Notes on De Hemelsche Leer (DHL)
Part 1--Degrees of
Consciousness
Click to see the text of De Hemelsche Leer, or The Epistles for the New Church
Dr. Leon James
Date: 1985-2006
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SD
2185. They said because they now speak with me, that those things which I have written are
so rude and gross that they suppose nothing which is internalizing can be understood from
those words or the mere sense of the words. I also perceived by a spiritual idea that it
was so, that my expressions were very rude, wherefore it was given me to reply that my
words are only vessels in which purer, better, and internalizing things can be infused.
The style of the Word is such that there is
holiness in every sentence, and in every word, and in some places in even the very
letters. This is why the Word conjoins man with the Lord, and opens heaven. |
CONTENTS OF PART 1--Degrees of Consciousness
Synopsis of the DHL position as
presented in these Notes Part
2--The Literal of the Word continues here and
covers these topics: Part
3--The Doctrine of the Church continues here and covers these topics: Later versions of the DHL approach, with new technical
developments and research, may be found here: I would be delighted to know your reactions.
Please |
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Synopsis of the DHL position as presented in these Notes The ruling thesis that DHL strives to demonstrate is that the Doctrine of Sacred Scripture (SS) is to be applied to the Threefold Word. All theses, arguments, and statements found in DHL are wrapped up in this one ruling thesis. For instance:
What does it mean to actually apply SS to the Writings? One method is the substitution technique, which consists of substituting ìthe Writingsî for ìthe Wordî throughout SS, as in the passages above: ìThe Writings cannot be understood without doctrineî and ìDoctrine must be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Writings.î And ìThe doctrine ... is out of heaven, because it is from the spiritual sense of the Writings; and the spiritual sense of the Writings is identical with the doctrine which is in heaven." To summarize the DHL thesis: The Letter of the Writings is the holy of holies, the Lord Himself who is the spiritual sense within the Letter. But the Letter without the spiritual sense within it, is not holy. The Letter of the Writings cannot be rightly understood except by those who draw out Doctrine from it, then apply that Doctrine to the Letter while being enlightened by the Lord. When we read the Letter of the Writings through the spiritual Doctrine in our understanding, we can perceive the spiritual truths and ideas within the literal sense. What is the content of DHL? About half of the text of DHL consists of quotations from the Writings. The other half consists of inspired amplifications of these passages. The collection of passages all address the main thesis, namely, that SS (the book called The Doctrine of Sacred Scripture) applies to the entire Threefold Word not just to the OT and NT. The entire thrust of these amplifications or explanations given in DHL, is to arrive at Doctrinal formulations that are confirmable by the Letter of the Writings. I have not found a single doctrinal idea in DHL that is mysterious in any way or not directly supported by the Letter of the Writings. For instance, I have heard it stated about "the Hague Position" that someone in the Church can come up with doctrine X, claiming to be enlightened, and demanding that others accept it, thus making a serious disturbance in the Church. But this idea does not exist in DHL anywhere. Rather, the authors were passionately involved in staying as close as is possible to the plain Letter of the Writings. They understood full well that this is the holiest part of the Word, when the spiritual within the literal sense is acknowledged as the primary thing in it. The authors of DHL never go off chasing birds with obscure interpretations. They stick to the Letter, for this is their foundation, their love, the Lord Himself hidden within. They were most reverent of this and most conscious of it. This comes through the tone of their language. What is the tone or intellectual attitude of DHL? The majority of the text of DHL (written in the 1930s by the men of The Hague Church), its ideas and demonstrations (or confirmations), were actually contributed by just three people, two ministers ordained in the GC and one lay person: Ernest Pfeiffer, Theo Pitcairn, and Harry Groeneweld. One can add to the list Philip Odhner, who for many years was Bishop of the LNC in Bryn Athyn. Philip Odhner did not contribute to DHL but his doctrinal classes (in the 1960s and 1970s) can be read today and can be seen as amplifications and explications in the same spirit of understanding as the authors of DHL. Anyone who has read what these four men have written, can easily see that they were motivated by a deep love for the Writings, which they called the Third Testament, the Latin Word, and the Last Testament. These names are appellations of love and deep insight. One is also struck by the keenness of their intellect in being able to point out what the Letter of the Word reveals when connecting passages that show that SS is to be applied to the Letter of the Writings. The implications of the ruling thesis in DHL are extremely important and beneficial for regeneration. Enlightenment is the perception of spiritual referents in oneís experience. ìSpiritual referentsî are the events in our mind to which the truths refer. Enlightenment is the normal every day mechanism by which the Lord regenerates the individual. This is called ìcooperationî in the Word (TCR 371, TCR 586, Life 103, 104). We struggle through our three classes of temptations (natural, spiritual, and celestial) by applying the Doctrine which is in our understanding. At first (prior to reformation in early adulthood), we apply the Letter to our life as this Letter has been committed to memory and understanding. It is vital to commit the Letter of the Writings (or parts and sentences thereof) to the memory and understanding in order to develop conscience and morality, which bring victory in natural temptations all the way up to early adulthood. But after reformation, when regeneration actually begins, and we are struggling with spiritual temptations, it becomes vital that we extract Doctrine from the Letter of the Writings, then confirm what we have extracted by finding passages in the Letter of the Writings that give confirmation. Without this necessary and required process, one cannot and must not accept the extracted doctrine, for this would be mere persuasion or memory-knowledge, and useless for regeneration. Therefore every individual must go through this process of drawing out Doctrine and then confirming it by the Letter. If this is not done, spiritual temptations cannot be brought to the individual and regeneration cannot proceed in this life. There can be leaders and teachers who can prepare other individuals to do this for themselves. This activity may be called teaching ìspiritual literacy skillsî because it is a necessary skill every regenerating individual is commanded by the Lord in the Writings to practice for oneís cooperation in regeneration.
Discussion point: Is there a danger in remaining in the Letter of the Writings without drawing out confirmable Doctrine when we are regenerating? Could it be that without the spiritual sense of the Writings we are less protected from falling into New Church idolatries?
This passages talks about the dangers of remaining in the Letter of the Word, but if we apply SS to the Threefold Word -- equally and without reserve, then we can avoid these "interior idolatries" when we are regenerating and are dealing with spiritual temptations. There is no such danger prior to reformation, so that the Letter of the Writings ought to be studied and committed to memory for the sake of our struggles with natural temptations (morality and conscience). In view of the passage above is it possible that remaining in the Letter of the Writings is the same as being in ìexternal worshipî in the New Church, and consequently, in danger of falling in the particular idolatries listed in AC 1205. References Rev. J. Hugh Odhner. The Leading Theses Propounded in ìDe Hemelsche Leerî
Doctrinal Class, Philadelphia Society, May 1, 2003. Available on the Web at:
Dr. Leon James. The Substitution Technique: A Method for Extracting What the Writings Say About Themselves as the Wordî De Hemelse Leer, Vol. XIV No. 2 (April 2002), 103-109. Dr. Leon James. Out Of Egypt Have I Called My Son: Teaching the
Scientifics of the Internal Sense of the Writings 1. By the Substitution
Technique 2. By Diagramming. November 2002. Available on the Web at: Dr. Leon James. Notes on DHL (1985-2003). Available on the Web at: (the current document) www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/dhl.html The 3-volumes (6 Fascicles) of DHL is available on the Web at: |
INTRODUCTION: Internal Sense of the Writings
De Hemelsche Leer is a publication consisting of a reprint of a small Dutch magazine from the 1930s authored by about a dozen men who formed themselves into a New Christian Church in Holland called The Lord's New Church Which is Nova Hierosolyma [the New Jerusalem] and is based on the Writings of Swedenborg. The publication ceased when these men passed away leaving behind the spiritual discoveries they made about Swedenborg's Writings. They themselves did not use the term "theistic psychology" but it's obvious to anyone who reads it that they acted rationally in all their argumentation, always being completely consistent in their systematic methodology. Their observations were grounded in empirical fact, either from the natural world or from strategically selected quotations in the Writings about the spiritual world. The new small and independent Church had to be created when these people ran into political conflict with their parent Church organization in the United States, called the General Church of the New Jerusalem, from which they were expelled by the Bishop. This is why they formed their own tiny Church enclave. All of this is fully documented through the letters and articles they wrote on each side and published in the magazine. The English translation is attributed to Theodore Pitcairn, one of the frequent contributors and an author of books and sermons in English about Swedenborg's Writings and the Church of the New Jerusalem, This is the New Church that is foretold in the Book of Revelations of the New Testament.
