SpicaBooks.Com/Spirit_Swedenborg.html 06 Apr 07 - Copyright 2003-9 by Andrew Homer - Spirit - Webmeister StarHeart Web Designs - Material on this page came from the authors on the links. * Swedenborgians study his theological writings and, like members of other religious sects, they attempt to put the principles expressed into effect in their own lives. The less tangible evidence of Swedenborg's influence - his effect on the mainstream of world thought - remains to be evaluated. Scholars who attempt the task may conclude, with Arthur Conan Doyle, that they have a "mountain peak of mentality" under scrutiny. * Swedenborg the Buddhist - Wikipedia - 1907 Nuttall Encyclopædia of General Knowledge. Shamanism & Astrology? Since I assume the Swedenborg movement to be the most spiritual of the Christian sects, of which I'd have to include the Baha'is and the Mormons, I posted this email inquiry to every Swedenborg organization: "If Chrisitianity is Mithraism minus the Astrology, and if Jesus was a healer, then what are your views on Astrology and Shamanism?" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Here's most usefull answer I've received: "Dear Andrew Homer, I have received your e-mail of Oct. 5, 1999. You state that "If Christianity is Mithraism minus the Astrology..." I find this a very interesting suggestion. I do not consider myself by any means ill-informed, but I am not aware of this claim. Mithraism is, however, not a field that I can claim to have any great knowledge of. You ask about the Lord's New Church's views on Astrology and Shamanism. When considering the doctrine of correspondences, taught and studied in the Lord's New Church, Astrology can be seen as reflective of an individual's or group's internal psycho-spiritual processes. To put it simply, using the doctrine of correspondences, the stars would be seen as reflective of the state of humanity. The stars do not control people, the stars are a picture of what people are. For a short summary of the doctrine of correspondences, see under http://www.swedenborg.net/. However, astrology as such is not well known or studied in the Lord's New Church. As to shamanism, I cannot say as much. It is my understanding that Emanuel Swedenborg thought highly of the shamans of old Scandinavia, but had no respect for the shamans still acting at his day. He believed that a genuine shaman could have meaningful spiritual experiences because of the quality of his life, whereas he believed that most of the shamans of his day used drugs to induce spiritual experiences that would be more a product of the drugs than a genuine spiritual experience. Again, I am not aware that shamanism is well known or studied in the Lord's New Church. Are you aware of the quarterly journal Arcana: Inner Dimensions of Spirituality [http://www.swedenborg.net/arcana/]? If you are so inclined, and could produce an article about astrology or shamanism, especially with a comparison to Swedenborg's thought, we would be happy to consider it for publication. Sincerely, Drake Kaiser lnc@swedenborg.net 5 Oct 1999" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Andrew Homer's reply: I agree with Swedenborg's sentiment regarding the two categorizes of shamans. Regarding Correspondences, when it's completed, see my "Swedenborg, Jung & Synchrony." Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772 = Uranus cycle) Swedenborg wrote a number of books after his visionary experience in 1743: "The Angelic Wisdom", "Respecting the Divine Love", and "Wisdom and Apocalypse Explained" stand out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Love compeled is not actual love, but slavery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As Paul Zacharias, a Swedenborgian minister, observes in his pamphlet This We Believe, "Everyone who lives up to the best he knows, whether Christian, Jew, Moslem, or Pagan, is truly a member of the church Invisible." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The organization of the Swedenborg church service is basically liturgical. However, Swedenborg's writings are often given credence over Biblical verses. Baptism and communion take place as in most Protestant churches. New members spend a number of months learning about Swedenborg's theology. Women join the church at the age of eighteen, men at twenty-one. Currently, Swedenborg societies are actively recruiting members in Africa and other third world nations. As early as 1784, James Glen began giving speeches in America about Swedenborg's ideas. In 1788, the "New Church" was established by Robert Hindmarsh in London. In 1792, the Swedenborgian Society was formed in Baltimore. In 1817, the General Convention of the New Jerusalem was formed in Philadelphia. After disagreement over teachings, a splinter group, the General Church of the New Jerusalem, formed in 1897. The three groups make up the body of the Swedenborgian faith. The Transcendentalist movement shared many of the philosophical tenets that characterized Swedenborgianism, although few Transcendentalists embraced the church organization. Among the two groups' shared interests, however, was the utopian communal movement. Followers of both philosophical schools were involved with numerous of the utopian settlements organized in the 1800s, among them Brook Farm, the