Psych 459 October 27, 2005 
My Fourth Outline of Assigned Readings
By Michel Sharritt
New Beginnings

The Swedenborg Epic. The Life and Works of Emanuel Swedenborg.  By Cyriel Sigstedt, (1952).  (New York: Bookman Associates, 1952) Available online: www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/ES/epicfor.htm Chapter 14 and 15

Instructions for this activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/459-g23-oral.htm 
Instructor: Dr. Leon James

I.                   Family

a.      Jasper

                                                              i.      Swedenborg saw his brother Jasper, and cousin Rev. Hessleius in Stockholm. On his way home from meeting with Erik and Anna Benzelius in Upsala where he grew up with his sister.

                                                            ii.      Hadn’t seen brother since Jasper was fifteen years old.

                                                          iii.      Jasper use to enjoy learning and reading but the cousin discouraged him from it.

1.      So he went all over the countries to try to find what would be right for him to do.

1.      Army, England, America.

2.      Married, had one child, bought land

                                                          iv.      Swedenborg was not close to his brother but found everything out through his brother in law with letters.

b.      Theistic Psychology

                                                              i.      Relationships 6.11 James

1.      Relationships are transactional

1.      Letters

2.      Conventionalized system of orthographic collocations.

1.      Relationship events involve issues of interpretation, lead to investigating   

c.       Why?

                                                              i.      I thought that we needed to understand what family meant to Swedenborg in order to understand him better as a person.  I believe that you must understand who a person is before you read about their ideas.  It might help us to accept his ideas more.

II.                Marriage

a.      Swedenborg’s brother in law preached to him that he needs to get married and that delaying it is not good.

b.      Swedenborg was actually engaged twice once to a seventeen year old girl.  Evidence shows that he became disappointed in her for some reason.

                                                              i.      This did not cause him entirely to relinquish all hopes of married happiness

c.       The following autumn he got engaged to one of his servants.  This may indicate that at age thirty-nine he was ready to settle down.

                                                              i.      The reading suggests that they did not get married.

d.      Theistic Psychology

                                                              i.      Begin relationship with sensory motor reciprocity.  Interacting

                                                              i.      Cognitive Self- think, reason, justify, philosophy of religion and life

1.      Usually easier for woman because they want to become a conjoined couple

                                                            ii.      Affective reciprocity- internal unity.  Share feelings, thoughts.

e.       Why?

                                                              i.      I just got married in June and I thought that this topic was interesting in helping me to see how a relationship actually progresses.

III.             Developing Mind

a.      During the time starting 1728 Swedenborg starts to develop his mind.

                                                              i.      His sister dies that he grew up with in Upsala. This devastation must have led him to start questioning everything.

                                                            ii.      He starts thinking about how the universe came about and our purpose on earth

b.      Starts with the idea that nothing can exist without a cause

c.       While working in mines he wrote his philosophical masterpiece that occupied ten years of his life.

                                                              i.      Men are divided by education.  The more education and facts that one has the more confused they can be and may never get their questions answered.

d.      Wisdom- scientific knowledge is only 1st step.  You must be able to arrange the knowledge and make connections into chains of inferences.

e.       A true philosopher is one who can make sense of the unforeseen from the mechanical world.

                                                              i.      He is the first to discover active and passive motion.

                                                            ii.      Motion is the basis for which everything is produced.

                                                          iii.      He points out that we are just a speck in the universe and that we need to understand this.

f.       Theistic Psychology

                                                              i.      Spiritual Growth Dr. James 6.0.5.4

1.      Self control and obeying the Ten Commandments, leads to spiritual character and then you can live immortality in heaven. Heavenly character must be formed while on earth.

2.      Must not show negative emotions-Hells We are tied to hells through the lower portions of our natural mind.  Must break ties.

g.      Why?

                                                              i.      I chose this topic because I felt that it was the basis for all of his work. We need to understand where his spiritual thinking started and how it developed.

My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2005/sharritt/home.htm

Class Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy23/classhome-g23.htm

Related websites:

1.      http://www.swedenborg.org/odb/sermon_detail.cfm?sermonID=2521 (Swedenborg readings being read at weddings)

2.      http://www.counselingstlouis.net (Sibling connection, talks about dealing with a death of a sibling)

3.      http://www.orindaben.com/db/dbaffirm/affirmations.php?Cat=04&Name=Developing%20Your%20Mind (developing your mind spiritually)