New Christian Bible Study

Commentary

 

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

 

True Christian Religion #160

Study this Passage

  
/ 853  
  

160. The second experience.

I was once walking in the company of angels in the world of spirits. This lies half-way between heaven and hell, and it is where everyone comes first after death; here the good are prepared for heaven, the wicked for hell. I discussed a number of topics with the angels, one of which was that in the world where I am bodily there are to be seen at night-time countless stars of various sizes, and each of these is a sun, emitting only light to the solar system; 'and on seeing,' I said, 'that stars are to be seen in your world too, I hazarded the guess that they are as numerous as in the world where I am.'

The angels were delighted at this remark, and said that they might well be as numerous, since each community in heaven appears at times to those who are beneath shining like a star. The communities of heaven are countless, all arranged as their affections for the love of good vary; these affections are in God infinite, and under His influence therefore countless. Since these were foreseen before creation, I imagine that to agree with that number the same number of stars was provided or created in the world where human beings were to live in natural, material bodies.

[2] While we were talking like this, I saw in the north a paved road, so crowded with spirits there was hardly room to set foot between two of them. I told the angels that I had seen this road previously, with spirits passing along it in as close order as squadrons of troops; and that I had been told that this is the road along which all pass when they leave the natural world. The reason why it is crowded with such numbers of spirits is that tens of thousands of people die every week, and all after death pass into this world.

The angels went on to say: 'The road ends in the middle of this world, where we now are. The reason why it ends in the middle is that on the eastern side are the communities dedicated to love to God and towards the neighbour; on the left, towards the west, are the communities composed of those who oppose these loves. In front, to the south, are communities composed of those who are above average intelligence. That is why recent arrivals from the natural world come here first. When here they are at first outwardly exactly as they had been most recently in their previous world; but later on they are step by step brought into their inward state, and submitted to examination of their nature. After this the good are transferred to their places in heaven, the wicked to theirs in hell.'

[3] We halted at the centre, where the access road ended, and said: 'Let us wait here a little while and talk with some of the newcomers.' We selected a dozen of those arriving; and since they had all just come from the natural world, they did not know that they were not still there. We asked them their opinions about heaven and hell and life after death.

One of them replied as follows: 'Our priestly order has taught me to believe that we shall live after death, and that there are such places as heaven and hell. Consequently I have always believed that those who lead decent lives go to heaven; and since everyone lives a decent life, no one goes to hell. So hell is just a story made up by the clergy to keep people from leading wicked lives. What difference does it make whether I hold one opinion or another about God? Thought is only like froth or a bubble on the surface of water, which bursts and disappears.'

A second next to him said: 'My belief is that heaven and hell exist, and that God rules heaven and the devil rules hell. Since they are enemies and thus take opposite views, one calls evil what the other calls good. Decent people are hypocrites who can make evil appear good and good evil, so they stand on either side. What difference does it make then whether I am with one lord or the other, so long as he supports me? People take just as much pleasure in evil as in good.'

[4] A third, next to the second, said: 'How does it concern me whether I believe in heaven and hell, since no one has ever come back from there to tell me? If everyone lived on after death, surely one out of all that vast number would have come back and told us?'

The next, the fourth, said: 'I will tell you why no one has come back and told us. It is because when a person has breathed out his soul and died, then he either becomes a ghost which is quickly dissolved, or he is like the breath from the mouth, which is just air. How can anyone like that come back or talk to anyone?'

The fifth took up the tale: 'My friends,' he said, 'wait until the day of the Last judgment, for then all will return to their bodies, and you will see them and talk with them, and then each will be able to tell the others what happened to him.'

[5] The sixth, who stood opposite, said with a smile: 'How can a spirit which is just air return to a body which has been eaten by worms, or to a skeleton burnt up by the sun and reduced to dust? And how can an Egyptian, who has been mummified, and then mixed by a druggist into his extracts, emulsions, potions and pills, come back and tell anything? So if that is your belief, go on waiting for that last day, but you will wait for ever and ever in vain.'

