Selections From Theistic Psychology by Leon James
Which is online at
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic
That I Summarized
in My Report 2
Which is online at
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2006/chang/chang-459-g24-report2.htm
Selections For Question 1
a) The
reality of mental biology can be observed when you consider how you move your
eyes to look around, or your legs to stand and walk. LetŐs say you are reading
this and at one point you decide to reread the sentence, and your eyes spontaneously
move back to the beginning of the sentence, then move forward again. What
controls these eye movements?
b) We can say
in a general way that it is you, the person, the self, who is moving the eyes.
True. But more specifically, we can say that it is our thinking operations in
the cognitive organ and our motivational operations in the affective organ,
when acting together, that are then moving the eyes, or the legs, hands, or
throat and tongue while talking. There is therefore a connection that must
exist between our mental operations of thinking or intending, and the
operations of the physical body. This operational connection between the mental
and the physical worlds can be called symbiosis. The symbiotic connection
between mental states and the physical world is part of human biology.
Diagram
6.3.1.1.1 (A)
6.3.1.1.1
(VIII) Divine Speech Descends Through the Discrete Degrees of Every Mind, and
Forms Them
a) The
construction and maturation of our eternal spiritual heavens in the mind, is
our individual responsibility in the context of spiritual freedom. The Divine
Psychologist in every individual's mind strives to descend into the natural mind
so that we can have a conscious relationship with the Divine Being. The descent
into the natural mind is through its three levels, namely, corporeal, sensuous,
and rational (see Section xx). First, we hear about God from parents, teachers,
books, and friends. This occurs through the medium of natural language, and
enters by means of the senses, the brain, and the reaction of the entire body.
The corporeal mind detects the physical body's activity in the brain and
throughout the sensorimotor system of involvement with the physical
environment. Now the corporeal mind has a symbolic or virtual representation or
image of the physical environment.
b) When
we hear about God it is in the context of language and culture, and social
system and civilization. Until the foundation of theistic psychology through
the Writings of Swedenborg (in the eighteenth century), all knowledge of God
came through religion, and all religions base their knowledge of God on Divine revelation (see Section xx). We receive knowledge and consciousness
of God's existence through Divine Speech, which descends simultaneously into
the mind of human being in both worlds (see Section xx). First, Divine Speech
descends through the spiritual mind of every human being (see Diagram A and B
earlier in this Section). Those who are already in their eternity in conjugial
heavens, are conscious of this descent since they have their spiritual mind
opened after the first and second deaths (see Section xx). Those who are still
tied to their physical body in the world of time, matter, and space, or earthlings, are not conscious of Divine Speech entering and
activating their spiritual mind, which remains unconscious. In the case of
Swedenborg at age 57, his spiritual mind was opened while still an earthling,
so that he had dual consciousness permanently for the rest of his stay on
earth. This phenomenon has never happened before in the history of humankind.
And the fact that this unique event happened to a renowned and respected
scientist and engineer, indicates what God's purpose was in making such a
unique event occur, namely, that God was delivering Divine Speech to the human
mind in a scientific form, which also has never happened before in the history
of the race.
1.0.2
What is Substantive Dualism in Science
a) The dualist approach in theistic psychology is
based on the empirical reports given by Swedenborg showing that the mind is of
a different substance than the physical body, and lives or exists not in the
natural world but in a world outside time and space called the spiritual world
of "eternity." The mind and the body interact through the laws of
"correspondences" while the physical body is alive. But when it dies,
the mind then continues a life of immortality in the spiritual world. The
dualist approach refers to the existence of two functionally interconnected
worlds, one in time-space, the other outside of it. Feelings, thoughts, and
sensations are phenomena in the spiritual world, while electro-chemical firings
of neurons in the brain are phenomena in the natural world.
