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Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings

This list of Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings was originally compiled by W. C. Henderson in 1960 but has since been updated.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #56

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56. The second account:

One time, while speaking with angels in the spiritual world, I was filled with a pleasant wish to see the Temple of Wisdom, which I had seen once before. 1 So I asked the angels about the way to it.

They said, "Follow the light, and you will find it."

And I said, "What do you mean, follow the light?"

They said, "Our light grows brighter the closer we get to that temple. Follow the light, therefore, in the direction it grows brighter. For our light emanates from the Lord as the sun of this world, and so, regarded in itself, that light is wisdom."

In the company of two angels I then went in the direction that the light grew brighter, and I ascended by a steep path to the top of a certain hill which was in the southern zone, where I found a magnificent gate. When the guard saw the angels with me, he opened it, and behold, I saw an avenue of palm trees and laurels, which we followed. The avenue curved around and ended up at a garden, in the middle of which stood the Temple of Wisdom.

As I looked around in the garden, I saw some smaller buildings, replicas of the temple, with wise men in them. We went over to one of the buildings, and we spoke at the entrance with the receptionist there, telling him the reason for our coming and the way we had arrived. And the receptionist said, "Welcome! Come in, have a seat, and let us spend some time together in conversations of wisdom."

[2] I saw inside that the building was divided into two sections, and yet the two were still one. It was divided into two sections by a transparent partition, but it looked like one room because of the partition's transparency, which was like the transparency of the purest crystal. I asked why it was arranged like that.

The receptionist said, "I am not alone. My wife is with me, and though we are two, yet we are not two but one flesh."

To which I replied, "I know you are wise, but what does a wise man or wisdom have to do with a woman?"

At this, with some feeling of annoyance, the receptionist's expression changed, and he stretched out his hand, and suddenly, then, other wise men were present from the neighboring buildings. To them he said with amusement, "Our visitor here says he wants to know what a wise man or wisdom has to do with a woman!"

They all laughed at this and said, "What is a wise man or wisdom apart from a woman or apart from love? A wife is the love of a wise man's wisdom."

[3] But the receptionist said, "Let us join together now in some conversation of wisdom. Let the conversation be about causes, today the reason for the beauty in the female sex."

So they then spoke in turn. And the first speaker gave this reason, that women were created by the Lord to be forms of affection for the wisdom in men, and affection for wisdom is beauty itself.

The second speaker gave this reason, that woman was created by the Lord through the wisdom in man, because she was created from man, and that she is therefore a form of wisdom inspired by the affection of love. And because the affection of love is life itself, a woman is a form of the life in wisdom, while the male is a form of wisdom, and the life in wisdom is beauty itself.

The third speaker presented this reason, that women have been given a perception of the delights in conjugial love. And because their whole body is an instrument of that perception, the abode where the delights of conjugial love dwell with their perception cannot help but be a form of beauty.

[4] The fourth speaker gave this reason, that the Lord took beauty and grace of life from man and transferred them into woman, and that is why a man not reunited with his beauty and grace in woman is stern, severe, dry and unattractive, and also not wise except for his own sake alone, in which case he is a dunce. On the other hand, when a man is united with his beauty and grace of life in a wife, he becomes agreeable, pleasant, full of life and lovable, and therefore wise.

The fifth speaker gave this reason, that women were created to be beauties, not for their own sake, but for the sake of men, so that men's natural hardness might become softer, the natural solemnness of their dispositions more amiable, and the natural coldness of their hearts warmer. And this is what happens to them when they become one flesh with their wives.

[5] The sixth speaker offered this reason, that the universe created by the Lord is a most perfect work, but nothing is created in it more perfect than a woman attractive in appearance and becoming in behavior, in order that a man may thank the Lord for such a gift and repay it by receiving wisdom from Him.

After these and several other similar views were expressed, one of the wives appeared through the crystal-like partition, and she said to her husband, "Speak, if you wish."

And when he spoke, the life in his wisdom from his wife was perceived in his speech, for her love was in the tone of his voice. Thus did experience bear witness to the truth expressed.

After this we looked at the Temple of Wisdom, and also at the things in the paradise surrounding it. And being filled with feelings of joy on account of them, we departed and went along the avenue to the gate, and so descended by the way we had come.

Footnotes:

1. See The Apocalypse Revealed, no. 875 [4-8] (first published in Amsterdam, 1766).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #390

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390. The sixth experience.

In the northern region of the spiritual world I heard what sounded like a rushing of waters. So I went towards it, and when I came close the noise stopped, and I heard a hum as if from a large gathering. Then I saw a building full of holes surrounded by a wall, and this was the source of the hum I heard. I went up and there was a door-keeper there; I asked him who were the people there. He said that they were the wisest of the wise, debating supernatural questions. He said this out of his own simple faith.

'May I go in?' I asked.

'Yes,' he said, 'so long as you do not say anything. I have permission to admit the gentiles to stand at the door with me.'

So I went in, and found a circle with a platform in the middle, and a group of so-called wise men discussing the mysteries of their faith. At this time the subject or proposition for discussion was whether the good which a person does in the state of justification by faith, or in its progress after the action, is religious good or not. They declared unanimously that by religious good they meant good which contributes to salvation.

[2] The debate was fierce; but the view prevailed of those who said that the good deeds a person does in a state of faith or during its progress are merely morally good, conducing to worldly prosperity, but making no contribution to his salvation. Faith alone could contribute to that. Their proof of this went like this: 'How can any good dependent upon a person's will be linked to a free gift? Is not salvation a free gift? How can any good coming from a man be linked with Christ's merit? Is not this the sole means of salvation? And how can what a man does be linked to what the Holy Spirit does? Does not the Holy Spirit do everything without any help from man? Are not these things the only effective means of salvation in the action of justification by faith, and do not the three of them remain the only means of salvation in the state of faith and its progress? So any extra good performed by man cannot by any means be called religious good, that is, as said before, good that contributes to salvation. But if anyone does this in order to be saved, since a person's will is involved in it, and this must inevitably look upon it as meritorious, it should rather be called religious evil.'

[3] Two gentiles were standing in the vestibule next to the door-keeper and heard this speech. One said to the other: 'These people have no religion. Anyone can see that doing good to the neighbour for God's sake, that is, with God and from God, is what is called religion. "Their faith,' said the other one, 'has driven them mad.' Then they asked the door-keeper who they were. 'Christian wise men,' said the doorkeeper. 'Nonsense,' they said, 'you are telling lies. They are playactors, to judge by the way they talk.'

So I went away. My coming to that building and the fact that they were then discussing that subject, and what I have described happening, were all the result of the Lord's Divine guidance.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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