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| Swedenborg | Who is Swedenborg? Does Swedenborg want us to speak to spirits or angelsHow does Swedenborg’s ideas differ from traditional Christianity? How do Swedenborg’s ideas differ from New Age or Eastern philosophy? Did Swedenborg start his own religion or denomination? How did Swedenborg envision salvation? Did Swedenborg prescribe a practical path to practising religion? Why should we believe Swedenborg? What are some criticisms of Swedenborg? Why isn’t Swedenborg’s work more well-known? Can you explain the four key ‘Rules of Life’ that Swedenborg left us with? Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) stands as a towering figure—a Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian—renowned for his profound religious writings. Rooted in his spiritual encounters and visions, these works plumb the depths of the afterlife and the spiritual realm, illuminating hidden truths within religious texts, most notably the Bible. At the heart of Swedenborg’s philosophy lies the concept of a profound connection between the natural and spiritual realms. He envisioned that by refining and aligning our spiritual faculties, we not only uncover the intricate interplay between these dimensions through our unique perspectives but also open ourselves to receiving positive energy and guidance to align with the divine purpose for our lives. Fundamental to his teachings is the belief that humanity’s ultimate quest is spiritual fulfillment. This transformative journey involves transcending our inherent selfish tendencies and answering the divine call to cultivate love for both God and our fellow beings. Q. How do Swedenborg’s ideas differ from traditional Christianity? First, let’s start with the core similarity. Like most Christian denominations, Swedenborgianism acknowledges that we are all flawed beings and recognizes Jesus as God and savior. However, Swedenborg’s teachings diverge from traditional Christianity in several key aspects: 1. Understanding of Sin: Traditional Christianity views sin as inherent in humanity and believes Jesus removes it through his sacrifice on the cross. In contrast, Swedenborgianism sees sin as a result of inherent selfishness, indifference and antipathy. Jesus is regarded as a moral guide who provides truths to combat selfishness, leading individuals towards love for others. Sin is seen as developing an affection for wrongdoing, which carries over into the afterlife. 2.Worship of God: Traditional Christianity often portrays God as demanding submission and gratitude for His pleasure. External acts of worship and adherence to doctrines are emphasized to build a relationship with God. In contrast, Swedenborgianism views worship as a means for individuals to shift focus from themselves to experience deeper spiritual fulfillment through love and truth. 3. Concept of the Afterlife: Swedenborg believed in a spiritual world interconnected with the physical realm. Souls transition to this world after death, where they continue to grow and develop based on their actions on Earth. This differs from traditional Christianity’s view of heaven and hell as final resting places without further growth. 4. Understanding of the Bible: Swedenborg sees the Bible as containing both literal and spiritual meanings, with the latter being more significant. He interprets biblical passages as teaching about God, human nature, and the spiritual world through symbolic language. This contrasts with traditional Christianity’s emphasis on literal interpretation and sometimes viewing science and psychology as opposed to religion. 5. Nature of the Trinity: Swedenborg asserts that there is one God known by many names across religions. Jesus is seen as the human incarnation of God, rather than a separate entity within a Trinity. This differs from traditional Christianity’s doctrine of the Trinity as three persons in one essence. 6. Concept of Redemption: Swedenborg teaches that Jesus came to restore humanity’s spiritual freedom, allowing individuals to choose heaven over self-centeredness. Redemption involves personal growth and overcoming negative behaviors, rather than relying solely on Jesus’s sacrifice. Traditional Christianity emphasizes Jesus’s death as atonement for humanity’s sins. 7. Reformation of Society: Traditional Christianity often focuses on societal structure and moral issues, aiming for unified beliefs. In contrast, Swedenborgianism prioritizes individual spiritual growth, allowing for diverse beliefs within the community. While involvement in society is encouraged, individuals are seen as having unique roles in the afterlife, unlike the assumption of uniformity in traditional Christian thought. By highlighting these differences, we can gain a deeper understanding of the distinct perspectives within Swedenborgianism compared to traditional Christian beliefs Q. How do Swedenborg’s ideas differ from New Age or Eastern philosophy? A renowned Buddhist zen scholar once described Swedenborg as the Buddha of the North. He described him as someone who was able to bridge the gap between the East and West for the curious spiritualist. New Age and Eastern philosophy are too vast to summarise but there is one general area of surface-level difference. In Eastern thought, the notion of ‘boundaries’ is prominent, especially the awareness of and consequent eradication of the boundary between yourself and those outside of you i.e. the oneness of all. Good and evil are also not of primary concern but there is an emphasis on attaining harmony with the divine way. In New Age thought, there is a general theme of learning to visualise a boundary between yourself and others i.e. protecting & harnessing your divine essence/energy or recognising & influencing these in others. New ageism tends to help unearthen that which is hidden within oneself. Swedenborgian thought though has strong themes of learning to function in tandem with your neighbour with the ulterior motive of honouring ‘Truth’ and ‘Love’. Therefore serving these qualities in your neighbour in your own special way as well as operating as a team is the path to the most profound joy that can be experienced. Serving good and truth can be envisioned as helping a friend because they honourably perform their duties to others rather than because they might return the favour to you. Therefore one has a relationship with abstract notions of goodness and truthfulness, and then feels bonded to this same relationship perceived in others. In effect, the divineness is not attributed to the personhood but the divine qualities (honesty, gratitude, work ethic, kindness, devotion to community, etc.) that a person lives by. With regards to oneness, Eastern thought recognises karma as the ultimate leveller between people because one cannot identify with the other unless one can supposedly walk in their shoes. Hence reincarnation is a strong theme. Swedenborg, on the other hand, does not believe in reincarnation as a path to ultimate oneness but rather that we would need to develop oneness through the ‘eternal’ process of reflecting on our relationship with our neighbours. Karmic debt to Swedenborg would mean being painfully conscious of our wrongs towards neighbours in our memory and then working to pay it off by doing the right thing from then on. This karmic debt can be thought of as the fuel that motivated the reformation of the tax collector, persecutor (Paul) and prostitute in the Bible. To summarise, Swedenborg views the Self as being fundamentally selfish but through reflection and training, we may learn to diminish it whereas in Eastern and New Age thought, the Self is seen as having a divine essence that has been tarnished by the socially-constructed ego or through unintended entanglements with society and individuals. This does not imply that both streams are mutually exclusive to each other but the material in the former tends to be more devoted to structuring the individual soul for the benefit of the group soul and vice versa. Whereas in the latter, a fully ascetic or fully communal approach is acceptable. Q. Did Swedenborg start his own religion or denomination? Swedenborg did not intend to start a new religion but he believed that his writings would be the basis of a ‘New Church’ which he related to the ‘New Jerusalem’ mentioned in the biblical Book of Revelation. The New Jerusalem implies a city whose inhabitants lived in indescribable harmony and contentment owing to a life built on true religious ideas. The ‘Writings’, as they are commonly called, have been interpreted and applied in a variety of ways by different individuals and groups most notably the New Church movement and famous people such as Johnny “Appleseed”, Helen Keller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Carl Gustav Jang, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, Jr. Whilst his books have a strong focus on reforming Christianity, especially the dominant Protestant and Catholic theologies of his day, Swedenborg meant for his ideas to be interpreted by individuals for use in their own journeys through life and perhaps as part of whatever existing religion they were part of. He believed that each of us has our own ‘problem areas’ in life concerning specific evils and religion was to be tailored to aid the individual to rise above them. Q. How did Swedenborg envision salvation? In short, Swedenborg believed that as an individual approaches God through scripture, faith, repentance and charity, God in turn draws closer to the individual and provides tailored guidance on the state of the individual and the direction in which he or she should move forward to higher states of spiritual fulfilment. Therefore salvation to him wasn’t a one-off event or a matter of belief but rather the individual making a daily effort to better respond to God throughout their life (and beyond). This is akin to the long and obstacle-laden journey of the Hebrew people from Egypt to the promised land of Israel in the books of Exodus. They were to gradually examine themselves and deal with both long-running and newly discovered challenges in themselves. Q. Did Swedenborg prescribe a practical path to practising religion? Swedenborg leaves the practical side of religion up to the individual to be uniquely derived from the principles and ideas he outlines. He does not provide detailed guidance on how to run our lives, such as the kind of occupation one can take up, the food one should eat, ways of resolving marital strife, the kind of government, etc. Swedenborg stressed that the highest spiritual work that an individual should engage in is repentance and working to address the perceived faults in oneself. One may draw on the support of prayer, reflection, journaling and the study of scripture to assist in the process of reforming our selfish egos, but none of these activities is identified as better than any other. Charity, rituals and knowledge of doctrine were to complement this primary work but were not to be considered primary spiritual practices, because these practices automatically become purer once sin and egoism are diminished. Q. Why should we believe Swedenborg? Swedenborg isn’t worshipped or prayed to, he points to the Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ. In fact, his published books have almost no mention of his personal life but rather he scientifically documented his experiences i.e. he assumed his observations would be the same for everyone who entered it. So it isn’t a question of believing Swedenborg based on his reputation but of perceiving the new paradigms of thought that Swedenborg exposes us to: through his commentary on the Bible, his discovery of how the spiritual and natural worlds intersect, and his principles on how to go about life. What many find inspiring is: a) how one person could put together such a voluminous, coherent and multi-dimensional system of thought working alone and far ahead of the geniuses of his age. b) how one can observe the subtle synchronicity between the behaviours Swedenborg witnessed in the spiritual world and the behaviours occurring with the people around us. c) the real changes in one’s life and relationships that come from deep reflection and putting into practice the principles that Swedenborg outlines. d) the knowledge that Swedenborg imparts to us from his analysis of Biblical passages and then being able to read the Bible in a whole new way. Q. What are some criticisms of Swedenborg? 