b)
In substantive dualism, thoughts and sensations cannot exist unless they
are made of some stuff that can operate somewhere in some functioning spiritual
or mental organ. This stuff is a substance that forms the rational ether
around the Spiritual Sun in the spiritual world. In order to understand this
more concretely, think of the universe as "dual." The outside of it
is made of physical space created by the natural suns or stars that populate
this outer (physical) portion of the universe. The inner (spiritual) portion of
the universe is not visible to the outer physical world. It is created by means
of the Spiritual Sun which creates a spiritual or rational atmosphere around
itself. The substance of this atmosphere can be called "rational
ether." Our thoughts and feelings exist in this rational sphere. It is
impossible for sensations, thoughts, and feelings to exist in an electrical or
chemical atmosphere in space-time.
Selections For Question 3
2.14 What is Applied Theistic Psychology?
a) The
goal in applied theistic psychology is to enhance the life of individuals and
society by teaching people how to think rationally about themselves and their
projects. To think rationally is defined in accordance with the content of
theistic psychology. In other words, reality is constructed by God on a
rational basis. When thinking rationally people modify their thoughts and
feelings as they proceed with daily activities and involvements. This
systematic self-modification process is called the "regeneration of
character.
b)
Applied theistic psychology depends therefore on theistic psychology
being valid. The process of "regeneration of character" is a primary
goal of applied theistic psychology. The evidence brought forth in the Writings
indicates that the psychological traits that constitute human character are
inherited. In other words selfishness, cruelty, resentment, rebellion against
moral imperatives, insensitivity, laziness, carelessness, and other negative
character traits, are inherited tendencies that do not need to be learned. In
the absence of learning these habits, they still develop from internal
compulsion or motivation. It is a biological mechanism that is part of the
property of human minds. It is well known that physical traits are inherited
such as color of skin, eyes, and hair, as well as body build and biochemical
characteristics like sensitivities or allergies. The mechanisms of how these
physical traits are transmitted to offspring is fairly well known in modern
science. However, less than nothing is known about the transmission of
affective traits and tendencies, and these are the traits of character.
6.0.5
Spiritual Growth: How the New Will is formed
a) The
"will" refers to the operation of the affective organ. These
operations vary by categories which we are all familiar with--intentions,
motivations, goals, purposes, impulses, propensities, inborn preferences,
enjoyments, satisfactions, affections, loves. All these sub-categories of the
affective operations are referred to globally in Sacred Scripture as
"love" and the "will." In theistic psychology we use the
term "character" to refer to the hierarchy of our loves in every day
life. We discussed above the word "propirum" which means "our
own self" or that which we feel is our own. In order for something to feel
our own we must choose it in freedom. If we choose it by necessity or threat we
are not choosing it in freedom and therefore it is not our love, and finally,
it is not our own. It remains outside of our own loves. Our immortality
consists only of those things that our own. Other
things that belong to our personality or appearance and reputation, do not
transfer across our second death (see Section xx). Our eternal state of mind
can be composed only of our loves, and anything that our loves want around,
which means thoughts of a certain kind.
b)
We discover ourselves truly for the first time. We cannot resist the
intense urges of loves that have been held cooped up by social personality,
reputation, or the law. Like a genie out of the bottle, we rush into all sorts
of frantic behavior and new conduct of great passion and intensity. Now is your
eternal destiny sealed. Your second death is quickly approaching and you
are compelled from within, by your ruling dominant supreme love, to act to
please that love, to satisfy yourself, to enjoy life in its most. This is the
moment of destiny for which we all must prepare. If the ruling love is the
"old will" we were born with, we are compelled at this point to
immerse our consciousness completely and fully into the loves of the old will.
This is called descending into the hell of your mind.
If you have a "new will" you are quite pleased
at this point to give up altogether any love that is in the old will. Giving up
any love and every love in it, without exception, like--selfishness, pride,
unfaithfulness in marriage, love of disobedience, hatred of innocence, etc.
etc. (see Section xx). With the new will we are happy to give every one of the
loves in our old will, so that now, upon our second death, we are resuscitated
into the heaven in our mind.