The conflict centers around the main idea of the Dutch group, as expressed in De Hemelsche Leer, namely, that the Writings of Swedenborg have a dual meaning. The surface meaning is what every serious reader and student can read and understand. The topics in the Writings of Swedenborg at this literal level of treatment include these things:
- an explanation of many verses of the Old Testament and New Testament in relation to their inner meaning which carry these subjects within the literal of the verses:
** the evolutionary history of the churches prior to the Christian Church
** the spiritual history of ancient peoples
** the science of correspondences known to those ancients
** the series of developmental stages of the regeneration process everyone must undergo
- detailed descriptions of the process of resuscitation
- detailed travelogues about the spiritual world and its realms
- anatomical and functional descriptions of the human mind and its levels and interconnections
- conversations Swedenborg had with departed spirits who now live in the spiritual world
- scientific explanations of the laws of Divine Providence or operation
- Bible-based theological doctrines about God, the Trinity, sin, salvation, regeneration
- scientific explanations of the conjugial couple as they develop into inner unity
- typology and taxonomy of personality types in relation to sociology and psychology
- the stages of human growth from natural to spiritual to celestial feeling, understanding, and experiencing
But underlying this vast and rich surface level of paragraphs and sentences (about 35 volumes in print), lies the hidden spiritual and celestial meaning. These inner levels are not accessible through a mere surface reading and understanding of the literal sentences of the Writings. No matter how much one becomes an expert Swedenborgian scholar, philosopher, scientist, or theologian, one cannot access the inner hidden levels of meaning in the ordinary way of reading text. This inner meaning can be unfolded only through the orderly process provided for our regeneration, a lifelong process of character self-modification described in great detail in the Writings of Swedenborg.
As an individual regenerates more and more, all the way to the end of life on earth, access is given to deeper and deeper levels of meaning in the Writings.
The Dutch New Church group came up with this idea by applying to the Writings themselves what the Writings say about the Old and New Testaments. The Writings say that the OT and NT were Divinely dictated or inspired in such a way that the surface level consisted of literal and historical statements while their inner hidden meaning were folded into the literal expressions through the laws of correspondence, known to the ancients and to the inhabitants of the spiritual world where we all congregate immediately after the death of the physical body. The Dutch group, perceiving that the Writings of Swedenborg were written by a Divine inspiration, concluded that they were the Word just as much as the OT and NT. Since much was being said in the Writings about the character of the Word, they applied all statements about the Word to the Writings themselves. This is what lead them to the new insights to be discussed in this article.
The parent Church in Philadelphia, called the General Church (GC), was unwilling to do this--that is, the leaders were unwilling to apply to the Writings themselves what was said therein about the OT and NT. They saw the Writings as the revelations that opened the "heavenly secrets" that lay hidden for thousands of years in the Old and New Testaments, and now were being revealed through the modern rational mind of Emanuel Swedenborg (he passed on in 1772). As a result, The GC group had no access to the inner meaning discovered by the Dutch group.
The Dutch group used the title Third Testament or Last Testament for the Writings (also: Latin Word, and: Final Testament). The notion of the Dutch group that the Writings themselves contained layered secrets seemed far fetched to others in the New Church (NC) who also accepted Swedenborg's Writings as Divinely inspired revelations. As you can read from the exchange of letters and articles published in De Hemelsche Leer, the parent New Church in Philadelphia was threatened by the new perspective called "The Hague Position," and saw in it an opposition to its existing intellectual climate and the administrative top-down episcopal structure that existed in that Church. The Dutch group, after its secession, survived for a brief decade, long enough to produce the Six Fascicles of De Hemelsche Leer and leave this record behind as an extraordinary intellectual legacy for theistic psychology. The Dutch group included some American ministers who returned to Philadelphia and founded a small American branch that survives today in Philadelphia with small branches in other countries.
I call this record of De Hemelsche Leer, the Epistles for the New Church, and they play for the New Church a similar role that the Epistles of Paul have played for the Christian Church, namely, the intellectual framework for its Doctrine or theology. The son of one of the members of the Hague Church, Rutger Perizonius, has restarted a modern version of the Dutch magazine, and it is now titled Hemelshe Leer. Several yearly issues have been published since 2001, including an article by me:
James, Leon (2002). The Substitution Technique: A Method for Extracting What the Writings Say About Themselves as the Word De Hemelse Leer, Vol. XIV No. 2 (April 2002), 103-109.
An important question to clarify is the relation between religion and theistic psychology. Many authors have argued that religion and science are not necessarily contradictory, and this also in the New Church (see the Glossary entry for New Church Mentality). theistic psychology goes further than any of these prior proposals.
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Scripture (Swedenborg) SS 71. As regards the Word in heaven, it is written in a spiritual style, which differs entirely from a natural style. The spiritual style consists solely of letters, each of which contains a meaning, and there are points above the letters which exalt the meaning. With the angels of the spiritual kingdom the letters resemble printed letters in our world; and with the angels of the celestial kingdom the letters (each of which also contains a complete meaning) resemble the ancient Hebrew letters, curved in various ways, and with marks above and within. Such being the style of their writing, there are no names of persons and places in their Word such as there are in ours, but instead of the names there are the things which they signify. Thus instead of Moses there is the historical Word, instead of Elijah, the prophetical Word; instead of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Lord as to His Divinity and Divine Human; instead of Aaron, the priestly office; instead of David, the kingly office, each of the Lord; instead of the names of the twelve sons of Jacob, or of the tribes of Israel, various things of heaven and the church; and like things instead of the names of the Lord's twelve disciples; instead of Zion and Jerusalem, the church in respect to the Word and doctrine from the Word; instead of the land of Canaan, the church itself; instead of the cities therein on this side and beyond Jordan, various things of the church and of its doctrine; and so with all the other names. It is the same with the numbers; neither do these appear in the Word that is in heaven, but instead of them the things to which the numbers that are in our Word correspond. It is evident from these examples that the Word in heaven is a Word that corresponds to our Word, and thus that the two are a one, for correspondences make a one. (SS 71) |
Because it presents a spiritual methodology for theistic psychology. Without this methodology in the New Church age, we are forced back to a state of scientific atheistic monism. Dualist science cannot be born and thrive in the mind without this methodology by which we can map out the developmental steps of regeneration. This spiritual geography constitutes a scientific map of the human mind. I will provide full details for these claims. The text of De Hemelsche Leer is available here.
De Hemelsche Leer constitutes the Epistles for the Third Testament phase of our regeneration, in the same sense that Paul's writings in the Bible constitute the Epistles for the New Testament phase of our development. This is because De Hemelsche Leer develops the systematic methodology for the Doctrine of the Church (DOC), that is, the scientific methodology by which we can map the mind's stages of reformation and regeneration. De Hemelsche Leer gives us the methodology for theistic psychology. Through this methodology we have the means of extracting scientific knowledge from the literal of the Writings of Swedenborg.
1. Swedenborg's book titled Sacred Scripture (SS) applies to all three Testaments equally. This requires that the Doctrine of the Church (DOC), which is the theoretical work of theistic psychology, be developed systematically and objectively in accordance with the rules of investigation specified in SS. In order to achieve this, we need to think "the Third Testament" wherever in SS it says "the Word." This also applies to all passages in any other work by Swedenborg in which he discusses the Word. The result is our ability to extract theoretical principles about human development that are not available to anyone who merely pays attention to the literal of the Writings. The acknowledgment that the Word in the Writings apply to themselves opens the internalizing rational mind and allows it to become spiritual at first, then celestial--see discussions below.