1) Language Some find his books too complicated to read, especially with the high degree of rationalism and repetition of abstract words like Truth, Good, Evil and Falsity. — As with most worthwhile pursuits, practice and the guidance of an experienced reader can help you understand much of what Swedenborg writes. Swedenborg does explain himself in books such as The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine. 2) Patriarchal Others find that his literature borrows too much from the culture he was part of, such as his writings on gender norms and devotion to the country. — He was most certainly a man of his time, writing in terms understood by his contemporaries, but it is possible to take the principles contained in his writing and apply them to modern life. 3) Too Christian or Too Un-Christian Others find him too Christian in that he requires a prior reading of the Bible. Yet others find that he deviates too much from the Bible by detailing loosely-linked concepts, for example, angels and demons. — Again, he is a man of his time, writing in Christocentric Europe, but looked to a wider world and sought general applications to humanity as a whole. 4) Too summarised. Some also feel that there exist too many gaps in his experiences. For example, he meets a hellish spirit in his writings but isn’t able to describe the detailed kind of experiences that a specific spirit had to reach that state over time. — His intention is not necessarily to relate the details of any one particular spirit’s life and circumstances but to draw principles applicable to anyone and everyone.. 5) Lack of relation to big-ticket current-day issues Some also feel that they have more questions than answers, especially with regard to modern-day issues such as abortion, homosexuality, welfare systems, immigration, cannabis, rising atheism, voluntary assisted dying, etc. — One of Swedenborg’s guiding principles is personal freedom of thought concerning spiritual matters. He never intended to provide a “manual to all of life’s problems and issues”, especially if it would rob us of our need to think for ourselves! 6) Too fantastical Some also feel that it isn’t helpful to give much thought to heaven and the afterlife because Swedenborg sets a standard that is too hard to achieve e.g. the requirement to attain perfection in marriage or the need to be useful, especially through one’s occupation. Once a person feels that they fall short of these standards, a sadness of some sort may set in. — “As in heaven so upon the earth”, we are spirits having bodily experiences, which means that our natural life is guided and shaped by our spirit. Far from being irrelevant and disconnected from our lives, our spirit is at the very heart of everything that takes place in this world. 7) Application of metaphysics Some are attached to ideas from other religions and sects such as karma, meditation, healing or aura cleansing but find little support from Swedenborg on these. — While Swedenborg does not support some of these ideas, especially those derived from Eastern philosophy – remember, he’s writing in the Christian West – there are some common principles that can be observed. Different religions present similar ideas in diverse ways suited to their cultural context. 8) Swedenborg’s mental state Others are uneasy with the source of his inspiration i.e. the visions he received. — Anyone who does not accept certain ideas (this applies to any writer, even if he were a prophet), will always find a reason not to take them seriously. The Bible is full of examples of this: Elijah, Jeremiah, and Jesus spring to mind. 9) Religion as Therapy Swedenborg’s writings often suggestively compel the reader to go about performing acts of service as well as critique the self for growth but a lot of people are not at a stage in life where they have enough ‘fuel’ to provide love or to see the self with its evil-inclinations. For such people, the main focus of their religious devotion is ‘vindictive therapy’. Therapy for childhood pain, physical ailments, domestic abuse, financial stress, low self-worth, etc. whereby the self needs to be built from the ground up rather than be renovated. — The writings don’t compel anyone to become wholly altruistic for spiritual growth. In fact, it does promote a healthy form of self-love by loving the good and true things within us. The writings also don’t compel one to make overnight changes but, throughout a lifetime and beyond, steer our lives away from the love of self that dominates over all other loves. 10) Future Outlook Some are dismayed by the lack of exposure that the writings should have had, given their Divine inspiration. — The Writings may have not induced a directly perceptible revolution on Man or mainstream religion but these books did find their way to many influential people who indirectly used them to reform their societies and countries. Nevertheless just as the epistles of Paul took many centuries to become popular, the Writings may indeed become more relevant to Mankind at a later time or in the afterlife 11) Lack of connection to a deity The writings can lead us down a path of deep self-reflection especially working on our empathy, morality and behavioural patterns. The worship of a deity can often be forgotten for the focus on oneself. On the surface, this may even seem like a form of agnosticism especially when many Swedenborgians prefer words such as the ‘Divine’ over ‘God’. This perceived lack of a personal relationship with a saviour can be very unsatisfying. — It is true that traditional religions do place a high emphasis on the personhood of their respective gods in comparison to Swedenborg’s emphasis on Truth and Good. But the writings are meant to lead us to a closer relationship with God by making us more attuned to what is closest to God, namely Love and Truth itself. 12) Vagueness in influencing divine providence Many people are drawn to religion to seek healing from diseases, to attract economic opportunities, for safety or to open up blockages in their lives. Swedenborg’s lack of instruction on how to directly influence these can seem not rewarding enough in the beginning. — Divine Providence is a key area in Swedenborg’s literature but the writings compel the reader to ‘trust’ that all things work out for their happiness in the end if they focus on their internal state. Nevertheless we will still have to seek out better opportunity and labour through bad choices. Knowledge of heavenly doctrine is there to critically keep us on the optimistic side of things and avoid obvious poor moral choices. 13) Evil as a choice The writings can sometimes give the impression that those in a hellish state are there because they are most satisfied by remaining in that state but many would rather not remain in that state. They may be pulled into that state because they feel that they do not feel accepted or satisfied anywhere else e.g. the lonely young boy who gravitates to the company of troublemakers for want of friendship and thereby morphs into them. – Swedenborg is conscious of the fact that the conditions in this world aren’t always ‘spiritually ripe’. For instance he acknowledges that in the heavens, marriages take place between equally-yoked and perfectly complemented angel pairs but Man may have to do with unequal pairings here on Earth. But he does state that each of us are sometimes led into temptations to reckon with evil and overcome it in the end. 14) Theories that lack proof Swedenborg often makes statements about our material universe that does not have any source material to back them. It is not understood with certainty as to whether he borrowed these theories from the popular literature of his day or if it was divinely revealed to him E.g. ‘Our soul originates from our father and the material body from of our mother’, ‘all planets in out solar system as well our moon had or have human-like life’. — Some of Swedenborg’s theories are indeed hard to accept but much of what he gathered came from his own investigation of the spiritual world. He may have observed complex phenomena but perhaps tried to simplistically describe it in his own words. Perhaps there was a lot more to the observations that couldn’t be described with clarity. As you can see, there are many criticisms but there is a general consensus that not every facet of Swedenborg’s doctrines has to be accepted and perhaps some criticisms simply require time before making a final decision on their validity Q. Why isn’t Swedenborg’s work more well-known? As opposed to most religions, neither Swedenborg nor his followers pushed for proselytising the masses. Swedenborg also didn’t seek to simplify his abstract messages for the masses, instead expecting them to ascend to it. It lacks the easy-to-follow stories and cultural appropriation that accompany usual religious teachings. Broadly speaking, most Swedenborgians would probably fall into one of three groups. * Those born in ‘the New Church’ family * Those who are looking for specific clarifications of the esoteric meaning of the biblical books especially Christians who place immense importance on the Bible. * Those interested in metaphysics and deciphering the counter-cultural secrets of the spiritual realms, especially for those who could be traditionally considered new-agers i.e. those who seek to devise their own path in spirituality. Although on the surface they may all appear alike to one of the three groups, each Swedenborgian has generally felt a unique attraction to the Writings. Therefore no general outreach and appeal to the masses would have been successful. Perhaps with Swedenborg, one has to be in a particular place of openness and willingness to accept his ideas and act upon them in a practical and personal manner without a predefined template, in other words, the practitioner has to derive their own path from Swedenborg’s teachings. This may seem very difficult to the average person. Q. Can you explain the four key ‘Rules of Life’ that Swedenborg left us with? 1) Read and meditate on the Word of God regularly. — i.e. We must approach the scriptures of our religions (if not the Bible) despite how complex they can be to read to become aware of spiritual realities hidden in the texts. 2) To submit everything to the will of Divine Providence. — i.e. We must have some degree of faith in the belief that as we make changes to our internal world within us, the external world around us will eventually synchronise with our internal state. This is akin to the popular law of attraction. 3) To observe in everything the appropriateness of behaviour and to keep the conscience clear. — i.e. We must work towards ensuring that our beliefs and actions line up. We assist this process by assuming that everything we think and do whether in private or public is watched over by God/spiritual beings. That way we can take pride in our efforts and behaviours as well as refrain from committing evil. 4) To discharge with fidelity the functions of my employments, and to make myself in all things useful to society. — i.e. We must try to wake up each morning with the thought of wanting to give and receive love and truth. We must see every interaction with our neighbours as an opportunity to do so whether directly or indirectly. Q. Does Swedenborg want us to speak to spirits or angels? Swedenborg communicated with the spiritual world through vaguely described esoteric practices involving breathing and meditative trances. Though he derived the bulk of his literature from such practices, he believed he was under special invitation and protection to do so from God. He stressed that we should not attempt to engage with the spiritual world due to the hidden dangers of not knowing ‘who was who’. We were to simply look towards God and pray to him only. Instead we could be responsive to subtle feelings in our consciousness to do and say the right thing to those around us. | 7 | ||||
