Scientific discovery of Spiritual Laws given in Rational Scientific Revelations. TheisticPsychology.org


Theistic Psychology: 
The Scientific Knowledge of God
Extracted from the Correspondential sense
of Sacred Scripture

Dr. Leon James
Professor of Psychology
University of Hawaii
Published on the Web in 2004
Last updated: 2007

About the Author  ||   See the Layers Diagram

For Permissions Note and Conditions of Use see Volume 18

The Topical Index to Sections and Reading List is in Volume 18

This is Volume 1

Introduction to Theistic Psychology

( version 63i )

1.0    The Psychology of God: Overview of Basic Topics

1.0.1    Topic 1.    The Negative Bias in Science vs. The Positive Bias in Science
                        1.0.1.1    Substantive Dualism: We are Born Dual Citizens

                        1.0.1.2    Theism in Theistic Science: Universe Created and Managed by God
                                          1.0.1.2.1    Born Into Eternity
                                          1.0.1.2.2    Male Mind, Female Mind, and Conjoint Mind 
                                                              1.0.1.2.2.1    The Mental Origin of Semen

                                     Study Questions: 1.0 to 1.0.1.2.2 (Report 1)

                        1.0.1.3    Revelation: Divine Speech Exteriorizing as Sacred Scripture
                                        1.0.1.3.1    What are Spiritual Temptations
1.0.2    Topic 2:    The Spiritual World of Eternity

1.0.3    Topic 3:    Divine Speech, Sacred Scripture, and Conjunction With God
                        1.0.3.1    Part A: The Psychobiology of Conjunction with the Divine Human
                        1.0.3.2    Part B: Degrees of Conjunction with God   
                        1.0.3.3    Part C: Why This Is a Perfect World Despite Evil
1.0.4    Topic 4:    Forms of Divine Speech in Our Conscious Natural Mind
1.0.5    Topic 5:    Sensuous vs. Rational Spirituality
                                1.0.5.1    Part A: Why Doesn't God Make an Appearance
                                                         at the United Nations?

                                1.0.5.2    Part B (i): Sensuous Consciousness of God
                                                        Does Not Remain in the Afterlife

                                                Part B (ii): What About the Paranormal, Miracles,
                                                        Telepathy, Magic?

                                1.0.5.3    Part C: We are Dual Citizens in Discrete Layers
                                1.0.5.4    Part D: There is Only One Mental World in the Human Race


                                1.0.5.5    The Daily Discipline of Rational Spirituality 
                                                1.0.5.5.1    Recognizing Our Dual Existence
                                                1.0.5.5.2    The Mental World is the World of Eternity
                                                1.0.5.5.3    Our Life in Eternity
                                                1.0.5.5.4    Why We Need Sacred Scripture
                                                1.0.5.5.5    The Hidden Correspondential Sense of Sacred Scripture
                                                1.0.5.5.6    Why We Need Theistic Psychology
                                                1.0.5.5.7    The New Evolution in Rational Consciousness of God
1.0.6    The Negative and Positive Bias in Science
1.0.7.    What is Substantive Dualism in Science

                                  Study Questions: 1.0.1.3 to 1.0.7 (Report 2)

1.1  Three Levels of Thinking About God
        1.1.1  Level 1: Materialistic Science (Monism, Negative Bias)
        1.1.2  Level 2: Mystical Religion
        1.1.3  Level 3: Theistic Psychology
        1.1.4  Ten Rational Conclusions Derived From  the Proposition That
                                        God Exists


                    (A) First Conclusion: God is a Person, at once Divine and Human
                    (B) Second Conclusion: God’s Omnipotence Must Control Every Event
                    (C) Third Conclusion: God is Perfect in Love and Rationality
                    (D) Fourth Conclusion: There are Two Worlds, One in Time-Space,
                                        the Other in Eternity

                    (E) Fifth Conclusion: Humans are Born Dual Citizens, In Time and
                                        in Eternity

                    (F) Sixth Conclusion: The Eternity of the Afterlife is Our Mental World Now
                    (G) Seventh Conclusion: We Are Born With Heaven and Hell in Our Mind
                    (H) Eighth Conclusion: Heaven is a State of Marriage Between Soul Mates
                    (I) Ninth Conclusion: Divine Speech as Sacred Scripture Produces
                                        Consciousness and Enlightenment

                    (J) Tenth Conclusion: Salvation, Liberation, Peace, and Wisdom Are
                                        Attained By Spiritual Discipline


                1.1.4.1    How the Idea of God Makes Us Immortal

                                1.1.4.1.1 The Incarnation Event: God Enters the World
                                                                of History and Science

                                                1.1.4.1.1.1    Completion of the Creation of the Human Race
                                                1.1.4.1.1.2    A Brief History of God and Humanity
                1.1.4.2    The Three Benefits of Rational Spirituality:
                                                                Enlightenment, Empowerment, Rational Ecstasy

                            1.1.4.2.1    Spiritual Enlightenment
                            1.1.4.2.2    Spiritual Empowerment
                            1.1.4.2.3    Rational Ecstasy      

                1.1.4.3    How Divine Speech Descends In the Human Mind Through
                                                                Discrete Layers and Keeps It Functioning
   
                            1.1.4.3.1    Conceptual Charts of the Physiology of God and the Human Mind   

                         Study Questions: 1.1 to 1.1.4.3.1 (Report 3)
                                    
                            1.1.4.3.2    Extracting the Content of Divine Speech Through Correspondences   
                                                1.1.4.3.2.1    What are Correspondences in Sacred Scripture?  
                                                1.1.4.3.2.2    Drinking Blood and Other Examples of Correspondences
                                                                            in Sacred Scripture 

                                                1.1.4.3.2.3     Metaphors, Symbolism, Simile, Figurative Speech -- Are Not
                                                                             Correspondences

                          
                            1.1.4.3.3    Three Levels of Thinking About God: Energy, Person, Truth From Good      

1.2  Mystical vs. Rational Approaches to Theistic Psychology
        1.2.1  Who was Swedenborg?
                    1.2.1.1    Swedenborg's Autobiographical Letters

1.3    Rational Substantive Dualism

        1.3.1    Substantive Dualism and Theism in Science
                    1.3.1.2    The Psychology of Religion in Nontheistic Psychology
        1.3.2    Discrete Layers of Substances
        1.3.3    The Substances of the Mental Organs
        1.3.4    God's Mental Substances as the Framework of the Universe
        1.3.5     Benefits of Understanding Theistic Psychology

1.4  Partial List of Scientific Revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg

1.5  Some of the People Who Have Acknowledged Swedenborg 

                           Study Questions: 1.1.4.3.2 to 1.5 (Report 4)

        1.5.1    Students Speak Out on Swedenborg

                        1.5.1.1    The Swedenborg Reports
                        1.5.1.2    The Negative Bias in Science
                        1.5.1.3    Outline of Swedenborg's Spiritual Psychology

1.6  Spiritual Psychobiology
        1.6.1     Three Levels of Behavior
        1.6.2     Swedenborg's Laws of the Spiritual World
        1.6.3     Criteria for a Scientific Theory in Psychology
                        1.6.3.1 Organicity
                        1.6.3.2. Objective Reality
                        1.6.3.3. Operational Definition
                        1.6.3.4. Empiricism
                        1.6.3.5. Usefulness
        1.6.4     The Organic Basis of All Phenomena 
        1.6.5     The Method of Psycho-Biological Correspondence
        1.6.6     Applications of Swedenborg's System
        1.6.7     Behavioral Consequences of Swedenborg's System
                          1.6.7.1    The Anatomical Layers of the Mind
        1.6.8    Sacred Scripture as the Source of Scientific Revelations
                        1.6.8.1    Thinking from Scientific Revelation
        1.6.9    History of the Concept of Dualism in Science
                        1.6.9.1    Substantive Dualism
                        1.6.9.2    Prior Versions of Dualism in the Negative bias in science

                        1.6.9.3    Dualism and Consciousness
                        1.6.9.4    Dualism in Descartes and Swedenborg 

1.7    Swedenborg's Description of How We Are Resuscitated After Death

  Study Questions: 1.5.1 to 1.7 (Report 5)

1.8    The Rationale For Theistic Psychology as Science
            1.8.1    The "Bible Code" vs. the Method of Correspondences With Enlightenment
                        1.8.1.1    Horizontal vs. Vertical Extraction
            1.8.2    Divine Speech and Its Functional Properties
            1.8.3    The Content of Divine Speech
            1.8.4    The Three Methodologies in Theistic Psychology --
                               Extractive, Predictive, and Applied
                        1.8.4.1    Levels of Extractive Research
                        1.8.4.2    What is God Talking to Us About?
            1.8.5    Why Study Theistic Psychology?
            1.8.6    About Swedenborg
            1.8.7    Should One Believe Swedenborg?

            1.8.8    Scientific Proof that Sacred Scripture is Divine

                         1.8.8.1    The Secret Presence of Correspondences in Sacred Scripture 
                         1.8.8.2    Cause-Effect Control by God
                                        1.8.8.2.1    The Correspondential Sense of CL 270
                                        1.8.8.2.2    The Correspondential Sense of CL 42
                                                        1.8.8.2.2.1 The Power of the Literal Sense
                                                                            that Contains the Correspondential Sense

                                        1.8.8.2.3    The Correspondential Sense of Pharaoh's Dream
                                         1.8.8.2.4    The Correspondential Sense of DP 30
                         1.8.8.3    Correspondences in Our Thinking and Language
                         1.8.8.4    Daily Life Correspondences of Body Parts, Actions, and Functions
                         1.8.8.5    Numbers in Sacred Scripture
                         1.8.8.6    Types of People in Sacred Scripture
                         1.8.8.7    Geographic Terms in Sacred Scripture
                         1.8.8.8    Animals in Sacred Scripture
                         1.8.8.9    The Divine Origin and Power of Correspondences
                         1.8.8.10   The Scientific Status of Correspondences
                         1.8.8.11   Perception of The correspondential sense of Scientific Revelations
                         1.8.8.12   Natural vs. Spiritual Understanding of Correspondences 
                         1.8.8.13   True Science -- Divine Scientific Revelations of Absolute Truth       

            1.8.9    Theistic Science: The Scientific Alternative to Creationism and Intelligent Design
                        1.8.9.1    Recent Court Decision in Pennsylvania on Teaching Religion in
                                                the Public School Curriculum

                        1.8.9.2    God in Science vs. God in Religion

                              Study Questions 1,8,9, 2.12, 2.17 plus 6.4 to 6.8 (Report 6) (optional)

1.9    Life in the Mental World of Eternity

See also: Lecture Notes for Studying Theistic Psychology at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/mental-anatomy.htm

Note: The layers of the mind frequently mentioned in this volume can be viewed and printed here:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/mental-anatomy.htm#chart-layers

Note: Quotations from the Writings of Swedenborg are given with parenthetical notes in italics that I insert in square brackets throughout the quoted text. These do not appear in the original. As well, longer paragraphs are arbitrarily sub-divided in smaller paragraphs. For the original text of Swedenborg's Writings please consult the online copies available at :  || www.heavenlydoctrines.org ||  http://www.smallcanonsearch.com/  ||  http://biblemeanings.info/ ||  www.e-swedenborg.com/writings/booklist.htm  ||  http://www.swedenborgproject.org/



Section 1.0 The Psychology of God -- Overview of Basic Topics


Theistic psychology is the scientific study of God as revealed in the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture.

Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech that descends through the discrete layers of the human mind -- spiritual mind, rational mind, and natural mind. (See the Layers Diagram). The content or meaning of Divine Speech itself is infinite and incomprehensible to human beings who have finite minds. However, the human mind is constructed as a biological receptor organ for receiving spiritual heat and spiritual light substances that exist eternally in the mental world of the human race. These spiritual substances are not material in nature, like matter or energy in time and space, or like natural light and heat from the physical sun or star. Instead, spiritual heat and light substances stream out from the Spiritual Sun, which is not in the physical world of time but in the spiritual world of eternity.

The spiritual world of eternity is the world that is not in time and space. It cannot be detected by physical measuring instruments designed to detect physical matter or energy only, and nothing else.

If you hold off with the negative bias in science, which requires physical measurement, you can use your mental observation ability to empirically observe the existence and reality of the world of eternity. Eternity is always, so it must also be now, right? Our observational experience of eternity now is through our mental life -- which is very very familiar to every human being! Hence eternity is already familiar to everybody. It is not something new or unknown. It is even more familiar to us than the world of time and physical matter.

Most people and scientists today believe that our mental life is in the brain, which is physical in time. Hence this would mean that our mental life is physical. This theory or principle is known as reductionism in science. In other words, the mental of eternity gets reduced to the chemical world of neurons in the physical brain. According to this theoretical reductionism, mental life or consciousness of self and world, is said not to really exist. Only the electro-chemical action of the brain is really real. But this hypothesis is incorrect, as is fully proven in theistic psychology.

The reality is that our mental life is not in this world but in the mental world. Our sensations, thoughts, and feelings are not physical operations but mental. Mental operations are not measurable physically since they are not in the physical world. When we are born we are born into eternity and each of us is immortal. For awhile we are dual citizens, living in two worlds simultaneously that are precisely interconnected by cause-effect laws of correspondences (to be explained later). We have temporary membership in a horizontal community in time on earth through a physical body. We also have permanent membership in a vertical community in eternity in the mental world of humanity. 

We live our temporary existence in the physical body on earth, and this is tied to our immortal existence in the spiritual body in eternity. For instance, as you are reading this, your physical senses and brain, control your eye movements, as well as the analysis of the linguistic information in each word, sentence, and paragraph. So now the brain has translated the visual information into a neural pattern of electro-chemical firings. That's it. That's as far as the brain can go. The brain is physical in time-space, but the meaning of the sentences is not physical, but mental.

This is worth repeating: the words on the screen or page are physical, but their meaning is mental. Nothing of the mental can exist in the physical. These two are separate in existence, but tied in function. Your physical body in time-space is tied by function to your mental body in eternity. The two must work together until your death. This means separation from the physical world of time and space. Without a physical body, the mental body now is free in its own existence. This is the afterlife of eternity. It never ends. What life is like in eternity will be discussed.

The conscious mental life we now have is only a potion of our mental life. This portion is called the natural mind. But we also have a spiritual mind. We become conscious in this spiritual mind when we die. Once we are conscious in the spiritual mind we can see everybody else who is already in that mental state. This is how people can meet friends and family that had passed on before them. The process of dying is actually called resuscitation. Approximately 30 hours after death of the physical body, we awaken in full consciousness in our spiritual mind, and this continues forever. These facts were observed many times in detail by Swedenborg who is the first and only modern scientist in the history of science who was able to be conscious in his spiritual mind several years prior to his death. Theistic psychology is based on the laws of correspondences that Swedenborg observed by living in both worlds simultaneously for 27 years. These are the same correspondences in which Sacred Scripture is written.

For a brief biography of Swedenborg and his place in the world today, see this interview:
Williams-Hogan, Jane K. (2006). From Swedenborg to the New Church: Interview. Religioscope. Available at: http://religion.info/english/interviews/article_247.shtml 

So if our science is going to be logical and rational we are going to acknowledge the full and independent existence of the mental world of humanity, which is outside the physical world of time-space-matter, and not part of it. This other world that is not in time or space is called the mental world of eternity. You are extremely familiar with the mental world of eternity. You are in it every minute of the day. You are in it right now. And so am I. And so is everyone you know, and every human being -- by definition. But our conscious awareness only extends to the natural part of the mental world. We are conscious of whatever comes to us through the senses and the brain. So we appear to ourselves subjectively to live entirely in that world which is made of ideas based on the physical senses. So all of our conscious mental life is filled with ideas from the natural world -- tastes, smells, objects, environment, cities, ocean, sky, moon, etc. Our ideas based on these objects make up our conscious meanings and understandings, so much so, that we are able to deny that there is a mental world that is not made of these natural objects.