2.3.4
Who is to tell us what are good traits and what evil?
a) There are two possible sources for information on
good vs. evil, one human, the other Divine. Any theory developed by another
human being is fallible and potentially erroneous, as seen when more of the
facts come to light. Hence whatever people have said about good vs. evil over
the generations was up for debate between followers and antagonists of the
theory. Evidence is often uses in these debates but is not foolproof evidence
and the other side can always question it on this or that ground.
The second source to tell us what is evil vs. good is
Divine revelation in the form of Sacred Scripture or Divine Speech which enters
the conscious natural mind of a chosen individual who was prepared for
receiving it. The individual writes it down accurately word for word. A
collection of such Divine dictations has been given several times in the
history of peoples and cultures on this earth. Divine Speech is the source of
our rational ideas, ideas that are based on spiritual reality, not natural
appearances. This is how the succeeding generations knew that there is God,
heaven and hell, and what we must do to avoid hell and enter heaven. These
revelations can be called scientific because they are rational truths about the
natural world and how its phenomena are dependent on the spiritual world. In
the history of scientific revelations, only the Writings of Swedenborg come to
us through the rational mind of a scientist and engineer with an impeccable reputation
and admirable accomplishments--and not through mystical dictation not
understood by the prophet, as in the case of the Old and New Testaments.
6.3.1.1.1(VII)
The Economics of Immortality
a) For instance, in relation to the heavens in
our mind:
-loving one of the
sex as an exclusive conjugial partner to eternity
-wanting to eat
pleasant and nutritious foods
-wanting to have
children and raise them
-intending to receive
approval of those in legitimate authority
-motivated to be a
useful person to society
-wanting to know
God and studying Divine Speech
-feeling
independent and self-confident
-intending to be a
sincere, dependable, and honest person
-struggling to be
the best at something for the sake of achievement and mastery
-etc. (add a few
more you have noticed about yourself)
Or else in
relation to the hells in our mind:
-hating to be
faithful in marriage or in committed relationships
-wanting to eat for
the sake of eating whatever you want all the time
-enjoying
situations in which you can dominate someone else
-needing to be
right all the time, even if we're wrong
-intending to be
unfair or manipulative when convenient for oneself
-wanting to elevate
fun above responsibility, usefulness, and rationality
-wanting to possess
much power over others so you can subjugate them to your will
-wanting to possess
more fame, money and riches than anyone else
-rejecting or
rebelling against legitimate authority when it prevents what we want
-desiring to be
able to live in luxury without having to earn it in some way
-struggling to be
the best at something -- if it brings us honors and meritetc. (add a few
more you have noticed about yourself)
a) Personality
theory in theistic psychology has an organic basis. Every individual is born
with a unique mind or spiritual body. The mind is a spiritual organ constructed
out of the substances streaming forth from the Spiritual Sun in the spiritual
world. Swedenborg was able to see this Sun every day for the 27 years of his
unique conscious life in both worlds simultaneously. The substances of the mind
and the substances of the Spiritual Sun are the same, though adapted to each
unique mind. It is similar with the brain which is constructed out of material
elements from the natural sun, or star, that originated the planet. Every
object on the planet is made of matter from its star. Swedenborg became very
familiar with the surface appearances of the spiritual world, just as we are
very familiar with the environment around us--trees, houses, beaches,
mountains, animals, clouds, rivers. The environment in the spiritual world is a
mental or rational environment constructed from the quality of the feelings and
thoughts in the mind.
Selections For Question 4
1.8.4.2 What is God Talking to Us About?
a) "Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech" is a higher
concept in rational thinking than "Divinely inspired writings." If a
writer is Divinely inspired, maybe another writer is too. And then we have a
multitude of writers who claim that they are Divinely inspired, and no doubt
sincerely believe so, and others also believe it. But this type of reasoning is
far below in rationality to that which sees that Sacred Scripture is Divine
Speech filtered down to earthly minds, and from there written down by the
writer as one writes down someone's dictation. The idea of "Divine
Dictation" is higher than the idea of "inspired revelator"--
higher in the sense of being more scientific in the explanation of the process.
