Scientific discovery of Spiritual Laws given in Rational Scientific Revelations


flame.gif (12347 bytes)Click here to see List of Swedenborg's Writings

The text of De Hemelsche Leer, or The Epistles for the New Church
see also
Spiritual Geography
see also theistic psychology
see also Religious Psychology
see also Theistic Psychology

I would be delighted to know your reactions. Please e-mail me at leon@hawaii.edu 

De Hemelsche Leer--Part 3--
Methodological Tools for Extracting The Doctrine of the Church
 

by Leon James
Professor of Psychology
University of Hawaii

Published on the Web in 2001
Last updated: December 2004

The Web address of this document is
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/dhl3.html  

CONTENTS OF PART 3
This is Part 3. The special terms and phrases used in this article have been defined in Part 1  and Part 2 where you will also find matrices 1 through 14.

Introduction to Part 3: The Circuit of Consciousness (Matrix 15)
Birthing the Doctrine: How Biography Recapitulates Evolution (Matrix 16)
Tabulation of Discoveries and Inventions by Leon James: Pre-Swedenborgian (1960-1980) and Post-Swedenborgian (1981-2001)

Conceptual Categories in Thinking in Relation to Degrees of Consciousness (Matrix 17)
Ethnosemantic Hexagram in Relation to Degrees of Consciousness (matrix 18)
The Psycho-Dynamics of Regeneration: Using Spiritual Geography Maps
Embedded Recursiveness of the Circuit of Consciousness (Matrix 19)
Discovering the Ennead Matrix from the Literal of the Writings
Dr. Ian Thompson's Formal Rendition of the Ennead Matrix
The Basic Map for Understanding Regeneration (Matrix 20)
How to Use Spiritual Geography Maps (Matrix 21)
Spiritual Blindness--The End of a Puzzle that Lasted 26 Years--My Discovery of BLACK consciousness within WHITE consciousness

Go to Part 1 of this article. || Go to Part 2

Newer versions of some charts and accompanying discussions will be found here and also here.

                           Introduction to Part 3: The Circuit of Consciousness (Matrix 15)

matrix15.jpg (47805 bytes)

                      Birthing the Doctrine: How Biography Recapitulates Evolution (Matrix 16)

 

Stages of Development in my own biography (Leon James) (Matrix 16)

NOTE: the Links in this matrix take you to further explanations and samples of the topics mentioned.

DEGREES
of consciousness

Date Age Biographical events Spiritual significance
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
CELESTIAL
1938 1 Gestation and birth under wartime and ethnic persecution. REMAINS

INNOCENCE OF IGNORANCE

1941 3 Begin formal Orthodox Jewish education into xenophobia and ritualized worship.
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL
1954 16 Begin independence from parents with secret personal life.

GROWTH OF SELF

LOVE OF SELF AND WORLD

1962 24 Begin independence of career (Ph.D.) First marriage in the Jewish Church.
1968 30 Begin sense of moral responsibility and integrity. Birth of son.
1970 32 Begin sense of being an adult fully. Birth of daughter.
1971 33 Experiencing sense of personal power and genius. Promotion to full professor.
1973 35 Divorce and end of first marriage.
1975 37 Experiencing sense of supreme self-intelligence--"Avatar" phase. Invent new knowledge: e.g., Ethnosemantics, Community Cataloguing Practices, Comprehensive Discourse Analysis (see list immediately below). Meet my conjugial partner.
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
NATURAL
1978 40 Experiencing vastation. Feeling inner urge toward Jewish mysticism by myself (no community contacts involved). Study Old Testament. VASTATION

LAST JUDGMENT

REDEMPTION

1980 42 Read New Testament for the first time. Instant conversion by the Word. I become a "Christian Jew" or a "Jewish Christian" -- didn't know which. Not yet a Christian. Enamored with symbolism of Cross.

I           N           V           E           R           S           I           O           N

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
NATURAL

1981 43 Baptized and married in the Episcopal Church located in our neighborhood. Attend services, sing in choir, teach Sunday school, study Bible Commentaries. Find Swedenborg books in library. Begin daily study of the Writings (for details see: article 1 and article 2). Begin my life as a Christian. Invent new knowledge: Ennead Matrix, Graphic Methodology, and others (see list immediately below).

SALVATION

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
SPIRITUAL
1983 45 Read De Hemelsche Leer for the first time. Begin daily study of it. REFORMATION

REGENERATION

1985 47 Doctrine of the Wife first time formulated in my mind and writing.
1993 55 On 9-26-93 the realization came to me that I need to speak about spiritual psychology in my own voice and make a case for it rather than merely reporting what Swedenborg has said. My proposals need to be considered on their own and justified by my understanding and perspective as a dualist scientist, even if they are inspired by Swedenborg.
1996 58 Swedenborg Glossary started and published on the World Wide Web containing thousands of pages written since 1981. Pre-Swedenborgian articles written between 1960 and 1980 also published on the Web. Assumed the media role of DrDriving.
1998 60 theistic psychology more explicitly formulated in my mind. Searching for how to integrate the whole.

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
CELESTIAL

2000 62 Birth of the Doctrine of the Church in my mind--now understood in a new way. Re-reading De Hemelsche Leer. For the first time seeing the connection between my pre- and post-Swedenborgian articles (see list immediately below). Wrote De Hemelsche Leer articles Parts 1, 2, and 3.

INNOCENCE OF WISDOM

REGENERATION

? ? ?
 

Explanations of the above chart (matrix 16) are given in a section below that discusses matrix 23.

NOTE: the Links in the tabulation of discoveries below take you to further explanations and samples of the topics mentioned.

  Pre-Swedenborgian Discoveries and Inventions (1960-1980) by Leon James

       See List of Publications and see also Directory of Available Articles Online

(NOTE: Links below lead to a representative article on that topic with entry links to related links)

  1. Semantic Satiation and Generation (1960-1962--M.A. Thesis and Ph.D. Dissertation) (see also article 1   ||  article 2 )
  2. Applied Ethomethodological Psycholinguistics  ||  Transactional Engineering (1962 onward) (see article 1  ||  article 2  ||  article 3 || article 4 )
  3. Developmental Sequence of the Conceptual Statement--DESOCS (1964) (see article 1 )
  4. Indeterminacy of Meaning (1967)
  5. Communicative Competence (1968) (see article 1  ||   article 2 )
  6. Sudden Memory (1968) (see article 1 )
  7. Self-Witnessing Methodology (1969 onward)
  8. Student-Centered Foreign Language Teaching (1970) (see article 1  ||   article 2   ||  article 3 )
  9. Comprehensive Discourse Analysis (CDA) (1971 onward)  ( article 1 || article 2   ||  article 2 || article 3)
  10. Daily Round Archives (DRA) (1972 onward) (see article 1   ||  article 2 )
  11. Discourse Thinking (1973) (see article 1 )
  12. Community-Classroom (1974 onward) (see article 1   ||   article 2  ||  article 3 )
  13. Ethnosemantics: Hexagram, Trigram, Color Wisdom, Color Coded Dictionary, Open Cube of Understanding, Reciprocally Ratified Recognitions (RRR),  (1975 onward) (see article 1   ||  article 2  ||  article 3 )
  14. The Mobius Strip Book (1976) (see article 1 )
  15. Genetic Culture: Psycho-dynamics and Astro-dynamics, Mental Genes, Morphotopology (1976 onward) (see article 1 ||   article 2  || article 3 )
  16. Psychology of Knowledge, Metaphysics of Nothingness (see article 1  ||   article 2 )
  17. Community Cataloguing Practices (CCPs) (1978 onward) (see article 1  ||   article 2  ||  article 3  ||  article 4 )

Post-Swedenborgian Discoveries and Inventions (1981-2001 and beyond...) by Leon James

  1. Comprehensive Discourse Analysis (CDA) (continued) (see article 1  ||  article 2  ||   article 3 )
  2. Social Psychology of Song Analysis: Inner Meaning of Popular Songs (1981) (see article 1  ||  article 2 )
  3. Ennead Matrix and Graphic Methodology, A/C/S Unit of Behavior, Threefold Self (1982 onward) (see article 1  ||  article 2  ||  article 3  ||  article 4  ||   article 5   ||  article 6   || directory )
  4. Religious Behaviorism, Scientific Dualism, Substantive Dualism, Spiritual Psychobiology (1982) (see article 1  ||  article 2  ||  article 3  ||  article 4 ||  article 5 ||  article 6   ||  article 7 ))
  5. Spiritual Geography (1982) (see article 1 )
  6. Vertical Community (1982) (see article 1 )
  7. PLATO Socializing (1982-1993) (see article 1 )
  8. De Hemelsche Leer are the Epistles for the New Church (1983) (see article 1 )
  9. Doctrine of the Wife (1985) (see article 1 )
  10. Swedenborg's Scientific Writings also have an inner sense (1986)
  11. Cyber-psychology and Spiritual Psychology (1993 onward) (see article 1  ||  article 2 )
  12. Secular vs. Religious Swedenborgianism (1994) (see article 1 )
  13. Online Generational Curriculum (1994 onward) (see article 1  ||   article 2   ||  article 3   ||  article 4   ||  article 5 )
  14. Swedenborg Glossary (1996 onward) (see directory here )
  15. Affirmative Action--Husbands Confess Here, Swedenborgian Marriage Handbook (1996) (see article 1 )
  16. Traffic Psychology, Driving Psychology, DrDriving and Threestep Program (1996 onward) (see article 1  ||  Web site )
  17. Children Against Road Rage (CARR), Drivers Behaving Badly (DBB Ratings) (1997) (see article 1 )
  18. theistic psychology (1998) (see article 1 )
  19. The Circuit of Consciousness and the Dynamics of Regeneration (2001) (see article 1 )

See also these autobiographical articles by Leon James:
Community Cataloguing Practices (CCPs) Historical Autobiography in Social Psychology

Radicalist Empiricism: The Universal Modes of Enactment in Human Experience

 

                                Conceptual Categories in Thinking in Relation to Degrees of Consciousness (Matrix 17)

 

Conceptual Categories in Thinking in Relation to Degrees of Consciousness (Matrix 17)

DEGREES
of consciousness

HEXAGRAM
COLOR SYMBOL
SEMANTIC CATEGORIES
OR COGNITIVE PROPERTIES
THINKING AND COMMUNICATION LEVEL
Community Cataloguing Practices (CCPs)
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
CELESTIAL
I
WHITE

Ideal Substance, Spiritual Form, Essence, Nominative, Schema, Creative, etc.

Presuppositions
(cf. etymology)

SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL
II
YELLOW
Structure, Connectedness, Association, Relationship, Part, Delimitation, Plan, Script, etc.

Implications
(cf. syntax)

SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
NATURAL
III
GREEN

Function, Quality, Property, Force, Dynamics, Direction, Instruction, etc.

Meanings
(indeterminate reference)

I           N           V           E           R           S           I           O           N

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
NATURAL

IV
BLUE
Medium, Intermediate, Context, History, Goal, Purpose, Interspace, Intervention, etc.

Assertion
(types)

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
SPIRITUAL
V
BROWN

Frame, Role, Venue, Guidance, Justification, etc.

Argument
(nominal + complement)

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
CELESTIAL

VI
BLACK

Appearance, Use, Performance, Execution, Product, Accounting, etc.

Text
(sentence, paragraph, title)

External=Sensual=Descending Pathway=Light Trigram (Pre-topical)  (I, II, III) Interior=Rational=Ascending Pathway=Dark Trigram (Topical)  (IV, V, VI)
Inversion=Double Line=Origin of Contention Point

 

                    Ethnosemantic Hexagram in Relation to Degrees of Consciousness (matrix 18)

From Swedenborg's  Arcana Coelestia

62. The times and states of man's regeneration in general and in particular are divided into six, and are called the days of his creation; for, by degrees, from being not a man at all, he becomes at first something of one, and so by little and little attains to the sixth day, in which he becomes an image of God.

(...)

13. Those who are being regenerated do not all arrive at this state. The greatest part, at this day, attain only the first state; some only the second; others the third, fourth, or fifth; few the sixth; and scarcely anyone the seventh.

matrix18.jpg (77911 bytes)

The diagram above (matrix 18) shows the exact overlap between my earlier work on ethnosemantic hexagrams (1975 see tabulation of discoveries above) and the six degrees of regeneration in the Writings of Swedenborg (1981 onward for me). Strangely, but significantly, I did not see the relation clearly until April of 2001. In 1981 when I started reading the Writings it seemed to me that I was abandoning or laying aside all my busy work on ethnosemantics that started in 1975. I did not look at it again until I was preparing the manuscripts for scanning and publishing on the Web in 1998. Still I didn't see it then either. Instead of the ethnosemantic system I started working on the ennead matrix and the relation between them was not clarified in my mind. Even today I am still searching for the relation between the ennead based on the Writings and the hexagrammatic system I discovered before that (see tabulation of discoveries). I think the reason I see it now in April 2001 is because I just entered the interior rational phase at age 62. This article on De Hemelsche Leer Parts 1, 2, and 3 thus marks my transition zone into interior celestial consciousness. I can now see the Doctrine of the Church in the interior celestial sense which brings me to an interior perception of the hexagrammatic scheme I developed in my pre-Swedenborgian natural and sensuous thinking. I thought to myself then that this was my own discovery and invention and attributed it all to my self-intelligence and genius. Now I see that it was given me through the vertical community from the Lord. Yet I was unable to comprehend what I was given to see.

For example: I saw intuitively that there was a difference between the first trigram (White, Yellow, Green) and the second trigram (Blue, Brown, Black). But I didn't know what the difference was in an explicit sense. I called the first trigram "the Light trigram" and the other trigram "the Dark Trigram." I also intuited that there was a distinct break between them and I called this break "the double line." I realized that my some unknown way we cross this double line in the motion or dynamic of our thinking, to create actual things or phenomena. I initially came to the hexagram idea, that is, an orderly sequence of six steps, when I was creating clusters of words that appeared to "hang together somehow." Here is an extract from my lecture notes published in a Handbook for my students in 1978 (three years before I found out about the Writings of Swedenborg)  and can be found on the Web here:

[8.1.2]

The Hexagram of Sudden Memory. Consider the following downward series of semantic units and their usage in a sample illustration. We refer to such semantic structures by the label hexagram to indicate that it is a whole made up of two parts separated by a double line boundary and ordered in a vertical series. The rationale and structure of the hexagrammatic system are elaborated further in

I. IMPRESSIONS

II. INTERPRETATIONS

III. AWARENESS

Illustration

"It happens like this. First, you get some impression which you come to interpret, after which you become aware you've had them"

IV. SELF-CONSCIOUS

V.UNSELFCONSCIOUS

VI. CONSCIOUS

"It happens like this. First you do it all self-consciously, but after some practice you begin to do it unselfconsciously. Eventually you do it being fully conscious."

the Appendix and in a number of places in this Workbook (see Index). Here, we wish to show its use or applicability in methodology.

Let us stipulate that this particular hexagram, called "The Hexagram of Sudden Memory," is a hypothesis about the structure of the units that make up sudden memory just as in the case of short-term memory, we stipulate discrete units underlying the natural flow of actions and events. Having stipulated this, we can now derive from it, a theory about what it is in the mind, since it is not in behavior. Assume therefore that sudden memory is a parameter of the mind and that it has the characteristics given by the above hexagram; these are as follows:

(i) every unit of mind (or gene of intellect) is a hexagram made up of two trigrams;

(ii) in this molecule, the upper trigrarn has three features in descending order; these are: IMPRESSIONS, INTERPRETATIONS, AWARENESS;

(iii) the upper trigram can be represented in behavior as the temporal verbal report: "First you get impressions, then you interpret them, and finally you become aware that you have them."

(iv) the lower trigram can be represented in behavior through the following assertion: "When you start, at first you kind of feel self-conscious but afterwards you sort of get used to it with practice, and then you kind of do it unselfconsciously . Eventually it becomes a routine and you're doing it fully consciously."

(v) the double line separates topical from pre-topical such that the upper sequence is pre-topical while the lower is topical; this can be represented behaviorally by the following verbal argument: "The SOCIO-cultural environment creates two zones: pre-topical and topical. Pre-topical belongs to all societies whether non-verbal, as ant colonies, or verbal, as human communities. But topical belongs only to verbal societies. As a result, impressions, interpretations, and awareness are societal features, not individual, hence ants may be, as a group manifesting the phenomena of impressions, or awareness, but not individually. However, ants are not conscious since they fail to exhibit topical phenomena."