But once we are resuscitated, a few hours after death, we are conscious in our spiritual mind which has sensory organs of its own that are capable of detecting spiritual things, mental things. So we can actually see others who are also in the spiritual mind, and we can talk and have relationships just like we do now. In order to interact with each other in the mental world of eternity people project what they have with them from the natural mind. People's thoughts and feelings create the surrounding environment, just as they do in dreams. What you dream about and what happens depends on your feelings, emotions, and memories. This is what also happens in the afterlife of eternity, which is the mental world of which we are unconscious while we are still tied to the physical body.

The moment we are born we start our immortal life through the spiritual or mental body in eternity. Whatever we do all day long we have sensations, thoughts, and feelings. These are actual operations in our mental organs located in our spiritual body in eternity. In theistic psychology the spiritual body is called the mental body, and the spiritual world is called the mental world of eternity. Note also that the spiritual world is called by many people the afterlife. They do not realize that the afterlife is the mental world of eternity. How? Because our spiritual or mental body grows from birth to adulthood along with our physical body. But then our physical body begins to age while the mental body does not age. How? Because the mental body is made of spiritual substances from the Spiritual Sun (heat and light), as stated above, and the physical body is made of the material substances from the physical sun. All things physical are temporary and subject to aging laws, while all things spiritual or mental are permanent, immortal.

So in order to understand how there can be a science of God, or a science of immortality and eternity, you need to construct in your understanding the concept of "substantive dualism," as will be explained. Substantive dualism contrasts with materialistic monism, which denies -- without proving -- the existence or reality of God, eternity, or the mental world. Since no scientific proof is given for this denial, it is called the negative bias in science. The reason it is called a "bias" is because it does not prove the denial, just makes the assertion. And the reason it is called "negative" is because its methodology consists of denying the existence of a phenomenon that cannot been proven by physical measurement.

So you can see that it is not rational to want to prove the reality of phenomena in eternity through physical measurements. This is irrational and contrary to logic.

Physical measurements apply only to physical phenomena, never to mental phenomena. It is irrational to think that sensations, thoughts, and feelings can be measured by physical measurements. Only brain activity can be measured by physical measures. Mental activity cannot be measured by physical measures. As a result materialistic psychology finds itself denying the reality of people's sensations, thoughts and feelings. Since you have been schooled in the negative bias in science, you are probably thinking right now that your thoughts and feelings are your brain neurons firing electrical and chemical matter. Right?

Historically this view is called reductionism in psychology. It reduces the existence of mental operations -- sensations, thoughts and feelings -- to electrical and chemical robotonics. Neuroscience of the brain has therefore become biological robotonics. The human part, which is the mental part, has been eliminated. Here is how reductionism is practiced today in science and technology presentations:

From:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=434968&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490

What's on your mind? A machine can tell us

by Fiona Macrae - 9th February 2007

It is the stuff of science fiction - a gizmo capable of reading people's minds, revealing their most private thoughts.

Now, that fiction has become reality with scientists devising a way to accurately predict what someone is going to do.

Using sophisticated scanners and computer programmes, they have worked out how the brain lights up when making different plans - a breakthrough that effectively allows the reading of people's minds.

Still in its infancy, the technique could one day be used to ease the lives of the paralysed by giving them better control over the movement of prosthetic limbs.

It could also be used to enable people to operate computers and PlayStations by thought alone and, echoing the plot of the film Minority Report, even allow police to arrest criminals before they break the law.

Professor John-Dylan Haynes (CORR), who started the research while working at University College London, said: "Until now, no one has been able to show whether it might be possible to read a persons' intentions from their brain activity.

"We wanted to know if you could read intentions while they were still covert - known only to the subject."

To find out if this was possible, the scientists asked a group of volunteers to prepare to do some mental arithmetic.

The eight men and women were told to choose to perform an addition or subtraction - but not to tell the scientists their choice.

While they were thinking about whether to add or subtract, but had not started to do any sums, their brains were scanned using a high-tech version of the MRI scanners used every day in our hospitals to detect brain tumours.

After a few seconds, the volunteers were the numbers needed for the calculations and their brains were scanned again while they added or subtracted and came up with an answer.

Comparison of the scans revealed that different clusters of brain cells are involved in thinking about doing something and actually doing it.

When we think about something, cells towards the very front of the brain light up.

However, when we actually start to act on our plans - for instance by doing a mental calculation - the activity shifts slightly further back.

Crucially, the scans also showed that different brain cells are involved in thinking about doing different things.

With the help of a complex computer programme, the scientists were able to pinpoint the pattern of brain cells that light up when we're thinking about adding up and cells that come to life when we're planning to subtract.

Using these patterns, they were able to work out whether the person would add or subtract the numbers - and get it right more than 70 per cent of the time, the journal Current Biology reports.

Prof Haynes, who completed the research after moving to the Max Planck Institute in Germany says the breakthrough could one day lead to the creation of a mind-reading machine small enough to fit inside a baseball cap.

He said: "We know that information is there and now we have to find novel, smaller, cheaper devices.

"It is imperative we develop these machines because we know there is something in the brain we can really put to use.

"A brain scanner in a baseball cap would be the perfect version."

Such technology would, however, bring with it a host of ethical issues, with people being concerned about their deepest secrets being made public.

7 people have commented on this story so far. Tell us what you think below.

Here's a sample of the latest comments published. You can click view all to read all comments that readers have sent in.

From here its just a small step to be able implant thoughts of your choosing. At last British scientists might be able to get some research funding out of Nu Labour.- N. Glew, Luton

My wife can read my mind anytime! Why do they need a machine?
- George Fairweather, Seaham County Durham

Oh dear, political correctness controls our speech and, indirectly, our thoughts. In the, not too distant, future our thoughts can be read - and woe betide those who are 'wrong-thinking'. Best to get into the habit of politically correct thinking, or perhaps, not thinking at all. Our education system and dumbed-down media are beginning to facilitate that for the up and coming generation. - Gc, Harrogate, UK

From:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=434968&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490

Exercise:
Reread the science news story and see if you can find the reductionistic fallacy in it.
Hint:
Contrast what actually is measured (brain waves) and what thoughts the person is thinking (general inference about readiness to act vs. specific information on thoughts or feelings). Note also how the comments of the readers involve the reductionist fallacy.

The scientific thinking on dualism is now changing through theistic psychology. The dual world of physical time and mental eternity is being introduced in psychology through the positive bias in science. It is called "bias" because it does not prove by physical measurement the existence of God and the afterlife. Let's face it: neither the negative bias in science (i.e., denying God's scientific reality), nor the positive bias in science (i.e., affirming the scientific reality of God) , can be proven by physical measurements.

Once we enter the approach in psychology called substantive dualism in science, we begin to employ the techniques and methodology developed in the positive bias science. God is assumed to be real and so is Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. From these two -- God's reality and Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech -- we derive an effective and valid methodology for the scientific investigation of God. Divine Speech issues from God's thoughts and feelings in a similar way that human speech issues from our thoughts and feelings. Remember that in this methodology all mental phenomena are also real, but not in time, and not involving physical matter. What then?

Spiritual substances from the Spiritual Sun. Or: Mental substances from the Spiritual Sun. Sensations, thoughts, and feelings are operations of our sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective organs in the spiritual body. Right now, in this very instant, your visual sensations from reading this are not in the brain but in your sensorimotor organ located in your mental body, which is located in eternity, since your birth. You do all your sensing, thinking, and feeling in that mental body or spiritual body born in eternity and connected by correspondence to your physical body. God, being the Divine Human from eternity, in whom infinite things make one, employs His affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor organs to create the dual universe from the substances in Himself.

What are these substances (raw materials) that come out of God's affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor organs?

You already know the answer: when Swedenborg be became conscious of his highest affective organ (called the celestial mind), he saw other people who were also there, living as immortals in a spiritual or mental paradise in eternity. You too, every human being, can raise your existence to higher and higher levels in your mind, until you exist in your celestial mind in eternity. Everyone there, including Swedenborg, was able to see visually the Spiritual Sun shining in the mental sky oh eternal conjugial heaven. And amidst the Spiritual Sun -- which was exceedingly bright yet did not blind the eye -- we can see the Divine Human Himself. This is the final proof that a rational person needs in order to be one hundred percent certain of God's reality.

In our highest mental organs we can visually see spiritual light and heat pouring out of the Spiritual Sun. These spiritual substances streaming out of the Spiritual Sun create an atmosphere we can call mental ether. We know this about the natural sun from which this planet originates, which is a middle sized star among billions of other stars in our galaxy. Each star creates a gravitational field or space of physical ether, in a way that corresponds to the Spiritual Sun, which creates a mental ether out of the substances issuing from God's affective and cognitive organs.

But what is spiritual heat?

The word "heat" is commonly used in materialistic science, as you know from physics, chemistry, or meteorology. And in medicine the word "temperature" is used for measuring body heat. In this natural sense "heat" is physical, as is temperature and motion. But "spiritual heat" is not physical. It is mental. Since God is omnipotent and loving, whatever issues from His affective organ is called Divine Good or Divine Love (these two mean the same spiritually). So spiritual heat is love substance (or good as substance), and spiritual light is truth substance (or rationality as substance).

Reread the last bolded sentence: it is the central key to unlock your comprehension of theistic psychology and substantive dualism in science.

Spiritual substance in the mental world of eternity refers to the spiritual light and heat streaming from the Spiritual Sun and permeating the totality of the mental world, just as physical substance or matter refers to the light and heat streaming from the physical sun and permeating all space and planets. Every object in the physical world is made of physical substances (chemical elements) from the natural sun, just as every object in the mental world is made of spiritual substances (good and truth in infinite variety) from the Spiritual Sun. The Spiritual Sun is the visible aura that appears brightly around the head of God Divine Human. This Spiritual Sun surrounding God's head was seen many times by Swedenborg when he was made conscious in the upper heavenly layers of his mind (see the Layers Diagram).  All the people who lived in that layer of the mental world were also able to see God and the surrounding Spiritual Sun. So the spiritual goods and truths that issue from God's Mind appear to human beings visually as a Spiritual Sun. You too will see this Spiritual Sun that surrounds God the Divine Human, when you ascend to your heavenly layers after the second death (see Section xx).

You can see now that God the Divine Human did not create the dual universe out of nothing (a non-scientific notion), but out of Divine Speech, that is, out of substances of good and substances of truth issuing from God's affective and cognitive organs of His Divine Human Mind..

As you already know we are born into eternity with our spiritual body or mind. The substances out of which our mental organs are constructed are the substances that issue from the Spiritual Sun in endless variety. Every newborn is unique even though it is constructed out of spiritual heat and light from the Spiritual Sun. Every newborn's mental body (or "spiritual body") contains a sensorimotor organ, a cognitive organ, and an affective organ (see Section xx). These organs are arranged in several levels called discrete degrees (see Section xx). The highest level of operation of our affective and cognitive organs is called the celestial-rational mind. A discrete degree below this we have affective and cognitive organs at an intermediate level of excellence called the spiritual-rational mind. And at the lowest discrete level of operations of the affective and cognitive organs, we have the natural-rational and natural-sensuous mind. Every human being possesses these same three levels and organs.

Note this very important observation: it seems to us that we are in a private world by ourselves when we are thinking and experiencing feelings. Right? But this is an appearance or illusion. Theistic psychology shows that the human race has only one mental world, only one spiritual world of the afterlife. Everyone is born into the same mental world of eternity that is created around the Spiritual Sun by the substances of good and truth. And everyone wakes up after death in the same afterlife of eternity. Thus there is only one mental world.

Once a human being is born into the immortality of eternity, the mental organs function as receptor organs for the spiritual heat -- into the affective organ, and for spiritual light -- into the cognitive organ. In other words, spiritual heat or good in substance, constructs the affective organ at birth, and then keeps it alive and operating by the continuous or ceaseless inflow of spiritual heat or good in substance. The same for the cognitive organ and spiritual light or truth substance.

Now you can see that Divine Speech from God's mind issues into the mental world of humanity and enters every mental organ of every human being, at the top of the mind called the celestial level of affective and cognitive organs.

Of course we are not conscious of the celestial and spiritual mind while we are conscious in our natural mind, and tied to the physical body by correspondence. However, even though we are not conscious of these mental operations triggered by the inflow of good and truth substances into our celestial-spiritual mind, nevertheless we are influenced by it in our conscious natural mind through the laws of correspondences, as will be made clear later.

When Divine Speech, containing good and truth substances, descends to the natural mind of a chosen prophet prepared by God for this purpose, he is able to write it down in a natural language, and what he writes down is called Sacred Scripture. Note carefully that other people are not conscious of this Divine Speech, though it is also present in their mind, not just in the mind of the prophet. It's just that the prophet is given limited temporary consciousness in the spiritual mind and in the natural mind, long enough to be able to write it down in a natural language. Note also that the prophet is not aware that the sentences he writes down are only correspondences to Divine Speech in his mind.

It's only since the Writings Sacred Scripture were provided through Swedenborg that science can now know about the hidden correspondences in Sacred Scripture.

Sacred Scripture is the method used in theistic psychology to discover the hidden layers of information contained in Divine Speech. These hidden layers were not available to scientific study until the 18th century author Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) discovered the laws of correspondences that govern the joint operation of natural phenomena in time (Sacred Scripture written down in a natural language), and spiritual phenomena in eternity (Divine Speech entering the celestial mind). This relationship in theistic psychology is called substantive dualism in science. Swedenborg discovered that there is only one mental world for the human race, and this human mental world is the afterlife of eternity.

We are born into eternity as dual citizens, the physical body being in the natural world and the mental body, or mind, being in the afterlife world of eternity. Swedenborg discovered that every person undergoes a mental resuscitation process about 30 hours after separation from the physical connection through death. We then exist consciously in our spiritual mind, which until resuscitation, was operative but unconscious. Shortly after resuscitation, the natural mind becomes unconscious.

Swedenborg also discovered that there was a functional connection between every verse in Sacred Scripture with a particular type of mental state in the human race. He was thus able to empirically map out the correspondences between the words and phrases of Sacred Scripture with mental states. By using the functional connection between the body organs and the mental organs, Swedenborg demonstrated that Sacred Scripture has layers of meaning expressed in correspondences. Knowledge of these correspondences allows us to extract the scientific facts and principles about God that are hidden within the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. See the Layers Diagram.

When the hidden layers of meaning in Sacred Scripture are accessed through the correspondences that have been revealed, we discover what God wants to talk to us about, what information God wants us to know. The results so far, amply demonstrated in the Writings of Swedenborg, show that God wants to talk to humanity about Himself in relation to us. God wants to instruct us concerning mental anatomy, theistic psychology, and how He manages the universe and why.

Theistic psychology is the psychology of God.

As psychologists we have two approaches to investigating the psychology of God. One way is to define God as a belief, and then investigating what people believe in. In non-theistic negative bias psychology this methodology is known as the "psychology of religion." You can see logically that this is not an investigation of God but an investigation of what people believe. Since God is not a scientific concept or reality in non-theistic psychology, it is only possible to investigate people's beliefs and attitudes and behaviors, but not God. The other approach is to define God as a reality in itself, not just a belief or fantasy. Investigating God is logically possible only if you assume that God could be a reality. Then you can investigate it is, or is not.

