanded to practice the process of extraction from the Writings Sacred Scripture. Quoting:

[2] The words 'employing the truths of doctrine seen in light received from the Lord' are used because truths drawn from the Word have to be marshaled into doctrine in order that they may be put to use. The marshalling must be done by those who see things in light received from the Lord; and those so enlightened when they read the Word are people who desire truth for its own sake and for the sake of goodness of life, not those who desire it for the sake of self-glorification, reputation, or gain. Doctrine drawn from the Word is wholly essential for understanding the Word, see 9025, 9409, 9410, 9424, 9430; and those who gather doctrine from the Word must see things in light received from the Lord, 9382, 9424. (AC 10105)

We can list the elements in this passage for better focus. I will also add the implications.

(1) Truths drawn from the Writings Sacred Scripture must be “marshaled into doctrine in order that they may be put to use.” The expression “to put to use” here refers to what we need to do in combat during temptation, namely, to defeat by reasoning with doctrine of truth in our understanding. If it is only in our memory, we are unwilling or unmotivated to put up the intellectual effort to figure out its meaning and implications. As a result we cannot reason and argue with and defeat the persuasive thinking in our mind that protects the evil enjoyment from being defeated. We put a limit to the effectiveness of our regeneration by showing unwillingness to practice the extraction process for obtaining doctrine of truth in our understanding. Without practicing the extraction process the truths of the Writings Sacred Scripture remain merely in the memory.

(2) “The marshalling must be done by those who see things in light received from the Lord” which clearly states that the extraction process from the Writings Sacred Scripture must be done by the method of correspondences with enlightenment. Every individual is to practice this method in order to be enlightened by the Divine Psychologist. This is cooperation in regeneration.

(3) “those so enlightened when they read the Word are people who desire truth for its own sake and for the sake of goodness of life, not those who desire it for the sake of self-glorification, reputation, or gain” (AC 10105), which defines for us the conditions of achieving enlightenment, a state which is necessary for cooperation in regeneration. The expression “for the sake of goodness of life” here refers to our willingness to let the doctrine of truth in our understanding rule over every other falsification with which our reasoning process is tainted from long standing association with evil enjoyments and compulsions.

When we have this willingness, we are enlightened by the Divine Psychologist and we are prepared for the next combat which is even more interior. As long as we keep this willingness, we progress to our heavenly mind. This willingness comes from innocence – the willingness to be led by the Divine Human rather than by self or others.

(4) “those who gather doctrine from the Word must see things in light received from the Lord” which means that the extraction of doctrine from the Writings Sacred Scripture must follow the method of correspondences with enlightenment. This is the method prescribed in the Writings Sacred Scripture for “drawing doctrine out of the Word” since the “Word” is always written in correspondences. Quoting:

the Word was written wholly by correspondences, each thing and all things in it being correspondent.# If man, therefore, had a knowledge of correspondences he would understand the correspondential sense of the Word, and from that it would be given him to know arcana of which he sees nothing in the sense of the letter. For there is a literal sense and there is a correspondential sense in the Word, the literal sense made up of such things as are in the world, and the correspondential sense of such things as are in heaven. And such a Word, in which everything down to the least jot is a correspondence, was given to men because the conjunction of heaven with the world is effected by means of correspondences.

This passage clearly states that the Writings Sacred Scripture “was written wholly by correspondences” and that we cannot see spiritual meanings in them unless we know that they are correspondences (“arcana of which he sees nothing in the sense of the letter”). Theistic psychology “marshals” the reasons of why this is so.

At first there is the obvious appearance that we see heavenly secrets, or spiritual meanings, in nearly every Number of the Writings Sacred Scripture. We can speak, write, and reflect upon such spiritual topics as the Divine Human, heaven, salvation, worship, conjugial love, doctrine of truth, regeneration, angelic societies, the Grand Human, and many others. There are two phases in the growth of our understanding heavenly secrets or spiritual topics:

We are in phase 1 until we begin our reformation and regeneration, sometime in adulthood. Until then our worship is acceptable to the Divine Human because we are not capable of undergoing spiritual temptations. But upon reformation and beginning of regeneration as an adult, we are capable of being enlightened, in proportion to our willingness to cooperate. To be enlightened means to enter phase 2 which begins our ability to understand spiritual topics spiritually. At that point our worship becomes internal, because based on spiritual meanings.

This is what it means that the Writings Sacred Scripture was written in correspondences (“the Word was written wholly by correspondences”). The Letter of the Writings Sacred Scripture discusses spiritual topics in the language of natural-rational correspondences of Divine Speech. Because they are correspondences, they contain the spiritual meanings we can receive by enlightenment. The natural meaning of spiritual topics and the spiritual meaning of spiritual topics are as far apart as earth and heaven.

Understanding spiritual topics naturally refers to mental operations in our external natural mind. Understanding spiritual topics spiritually refers to mental operations in our interior natural mind. The interior-natural mind cannot be activated until we undergo reformation and begin regeneration. The Divine Psychologist produces our enlightenment through the activation of operations in the interior-natural organ. Our conscious perception of the operations in the interior-natural organ constitute the enlightenment process itself. In theistic psychology the activated interior-natural organ is also called virtual heaven, because it gives us the capability of being conscious of spiritual correspondences – spiritual-natural (first heaven), spiritual-rational (second heaven) and celestial-rational (third heaven). (For details See section xx).

In the history of consciousness there have been two paths running parallel to each other. The first one may be called sensuous consciousness, and the second, rational consciousness. These two methods were created by God as a dual approach to the Divine, that is, being in the conscious co-Presence of God. Experiencing God occurs in two different media or organic venues of the mind. Sensuous consciousness is the direct apperception of the Divine Appearance. For instance, Swedenborg witnessed the Lord’s Visual Presence in the spiritual Sun. Every angel in the Third Heaven can likewise see the Lord amidst the spiritual Sun. Furthermore, they have the spiritual Sun in front of them no matter which they turn or walk. Therefore it is literally true that we can see the Divine Appearance when we are in our Third Heaven of the mind. This is the top of the human mind, so created by God that we are in His conscious co-presence ceaselessly whenever we rise in consciousness to the top of the mind. The method for rising has also been created and provided for, and has been discussed under the topic of regeneration.

Another instance of sensuous consciousness of the Divine occurred after the Resurrection, when the Lord showed Himself to various people. The shepherds who saw the Angels, and Mary who spoke to an Angel, also are instances of sensuous consciousness of the Divine. There are similar visions described in the Old Testament history where numerous individuals had sensuous consciousness of the Divine, as for example Moses on Mount Sinai, the Patriarchs all of whom spoke to the Divine by living voice, Hagar fleeing in the desert to whom the Lord appeared as an Angel, and the daily miracles the Jews were granted after their Divinely managed Exodus from Egypt, such as the splitting of the Red Sea, the Manna falling from heaven, the cloud of fire protecting their encampments, and many more sensuous demonstrations of the Divine presence with them, with the Ark, with the Temple.

Yet there is a universe of difference between these two types of sensuous consciousness described in the Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture. Sensuous consciousness operates at the level of the mind where the conscious awareness is located or is operational. In the natural mind, marked by phase 1 thinking and feeling, religion is external to one’s actual inner loves, thus not yet spiritual since the spiritual level is an inner operation of the mind, a discrete degree above the natural mind. This external relationship to religion means that one is directed by one’s own loves rather than by one’s relationship to God, who is seen as a distant figure, or even infinite force. Phase 1 religion deals with God from a distance. For example, if religious doctrine contradicts our inner loves, we ignore that religion and look for another, and keep looking until we find something that does not pose a threat to our inner loves. These inner loves are entirely evil, through and through, from inheritance, and can only be gotten rid of through the long term and intensely challenging process of regeneration.

As a result of this cognitive distance, God can only appear to them from a distance. For example, when God’s Presence descended or infilled the region of Mount Sinai, what was His Appearance to the people? A burning bush? An Angel? A Living Voice? Thunder and Lightning? These instances of sensuous consciousness of the Divine’s Presence are geared to phase 1 thinking and feeling. The people were not able to receive the Stone Tablets of Ten Commandments Etched by God’s Finger. They had to be broken by Moses and a new set acquired, one that Moses etched, and this they were able to receive. How did the people feel and act as the Divine Presence came closer to them? The were terrified! They felt they were losing the breath of life. They begged Moses to go on his own and to let them wait it out further away from the Mountain where God had alighted. All of this indicates that phase 1 thinking and feeling provides a natural form of sensuous consciousness of the Divine. This is the closest the natural mind can come to anything spiritual.

Compare this to the sensuous consciousness enjoyed by the Jews who became followers of the Lord during the three years of His Divine co-Presence with them. As the history in the New Testament Sacred Scripture describes, the Lord made many attempts to open their sensuous consciousness above their inherited culture and faith. For instance, He Himself performed miracles in front of their eyes. The miracles came from Him visibly. This has never occurred before in the history of the race. Now for the first time the Divine Human Person appeared visibly in sensuous consciousness to humankind. He has entered human history and science. He has thus become visible to endless generations merely by the knowledge that God actually, historically, scientifically, appeared to the human race in a visible, tangible, material form.

Within this Divine Human Natural Body there was the infinite Divine Love and Wisdom, God Himself, One and the same from the beginning and always. Now this infinite Divine Love and Wisdom has created a new method of appearing to human beings. He created a physical Body by means of earthly laws, developed a natural Mind by means of growing up as a Child, and revealed Divine truths about Himself, creation, heaven, hell, and regeneration. These truths could not be received before in phase consciousness of the Divine. They were denied by most. The Divine appears to them, and they deny it because they cannot see it. The Divine only appears to them from a distance, not up close in the form of a Human, even if a Divine Human.

Note that the Old Testament Sacred Scripture portrays God as Human. He talks like a Human, loves like a Human, has emotions and concerns, repents of His mistakes, isn’t fully predictable or consistent, gets angry, punishes, threatens, and many such things, along with the Divine traits like omnipotence and omniscience. Phase 1 consciousness of God is mixed good and bad. As a result, there evolves the idea that God is presented in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture in figurative terms so that humans could understand Him. Therefore, one ought not to think of God as Human, since human is finite, while God is infinite. This idea then becomes a stumbling block to further spiritual development. Why? Because the reality is that God is a Divine Human Person, as phase 2 consciousness begins to see and accept.

It is necessary to think of God in rational terms rather than physical if we’re going to elevate our consciousness from phase 1 to phase 2. Indeed, there is a challenge to the mind to understand the Incarnation. By tackling this challenge, by reflecting on it as reality, our thinking is led to a rational consciousness of God. This transfer of Divine consciousness from sensuous to rational operations of the mind is the most significant evolutionary step the race has undergone since creation. What happened to Abraham and Moses when they arrived in the world of spirits? They arrived with a spirit-body whose mental operation was in phase 1, thus in the natural mind. Their idea of God and heaven was so distant that they could not enter a heaven in their mind where they had to leave behind everything about themselves – their identity, their culture, their religious rituals, their personality, everything they valued as essential to their life. And instead, to adopt the mental life of the Divine Human Person. This is what heaven is, namely, the place in your mind where you experience God’s loves and truths, where there is nothing whatsoever of your own mind except the reception of them.

Only if Abraham and Moses were willing to give up everything of their own that they brought along, could they enter the eternal Promised Land. And the Writings Sacred Scripture reveal that many people were willing to do so of all generations and civilizations, but many were not willing, and today, many still are unwilling to give up their own infernal or fallen “proprium” (what is one’s own or self), for a heavenly Proprium from the Lord. By refusing to give up their inner loves, and thus refusing to adopt “as one’s own,” the loves and truths of the Divine Human Person, they condemn themselves to a lower consciousness in which existence is miserable and hardly human. In phase 1 thinking we experience the resistance of nonduality in our natural mind. Our natural mind is born unregenerate, filled by inheritance with ties to the hells by means of infernal loves we are unwilling to give up. This unregenerate self is on its way to hell, but it can be saved from that awful fate. God provides the method of salvation. It is called regeneration of our character by struggling with our temptations the Lord brings to us, and victory over them by appealing to the Lord.

Our character refers to our inner loves, the ones tat are infernal by birth and by subsequent habit and acquiescence, and eventually full immersion and enjoyment. We are then tied to the source of these evil loves, which are the societies of the hells. Many societies are involved in a single evil love, to provide for its pleasure, its delight, its false justifications and hypocrisies. You can see that these attachments and bonds remain in the afterlife where we feel totally free to engage in them. And while we enter these evil loves by practicing them and justifying them, we sense the infernal delights of cupidities, lusts, cruelties, and hatreds. But in due course every evil love turns against the subject. Soon the infernal delights turn into infernal sufferings as the person gets absorbed into the infernal societies were the inhabitants take turns practicing cruelties on each other. What a fate!

There are angels from heaven who look down on the hells and are given power by the Lord to intervene. They try to moderate the cruelties being practiced so that they stay within permissible limits. They also strive to instruct them about good and truth which can take them out of the hell they’re in and up to the top of their mind to heaven. But they refuse and reject and are unwilling. When their thinking focuses on any truth or good that angels present to them, they are seized with a frenzied fury and run to hide in caverns and under rocks they find to avoid the light of heaven flowing into their environment. This is what happens in the spiritual world when truth is received, namely, light from the spiritual Sun enters and shines all around. This light is Divine Truth in infinite variety, and Divine Love is within this Truth and animates it. When the inhabitants of the hell societies perceive this light entering, they are seized with agony and fear and rage against it. They then turn themselves away from it, which means that their mind goes back to darkness by turning the truth into its opposite. Then they feel that they can live. You can see why the inhabitants of the hells have betaken themselves to the bottom of their mind and cannot be taken up to the top of their mind or heaven.

True Science describes in great detail all that we need to know to fully understand how our rational consciousness of the Divine may be systematically elevated to the Divine. Rational consciousness has been provided for escalating to the third and final step of human evolution. Genuine sensuous consciousness of the Divine on earth has ceased to operate since the Ascension and the “giving of the Holy Spirit.” The Ascension marks to moment in history where God removes His Divine Natural Body from direct sensuous consciousness on earth or in the natural world. But in the spiritual world, direct sensuous consciousness of God continues to eternity. In other words, when we transfer to the spiritual world, and we are able to rise to the heaven in our mind, we will have direct sensuous consciousness of the Divine Human Person, as witnessed many times by Swedenborg. But not here on earth. There will be no sensuous consciousness of the Divine in the former things – visions, miracles, angels, Divine light, holy objects, and the like. The only consciousness of the Divine henceforth is the Holy Spirit, and this refers to the rational consciousness of God.

When I hear of a miracle performed by some preacher or psychic, I put it in the context of True Science, thus, it is not a spiritual phenomenon. Similarly with mystical experiences such as spiritual ecstasy or union with God. Similarly with belief in influencing God by prayer, and thus belief in the miracle of prayers when sufficiently sincere or ardent. These sensuous methods of being conscious of the Divine presence have all been made void and non operational, as explained in the Writings Sacred Scripture. Further, the reason miracles are not allowed by the Lord is to help us grow in a rational consciousness of Him. Our rational consciousness cannot grow in the presence of a sensuous consciousness of God. Those who arrive in the other life with a sensuous consciousness of God are not capable of sustaining the idea of God there and become nonbelievers and mockers. Such is persuasive faith, namely that it removes our rational free will, and are compelled by physical evidence of God’s presence. But God’s presence does not appear physically in the other life but rationally. This is perhaps the most important knowledge you can take with you from this book.

It becomes crucial therefore to escalate our thinking and feeling to the operational level of rational truths and rational loves. This is where phase 3 consciousness begins. The method by which phase 3 consciousness is appropriated is regeneration of our inner loves or character. Regeneration is accomplished by God on a daily basis, but only to the extent that we cooperate. He cannot regenerate us except through that self-initiated effort of cooperation. This involves knowing one’s thoughts and feelings, evaluating them in the light of one’s doctrine from Divine revelation, and discarding all those that are contrary. This daily and hourly process throughout our life on earth is the method that has been created for our regeneration, hence the quality of our eternal life. Self-witnessing or self-examination needs to be systematic, cumulative, and persistent, for without this, we cannot know the evils and falsities we must give up to become regenerated.

13.10.1 Self-Witnessing One’s Thinking and Willing

Self-witnessing or self-examination is a process of self-monitoring. This involves monitoring and note-keeping of our mental life in daily tasks and interactions with others. Each exercise involves keeping track in the three “domains” or organs of the mind: affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor.

Affective Organ (will):

“What feelings do I have in this situation?” Or: “What do I feel like doing right now?”

Cognitive Organ :(understanding):

“What thoughts do I have right now?” Or: “What are the words and sentences I’m thinking right now?”

Sensorimotor Organ (acting out and sensations):

“What sensations am I experiencing right now?” And: “What is my body doing and how does it appear to others—my face, my hands, my position, my rhythm, my voice, my breathing, etc.”

Keeping cumulative notes in a journal or diary is necessary. Dictating notes with a recorder is also useful. Part of the discipline is to review or analyze the data collected over many samples of one’s interactions and behaviors and to evaluate them as indicators of one’s dedication and progress in regeneration.

Regeneration involves freely rejecting our evils even though they delight us tremendously. It is not possible to reject our own evils by the group or collectively, as just discussed. It is only possible to reject them one by one. Therefore if we don’t make lists, how are we going to keep track of them so we may reject them? This is a practical issue. If we run a department store without an inventory, can we succeed? We must identify something before we can sell it or reject it. Therefore we should use the method of making lists and inventories of our evils and falsities just as we make lists of things to do on a busy day.

No one can shun that of which he is ignorant (DP 278)

Spiritual consciousness is determined by the level of our thinking and feeling in every day tasks. Minute by minute all day long a steady stream of thoughts and feelings produce coiled fibers in our understanding and will. True Science shows that the will and the understanding are spiritual organs created by spiritual fibers or substances. The will and the understanding are organs in the mind, while muscles are organs in the body. The muscle is built up by protein material, fiber by fiber, to the extent that the muscle is activated by physical exertion. Every time you flex the muscle, another fiber is guilt up. It is similar with the brain cells. As we learn some skill the synapses connecting the cells grow into one another, making permanent connections. All day long we make decisions and react with this or that emotion, and then as we are conscious to an emotion or thought, we react to that, and so on endlessly. Each of these acts of thinking and emoting is like the flexing of a muscle or the practicing of a foreign language. Organic fibers are built up from each individual act in the long endless series. Another analogy is to think of a tapestry and how it is built up or created by individual stitches, each different in terms of color and fabric. All the stitches together make up the tapestry, carpet, or garment. A human character is like a tapestry, built up by individual acts of one’s understanding and one’s will.

When we arrive in the afterlife, our mind or spirit-body contains the organs of the will and understanding at three levels of operation. The shape and form of these organs is unique and is determined by the content of the thoughts and feelings that created the character. The character is nothing than the sum total of all the thoughts and feelings we’ve had in our life on earth. You can see why it’s so crucial that we arrive in the afterlife with a regenerated character. If it is not regenerated, it contains an infernal will and insane understanding. How then is regeneration of the character accomplished? Nothing can be more important to us than to know the right answer to this question.

To react to what we observe is to make an evaluation of our willing and thinking. This evaluation is from a rational level, looking down, while the stream of thinking we are observing, is from a sensuous or corporeal level. An analogy might be standing on a bridge and looking down on the flow of a semi-transparent river and inspecting its contents—stones, fish, plants, debris. These things represent the content of our mind—knowledges, truths, and falsifications of truths. The flow of the river is the sequencing of the thoughts, their reasoning and coherence.

Monitor your eyes as you walk on the street or as you read a magazine or watch TV. The eyes respond to our interest, to our affections, to what we find delightful. As your eyes roam they settle on this or that object, body part, detail. The eyes are quick. You have to catch yourself and become conscious of where they settle for how long, and where they keep coming back to. These eye movements will reveal interests and delights that we do not wish to publicize because they are filthy and scortatory, as the passage above describes. As Swedenborg walked in the street, the spirits with him “carried away my eyes to all such things; wherever there was filth, excrement and intestines, thither they directed my eyes, although I was ignorant where were such things in the street, because not observed by me.” Monitoring our eyes will reveal to us what filthy things are of interest to us form heredity. These filthy interests are not our own affections, they are the affections of the filthy spirits. But we are tied to those spirits by heredity and the filth remains with us unless consciously removed.

It is important to realize that what comes into the mind from the evil spirit societies is not damning or a sin. I was able to stop blaming myself by no longer identifying with those awful snatches of thoughts. These were not my ideas, but theirs! I was not the one with affections for blasphemy; it was them! But at the same time I was led to understand that it is my responsibility as to how I react to them. My reaction is what comes out of the mind, and for this I am responsible. Do I just continue being a host to them and letting them use my house, or do I boot them out?

Examine the following chart. It shows the content of our thinking and feeling in the three phases of spiritual development. See if you can recognize these thoughts and feelings in you. See how many more you can add. Read the chart from bottom up.

	THINKING		FEELING
	NEGATIVE	POSITIVE	NEGATIVE	POSITIVE
Phase 3		celestial-rational enlightened True Science particularistic actualized objective correspondential wisdom etc.		altruistic conjunctive compassionate good will conjugial love full confidence etc.
Phase 2	mystical psychic subjective etc.	spiritual-rational abstract symbolic complex encyclopedic universalistic personalistic intelligent educated pacifist etc.	over permissive rebellious impatient anxious pornographic etc.	charitable adjunctive tolerant inclusive repentant artistic patient etc.
Phase 1	inflexible biased dogmatic sectarian persuasive hypocritical anti-feminine superstitious literalist materialistic simplified logic ignorant etc.	natural-rational collects knowledges good memory scientific etc.	egotism selfish angry rageful arrogant depressed cynical cruel stubborn shameless obscene etc.	industrious empathic pity for others love of parenting curious harmony obedience love of ritual conscience loyal etc.

I have written extensively on self-witnessing as a tool for regeneration. Please consult volume 3 of A Man of the Field available here: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/v3ch1-nonduality.html

For now, I will illustrate the results of the method by analyzing the character of some common everyday behaviors. Once you understand this in terms of the three levels of consciousness, you will be able to apply it to your own self-witnessing. See also the Exercises in Section 18.1 below.

13.10.2 Eating Practices

As I monitor my thoughts and feelings in the stream of behavior I notice many things that are in place in my habit routines and mental scripts. What are my thoughts as I eat or look around for something to eat? What procedures do I follow to get the food to my mouth? Do I follow diet rules or merely cravings? How do I decide when to start, when to stop? How fast do I put things in my mouth and in what sizes? Do I swallow what’s there before I put more in it? Do I chew adequately? Do I dislike exerting control over how fast I eat and how much? Do I exert a veto power over my cravings? Etc. The monitoring of these sequences is equivalent to a mapping of the spiritual societies we are connected to, which can be called our vertical community. For instance if we stuff and swallow repeatedly we are with different spirits than if we moderate size and rate. If we deny ourselves another portion we are with different spirits than if we give in to our appetite and overeat. Affections for unhealthy foods come from different spiritual societies than affections for healthy food.

Here is a general characterization of eating behavior in the three phases of spiritual development.

Phase 1

natural-rational

Phase 2

spiritual-rational

Phase 3

celestial-rational

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

eating behavior

we select and eat traditional foods and we model the habits of our parents and family

we are aversive to unfamiliar foods and we allow ourselves to indulge and binge

being overweight and under-exercising is not considered a sin against God

we are permissive toward eating unhealthy foods and overeating, then feeling guilty, then breaking resolutions

we see each bite as nourishment from God which represents receiving Divine Truth from the Threefold Word

we feel averse to eating unhealthy or too much, which we see as a sin against the Lord because from evil, tying us to the hells unless the evil love is shunned and reversed

You can particularize the table above by self-witnessing your eating behavior in the three domains of behavior: (1) Sensorimotor (what you can notice about your motor movements and sensations); (2) Cognitive (your thinking sequence); and (3) Affective (your feelings in terms of intentions, delights, and aversions). Self-witnessing your threefold self supplies the objective data you need on your eating behavior. Now you need to evaluate it or judge it using the principles of doctrine you know and understand. If you’re operating in phase 3 consciousness, your doctrine is from True Science. This level of spiritual knowledge gives you the power to perceive celestial temptations in yourself. In phase 2 consciousness we can perceive spiritual temptations, while in phase we can perceive only natural temptations.

The level of temptations we can perceive in ourselves – natural, spiritual, celestial, determines how thorough our regeneration may be. People differ in the extent of their regeneration when they arrive in the afterlife. Those who were able to perceive celestial temptations (phase 3), and were victorious in them, severed the ties they held to the deepest hells. This allowed their celestial mind to be opened. Filled with thoughts and feelings of a celestial-rational quality, they rise to the top of the human mind, a state of life called the Third Heaven, whose inhabitants are called angels. Swedenborg met those inhabitants and describes their character. Those who were able to perceive spiritual temptations (phase 2), and were victorious in them, severed the ties they held to the intermediate hells. This allowed their spiritual mind to be opened. Filled with thoughts and feelings of a spiritual-rational quality, they rise to the upper middle portion of the human mind, a state of life called the Second Heaven, whose inhabitants are called angelic spirits.. Those who were able to perceive natural temptations (phase 1), and were victorious in them, severed the ties they held to the milder hells. This allowed their natural mind to be implanted with a natural-spiritual mind. Filled with thoughts and feelings of a natural-spiritual quality, they rise to the middle portion of the human mind, a state of life called the First Heaven, whose inhabitants are called good spirits..

You can see from this that it’s up to each of us to cooperate with God in our regeneration. God keeps our consciousness in balance by associating us with good and evil spirits. This gives us the ability to compel ourselves to follow the good spirits even though we are more delighted in following the evil spirits. Ours is the choice, and God manages the event to insure we remain in balance, consequently in spiritual freedom to choose one way or the other. God highlights the choice to our consciousness by creating a temptation in us at a level we can handle – natural temptations, spiritual temptations, or celestial temptations. Here are some illustrations in the eating arena of our life.

Natural temptations (phase 1)

No, I’m not going to have seconds. It’s unhealthy to be overweight. Well, maybe this time I can make an exception. Yes, why don’t I go ahead and have some seconds. But I’m already ten pounds above my limit. I better not. But I’m still not full. I haven’t eaten in three hours. I’ll start my strict diet tomorrow. OK, I’ll have some more of that mashed potatoes. Should I? I don’t know. I could make up for it tomorrow by eating less. Oh I hate this diet. Why can’t I eat what I want. Etc.

Spiritual temptations (phase 2)

I think I’ll have some more of that mashed potatoes. Wait, I better not. I shouldn’t just give in to my lowly cravings. Gluttony is a vice. Maybe I could just have a little extra serving as an exception today. Oh, no, I must not. I must learn to stick to my higher principles. This is a battle between my lower animal self and my higher rational self. The higher shall prevail over the lower. I can’t just go with the shifting wind of impulse, but must rely instead on the steady rock of conscience.

Celestial temptations (phase 3)

I’m eating too fast, stuffing my mouth unconsciously like an animal. I’m not going to reach for another serving of those mashed potatoes. I’m hunched over eating with vigor like a starving beast. I sense the impulse to eat faster and to really get into its taste, enjoying it, delighting in it, getting lost in it. But this is not me, is it. I want to be more refined, like an angel, since I’m preparing myself for an angelic life. Think of how embarrassed I’ll be while eating with angels in heaven and having such bad manners or involvements. Eating represents the appropriation of goods from the Lord. In itself, it is animal, unless I’m involved in it more spiritually.

13.10.3 Physical Exercising

Phase 1

natural-rational

Phase 2

spiritual-rational

Phase 3

celestial-rational

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

physical exercising

I better not skip my workout today. It really keeps me in shape. To be successful you’ve got to look attractive. That means being in shape. Besides, you avoid heart attacks.

I hate this workout stuff. I rather watch TV or surf the net. But I’m making myself do it. I refuse to break my resolution. I’m scared to get sick and end up under a doctor’s care. Besides, it’ll be soon over then I can watch TV.

I need to learn to like my workout session. It’s the right thing to do. It keeps me from bad habits like laziness and lack of self-control. It’s necessary for a healthy life.

I’m actually looking forward to my workout. Yes, it takes effort and motivation, but it’s worth it. I feel better, clean, purified, satisfied with myself.

Exercising the physical body is like exercising the mind with study. Compelling myself to do it as scheduled, develops my mental discipline upon which rests my spiritual development. I must look on the physical exercise as a spiritual discipline.

I feel that every movement brings me closer to my heavenly character. I sense the physical power in my body to be connected to my will and motive. Since this is from heaven, I feel closer to heaven as I exercise.

13.10.4 Sexuality

Sexual love is like a spring from which a rivulet of chaste as well as unchaste love can flow (Swedenborg, CL 445)

Phase 1

natural-rational

Phase 2

spiritual-rational

Phase 3

celestial-rational

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

sex

We think of sex as a natural activity, and of marriage as a legal contract. Cheating on your partner is legitimate under some conditions. We permit sexualizing with strangers involving pornography entertainment, and nudity,

We feel a roving desire for sex with multiple partners, but we are afraid to hurt or anger our partner. Sometimes we give in and go ahead anyway, We are strongly attracted to pornography, “dirty jokes,” and cybersex.

We think of sex and marriage as Divinely ordained activities. Adultery is against God’s commandment and destructive of a civilized world. We look upon pornography as adultery.

We oppose our roving desire for sex as something contrary to God or higher consciousness. We strive to be satisfied with one partner. We value loyalty to each other and are devastated when this is gone.

Besides being Divinely ordained, sex and marriage are eternal, continuing in heaven as conjugial love. Any roving sexual desire must be eradicated or it will prevent conjugial love in heaven.

We feel spiritually conjoined with our spouse, knowing we will have one soul in heaven. We feel a mortal threat at accepting any roving thoughts and desires, wanting immediately to get rid of them with the help of the Lord.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

CL 37. The chief love is sexual love; and in the case of those who reach heaven, that is, those who become spiritual on earth, it is conjugial love.

The reason why a person's sexual love remains after death is that a male remains a male and a female remains a female, and the male's masculinity pervades the whole and every part of him, and likewise a female's femininity; and the impulse to be joined is present in every detail down to the smallest. Since that impulse to be joined was implanted from creation and is therefore continually present, it follows that the one desires the other and longs to be joined to the other.

Love taken by itself is nothing but a desire and hence an impulse to be joined; conjugial love is an impulse to be joined into one. For the male and the female of the human species are so created as to be able to become like a single individual, that is, one flesh; and when united, then they are, taken together, the full expression of humanity. If not so joined, they are two, each being as it were a divided person or half a person. Since that impulse to be joined lies deeply hidden in every part of both male and female, and every part has the ability and desire to be joined into one, it follows that people retain mutual and reciprocal sexual love after death. (CL 37)

CL 432. Scortatory love makes a person less and less human and virile, and conjugial love makes him more and more human and virile. (CL 432)

13.10.5 Politics and War

Phase 1

natural-rational

Phase 2

spiritual-rational

Phase 3

celestial-rational

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

politics

we follow persuasive leaders who share and support our biases

we are loyal to sectarian authority and ethnic identity

we support popular leaders and laws that echo our ideals

we are loyal to democratic institutions, cultural diversity, and class equality

we support whomever supports truth and good

we are aversive to gender bias and all forms of inequality,

Phase 1

natural-rational

Phase 2

spiritual-rational

Phase 3

celestial-rational

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

war

War is an instrument for advancing one’s nation or religion. It’s good to hate the enemy. They don’t deserve humane treatment since they want to harm us. Eye for an eye philosophy.

Hating the enemy with self-righteousness. Wanting to deny humane treatment to the enemy. Feeling justified in using illegal types of weapons and in killing the unarmed innocent. Wanting to inflict maximum damage. Feeling justified in maltreating prisoners of war. Joy in the spoils of war.

There are just wars and evil wars. Protecting ourselves and coming to the rescue of the subjugated are just wars. The enemy must be treated humanely and not hated. God is on the side of the just. Those who are pacifists think that all wars are evil. They would rather see the enemy continue its cruelties against others.

Feeling confident in winning and relying on God. Wanting to defeat the enemy without hating them. Hoping that enemy may be amended rather than destroyed. Wanting to minimize damage and ready to help with reconstruction of the country.

All wars are under the direct auspices of the Lord. All evil is moderated by the Lord to its maximum allowed. Evil itself punishes the enemy. Our job is to neutralize their ability to hurt others and to try to amend them.

Striving to win by means of as-of self effort powered by the Lord. Striving to avoid hate as self-corrupting. Sense of sadness rather than joy in hurting and killing enemy. Desire to protect enemy by keeping injury and damage to the minimum necessary for gaining control.

Phase 1

natural-rational

Phase 2

spiritual-rational

Phase 3

celestial-rational

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

casualties

The loved one is dead, killed by the enemy. We’ve been humiliated to the utmost degree. The enemy deserves the worst possible fate.

Agony of an unbearable and cruel loss. Rage against enemy and desire for revenge and mayhem. Anger at God.

The loved one is with the Lord. The enemy must be found and punished to satisfy justice and prevent future repetitions. God will help the just cause.

Sense of deep personal loss. Sense of sacrifice to protect the good. Sense of closeness to God and certitude of ultimate outcome.

Dying is not the end but a transition to a more vibrant life. The time of death is chosen by the Lord and occurs as soon as the person can no longer benefit from further regeneration here. We will be reunited when it’s our turn to make the transition.

Sadness and loss of companionship. Resignation to the event of dying as transioning. Wondering about the person’s condition and fate. Anticipating being together again. Thankful to the Lord for His love and care in all details. Fully trusting in His Providence to take care of everything.