Having assumed the above, let us now explore the consequences. First, it is provocative to say that ants are aware and make interpretations of their impressions, though given the new sociobiology (Wilson, 1976), the idea is no longer disrespectable! The oddity of the assertion disappears when "pre-topical', is seen as its frame, i. e., the awareness of the ants is not of a topical nature, as ours obviously is, given human language; thus we, are led to investigate the nature of a pre-topical element just as genes provide clues to the behavior of a species or, molecular transactions give clues to atomic structure. The hexagram we are investigating proposes that the phenomenon of consciousness is the sixth element in a descending series of which the upper three are pre-topical, i.e., characteristic of pre-literate and non-verbal societies or stages of development (ontology). This leads to the provocative assertion that awareness is pre-topical in the ontology of mind.

In behavior, ontoginy recapitulates phylogeny.; in mind, synchrony recapitulates diachrony. The first assertion establishes the relationship between individual behavior and the inherited gene pool of the species; it gives the biological component to psychology. The second assertion --that synchrony recapitulates diachrony --establishes the relationship between personal experience and the socio-cultural environment; it gives the experiential component of psychology . Now we ask: Is this experiential component as real and amenable to scientific investigation as the biological component? We propose an affirmative solution though it will require a suitable methodology, suitable for the investigation of phenomena that are non-temporal, viz., synchronous. The hexagrammatic approach is the original methodology of synchronic synthesis devised by the first civilizations to invent literacy, i.e., the community practice of publishing knowledge and indexing text. This led to books, manuals, archives, official records (see Section [5. 2. 3] in Chapter 5). This method survives today in the form of the treatise called the "I Ching" and attributed to Confucius and earlier scholars of the Chinese Dynasties (circa 1100 B.C.). The I Ching is a unified theory of social settings and presents an exhaustive system of 64 situational hexagrams corresponding to the modalities of conduct t on the daily round (see Section [6.3.1] in Chapter 6).

Ethnosemantic methodology (ESM, for short) requires a special register just as statistics and experimental methodology involve specialized registers, i.e., vocabulary, syntax, mathematical operations abstract conceptions, formalized argument procedures, explicitness, routine replicability, and so forth. These are essential characteristics of any valid methodology. ESM employs a traditional and well established system of mathematics called hexagrammatic topology. This is a term we are proposing for what appears to have been around since the beginnings of literate civilizations, i.e. , circa 1100 B. C. (e.g., the Chou Dynasty in China which gave us the I CHING; the Mycennaen civilization that led to the Iliad of the Greeks; the Egyptian Book of the Dead; the Babylonian Code of Hammurabbi). The beginnings of literacy were understandably functional evolutionary developments: verbal but preliterate human societies (i.e., 3, 000 years ago and beyond) were dependent on oral rituals of transmission of knowledge, tradition, practice, and ideals. There was thus maintained by necessity a caste system in society in which a few had the contact and conscious relationship with the past and therefore, with the continuity in conception and in awareness of the mechanisms of culture (For a personal view, see Yogananda, 1975; Roberts, 1974; 1976; Rampa., 1963; Jones, 1972. For a scientific view, see Hoggart, 1957; McLuhan, 1964; Jaynes, 1976).

With the evolution of literacy as an ordinary daily round phenomenon, i.e., when education became available to many in a community, there evolved a class of immortals called the classicists whose ideas, words, arguments, and attitudes are perpetrated in print and in translation and in reference, thus enduring in presence long after their author's natural life span. The "Books of Authority" as we might call them, thus constitute the archaeology of the objectified descriptions of the ideas of the past. They are the data needed for the histories of ideas, nations, and people (see Lovejoy, 1955 and Cassirer, 1950).

The methodology that transforms ideas into objective data needs to be presented. ESM is such a methodology. To illustrate its application, we present the following ennead of basic principles about ESM.

  1. CONCEPTS are trigrammatic;
  2. DISPLAYS are hexagrammatic;
  3. ARGUMENTS are double hexagrams;
  4. THEMES are electric couples;
  5. DUALITY Is the double line;
  6. DIALECTICS is to cross the double line;
  7. EVENTS are dialectic movements;
  8. DRAMA and TALK are media for consciousness;
  9. ETHNICITY titles variations in the dynamic properties of a literate consciousness (individual and local ethnographies).

The capitalized terms are technical objects, to be defined presently, and the other terms are operational definitions. The latter may be represented through a geometric notation system or analogy, as follows:

trigram = a composite form made up of three distinct elements, e.g., triangles; triplets; the minimal family unit; any scale made in such a way as to have three positions; etc.

hexagram = a composite of two distinct trigrams ordered linearly such that one trigram assumes a lower order relative to the other trigram;

double hexagrams = a composite of two distinct hexagrams arranged in a 90 degree angle such that one hexagram assumes the horizontal position while the other assumes the vertical position; the double hexagram, forms a Cartesian coordinate system or hexagrammatic matrix In which 36 dyadic intersections are specified;

electric couple = a unit of cycle consisting of a pair of two double hexagrams; electric couples are phrasal units with a value of 48 (one double =2 hexagram s = 4 trigrams = 4 x 3 = 12; hence 2 double hexagrams = 24 and a pair of doubles = 48);

double line = two parallel lines separating the lower from the upper trigram in any hexagram; the gap between the double lines represents the natural break between pre-topical and topical (roughly: matter and psyche, or reactivity and consciousness)

crossing the double line = a natural phenomenon characterizing the laws of phasal motion such that a transformation or metamorphosis is noted when crossing the double line, i.e., the phase between the adjacent constituent parts of the upper and lower trigrams in any hexagram; crossing from the upper to the lower is in the direction of dissolution of topic (topical to pre-topical); from lower to upper, it is in the direction of crystallizing topic;

dialectic movements = units of phasal values charted or plotted by reference to the hexagrammatic positions available; e.g., crossing the double line is a dialectic movement from phase III to IV or vice versa; similarly, going from phase I at one end of the lower trigram, to phase III, the other end, is a dialectic movement;

media for consciousness = distinct channels or manifolds having the property of retaining form or shape, and changes in these; the coding of these changes is possible in terms of topic, topic units, and topic domains or zones;

titles = the referential labeling that identifies a category of event, process, relationship, or experience; titles may be conventional or neologistic; e.g. "bread' and "eating bread with meals" are conventional topic nominals recognizable through the cataloguing practices of a community; "eating bread and thinking that I shouldn't"  is a neologistic topic nominal constructed according to standardized register principles or norms;

Thus far we have specified the operational definitions of the main components of ESM. Now let us introduce some basic technical terms. These are the conceptual elements that enter into the mathematics or geometry of the notation system of ESM.

It's clear from the above that I had an insight regarding the relationship between consciousness, semantic organization, and discourse. I saw that discourse (or dialog or composition) by an individual was the outcome of prior inner processes that were rational and cultural so that we shared them within a population. This became in my mind the basis for coming up with the notion of "genetic culture" (see tabulation of discoveries above). I believed that we can discover the mental genotypes of the human race by this kind of "ethno-semantics." I also thought of ways to describe "discourse thinking" in terms of formal rules (algebraic or geometric) that specified the permissible combinations of hexagrammatic elements. These combinatorial rules were logical and involved the traditional (Aristotelian) idea that argument=nominal + complement. I recognized that discourse or dialog depends on invisible (Light Trigram--Descending Pathway) and visible elements (Dark Trigram--Ascending Pathway, as shown above in matrix 18). The invisible elements I called "pre-topical" and the visible "topical." Between the two lay the double line which I identified as the source of the contention point in discourse and in discourse thinking. It answered the question: What's the point in saying this or thinking this?

Now I can recognize the overlap between the pre-topical Light Trigram and the Descending Pathway of degrees of consciousness as outlined in the various matrices in Parts 1 and 2  of this article, and also the topical Dark Trigram and the Ascending Pathway. It's quite remarkable to me that the "double line" between the trigrams occupied my mind in mysterious ways. I saw it as a deep chasm in our semantic system and called it the origin of contention points, that is, the motive for speaking and thinking anything. Now I can see from the Writings that this double line is called the Inversion and is described in great detail in Arcana Coelestia where the inner sense is given for the migrations and encounters of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob detailed in Genesis. This is the basis of what I call today "spiritual geography." Most of the Arcana Coelestia is a handbook for consciousness raising detailing the step by step recursive series of regeneration as we become spiritual and full human beings. It turns out that the hexagrammatic and enneadic systems in ethnosemantics provides us with a methodology for drawing spiritual maps of the human mind. It is a methodology for spiritual geography, or the science of regeneration and human growth in consciousness.

See other Applications of the Hexagram in these sources:  directory 1  ||   directory 2  || article 3  || 

From Swedenborg's  Arcana Coelestia

4. While the mind cleaves to the literal sense alone, no one can possibly see that such things are contained within it. Thus in these first chapters of Genesis, nothing is discoverable from the sense of the letter other than that the creation of the world is treated of, and the garden of Eden which is called Paradise, and Adam as the first created man. Who supposes anything else? But it will be sufficiently established in the following pages that these matters contain arcana which have never yet been revealed; and in fact that the first chapter of Genesis in the internal sense treats in general of the new creation of man, or of his regeneration, and specifically of the Most Ancient Church; and this in such a manner that there is not the least expression which does not represent, signify, and enfold within it these things.

The Writings describe the Descending Pathway (Zones 1 through 9 in the matrices in Parts 1 and 2)  as involving the immediate (unconscious) influx of Divine Good into our sensuous consciousness, and this good unites itself with the Divine truth that enters through efflux from outside our senses, that is, through the Word and Doctrine based on the Word. But the Ascending Pathway (Zones 10 through 18 in the matrices in Parts 1 and 2)  is described as involving mediate (conscious) influx of Divine Truth into our rational consciousness. When we advance in regeneration and our rational consciousness develops, it does so within the sensuous consciousness that was prepared for it through the consummation of the Descending Pathway. This uniting of the sensual and rational consciousness is called the Marriage of Good and Truth. This marriage of good and truth is the basis of all created things, both human and non-human. Every created object or quality, such as a galaxy, molecule, grain of sand, plant seed, or a human feeling, is created into a marriage of good and truth without which no thing can be anything in existence or reality. These are the two fundamental issues when considering any created thing or object:

  • What is the good in it? (refers to its properties or uses--as in, What is it good for?))
  • What is the truth in it? (refers to its structure and conditions for being effective or operational--as in, How does it work?

The Psycho-Dynamics of Regeneration: Using Spiritual Geography Maps

The growth of every individual's consciousness is a process under Divine management called "regeneration." This process is the marriage of good and truth within us, a marriage the Writings call the church--not capitalized to distinguish it from the Church, which refers to civilization or age, viewed historically or in evolution. The chief mechanism by which regeneration proceeds is through an appropriate series of temptations. These are situations and dilemmas in our daily living that challenges us by putting us in the very middle of a spiritual battle going on between evil spirits and good spirits. This vertical community is a constant environment for our mind without which the mind quickly sinks into its lowest corporeal state and is there isolated from higher states--this is called the hells. So our vertical community ensures that we can maintain the growth of the mind by placing into our sensuous consciousness the content of the temptation. On the one side, from below, we feel the tug of war downward to our selfish and egocentric love of self and the world; on the other side, from above, we feel the tug of war upward to our conscience and altruistic motivations. We are poised between the two and kept in balance in a delicate and precise manner by the Lord. Upon the outcome of our free choice hangs our fate in the afterlife--whether it is to be in hell or in heaven. If we choose the selfish and the worldly, our mind is tied closer to the hells. If we choose according to the truth we know, thus according to uses and love of neighbor, we are tied closer to the heavens. And this repeats itself many thousands of times during the few decades in our life in the body.

To help us gain victory in temptations every individual is given conscious truth in the Ascending Pathway of rational consciousness, as frequently explained. This conscious truth, so vital for our development and immortal fate, is called the Doctrine of the Church. The Word or Sacred Scripture in all religions, is the source of this Doctrine. This understanding of Divine things, called the Doctrine of the Church, is something we need to acquire, develop, care for. Though we can attempt to learn other people's Doctrinal insights--their Doctrine of the Church, it only benefits us to the extent that what we understand is genuine, not deluded by self-intelligence. Whatever genuine Doctrine we extract from the Word remains with us and forms our spiritual environment and fate forever. But the Doctrine is genuine only to the extent that we live our life accordingly. We can read the literal statements expressing the insights and enlightenments of others but we cannot understand what they are referring to until we see the Doctrinal things in our very own mind and life. Doctrine can only be acquired through the orderly progression of our consciousness, as portrayed in the matrices discussed in this article. To help us in this process of Doctrine acquisition, the Word portrays the travels and adventures of the characters that form the subject matter of Genesis (chapter 12 onward). I will share the various spiritual geography maps that I have created, based on the explanations of these travels and adventures given in the Writings of Swedenborg. Also, the maps created by Ian Thompson will also be discussed.

Embedded Recursiveness of the Circuit of Consciousness (Matrix 19)

ORDERLY SEQUENCE

COLOR HEXAGRAM SUB-CATEGORY DEGREE OF CONSCIOUSNESS SUB-CATEGORY AGE PERIOD SUB-CATEGORY
I
INFANCY
WHITE
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
CELESTIAL
WHITE OF WHITE Zone 1

EXTERNAL CELESTIAL
OF EXTERNAL CELESTIAL

INFANCY OF INFANCY

YELLOW OF WHITE

Zone 2

EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
OF EXTERNAL CELESTIAL

CHILDHOOD OF INFANCY

GREEN OF WHITE Zone 3

EXTERNAL NATURAL
OF EXTERNAL CELESTIAL

ADOLESCENCE OF INFANCY
BLUE OF WHITE

Zone 21

INTERIOR NATURAL
OF EXTERNAL CELESTIAL

YOUNG ADULTHOOD OF INFANCY

BROWN OF WHITE Zone 20

INTERIOR SPIRITUAL
OF EXTERNAL CELESTIAL

ADULTHOOD OF INFANCY
BLACK OF WHITE

Zone 19

INTERIOR CELESTIAL
OF EXTERNAL CELESTIAL

OLD AGE OF INFANCY

II
CHILDHOOD
YELLOW
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL
WHITE OF YELLOW Zone 4

EXTERNAL CELESTIAL
OF EXTERNAL  SPIRITUAL

INFANCY OF CHILDHOOD

YELLOW OF YELLOW

Zone 5

EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL

CHILDHOOD OF CHILDHOOD

GREEN OF YELLOW Zone 6

EXTERNAL NATURAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL

ADOLESCENCE OF CHILDHOOD
BLUE OF YELLOW

Zone 24

INTERIOR NATURAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL

YOUNG ADULTHOOD OF CHILDHOOD

BROWN OF YELLOW Zone 23

INTERIOR SPIRITUAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL

ADULTHOOD OF CHILDHOOD
BLACK OF YELLOW

Zone 22

INTERIOR CELESTIAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL

OLD AGE OF CHILDHOOD

III
ADOLESCENCE
GREEN
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
NATURAL
WHITE OF GREEN Zone 7

EXTERNAL CELESTIAL
OF EXTERNAL NATURAL

INFANCY OF ADOLESCENCE

YELLOW OF GREEN

Zone 8

EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
OF EXTERNAL NATURAL

CHILDHOOD OF ADOLESCENCE

GREEN OF GREEN Zone 9

EXTERNAL NATURAL
OF EXTERNAL NATURAL

ADOLESCENCE OF ADOLESCENCE
BLUE OF GREEN

Zone 27

INTERIOR NATURAL
OF EXTERNAL NATURAL

YOUNG ADULTHOOD OF ADOLESCENCE

BROWN OF GREEN Zone 26

INTERIOR SPIRITUAL
OF EXTERNAL NATURAL

ADULTHOOD OF ADOLESCENCE
BLACK OF GREEN

Zone 25

INTERIOR CELESTIAL
OF EXTERNAL NATURAL

OLD AGE OF ADOLESCENCE

I           N           V           E           R           S           I           O           N

IV
YOUNG ADULTHOOD
BLUE
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
NATURAL