"Inspired" is a vague explanation, while "dictation" is a
direct explanation.
b) The written "Word of God," is Divine Speech
descending into a natural language through the natural mind of a
prophet. The mental layers of Divine Speech through which it descended or
exteriorized, can be reconstructed successively using the method of
correspondences with enlightenment. Divine Speech originates and maintains
human consciousness. Divine Speech enters every human mind simultaneously and
descends successively across its organic layers. The discrete layers of the
mind operate by means of correspondences that are appropriate to each degree or
level of thinking. The level of correspondences at each level define and delimit
consciousness and rationality levels. The highest human rationality is called
the celestial level or third heaven. This consciousness level is attained by
anyone who thinks with celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech.
1.0.1.3 Revelation: Divine Speech Exteriorizing
as Sacred Scripture
a) Divine revelation is the only source of facts, knowledge,
and principles about the spiritual world of eternity and the afterlife.
Divine Speech emanates from God and permeates the universe, creating and
maintaining everything in a rational order that serves God's purpose of love.
Divine Speech enters the human mind at the highest level of consciousness that
humans are created into called the Third Heaven. Then it descends and
exteriorizes to the Second Heaven in our mind. From there, to the First Heaven
in our mind. From there into the natural mind, which is where we become
conscious of it. We first become conscious of Divine Speech in our natural mind
when we read Sacred Scripture, or are exposed to derivative forms of it such as
prayers, songs, stories, lessons, instructions. At this point we understand
Divine Speech in a natural way, in the way we understand the instructions or
explanations of teachers and parents. As we grow older and we are able to read
Sacred Scripture on our own, we begin to form more abstract notions of God,
though not yet spiritual notions.
3.7.2 Correspondences in Sacred Scripture and
Divine Speech
a)
|
LEVELS OF MEANING OF
DIVINE SPEECH
IN SACRED SCRIPTURE |
MENTALITY
LEVEL INDICATING
EVOLUTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS
(contrast each
numbered entry
across the three levels) |
|
3
natural-rational
correspondences The
Writings of Swedenborg
(theistic psychology) (1745 AD
to 1771 AD) |
(i)
Relationship to God at a particular level.
(ii) God is the universal Divine Human who
incarnated in history on this earth to bring about a new creation in the
human mind. Everyone is born for an eternal life in heaven. However, one can
end up in hell by character corruption and evil.
(iii) The Divine Human creates and manages all
events in the minutest detail, including the growth of human minds, and the
thinking operations of every unique individual from birth to our immortal
eternity.
(iv) God is
infinite Love and Wisdom and cannot hate or punish people. He has already
forgiven you before you disobey. He gives commandments for people to obey
only to help them acquire a good character. This is what determines our
immortality in the afterlife in heaven or in hell.
(v) God participates in every event, thought, or
choice. He supplies the power and direction of an event or choice as it
unfolds.
(vi) God
communicates Divine Speech in the form of Sacred Scripture that is written
down in correspondences suitable in meaning to the mentality of the people.
Hidden within the literal sentences of Sacred Scripture, are higher and
higher correspondences designed for people who want to elevate their
consciousness to their eternal heaven of conjugial love and union. |
|
2 natural-sensuous
correspondences New
Testament (50 AD
to 100 AD) |
(i) Relationship
to God at a personal level.
(ii) We influence God by a personal faith in
Jesus Christ, the incarnated Son of God. Through this faith we have eternal
life. Without it, our eternal life is in darkness or hell.
(iii) God loves all people and races equally and gives
them an equal opportunity to acquire a personal faith in Jesus Christ, His
Son.
(iv) God hates sin
and turns away from people who love sin. He forgives people and doesn't take
vengeance any more because of His Son who took people's sins upon Himself.