13.10.6 Entertainment

An important area of self-witnessing is the entertainment content we enjoy on TV, comics, novels, and music. The mind becomes polluted when we routinely enjoy and tacitly accept vulgarities, profanities and the portrayal of lusts and violence. Monitoring our exposure and involvement with these things allows us to turn away and to turn back, and so regain an innocence that teaches us to feel shocked at these rehearsals and dramatic portrayals of evil. Similarly, we must not allow ourselves to repeat and love lyrics that are profane and glorify disorderly things. On the other hand there are millions of people who enjoy the songs of romance that portray soul mates leading to eternal love and conjugal happiness. What a contrast between these angelic themes and the love-yourself promiscuity held up by popular songsters like a fiery serpent that is idolized by the unregenerate masses.

I observed that I watch TV in two distinct mental states—conscious and unconscious. In general people give high preference ranks in entertainment value for shows, movies, novels, and games that are absorbing. What is being “absorbed” in a dramatic presentation? It consists in losing oneself, so to speak, and living in the excitement of the drama. Obviously this is a spiritual phenomenon having to do with how the spirit or mind is animated.

But the individual does not think of the spiritual aspect but of the corporeal aspect—the excitement, the sensations, the emotions, the fascination, the surprise, the scare, the sensory information or vista, etc. These are corporeal events and bring consciousness down to that level. The rationality drops away because it is considered to be in the way. People enjoy sitting in the dark in a theater or nightclub and becoming absorbed in another world that does not require rationality, salvation, and God. It’s almost as if they declare Time Out from reality that is heavy and disturbing. They want to forget for awhile the worries and the realities. It is felt like a relief. And so on. These are the reasons we learn to give for why we are consumers of entertainment.

I observed that when I get absorbed in a scene on TV, even for a minute or two, the event or dialog later replays itself over and over in my mind, and I get involved in modifying, enriching, expanding, or continuing some scene in various ways. I asked myself what drives these compulsive imagings and memories? It seems that the explanation may have something to do with being “absorbed” a word that the dictionary defines as:

to take in and make part of an existent whole; to suck up or take up (a sponge absorbs water); to engage or engross wholly (absorbed in thought)

Almost all, if not all, entertainment is filled with portrayals of evil things, regardless whether it also portrays virtuous things. When we are absorbed in a book, movie, or song our mind sucks up the negative content that portrays infernal loves and falsities. Once these are in, they “make part of an existent whole” and this the natural self. The natural self is unregenerate and contains evil things and good things, though in separate layers for the Lord will not allow them to be mixed (DP 16). The evil things and the good things become part of the “existent whole.” Now the evil things with their falsities start having their deleterious effects in the natural mind by stimulating certain thoughts, expectations, and attitudes that multiply quickly into enormous stumbling blocks, so that our spiritual state after the absorption is worse than before. We now have more impediments to beginning our reformation and getting on with our regeneration. It is very common for people to remain in their hereditary evils and to acquire new ones on their own (TCR 469; SE 2424). Absorption in entertainment and physical pleasures make it harder for the New Church mind to be formed in us. There is a better way of watching TV and being a consumer of cultural content.

The more rational way of watching, reading, or being a consumer of entertainment is to be aware of the content as it comes in, and to assess its status in relation to your formulated standards. Processing all incoming information needs to go through an evaluation filter that involves two parallel levels of thinking, one above the other. There is a dual activity going on: one is the self being absorbed in the content, that is, being unconsciously entertained; the other is the self above who acts as the critic or commentator. The self who consumes the content and is delighted by it, is corporeal. The self who filters, identifies, and evaluates the incoming content is rational. the Writings Sacred Scripture reveal the existence of these two levels of the natural self (AC 1914).

A name for this way of consuming entertainment or cultural content might be “metanoid watching” or “metanoid reading,” and even “metanoid participation” (as in parties and games). The word metanoid is constructed from Greek and means "to stand beside oneself." I saw this word in R. D. Laing (The Politics of Experience. New York: Ballantine Books, 1967), before I found the Writings in 1981. Nevertheless, I think it’s appropriate to use it. It’s not possible that Laing could have thought of it in the same way as the New Church mind, nevertheless we can make use of his concept in the context of the what the New Church mind knows from the Writings Sacred Scripture. “Metanoid perception” is another way of discussing self-witnessing or self-examination (see Chapter 8; see also Note 20 at end).).

I later saw that my earlier idea of metanoid perception was a reduced version of what the Writings Sacred Scripture describe as follows:

AC 1914. The interior can perceive what takes place in the exterior, or what is the same, that the higher can see what is in the lower; but not the reverse. Moreover they who have conscience can do this and are accustomed to do it, for when anything contrary to the truth of conscience flows into the thought, or into the endeavor of the will, they not only perceive it, but also find fault with it; and it even grieves them to be of such a character. (AC 1914)

Clearly this type of internal self-monitoring is quite common and is part of the normal repertoire of mental skills people can perform. Since childhood we learn to internalize the authority that comes from the command of others—their orders, exhortations, expectations, orientation, philosophy, ethics, and political attitudes and values. Once these mental systems are internalized, they run themselves off in our mind and constitute our own daily mental life. The things that are called “standards, principles, or rules” have motivational value that we strive to achieve in our actions and conduct. When we talk about conscience, we are referring to these internalized standards or rules. These activities in our mind are higher than those involving corporeal things of pleasure, delight, popularity, power, and consumption.

Our conscience, or the standards and rules we hold, looks down upon the corporeal activities and evaluates them in terms of the standards and rules it has. The usefulness of conscience is its metanoid functioning. It is like light from above that illumines with a rational light. Seeing things from principles and standards is to see them more rationally, more deeply, more realistically. Those who systematically destroy their conscience also destroy their rationality. They still appear rational to others, but only when they are in their external self and socializing or working with others as a team. But inside, they are raving mad (xx). This they hide from others. But when they arrive in the afterlife, they cannot hide it.

Phase 1

natural-rational

Phase 2

spiritual-rational

Phase 3

celestial-rational

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

Thinking

Feeling

entertainment

entertainment and having fun is good for you and is the reward for work. Nothing wrong with watching and enjoying disorderly portrayals since it is just fantasy. That can’t hurt you.

enjoyment of absorption in drama and fantasy. Enjoyment of violence, nudity, gross language, pornography, practical jokes, or ridiculing others. Idol worship of popular actors and singers.

entertainment and having fun is acceptable as long as it doesn’t involve pornography and blasphemous language. Having fun is good for you and a normal thing to do in family life but children should be protected from adult shows.

enjoyment of drama and fantasy, as long as it is not too explicit in nudity and violence.

all loves remain attached to us forever. Enjoyment of the portrayal of what’s disorderly ties us to the hells and interferes with regeneration. Fantasy can hurt you, if enjoyed.

striving to be vigilant not to enjoy disorderly things.

13.10.7 Chart of Mental Characteristics of Angels and Spirits

The anatomy and physiology of the mind in the spirit-body has been discussed throughout this book. By you’re familiar with the threefold structure of the mind into a lower natural portion, a middle spiritual-rational portion, and an uppermost celestial-rational portion. Our consciousness is the result of the operations going on within each of the three minds we have. The celestial mind receives Divine Truth and Love as an influx of substances streaming in from the spiritual Sun. The resultant activity in the celestial mind is in itself unconscious while we are earthlings, but its resultant effect in the natural mind is conscious. This resultant effect is caused by the action of the laws of correspondences. These effects in our natural mind are called mental characteristics. The highest mental characteristics we possess in our conscious awareness are caused by the unconscious activity in our celestial mind.

Similarly, we have mental characteristics that are spiritual, rather than celestial. These spiritual mental characteristics in our natural mind are the result of the unconscious activity in our spiritual mind. As well, we have mental characteristics that are natural, rather than spiritual or celestial. These natural mental characteristics in our natural mind are the result of the unconscious activity in our interior-natural mind, which is a natural-spiritual operation within the natural mind. Before the active operation of the celestial and spiritual mind, there is no mediate influx going through the mind but only immediate influx similar to that with animals, plants, and inanimate objects. With progress in regeneration, the spiritual mind is opened or operationalized for mediate influx. At this point the mediate influx can descent by correspondence to the natural mind, where it becomes conscious. This conscious awareness and perception of spiritual truths is called enlightenment.

It makes a radical difference therefore whether our spiritual mind is opened for mediate influx, or not yet. And again, another radical difference on top of that, if our celestial mind is opened for mediate influx. The opening or operationalizing of our higher mind for mediate influx of Divine Truth, is contingent upon the start of our regeneration in adult life. Prior to the spiritual mind being opened, our consciousness in the natural mind is natural, even regarding spiritual topics like God or heave and hell. When we read revelations we comprehend everything naturally. We have a natural consciousness that is similar to that of animals, but more advanced and developed. Similar because the order of ideas and concepts we have is built up by the senses and reflects the laws and order of the physical world. But spiritual consciousness reflects the order of the spiritual world, not the natural. We do not have this perception in natural consciousness. When we are enlightened through regeneration, we become conscious of the mediate influx into the spiritual mind, and as we advance in regeneration, we become conscious of the mediate influx into the celestial mind. The quality of reception of influx determines the quality of consciousness, whose content is made up of the thoughts and feelings we have.

The chart below shows the characteristics we have as angels and spirits in the afterlife. The quality of reception of Divine influx determines the level of consciousness in which we can operate. The details are based on Arcana Coelestia Number 1383 and following Numbers.

RECEPTION OF INFLUX PROPORTIONATE TO DEGREE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
DEGREES of consciousness	MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ANGELS AND SPIRITS AT EACH LEVEL
CELESTIAL REGION OF THE MIND THIRD HEAVEN	1. we have rational consciousness of the Divine Human Person, existing in His co-Presence 2. we receive rational loves from which we have rational truths and wisdoms 3. we occupy ourselves with teaching, nurturing, overseeing human affections 4. we attend individuals on the earths in their celestial temptations, conceptions, births, regeneration, etc. 5. we recognize all truths immediately by perception or enlightenment 6. we perceive Divine influx and can distinguish it from our own feelings and thoughts 7. we perceive all the interior feelings, thoughts, and memories of others 8. in our present we contain all of our past and all of our future 9. in our sensual externalizing life we perceive unparalleled felicities and blessings 10. we can remove sadnesses and anxieties in others by internal communication 11. our greatest delight is to communicate happinesses to others by correspondence
SPIRITUAL REGION OF THE MIND SECOND HEAVEN	we have rational consciousness of the Divine Human Person, existing in His presence, but from a greater distance than the celestial we receive rational truths to which we adjoin loves we occupy ourselves with managing and administering the thoughts of the human race we attend individuals on the earths in their spiritual temptations, instruction, regeneration, etc. we recognize truths not immediately but by reflection and discussion we somewhat perceive Divine influx distinguishing it from our own feelings and thoughts we perceive the feelings, thoughts, and memories of others but less interiorly in our present we contain all of our past and all of our future somewhat obscurely in our sensual externalizing life our vibrancy dwarfs all lower degrees we can remove spiritual falsities in others by internal communication our greatest delight is to communicate truths to others by correspondence
NATURAL REGION OF THE MIND FIRST HEAVEN	1. we see the spiritual Sun continuously, at some distance 2. we focus on externalizing uses from which we derive wisdom and love 3. we occupy ourselves with business or sports, inspiring humans on the earths 4. we attend individuals on the earths in their natural or moral temptations, instruction, regeneration, etc. 5. we have insights into truths that deal with our preferred activities 6. we do not perceive Divine influx but acknowledge and attribute all power to God 7. we perceive the feelings, thoughts, and memories of others but less interiorly 8. in our present we contain all of our past and all of our future but obscurely 9. in our sensual life our vibrancy dwarfs what can be experienced with the physical body 10. we can remove natural falsities in others by internal communication 11. our greatest delight is to engage in the uses we specialize in
SENSUAL REGION OF THE MIND WORLD OF SPIRITS	we are blind to the spiritual Sun seeing only darkness there we consider only externalizing world as real and are carried away by appearances we see only effects believing they are causes and fall into fallacies of the senses we deny Divine influx and rely on our own intelligence and guidance we reason about truths but end up rejecting them we lack rational intelligence so we're led away from common sense we are not willing or capable of struggling with temptations, thus cannot be regenerated
CORPOREAL REGION OF THE MIND HELLS	1. we are blind to every truth and turn away from all good 2. we consider only corporeal sensations as real and valuable 3. we see nothing rational, even denying that God and heaven exist 4. we hold ourselves in fantasies and delusions, excluding all else 5. we hold on to and are immersed in hatreds towards the entire human race 6. we delight only in evils, lusts, falsities, adulations, and all filth and degradation

This chart contains the scientific revelations of True Science. It is extremely valuable because it provides a description of the five avenues we have to reach our eternal future. There will be no other possibility for our eternal fate but the five listed above. Which one we end up in is entirely a process of freedom and regeneration. The choices we make in this life determine which of the five destination points we shall attain. It is possible to know the inner character that we live here on earth, whether evil or good. It has been revealed that if we are regenerating, we will be in one of the three heavens – celestial, spiritual, or natural, and we will experience life as depicted in the chart above. If we are not regenerating, we will be in hell and we will have the life depicted in the chart. Everything but everything therefore depends on steady progress in our regeneration. The method by which we can undergo regeneration has also been revealed. First, we study revelation and form doctrine or principles of life from it. Second, we apply this doctrine to our daily willing and thinking.

This second step requires systematic self-witnessing of our thoughts and feelings all day long every day. When we discover an evil delight or a false thought, we compel ourselves to reject them by appealing to Gold for power, who then gives it. One by one, we identify and shun our inherited and acquired evil loves and false thinking that goes with it. God supervises the process by bringing temptations to us at the right time in the right place so that we can become aware of the evil and exercise the free choice of rejecting it. Then God can remove the evil, replace it with good, and continue the process of elevating our consciousness through more spiritual temptations, and eventually, through celestial temptations.

Additional discussion may be found in a related article called The Genes of Consciousness, available on the Web:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/geography.html

13.10.8 Diagram Showing the Four Windows of the Mind.

The mind is a spiritual organ created with three separate organic parts, it operates at three levels of consciousness, so that the thinking and feeling that is going on at each level is discretely different. Any layer above is so superior to the layer below that there is no overlap and can never be, no matter how much the lower layer progresses and improves. This is the meaning of discrete degrees, revealed in True Science, and forms the layering of every existing object or quality in the universe. Hence also all the internal things -- the mind, the spiritual world, heaven, an idea, a plan, a mental construction, a drawing, and so on. There is nothing that exists that does not have three discrete layers to itself. Discrete degrees are related to each other by correspondences. In other words God created the Laws of Correspondences that determine how the lower layer is going to react when the upper layer is active.

For example, when a husband says something to his angel wife or a companion, the words he speaks in appear as visible phenomena in the heaven below his heaven. For example if he talks about a new plant he discovered in his garden, the lower heaven changes by correspondence to represent the new thoughts and feelings the angel had who discovered the plant and now talks about. That phenomenon in the middle heaven now arouses a correspondent phenomenon in the lower heaven, which then has an effect on the world of spirits where is located our spirit-body while we are earthlings. In other words, the speech of angels or other events around them, doesn’t just take place by itself in that portion of the spiritual world, but radiates out by resonance in accordance with the laws of correspondences. And when you consider that what the angels say or see is from the Lord, you can see the entire chain of command from Firsts to Lasts in the Lord, and from the Lord. This chain of determination from God to events anywhere is called “influx.”

The mind is an organ that responds correspondentially throughout its three layers or portions. Influx from the lowest heaven into our spiritual mind (which is the spirit-body in the world of spirits), is unconscious while we are earthlings. We become consciously aware of the content of the influx when the chain of correspondences activates our natural mind. First, the influx enters from the spiritual mind in to the interior portion of the natural mind, which is a spiritual organ created and developed during regeneration. Before that, it is not operational and our conscious awareness is limited to the natural order of things and meanings. But once regeneration begins sometime in adult life, the interior organ tied to the natural consciousness begins to be active. This activity of the natural-spiritual mind, as it is called, results in our enlightenment, This means that we are able to be consciously aware of spiritual ideas and meanings.

Until that phase of growth, while the natural mind does not yet have its interiors opened, our consciousness remains natural. Our thinking and feeling is restricted to the natural mode of operation. When we read the Threefold Sacred Scripture, or when we are instructed regarding religion and spiritual ideas, the meaning that we form regarding God, heaven, hell, sin, forgiveness, etc., is a natural meaning. Even if it is complex and highly abstract, as in theology and philosophy, the natural order of the thinking remains. God is seen as “supernatural” rather than spiritual because there is no understanding of duality. When one thinks of heaven, one thinks of it as a physical place, either filled with clouds, or a place on earth that is turned into a paradise. The idea of forgiveness of sins is also understood naturally, for instance, that God requires sacrifice or ritual before He can forgive, whereas the truth is that God forgives even before the sinful act is complete, and what remains to be done is voluntary repentance and change of heart by the sinner.

You can now see that the infinite Divine Truth by which all things are created and held in existence, goes out into the universe from the spiritual Sun, and permeates every object and quality, giving it its function or use by means of the unique form of each object . The unique form of objects and media, reacts in its own specific way to influx, creating all the phenomena and forces of the universe. With humans there is an additional influx that other created things do not have. This additional influx peculiar to humans is called “mediate influx” while the more general influx is called “immediate influx.”

The mediate influx of Divine Truth into the universal human race is by means of Sacred Scripture or Divine revelation. Our consciousness level is formed by the manner in which we receive, react, and adapt to mediate influx from revelation. The Divine Truth streams out of the spiritual Sun into the celestial mind. Only those are consciously aware of this mediate influx whose celestial mind is opened and operational. All others receive this mediate influx into their celestial mind, but they are not conscious of it. The celestial mind is the topmost portion of our mind. The thoughts and feelings at this level of operation are the highest that humanity can have regarding God and spiritual understanding. Swedenborg had the occasion to talk to those who dwelt in the topmost portion of their mind. The are called angels of the Celestial or Third Heaven. Swedenborg testifies that he was able to understand only a small fraction of their sentences and ideas, and this only because it was given him by the Lord to do so for the sake of the Writings Sacred Scripture. Not a single idea of that heaven can be understood by the angelic spirits who inhabit the middle portion of their mind called the Spiritual or Second Heaven. Similarly, the good spirits of the Natural or First Heaven were incapable of understanding a single idea of the angelic spirits above them. The only relation between the levels of the human mind is that of correspondences, as explained.

Look at the chart below showing the four windows to the human mind.

The two vertical columns refer to our understanding, one type called “natural understanding” and the other “spiritual understanding.” These two relate to each other only by correspondences. The spiritual understanding occurs first in sequence, the its corresponding effect occurs in the natural understanding. The spiritual understanding can observe, reflect, and be conscious of the natural understanding, but not the other way around. When the natural understanding tries to look up or into spiritual understanding, it sees nothing but more natural things.

The horizontal rows refer to topics. Some topics are natural, as for example the subject matter of the sciences we study in school and in books and reports. Other topics are spiritual, as for example talking or thinking about God, the afterlife, heaven, love, truth, hell, sin, falsity, evil, devil, forgiveness, prayer, and so on.

There are therefore four cells of intersection between the two types of topics and the two types of understanding. The bottom left cell refers to the natural-sensuous mind. Notice the intersection that creates this cell – natural understanding of natural topics. Moving one cell up we have the intersection formed by a natural understanding of spiritual topics. This is called the natural-rational mind. Note that both the natural-sensuous mind and the natural-rational mind give us a natural understanding of topics, either natural topics or spiritual topics. Moving over to the other two intersections that give us a spiritual understanding of either natural or spiritual topics. The third cell is the intersection between spiritual understanding and spiritual topics (top right window). This level of consciousness operates in the interior-natural (or natural-spiritual) mind, which as explained before, is the spiritual portion formed by God within the natural mind as we regenerate. Finally the fourth window or cell is the mental operation of spiritual understanding of natural topics. This is called the spiritual-celestial mind. We do not have conscious awareness of the activity in this mind until we pass on and enter the celestial portion of the mind.

There is a relationship between the opening of the mind and revelation. The Threefold Sacred Scripture was given to engineer the elevation of human consciousness from natural, to spiritual, to celestial. The natural-sensuous mind (bottom left window) refers to phase 1 thinking prior to acknowledgement of spiritual topics like God or the afterlife. The level of thinking in this mode of consciousness is by means of concepts and ideas that are called natural-sensuous correspondences. The language and reasoning process we acquire in the study of science and other academic subjects, is at this level of natural-sensuous correspondences. These are the ultimates of influx, that is, when the chain of influx from the spiritual Sun descends until it can no longer descend further. Divine Truth then rests in ultimates, that is, in corporeal-sensuous ideas and qualities.

When we use our natural understanding to reflect on and comprehend spiritual topics our natural consciousness is elevated to the rational level. The content of ideas and concepts at this level are still natural, but more abstract than the natural-sensuous ideas and reasoning. The more abstract natural concepts are capable of representing spiritual concepts or topics (top left window). Mere natural-sensuous ideas (bottom left window) are not capable of representing spiritual ideas. But in order to have a spiritual understanding of spiritual topics we must elevate the mind’s operation to a higher level, one that is capable of thinking with interior-natural correspondences. The conscious awareness of interior-natural correspondences depends on the successful formation of the interior organ within the natural. As already pointed out, this formation occurs during regeneration in adult life, not before. Those who pass into the world of spirits before becoming an adult, nevertheless must do so afterwards, in the world of spirits. Swedenborg reports that one of the favorite occupations angels volunteer for is the raising of spirits who arrive as children. Once they are instructed, their mind becomes adult. They do not have to spend years doing it, as it is done for those who grow up on earth.

The literal language of the Threefold Sacred Scripture is written in natural-rational correspondences since it is intended to give a natural understanding of spiritual topics (top left window). The three Testaments are not however at the same level of abstractness and therefore they each represent a different level of preparation for spiritual understanding (top and bottom right windows). The Old Testament Sacred Scripture treatment of spiritual topics is at the corporeal level of rationality. The New Testament Sacred Scripture treatment of spiritual topics is at the sensuous level of rationality. The Third Testament treatment of spiritual topics is at the rational level of rationality. These differences are important because each of the Testaments contain within the literal meaning, a spiritual meaning that is not apparent until the interior-natural (or natural-spiritual) mind is opened with regeneration (top right window). This is called enlightenment. The bottom right window, or spiritual-celestial mind does not become conscious until we enter heaven. This is the consciousness that allows us to perceive the wonderful environment of heaven.

13.11 Anatomical Diagrams of the Mind in Relation to God and Universe

Consider diagram 1 below. It is a sketch of the relation between the physical body, the mind, and the spiritual world. Note that there are three columns. The left column shows the three levels of the human mind – celestial, spiritual, and natural. Below the natural mind is the natural world. In True Science whatever is lower is also more external relative to God. The celestial mind is within the spiritual mind, which is within the natural mind, which is within the body. This body is physical while we live on the planet, but spiritual when we resuscitate after death of the physical body. When it is spiritual, it is called the spirit-body. The spirit body contains the natural mind, within which is the spiritual mind, within which is the celestial mind. By “within” in True Science, it is always meant “a discrete degree within or higher.” The discrete degrees are represented in the diagram by horizontal dividing lines. It is also helpful to redraw the diagram using concentric circles. IN that case the celestial mind would be in the inmost circle; the spiritual mind would be in the intermediate circle; and the natural mind would be in the external circle. The three levels of the mind form a unit and cannot be separated. They relate to each other by correspondence so that their action is coordinated or synchronized with each other.

Diagram 1

The middle column represents the operational level of thinking and feeling at each discrete level of mind. Thinking and feeling begin in the natural mind (above the physical body). Note that the natural mind has three sub-levels in it – corporeal, sensuous, and external rational. These three sub-levels of the natural mind develop with age and experience of the individual. The external rational of the natural mind is not a genuine rational but appears to be. The genuine rational only begins in the spiritual mind, and is not fully mature until the celestial mind is opened. The external rational operates through natural-rational correspondences. The intermediate rational level of thinking, which is in the spiritual mind, is a discrete degree above the external rational. No matter how much the external rational improves and matures, it can never reach the level of the intermediate rational. This level of thinking cannot occur in the natural mind. The intermediate rational operates through spiritual-rational correspondences. The inmost rational operates through celestial-rational correspondences. These are a discrete degree above the spiritual mind.

The right column in diagram 1 represents the spiritual world which overlaps perfectly with the mind. The celestial mind, with its inmost rational thinking and feeling, overlaps with the Third Heaven, which is the highest and nearest to the Spiritual Sun. This Sun is an emanation form the Lord, and when our consciousness is at the level of the celestial mind, we can see the Lord amidst the Spiritual Sun, as witnessed by Swedenborg. All the angels of the Third Heaven can see the Lord in this way and have the Lord before their face no matter which way they turn or walk. The spiritual world has distinct levels arranged in order of discrete degrees and sub-degrees. These are the Third Heaven, the Second Heaven, the First Heaven, the World of Spirits, and the Hells which correspond in levels to the heavens, but in their opposites. The hells overlap with the natural mind, but especially the corporeal and sensuous sub-levels, and not the external rational sub-level. The spiritual mind overlaps with the world of spirits and the first two heavens. Influx from the Spiritual sun is the origin and source of the uncreate substances that are with God and have always existed. They are called uncreate substances because they form the foundation or core for the created things of the universe, which do have a beginning of existence. They did not exist prior to creation, but the uncreate substances always existed with God.

Uncreate substances are infinite in variety and inexhaustible to eternity. But created things are finite and their continued existence, or subsistence, depends to the constant influx of the uncreate substances. This influx first enters the celestial mind or the Third Heaven, then proceeds downwards, or outwards, until it reaches the outermost, where it rests. A planet therefore, with all its objects, contains all of these degrees within each object separately, regardless of its size. In other words, the inmost core of a rock or tree is the uncreate substance of life, love, and truth. The next level of the rock or tree contains the Third Heaven, or the celestial mind. The next level below this contains the second and first heavens, with the world of spirits, that is the spiritual mind. The next level below this contains the natural mind. The next level below this contains the materials and chemicals of the physical elements. You can see from this that the universe is a human universe since every object or atom contains within it the levels of the human mind.

Consider diagram 2, which attempts to portray this rational system.

Diagram 2:

13.11.1 The Inmost Region: God, Infinite, Uncreate

Note in the diagram that the created universe is made of uncreate substances in God, pictured in the central core column running down the middle of the universe, and forming its center shaft. These uncreate substances are life, love, good, truth, wisdom, light, and the like. They are uncreate in the sense that they have no beginning. All created things have a beginning in existence, but the uncreate things have always existed with God. It's possible to think of them as being "part of" God or as being "in God" but not as "God" because God is infinite, and the infinite cannot be captured or divided into separate parts. So we need to delineate God Itself as separate from the uncreate, as I have done in the diagram.

Let's start with the uncreate things pictured in the center column. Note that it is the inmost of the universe. This is important to note and remember: There is no created thing that does not have the uncreate things as its own core or center shaft. No object can exist except that which is made out of the uncreate things. This means that every (created) thing that exists has as its core or foundation, the skeleton parts of the uncreate things that have always existed with God. Remove this center core uncreate substance, and all the outside created things vanish into nothing. This is a key feature of phase 3 thinking. It is a scientific description of the concept of “omnipresence.” In phase 2 thinking we already accept the idea that God is omnipresent, but we do not understand how this is. It is a mystery and we are content to live with that mystery as long as we remain in phase 2. By taking the perspective of True Science we come into possession of a rational understanding of God and His omnipresence.

Note that all uncreate things are human things – love, wisdom, good, truth, and even light and life are human because they are in a Human God. Only a Divine Human Person can have Love and Wisdom. These do not exist apart from a Human Subject, by definition and by rationality. Consider the statement “the universe loves you,” voiced by modern TV gurus admired by tens of millions of people. This is an oxymoron or self-contradiction, showing the blind thinking we all do when we are in phase 1 and decide from our own intelligence what is God rather than accept and receive the definition given in Divine revelation. The universe is a physical creation by God and therefore is not human and has no human qualities. One of the fallacies that spring from self-definitions of God is to blind the understanding by the idea that the universe is alive and that’s how the universe can have love. But this is pure fancy and vanity. The fact is that the universe is not alive but is made of chemical materials which are not alive. A protein cell has life in it by reception just like a TV set has a picture on the screen by reception of the signal or the transmission of the signal through a cable.

In the same sense, an animal or human organism on earth is constructed out of chemical parts in a form that is capable of receiving life from God. This life, like the radio or television signal, must be streaming into the organism that acts as a receptor. When the radio signal is interrupted, the sound ceases. When the influx of life stream is interrupted, the organism instantly dies, that is, can no longer function as a receptor of life. What is alive, therefore, is not the organism, but the life it receives as an incoming stream or influx from God. All uncreate things stream into created things, with a variety of reception depending on the form or structure of the organ or organism.

Now you can see more rationally what is omnipresence of God. Consider space. We at first think of space as something out there, all around us (phase 1 thinking). Then we begin to see that space is also within us, and within every object and atom. There is space between the electrons that swirl around the nucleus of an atom. An atom is like an image of the physical universe, with its nucleus being like a sun, and the electrons, like planets. With this understanding we can see that space is unbroken and constitutes one extension of itself, whether around planets or within protein cells. There is only one space surrounding planets and within atoms. In other words, space is omnipresent physically. What gives space physical omnipresence? It’s the fact that it is at the core of all objects. No object – planet or atom – is without space at its core (phase 2 thinking). Now you can extend this rational understanding of physical omnipresence to spiritual omnipresence by considering that the uncreate things – life, love, truth – are at the core all created things (phase 3 thinking). This allows you to also see that all created things have a human purpose, that is rational and spiritual. Rational and spiritual are human, by definition, since these are uncreate (truth and love) and all uncreate things are in God, and God is Human, as is known from Divine revelation. God is omnipresent through love and truth, which are at the core of all created things.

This phase 3 perspective allows you to see more amazing things. For instance, that space, atoms, and planets are constructed out of love and truth! This is quite a surprising statement, is it not? We doubt the reality of this prior to being in phase 3 consciousness. We see it as a metaphor or poetic expression. But it is an actual empirical and literal assertion: Space and chemical materials are constructed, not out of nothing, not out of space and energy waves. Space, energy, chemical elements, sub-atomic particles, are all constructed out of love and truth. Now you can see how this is true, by considering their core, which is love and truth. This could be never be known had it not been revealed to the human race by God in His Threefold Sacred Scripture. You can also see from this how the spiritual world is within the natural world since the uncreate core (good and truth) is spiritual, because from God and God is a Spirit, as we know from revelation. The natural world within which is the spiritual world – this is the central definition of dualist science. God has now revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture that the spiritual and the natural interact with each other synchronously by the Laws of Correspondences. The spiritual within the natural is the cause, while the natural is the effect, the two acting together and simultaneously. God controls and manages all things from this within portion of every object. From this within, God is omnipresent.

God is omnipresent within all space but apart from space. God’s presence within space is not in the same dimension as the space. God is spiritual, space is physical. God controls the physical from the spiritual within the physical. This is omnipresence, as understood scientifically in phase 3 thinking.

The diagram shows the physical universe, or natural world, pictured on the outside. It is the outside of creation, which is why I drew it as surrounding all else. The things that are outside in relation to God, are more and more limited and rigid in form and temporary in time, thus, less perfect than the uncreate or permanent things out of which the less perfect temporary physical things are made. Consider what physical objects are made of. We can't say "nothing" because that would not be rational or scientific since nothing cannot be the basic construction element for something. This applies equally to space. Space cannot be nothing or the absence of something. In True Science space is called ether, which is a material substance more perfect that energy and particles, but less perfect that the love and truth out of which it is made from within. If we say that physical things are made of stars, atmospheres, cells, genes, atoms, particles, waves, rays, fields, energy, force, gravity, vacuum, etc., then we have not really offered an answer to what the material universe is made of. We have merely made a list of the parts we can observe or infer in the physical universe through our senses and machines. What are these parts made of?

From a rational perspective one can see that the created material things must be made of something other than material things, or else you fall back to saying that they're made of nothing, which is not rational. The diagram represents a rational answer: The outside natural matter (created physical objects) is made of the interior substance (uncreate love and truth), which is made only of itself because it is uncreate and has no beginning. Anything that has a beginning, is created, and therefore must be made of something uncreate, or else you fall back to saying that they're made of nothing, which is not rational.

Consider the uncreate things again. All religions teach that God is Love and Good. Also, Truth, which is like saying Wisdom. For short, we can talk about Good and Truth, or Love and Wisdom, as the basic uncreate substances out of which all created things are constructed. Good includes Love while Truth includes Wisdom.

Now we arrive at an astonishing and elevating conclusion: All things in the universe are made of good and truth (or, of love and wisdom). This is meant literally, not symbolically or allegorically or metaphorically. Look at your hands: the protein cells and genes and atoms they're made of, what are they made of? You can't say "nothing" and still claim to be rational. People often say, Well there is a limit to human inquiry, and this is one of them. It’s a mystery. But now all mysteries of knowledge and science have been rationally explained and revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture. Now we know from True Science that the cells and atoms of your hands are made of good and truth. The physical hand is in the natural world, while the love and truth it is made of from within, is the spiritual world.

The mind is unwilling to make this step very easily. What is your life? Nothing else than your thoughts, feelings, emotions, strivings, desires, satisfactions, pleasures, and the like. What are these made of? Experiences? What are they made of? Electrical firings of brain cells? Hardly. Thoughts and feelings are made of truth and good. Your mind is made of “truth” substances and “good” substances. Look at the diagram and note the middle region between the external universe and the uncreate things that are with God. This middle region composes the mind and the spiritual world.