WHITE OF BLUE Zone 10

EXTERNAL CELESTIAL
OF INTERIOR NATURAL

INFANCY OF YOUNG ADULTHOOD

YELLOW OF BLUE

Zone 11

EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
OF INTERIOR NATURAL

CHILDHOOD OF YOUNG ADULTHOOD

GREEN OF BLUE Zone 12

EXTERNAL NATURAL
OF INTERIOR NATURAL

ADOLESCENCE OF YOUNG ADULTHOOD
BLUE OF BLUE

Zone 30

INTERIOR NATURAL
OF INTERIOR NATURAL

YOUNG ADULTHOOD OF YOUNG ADULTHOOD

BROWN OF BLUE Zone 29

INTERIOR SPIRITUAL
OF INTERIOR NATURAL

ADULTHOOD OF YOUNG ADULTHOOD
BLACK OF BLUE

Zone 28

INTERIOR CELESTIAL
OF INTERIOR NATURAL

OLD AGE OF YOUNG ADULTHOOD

V
ADULTHOOD
BROWN
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
SPIRITUAL
WHITE OF BROWN Zone 13

EXTERNAL CELESTIAL
OF INTERIOR SPIRITUAL

INFANCY OF ADULTHOOD

YELLOW OF BROWN

Zone 14

EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
OF INTERIOR SPIRITUAL

CHILDHOOD OF ADULTHOOD

GREEN OF BROWN Zone 15

EXTERNAL NATURAL
OF INTERIOR SPIRITUAL

ADOLESCENCE OF ADULTHOOD
BLUE OF BROWN

Zone 33

INTERIOR NATURAL
OF INTERIOR SPIRITUAL

YOUNG ADULTHOOD OF ADULTHOOD

BROWN OF BROWN Zone 32

INTERIOR SPIRITUAL
OF INTERIOR SPIRITUAL

ADULTHOOD OF ADULTHOOD
BLACK OF BROWN

Zone 31

INTERIOR CELESTIAL
OF INTERIOR SPIRITUAL

OLD AGE OF ADULTHOOD

VI
OLD AGE
BLACK
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
CELESTIAL

WHITE OF BLACK Zone 16

EXTERNAL CELESTIAL
OF INTERIOR CELESTIAL

INFANCY OF OLD AGE

YELLOW OF BLACK

Zone 17

EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
OF INTERIOR CELESTIAL

CHILDHOOD OF OLD AGE

GREEN OF BLACK Zone 18

EXTERNAL NATURAL
OF INTERIOR CELESTIAL

ADOLESCENCE OF OLD AGE
BLUE OF BLACK

Zone 36

INTERIOR NATURAL
OF INTERIOR CELESTIAL

YOUNG ADULTHOOD OF OLD AGE

BROWN OF BLACK Zone 35

INTERIOR SPIRITUAL
OF INTERIOR CELESTIAL

ADULTHOOD OF OLD AGE
BLACK OF BLACK

Zone 34

INTERIOR CELESTIAL
OF INTERIOR CELESTIAL

OLD AGE OF OLD AGE

External=Sensual=Descending Pathway=Light Trigram (Pre-topical) (I, II, III) Interior=Rational=Ascending Pathway=Dark Trigram (Topical)  (IV, V, VI)
Inversion=Double Line=Origin of Contention Point

The above chart (matrix 19) shows the components and orderly steps of regeneration in relation to degrees of consciousness, age periods, and hexagrammatic color code. It demonstrates the exact relations between my pre-Swedenborgian discoveries in ethnosemantics and discourse analysis (see tabulation of discoveries above ), and the Swedenborgian system of degrees I encountered later when first reading the Writings. The embedded recursiveness of the growth of the mind at all levels and periods is clearly portrayed by the visual representations.

                                Discovering the Ennead Matrix from the Literal of the Writings

From Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia

13. Those who are being regenerated do not all arrive at this state. The greatest part, at this day, attain only the first state; some only the second; others the third, fourth, or fifth; few the sixth; and scarcely anyone the seventh.

67. CHAPTER 2 As of the Lord's Divine mercy it has been given me to know the internal meaning of the Word, in which are contained deepest arcana that have not before come to anyone's knowledge, nor can come unless the nature of the other life is known (for very many things of the Word's internal sense have regard to, describe, and involve those of that life), I am permitted to disclose what I have heard and seen during some years in which it has been granted me to be in the company of spirits and angels.

68. I am well aware that many will say that no one can possibly speak with spirits and angels so long as he lives in the body; and many will say that it is all fancy, others that I relate such things in order to gain credence, and others will make other objections. But by all this I am not deterred, for I have seen, I have heard, I have felt.

69. Man was so created by the Lord as to be able while living in the body to speak with spirits and angels, as in fact was done in the most ancient times; for, being a spirit clothed with a body, he is one with them. But because in process of time men so immersed themselves in corporeal and worldly things as to care almost nothing for ought besides, the way was closed. Yet as soon as the corporeal things recede in which man is immersed, the way is again opened, and he is among spirits, and in a common life with them.

70. As it is permitted me to disclose what for several years I have heard and seen, it shall here be told, first, how the case is with man when he is being resuscitated; or how he enters from the life of the body into the life of eternity. In order that I might know that men live after death, it has been given me to speak and be in company with many who were known to me during their life in the body; and this not merely for a day or a week, but for months, and almost a year, speaking and associating with them just as in this world. They wondered exceedingly that while they lived in the body they were, and that very many others are, in such incredulity as to believe that they will not live after death; when in fact scarcely a day intervenes after the death of the body before they are in the other life; for death is a continuation of life.

As I started reading the Writings I came across some consistent themes, each one a remarkable and wonderful scientific revelation. If I arrange them in a logical sequence in my mind, I would name first, the idea of "substantive dualism." The structure of the universe is dual: the spiritual world is "within" the physical world--but not in space. Rather, the two worlds are linked by correspondence. Both worlds--the physical planets when they are inhabited, and the spiritual world, have a sun that supplies the materials in the case of the physical sun) or the substances (in the case of the spiritual Sun) from which all things are constructed on the planets and lands. So the big news here is the distinction our consciousness has to make about matter and substance. Substance from the spiritual Sun acts and matter from the physical sun reacts. Another way of thinking this is that phenomena in the spiritual world (made of substance) is the cause ("acts on") of phenomena in the physical world ("is acted upon" or "reacts"). All causes originate and exist in the spiritual world, and these control or cause all corresponding phenomena in the physical world. For example, if we observe the various instinctual physical behaviors of animals, our mind can formulate an idea about the spiritual causes of each behavior. The Writings reveal thousands and hundreds of thousands such correspondences, so that by studying them, we can begin to recognize them in our mind and in our regeneration. Wait! How did I get from spiritual-physical correspondences to the mind and regeneration??

That's the second consistent theme I came across as I read the Writings and it is perhaps the scientific revelation that amazed me to the extreme. That's the idea that the spiritual world and the mind overlap. In other words the mind is the spirit and the spirit lives in the spiritual world. And the spiritual world is not existent in place and time like the physical world where our body is. This was the answer to the mind-body conundrum that bedevils every generation of psychologists and philosophers since Aristotle. By Jove, I think I've got it--to quote a well known 20th century song in the English world. Finally I understood what I've been searching for in vain all these years. We are dual citizens. Our body exists in the physical world while our mind exists in the spiritual world. The two are connected by correspondences. These laws of correspondences were known to the ancients and those who were expert at knowing them were called "wise"--thus like a doctor in Philosophy in our days (Ph.D. Degree). No doubt in the future, science, which will be theistic, will require its Ph.Ds. to be familiar with the "science of correspondences" no less than we require them today to be familiar with the science of mathematics.

That the mind overlaps with the spiritual world is more than to say that our mind, called "the spirit," lives in the spiritual world. Overlap means that when the spiritual world is described, the mind is also described. This reality is the basis for "spiritual geography." For example, in Swedenborg's numerous travels "in the spirit"--which means he was conscious of what his spirit was experiencing, he visited different societies of spirits. These are the people whose minds were liberated from the connection to the physical body by the death of that body. He watched thousands of people "pass on" or pass into the spiritual world which occurs a few hours after death, upon which one awakens consciously within one's spiritual body. The mind or spirit which was connected to the physical body, was now free to roam in its own mental body called the spiritual body. This spiritual body is immortal and indestructible because it is made of substances, unlike the physical body which is made of temporary matter. We do not get into this direct sensuous consciousness in the spirit until the connection with the body is fully broken, a process that takes approximately 30 hours.  What was special in the case of Swedenborg is that he was given the ability to be conscious in the spirit while still connected to the physical body--and this for 27 years. The purpose of this special event, which Swedenborg called the greatest miracle in the history of the world, was to allow him to be the scientific revelator of the Second Advent.

From Swedenborg's  Arcana Coelestia

5. That this is really the case no one can possibly know except from the Lord. It may therefore be stated in advance that of the Lord's Divine mercy it has been granted me now for some years to be constantly and uninterruptedly in company with spirits and angels, hearing them speak and in turn speaking with them. In this way it has been given me to hear and see wonderful things in the other life which have never before come to the knowledge of any man, nor into his idea. I have been instructed in regard to the different kinds of spirits; the state of souls after death; hell, or the lamentable state of the unfaithful; heaven, or the blessed state of the faithful; and especially in regard to the doctrine of faith which is acknowledged in the universal heaven; on which subjects, of the Lord's Divine mercy, more will be said in the following pages.

Swedenborg described three levels of societies he encountered in the spiritual world. He called these the First Heaven, the Second Heaven, and the Third Heaven. The highest heavenly societies or the Third Heaven, were inhabited by people who on earth had their consciousness opened to the interior celestial degree. The middle heavenly societies or the Second Heaven, were inhabited by people who on earth had their consciousness opened to the interior spiritual degree. The lowest heavenly societies or the First Heaven, were inhabited by people who on earth had their consciousness opened to the interior natural degree. These three heavens had their corresponding hells. The intermediate "space" between the lowest heaven and the first of the hells ("Lower earth" in the spiritual world) is called the spiritual world. This organization by degrees of the spiritual world overlaps with the organization by degrees of the mental world, or mind (spirit). This is the basis for the method of spiritual geography in theistic psychology. Matrix 12 in part 1 discusses spiritual geography and depicts the four "directions" in the spiritual world and the character of consciousness of the inhabitants in each region. So the human mind is organized in levels of height and our life on earth in the physical body determines the level to which our consciousness will rise. Thereafter, our life in eternity is an outcome of the height we achieved. Our conscious life, or self, experiences the phenomena at the level that is active in our mind. The inhabitants of the highest level of the mind were called celestial and their power and happiness so exceeded the inhabitants of the second level (spiritual), that the highest of the spiritual could not comprehend a single thought or idea from the lowest of the third level. Moreover, a single experience as actually felt and sensed by the lowest of the celestial individual, would annihilate the highest and best of the spiritual inhabitants, like our body would be annihilated if brought close to the sun.

Similarly, the lowest of the spiritual inhabitants were so vastly superior to the highest of the inhabitants in the natural heaven (first), that the inhabitants of the natural heaven cannot comprehend a single idea of the inhabitants of the spiritual heaven. Such is the amazing difference in our life at different levels of our consciousness. We are not fully human until we reach the interior or rational celestial consciousness. Spiritual geography is the science of drawing maps of the mind for the purpose of understanding and cooperating with our regeneration. Regeneration is the process by which our consciousness is opened to higher degrees while we are in the physical body. After we leave the physical body we can no longer be transferred to a higher degree than what our mind (or spirit) has been prepared for. This is why it is so crucial that we comprehend the process of how regeneration takes place, so that we may cooperate. This cooperation is the reciprocal conjunction with God, which is what gives us eternal life in the heavens. As I read these themes in the Writings I was striving to acquire them as my own knowledge so that I can think from this knowledge. Instead of thinking from materialistic knowledge (e.g., atheistic psychology that gave me the Ph.D. degree), I now started thinking from substantive knowledge, that is, knowledge from scientific revelations given by God to humankind through a designated or specially prepared revelator. I therefore started keeping track of the details by drawing spiritual geography maps that my wife Dr. Diane Nahl and I started calling "the ennead matrix." We found this word in the dictionary and it means a grid or matrix of nine elements or zones. Here is the most basic ennead matrix we conceptualized:

THE BASIC ENNEAD MATRIX IN SPIRITUAL GEOGRAPHY

  AFFECTIVE COGNITIVE SENSORIMOTOR
CELESTIAL A3 C3 S3
SPIRITUAL A2 C2 S2
NATURAL A1 C1 S1

The vertical dimension consists of the three degrees of the mind, and the horizontal dimension consists of the three organs of the mind called in the Writings: the will, the understanding, and the sensory. Diane and I used the modern social and behavioral terms: "affective" for the organ of the will; "cognitive" for the organ of the understanding; and "sensorimotor" for the organ of the sensory. The three degrees we translated in our published articles as "Level 3" as the most interior in "depth" or "internalization; "Level2" was of an intermediate depth, and "Level 1" was the most external. For example, in one article we identified the three levels with Kelman's description of "the internalization of obedience." He defined level 1 obedience as not internalized but due to fear from environmental or social punishment. When there is no surveillance, obedience stops. Level 2 obedience is more internalized and he called that "compliance" due to voluntary agreement or strategy. Even without surveillance, we still obey because we agree with it. Level 3 obedience is the most internalized since it is based on principles we uphold that are higher than ourselves. Even if we rather not obey in some situations, and would not at levels 1 and 3 (like in temptations and seductions), we still obey at level 3 out of inner higher principle. So we saw the clear relation between how the Writings describe the celestial character and how Kelman described the psychological levels of obedience. And similarly with other psychological levels discussed by Ericsson, Kohlberg, and others. So we were successful in applying the idea of "internalization" or "depth of consciousness" or "development of expertise" in many areas of daily living. You can explore these applications in Diane's publications and mine that are available on the Web. But here are some examples I reproduce here:

TABLE:   TAXONOMY OF LIBRARY SKILLS AND ERRORS (see this article for original)

 

AFFECTIVE DOMAIN

COGNITIVE DOMAIN

SENSORIMOTOR DOMAIN

 

Level 3 Internalizing the library

A3
Affective Internalization

C3
Cognitive Internalization

S3
Sensorimotor Internalization

Demonstrating support for the library perspective on society and self
(= Library Conscience and Morality versus Negligence)

Acquiring personal knowing and subjective intuition of a scholarly discipline, (=Disciplinary Connection versus Lacking Connection)

Performing cumulative searches in one's field and promoting the library in one's life.
(= Lifelong Library Use versus Library Disuse)

 

Level 2
Interacting
with the
Library

A2
Affective Interaction

C2
Cognitive Interaction

S2
Sensorimotor Interaction

Demonstrating continuous striving and value p references favorable to the library and its system. (=Positive Library Attitudes versus Library Resistance)

Acquiring objective knowing of search sequences, their analysis and synthesis.
(= Library Search Protocol versus Idiosyncratic Search Protocol)

Negotiating search queries and performing a single, one-time search that meets a current information need.
(= Library Proficiency versus Library Ineptitude)

 

Level I
Orienting
to the
Library

Al
Affective Orientation

Cl
Cognitive Orientation

SI
Sensorimotor Orientation

Demonstrating willingness to practice library tasks and maintaining selective attention.
(= Library Adjustment versus Library Maladjustment)

Acquiring representative knowing and comprehending library relevant distinctions.
(= Library Map and Glossary versus Library Ignorance)

Performing physical operations (hands-on experience, browsing and walking around) (=library Exploration and Efficiency versus Library Avoidance and Inefficiency)

Here is another illustration of how we used the ennead matrix in our published articles in the atheistic literature:

TAXONOMY OF BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES FOR INFORMATION SEARCHING COMPETENCE (ISC)

LEVELS

AFFECTIVE DOMAIN

COGNITIVE DOMAIN

SENSORIMOTOR DOMAIN

Advanced

A3
Feeling Empowered

Practicing Documentation Routines

Intermediate A2
Being Supportive

C2 Understanding Search

Strategy

S2 Identifying Implicit Features

Level 1 Basic

A1 Showing Acceptance

C1 Decoding Information Displays and Terminology

S1 Recognizing Information Elements and Locations

Another application on "the height of discourse" may be seen in article 1 and article 2

And now for some illustrations on how we used the ennead matrix as applied to knowledges from the literal of the Writings of Swedenborg. A sequence of such diagrams based on Swedenborg's analyses of the Bible passages in Genesis can be viewed in this article on religious behaviorism.   The clearest examples can be found in this article on "the dimensions of the mind" from which I will reproduce these examples. The three concentric circles style of representing "trigrams" is called graphic methodology (see tabulation of discoveries above).