But if you deny that God exists (the negative bias in science), then you can only investigate what people say and believe and do. Hence not God Himself. The only way that God can be investigated scientifically is (a) to grant that God might exist (positive bias in science), and (b) to use the method of correspondences in Sacred Scripture (not physical measurement).

 

In relation to God, theistic psychology takes the positive bias interpretation in science. This is the same as saying that God is a significant and traceable influence on human behavior.

The psychology of God is the study of how all human behavior is an outcome of how people react to God, both consciously and unconsciously. Since God is omnipotent and manages all phenomena, He also manages the minds of people, both of the positive bias in science and of the negative bias in science. Nevertheless there is an enormous difference in the quality of life in eternity of those who are resuscitated into the positive bias mentality vs. those who are resuscitated in the negative bias mentality. Swedenborg empirically determined this by observation of thousands of cases he could observe in his dual consciousness, natural and spiritual.

Until age 57 Swedenborg, then a well known personality in Sweden, had consciousness only in his natural mind, like all of us. Then suddenly he gained consciousness in his spiritual mind as well. For the next 27 years until his death, he was leading a life of dual citizenship, being able to interact with those already in the afterlife and conscious in their spiritual mind, as well as those in the physical world where he kept up his busy schedule as government mining engineer, publisher of scientific journals, and member of the Swedish legislative body. He published his observations and findings, which amount to about 30 volumes in English translation. They are called collectively "the Writings of Swedenborg." In theistic psychology they are called "the Writings Sacred Scripture."

In the course of studying theistic psychology you will learn about the psychobiology of God which describes the anatomy and physiology of the mental organs. This is a necessary methodological focus for theistic psychology that describes the details of how God is a significant and traceable influence on human behavior. From the scientific perspective it is not sufficient to merely believe that God affects people's lives. As a science, theistic psychology has to rationally demonstrate and empirically illustrate the mechanisms that God uses to influence human behavior. In the positive bias approach in science, God is real, and therefore there must be a scientific answer to how God exerts influence upon human behavior. This answer needs to be investigated. It cannot be investigated in non-theistic psychology, which continues to remain in the negative bias mentality of science, denying that God, revelation, and Divine Speech as Sacred Scripture have a scientific reality. When God and Sacred Scripture are denied as real phenomena, then research on God is not allowed either. As already indicated, research about people's beliefs and attitudes about God is not research about God.

The psychology of God provides answers regarding where God is in our mind, how He gets there, why we don't see Him, what He is doing there, how we are best to handle this situation, what potential benefits are there, and related issues and puzzles.

The following discussion provides an overview of theistic psychology. You will notice that the same sub-topic appears in different places more than once or twice. The reason is that this is such a new topic for most people that it helps to have the same issue handled more than once and in a different context. In this way you will be learning more than facts, but also a thinking register. For instance if you are very good at something, whatever it is, you are an "expert" at that thing relative to many other people. When two "experts" get together they can talk "shop" with each other, and others may get the feeling that they don't understand what's being discussed. In addition, experts can solve problems others cannot. This is because they are able to reason things out from experience and reflection.

This more powerful (expert) way of thinking about something is called a specialized thinking register. You will learn to think rationally and scientifically about God. You will practice applying scientific and rational thinking to God.  Hence the apparent repetitions of topics throughout theistic psychology is not redundant information to be skipped, but opportunities to build facts into principles, and these into an expert thinking register about God.

Every human being has God in the mind. This reality is the rational and empirical basis of defining God as a scientific concept. Since God is immortal, our conjunction with God from birth, makes us also immortal. Since God intervenes and interacts with everything we intend, reason, and do, it is for scientific research to investigate how this interaction takes place in every human being.

Every human being has heaven and hell in the mind, from birth, as part of the inherited human mental anatomy.  Heaven is a mental state in eternity that is operational within the affective organ of our spiritual mind (see Section xx). This operation exists within the human virtues. All individuals who operate within the consciousness, intention, effort, and love of virtues, develop this affective organ so that after separation from the physical world, they exist in that state of eternity called heaven (see Section xx).

Every human being has hell in the mind, from birth and inherited mental anatomy of the natural mind. Hell is a state in eternity that is operational within the affective organ of our natural-sensuous mind (see Section xx). This operation exists within the human vices. All individuals who operate within the consciousness, intention, effort, and love of vices, develop this affective organ so that after separation from the physical world, they exist in that state of eternity called hell (see Section xx).

From the religious perspective, based on the plain literal meaning of Sacred Scripture, heaven is being with God in eternity as a reward we earned for being faithful in our religion while we were on earth. And hell, is a Divine punishment or an inevitable negative consequence, of living a life of "sin", which is contrary to religion.

From the scientific perspective of theistic psychology, based on the hidden correspondential meaning of Sacred Scripture, both heaven and hell are mental states that are operational within our mental organs, and these are already in eternity from birth (see Section xx). As observed by Swedenborg, people make their own choices regarding where they exist in the conscious afterlife of eternity (see Section xx). The choices they make are according to their loves -- what they like most, what they are most enchanted with, what they are unwilling to give up no matter what. This is what pulls them to live their immortal existence either within human virtues (heaven), or within human vices (hell). In terms of Swedenborg's observations of samples of human beings entering the afterlife in the eighteenth century, more people from this earth chose to be in their vices, than in their virtues!

Unfortunately, the people who choose hell become progressively worse and live a sub-human life devoid of orderliness, intelligence and happiness. This is a built in endless degradation of the operations of the natural-sensuous mind that is unwilling to be governed by the rational mind. In contrast, people who choose to live in their virtues are happy, married to their soul mate, intelligent, decent, and beautiful, and they grow in these traits endlessly to eternity. This is a built in elevation of the operations of the spiritual-rational mind (see Section xx).

Topic 1. The Negative Bias in Science vs. the Positive Bias in Science

Science exists in two different orientations called the negative bias in science and the positive bias in science (see Section xx). The negative bias in science denies that anything exists except that which is natural, and constructed out of physical matter in time and space. For instance, thoughts and feelings are defined as nothing more than electrical and chemical activity in the brain cells and their "emergent" properties. The negative bias in science denies the existence of God, of life after death, of Divine revelation, of consciousness as real, of a spiritual world in eternity outside time and space, of the possibility that anyone can communicate with people who have already departed from this world through death of the physical body. The denial of all of this by materialistic science follows automatically from the denial of anything outside time, space, and energy. This denial is called the negative bias orientation or paradigm in science.

It is called a bias because this position has never been proven by science. It is a mutually chosen premise, an unproven assumption, an agreement by scientists among each other to exclude anything from science that isn't material in time and space. This methodological position is sometimes called "materialism" or "materialistic monism." This is the attitude and orientation that you have been exposed to in your science and psychology courses throughout education. "God and science don't mix" -- we were told and taught. "It's unscientific to talk about God in science" is another popular persuasion. So we were not told that denying God in science is a negative bias in science. We were told that denying God in science is scientific.

It makes a big difference whether school children are told one or whether they are told the other. Telling us that God in science is unscientific goes deeper into our persuasion than telling us that God in science is denied by assumption and agreement not by proof. More resistance to the idea of God in science is created in our mind when we are told it is unscientific, rather than there is an unproven agreement in science to exclude God. Clearly there is an element of ideology in science rather than rationality. The negative bias in science agreement methodologically excludes the writings of any scientist who includes God in their theoretical explanation.

An example of systematic exclusion from science is the work of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), whose writings have been excluded from being even mentioned in history of psychology textbooks and handbooks, despite the fact that Swedenborg wrote the first textbook of psychology called Rational Psychology (1742) in which you can find the major topics of psychology in the 20th century, including the focus on the brain and its functions. For instance, Swedenborg was the first scientist to propose that the anatomical and physiological evidence indicates that the left brain specializes in cognitive operations, while the right brain in affective operations (see Section xx). Swedenborg was the first known modern scientist whose theories were explicitly theistic.

The positive bias orientation in science -- also unproven, hence a bias --  is that God exists, that reality consists of two worlds, one natural in physical time and space, the other spiritual or mental, outside time and space. The spiritual world of eternity is also called the afterlife. What is critically different in this orientation is the recognition that thoughts and feelings are not electro-chemical operations in the neurons of the brain since thoughts and feelings are non-material substances, while the brain contains only material substances or matter. Material substances of the physical brain are in the time-space world, while mental substances and operations -- thoughts and feelings --  are in the mind or in the world of eternity (not in the time-space world ). This is the fundamental difference that you must try to understand right from the start of your study of theistic psychology.

Why is the spiritual world of eternity and afterlife = the mental world?

Isn't the mental world right here and now in my mind? The mental world of my thoughts and feelings are alive in me right now. So why are you calling thoughts and feelings as operations in eternity? How can the spiritual world be the same as my mental world? If our eternity is in the mental world, is it really an objective place we can go to after we die? Etc. Etc. These are all the questions that may be crowding your mind. All of them will be answered in your mind when you begin to form a cumulative and coherent account of its various pieces and how they are integrated with each other. Diagrams will be given to help you in this task.

Until the 19th century, most scientists accepted the positive bias in science, including the founders of modern science -- Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein. By the end of the 19th century and onward with the 20th, the negative bias in science became prevalent. Nevertheless the positive bias in science continued strong with scientists who were familiar with the Writings of the Swedish scientist Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). In contemporary psychology the positive bias in science based on Swedenborg's Writings continues with the new field of theistic psychology, created by Dr. Leon James, Professor of Psychology at the University of Hawaii (see the online work Theistic Psychology at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic )

The American Psychological Association (APA) oversees and sets standards for doctoral training programs in all accredited clinical psychology departments and schools in the United States. In the past few years there has been a greater recognition that "theistic psychotherapy" is a desirable and necessary development in clinical psychology. An example is the APA Psychotherapy Training Videos program intended for mental health professionals. One training video for clinical psychologists approved by the APA is the following:

The information below is displayed at:  http://www.apa.org/videos/4310716.html

Theistic Integrative Psychology shows an approach for incorporating belief in God into therapy. An important aspect of this therapy is the assumption that spirituality and faith are central to many people's lives, and therefore therapists should be open to including religious beliefs in their work with clients.

In this session, Dr. P. Scott Richards works with a 60-year-old African American woman who was recently diagnosed with diabetes. He first seeks to understand how she is handling this news and the accompanying thoughts about her mortality and then looks at how her spiritual beliefs are both helping and hindering her process of coping.

This approach is distinguished from most therapeutic models in that its primary worldview is that God and spirituality often play an important role in people's lives: The starting point for Dr. Richard's theistic integrative approach is theistic, as opposed to the naturalistic or atheistic starting point for other models in psychotherapy.

This approach is distinguished from most therapeutic models in that its primary worldview is that God and spirituality often play an important role in people's lives: The starting point for Dr. Richard's theistic integrative approach is theistic, as opposed to the naturalistic or atheistic starting point for other models in psychotherapy.

This is an integrative approach in which many psychotherapeutic approaches may be incorporated, including person-centered and cognitive approaches, depending on which may be most suitable for the client. Tailoring the therapy to the individual client while also being open to the role of God in the client's life will result in more effective therapy. Assessment includes questions about religious beliefs and affiliations as well as more typical questions to assess mood and psychological traits.

To use this approach, a psychologist need not adhere to traditional religious beliefs, although having respect for and some understanding of spiritual worldviews is helpful. A therapist who is not a believer might look at this approach as a way to treat religious clients in a culturally sensitive way. Whether the therapist believes in God or not, the most important thing to remember when allowing religious belief to enter therapy is that the therapist must never impose his or her own beliefs on the client. The goal of this therapy is to look for how the client's beliefs might help (or hinder) the journey to psychological healing.

To learn more about this approach, Dr. Richards recommends continuing education classes as well as reading literature on theistic integrative psychology.

P. Scott Richards received his PhD in counseling psychology in 1988 from the University of Minnesota. He has been a faculty member at Brigham Young University since 1990 and is a professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education.

He is coauthor of the first and second editions of A Spiritual Strategy for Counseling and Psychotherapy (American Psychological Association [APA], 2005); coeditor of the Handbook of Psychotherapy and Religious Diversity (APA, 2000), and the Casebook for a Spiritual Strategy in Counseling and Psychotherapy (APA, 2004).

He was given the Dissertation of the Year Award in 1990 from APA Division 5 (Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics). In 1999, he was awarded the William C. Bier Award from APA Division 36 (Psychology of Religion). He is a fellow of Division 36, served as secretary of the division from 2000 to 2003, and is currently president of the division. Dr. Richards is a licensed psychologist and maintains a small private psychotherapy practice at the Center for Change in Orem, Utah.

Richards, P. S. (2005). Theistic integrative psychotherapy. In L. Sperry & E. P. Shafranske (Eds.), Spiritually oriented psychotherapy (pp. 259–286). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Richards, P. S., & Bergin, A. E. (Eds.). (2000). Handbook of psychotherapy and religious diversity. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Richards, P. S., & Bergin, A. E. (Eds.). (2004). Casebook for a spiritual strategy in counseling and psychotherapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Richards, P. S., & Bergin, A. E. (2005). A spiritual strategy for counseling and psychotherapy (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

APA Videos

APA Books

© 2007 American Psychological Association

The above information is displayed at:  http://www.apa.org/videos/4310716.html

I am presenting this information to show that the science of psychology is moving in a new direction which allows it to discuss God as a real person with whom the individual has a real relationship. This is not the same as saying that the therapist is to accept God as scientific reality, but only that the client is allowed to discuss God with the therapist as a legitimate, even healthy relationship in daily life. Before this we have a contrastive attitude for more than 100 years in psychology during which God was categorized as a non-existent entity people invented as a crutch (Freud) and to whom they prayed by superstition or delusion (Skinner). This new attitude by the scientifically conscious American Psychological Association is remarkable whose importance has not yet been fully grasped by the profession.

It is easy to falsely dismiss the significance of this new perspective for the reason that the therapist does not have to believe in God, but only to accept the legitimacy of the client's relationship to God. Hence nothing has really changed in the science of psychology. However this is missing something important. Even if licensed therapists don't have to accept the reality of God, nevertheless they must act like and talk like God is a real person!

I repeat this most important new perspective in the science of psychology: Henceforth licensed therapists in the United States must acquire the ability to administer mental health services that address God as a real person.

This fundamentally changes the monolithic atheistic supremacy that has dictated the negative bias materialism in psychology for the past 100 years.

Freud and Skinner are no longer around to fight against this new direction in psychology. Even so, theistic psychology still remains outside the boundaries even for the new direction in theistic psychotherapy. The reason is that the Swedenborg Reports are not considered relevant or necessary, and hence absolutely nothing is known empirically about the mental world of eternity and afterlife. Theistic psychology accepts these reports as scientifically valid. The rational and methodological justification for this orientation follows.

Here is the foundation principle for the existence of theistic psychology, as stated in the Writings of Swedenborg:

AC 2568. It has been said above in this chapter that doctrine would become null and void if the rational were consulted (n. 2516, 2538); and that it was not consulted (n. 2519, 2531). But here it is said that the doctrine of faith was enriched with goods and truths both rational and natural. At first view these statements appear as if they were adverse and contrary to each other; and yet are not so. How the case was with the Lord, has been stated; but how it is with man, remains to be told.