13.11.2 The Middle Region: Mind and the Spiritual World

One of the great insights we are given by True Science is that mind is spirit. Whether you say mind or spirit, it is like saying truth or wisdom, and physical or natural, and water or steam, etc. In other words, the spiritual world and mind are of the same substance and form. We can say that the mind is in the spiritual world, which is also correct. One of the most difficult concepts to understand at phase 3 level thinking is the idea that the spiritual world has no space, matter, motion, number, or time, because these things are natural. No natural object can exist in the spiritual world. Similarly with mind: No physical object can be in the mind since the mind is spiritual, and everything spiritual must be from and in the spiritual world. Further, there is no migration or transportation between the two worlds. When we are born, our physical body is in the natural world and our mind is in the spiritual world. The body and mind are interconnected by the determinative action of the laws of correspondences. Our mind therefore has no physical objects. What is in our mind? Or, we can ask, What is in our spirit, for mind=spirit.

True Science describes the anatomy of the mind, its physiology and function. The mind is a replica of the spiritual world. What is in the spiritual world, that is in the mind. Spiritual geography and mental states are therefore in perfect overlap. Both are made of three levels of operational functioning and two types of content or substance. The upper level of functioning in the spiritual world or mind is called heavenly and celestial. The middle level is called spiritual and rational. The lowest level is called natural and corporeal. The types of content in the spiritual world or mind, are called love and truth. The portion of the mind where love resides is called the organ of the will, and the portion of the mind where truth resides is called the organ of the understanding. Love in the will gives rise to all phenomenally sensed experience and consciousness of feelings, emotions, desires, impulses – what is known as the affective domain of behavior. Truth in the understanding gives rise to all phenomenally sensed experience and consciousness of thoughts, images, representations, interpretations, reasonings – what is known as the cognitive domain of behavior.

Let us recapitulate – it also helps to reread this section, beginning with the diagram.

The human mind overlaps perfectly with the spiritual world, as the two are in each other reciprocally. This “overlap” is not physical but substantive and structural. Two things that are made of the same substance and have the similar form occupy the same “space” or location in the universe. For instance, people in the spiritual world who have similar belief systems, that is, similar thoughts, are co-present to each other, can see each other, talk, touch, and do everything that one does when physically together. To make this easier to understand, think of what happens you dream, say, about running on the beach while holding hands with your soul mate wife or husband. The two of you are running with ease, and you are filled with joy and gladness, and you can also feel the joy and gladness of your beloved spouse. This is only a dream, but yet a dream is a real event. It cannot be nothing. Somewhere in your mind there is an organ that operates to produce these visions and feelings that are the dream. Those visions are real; those feelings are real. But the visions are not in the natural world, they are in the spiritual world, that is, in the mind.

The mind is real, made of real organs, operating in real sequence and state. Therefore all thoughts, visions, and feelings in the mind are real spiritual objects or operations. Your dream can actually be witnessed by those standing next to you, or in communication with you, in the spiritual world. You do not see them because you are still tied to your physical body, but they see the content of your mind, its operations, and therefore its visions and emotions. They can see all that as witnessed by Swedenborg many times.

Now consider these logical questions that must be answered to remain rational and scientific: Where is the beach in your dream? Is that beach on earth? Is there a beach like that in the spiritual world? How long is that beach? Does it have a limit? Can others come to that beach? Can crabs and birds live on that beach?

Now consider the answers from True Science as revealed and demonstrated empirically in the Writings Sacred Scripture:

The beach in your dream cannot be on earth since it is in your mind. The beach is a real creation called a vision. In the spiritual world everyone has the power to create visions that they can see and others nearby can see. Whatever people in the spiritual see around them are real visions. If you thought of it in analogical terms, you could think of a holodeck in Star Trek movies which as enclosure you can enter and experience visions and events that feel real, and only when you exit the holodeck apparatus do you realize that it was imagined. Even though we say that it was “imagined” you can see that it was real since your thoughts and feelings. It’s not possible to have thoughts and feelings and not have them. You cannot cancel the existence of your thoughts and feelings in a dream by saying, Oh, it was just a dream. It was, but the thoughts and feelings you had during the dream were real thoughts and feelings, for only real thoughts and feelings can exist in experience.

The space and objects you experience in dreams, daydreams, or thoughts and imaginations, are not physical objects or space but appearances of space, time, quantitative, and material objects. In the natural world objects and space are physical entities within which are spiritual enteritis, as already discussed. But in the spiritual world the objects and space you see around you as a spirit person, are appearances of natural things. They come and go instantaneously, just like in a dream. Everyone around can also see these appearances. You can understand now that people who are in different surrounding appearances cannot possibly see each other or be in communication with each other. It would be like your spouse with whom you’re running on the beach in your dream suddenly became your real spouse who is sleeping next to you in bed. This is an impossibility. But let’s say that your wife sleeping next to you has exactly the same dream as you have, then you would expect that you would both be in each other’s dreams. But the fact is that as long as both of you are still tied to the physical body, you cannot consciously appear to each other in the mind or the dream. But when both of you are spirit persons, you can dream and be in each other’s dream in actuality.

It is therefore a law of the spiritual world that similarity translates into appearances of spatial co-presence, and dissimilarity translates into the appearance of distance and unavailability. People in the spiritual world live in cities, and each city is made of a society that is homogeneous in terms of the thoughts and feelings of the inhabitants. It is not possible for an inhabitant of one city to sleep or live in another city, for the thoughts and feelings of the visitors would clash with that of the inhabitants, preventing their sleep, peace, mental, clarity, and happiness. Swedenborg says that visitors are sometimes allowed under restricted conditions of protection and preparation by the Lord. In fact certain types of “wandering spirits” spend their life journeying from “place to place,” that is, from one mental state to another. Every mental state has a geographic allocation in the spiritual world. You might think of the spiritual world as a mental map of thoughts and feelings that human beings can have. You can see that there is no limit to the variety of the spiritual worlds since there is no limit to the human mental states. This is because mental states are produced by the influx of love and truth, and these two substances are uncreate, and consequently infinite.

It is fascinating to read about Swedenborg’s travels in the spiritual world. The details he has recorded constitute the scientific properties and laws of the spiritual world. For example, if you are in the spiritual world, as you will be at some point, soon or later, you might be thinking about the next door neighbor you had in your last residence before you passed on. You then experience the desire to talk to him. Behold, he is here next to you, looking at you. You shake hands, you talk. You feel like having a cup of coffee, Behold, the tow of you are sitting in a restaurant you liked to visit together, and you’re tasting the aromatic brew, enjoying yourselves. But then the conversation somehow deteriorates, becomes negative, and you are both filled with incompatible thoughts and feelings. Behold, your friend has disappeared.

Now you may be wondering about some logical questions: Where is your friend? Where did he come from? Where is he now? How did he go away?

The answer from True Science is that your friend didn’t have to go anywhere to join you and didn’t go anywhere to separate from you. Remember that there is no actual space in the spiritual world or in the mind. Therefore the space you see around you in the spiritual world are appearances of space, time, number, quantitative, quality. Your desire to talk to your friend, when it happens to be a reciprocal desire by your friend, puts you in communication with each other. Neither of you go anywhere. In fact, once you have your allotted position in the spiritual world, which you get soon after arrival, you never go anywhere, and your position is fixed forever. This may sound like a terrible fate if you think of it in physical terms. In that case it arouses claustrophobia as you are imagining that you are chained to a pole forever – what a horrible hellish fate to imagine. But in the spiritual world your mind overlaps with everybody’s mind since everybody’s mind overlaps with the spiritual world, and there is only one spiritual world. Hence there is a perfect unity between the entire human race, every individual being in the same extension as everyone else. In fact, to God, the entire human race is united in His Mind and perception as one human individual. Swedenborg was given the very special opportunity to glimpse this Grand Human from afar so he could testify that it exists.

And so in the spiritual world, or in mind, you have access to every other human being, and the consciousness of this availability is determined by the mental states you are willing to let yourself go into. You can meet with and interact with anyone from any of the numberless planets who have arrived in the spiritual world. Swedenborg describes his journey to the spirits from a distant galaxy from ours. Normally people from different planet systems do not interact when they get to the spiritual world because they are of different “genius” or mentality. In other words their thoughts and feelings are not compatible, meaning that they are not willing to occupy the same mental states long enough to communicate or interact. They are aversive to each other, hence avoidant. And what you avoid mentally is inaccessible spiritually. But Swedenborg, on account of his mission, was willing and prepared to undergo significant changes in his normal mental states. Consequently, there were some angels present with him who managed this change in mental states so that he can interact with those people from the distant planets. It took several earth days, in Swedenborg’s dual consciousness experience, to accomplish the whole series of mental changes, but at the end he was able to talk and interact with those dissimilar spirits.

Let us get back to the diagram. You might want to look at it again.

Notice that the mind has "height" (sometimes called "depth").This is not a physical height but an organic structure which has only the appearance of extension, space, or height and depth. So when your eyes go up and down the diagram, you are not going up or down in space but changing to a different mental state. Space on the diagram is an analogy for change of mental state. Change of mental state can only occur by means of different organs operating together and in sequence. Each mental state is made possible by a corresponding action of the mental organs acting together. Look up and down the left hand side first. The lowest region of the mind is called the natural mind. The region above that is called the rational mind. The upper organ in the mind is called the celestial mind. Remember that sequence: natural, rational, celestial. One is within the other by discrete degrees, but on the diagram, I pictured it as one above the other separated by lines. At birth, the mind is ready for use but totally empty of any content. How does it grow? It grows by accumulating and organizing the substances it has access to, namely, truth and good. How does it have access to these substances?

To explain this, consider what we know about the body. The anatomy of the mind is easy to picture because it corresponds perfectly to the body. One is a copy or image of the other, but in different substances. You could not see without eyes, and you could not walk or lift something without muscle fiber. And these organs and fibers would not work if the cells they're composed of could not engage in bio-chemical transfers whereby they are able to strip and organize the available materials and elements into its requirements and needs. Similarly, if the child is going to build up not just a body, but a mind with it, the mind needs to have mental organs of function that can transform the substances of truth and good into thoughts and feelings in accordance with the physical action of the body. The two cannot be separated. The mind cannot exist without the body, and vice versa. When the physical body becomes a disintegrating corpse, the mind is freed from its correspondential attachment, and we awaken in a spirit-body that is suitable to continue life forever. This spirit-body was “within” the natural body, not physically within, but spiritually or by correspondence. Even in the spiritual world we need an external body that houses our organs of the will and understanding. These are the receptors of love and truth in infinite variety.

The mind’s anatomy, as described in the Writings Sacred Scripture, has two main organs: the affective organ, also called the will, and the cognitive organ, also called the understanding. These two organs of the mind are made of spiritual substances to begin with (good and truth), but each individual mind is created in a unique form or identity by Divine Law, and there are unique individual differences in the way each person builds up the mind through these same available spiritual substances and natural experiences. The natural mind develops and matures first under the stimulation of the body’s sensory organs which are designed to translate the order of the physical world into the order of the natural mind. This is essential because the content of the natural mind determines the content of our life in eternity. Heaven is made of cities of splendor and gardens of beauty, while the hells are made of caverns, spider webs, and stenches. These natural images, or appearances, in heaven and hell, originate from the natural mind and its ability to represent, to recreate as it were, the realities of the natural world. A few decades on this earth is enough to develop the natural mind for most people. This experience is then to last us to eternity, but in an everlasting enrichment of it which we an only dimly fathom now. This is why I say that one minute on this earth is worth more than one million in the spiritual world when you consider the everlasting consequences of each minute of life on earth.

The natural mind develops gradually and matures by means of formal education, science, and practical experience. But there is another influence as well in all cultures, insuring that the individual will not grow up entirely in accordance with the order of the planet, for this order is only the ultimate. The upper portion of the natural mind is called the external rational mind. This mind is capable of thinking at high level of abstraction away from the material order of the physical world. It can entertain science fiction worlds and alternate realities. It can also understand duality concepts learned from religion and tradition. These dualist concepts speak of another world, thus a dual universe, separate and real. The upper portion of the natural mind, due its ability to abstract, is therefore capable of understanding the existence of God, heaven, and hell.

Of course, at this level of thinking, we understand all spiritual or dualist concepts in a natural way. Rational, yes, but an external rational, not a genuine and true rational. It’s like getting hold of a cocoanut on an island when you’re dying of thirst and hunger. Cocoanuts can keep a man alive for months and years – but not the plentiful of cocoanuts that you can find on the beach underneath a cocoanut tree. The external of the cocoanut cannot support life just as the external rational cannot invent or discover the spiritual. Only the internal rational can reflect or represent the spiritual to our understanding and consciousness, just as only the internal of the cocoanut will keep us alive.

But it is crucial that the natural mind be developed all the way to its highest operational level, that is, sufficiently abstracted away from the natural order of things, that it can entertain and accept the idea that there is a world above this natural called spiritual where God is and from where He rules and manages the natural world. We can understand this in an abstract way with our natural mind, therefore we can accept it, support it, love it, be refreshed and enriched by it. Once the natural mind has matured in its external rational, the spiritual mind can be opened. This process of opening is done by God who manages the endless number of details that are involved, as you can imagine. Billions of thoughts sequence themselves, trillions of emotions, and quadrillions of perceptions and impressions, for each individual, in association with other individuals who mutually influence one another by their thoughts and emotions – you can see the complexity of it all, so that only an omniscient omnipotent infinite Divine Human Person would be able to figure it all out, make it all come out right, and all for the sole purpose of making every person as happy as is supportable to eternity. Such is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom of the Divine Human!! He is the genuine True Scientist, the genuine True Manager, the Genuine True Therapist and Father, Creator, Redeemer, Savior, Regenerator.

It is the greatest privilege to know His existence, to feel the real warmth that comes in from Him even as we hold Him in our focus, concentration, and consciousness. And the sensation intensifies greatly when we worship Him in addition to acknowledging Him. Worship Him is to love Him, and since this love is from Him, as all genuine love is, therefore we are conjoined to Him thereby. Then we begin for the first time our life as a True Human, whom the Lord calls His Holy Angels, for then we are nothing but Him more and more purely, never becoming like Him in any other way but in image and likeness, by correspondence and appearance.

The spiritual mind is opened in this way, by a living acknowledgement of dualism, with God at its throne. We are enlightened in this way. Enlightenment is the experience of the operation of the spiritual mind. This portion of the mind is the middle level and is developed by means of spiritual-rational correspondences. These are appearances of truth that are higher or more interior than the rational concepts in the lower natural mind. These are higher or more genuine, that is, less distorted, less filtered out by natural abstractions, and therefore they elevate our consciousness form material order to spiritual order. When our conscious awareness is focused on these spiritual-rational correspondences, the new understanding and perception is called enlightenment.

The Writings of Swedenborg have been given as Sacred Scripture of the Second Coming, which is the revelation of the Divine Rational to humanity. The literal meaning of the Writings Sacred Scripture is at the level of natural-rational correspondences. This means that any scientist, scholar, or student of the Writings is able to comprehend it, regardless of their regeneration status. Al that is needed is the ability to decode and understand spiritual topics presented in an abstracted style. Note that the spiritual topics which are dealt with in the literal meaning of the Writings Sacred Scripture concern God, His Divine Nature, His Incarnation, His mental development as a Divine Child on earth, the history of the Churches on this earth going back all the way to the beginning of the human race on this planet, the Laws by which God governs the universe, the methods of regeneration, the spiritual world, heaven and hell, the levels of the human mind, theistic psychology, inhabitant planets in the universe, marriage and conjugial love, and many other topics. These topics are spiritual but the way they are described is natural, using external rational abstractions and descriptions. This literal meaning develops our ability to think rationally about spiritual topics. Once we have incorporated and assimilated these natural-rational correspondences, our natural mind is sufficiently prepared to receive spiritual-rational correspondences from the spiritual mind. These spiritual-rational correspondences are perceptions by influx from the spiritual world. They are therefore arranged in a spiritual order, not natural.

In this way, the natural mind continues progressively to be more and more enlightened as the spiritual mind is opened by God and as its concepts descend within the external rational concepts of the literal meaning. Now as we read the Writings Sacred Scripture we are enlightened, that is, we perceive spiritual-rational correspondences within the literal meaning. This entirely new perception or consciousness is the operation of the spiritual mind. Remember that what is above is within in terms of discrete degrees. The spiritual world, is within the natural world. At first the natural mind is filled with dead reasoning and a dead order form the natural world. It is not yet alive, though it seems so to ourselves since we are able to think through our daily round of activities. But it has been revealed that things appear to work out for us, according to our apparent decisions, only because God is participating in every detail and makes it turn out that way. In other words, God has to save us constantly from destruction by stupidity. But when the spiritual mind is opened, and we start our life as a dual citizen, with a new dual consciousness, then our decisions and motives are more and more rational as we mature.

To continue maturing in the spiritual mind we must apply our understanding to our daily willing and thinking. Otherwise we lose our enlightenment and we revert to the earlier mode of understanding spiritual topics merely naturally. But as we continue to reform our character, fighting with the truths we know, understand, and love, against our inherited evils and falsities, then our celestial mind is gradually opened. This is when we become a genuine human being, for only the celestial portion of the mind is actually human. When we can no longer develop our celestial mind on earth, we pass on, and continue in heaven as a conjugial couple, for in heaven live only married couples or soul mates.

In what sense is heaven nothing else then the upper portion of the human mind, and in what sense is hell nothing else than the lowest portion of the human mind?

The answer from True Science in the Writings Sacred Scripture is that the spiritual world does not have any space, time, and number in the sense that we know these from the natural world. This is obvious from considering your dreams, as has already been discussed. There is no space or distance in our dreams, yet there is always enough room to include whatever it is we are dreaming about. We could be dreaming about riding up in an elevator, which is a small space; then, as we step out into the foyer there is suddenly more room, and as we look through the window there is more space, and even as we look at the sky there is more space. You never run out of space in your dreams. Space is manufactured instantaneously as needed. This happens in dreams because dreams are spiritual events that can be witnessed by those in the spiritual world who are near our spirit-body within which the dream occurs. There may be a roomful of people at a conference in the spiritual world – Swedenborg attended several of these and they apparently are popular and regular events in some societies. Let more people enter the room and Behold, there is space for everyone. Let many more people enter the room and Behold, there is space for everyone. Such is the law of “apparent space” in the spiritual world, or in the mind, while dreaming, or awake and thinking.

Since there is no physical space in the spiritual world objects overlap. This is logical. In fact, everything in the spiritual world must overlap with everything else since there is no size or measurement. To fully understand and accept this concept of the spiritual world one must be thinking at phase 3 level, as discussed in prior sections. Since there is no physical space, distance, or quantity in spiritual world, we can conclude that it is limitless and endless capable of receiving more and more people from the earths to the endless future. Whatever is said about the spiritual world applies equally to the mind since the two overlap completely. You can see therefore that if we say that there is a heaven in the spiritual world, it is equivalent to saying that this heaven is in the mind.

Similarly with hell. Sacred Scripture of the New Testament Sacred Scripture has revealed this two millennia ago when the Lord says that “the Kingdom of God is within you.”. The Kingdom of God is a reference to heaven. Even Sacred Scripture of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture reveals that hell is within the human mind, as when Jehovah says that the thoughts of the heart of all people have been corrupted and are evil through and through. But these earlier revelations were not modern, rational, and scientific, so that even if one acknowledged Sacred Scripture as Divine Truth, one still could only be left with a sense of mystery about all things spiritual. At last, Sacred Scripture of the Writings give us the full and complete scientific revelations about the spiritual world, its overlap with the mind, and its portions called heaven and hell.

Remember that all of humanity is linked and integrated, though this cannot be perceived or understood from the natural rational mind. It has to be understood from Divine scientific revelations. It follows from this unity of all humanity, that all those who live their consciousness in the bottom of the their mind, that is in their own hell, are united to all those who also live in the bottom of their own mind, or hell. Everyone lives in their own hell, yet they are all united. This is an objective feature of hell. Swedenborg was able to “visit” the hells and describe what he witnessed there. He was able to see the people there, along with all the angels who administer and enforce the rules in each of the numerous societies there. Remember that Swedenborg did not have to locomote or walk to hell, any more than he had to walk to heaven, since there is no physical space and distance. How then was Swedenborg able to witness the people in heaven and hell?

The answer is that one appears to oneself to travel, walk, fly, or ride through places when we are undergoing a change in affective state from what we normally have. In the spiritual world our normal mood and emotional state of mind provides for us the convenient and comfortable lodging and city in which we live. There are our neighbors and friends, and there are the Administrators and familiar city buildings, gardens, voices, and sounds. But the moment we alter our affective state away from this normal state, we appear to ourselves to be displaced, either by locomoting or by instantaneous arrival. Now a different appearance is before our eyes and spirit-body. These new surrounds are correspondent representations of the thoughts and feelings we have in our new mental state. This is one way Swedenborg could “visit” the hells, namely, by undergoing a change in his mental or affective state. To “travel” to hell, Swedenborg had to descend to the bottom of his mind!

Everyone who descends to the bottom of their mind appears to be in a hell surrounding, with other inhabitants who are wicked and hostile to each other, and are filled with delusions and insanities they believe to be true. Swedenborg says that he had to be specially prepared and protected by the Lord to be able to descend to the bottom of his mind, and not be injured, so he could come back to his normal state. He describes that he received angel guides who were experienced in this operation and managed Swedenborg’s mind descent with powers possessed by those who inhabit the heavens in their mind. The angelic guides formed themselves into a tube or column of light that surrounded Swedenborg throughout his journey down to the pit of his mind. Similarly, when Swedenborg visited the heavens he underwent change of mental states towards the top of his mind where the heavens are. There he saw and much admired the inhabitants, all of whom are called Holy Angels.

You can now see, as discussed earlier, that hell is not a punishment for sins and evil deeds, nor is heaven a reward for good deeds. Heaven and hell refer to the top and bottom of our own mind. What is incredible to me is that people would want to keep their consciousness in the bottom of their mind, instead of at the highest places. Can you understand that, friend? My wife has had many occasions to warn me that I have a strong streak of self-destructiveness in me. I couldn’t believe it. I was trained to think that all behavior tends towards survival and self-enhancement, not self-destruction. And yet, it’s obvious when we look around us that people generally act like they keep themselves in the hells of their mind. When we are unregenerate, we all act like we love misery and cruelty, and seem to work hard at keeping ourselves in negative emotional states such as anger, rage, depression, dissatisfaction, resentment, etc. None of these emotions can exist for you when you are higher up in consciousness. Typical emotions when we are in the upper regions of our mind include joy, gladness, enthusiasm, mutual love, delight in being useful, love of innocence, conjugial love, etc. And further, when we are in low moods affectively, our thinking responds by descending and keeping company with the mood. We think with cynicism and bias, illusion and delusion. But when our consciousness is in our heaven, our thinking rises in rationality and wisdom, an dour intelligence and understanding exceeds by far anything we are capable of in lower regions.

Why do people choose to keep themselves in the hells of their mind instead of ascending to the top of their consciousness level? True Science reveals that every one is born with a spirit-body that grows up surrounded by the inhabitants of hell. They influence our mental habits so that we acquire those habits of mind that keep us in hell. This is something they do automatically, by hellish instinct as it were. To be in hell also means to want to draw others into hell with you. And so by the time we are an adult in our natural mind and physical body, our mental habits are dependent on influx from the hells. Experientially it feels like we are pursuing freedom and pleasure. Those from hell who communicate with our spirit-body prevail, so that by the time we are a young adult, we are each of us a little hell in our own mind. Now God supervises and manages all this activity, never allowing the hells to influence us beyond the point necessary to feel free in pursuing our inner desires and outer ideas. In fact, the Lord makes sure that there are always good spirits and angels near our spirit-body. They constitute a counterforce to hell in our consciousness. In other words, our mind is a battle field between heaven and hell. This is called the world of spirits, to distinguish it from heaven and hell. The battles go on not in heaven and no tin hell, but in between, in a state of mind called the world of spirits. Therefore it is necessary for the Lord to transport people down from heaven and people up from hell, meeting in between in our mind, surrounding our spirit-body.

We are conscious of these momentous battles going on because the war is waged in terms of our own decision making and evaluation. The angels act into our conscience which is above the hells, while the devils and satans act into our natural mind, as the diagram shows. We experience a push and a pull in this direction, then the opposite. We are in the turmoil and conflict of temptations. Should I or should I not? Can I? No, I mustn’t. I have got to stop this. But I can’t help myself. I hate what I’m doing. Well, too bad, I’m going to do it anyway. I deserve it. It’s their fault, I don’t care. But how can I let myself go like this. I must stop. No, why should I. I feel so guilty, so ashamed. I can’t stand it. Is there a God? Who has come back from the dead to tell us? I want my vengeance. I want more. I want all of it. I don’t care if it’s yours. Now it’s mine. I have a good reason to cheat you. I can even kill you. You deserve it. Etc. Etc.

These are the conscious experiences we have during those battles between the angels and devils around our spirit-body. If we incline towards the devils, we acquire one more tie to them, which will be difficult to give up later. They will hold on to us as long as we hold on to them. If we incline towards the angels, we enter deeper and deeper into their societies, and our consciousness rises higher and higher. At last we are able to overcome in all our temptations and we are regenerated sufficiently to be able to stay in our heaven and exist there forever.

These battles of conscience and temptations end when we enter the spiritual world at the death of the physical body. Once we awaken in the world of spirits, we are unwilling to give up our inner loves and ideas. While we are still tied to life on earth our natural mind is capable of extinguishing old ties and forming new ones. This is why we are born with a physical body on earth rather than being born directly in heaven or the world of spirits. I do not yet fully understand how this works, how the presence of our physical body allows us to change our character, and that we lose this capacity once the physical body is no longer tied to our spirit-body. Future research and scholarship in True Science will give us more understanding of the details and mechanism involved. The only change we are willing to undergo in the spiritual world are changes that deepen the states already familiar and comfortable. Those who enter heaven deepen their mutual love, wisdom, and capacity for happiness. Those who enter hell deepen their mutual hatred, insanity, and capacity to be miserable.

When we are detached from the physical body, we re-awaken about 36 hours later in our spiritual body in the world of spirits, the region in between heaven and hell. This temporary stay in the in-between region is called the state of the first death. Here one undergoes brief but intense experiences that reveal to ourselves what is inside, what are our real loves and preferences. We are forced to face who we really are. And this always means how we've lived in our physical body as indicated by all our choices. When this process of self-recognition is complete a few days, weeks, or months later, we enter the state of the second death, which is our permanent state, during which we abandon anything whatsoever we've brought with us, that is not directly harmonious with our ruling love. If this ruling love is in accordance with good and truth (or love and wisdom), we enter the uppermost regions of our mind, called heaven, and dwell there in celestial cities with companions forever, growing daily in love and wisdom, and therefore, happiness and joy.

If this ruling love is contrary to good and truth (or love and wisdom), it is not called good or truth any more, or love and wisdom, but evil and falsity (or infernal lust and insanity). Our consciousness then sinks to the lowest region of the mind, even at the bottom of the natural mind, into what's called the "corporeal mind." There we enclose ourselves in experiences and affective states known as hellish insanities and infernal fantasies. It is a dark place of the mind where the light of truth and good cannot penetrate, where the inhabitants have lost all appearance of the human.

13.11.3 The Outermost Region: The Natural Mind and Hell

A reader of an earlier draft of this document wrote the following:

I have ambivalent feelings regarding the emphasis you put on individual moral effort. I do not necessarily like the “…get your act together lest you end up in hell forever…” tone. This is old style hell and brimstone preachin’ . In my dictionary the word “forever” does virtually not exist.

Reality is never static. Reality is changeable and fluid.

I simply cannot believe that a Divine Omniscient Creator would not have known about the Fall beforehand and adjusted our fate accordingly. My view is that the Fall were providentially foreseen, allowed and managed by the Lord so that greater good may eventually come from it.

Phase 1 thinking accepts the idea of hell, but sees it in a natural sense. They think of hell as a physical place where there is fire, prisons, torture chambers, the devil’s mignons, black smoke, owls, dragons, and scorpions. Such are the portrayals in paintings, engravings, books, and movies. At this level we do not see the illogic of souls being tortured by physical fire and held by physical chains. In this view, hell is a place of punishment for past sins and misdeeds. God is angry and hates sin. He turns away from sinners, imprisons them in hell, gives them over to the devil who enjoys torturing them. When the punishment time is up, we can exit from hell and join our family and tribe. This is a child’s perspective, pre-scientific, scary, vague, and mysterious.

As we move into phase 2 thinking, hell is seen as a spiritual place or state of mind. The fires of hell are seen as mental tortures that people can experience when they are tempted, anxious, fearful, depressed, delusional, or consumed by an insatiable passion that knows no bounds and gives no rest or peace. Still, hell is not forever, in this view either, because one likes to think that eventually enough is enough, and that the state of being cut off from God will change so that those people may be back together again with God. The reader above seems to have come to this position: “I simply cannot believe that a Divine Omniscient Creator would not have known about the Fall beforehand and adjusted our fate accordingly.” Another version might be: “I simply cannot believe that a Divine Omniscient and Loving Creator would not have been able to keep these people from eternal hell.”

When you enter phase 3 thinking you begin to look at hell from a scientific point of view, not from the point of view of punishment for sins and misdeeds. The Threefold Sacred Scripture shows this progression when you examine the doctrine of hell. In the Old Testament Sacred Scripture not much is revealed by hell, heaven, or the spiritual world. On the surface, the plain literal meaning seems to say that there is a devil and a following of dark and fallen angels, who are let loose by God to do mischief on earth whenever the situation calls for it. At the end of this world, a new world will be created, the good resurrected from their scattered dead bones that will grow flesh again, and the devil will no longer be given permission to do misdeeds. This phase 1 theory can be justified by many passages in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture to those who are in this phase of thinking and feeling. The New Testament Sacred Scripture’s treatment of hell is one phase above (2). It is more interior, more rational, less mystical, more spiritual, more correct.

The Lord Himself explicitly addresses the existence of hell and warns that we not end there. He has prepared heavenly mansions for us, but in order for Him to be able to take us there, we must prepare our spiritual mind by rebirth and regeneration, that is, by character reformation, that is, by fighting our evil tendencies and vices, and by dosing good to the neighbor. Hell is the consequence of turning away from the Lord. God has already forgiven all sins, yet those who use their spiritual freedom to remain cut off from God, are in hell. They are experiencing the mental torture of vice and delusion. You can see therefore, that there is a progression in the treatment of hell from the Old to the New Testament Sacred Scripture.

In the Third Testament (phase 3 thinking and feeling) hell is not a place of punishment, nor a place where God is absent and turned away. In phase 3 thinking there is a striving to be rational, logical, and consistent with every concept and explanation. The mind takes the issue all the way, and leaves no stone unturned. Every implication must have a rational justification. Since God is omnipresent, there is obviously no place where He is not present. Therefore God is present with every soul, whether in hell, heaven, or on some earth. But this is only phase 3, zone 7 thinking (Old Testament state of True Science). When you study the Writings Sacred Scripture in sufficient detail, you move on to zone 8 (New Testament Sacred Scripture state of True Science). Here we are in possession of more facts about hell. We can understand the mechanism by which God is present with every person’s mind. We know that the thinking and feeling that goes on in hell cannot be a mechanical process that moves itself, like a mythical perpetual motion machine. There is always friction and other forces at play to stop the motion of a thought process in hell, or a feeling state there. What is hell but the bottom of the human mind, that is, of every individual. God must be as active a manager of the thinking and willing of those in hell, as He does of those on earth, and in the vast heavens. There is no place where God takes a hike since He is omnipresent. He cannot therefore “turn away” or “remove Himself” or even distance Himself. The Divine Human Person is omnipresent and keeps every detail going.

For example, what the inhabitants of hell see around them is managed by Divine Human Person to reflect the particular thinking and feeling of those who are there, as also witnessed many times by Swedenborg and the angels who were with him. God has revealed in the Threefold Sacred Scripture what the precise rational mechanism or process He uses for effecting this phenomenon. It is called the method or law of spiritual-natural correspondences. This is built in as part of the creation of the dual universe. It is a natural law as well as a spiritual law because they are tied together one to one by the laws of correspondences. If a devil boils over with hatred towards heavenly things that come to his mind from within, the surrounding place suddenly becomes dark red like a blazing atmosphere darkened by a great fire, and suddenly noxious creatures appear to crawl out from everywhere or to fly around making raucous noises, and putrid smells invade the atmosphere, and hysterical yelling and screeching can be heard. Now when that devilish person calms down and rises somewhat in consciousness, the thinking and feeling changes, and so does the surrounding environment.

Swedenborg describes thousands of such events that illustrate and demonstrate the action and power of correspondences. For instance, Swedenborg describes the intense brilliant light that emanates from the temple or house where the Threefold Sacred Scripture is kept in each of the numerous heavenly societies or cities. The brilliant light is not blinding to those who are ready to receive the truths that are stored there in the sentences, words, and diacritics of their heavenly script in which the Threefold Sacred Scripture appears to their level of thinking.

Swedenborg describes an experiment in which he asked a stranger in the world of spirits who showed up near the temple, to copy a word or phrase from the Threefold Sacred Scripture there, on a piece of paper, and to throw the paper in the air. There resulted a show of lights or fireworks that followed the descending paper. An angelic spirit who was ministering to guarding the temple, warned another stranger not to touch the Sacred Book, but the stranger laughed and disregarded the warning. The moment he touched the platform upon which the Holy Book was placed, he was violently thrown back by an invisible force, all the way to the back wall, where he lay a long time before he revived enough to high tail out of there. These outward powers and phenomena or appearances, are instantaneously produced in the spiritual world by the laws of correspondences between spiritual events in human minds and natural events that everyone recognizes from their life on earth. The cities and inhabitations in the spiritual world are therefore mental projections that are cast in the language or form of correspondences built into creation.