dimens1.gif (5689 bytes)

The graphic methodology in spiritual geography allows us to study and consider separate elements of the ennead matrix. Above is a simple trigram. Below is an ennead matrix arranged in three trigrams:

dimens4.gif (8005 bytes)

The advantage of the graphic method is that it presents a rational schema in a visual sensuous image. It shows in a sensuous way how the elements or organs of the mind are arranged "within" each other so that the outermost is the lowest and contains the intermediate and inmost as a protective covering or containant. The celestial mind or degree is "within" the spiritual, and this "within" the natural. The three minds or degrees of consciousness are organic constructions that tend to maintain a certain form by creation. For instance, in the above ennead diagram, arranged graphically, "pleasure" is portrayed in the sensorimotor domain of the natural mind (S1). Within this mental event (pleasure) is contained at a higher degree and through correspondence, the mental event of "intellectual delight" which is portrayed in the sensorimotor domain of the spiritual mind (S2). And within this is portrayed the mental event of "happiness" in the sensorimotor domain of the celestial mind (S3). So in order to understand the workings of the mind, we need to think of three mental events, one within the other: pleasure (outmost), intellectual delight (intermediate), and happiness (inmost). In terms of actual sequence, the inmost is the origin and occurs first; then the intermediate occurs and acts as a cause; finally, the outermost occurs and acts as an effect. Pleasure is thus really and fully pleasure, only when it is the third step in a series starting with happiness in the affective mind (inmost) externalizing by correspondence to the cognitive mind (intermediate) and resting by correspondence in the sensorimotor mind (outmost). Swedenborg explicitly described this process, for which Diane and I created this diagram (found in this article):

diaga1.jpg (20034 bytes)

Later I changed the A/B/C designation to A/C/S which was easier to relate to the trigram of Affective/Cognitive/Sensorimotor. From now on I was striving to think, not of single concepts as I was taught in my education, but of "triadic concepts" or semantic trigrams. In the fields where Diane and I were publishing our articles--psychology, education, and information science, it was an entirely new approach. We always insisted on the correct theoretical sequence of any behavior or habit unit: Affective------->Cognitive------>Sensorimotor. Remarkably, when our articles were quoted or referenced in the literature, they were cited for the topic of "affective behavior" and never for the simultaneity of the A/C/S unit. It's as if this idea has not yet entered into the consciousness of atheistic psychology, and so is totally overlooked and not seen, by those who cite our articles. No doubt this powerful concept will become basic and universal when science turns theistic. Even now, cognitive and information science would receive a tremendous boost in effectiveness if scientists were willing to adopt the triadic approach to concepts about human behavior.

In addition, the Writings spoke of an interior and and an exterior of the mind at each level. Here is how I tried to depict this relationship:

swdual1.gif (8005 bytes)

Note that there is an inherent replication in the two dimensions of the ennead matrix. The celestial degree corresponds to the affective; the spiritual degree corresponds to the cognitive; the natural degree corresponds to the sensorimotor. Out of this triadic sequence issues all overt behavior. Note also that the ennead matrix can be doubled to represent its relation to the six degrees and hexagrammatic levels discussed above and throughout this article. In that case it relates to matrix 1 in part 1 which I reproduce again here:

STAGES OF GROWTH OF THE SELF (Matrix 1)

AGE PERIODS LEVELS AFFECTIVE COGNITIVE SENSORIMOTOR DEGREES
Old age VI 16 17 18 Interior Celestial
Infancy I 1 2 3 External Celestial
Adulthood V 13 14 15 Interior Spiritual
Childhood II 4 5 6 External Spiritual
Young adulthood IV 10 11 12 Interior Natural
Adolescence III 7 8 9 External Natural

I=celestial sensual consciousness
II=spiritual sensual consciousness
III=natural sensual consciousness
IV=natural rational consciousness
V=spiritual rational consciousness
VI=celestial rational consciousness

External=immediate influx and sensual consciousness
(experience)

Interior=mediate influx and rational consciousness
(as-of-self)

Descending Pathway   1-5-9=sensual consciousness                    Ascending Pathway  12-14-16=rational consciousness

Putting together matrix 1 in part 1 and  matrix 19 part 3 (above), we obtain matrix 20 below:

The Basic Map for Understanding Regeneration (Matrix 20)

ORDERLY SEQUENCE

AFFECTIVE COGNITIVE SENSORIMOTOR
I
INFANCY
WHITE
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
CELESTIAL

Zone 19        Zone 1

the affective of the external celestial

Zone 20         Zone 2

the cognitive of the external celestial

Zone 21         Zone 3

the sensorimotor of the external celestial

II
CHILDHOOD
YELLOW
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL

Zone 22          Zone 4

the affective of the external spiritual

Zone 23         Zone 5

the cognitive of the external spiritual

Zone 24            Zone 6

the sensorimotor of the external spiritual

III
ADOLESCENCE
GREEN
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
NATURAL
Zone 25         Zone 7

the affective of the external natural

Zone 26         Zone 8

the cognitive of the external natural

Zone 27          Zone 9

the sensorimotor of the external natural

I           N           V           E           R           S           I           O           N

IV
YOUNG ADULTHOOD
BLUE
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
NATURAL

Zone 28            Zone 10

the affective of the interior natural

Zone 29          Zone 11

the cognitive of the interior natural

Zone 30          Zone 12

the sensorimotor of the interior natural

V
ADULTHOOD
BROWN
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
SPIRITUAL
Zone 31           Zone 13

the affective of the interior spiritual

Zone 32            Zone 14

the cognitive of the interior spiritual

Zone 33          Zone 15

the sensorimotor of the interior spiritual

VI
OLD AGE
BLACK
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
CELESTIAL

Zone 34          Zone 16

the affective of the interior celestial

Zone 35          Zone 17

the cognitive of the interior celestial

Zone 36         Zone 18

the sensorimotor of the interior celestial

External=Sensual=Descending Pathway=Light Trigram (Pre-topical) (I, II, III) Interior=Rational=Ascending Pathway=Dark Trigram (Topical)  (IV, V, VI)
Inversion=Double Line=Origin of Contention Point

In the chart above (matrix 2), the zones are marked in relation to the external A/C/S units (Zones 1 through 18) and interior A/C/S units (Zones 19 through 36). This is because each of the three domains have an external and an internal zone. For instance, Zone 1 is the external affective of the external celestial, while zone 19 is the interior affective of the external celestial. Every box in the chart is thus marked for two zones. The 36 zones correspond exactly to the 36 zones in matrix 19 above. The zones in matrix 19 and matrix 20 can be identified as follows:

  • Zones 1 through 18 = External A/C/S units
  • Zones 19 through 36 = Interior A/C/S units
  • Zones 1 through 9 = External Descending Pathway
  • Zones 10 through 18 = External Ascending Pathway
  • Zones 19 through 27 = Interior Descending Pathway
  • Zones 28 through 6 = Interior Ascending Pathway

Now we can take a look at Dr. Ian Thompson's formal rendition of the ennead matrix. He doesn't call it the ennead matrix, possibly because he is a physicist and uses a more formal mathematical presentation. At any rate, his independent extraction from the Writings and mine are remarkably similar, demonstrating the methodology of theistic psychology.

Figure 8: The 9 created degrees with brief systematic names and systematic numbering
(I added the A/C/S wording in all caps to indicate the equivalent concepts in Ian's charts and mine).

AFFECTIVE

interior mind:

1. ends

COGNITIVE

exterior mind:

2. thoughts

SENSORIMOTOR

natural world:

3. effects

ends of ends: 1.1

(affections for ends)

thoughts of ends: 2.1 effects of ends: 3.1
ends of thoughts: 1.2

(affections for thoughts)

thoughts of thoughts: 2.2 effects of thoughts: 3.2
ends of effects: 1.3

(affections for effects)

thoughts of effects: 2.3 effects of effects: 3.3

Ian calls the affective domain the "interior mind," the cognitive domain he calls the "exterior mind" and the sensorimotor domain he calls the "natural world." These distinctions are used in the Writings where the will is called the interior of the mind while the understanding is referred to as the exterior or external of the mind. The outermost of the mind is the sensory and is called the natural mind in the Writings. Ian calls this the natural world, no doubt because the sensory mind is formed from stimuli from the natural or physical world entering the sensory organs of the body.

Note Ian's notation system: he uses "1" for the affective domain where "ends" or goals exist, "2" for the cognitive domain where "thoughts" exist, and "3" for the sensorimotor domain where "effects" exist.  Then, "ends of ends" or "affections for ends" receives a double 1 or 1.1; next, "ends of thoughts" or "affections for thoughts" receives a "1.2" notation, while "ends of effects" or "affections for effects" receives a notation of 1.3. "Thoughts of thoughts" has the notation 2.2 and corresponds to the "cognitive of the external spiritual" which is zone 5 and zone 23 in matrix 20 above.  In matrix 19 above,  it is called the "external spiritual of the external spiritual" (zone 5) or the "interior spiritual of the external spiritual" (zone 23)--depending on whether we're addressing external thoughts (zone 5) or interior thoughts (zone 23). And so on.  Continuing with this notation with one more embedding, Ian has the following chart:

Figure 9: The 9 created subdegrees within the exterior mind.

interior mind:
love
1.

exterior mind:
understanding
2.

natural world:
effects
3.

Celestial,

ends of ends: 1.1

Internal Rational: 2.1 Reception,

effects of ends : 3.1

Thoughts of ends of ends: 2.11 Thoughts of ends of causes: 2.12 Thoughts of ends of effects: 2.13
Spiritual,

ends of thoughts: 1.2

Scientific (External Rational): 2.2 Scientific Laws,

effects of thoughts: 3.2

Thoughts of causes of ends: 2.21 Thoughts of causes of causes: 2.22 Thoughts of causes of effects: 2.23
Spiritual.-Natural,

ends of effects: 1.3

Sensual: 2.3 Material effects,

effects of effects: 3.3

Thoughts of effects of ends: 2.31 Thoughts of effects of causes: 2.32 Thoughts of effects of effects: 2.33

In the above diagram, let's take the item "ends of ends" (1.1) which is the equivalent in my notation of "the affective of the external celestial" (zones 1 and 19 in matrix 20 above), which are also called the "external celestial of the external celestial" (zone 1 in matrix 19) or the "interior celestial of the external celestial" (zone 19 in matrix 19). Ian doesn't portray the distinction between external and interior ends or affections. His system then continues to the third embedding "thoughts of ends of ends" (2.11) which is not portrayed in my diagrams since they only go to two embeddings, so far. Ian's terminology is easier to understand at this level: "thoughts of ends of ends" (2.11) is comprehensible, though difficult, while mine would be more difficult to comprehend: "the cognitive of the affective of the celestial" or, "the cognitive of the celestial of the celestial," or even, "the external spiritual of the external celestial of the external celestial" and "the interior spiritual of the interior celestial of the external celestial, " which is hardly comprehensible. Clearly these pioneering attempts by Ian and me about "matrix thinking" have much groundwork to establish before people can make use of these notations as maps for their regeneration.

These things are not easy to see and my rendition and understanding of Dr. Ian Thompson's charts may not receive the agreement of their author who wrote this in an e-mail message after reading some of the above:

Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2001
From: Ian Thompson I.Thompson@surrey.ac.uk
To: Leon James leon@hawaii.edu

Subject: Heavenly, psychological and physical degrees?

Dear Leon,

(...) 1. After your idea, I call an 'ennead matrix' any nine-fold classification (just as you call a six-fold classification a hexagram). This was after I wrote my 'degrees' paper.

2. You say (a) "I added the A/C/S wording in all caps to indicate the equivalent concepts in Ian's charts and mine" and (b)"The outermost of the mind is the sensory and is called the natural mind in the Writings. Ian calls this the natural world, ..."

(...)  To me, the third column *is really the physical world*, and the first column *is really the heavens", each in all its degrees etc. This means that the second column, what I call the 'exterior mind', is the subject degree of *psychology*.

(...) you have taken a very simplified 'psychological' view of my enneadic system, and ignored the facts that, as part of the whole creation, there must be heavenly states beyond our current awareness, and also physical states which the product of spiritual and mental processes.

(...)

As Ian indicates, "There is much still to discuss,"  and indeed, this kind of exchange will become typical for theistic psychology in the future. More on this will be said later, no doubt.

                            How to Use Spiritual Geography Maps (Matrix 21))

The chart below (matrix 22) shows how we can analyze in detail the states and sub-states that we undergo during our regeneration. Since these charts are constructed according to the structure of the mind they can serve as spiritual geography maps to help us keep track of where we are, where we are headed, how much there is still to go and in what direction. Knowing these things about the course and dynamics of our regeneration helps us cumulate the knowledge and make faster gains with a more certain footing. In this case let us use the charts to map out the external spiritual state of regeneration. This is the second phase in the overall series so that you can picture it as the YELLOW chunk or segment from matrix 19 above. In matrix 20 above, this chunk is represented as:

II
CHILDHOOD
YELLOW
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL

Zone 22            Zone 4

the affective of the external spiritual

Zone 23               Zone 5

the cognitive of the external spiritual

Zone 24               Zone 6

the sensorimotor of the external spiritual

This is the second day of the new creation (Genesis 1:6) and so it refers to the the second degree in the Descending Pathway that we have been calling the CHILDHOOD phase and defined as the EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL of sensuous consciousness. This degree includes Zones 4, 5, 6 for the EXTERNAL A/C/S/ unit and Zones 22, 23, 24 for the INTERNAL A/C/S/ unit (see matrix 20 above). These relations are compacted in the form above since the external and internal A/C/S/ units are combined. We can expand the representation by graphically showing both the external and internal A/C/S/ units for this phase II segment, as in the chart below (matrix 22):

An Analysis of "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters", Genesis 1:6 (Matrix 22)
II
CHILDHOOD
YELLOW
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL
INFANCY OF CHILDHOOD
WHITE OF YELLOW
Zone 4
EXTERNAL  CELESTIAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
EXTERNAL AFFECTIVE  
EXTERNAL COGNITIVE  
EXTERNAL SENSORIMOTOR  
INTERIOR AFFECTIVE  
INTERIOR COGNITIVE  
INTERIOR SENSORIMOTOR  

CHILDHOOD OF CHILDHOOD
YELLOW OF YELLOW
Zone 5
EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL

EXTERNAL AFFECTIVE  
EXTERNAL COGNITIVE  
EXTERNAL SENSORIMOTOR  
INTERIOR AFFECTIVE  
INTERIOR COGNITIVE  
INTERIOR SENSORIMOTOR  
ADOLESCENCE OF CHILDHOOD
GREEN OF YELLOW
Zone 6
EXTERNAL NATURAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
EXTERNAL AFFECTIVE  
EXTERNAL COGNITIVE  
EXTERNAL SENSORIMOTOR  
INTERIOR AFFECTIVE  
INTERIOR COGNITIVE  
INTERIOR SENSORIMOTOR  
YOUNG ADULTHOOD OF CHILDHOOD
BLUE OF YELLOW
Zone 24
INTERIOR NATURAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
EXTERNAL AFFECTIVE  
EXTERNAL COGNITIVE  
EXTERNAL SENSORIMOTOR  
INTERIOR AFFECTIVE  
INTERIOR COGNITIVE  
INTERIOR SENSORIMOTOR  
ADULTHOOD OF CHILDHOOD
BROWN OF YELLOW
Zone 23
INTERIOR SPIRITUAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
EXTERNAL AFFECTIVE  
EXTERNAL COGNITIVE  
EXTERNAL SENSORIMOTOR  
INTERIOR AFFECTIVE  
INTERIOR COGNITIVE  
INTERIOR SENSORIMOTOR  
OLD AGE OF CHILDHOOD
BLACK OF YELLOW
Zone 22
INTERIOR CELESTIAL
OF EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
EXTERNAL AFFECTIVE  
EXTERNAL COGNITIVE  
EXTERNAL SENSORIMOTOR  
INTERIOR AFFECTIVE  
INTERIOR COGNITIVE  
INTERIOR SENSORIMOTOR  

In order to facilitate discussion you need to look at the chart along with the explanations. But since the chart is large, it's more convenient if I reproduce just the segment we want to discuss at each point. First, then:

II
CHILDHOOD
YELLOW
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL
INFANCY OF CHILDHOOD
WHITE OF YELLOW
Zone 4
EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL
OF EXTERNAL CELESTIAL
EXTERNAL AFFECTIVE feelings toward God as a sensuous Deity possessing great power--feelings of awe and fear, and distance
EXTERNAL COGNITIVE thoughts about God as a man who resides up in heaven and is surrounded by a court of angels or supernatural beings
EXTERNAL SENSORIMOTOR actions in relation to God such as prayer rituals, done "for God", and the veneration of icons
INTERIOR AFFECTIVE feelings toward God as a Supreme Being or Divine Person who looks after us and knows each of us
INTERIOR COGNITIVE thoughts about God as being omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient both outside in the world and inside our mind and soul
INTERIOR SENSORIMOTOR actions that are meaningful, not just ritualized, thus doing things not "for God" but "with God"

This is the first segment or chunk of the chart above (matrix 22). Note that it is marked as a YELLOW chunk, which is Phase 2, called CHILDHOOD and is defined as the external spiritual phase of the sensuous consciousness (phase II in the Light Trigram or Descending Pathway). So whatever will be said about this segment of the chart will apply to this external spiritual degree of our overall regeneration (which consists of 6 phases). Now within this childhood phase, or Day Two of our new Creation, there are six phases since all phases are recursive and all sub-phases are also. In this case we have selected the first or INFANCY phase of childhood, symbolized as the WHITE OF YELLOW stage. This is Zone 4 in matrix 20 above. It is the EXTERNAL SPIRITUAL OF THE EXTERNAL CELESTIAL or the Infancy of Childhood. So all that will be said in this analysis will pertain to the infancy of childhood period in our regeneration. Since it is the infancy stage, it is an external celestial degree. So this is the external spiritual phase (childhood overall) of the external celestial period (sub-phase of childhood).