[2] As regards man it is one thing to regard the doctrine of faith from rational things, and altogether another to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith. To regard the doctrine of faith from rational things is not to believe in the Word, or in the doctrine thence derived, until one is persuaded from rational things that it is so; whereas to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith is first to believe in the Word, or in the doctrine therefrom, and then to confirm the same by rational things. The former is inverted order, and results in nothing being believed; whereas the latter is genuine order, and causes the man to believe the better. It is the former that is here meant by its being said that Abimelech should die because of the woman; by which is signified that the doctrine of faith would become null and void if the rational were consulted (n. 2516, 2538); but the latter is meant by its being said that Abimelech gave flock and herd, and menservants and maidservants; by which is signified that the doctrine of faith was enriched with rational and natural goods and truths.

[3] These things are much treated of in the Word in its internal sense, especially where Asshur and Egypt are spoken of; for the reason that while the doctrine of faith is regarded from rational things, that is, while a man does not believe until he is persuaded from them that it is so, it then not only becomes null and void, but whatever is contained in it is also denied; whereas when rational things are regarded from the doctrine of faith, that is, when a man believes the Word, and afterwards the same things are confirmed by rational things, the doctrine is then living and whatever is contained in it is affirmed.

[4] There are therefore two principles; one of which leads to all folly and insanity, and the other to all intelligence and wisdom. The former principle is to deny all things, or to say in the heart that we cannot believe them until we are convinced by what we can apprehend, or perceive by the senses; this is the principle that leads to all folly and insanity, and is to be called the negative principle. The other principle is to affirm the things which are of doctrine from the Word, or to think and believe within ourselves that they are true because the Lord has said them: this is the principle that leads to all intelligence and wisdom, and is to be called the affirmative principle.

[5] The more they who think from the negative principle consult things rational, the more they consult memory-knowledges, and the more they consult things philosophical, the more do they cast and precipitate themselves into darkness, until at last they deny all things. The causes of this are, that no one can apprehend higher things from lower ones, that is, spiritual and celestial things, still less Divine things, from lower ones, because they transcend all understanding, and moreover everything is then involved in negatives from that principle. On the other hand, they who think from an affirmative principle can confirm themselves by whatever things rational, by whatever memory-knowledges, and whatever things philosophic they have at command; for all these are to them things confirmatory, and give them a fuller idea of the matter.

[6] Moreover there are some who are in doubt before they deny, and there are some who are in doubt before they affirm. They who are in doubt before they deny are they who incline to a life of evil; and when this life carries them away, then insofar as they think of the matters in question they deny them. But they who are in doubt before they affirm are they who incline to a life of good; and when they suffer themselves to be bent to this by the Lord, then insofar as they think about those things so far they affirm. As this subject is further treated of in the verses which follow,. it is permitted of the Lord's Divine mercy to illustrate them more fully there (see n. 2588).
(AC 2568)

In other words, we can assume the negative bias in science when we examine the proposal that God exists and that upon death we enter the afterlife of eternity. Since the negative bias proof requires physical measurement it is not possible to apply this method to God or the afterlife. Therefore to exclude God or the afterlife as real requires a bias. This negative bias says that what is not physical is not real. The reason it is called a bias is that non-physical things could exist or be real, yet the negative bias would deny it, hence deny what is true and real. But there is an important tradition in science that recognizes that science has two components, one called empirical, the other called rational.

In non-theistic psychology empirical refers to physical measurement. In theistic psychology empirical means sensory observation, which can be either physical or mental. In all science theory and explanation goes beyond empirical data. This is why scientific theories are almost always wrong, even though they appear correct when proposed. Later research however, and further developments in science, eventually abandon all the old theories and propose new ones, which a little later, will also be abandoned. So science proceeds by scientific theories that are continually abandoned as wrong when they were at first accepted as correct. How can this process proceed and have a good outcome?

The answer is that all theories and all data in science must be structured to be logical, consistent, and rational. In non-theistic psychology this has been achieved so far only in ideal and not yet in reality. For the most part, scientific theories in non-theistic psychology do not agree with each other regarding what the facts, how they ought to be explained, and what to do about it. In general research in non-theistic psychology proceeds within highly specialized fields and only a few psychologists acknowledge and are part of that field and its research. Others reject much of the research that one group considers real. This confusing state of non-theistic psychology will continue until the entire field becomes fully rational, which means integrated into a whole, instead of into parts that do not recognize each other. In theistic psychology research and knowledge development start with the positive bias regarding God and Sacred Scripture. So it is a top down science, departing from Sacred Scripture understood in correspondences, and deducing all the principles from it through the positive bias in science. Each principle is then empirically applied and verified through observation. Hence theistic psychology is a fully integrated and rational science.

I have been teaching theistic psychology to college students who are majoring in psychology and are being prepared for professional and graduate school. The most difficult issue in their mind regarding the scientific status of the Swedenborg Reports is that his observations are not replicable by other scientists.  They were taught that science means proof that can be replicated by other scientists. The students also report that the friends and family with whom they discuss the Swedenborg Reports, also are bothered by this one issue, saying, Why should you believe this man from the 18th century who says he talked to the dead? And how many others have also claimed this? Etc.

But the fact is that no one in the history of science, philosophy, psychology, theology, literature has ever claimed to have been dual citizens for decades, and no one in the history of literature has discussed or described what Swedenborg observed and explained. So the dismissive idea of Why should I believe him -- does not apply here at all. Here we have a unique situation in science and history and it deserves its own rational and impartial assessment.

The replicability issue is actually not a critical one in this case. Everyone will be able to replicate and verify what Swedenborg describes. This occurs 30 hours after death, when we are awakened through the process of resuscitation and begin our life of eternity in our spiritual mind (see Section xx). At that point everyone can verify the accuracy of the Swedenborg Reports. The fact that no one can so until after resuscitation is not critical in this case as long as the following eight scientific and rational assessment criteria are applied.

Can it be demonstrated to scientists and students that the Swedenborg Reports contain observation and theory fully characterized by:

  1. consistency

  2. completeness

  3. rationality

  4. abstract or mechanistic explanatory mechanisms

  5. ability to account for more of the known possibilities

  6. ability to generate verifiable predictions

  7. ability to provide greater control of self and environment

  8. consistency with universal human values.

The answer is Yes for all eight assessment criteria. For this reason, the issue of delayed replicability is not critical. There are other examples in science that are accepted as one time events that cannot be replicated, and there are also examples in science where replication is even theoretically impossible. There are no other books, theories, systems, or records in human history and literature that meet the above eight assessment criteria.

Exercise:

If you are interested in pursuing the logical issue of introducing God in science, study the following electronic discussion on the logic of proving the negative in science, at:
http://archive.internalspace.co.uk/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b=cc,v=display,m=1098071640,s=all
Summarize the various points that are made. Review them and see what you agree with. Does this give you a better idea of what proof in science really is? What is your conclusion regarding the positive bias in science, as proposed in theistic psychology?

    1.0.1.1   Substantive Dualism: We Are Born Dual Citizens

The basic premises of the positive bias in science are

  • substantive dualism (see Section xx)

  • theism or the acknowledgment of God as Creator and Manager (see Section xx)

  • revelations of scientific knowledge through Sacred Scripture (see Section xx)

Science studies all of reality. If anything is part of reality, science tries to investigate it and to understand it rationally. The positive bias in science says that God is part of reality, and therefore, science is going to try to investigate God as a scientific concept.

The negative bias in science says that God is not part of reality, hence there is no point even trying to investigate something that does not exist, or does not actually influence the outcome of events and phenomena.

Sometimes people try to take up an in between position, saying that God does exist, but this cannot be investigated by science. God is just a matter of personal faith or belief. This idea arbitrarily, with no proof or evidence, limits what science is. The alternative view is to say that science tries to investigate all reality. So, if God is actually part of reality, science should try to investigate God as a possible scientific fact.

This is similar to the situation where scientists have proposed the idea that there are other intelligent beings on the planets in vast space who might be trying to communicate with us by radio waves from outer space. So these scientists acquired research funds from the federal government to build large radio telescopes and transmitters that can receive possible messages from outer space by an alien civilization. Other scientists ridiculed the idea, saying that there is no evidence whatsoever that intelligent  beings exist elsewhere but on earth, and there is much evidence to suggest that the evolution of life cannot repeat itself in more than one place. There is a negative bias in science towards the idea of aliens, and scientists holding that bias would not investigate the existence of aliens in outer space. They cite many scientific reasons to show that this idea is a pipe dream, not a scientific hypothesis. You can see the positive and negative bias clashing in science regarding life on other planets.

But you need to realize that the positive bias in science for the existence of life on other planets is also a materialistic idea and does not require dualism. The positive bias in science for unknown phenomena is something fairly common and normal in science. What is unusual is to have the positive bias in science extend to God. Why is this?

There are hundreds of thousands of scientists alive today who are firm believers in the existence of God, as shown by the fact that they talk to God in prayer, worship Him, and study Sacred Scripture as the Word of God. These scientists know that God is omnipotent and that nothing happens without God allowing it to happen because of some rational end or purpose. These religious scientists acknowledge that God intervenes in the experiments they run in their laboratories, and also, in their effort and ability to write the results as a published scientific report. And yet, note this: God does not appear anywhere in their report!

I did the same thing for many years as a trained scientist in the field of psychology. At one point in my career as a professor and researcher, I adopted the positive bias in science regarding God's existence (see Section xx). I tried in different ways to write a journal article about the reality of God and how we need to take God into account in our principles of psychology when we describe learning, human development, personality change, or sports psychology. If God is a reality, and actually influences how people learn, develop, change, or acquire skills, then clearly we should investigate that causal relationship between God and human behavior. Is this not obvious?

Since we all have been educated to think from the orientation of the negative bias against God in a materialistic science, we can expect that certain standard objections will come to our mind when we hear the proposal that God should be part of science.

For instance, we might think that "God may be a reality in the ultimate sense, but God is not participating as something apart from the natural laws that science investigates. God may have originally created these natural laws, along the natural world of time and space, but there is no scientific reason to suppose that God is now intervening in the normal course of these natural laws and conditions."

This line of  reasoning shifts the issue away from

(1) "Is God a reality or not"

to another issue, namely,

(2) "God does not intervene in reality."

Do you see this? But this shift is not logical because the second issue logically comes only after the first issue has been settled, and cannot come before it.

In other words, we cannot decide on whether God "intervenes in reality" or not (2), unless we first decide whether "God is a reality" or not (1). Can you see this?

So we must come back to the first and most fundamental issue in science regarding God, namely, God exists, or not.

If you are going to enjoy studying theistic psychology, you may consider adopting the positive bias in science on a limited basis to begin with. This means that you are going to say to yourself: "I am going to take on the role of someone who says that it is possible that God could become a scientific concept."

That's all. You don't actually have to believe it, if you don't want to.

In the past, all students were able to enact this role while reading, writing, and discussing theistic psychology. Some students were actually glad that there is such a thing as a positive bias of God in science. Others stated that it was fun, but that they are going to go back to the negative bias in science. You can read their generational reports in theistic psychology listed in the Readings in Volume 18, Part 2.

Remember:

the positive bias in science does not mean that you are required to accept, or pretend to accept, that God is a scientific concept. Instead, adopting the positive bias in science is to say that you accept the possibility that God can be a scientific concept, and therefore you are ready to investigate what the evidence for it is that this course offers.

Most educated people like us have acquired the negative bias belief against the idea that God should be included as part of science. So it's not easy to now all of a sudden to adopt the positive bias in science by saying to ourselves, "Let me investigate what theistic psychology is saying. I cannot logically do this unless I first accept the possibility that this could be real, not just a pretend game."

Think of the non-theistic psychology courses you took in high school and college. When did you ask yourself the question, "Can this materialistic view of the mind be valid and real?" Probably never. This is because you were still young and you were still not thinking for yourself from yourself (see Section xx). But as people enter their third decade of life they begin to ask questions in their own mind about ideas and principles they imbibed and never examined. God in science is one of them. Does God really exist in a scientific way of intervening with phenomena that scientists are studying -- in which case God is actually part of the chain of causation they are looking for? Do I really want to deny God's existence in science because after all,  what if the scientists are wrong about that? What kind of methodology would be needed to provide proof of God as a causative factor in phenomena?

When you begin to ask yourself these kinds of questions, you are beginning to think from yourself, rather than from acquired socialization habits of thinking. This thinking from self is a sign of maturation as an adult. In this sense, some people never become mature adults since they are unwilling to acquire the habit of thinking from self regarding God.

Theistic psychology will show you why one should acquire the habit of thinking from oneself (see Section xx). Swedenborg reports that when people are resuscitated, a few hours after death (see Section xx), they quickly give up their belief in God, when it is based on persuasive teachings that had been uncritically accepted, without reasoning from self whether they are true or not according to their own rational comprehension. But it is different with hose whose idea of God was based on their own reflection and thinking, and made God part of their reality. They continue to reflect upon God along their rational understanding, which Swedenborg reports is far greater after resuscitation than before -- for everyone. In other words, when our natural mind becomes dormant and we live in our spiritual mind in eternity, our rational thinking ability is a discrete level higher than the highest we are capable in our natural mind. Our everyday level of thinking now is from the natural mind, but after death and resuscitation, our life of immortality takes place in our spiritual mind (see Section xx). The spiritual mind functions at a discrete degree higher than the natural mind. We are more intelligent after death than before, far more so, as frequently observed by Swedenborg in the afterlife of our spiritual mind (see Section xx).

And so now, since you have become a student of theistic psychology, you are receiving the unusual opportunity of examining critically, rationally, and scientifically, whether or not God can be part of scientific reality and investigation.

If you are not willing to say, "Maybe yes", then how can you enjoy the study of theistic psychology? If you think "No way. It's not possible" can you go through the objective evaluation process of examining the idea as a scientist would? Theistic psychology has brought together many rational considerations that you can examine. The Swedenborg reports, upon  which theistic psychology is based, are a unique collection of writings in the history of modern science. They allow you to examine the empirical observations and rational explanations of a notable historical figure who has influenced many brilliant writers and scientists  (see Section xx). Since theistic psychology is a scientific field, its methodology and reasoning process are rational, empirical, behavioral, anatomical, and neurophysiological (see Section xx).

In theistic psychology the brain in the physical body and the mind in the mental body are connected by the laws of correspondences (see Section xx). When we are born, we acquire a physical body in time-space and a mental body in eternity, that is, in the mental world of the human race. In the physical body we have organs like the brain and the heart that make up the physical body in time-space.

In the mental body located in eternity from birth onward, we have organs like the

  • affective organ (which corresponds to the heart and circulatory system in the physical body)

  • cognitive organ (which corresponds to the lungs and respiratory in the physical body)

  • sensorimotor organ (which corresponds to the brain and neurons throughout the physical body)

 As you can see the mental body contains the organs that give rise to feelings, thoughts, and sensations. Consider that right now, you are reading this and thinking about it, and having various feelings or emotions about it. These thoughts and feelings are non-material -- not in time-space-matter. Thoughts and feelings and sensations are mental things, not physical. Mental things are in the mental world and this has no space or matter. think about your dreams and daydreams. They take place in the mental world of the human race. There is only one mental world and we are all having our thoughts in this mental world where our mental body was born and will continue living forever (see Section xx).

Note also that every physiological detail of the physical body is mirrored in the mental body so that when your physical body dies and you are resuscitated in the mental world of humanity, your appearance is unchanged even though you are then in your mental body. This shows that the temporary physical body in time-space is a copy of the permanent mental body in eternity. It is not generally known that eternity = mental world, so do not be surprised if this appears odd to you at first, and to the friends with whom you discuss it.