You can see therefore why for instance the cities and gardens in heaven are beautiful, artistic, and alive with dynamic movement and progression at every level of detail. Peace reigns in the atmosphere. Truth is the level and content of thinking. Mutual love is the quality of feeling. All in endless infinite variety. But in the cities and inhabitations of hell there is disorder, insanity, ugliness, stench, and noxious unpleasant animals. Warfare reigns there and hatred is in the atmosphere. Falsity, or the distortion of truth, is the level and content of thinking. Self-love and mutual hatred is the quality of feeling. All in endless variety. Hell is therefore the bottom of the human mind just as heaven is the top, and both are in us, everyone of us.

Yet, even in this scientific understanding of hell, there is more to explain. In phase 3, zone 9 (the Swedenborg phase of True Science) there is the knowledge and rational understanding of additional details to be found in the Writings Sacred Scripture. For instance, we still need to understand why those people in hell are captured there forever and that their misery does not improve but endlessly deteriorates. We need to understand what keeps those people there. We know it is not a place punishment, why are they then kept there? And the answer is that that they are not kept there, but that they choose to remain there. The Divine Human Person loves every person equally, and what differentiates the level of human thinking and feeling is the reception of that Divine Truth and Divine Love which comes into each person’s soul and celestial mind. From there the Love and the Truth descend into the spiritual mind, and from there into the rational mind, where for the first time we become conscious of it.

For each descent there is a filtering which is necessary in order not be overwhelmed by the influx. We need to retain or sense of as-of self freedom, which means that the Lord manages the filtering process and accommodates the Love and Truth at each particular entrance point. By the time we are conscious of the descending influx, we have the sense that it is not influx but self-generated thinking and feeling, moment by moment. The content of the truths that has descended is altered to fit the content that is already there in the conscious mind of the person. We can feel contradictions and uncertainties, so the Lord has to be very carefully not to intrude into consciousness, for then our sense of as-of self freedom would shattered, and along with that, our happiness and motivation to do anything.

In zone 9 thinking we can see all this, and now we can read and correctly interpret the passages in the Writings Sacred Scripture that explain why these people in hell keep themselves there forever. We imagine at first that if we were there, we would agree to anything, we would say any prayer, go to Church services once an hour, as long as we can just get the hell out of there. This is what we imagine at first, but then we come to gradually accept the rational phenomenon involved here. First, we are told that the inhabitants of hell are allowed to ascend to higher levels of their mind, even unto and heaven. And in fact, Swedenborg witnessed some of them, who had been religious in the life on earth, and had formed for themselves an idea of heaven based on their religious beliefs, now in hell asked to be taken up to heaven. The attending angels complied with their request. Their minds were prepared for the transition, and Lo, they see themselves at the gates of one of the heavenly cities. With much anticipation they enter, but they see nothing, hear nothing, smell nothing. Where are the people and the wonderful mansions promised by God? And the angelic guides told them everything is here all around you but you cannot see it because your thinking and feeling are contrary to what heaven actually is. They went back to their hells greatly disappointed.

At another time, Swedenborg witnessed a man entering heaven under false pretenses by putting on airs of religious piety, so that he was admitted by the guards, surely for the purpose of allowing them to discover their actual feelings. But as soon as they started inhaling the air or atmosphere of heaven they were seized with such torture from within that he threw himself down and was writhing like a snake before a burning fire. He begged to be released back to his hell, and upon arriving there he was revived to his old state. And there are other such demonstrations that show that those who are in hell are allowed to leave that dreary place of the human mind, but when they ascend, they feel torture and disintegration far worse than their sorry hell.

Now you can rationally and scientifically understand why there is a hell, whey people are there, and why they keep themselves there forever.

13.12 Theistic Psychohistory and Religious Psychology

A science of religious psychology must be universal and cannot be pre-empted by any sectarian belief system or doctrine. Science is the product of pan-human logic and rationality as we attempt to make sense of reality. There is only one reality, one logic, one rationality, namely truth or trues, which are universal, absolute, uncreate, eternal, and Divine. Religious psychology has two basic premises. One is dualism; the other is revelation. Dualism in science is the premise that there are two universes, one natural, the other spiritual. We are dual citizens, since our physical body is material, natural, and temporal, while the mind or self, is substantive, spiritual, and immortal. The relation or contrast between material and substantive was known and accepted by all the major Western philosophers and scientists up to the twentieth century, when the substantive was no longer seen as the basis for the material. This gave rise to a materialistic science that denies the possibility, the relevance, the reality and the rationality of God, revelation, and the spiritual world. Dualism in science restores the knowledge and perspective that science has evolved for thousands of years, and restores the imbalance and excesses of ideological materialism. In our view, dualism in science and religious psychology will prevail in the next millennium as it gradually replaces the old paradigm of anti-theistic ideological materialism.

This essay is an attempt to translate the ideas in Swedenborg's Writings into the language of modern science and psychology. To the extent that we succeed, the effort should make it easier for others to see how a positive science can view their cherished religious certainties: God, the Word, the Lord, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Messiah, evil, sin, regeneration, Holy Communion, Heaven, hell, eternal life. It is awkward, perhaps even schizoid, for all of us to be educated in a science that denies these realities. Church is for Sunday, and science is for weekdays, has been a denigrating alternative we are supposed to accept and be quiet about. Praying is superstition, according to Skinner, and those who are the experts in the psychology of religion look for God, like Freud, Jung, Sartre, and Karl Marx, in the depths of the human psyche rather than in the idea of the Creator for the universe. We hope to show that science has the intellectual tools for dualism and religious psychology. Sin is real. Heaven is real. Hell is real. Regeneration is real. Love is real. Wisdom is real. Baptism is real. Praying is real. Revelation is real. And so on.

But beyond asserting their reality, our task is to show how they can have empirical meaning in a scientific system. But this no one can do without the knowledge given in revelation since the external natural senses cannot access the requisite data. So we must first show the existence of the inner senses that do have access to the relevant data through revelation, but not without it. This inner sense is the true human rational that can see spiritual reality and fact. This interior rational is far above the external rational that is built up through the external senses. This interior rational can be developed until it becomes so commonplace that one wonders how it used to be before its opening to consciousness. This we have achieved through the application of Swedenborg's Writings to our daily moment by moment life transactions. This achievement does not make us superior or special, but the vision it affords us is superior and special, and it never fails us. Anyone can do what we have, and we hope that this record of our journey, painstakingly kept track of and digested, will make it useful to your journey. We could not have done this without our daily study of the Writings of Swedenborg.

The second premise of revelation is that spiritual knowledge, that is, knowledge about the spiritual world of the mind, cannot be obtained directly by the natural senses, and therefore the mechanism of revelation exists. A modern and favorable examination of this issue in relation to Swedenborg's access to revelation, may be found in Christen Blom Dahl's book The Third Source: Swedenborg: A Physical & Metaphysical Revelation (available here full text). Also of relevance to the issue of revelation and Swedenborg's scientific empiricism and behaviorism, is the article quoted above: Overcoming Objections.

Religious psychology is non-sectarian, universal, and dualist. One issue that may trouble some is reflected in this question: How can you have a religious psychology that is scientific when each religion claims to have its own God and its own revelation, while denying the God and the revelation of other religions? This crucial issue is dealt with in the first section specifically, and throughout the Section.

13.12.1 The External and Internal Church

Jesus, Sun of Life, my Splendour,
Jesus, Thou my Friend most tender,
Jesus, Joy of my desiring,
Fount of Life, my soul inspiring,
At Thy feet I cry my Maker.
Let me be a fit partaker
Of this blessed food from Heaven,
For our good Thy glory given.

17th Century Hymn (Brockes Passion) (Concordia Publishing House)

Religious psychology is the study of how the Church grows within us. The Church is the operation itself of religion. All religions operate through a church. There are many external churches but only one internal Church. External churches are cultural institutions, hence they are variegated and contrastive. External churches on this earth are related by history and ideology (or theology) . Every external church operates through Sacred Writings from which religious doctrines are drawn as guides to religious practices, traditions, laws, norms, rituals, worship, and commandments of living.

Because the external churches bicker among each other they give an appearance of disagreement, antagonism, enmity, and strife. the Writings Sacred Scripture they hold as sacred vary and the history of the world they give (or their eschatology) often contradict each other. Many believers hold that their version only is correct and genuine and doubt the salvation of others. This external appearance of varieties of religions and their doctrinaire contradictions vanishes in the internal operation of the Church within every person on this earth. The inner Church is universal and absolute though it grows and develops in stages within each person. All human beings belong to the internal Church and there are no human beings who are devoid of it irrespective of their beliefs or awareness. Individuals of all denominations and individuals who deny any religious affiliation all belong to the inner Church by Divine order. The inner Church grows within each person under the careful and constant supervision of God. It is an organic relationship of the spirit of each person. Religious psychology explores this universal inner Church.

13.12.2 Developmental Phases of the Church Within Us

There are three stages of growth of the Church within each person. We may refer to them in order as first, the Old Church state of mind, second, the New Church state of mind, and third, the Ultimate Church state of mind. The three Churches develop within us in that order. The Old Church is the basis and containant of the internal Church upon which the other two rest. The Old Church is born within each child when the child is told about God, sin, and the life after death. The New Church is added when the individual returns to religious life as an adult. This happens because adolescence and early maturity turns off the operation of the Church within us. When we return to religious life as an adult we do so from our own reason and free will, from rational decision and personal confirmation of the importance of God in our life. While the Old Church state of mind appears to us severe and restrictive in its Commandments, the New Church state of mind is experienced with positive affections and freedom; its New Commandment is more rational and inviting, more to our liking and philosophical inclinations. We fear the Old Church while we love the New Church.

After the New Church state of mind is established within us on top of the Old Church, the Third Church then develops and grows on top of the other two. This is the crown of all Churches and brings wisdom. This happens in maturity and old age.

To grasp these ideas better we may illustrate them by reviewing the historical development of the Judeo-Christian religion. The Jewish or Israelitish Church was established around 3,500 B.C. with the life of Abraham in Asia Minor. Its sacred Writings are known as the Old Testament and are made up of books written by prophets from about 1,500 B.C. to about 400 B.C. The Christian Church was established in the first century A.D. and is based on Sacred Writings called the New Testament Sacred Scripture.

This second Testament was added on top of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture and the two together make up the Holy Bible of the Christian Church. In the eighteenth century A.D. the Church of the New Jerusalem, or New Church, came into existence. Its Sacred Writings are the Old Testament Sacred Scripture and the New Testament Sacred Scripture in conjunction with the theological Writings of Swedenborg (1688-1772), the Swedish revelator. Around the middle of the twentieth century A.D. the Lord's New Church which is Nova Hierosolyma came into existence. This third Christian church added the Writings of Swedenborg to the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures, considering them as the Third Testament. The Three Testaments acknowledge each other in series: the New Testament Sacred Scripture quotes and upholds the Old Testament Sacred Scripture; the Third Testament quotes and upholds the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures.

This relationship of the Three Testaments may not appear as clearly in all religious Writings. Still, since the Sacred Writings always deal with regeneration, the members of all religions undergo the three stages represented by the Three Testaments. This is because the inner Church is universal and not dependent upon the details of the external cultural churches. Without this proviso people would be prevented from being regenerated in all churches but one, a situation clearly not allowable by a fair and universal God. This book will appeal to those of any religion who are interested in knowing about the growth of the three Churches within themselves. The following diagram summarizes what has been presented:

Diagram (a)

We may inquire as to what determines the growth of the Church within us. We will discuss the answer in terms of what may be called confirmation theory, which is the idea that the successive Churches are established within us when we confirm the trues of religion in our life. Thus, after the doctrines drawn from the Old Testament state of mind are confirmed in our life, the spiritual concepts of the New Testament state present themselves to our mind; then, when we succeed in confirming these doctrines, the spiritual concepts of the Third Testament state present themselves to the mind. When trues of the Third Testament state can be confirmed in our life, the Church within us is in its completed stage, though not complete in that ultimate stage. Indeed, the completion of the ultimate Church within us proceeds to eternity. In this third state we come into the image and likeness of God, an eternal and endless progression. This is the Angelic state of the mind.

We need to examine how doctrines drawn from the Three Testaments are confirmed in our life. This may be illustrated by considering the successive doctrines of the Three Testaments. The chief doctrine of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture is that God reveals Himself to us as a Human Divine Person Who created us and Who requires us to obey His Commandments under penalty of death and all sorts of inescapable punishments. His Divine omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence are absolute, infinite, and incomprehensible to us. As children we accept this doctrine with innocence and perfect faith. The Old Church then grows within us and produces thoughts, intentions, and feelings that harmonize with this doctrine. For instance, though we rather lie, steal, and commit adultery we strive not to do these things out of fear of God and a hope of reward. When we mess up and violate these Commandments, we feel guilty and uneasy; our happiness vanishes. But as soon as we repent and sincerely resolve not to continue in our sin, we can be happy again. This is the operation of the Old Church within us. Our living conscience, built up by the Old Church within us, is the confirmation in our life of the doctrine of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture.

As this operation is well established within us we come to the doctrine of the New Testament Sacred Scripture which is that God is present with each individual in an intimate relation and Personally labors to bring us to eternal happiness and fruition in His Kingdom of the afterlife. This New doctrine is more difficult to confirm in our life than the Old doctrine and requires many years to be completed. For example, whereas the Old Testament Sacred Scripture requires us to love our neighbor, the New Testament commands that we love our enemy as well. Or, while the Old Testament commands us to not commit adultery, the New Testament Sacred Scripture informs us that even the mental enjoyment of unchaste thoughts and emotions is a damnable sin, if confirmed. However, as we strive to live according to this New doctrine we find that we begin to think and feel more purely towards others. What seemed impossible before now is accomplished on a regular or routine basis. We discover that we can love the good part of our enemy, and we find that we no longer enjoy thoughts of revenge or emotions that are unchaste, but find them repulsive and aversive. We have then confirmed the doctrine of the New Testament Sacred Scripture in our life.

We then come to the doctrine of the Third Testament which says that God is the Divine Human Who alone is alive within us. This is even more difficult to confirm in our life and takes all of eternity. The reason this third doctrine is so difficult to confirm is that it takes away our selfhood. With the New Testament doctrine we are still partly in charge of our lives though we depend on God for victory and success in overcoming the selfish nature we are born with. But with the Third Testament doctrine we have totally lost our selfhood: we are not in charge of ourselves any more; in fact we are dead, we have never had life, and never will have. We are merely a vessel for God's Life within us. This is the most difficult doctrine to confirm in our life since it is difficult for us to rid ourselves of the delusional appearance that we have life of our own. We appear to think, and feel, and decide; it looks to us that God can influence us rather than being us. Yet the Third Testament informs us that our thoughts are not our thoughts but the thoughts of spirits with us, and the thoughts of spirits are not their thoughts but the reception of God's thoughts. Individual vessels receive God's thoughts, intentions, and feelings in accordance with the state of the Church in their mind or spirit, hence there is an appearance of individual variety or personality. But this variety is due to the variation in vessels as God Himself is One, Unchanging and Absolute.

It may seem at first that the doctrine of the Third Testament is abstract and impossible to confirm in one's life. Yet as we strive to observe our inner life through the study and application of the Third Testament, we begin to see how it is true. Our thoughts and feelings are not our own. They are inspired into us. They enter by an inner route from the soul and spirit and come out into our mind's awareness where we can see them. Our life is as-if our own. In this realization we suddenly feel very close to God, the Divine Human. We see that all along there was no other life but His Life. God has become the Divine Human, the only Human Who is the Very Human Itself pulsating in us. We are human vessels to His Divine Human Life. This realization becomes love into God from God, and leads to all true wisdom and blessedness.

Religious psychology attempts to uncover these steps of the growth of the Church within us. It is a discipline of study based on the successive doctrines of the Three Testaments in our mind. This book will appeal to those who want to reach in this life on earth the state of blessedness and wisdom which is promised through the Third Testament. We may gain a better comprehension of the development of the Church within us by reviewing some details of the developmental steps in the historical (external) churches.

13.12.2 History of the Churches on Earth

After the Fall of the human race on this earth the process of being regenerated by the Lord evolved in three successive phases or epochs. The history of the external church is the same as the history of the internal Church within each individual. By reviewing the epochs of the external church we gain a view of the three phases of our own regeneration. The interior Church within each of us is built up by the Lord in three phases, that is in three successive degrees. The interior sense of the successive historical churches is the representation of the successive stages of evolution of the inner Church within us. This relation is pictured in the following table:

EXTERNAL CHURCH
The First Period (3,500 B.C. - 1,757 A.D.)	The Second Period (1,757 A.D. - 1,938 A.D.)	The Third Period (1,938 A.D. - onward)
The Old Church	The New Church	The Ultimate Church
The Old Testament	The New Testament	The Third Testament
Judao-Christian	New Christian	True Christian
Human Divine	Divine Truth	Divine Human
Invisible God	Visible God	God Man
etc.	etc.	etc.
INTERNAL CHURCH
The First Degree (birth to adulthood)	The Second Degree (maturity to old age)	The Third Degree (old age to eternity)
The Natural Self	The Rational Self	The Celestial Self
Sinfulness (Evil)	Reformation	Regeneration
Worship from Fear	Worship from Reason	Worship from Love
etc.	etc.	etc.

The upper part of the table reviews some features of the history of the external church since the spiritual Fall of the human race on this earth. The bottom part views the corresponding interior sense of this history. By studying and meditating upon the relation between these two, many additional entries or illustrations might be given.

13.12.2.1 The First Phase

We may examine this correspondence by considering first the progression of the periods of the church. Insight into the Old Church may be gained through a review of the Judeo-Christian commentaries to the Holy Bible. In this view, the Old Testament Sacred Scripture and the New Testament Sacred Scripture present the literal sense of Sacred Scripture, and in this sense the God of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture is invisible and incomprehensible. In order to have contact with people on earth this unreachable God is transformed in the external sense of Sacred Scripture into a Divine Personality called by various Names: Jehovah, I AM, Heavenly Father, the Most High, King of Kings, and many others. The character of this Divine Personality is not the character of God since this is impossible for people to understand. The character of this Divine Personality is only a gross and imperfect appearance. It is human in its nature since Jehovah in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture talks as a human does about His anger, His frustration, His gladness, His changing His mind, and so on. So we may refer to the Old Testament Sacred Scripture God as the God in human character, that is, as the Human Divine.

The Human Divine, called by the Name of Jehovah, is not God per Se, but God as initially presentable to humans who are in the state of the Fall. The child is in such a state when first instructed about God, sin, and the afterlife. The modern scientists are in this state when they separate their science from religion. The philosophers and secular humanists are in this state when they acknowledge the existence of God but insist that humans are to work out their own destiny. The Jews are in this state as they deny the Coming of the Messiah. The Christians are in this state as they pray to the Father in the Name of His Son.

In this state of the Old Church, worshippers address an invisible God out of fear. Though they believe that God is infinitely merciful, yet they also ascribe to Him the role of Judge, and Punisher. Their image of God is mixed. They accept contradictions as Divine paradoxes that will remain forever incomprehensible to the human mind. Faith is mystical and blind, not rational and crystal clear.

There are many varieties within this Old Church mentality. For example, the New Testament Sacred Scripture divides Christian from Jew. To the Jew, God remains distant and incomprehensible and He leaves us to fend for ourselves as best we can. To the Christian, God is incomprehensible in one way but comprehensible in another way. In effect, God becomes two Divine Persons (or three Divine Persons). The idea of One God Who is Two (or Three) Persons is not an idea that can be rationally grasped. Therefore this is a blind faith, not rational.

13.12.2.2 The Second Phase

This then is the first period of the external church and the first degree of the internal Church. The second period called the New Church was born historically (that is, externally), when people became capable of gaining a rational understanding of the New Testament Sacred Scripture in relation to the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. This occurred in the eighteenth century when some Christians began to read the Third Testament, that is, the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. In this second phase, the doctrines of the Church explain and clarify the relation between the invisible and visible God. In this state, called the New Church, the One-God-in-Two-Persons (or in Three Persons) is seen to be an irrational formula. There is no prayer or worship offered to "the Father in the Name of the Son." Rather, the Son is the visible Heavenly Father, Who is invisible as He is in Himself. He therefore has to present Himself in a visible form called the Son of God. This is not meant in the sense of a biological offspring, but a spiritual manifestation. There are thus not two Divine Persons (or Three Persons), but only One Person. And this One Person, called the Father in His invisible state, makes Himself visible as the Son. The Father and the Son are One Person in two states, one invisible as He is in Himself, and the other visible, as the Son. The Father made Himself visible as the Son by the process of Incarnation. There is not a blind faith in this but a rational one.

When we have the New Church within us, our sinful nature can at last be conquered. In this New Church state within us we proceed into mature life with a rational character and conscience by which we can learn to hate our own nature and love the Divine Truth. At last this exalted human-rational frees us from the bondage of sin. Yet the transformation is not complete. Again and again we fail in our attempt to banish selfish thoughts and wicked feelings. The ideal of purity still escapes us and we continue to suffer from anger, impatience, prejudice, harshness, and guilt. It appears to us in this state that as long as we live in this sinful body and world, we are not going to taste of the paradise of Eden. Conjugial love becomes an ideal for the future life.

13.12.2.3 The Third Phase

However this is only an appearance to the rational self which still holds on to the actuality of self-life though it recognizes in theory that the self has no true life of its own. But when we are ultimately willing to step up to the bullock, and slay it, we eradicate the natural remnant of our former life of the flesh. Thus we enter into the Third and Ultimate Church within us. We are now willing to call the Writings Sacred Scripture by a new Name; they become the Works of the Third Testament. Now the visible Divine Human enters into intimate relations with our daily transactions. This is the crown of the inner Church. It is the true activity of regeneration that begins on this earth and continues to eternity. It is the marriage feast to which we are invited by the Lord Who clothes us in sumptuous garments fit for angelic life on earth.

The three external churches now exist on earth. Every individual irrespective of the external church one belongs to must needs undergo the steps of the Three Churches within. Whether we are born Christian, Jew, Moslem, Buddhist, agnostic, or New Church, we still must undergo the same development of the inner Church in its three successive degrees. At some point in adulthood we are reborn from the Old Church within us into the New Church, and after that we are initiated by the Lord into the Third or Ultimate Church. Throughout this process the individual may retain membership in the external church of the family. Life circumstances may seem to determine whether we also change external churches as the inner Church develops but it is clear that all external churches will have members who are at different stages of development with regards to the inner Church. Our inner state may not be visible to others but to ourselves the change is always visible. An individual who is in the third degree of life in the inner Church may worship together with co-religionists who are in the second and in the first degree without necessary strife or disharmony. Of course the actual experience of their communal worship is going to be very different depending on their different inner states. But at the external level there need be no antagonism between them.

The transformation from the New Church to the Ultimate Church occurs when we have applied sufficiently the Divine Truth we come to love in the New Church state of mind. We apply the Divine Truth to our daily life, in our transactions with others, and see it confirmed there. This happens within our efforts at repentance during religious self-inspection. In this state we begin to perceive the interior sense of the Third Testament. This sense is mirrored in our inner life, our approval or disapproval of the transactions we are given to perform by the Lord. After death we can see this interior sense mirrored in our external environment as well, as our Heaven brings forth the fruits of our regeneration.

In the state of the Old Church within us we are sinful and evil in our transactions but we do not perceive this. To ourselves in that state we appear good when we act out of obedience to the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture or to the dictates of our conscience. When we act badly in this state we recognize our sinfulness, but if we act well out of conscience we are convinced that we are good. It is a delusional state since our acting well is not from the Lord but from ourselves, and is meritorious. In this state of the Old Church within us God necessarily appears as distant, invisible, and severe. Without a punishing omnipotent and omniscient God, whether Jehovah, Allah, or Buddha-Karma, the individual degenerates into libertinage, cruelty, and irrationality. In this state the individual recognizes One God in Two or more Divine Persons. When God became flesh, the Christians and Jews insisted on Two Divine Persons in the "Godhead"; this made them feel secure, sane, and happy. The Lord's Jewish apostles in the world had to see Him as the Son of God even though they were compelled by external miracles to recognize that the Father and the Son were equal in Divinity, though not yet in their mind, One in Personhood.

But so that our conscience may evolve from fear to reason, this Old Church state within us is succeeded by a New Church state in which God is restored to the status of One Divine Person. The Son is now the external, visible life of the Father. God is One and He loves us: His external (visible to us) part is called the Son and His internal part (not visible to us) is called the Father. In this New Church state within us the miracles and parables of the New Testament Sacred Scripture are comprehended in their interior sense through the doctrines drawn from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. However, in this second phase of our Church development, only the literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture are perceived, hence acknowledged. The interior sense is not perceived, hence it is denied or doubted.

But when we enter the Third Church within us we acknowledge-ledge the interior sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture and call them the Third Testament because we can perceive it. Though we knew from before that the Lord is the visible Divine Human we did not perceive this directly but accepted it on faith. Now in the ultimate Church within us we perceive the interior sense of this Name. We see it in ourselves, in our daily transactions where this Name dwells in a living and immediate way. In this state we worship the visible Divine Human from love; that is, we are given to have love into Him from Him. A little later in this text, we will discuss the practical details of how we can confirm the Divine Human in our daily living choices and acts of conscience that we bring to our thoughts, feelings, and actions, moment by moment through every day, and without letup.

Those who study the Writings of Swedenborg as Sacred Scripture of the Lord sense strongly the attraction in the ideal of Conjugial Love given there. This attraction comes from their love of knowledge and truth. This is the affection of the rational self. Our rational self experiences great inner delight when we apprehend the meaning of a sentence or number in the Writings Sacred Scripture. We feel illuminated and we see an aspect of life which is helpful to our living. The sense of the letter of the Writings of Swedenborg has that quality of satisfying our desire to know and understand. Therefore it has the greatest of spiritual value.

We may now inquire about how this happens. In what way do the explanations in the Writings Sacred Scripture provide us with such delight? To answer this question we need to go to a second degree of meaning contained within these Writings. The only way available to this interior sense is through the Third Testament state of mind. Therefore in order to make the inquiry we must enter the third or Ultimate Church within us. After the realization occurs, for which we are supremely grateful, there is provided perception of this inner sense within Sacred Scripture and illustration of their actuality in daily living. This perception is called the correspondential sense of the Third Testament.

With this preparation we may now inquire as to the interior sense of this conjugial love to whose literal sense we feel such a strong attraction.

Our daily living consists of transactions with others. Each day brings thousands of individual transactions. A look is a transaction. A smile, or being late, or keeping a person in one's mind, or a name -- all these are transactions. These transactions are provided by the Lord. There is no transaction which is random or fortuitous or pre-determined; each and every transaction is provided for a specific good. It may astonish the rational self to think of this operation, of its gigantic size, of its improbability, etc., but the external rational is not to be consulted in spiritual meanings, because it is natural, not spiritual. We must rely on the interior rational, which is purely spiritual and celestial. The external rational excludes any information that is not natural. So it is obvious that it excludes the spiritual and the celestial. But the interior rational is built up not by ideas based on the natural senses, but by ideas based on correspondential senses. These are the senses of the mind or spirit and can receive or detect information that flow in from the spiritual world.

The interior sense of conjugial love relates to these transactions of daily living. Thus in order to perceive the interior sense of the Third Testament we must see it in relation to our transactions in every day life. However there may be several ways of doing this task of relating trues of Sacred Scripture to daily situations. For example, in the Old Church state we also attempt to apply the Bible to our lives but without success since what we did came from the natural self and not the spiritual self. Similarly, in the New Church state we attempt to apply the Writings Sacred Scripture to our daily living with others, to our education and counseling, and to our science. But this too lead to no ultimate success since we did it with the rational self of its own; like mighty mountains, our puny attempts were dwarfed by the stars of heaven. It's never quite enough. We're never quite there. We sense a veil, a glass ceiling of unattainable saintlihood. But as we enter the third Church within us, our rational holds still and listens with reverence to the spiritual perception that is unfolded to it from above.

13.12.3 The Positive Bias

With this sense or approach to the meaning of conjugial love we can begin to perceive through illustrations the Lord provides in these daily transactions. Religious psychology is the study for better managing our transactions from our perspective of Sacred Scripture. The practice of religious psychology involves a constant striving to understand and discipline ourselves. The diagrams and methods used in this book represent aids or tools in better self-management in accordance with each concept of Sacred Scripture. These intellectual tools may be used by a person from any religious denomination as long as the person is willing to accept the premiss that Sacred Scripture is Divine and that it has an interior correspondential sense. We may call this approach, adopting a positive bias. Note carefully: we are not saying that people have to give up their native or adopted religion before they can practice religious psychology. People of all religion can read the Three Testaments in their native language, as God has provided for their universal translation and dissemination. If they read these Three Testaments thinking that they are or may be Divine Works, because they say so about themselves, then they can enter fully in all three states of development of their inner Church, without having to convert to another religion.

If we thus adopt a positive bias towards the concept of conjugial love in its interior sense, we may begin to perceive in this new mode, the mode of perception characteristic of the Third or Ultimate Church. To make this living experience clearer to our external rational (which is natural, not spiritual), we may consider illustrations. Illustrations are case histories viewed in relation to doctrine from Sacred Scripture. In this case, conjugial love in its inner sense is a doctrine we want to view in relation to our daily transactions. Every person is born for heaven with a unique and specific angelic character to be attained. This character to be attained corresponds exactly to our geographic location in Heaven. Of course we will remember that "geographic location" in the spiritual world is according to our goods and trues, hence we call it spiritual geography.

The Lord supervises our transactions in order to govern our way to this angelic status. This is called regeneration. Religious self-inspection is a tool to help us discipline our daily transactions so that we may co-operate with our regeneration by the Lord. Self-management is thus a necessary activity in the state of the Third Church. The interior sense of conjugial love provides us with definitive guides to our temptations. The Lord uncovers deeper and wider areas of our evil by illustrating the meaning of Sacred Scripture in these transactions. How we choose rationales to justify ourselves, for instance. How we are totally blind to trues except when immediately illustrated by the Lord. How the Lord repeatedly takes us to the top of the world with promises and then plummets us down to our shame and horror. How we are bestial except under direct and continual enlightenment and encouragement from Him. The concept of conjugial love is given us in the sense of the letter of the Third Testament so that we may, if we will, enter into its interior sense and thereby perceive our marriage. In our own case, Leon's marital confessions as a husband has been documented here.

Marital transactions are representatives of spiritual realities. By witnessing these transactions we perceive the Lord's labor with us. We perceive God's Creation itself. The entire universe is merely for this purpose that God can turn our marital transactions into conjugial love. This is the interior sense of the doctrine of conjugial love. Religious self-inspection allows us to become more adept at perceiving the Lord's work within us, of seeing the way by which we are led to our Heavenly Society. It ought not to be thought that conjugial love is a doctrine only for those who are married since preparation for marital relations goes on since birth. Individuals are born men or women, with specific spiritual genes that represent the angelic character we become. The external rational (which is not yet spiritual) ought not to be consulted here since it evokes the detested idea of predestination. Rather, we wait patiently to be illustrated with further temptations. The Lord arranges our transactions in wonderful ways to bring us together as marital partners. Marital partners may perceive such similarities in their childhood affections that it is wonderful to contemplate the way the Lord managed our experiences to yield this similarity. And it is wonderful to behold how the Lord leads us from the perception of similarity to mutuality through an identity of thoughts, intentions and reasonings. In other words, we first perceive that we apparently think alike, and under this impress, we are led to feel alike; at last, when we feel alike, we are led to mutuality, where we truly think alike as a result of feeling alike.. This is the state of conjugial love.

This process may be apprehended by our external rational self. The activity goes on above the external rational, in our spiritual self, which is also our internal rational, but the external rational self can perceive it through immediate and direct illustration by the Lord of our daily transactions with others. Pre-marital transactions are not perceived since most of us are not willing to enter our Third Church until long after we’ve been married.

The subject matter of temptations in marriage is treated of in Conjugial Love when studied in the inner sense and applied to our daily transactions with others. The Work also throws light on pre-marital transactions since it explains the origin and development of scortatory loves within us. All the loves of the natural self and of the rational self prior to regeneration are scortatory or unchaste and delusional. There is no part of us, no thought, intention, or sentiment, that is good. Whatever good there is in us is exclusively the Lord's Own with us. The good is not our own.

We co-operate in our regeneration when we perceive how the Lord manages and governs our transactions. This perception is our own. It is a magnificent gift from the Lord for which we are supremely grateful. It is our very consciousness, our very awareness as a human self, without which we are inanimate as a stone. When we perceive one of our transactions as a temptation we are given to see an element of our evil. It is the greatest of all opportunities because we are given thereby another chance to be redeemed: we can approve or disapprove of the representation in our deed. As we approve when the Lord gives us to act well we are illustrated from doctrine. We experience our heavenly calling.

In preparation for our willingness to enter the interior sense of the doctrine of conjugial love we may consider and discuss the developmental steps we underwent as the Three Churches were established in us by the Lord through Sacred Scripture.

13.12.4 The Subject Matter of Sacred Scripture

	OLD TESTAMENT	NEW TESTAMENT	THIRD TESTAMENT
INMOST SENSE (CELESTIAL)	A description of the Lord's glorification and of the Heavens; taught through correspondences, doctrines, & memorable relations. (PARTIALLY OPENED)	A description of the workings out of Divine Providence & Love; taught through as yet unknown ways. (UNOPENED)	An explanation of how to confirm the marriage of good & truth within us; taught through as yet unknown ways. (UNOPENED)
INTERMEDIATE SENSE (SPIRITUAL)	A description of the rise & fall of the successive external churches on earth; taught through a knowledge of correspondences, doctrines, & memorable relations. (OPENED)	An explanation of what is Divine Truth; taught through the order & series of miracles & parables. (UNOPENED)	A description of how the inner Church develops within us (regeneration); taught through perception & illustration during religious self-inspection. (PARTIALLY OPENED)
EXTERNAL LITERAL SENSE (NATURAL)	A description of the delights & uses (and their adulteration ) of external life; taught through historicals, allegories, & hymns.	An explanation of the morality of human relationships; taught through the content of mircales & parables.	A description of how our thoughts & feelings originate from the spiritual world; taught through rational exposition of the subject matter.