What is this the content of this sub-period in our mind? The childhood phase of regeneration overall (Day Two--YELLOW) is defined in the Writings as the first recognition in our consciousness that there is a God, or at the very least, something supernatural. This childhood phase of our regeneration is the conscious beginning of religion. When we acquire consciousness of God as a sensuous being of power, we begin our life in religion. This is an external spiritual degree (YELLOW) that goes through its series of progressive steps until consummation, and then transfer to the next higher degree (Day 3--GREEN). So the first of these six periods in the childhood phase (YELLOW--Day 2) is the infancy period. This is zone 4, namely, the infancy period of our childhood phase of regeneration. What is the content of this period? It is a collection of ideas and thoughts, as well as feelings and actions that occur during this period. These feelings, thoughts, and actions only take place during this period in all their particulars. The recursive return of this period in subsequent phases will contain different particulars. In this infancy of childhood period, our idea of God and the supernatural is external, both spiritually and celestially, thus a double external as it were. Each of the ideas of this period (infancy of childhood) itself has six stages to step through as it matures and consummates. This is is portrayed in the chart segment immediately above. They are marked as EXTERNAL AFFECTIVE, EXTERNAL COGNITIVE, EXTERNAL SENSORIMOTOR, INTERIOR AFFECTIVE, INTERIOR COGNITIVE, INTERIOR SENSORIMOTOR.

In other words, we are discussing the external and interior A/C/S units in the infancy of childhood in the overall regeneration phases. What are these?

The feelings, thoughts, and actions (A/C/S units) we have in any stage of regeneration are crucial in allowing us to overcome temptations appropriate for that stage of development. It is these feelings, thoughts, and actions (A/C/S units) that are the actual steps of progress. As these feelings, thoughts, and actions (A/C/S units) progress in the prescribed order we gain victory over the temptations and our consciousness is infilled with new and more interior trues. In this analysis, we are focusing on the feelings, thoughts, and actions (A/C/S units) of the infancy of childhood (WHITE OF YELLOW) in the overall regeneration series. We begin our sub-phase with sensuous (external) feelings, thoughts, and actions such as:

  • feelings toward God as a sensuous Deity possessing great power--feelings of awe and fear, and distance
  • thoughts about God as a man who resides up in heaven and is surrounded by a court of angels or supernatural beings
  • actions in relation to God such as prayer rituals, done "for God", and the veneration of icons

And we then progress to rational (interior) feelings, thoughts, and actions, such as:

  • feelings toward God as a Supreme Being or Divine Person who looks after us and knows each of us
  • thoughts about God as being omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient both outside in the world and inside our mind and soul
  • actions that are meaningful, not just ritualized, thus doing things not "for God" but "with God"

To summarize this analysis of Day 2 of Creation: We step through a series of feelings, thoughts, and actions that correspond to the infancy phase of our childhood degree (external spiritual--YELLOW). During this infancy phase we gradually progress from external religion (sensuous--Descending Pathway) to internal religion (rational--Ascending Pathway). When we arrive to the sixth phase--that is, meaningful actions motivated by a rational conception of God and feelings of closeness to Him. When this is reached, the infancy stage of childhood is consummated and we are ready to be transferred to the next phase (the childhood phase of childhood or YELLOW OF YELLOW--see matrix 22 immediately above.

From Swedenborg's  Arcana Coelestia

62. The times and states of man's regeneration in general and in particular are divided into six, and are called the days of his creation; for, by degrees, from being not a man at all, he becomes at first something of one, and so by little and little attains to the sixth day, in which he becomes an image of God.

The next chart below (matrix 23) maps out the six stages of regeneration as explicated in Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia Numbers 1 to 72 where he explicates the Creation story in Genesis (Chapter 1). He refers to this progression as "the movements and moments of regeneration" (AC24).

From Swedenborg's translation of Genesis, Chapter 1 found in Arcana Coelestia Number 5:

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2. And the earth was a void and emptiness, and thick darkness was upon the faces of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the faces of the waters.

3. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.

4. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God distinguished between the light and the darkness.

5. And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

6. And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it distinguish between the waters in the waters.

7. And God made the expanse, and made a distinction between the waters which were under the expanse, and the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

8. And God called the expanse heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together in one place, and let the dry [land] appear; and it was so.

10. And God called the dry [land] earth, and the gathering together of the waters called He seas; and God saw that it was good.

11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the tender herb, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree bearing fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth; and it was so.

12. And the earth brought forth the tender herb, the herb yielding seed after its kind, and the tree bearing fruit, whose seed was in itself, after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

13. And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14. And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to distinguish between the day and the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years.

15. And let them be for luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so.

16. And God made two great luminaries, the greater luminary to rule by day, and the lesser luminary to rule by night; and the stars.

17. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth;

18. And to rule in the day, and in the night, and to distinguish between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good.

19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20. And God said, Let the waters cause to creep forth the creeping thing, the living soul; and let fowl fly above the earth upon the faces of the expanse of the heavens.

21. And God created great whales, and every living soul that creepeth, which the waters caused to creep forth after their kinds, and every winged fowl after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and the fowl shall be multiplied in the earth.

23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living soul after its kind; the beast, and the thing moving itself, and the wild animal of the earth, after its kind; and it was so.

25. And God made the wild animal of the earth after its kind, and the beast after its kind, and everything that creepeth on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the beast, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27. And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.

29. And God said, Behold, I give you every herb bearing seed which is upon the faces of all the earth, and every tree in which is fruit; the tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for food.

30. And to every wild animal of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth wherein is a living soul, every green herb for food; and it was so.

31. And God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

* The Author, writing in Latin, has given his own translation, in that language, of the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Word, in which, for the sake of the spiritual sense, he has rendered the originals almost as literally as possible, and it has been deemed necessary to follow him in the translation of the present work into English, but with the endeavor to avoid any needless departure from the language of the English Bible. [Reviser.]

 

The Six Days of Creation or the Six Stages of Regeneration (Matrix 23)

STAGES OF REGENERATION

DEFINITION EXPRESSIONS FROM THE LITERAL COLOR CODED CONCEPTS
I
INFANCY
WHITE
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
CELESTIAL
The beginning of regeneration is when we acknowledge dualism--a higher, invisible, supernatural power in addition to the visible natural world "Let there be light" (v.3)
"to be conceived anew" (AC)
"born anew" (AC)
"new creation" (AC)
"celestial seed implanted" (AC)
WHITE, NOMINATIVE, SUBSTANCE, CREATION, DUALISM, SUPERNATURAL, CELESTIAL
II
CHILDHOOD
YELLOW
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL
Next is the separation between knowledge based on the external world (science) and knowledge based on the supernatural (religion and Sacred Scripture) "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters" (v.6)
"waters above the expanse"
"earth" vs. "heaven"
YELLOW, STRUCTURE, PART, SEPARATION, DIVISION, DISTINCTION, SPIRITUAL
III
ADOLESCENCE
GREEN
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
NATURAL
Next is religious life based on external worship, ritual repentance, tithing--all based on the notion that we obey and do from ourselves (which is evil and false leading to meritoriousness). Faith is primary and separated from charity. "tender grass" (v.11)
"herb yielding seed"
"tree bearing fruit"
GREEN, FUNCTION, DYNAMICS, DIRECTIONALITY, RITUAL, ROUTINE, MERIT, REWARD, EXTERNAL OBEDIENCE, MEANING

I           N           V           E           R           S           I           O           N

IV
YOUNG ADULTHOOD
BLUE
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
NATURAL

The state following Inversion: We begin to act from charity through faith. Love is primary and faith secondary. The two now begin to act together. Start of internal worship and rational consciousness (but not fully). But we still believe we act from ourselves.

"the two luminaries" (v.14)
"luminaries in the expanse of heaven" (v.14)
"greater and lesser luminary" (v.14)
"faith vivified by love" (AC 30)

BLUE, MEDIUM, ENVIRONMENT, TERRITORY, THEME, INNER COMPLIANCE, ASSERTION,
V
ADULTHOOD
BROWN
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
SPIRITUAL
Next we now attribute the things in us to God and acknowledge that we are dead by ourselves and mere receptors of the Divine gifts of goods and truths. Our rational consciousness fully operative. "living soul" (v.39)
"creeping things of the water"
"fowls which fly above the earth"
"beasts" and "birds"
BROWN, FRAME, CONTEXT, STYLE,   ATTRIBUTION, RECEPTOR, RATIONAL, ARGUMENTATION, JUSTIFICATION

VI
OLD AGE
BLACK
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
CELESTIAL

Finally, for the first time we act from love through faith, hence from God. We perceive that we are mere receptors and God inflows with life and truth. We perceive our association with spirits and angels.

"Let us make man in our image and likeness" (v.26)
"And God created the great whales" (v.21)
"be fruitful and multiply" (v. 22)
"male and female He created them" (v.27)

BLACK, APPEARANCES, TOPICS, SUBJECT MATTER, TEXT, PERFORMANCE, WORKS, EXECUTION, USES, WORKS, ILLUSTRATION, ENLIGHTENMENT, VERTICAL COMMUNITY

External=Sensual=Descending Pathway=Light Trigram (Pre-topical) (I, II, III) Interior=Rational=Ascending Pathway=Dark Trigram (Topical) (IV, V, VI)
Inversion=Double Line=Origin of Contention Point

The chart immediately above (matrix 23), maps out the sic major steps of regeneration as detailed in the inner sense of the Creation story in Genesis, Chapter 1. A principle we have from the Writings is that the beginning of any orderly sequence anticipates and encapsulates the whole sequence. And thus, Chapter 1 of Genesis is a summary and abstract of the entire Bible. Indeed, verse 1 of Chapter 1 in Genesis is a summary and encapsulation of the entire Bible in the inner sense:  "1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." In the inner sense, "beginning" means the first state of a sequence and the summary of the rest of the sequence. The reference here is to the sequence of our regeneration. This focuses on the the principal purpose of all Sacred Scripture or revelation, namely, as a guide or handbook for our regeneration process. "God created" stands for the revelation that God is the all in all in our   regeneration and that God is the power, the intelligence, and the love that initiates our regeneration and manages it to its successful completion. We are subjects of this Divine activity since the process unfolds within our mind or spirit by means of our thoughts, feelings, and experiences, all of which God guides at every moment and detail and supervises it for our benefit. "Created" stands for the new creation of the individual as a "living soul." This refers to the necessity of our "rebirth in spirit" which is the beginning of regeneration. Rebirth in spirit means the start of a new proprium or self.

This new self is the self that is regenerated as it grows and as the old self is put to sleep, to quiescence, buried to the circumference of our personality, neutralized, rendered unable to function and exercise its hellish influence. The new creation is called "the heavens" and refers to the "internal man", that is, the the degrees of the mind after the Inversion (see charts in this article). This is our rational consciousness. The earlier unregenerate self does not have a rational consciousness and is called "the earth." Parallel to this meaning, "the heavens" also refers to the will or affective organ and "the earth" refers to the understanding or cognitive organ. The expression "heavens and the earth" means the conjunction between the two, that is, the state of health when the "two lives of man"--the will and the understanding, operate together. This is called the marriage of the affective and the cognitive. The pre-regenerate self does not have this marriage as demonstrated by the fact that people know what is good and right (cognitive), yet fail to live accordingly (affective and sensorimotor). The goal of regeneration is to reunite these "two lives" in our consciousness, as in a marriage, that they might act together. This new state of marriage is called "the church." When we begin regeneration our understanding of truth from the literal of the Word and Doctrine (also called "faith") may be highly developed so that we are experts and knowledgeable about spiritual things from Sacred Scripture and Doctrinal teachings. We have faith and religion. But we fail to live up to it and our knowledge and faith in the mind are drawn away by our will which is evil from birth and keeps us tied to the societies of hells.

In summary then, the purpose and focus of Sacred Scripture is to be a guide to our regeneration by God so that we may cooperate with God and do our required share in reuniting the affective and cognitive in our personality. As this is done gradually in six successive stages, we progress by entering deeper and deeper into our consciousness. This process of internal opening is the growth of human consciousness from sensuous to rational. The spiritual geography maps described in this article (Parts 1, 2, and 3), and related articles, are visual and graphic representations of the six stages and their sub-stages. They make explicit in diagram and matrix form what the Sacred Scripture discusses in text form. Hence the graphic maps are extractions from the literal of the Word. As such, they are part of our Doctrine of the Church, part of what the Word says we are required to do in order to understand what it talks about, for "without doctrine, the Word is not understood."

From Swedenborg's  Arcana Coelestia

10763. In order that the Church may exist, there must be doctrine from the Word, because without doctrine the Word is not understood; yet doctrine alone in a man does not make the Church in him; but a life according thereto. From this it follows that faith alone does not make the Church; but the life of faith which is charity.

The chart above (matrix 23) summarizes the general characteristics of the six stages of regeneration. These general properties contain all the sub-steps in an embedded recursive sequence. We are able to follow these embeddings up to a point but it's obvious that as we move into the third and fourth embedded units it becomes more and more difficult to comprehend. This difficulty was discussed above in connection with matrix 19 to 23 above,  and Dr. Ian Thompson's matrices. For now, let us recapitulate the entire process as portrayed in matrix 23 above. Let's look again at the first segment:

I
INFANCY
WHITE
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
CELESTIAL
The beginning of regeneration is when we acknowledge dualism--a higher, invisible, supernatural power in addition to the visible natural world "Let there be light" (v.3)
"to be conceived anew" (AC)
"born anew" (AC)
"new creation" (AC)
"celestial seed implanted" (AC)
WHITE, NOMINATIVE, SUBSTANCE, CREATION, DUALISM, SUPERNATURAL, CELESTIAL

The first stage of regeneration begins with God's words "let there be light" when we look at our life and decide to abandon our life of self-reliance and start a new life in which we consciously and explicitly acknowledge a higher power than ourselves, namely God and the supernatural. This marks the beginning of dualism as a philosophy of life. Henceforth we are going to be conscious of two kinds of information, meaning, or knowledge. One kind from "earth" or the physical world as registered on our sensory organs, and the other kind from "heaven" as given us by revelations in Sacred Scripture and Doctrine from religion based on Sacred Scripture. This is the period of Infancy (WHITE) and is defined as the external celestial degree, which is the first of the three sensuous consciousness degrees (Descending Pathway or Light Trigram--Pre-topical). Each of us has to have this happen in our life at some point. In my own case, this is described in matrix 16 above as the WHITE segment:

SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
CELESTIAL
1938 age: 1 Gestation and birth under wartime and ethnic persecution. REMAINS

INNOCENCE OF IGNORANCE

1941 age: 33 Begin formal Orthodox Jewish education into xenophobia and ritualized worship.