This approach has an inherent limitation and qualification: namely, that this orderly extraction process matches the level of the reader. As will be shown below in detail, there are six major levels of progression in our regeneration and we can only understand and perceive at the level attained when reading the Writings. As we progress in our regeneration we are given perceptions of meaning at progressively deeper and higher levels, all the way to the wisdom and understanding of angels.
2. The externalizing literal of the Writings of Swedenborg are not the Third Testament, and they are not the Doctrine of the Church. This is because the Third Testament is said to be in the mind, or in the understanding, that is, in the rational. Similarly, the Doctrine of the Church is not in the literal of De Hemelsche Leer but in the understanding of De Hemelsche Leer. There is no understanding of spiritual concepts in the literal study of either the Writings or De Hemelsche Leer. The context that allows the spiritual understanding of the Third Testament is the same context that allows the spiritual understanding of De Hemelsche Leer, namely illustration of life (enlightenment from God). Our active cooperation is required in regeneration, and as we advance gradually in regeneration, we receive illustration when reading De Hemelsche Leer to the extent of our regeneration. The Doctrine of the Church is the spiritual sense of the three Testaments.
3. The pages of De Hemelsche Leer bring us proof that the Writings of Swedenborg contain endless layers or substrata of meanings that theistic psychology can extract from here to eternity. Without this proof and its reality, the Writings could not serve as the basis for the growth of theistic psychology. Hence De Hemelsche Leer may be considered as the first of the great methodological revelations in theistic psychology and I am the first scientist who has seen this and made it into a basic premise of the new dualist science. One can say this in another way through this formula:
internal sense of the Writings = theistic psychology
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White
Horse 11. In the internal or spiritual sense of the Word there are innumerable arcana. The Word in the internal sense contains innumerable things which exceed human comprehension (n. 3085, 3086). It also contains things ineffable and inexplicable (n. 1965). Which are manifest only to angels, and are understood by them (n. 167). The internal sense of the Word contains arcana of heaven, which relate to the Lord and His kingdom in the heavens and on earth (n. 1-4, 937). Those arcana do not appear in the sense of the letter (n. 937, 1502, 2161). (...) The internal sense is itself the genuine doctrine of the church (n. 9025, 9430, 10401.) They who understand the Word according to the internal sense, know the true doctrine itself of the church, because the internal sense contains it (n. 9025, 9430, 10401). The internal of the Word is also the internal of the church, as it is likewise the internal of worship (n. 10460). The Word is the doctrine of love to the Lord, and of charity towards the neighbor (n. 3419, 3420). |
I will describe and comment on the scientific methodology originated by several contributors to De Hemelsche Leer.
Commentary on De Hemelsche Leer: Psychology Out of the Word--The Stages of Growth of the Self
The first illustration I present is the text authored by Rev. Ernst Pfeiffer who is one of the chief contributors to the Epistles of the New Church. It is located in the Third Fascicle pp. 90 to 116 and is continued in the Fourth Fascicle pp. 1 to 23. The matrices below were extracted from his text, which he presented as a commentary to another key contributor, H.D.G. Groeneveld's address at the Social Supper on December 30, 1928 (Third Fascicle pp. 86 to 90.)
The created universe, in itself, is receptive and passive, at all levels. God is the only active at every level. All activity is thus caused and directed by God. The method of governing every activity is through Divine influx into the created passive elements and processes in the universe. The Divine flows into the particle, atom, mind, society, etc. to create activity, behavior, growth, functioning. There are two types of influx: immediate and mediate. IMMEDIATE INFLUX is direct from God into all particles and functions. MEDIATE INFLUX is from the Divine through a series of levels called DISCRETE DEGREES. Immediate influx is unconscious or direct, while mediate influx occurs only within the human mind where it causes consciousness or conscious awareness, that is, a human self or person. This conscious awareness of oneself as a human person is called the AS-OF-SELF for reasons explained below.
The created universe is layered into discrete degrees from top to bottom, or from the celestial mind to the corporeal. Nothing of one degree can cross into another degree. Yet there is total and absolute interaction between discrete degrees, not by direct communication or contact, but by indirect LAWS OF CORRESPONDENCE that precisely map out which elements of one degree will be influenced by the activity of particular elements in a higher degree. In general terms, there are three discrete degrees, each having an external and an internal, so that in effect, we can think of six discrete degrees. The highest degree is the internalizing celestial and the lowest degree is the externalizing natural. The diagrams and charts below illustrate the six degrees with many details.
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Scripture 20. iv. Hitherto the spiritual sense of the Word has been unknown. It has been shown in the work Heaven and Hell (n. 87-105) that all things of nature, and likewise of the human body, and also every single particular in them, correspond to spiritual things. Hitherto, however, it has not been known what correspondence is, although in the most ancient times this was very well known; for the science of correspondences was then the science of sciences, and was so universal that all the writings and books were written by means of correspondences. |
Swedenborg's Writings are an exposition of the laws of correspondence. He states that the ancients had a knowledge of these laws, calling it "the science of sciences." Subsequent generations, having abused these laws and applied them to produce magical powers and cults, lost the knowledge through Divine intervention. Swedenborg proves with thousands of examples that the Bible was written at three levels of meaning, separated by discrete degrees. The externalizing natural level is literal and historical. This was the meaning perceived by the prophets and the faithful in many generations. For the most part this is the meaning perceived today by Bible readers and students. However, as demonstrated by Swedenborg, all three degrees are contained in the literal verses and phrases and words of the Bible. This is a Divine property of the Word and cannot be otherwise. These degrees do not occur in any other writings but the Word. The second degree in the Bible verses is called the spiritual meaning and its topics or subjects include information and knowledge about the cognitions of Divine Wisdom or Truth. This also includes the history of the evolution of Churches on earth because the Church is most importantly in the mind, and so this knowledge about the cognitions of Divine Truth is a scientific description and explication of the cognitive part of the human mind into which these truths are received.
The third or inmost degree of meaning in the Word consists of topics relating to the affections of Divine Love or Good. This includes the history of the evolution of the created universe, most particularly the Incarnation of God as the Divine Human. This knowledge about the affections of good is a scientific description and explication of the affective part of the human mind into which these loves or goods are received. The laws of correspondences allow the reader and student of the Writings to extract the meanings at the two "hidden" degrees in it. This is called the inner sense of the Writings and the meanings extracted are called the Doctrine of the Church. It is plainly stated in many parts in the literal sense of the Writings that the inner sense cannot be extracted directly by oneself but is dependent on one's level of development. One can only extract meaning from the Writings at the level of development of the self at that time.
As the self develops in consciousness from the lower levels to the upper levels or degrees of the mind, deeper and more internalizing meanings or truths can be extracted from the Word. These deeper meanings can be rendered in words by those who perceive them but they can only be comprehended by others at the level they are at.
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Scriptures 3. The style of the Word is such that there is holiness in every sentence, and in every word, and in some places in even the very letters. This is why the Word conjoins man with the Lord, and opens heaven. 4. Therefore in order to remove all doubt as to such being the character of the Word, the Lord has revealed to me the Word's internal sense. In its essence this sense is spiritual, and in relation to the externalizing sense, which is natural, is as soul is to body. This sense is the spirit which gives life to the letter; it can therefore bear witness to the divinity and holiness of the Word, and convince even the natural man, if he is willing to be convinced. |
The human mind is a spiritual organ made of spiritual substances, unlike the brain that is made of natural matter. The two act together by the laws of correspondence. The mind has three domains at each level or layer (degree). The three domains are: affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. The affective domain contains those organs that receive affections (loves, goods) that reside and act within this domain. Affections make up our feeling life that includes motives, purposes, loves, propensities, and so on. The cognitive domain contains those organs that receive cognitions (truths) that reside and act within this domain. Cognitions make up our thinking life that includes understanding, reasoning, imagination, and so on. The sensorimotor domain contains those organs that receive sensations that reside and act within this domain. Sensations make up our experiencing life that includes sensations, pleasures, motoric expressions or behavioral acts, and so on.