| Self-Love | The need to love oneself first begins when we realise that we alone are responsible for looking out for our interests in a harsh, bereft and indifferent world. The love of self is thereby the degree to which we see ourselves as our closest neighbour whereby our pleasures, beliefs and possessions take priority over the inclusion of others. The self is loved for its beauty, virtues, titles, achievements, and mannerisms. The self wants to be its own greatest purpose rather than the means to an end concerned with the neighbour, community or country. It flows into all our thoughts, feelings, and actions, focusing every aspect of our lives on self-benefit. | A Swedenborg-inspired spiritual practice doesn’t necessarily seek to diminish the self but to rebalance our priorities, allowing the self to serve the neighbour, community or country. i.e. we seek to treat someone else’s life with at least as much care as our own. By sharing the joys and struggles of the neighbour, we open ourselves to a richer experience of life. The neighbour in turn also gladly perceives that they can share more of themselves with us. In contrast, an excessive love of self sees all other lives as intruders and competitors to our own. A core part of our spiritual practice is reflection so that we can become aware of how the self has inserted itself into our thoughts and actions during the week. We may not necessarily be trying to rectify it, rather becoming aware of its need for dominance, attention and retribution. | Swedenborg often uses the word, “Proprium”. It means what is one’s own, or what is “proper” to oneself. It is analogous to ego, self identity, selfhood, but it is really the appearance that we have life in and of ourselves. Like self-love, it has a positive side, but Swedenborg frequently refers to its negative characteristics. Swedenborg describes that the love of self is inherently opposed to the love of God and Neighbour. Perhaps because if we begin to think from others and include their life in our own, it seems to take way our independence, joys and sense of being alive. Perhaps we see ourselves as disposable and a stepping stone for others to cross over but Swedenborg assures from his conversation with angelic beings that there lies joys and a source of life unimaginable. | The self has its discreet ends that is most perceivable in our reactions What is more restless at heart, more frequently indignant and more grievously angered, than the love of self. Emanuel Swedenborg, Divine Providence, paragraph 250, section 2 One need not be indifferent to the self’s interests in the pursuit of spirituality It’s worth saying at the outset, that there is value in loving self, as long as it serves as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. We should love ourselves so that we are not a burden upon others, but so that we have the capacity to love others in our actions...Everyone ought to see to it that he has the necessities of life, for instance, food, clothing, somewhere to live and many more things which the civilised life he leads demands. This too not only for himself, but also for his own, and not only for the present time but also for the future. For unless anyone provides himself with the necessities of life, he cannot be in a position to exercise charity, being himself in want of everything. Emanuel Swedenborg, The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, paragraph 97 A spiritual person has a love for the self but its quality is different A person who has the good of charity and faith within him also loves self and the world; but he does so solely as the means to an end are loved. Emanuel Swedenborg, Heavenly Secrets, paragraph 7819 The ordering of our loves is paramount to our spiritual progress There needs to be a definite order or hierarchy to our loves...The human mind is like a house with three floors communicating by staircases. On the top floor live angels from heaven, on the middle floor people in the world, and on the bottom floor genii [evil spirits]. If a person has those three loves properly ordered, he can at will go up or down. When he climbs to the top floor he is with the angels and like one himself; when he comes down from there to the middle floor, there he is with people, like a man-angel; and when he comes even further down, he is with genii like a person in the world, and he instructs, reproves and tames them. When a person has those three loves properly ordered, they are also arranged among themselves so that the highest love, which is that of heaven, is inside the second, the love of the world, and by means of this in the third or lowest, which is self-love. The love which is inside also has complete control over the one which is outside. So if the love of heaven is inside the love of the world, and is by this means in self-love, then the person is guided by the God of heaven in the services he performs at each level. The three loves function like the will, the understanding and action. The will acts upon the understanding, and there seeks out means for itself which allow it to perform the action. … these three loves if properly ordered increase a person’s perfection, and if not properly ordered, corrupt him and turn him upside down. Emanuel Swedenborg, True Christian Religion, paragraph 395, sections 2 and 3) A new level of happiness is open to those who deal with the love of self We often get that hierarchy wrong. It is easy to see in others, and we can accept the principle intellectually, but it is not so easy to detect in ourselves…A person is also able to grasp in his understanding, even though the will disagrees with it or even opposes it, the truth that the happiest life originates in love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour because the Divine itself is flowing into that life, and conversely that the unhappiest life originates in self-love and love of the world because hell is flowing into that life. Heavenly Secrets, paragraph 3539, section 4 A reflection on a life that does not perceive the neighbour’s life as their own A person who above all loves himself is mindful of himself in all the details of life, thinks about himself, talks about himself, and acts for the sake of himself; for his life is a life of self. Heavenly Secrets, paragraph 8854 The source of our descent into symptomatic evils … from self-love or the proprium, flow all evils, such as those of hatred, revenge, cruelty, adultery, deceit, hypocrisy, and irreligion. Heavenly Secrets, paragraph 1326 On how we create a hell within our mind Is self-love really so bad? I think you only have to observe selfishness play out in your own life or those around you to answer that question...At first I wondered why love for oneself and love of the world are so diabolic, why people who are absorbed in them look so frightful. After all, in the world we scarcely give love for ourselves a second thought. We focus only on that outward inflation of spirit called pride, which we believe is the only self-love because it is so visible. Not only that, if love for oneself does not express itself in pride, then we in the world think it is the vital fire that rouses us to work for high position and to do constructive things. We believe that if we saw no prospect of esteem and glory in these efforts, our spirits would become sluggish. People ask, “Who would do anything decent or useful or remarkable except to be praised and respected by others, [openly] or in their thoughts; and where does this come from except from the fire of a love for glory and esteem – that is, for the sake of self?” This is why people in the world do not realize that in its own right love for oneself is the love that rules in hell and that makes hell within us…Since this is in fact the case, I should like first to describe what love for oneself is, and then explain that everything evil and false wells up from this love…Love for oneself is intending well to oneself alone, not to others except for the sake of oneself – not the church, the country, or any human community. It is helping them solely for the sake of one’s own reputation and rank and glory. Unless these can be seen in the services we offer, we are saying at heart, “What difference does it make? Why should I? What’s in it for me?” So we forget it. We can see from this that people who are absorbed in a love for themselves do not love their church or country or community or any constructive activity. They love only themselves. Their only pleasure lies in self-gratification; and since the pleasure that stems from love constitutes human life, their life is a life of self. A life of self is a life that depends on what we claim as our own, and in its own right what we claim as our own is nothing but evil…People who love themselves do love their own as well, their own being specifically their children and grandchildren and more broadly all who ally with them, whom they call “their own people.” Loving both the former and the latter is actually loving themselves, because they regard the others as though they were in themselves, and focus on themselves in others. These “others” who are claimed as their own include everyone who praises and reveres and worships them. Emanuel Swedenborg, Heaven and Hell, paragraphs 555 & 556) Heaven is for those that have worked on excessive love of self Rampant self-love is what makes hell in us, and is destructive of heavenly life. It is the one stumbling block that stands in the way of real happiness...All in heaven therefore who desire to become great and the greatest are cast out, for such desire is contrary to the essence and life of heavenly love which come from the Lord. For that reason also nothing is more contrary to heavenly love than self-love. Heavenly Secrets, paragraph 1419 The key obstacle to overcome in our quest for heavenly pleasures “… it is not as hard to follow the path to heaven as many people believe. The only difficulty is finding the power to resist love for ourselves and love of the world and preventing those loves from taking control, since they are the source of all our evils.” Heaven and Hell, paragraph 359 | 7 | |
| Will | The Will is our motivational capacity; it is what moves us to do what we do. It differs from the intellect which is the human capacity to know or become aware. | From a spiritual standpoint, we feel a ‘willingness’ to ‘do’ some things more than others. These vary between individuals according to what currently affects them the most. An important goal of a Swedenborg-inspired spiritual practice is to be in a position where the Will is shaped to be more ‘open’ to good influences, especially opportunities to love and serve our neighbour. As we progress, we move away from self-centred attitudes and beliefs, experiencing instead a developing interest in – or less mental resistance to – things concerning real truth and love. | According to 18th Century scientist, philosopher, mystic and theologian, Emanuel Swedenborg, the human mind consists of two parts: Will and Understanding. The Will is our emotive and motivational centre, the seat of all that we love. The Understanding is our intellectual part. As much as we might like to believe ourselves to be rational creatures, first and foremost, we are emotional and wilful. Swedenborg talks about a third aspect to our lives, which he calls “use”: simply put, it is action. Use derives its existence and nature from the Will and Understanding, and grounds them in reality. We are not born perfect. We all need to grow and learn: physically, mentally, and spiritually. Swedenborg describes some of that process in the next section of selected quotations. | How we feel has greater influence over our decisions than what we know With respect to resistance arising in the will, it should be recognized that the will is what rules a person. Some people think that the understanding rules; but the understanding does not do so unless the will has the same leanings. The understanding accords with the will, for regarded in itself the understanding is nothing other than the outward form which the will takes. The expression ‘the will’ is used