Our mind, like our brain and sense organs, is an organic structure made of sub-components, like the heart which has a left and a right portion, each doing their own work or function. The mind's organic anatomy has been revealed in the Writings. There are three major levels of mental operations or states to keep track of in order to understand how our mind works and how we can control its direction and development.

Anatomical levels or states of the mind:

  • (3) The celestial state or level of operation (= the "celestial mind")

  • (2) The spiritual state or level of operation (= the "spiritual mind")

  • (1) The natural state or level of operation (= the "natural mind")

You also need to keep track of the type of operation in the mind of which there are three.

Types of operations or functions of the mind:

  • (i) The affective operations in the affective organ of the mind (= the "will")

  • (ii) The cognitive operations in the cognitive organ of the mind (= the "understanding")

  • (iii) The sensorimotor operations in the sensorimotor organ of the mind (= the "sensations")

Affective operations are feelings, motivations, impulses, tendencies, affections, loves. Cognitive operations are thoughts, ideas, concepts, images, and  reasonings. Sensorimotor operations are sensations, attentional focus, and motor determinations or behavioral sets.

If you keep track of the three types of operations at the three levels, you will have a chart in your understanding by which you can comprehend or research almost anything about the human mind. This chart would look this:

LEVELS OF OPERATION
 

TYPES OF MENTAL OPERATIONS

III
celestial
 mind

celestial affective
(9)

celestial  cognitive
(8)

celestial
 sensorimotor
(7)

II
spiritual
 mind

spiritual affective
(6)

spiritual cognitive
(5)

spiritual
sensorimotor
(4)

I
natural
 mind

natural affective
(3)

natural cognitive
(2)

natural
sensorimotor
(1)

I call this type of chart an "ennead matrix" which the dictionary defines as a structure of nine. In this case the mind's operations can be tracked by an ennead matrix that displays nine categories of operations to keep track of in describing the mind's operations:

  • (9) the celestial feelings (affective level 3)

  • (8) the celestial thoughts (cognitive level 3)

  • (7) the celestial sensations (sensorimotor 3)

  • (6) the spiritual feelings (affective level 2)

  • (5) the spiritual thoughts (cognitive level 2)

  • (4) the spiritual sensations (sensorimotor 2)

  • (3) the natural feelings (affective level 1)

  • (2) the natural thoughts (cognitive level 1)

  • (1) the natural sensations (sensorimotor 1)

It helps a lot in deepening your understanding of this universal spiritual human structure if you can reproduce it yourself on a piece of paper and if you can then explain it to someone.

Here is the way I explain it. We have feelings, thoughts, and sensations. I call this the "threefold self." These operations define what the mind is. We can have these operations at different levels of consciousness and rationality. For instance, we can have celestial feelings--like compassion for someone's need, so that we reach out to help. Having or experiencing that celestial feeling is what initiates our action of helping out. The feeling is not enough because we need also to know what would help and how we can provide it. These are thoughts, not feelings. In order to act on anything whatsoever we need to have an initiating feeling or motive or need--these are equivalent in that they are affective operations. Once this initiating feeling is felt or experienced, it starts selecting from our cognitive mind those operations that result in a cognitive plan for help that is assessed as adequate and workable. So the affective operation begins the behavior, the cognitive operation directs it, and the sensorimotor operation executes it. This way of  talking about behavior is called the "threefold self" (see Section xx).

  • The celestial self is the third or highest level of operation of the mind (9 ==>8==>7)

  • The spiritual self is the second or intermediate level of operation of the mind (6==>5==>4)

  • The natural self is the first or lowest level of operation of the mind (3==>2==>1)

The numbers refer to the ennead matrix above. Note that the sequence of behavior is always:

affective==>cognitive==>sensorimotor

The mind always operates by means of the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor operations working together. The natural mind (cells 3,2,1) is what we are very familiar with because it is our daily conscious self while we live on earth. We are unconscious of the operations that are always going on in the spiritual mind (cells 6,5,4) and in the celestial mind (cells 9,8,7).

In order for the conscious natural mind to operate it is necessary that the other two unconscious levels of the mind be operative. The reason is that all operations of the mind are by correspondence reacting to the influx of the Spiritual Sun. In other words, once the mind becomes operational at birth, not only is it being built up by the spiritual heat and light of the Spiritual Sun, but the portions that are built up have the capacity to receive more spiritual heat and light, which initiates all the operations in the mind. The mind is built out of the same substances that also activate it and keep it functioning in perfect order to eternity. The mind is therefore not only an immortal spiritual organ, but it is also constantly 'online' like an electric stove that is plugged in and is thereby able to do its work of heat. Unplug it, and the stove cannot do its work. It has to be 'online' and you know it from the electricity bill at the end of the month!

The mind's operations are therefore dependent on the inflow or "influx" of spiritual heat (or love) and spiritual light (or truth). This is truly remarkable. The mind is made of love and truth and it is activated by love and truth flowing in. At the same time, the mind has the capacity to invert the incoming love and truth into their opposites. This inversion process requires rational ability.

You need to remember that mental = spiritual = eternity. While we are in the natural mind, we are not conscious of how everyone is in the same mental world. We have total blindness in our spiritual mind. We have the illusion that my mental world is private, and your mental world is private. And yet this is not true in the spiritual mind, and Swedenborg proves it by his reports, written from age 57 to 84 while he was conscious in both the natural mind and in the spiritual mind. This means that he was able to see everything we do in our natural mind, but in addition, he was conscious in the spiritual mind, which does not happen to everyone else until resuscitation immediately after our death (see Section xx).

So it's not a question of speculating about what happens after death. Theistic psychology could not be a science if it is based on various people's speculations about it. All evidence in the Swedenborg reports must be examined, and this is done in theistic psychology from the positive bias perspective. Swedenborg is the only scientist in the history of science who was able to have direct observational access to the world of the afterlife, where he interviewed those who had died recently, as well as a long time ago (see Section xx).

Remember that in order for us to have real thoughts and feelings we must have mental organs like the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor organs that make up the mental body in eternity from birth onward. In order to understand this explanation scientifically it is necessary to consider that sensations, thoughts and feelings cannot exist in the physical brain. Without coming to grips with this idea, it is not possible to see clearly that we are born dual citizens, with a temporary physical body made of physical substances in time-space, and a permanent mental body made of non-physical substances in eternity (not in time-space). The two bodies are connected by the laws of correspondence so that every single detail in the physical body is reflected by a corresponding detail in the mental body. When we die, the physical body disintegrates, but the mental body is immortal and continues life in the world of eternity. We have all our thoughts and feelings with us, our self and personality, since these are in the mental body to begin with, and were never located in the physical body that dies.

This requires some thinking through before you can see it clearly enough to be able to explain it logically to your friends.

Since our thinking is persuasively immersed within the negative bias in science, it is harder to let go of its negative principles regarding the reality of something that is not physical in time-space. The idea of something that is not physical and not in time-space, sounds like something obscure and thinly existent, instead of fully existent. You might for instance point out that your thoughts and feelings don't have the same rock bottom existence as the house, the car, or our salary raise. We can be rich and famous in our imagination, but what is this but bubbles in the air that burst into nothing as we are forced to live in poverty. If we did not get hired for a job we applied for, hopes about their changing their mind will remain just that, thoughts and visions, not actual reality. And so on. We can go on thinking like this because we have been trained to reason this way following negative bias rules of logic that exclude the possibility that your thoughts, hopes, and imagination are more rock bottom real than the chocolate bar you could be eating while reading this.

Question: Which is more real, the chocolate bar you are thinking about while reading this, or the chocolate bar in the store across the street?

What about this: Which is more real, the chocolate bar you are eating, or the enjoyment you are feeling?

Since we are born with a temporary physical body, whatever that body eats is also temporary. And since we are born with a permanent mental body, whatever that body eats is for eternity. We know what our physical body eats; what does our mental body eat? Can you guess? Our mental body eats mental food. You are familiar with the expression "food for thought." What does it refer to? The mental organs in our mental body when we are born are undeveloped. We are unable to think, to reason, to observe, to remember, to know what we feel. The mind at birth is void of meaning and cultural content. A newborn infant has a mental body that includes a sensorimotor organ, a cognitive organ, and an affective organ, all ready to operate and activate the natural mind (see Section xx). The natural mind grows and matures with daily development and accumulation of experiences through the physical senses.

The spiritual mind also grows, but is unconscious to us while we are still attached to the physical body in time. It grows not from input from the physical world, but from input from the mental world. If you became conscious right now in your spiritual mind, you would see what Swedenborg was able to see -- namely, that everyone else was there since this is the common place for all humanity right from birth. From his spiritual mind, Swedenborg was able to see the mental body of everyone. This is how we know that the mental body looks the same as the physical body since Swedenborg was able to recognize his friends and family who had passed on.

The three mental organs are recognized in non-theistic psychology as well, and you probably came across these concepts in your courses or readings. But there is a fundamental difference, which is that non-theistic psychology does not call them "organs" but "functions." This is like the difference between "negative bias materialistic monism" and "positive bias substantive dualism" (see Section xx). In the negative bias in science, cognitive operations are equated with neural activity in the physical brain. In the positive bias in science, cognitive operations are equated with the activity or change of state in the mental organ. Similarly, emotions are equated with neural activity in localized portions of the physical brain (e.g., amygdala), while in the positive bias in science, emotions and feelings are equated with the changes of state in the affective organ of the mental body.

You can see that if you deny that there is a mental organ in eternity outside this physical world, then you are compelled to think that thoughts and feelings exist in this world, and so you are then compelled to think that they are merely subjective experiences of what the physical brain is doing. Once you crossed this line you are completely immersed in materialistic monism. But you can step away and outside of it now that you are involved in the study of theistic psychology. You can consider rationally and scientifically what's involved in the positive bias in science mode of thinking about time vs. eternity -- the fundamental dualism of reality.

Once you realize that the negative bias in science is not a proven fact but a chosen and voluntary bias, and once you realize that you have been taught the negative bias in science without being told that is a bias, it might then be easier for you to step out of the negative bias in science and step into the positive bias in science.

Once you've chosen the conscious jump into the reality of dualism,  you can begin looking at your thoughts and feelings in a totally different light, with a new meaning that is powerful and logical. Here is your first theistic psychology concept rendered visually:

This visual concept is dualist. It has no meaning in non-theistic psychology. But it does have meaning if you grant the positive bias that it is scientifically possible that we are dual citizens. If this is possible then we need a scientific account that is systematic, consistent, and cumulative or holistic. All rational systems must have these properties and a science is a rational system. This visual concept uses the method of visually representing discrete dualist levels as one figure within another, or one form within another, or one structure within another. The meaning of "within" is fundamentally different within the the negative and positive bias in science. In non-theistic psychology "within" refers to that which is deeper in a continuous sense. So you would start from the surface of something and then go deeper and deeper within it. An example is the use of "internal" in medicine to refer to the organs we have within the body, in contrast with the organs we have on the surface of the body, like the skin or the mouth cavity which are "external."

So "external vs. internal" are both still time-space concepts when you are thinking in the negative bias mode. Can you explain that? But in the positive bias mode there is a duality of discrete degrees or zones that are not continuous with each other. This property is visually represented by the concentric forms. One cannot go from our physical body to our mental body, or vice versa because there is a built in barrier from creation. Every object that exists is created into one of the zones or discrete degrees of reality. For instance, your shoes exist from matter in time-space. This is called the natural world. Our physical body is born into the natural world. But your mental body exists in the spiritual world, which in theistic psychology, is called the mental world of the human race, which is in eternity, no tin time-space (see Section xx).

 The natural world cannot exist without the mental world and vice versa, because the two worlds are locked into each other by the laws of correspondences governing cause-effect relations. Here is a further expansion of the concept of dual citizenship:

The "world of effects" is familiar to us from every day life since birth. It is what goes on around us. While our thinking pattern is restricted to materialistic logic, we think and talk an as-if language regarding reality. For instance, we continue to use the expressions "sunrise" and "sunset" even though we know rationally that the sun does not rise or set. A sign of our sub-conscious materialism and monism is given off when we say "My brain is telling me to ..." or, "There is a brain drain in England to the migration of scientists to the U.S.", or, "This book will show you how to develop your brain power." etc.

In other words we talk as-if we believe that our mental life of thinking and feeling is in the operations of the brain. This is illogical when you examine it rationally since thoughts and feelings are not electrical operations in neuron cells. Mental operations exist in the mental world, which is apart or independent of the time-space zone of the natural world. Our sensations, thoughts, and feelings are not "on this earth" or "in this physical brain." To say so is to commit the reductionist fallacy (see Section xx). Instead, we rationally construct a dualist world, one in time-space, the other in eternity, with the two locked into each other by the laws of correspondences on a one to one and cause-effect basis (see Section xx).

Similarly, in our everyday situations we continue talking as if the effects we see around us are caused by other things around us, instead of them being correlations -- events that co-occur. For instance, if we are asked to explain what causes the car to accelerate when we drive and want to go faster, we say that pushing down the gas pedal causes the car to go faster. But in the positive bias perspective of dualism all causes are in the mental world of eternity, while all effects are in the physical world of time-space, the two worlds being connected by the laws of correspondences. So it is our goal or desire to go faster that is the cause of why the car is going faster. The pedal being pressed is not the cause but a correlated effect of the cause, the cause being the feeling that we want to go faster. In the positive bias mode of science, events in the mental world of eternity are the causes of events in the physical world of time-space. The mental world of eternity is also called the spiritual world (see Section xx).

So the causes of events in the physical world are located in the mental world. This may be obvious with the driving example, but it is equally true of the weather and earthquakes, though the explanation is more involved. It will be made clearer as you study theistic psychology (see Section xx).

For instance, when it rains here, it is an effect whose cause is in the spiritual world of eternity. When we lose our connection to the physical body through its death, we are immediately resuscitated in our mental body in the spiritual world of eternity where we continue our mental life of immortality (see Section xx). The sensorimotor, cognitive and affective states of the human race are the causes of all phenomena in the physical world -- climactic, geological, vegetarian, and animal evolution and physiology. This makes rational sense when you consider that God created the physical universe of time for the sake of the human race in eternity (see Section xx). Since we are used to think from the negative bias in science, we normally reason that the physical world came first, and then human beings developed from it, somehow, unspecified. But in the positive bias mode we are not so restricted in our thinking.

From the perspective of dualism, that form of it that is revealed in Sacred Scripture, God's purpose for creation is to populate a human heaven in eternity, endlessly evolving in a positive direction. To accomplish this purpose God created a physical world in time and space, and made every phenomenon in it, be dependent on a mental cause connected to His purpose. Hence it is that the physical world is created out of the mental world, namely, the substances of good and truth, as an infrastructure for its existence. The external portion of the physical world and its objects, is in time-space, but its internal infrastructure a discrete degree within and apart from time-space, is in eternity. What is in eternity is the cause of what is time-space.

So it's not surprising that the evolution of animal species and plants on earth reflect the mental states of the human race in eternity, since eternity is the world of causes and time-space is the world of effects. Generally speaking, you can see for instance that "paradisal" gardens and tame animal species are the results of heavenly mental states in the human mind of eternity. And hence you can also see that deserts, poisonous plants, and dangerous animal species evolved in correspondence to the development of the hells in the human race -- ferocious feelings of rage and vengeance give you an idea of how these mental states connect to the ferocity and killing power of some species of animals and plants (see Section xx). This connection can be understood rationally if you consider the laws of cause-effect correspondences between phenomena in time-space (effects) and mental states in eternity (causes).