Human growth is the process of opening or activating deeper and more internalizing levels or degrees in the mind from infancy, through adolescence and adulthood, to old age. At the death of the material body, the human mind or spirit emerges suddenly in the spiritual world encased in a spiritual body that is identical to the physical body in every respect except that instead of material substances like iron, carbon, and hydrogen, it is made of spiritual substances from the spiritual sun of the spiritual world. This spiritual body and mind continue a personal and individual existence, living forever in the spiritual world in the company of others like oneself. Thus in essence we are born immortal individuals.
Consciousness is made of spiritual substances that stream out from the spiritual Sun in the spiritual world. Our mind is created to be a receptor organ for these spiritual substances whose variety is infinite, though all of them are in essence good and truth. Good corresponds to the heat of the spiritual Sun while truth corresponds to its light. The affective organ of the mind receives the heat or good, and the cognitive organ of the mind receives the light or truth. Every degree of consciousness is constructed with its own unique spiritual substances. The organ of consciousness gives us awareness of ourselves making possible the as-of-self or proprium. This conscious awareness of our self is from our consciousness. The higher the degree of consciousness that has become operative in our mind, the more internalizing the truths we can understand or perceive and the more internalizing the good that we can live. Consciousness is the only channel available to us for conjunction with the Divine. Our redemption from inherited evils and an unreformed character is dependent on our consciousness. Our regeneration thus depends on our consciousness. Through ever more internalizing rational truths our consciousness is gradually elevated when we cooperate appropriately. This elevation permits reciprocal conjunction with God or the Divine Human. This is angelic life to eternity in heaven.
The development of the human mind proceeds in an orderly series that has been revealed in the literal of the Writings of Swedenborg. The series of developmental phases can be divided into six main levels or degrees already familiar to most people as infancy, childhood, adolescence, early or young adulthood, adulthood, and old age. These six mental periods are spiritual in origin and obey spiritual laws of progression towards the celestial human state which is the only true human state as intended and created by God. The six degrees of the mind are discrete between the levels and continuous within each level. This means that no matter how long the growth continues within one level it cannot progress into the next level. The orderly procedure provided by God is that of "consummation" of a level before one can restart at the next higher discrete degree. The consummation is necessary in order to make visible the falsities and evils of that level. By rejecting these falisties and evils we are transferred to the next highest degree of consciousness, and the process restarts.
| From De Hemelsche Leer
Fascicle IV page 31 by H. D. G. Groeneweld "The spirit of the Church is developed only when the Church has reached its adult state. This development depends entirely upon whether the Church in the externalizing man overcomes the evils that have come to light and thus removes the proprium. By this cleansing of the body the spirit of the Church as it were is given space for further development. Everything then depends upon whether the Church applies itself to a further opening of the Word. The new internalizing light that is thus given in the spirit, in the body brings the opportunity for new evils to come forth which before were not active. A new purification thereby becomes possible, and thereby again more space is given for the development of the spirit of the Church." |
All states, except the last one called the Crown of all states, grow, progress, and are finally consummated. This means that spiritual perceptions and insights are given all along the progression and that these insights are dependent on where in the progression one is. Typically the initial or infancy period of any level receives the highest and most significant spiritual insights, when our love and enthusiasm for them is maximal. Then gradually there is a decline in our love and enthusiasm within that level of development. In the last period of that level, our insights and passion is fully consummated so that we no longer can benefit by staying in that level. If we stay, we continue to decline and begin to reverse the process. Now spiritual truths are turned into spiritual falsities and spiritual good is turned into evil. If we continue on this path, we are entering more and more into the hells of the mind where we are bonded to those who are already there, and to join them at last at the death of the physical body.
It therefore becomes all important and imperative that we make the transfer to the next highest degree of the mind when our lower degree is fully consummated. This we effect through fighting the temptations that God then provides for each of us, on an individual basis. There are natural temptations, spiritual temptations, and celestial temptations (see this article for more information). This crucial transition process is called The Coming of the Lord to each of us individually. The Lord comes at the consummation of the age within each degree so that we can ascend to the next highest degree. We cannot do this by ourselves. We have no power by ourselves to fight a single temptation because the entire hells are behind every temptation, and no one can withstand such compulsive forces. Therefore our only option is to appeal to God, to acknowledge God's Presence and true role in this fight, while at the very same time we fight as-of-self to resist and overcome. If we do not combine these two elements it is impossible to transfer ourselves into the next degree. We then decline to the sad end.
These processes of growth occur in the threefold mind, or spirit. Every human being has a threefold self called the three domains: the affective domain, the cognitive domain, and the sensorimotor domain. These spiritual organs or systems correspond to the three systems in the body: heart and circulation of blood (affective), lungs and pulmonary breathing (cognitive), and nerves and spinal column (sensorimotor). The affective organ of our mind or spirit is the locus of our feeling life that includes our intentions, motives, loves, and all their affections. Thus the affective organ has been called the will. The cognitive organ of the mind or spirit is the locus of our thinking life that includes thoughts, knowledges, reasonings, and all meaningful perceptions. Thus the cognitive organ has been called the understanding. The sensorimotor organ of our mind or spirit is the locus of our sensations and motoric proprioceptive feedback life that includes all information entering through our senses and internal body receptors. Thus the sensorimotor organ has been called the externalizing self. These three lives constitute all of the activities and processes involved in the development of our mind and consciousness.
God plays an active hands-on role in these mental or spiritual activities. Without this active and intense Divine management of our feelings, thoughts, and sensations, we would be left to our own intelligence (called our proprium.), and this inevitably brings us to instant consummation and permanent states of hell. God is not capable of changing us afterwards without destroying us altogether. This is not because God won't forgive our sins but because the human spiritual growth process is permanent and irreversible without destruction. This is a consequence of our immortality and of the organs of the mind or spirit which are constructed of substances from the spiritual sun. These create permanent forms and shapes that cannot be altered by God without destroying the whole individual self. Hence it becomes crucial and all important that we progress in our spiritual growth according to the Laws of Divine Providence, as provided for in the orderly consummation of each phase of growth and the ensuing transfer to the next phase by means of fighting with temptations provided by God. The consummation is necessary in order to make visible the falsities and evils of that level. By rejecting these falisties and evils we are transferred to the next highest degree of consciousness, and the process restarts.
The following matrix is arranged by DEGREES--the lowest degree at the bottom and the highest degree at the top. For a detailed explanation of the zones and their numbering system, please consult matrix 19 and 20 in part 3.
STAGES OF GROWTH OF THE SELF (Matrix 1) |
|||||
| AGE PERIODS | LEVELS | AFFECTIVE | COGNITIVE | SENSORIMOTOR | DEGREES |
| Old age | VI | 31 and 36 | 32 and 35 | 33 and 34 | internalizing Celestial |
| Infancy | I | 1 and 6 | 2 and 5 | 3 and 4 | externalizing Celestial |
| Adulthood | V | 25 and 30 | 26 and 29 | 27 and 28 | internalizing Spiritual |
| Childhood | II | 7 and 12 | 8 and 11 | 9 and 10 | externalizing Spiritual |
| Young adulthood | IV | 19 and 24 | 20 and 23 | 21 and 22 | internalizing Natural |
| Adolescence | III | 13 and 18 | 14 and 17 | 15 and 16 | externalizing Natural |
I=celestial
sensual consciousness |
externalizing=immediate
influx and sensual consciousness internalizing=mediate influx
and rational consciousness |
||||
Note various properties of the matrix. The matrix is arranged by degrees and the corresponding age periods are given. Note that the order of age periods is different from the order of degrees. The bottom layer is the externalizing natural plane of existence. Its corresponding natural degree is the internalizing natural. These two interact only through the laws of correspondence. The internalizing is discontinuous with the externalizing. No part of one can ever touch the other no matter how far or wide we go at each level. There is no crossing point because there is no direct contact or influence. Only through correspondences can they communicate with each other, that is, be functionally related to each other, and thus acting together in consort. This also means that the externalizing can develop and grow to any extent but will never torch or turn into the internalizing. Thus, the externalizing can be very active while the internal is totally closed or unopened and inactive. Our consciousness at the externalizing natural level can continue to grow to any extent even as our consciousness at the internalizing natural level remains totally dark or non-operative. This reasoning applies to all levels in relation to each other.