here to mean the desires that belong to a person’s love, for his will is nothing other. Those desires are what rule a person, for they are his life…If a person’s desires are those of self-love and love of the world, then his entire life is nothing else than such desires. Nor can he resist them, for to do so would be to resist his own life. Fundamental ideas of truth make no impression whatever. If the desires belonging to those kinds of love predominate they haul truth over to their own side and so falsify it, or if it does not fully support them reject it. This explains why fundamental ideas of truth taught by faith have no effect whatever on a person unless the Lord instils desires belonging to spiritual love, that is, love towards the neighbour. And in the measure that he receives those desires he receives also the truths of faith. The desires belonging to this love are what constitute the new will. From all this it may now be seen that a person never takes any truth to heart if his will is resistant to it. So it is that those in hell, having an affection or desires for evil within them, cannot receive the truths of faith, consequently cannot undergo correction. So it is too that the evil falsify the truths of faith, so far as they can. Emanuel Swedenborg, Heavenly Secrets, paragraph 7342) We must not just ‘will’ but must employ our ‘will’ to ‘do’ Love and wisdom without the good of use are nothing; they are mere mental abstractions, which are only realised, when they are employed in use. Love, wisdom and use make an inseparable group of three. If they are separated, none of them is anything. Love is nothing without wisdom, but in wisdom it is formed to some purpose; and the purpose to which it is formed is use. Therefore when love by means of wisdom is put to use, it actually exists, because it is realised in action. These three are exactly like end, cause and effect; the end is nothing unless by means of the cause it is realised in the effect. Take one of the three away, and the whole falls to pieces and becomes as if it had never been…It is much the same with charity, faith and deeds. Charity without faith is nothing, nor is faith without charity, nor are charity and faith without deeds; but in deeds they are something, and the nature of that something is determined by the use the deeds serve. It is much the same with affection, thought and performance; and it is much the same with will, understanding and action. For will without understanding is like the eye without the power of sight, and either of them without action is like the mind without the body. Emanuel Swedenborg, True Christian Religion, paragraph 387, sections 3,4) Truths must flow from acknowledgement to willing to doing Moreover, the circle of man’s life is to know, to understand, to will, and to do; for man’s spiritual life begins with knowing, passes next to understanding, then to willing, and finally to doing. From this it is clear that so long as knowledges are in the memory they are merely in the entrance to the life, and that they are not fully in man until they are in acts, and the more fully they are in acts the more fully they are in the understanding and will. Emanuel Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained, paragraph 242) We must use truths as as instruments and fuel to reform the Will The inner self is not reformed simply by gaining knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, not, that is, simply by thinking. We are reformed inwardly by intending to do what our knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom tell us. When our knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom tell us that there is a heaven and a hell, that everything evil comes from hell, and that everything good comes from heaven, then if we do not intend evil, on the grounds that it is from hell, and instead intend good, on the grounds that it is from heaven, we are on the first step of reformation. We are on the threshold of hell, facing heaven. When we take the next step and intend to stop doing wrong, we are on the second step of reformation. We are outside of hell, but not yet in heaven. We see heaven as above us, and it has to be within us if we are to be completely reformed. Still, we are not reformed until both the outer and the inner self are reformed. The outer self is reformed by means of the inner self when the outer self refrains from the evils that the inner self intends not to do because they are from hell. We are more completely reformed when for that reason we abstain from them and fight against them. In this way, what is within is intending and what is outside is acting; for unless we do what we intend, there is a lack of real intention inside that eventually becomes unwillingness...These few observations show how our outer self is reformed by means of our inner self. This is what the Lord’s words to Peter mean as well: Jesus said, “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.” Peter said to him, “Lord, don’t wash just my feet; wash my hands and head as well.” Jesus said to him, “Those who have been washed need only to have their feet washed, and they are wholly clean.” (John 13:8-9, 10)…Washing means spiritual washing, which is cleansing from evils. Washing head and hands means cleansing the inner self, and washing feet means cleansing the outer self. When the inner self has been cleansed, the outer self needs to be cleansed, which is what is meant by saying that those who are washed need only to have their feet washed. It means that all cleansing from evils is done by the Lord when it says that “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.” Emanuel Swedenborg, Divine Providence, paragraph 151 | 4 | |
| Heaven | None of us have experienced heaven if we go by its conventional description i.e. an afterlife depicting a sealed-off kingdom of souls who arrived there on merit or were predestined to live in a world away from pain and labour. This we note from a familiar carving on gravestones: ‘They rest in peace now‘ But from Swedenborg’s work, we see heaven in a new light: a state of being which is something we can experience a bit of now. It is less concerned with the absence of pain, more about experiencing ‘joys’ that didn’t come naturally to us before, or a more fulfilling life because we see with greater clarity the connection between what is within and outside of us. This heaven is not something we try to ascend to or acquire but rather something that we learn to be more receptive of. | An important goal of a Swedenborg-inspired spiritual practice is to remember that we make progress in our heavenly life when we feel within us a joy or attraction to things that formerly we were indifferent to. These joys and attractions are principally concerned with the love of God and the love of Neighbour. When we strive to become more receptive of these loves, we see within us an inclination to live for the other and it is from this inclination do we gain a contentment from having within us a life that is not just our own but an outlet for the whole. We read many times in the Writings that the joys of angels in heaven is allowing their talents and blessings to not just be used by the neighbour but also that these gifts were granted on account of its utility to the neighbour. And not to forget that the joys were compounded when the neighbour too was in a similar state of service to the whole. Heaven therefore being a collective feeling of those who are in service to Man and God. By Man, implying those who we usually encounter and By God, those who we are yet to or may not directly encounter but are yet conscious of. If we take this idea and apply it to our earthly lives, we will slowly move away from delighting in its opposite joy, which is the acquisition of the neighbour’s talents and blessing for use by the self. | It is not a gathering of angels that make heaven but the Lord’s influence over the gathering While we call the total assemblage of angels heaven because they do make it up, what really makes heaven overall and in every specific instance is the divine nature that emanates from the Lord, flowing into angels and accepted by them Heaven and Hell 7 Each of us must do the task of ‘carrying heaven’ within our minds It can in no case be said that heaven is outside anyone; it is within him. For it is in accordance with the heaven that is within him that every angel receives the heaven that is outside him Heaven and Hell 54 Our connection with heaven begins in this life All who receive love and faith from the Lord, both angels and men, have heaven residing in them. People therefore who have heaven within themselves while they are living in the world enter heaven after death Arcana Coelestia 10717 Love and charity constitute the essentials of heavenly feeling the good which flows from love and charity is heaven itself within man Arcana Coelestia #2357 There is a family-like bond between those that have a relationship to Good and Truth angels who are in like good and truth recognize each other, as relatives by blood and marriage do on the earth, just as if they had known each other from infancy. The goods and truths which, in the case of any one angel, make his wisdom and intelligence, are associated in like manner. They recognize each other in like manner and as they recognize each other they join themselves together. Heaven and Hell 205 Heaven is open to all religions, races and lifestyles everyone is provided the means of salvation, and heaven is such that all people of every religion whatever who live rightly have a place there. Divine Providence #330 The divine wants us to feel heaven within ourselves instead of being surrounded by it The reason some of us are not saved is that divine love wants us to feel heaven’s happiness and bliss in ourselves. Otherwise it would not be heaven for us; and this feeling cannot happen unless it seems to us that we are thinking and intending on our own. If it were not for this appearance, nothing could be given to us, and we would not be human. This is the reason for divine providence, which is the result of divine wisdom stemming from divine love. Divine Providence #330 We tend to see people of specific countries as a singular unit with a singular will (almost as a person) and it is similar with the heavens in that there are numerous communities that reflect as individually one and individuals who carry with them an image of their entire community heaven as a whole reflects a single individual and that the same holds true for each community in heaven. From the chain of causes presented there, it follows that each single angel reflects the same as well. As heaven is a person in greatest form and a community of heaven is a person in lesser form, so an angel is a person in least form; for in the most perfect form, like the form of heaven, there is a likeness of the whole in the part and of the part in the whole. Heaven and Hell #73 The lord is always at the forefront of each heaven the lord leads heaven as one angel, or one person Arcana Coelestia #9613 Our abode in the after-live is wherever we can practice that which brings us the most joy I have on occasions spoken to spirits in the next life whose delights have been those of evil and falsity, and I have been allowed to tell them that they do not have life until these delights are taken away from them. But as with people like them in the world those spirits have said that if they were deprived of such delights they would no longer have any life at all. I have been allowed to reply however that that is just when that life begins, and with that life happiness such as exists in heaven, which compared with any other happiness defies description. But this they have been unable to grasp because of unbelief in anything which they do not actually know. They are like all those in the world who are governed by self-love and love of the world and who do not therefore have any charity. They know the delight that belongs to self-love and love of the world, but not the delight that belongs to charity. Consequently they have no knowledge at all of what charity is, and have less idea still of any delight residing within