Note that this connection is complex and involves the mental world of the entire human race. It would not be logical to think that the people who live in deserts and jungles, surrounded by wild animals and poisonous plants, are more negative in their thinking and feeling than people who live on tropical islands. There is no such connection. It would be obviously unscientific to make such claims. Rather, you need to see that there is an overall explanation given here for the connection between the two worlds, on a one to one basis, and since God created time-space to serve the human race, it's clear that the control mechanism God created and is maintaining in order, goes from mental to physical, not the other way round, from eternity to time, not the other way round.

Later we will study why God could not create the human race directly in eternity. Why do we have to be born dual citizens, die in the physical body, then continue life in eternity with the mental body? (see Section xx). Why could we not be born in eternity directly with our mental body? A general answer has to do with the essence of what it is to be human, namely to freely choose according to our reasoning (see Section xx). If we had been born directly into eternity, we would be angelic robots, hence not truly human. We need to have both heaven and hell in our mind so that we can freely choose between them. God's law of spiritual freedom is that every human being freely choose the lifestyle of heaven or that of hell. If we had been born directly into our heaven, we would not be able to choose between heaven and hell. And what we don't choose, we cannot love as-if it were our own (see Section xx). We would then be in a heaven that we do not consider our own -- which is really not a heaven at all. Hence it was necessary for human beings to have a physical body for awhile, while developing the natural mind in time-space. Meanwhile, the spiritual mind remains unconscious, even though it continues to grow along with the natural mind of which we are conscious in our daily life.

So in order to make things work, God created us dual citizens in such a way that every single detail in the world of time is tied by correspondence to its cause in the world of eternity. In this way the two worlds -- physical time and mental eternity -- make a one by the laws of correspondence. Without the world of eternity, the world of time could not exist. So it's not too difficult for you to picture and comprehend this whole process of creation, God, and the two worlds acting together by the laws of correspondences to bring about God's purpose of an eternal heaven populated by the human race.

As discussed, every species of animals corresponds to some human emotion and reasoning process. In general, selfish and harmful motives and emotions cause ferocious and dangerous animal species to come into existence and to thrive, while heavenly traits cause the peaceful and non-dangerous species to come into existence. The evolution of species of animals and plants is caused by the biography of humanity's mental world in eternity. Your thoughts and feelings right now, in this very moment, are not here on earth! This would not be possible since thoughts and feelings are not in time and space. So what you are thinking and feeling, along with the other people of the human race, are events in eternity, not in time, not on earth.

The mental life of the human race is in eternity, and it is the cause of all the details of the physical world -- animals, plants, geological formations, earthquakes, sun spots, galaxies expanding, molecules hurtling in your cells, etc. All physical phenomena are created and directed by God through the mental life of the human race, which is in eternity. God's omnipotence extends to every detail, but it is according to His Divine Love and Wisdom to use the mental world of humanity as the trigger that causes the physical events on earth. In this way the two worlds might be united as one, functioning in interdependent symbiosis and synchrony.

These details are presented to you now so that you can become aware that theistic psychology is one consistent rational account in which all parts are fully integrated and consistent with each other. All the details presented here so far will have to be followed by other details that fit consistently as they are cumulated. Not one single lack of fit is allowed in a rational science. This is quite contrastive with non-theistic materialistic psychology where people propose a variety of different theories that are not consistent with each other (see Section xx). You will need to reread theistic psychology Sections and paragraphs several times on different days so that you can learn to cumulate your knowledge in a rational and consistent manner. Only in this way can you actually see that theistic psychology is fully rational, consistent, cumulative, empirical, and scientific.

We don't ordinarily think of the mental world as "real" in terms of being constructed of something, like we think of the brain as "real," constructed out of protein matter, which is ultimately from the natural sun in time-space. But the mind is also real, being a spiritual mental body whose organs are constructed of eternal substances from the Spiritual Sun in eternity (see Section xx). These eternal spiritual substances are mental and are real, more permanent than the physical brain, which is only temporary, and eventually dies or disintegrates. But the mind in the mental body is permanent or immortal, and cannot die, once it is born. Hence our self and personality is immortal and at death we continue life uninterrupted since the self is not in the physical brain or body that dies.

Approximately 30 hours after the physical body dies, we are awakened or "resuscitated" in our spiritual mind which is the upper zone of the mental body in the world of eternity. We appear to ourselves and to others there, as exactly the same as we were in the physical body. But the mental body is a spiritual body, a permanent body, an eternal or immortal body made of eternal substances. It is sometimes called a "spiritual body" because the mental world of eternity is also referred to as the "spiritual world" (see Section xx).

For further Discussion see Section 12.0.5 in Volume 12

1.0.1.2  Theism in Theistic Science: Universe Created and Managed by God

Theism in theistic science is the premise that the universe is created and maintained in order by God according to laws and procedures that God has revealed in Sacred Scripture. The following conceptual chart is also discussed in more detail elsewhere (see Section xx). For now, try to memorize it enough so that you can reproduce it on a piece of paper as you are explaining it to a friend. I recommend that you print the chart so you can look at it as you follow the explanations below (select it, copy it, go to your word processor, paste it, print it).

1.0.1.2.1  Born Into Eternity  

The above theistic psychology concept, expressed in a schematic chart, is arranged vertically with God on top and an ordered sequence of discrete (discontinuous) layers downward. It is both a map of spiritual geography and a schematic of mental anatomy. See the Layers Diagram.

In theistic psychology the word spiritual has the same meaning as mental. The chart is called "born into eternity" to indicate our dual citizenship (see Section xx). You need to remember that in all theistic psychology charts and diagrams, what is on top is a discrete degree more interior or "higher" than what is below. "Discrete" is the opposite of "continuous." For instance, if you have a car and want to travel to Europe or Japan with it, you can go all the way to the edge of the ocean, even if it is thousands of miles away. But once you get there you cannot continue your journey to Europe or Japan. You've gone as far as it is possible to go on a continuous basis, getting closer and closer to the edge of the ocean. Now you need to jump a discrete degree in means of transportation. You need a different vehicle that operates in a totally different medium of transportation, like a ship, airplane, rocket, or so called 'transport beams'. Cars and ships are in discrete degree from each other as transportation venues. Cars and trains are in continuous degrees with each other. Ships and airplanes are in discrete degree with each other. Etc. (see Section xx).

So all charts and concepts in theistic psychology are arranged vertically, with all the elements being in discrete degrees with each other and connected by the laws of correspondence.

So as you inspect the chart of yourself "born into eternity," viewed schematically in the positive bias mode of theistic psychology, what do you see? What reactions do you have? This is no doubt the first time that such hidden knowledge about yourself is being revealed in a psychology course! Look at what you are from a global anatomical perspective. See how you are specifically connected to God, regardless of what your beliefs are, or what your socialization and cultural origins are. This chart is not about culture or religion: it's about the anatomy and physiology of the human mind. There is only one human mind for the whole human race. Every person's mental world is in that one common mental world of humanity, and overlaps with it. We can see each other only through the spiritual mind, which remains unconscious until resuscitation (see Section xx). But Swedenborg had his spiritual mind become conscious while he was still attached to the physical body. This is how he was able to write the Writings Sacred Scripture, upon which theistic psychology is based.

As human beings we possess an immortal mental body born into eternity and a temporary physical body attached to it. The two are tied to each other by the laws of correspondence so that the operations in the two bodies are completely integrated and acting symbiotically as one organism. The physical body is shown at the bottom of the chart because it is located in time-space and constructed out of physical world substances from the natural sun. "Bottom" means "most external" or "lowest." "Top" means inmost and highest. The physical body is external in time-space-matter, while the mental body (mind), is internal in the world of eternity, and constructed out of the substances of the Spiritual Sun.

If you ask people what is the world of eternity and how they picture it, you get almost nothing. No one can have any idea of it, except from Sacred Scripture. From this Divine source we know many rational and scientific facts such as theistic psychology and theistic science. The simplest way you can tell people what the world of eternity is like, is to tell them to think about their own mental world -- their thoughts, their dreams, their day dreams, their imagination, their logic and reasoning, etc. Everybody is very familiar with their own mental world. But they don't know these two things about it:

  • there is only one mental world for all of the human race

  • this mental world is the same as the afterlife of eternity

The only reason we cannot see each other in our own mental world is that the natural mind is developed from the information we have through the physical senses. Consequently all our concepts and logic in the natural mind is time-bound and space-bound and matter-bound. It's only if you abstract out these elements from your thinking, that you can then think rationally with concepts that are not time-bound and space-bound. What is not time-bound and space-bound is called eternity. With rational concepts we can think scientifically about eternity, but not with sensory concepts based on sensory input through physical senses. The spiritual mind, on the other hand, does not receive anything through the physical senses of the physical world, but only through the mental body whose senses receive input from the mental world alone. Consequently, all the ideas we have in the spiritual mind have nothing in common with the ideas we have in the natural mind. On the chart born into eternity, you can see that the natural mind (containing time-space concepts and logic), is separated from the spiritual mind (containing only spiritual concepts and logic), by the rational mind.

The rational mind plays an intermediate role between mental states patterned after time-space (natural mind), and mental states patterned after eternity (spiritual mind). Later we will also see how these three discrete zones of the mental world are reproduced in the history and evolution of civilization, and as well, in the history of Sacred Scripture, which was cumulatively written over thousands of years (see Section xx). All this may sound intellectually intimidating to you, perhaps even grandiose. This is a normal reaction when we are thi8nking from the negative bias mode of materialism. Throughout our study of psychology courses we have come to realize that non-theistic psychology is not unified, is not rational, is not cumulative, and is only partially helpful in solving real life problems like depression, rage, racial conflict, relationship problems, abuse, crime, etc. etc. One explanation for this lack of power to solve problems is to say that these problems are too complex to be solved. But another explanation is that the knowledge and principles we have for solving them are not very powerful, not very accurate, not realistic of actuality. The negative bias monism is surely to blame for this lack of power since it contradicts what a human being actually is.

Note that in the chart Sacred Scripture is placed in the bottom zone of the natural world, along with our physical body. Why? Because it is a physical book written by people in some natural language in some society on earth at some period of time, and republished with every generation. All books are placed in that bottom zone. But of course, the meaning of the printed sentences is not part of the physical world. That is part of the mental world of eternity where Divine Speech exists. When Divine Speech in eternity descends to the bottom of the human mind, it is embodied in the sentences of Sacred Scripture written in natural languages. Divine Speech Itself is in a spiritual language, not natural language. When we are resuscitated a few hours after we lose the physical body, we are conscious in our spiritual mind in the mental body. In that state we talk to each other in a universal, built in human language that is not related in any way to the natural language we spoke. Rather, Swedenborg describes it as a rational thought-language that is more powerful by a discrete degree than the natural mind in which you are now reading this. This is something nice to look forward to!

Knowing this would weaken our absolutist ties and loyalty to this or that culture or ethnic group since we know that our ethnic or racial identity is not permanent. What is more permanent is the quality of our feelings and what we can understand rationally. All people, regardless of race, ethnicity, and religion, have the same mental physiology, the same mental organs, the same substances that flow in from the Spiritual Sun and activating the operations in the mind -- sensations, thoughts, and feelings. No individual in the human race has something different than this. So the idea that we lose our ethnic identity, culture, and language makes sense rationally since these are part of the natural mind, as the chart shows. But after resuscitation, the natural mind quickly fades into inactivity and unconsciousness. Hence all our identity and cultural memories are shut down.

During the course of 27 years while he was living with both minds being conscious at the same time, Swedenborg interviewed many people after their resuscitation (see Section xx). In the initial stages of our resuscitation, we are still partially conscious in the natural mind, so that we may have a continuity. Otherwise we might think that we have been kidnapped and deposited in some mental asylum. So we have to have our own memories of who we are and where we come from. This is the reason that the visual appearance that others have of us in that mental state, is similar enough to our physical body that they can recognize us if we knew each other in the physical body.

But very soon we come to realize that we are now in an immortal mental world of eternity. We no longer have a country, family, or place of residence. Whatever is around us is an expression of our thoughts and feelings. The consequence of this is that the only people we see are those who are in the same mental state as we are, having thoughts and feelings that are compatible. We cannot see anyone whose thoughts and feelings are not compatible with ours since our environment must express what our mental states are like.

And if I want to see someone who is not present, all I have to do is to put myself in a mental state that is compatible with that person, and there is the person in front of me, and we can interact. You can see from this, and what you will learn later, that the laws of living are completely different in the spiritual mind, and hence, people who wish to remain in the natural mind experience a kind of spiritual insanity that splits their mind and prevents them from adjusting to the new laws of life in eternity. The result is that they begin to sink into that portion of the natural mind that remains open and active for those who keep their consciousness in that mental zone. The chart identifies the inherited human hells as located in the sensuous-natural zone of the mind.

But people who have developed their rational mind can make a successful transition to the spiritual mind because the rational mind can contain concepts from the spiritual mind. In order to develop the rational mind we had to rely on the knowledges that arrived to us through Sacred Scripture, either directly or indirectly (see Section xx). You can see from these considerations that the materialistic monism of non-theistic science does not prepare people adequately for migrating from the natural mind to the spiritual mind. But theistic science and theistic psychology does prepare our rational mind if we allow it to be formed solely by Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

When we read the books of Sacred Scripture in their literal historical meaning it is our natural mind that perceives the literal meaning and comprehends it from intelligence and education. So the printed sentences are part of the physical world but our comprehension of their meaning is part of the mental world. There is therefore a discrete degree of separation between the printed sentence of Sacred Scripture in the physical world, and the meaning of the sentence in the mental world. This discrete separation between the two worlds of time and eternity is indicated on the chart with the double arrows. Between them is marked the line of eternity or mind-body dualism arranged by correspondence.

The chart indicates that the mental body (or mind) is anatomically constructed in three discrete degrees or layers of organs and their states and operations. These three mental organs of the natural mind are shown above the line of eternity to indicate that our mental life is immortal right from birth, even in our natural mind. The three discrete or discontinuous levels of the human mind are called natural, rational, and spiritual. Each of these has quasi-discrete sub-levels, as we will study elsewhere (see Section xx). Our conscious everyday mental world is the natural mind with its sub-levels (e.g., the sensuous mind). Notice what the chart mentions about our natural mind operations: conscious memory, personality, and intelligence. But there is also a discrete sub-level that is marked on the chart as the "inherited subconscious" and the "human hells." See the Layers Diagram.

If someone had asked you before you read this, where is hell, what would you have been able to say? Probably not something very specific because this knowledge is not known to people in the negative bias mode of thinking. However those who read Sacred Scripture and can derive a rational coherent account from it, know that heaven and hell are in the human mind. This is plainly revealed in the literal meaning of the New Testament Sacred Scripture and in the Writings Sacred Scripture. Note that the subconscious level of the mind, and the human hells level, are both inherited. We are already familiar with the idea in non-theistic psychology that many traits of the physical body are inherited from parents, as well as from a long series of generations, with inherited recessive genes that come out unpredictably in later generations.

The reason that the physical body genetically behaves this way is that it is caused to behave this way by the mental body to which the physical body is connected by one to one correspondence of every part from organ level to biochemical and genetic levels. Every genetic characteristic of the physical body is caused by a corresponding characteristic in the mental body (see Section xx).