Hopedale Community, the Jasper Colony, and the Owenite Community in Yellow Springs, Ohio. While Transcendentalists such as Emerson, Bronson Alcott, and Henry James, Sr. expressed an affinity for Swedenborgianism, other intellectual circles in America and abroad were equally affected by Swedenborg's work. Many literary artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries reveal his influence and refer to him in their works. Among these are William Blake, Edgar Allan Poe, Honore de Balzac, The Brownings, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The role of the church in social reform movements is yet another important aspect of Swedenborgianism. While the church often took no official stance on social issues, the philosophical stance of the church encouraged individual activism. The church mission, as perceived by its leaders, "was not only to teach spiritual truths, but to teach and practice spiritual freedom - freedom not only in spiritual, but in social, moral, and political matters." In short, the church did not wish to dictate a dogmatic institutional stance to its followers, but advocated reflection and responsibility on social issues. The crucial social concerns of the last century, notably abolition and women's rights, thus found church members active on both sides while the church maintained institutional tolerance. In addition, Swedenborgians were active in other social reform movements, such as the aforementioned utopian communities, and the medical and economical reform characteristic of the nineteenth century. In succeeding years, Swedenborgians continued to involve themselves in social movements on a smaller scale. The Church of the New Jerusalem was among the first religious institutions to advocate coeducation, and Urbana University, a Swedenborgian university established in Ohio in 1850, was the second coeducational college in the United States. When political controversy calmed, internal controversy arose concerning doctrinal matters, and in 1890 some members split from the original church and established an autonomous organization known as the General Church of The New Jerusalem. Both bodies continue to exist separately today. Training in psychotherapy from a spiritual perspective has been the focus of a large percentage of the clergy in this decade. New ventures in Swedenborgian publishing and scholarship have begun to stimulate dialogue between Swedenborgians and many other spiritual groups, churches, and associations. Interest in meditation, music, healing prayer, and other direct experiences of spirit has consistently flourished up to the present time. And perhaps the most prominent trend is the development of retreat and renewal centers where the setting is conducive to intensive focus on spiritual development. Swedenborg Society The New Church Church of the New Jerusalem Swedenborg School of Religion only one accredited Studia Swedenborgiana The Swedenborgian Church (Saskatoon & Guyana) We believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and that within its pages we may find inspiration and help to lead better and more fulfilling lives. We believe that people are essentially spirits clothed with material bodies. At death, the material body is laid aside and the person continues to live on in the world of spirit in one's inner spiritual body, on the basis of the kind of life he or she chose while here on earth. We believe that religion touches all areas of our lives and our responsibility is to put into practice in our daily lives what we believe. The Swedenborgian Church exists to facilitate the spiritual well-being of people. We invite you to worship and participate with others who are seeking to deepen their inner life and spiritual journey. FREEDOM OF THE WILL Swedenborg emphasizes the responsibility of all people to develop their own beliefs and live their lives accordingly. Without free will in spiritual things the human being can in no wise advance into light, i.e., into truths and goods of the church, or procure himself a life. Without that free will he would not be a human being but only a figure and a phantom. For his thought would be without reflection, consequently without judgment and thus in Divine things which are of the Church he would have no more ability to turn than a door without a hinge, or with one fastened with a bolt of steel. His will, too, would be devoid of decision, hence no more active towards justice or injustice than the stone on the mound under which lies a dead body...." (Coronis, 24 28) As we live, we choose what kind of love we will be. We may choose to regard ourselves as the only reality - our own needs, desires, and feelings as all important. Or we may choose to focus on others. In the former instance, we shrink in spirit, allowing a part of our potential as loving beings to atrophy. In the latter instance, we grow spiritually, heightening our awareness of the nature of love and thus also of the nature of ourselves and God. Charity is founded in the desire to do service and live a useful life, beginning with the choice of career or life work. The spiritual life involves the active development of a useful and meaningful life in service to the betterment of the world as a whole. Whereas the religious life often connotes withdrawal from the world and