charity, when in fact the delight belonging to charity is the delight which fills the whole of heaven and is the producer of the blessedness and happiness there. And if you are willing to believe it, it is also the producer of intelligence and wisdom together with the delights that go with them, for the Lord enters with the light of truth and with the flame of good, and therefore with intelligence and wisdom, into the delights belonging to charity. But falsities and evils reject, stifle, and pervert those delights, and thereby cause stupidity and madness. These considerations show the identity and the nature of the delight which belongs to the affections and corresponds to the happiness of eternal life…People of the present day and age imagine that if only a person has the confidence received through faith even in his final hour before death, then regardless of whatever affection has been pre-eminent throughout the whole course of his life, he can enter heaven. I have on occasions spoken to spirits who have lived and believed as these people do. When they enter the next life they at first think of nothing else than of being able to enter heaven, irrespective of their previous life, that is to say, irrespective of the fact that by means of that life they have acquired the delight that belongs to the affection for evil and falsity arising out of self-love and love of the world, which loves constituted the ends they had in view. I have been allowed to tell them that everyone is able to be admitted into heaven, for the Lord denies heaven to none. But whether they have the ability to live in that place they will be able to know if admitted. Some who were resolute in the belief were admitted. But because the life that belongs to love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour reigns in heaven, which life enters into the whole sphere of life and the happiness there, when they arrived they began to feel a pain, for they were unable to breathe in such a sphere and began to become aware of the foulness of their own affections, and so to suffer hellish torment. As a consequence they hurried away from there, saying that they wanted to get right away from it, amazed that heaven should be what to them was hell. This shows the essential nature of the two different delights, and that people whose delight has been that of the affection for evil and falsity cannot in any way be among those whose delight has been that belonging to the affection for good and truth, and that the two delights are opposites, like heaven and hell. Arcana Coelestia #3938 | 10 | ||
| Hell | There are many interpretations for hell in common usage. Some deny it exists, some believe in a pre-destination to it based on religion, some see it as a temporary state and others outright do not believe in life after death. Swedenborg whilst in the spiritual world was able to see for himself an existence of hell. He alluded that ‘the innate personality of man is evil, and the delight of evil when perceived as good is hell‘. From this definition, we can see that each and every one of us are in internal conjunction to hell when we have confirmed an evil as delightful. | In a Swedenborg-inspired spiritual practice, we reflect on how we went about our lives and what especially do we take delight in. The kind of banter we engage in, the entertainment we watch, the friends we keep, the victories over our neighbour and the transparency by which we perform our duties, can all reveal to us whether we take delight in evil and by that measure our bonds to the hells. We do not outright try to deprive ourselves of these affections to vices but look deeply into its causes and symptoms. How did this delight first arise in oneself? who often triggers it? how often do we engage in it? Do we allow ourselves a little ‘harmless’ indulgence in it? how do we usually contain it? A key area in our reformation from these evils is, one, an acknowledgement of our affections for evils such as pride, slander, gossip, revenge or perversion. And two, a commitment to make gradual steps to fight it through our reliance on the Word and the Writings and the need to overcome it however long we live. | If we delight in evil then after death we long to experience those delights Therefore when they enter the next life, which happens immediately after death, and outward constraints are taken away from them, they plunge into every kind of wicked activity in accord with their inner impulses, namely contempt for others in comparison with themselves, enmity, hatred, vengeance, brutality, cruelty, and above all hypocrisy, deceit, trickery, and many more kinds of malevolence. All these are by now the delights of their life; therefore they are separated from the good and cast into hell. Arcana Coelestia #10745 People are attracted to the hells from their own volition because it gives them the freedom to operate from self-glorification and hatred Evil spirits (humans who have died) voluntarily throw themselves into hell, so I need to state briefly why this happens when there is such torment in hell…From each hell there breathes forth an aura of the cravings that obsess its inhabitants. When this aura is sensed by people who are obsessed with a similar craving, it touches their hearts and fills them with delight because the craving and the delight are inseparable – whatever we crave is delightful to us. This is why spirits turn in that direction and are impelled there by their hearts’ delight. They do not yet realize what kind of torment there is in hell, and the ones who do know still feel the craving. In the spiritual world we are all incapable of resisting our impulses because the impulses come from our love and the love comes from our intent and the intent comes from our nature, and we all act from our nature there…So when spirits voluntarily or freely arrive at their hell and go in, they are accepted cordially at first and think they have arrived among friends. This lasts only a few hours, though. All the while they are being probed to find out how crafty they are, and therefore how powerful. Once this probing is complete the attacks begin in various ways, getting more and more severe and intense. The intensification is effected by their being taken farther and deeper into hell, since the farther and deeper you go there, the more malevolent are the spirits. After these attacks, the malevolent spirits begin to torment the newcomers with punishments until finally they are reduced to slavery…However, since rebellious movements are always arising (everyone there wants to be greatest and burns with hatred against everyone else, which keeps generating new attacks), the scene is constantly changing. The people who were enslaved are released and offer their support to some new devil for the subjugation of others. Then the ones who do not surrender and yield their obedience are tortured in various ways, and so on and so on…Torments like this are the torments of hell that are referred to as hellfire Heaven and Hell #574 We are prevented from indulging in our hellish natures through outer bonds What the life of those in hell is like may be deduced from the kind of life such people would lead alongside one another in the world if the outward bonds were taken away and there were no inward ones to coerce them. Arcana Coelestia #10748 All in hell come from the human race People in the Christian world are totally unaware that heaven and hell come from the human race. They actually believe that angels were created in the beginning and constitute heaven, and that the devil or Satan was an angel of light who became rebellious and was cast out together with his faction, and that this gave rise to hell…Angels are utterly amazed that there can be this kind of belief in the Christian world, and even more so that people know absolutely nothing about heaven, even though this is a primary doctrine of the church. Knowing that this kind of ignorance is prevalent, they are profoundly delighted that it has now pleased the Lord to reveal to us so much about heaven – and about hell as well – and so as much as possible to dispel the darkness that is rising daily because this church is drawing to a close…So they want me to testify on their behalf that in all heaven there is not a single angel who was created as such in the beginning, nor is there in all hell a devil who was created as an angel of light and cast out. Rather, all the people in heaven and in hell are from the human race – in heaven the ones who have lived in heavenly love and faith, and in hell the ones who have lived in hellish love and faith. Hell as a whole is what is called the devil and Satan. The hell at the back, where the people called evil demons live, is the devil, and the hell that is in front, where the people live who are called evil spirits, is Satan. We will describe later what each hell is like…They insisted that the reason the Christian world has adopted this kind of belief about people in heaven and people in hell is that they have taken a few passages of the Word, understanding them only in their literal meaning, with no enlightenment or instruction based on genuine doctrine from the Word. Yet the literal meaning of the Word, without the light of genuine doctrine, leads the mind astray in all directions, giving rise to ignorance, heresy, and error. Heaven and Hell #311 The agony of the hells is that they cannot feel the joys of heavenly love especially true marriage love Every influx from heaven causes the inhabitants of hell agony. Therefore hell is distant from heaven, and is shut up all round, so that no influx may be felt. The reason is that they are in the opposite love, and just as infernal love causes the inhabitants of heaven agony, so heavenly love does the inhabitants of hell. But the heavenly influence is the stronger; hence hell is kept as far away as possible. This is meant by Abraham’s statement in the Gospel that there is a gulf which cannot be crossed. Marriage #60 People with evil tendencies cannot but feel torment when amongst those with heavenly persuasions Many people who arrive in the other life from the Christian world bring with them a faith that they are going to be saved out of straight mercy, because they plead for it. When they are examined, though, it turns out that they have believed that getting into heaven was simply a matter of being let in, and that people who had been admitted were in heavenly joy. They have had no notion of what heaven is or what heavenly joy is. So they are told that the Lord does not deny heaven to anyone. They can be let in if they wish and even stay there. Some who wanted to were actually let in; but at the very threshold, at the touch of heaven’s warmth (that is, of the love angels are engaged in) and the inflow of heaven’s light (which is divine truth), they were seized with such pain in the heart that they felt themselves in the torments of hell rather than in the joys of heaven. Struck by this, they plunged down headlong. In this way they were taught by firsthand experience that no one can enter heaven out of straight mercy Heaven and Hell #525 | 5 | ||