(v) God does not remove
Himself from people but it is the people who turn away from Him.
(vi)
Sacred Scripture is God's Word given
through the inspiration of special people whom God chooses. God also inspires
any individual who has faith in Him. |
|
1 natural-corporeal
correspondences Old
Testament (3000 BC
to 400 BC) |
(i)
Relationship to God at a general level.
(ii) We influence God
collectively by prescribed worship rituals. God rewards those who are
pious with a good life here on earth, and after the resurrection of the dead.
Those who disobey the rituals are punished severely, including their family
and their nation who pay a collective price for the sins of a few.
(iii) God prefers certain races over others. He keeps the "chosen
people" closest to Him.
(iv) God gets angry at times and feels
better after He takes His vengeance upon the guilty who have broken His
commandments.
(v) God removes Himself from the details of creation and
lets things run according to natural laws.
(vi) The Old Testament has
physical power hidden within it and special people can use this power. |
b) Theistic psychology is based on the systematic
methodical activity of extracting layers of correspondences in the Writings
Sacred Scripture. This extraction process must follow the procedures specified in
the Writings regarding how to extract higher order correspondences from all
Sacred Scripture. Theistic psychology was made possible when the Divine Child
during the Incarnation Event created the interior-natural organ in Himself, and
consequently in every human beingŐs mind (see Section xx).
3.7.1
The Science of Correspondence
a) In contrast, the code of correspondences
Swedenborg discovered provides us with a systematic, rational, and replicable
method of extracting meaning and data about the spiritual world and God.
It is like hiding ordinary text by substituting every word in the original with
a new word according to a dictionary list, as in this made up example: "By
the way any time rain stops." If you know the dictionary code you can
decipher the content using this arbitrary dictionary:
by the way = the
any time = attack
rain = will begin
stops = at daybreak
which yields the message: "The attack will begin
at daybreak."
b) Therefore another way of thinking about
correspondences is to think of how spiritual events cause natural events.
Correspondences specify which spiritual events cause which natural events. You
can see why this could not have been discovered by anyone since spiritual
causes were unknown. No one before Swedenborg had lived simultaneously in both
worlds. He was therefore the only one who could discover what spiritual events
caused which natural events by observing both worlds at the same time. But once
he discovered these relationships of correspondence, he could codify the
relations and explain it to everyone else. In fact, I know of at leas one book
that presents correspondences in a dictionary form so that one can look up a
natural object like "water" and it will give its spiritual
correspondence "truth." Whenever "water" is mentioned in
Divine Speech or Sacred Scripture we are to think of "truth." The
word "water" disappears and the word "truth" is substituted
for it. In this way you can read all of Sacred Scripture and understand what it
is saying about the spiritual topics.
c) Scientific correspondences in Sacred Scripture are
neither figurative nor interpretive. The code of correspondences is not unlike
the DNA code which determines the growth pattern of every living cell,
including the ability of the coded matter to reproduce itself in new cells. The
breaking of the DNA code was not a matter of interpretation but involved
accurate observation from chemical analysis of the physical imprints and its
specific shape and biochemical function. A similar procedure must be used to
discover the specific laws of correspondences that govern the functional
relation between a natural event and a spiritual event. Every time X happens on
earth, X' happens in the spiritual world. The relationship between X' and X
must be uncovered so that no X on earth can occur without X' occurring in the
spiritual world. This cannot be done unless one has reliable and accurate
access to the spiritual world so that we may observe the occurrence of X'.
Swedenborg was given this unique ability by being conscious in both worlds
simultaneously for 27 years every day.