For instance, the externalizing rational degree cannot be opened unless the internalizing natural degree is already opened and operative. The extent to which a higher or deeper degree of the mind can be opened is dependent on sufficient activity of consciousness going on at the immediately lower degree. These successive dependencies obey the laws of correspondence and are called representatives and signifcatives. Swedenborg explicates thousands of representatives and significatives that are contained in Bible verses. He also describes scenes he has witnessed in the spiritual world that provided him with living experiences of correspondences between spiritual thoughts and natural appearances. In actuality, the externalizing appearance of the spiritual world to the inhabitants there is made of these representations and significatives. For example, when Swedenborg saw someone from a afar, the individual's appearance, clothing, and surroundings corresponded to the person's thoughts and feelings. By this way, as inhabitants of the spiritual world, we can instantly know and recognize the mental character and intentions of approaching individuals. The externalizing responds to and is governed by the internalizing, and never the other way round, which is an impossibility.
| Last
Judgment 73. But henceforth the man of the church will be in a more free state of thinking on matters of faith, thus on the spiritual things which relate to heaven, because spiritual freedom has been restored to him. For all things in the heavens and in the hells are now reduced into order, and all thought concerning Divine things and against the Divine inflows from thence; from the heavens all thought which is in harmony with Divine things, and from the hells all which is against Divine things. But man does not observe this change of state in himself, because he does not reflect upon it, and because he knows nothing of spiritual freedom and of influx; nevertheless it is perceived in heaven, and also by man himself after his death. Because spiritual freedom has been restored to man, therefore the spiritual sense of the Word has now been disclosed, and by it internalizing Divine truths have been revealed; for man in his former state would not have understood them, and he who would have understood them, would have profaned them. That man has freedom by means of the equilibrium between heaven and hell, and, that man cannot be reformed except in freedom, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell. |
The externalizing spiritual is entirely different and discontinuous with the internalizing spiritual. They only communicate by the laws of correspondences. Our consciousness in the externalizing spiritual degree can be compared to childhood while our consciousness in the internalizing spiritual degree can be likened to adulthood (see matrix1 above). Note the Descending Pathway: 1-5-9. The start of our consciousness is in infancy (Zone 1) which is in the externalizing celestial degree of the affective domain. This is what we admire and love about babies when it is still very perceptible, and it delights nearly everyone, young and old. Their mood and feelings and intentions are innocent, which is to say, that their affections are in direct correspondence with celestial inhabitants, that is, Angels of Heaven. Who are these celestial inhabitants? How did they get there? The answer is that these are individuals whose internalizing degrees of the mind all the way to the celestial were opened before they passed on into the spiritual world at the death of the body. Swedenborg calls them angels or angelic spirits. Those whose minds were unopened to any higher degree and passed on, are not capable of having any of their higher degrees opened. It is an impossibility. Swedenborg fully explains and demonstrates the basis for this fact.
As infancy ends and childhood begins (this involves a variable range of years), the next degree is opened. Thus, our externalizing spiritual consciousness (Zone 5) begins to be active. Children love Bible stories because of this. They feel a reassuring warmth in the idea of God--perhaps because they're never alone through that idea which they love. And Divine influx into that idea actually produces the experience of feeling calm and peaceful, and this to the extent that the child loves the idea of God. As childhood ends and adolescence begins a brand new consciousness becomes available to our mind's receptive organs. This is the conscious awareness and experiencing of the descending pathway 1-5-9 which begins with externalizing celestial feelings (Zone 1) engendering a correspondential activity in the externalizing spiritual thoughts (Zone 5) and exiting into a correspondential activity in the body, or externalizing natural (Zone 9). No wonder that we feel the enthusiasm and bounciness of life in our adolescent years! Our experience is rich because it contains two higher degrees within it (Zones 1 and 5). This descending staircase from heaven goes through Levels I, II, and III (see matrix above). It is the period of our sensuous consciousness and therefore externalizing and below our rational consciousness (Levels IV, V, and VI). Until we are ready to reverse this process to an ascending one, we remain in our sensuous consciousness. This is not yet fully human, fully adult. The full adult mature human begins in rational consciousness.
Young adulthood begins when our mind is opened to the internalizing natural degree (Zone 12). This is called the point of INVERSION from the descending pathway to the ascending pathway, or from sensual consciousness (which is externalizing) to rational consciousness, which is internalizing. For instance, when an adolescent begins to experience the idea of God in the affective domain of intentions, the individual begins to fear displeasing God. We now begin to deny ourselves certain thoughts and desires on account of God. This makes the idea of God more internalizing, more real, and the consciousness influx can occur at a higher level--which is thus opened. The higher degree cannot be opened until the lower degree becomes sufficiently active. For example, the adolescent participates in Church activities from the motive of wanting to relate to God or wanting to express obedience and love toward God. This internalizing natural consciousness (Zone 12) is totally new and captivating. Influx can now occur that builds up structures in our mind that could not exist before. Like self-esteem that comes from the voluntary submission to Divine commandments out of love and respect rather than fear. The internalizing natural consciousness is the true beginning our our relationship to God. It has matured into a personal love affair between the individual and the supreme Deity, thus fulfilling the First Commandment in the Bible.
| Arcana
Coelestia 3882 [2] This also is the ascent which was signified by the ladder seen by Jacob in a dream, which stood upon the earth, whose top reached to heaven, and on which the angels of God ascended and descended, and upon which stood Jehovah or the Lord (concerning which see the foregoing chapter, verse 12). Hence it is evident that such is the signification of "standing still from bearing." That by "conceiving and bearing," here mentioned four times, is signified advancement from externalizing to internal, or from truth to good, that is, from earth to heaven, may be seen above (n. 3860, 3868, 3874, 3879). Descent follows afterwards, for man cannot descend unless he has first ascended. Descent is nothing else than looking at truth from good, as from a mountain upon which he has climbed, a man views the things which lie beneath. That he then can comprehend in one view innumerable things more than they who stand beneath or in the valley, is manifest; and the case is precisely the same with those who are in good (that is, in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor), as compared with those who are only in truth, that is, in faith alone. |
For convenience, here is matrix1 again:
STAGES OF GROWTH OF THE SELF (Matrix 1) |
|||||
| AGE PERIODS | LEVELS | AFFECTIVE | COGNITIVE | SENSORIMOTOR | DEGREES |
| Old age | VI | 31 and 36 | 32 and 35 | 33 and 34 | internalizing Celestial |
| Infancy | I | 1 and 6 | 2 and 5 | 3 and 4 | externalizing Celestial |
| Adulthood | V | 25 and 30 | 26 and 29 | 27 and 28 | internalizing Spiritual |
| Childhood | II | 7 and 12 | 8 and 11 | 9 and 10 | externalizing Spiritual |
| Young adulthood | IV | 19 and 24 | 20 and 23 | 21 and 22 | internalizing Natural |
| Adolescence | III | 13 and 18 | 14 and 17 | 15 and 16 | externalizing Natural |
I=celestial
sensual consciousness |
externalizing=immediate
influx and sensual consciousness internalizing=mediate influx
and rational consciousness |
||||
In the phases of the Descending Pathway (Zones 1 through 9) we come into states of externalizing good of the Human Divine from which we can perceive the new truths we need to overcome in the next series of temptations. This overcoming is effected as-of-self by shunning evils as sins while simultaneously recognizing that it is God who is fighting on our behalf against the entire hells and that we are totally powerless to do this from our own intelligence and will. But in the phases of the Ascending Pathway (Zones 10 through 18) we come into states of internalizing truth which we need to overcome in the next series of temptations so that we may come into the new good of the Divine Human. This overcoming is again effected as-of-self by shunning evils as sins while simultaneously recognizing that it is God who is fighting on our behalf against the entire hells and that we are totally powerless to do this from our own intelligence and will. Each new truth reveals deeper evils within ourselves so that new temptations can be given to us. It is only through this orderly series of temptations that we can be brought by God into closer and closer states of conjunction with Him, and thus be saved.