| Angels | In popular usage, angels are thought of as perfectly good beings who belong to a divine race and reside in heaven with God. The traditional Christian perspective often teaches that a true Christian is transformed into an ‘angel-like state’ upon being granted entry into the kingdom of heaven. The Swedenborgian imperative though is that angels are those beings, who have lived and died as ordinary individuals and who despite their flaws and imperfections, allowed for the reception of divine truth into their lives. They inquired and continue to inquire into a higher way to live and love. And then operate out of whatever measure that they can accept and implement in their own unique way. Therefore it is not that they enter into or are worthy of heaven but they allowed the goods and truths of heaven to enter into them. | In the writings of Swedenborg we read a lot about the nature and lives of angels. We are not asked to call out to or seek communication with them. But rather through reading the writings, we can contrast our lives with those of the angels and see how close or far we stand with our perspectives, reasonings and actions. The writings provide to us vivid descriptions of angels going about their lives in the every day affairs of marriage, work, community life and worship. In practice, we allow for the influence of angels in our lives when we are welcoming and receptive of love and truth. By that it means we seek to make our minds and bodies a place where higher influences can feel something in common. | The subconscious influence of angels There is nothing that a person thinks or wills that can originate within himself. Rather, everything flows into him; goodness and truth flow in from the Lord by way of heaven, thus through the angels present with the person, evil and falsity from hell, thus through the evil spirits present with him. And what flows in enters his thought and will. Arcana Coelestia #5846 What makes an angel The Lord not only is present in heaven, but He also is heaven itself. That is because love and wisdom are what make an angel, and these two properties are the Lord’s in angels Divine Love and Wisdom #114 Angels represent a higher way of being angels … when they come to be seen, as I myself have seen them, are seen as forms of love and charity taking on a human appearance, the Lord enabling this to be so Arcana Coelestia #4735 Angels were not created perfect It is an unalterable truth that a person is entirely the same in character as his love. This is evident from angels in the next life who, when they are seen, look like forms of love. Love itself not only shines but also breathes out of them, so that you may say that they are in every respect embodiments of love. The reason for this is that all the interiors of an angel, like those of a person in this world, are nothing other than forms that receive life Arcana Coelestia #6872 Angels differ from each other in the measure they receive and incorporate that which is divine The reason why the Lord is meant in the Word by ‘angels’ is that everything spoken in the Word through the Prophets and all others, though dictated by angels, is received from the Lord, that is, it is the Lord’s Own…The union of the true and the good makes an angel, and also makes angels’ intelligence, wisdom, and happiness. The actual nature of angels depends on how what is true in them is united to what is good, and what is good is united to what is true. In other words, the nature of angels depends on the way their love is united to their faith and their faith to their love. Heaven and Hell #370 Angels are optimistic and promote heaven in man But those who have charity hardly notice the evil in another person, but instead notice all the goods and truths that are his; and on his evils and falsities they place a good interpretation. Of such a nature are all angels, it being something they have from the Lord, who bends everything evil into good Arcana Coelestia #1079 Angels live a life of service Angelic life consists in use, and in good deeds of charity. For angels never feel happier than when they are informing and teaching spirits that stream in from the world, or when they are ministering to men and are preventing the evil spirits with them overstepping the mark, and inspiring men with what is good; also when they are arousing the dead into the life of eternity, and after that introducing such souls into heaven if they are capable of it. The happiness they find in all this is more than can possibly be described. Angels in this way are images of the Lord; they love their neighbour more than themselves; and this is what makes heaven heaven. Consequently angelic happiness consists in use, stems from use, and is proportionate to use, that is, to the good deeds of love and charity Arcana Coelestia #454 Angels want others to be happy just as they are The angelic state is such that everyone communicates his own blessedness and happiness to others, for in the next life all affections and thoughts are communicated and perceived faultlessly. Each individual therefore communicates his own joy to all others, and so do all to each individual. Consequently each individual is so to speak the focal point of all. This is the heavenly form. Arcana Coelestia #549 Angels are genuine and speak from the heart When angels manifest themselves visually, all their interior affections are seen clearly in their faces and shine out of them, so that the face is the external form and a representative image of those affections. To have any other face than that expressing their affections is not allowed in heaven. Those who deceitfully wear any other face are expelled from that community Arcana Coelestia #4796 Angels remember that they did not originate good and truth Angels decline any thanks offered them for the good they do. In fact they feel hurt and withdraw if anyone gives them credit for anything good. Heaven and Hell #9 Angels have strong foundations in their imperative to reject evil No angel can possibly be tempted by the devil, the reason being that as an angel abides in the Lord, evil spirits cannot approach him, even when they are a long way off, but are instantly seized with horror and fright. Arcana Coelestia #1573 Angelic happiness is not without a cause Angelic perfection consists in intelligence, wisdom, love and every good, and in the happiness therefrom, but not in happiness without these, for, without them happiness is external and not internal. Heave and Hell 34 The Word conjoining the thoughts of angels with that of Man when [the Word] is read by man the worldly content in it becomes spiritual in the spiritual world, that is, among the angels. For the angels are unable to think except in a spiritual way about anything whatever, and so cannot think of ‘dwelling in the land’ except in a spiritual way. Arcana Coelestia #4480 Angels have excellent perception of reality Angels are able to perceive more in the smallest degree of a person’s thought than he himself in the largest Arcana Coelestia #228 Angels have excellent discernment Angels can tell what is good and true and quality of a stranger – from a single idea Arcana Coelestia #104 Angels rely on a higher influence Angels perceive that they live from the Lord Arcana Coelestia #155 Angels try to avoid thought of death, chaos and limitations Angels have some idea of the Infinite and Eternal. Arcana Coelestia #1382 Angels seek to surround themselves in truth and goodness. The light in which angels are living Arcana Coelestia #1521 Angels have to develop themselves Intelligence and wisdom make an angel Arcana Coelestia #2304 The power of angels to resist evil I have been able to see how much power angels have through truths from good from the fact that when angels simply look at them, evil spirits fall down in a faint and no longer look human, and that this lasts until the angel looks away. The reason this sort of thing results from the gaze of angels is that their sight comes from the light of heaven, and heaven’s light is divine truth. Heaven and Hell #232 Angels focus on the present Angels have no idea of age or advanced age, only state of life. Arcana Coelestia #3016 Angels leading men differently As long as a person remains unregenerate he is governed in an entirely different way from when he is regenerate. As long as he is unregenerate, evil spirits reside with him, who have such dominion over him that angels, though present, can accomplish little more than simply distract him from plunging into utter evil and so divert him towards something good. Indeed they use his own unregenerate desires to divert him towards good, and his illusions of the senses to do so towards truth. At that point he is in communication with the world of spirits by means of the spirits who reside with him, but not in the same way with heaven, for the reason that evil spirits have dominion and angels simply forestall them. Arcana Coelestia #50 Angels cannot put on a mask The angelic state is such that everyone communicates his own blessedness and happiness to others, for in the next life all affections and thoughts are communicated and perceived faultlessly. Arcana Coelestia #549 The angels do the work of the Lord The Lord fights for man by means of angels with him Arcana Coelestia #653 Angels counter-balance evil Angels moderate the punishment of evil spirts Arcana Coelestia #967 Angelic thought is perceivable through representations In the world of spirits various representatives manifest themselves. On many occasions animals too manifest themselves before the eyes of spirits, such as horses wearing varying decorative trappings, oxen, sheep, lambs, and different kinds of other animals; and sometimes animals such as have never been seen on earth but are purely representative. Such animals seen also by the prophets and mentioned in the Word had the same origin. Animals which appear in that world are representative of affections for good and truth, and also of affections for evil and falsity. Good spirits have full knowledge of what those animals mean, and also when they see them, they gather what it is that angels are discussing with one another, for when the conversation of those angels passes down into the world of spirits it sometimes manifests itself in this manner. For example, when horses appear, the spirits know that the angels are talking about matters of the understanding; when oxen and young bulls appear, that they are talking about natural goods; when sheep appear, about rational goods and about integrity; when lambs appear, about still more interior goods and about innocence; and so on. Arcana Coelestia #2179 Angels love to surround themselves where they can operate out of innocence and love Angelic spirits who were above and in front spoke to me in angelic language that was not divided into separate expressions. They said that their state was the state of a serenity of peace, and that they also had young children among them, from whose presence with them they received a feeling of bliss. Those spirits too were members of the female sex. They went on to speak about young children on earth. They said that immediately after these are born, angels from the heaven of innocence are present with them; then in the next phase of their life angels from the heaven of the serenity of peace; after that angels from the communities of charity; and then, as innocence and charity diminish when they are older children, different angels again are present with them. And when at length they become more grown up and enter upon a life alien to charity, angels are indeed present though more remotely, but in accordance with the ends of life which are especially regulated by the angels by a continual instillation by them of ends that are good and a turning aside of ends that are bad. But to the extent they are able or are not able to do this, so they flow in more nearly or more remotely. Arcana Coelestia #2303 Angels believe in salvation for all men Angels believe that all people living in the world today who love the Lord and the neighbour have this law inscribed within them as well, and are acceptable citizens everywhere on earth just as they are in the next life Arcana Coelestia #1121 The angels are conscious of a man’s true loves The end in view controls every single thing a person thinks or does. The angels present with man, being the Lord’s, control nothing of the man except his ends. In controlling these they also control his thoughts and deeds, since all of these are determined by the end. A person’s end in view is his very life. Arcana Coelestia #1317 Man can become an angel Man was created in such a way that while living on earth among men he might live at the same time in heaven among angels, and vice versa. He was so created that heaven and earth might co-exist and act as one, with men knowing what was going on in heaven and angels what was going on in the world. And when they departed the earthly life men might accordingly pass from the Lord’s kingdom on earth into the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, passing not as into a different kingdom, but as into the same one in which they had been when they lived in the body. But because man has become so bodily-minded he has closed heaven