This table summarizes certain features of what we may have perceived in Sacred Scripture thus far. Naturally there are going to be individual differences and peculiar obscurities to each one of us. Nevertheless a communal grasping of the doctrine is possible through our rational self. The chart may be read for greater comprehension from bottom up. The following discussion illustrates specifics which may be related to the chart in order to see the representatives of doctrine in our life.

Upon reflection and instruction we become aware that the Three Testaments contain a progressively more ideal religious ethics that govern our daily transactions. The Old Testament's Ten Commandments are blunt and proscriptive: only a barbarous nation would allow its citizens to murder, rob, libel, and commit adultery. Only individuals in a grossly degenerate state would try to justify violations of the Ten Commandments as good and decent. The New Testament's Commandment is infinitely more sophisticated, civilized, subtle: only a few individuals have been able to adhere to it in a consistent way -- the angelic spirits among us, the saints and heroes, the genuine altruists. Even so, the Third Testament's Commandments appear infinitely more radical and subtle than the New Testament Commandment for few people can stand to even read them! The Commandments of Sacred Scripture are thus arranged in three successive degrees of apparent difficulty so that the Second appears infinitely more difficult to obey than the First, and the Third is infinitely more difficult to obey than the Second. This is an external appearance of Sacred Scripture and represents the impossibility of fulfilling the commandments of Sacred Scripture of our own efforts.

A person who appears to be fulfilling the Commandments of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture is yet infinitely far from fulfilling the Commandment of the New Testament Sacred Scripture, which is that we have love and goodwill towards others. We all know the truth that our intentions and emotional reactions come and go within us at their pleasure: our understanding and reasoning has merely a veto power over them so that they do not break out in overt deeds. Yet the New Commandment asserts in its literal sense that we are evil and damnable because of these involuntary impulses within us. Our will is helpless to prevent evil thoughts and emotions and yet we are guilty for them. If our external rational be consulted here it would say that this is unfair; but the rational is not to be consulted. Rather we must wait patiently for illustration from the Lord. Then we can see that far from being unfair, it is Divine Love and Wisdom having us in sight and providence. You may like to read Rev. Ray Silverman's application of the Ten Commandments to one's daily interactions with others. Please click back to continue here.

When we consider all Three Testaments together, in a series, so that after our journey from Old, to New, to Third, we now are given to journey back from Third, to New, to Old, we at last are given to fulfill the Commandments of Sacred Scripture to its fullest. In order to prepare ourselves for this holy journey, back to the East, as it were, it is necessary to study the sense of the letter of the Third Testament so as to draw out spiritual doctrines to guide us in our approval or disapproval of our daily transactions. Afterwards, we need to strive to understand the interior sense of these doctrines by confirming them in our religious self-inspection. Then at last we will have fulfilled the Commandments of Sacred Scripture. In this journey we reproduce, as in an image, the Lord's Own glorification. His Journey as the Word of God, and as the Word made flesh, and as the Word transfigured and uplifted, is the pattern we are given to follow in our own regeneration by the Lord. The arena for our journey of regeneration is our mind -- our changing thoughts, reasonings, reactions, emotions, strivings, affections, and perceptions, in short, our daily transactional exchanges with others.

Religious ethics is a branch of religious psychology that helps us become objective and practical about our inner life with the motive to judge our transactions. It requires the method of self-exploration and self-investigation. Forensic tools must be used to unmask our pretenses and catch our deceits. We are helped by the knowledge in faith that we are guilty in every case that comes up! Our task is to prove it, to confirm it as-if of our own free will. We may prepare for this task by studying the methodology of religious ethics given us in the sense of the letter of the Third Testament.

We may illustrate this process by considering the manner in which the will and the understanding relate to each other. This topic is treated of everywhere in the Third Testament. For this example we may consider Numbers 478-500 in Conjugial Love where we are given a spiritual-psychological analysis of the kinds and degrees of adulteries we perform. As we study these numbers we are not only given a list of the adulteries but also a method of reasoning by which to identify them in us. It is required that we strive to understand this legalese language even so far as to be able to use it against ourselves so as to better convict. Under the impulse of this motivation we can learn to understand this language and experience the delights attendant to the acquisition of such mastery. To aid in this task we may use models and diagrams, lists, tables, and charts.

By way of illustration we may take Number 490 which reveals some of the operations of the will and understanding in the domain of our adulteries. It is written:

"Now, as the marriage of good and truth has been treated of in the First Part of this work, and as many things were there adduced respecting the will and the understanding, and respecting the various attributes and predicates of each, which as I think are perceived even by those who had not thought distinctly about the understanding and the will (for human reason is such that it understands truths from the light of them, even though it has not distinguished them before), therefore, in order that the distinctions of the understanding and of the will may be more clearly perceived I will here present some truths, to the end that it may be known of what quality adulteries of the reason or the understanding are, and after that of what quality adulteries of the will are. The following may serve for the cognizance of them." (Conjugial Love, 490)

There follows a list of four things, but this Number is marked as the tenth in a series of eighteen things. We may first draw an outline of the eighteen propositions and sub-propositions, as is given in the Table of Contents to Conjugal Love drawn up by the translator or editor. A related activity for study is to extract propositions wherever they can be noticed and to transform them into a language of our own thinking and reasoning, so as to better to insure that we understand them with our own intelligence and are able to instruct others concerning them. As an illustration of this activity let us take up the four sub-propositions presented in Number 490 which regard the nature of the interaction between our will and our understanding. In this exercise it is helpful to remember that the will represents the affective domain: that is, the good of love and its attendant affections, strivings, and motives, while the understanding represents the cognitive domain: that is, the truth of faith and its attendant thoughts, reasonings, principles, and value ideals.

13.12.5 Seeing Through Sacred Scripture

The external, physical body of Sacred Scripture is finite and appears to us today in the form of ordinary printed books. As we read a chapter, verse, or phrase in the positive bias attitude, we are presented with a natural-historical content that we can picture with material ideas in our natural imagination or automatic self. For instance, a verse in the New Testament Sacred Scripture says that "He send the rain upon the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). From the physical content of this verse we can derive material ideas such as: that God is a He; that He is the Giver of rain; that there is rain; that we get rain because He sends it; that we all get rain from Him even when we are unjust in our dealings with others; that we can be either just or unjust. These are material ideas or implications drawn from the physical sense of the verse. Through the method of correspondence revealed and taught in the Third Testaments (that is, the Writings of Swedenborg) our rational is empowered to see through the external-natural sense of the verse, and into its spiritual interiors. This occurs when we are told what the spiritual meaning is of "rain," "God sending rain," and "the unjust and the just."

When we read Sacred Scripture our natural, automatic self sees its historical, physical things; but our rational-spiritual self sees its spiritual things. Whenever water is mentioned in Sacred Scripture (and there are hundreds of passages) it is mentioned in some particular form: rain, river, ocean, ice, flood, spring rain, autumn rain, well, fountain, and so on, as well as specific activities in connection with water: drinking it, washing with it, not having enough of it, changing it into wine, gathering it into one place, and so on. In all these passages Sacred Scripture is actually discussing Divine Truth and the influx of Divine Truth into people where it shows as understanding, intelligence, thinking, reasoning, and all the other cognitive operations of our mind. Each specific reference to water in some form and associated with some specific activity, signifies some specific intellectual operation. By collecting all the passages of Sacred Scripture that discuss water, and interpreting them in accordance with revealed correspondences, we are gaining many details regarding the true but hidden operations of our intellectual apparatus. The verse we are considering thus means, spiritually, that God is the source of all truth in our understanding, in our ability to reason, and that all people receive this ability, both those who have religion and those who deny it.

We shall quote from a number of passages illustrating this principle of analysis. The passages were culled from Potts' well known Concordance of the Writings of Swedenborg: (the numbers refer to the location of the paragraphs in the Arcana Coelestia, a 12 vol. work by Swedenborg)

(24) "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it distinguish between the waters and the waters" (Genesis 1:6) ... The knowledges in the internal man are called 'the waters above the expanse'; and the scientifics of the external man, 'the waters under the expanse!"

(27) "These knowledges (in the external memory) are 'the waters gathered together in one place,' and 'are called seas' (vers. 9,10).

(28) 'Waters' in Sacred Scripture=Knowledges and scientifics.

(57) 'The waters going out of the sanctuary' (Ezekiel 47:12) =the life and memory of the Lord. (=the truths which confer intelligence).

(382) 'To wander to drink waters' (Amos 4:8) = to seek for what is true.

(680) 'Water' (John 4) = the spiritual things of faith.

(847) 'The waters had receded from upon the earth, in going

and returning' (Genesis 8:3) = fluctuations between truth and falsity.

(2240) 'They found no waters' (Jeremiah 14:3) = no knowledges of truth.

(2702) 'The afflicted and the needy seek waters, and there are none' (Isaiah 41:17) = the desolation of truth (= those who long for the knowledges of good and truth. 10227).

(4926) 'The waters of the lower fish-pool' (Isaiah 22:9) = the traditions by means of which they have made breaches in the truths of Sacred Scripture.

(7322) 'Stretch thy hand over the waters of Egypt' (Exodus 7:19) = the exercise of spiritual power over the falsities which are infesting.

(8368) 'There were twelve springs of water' (Exodus 15:27) = truths in all abundance.

(9468) 'The waters of separation and expiation' (Numbers 19:6) = purification and withdrawal from evils and falsities by means of truths and goods from Sacred Scripture.

(10242) 'When entering the Tent... they shall wash with waters' (Exodus 30:20) = (when in) worship (there must be) purification by means of the truths of faith.

"These passages are only a few of the many listed and it is not possible to fully understand them without reading the explanations that go with them; nevertheless, the reader may have an idea from these as to the amazing details that the method of correspondences allows us to extract from Sacred Scripture on any one subject. It is evident to anyone who studies the Writings of Swedenborg that in Sacred Scripture there is to be found an unlimited source of information concerning the self in our dual citizenship, that is, our external-natural self and our internal-spiritual self-. It is also evident that these correspondences are not arbitrary but derive from the organic connection between the two worlds of our citizenship. The Writings of Swedenborg teach a method of rational picturing so that phrases and words of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture Sacred Scripture can be seen in their interiors. Through this method the phrases and words of Sacred Scripture become windows and doors into the other world we also live in. The interiors we see in all Sacred Scripture are also the interiors of ourselves. The details we see there constitute the science and knowledge of of ourselves and our life situation.

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

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

This is Good News, indeed, for the scientist! See our work on Scientific Dualism.

13.12.6 The Secret Code of Correspondences in the Bible

Religious psychology works through the methodology the positive bias. This approach was meticulously practiced by Emanuel Swedenborg in all his scientific, philosophic, theological, and personal literature. These are available in English translation of his many published and unpublished writings, including letters, drafts, and personal diaries not meant for publication by the author. We estimate from public libraries records in the United States that he must be among the top five all time writers in the history of the world with several hundred titles to his name. His books, though not in entirety, appear in the holdings of most public libraries in the English speaking world. These books for the most part have been published and sold or donated to the libraries by the Swedenborg Foundation of New York, established in 1850 by a few people who felt strongly that Swedenborg's books ought to be made available to anyone who was willing to accept them as serious scientific and theological writings by an enlightened man.

The Foundation also produces multi-media works in films, television productions, art, and so on) which strive to bring to the public's attention that in Swedenborg's ideas the world may draw influences which are positive, creative, and altruistic. The Foundation has gathered historical documents and literature extracts from many famous literary and political figures who have declared to be greatly influenced by Swedenborg's writings. Selecting from that list, we may mention here the following:

Honore de Balzac, Charles Baudelaaire, Hector Berlioz, Hon. John Bigelow, William Blake, Robert Browning, Elisabeth Browning, Thomas Carlyle, Andrew Carnegie, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Sir. A. Conan Doyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin, Johann Goethe, Heinrich Heine, Elbert Hubbard, Victor Hugo, all three James's, Abraham Lincoln, J. Ramsay MacDonald, Maurice Maeterlinck, Horace Mann, Czeslaw Milosz, John Frederick Oberlin, Sir Isaac Pitman, Edgar Allen Poe, Ezra Pound, George Sand, Friedrich Schelling, George Bernard Shaw, Sundar Singh, August Sdrindberg, Daisetz Suzuki, Henry D. Thoreau, H.G. Wells, John Wesley, William Butler Yeats.

This partial list is sufficient to show that the documentation of Swedenborgian biographers and scholars establish the fact that the positive bias in scientific and literary thinking has been steadily forming within the rational of the English speaking peoples since 1757, the year identified by Swedenborg as marking a new beginning for humankind. This was the year during which he was given by Divine intervention to be the wit ness from earth to this mind-shattering event. In that year took place the long awaited Christian hope of the Second Coming of Christ. Only, it was missed by everybody on this planet -except Baron Swedenborg, Swedish Nobleman and reputed European Scientist-Engineer.

Swedenborg then took down on paper everything he witnessed. Being an impeccably honest and intellectually meticulous genius, Swedenborg produced several hundred titles, or about 50 volumes in modern English print, telling of what he saw and experienced during 27 years of conscious dual citizenship; that is, he was living simultaneously in both this world and the world of the afterlife. These volumes demonstrate to the rationally inquisitive person that the Second Coming of Christ was meant to be in the rational of each human being on earth. The Second Advent begins a new organic evolution in the consciousness of the human race. This new organic growth of the mind will undoubtedly be discovered by future researchers in neurosciences. A similar new beginning had occurred before in the history of civilization, when the separation of the organ of the will and the organ of the understanding took place: this spiritual event in the formation of the human mind was followed by the growth of a new brain called the cortex, which in humans, now outweighs the old brain called the cerebellum. The cortex is the new seat for human rationality and freedom. Since the Second Coming of Christ is a rational new organ of the mind, it is likely that the changes in the human brain will not be as gross as before, but will take biochemical and genetic forms that adequately represent the subtlety and mathematical complexity of this new spiritual organ in our mind.

Whatever the case may be as to its physical symptoms, the psychological significance of this new era is immediately obvious and capable of being utilized for creative and altruistic purposes. Because our human destiny was carried out by this eminent ambassador, the writings of Swedenborg constitute a common property to all mankind. The historical and intellectual preparation has now been going on for more than two centuries. Many of our most influential thinkers have confessed being tremendously influenced by these writings and have used the ideas contained in them for personal understanding, creativity, and hope. Their ideas have filtered down and across the echelons of society. And so it is inevitable that ideas from the writings of this man are bringing about a complete and total revolution in all fields and departments of human endeavor.

Religious psychology is another instance of the effect of this new rational self which each of us is given by the infinite grace of God. Until this rational was granted, there was no possible way of forging a unity between science and religion in the modern world. This modern world was made possible through the First Coming of Christ which liberated humankind from spiritual infestations or disease. As history instructs, the nations of the world at the time of the Roman Empire were moral barbarians. Civilization was destroying itself through the capacity of men to make greater wars. This cruelty and materialistic outlook were the result of spiritual insanity caused by possessions and ii stations from the hells. The Bible is a record of such possessions, though this was not known except for a few openly mentioned cases in the New Testament Sacred Scripture. But in fact, once the secret code of "correspondences" is revealed in the new rational, it becomes apparent that the Bible for the most part was written in a double language: one for the natural intelligence, and another for the new rational. In other words, the historical events and sceneries depicted in the Bible were inspired and preserved by Divine intervention; this minute selection or Divine editing, was accomplished for the specific purpose of creating a written-historical record of spiritual events.

This could not be believed logically if it had been an arbitrary code revealed to or by one person. Such personal revelations have been advanced by many people and will no doubt continue to be. These personal claims at revelation are believed only by those who are willing to be persuaded by something less than one's own authority Swedenborg explains that we cannot use anything that has not been personally acquired for oneself. The only ideas and ideals that we appropriate internally are those which serve our loves or affections. This means that whatever we experience as a result of external stimulus is not our own, does not penetrate, will be lost; external stimulus means that we do things out of gain, reputation, or fear; internal stimulus means that we do things out of desire, love, worship, adoration, affection, striving, and so on.

The self-actualized people are those who live mostly from inner stimulus; hence they report that their lives are full, worth-while, happy, hopeful, and successful. By contrast, in their earlier stages of maturity they were anxious, worried, insecure, and conformist. Through normal mental growth, we act and experience more and more from inner impulse. What has been merely surface style and family habit now become personal expression. We come to discard many old beliefs, many old ways of doing things; but as well, we come to like more and more of the old things that we do retain. And so, these old things, which at first were external, now become inner impulse, inner habit, inner life. More and more of the unique genetic pattern of every individual comes outward and is expressed. Life in us bubbles with ever increasing force and wonderment.

When we accept a revelation or life perspective out of another's authority we cannot really honor it. We are just false witnesses and eventually we will go whoring after someone else's authority and cult. But when we accept some new idea from our own authority we can confirm it over and over again: we can prove it, we can support it, we don't have hesitancies about it, we can teach it to others, we can discover new places it applies to, and so on. This in other words, is the approach of science, engineering, and arts and crafts. From apprentice we must evolve into master; we have our own authority to rely on on matters of decision. The Christian Church established by the First Coming of Christ nurtured a belief system that has been called "blind faith." But this blind faith has now been healed through the Second Coming of Christ in the rational, so that we may have a rational faith rather than merely a blind one.

In the positive bias we admit that without this new rational we cannot break out from this world and must continue to be ignorant of our dual citizenship. However, with the positive bias freely adopted as a good method of procedure, we can experience and witness the birth and growth of rational faith, with its many benefits for individuals and communities. This rational faith is yet rational; that is, it proceeds like a scientist and scholar, on its own authority relying on logic, research, and evidence. From this cumulative perspective we easily discard false prophets and falsities that come to our attention. And so, this is the significance of the Writings of Swedenborg, that they teach a system of ideas that turns everyone into a scientist-scholar-engineer-practitioner. There is no cultism or blind faith permitted.

Rational faith, as found in the Writings of Swedenborg, is therefore the unification of science, morality, and religion. It is thus a faith universal, for all humankind, such as there once existed on this planet, and still exists on other "earths in the universe." It is satisfying to those who are in rational faith that the Bible is the source of it, rather than some entirely new and alien system. Besides its harmony with our moral and aesthetic sensibilities and standards, the Bible is an old familiar object to many many generations. Its histories and allegories, its poems and aphorisms, its proverbs and drama, are all familiar to numerous people over thousands of years. And so we have evolved complex affections that tie us to the Bible, each of us in slightly different ways. So it is satisfying now to discover that these familiar people, places, and events are allegoric representatives of the great immensity of our own mind. We have a Land of Canaan in our mind. We have a river Jordan. We have deserts and cities in our mind. We are at one time Abraham, at one time Ishmael, at one time Joseph sold into slavery and at another time Joseph made king. We are also Nicodemus, and Thomas, and Peter, and Gabriel, and the Devil. We are all these things because these things are really about the spiritual world. The historical events that have been-recorded in the-Bible occurred and were historicalized so that they can serve as a source of authority for our new rational, a new organ foreseen by God Who prepared for its reception.

One may wonder at such a grandioze drama: God preparing daily, historical events for many centuries in far away lands so that prophets may be inspired to record them * so that blind faith can develop, so that later, rational faith could be built upon it by opening up the secret code in which it was written all along, unbeknownst to the prophets or the believers! Yes, one may wonder at the fantastic nature of this. Yet after we study the matter and develop our new rational a little bit, the matter no longer looks improbable or fantastic. Consider how improbable and fantastic moonwalks, television, and hot showers would be to ancient philosophers and scientists. We can see that these artifacts are not improbable and fantastic, suddenly come upon, like in a fairy story. We can see that our technical advances have been "advances" and we can confidently retrace the steps of our discoveries. There is no hocus pocus or denus ex machine: by the sweat of our brow did we arrive at them, communally. So we feel that we own our technologies: they were not given to us by revelators, magicians, and ells. This feeling of ownership is essential for our freedom and rationality, for our very humanness. And so this is precisely what God is again accomplishing in our new growth, our new powers: we need to feel that they are ours, that we developed them cumulatively and communally.

It is not fantastic and improbable that the Bible be the foundation for the new rational intellect since the Bible is unique in that so many of us are tied to it through our inner affections, our standards for what is good and true and desirable. As well, we soon begin to realize that this secret code in which the Bible was written is not an arbitrary code God picked to give us as a strange new system of thought, feeling, and reasoning. Rather, this secret code is in actuality the origin and source of our long derived system of thinking throughout the nations on this planet. When this secret, universal code is not known the Bible cannot be acceptable to all peoples. Every people has its own culture and system of ideas and traditions. Those who have evolved from a cousin stock feel themselves independently secure; they don't wish to be told that God selected some other set of traditions and truths and their own is to be discarded, having been a fake all along. This is both unfair and irrational. And so, the Bible has not become universal, only international and cross-cultural. Those who hope from blind faith that the Bible be accepted by all, do so from ignorance of its secret code. Those who have studied this secret code through the Writings of Swedenborg can see clearly that the code it is written in is universal, not historical and national. The importance of the Bible is not that there was a people called Israel, that Abraham was its patriarch, that they had a land and kings, that they were dispersed among the nations, and so on. This is merely local history. But it becomes universal science when it is discovered that the "people of Israel" is a secret name for the "Church within us", that "Abraham" is a secret name for "our inner self", that "patriarch" is a secret name for "religion", that "land" is a secret name for "doctrines" or "teachings" or "knowledge", that "king" is a secret name for "truths", that "being dispersed among the nations" is a secret name for "having false religious beliefs", and so on. Viewed from this perspective the Bible is not at all sectarian, not even religious, if by that one means some denomination. Rather, the Bible is now a source of knowledge, a source of facts about the inner world of every human being, without ever an exception.

All Sacred Scriptures constitute the source of knowledge for religious psychology. It is not possible to discover a single fact about the inner world of the afterlife except from these sources. This is not a matter of authority. We are not elevating the authority of the Bible or of Swedenborg over some other person such as the prophets of Islam or the sages of Buddhism. It's just that no other books in the history of the world exist that were written in this secret code. This is a matter that can easily be proven once the code is known. This secret code is called "correspondences" because it is the code that the most ancient cultures on this planet were given when learning the ancient science of correspondences. This code and knowledge was subsequently forgotten or taken away by Divine intervention for reasons that can be made clear and are made clear in the Writings of Swedenborg.

Through his specialty given travels in the afterlife, Swedenborg was able to converse with those in the afterlife. He discovered that all those in the afterlife are the people who depart from their physical bodies upon death`: end find themselves resuscitated a few hours later in the spirit world, possessing to their surprise, a spiritual body that appears externally to be very similar to the physical body. The resuscitated people then undergo various growth experiences which by the law and order of the spirit world takes them eventually to a final residence in a society of happiness called Heaven or a society of bestiality called hell. Those who end up in one of the many heavenly societies do so by discarding all things of falsity and evil; this discarding process is slow and painful and involves much personal struggle in the company of others. However, when the process is complete, there remains in the individual personality only those loves and pleasures that are permitted by law in the heavenly societies. Those who end up in the hellish societies do so by willingly and insistently discarding heavenly pleasures and powers, and willingly and insistently confirming as desirable only those pleasures and powers that are in accordance to the law of the hellish societies. These two loves and pleasures are antagonistic to each other, hence they are separated in our final development. God provides for the law and reality on both sides. These matters are clearly and precisely explained in all the Writings of Swedenborg.

The most ancient peoples had a conscious relation to the heavenly inhabitants through their ancestors who appeared to them in their dreams, their meditations, and their observations of nature through the secret code of correspondences. This code allowed the ancients to observe a natural event in their environment and see the spiritual or real cause of it. If a bird suddenly appeared, they could tell from the flight and from the type of bird what was happening in the spiritual regions of their own minds. They thus saw a unity between the external world and their inner world of thoughts and feelings. They instantly knew what anything meant through this code. Swedenborg reports that this code is a practical reality for everyone in the afterlife. For instance, the inhabitants of heaven do not have to labor in the fields, grow food, build houses, invent transportation devices. These things are instantaneously there whenever they feel a need or desire for it.

The inhabitants of hell cannot make or invent anything on their own: no matter how hard they labor on their own they cannot build a single house or make a wearable garment. This is not because they have no intelligence but because intelligence cannot be used materially in the afterlife. People in the hellish societies use their intelligence in spiritual or irrational ways. For instance, they may plot, they may harangue, they may travel, they may discuss, they may seduce, persuade, mentally torture, fantasize, and so and so on. These are their actual occupations and daily strivings and pleasures; the external world around them then grows automatically into the correspondences of whatever moral, psychological, spiritual acts they perform on the inside. If they stop to plot revenge in their mind against someone they hate, suddenly they find themselves in dark caves with others who have a similar desire; bats and snakes and disgusting crawling things appear and form the external world. If then they stop plotting and feel they want to raise an army, they find themselves in some vaguely familiar city, with some vaguely familiar people, or strangers, sitting in some dark, dirty room and engaging in disgusting activities. This is the science of correspondences in the afterlife: it is the creation of one's external world through the confirmed loves of our heart and imagination.

Similarly, the inhabitants of heaven are surrounded by gorgeous natural correspondences to their pure moral altruistic loves for the whole human race. As they are engaged in pleasing one another, they find themselves in pleasant gardens, in fabulous jeweled cities, in horseless carriages that take them quickly to where they want to see others. When they study Sacred Scripture, which is the inner meaning of-the Bible (not the historical events), they experience great revelations, wonderful discoveries, new perspectives; these types of feelings instantly transform their external environment into lush gardens, sumptuously set tables with delicious foods harmonious performances of song and dance, new books and schools, non-competitive games and exhibits, new techniques and sciences, and many many more, to infinity.

This is then the truly great significance of the fact that the Bible was written in the language of correspondences. This knowledge is now newly made available once again to-humankind on this earth. That is the birth of the new rational faith which is available to all humanity in and through the Writings Sacred Scripture.

Now we may wonder, first, why did the human race lose the knowledge of correspondences, and second, what can we-do with it now. The answer as to why we lost correspondences is told through the code in the story of the Fall in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, through the story of the Flood, through the story of the dispersion of Israel, through the story of Daniel's visions and adventures, through the story of John's visions in the New Testament Sacred Scripture, and through many more events described in the Bible. The secret code taught in the Writings Sacred Scripture allows us to decode and interpret exactly what each element in the stories indicate about the evolution of our mind, that is, the state of our dual citizenship. The Fall, the Flood, the Dispersion, the destructions -- these are natural correspondences or resultants of inner spiritual events. The-natural events occurred by Divine law and order since they signified the spiritual reality; nothing ever happened except what represented and corresponded with the people's inner reality of thoughts and feelings.

The Writings Sacred Scripture are thus not religious revelations alone, but rational-scientific disclosures as well. The new rational in the positive bias method may discover the real nature of the universe. God is not only the foundation of religion but a fact of reality, and hence a scientific fact. God's Will and Power is not a philosophy or belief, but the structure and framework of actuality in time and nature, and in human mind and eternity (see Section xx).

How can we make use of this new knowledge? Religious psychology is the study of how this new rational understanding and knowledge may be harnessed in accordance with God's law and order. Its promise is infinite.

13.12.7 Revelation About the Affective and the Cognitive

The first sub-proposition can be paraphrased as follows:

(1) The will acts only through the understanding.

Now we may give a few related transformations each of which express a similar meaning in the sense of the letter:

(1a) The affective acts only through the cognitive, and cannot act on its own.

(b) Our intentions act only through our thoughts.

(id) Bad motives act only through false assumptions.

(le) Charitable deeds act only through trues of faith.

etc.

The second sub-proposition can be paraphrased as follows:

(2) The understanding acts only from the will.

Some paraphrastic transformations of this in the sense of the letter are as follows:

(2a) The cognitive acts from the affective, that is, the affective is primary.

(2b) All our thoughts come from our affections.

(2c) How we reason is governed by how we feel.

(2d) What we uphold as true is decided by our loves.

(2e) Our principles reflect our intentions.

(2f) Our value ideals come from our desires.

etc.

The third sub-proposition may be paraphrased in the sense of the letter as follows:

(3) The will inflows into the understanding.

Alternate ways we can phrase this:

(3a) The affective inflows into the cognitive, that is, the affective selects its appropriate cognitive response.

(3b) Our love controls our reasoning, and not the other way around.

(3c) Our affections rule our thoughts, but not the reverse.

(3d) Our desires determine our methods, but not the other way round.

(3e) Our cupidities rule our false beliefs, not the reverse.

etc.

The fourth sub-proposition can be given the following paraphrase in its literal sense:

(4) Will and understanding conjoin in two ways: will within the understanding is more interior than understanding within the will.

Now for some paraphrases of this:

(4a) The affective and the cognitive are connected in two modes: affective within the cognitive, which is higher in the control hierarchy than the secondary mode, namely, the cognitive within the affective.

(4b) Intentions and justifications have two relations: the stronger relation occurs when intentions rule the justifications; a weaker relation occurs when justifications appear to rule the intentions.

(4c) When our desires govern our methods we are more confirmed in that way than when our methods appear to govern our desires.

(4d) When our ends govern the means we are more committed than when our means appear to govern our ends.

(4e) (The relation may also be represented by a diagram:

(4f) If our motives seduce our reason we are more confirmed in our guilt than if our reason seduces our motives.

(4g) If our intention leads us to compromise our principle we are more guilty than if our principle leads us to compromise our intention.

(4h) If our goods lead to our trues we are in a more advanced state of regeneration than the reverse situation.

(4i) It is more confirming to adjust our principles to our loves than the other way round.

etc.

Additional study of these and other relations may be found in these two documents:

As we are undergoing regeneration by the Lord we repeatedly enter into and regress from more advanced states. Hence our vision or perception is at times relatively elevated and sublime and at other times it is uninspired and obscure. These are appearances provided by the Lord in which we may learn to confirm matters in the interior sense of the Third Testament.

This activity of confirming the inner senses of Sacred Scripture is carried out during religious self-inspection. In our marital transactions we perceive our distance from conjugial love. The size of this distance informs us in a specific way what our temptations are so that we may disapprove of them and thereby perceive ourselves as freely co-operating with the Lord. Herein lie our rationality and our freedom.

Religious self-inspection in marital transactions provides illustrations of the meaning of the matters which the Third Testament deals with in its inner senses. As an example let us take the concept of marriage and the idea we have of it in the three successive degrees of the Church within us. In the state of the Old Church we are affected by Sacred Scripture of the Lord declaring that the twain shall be one flesh. We see this as an instruction to be loyal partners to one another and a promise of happiness together. This ideal spurns us on to resist infidelity and to expect the benefits of a lifelong association with each other. We see ourselves as pulling together for the same goals and, in hours of anger or disappointment with each other, we pray to the Lord to have mercy upon us. This is the marital condition in the state of the Old Church within us and the sense of the letter of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture confirms this view.

Now as we are given by the Lord to enter the state of the New Church within our marital transactions, we experience a different view. We now know about the concepts of conjugial and scortatory love. We strive to dissociate ourselves from quarrels and disharmonies, attributing them to evil spirits that haunt us. We long for the day when the Lord will deliver us of spirit infestations so that we may no longer have to suffer strife and discord. With the knowledge of correspondences, and memorable relations, we search out the meaning of marriage the Lord gave when He was on earth as it is recorded in the New Testament Sacred Scripture. We now see that "the twain shall be one flesh" in a new sense and we have full confidence that the Lord will manage us to conjugial love when we get to our Heaven.

We strengthen ourselves in this expectation and resolve not to complain about imperfections down here below. Eventually we receive an altogether different view from the Lord when we are ready to enter the third degree of the Ultimate church within us. There is no longer a distance between the Lord and us so that He ceases to be in our mind a Busybody governing a gigantic estate, and we see Him instead working our marriage transactions in an interior way. He is the One, not us, to improve our marriage. He it is Who labors and fights discords; He is the General and the Soldiers on both sides of the apparent conflict. He manages our guardian angles from Heaven and our evil spirits from hell. There is not a single transaction which He does not initiate and complete. We are self-witnessing puppets affected with the delusion of Self. But note: not mere puppets, but self-witnessing puppets. We are called upon to approve or disapprove of the appearances in the Works. Each approval or disapproval is to be purified by Sacred Scripture. This is the state in which we can perceive the sense of conjugial love. This sense regards the appearances that are given by the Lord in our daily marital transaction as a representation of the Lord's Grand Master Plan, that He operates. It is a blueprint of how the Lord intends the universe to be, how angels from Heaven and spirits from Hell play out the serious drama in our marital transactions, and how our marital transactions fit into God's Plan. This is a vision of the endless song which the universe signifies.

Without specific illustrations the character of this endless song remains in obscurity, embedded in generalities that are quite theoretical and insubstantial. But with the perception of actual cases in our own transactions, the interior sense and life of these generalities shine through. This is not a retrospective perception such as that we have when we are in the New Church state. Rather, it is an ongoing self-witnessing during religious self-inspection. When we are together as marital partners we observe with our external rational self that, within the time span of an hour, we exchange thousands of transactions. Thoughts, gestures, emotions, expectations, habitual sequences -- all succeed one another at a rate too fast to record in our external memory. Yet not one of them in all eternity is without some specific significance, brought about by the Lord to represent to us some aspect of our actuality, our being, and the way to our future angelic character and placement in the Grand Human.