Selections For Question 5
2.6 What's the
relation between the body, the mind, and the spiritual world
a) (1) The scientific laws of correspondence
between natural events and their spiritual causes were known in prehistoric
times on this planet, but were subsequently forgotten due to evolutionary and
ecological changes described in the Writings (see the "Science of
Correspondences" in Chapter xx). Now that they are revealed and accessible
again, psychology can use it as a methodology for body-mind investigations. For
example, there is a correspondence between the circulatory system of the body
and the affective mind, and between the respiratory system and the cognitive
mind. This parallelism indicates that the mind is a biological organ and has an
anatomy that can be described. The mind has two organs made of spiritual
substances (not natural). Spiritual substances originate from the Spiritual Sun
of the spiritual world, while natural substances originate from the natural sun
near each planet. There is an exact correspondence between how the natural
sun produces the heart and the lungs, and how the Spiritual Sun produces the
affective and cognitive mind.
Future research in theistic psychology will be able
to discover the detailed relationships between body and mind. Since the
physical body is visible to our instruments and measurements, its known
physiology becomes a model for the mind's psychobiology that cannot be observed
with physical measurements.
(2) Every human being is born
simultaneously with a physical body and a spiritual body (see "dual
citizenship" in Chapter xx). The physical body is located in the natural
world while the spiritual body is located in the spiritual world. Swedenborg
reports that the spiritual body of those who are still alive on earth, is
visible to the inhabitants of the spiritual world, though no direct conscious
communication is possible until the person awakens in the spiritual body as
soon as the physical body is functionally dead (becomes a corpse). The mind
with its affective and cognitive organs is located in the spiritual body
while the brain is located in the physical body. Whatever happens to the
physical body on earth we can sensate and feel in our spiritual body in the
spiritual world. Since sensations. thoughts, and feelings are not physical
objects, they cannot be located in the material brain which is physical. Non
physical objects, that is, spiritual objects, must be located in the spiritual
body in the spiritual world. Sensations, thoughts and feelings are spiritual
objects and events.
(3) Natural objects, like the
physical body and brain, have a temporary life or existence, but spiritual
objects, like the mind or spiritual body, are permanent (immortal or eternal).
In other words, sensations, thoughts, and feelings are immortal parts of human
beings. Thus every thought and feeling we have is recorded permanently in our
interior memory, which is in the spiritual body. Swedenborg demonstrated that
people in the spiritual world are able to recall every single detail of their
lives on earth.
(4) When people awaken in their
spiritual body (shortly after death of the physical body), they begin their new
life in eternity. What kind of life is it? Swedenborg reports visiting the
lands and cities where people congregate there. Social life there depends on
the character or interior personality of the individuals. People whose
character is in altruism and mutual love, congregate together and see their
environment as some heavenly appearance that corresponds to their altruism and
mutual love. They appear young, beautiful, and ecstatically happy in their
condition of eternal conjugial life. Nothing is lacking. Everything is supplied
before them, whatever they want or fancy, which is all good.
But people who are selfish, cruel, and dishonest in
their character or interior personality habits, congregate in different places
that appear like hell cities in their atrocities, cruelties, and hatreds for
each other. In this way human lives are spent in eternity, either in heavenly
conditions or in hellish conditions, depending on people's character, which is
the quality of the mind, of the thoughts and feelings they have and constitute
their living, or very life. These cannot be taken away or substituted for other
thoughts and feelings without destroying the very self or basis of the
individual as a unique human being.
Hence it is that theistic psychology is so important
for humanity for it can give everyone the tools and motivation needed for
character change here on earth, so that we may become altruistic and live in
mutual love. Nothing can be more important to each of us than this, assuming
Swedenborg's reports to be true. If one rejects all the evidence recorded in
Divine scientific revelations as untrue or delusional, then none of this
preparation for the afterlife can make sense or be important. But if these
revelations are indeed Divine and true, then nothing can be more important. To
decide whether it is true or not, it is necessary to examine all the evidence
that Swedenborg brings forth. It should not be rejected out of hand just
because it doesn't fit the negative bias of atheistic science today.