against himself. Arcana Coelestia #1880 Angels were once ordinary natural beings Those who have become angelic spirits are drawn from those who during their lifetime took delight in and loved in every way to make other people’s lives delightful. Arcana Coelestia #1977 Angels come from all religions and races For people who have thought what is good in regard to their neighbour and have willed for him that which is good accept the truths of faith in the next life more readily than those who called themselves Christians; and they acknowledge the Lord more than Christians do. Indeed nothing gives angels greater delight and happiness than to be teaching those who pass from the world into the next life. Arcana Coelestia #2284 Angels continue to read the Word in the afterlife Being Divine the Word has been written not only for man’s benefit but also for that of the angels present with man. It has been written to be of service not merely to the human race but also to heaven. This being so the Word is the medium which unites heaven and earth. Union is effected through the Church, and in fact through the Word within the Church. This is what makes it what it is and marks it off from any other literature. Arcana Coelestia #2310 Angels try to communicate to Man in the way that is most comprehensible to him/her It has been stated above that although the doctrine of faith is in itself Divine and so stands above all human, even angelic, range of understanding, it has nevertheless been expressed in the Word in a rational manner in accordance with man’s range of understanding. It is like a parent who is teaching small boys and girls. When teaching them he explains every single thing in accordance with their own mentality, even though he himself thinks from what is more interior or higher. Otherwise he would be teaching without their learning, or it would be like casting seed on bare rock. The same applies also to the angels who in the next life instruct the simple in heart. Although the angels possess celestial and spiritual wisdom they nevertheless do not go above the heads of those they are teaching but use simple ideas to talk to them, yet advance by degrees to higher ideas as the instruction advances. For if they were to speak from angelic wisdom the simple would not grasp anything at all and so would not be led on to the truths and goods of faith Arcana Coelestia #2533 Angels do not force their own will on man but encourage him/her to do of their own accord For goodness and truth, as stated and shown several times already, are such that when present with a person they retreat to an internal position that is determined by the amount of evil and falsity also present in him. Consequently insofar as the angels present with him from heaven depart, the devil-spirits present with him from hell draw near, and vice versa. Arcana Coelestia #3402 The simple in the next life have to undergo self-development. Those whose good is wholly natural suffer severely in the next life. Sometimes they complain profusely about being among those in hell even though, they believe, they have done good, just as has everyone else. But they have been told that in their doing of good they were no different from harmless living creatures that are not endowed with reason. They had shown no concern, they are told, for anything good and true that is known to the Church; and since, as a consequence of this, nothing existed in their internal man to receive what was good and true, they now have nothing enabling angels to protect them. Furthermore, under a cloak of goodness, they had performed very many evil deeds. Arcana Coelestia #5032 Angels counter-balance the influence of evil spirits When anyone there is subjected to hardships at the hands of evil spirits, who attack him, incite him to evil practices, and persuade him to accept falsities, he is subsequently received by angels, once the evil spirits have been turned away, and he is brought into a state of consolation by means of some delight in keeping with his character. Arcana Coelestia #5628 AC 6193.2 – What flows in from angels comes through interiors, adn do not appear to the outward senses (AC 6205; 6209; 6624) AC 6205 – The influx from angels is according to man’s affections (AC 6320; 7967.e) AC 6206 – Angels flow into what man knows and believes. AC 6207 – Angels flow into the conscience (AC 8002.2) AC 6657 – their work with man during regeneration AC 7391 – Angels do not listen to empty prayers, but to a man’s state of humiliation. AC 8747 – A man who is regenerate is in heaven as to his interiors (AC 9043.e; 10528; HH 57) AC 10384 – It is dangerous to speak with angels (HH 208) | 3 | Heaven, Angels | |
| Charity | The definition of charity in regular-usage is to give time, wealth and goods to one’s neighbour without recompense. But Swedenborg writes of Charity from a spiritual-sense to be an affection of genuinely wanting to do good in response to a higher truth or principle that comes to mind from our interactions with our neighbours. This ‘affection’ of charity may be present within us even when do our daily jobs for recompense unlike the regular definition of the word. | The Writings indicate that the degree of charity afforded to someone must be based on the quality of goodness or truth that the neighbour is engaged in. Rather than be applied universally to every one without discrimination. But of course in real life, we aren’t always able to judge the quality of good or truth in our neighbour’s life. And even when we do, we would seem to find fault in the neighbour as to their unworthiness to receiving charity. But a key idea in our spiritual practice is to keep in mind that our task is to grow and cultivate anything that is good or true. We can also make it a practice to keep an ultimate long-term end goal in view. So for example, we see this in trying to help our neighbour to be more ‘honest’, ‘kind’ or ‘independent’. By keeping in mind a higher end, we can find more strength to be charitable to the good and truth in the neighbour despite their flaws. | What is considered charity apart from its common meaning? Charity is love towards the neighbour, and mercy Arcana Coelestia #615 To be charitable means to perceive the neighbour’s life as our own Charity consists essentially in desiring the welfare of one’s neighbour, in having an affection for what is good, and in acknowledging that since what is good is one’s neighbour, those who are governed by good are consequently one’s neighbour, but varyingly so, depending on the amount of good that governs the individual person. Therefore since charity consists in having an affection for what is good, it also consists in feelings of mercy for those in distress. The good of charity holds such feelings within it because it comes down from the Lord’s love towards the whole human race, a love which is ‘mercy’ because the whole human race is in distress. Mercy sometimes seems to exist among the evil who have no charity. But this is a case of pain because of their own suffering; for it consists in a concern for friends whom they identify with themselves, and when those friends suffer, they suffer too. This kind of mercy is not the mercy that belongs to charity but that which goes with friendship based on self-interest, which regarded in itself is the opposite of mercy. That kind of person despises and hates everyone else apart from himself, and so everyone else apart from the friends whom he identifies with himself. Arcana Coelestia #5132 Charity can be best practiced in our occupations Charity itself consists in acting sincerely, justly, and faithfully in every work that belongs to one’s office; and, through this, a man becomes a charity. Arcana Coelestia #8033 To enter into a ‘charitable’ state, one must first cleanse themselves of evils From these things it is now evident that the “first” of charity is to shun evils as sins, which is done by repentance. Who does not see that an impenitent man is wicked? And who does not see that a wicked man has not charity? And who does not see that he who has not charity cannot do charity? Charity must be from charity in the man Charity #11 The original religious teachings were teachings related to how one must live well with and for the neighbour It has been shown in various places in the explanations given already that teachings about charity were the teachings in the Ancient Churches, and that these teachings linked all the Churches together and in so doing made one Church out of many. For they recognized as members of the Church all those people who led a good and charitable life, and they called them their brothers, no matter how much otherwise they differed from them in truths, which at the present day are called matters of faith. People informed one another about those truths, and this was one of their charitable works. Neither were they annoyed if one person did not go along with the opinion of another; they knew that everyone accepts the truth insofar as he is governed by good Arcana Coelestia #6628 | 6 | ||
| Truth | From a scientific or materialist point of view, truth are facts that are demonstrable, reproducible and verifiable. It is common for people to possess scientific truth consisting of abstract knowledges of things they have not personally experienced but know to be true because it has been verified by the many. For example, it is common for us to study scientific theories before we have seen them in action practically. Hence a materialist truth can be known before its corresponding ‘good’ has been experienced. It is also common to study and memorise religious texts and doctrines, about God, principles and morality, but to not have any prior sense of connection with these truths. However, a person really possesses truths only after personally experiencing the reality of their source or applying them. In other words, it is from good that truths can be fully known. A spiritual truth triggers a notion within us of ‘aha, you have put into words what I feel and have only roughly thought about… but now can see it within myself more clearly. I seek to explore it further.’ | A part of our regular spiritual-practice is the affirmation that we must make room to rectify, expand on or abandon truths. This involves being welcoming to different points of view whether they come from a different religion or re-interpretation of our own. We try to make it a practice to retrospectively evaluate our motives by asking the question ‘Have I acted in accordance with what I consciously believe to be a higher truth?’