So our natural mind has sub-conscious portions that are inherited, as well as conscious portions that are acquired by experience. Feeling the "impulse to avoid our obligations" is an example of an inherited hellish trait. Liking to take revenge and enjoying being cruel against an enemy, is another example of an inherited hellish trait. Surely you know many of them from observing your own thoughts and impulses. Some of these thoughts shock you. Some don't shock you and you find it difficult to get rid of, like not keeping promises to your friends or family, or enjoying thinking unflattering things about somebody you don't like, or cheating and stealing, or driving after drinking, etc. etc. By the time we are young adults, and begin to be conscious of what we're like inside of our own mind, we discover a huge number of hellish traits that we have kept around for many years and are now practicing as habits (see Section xx).

The sub-title for Theistic Psychology is "The Science of Immortality." People in the negative bias mode scoff at such an idea for two reasons. First, in the past many unscientific proposals were called by their authors as "scientific" so that the claim became empty, not something scientists would pay attention to. The second reason is that scientists in the negative bias mode of thinking are not capable of thinking logically about dualism and God, as long as they deny their existence and reality. This is obvious. So in order to investigate whether or not dualism and God exist, they will have to adopt the positive bias in science and allow for the possibility that God and dualism are scientific concepts. After the investigation they may conclude that God and dualism are not scientific concepts, but if they conclude this before the examination, it is correct to call it their negative bias in science, not their rational judgment.

 So now, from the perspective of the positive bias in science, the idea of a "science of immortality" makes rational sense since (a) we are born immortal, and (b) God reveals scientific facts by means of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

Now if you go back to the schematic anatomy of the mental body on the chart of born to eternity discussed above, you can see that the discrete level above the sensuous-natural mind is called the rational mind. Theistic psychology shows that animals do not possess a rational mind. They possess a natural-sensuous mind with which they inherit wired in instinctive knowledge and perception, but they can also learn and adapt to changes in the environment through memory and new habits. They can also be taught to communicate with purpose and even use sign language and other signaling systems (google these topics for interesting literature on this). However they cannot be taught to reason like human beings. By the time a human child reaches age 3 or 4, it far surpasses in reasoning ability anything any animal can do at its best. So you can imagine the difference at age 7 or 17 or 35.

All this is because animals do not have a mental organ called the rational mind. Hence what makes us human is not the natural mind, which we share with animals, but the rational mind, which only human beings have. We are born like animals with our natural mind fully functioning and developing, containing both inherited traits and acquired traits. But we are not fully human until our rational mind begins operating and influencing our natural mind. Note the arrow in the chart between the rational mind and the natural mind. The fact that it points downwards means that operations in our rational mind influence operations in the natural mind, but not the other way around. It is extremely important to understand this anatomical feature of our mental body.

To understand this, notice the components listed in the rational mind: sociality, motivation, love, rationality. These are not normally conscious to our awareness. You are reading these sentences and what you are thinking has to do with its meaning, not its grammar. You may or may not know that grammar (or "syntax") is a set of rules that cause you to select certain words in a certain order that others can then understand. People who have not been educated and have never heard of grammar, are able to speak and understand just like the people who know a lot about grammar. So it's not necessary to be conscious of the grammar we acquire spontaneously by experience when we learn to a speak a language. You can see therefore that the operations of the rational mind (higher level), such as human syntax and human rationality, operate without our awareness in order to make possible the operations we perform at a lower level (natural mind) and of which we are fully conscious. We can think logically and rationally in our natural mind only because our rational mind is controlling it by correspondence. Animals cannot think logically and rationally in their natural mind because they do not have a rational mind to control its performance.

Now notice what is above the rational mind. This is the highest level of mental operation and consciousness possible for human beings. It is called the spiritual mind and itself has several discrete sub-levels. The main levels are the spiritual mind itself, and the celestial mind which is within the spiritual, or above it. The human heavens are located in that portion of the mental body called the spiritual and the celestial mind. The human heavens in the spiritual mind is called the Second Heaven which operates with spiritual-rational consciousness. The human heavens in the celestial mind is called the Third Heaven which operates with celestial-rational consciousness (see Section xx).

Now notice what is above the spiritual-celestial mind, thus above the human heavens: Good and Truth from Divine Speech proceeding from the Spiritual Sun, which is the visible aura that surrounds God the Divine Human, as seen several times by Swedenborg when he ascended to that region of the human mind (see Section xx). He reports that the Spiritual Sun and the Divine Human appear visually to every person who consciously dwells in the highest region of their mind. Amazingly, whichever way they turn in their heavenly environment the vision of the Spiritual Sun and the Divine Human  remains in front of them! (see Section xx) This will become understandable to you when you begin to examine how our mental body moves around in eternity (see Section xx).

So now we have reviewed together the components of the chart from top to bottom. We need to point out some its overall characteristics. Note this most important fact about the chart: The very top of it, or its Firsts, creates, causes, directs, and rules every step below it through intermediate steps, and the last step at the bottom is the physical world, which may therefore be called its Lasts. So God creates and manages the universe from Firsts through Lasts, in corresponding discrete degrees. Nothing is left out, all of it determined by God from start to finish.

Note also that the mental body is constructed out of mental organs arranged in discrete levels, the level above controlling the level below by correspondence.  Since God creates and manages all things in the universe by means of the laws of correspondences, the revelation of what these correspondences are now gives science the ability for the first time in history, to understand how mental things control physical things in the entire universe at all levels (see Section xx). You can see this clearly form the chart. The physical world and its phenomena are at the bottom of the chain of correspondences from God to the natural mind. God creates and maintains the phenomena in the physical world through the human mind and its layers from top down. (See the Layers Diagram.) This may seem fantastic to you! And yet it is true, and the study of theistic psychology can  proves it to your rational understanding.

Theism in science tries to show through a rational and scientific account, how God manages the universe through the mental world of eternity and by means of the laws of correspondences between the physical and the mental (see Section xx). These laws constitute built-in relationships from creation and cannot be altered. Now they have been revealed to humanity through the Writings Sacred Scripture written by Swedenborg (see Section xx). The laws of correspondences discovered by Swedenborg forms the scientific basis for theistic psychology and all of theistic science (see Section xx).

Keep studying the diagram called "born into eternity" discussed in this Section. Start thinking of people and of yourself in those terms and from that perspective. Give yourself the opportunity to see something new that you can understand rationally. Try thinking of the up-down direction of the chart as arranged in concentric figures:

This diagram portrays the anatomy of  a human being viewed in simultaneous order of discrete degrees, while the first chart called "born into eternity" and discussed above, portrays the successive order of discrete degrees that make up a human being. The successive order is usually portrayed as a top-down chart, while the simultaneous order is portrayed as concentric circles. What is at the top, or beginning, in the successive series,  becomes the inmost in the simultaneous series, and what was at the bottom of the successive series, now becomes the external of the entire construct.

Picturing this diagram in your understanding will help you have theistic x-ray vision, so to speak, when you are looking at your friend or any stranger, or looking at yourself in the mirror. You can say: This is me. I am immortal. I am looking at my external parts, which is my temporary physical body in time-space. But with my theistic psychology x-ray vision, as shown in this diagram, I can see rationally within myself. Within my physical body is my natural mind -- not physically within, but a discrete degree within. My natural mind corresponds to the input from my physical body. But my natural mind would not be human and rational unless it is made to operate in correspondence with my rational mind, which is a discrete degree within my natural mind. The correspondence action of the my rational mind upon my natural mind, keeps my natural mind operating rationally so that I don't have to be limited in my thinking to what I see sensuously through my senses. I can think abstractly about the sensuous mind, constructing rational accounts that order the sensuous mind into a rational logic. All this is accomplished by the fact that the natural mind is created to be in correspondence with the rational mind.

The diagram also tells me that my rational mind operates with a rational logic because it corresponds to the spiritual mind, which remains unconscious to our awareness until after my physical body dies. My spiritual mind is the mental organ that contains the human heavens in eternity.  And the only reason my spiritual mind can contain the human heavens is that the spiritual mind is created to correspond to good and truth flowing in from the Spiritual Sun that appears around God the Divine Human (see Section xx).

There you have it. You can now look into a human being from the external portion to the inmost portion. Later, as you begin to learn more and more about how each of these levels operate in your mind, you will realize how everything is integrated into a rational order that our mind can understand. God wants us to understand rationally the reality He has created for our sake, and is maintaining for our evolution into eternity. The true human life is in the spiritual mind, which is why all the portions of the mind below it are put to sleep and rendered inoperative. Once we are in eternity, all we need is the organ that contains heaven.

But sadly perhaps, a substantial portion of the human race in eternity -- which is of course immense by now -- does not dwell in their spiritual mind where heaven is, but in their natural-sensuous mind where hell is. There is nothing rational whatsoever in the thoughts and feelings we have in the hells of our mind. We are spiritually insane in our immortality if we maintain ourselves in that mental state out of our free choice (see Section xx). God always honors our free choices, so that if we prefer hellish feelings we can have that too in our immortality. So the spiritual mind which is the highest rational mind we can have, is shut down for them, and they dwell in the interior portions of their natural mind, living insanely, pitifully, and inhumanly (see Section xx).

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

Note: The following transformation Table will help you understand the quoted paragraphs in terms of theistic psychology concepts. It will also illustrate for you the relationship between the literal sense of Sacred Scripture, which is intended for religion, and the spiritual scientific meaning that is hidden within it, but can be extracted from it by appropriate methods of extraction (see Section xx). Study both sides of the conversion table until you are able to reproduce them by memory.

 
LITERAL SENSE OF THE
WRITINGS SACRED SCRIPTURE
(for religion)
EXTRACTED SPIRITUAL SCIENTIFIC SENSE
(for theistic psychology and science)
the Lord God, the Divine Psychologist present in the mind of every human being (see Section xx)
** the Word;
** whatever stands in the literal or natural sense of the Word, enfolds and stands for something spiritual;
** every detail of the literal sense of the Word contains a correspondential sense.
** Sacred Scripture, Divine Speech, Doctrine of Truth, Scientific Revelations;
** theistic psychology as the spiritual scientific sense of Sacred Scripture that is extracted by the method prescribed in the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx)
his body, natural, material physical body in time and space (see Section xx)
his soul, spirit, spiritual, spiritual body, his internal man our mental organs and mental body or mind, which is born in eternity (see Section xx)
** to correspond;
** natural-spiritual correspondences; ** permanent correspondence between the natural and spiritual events in a person's life
** the spiritual body has to be formed in the material one
**  there is something more interior which thinks and wills of which the body is the instrumental or material organ
cause-effect relationship between mental or spiritual events in eternity (cause) vs. natural or physical events in time-space (effect) (see Section xx);
** our mental body is born in eternity while the physical body is born in time, and the two until our death, are temporarily connected by the laws of correspondence (see Section xx)
** the mental body is "within" the physical body, not in terms of space, but in terms of discrete degrees
** the mental body causes the physical body to operate the way it does, including its anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and genetics
** process of regeneration;
** regeneration is on the model of a person's conception, gestation in the womb, birth
** a truth which is to be instilled into good
** character reformation efforts in daily willing (affective organ) and thinking (cognitive organ)
** to make our willing and thinking conform to our rational understanding of theistic psychology;
** this prepares and enables our highest or heavenly mental organs to operate our immortal life in eternity
** without this lifelong preparation or character reformation, our life of immortality is restricted to our lowest mental organs called the hells (see Section xx)
** material body laid aside;
** the world where all things are spiritual;
** separation from the body
** the angels in heaven are from the human race
** death or separation from our physical body in time-space, which is followed a few hours later by conscious resuscitation in the mental world of eternity where we are co-present with all other human beings that were ever born anywhere (see Section xx)
** when we start our conscious life in the immortality of our rational mental organs, we receive the tile of heavenly spirits or angels, or conjugial angel couples (see Section xx)
** or else, we start our immortality in our corporeal mental organs, and we are then called devils, satans, dragons, sirens, and genii, depending on our evil or rationally insane character (see Section xx)
a process accomplished by the inflow of truths and various kinds of good from the Lord through the spiritual world from the Spiritual Sun in eternity there inflow into every human being's mental organs two immortal substances called spiritual light -- or Divine Truth, inflowing into our cognitive organ, and spiritual heat -- or Divine Good, inflowing into our affective organ (see Section xx)
this is not evident to him in his lifetime because of the obscurity, indeed the thick darkness brought about by earthly, physical, and worldly things ** while we are still connected to the physical body we are conscious in the natural mind which takes all its content from the physical environment through the sensory organs
** at death and resuscitation, our natural mind gradually becomes unconscious and we then live our conscious immortality in our spiritual mind, which until death remains unconscious (except for Swedenborg from age 57 to 84) (see Section xx)
the man cares nothing for heaven, for he then thinks of himself as he does of the brute animals our natural mind is in the negative bias mode of thinking until we allow it to acquire and develop rational concepts in the positive bias mode of thinking, such as the study of theistic psychology for the purpose of character reformation (see Section xx)

Now here are sections from several Numbers:

TCR 583. IV The process of regeneration is on the model of a person's conception, gestation in the womb, birth and upbringing.

The natural and spiritual events in a person's life, that is, what happens to his body and what to his spirit, are so ordered as permanently to correspond. The reason is that a person is by birth spiritual as regards his soul, and he is clothed with a natural form which is constituted by his material body. When therefore this is laid aside, his soul, clothed in his spiritual body, comes into the world where all things are spiritual, and there associates with people like him.

Now the spiritual body has to be formed in the material one, a process accomplished by the inflow of truths and various kinds of good from the Lord through the spiritual world. These are inwardly received by the person in such things belonging to the natural world as are called civil and moral; so it is evident how the process of formation takes place. Because, as already said, there is a permanent correspondence between the natural and spiritual events in a person's life, it follows that this process must resemble his conception, gestation in the womb, birth and upbringing.

That is why natural births in the Word mean spiritual births, that is, the birth of good and truth. For whatever stands in the literal or natural sense of the Word, enfolds and stands for something spiritual. I demonstrated fully in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture that every detail of the literal sense of the Word contains a correspondential sense. (TCR 583)

AC 3342 Such things also exist within man - for man is a spirit clothed with the body - as becomes clear from the fact that when anything spoken that is perceived by the ear rises up towards the more interior parts, it passes into mental images not unlike those of visual objects, and from these into conceptual ideas, and in this way one comes to perceive the sense of the words. Anyone who reflects on these matters properly may recognize from them that within him there is his spirit, which is his internal man, and also that he has this kind of ability to communicate following his separation from the body, for the same ability exists with him though this is not evident to him in his lifetime because of the obscurity, indeed the thick darkness brought about by earthly, physical, and worldly things. (AC 3342)

AC 1970. By genuine visions are meant visions or sights of such things in the other life as have real existence, and are nothing but actual things that can be seen by the eyes of the spirit and not by the eyes of the body, and that appear to a man when his interior sight is opened by the Lord (that is, the sight which his spirit has), and into which he comes when, separated from the body, he passes into the other life; for a man is a spirit clothed with a body. Such were the visions of the prophets. When this sight is opened, then those things which have actual existence with spirits are seen in clearer day than that of noon in this world, not only the representatives, but also the spirits themselves, together with a perception of who they are, also what they are, where they are, whence they come, whither they are going; also of what affection, what persuasion, nay of what faith they are (n. 1388, 1394), all confirmed by living speech, exactly as if it were human speech, and this free from all fallacy. (AC 1970)

AC 4364. Take as another example the truth that man is a spirit, and that he is clothed with a body while he lives in the world. This also is a truth which is to be instilled into good; for unless it has been so instilled, the man cares nothing for heaven, for he then thinks of himself as he does of the brute animals.