6.3 The Vertical Community of Minds
a) What
is always surprising about this identity is the experience we all have that we
are alone in our mind. It feels absolutely private and it cannot be measured,
detected, or copied. This is accurate -- but only for physical privacy,
physical measuring devices, physical attempts at detection. It is the opposite
in the spiritual world where our spiritual body is born and located. Our
spiritual body is our mind and contains the affective organ, the cognitive
organ, and the sensorimotor organ, each operating at three non-overlapping
levels. But what does the spiritual body look like -- surely not like a walking
brain! How funny. People have imagined all sorts of shapes for the soul, or
ghosts and spirits. Even the word "spirit" gives us a feeling of
airiness and unreality in comparison to the body or a tree. But Swedenborg
verified the fact that spirits look like solid, clothed, earthlings. The
mind that undergoes the resuscitation phase, a few hours following the
cessation of the brain's functioning, is already housed in a spiritual body,
since birth. There is no death or change in the spiritual body when the
physical body disintegrates. Nothing can die in the mind because nothing mental
exists in the physical body that dies. All along the brain did not house our
feelings, thoughts, and sensations. These were in the mind all along, not on
earth but in the world of spirits.
So our shape as spirits is the same shape as the
spiritual body which is the same shape as the physical body. In fact the
physical body has its shape only because it is a copy of the spiritual body.
But whereas the physical body can be born damaged or undergo damage later,
there is no damage or blemish on the spiritual body, nor can there be to
eternity, for it is made of eternal substances in an eternal arrangement. The
spiritual body can be seen, heard, touched by other spiritual bodies in the
spiritual world. Swedenborg confirms the fact that spirits can see the
spiritual body of anyone who is still tied to the physical body. Our spiritual
body appears to them like the physical body appears to us when it is in a coma.
Swedenborg observed that there is a special aromatic aura that surrounds the
area around each of those spiritual bodies, serving as a warning for the
spirits not to come closer, and also as a protective shield from unwanted
communication and influence. Swedenborg observed these phenomena daily for 27
years as he was writing his notes.
2.10 How is the mind or consciousness
related to the spiritual world?
a) It can be understood rationally when you consider
that the spiritual world is produced by the substances streaming out of the
Spiritual Sun, where God can be seen as a Divine-Human appearing in the midst
of that Sun. In God, infinite things are one. What is streaming out of God
through the Spiritual Sun produces and creates spiritual events, which in turn
produce natural events. God produces natural events through the intermediary of
the Spiritual Sun. Therefore everything in the mind is also produced by means
of the substances streaming out of the Spiritual Sun. In other words, all
mental events are produced in the spiritual body by the Spiritual Sun. Feelings
and thoughts are nothing but states of organic objects made of these substances
from the Spiritual Sun.
There are two major substances streaming from the Spiritual
Sun: spiritual light and spiritual heat. Spiritual light is called Divine
Truth and spiritual heat is called Divine Love. In other words feelings and
thoughts are made of spiritual heat and light streaming into the organ of the
mind in the spiritual body. The affective organ is a receptor for the spiritual
heat, while the cognitive organ is a receptor for the spiritual light. The
infrastructure of natural objects is therefore the same substance that is the
infrastructure of mental objects or events. Divine Truth received in our
conscious understanding produces consciousness.
Selections For Question 6
2.17.1 The As-of Self Revealed to Humankind
a) In the Writings of Swedenborg God reveals this
method. It is called the "as-of self." In other words we do not
actually have a self that has its own power, but we do have an as-of self,
which is the real feeling that we act freely, from our own will, and not from
God.
To understand this more clearly, think of an analogy where a
similar situation arises. When you are taking care of a toddler at home, or the
beach, or in a park, your way of interacting is an analogy with the way God
interacts with us. The toddler doesn't like to be constricted and wants to roam
at will, exploring, moving around, looking, sticking the fingers here or there,
laughing, and so on. The toddler is most happy when having the feeling of being
completely free. It doesn't like you to stand in front of the fire place to
prevent it from touching the fire. It doesn't like you to prevent it from
sticking its finger in the electric plug. But you are around, sometimes
blocking the way, sometimes hiding something from view, sometimes pushing
slightly to change the child's direction of motion, or redirecting the child's
focus by sticking something before its face. And so on. In other words you
exercise all power to keep the child from getting hurt. The child can accept
this as long as it feels like it retains control and freedom. Meanwhile you
also provide shelter and food and clothes and insurance and a college fund for
that child, arranging the child's life in particular ways. None of this care
and arrangement and control comes to the awareness of the child.