The Ascending Pathway: 12-14-16 is the true beginning our human-ness. It brings us rational consciousness (Levels IV, V, and VI). Yet the full stature of adulthood does not begin until our mind is opened to the internalizing spiritual degree (Zone 14). We are now capable of receiving more internalizing Divine influx through the mediation of the internalizing spiritual. The concepts we are now capable of understanding are deeper and higher, nearer to Divine Truth. If we write down these concepts or ideas in sentences of natural language, only those can understand them whose internalizing spiritual degree has opened. If we looked at such writings in our young adulthood phase of internalizing natural consciousness (Zone 12), we would have been totally unable to comprehend those sentences. Instead of comprehending, we would make something else up that suits the internalizing natural consciousness, and foolishly believe that that's what was contained in those sentences. The opening of this internalizing spiritual consciousness (Zone 14) allows us new powers not available before. Now for the first time we can begin the process of REGENERATION. This means essentially undergoing temptations at each level and overcoming them with a higher consciousness. This is impossible without a love and respect relationship to God as a Divine Human whom we can picture and talk to, and from whom we can receive, perceive, and experience Divine love and truth.
As regeneration proceeds through ever more internalizing temptations that are tailor made for every individual at the right time, adulthood turns into old age (Zone 16). this is the highest state of consciousness we can reach as humans, and we are not fully human until this state of mind is opened in us. The internalizing celestial (Zones 16, 17, and 18) affords feelings, thoughts, and experiences that were not possible until then. It reunites for the first time with the angels in whose company we were as infants. In old age we have come back home. Now our entire structure and physiology of the mind in all its internalizing and externalizing degrees can be operative simultaneously. This is the full human and we are then angels and ready to pass on and begin life in eternity as angels in heaven. Swedenborg describes numerous details about the societies of the heavens in which he was allowed to be present during his dual citizenship from age 57 to his passing on at 84.
The highest level of the human mind is the internalizing celestial degree (Zones 16,17, and 18). In this degree we are in the proper human or the celestial as-of-self. In short, the celestial self is the true human, the regenerated human. It is only in this degree that we act in full freedom out of true rationality. Only in this state is there RECIPROCAL CONJUNCTION with God. In earlier states of the mind there is conjunction with God, but not yet reciprocal conjunction from us to God. Immediate influx is universal but mediate influx is only from reciprocal conjunction. It is mediate influx that makes us truly human. This reciprocal conjunction is achieved gradually from birth to old age, as we go through the orderly series of successive states shown in matrix1 (Zones 1 through 18).
| Last
Judgment 14. III. HEAVEN AND HELL ARE FROM THE HUMAN RACE. It is altogether unknown in the Christian world that heaven and hell are from the human race; for it is believed that angels were created at the beginning, and that heaven was formed of them; and that the Devil or Satan was an angel of light, who, becoming rebellions, was cast down with his crew, and that this was the origin of hell. The angels are greatly astonished at such a faith in the Christian world, and still more, that nothing at all is there known of heaven, when yet it is a primary doctrine in the church; and since such ignorance prevails, they are rejoiced in heart that it has now pleased the Lord to reveal to men many things concerning heaven, and also concerning hell; and by this means, as far as possible, to dissipate the darkness which daily increases, because the church has come to its end. Wherefore they wish me to declare from them, that there is in the universal heaven not one who was created an angel from the first, nor any devil in hell who was created an angel of light, and cast down, but that all both in heaven and in hell are from the human race; in heaven those who had lived in the world in heavenly love and faith, and in hell those who had lived in infernal love and faith; and that hell in the whole complex is called the Devil and Satan; that the hell behind, where those are who are called evil genii, is the Devil, and the hell in front, which is the abode of evil spirits, is Satan. What the nature of one hell is, and what the other, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, towards the end. The angels said, that the Christian world have conceived such a belief about those in heaven and hell, from certain passages in the Word no otherwise understood than according to the sense of the letter, and not illustrated and explained by genuine doctrine from the Word; when yet the sense of the letter, if the genuine doctrine of the church does not shine before it, draws the mind away into various opinions; whence come ignorance, heresies, and errors. |
In general, we are born natural, then become spiritual, and finally celestial. But this takes place by the descending pathway, which is externalizing or sensual consciousness, then an INVERSION takes place (Zone 9 to Zone 12), and we begin the ascending pathway, passing through the spiritual states, and at last arriving to the celestial. Note that our very first state, or infancy, is an externalizing celestial state that is temporary (Zone 1). This state is called the celestial of the innocence of infancy. It is the innocence of ignorance, as the understanding (Zone 2) and the sensorimotor from that understanding (Zone 3) remain unopened until old age. This celestial of infancy is affective and unconscious, a state of unmerited grace from God. In contrast, the ascending pathway reached in old age (Zone 16) is called the innocence of wisdom of old age, and constitutes a complete as-of-self involving the three domains (Zones 16, 17, and 18). The descending pathway indicates the succeeding company of angels in our VERTICAL COMMUNITY. In infancy (Zone 1) we are with the celestial angels; in childhood (Zone 5) we are with the spiritual angels; and in adolescence we are with natural angels (Zone 9). Then the inversion takes place as we enter young adulthood during which we are in the internalizing natural state with the angels of the natural or first heaven (Zone 12). This internalizing natural state is also called a spiritual natural state. As we ascend into adulthood (Zone 14) we are in an internalizing spiritual state with angels of the second or spiritual heaven. And finally as we enter into old age we are in an internalizing celestial state (Zone 16) back in the company with the angels of the third heaven or celestial angels. This orderly progression must go on with every individual before the death of the body.
|
Invitation
to the New Church 2. During man's regeneration, the light of heaven is instilled into natural light, and at the same time the heat of heaven; these two constitute, as it were, the new soul, through which man is formed by the Lord. This light and heat are instilled through the higher mind, which is called the spiritual mind. By virtue of this instilling, or insertion, man becomes a new creature, and becomes more enlightened and more intelligent in matters of the church, and consequently in the reading of the Word. This also is the new understanding and the new will. Afterwards the man is led by the Lord through the above light and through the above heat, and from natural becomes spiritual. 3. There is a still higher or more internalizing light and heat, which is called celestial. This is inserted and instilled into the former spiritual. The angels of the third heaven who are called celestial, are in this light and heat. 4. This insertion may be explained by a comparison; namely, by the grafting and inoculation of trees; where the grafted slips receive [the sap] internalizingly in themselves, according to their form, etc. |
The orderly series depicted in matrix1 not only represents an individual's biography but the evolution of the human race as well. The human mind from the beginning of creation underwent each of these steps, the descending pathway first, then the ascending pathway. Swedenborg was given to investigate these steps by encountering representative samples of people from each evolutionary epoch called a Church. For instance, the first Church on this earth is called The Most Ancient Church and the people of that era were in the childhood state of the race, a state of the innocence of infancy (Zone 1). Swedenborg confirms that they were in direct communication or dialog with the angels of the celestial heaven as this was being populated more and more with each generation on earth passing from earth into the spiritual world. They did not have a written Word and neither did they have a rational as-of-self but knew everything they had to know for their regeneration immediately from the angels, from within. This Church was succeeded by the Ancient Church, after which came the Israelitish Church (Eber) and Jewish Church (Moses) which lasted until the establishment of the Christian Church though it continues historically today. The Christian Church lasted until the establishment of the New Church or New Christian Church through the Writings of Swedenborg which are also called The Second Coming of the Lord and the Third Testament (also: The Latin Word, the Last Testament, the Rational Word, the Word for the New Church, and others). Each Church represents the biological evolution of the human race and marks a distinct new degree of consciousness, ever closer to being a true and full human being, and therefore also closer and closer to God. This has been and remains God's purpose for creation, namely, to evolve the human race to ever purer humanness and thereby to ever closer conjunction with Him. For the closer humans are to God, as a race and as single individuals, the more He can convey to us powers of happiness, goodness, and intelligence to eternity.