Then the seventh said: 'If I believed in heaven and hell and so in life after death, I should believe that birds and animals would live on too; some of them are as decent and rational as human beings. But they say that animals have no life after death, so I say that people do not either. The cases are identical, one follows from the other. What is man but an animal?'

The eighth, who was standing behind him, came forward and said: 'Believe in heaven if you like, but I do not believe in hell. God is omnipotent, isn't He, and can save everyone?'

[6] Then the ninth shook his hand and said: 'God is not only omnipotent, but also gracious. He could not send anyone to everlasting fire; and if there is anyone there, He would take him out and raise him up.'

The tenth left his place and hurried to the middle saying: 'Neither do I believe in hell. Did not God send His Son, and did not He make expiation and take away the sins of the whole world? What power then has the devil against that? And if he has none, what then becomes of hell?'

The eleventh, who was a priest, was angry to hear this and said: 'Don't you know that those who have acquired faith, on which Christ's merit is imprinted, are saved, and that those whom God chooses acquire that faith? So the choice is at the discretion of the Almighty, and it depends upon His judgment who are worthy. Can anyone dispute this?'

The twelfth, who was a politician, kept silence. But when asked to sum up the replies, he said: 'I shall not offer any profound statements about heaven, hell and life after death, because there is no one who knows anything about them. But still you should not abuse the priests, but allow them to go on preaching about them. For in this way the minds of the common people are kept by an invisible bond subject to the laws and their rulers. And is this not the key to the preservation of Society?'

[7] We were astonished to hear such sentiments and said to one another: 'Although these people call themselves Christians, they are neither human beings nor animals, but human animals.’ However, to rouse them from their sleep we said: 'Heaven and hell do exist, and there is a life after death. You will be convinced of this when we dispel your ignorance about your present state. For everyone for some days after death is totally unaware that he is no longer living in the same world as formerly. The time that has passed is like a sleep, and when anyone wakes from it, he feels he is exactly where he was. It is the same with you at present, and this is why you spoke exactly as you thought in the previous world.'

Then the angels dispelled their ignorance, so that they saw they were in another world and among people they did not know. 'Oh, where are we?' they cried. 'You are no longer,' we said, 'in the natural world, but in the spiritual world and we are angels.'

Then, when they had woken up, they said: 'If you are angels, show us where heaven is.' 'Stay here a little while,' we replied, 'and we will come back.' After half an hour we returned and found them waiting for us, so we said: 'Follow us and we will take you to heaven.' They did so, and we went up with them, and since we were with them the guards opened the gate and let us in. We told those who received the newcomers on the threshold to examine them. So they turned them around, and saw that the backs of their heads were largely hollowed out. Then they said: 'Begone from here, for you find pleasure in the love of evil-doing, so you can have no link with heaven. In your hearts you have denied the existence of God and have despised religion.' 'Don't delay,' we told them, 'otherwise you will be thrown out.' So they hastened back down and were gone.

[8] On the way home we talked about the reason why those in this world who take pleasure in evil-doing have the backs of their heads hollowed out. I stated the reason, that human beings have two brains, one in the back of the head, which is called the cerebellum, the other in the front of the head, which is called the cerebrum. The cerebellum is the seat of loving on the part of the will, the cerebrum that of thinking on the part of the understanding. When the thought of the understanding does not guide the love of the will, the inmost regions of that person's cerebellum, which are in themselves heavenly, collapse; this causes the hollowing out.

  
/ 853  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #76

Study this Passage

  
/ 853  
  

76. The first experience.

One day I had been meditating on the creation of the universe. This was noticed by the angels above me to the right, where there were some who had several times meditated and reasoned about the same matter; so one of them came down and invited me to join them. I passed into the spirit and accompanied him; on my arrival I was brought to the prince, in whose hall I saw as many as a hundred assembled with the prince in their midst.