The Writings say that God provides for the existence of religion in every nation so that infants and children may be exposed to religion, and thus be introduced to the philosophy of dualism and the acknowledgment of the God and the supernatural. This knowledge may then be set aside by the growing individual and we may act like and believe that we have abandoned dualism in favor of naturalism and materialism, as taught in formal education and its atheistic psychology. But in actuality, as revealed in the Writings, our concept of God acquired in infancy and childhood, "remains." That is, this initial knowledge and idea of God's existence, is tucked away by God and hidden as "remains" in our sub-conscious and unconscious mind. There they remain in a pure form, protected from alteration and distortion by our self-intelligence. God will use these pure and genuine remains in subsequent stages of our regeneration, for without them we cannot return to our celestial consciousness and become a full human being.

The second main stage then succeeds and this is represented in the YELLOW segment of matrix 23 above, which I reproduce here:

II
CHILDHOOD
YELLOW
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL
Next is the separation between knowledge based on the external world (science) and knowledge based on the supernatural (religion and Sacred Scripture) "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters" (v.6)
"waters above the expanse"
"earth" vs. "heaven"
YELLOW, STRUCTURE, PART, SEPARATION, DIVISION, DISTINCTION, SPIRITUAL

The "Second Day of creation" is called the childhood period and is defined as the external spiritual phase of our sensual consciousness (degree II). The beginning of this phase is represented by God's words: "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters." The "expanse" here referred to is in our mind and its division into two separate structural areas or "waters." The Word uses the expressions "the external man" and the "the internal man" to refer to the developing dualist philosophy in our life ("childhood" phase). Now we acknowledge from principle that there are two realities in the universe, one represented by science and the other by religion. Science is developed seemingly by ourselves as intelligent earth dwellers living in a physical world and making sense of it. But religion is not from ourselves but from God and through God's Word we are given revelations or facts about the supernatural world. We acknowledge that we cannot gather information from the supernatural through our senses, in the way we gather information from the physical world. In my own case, this is described in matrix 16 above as the YELLOW segment:

SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
SPIRITUAL
YEAR

AGE

Biographical Events

GROWTH OF SELF

LOVE OF SELF AND WORLD

1954 16 Begin independence from parents with secret personal life.
1962 24 Begin independence of career (Ph.D.) First marriage in the Jewish Church.
1968 30 Begin sense of moral responsibility and integrity. Birth of son.
1970 32 Begin sense of being an adult fully. Birth of daughter.
1971 33 Experiencing sense of personal power and genius. Promotion to full professor.
1973 35 Divorce and end of first marriage.
1975 37 Experiencing sense of supreme self-intelligence--"Avatar" phase. Invent new knowledge: e.g., Ethnosemantics, Community Cataloguing Practices, Comprehensive Discourse Analysis (see list above). Meet my conjugial partner Diane Nahl.

My childhood stage of regeneration lasted from age 16 to 37. This may be typical for our generation today. Having been educated in Europe and North America my mind was filled with the philosophy of materialism typical of today's world of public education and science. My childhood stage of regeneration seems to have gone into heavier and heavier materialism, so that my dualism receded to the background throughout these years. By the time this phase in my regeneration was ready to be consummated at age 37, I had reached the bottom of my materialistic self-intelligence. I call this my "avatar" phase and is marked by the most advanced of my philosophical and scientific discoveries (my "external man"). But my "internal man" was still tucked away in the sub-conscious  remains of infancy. Significantly, it is in this period that I meet the woman who is to become my conjugial partner and soul mate. Of course my materialistic state did not allow me to recognize this consciously, though she told me later that she was given this perception the moment she first met me. It seems to me from memory that my internal man "jumped from joy" when I first saw her, but I did not act on this sense. I sometimes regret that I didn't and fantasize that I should have asked her to marry me right then and there. She says that had I done this, she would have experienced an inner compulsion to agree to marry me at our first encounter. But this didn't happen given my state of regeneration.

From Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia

59. The reason why the "vegetable and the green of the herb" only are here described as food for the natural man, is this. In the course of regeneration, when man is being made spiritual, he is continually engaged in combat, on which account the church of the Lord is called "militant;" for before regeneration cupidities have the dominion, because the whole man is composed of mere cupidities and the falsities thence derived. During regeneration these cupidities and falsities cannot be instantaneously abolished, for this would be to destroy the whole man, such being the only life which he has acquired; and therefore evil spirits are suffered to continue with him for a long time, that they may excite his cupidities, and that these may thus be loosened, in innumerable ways, even to such a degree that they can be inclined by the Lord to good, and the man be thus reformed. In the time of combat, the evil spirits, who bear the utmost hatred against all that is good and true, that is, against whatever is of love and faith toward the Lord-which things alone are good and true, because they have eternal life in them-leave the man nothing else for food but what is compared to the vegetable and the green of the herb; nevertheless the Lord gives him also a food which is compared to the herb bearing seed, and to the tree in which is fruit, which are states of tranquillity and peace, with their joys and delights; and this food the Lord gives the man at intervals.

[2] Unless the Lord defended man every moment, yea, even the smallest part of every moment, he would instantly perish, in consequence of the indescribably intense and mortal hatred which prevails in the world of spirits against the things relating to love and faith toward the Lord. The certainty of this fact I can affirm, having been now for some years (notwithstanding my remaining in the body) associated with spirits in the other life, even with the worst of them, and I have sometimes been surrounded by thousands, to whom it was permitted to spit forth their venom, and infest me by all possible methods, yet without their being able to hurt a single hair of my head, so secure was I under the Lord's protection. From so many years' experience I have been thoroughly instructed concerning the world of spirits and its nature, as well as concerning the combat which those being regenerated must needs endure, in order to attain the happiness of eternal life. But as no one can be so well instructed in such subjects by a general description as to believe them with an undoubting faith, the particulars of the Lord's Divine mercy will be related in the following pages.

The third main stage of regeneration then succeeds and this is represented in the GREEN  segment of matrix 23 above, which I reproduce here:

III
ADOLESCENCE
GREEN
SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
NATURAL
Next is religious life based on external worship, ritual repentance, tithing--all based on the notion that we obey and do from ourselves (which is evil and false leading to meritoriousness). Faith is primary and separated from charity. "tender grass" (v.11)
"herb yielding seed"
"tree bearing fruit"
GREEN, FUNCTION, DYNAMICS, DIRECTIONALITY, RITUAL, ROUTINE, MERIT, REWARD, EXTERNAL OBEDIENCE, MEANING

I           N           V           E           R           S           I           O           N

This is the adolescence period of regeneration and is defined as the external natural phase of our sensuous consciousness. This period marks the descent to the bottom of our dualist philosophy of life and religion. In the previous stage (YELLOW) we divided what's from Caesar and what's from God. We developed our secular knowledge through materialism but not our religious knowledge which remained dormant. But now in the beginning of this third stage (GREEN) we experience a religious awakening and we are moved to re-focus and re-emphasize the religion we left behind in earlier years. But this awakening of spiritual sentiments is still in sensuous or pre-rational phase. We see spirituality or religion in terms of external ideas:  worship, ritual, tithing, doing good works. Our faith or spirituality is identified not with what is inside of us, but what we know about it. We are eager for new spiritual knowledge, new religious commitments. The ritual becomes the salvation. Our faith is a Sunday part-time activity. It is our Church membership that is saving us, not how we manage to live our life of love and charity. Charity and love we interpret as not what we feel inside but what we accomplish outside. We do not yet see that the two must be concordant. This is the religion and spirituality of "the external man" while the "internal man" is still only the old unregenerate will tied to self-intelligence and hell,  motivated by self-interest.

In my own case, this stage of regeneration is described in matrix 16 above as the GREEN segment:

SENSUAL
EXTERNAL
NATURAL
1978 40 Experiencing vastation. Feeling inner urge toward Jewish mysticism by myself (no community contacts involved). Study Old Testament. VASTATION

LAST JUDGMENT

REDEMPTION

1980 42 Read New Testament for the first time. Instant conversion by the Word. I become a "Christian Jew" or a "Jewish Christian" -- didn't know which. Not yet a Christian. Enamored with symbolism of Cross.

I           N           V           E           R           S           I           O           N

This phase began for me with a state of terrible vastation. My "avatar" state of mind at the consummation of the previous phase (YELLOW) left me with an inner void into which I seemed to myself to sink deeper, and the more I sank the more I felt terrible, panicked, and hopeless. I felt I had reached my pinnacle and have experienced everything. The world had nothing to offer me anymore. I had no reason left to continue in this physical life. I fantasized spiritual escape but did not know whereto. I felt an inner urge to return to what I had left behind in my infancy stage. Curiously, what I had left from my education and socialization was the ritual and the chant and the prayer books. I did not feel like I wanted to return to organized religion--it was too inconvenient to join a public life of religion in company with others whom I saw as beneath me in intellectual interest and development. There was no hope for communication with my co-religionists. And so I turned inward being a religion to myself. I studied the Old Testament through the interpretations of Jewish writers and scholars. Then, I did not know why or whence, I was moved to read the "forbidden" New Testament. Christianity was a fearful word for a Jewish boy raised in Rumania at the start of the second world war. I was forbidden to read the New Testament and feared to do so. And yet, now I did. And I recall the amazement that came upon me when I realized, at age 42, that the Christian religion is but a continuation of the Jewish religion. At last I understood that the expression "Judaeo-Christian" --that I bandied about along with others, really meant something more than history, that it was an inner connection. I remember trying to convince my mother to come to a Sunday service on account of the fact that "it's the same religion, you'll see." Of course she could not see it at all and had no intention of seeing it.

This initial phase lasted about three years. During this time I acted like a Jewish Evangelist, feeling superior to both Christians and Jews since I was both. I was very active in converting my two children. My son Rex who was reaching the age of 13 at this point (1980) was made to write his Bar Mitzvah thesis on the Acts of the Apostles, and at our Friday evening Sabbath rituals both he and my daughter Joy were made to discuss New Testament passages. I started drawing crosses on my notes as a signature feature and I said a devout prayer every time we passed a Church or Jewish temple. I saw crosses everywhere as a sign of the Lord--window bars, the moon through a screen door, telephone poles, and so on. And yet, I had not become a Christian yet. Diane was telling me that I'm not a Christian until I understand and practice repentance. This, my inner man refused to do, and I was still in a sensual phase of self-intelligence, proud and stubborn and selfish and self-centered. Meritorious to the max. Then, I cross the Inversion point and find myself on the other side of it.

The third main stage of regeneration that then succeeds represented in the GREEN  segment of matrix 23 above, which I reproduce here:

I           N           V           E           R           S           I           O           N

IV
YOUNG ADULTHOOD
BLUE
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
NATURAL

The state following Inversion: We begin to act from charity through faith. Love is primary and faith secondary. The two now begin to act together. Start of internal worship and rational consciousness (but not fully). But we still believe we act from ourselves.

"the two luminaries" (v.14)
"luminaries in the expanse of heaven" (v.14)
"greater and lesser luminary" (v.14)
"faith vivified by love" (AC 30)

BLUE, MEDIUM, ENVIRONMENT, TERRITORY, THEME, INNER COMPLIANCE, ASSERTION,

This is the young adulthood stage of regeneration and is defined as the interior natural. Now for the very first time we begin to experience rational consciousness. It is "faith vivified by love" (AC 30) which was not possible before in the Descending Pathway of sensual consciousness. Before this, it's as if the Incarnation had not happened in our consciousness. Though we knew of this concept, though we may have been an expert in this topic, yet we were able to see nothing but abstractions. This is because sensual consciousness sees nothing of the rational. As soon as the rational is presented to view, it sees nothing but abstractions. And to sensual consciousness abstractions are less real or not quite real. Abstractions don't really exist as tangible things exist, etc. Similarly about the idea of God. Before the Inversion, our idea of God is sensuous. In the infancy stage of our regeneration we rely on psychic powers given for an instant, that we may have a moving or transporting experience of God. This is the exterior celestial degree and we are connected to the angels (see matrix 7 in part 2). The Lord gives us this tangible experience--a light, a vision, a sacred object, a miracle, a new vision or feeling--so that we may be initiated into the circuit of regeneration. But this quickly vanishes into a memory and after that we either chase that memory with obsession and are arrested in development, or we obediently go onward to the next degree of consciousness. Eventually it is given to us to return to the celestial perceptions, but this time through the interior rational in old age (see the diagram in matrix 15 above).

The beginning phases of this new degree of consciousness (BLUE--interior natural) is not fully rational. There will be six sub-stages of this degree to go through and the infancy sub-stage (WHITE) is but the first in order. Only in the sixth-sub-stage (BLACK) do we get to a fully rational consciousness, and this allows us to cross into the interior spiritual consciousness (BROWN). Our biggest stumbling-block in this interior natural degree (BLUE) is our holding on strong to the sensuous impression that we act from ourselves. We know from the Word that we do not, but this is vague in our mind in this state of consciousness. We are carried away by the sensuousness of the experience that we are acting from ourselves and that God only oversees the process and may intervene from time to time, but otherwise things run on their own, and on we act on our own, we think our thoughts on our own, and we follow this or another inclination on our own. Thus, we are bedeviled by our proprium! But when we arrive into the sixth sub-phase, as just indicated, we reach rational consciousness--not fully but sufficiently to make a huge difference.

This means that we are able to set appearances aside in our experience. This is not abstracting things into something less real or actual, as before. This is gaining a new perceptual experience not there before, or there only in an abstract form. This is not just the feeling of conviction and certainty since both of these occur falsely and deceptively in the Descending Pathway of sensual consciousness. This is a new experiential reality, rational reality. This is a sensory taste in  the rational, not the natural. This is not a conviction or certainty based on abstractions, persuasions, and imaginary experiences. This is a certainty based on rational perception. We see interior truths in our understanding. We see them in our cognitive mind. We read in the literal that "wisdom is to recognize truth when presented" and we experience what this means. It has a referent within ourselves, thus, meaning. And only then does it have meaning rather than abstraction.

This is the interior natural degree (BLUE), the first taste of spiritual reality in our regeneration. To Christians, this is the First Advent. Prior to this our consciousness and understanding of our Christian-ness, what we call the First Advent or the Incarnation, was nominal, by membership. But now the First Advent is reborn in a rational consciousness truth.

From Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia

904. And God spake unto Noah. That this signifies the presence of the Lord with the man of this church, is evident from the internal sense of the Word. The Lord speaks with every man, for whatever a man wills and thinks that is good and true, is from the Lord. There are with every man at least two evil spirits and two angels. The evil spirits excite his evils, and the angels inspire things that are good and true. Every good and true thing inspired by the angels is of the Lord; thus the Lord is continually speaking with man, but quite differently with one man than with another. With those who suffer themselves to be led away by evil spirits, the Lord speaks as if absent, or from afar, so that it can scarcely be said that He is speaking; but with those who are being led by the Lord, He speaks as more nearly present; which may be sufficiently evident from the fact that no one can ever think anything good and true except from the Lord. (...)

[3] The presence of the Lord is first possible with a man when he loves the neighbor. The Lord is in love; and so far as a man is in love, so far the Lord is present; and so far as the Lord is present, so far He speaks with the man. Man knows no otherwise than that he thinks from himself, whereas he has not a single idea, nor even the least bit of an idea, from himself; but he has what is evil and false through evil spirits from hell, and what is good and true through angels from the Lord. Such is the influx with man, from which is his life and the interaction of his soul with the body. From these things it is evident what is meant by the words "God spake unto Noah." His "saying" to anyone means one thing (as Gen. 1:29; 3:13-14, 17; 4:6, 9, 15; 6:13; 7:1), and His "speaking" means another. Here, His speaking to Noah denotes being present, because the subject is now the regenerated man, who is gifted with charity.

In my own case, this stage of regeneration is described in matrix 16 above as the BLUE segment:

I           N           V           E           R           S           I           O           N

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
NATURAL

1981 43 Baptized and married in the Episcopal Church located in our neighborhood. Attend services, sing in choir, teach Sunday school, study Bible Commentaries. Find Swedenborg books in library. Begin daily study of the Writings. Begin my life as a Christian. Invent new knowledge: Ennead Matrix, Graphic Methodology, and others (see list  above).