The sequence of our transactions represents an Order into which we are uniquely created; each married pair is unique, and is being created to eternity for a unique and particular locus or spot in the Grand Human. In our transactions there is reproduced a spiritual geography, our unique road to Heaven. By witnessing our daily transactions with others we perceive the map of Heaven and our way to it as long as our self-witnessing is a religious self-inspection based on doctrine from Sacred Scripture. Any other motive for self-observation and self-exploration would not uncover this map. Instead, unbeknownst to the person, one would construct fantastic maps that serve to represent the dreamer’s associations with the Hells rather than the way to the Heaven for which we were created. And so, by the Lord's infinite Love and Wisdom, the Cheruvim now guard the entrance to the interior sense of the Third Testament as they once guarded the interior sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture.

13.12.8 Studying the Psychology of Inner Life

Sound the trumpet! Praise Him!
Praise Him, Lord Almighty
Voices lifted, praise Him, praise Him,
Shout forever.
Sun and moon both join the swelling song,
Lord of Heaven, hear the song.
Sound the trumpet! Praise Him!
Praise Him, praise our God.
Join the shout of angels,
Sing we, "Holy, Holy, Holy."
Every land and every tongue unite
To sing the endless song.
All the honor, all the honor,
All the praise forever.

(from St. Anthony's Chorale) (Coronet Press)

Our intention in this essay is to outline the psychology of religious life as viewed from self-inspection. These contain observations of the inner life of self as viewed through the light of Sacred Scripture. All of us have an inner life which is personal, intimate, familiar; yet it is not as readily available to observation as the interpersonal environment is. Think of the objects around us we can all see and the sounds we can all hear entering us through our external senses. These we can easily describe or communicate or agree upon. Even some rational things which cannot be seen with the external senses are easily communicable and discussible. Think of our many exchanges on abstract topics like politics, or sports, or literary criticism, or scientific writings, or relationship stages in the biography of a couple: none of these is physical or material that can penetrate through the external senses. They are beliefs, opinions, roles, expectations, approval and disapproval. These are rational things and they make up part of the interpersonal world. Though they are abstract, non-physical, or rational, we readily observe them and can discuss them. Language allows us to discuss rational ideas not observable through the external senses, because they are not physical.

But there is also a category of rational things that is not easily observable or discussible. These are not from the inter-personal world, but from the personal and intimate world of the individual's inner life. This inner life is made up of our sensations, emotions, thoughts, reasonings, ideas, feelings, desires, attractions, affections, and loves. This inner life has content and it has dynamics.

13.12.9 Content and Dynamics of Inner Life

The content of inner life is describable or knowable through titles we readily give to any event in our experience, or to any quality we observe. Think of what you are doing now, or were doing a few seconds ago. One might say, for instance, that "I was writing," or that “I was listening to the sound of cars going by outside," or that "I was readjusting my body position on the chair," or that "I was wondering where this line of reasoning will lead me," and so on. One may intuitively grasp this idea of the content of inner life by thinking of a library. It is not only stacked with books and periodicals but it is also arranged in a certain order. This order is describable or knowable through a catalogue. As we search through the catalogue of a modern academic library we are faced with a definite order of topics and their interconnections or cross-references. By getting to know this order, or cataloguing system, we can find any book or periodical we want; we can find any article on any topic, and thus we come into contact with the intellectual history and culture of our nation and of the human race.

We can say therefore that in order to get to know our inner life we need to study the available information, that is, its content. But this content may not be available in the books or periodicals of a library. To get to know the content of our own intentions, reasonings, and emotions, we need to observe them directly. This is an empirical scientific issue of methodology, objectivity and validity. In the language of modern psychology, we need to observe our motives (affective behavior), our thoughts (cognitive behavior), and our sensations and motor actions (sensorimotor behavior) in everyday living. By observing and taxonomizing, or cataloguing, this living information on our inner life we can construct theories and models that can explain the interconnections in this inner life. For example, a theory can show that the thoughts we have are aroused and guided by the feelings we have, and it can further investigate the origins of these feelings, perhaps relating the feelings to deeper affections of character or personality. At this point, with the help of theory, we begin to perceive a new content not seen before. This is a higher content, still more rational, yet real and perhaps more crucial. We may think of this deeper content of inner life as the dynamics of it, pictured as follows:

On the left, the content of inner life is held together by its dynamics. The deeper part of content, namely dynamics, plays a more crucial function in the sense of. control or self-management. This primacy is pictured on the right of the diagram by placing dynamics above content. The two parts of the diagram together portray the idea that there is a depth or height to inner life. What is deeper is also higher and more interior, while what is external is also lower. (For more discussion on the "height" and "breath" of discourse, consult this article: Ethnographic Discourse Methodology)

As we begin to observe the content of our motivational life, cognitive life, and sensorimotor life we develop theories or explanations for this life, and through these theories we can see the dynamics of this life. This greater understanding of our inner life leads to new rational insights, new visions of ourselves, which then come back down to us as creative solutions to problems or a more effective conduct of our external life. Here, inner study pays off not only in greater inner contentment and enjoyment but in outer gain as well. We not only become better to ourselves but more useful to others. This double gain makes the study of inner life useful to society and may eventually develop in the future as a science and field of community service. (For a description of this rational society and how to build it, see our efforts in creating a community-classroom in social psychology.)

It may be pointed out that modern psychology is still in its beginning phase from the point of view of history. Think of what the science of psychology may be like five or ten thousand years from now! The experimental science of psychology has greatly advanced in the first two or three centuries since its inception. But this gain has occurred mainly in the field of inter-personal environment. There are now hundreds of sub-fields in psychology each specializing in the knowledge and control of some area of the interpersonal environment. For example, there is a "social psychology" which studies family and city life; there is "educational psychology" which tries to advance our ability to teach in public schools; there is "psychopharmacology" which investigates how drugs affect people; there is "sports psychology" and so on.

All these modern "psychologies" share the method of interpersonal observation as the sole source of information for their theories. In "clinical psychology," for instance, which studies how a therapist might best influence our thoughts and behaviors, the source of all information is the therapist or the experimenter. Various methods are employed by the clinical psychologist to attempt to see or infer the thoughts and feelings of clients and subjects. Note that in this approach it is not permitted for the experimenter or therapist to offer their own inner life as the source of the data. Within such a restriction, good or effective theories of inner life have not yet emerged in modern psychology. This is plainly evidenced by the fact that clinical psychologists are not capable to readily modify the thoughts, feelings, and motivations of their clients. Whatever influence they may have is slight and of uncertain duration and extent. The reason is that clinical, social, and educational psychologists are faced with individuals who refuse to change and resist or oppose attempts at changing them. As modern psychology continues to evolve, we predict that it will be able to incorporate other methods of gathering information on the inner life. In particular, think of the information psychologists can gain from observing their own inner life, and building theories of the self based directly on these data. It's curious that psychologists have rejected this approach, believing it to be unreliable. But perhaps the real reason behind that is that they have a distaste for it. This claim may be better ascertained as you proceed through this essay.

There have been earlier attempts to study the mental operations of individuals known as the method of introspection. This approach has gone out of style in American psychology at around the turn of this century and there is virtually no legitimate outlet for it anymore. A psychologist who would build a theory of the self based on introspection may not have a place to publish it or teach it. An example in our case has been the persistent refusal of journal editors in psychology and psychiatry to publish our paper The Private World of the Driver: Affective, Cognitive, and Sensorimotor on the grounds that the data are not acceptable. This attitude contrasts of course with the humanities where self-witnessing experiences become of chief interest in literature, biography, art, poetry, drama, and even philosophy. We predict that the future will bring more and more successful attempts at constructing theories based on self-witnessing, with useful applications to community life. (You may consult one of our attempts at this in a paper called Workbook for the Study of Social Psychology.)

This essay is concerned with religious psychology, which is a scientific field as yet in its very infancy. It is not even recognized as a scientific field by the majority of American psychologists. There is a Division of the American Psychological Association called "Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues," of which I have become a member. However, this aspect of psychology is engaged in the study of religious issues to others, but not yet the religious experiences of the psychologist. Once again, the method of approach is inter-personal rather than intra-personal. One may look upon this essay as our attempt to build toward a truly objective religious psychology in which the data are directly observed from one's own source of inner life. (We may mention here the well-received books of contemporary psychologist Dr. Wilson Van Dusen (published by the Swedenborg Foundation), an avid reader and enthusiastic writer about Swedenborg. However, we make a distinction between his approach which we call "secular Swedenborgianism" and ours, which we call "religious Swedenborgianism." See this article.)

In the future we expect that psychology as a science will evolve theories and methods that will allow one's own inner life to be the source of data. Under such a method psychology and religion can intersect without one harming the integrity of the other. Religion offers ethnic and cultural content, while religious psychology is above ethnicity at a level where ethnicity does not reach in the depth of the mind. Religion is sectarian and divisive, though it need not be. Religious psychology is universal and unifying. This essay is an attempt to share with readers the results of our self-witnessings in the area of inner religious life. By elaborating the content and dynamics of religious affections and reasonings we hope to contribute to the development of a methodology for the science of religious psychology. What made this effort possible was our discovery in 1981 of the methodology to be found in the Writings of Swedenborg (1688-1772). This intellectual giant of the Age of Reason has left behind an imposing legacy of Writings on the psychology of inner religious life. It is known that these Writings have influenced a great many figures of British and American literature including Coleridge, Blake, Emerson and the three James', especially Henry James, Sr. who wrote several treatises on Swedenborg and tried to defend his system from attack and ridicule. Swedenborg's theological and psychological Works in modern English translation comprise a set of 30 volumes. After studying them intensely for several years we are convinced that we can find in them a useful methodology for establishing a science of religious psychology. The burden of this essay will be to establish this claim upon solid foundations.

The subject matter of this Volume is the study of one’s own inner life. It presents a perspective which views the religious life of the person as all pervasive. It shows how the inner life of thoughts and feelings is a spiritual life. Leon used to think, like so many in this generation, that the spiritual is something rare that one must look for in special places, or that the spiritual is something we experience when in a brief moment of ecstasy, and many other such nonsense. One of the students asked one day, "Dr. James, you mentioned the spiritual. What is spiritual?" And in the middle of Leon's long-winded lecture-answer, he suddenly and desperately realized that he did not know. As a psychologist that is. And all he had to do is to say simply: The spiritual is the same as the psychological. Mind is spirit. "Psyche" means mind, hence psychology concerns itself with the spiritual. The mind-body problem is one of the oldest and best debated topics in psychology textbooks, and in the historical literature before us. You can say mind-body problem or natural-spiritual problem, and they would be essentially equivalent. The body is natural or, material and physical, while the mind is spiritual or, immortal and substantive, as in the following Table:

BODY	MIND
material	substantive
physical	spiritual
temporary	eternal
effect	cause
subsequent	prior

The orientation of religious psychology is rational, scientific and pragmatic. The theories it presents are rationally to be evaluated by others, and errors of fact and prediction can be uncovered in them and corrected progressively. It is empirical in method in that systematic data are to be gathered for confirming principles and propositions. Its theories are to be progressively elaborated by researchers, students, and scholars. As well, it has direct applications to society, particularly in self-help psychology, in educational institutions and in child rearing practices.

Religious Psychology may thus be viewed as a developing scientific field or a perhaps a science of the future. It ought to be clearly distinguished from both Religion and Psychology. Religions are necessarily denominational, cultural, sectarian, and proselytizing. They are ethnic, cultural, historical institutions that guard specific norms and rituals through which each religion remains distinctively different from others and survives across generations. This process appears to be necessary to maintain an experiential environment that is suitable to the genetic varieties of spiritual genes.

Psychology in its current state appears inalienably wedded to the negative bias of materialistic monism by which it excludes the phenomena of spiritual life. Psychology maintains an orientation and a methodology that specifically deny and exclude any personal methods for confirming the propositions of revealed Sacred Scriptures or Writings. Sacred Scripture specifically asserts that no science, scholarship, or knowledge are possible without the revelations and propositions contained in them as Divine Truth.

Psychology does not allow us to first assume that Sacred Scriptures are absolute truths about the world, its origin and relation to God, sin, and life after death, Second, psychology does not allow us to try to confirm these truths through observation, scholarship, and theory. Instead, the method of materialistic psychology requires that we first assume that Sacred Scriptures are not necessarily true in their propositions about the world and people. This is essentially similar to the Null Hypothesis approach of proof in statistics. This involves that we assume that a relationship does not exist, when we know that it does, because we already looked at the data. It's a kind of logic game or ritual. For instance, if you want prove that a drug is effective, you first assume that it is not, and then point to the data to argue that it would be unreasonable to suppose that there is no relationship. Therefore there undoubtedly is one (or, at least with little doubt). Well, this strange ritual stands in the way of spiritual investigation, which is not possible when you deny it. This is because denial is spiritual, and spiritual acts on spiritual. The denial causes it to disappear. It is obvious and crystal clear, therefore, that religious psychology must operate by the positive bias methodology.

Religious psychology is in the positive bias orientation: it first assumes that all of Sacred Scriptures are composed of valid and true propositions, and then looks for methods by which to confirm these truths with our own observation and theory.

In this approach not a single proposition of Sacred Scriptures may be doubted or excluded from this blanket approval and positive bias. Why would you want to, knowing that this divine revelation created for your mind's ears? If something is puzzling or weird, it's much easier to think that we don't yet understand that part. This is especially true when we begin to see that all Sacred Scriptures are written in a symbolic code that lies hidden beneath the surface of the historical and natural descriptions and propositions. This is crucial to keep in mind. Religious psychology would not be possible if the language of all revelation were not written in this double code, one historical and natural, called the surface meaning or literal sense, and the other code, symbolic and spiritual, called the underlying meaning or inner sense. This inner sense is identical with religious psychology. It is information in the ancient code of correspondences that cements all natural languages through the symbolism of the sensory organs. Scholars have investigated these cross-sensory modalities under such topics as cross-modality transfer, synesthisia, synechdoche, metaphor, simile, and the like. (If this interests you, you may later want to check out a paper Leon wrote on the subject: The Affect of Symbols: Towards the Development of a Cross-Cultural Graphic Differential)

Interestingly, one's progress in the study and understanding of religious psychology is not determined by a knowing a body of knowledge that has accumulated through many researchers over time. In fact, the entire future knowledge is already available and accumulated by Divine creation. Think of it as mental library accessible conditionally through specified mental states. If you can put yourself into that mental state, you gain access to a sector of the spiritual library, depending on your motive, your curiosity, your current knowledge, and above all, your planned use of that information: is it for good, altruistic, or is it for evil, egotistical? Only positive socially beneficial motives for study allow access, while selfish motives deny access.

Also of interest is that religious psychology needs no special laboratory since its subject matter is life as it happens, the real world. If you're an actor, your play is the real world of economic gain for you, and social reputation, of course. If you're driving on a road, the real world is made of your decisions and choices as things happen, second by second. A parent disciplines a child; a parent hugs and comforts a child. The real world of experience and human choice is the laboratory for religious psychology.

It is clear then that Psychology and Religious Psychology are distinct from each other. As well, Religious Psychology is distinct from Religion in that Religious Psychology is non-denominational, non-sectarian, non-proselytizing, non-historical. It is cross-cultural, pan-human, and universal. It is a science in the positive bias method.

Religious Psychology is a scholarly discipline that is relevant to all religions, philosophies, and academic fields. In the future one may anticipate such new sciences in the positive bias method like “Religious Sociology," "Religious Engineering," "Religious Business & Management," Religious Biology," "Religious Crystallography," and so on. These religious sciences and disciplines are in the positive bias method in that they accept by premiss the truth of all propositions in genuine Sacred Scriptures. (You can later explore the relation we see between cyberspace and the spiritual world in this article on Spiritual Psychology

Some of the assumptions of Religious Psychology may be listed:

13.12.10 Twenty Propositions of Religious Psychology

(1) All nations and ethnic groups inherit particular religious affections (or tendencies) by heredity and tradition;

(2) Religious affections are organic spiritual phenomena and can be scientifically confirmed;

(3) Religious affections are the source of all rational and intellectual operations or capacities;

(4) Religious Commandments and Doctrines (or teachings) are specific techniques and guides for better
spiritual health and development, hence for better intellectual and emotional growth;

(5) False or adulterated religious beliefs degenerate intellectual and moral capacities and gradually wear down and destroy life and civilization;

(6) Religious affections and ideals govern societal goals and priorities;

(7) A genuine and effective religious life promotes intelligence, creativity, and societal and individual efficiency;

(8) Intellectual growth and health is totally dependent upon true religious concepts and ideas from Sacred
Scriptures;

(9) Human rationality and freedom are not possible without concepts and ideas from Sacred Scriptures learned in childhood and adulthood;

(10) True or genuine Sacred Scriptures exist for all cultures and ethnic groups even if they appear to each other as contradictory and oppositional;

(11) The concepts, ideas, and propositions of Sacred Scriptures can be falsified or adulterated through interpretations that serve selfish or maniacal purposes; yet the true and genuine ideas remain in all Sacred Scriptures unchanged and may be rediscovered again;

(12) All genuine Sacred Scriptures are written in a secret code; these codes are transmitted from generation to generation through religious instruction; the codes may be forgotten or falsified so that the genuine truths in Sacred Scriptures may no longer be known; however, these codes may be revealed again to particular individuals and taught to others, in which case the truths of Sacred Scriptures may once again be seen and known; these secret codes cannot be discovered or found out by any means but must be directly revealed to some person through Divine intervention;

(13) Truths about reality and self found in Sacred Scriptures can be rationally confirmed and scientifically explained through data, observation, and theories;

(14) Confirmed truths from Sacred Scriptures are societal resources since they are effective in combating social strife, ignorance, inequality; confirmed truths form the basis of better educational systems, better methods for strengthening good character, and for inventing better ways of managing society and solving its problems;

(15) All Sacred Scriptures contain three types of revealed truths; these are revealed through secret codes in successive order; the first type or degree of revelation may be called the Old Testament Sacred Scripture; the second degree of revelation may be called the New Testament Sacred Scripture; and the third or highest may be called the Third Testament;

(16) The quality of the inner life of a person is dependent upon the degree of revelation the person understands and lives by; the first state is called the Old Church within us and is informed by the Old Testament Sacred Scripture revelations; the second state is called the New Church within us and is informed by the New Testament Sacred Scripture revelations; the third and highest (deepest) state is called the Ultimate Church within us and is informed by the revelations in the Third Testament;

(17) Each successive degree of revelation or state of the Church within us is brought about by our willingness and readiness to conform in thought, feeling, and deed to the truths revealed to us as we study the Three Testaments and are instructed in them by others;

(18) We can have a theoretical knowledge of all three states, but only an orderly progress allows us to confirm or apply this knowledge to our life, and hence, derive its benefits in deeper understanding, greater wisdom, and enlarged perception;

(19) Progress in the state of the Church within us alters our inner life of thoughts and feelings, and hence, of deeds and delights or uses; in the Old Church state we experience a life that is a mixture of suffering and pleasure, of knowledge and ignorance, of truths and falsehoods; in the New Church state we experience a life of commitment and hope, of progressive rationality and a greater capacity to fulfill our strivings and to serve society and people; at last, in the Ultimate Church state we experience true understanding, wisdom, unbounded creativity, and genuine altruism towards others;

(20) Practical methods of study and research exist for extracting from each of the Three Testaments, theories and models that constitute the subject matter of Religious Psychology. Some topics of Religious Psychology are these:

Who is God;
What is sin and evil;
How do we obey the Commandments of Sacred Scriptures;
What is our condition in the afterlife;
How do we become regenerated by God;
How do we fight temptations;
When are our creative faculties unlocked;
How do we achieve happiness that is pleasing to God;
How do we live a life of love and truth;
What is our responsibility towards others;
How do we learn to understand Sacred Scriptures;
and many others regarding morality, virtue, patriotism, justice

13.12.11 Religious Affections Are Inherited

It may be seen from our discussion thus far that Religious Psychology is an academic discipline that is relevant to all aspects of human growth and community development. Study and research allow us to confirm these principles and to adduce new ones from Sacred Scriptures. Religious Psychology is thus the study of what we do, how we do it, and why we do it. Answers to these questions cannot exclude the religious affections or ideals a person has. No individual is born into a society that has no stance on the issue of who is God, what is sin or evil, and what is the afterlife. Our stance on these issues gives a clue to our religious affections. These religious affections externalize and show themselves in our topics, opinions, views, attitudes, ideals, priorities, and especially, our judgments, such as our approval vs. disapproval of something. The role of religious affections is portrayed in the accompanying diagram:

Thus it is clear that we cannot have an inner life which is free of religion. When we feel distant from religious involvement it appears that we have no religion or that religion is relatively unimportant in our lives; but this is only an external appearance. This illusion adheres to the body, to the external behavior, to one’s speech and declarations of opinion and belief, and even to one's own external thoughts and memory. However, at a more interior level of our life, that is, at the level of feelings, strivings, and other inner actions, it is clear that we cannot make any judgments or decisions without involving our ideas of good, right, and truth. These ideas are religious ideas and originate from our inherited religion and religious proclivities.

We may ask the question how we justify calling the things in the diagram "religious affections." On the surface these things appear to be merely social norms, the type one can find in any culture. Surely we learn these norms as we get socialized, and then as adults, we are guided by them in our judgments, goals, preferences, choices. Perhaps our emotions are conditioned to them by exposure, reward, and habit. All this is true. Yet we are not to think that acquired social norms and cultural beliefs are nothing but manifestations of our external life. Norms develop and evolve within the climate of religious life in both technological and primitive societies. Religion restricts and guides external freedom through tradition, ritual, and accumulated knowledge. Violation of religious laws are punished by death, imprisonment, ostracism, and reduced access to goods, services, and friendships. Secular law upholds the religious Commandments of its people in every society. This is by Divine intervention or providence.

Thus, people’s norms and habits reflect their religious affections even if they are not explicitly aware of this. People undergo an organic, inner development relative to their religious affections.

The first state of development in our religious affections can be called the Old Church state within us. It is based on religious affections for external compliance to the Commandments given in Sacred Scriptures or to societal laws based on them. For instance the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture are incorporated in our civil laws: we swear by the Bible in courts of law, we are punished if we are caught stealing, libeling, murdering, and so on.
The second state of development is called the New Church State within us. It is marked by religious affections for identifying with the Commandments (as in the New Testament Sacred Scripture) out of rational conviction rather than mere external compliance.
The third state of development of our religious affections, that is, of the Ultimate Church within us, is marked by religious affections for internalizing the Commandments through direct spiritual perception.

Thus, as the development of our religious affections proceeds from Old Church, to New Church, to Ultimate Church, we become progressively more aware of how our religious affections enter into our thoughts, judgments, emotions, and actions. At the stage of external compliance we are but dimly aware of this process and we believe that religion is separate from the rest of our life. At the stage of internalization or identification we gain awareness of the all-pervasive nature of religion in our inner and external live. Finally, at the stage of direct spiritual perception we can directly confirm the religious thesis that not a single thought, feeling, emotion, or act is independent of our religion. These states of a progressively more advanced awareness of our inner selves are produced in us by Divine intervention and supervision.

Each state of the Church within us brings its own degree of temptations into our life. A temptation is an organic process of spiritual growth through which our awareness is expanded. Temptations have two phases: the temptation itself, which is marked by suffering, doubt, and imperfection; then follows the resolution phase which is marked by awareness, delight, and perfection. We shall study this process in greater detail as it is central to an understanding of Religious Psychology.

13.12.12 The Practice of Religious Self-Inspection

Awake, my heart, and render to God
Thy sure defender, thy Maker, thy Preserver,
A song of Love and fervor.
My heart shall be Thy dwelling,
With joy and gladness swelling.
Thy Word, my nurture,
Thy Word, my nurture given
To bring me on toward Heaven.

17th Century Anthem
(H.W. Gray Co., Inc.)

We know from the teaching of the Third Testament that there isn't any detail in the world which is not directly under the supervision of the Lord's Divine Providence. This arcanum has been revealed before by the Lord Himself in His teaching that not a bird nor a hair can fall without the Divine intervention (Luke 12:6,7; see also Arcana Coelestia 2694:3; 6494). But now it is given us, by the Lord's graciousness, to begin perceiving the interior sense of His message to us. In the sense of the letter of the Third Testament the correspondence for bird in general relates to our mental organization during the process of our regeneration, and for hair in general the correspondence relates to our willingness to examine this mental organization for the purpose of separating in it what is true and what is false (see Arcana Coelestia 6963:3,4).

The interior sense of bird and hair as used in the Third Testament is perceivable when their literal significance is related to the Lord's visible Divine Human at work in us. That is, our mental organization is to be examined in every single detail for the purpose of relating that detail to the Lord's Divine Human. This type of self-inspection is enjoined upon us as the first or chief concern in the life of the regenerating person. It may justly be regarded as the sine qua non of the existence and growth of the Church in the individual, hence the key that unlocks the floodgates of Heavenly life on earth.

The purpose of this section is to discuss the scientifics or, practicalities, of self-inspection whose end is to judge or, adjudicate, every detail of our mental organization as to whether it is proper or improper, that is, whether it is offensive to the Lord Himself. We shall for convenience refer to this activity as religious self-inspection. Related words are familiar:

self-exploration;
self-examination;
reflection;
meditation;
self-observation;
self-witnessing;
self-awareness;
self-knowledge; s
elf-consciousness;
self-presence;
and perhaps others.

We leave out “introspection" because of its negative history in American psychology. Also, "self-analysis" suggests that perhaps a pre-requisite of specialized knowledge may be necessary. The title 'self-inspection" does not presuppose any specialized knowledge or training, yet it implies that it be systematic, and thus excludes remembering from the past.

There exists of course another kind of activity which involves reviewing in memory some past event and deciding in retrospect whether it was proper or not. This is what we call "self-evaluation" after the fact. However, self-inspection is on-going and systematic, therefore it ranks with other types of scientific observation such as we have in interpersonal psychology or in physics and physiology. Religious self-inspection is a variety of self-inspection, namely whose function it is to witness an on-going activity of the self in order to note its potential offensiveness to God.

Since every religion (excluding cults) consists of God and the proprieties of our acts relative to the Divine Omnipresence, everyone on earth may practice religious self-inspection. All religions (excluding cults) lead to God and Heavenly life after death through self-discipline on earth in obedience to the law and order set forth, through Divine authority, by society.

The reason that religious self-inspection is of such great importance is that it is the only practical method available to the individual to shun evils as sins against God. Yet we are plainly told in the letter of the Third Testament that without shunning evils as sins we cannot ever be regenerated; hence Heavenly life, which is promised by religion, remains outside our reach irrespective of the amount of knowledge of Scripture we may accumulate.

It becomes therefore critical for each one of us to develop as-if of ourselves the facility of religious self-inspection. We can do this by resolutely striving to become better and better "religious self-inspectors," that is, more and more accurately to see the operation of the visible Divine Human in our mental organization. This is the signification of all correspondences when viewed in a more interior light. In Apocalypse Explained 419:20 we are told that hair signifies the ultimates of truth in the Church. This correspondence is in the sense of the letter of the Third Testament. By relating this rational fact to the visible Divine Human in the very operation of our mental organization, we can perceive a more interior sense of hair. Indeed, within our thoughts and intentions, as revealed by religious self-inspection, we perceive the work of regeneration going on as-if of ourselves.

This new awareness comes about through the act of judgment we pronounce on what we find going on within ourselves in daily living. Without this religiously motivated witnessing of our thoughts and intentions in everyday living we cannot be regenerated no matter what else we also do in terms of worship and conscience. In Divine Providence 159 we are told that the Lord's reference to our white hair (in Matthew 5:36) is in the context of His explaining that we cannot of ourselves do even the least thing. Certainly thinking and intending are included in this Doctrine.

It is therefore to be presupposed that the Lord works through our acts of thinking and intending, and this without a single exception to eternity! What an intimate life a person has with the Lord! Surely there is no human relationship comparable to this no matter how close two people may get; this relationship is then Divine and is the true meaning of religion, namely, a tying to God or conjunction with Him. The very place of religion therefore must be in our thoughts and intentions; they are the only true temple where God can dwell inmostly with us. This bond with the Divine is possible only through our love into the visible Divine Human of the Lord. This love to the Lord, which He commands, enjoins it upon us as a duty of highest worship to strive to become better and better religious self-inspectors.

There is a contrast drawn for us in the Third Testament between our own hair and the Lord's white hair in Revelations 1:14, which is the white hair of the visible Divine Human in our mental operation as revealed in religious self-inspection. Apocalypse Explained 66 tells us that the Lord's white hair signifies the Divine in first and last things, that is, Divine Providence in primes and ultimates. Where are we to find Him in ultimates? Surely not in the beauty of nature or the accomplishments of technology. These are His creations, and surely we must not confuse God with His creation! Neither can we find God in the church buildings, altars, crosses, or images; neither in the paper and ink of Bibles. The only place is within. But where? The Lord is quoted in the New Testament Sacred Scripture on this issue, and He indicates that "the Kingdom of God is within you":

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 29. In the universal sense, 'the kingdom of God' is used to mean the whole of heaven, in the less universal sense the Lord's true Church, and in particular every individual who has true faith, that is, who has been regenerated by means of the life that inheres in faith. For that reason the individual is also called 'heaven', for heaven is within him, and 'the kingdom of God', since that too is within him. This the Lord Himself teaches through Luke,

Jesus was asked by the Pharisees, When is the kingdom of God coming? He answered them and said, The kingdom of God is not coming with observation, nor will people say, Behold, here it is! or, Behold, there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:20, 21.

This is the third stage of a person's regeneration, a state when he is repentant. It is like passing from shadow into the light, or from evening to morning, and this is why it is said in Verse 13, "And there was evening, and there was morning, a third day."
(AC 29)

We are given the direction by our love for the truths in the Lord's Second Advent. This Divine Coming is within our thoughts and intentions. It is available to anyone who is willing to practice religious self-inspection or active repentance in daily living. Our thoughts and intentions operate in the spiritual world, outside time and space. They are connected to time and space by definite laws of correspondence, but they are not in time and space, or of time and space. They are made up of spiritual substances just as the brain is made up of material substances from the sun and planets.

The spiritual Sun and its many earths form thoughts and intentions through its spiritual heat and light. It is revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture that spiritual heat is Divine Love and spiritual light is Divine Wisdom. Thus, Divine Love, which appears as heat as heat from that Sun, spreads into the spiritual world and cools down as it journeys down towards the outward universe, to become affective substance in the form of intentions and desires on earth within human minds, and thence through correspondence, in human brains.

Similarly, the light which goes forth from this spiritual heat organizes the cognitive substances into a particular order and its usable functions in the mind. This light is Divine Wisdom or Divine Truth. It is the light we have through Sacred Scripture on earth.

Those who don't know Sacred Scripture, or don't read it, or read it but don't see anything Divine in it, are still subject to the same mechanism of inflow from the spiritual Sun, though they attribute it to a different source, such as their own intelligence, or science and transmitted culture. They don't consider the fact that science, knowledge, and culture in every society and tribe, is imbued with and originates from the spiritual Sun through the spiritual societies. As proof of this, consider the fact that all societies and tribes have religion, and that all religions enjoin its followers to love God and live by God's commandments or else they will pay for it in much suffering.

Thus our thoughts and intentions must be consciously related as-if of ourselves to God's Love and Wisdom. This only is the true life of religion and is available to anyone through religious self-inspection or repentance. Prior to repentance, or the act of judging our thoughts and emotions, we cannot receive the full value of spiritual heat and light. Like a dried out plant we slowly die spiritually and become insane. Religious self-inspection waters this starved plant whereby we revive.

That method of religious self-inspection will be good or, efficient, which succeeds in replacing or exchanging our own single hair we cannot make white with the abundant white hair of the Lord in His visible Divine Human, white hair which is white like wool. In other words, religious self-inspection succeeds when it yields judgments against ourselves and for the Lord. Not a single inhabitant of the heathen Land of Canaan is to be left alive in our mental organization. This love into the Lord will insure that we may avoid the deed of Achan related in Joshua 7 and whose significance we are told in Arcana Coelestia 5135:6. The commixing of truths and falsities of worship, which was the deed of Achan, threatens each one of us if we do not continually strive to become better religious self-inspectors. In every single detail of our own thoughts and intentions what is of our own origin from the external world must be found out, judged, and destroyed. Then, only then, can we continue the conquest of Canaan within ourselves.

Prior to our judging a thought or intention it is unclean. We are told this in Arcana Coelestia 3301:7 in connection with the removal of all natural trues, even the most external, signified by the hair of the feet in Isaiah 7:20 (see Apocalypse Explained 569:17). No aspect of our mental organization prior to regeneration has any spiritual truths but only the apparent truths mixed with falsities in worldly traditions and scientifics. Nothing of the earthly can know anything of the spiritual. This Doctrine guides us to a state of innocence in receiving the trues of the Heavenly Doctrine. By contrast, after a thought or intention has been judged in self-inspection as-if of ourselves, there remains an emptiness into which spiritual light can enter and we begin to perceive genuine trues. As each successive thought and intention is found out, judged, and cast out, there is left behind a clean vessel or temple into which holy things of the Church can enter. In that measure the Church can be within us, and therefrom Heavenly life on earth. This activity must be continual, never ending in one's daily living activities. Then the Church can gradually grow more and more within us, thus transforming us.