CONTENTS OF PART 1--Degrees of Consciousness INTRODUCTION:
Internal Sense of the Writings Part
2--The Literal of the Word continues here and
covers these topics: Part
3--The Doctrine of the Church continues here and covers these topics: I would be delighted to know your reactions.
Please |
CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY AND HISTORY
| De Hemelsche Leer
Fascicle IV (Pp. 8-9) by REV. ERNST PFEIFFER It is according to order that the Church first must pass through a series of preparatory natural states, before the spiritual state can commence, in which for the first time the Doctrine of the Church in its relation to the Word of the Church comes to the fore. In all of those preparatory states it cannot be but that the Church regards the Word itself of the Church as the Doctrine. Every Church from its beginning must as it were pass through all the states of the ages of a man, entirely as has been shown on a previous occasion (see Third Fascicle, pp. 90---108) with regard to the history of the human race as a whole. Accordingly also in the history of the New Church a series of successive, states may be discerned, which entirely corresponds to the series of the great periods of the entire history of the human race. In the history of the New Church too there is as it were an Adamic state, which is the age of its infancy, a Noachic state, which is the age of its boyhood; a Hebrew and an Israielitish state, which is the age of its adolescence; a state of the Coming and Sensual Presence of the Lord, which is the age of its early manhood; a Christian state, which is the age of its manhood: and a state of the Second Coming of the Lord or a proper state of the, New Church itself, which is its old age. While, however, in the general series in all periods before the Coming of the Lord the basis for the thinking lay in the sensual things of creation, and in the period between the Coming and the Second Coming of the Lord it lay in the Divine Natural of the New Testament, in all the periods of the particular series the basis for the thinking lies in the Divine Rational of the Third Testament. From this it is evident that; the Third Testament in the first periods of the New Church plays a role corresponding to the role which the sensual things of creation fulfilled in file ages before the Incarnation of the Lord, and subsequently a role corresponding to the role which the Divine Natural of the Divine Human of the Lord fulfilled in the Christian age; and that this the Third Testament really only in the last period of the New Church, which is the period of the Second Coming of the Lord in the New Church, when the Church for the first time comes into the fullness of its proper state, will be able to fulfill that role which fully agrees with its proper essence, as a result of which the Church for the first time will see therein the proper rational, that is. celestial truth. |
There is a correspondential unity between evolutionary biology and history. For instance, the Old Testament is the Word written at an intellectual level suitable for children and the uneducated as well as the educated and theologian. On the surface it is a history book about the people of God extending over thousands of years. Geographical places are mentioned that are still there today and names of individuals who have left behind records and achievements documented in other books. Natural phenomena are described such as earthquakes or floods, many animals mentioned, besides cities, battles, and pestilences that befell some people. And yet, below the surface of these natural historical events, underlying meanings can be extracted by the laws of correspondence. These extracted meanings are discovered to be arranged in orderly series or taxonomies of spiritual biological facts and phenomena. This extraction process is rational or scientific, following a demonstrable and verifiable methodology accessible to all rational persons who seek truth in them for the sake of their closeness and love to God. Evidently God sees to it that every item mentioned in the historical content of the Word be precisely such that it corresponds to the internalizing meanings arranged in rational series. Though any rational person can expound Doctrine based on these extracted series only those can understand it who can see the series in themselves. A scholar or theistic scientist could create Doctrine through this methodology, but will not perceive what it actually stands for until the Doctrine is seen in oneself. Others who are more advanced in their regeneration process will be able to perceive much more in the Doctrine than its developer and creator.
Here is a matrix that summarizes the series discussed: MATRIX 2
| STAGES OF GROWTH OF THE SELF (Matrix 2) | ||||
| AGE PERIODS | ZONES A--C--S S--C--A |
CHURCH OR DEGREE OF CONSCIOUSNESS | LEVEL OF
DOCTRINE (Basis of our thought) |
VERTICAL COMMUNITY |
| Infancy | 1,2,3 4,5,6 |
Adamic Church (Most Ancient Word) externalizing Celestial |
Innocence of
infancy Celestial sensual representations of Truth |
Celestial Angels of the Third Heaven |
| Childhood | 7,8,9 10,11,12 |
Noachic Church (Ancient Word written in Correspondences) externalizing Spiritual |
Spiritual
sensual representations of Truth |
Spiritual Angels of the Second Heaven |
| Adolescence | 13,14,15 16,17,18 |
Church of Eber
and Israelitish Church (Old Testament and sacrifices) externalizing Natural |
Natural sensual representations of Truth |
Natural Angels of the First Heaven |
| I N V E R S I O N | ||||
| Young adulthood | 19,20,21 22,23,24 |
Jewish Church
during Incarnation and prior to Ascension (Son of God as Living Presence) internalizing Natural |
Natural Rational Truth | Natural Angels of the First Heaven |
| Adulthood | 25,26,27 28,29,39 |
(Old) Christian
Church (Divine Natural in the New Testament) internalizing Spiritual |
Spiritual Rational Truth | Spiritual Angels of the Second Heaven |
| Old age |
31,32,33 34,35,36 |
New Christian
Church or Church of the New Jerusalem (Divine Rational in the Third Testament) internalizing Celestial |
Celestial Rational Truth | Celestial Angels of the Third Heaven |
| externalizing=natural internalizing=rational (=spiritual) Celestial=affective domain Spiritual=cognitive domain Natural=sensorimotor domain |
||||
|
Apocalypse
Explained 948. [3] What the Divine providence of the Lord was in revealing Divine truths can be seen from the successive establishment of churches. There have been several churches on our globe one after another. There was the Most Ancient, that was before the flood; there was the Ancient, that was after the flood; then the Hebrew; and then the Israelitish; after this the Christian; and now the New Church is beginning. Inmost Divine truths were revealed to those who were of the Most Ancient Church; more externalizing Divine truths were revealed to those of the Ancient Church; and most externalizing or ultimate Divine truths to the Hebrew Church, and afterwards to the Israelitish, with which church all Divine truth finally perished, for at last there was nothing in the Word that had not been adulterated. But after the end of the Israelitish Church internalizing Divine truths were revealed by the Lord for the Christian Church, and now still more internalizing truths for the church that is to come. These internalizing truths are such as are in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word. All this makes clear that there has been a progression of Divine truth from inmosts to ultimates, thus from wisdom to mere ignorance; and that now there is a progression of it from ultimates to internalizings, thus from ignorance again to wisdom. |
Biology and psychology students are familiar with the expression "Ontology recapitulates phylogeny." This means that the developmental stages of a growing egg or fetus undergo a series of changes that correspond to the series of changes described by evolutionists for various species. Some common process operates on both. In theistic psychology we have a description of this common process because all natural phenomena are effects of spiritual causes. There is a law of correspondence that dictates what happens in one and therefore in the other. The spiritual and natural worlds are inexorably linked in this fashion from creation. The two matrices here discussed are a description of the principle "Individual development recapitulates the evolution of civilization." The evolution of civilization is the history of the race's major steps in becoming modern rational societies. Relying on Swedenborg direct investigations of ancient peoples through his dual citizenship, the two matrices show the correspondential relations between individual development of self and the history of the Churches on this earth. The Church signifies a society's level of moral evolution. The level of thinking of an era is the Church for the individuals of that time. There is a common process determining the steps of both. This common process is the degree of the mind that has been opened for that generation.