SALVATION

This is my salvation at age 43. When my inner preparation and readiness was matured in the fullness of the previous degree prior to Inversion, the external biographical events in my life responded by correspondence. My salvation was thus marked by my Baptism by a Christian minister (it "happened" to be an Episcopal Church on our block where we lived at that time. The Baptism was merely an external effect or consequence of the internal preparations, and so the internal man and the external now began to correspond to each other. The Writings explain that this is accomplished by the Lord introducing the individual into the vertical community with inhabitants of the Christians Heavens. This change allows for a new consciousness and the truths we now see are deeper and higher than the ones we saw before. This progression allows the Lord to show more of our deeper evils which before had to be kept hidden that we may not fall into them forever by kissing them and embracing them--such is our hereditary inclination and obsession. With the new more interior truths in our possession (BLUE--interior spiritual) we can do battle against deeper hells than before, thus allowing the Lord to disconnect us from them.

The six sub-stages of this Ascending Pathway in my regeneration are not shown in this matrix (but perhaps later as I continue my research). But I can say in general that the initial sub-stages (WHITE OF BLUE, YELLOW OF BLUE, GREEN OF BLUE), "the two luminaries" in my mind were not united but growing into such a state. My faith, which now was of rational philosophy rather than abstract, ascended to the heights when I was studying and writing, but catapulted to the previous platform the rest of my day in the rest of my activities on the daily round. My faith was not yet governed and united to love from heaven and the Lord. My greatest delight was still in finding truths rather than in acting them out from love. Though I knew that faith is the "lesser luminary" I lived as if it was the "greater luminary." Thus my faith was not true faith and my rationality was not true rational consciousness but mixed with abstractions from my "external man." I was already partly BLUE but also still partly GREEN. I still believed that I'm obedient to my faith from myself and not from the Lord. I still saw the Lord outside of myself as the Divine and what I saw inside myself was me, not the Divine. Thus I had independent powers still that I claimed to be mine rather then the Lord's. This was the mixed in GREEN--the sensual consciousness hanging in there thanks to my hanging on to them from hereditary loves I was still unwilling to give up.

When these sensual sub-stages of my interior natural degree (BLUE) were consummated and I reached the BLUE OF BLUE phase following the sub-stage Inversion, I was brought into the presence of the Lord in His Second Advent. Diane and I were browsing our university library shelves in the Bible commentary section when we came across the books of Swedenborg, and as we started reading that same evening, the Lord made His Second Advent in our mind. There followed the three Ascending sub-stages: BLUE OF BLUE, BROWN OF BLUE, AND BLACK OF BLUE (not shown in the tables regarding my own case). In our effort to comprehend rationally the literal of the Writings we came up with the ennead matrix as a spiritual geography map of regeneration. But this was not yet the full and true rational (BLACK--interior celestial). I acknowledged the literal of the Writings, but yet its inner sense. I acknowledged that the Writings were the Word, but they seemed to threat the Old Testament and the New Testament as the Word. Only here and there, in a remark or inscription, do we find the actual explicit assertion that the Writings are the Word or that the Writings consider themselves as the Word. In 99 percent of the cases where the Writings discuss the Word, either the OT or the NT is directly addressed. Hence my mind did not fully believe that the Writings were the Word in equal sense as the OT and the NT. A symbol or sign of this ignorance was the fact that the expression "Third Testament" never came into my consciousness until the next degree (BROWN).

Let's now look at the characteristics of Day Five in the creation story as discussed in the Writings (AC 41). Here is the fifth main stage of regeneration that succeeds the BLUE segment of matrix 23 above: The BROWN segment:

V
ADULTHOOD
BROWN
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
SPIRITUAL
Next we now attribute the things in us to God and acknowledge that we are dead by ourselves and mere receptors of the Divine gifts of goods and truths. Our rational consciousness fully operative. "living soul" (v.39)
"be fruitful and multiply" (v.22)
"creeping things of the water"
"fowls which fly above the earth"
"beasts" and "birds"
BROWN, FRAME, CONTEXT, STYLE,   ATTRIBUTION, RECEPTOR, RATIONAL, ARGUMENTATION, JUSTIFICATION

Now for the first time we are called "living soul" and we are commanded to "be fruitful and multiply." For the first time we act from love through faith, hence from the Lord. Before this we acted from love of self-intelligence because to some extent our relation to the Lord in His Second Advent was still based on the literal of the Writings--and thus we saw the Divine Human outside of ourselves in the literal. He came to us as the literal of the Writings and this comes into us from the external senses, and this takes part in what is our own, and hell adheres to it still. We are unwilling to let go of the idea that the literal of the Writings is something rational in itself that we acquire and develop by our own effort and intellect, each according to our individual style and approach. Hence many of our deepest contacts with the hells lie still hidden and the Lord is not able to bring these to our awareness for we would not resist them, and thus we would perish and not go on to become fully human, fully rational (BLACK--Day Six).

In my own case, this stage of regeneration is described in matrix 16 above as the BROWN segment looks like this:

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
SPIRITUAL
1983 45 Read De Hemelsche Leer for the first time. Begin daily study of it. REFORMATION

REGENERATION

1985 47 Doctrine of the Wife first time formulated in my mind and writing.
1993 55 On 9-26-93 the realization came to me that I need to speak about spiritual psychology in my own voice and make a case for it rather than merely reporting what Swedenborg has said. My proposals need to be considered on their own and justified by my understanding and perspective as a dualist scientist, even if they are inspired by Swedenborg.
1996 58 Swedenborg Glossary started and published on the World Wide Web containing thousands of pages written since 1981. Pre-Swedenborgian articles written between 1960 and 1980 also published on the Web. Assumed the media role of DrDriving.
1998 60 theistic psychology more explicitly formulated in my mind. Searching for how to integrate the whole.

About two years after I "found" the Writings (or they found me!), we received an unexpected gift in the mail from Philip Odhner and his wife Beryl. It contained the three volumes of De Hemelsche Leer. As soon as I began to read it, I was transferred from the interior natural (BLUE) to the interior spiritual (BROWN). Reading and becoming an "expert" in the Writings and making discoveries and inventions from the Writings, were not sufficient to bring my interior natural (BLUE) degree of consciousness to its full consummation. This is because my consciousness was held back in the literal. I could lecture about what the Writings said about the Doctrine of the Church, but I knew nothing what it actually referred to. I thought the Doctrine of the Church was the literal of the Writings even though it said that the Doctrine must be extracted from the literal of the Word. But when read this, I interpreted "the Word" as referring to the OT and NT. But as soon as my awareness was brought to the ideas in the Hemelsche Leer, I was liberated from the interior natural degree and I was catapulted into the interior spiritual degree (BROWN), like a butterfly that crawled out of its wormy shell and started flying about freely in the air.

In my later sub-stages of the interior spiritual (BLUE OF BROWN, BROWN OF BROWN, BLACK OF BROWN--thus the Ascending Pathway) my rational consciousness brought forth the Doctrine of the Wife. Now for the first time I was able to endure interior spiritual temptations and thus I began my true reformation as a husband--to the great relief of my wife Diane. I had a deep insight that I recorded in September 1993 that I should take care to make my proposals justifiable and comprehensible on their own, as one would expect of any scientific work. Until then I had been content in reporting what Swedenborg wrote, as if this was sufficient for others to run to the Writings for more. I wrote several lengthy articles or essays that I collected together under the title of Swedenborg Glossary and began to see it in the perspective of theistic psychology. I was 60 years old and was apparently ready to transfer to the last degree.

From Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia

41. Whatever is proper to man has no life in itself, and whenever it is made manifest to the sight it appears hard, like a bony and black substance; but whatever is from the Lord has life, containing within it that which is spiritual and celestial, which when presented to view appears human and living. It may seem incredible but is nevertheless most true, that every single expression, every single idea, and every least of thought in an angelic spirit, is alive, containing in its minutest particulars an affection that proceeds from the Lord, who is life itself. And therefore whatsoever things are from the Lord, have life in them, because they contain faith toward Him, and are here signified by the "living soul:" they have also a species of body, here signified by "what moves itself" or "creeps." These truths, however, are as yet deep secrets to man, and are now mentioned only because the "living soul" and the "thing moving itself" are treated of.

(...)

48. Hence then it appears that man is in the fifth state of regeneration when he speaks from a principle of faith, which belongs to the understanding, and thereby confirms himself in the true and in the good. The things then brought forth by him are animate, and are called the "fishes of the sea" and the "fowl of the heavens." He is in the sixth state, when from faith, which is of the understanding, and from love thence derived, which is of the will, he speaks truths, and does goods; what he then brings forth being called the "living soul" and the "beast." And as he then begins to act from love, as well as from faith, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an "image of God" which is the subject now treated of.

Let's look at the characteristics of Day Six in the creation story as discussed in the Writings (AC 48). Here is the sixth main stage of regeneration that succeeds the BROWN segment of matrix 23 above: The BLACK segment:

VI
OLD AGE
BLACK
RATIONAL
INTERIOR
CELESTIAL

Finally, for the first time we act from love through faith, hence from God. We perceive that we are mere receptors and God inflows with life and truth. We perceive our association with spirits and angels.

"Let us make man in our image and likeness" (v.26)
"And God created the great whales" (v.21)
"be fruitful and multiply" (v. 22)
"male and female He created them" (v.27)
"very good"

BLACK, APPEARANCES, TOPICS, SUBJECT MATTER, TEXT, PERFORMANCE, WORKS, EXECUTION, USES, WORKS, ILLUSTRATION, ENLIGHTENMENT, VERTICAL COMMUNITY

This is the last stage of regeneration. Our affective and cognitive are now united into a single living human person, into a marriage union ("male and female He created them.") Now for the first time God can say "Let us make man in our image and likeness." In the previous degree of the spiritual rational (BROWN), we are called an "image" of God, a "friend of the Lord" and "sons of light." But in this interior celestial degree (BLACK) we are called a "likeness" of God" and "sons of God" and even "loves" (AC 51). The previous five Days of Creation are called "good" by God but Day Six is called "very good." In the previous five degrees of consciousness "dominion proceeds from the external man to the internal" while now "dominion proceeds from the internal man to the external" (AC 52). In the interior celestial degree we are willingly and perceptibly ruled by angels and the Lord. The vertical community has now become fully rational, fully real. It exerts a constant presence. None of our thoughts and feelings are absent from this conscious awareness. Our feelings are no longer private; our thoughts are no longer private; and none of our actions are private. We stand and walk in the presence of the angels and in the presence of God as the Holy Spirit. Our love and our faith are fully united and love is the primary while faith is its obedient servant. We act from love through faith, thus from the Lord and in the Lord. This degree is the Crown of degrees and is never consummated. It continues to grow in endless circuits of which we know nothing about now and here. The angels of the Third Heaven are in this degree and Swedenborg called their consciousness and knowledge "ineffable" and "inexpressible" as well as "unbelievable."

In my own case, this stage of regeneration is described in matrix 16 above as the BLACK segment looks like this:

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
CELESTIAL

 

2000 62 Birth of the Doctrine of the Church in my mind--now understood in a new way. Re-reading De Hemelsche Leer. For the first time seeing the connection between my pre- and post-Swedenborgian articles (see list immediately above). Wrote De Hemelsche Leer articles Parts 1, 2, and 3.

INNOCENCE OF WISDOM

REGENERATION

2001

63

Started joint project with Ian Thompson on integrating his system and mine. See this file.

2001

63

See poem below.
2001 63 Discovery of BLACK consciousness within WHITE consciousness (see section on spiritual blindness below)

At the point of this writhing in March-April 2001, I am still in the sub-stages of the Descending Pathway (WHITE OF BLACK, YELLOW OF BLACK, GREEN OF BLACK). I do not know what lies ahead in the Topical sub-stages of rational consciousness--the Ascending Pathway of BLUE OF BLACK, BROWN OF BLACK, AND BLACK OF BLACK. No doubt this will be made clearer to me in the future that lies ahead. Thanks be to God!

RATIONAL
INTERIOR
CELESTIAL

2001

63

A few days ago I discovered that Dr. Ian Thompson has started a Web site at the address TheisticScience.org (go see). To commemorate this happy event I'm offering this YELLOW of BLACK poem representing my current involvement with theistic psychology:

I am a fisherman
Every evening I go fishing in the Word
I come up with lots of goodies
Ideas, series, and collections
Each a window to reality
Each a tool of methodology.

Hurry and publish the latest find!
Who knows who might get to see it
(Serendipitously transported there
By some search engine or unsuspected link)
And use it to advance further
In the desperate journey BACK HOME
We all must trek and follow
Or be lost forever.
Hurry and publish the latest find!

INNOCENCE OF WISDOM

REGENERATION

 

Spiritual Blindness--The End of a Puzzle that Lasted 26 Years--My Discovery of BLACK consciousness within WHITE consciousness

In March and April of this year (2001) I produced a new set of charts that appear in this file (Part 3 of De Hemelsche Leer Article), and in the two that follow this one: spiritual geography--part 2 and spiritual genes of consciousness. During this fertile period I was communicating with Dr. Ian Thompson who read the new charts I was making on a daily basis as I was uploading the latest paragraphs several times a day while working on the documents (see poem above). Yesterday, on May 1, 2001, I saw something I've never seen before about these charts, yet it is totally obvious once it is seen or pointed out. Clearly my perception had been blinded to it for 26 years. This astonishing experience led me to understand something deeper about the idea of spiritual blindness. This is an important methodological issue in theistic psychology.

Spiritual blindness is the inability to see the obvious. There is a universal law of consciousness, that states: We can only see within our allotted sphere. Our spirit-body can only see on the outside of itself that which is representative of its inside. For instance, Swedenborg was present in an assembly where an angel stood on front stage, holding a paper on which there was writing. Most of those present could not see the angel standing there because they were persuaded of falsities that contradicted the truths written on the paper. But after these departed, a few that were left said they could see the angel holding the paper, and they could also read the writing on it. On many other occasions Swedenborg witnessed newly arrived spirits, called novitiate spirits, and wandering spirits, follow roads and paths that opened to them that only they could see who were guided to their destination by the Divine laws actuating their fate.

In the Writings we are told that the Cherubim represent this spiritual blindness brought on by the inexorable law of the Divine. All three Testaments refer to this law of the Divine Providence that sees to it that we are protected from injuring our internal mind. Spiritual blindness is brought on whenever we need to be protected from discovering some interior truth, lest we get irreparably injured spiritually. This would mean that we destroy our capacity to be regenerated. In the Word this is called the "crime against the Holy Spirit that cannot be forgiven." When we acquire an interior rational truth and then misuse it by allowing our proprium to own it, then we injure our consciousness irreparably so that we cannot be saved. Instead, we are united forever to those in the hells who are called corporeal spirits because they dwell forever in corporeal sensuous consciousness separated from any rational within it.

I was obviously protected from a crucial interior truth in the charts I started creating 26 years ago when I started creating the hexagrammatic color coded charts in 1975 (see "ethnosemantics" in list of discoveries above). When I started reading the Writings in 1981 I abandoned ethnosemantics and focused exclusively on the enneadic charts that I saw represented everywhere in the Writings. An instance of one of the many ennead from that period is given above in the library matrix.

In this new period beginning with March 2001 I was lead to use the "abandoned" hexagrammatic system again by lining it up with the six degrees of the mind and the six days of regeneration in Genesis that correspond to the six periods of an individual's biography or to the six major steps in any progression, animate or inanimate. The new chart is discussed above (matrix 1), but I reproduce it here:

STAGES OF GROWTH OF THE SELF (Matrix 1)

AGE PERIODS LEVELS AFFECTIVE COGNITIVE SENSORIMOTOR DEGREES
Old age VI 16 17 18 Interior Celestial
Infancy I 1 2 3 External Celestial
Adulthood V 13 14 15 Interior Spiritual
Childhood II 4 5 6 External Spiritual
Young adulthood IV 10 11 12 Interior Natural
Adolescence III 7 8 9 External Natural

I=celestial sensual consciousness
II=spiritual sensual consciousness
III=natural sensual consciousness
IV=natural rational consciousness
V=spiritual rational consciousness
VI=celestial rational consciousness

External=immediate influx and sensual consciousness
(experience)

Interior=mediate influx and rational consciousness
(as-of-self)

Descending Pathway   1-5-9=sensual consciousness                    Ascending Pathway  12-14-16=rational consciousness

This chart is an advance over previous enneads because it shows that each [A/C/S] unit occurs at all six levels, degrees, or periods. This was the first chart that had the power to be a map of the regenerating mind. The next step that came quickly, was to line up the six days of creation with the hexagram of colors, as was done in this diagram discussed above as matrix 18:

matrix18.jpg (77911 bytes)

It is noteworthy that in all these years I had not been able to justify or confirm in my mind that the color hexagram fits the six days of creation or regeneration. Even after drawing several more diagrams and charts I still could not see how the [WHITE,YELLOW,GREEN] trigram or segment was related to the [BLUE,BROWN, BLACK] segment other than they were successive steps of development of things in the universe. This much I could see having with me the feeling of "discovering" the progression in 1975 and what each step meant semantically or culturally in consciousness. In this latest period I was able to see that what I used to call "the dark trigram" ([BLUE,BROWN, BLACK]) is the ascending path of rational consciousness, while "the light trigram" ([WHITE,YELLOW,GREEN]) was the descending path in regeneration.