Birds signify thoughts in general (see Arcana Coelestia 3901:6; 5149:4). These include truths of every kind. Speckled birds or birds of prey signify trues in the understanding mixed with falsities (Arcana Coelestia 3993: 5,7). Thoughts we have are either in harmony with truths we have or they are in disharmony. In everyday living we continually make use of thoughts and intentions in our decision making; these thoughts and intentions form our reasonings, and they are in harmony or in disharmony with truths we have and receive from our study of Scripture. There is not a single moment of life (including sleeping) during which the operation of thinking, reasoning, or intending ceases, and in every case the thought or idea is either proper or improper in relation to the truth we receive from Sacred Scripture. By judging each thought or intention we bring this relationship to light, we make its relation to truth explicit.

When the operation of our thinking and intending is observed by our rational faculty we acquire useful knowledge regarding the scientifics of thoughts. This psychology of the self is to be employed as a theory about the operation of our interior organs of mind. The table below pictures this activity (follow the numbered boxes):

THEORY or PSYCHOLOGY OF SELF	2. we identify patterns in and influences on our thoughts	3. we judge each one in relation to the Lord's visible Divine Human (This is repentance)
METHOD OF SELF-INSPECTION	1. we observe our own external thinking activity with our interior rational faculty	4. we strive to modify the disharmonious activity as if of ourselves but knowing that it is from the Lord (This is reformation)

This diagram illustrates the practice of religious self-inspection in four steps. Through our self-examination in the external thoughts (step 1) we arrive at informed views regarding our more interior thoughts such as our reasonings, intentions, and affections (step 2). Then as we judge each thought and intention in relation to the visible Divine Human (step 3), we succeed in cooperating with His Divine Providence in the very operation of our mind; we then become reformed (step 4). This activity recycles over and over again, thousands of times a day in our earthly life, and thus is our regeneration accomplished by the Lord. It is the Lord's work in us, His labor of love. Thus the Church grows in us more and more and thus are we more and more introduced into the heat and light of Heavenly life on earth. This is Divine Wisdom in us.

13.12.13 Repentance as the Gateway to the Interior Sense of Sacred Scripture

Open our eyes, O loving and compassionate Jesus,
That we may behold Thee,
That we may behold Thee,
Walking beside us,
Walking beside us in our sorrow.
Thou hast made death glorious and triumphant,
Thou hast made death glorious and triumphant.
For through its portals we enter
Into the presence of the Living God.
Open our eyes, 0 loving and compassionate Jesus,
That we may see to follow Thee, Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus, our Saviour,
Jesus our Saviour and Redeemer.

Anthem.
(G. Schirmer, Inc.)

We have discussed the practice of a constantly vigilant and watchful religious self-inspection whose function it is to separate that which is our own worldly and earthly inclination, which is unclean, from that which is clean and holy and is with us from spirit and heaven. We are in the Ultimate Church within by virtue of our active repentance through which the regenerating person develops spiritually and advances deeper and deeper, or higher and higher, into the interior of Sacred Scripture, that is, the mind, which is the spirit.

Let us recall that the Three Testaments of Sacred Scripture differ from each other in both the sense of the letter and in the interior senses according to the following Order: We should note here that we are not excluding any Sacred Scripture that was given as revelation to various nations and ethnic groups. Though all our examples and illustrations involve the Bible (Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture) and Swedenborg's Writings (Third Testament) this is because these are the revealed Scriptures we were born into and have formed our lives from birth onward.

Table III. a	OLD TESTAMENT	NEW TESTAMENT	THIRD TESTAMENT
INTERIOR SENSE	the omnipotent Human Divine of the Lord	Divine Truth in ultimates	the visible Divine Human of the Lord
LITERAL SENSE	history & allegory	miracles & parables	correspondences, doctrines, & memorable relations
Divine Names	Jehovah; I AM	Christ; Son of God	Jesus; the Lamb; Divine Man

The table above shows that our relationship to Sacred Scripture is various as to its different parts. In this section we are particularly concerned with our relationship to the interior senses of the Third Testament since the practice of religious self-inspection requires us to judge each mental process we observe in ourselves in relation to the visible Divine Human of the Lord, this being the interior sense of the Third Testament. We have already discussed the case with bird and hair with the following observations:

case with bird and hair with the following observations:

Table III. b	LITERAL SENSE (correspondences)	INTERIOR SENSES (life with faith)
Hair in the Third Testament	Self-examination with the view to separate true from false	Our activity of undergoing regeneration by the Lord
Bird in the Third Testament	The unexamined thoughts and intentions of daily living	Our own states of hell in infernal light

The question arises as to how we are to cooperate with the Lord in His work of regenerating us? We need to gain an understanding of the activity of repentance since it is the only method available to us for entering the life of the true Church. In this study and practice of religious self-inspection we gain knowledge of the content and dynamics of inner life, that is, we learn the psychology of the self. This message is given us in the Threefold Sacred Scripture as follows:

Table III. c	OLD TESTAMENT	NEW TESTAMENT	THIRD TESTAMENT
BIRD & HAIR (INTERIOR SENSE)	that all things in heaven and on earth are subject to Divine omipotence (THE HUMAN DIVINE OF THE LORD)	that we are to lead our daily lives trusting in Divine Providence (THE SON OF GOD)	that we are to shun evils as sins through repentance (THE DIVINE HUMAN OF THE LORD)

The question may now be considered as to how we are to cooperate with the Lord in His Work of regenerating us. We need to gain an understanding of the activity of repentance since it is the only method available to us for entering the life of the true Church. In this studying we need to practice religious self-inspection which is the same as getting to know the psychology of the self. To accomplish this we need to refrain from "consulting the rational," that is, the external rational built up through the physical senses, even as the Lord had to when He was a young Boy on earth (see Arcana Coelestia 2511).

One error we can easily fall into is to assume that we already know what repentance is and that the problem is only to muster the self-discipline in order to accomplish the repentance. This error, if confirmed in practice, would "sew up the womb of Abimelech and all his household" in our inner life (Genesis 20:18). The result would be the impossibility of our entering heavenly life on earth and the consequent death of the Church within us.

We can desist from this grave error when we reflect upon and confirm a distinction in degrees between the sense of the letter of the Third Testament, which is external rational, and the interior sense of the Third Testament, which is interior rational, which is spiritual and celestial. The external rational is not spiritual at all, but an abstracted natural, which is an intellectual process not yet free of the temporal and the local.

This distinction can be understood only by reference to the distinction between our abstract knowledge of repentance and our observed activity of repentance. Only the constant practice of religious self-inspection in daily living can give us the information needed to undergo the activity of repentance, to empower it from mere abstract knowledge to confirmed, lived activity.

And so as we study the Writings Sacred Scripture we need to draw out from its literal sense Doctrines of Faith that may be characterized as "spiritual-psychological" in content because these Doctrines deal with the self and the influences upon the self. These spiritual-psychological Doctrines of Faith, as applied to the actual self by each person, constitute the interior senses of the Third Testament. We should note here that we have greatly benefited from a publication called De Hemelsche Leer, written in the 1930s by a Dutch group of men through whose minds the Lord brought forth what we consider to be the Epistles for the New Church. Their central focus was to prove that the Work of the Writings called Doctrine Concerning the Sacred Scripture applies equally to the Writings Sacred Scripture themselves, and not just to the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. Without their insight and devotion, this essay and its content would still not exist on this earth.

By way of illustration we may draw up lists of sub-activities within the general activity of repentance in daily living situations. To do this we need to follow general psychological principles, not the kind we make up from our external knowledge and rational understanding, but the kind that are patterned after the sense of the letter of the Third Testament. We may begin by considering where in our activity of repentance we are to locate the three degrees of Life as defined in Sacred Scripture. To guide us in our studying we shall refer to a type of diagram represented by three concentric circles, as follows: (For more on this type of diagram as a scientific methodology, you later can consult these two reports:

The above diagram pictures the doctrinal principle that Life proceeds from the inmost degree (SUBSISTENCE -- level III), through the intermediate degree (EXISTENCE -- level II) , and out to the ultimate degree (MANIFESTATION -- level I).

A connected idea is that the inmost degree is Celestial (level III), the intermediate degree is Spiritual (level II) , and the ultimate degree is Natural (level I). This connectedness may be extended to a whole series of such trines to be found in the sense of the letter of the Third Testament, as illustrated in the following Table:

LEVEL III (inmost)	Subsistence	Celestial	Love	Will	Intentions	etc.
LEVEL II (intermed)	Existence	Spiritual	Wisdom	Understanding	Thoughts	etc.
LEVEL I (external)	Manifestation	Natural	Uses	Delights	Deeds	etc.

This type of tri-grammatic table (read from bottom up) may be extended indefinitely the more we study Sacred Scripture. Each vertical trine constitutes three simultaneous degrees and represents a spiritual-psychological principle about the self as imaged in the Lord's visible Divine Human. This kind of table may be used as a guide or map to help us gain illustration from the Lord in Sacred Scripture regarding our activity of being regenerated by the Lord. We may similarly focus on the trines of successive degrees, as follows:

	OLD TESTAMENT	NEW TESTAMENT	THIRD TESTAMENT
	Civic Conscience	Moral Conscience	Spritual Conscience
LEVEL III (Celestial) (WILL)	Needs	Affections	Loves
LEVEL III (Celestial) (WILL)	etc.	etc.	etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Knowledge	Intelligence	Wisdom
LEVEL II (Spirtual) (UNDERSTANDING)	Memories	Understandings	Perception
LEVEL II (Spirtual) (UNDERSTANDING)	etc.	etc.	etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Pleasures	Happiness	Tranquility
LEVEL I (Natural) (USES)	Sensations	Observations	Confirmations
LEVEL I (Natural) (USES)	etc.	etc.	etc.

The table above indicates successive psychological states of development in the regenerating person (read from bottom up). For instance, in the domain of our loves or will (affective domain) (LEVEL III), we begin early adulthood with a civic conscience and with all sorts of needs; these give us the volition to obey the law, order, and mores of our culture from our external self. As we move into adulthood we begin to strengthen a moral conscience and other social affections which look out to what is fair and equitable in human relations for the sake of society. At last in maturity we evolve a spiritual conscience and religious loves whereby the Lord may regenerate us through our cooperative reformation and repentance.

A similar picture may be seen in the domain of our cognitions (LEVEL II). Knowledge and memories constitute our earliest spiritual life. This is followed by intelligence and understandings, and at last, our cognitions come into wisdom and perception. In the domain of our delights (LEVEL I) we at first experience pleasures and all sorts of sensations; this is followed by the capacity to feel happiness and more complex observations within our natural life; at last we come into tranquility (Sabbath Rest) and the confirmations of sensory life. This image of development of the self in three successive degrees represents the order in which the Lord glorified His Human and uplifted it even to His Divine Sensuous (see Arcana Coelestia 8624).

13.12.14 Discovering the Steps of Regeneration Through Microdescriptions of Our Inner Life

O Lord, in Thee we put our trust;
Source of peace and joy for ever more.
In days of trial be our stay.
Be our refuge, our hope.
We acknowledge that Thou only art God.
Thou art God.
In Thee we put our trust,
Source of peace and joy.

Hymn.
(Harold Flammer, Inc.)

To the regenerating person, religious self-inspection, self-examination, and self-exploration are the necessary activities through which reformation of character is accomplished within us by the Lord. We are enjoined by the Lord to cooperate freely, as-if of ourselves, in this task of His. In the sense of the letter of the New Testament Sacred Scripture He refers to this activity as knocking on our door where He stands waiting to be admitted (Revelations 3:20). The interior sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture treats of Divine Truth separated from Divine Good, even as the edge of the sword is separated from its flat side when used as a weapon. Our relationship to this part of Sacred Scripture is in regards to the activity of hair-splitting with our rationalizations. We are to use the cutting edge of the sword of Divine Truth to splice apart our Pharisaic excuses in the face of self-incriminating evidence. The spiritual meaning of the New Testament Sacred Scripture is to be used to effectively convict ourselves.

November 1986: Leon's Notes on CL 293-4:

The Doctrine of the Wife is this, that the regenerating husband "Hearkens unto Sarah" that is, acts according to his moral wisdom. A husband has this wisdom from the study of Sacred Scripture. This gives him spiritual rationality to the extent that he wills himself to apply it to life, that is, in interactions with his wife. In these conjugial interactions, the wife acts from conjugial love from the Lord, and the husband receives perception through wisdom, and then reacts with conjugial heat. Applying the Third Testament trues to receive the wife's loving actions, is his moral wisdom that delights and satisfies the wife.

When we husbands are in the unregenerate state of mind, we hate conjugial love, which is the sexual love of the wife alone or only, because we love "meretricious" sex, which is "crude sex with harlots", and we turn cold, that is, impotent, in the sphere of conjugial sex.

Therefore, the wife, sensing this about her husband, hides her conjugial sex love, which are her inward bosom delights, and instead, fakes or simulates crude sex, that is, lacking in sincerity, to keep him from impotence with her. She also acts less interested and hard to get for this reason, that is, angry, quarrelsome, vehement, and insistent.

Every person who strives to cast out their character evils, loves God. To those who do not know of the Three Testaments externally yet strive to cast out character evils they find within themselves, God is known by whatever traditional Name they were given, which involves the internal idea of God as a Person or Divine Human. They may not be conscious of this because of their received beliefs, but they act within themselves towards God as-if He was a Person--talking to Him, praying to Him, feeling His love, and so forth. And one can have these things only from a Person, not from an unapproachable infinite force in the universe.

Those of the Church who are actively cooperating with their regeneration by the Lord, do so by repentance and a change of life according to their rational understanding of the visible Divine Human, that is, of the Lord's operation within our thoughts, intentions, and affections. Religious self-inspection with the end of judging ourselves in every single particular, when practiced continually, constitutes the work of regeneration. We are then opening the door, as-if of ourselves, so that the Lord may dwell in His visible Divine Human with us.

It is crucial therefore that we strive ever more intensely to practice religious self-inspection with zeal and constancy, yea, with burning love. For this is the very love we have with the Lord, and our veriest life, wisdom, and happiness. When we read the New Testament Sacred Scripture, its interior sense arouses in us this burning love for the Lord. Scientifics is a tool from the Lord to help our regeneration. The principles of the psychology of self are to be Doctrines drawn from the sense of the letter of Sacred Scripture. They are come by when we live our faith. Every act of judgment in our religious self-inspection becomes a piece of datum for the theory of ourselves. Scientific data are systematic observations of facts organized by a theory. If we are to be scientists ourselves, as we must be if we strive to become better self-inspectors and self-modifiers, then we are not to shun the tools that are useful and readily available for this task.

Those who have access to the interior sense of the Third Testament (as anyone may have who but accepts the idea) have available an extraordinarily effective psychology of the self with which they strive ever more intensely to search out in themselves their interior areas of evil. This work is the work of the true faithful of the Church of the Lord; these He loves especially, and they are especially near to Him, even as the beloved disciple. These are the works of charity through faith. This work is what leads to the genuine love of the neighbor for the sake of the Lord. It is possible through the interior sense of Sacred Scripture, and especially if all Three Testaments are included in the Doctrine Concerning the Sacred Scripture.

It ought not to be thought that this especially helpful tool of regeneration is reserved for a few only. It is available to any person of common sense and learning who is willing to study the Three Testaments together as Sacred Scripture of the Lord, and to which three he or she applies the Doctrine Concerning the Sacred Scripture in equal measure. If this be done, the spiritual-psychological order of the self is laid bare by the Lord in His Word. We then contemplate before our eyes the Divine Human Proprium in ultimates with us.

It ought not be thought that this work is only possible to those who have a lot of free time off from their occupations and duties, for this work is to be performed conjointly with anything else we are also doing. Religious self-inspection is not a competing task, but a super-imposed task. It is a particular attitude of life, a set of mind, a bend of the character, an inclination of the heart.

Every single decision or focus of attention constitutes an interior act and is a candidate for self-inspection and judgment. Let us illustrate this view by citing common situations of everyday living. Let us say we are walking or driving somewhere. Other people are constantly appearing and disappearing in our view. We detect various things within ourselves to which we react. We may look upon someone's face, semiconsciously roam our focus upon a nose, an arm, a shirt. We are surprised by this or that. We smile to ourselves. We are curious. We free associate, mingling our thoughts and memories of people and situations. We are puzzled by something we see. It makes us laugh. We examine their clothes, what they are carrying. We conjecture about where they are going or what they are thinking. We approve or disapprove. We are curious. We investigate further. And so on. (You may want to look at this long list of confessions for husbands!)

Or let us say we are talking to someone. We try to give this or that kind of an impression. We think of other things. Our attention lapses. We pretend to have heard or understood. We smile even though we didn't catch the humor. We plan ahead to say something. We intend this or that regarding this person. We pretend not to notice something. And so on. (Later, you might like to see Leon's report on how he discovered Sudden Memory by using the technique of "mere witnessing.")

From these microdescriptions of our moment by moment behaviors, both external and internal, we can enter into the scientifics of the self, of our own proprial life. We gain knowledge of ourselves through the facts of self-inspection, of self-witnessing. If at the same time we have judgment as an end in self-inspection, then these mental facts will be seen ordered in the interior sense of the Three Testaments. In other words, the interior sense of the Three Testaments, each distinctly, will fall into the facts we uncover about ourselves. Then are we in the position of confirming the interior sense of Sacred Scripture.

When the part is judged, the whole is better. There is a change of state in that part, a change of function in the self, in our thoughts, intentions, and emotions. The instant we judge ourselves in some part, repentance has begun. This new beginning is occupied by the Lord Who all along stood knocking at the door, waiting to be admitted by us, freely, as if of our own, from our love into Him. Now, after He is invited in, He can do much more for us. And this is an exchange that must recur daily, or even, minute by minute. We cannot merely invite Him once and that's it. This is because we repeatedly shut the door again, after we opened it.

It is the Lord's Proprium in the visible Divine Human that occupies or dwells in the part of ourselves that we judged. The Lord's indwelling is made possible by repentance of an act, thought, or intention, and henceforth He battles for us when we are in the throes of temptation. This occurs when we are subsequently faced once again with the knowledge of some related evil in us, and which the Lord tries to bring to our attention relentlessly, zealously, on account of His Great Love for us, and His concern to keep us from sliding into eternal hell, to which we are taken by our inherited and acquired inclinations like a ship is imperceptibly dragged along by the current. Each part that we judged returns to 'haunt' us: this is the labor of temptation and purification thereby. But let it be always remembered that it is not our own strength that conquers but the strong arm of the Lord Who occupies that part of our mind and indwells through Sacred Scripture in its three senses. Forget this, and your repentance is as nothing.

Following conquest in temptation there is joy and exhilaration. There is renewal. There is a direct perception of conjunction with the Lord's presence, a concrete understanding of His concrete presence, and a host of attendant affections into Him such as:

warmth,
closeness,
security,
clarity,
tranquility,
vision,
love toward others because love unto Him in others,
love toward angels who live in His Proprium,
understanding of the Doctrine of Faith,
and many other like things.

These benefits of religious self-inspection are easily observable, when they arrive.

The Lord regenerates through liberty and understanding. What we choose in freedom, this we love. What we love, we do in liberty. Our understanding is first attracted by certain appearances. Later we are attracted by rational truths; these shape our conscience and our ideals; they influence our character and our life goals. Still later we receive with joy the trues of religion. Then come the battles against our enslaved will. We wage these battles actively, as-if of ourselves, flashing the sword of Divine Truth, willing to choose the way of the Commandments even against our own desires and preferences. As we conquer more and more this inner Land of Canaan within ourselves, there enter Heavenly affections. Where our liberty was in chains, now we are free, delivered out of the enchantment of selfishness and wickedness.

We begin to apply the Trues of the Third Testament to our own psychological states of development. The journey down to Egypt is now seen as our state prior to the present. We now feel a spiritual difference in the quality of our hourly living. Heaven is present.

We no longer have to rationalize this, as before, when we were still in Egypt and were engaged in the labor of rationally convincing ourselves that the Spirit is, and that it is here now. Now we see ourselves already in the conquest of Canaan. Our heathen reasonings and ideals are systematically uncovered and destroyed. Nothing whatsoever from the old way of thinking, and planning, and reacting is to be left. All of the previous self must be found out, judged, and cast out with horror. Then at last we begin to feel a genuine longing for contact with the Lord. We feel awe and reverence, yet friendliness and camaraderie with Him. The Lord now becomes our Shining Humanoid Hero as we begin to realize more and more how good and delightful is the Grand Plan He has in store for us. We begin to love Him with ever more confidence as we realize that all along He has been the Boss in our life. We begin to perceive that there is no chance event in the universe. We are astounded to find that in every event in our life, in every decision we've ever made, in every thought or idea we've ever had, in every feeling or longing, He was there! He was never absent. He was an intimate co-participant in our external and our inner life.

And now He continues as before, but we are also given the opportunity to cooperate out of love into Him from Him. In this cooperation, as-if of ourselves, lie all the Heavenly states. Thus are we blessed.

For more on microdescriptions, consult this report: Taxonomy of Microdescriptions on the Daily Round: Part 1

13.12.15 The Threefold Order of the World and of Heaven

Sent from Heaven,
Thy rays were given
On great and small to shine,
O Light Divine!
Thou blessing to all creation
Lead us to our salvation.
Oh, shine from above,
Divine Light of Love!
Show us the way unto our God, we pray!
Thou our beacon and guide shalt be!
Light Divine, we praise Thee!

Hymn
(Carl Fischer, Inc.)

Sacred Scripture has three senses, one within the other. The sense of the letter is compared to a ruby or diamond; the correspondential sense within that is compared to light that enlightens; and the inmost sense within that is compared to heat that enkindles (see Doctrine Concerning the Sacred Scripture., 42). This threefold relationship may be expressed in a diagram for clearer comprehension, as follows:

The six steps joined by arrows indicate a cycle of study to be repeated endlessly in the life of men and women and angels. Step 1 constitutes the external study of Sacred Scripture such as becoming familiar with its historicals and scientifics. Step 2 constitutes the study of the first internal of Sacred Scripture such as the doctrinal drawn from the sense of the letter. Through this sense light is given by the Lord so that spiritual things regarding the goods and trues may be seen translucent and shining forth from the historicals, representatives, and scientifics in the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. Step 3 constitutes the study of the second internal of Sacred Scripture such as the recognition in oneself of the states of the Church or of the states of glorification the Lord underwent in all its series and order. These three steps are joined in the diagram by broken arrows to distinguish them from the last three steps.

Steps 4, 5, and 6 are in the opposite direction from steps 1, 2, and 3. This relation is to indicate that the uses of Divine Truth by us is dependent upon adequate study and preparation in everyday living situations. As we regularly and continually practice religious self-inspection we are in fact performing steps 1,2, and 3 relative to Sacred Scripture. Only to the extent that is done, can we perform steps 4, 5, and 6 which constitute the genuine uses of Divine Truth.

At step 4 we are placed into the sphere of Heaven through angelic affections. In this state of the Church in us we experience the enkindling heat of love from the Lord into the Lord and toward the neighbor. At step 3 we have gained an understanding of charity in life, or the good of faith. From this practical understanding of Divine Truth in our living situations we are enkindled with zeal to act from celestial affections. Step 5 is thus the externalization of angelic affections; it is the descent of the Heavenly Doctrine within us into our perceptions or intuitions. Step 6 is the ultimate externalization (or descent) of Divine Truth in our deeds and delights as heavenly uses on earth.

Now let us examine the way in which this 6-step process operates constantly as we study the Threefold Testament of Sacred Scripture. We are not to think that these steps are advanced by stages of life exclusively. Rather, all of us as regenerating persons through the Lord's Second Advent, undergo the 6 steps constantly in the various departments of our social, psychological, and spiritual living.

In this next table the Threefold Testament is drawn to correspond to the Threefold Heaven. As there are three senses to each of the three Testaments the diagram constitutes an "ennead matrix," which is to say, a "ninefold" relation. We thus have nine varieties of relationship to Sacred Scripture as there are nine types of degrees into which the societies of the Grand Human are organized.

Diagram V. b

OLD TESTAMENT

NEW TESTAMENT

THIRD TESTAMENT

CELESTIAL SENSE
(inmost)
THIRD HEAVEN
(III)

The Lord as the Human Divine Omnipotent

(7)

The Lord as Divine Truth separated in ultimates

(8)

The Lord in His visible Divine Human glorified

(9)

correspondential sense
(intermediate)
SECOND HEAVEN
(II)

Believing in the operation of the Holy Spirit within us

(4)

Studying the message in the Lord's Life, Miracles, and Parables

(5)

Studying states of the Church within ourselves

(6)

LITERAL OR NATURAL SENSE
(external)
FIRST HEAVEN
(I)

Obeying the Ten Commandments

(1)

Obeying the Lord's New Commandment

(2)

Studying correspondences, doctrines, and memorable relations

(3)

There are 9 zones in this ennead matrix reflecting the three senses of the three Testaments. As well, each of the three Heavens has three regions: an outer region, an intermediate region, and an inmost region; these three regions correspond to the three Testaments. The 9 zones correspond to our states of relationship to Divine Truth in the activity of being regenerated by the Lord through His Second Advent. The first level (I) is represented by steps 1,2, and 3, which are the literal sense of the three Testaments. The second level (II) is represented by steps 4, 5, and 6, which are the correspondential sense of the three Testaments. The third level (III) is represented by the inmost or celestial sense of the three Testaments. The three levels (I, II, and III) correspond to ever more interior journeys into the three Heavens, or Sacred Scripture. The inmost relationship we can have with Divine Truth, or Sacred Scripture, is pictured in zone 9, a state in which we perceive the celestial sense of the Third Testament. This highest sense of Sacred Scripture deals with the arcana of the Lord in His visible Divine Human, the very source of all Divine Love, Wisdom, and Power in the universe and in the soul of the human race.

Later, you may wish to study this notion of the ennead matrix and its applications in life: The Ennead Matrix of the Threefold Self: Affective, Cognitive, Sensorimotor.

13.12.16 The Ninefold Self and the Ninefold Sacred Scripture (Ennead Matrix)

Jesus, Bread of Life, I pray Thee,
Let me gladly here obey Thee.
By Thy Love I am invited.
Be Thy Love with love requited.
From this Supper let me measure,
Lord, how vas and deep Love's treasure.
Through the gifts Thou dost give me
As Thy guest in Heaven receive me.

17th Century Hymn, (Brockes Passion) (Concordia Publishing House)

We have discussed the thesis that we have a ninefold or enneadic relationship to Sacred Scripture, and that the regenerating person from the Lord undergoes these nine varieties of spiritual states. The method through which we can cooperate, as-if of ourselves, in this reformation of our character has been described as a particular type of religious self-inspection whose purpose is to judge ourselves in every single act, thought, or intention of our will and understanding. We are continually to explore and examine our thoughts, intentions, and reactions in order to observe and identify the many varieties of our own proprial evils, and thereupon to cast out each one of them by shunning further voluntary contact with them as sins against the Lord. If this be done as a constant daily practice our movement through the 9 zones becomes visible so that we may cooperate with the Lord freely, as-if of ourselves.

In order to obtain a still clearer comprehension of how we are to perform religious self-inspection, we may consider an ennead matrix: called the "ninefold self" which is patterned exactly upon the ninefold relationship we have to Sacred Scripture, as outlined before. This ninefold relationship stems from the order of degrees in which the Heavens are and which correspond exactly to the three senses of the three Testaments. It ought not to be thought that in these holy matters regarding our relationship to Divine Truth we are at liberty to invent or theorize whatever seems reasonable to us, as is the case in the various branches of science, philosophy, and theology. Instead we must always proceed from illustration given by the Lord when we study Sacred Scripture for the purpose of learning the scientifics of our own regeneration that we may better cooperate with the Lord as-if of ourselves.

The ninefold self to be now presented originates from the pattern given to us by the organization of the three Testaments and their three senses as revealed in the Heavenly Doctrine. Since by Divine Order there are nine types of relationships we can have to Sacred Scripture, we are to think of the self as also being constructed of these nine types of organic structure. The following diagram helps us gain a clearer comprehension of the self's nine organic parts:

Diagram VI. a	NATURAL SELF (Old Testament)	RATIONAL SELF (New Testament)	CELESTIAL SELF (Third Testament)
AFFECTIONS (III) (Celestial Sense) ("Love") ("End")	Natural Goods (e.g., abilities, capacities, & aptitudes)	Rational Goods (e.g., the social viirtues & conscience)	Spiritual Goods (e.g., love into the Lord)
CONGNITIONS (II) (Spritual Sense) ("Wisdom") ("Cause")	Natural Truths (e.g., memory-knowledges & scientifics)	Rational Truths (e.g., understanding of correspondences)	Spiritual Truths (e.g., perception & illustration)
DELIGHTS & PRODUCTS (I) ("Natural Sense") ("Uses") ("Effects")	Natural Uses (e.g., enjoyments & products of science & arts)	Rational Uses (e.g., production & use of doctrines)	Spiritual Uses (e.g., works of charity & states of conjugial love)
READ FROM BOTTOM UP

This table pictures a ninefold relation between the three parts of the self in successive degrees (horizontal dimension on the diagram) and in simultaneous degrees (vertical dimension) The three successive parts of the self correspond to the three successive states of the external church as portrayed in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, New Testament Sacred Scripture, and Third Testament, respectively. The Old Testament Sacred Scripture corresponds to our Natural Self. The New Testament Sacred Scripture corresponds to the Rational Self. The Third Testament corresponds to the Celestial Self. The simultaneous degrees are ordered from inmost (Affections) , through intermediates (Cognitions) to externals (Sensorimotor Delights & Products).

It should be understood that the purpose of this and other diagrams is to help us make more explicit and clearer the knowledge we acquire when we study Sacred Scripture from a reverend sense of duty and love into the Lord. It would not be possible to acquire an understanding of the holy things portrayed through these diagrams solely by reading these explanations. Rather, an understanding of the interior and real sense of these holy things can be gained only from a direct study of Sacred Scripture while striving to enact them in our daily decisions and choices and attitudes. As an adjunct to this study, the reader may peruse these diagrams to summarize and perhaps confirm the holy things from Sacred Scripture. Eventually every person may profit by constructing their own diagrams. These are the memory-knowledges or scientifics we receive from the Lord through Sacred Scripture.

But the real and important use of the diagrams come when they are internalized as maps of one's own progression in the regenerating life. Then, as we study Sacred Scripture in the context of our daily living situations, maps or diagrams spontaneously form in our understanding making the truths received to appear in a clearer light. As we perform religious self-inspection, the internalized maps or system of degrees help us recognize the spiritual states behind our natural acts. This identification or localization contributes significantly to our efforts in shunning our evils as sins against the Lord.

Only to the extent that this work of purification and reformation is grounded in active repentance of all our evils can we cooperate in our regeneration by the Lord, in freedom and as-if of ourself. Our state of external blessedness in conjunction with the Lord is attained in proportion to our success in this holy endeavor.

13.12.17 The Simple But Basic States of Our Religion in Childhood

Every human being is a child of God. Every religion that strengthens people's conscience for the good and the true reveres God and saves society from falling into bestiality and destruction. All religions are united in the ideal that there is no good and true apart from God. Every true religion teaches that God is One. All religious peoples of the world have Sacred Scriptures or Writings which are held to be Divinely inspired, hence Divine and Holy. In their essence all Sacred Scriptures reflect God because they are from God. These truths and realities need to be taught to every generation as rules of living. Religious feelings calm the mind and strengthen character. It is only politicking about religion that stirs disagreement, dispute, and prejudice. But when the desire is to find agreements about God, all religions have a wealth to offer. These are the varieties of good and truth, the beauty and glory of our common Divine Father.

Number 5135:3,4 in the Arcana Coelestia summarizes a number of truths which all external religions share. We may reword them as a list:

(1) There is a God Who is everywhere.

(2) God is one Divine Being, as each human being is one individual.

(3) God creates everything and controls whatever happens.

(4) God rewards those who will well, think well, and act well. But those who will, think, or act badly lose everything that is good and true with them.

(5) When we die we live in Heaven forever if we like to be good. But those who like to be bad live in Hell forever.

(6) God wants us to pray to Him every day. We need to ask Him to please show us how to be good.

(7) God wants us to study Sacred Scriptures because it is His Word and from that we can know what is good and true.

(8) God wants us to keep a day of the week holy for worship.

(9) God wants us to honor our parents, to respect the church of our religion, to love our country, and to do our duty at all times.

(10) God wants us to stop lying, and stealing, and making fun of people.

(11) God wants us to stop hurting people and He wants us to stop being unchaste.

(12) The more you try to be good according to Sacred Scriptures the more you feel free, and hence, the more you are happy and satisfied.

(13) When you try to be good you are loving the Lord God and He in turn is happy with you. But when you hurt someone and do not try to make up for it you are not loving the Lord and He is sad. The Lord keeps waiting for you to change your mind and be good again.

(14) Those who try to be good are our friends, but those who insist on being bad no matter what, are not our friends.

(15) To be good is to try to do what the Lord wants you to do. To be bad is to do what you want to do.

(16) The Lord wants you to be like Him: obedient, honest, and religious.

(17) To be religious means to watch out for God in every single act, thought, and desire.

(18) There are two ways to watch out for God in everything: first, always to listen to our conscience; second, every day to study Sacred Scriptures or Sacred Scripture of God.

(19) Good angels from Heaven lead us when we follow our conscience; bad spirits from Hell lead us when we disobey our conscience.

(20) Our conscience tells us to share with our friends everything we like and enjoy.

(21) There is a good and proper way to share and a bad and improper way. We know the difference when we follow the example of parents, elders, and officials.

(22) The more you enjoy something the more you owe thanks to the Lord your God. But when you are sad or in suffering, the Lord weeps with you and looks to changing your state so that you can be happy again.

(23) When you are afraid, sad, or unhappy, remind yourself that the Lord your God is in charge and your job is to trust Him at all times no matter what happens. Keep thinking about what Sacred Scriptures teach, which is that the Lord turns every event, no matter how bad, into something good.