6.3.1.1.1 (II) God's Omnipotence and the
As-of-Self Free Will
a) The concept of "self" in atheistic psychology
assumes that the self is a self-determined human agent that makes up the
person. No account has to be made of God's omnipotence and how there could be
an autonomous self. The self is automatically considered autonomous. But the
concept of "as-of-self" in theistic psychology is the idea that God
creates and manages the mental details of the individual in such a way as to
create in the person the sense of a self-determined being we refer to as
"I, me, myself." In reality, as revealed by Divine Speech, God
has to create and manage the mental details that are held together just right
to create a self-conscious human person that has the sense or feeling of being
autonomous or inner existent. No sense of "self" would be possible by
itself, as an autonomous natural or spiritual object unless it were put
together and held together and driven to action, by the Divine
Psychologist. What we notice with our eyes or senses is selected and determined
by God. What we don't notice or ignore, as well. What we remember or forget,
what we succeed in or fail at, all is selected and determined by the omnipotent
God.
b) Within this context of absolute determinism,
God creates free will in our affective organ, and calls it the "as-of-self."
We must have free will as a true reality, not as an
illusion.
We must have freedom to choose what we desire or
intend. We must have the freedom to think whatever thoughts we want to think.
God will maintain this real freedom for us. For instance, you feel like rubbing
your right eye. You must have the freedom to be able to lift your arm and touch
your eye. God cooperates. You must have the freedom to think about whoever you
want, and be able to remember their name or face or details from your
memory. So God cooperates by bringing particular stuff from your memory
to your awareness at the right instant you want it. This is omnipotence. But
this also: you decide to rob a bank so you can live in luxury. God cooperates
by giving you the reasoning process necessary for planning and executing such
an illegal and evil act. God cooperates in the background, never letting you
see directly that you are being managed. This allows us to maintain the
as-of-self freedom we sense we have. This is not an illusion. It is a real
freedom and we sense that reality. But we do not sense all the reality. God
does not let us sense the reality of His Co-Presence and total management
procedures. But we would not be human unless God revealed to our rational
understanding that these mental operations that appear to be our won, are not.
It is necessary that every human being understand
these two things:
- We have the real sense of as-of-self autonomy and
self-determination, but it is God who creates it and maintains it
- We must strive as-of-self to struggle against
temptations, knowing and understanding that it is God managing and overcoming
for us.
These two propositions or "doctrines of
truth," form the mental foundation stones of our eternal conjugial
heavens.
God controls our mental operations in such a way as to keep
certain thoughts, memories, or realizations from us. God has a purpose in all
this that He has revealed in Divine Speech. The purpose is to regenerate our
character so that we may live our immortality in the joyful and expansive life
of the eternal heavens. Every moment of life on earth is arranged by God to
bring maximum possible progress in regeneration. The further we are willing to
be regenerated, the higher God can bring us into the endless human potential
that our race can receive from Him. God cooperates to such an extent with our
as-of-self that He manages the existence of evil intentions, painful
experiences, false beliefs, destructive acts. God provides a hell in the human
mind to accommodate those who invert truth and pervert good. God allows them to
do this, and supplies the power and the intelligence, in order to make sure
they maintain their real freedom to choose. The victims of evil deeds are also
protected by God. Their sense of as-of-self is not diminished while they suffer
horribly and are being victimized. God will allow only those evil deeds to
occur which He can turn into spiritual benefit for the victims.
My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2006/chang/chang-home.htm
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