. Thereby continuously checking how strong our relationship with truth is. e.g. If I truly value honesty, could I have done anything more to be honest with Joe? We must remember that we have to attain a mental state where we can accept difficult or new truths. Knowing that whatever is true cannot be known unless there is a marriage of some sort with the good in us. We must also begin to pay homage to truths not because they came from an honourable source but because we have applied it in our lives and have seen its use (good) personally. This is not to say that we should reject anything that we cannot identify with but rather to pledge to revisit it when it does start to make sense. | Love of religion, as the first of the spiritual virtues, leads to charity, and the nature of genuine charity is such that it does not exist apart from truth. For such charity, in life, is not instinctive but is the result of the intelligent application of the truth of the Word to human situations. Truth is therefore the third of the spiritual virtues, and this may lead us to ask: “What is truth?” Pilate’s question is usually regarded as a philosophic inquiry or a cliché? of the schools; but, the Writings reveal, he understood that the Lord was referring to truth as a king, and meant “Is truth a king?” That, indeed, is what truth is. At first glance it may be rather difficult to conceive of truth itself as a virtue, though easy to see truthfulness as one. But it means, first and foremost, the presence in the mind of spiritual truth from the Word. And this involves a number of things. For such truth to enter the mind of man he must have an affirmative attitude toward it and an affection of it. A merely intellectual approach will not store his mind with truths but with knowledges, and between these there is a vital distinction. The Lord gives truth only as man intends to use it, only as He knows that the man wills to do it and to be led by it. So this virtue means, primarily, an interior love of truth, which, in turn, implies zeal for its protection and integrity, a firm resolve that it shall govern in all things, a willingness to suffer for its sake if need be, and a reluctance to deviate from it, whatever be the incentive. In an ultimate sense, therefore, it does mean truthfulness-and this is not as common a virtue as might be supposed. There are comparatively few men who have a consistently high regard for truth; and even among those who are reasonably veracious, there are still fewer who acknowledge in the Word an absolute truth and are willing to subordinate to it their affections and emotions and desires, their preconceived ideas and cherished opinions, their traditional attitudes. The man of truth is he who has sworn fealty to the truth of the Word as an absolute monarch; who has vowed freely to make that truth the law of his life, to extend its sway wherever it may be accepted willingly, to uphold its honour, and to defend the kingdom it forms against attack from foes within or without. His interpretations of truth are not coloured by the effect of their application to his own states; his judgments of human situations are not warped by his like or dislike of the persons involved, or by some inherited or acquired prejudice. As a wise master of prudence, he knows when to take refuge in silence; but he is a man of tried probity who can be relied upon never knowingly to withhold, distort, or misrepresent facts-one who will make a full statement of the case as he sees and understands it, and who will speak the truth without fear or favour, confident that in the truth alone is there protection and healing and amendment. He is the man who does not conceal or avoid his own failures and shortcomings, who humbly acknowledges the very truth that rebukes him, who can see virtues in his enemies and faults in his friends, and who is guided by evidence rather than swayed by personal loyalty or animus. Above all, he is the man who places truth above every consequence to, or reflection on, himself, whose resolve is that the truth shall govern in all things of his life. And all these things make for spiritual virtue. | It is difficult to know what is actually a spiritual truth unless one is already willing and immersed in doing Good. For people who have no other matters of doctrine than those concerning faith and yet who live according to them are linked in some way to Him, though in a remote way. It is remote for the reason that they do not know from any affection what charity towards the neighbour is, let alone love to the Lord, but only from some concept that belongs to faith. Thus they do not possess any perception of good, only a type of persuasion that that is true and accordingly good which their matters of doctrine tell them to be so. And when they are confirmed in those matters of doctrine they are just as likely to be subject to falsity as to truth, for nothing else than good can confirm a person as to what the truth is. Arcana Coelestia #3463 Truth alone cannot teach us the way to do good but good can teach us what is true Truth does indeed teach what good is, but it does so without perception, whereas good teaches what truth is from perception. Anyone may recognize this difference, and also the nature of it, simply from the following general command concerning charity. Arcana Coelestia 3463 Once we are in the process of doing Good, we must try to marry it with a Truth so that we can remain in that Good Good of love is good only so far as it has become joined with truth of wisdom; and truth of wisdom is truth only so far as it has become joined with good of love. Good and truth derive this from their origin. Good has its origin in the Lord, and likewise truth, for the Lord is good itself and truth itself; and in Him these two are one. For this reason in angels of heaven and in men on earth good is good in itself only so far as it has become joined with truth; and truth is truth in itself only so far as it has become joined with good. It is acknowledged that every good and every truth is from the Lord; since, therefore, good makes one with truth, and truth with good, it follows that for good to be good in itself, and for truth to be truth in itself, they must make one in the recipient, that is, in an angel of heaven or a man on the earth. Divine Providence #10 We must approach Truth with the primary purpose of implementing it in our personal lives It is very important to realize, however, that the only people who receive life from the Word are those who read it for two purposes: to draw divine truths from it because it is the fountain of truth; and to apply to their life the divine truths they have drawn. The opposite happens to people who read the Word only with the purpose of increasing their status and gaining the world. True Christian Religion 191 We say and do things differently because internally they aren’t in a marriage Good may be separated from truth and truth from good, and when separated may still appear to be good and truth; because man has the faculty to act that is called liberty, and the faculty to understand that is called rationality. It is by the abuse of these powers that a man can appear in externals to be different from what he is in internals; and consequently that a bad man can do what is good and speak what is true, that is, that a devil can feign himself an angel of light. Divine Providence 15 | 4 | |
| Good-and-Evil | Religion typically provides a set of rules for people to live by. The conscious intent to disobey these rules are commonly referred to as ‘sins’. ‘Good’ on the other hand is he or she that keeps the rules or perhaps even goes above and beyond social norms. The Writings though do not have a strong emphasis on practical distinctions between good and evil but rather it lays heavy emphasis on going beyond the love of ‘self’. Swedenborg often writes about the Natural Man, the Spiritual Man and the Celestial Man. The difference being their varied ability to incorporate the lives and interests of of others alongside their own. And it is from this ability that laws relating to Good and Evil are internally formulated. The Writings also tend to encourage us to deal first with our ‘evils’ before we can begin the process of extending our ‘Goodness’ in the world | A Swedenborg-inspired spiritual practice does value conventional moral laws against dishonesty, slander, theft, adultery and revenge. But core to our spiritual practice is our reflection of whether we pursued a win-win scenario with our interactions with our neighbour. We acknowledge that we are from birth, driven to pursuing self-serving interests. We are optimistic though that as we advance in spirituality, we begin to perceive how we may balance the interests of the self with that of the immediate neighbour and then followed by the group, community, the church, country and the whole of humanity. We are not so much enticed by the rewards and punishments of moral laws but by feeling the pain and pleasures of the neighbour as our own. This way our lives are opened to a greater degree of feeling and perception | Doing good is refraining from evil so far as someone refrains from evils, so far he does good. Doctrine of Life #21 We must prioritise working on our evils Evil and good cannot exist together, and in so far as evil is removed, good is sought and felt. This is because in the spiritual world a sphere of his love radiates from everyone. This spreads around and affects others, making them to like or dislike the person. It is these spheres which effect the separation of the good from the wicked. There are many parallels in the natural world to show that evil must be removed before good is recognised, felt and loved. For instance, no one can approach someone who keeps a leopard or a panther in his room, and lives safely with them because he feeds them, unless he has first removed those wild animals. True Christian Religion #331 Man must ‘work’ to do his part in reforming his inclinations to do good and evil Man himself ought to purify himself from evils, and not wait for the Lord to do this without his cooperation. Otherwise he would be like a servant going to his master, with his face and clothes befouled with soot and dung, and saying, “Master, wash me.” Would not his master say to him, “You foolish servant, what are you saying? See, there are water, soap, and a towel; have you not hands of your own and the power to use them? Wash yourself.” So will the Lord God say, “These means of purification are from Me, and your ability to will and do are also from Me; therefore use these My gifts and endowments as your own, and you will be purified;” and so on. That the external man is to be cleansed, but by means of the internal the Lord teaches in the twenty-third chapter of Matthew from beginning to end. True Christian Religion #331 Our natural self does not have an inclination to consciously deal with our evils and goodness. But if we practice keeping the Lord’s will and love within our minds, we can slowly develop an inclination to look into these All the evils to which a person tends from birth are written upon the will of his natural man. To the extent that he draws upon these evils, they flow into his thoughts. Likewise good things together with truths flow down into his thoughts from the Lord, and there they are balanced, like weights on the pans of a pair of scales, If a person then takes to himself evils, they are received by his old will and added to the former ones. But if he takes to himself good things together with truths, the Lord forms a new will and a new understanding above the old one, and there the Lord plants new forms of good one after another by means of truths. By means of this good He overcomes the evils which are below and removes them, setting all in order. This also makes it plain that thought is the process which purifies and excretes the evils inherited from one’s parents. If therefore the evils one thinks were to be imputed, reformation and regeneration would be impossible. True Christian Religion #659 The ‘business-case’ to choose good over evil is strengthened through our commitment to spiritual growth In temptations, the dominion of good over evil, or of evil over good, is contended for. Evil which wills to have dominion, is in the natural or external man, and good is in the spiritual or internal man. If evil conquers, the natural man has dominion; if good conquers, the spiritual has dominion. The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine #190 In this life, we can speak good but think evil but in the next, our thoughts are laid bare For anyone who thinks evil at length speaks it and practices it. Anyone like this is no longer joined to another, since it is people’s thought and also their will which join them together, not their words. In the world words do, it is true, join people together, but in this case the hearer believes that the speaker also thinks good and wills it. But in the next life all thought stands revealed, for it is communicated by a certain kind of sphere, a spiritual sphere which emanates from another and reveals the nature of his inclination and mind, that is, of his will and thought. Consequently it is in accordance with this sphere that he becomes joined to others. Arcana Coelestia #4126 The Lord indirectly leads us to do good through thoughts and affections. When we listen to these inclinations, we allow the Lord to work in our lives The Lord flows into every man with good, with the evil man as well as with the good; but with the difference that the Lord is continually withdrawing the evil man from evil and is continually leading the good man to good. And this difference lies in the man himself; because he is the recipient. Heaven and Hell #46 | 8 | ||
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