life, active participation in the world is a commitment to actualizing faith and charity. The life of charity and faith parallel the union of love and truth which is the essence of God. Tenets of Swedenborgianism REALITY OF A SPIRITUAL WORLD Swedenborg asserts that we live in a world of spirit as well as in the material world, although we are usually unconscious of that dimension of our existence. With death we become conscious in the spiritual world, where our personal identity is retained and we are revealed as the person we inwardly are. The final "judgment" is our own realization of our individual essential nature as we face our real selves, rather than an evaluation and dictate by a power beyond. We decide our own afterlife, choosing our own heaven or hell as we align ourselves with the loves we have affirmed in the natural world. If our love is solely selfish in this life, we will later abide with others of selfish motives. Just as we choose our own company and values in this life, in the afterlife we choose our destiny. Further, the life in the spiritual world is similar to this one; we pursue activities and work which enable us to continue developing and growing. The spiritual world is a continuation of the inner regenerative process that is life as we know it. ONLY ONE DIVINE NATURE Christ is not seen as a separate entity, but as reflective of the multiple consciousness that is the oneness of God. There are not three divine beings comprising the trinity, but one Divine Nature in which the three aspects of God are present. Nor did Christ come to redeem us from original sin. Rather, His mission was that of revealing the nature and reality of the spiritual life, and to provide a living example of it. SWEDENBORGIANISM This, then, is the living reality of Swedenborg's teachings. In stressing freedom, diversity, and individualism, he issued a challenge to individuals, churches, and other organizations to be committed to the human growth processes and to express their personal commitment in ways as diverse as their numbers. Sensitivity to, and respect for, each individual's "internal church," or spirituality, is what Swedenborgianism is really all about. One primary pathway advocated in the Swedenborgian Church for spiritual growth is a specialized study of scripture, enabling the diligent student to become aware of the inner-penetration of nature and spirit, of our natural world here and the universal spiritual world. In addition, an expanding awareness of spiritual reality is encouraged by the exploration of dreams and by prayer and meditation practices. And perhaps the most popular of Swedenborg's spiritual growth practices is his Zen-like discussions on "being useful." Core Reading in Swedenborg Key biographies of Swedenborg; selected readings in RATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY and ARCANA COELESTIA; SOUL-BODY INTERACTION; NEW JERUSALEM AND ITS HEAVENLY DOCTRINE; HEAVEN AND HELL; DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM; DIVINE PROVIDENCE; APOCALYPSE REVEALED, Chapters 21 and 22; MARRIAGE LOVE; TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION; JOURNAL OF DREAMS; selected readings in the SPIRITUAL DIARY PASTORAL EFFECTIVENESS My Religion - by Helen Keller Swedenborg, the Seer - by Ralph Waldo Emerson "Angelic Wisdom Concerning Divine Love and Wisdom" by Emanuel Swedenborg, John C. Ager (Translator) - Swedenborg Foundation. "Swedenborg : Buddha of the North" by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, Andrew Bernstein (Translator) "Heaven & Hell, Divine Love & Wisdom, Divine Providence" by Emanuel Swedenborg & William Wunsch "A Thoughtful Soul : Reflections from Swedenborg" by Emanuel Swedenborg "The Last Judgment in Retrospect" by Emanuel Swedenborg. Presents a startling claim:, that The Last Judgment occurred in 1757. This judgment occurred in the spiritual heavens when God saw that the "church" had lost its true identity, which is compassion and charity. Swedenborg's view of the Last Judgment stresses God's love and mercy and combats the fearful prophecies of fiery destruction and eternal damnation that have characterized this subject for so long. He asserts that biblical prophecies must be read on a symbolic level to understand their true or internal meaning. As the end of this millennium approaches, this short work offers hope for the continuation of life on earth, the triumph of good, and eternal salvation. The Lord's New Church "Hell and heaven are near to man-indeed, in man. Hell is in an evil person, and heaven in a good person. Everyone comes after death into that hell or into that heaven in which he has been while in the world." (Arcana Coelestia 8918) Swedenborg Association BUY second-hand book bargains Arcana Subscribe to this comparative religion quarterly Swedenborg Foundation Publishers "When August Strindberg was honored as a countryman of Swedenborg in the French occult magazine L'Initiation (1896), his fascination with Honore de Balzac was kindled. Without delay he purchased Balzac's Swedenborg-inspired novel Seraphita (1835). Enchanted, Strindberg suddenly found himself face to face with "this angel-like giant, interpreted by the most profound of the French geniuses." In his account of his own personal crisis, Inferno (1897), Strindberg recounts that he felt he had received Seraphita in the form of a gospel. It was, he writes, a time when heaven drew him to itself with an irresisitible longing; a connection with a higher world had been established. As the psychiatrist Johan Cullberg has shown in his study Skaparkriser (Crises of Creative People), this turning point became the purgatory of Strindberg's soul. Through his studies of Swedenborg, Strindberg found secret connections that gradually made possible an orientation in the darkest caverns and convolutions of life, and at last gave a new meaning to existence. These were texts written especially for him." - from Gallery of Mirrors: Reflections of Swedenborgian Thought by Anders Hallengren. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Urbana University Byrn Athyn College of the New Church New Church Outlook Charles Augustus Tulk (1786-1848) Tulk demonstrates that the laws of the natural world are exactly the same as the laws of the spiritual world. If Swedenborg taught that everything that occurs in the spiritual world is a direct outbirth of man's mind, then this would also be true of the natural world. Thus, all events in nature are merely representative effects of what is occurring in the human mind. Tulk, like many champions of spirit, was a man ahead of his time. Swedenborg's revolutionary teaching that the Old and New Testaments were not to be taken literally, that they were largely written in the language of appearances, was just beginning to be known. Those who embraced Swedenborg's view did not as yet realize (as Tulk did) that Swedenborg's Writings themselves were also written in the language of appearances. It was too soon, and too much to ask people who had just found the golden key to the Sacred Scriptures to stop and examine the key itself. He was the friend and benefactor of William Blake, and a close colleague of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, with whom he published newspaper articles urging better factory conditions and a more humane approach to child labor. Emanuel means "God with us". In July 1759, an incident occurred in Sweden which brought him considerable notoriety and which eventually led many to connect Swedenborg for the first time with his unusual theological works, particularly "Heaven and Hell". In the city of Gothenburg, approximately 300 miles from Stockholm, while he dined with friends at the home of William Castel, a wealthy local merchant, Swedenborg became pale and disturbed, withdrew for a time to the garden, and returned with news that a great fire had broken out in Stockholm not far from his home. He said that the fire was spreading rapidly and he feared that some of his manuscripts would be destroyed. Finally, at 8 PM he spoke with relief: "Thank God! The fire is extinguished the third door from my house!" He was very easy and pleasant in company, talked on every subject that came up, accommodating himself to the ideas of the company; and never spoke on his own views unless he was asked about them." During Swedenborg's final years a variety of old friends and new acquaintances wrote accounts of their impressions of him. His claims seemed preposterous to many, yet few who met and talked with him had anything really adverse to say of him. They were perplexed at his accounts of conversations with spirits, but found him otherwise to be a gentle, humorous man with a relaxed, benign air. Occasionally, when callers tried to make fun of him, Swedenborg spoke cuttingly, but in general he was the perfect host. The Socinianism charge particularly upset him, and he wrote, "I look upon the word Socinian as a downright insult and diabolical mockery." One of Swedenborg's most carefully argued lines of theological reasoning directly refutes Socinianism and argues for the acceptance of Christ as God on earth. He wrote to John Wesley, the noted English minister, and told him that he would be happy to discuss religion with him if Wesley could come to London. Swedenborg mentioned that he had learned in the world of spirits that Wesley wanted to talk with him about theology. Wesley expressed his great surprise to friends regarding Swedenborg's invitation because he did not recall having told anyone of his interest in the Swedish seer. Wesley answered Swedenborg's letter with hopes that he would be welcomed upon completion of a six months' journey on which he had just embarked. When he received Wesley's reply, Swedenborg remarked that six months would be too long since he, Swedenborg, would permanently enter the world of spirits on the 29th of March, 1772. The maid who attended Baron Swedenborg during his final months also reported that he predicted the exact date of his death. On Sunday, March 29, 1772, Mrs. Shearsmith and Elizabeth Reynolds, the maid, observed Swedenborg, waking from a long sleep. He asked the women to tell him the time of day. They replied that it was five o'clock. "That is good," Swedenborg said. "I thank you. God bless you!" He then sighed gently and died. * Britannica.com - Swedenborg The New Earth Swedenborg BBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Information Swedenborg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Religious Movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Spiritual Frontier New York Times Books@barnesandnoble.com