The latest diagrams which appear in spiritual geography--part 2 and spiritual genes of consciousness, explicitly represent rational consciousness within sensuous consciousness--this was a new idea I had not clearly seen before. This should have set me up to see the obvious--that the dark trigram IS WITHIN the light trigram, since the dark trigram=rational consciousness and the light trigram=sensuous consciousness.  And yet for weeks I was barred to see this. Here are examples: diagram 1 in spiritual geography--part 2:

acs-diagram1.jpg (37951 bytes)

Here in the diagram above you can see that my conception sees the three descending steps and the three ascending steps, but there is no explicit evidence yet to show that the ascending steps are WITHIN the descending. This concept is however explicitly shown a few diagrams later, as in this chart of the same period:

mind1.gif (6164 bytes)

This clearly shows that I'm thinking of the rational within the sensuous consciousness, yet I still don't see that the dark trigram is within the light trigram in the hexagram of consciousness. I still see it as a progression and succession of six steps in a line up.

Here is the chart where I came the closest, so close, yet not seeing it:

color1.gif (10726 bytes)

At last, on May 1, 2001, while meditating in my yoga exercises before retiring for sleep, the obvious hit me and the spiritual blindness that lasted 26 years was suddenly healed. I immediately produced this diagram:

mind2.gif (10242 bytes)

Now for the first time I could see that the color hexagram is ordered one within the other. The "dark trigram" is rational consciousness (three ascending steps) within the "light trigram" which is sensuous consciousness. Until now I saw them as lined up, one on each side of the inversion, as in this diagram:

overall1.jpg (37309 bytes)

The new element in these two diagrams is whether the progression of the six degrees is portrayed as a sequence of six steps, or whether they are portrayed as within each other: the last three within the first three.

Thus I was unable to see the obvious, namely, that each ascending rational step was a seed implanted into its corresponding descending sensuous step. For instance, the Inversion was not a movement from GREEN to BLUE, but a birthing of the BLUE within the GREEN. I had always pictured it as a sequential movement. This is a reminder that these charts represent organic growth, rather than "movement."

Clearly then I did have a spiritual blindness and now it was healed, or the blindness was lifted. Due to the astonishing feeling that accompanies this new realization it is no doubt significant in content and I will try to research it, if insights are given me in the ensuing months and years. In other words, Why did I have this blindness? Since it is related to the Law of the Cherubim, this kind of spiritual blindness affects all researchers in theistic psychology. Our regeneration not only progresses within strict sequences, but individual differences exist in relation to all of us, and these differences have not been reflected at the level of the charts so far presented. I think the work of Ian Thompson and Abie Venter may be taking us in that direction.

From Swedenborg's Apocalypse Explained (AE)

282.  ... "cherubim" signify in general the Lord's Providence that the higher heavens be not approached except from the good of love and of charity; ...

283. ... From this it can be seen what "the wings of the cherubim," both here and elsewhere in the Word, signify, namely, the spiritual Divine, which is Divine truth instructing, regenerating, and protecting.  ...

From Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia (AC)

Genesis 3:24 So He expelled the man, and away from the east towards the garden of Eden He caused the cherubim to dwell, and the flame as a sword turning itself this way and that to guard the way to the tree of lives. (Swedenborg's translation)

306. Verse 24 So He expelled the man, and away from the east towards the garden of Eden He caused the cherubim to dwell, and the flame of a sword turning itself this way and that to guard the way to the tree of life.* 'Expelling the man' is divesting him completely of all will for good and of all understanding of truth, even to the point of his being separated from them, and ceasing to be a human being. 'Causing the cherubim to dwell away from the east' is to provide against the possibility of his entering into any arcanum of faith, for 'the east towards the garden of Eden' is the celestial from which intelligence flows. 'Cherubim' means the Lord's providing against this kind of person entering into things which are matters of faith. 'The flame of a sword turning itself this way and that 'means self-love together with its insane desires and derivative persuasions, which are such that he does indeed wish to enter in but is in fact led away from there towards bodily and earthly interests. And 'guarding the way to the tree of life*' is guarding against the possibility of his profaning holy things.

From Swedenborg's Spiritual Experiences (SE)

255. CONCERNING THE MORE INTERIOR SPHERE, AND CONCERNING THE CHERUBIM When I was led to the thought of how the more interior and inmost angels inflowed into human minds, and I was considering that they did so in a manner imperceptible, because they are in the sphere of the beginnings of human thoughts, consequently in a like sphere of imagination or representation, which is imperceptible, such a plane of thoughts necessarily being imperceptible-while these things were being turned over in my mind, I was by the merry of God Messiah given to perceive above the head, a kind of soft volition into which I was afterwards raised, as it were, or which enveloped my thoughts. My first perception, when I was not as yet there, was as though there was the revolving of a soft cloud pressing downwards, and it was said that this can be called the Cherubim, and that from that revolving motion, wheels were attributed to them.* Afterwards that sphere enveloped me. I was then in great tranquillity. The ultimate heaven in which I had been before, was beneath me, and indeed at my feet and under them.

I heard someone speaking there, but as though from a very deep place. He was complaining that I had been taken away from them, and that thus he did not want to live. Afterwards when I was thinking about that more interior sphere, in which also I am writing these things (which is still most appropriately called a cherubic sphere), I could know, not only why "wheels" were attributed to the cherubim, but also why they had four faces, the face of a lion", "of a man", "of an eagle" (and "of an ox") (Ezek. i 10), namely, (of a "lion") from its strength in the lower sphere, or ultimate heaven, for it holds that in its order, otherwise it would fall to pieces: "the face of a man", because the more interior man, to which this sphere properly answers, is man; the thought which we have is of the interior man only, which thought is thus governed by the more interior sphere. That there was "the face of an eagle" is because that cherubic sphere ascends high above the sphere in which is man's perception, or sensitivity of the understanding. "The face of an ox", is omitted; afterwards the "face of the cherub" is mentioned by Ezekiel in the first place for he then understood that it was the cherub, to which three faces were attributed. (Ezek. x 14.) 1747, Nov. 20, o.s.

From Swedenborg's True Christian Religion (TCR)

260. It should furthermore be known that the literal sense is a protection to prevent the genuine truths hidden within being harmed. It acts as a protection because that sense can be twisted in different directions and explained as it is understood, without its internal being harmed or violated. For it does no harm for the literal sense to be understood differently by different people; but harm is done, if a person introduces falsities which are in opposition to the Divine truths, and this is only done by those who have convinced themselves of false ideas. This is what does violence to the Word. The literal sense acts as a protection to prevent this happening, and this occurs with those whose religion has given them false ideas, but who have not convinced themselves of these falsities. The literal sense of the Word acting as a protection is what is meant by cherubim in the Word, and it is there described by them. This protection is meant by the cherubim which were placed at the entrance to the garden of Eden after Adam and his wife were expelled from it.

What was hidden from me? What was the nature of the information? It was the construction "BLACK consciousness within WHITE consciousness" or, "BLUE consciousness within GREEN consciousness." One can also say "Old Age within Infancy" or, "young adulthood within adolescence." It's interesting to think that old age is implanted into infancy, adulthood is implanted into childhood, and young adulthood is implanted into adolescence. Infancy by itself is called in the Writings the period of "innocence of ignorance" but old age implanted in infancy is called the period of "the innocence of wisdom." The spiritual angels that further the formation of our sensuous cognitive mind in childhood are back in adulthood but now they further our rational cognitive mind within the sensuous. The spiritual truths we first obtained in our external cognitive mind during childhood are now vivified from within by their rational meaning. The natural angels that furthered our sensuous sensorimotor mind in adolescence, are back in young adulthood in the internal cognitive mind that develops within the external cognitive mind.

Why is it significant to know and consider spatio-temporal descriptions of spiritual genes in the organic mind?

One important reason is that truths are arranged in collections, packs, and taxonomic hierarchies, recursively networked with each other to allow particular communication patterns that reflect the particular unique characteristics of each individual. There are general and universal laws that shape the growth and accumulation of these networked conglomerations of affections in the will (A), cognitions in the understanding (C), and sensations in the sensorimotor mind (S). In order for us to grow in consciousness we need to learn to navigate our mind through this maze created by the truths and falsities, the good and evil affections we have inherited and those we have acquired by ourselves. In the spiritual world, that is, in the mind, the outmost component of those networked elements take on natural appearances. So much is this the case that many there are who live in the spiritual world (afterlife) and deny they are in the afterlife, being delusionally persuaded that they are on some unknown island or place on earth. They are those who have not brought with them any rational consciousness so that it is impossible for them to think or understand that the spiritual world is not earth. But this would not be the case if the outmost appearances of the spiritual world did not simulate life on earth in the body.

So the specific content to which I was blinded was this spatio-temporal relation or structure between the ascending path and the descending path, that is, the relation between the internal mind and the external mind. The first of the ascending steps is not merely the fourth step in the series of six steps, as I used to see it during the blindness phase. Rather, the first ascending step is the first implantation of rational consciousness within the already developed sensuous consciousness. This was not merely BLUE consciousness, but BLUE consciousness born within GREEN consciousness and now growing within it. Now the sub-stages of BLUE consciousness are activities taking place in the internal mind, which is the internal portion of the external mind--GREEN consciousness. Similarly with the other two steps. As the diagram now makes it clear--here it is again

mind2.gif (10242 bytes)

there aren't six independent degrees that each have their external and internal portions (thus 12). Rather, there are three minds corresponding to the three Heavens. Each mind has an external portion called sensuous consciousness and an internal portion called rational consciousness.

What is rational consciousness within sensuous consciousness? THIS IS THE INFORMATION TO WHICH I WAS BLINDED.

But now the door of perception was ordered opened and the above diagram was its outmost embodiment. Research can reveal more detail from it. Spiritual geography diagrams and charts help the theistic psychology researcher to navigate the spiritual landscapes and to keep track for self and others, what the path and route has been. The more these routes are traced and explicated as science, the more our race can advance in its never ending expansion of consciousness. This is because consciousness raising involves the growth of the organic mind and this is the spiritual world. Navigating the spiritual world and becoming knowledgeable about its landscapes is required work for all theistic scientists. These are people who have taken charge of their regeneration and have professionalized their life on earth so that they may cooperate consciously and willingly in their regeneration. Consciousness raising is regeneration and regeneration is navigating the mind with conscious awareness in accordance with the rules revealed in the Writings.

Spatio-temporal knowledge of the spiritual world comes from within not from without. We can read the description of a chart and give a lecture on it, and even improve it in many respects, and STILL not see what it means in reality. This moment of truth comes only when we see within our mind what the chart or description only points to. The meaning of the chart or description can only be "understood" when its referent is seen within one's mind. At that moment illumination is given and now that truth is inside our understanding. It was outside the understanding during the phase of knowledge or memory, when we were able to lecture on it. But the illumination transferred, by Divine intervention (miracle), the truth that was outside of us into truth that was now inside of us.

The truth that was transferred into our understanding came at the moment of illumination. It was born within the sensuous consciousness of it. The memory-knowledge we have resides in our sensorimotor mind (S). It is the first of the three components of the unit of rational consciousness we have to build for ourselves ([S/C/A}). This is the first ascending step. For instance, when we are about to cross the Inversion, the rational truth that exists in its external form lies in our external mind called GREEN consciousness or adolescence period in regeneration. This is our sensuous understanding of truth, or, our sensual understanding of rational truth. We can lecture on the Writings or theistic psychology subjects altogether from the sensorimotor mind, thus altogether from outside of our understanding. We have not crossed the inversion line, we have not yet become rational in our consciousness. The rational truths we present are seen only as to their external appearances, and these are sensuous, not rational.

But the Divine Therapist who is intimately involved in every detail of our progress and growth, puts us into communication with some specific hells related to us, and we are into the experience of a temptation--either natural, spiritual, or celestial, depending on the ascending step we are making. As we struggle in the temptation our focus is brought into the internal, thus the spiritual world. Now we navigate as best we can, with whatever truths we have already accumulated and understood from within. This internal navigation of conscious awareness is especially sharp during temptations. The vision we receive is the landscape of our mind, its organic features in terms of good-evil, true-false, close-distant, loved-hated, and so on. These organic features are made visible to us AS WE REACT TO THE TRUTH being implanted. Our reactivity makes the particulars of the truth visible. We now for the first time see the truth in rational consciousness. We see the referent of what is meant in the sentence that encodes the truth. Now our affection can seize this vision with love, in which case we own the truth from then on to forever. All the truths we own contribute to the quality of our life, whether excellent in the extreme or the opposite, both here and now, and into the future to eternity.

In this case I was thus blinded to the rational truth that each ascending step is really an implanting of the truth into a descending step. The understanding of the rational truth "within" did not enter in any of the previous charts and their narrative descriptions. Even in those places where I drew the rational consciousness as within the sensuous consciousness, I did not understand the referent until the day I mentioned above. Then I drew the diagram showing the dark consciousness to be within the light consciousness. The vision of the referent within me occurred, and then I was able to understand the rational meaning of "within," which then allowed me to generate the new diagram. And now I can study the new diagram and see what further knowledge I can extract from it. First this knowledge will be outside of me, as a description extracted from the Doctrine which is in the diagram. This is my sensuous consciousness of the diagram and its spatio-temporal relations and directives. Now some temptation will come along at some point--near or distant--which will precipitate me in a struggle that will draw me into the spiritual world (or mind), and there in the victory trail of that struggle, I will have the illumination needed to spot the referent. Then I must quickly seize upon it by loving it and supporting it, and explicating it, but above all, living it and practicing it. Then at last the rational truth of what is "within" will be mine to use in my further regeneration, and in the furtherance of the regeneration of others who are brought to study and practice theistic psychology research.

A description and discussion of the new diagram, including other diagrams that followed, will be found in the spiritual genes article here.


Note:
This is Part 3. The special terms and phrases used in this article have been defined in Part 1 and Part 2.

Please see a continuation of this topic in an article on spiritual geography.

Newer versions of some charts and accompanying discussions will be found here and also here


I would be delighted to know your reactions. Please e-mail me now.


Related articles

Please see Part 1. The matrices in this article is related to the work of Swedenborgian Physicist Ian Thompson, especially this article that explains the recursiveness of each degree:  Discrete Degrees: A Top Down Presentation

De Hemelsche Leer--A Spiritual Bombshell (related article by Leon James)

The text of De Hemelsche Leer

You might also be interested in consulting related matrices involving the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor domains in the following articles:

The Will and Understanding  ||  The Heart and Lungs  ||  Good and Truth  ||  Religious Behaviorism   ||  Religious Psychology   ||  Comprehensive Discourse Analysis   ||  Driving Behavior  ||  Phases of Development in Becoming Internet Literate ||  In Psychotherapy   ||  The Threefold Self || Symbols and Drawings ||  Topical Organization in Social Psychology || Titles of Articles  ||  Resistance to Health Behaviors  ||  Language Teaching    ||  Song Analysis  ||  Genetic Culture  ||  Cross-cultural Atlas of Affective Meanings ||  Swedenborg's Theory of Trisubstantivism 


I would be delighted to know your reactions. Please e-mail me now.

Some related articles are available here:

Spiritual Associations or The Vertical Community  ||  The Vertical Community  ||  Spiritual Psychology  ||  Cyberpsychology:    Cyberspace and the Spiritual World  ||  The Postmodern Paradigm Shift in Psychology  ||  Swedenborg's Status and Significance: A Great Paradox  ||  Elements of Biological Theology

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