Degrees are the mechanics of the operation of the Laws of Divine Providence. This is the generator. All parts move only and strictly in unison as a whole. To God the universe is one. As Swedenborg expresses it, In God all things are one. This is the meaning of infinity and omnipotence. The more diverse things make a one, or unity, the more perfect it grows. To God all details of past, present, and future states of the universe are determined, governed, willed, and known. This is an infinity because the process is endless. The Third Testament focuses on this issue in multiple places and Works. In all this there is rationality and orderliness. All events, if they exist or can exist, occupy a pre-cast position in a rational and orderly series. This structure of reality is God's mind. Prior to the Incarnation, that is, the amazing event of God birthing Himself on this earth through a virgin woman, the human race had a mental development that went through three major stages corresponding to Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence. These periods correspond to the lower regions of the mind. These regions in our mind are relatively externalizing to our main core, which is much higher.
The lowest regions in our mind are called corporeal and sensual. These are major components of the natural mind. This region of our mind overlaps with those of "lower" animals in that both are based on sensory input. The basis of our thinking at the natural level when our higher regions have not been opened yet, is like that of a clever ape. No doubt the cleverest of apes, but not yet human. The human begins with the rational. When the rational begins to be opened, the individual begins the journey to humanness. But the rational region also has a range of depth of development so that the lower regions of the rational mind is called externalizing rational, while the upper regions are called internalizing rational. There is an enormous difference between the externalizing and internalizing rational. The externalizing rational borders the corporeal-sensuous-natural region (animalistic). And so it is only a filter for these incoming sensuous facts about the natural world only. There is a huge step for society to take when it evolves from an animalistic natural state to a human rational state (externalizing rational). And yet the rational is not operating in a fully human manner until it abandons all the facts coming from the natural world (that is, from below), and filters through only those facts coming in from the spiritual world (that is, from above).
Such is the mind created, for dual citizenship, so that it can develop first through thinking based on sensuous consciousness, and then through an inversion, the basis of our thinking switches to rational consciousness. The first process is a descending pathway from infancy to adolescence because in these three phases of growth, the basis of our evolving thinking is sensuous input. This is our socialization and culture. It is the individual's horizontal community. After the inversion, our true human functioning starts and we become spiritual beings. Spiritual beings receive their experiential input from the spiritual world. As soon as our mental receptors in the internalizing degree are activated, the basis of our thinking becomes spiritual. From then on our feelings, motives, and acts are activated from a new degree of the self. There are three internalizing degrees of the self and of civilization. These are the internalizing natural, the internalizing spiritual, and the internalizing celestial. These correspond to the three heavens. They constitute our vertical community
It is common for the Incarnation to be associated exclusively with the Christian Church. This has an historical explanation. But from the perspective of theistic psychology, all religions are cultural expressions of a particular stage of human development. As fully documented in the Writings of Swedenborg, all religions that worship God have their own special place in the highest regions of the human mind. God is the God of all religions, and there is only one God. Those who point the finger at other individuals, saying they worship the wrong God, are exercising a political gesture, not a scientific one. Every religion in its highest achievement leads to the same one God. This is a scientific and universal fact that follows from the entire rational structure to be found in the Writings of Swedenborg. The highest level of the mind is the internalizing celestial. All religions point to this degree as their ultimate and final destination. Swedenborg has talked to individuals who are in this degree of the mind called the Celestial Heaven, and all recognize the same universal Divine facts no matter what religion they originally started out with and went through on the way up. There those below this degree of the mind, whom Swedenborg interviewed, and they all clung to their religion in more externalizing degrees. In these relatively more externalizing or lower degrees, they were intolerant and prejudiced, thus not at all celestial and scientific. When the universal facts are laid out for them by the celestial angels, they are not willing to receive the truths and reject them. Thus they remain forever outside the heavenly state of mind and consciousness, below the heavenly feelings, motives, decisions, and actions, and even contrary to them.
The purpose of religion is to conjoin the individual with God and God with the individual. Only in this conjunction can the internalizing degrees of the mind be opened, and the opening or growth is limited by the degree of conjunction. For the internalizing celestial of the mind to be opened we must undergo the process of regeneration through temptations. The precise moment of the death of our physical body is an event directly tied to this process. Our life in the physical body is for the sole purpose of opening the mind to its internalizings. If this opening process is no longer possible due to local circumstances surrounding the life of an individual, death immediately ensues, and the person is released from the physical body into its truly proper body, the spiritual body. Swedenborg has witnessed this process with thousands of individuals who passed on as they were extracted or "resuscitated" from the corpse. The process of extracting the spiritual body from the physical body, and thus freeing it into its world, takes about 36 hours under normal circumstances. Upon awakening the individual slowly emerges to the new consciousness of life in the spirit body in the spiritual body. At first the natural sensual memories and identity of the individual are retained to such an extent that the new "place" appears very similar to the old. Swedenborg was amazed to hear many doubt that they are now in the spiritual world, especially those whose minds were not opened to the internalizing degree and so did not take the existence of the afterlife seriously.
But gradually, within a matter of days and weeks, the externalizing sensual memories and thoughts are "quieted down" and moved out of immediate focus to the sub-conscious mind where it remains hidden and inactive. Instead there now emerges the internalizing levels of the individual that were not in direct focus in one's former life within the physical body. For instance, our conscious awareness of the affective domain (at all levels and degrees--Zones 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16) is extremely restricted at all times. We are more conscious of the cognitive domain. We are most aware of the sensorimotor domain. During the initial period of our afterlife we are still cognizant mostly of our externalizing sensual memory and identity, which is located in the sensorimotor and the cognitive domains. But as we pass on into our "second death" we come alive fully in our internalizing parts of the functioning mind, that is, in the affective domain. When this happens we are a changed person in actuality and in appearance. Friends and family (in the spiritual world) no longer recognize us and we don't recognize them. To our new friends and family however, we are entirely familiar. Now for the first time we come into our own, or as the Old Testament prophet puts it, we are gathered to our fathers. Everyone who shares similar affective structures now are congregated by the inexorable geographic laws of the spiritual world. Like is congregated with like and the unlike cannot meet, do not exist for each other.
This is why reaching heaven or hell is not a matter of punishment or reward or choice, once we enter the spiritual world. It is our life in the physical body that determines where our spiritual body ends up--in heavenly regions of the mind or in hellish regions. Choice ends at death's door. Such as we are internalizingly upon leaving earth, such is our lot where we arrive. This makes it super-imperative for each of us to amend our character through regeneration and temptation. When we allow God, everyone's Divine Therapist, to bring us to particular individualized temptations and help us conquer them, then we can change our moral character from negative to positive, from selfish to altruistic. This we cannot do on our own, just as we can do nothing on our own but only through Divine power given us by influx. We are all born animalistic with the potential of being regenerated. If we cooperate with God in the process of regeneration, the spirit body that emerges at death is healed or "saved." If we refuse to cooperate, more and more we strengthen our vertical associations with those in the lowest regions of the mind called the hells. Our mind is formed into life with them and is unsuitable and impossible for life in heaven where those are whose minds have been opened to the internalizing degrees.
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Arcana
Coelestia 5114. The intellectual part in general is the sight of the internal man, which sees from the light of heaven, which is from the Lord, and all that it sees is spiritual and celestial. But the sensuous in general is of the externalizing man, here the sensuous of the sight, because this corresponds and is s |