(24) When you feel antsy, agitated, bored, go get yourself something good to eat while you study your favorite parts of Sacred Scriptures until you are content again.

(25) When you feel sad or depressed read passages of Sacred Scriptures which tell of the Lord's grief for the human race. Let yourself cry. Then the Lord will uplift your spirit and instead of sadness you'll feel joy.

13.12.18 The Psychology of Temptations

The phenomenon of temptations is central to the study of Religious Psychology though it is unknown in Psychology where Sacred Scripture is used to refer to lapses in our duty or morality and is not viewed as a process of organic spiritual development. It is well known in religious doctrines and the subject of temptations is explicitly discussed in all Sacred Scriptures, each in their own tradition. For example, the New Testament Sacred Scripture tells us that Jesus underwent temptations. As well, we are taught in Sacred Scriptures that our thoughts and intentions are evil and it is required that we purify them through resisting temptations. In the Old Testament Sacred Scripture we are told how Job was severely tempted by Satan. In the Third Testament we read that temptations are the very means by which the Lord regenerates everyone. A person may therefore ask, Where are my temptations? This surely ought to be an important subject in Religious Psychology since temptations are the means by which we are regenerated, and to be regenerated is the goal and love of all.

Where are my temptations? This inquiry is indeed to be taken very seriously by every individual. The state of the Church within us determines the nature and severity of our temptations at any time and in any area of life. When we are in the state of the Old Church within us we are given by the Lord to experience first degree temptations; these are at a relatively low but basic level of the self. We may think of them as natural temptations, or temptations of the Natural Self. These temptations are grouped and identified, as in the Ten Commandments: we must not give in to the temptations of

religiouslessness,
theft,
libel,
adultery,
murder.

These are temptations that all socialized human beings must learn to overcome or control within their thoughts or impulses. The Lord manages every temptation so as to bring about the individual's spiritual growth. Not a single exception ever occurs as temptations follow a fixed and unchangeable Order governed by the Lord.

In Religious Psychology we may view temptations as the study of spiritual growth and development. How does the individual grow spiritually? Where can we look so as to observe this operation? To home in on this area we may consider the examples in the accompanying chart:

domain III AFFECTIONAL DISTURBANCES (Will; Love; Good) (Spiritual Temptations)	Spiritual Self (religion)	(i) It's not up to me to do it. (ii) You didn't do it, did you. (iii) Oh that, it's awful. (iv) I don't deserve this kind of treatment. (v) I don't feel like, so I don't have to. (vi) etc.
domain II COGNITIVE DISTURBANCES (Understanding; Truth; Faith) (Moral Tempations)	Rational Self (morality)	(i) It does look bad. (ii) It's not my responsibility (iii) I'll do it some other time. (iv) Don't bother me now. (v) Why should I do it? (vi) etc.
domain I SENSORIMOTOR DISTURBANCES (Delights; Uses) (Corporeal Temptaions)	Natural Self (logic)	(i) I'm too tired to do it now (ii) I'm too busy to remember it. (iii) I'm too nervous to try it. (iv) I'm enjoying it too much to stop. (v) I can't really believe that it's bad for me. (vi) etc.
READ FROM BOTTOM UP

Self-justification is a second degree temptation that hinges on our reasonings whereby we appropriate rights to ourself and against others in the areas of duty, responsibility, and propriety. We need to observe how we make our reasoning come out with permission to do something even though we suspect it is self-serving; the reasoning we come up with appears to justify us in our stance. Deep down we know otherwise. Our higher will to be good instructs us, as it were, concerning what's right or wrong. This battle of reasonings is the visible manifestation of the temptation we are experiencing. Later, you can check these documents we have on matters related to temptations, which also contain relevant quotations from the Writings Sacred Scripture.

Within the second degree, temptations can be classified in relation to the three domains of the human mind: the will (III) the understanding (II), and sensorimotor uses of external life (I). The chart lists specific cases that occur to us when we are in the New Church state and arranges them in the three domains of the self: spiritual temptations for the Spiritual Self, moral temptations for the Rational Self, and corporeal temptations for the Natural Self.

In the external domain of life, called the Natural Self, we may focus and inspect our errors of logic. For example, we look at an excuse or complaint we just made in a situation, either to others or to ourself. We said out loud, or thought to ourself, "I'm too tired to do it now." or “I'm too nervous to try it.” and by saying this we feel absolved of responsibility. This feeling of guiltlessness results from the severity of our temptation. In this state we experience spiritual, moral, and logical obscurity or "darkness." This feeling of guiltlessness becomes oppressive. Deep down we know we are wrong yet we feel guiltless! It is a state of Godlessness; it hardens our heart and stiffens our neck; it strengthens our resolve to be right even if bad! It is a state of suffering and labor. We are aware that we are disturbed in our uses and in our delights. We experience a lack of delight in our dark victory. We experience negative emotions towards ourselves and others. We observe ourselves in callous behavior. We feel impure. This outlook colors everything dark blue or black. Or else we act in a manic style, too loud, too fast, too insistent, too ticklish, too defensive, too sure of ourselves, and so on. Our rhythm is off; we do not co-ordinate with others. We long for a change. We fall into further temptations as if in an unending chain. We feel ourselves out of control. We are in trouble!

This is the character and quality of corporeal temptations in the New Church state within us. They are provided for our spiritual growth in the second degree of regeneration. The New Testament Sacred Scripture gives a precise record of corporeal temptations in the New Church state. Some of these are given in the sense of the letter, but others are hidden in the interior sense of doctrines, miracles, and parables taught by the Lord in the Gospels and require a revealed code to be known. This code has been revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg (1688-1772), an event that constitutes the Second Advent of Christ in Spirit, the very one foretold by the Lord Himself when He was in the world. This idea is central to the Writings Sacred Scripture and well documented and proven in numerous places there.

When we are thus in trouble in the New Church state within us we must wait in a patient and prayerful attitude until the Lord provides us with weapons of defense by which we may change our miserable state. We continue to transact with others and to carry out our daily activities. We will ourselves not to make things worse out of already a bad situation. This process may go on for a few moments or hours or days or for longer periods of time. In His infinite mercy and wisdom the Lord supervises this growth process most keenly as would a most loving and kindly nurse in some temporary sickness we have. He is gentle but firm, yielding just a bit in one moment but insistent again the next moment. He works through our own will and understanding making sure that we lose neither our rationality nor our freedom. Thus we experience the combat as if it were our own. We feel that we are pulled and pushed by our own will and reasoning. Though we see ourself act from uncontrollable impulse, yet we claim this impulse as our own, as our deeper and higher self.

At one moment, all of a sudden and without warning, a new and fresh idea enters our reasoning and conscious thought. Our will becomes empowered with a new impulse. This new idea is now able to conquer all our previous reasonings that now try to stand up in its way, but to no avail. It is the terrible swift sword of our King and Savior, the conquering Christ, Divine Truth itself, the Holy Spirit, the Angel of the Lord! This new idea conquers all the old enemies of the land. It chases away all the old worries and anxieties. It sees through our errors in logic; it can choose between available alternatives without bogging down in technicalities. We are saved! We conquer, we overcome. We are empowered to think new thoughts, to feel new feelings, and to break forth into new actions. The period of temptation is at an end. We feel it was worth it. We have clean garments, a new house. We are pure where we were impure. Our leprosy is healed. We feel gratitude and love toward the Lord. A new closeness with Him is inaugurated. We feel and we are blessed. Contentment, happiness, and a new competence are our rewards. Truly it is then the Sabbath.

Let us now consider the nature and quality of moral temptations. These occur in our cognitive disturbances, in the understandings of our Rational Self rather than in the sensorimotor activities of our Natural Self. Cognitive disturbances are about truth and faith rather than external emotions and acts. For example, suppose we excuse our forgetting something by thinking "Oh, well, I'm too busy to remember it." meaning, "I'm not to be blamed for it given the attenuating circumstances." This is a moral temptation: it challenges the Rational Self. Our rational is overcome. We are incapable of coming up with something our rational self can use to make us feel guilty for insufficient care. We ought to feel guilty for forgetting our duty and responsibility, for not thinking it important enough to keep in the forefront of our focus and attention, yet we feel guiltless. We are acting like a moral pariah! Like a psychopath without a conscience. But we are helpless to change our state. We are unable to convict ourself, to convince ourself that we are guilty of neglect:. We feel self-justified and in the right. We are unable to acknowledge our wrong or feel remorse for it. Instead we feel righteous, deserving. We are in trouble once again!

When we experience moral temptations we are to persist in our attempts to get free by invoking the Commandments of the New Testament Sacred Scripture. We are to remind ourselves that we do love the Lord. We remind ourselves that the Lord can and will deliver us with His Divine Truth, His Spirit of counsel and comfort.

When the process is at an end, the cognitive disturbance dissipates. All of a sudden we see through the contradictions; we now can resolve the paradoxes. Whereas in the state of moral temptation we said, “It's not my responsibility. It really isn't. That's all there is to it. That's the truth. etc." now we say, "Yes, but that's bringing in a non-essential element. It may be true, but it's also an excuse. And surely that takes precedence." And we really feel that it does take precedence, that the fact we were held fascinated by was merely a self-serving excuse, that though it appeared true, yet it was not good. And by this thought and feeling we are liberated from the combat.

Genuine truth, which is the servant of good, is now restored to us. Our faith becomes more beautiful and more powerful than before. We really understand things now in this new light and new warmth. We are renewed in our resolve to battle ourselves, to purify ourselves, to be healed from blindness, and deafness, and paralysis. We feel more responsible for our effects on others. We write things down to make sure we won't forget. We rehearse it in our mind many times a day to make sure we won't forget this time. We are reformed in our character. That particular weakness is no longer going to trouble us. Praise be to the Lord! Such is the character and progress of moral temptations.

We may now consider spiritual temptations which are affectional disturbances. These are the inmost and most grievous of temptations. In the New Church state spiritual temptations are about one's religious life. We experience a change in our religious affections. Our highest ideals and deepest motives are affected. It's not just that our logic is faulty (as in the corporeal temptations); neither is it merely that our rationality or morality is obscured (as in moral temptations). Here a deeper source is weakened and turned off, as it were: our will to love and be good is replaced by a will to be bad, to punish, and to taste sweetness in vengeance or rebellion. We feel that we deserve a break; we feel a kind of strength in our commitment to assert our rebellion; we feel it's our turn now, our chance that we ought to seize, our opportunity to grab. We take and we are not afraid. We reject and we feel justified. We judge and we feel privileged. These are the acts we perform within ourselves.

This state of temptation called spiritual, is an onslaught against our inner temple of worship. Hordes of enemies assail us yet we feel confident and secure. We lose the capacity to feel horror or shame. We are a god unto ourself! We say to ourself, "I don't have to do it." We say to another, "I don't deserve this kind of treatment." We feel free to criticize, to point out errors, to give advice, to choose between others according to our personal likes. We use our intelligence and competence to convict others of their faults and to pressure them into directions we select. We turn cold inside. We are no longer truly human. No one can reach us with their love or honesty or kindness or need. It is all over with us as nice and decent folk. It is finished with us!

Then all of a sudden the sun breaks over our horizon and it is morning and summertime. Heat melts the coldness away and our spiritual organs revive. How beautiful and vast and wonderful are the steps of Him Who walks on water, turns water into wine, and feeds the five-thousand with one loaf of bread. His strong arm is felt lifting us out of our misery. His Sheppard's voice brings tears of happiness. There is an aura of flowers, an aroma of spices, a sphere of freshness. Peace settles in, an impregnable fortress. We walk like a giant oak; we extend our influence as a giant ocean. We are blessed with perception and illustration and wisdom. Praise be to the Lord! Such is the character and progression of spiritual temptations.

We may now inquire concerning the mechanism by which spiritual growth is accomplished by the Lord through temptations. The workings of the human mind are detailed in the explanations found in the Third Testament. After reviewing what is told therein we may ask how we might confirm these truths about ourselves. It is taught that we are born into two orders of community life. Our membership in a cultural-historical group such as "American," dawns on us at around puberty and, as we grow older, we more and more realize that we owe our way of life and our values and goals to fellow Americans who labored and thought and discovered things before us. It dawns on us that we merely inherited and acquired these things from them. As well, we realize that our daily survival depends on the community we live in; our food, our shelter, our security, our entertainment and happiness. This extensive relationship with fellow nationals, past and contemporary, may be called our horizontal community. Such is the will of the Lord that we may know our ties to others for no one lives alone.

Later in life, as we enter the New Church state within us, we come to marvel and wonder about our intimate life with spirits and guardian angels. Though we are not directly aware of them, we yet know theoretically from the sense of the letter of the Writings Sacred Scripture that they are constantly with us, that we cannot think a thought or experience an emotion without their direct involvement with us, with our cognitions and our affections and our bodily functions. This intimate relation with spirits and angels, and our dependence on them, may be called our vertical community. You may want take a few minutes to explore this notion in more detail in these two documents, but don't forget to click back here, so you can continue.

Our spiritual growth, brought about by the Lord through temptations He provides for us, is a growth in which the vertical community participates in a direct way. We are told that our mind is always in intimate consociation with the minds of many others simultaneously. Hence when we are in a temptation state our activities are by no means of neutral significance to the spirits and angels who are consociated with us at the time. In fact, every temptation we undergo is of momentous import to myriad of human beings in the vertical community. There is an interdependence of fate, a joint victory or defeat, a communal celebration or mourning. When we win, they also win, but when we lose, they also lose.

Neither the spirits nor the angels know of these interconnections in specific detail as they are occurring. We all only know that their thoughts draw upon our memories and that their strivings are fulfilled by our affections; but we and they do not have a direct perception of this in the way Swedenborg had during his years of illustration and twin-life in the two worlds. Nevertheless the Lord gives us a perception of the contingencies between their thoughts and our memories, and between their loves and our affections.

We may inform ourselves concerning this by studying the spiritual geography and history given us in the Three Testaments. For example, the Land of Canaan in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture contains the geography and history of our own regeneration as effected by the Lord. The inhabitants thereof identify for us the temptations we must undergo to be regenerated and to complete our spiritual growth. The accompanying diagram illustrates aspects of this relationship:

STATE OF TEMPTATION	STATE OF RESOLUTION
Joseph carried into slavery	Joseph as ruler and benefactor
Absence of Benjamin	Presence of Benjamin
Jacob's sons fearing Joseph	Jacob's sons reconciled to Joseph

This subject continues in this article: Moses, Paul, and Swedenborg

13.12.19 Overview and Summary

Throughout this essay we highlighted in blue ink some propositions to be focused on, remembered, considered, and understood by way of an overview and summary-outline. We have collected these selections in this last section in order to help those who want a convenient summary or outline to relate to. If you want to retrace the paragraph each came from, use the Find Command under the Edit Menu: Highlight the passage, give the Copy Command, then give the Find Command, then the Paste Command, then hit return.

Our life is as-if our own.
Our thoughts and feelings are not our own. They are inspired into us.
People receive God's thoughts, intentions, and feelings in accordance with the state of the Church in their mind.
We are not in charge of ourselves any more; in fact we are dead, we have never had life, and never will have
it takes away our selfhood.
God is the Divine Human Who alone is alive within us.
God is present with each individual in an intimate relation and Personally labors to bring us to eternal happiness and fruition in His Kingdom of the afterlife.
Our living conscience, built up by the Old Church within us, is the confirmation in our life of the doctrine of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture.
God reveals Himself to us as a Human Divine Person.
Confirmation theory is the idea that the successive Churches are established within us when we confirm the trues of religion in our life.
The members of all religions undergo the three stages represented by the Three Testaments.
Religious psychology explores this universal inner Church.
Religious psychology is the study of how the Church grows within us.
But beyond asserting their reality, our task is to show how they can have empirical meaning in a scientific system.
Religious psychology has two basic premises. One is dualism; the other is revelation.
This perception is called the correspondential sense of the Third Testament.
Our rational self experiences great inner delight when we apprehend the meaning of a sentence or number in the Writings Sacred Scripture.
We see it in ourselves, in our daily transactions where this Name dwells in a living and immediate way.
However, in this second phase of our Church development, only the literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture are perceived, hence acknowledged. The interior sense is not perceived, hence it is denied or doubted.
The New Church state in which God is restored to the status of One Divine Person.
It is a delusional state since our acting well is not from the Lord but from ourselves, and is meritorious.
But at the external level there need be no antagonism between them.
Our inner state may not be visible to others but to ourselves the change is always visible.
Now the visible Divine Human enters into intimate relations with our daily transactions.
In this New Church state within us we proceed into mature life with a rational character and conscience by which we can learn to hate our own nature and love the Divine Truth.
In this second phase, the doctrines of the Church explain and clarify the relation between the invisible and visible God.
The modern scientists are in this state when they separate their science from religion.
So we may refer to the Old Testament Sacred Scripture God as the God in human character, that is, as the Human Divine.
By reviewing the epochs of the external church we gain a view of the three phases of our own regeneration.
This is not a retrospective perception such as that we have when we are in the New Church state. Rather, it is an ongoing self-witnessing during religious self-inspection.
There is not a single transaction which He does not initiate and complete. We are self-witnessing puppets affected with the delusion of Self. But note: not mere puppets, but self-witnessing puppets.
Will and understanding conjoin in two ways: will within the understanding is more interior than understanding within the will.
Will and understanding conjoin in two ways: will within the understanding is more interior than understanding within the will.
The will inflows into the understanding.
The understanding acts only from the will.
The will acts only through the understanding.
Forensic tools must be used to unmask our pretenses and catch our deceits.
It is necessary to study the sense of the letter of the Third Testament so as to draw out spiritual doctrines to guide us in our approval or disapproval of our daily transactions.
Our will is helpless to prevent evil thoughts and emotions and yet we are guilty for them.
When we perceive one of our transactions as a temptation we are given to see an element of our evil.
The entire universe is merely for this purpose that God can turn our marital transactions into conjugial love. This is the interior sense of the doctrine of conjugial love.
The Lord supervises our transactions in order to govern our way to this angelic status. This is called regeneration.
Note carefully: we are not saying that people have to give up their native or adopted religion before they can practice religious psychology.
The practice of religious psychology involves a constant striving to understand and discipline ourselves.
A temptation is an organic process of spiritual growth through which our awareness is expanded.
People undergo an organic, inner development relative to their religious affections.
Secular law upholds the religious Commandments of its people in every society. This is by Divine intervention or providence.
Thus it is clear that we cannot have an inner life which is free of religion.
Religious Psychology is thus the study of what we do, how we do it, and why we do it.
In the future one may anticipate such new sciences in the positive bias method like “Religious Sociology," "Religious Engineering," "Religious Business & Management," Religious Biology," "Religious Crystallography," and so on.
This inner sense is identical with religious psychology. It is information in the ancient code of correspondences that cements all natural languages through the symbolism of the sensory organs.
Religious psychology is in the positive bias orientation: it first assumes that all of Sacred Scriptures are composed of valid and true propositions, and then looks for methods by which to confirm these truths with our own observation and theory.
The denial causes it to disappear. It is obvious and crystal clear, therefore, that religious psychology must operate by the positive bias methodology.
the method of materialistic psychology requires that we first assume that Sacred Scriptures are not necessarily true in their propositions about the world and people.
Sacred Scripture specifically asserts that no science, scholarship, or knowledge are possible without the revelations and propositions contained in them as Divine Truth.
By elaborating the content and dynamics of religious affections and reasonings we hope to contribute to the development of a methodology for the science of religious psychology.
All these modern "psychologies" share the method of interpersonal observation as the sole source of information for their theories.
This double gain makes the study of inner life useful to society and may eventually develop in the future as a science and field of community service.
We need to observe our motives (affective behavior), our thoughts (cognitive behavior), and our sensations and motor actions (sensorimotor behavior) in everyday living. By observing and taxonomizing, or cataloguing, this living information on our inner life we can construct theories and models that can explain the interconnections in this inner life.
It is therefore to be presupposed that the Lord works through our acts of thinking and intending, and this without a single exception to eternity! What an intimate life a person has with the Lord!
It becomes therefore critical for each one of us to develop as-if of ourselves the facility of religious self-inspection.
The reason that religious self-inspection is of such great importance is that it is the only practical method available to the individual to shun evils as sins against God.
Religious self-inspection is a variety of self-inspection, namely whose function it is to witness an on-going activity of the self in order to note its potential offensiveness to God.
Our mental organization is to be examined in every single detail for the purpose of relating that detail to the Lord's Divine Human. This type of self-inspection is enjoined upon us as the first or chief concern in the life of the regenerating person.
It is therefore to be presupposed that the Lord works through our acts of thinking and intending, and this without a single exception to eternity! What an intimate life a person has with the Lord!
It becomes therefore critical for each one of us to develop as-if of ourselves the facility of religious self-inspection.
The reason that religious self-inspection is of such great importance is that it is the only practical method available to the individual to shun evils as sins against God.
Religious self-inspection is a variety of self-inspection, namely whose function it is to witness an on-going activity of the self in order to note its potential offensiveness to God.
The above diagram pictures the doctrinal principle that Life proceeds from the inmost degree (SUBSISTENCE -- level III), through the intermediate degree (EXISTENCE -- level II) , and out to the ultimate degree (MANIFESTATION -- level I).
This distinction can be understood only by reference to the distinction between our abstract knowledge of repentance and our observed activity of repentance. Only the constant practice of religious self-inspection in daily living can give us the information needed to undergo the activity of repentance, to empower it from mere abstract knowledge to confirmed, lived activity.
We should note here that we are not excluding any Sacred Scripture that was given as revelation to various nations and ethnic groups. Though all our examples and illustrations involve the Bible (Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture) and Swedenborg's Writings (Third Testament) this is because these are the revealed Scriptures we were born into and have formed our lives from birth onward.
This diagram illustrates the practice of religious self-inspection in four steps. Through our self-examination in the external thoughts (step 1) we arrive at informed views regarding our more interior thoughts such as our reasonings, intentions, and affections (step 2). Then as we judge each thought and intention in relation to the visible Divine Human (step 3), we succeed in cooperating with His Divine Providence in the very operation of our mind; we then become reformed (step 4).
these thoughts and intentions form our reasonings, and they are in harmony or in disharmony with truths we have and receive from our study of Scripture.
Nothing of the earthly can know anything of the spiritual. This Doctrine guides us to a state of innocence in receiving the trues of the Heavenly Doctrine.
The commixing of truths and falsities of worship, which was the deed of Achan, threatens each one of us if we do not continually strive to become better religious self-inspectors. In every single detail of our own thoughts and intentions what is of our own origin from the external world must be found out, judged, and destroyed. Then, only then, can we continue the conquest of Canaan within ourselves.

Thus our thoughts and intentions must be consciously related as-if of ourselves to God's Love and Wisdom. This only is the true life of religion and is available to anyone through religious self-inspection or repentance. Prior to repentance, or the act of judging our thoughts and emotions, we cannot receive the full value of spiritual heat and light. Like a dried out plant we slowly die spiritually and become insane. Religious self-inspection waters this starved plant whereby we revive.
All societies and tribes have religion, and that all religions enjoin its followers to love God and live by God's commandments or else they will pay for it in much suffering.
The spiritual Sun and its many earths form thoughts and intentions through its spiritual heat and light. It is revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture that spiritual heat is Divine Love and spiritual light is Divine Wisdom. Thus, Divine Love, which appears as heat as heat from that Sun, spreads into the spiritual world and cools down as it journeys down towards the outward universe, to become affective substance in the form of intentions and desires on earth within human minds, and thence through correspondence, in human brains.
We are given the direction by our love for the truths in the Lord's Second Advent. This Divine Coming is within our thoughts and intentions. It is available to anyone who is willing to practice religious self-inspection or active repentance in daily living.
Where are we to find Him in ultimates? Surely not in the beauty of nature or the accomplishments of technology. These are His creations, and surely we must not confuse God with His creation!
We begin to perceive that there is no chance event in the universe. We are astounded to find that in every event in our life, in every decision we've ever made, in every thought or idea we've ever had, in every feeling or longing, He was there!
Now we see ourselves already in the conquest of Canaan. Our heathen reasonings and ideals are systematically uncovered and destroyed. Nothing whatsoever from the old way of thinking, and planning, and reacting is to be left. All of the previous self must be found out, judged, and cast out with horror.
We begin to apply the Trues of the Third Testament to our own psychological states of development. The journey down to Egypt is now seen as our state prior to the present. We now feel a spiritual difference in the quality of our hourly living. Heaven is present.
The Lord regenerates through liberty and understanding. What we choose in freedom, this we love. What we love, we do in liberty.
But let it be always remembered that it is not our own strength that conquers but the strong arm of the Lord Who occupies that part of our mind and indwells through Sacred Scripture in its three senses. Forget this, and your repentance is as nothing.
The Lord's indwelling is made possible by repentance of an act, thought, or intention, and henceforth He battles for us when we are in the throes of temptation.
When the part is judged, the whole is better.
From these microdescriptions of our moment by moment behaviors, both external and internal, we can enter into the scientifics of the self, of our own proprial life. We gain knowledge of ourselves through the facts of self-inspection, of self-witnessing.
Religious self-inspection is not a competing task, but a super-imposed task. It is a particular attitude of life, a set of mind, a bend of the character, an inclination of the heart.
If this be done, the spiritual-psychological order of the self is laid bare by the Lord in His Word. We then contemplate before our eyes the Divine Human Proprium in ultimates with us.
We may inform ourselves concerning this by studying the spiritual geography and history given us in the Three Testaments. For example, the Land of Canaan in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture contains the geography and history of our own regeneration as effected by the Lord. The inhabitants thereof identify for us the temptations we must undergo to be regenerated and to complete our spiritual growth. The accompanying diagram illustrates aspects of this relationship:
Hence when we are in a temptation state our activities are by no means of neutral significance to the spirits and angels who are consociated with us at the time. In fact, every temptation we undergo is of momentous import to myriad of human beings in the vertical community. There is an interdependence of fate, a joint victory or defeat, a communal celebration or mourning. When we win, they also win, but when we lose, they also lose.
This intimate relation with spirits and angels, and our dependence on them, may be called our vertical community.
As well, we realize that our daily survival depends on the community we live in; our food, our shelter, our security, our entertainment and happiness. This extensive relationship with fellow nationals, past and contemporary, may be called our horizontal community. Such is the will of the Lord that we may know our ties to others for no one lives alone.
This state of temptation called spiritual, is an onslaught against our inner temple of worship. Hordes of enemies assail us yet we feel confident and secure. We lose the capacity to feel horror or shame. We are a god unto ourself! We say to ourself, "I don't have to do it." We say to another, "I don't deserve this kind of treatment." We feel free to criticize, to point out errors, to give advice, to choose between others according to our personal likes. We use our intelligence and competence to convict others of their faults and to pressure them into directions we select. We turn cold inside. We are no longer truly human. No one can reach us with their love or honesty or kindness or need. It is all over with us as nice and decent folk. It is finished with us!
We may now consider spiritual temptations which are affectional disturbances. These are the inmost and most grievous of temptations. In the New Church state spiritual temptations are about one's religious life. We experience a change in our religious affections. Our highest ideals and deepest motives are affected.
When we experience moral temptations we are to persist in our attempts to get free by invoking the Commandments of the New Testament Sacred Scripture. We are to remind ourselves that we do love the Lord. We remind ourselves that the Lord can and will deliver us with His Divine Truth, His Spirit of counsel and comfort.
For example, suppose we excuse our forgetting something by thinking "Oh, well, I'm too busy to remember it." meaning, "I'm not to be blamed for it given the attenuating circumstances." This is a moral temptation: it challenges the Rational Self. Our rational is overcome. We are incapable of coming up with something our rational self can use to make us feel guilty for insufficient care. We ought to feel guilty for forgetting our duty and responsibility, for not thinking it important enough to keep in the forefront of our focus and attention, yet we feel guiltless.
We are saved! We conquer, we overcome. We are empowered to think new thoughts, to feel new feelings, and to break forth into new actions. The period of temptation is at an end. We feel it was worth it.
This is the character and quality of corporeal temptations in the New Church state within us. They are provided for our spiritual growth in the second degree of regeneration. The New Testament Sacred Scripture gives a precise record of corporeal temptations in the New Church state.
This feeling of guiltlessness results from the severity of our temptation. In this state we experience spiritual, moral, and logical obscurity or "darkness." This feeling of guiltlessness becomes oppressive. Deep down we know we are wrong yet we feel guiltless!
The Lord manages every temptation so as to bring about the individual's spiritual growth. Not a single exception ever occurs as temptations follow a fixed and unchangeable Order governed by the Lord.
In the Third Testament we read that temptations are the very means by which the Lord regenerates everyone. A person may therefore ask, Where are my temptations? This surely ought to be an important subject in Religious Psychology since temptations are the means by which we are regenerated, and to be regenerated is the goal and love of all.
Religious feelings calm the mind and strengthen character. It is only politicking about religion that stirs disagreement, dispute, and prejudice.
In their essence all Sacred Scriptures reflect God because they are from God.
Only to the extent that this work of purification and reformation is grounded in active repentance of all our evils can we cooperate in our regeneration by the Lord, in freedom and as-if of ourself. Our state of external blessedness in conjunction with the Lord is attained in proportion to our success in this holy endeavor.
t the real and important use of the diagrams come when they are internalized as maps of one's own progression in the regenerating life.
It would not be possible to acquire an understanding of the holy things portrayed through these diagrams solely by reading these explanations. Rather, an understanding of the interior and real sense of these holy things can be gained only from a direct study of Sacred Scripture while striving to enact them in our daily decisions and choices and attitudes.
It ought not to be thought that in these holy matters regarding our relationship to Divine Truth we are at liberty to invent or theorize whatever seems reasonable to us, as is the case in the various branches of science, philosophy, and theology. Instead we must always proceed from illustration given by the Lord when we study Sacred Scripture for the purpose of learning the scientifics of our own regeneration that we may better cooperate with the Lord as-if of ourselves.
We have discussed the thesis that we have a ninefold or enneadic relationship to Sacred Scripture, and that the regenerating person from the Lord undergoes these nine varieties of spiritual states. The method through which we can cooperate, as-if of ourselves, in this reformation of our character has been described as a particular type of religious self-inspection whose purpose is to judge ourselves in every single act, thought, or intention of our will and understanding.

15.0 zzzz

((zzz Special topics: See marginal notes in AC volumes etc. marked T for titles))

Religion and Mental Health

Affective (Spirit)

(a) Soul/Spirit Mind/Body

(b) Spirit (A+C)/Body-Flesh

Cognitive (Mind)

Psychomotor

(Body)

Internalized

Identification

SPIRITUALITY

+/- A3

Altruism or Care and Selfishness or hate

Love of God and desire to please Him

+/- C3

Positive vs. negative dramatizations

Wisdom and the ability to see truth and validity

+/- P3

Inner happiness or peace and anxiety or suffering

Pro-social behavior and happiness up being useful

Mediate

Conformity

MORALITY

+/- A2

Psychological needs and acquired interest

Desire to be reformed in one’s character

+/- C2

Trained or professional reasoning

Study and understanding of religious doctrine (theology)

+/- P2

Mental Satisfaction or Contentment and Discontent or Conflict

Religious ministry (clerical and lay) (WORKS)

External

Compliance

RELIGION

+/- A1

Natural needs and inherited tendencies

Religious tradition

Freedom and Prejudice or Intolerance

+/- C1

Common sense reasoning

Religious Creeds and Dogmas (beliefs)

+/- P1

Physical pleasures or comfort and pain or fear

Religious rituals and national ethnic identity

Some of my related articles to this topic are available here:

The Horizontal and Vertical Communities of our Dual Citizenship || Religious Psychology: A Guide to Spiritual Self-examination || Spiritual Associations or The Vertical Community || The Vertical Community || Spiritual Psychology || Substantive Dualism -- The New Paradigm for Science || Overcoming Objections to Swedenborg's Writings Through the Development of Scientific Dualism || Swedenborg's Theory of Tri-substantivism as a Basis for the Science of Human Behavior || Cyberpsychology: Cyberspace and the Spiritual World || The Postmodern Paradigm Shift in Psychology || Swedenborg's Status and Significance: A Great Paradox || Elements of Biological Theology

Sigstedt, Cyriel (1952) The Swedenborg Epic. The Life and Works of Emanuel Swedenborg (New York: Bookman Associates, 1952) Available online: www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/ES/epicfor.htm

The Reading List identifies basic collateral works on the Writings by Swedenborg scholars.

Theistic Psychology:
The Scientific Knowledge of God
Extracted from the Correspondential Sense
of Sacred Scripture

Religious Psychology

ENNEAD MATRIX

13.10.2 Eating Practices

13.10.3 Physical Exercising

13.10.4 Sexuality

13.10.5 Politics and War

13.10.6 Entertainment

13.10.7 Chart of Mental Characteristics of Angels and Spirits

RECEPTION OF INFLUX PROPORTIONATE TO DEGREE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ANGELS AND SPIRITS AT EACH LEVEL

13.10.8 Diagram Showing the Four Windows of the Mind.

Religion and Mental Health

Theistic Psychology: The Scientific Knowledge of God Extracted from the Correspondential Sense of Sacred Scripture

Religious Psychology

ENNEAD MATRIX

13.10.2 Eating Practices

13.10.3 Physical Exercising

13.10.4 Sexuality

13.10.5 Politics and War

13.10.6 Entertainment

13.10.7 Chart of Mental Characteristics of Angels and Spirits

RECEPTION OF INFLUX PROPORTIONATE TO DEGREE OF CONSCIOUSNESS

MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ANGELS AND SPIRITS AT EACH LEVEL

13.10.8 Diagram Showing the Four Windows of the Mind.

Religion and Mental Health

Theistic Psychology:
The Scientific Knowledge of God
Extracted from the Correspondential Sense
of Sacred Scripture