Then one of them said: 'We noticed here that you have meditated about the creation of the universe, a subject which has several times occupied our thoughts. But we were unable to reach a conclusion because our thinking clung to the idea of chaos being like a great egg, from which everything in the universe in its due order was hatched. Yet now we perceive that such a vast universe could not have been hatched like this. Another idea which stuck in our minds was that everything was created by God from nothing; yet now we perceive that nothing comes from nothing. Our minds have not yet been able to disentangle themselves from these two ideas and shed a little light on how creation happened. For this reason we have summoned you from the place where you were, to expound your thinking on the subject.'

[2] 'I will indeed,' I replied on hearing this. 'I meditated on this,' I said, 'for a long time but to no purpose. But later, when I was admitted by the Lord into your world, I perceived that it was futile to form any conclusions about the creation of the universe, unless it were first known that there were two worlds, one occupied by angels and the other by men; and that men after death pass from their world into the other. Then I also saw that there are two suns, one from which pour forth all spiritual things, and one from which pour forth all natural things; and that the sun from which all spiritual things pour forth is pure love from Jehovah God, who is in its midst, while the sun from which all natural things pour forth is pure fire. When I had grasped these facts, once when I was in a state of enlightenment, I was granted the perception that the universe was created by Jehovah God by means of the sun in the midst of which He is; and because love cannot exist except together with wisdom, that the universe was created by Jehovah God from His love by means of His wisdom. I have been convinced of the truth of this by everything I have seen in the world where you are, and in the world where I am at present in the body.

[3] 'It would be too tedious to explain how creation progressed from its first beginning. But while I was in a state of enlightenment I perceived that by means of the light and heat from the sun of your world, one after another spiritual atmospheres were created, which are in themselves substantial. Because there are three of them, and they therefore have three degrees, three heavens were made, one for angels in the highest degree of love and wisdom, one for angels in the second degree, and a third for angels in the lowest degree. But because this spiritual universe could not come into being without a natural universe, in which the spiritual one might produce its effects and perform its services, at the same time the sun which is the source of all natural things was created; and through this in the same way, by means of light and heat, three atmospheres were created to surround the first three, like a shell round a kernel or bark round wood; and it was finally through these that the globe with its lands and seas was created from the earth consisting of soil, stones and minerals, to be the home of men, animals, fish, trees, shrubs and plants.

[4] 'This is an extremely general outline of how creation took place and progressed. It would take a series of books to explain all the particular details; but all lead to this conclusion, that God did not create the universe from nothing, since, as you said, nothing comes of nothing, but through the sun of the heaven of angels, which is from His Being (Esse) and so is pure love together with wisdom. Every single detail of the universe, by which I mean both the spiritual and natural worlds, bears witness and proclaims that the universe was created from the Divine love by the Divine wisdom. This you can clearly see, if you consider these facts in due order and in their connexions, by the light which illuminates the perceptions of your understanding. But it should be kept in mind that the love and wisdom, which in God make one, are not love and wisdom in the abstract, but are in Him as substance. For God is the very, sole and consequently prime substance and essence, which is and continues in existence in itself.

[5] All things being created from the Divine love and the Divine wisdom is what is meant by this passage in John:

The Word was with God, and the Word was God; all things were made through Him; and the world was made through Him, John 1:1, 3, 10.

God there means the Divine love, and the Word the Divine truth, or the Divine wisdom. That is why the Word is there called the light; light, when referring to God, means the Divine wisdom.'

At the end of this speech when I was saying good-bye, gleams of light from the sun there came gliding down through the heavens of the angels and entered their eyes, and through them the dwellings of their minds. Under this enlightenment they applauded my speech, and then escorted me into the courtyard; and my earlier companion took me to the house where I was living, and from there went back up to his own community.

  
/ 853  
  

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

©2024 New Christian Bible Study Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed from newchristianbiblestudy.org