But this truth cannot be instilled except by means of special things, as by these-that the body which he carries about serves for uses in this world, namely, that he may see the things that are in the world with material eyes, and may act by material muscles, thereby having powers that are adapted to the heavy things in the world; and that nevertheless there is something more interior which thinks and wills of which the body is the instrumental or material organ; and that a man's spirit is himself, or the man himself, who acts and feels through these organic forms; and that he can confirm this by many of his own experiences if he is once in the belief that the case is so.  (AC 4364)

HH 453. MAN AFTER DEATH IS IN A COMPLETE HUMAN FORM
It can be confirmed from things already shown in several previous sections that the form of the spirit of man is the human form, that is, that the spirit is a man even in form, especially where it is shown that every angel is in a complete human form (n. 73-77); that in respect of his interiors every man is a spirit (n. 432-444); and that the angels in heaven are from the human race (n. 311-317).

[2] This can be seen still more clearly from the fact that it is by virtue of his spirit, and not by virtue of his body, that man is a man, and that the corporeal form is added to the spirit in accordance with the spirit's form, and not the reverse, for it is in accordance with its own form that the spirit is clothed with a body. Consequently, the spirit of man acts into every part of the body, even the minutest, insomuch that if any part is not actuated by the spirit, or the spirit is not active in it, it does not live. Anyone can know that this is true from this fact alone, that thought and will actuate all things and each thing of the body with such entire command that everything concurs, and anything that does not concur is not a part of the body, but is cast out as something without life; and thought and will belong, not to the body, but to the spirit of man.

[3] A spirit is not visible in the human form to man after it has been loosed from the body, nor does he see the spirit in another man, because the body's organ of sight, or its eye, so far as it sees in the world, is a material organ, and what is material can see only what is material, while what is spiritual sees what is spiritual. When, therefore, the material part of the eye becomes darkened and is deprived of its co-operation with the spiritual, then the spirits appear in their own form, which is the human form, not only the spirits who are in the spiritual world, but also the spirit of another man while it is yet in its body. (HH 453)

Study Questions: 1.0 to 1.0.1.2.2  (Report 1)

Week 3 Readings: Section 1.0 to 1.0.1.2.1

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

3.1.
(a) Describe your educational experience regarding the positive and negative bias in science.
(b) Describe your reaction to what this week's readings say about science education.

3.2.
(a) Describe your reaction to discovering that you are a dual citizen.
(b) Is this difficult for you to go along with as part of the positive bias in science?
(c) Describe the reaction of your friends or family with whom you discussed the course.

3.3.
(a) Give a description of the anatomy of a human being viewed in the positive bias in science as a dual citizen.
(b) How is this anatomy different from the anatomy you learned before?
(c) Describe your reaction to this new knowledge.

3.4.
(a) Explain the idea that there is only one mental world in the human race.
(b) How was this proven by Swedenborg?
(c) What are the potential consequences of this discovery for you and society once it becomes known?

3.5.
(a) What does it mean that we are "born into eternity"?
(b) How does this relate to God and the afterlife?
(c) How does it relate to the anatomy of our mental world?

3.6.
(a) Describe the correspondential relationship between the physical body and the mental body.
(b) How do they work together?
(c) How do you react to learning these facts about yourself?

3.7.
(a) Explain the relationship between Divine Speech and human minds. You'll need to include the concepts of "Spiritual Sun" and "spiritual substances."
(b) How do your friends react to the existence of a Spiritual Sun in eternity?

3.8.
(a) Explain the answer to "Where are you?" as viewed from the perspective of "substantive dualism."
(b) Try to teach this idea to your friends. What success did you have?

3.9.
(a) How would you prove that you are immortal? Think about it by reflecting on the new concepts in this week's readings. Make a list. Be sure you can define them to your own rational comprehension.
(b) Now present the proof to a friend or two.
(c) Describe their reactions and arguments.
(d) How do you interpret what happened?


 

1.0.1.2.2   Male Mind, Female Mind, and Conjoint Mind

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

CL 193. (8) A woman is actually transformed into a wife according to the description in the book of creation. We are told in this book that woman was created from the rib of a man, and that when she was brought to him, the man said,

She...is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'Ishshah (Woman) because she was taken from 'Ish (Man). (Genesis 2:22-24)

In the Word, a rib from the breast symbolically means, in its spiritual sense, not a rib but natural truth. This is the symbolism of the ribs which the bear carried between its teeth in Daniel 7:5; for bears symbolize people who read the Word in its natural sense and see truths there without understanding. The breast of a man symbolizes that essential and distinctive quality which makes it different in character from the breast of a woman. This quality is wisdom, as may be seen above in no. 187; for truth supports wisdom, as a rib supports the breast. These distinctive qualities are symbolized, because the breast is where all the qualities of a person are, so to speak, at their center.

[2] It follows from this that woman was created from man by a transmission and replication of his distinctive wisdom, which is formed from natural truth, and that man's love for this wisdom was transferred to woman so as to become conjugial love; moreover, that the purpose of this was to replace love of self in man with love for his wife, who, from a nature innate in her, cannot help but turn the love of self in man to his love for her. I have been told, too, that this comes about as a result of the wife's love, without either the man or the wife being conscious of it. It is because of this that no one is ever able to love his partner with a truly conjugial love so long as he is possessed of a conceit in his own intelligence from a love of self.

[3] Once this secret of the creation of woman from man has been understood, it can be seen that in marriage a woman is similarly created or formed, so to speak, from her husband, and that this transformation is brought about by the wife - or rather, through the wife by the Lord, who infuses into women the inclination to achieve it. For a wife receives into her an image of her husband by assimilating his affections into her (see above, no. 173); by uniting the internal will of her husband with hers (concerning which below); and also by incorporating into her the propagations of his soul (of which also below).

It is apparent from this that a woman is transformed into a wife according to the description in the book of creation understood in respect to its inner meaning, and that she is transformed through the qualities she takes from her husband and his "breast" and implants in herself. (CL 193)

CL 194. (9) This transformation is accomplished by the wife in secret ways, which is what is meant by woman's having been created while the man slept. We read in the book of creation that Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam so that he slept, and that He then took one of the man's ribs and fashioned it into a woman (Genesis 2:21,22). This sleep and the man's sleeping symbolize a man's complete ignorance that his wife is transformed and, so to speak, created from him. This is apparent from observations made in the preceding chapter, and also in this one, respecting wives' innate discretion and prudence not to divulge anything of their love, not even of their adopting their husband's life's affections and of their thus transfusing his wisdom into them.

It is clear from what we presented before in nos. 166-168ff that a wife does this without her husband's knowing and while he is, so to speak, asleep, thus that she does it in secret ways. We also showed in the same numbers that the prudence needed to accomplish it is instinctive in women from creation, thus from birth, for reasons that are necessary in building conjugial love, friendship and trust, so that the two may have bliss in living together and happiness of life.

In order that this may come about as it should, therefore, it was enjoined on man that he leave father and mother and cling to his wife (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:4,5). [Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture]

[2] The father and mother a man is to leave mean, in a spiritual sense, the inherent nature of his will and the inherent nature of his intellect (the inherent nature of a person's will being to love itself, and the inherent nature of a person's intellect being to love its own wisdom). And to cling means to commit himself to love of his wife. These two inherent natures are evil and deadly to a man if they remain in him, but the love arising from the two is turned into conjugial love as a man clings to his wife, that is, as he acquires a love for her, as may be seen just above in no. 193, and elsewhere.

(It can be amply demonstrated from passages elsewhere in the Word that to be asleep symbolically means to be unaware or oblivious; that father and mother symbolically mean the two inherent natures of a person, one of the will and one of the intellect; and that to cling symbolically means to commit oneself to love for something. But it would be out of place to do it here.)

CL 195. (10) This transformation is accomplished by the wife by a union of her will with the inner will of her husband. It may be seen above in nos. 163-165 that a man has an intellectual wisdom and a moral wisdom, and that a wife unites herself with those qualities in her husband that have to do with his moral wisdom. Qualities that are matters of intellectual wisdom form a man's understanding, and qualities that are matters of moral wisdom form his will. A wife unites herself with those qualities which form her husband's will. (Whether one says that a wife unites herself, or that she unites her will, with the will of her husband, it amounts to the same thing, because a wife is born will-oriented, and therefore she does what she does in accord with her will.)

We say that it is a union with her husband's inner will, because a man's will has its seat in his intellect, and the intellectual quality of man is the inmost quality in woman, in accordance with observations we have made before, in no. 32 and several times since, regarding the formation of woman from man. Men also have an outward will, but this very frequently comes of pretense or concealment. A wife sees it, but she does not unite herself with it, except perhaps in a feigned or playful way. (CL 195)

CL 196. (11) This to the end that the will of the one and the will of the other may become one will, and the two partners thus one person. This is the goal, for anyone who joins the will of another to himself also joins to himself the other's intellect. Indeed, regarded in itself, the intellect is only a servant and agent of the will. The fact of this is clearly apparent from the way an affection arising from love impels the intellect to think as it bids. Every affection arising from love is a property of the will, for what a person loves, this he also wills.

It follows from this that anyone who joins the will of another person to himself, joins to himself the whole person. That is why it is instinctive in a wife's love to unite her husband's will to her own, for in this way the wife becomes one who belongs to her husband, and the husband one who belongs to his wife. Thus the two become one person. (CL 196)

CL 197. (12) This transformation is accomplished by an adoption of the husband's affections. This point goes along with the two preceding discussions, since affections are matters of the will. For affections are simply the offspring of love, and they form the will, molding it and composing it. In men, however, these affections reside in the intellect, whereas in women they reside in the will. (CL 197)

CL 198. (13) This transformation is accomplished by the wife by her reception of the propagations of her husband's soul with delight - a delight arising from her willing to be an embodiment of love for her husband's wisdom. Since this accords with points already explained before in nos. 172, 173, further explanation is omitted here.

In wives, conjugial delights take their rise from no other source than their willing to be united with their husbands, as good is united with truth in a marriage of these on the plane of the spirit. We separately showed in its own chapter that conjugial love descends from this marriage.* It can be seen in consequence, as though in a mirror, that a wife joins her husband to her as good joins truth to it; also that a husband joins himself to his wife in return according to his reception of her love in him, as truth joins itself to good in return, according to its reception of good in it. Thus it can be seen that a wife's love takes form through the wisdom of her husband, as good takes form through truth; for truth is what gives form to good.

It is apparent from this as well, then, that conjugial delights in a wife come principally from her willing to be united with her husband, consequently from her willing to be an embodiment of love for her husband's wisdom. For she then feels the delights of her warmth in the light of her husband, as explained under heading (4), nos. 188, 189. (CL 198)

CL 199 (14) A maiden is thus transformed into a wife, and a youth into a husband. This follows as a consequence from what we have already said in this and the previous chapter respecting the union of married partners into one flesh.

A maiden turns or is turned into a wife because a wife has elements in her taken from her husband, thus elements acquired which did not exist in her before as an unmarried woman. A youth turns or is turned into a husband because a husband has elements in him taken from his wife, which heighten the capacity in him for receiving love and wisdom, elements which did not exist in him before as an unmarried man. However, this is the case with people who are in a state of truly conjugial love. Among them are some who feel as though they are a united person and virtually one flesh (as may be seen in the preceding chapter, no. 178).

It is apparent from this that a maidenly state is transformed into a wifely one in women, and a youthful state into a husbandly one in men.

[2] I was convinced of the fact of this from the following experience in the spiritual world:

Some men said that the relationship a man has with a woman before marriage and the relationship he has with his wife after marriage are similar. When they heard this, their wives became very offended and said, "They are not at all alike! The difference is as the difference between fantasy and reality."

To this the men retorted, "Are you not women as before?" To which their wives responded with rising voice, "We are not 'women' but wives! The love you feel is a fantasy love and not a real one; therefore you speak in fantasy terms."

The men then said, "If you are not 'women,' still you are married women." But they replied, "In the early days of marriage we were married women; now, however, we are wives." (CL 199)

CL 200. (15) In a marriage of one man with one wife, in which there is a truly conjugial love between them, the wife becomes more and more a wife, and the husband more and more a husband. It may be seen above in nos. 177, 178, that truly conjugial love joins two partners more and more into one person. So, because a wife becomes a wife by union with her husband and according to that union, likewise a husband a husband by union with his wife and according to it, and because truly conjugial love lasts to eternity, it follows that a wife becomes more and more a wife, and a husband more and more a husband.

The fundamental reason for this is that in a marriage of truly conjugial love, each partner becomes more and more deeply human, for that love opens the deeper aspects of their minds, and as these are opened, a person becomes more and more human. To become more human is, on the part of a wife, to become more a wife; and on the part of a husband, to become more a husband.

I have heard from angels that a wife becomes more and more a wife as her husband becomes more and more a husband; however, not so much the reverse. The reason, they said, is that a chaste wife rarely if ever fails to love her husband, but what fails is her being loved by her husband in return. They also said that this failure is attributable to a lack of elevation in his wisdom, which alone receives the love of a wife. (Respecting this wisdom, see nos. 130, 163-165.) But this they said in reference to marriages on earth. (CL 200)

CL 201. (16) Their forms are also thus progressively perfected and ennobled from within. The human form is most perfect and most noble when by marriage two forms become one form, thus when the flesh of two becomes one flesh, in accordance with the story of their creation. The husband's mind is then elevated into a higher light, and the wife's mind into a higher warmth, and they then burgeon, blossom and bear fruit, like trees in springtime (as may be seen above in nos. 188, 189).

We will see in the discussion that follows next that the ennobling of this form results in the birth of noble fruits - spiritual fruits in heaven, natural fruits on earth. (CL 201)

Study the following anatomical charts of single and married men and women. Try to memorize them. It's a good idea to print the charts so you can have in front of you as you read the discussion that follows the charts. Look at the charts frequently as you read the paragraphs. This will make it it meaningful and satisfying. You will be able to avoid confusion or obscurity and vagueness in your mind. All this should be crystal clear, which is why the charts are provided to you.

A man's mind is the converse of a woman's mind. The human mind contains affective and cognitive organs at various levels and relative functions (see Section xx). In a man's natural mind the affective organ is located inwardly relative to the cognitive organ, but the converse is the case with a woman's natural mind -- her affective organ is located outwardly relative to her cognitive organ. This is portrayed in the diagram below. But note that with the spiritual mind, man's affective organ is inmost relative to his cognitive organ, and the converse is the case with a woman's spiritual mind -- the cognitive organ is inmost relative to the affective organ. Make sure you locate this difference on the chart so you can memorize it.

Now what happens when a man and a woman are conjoined mentally by the acceptance of marriage as a spiritual or eternal union (see Section 11.4.10.1). When husband and wife live their married life according to this principle of eternal union, their thoughts and feelings become interdependent or conjoined. A new mental organ is created out of the husband and wife, which is called the conjoint self (see Section 11.4.11). The following chart shows this process of conjoining in two stages. Start from the bottom:

The first stage is called the external marriage. The conjoint self is built up from the husband's external cognitive organ in the natural mind, which receives the substance of external truth from his unconscious spiritual mind. His reception of external truth is conjoined with the wife's external affective organ in her natural mind, which receives the substance of external good. This shows that a wife and a husband are totally different in the physiological composition of the conscious natural mind. Nothing in a man's mind can be like anything in a woman's mind, and vice versa. The logical consequence of this is that nothing in a man's physical body can be like anything in a woman's physical body, and vice versa. Why? because there is a correspondence between the mental body and the physical body (see Section xx). Modern medicine is slowly coming to the realization that drug and health research on men are not directly applicable to women, hence more and more research effort is allocated to woman's medicine, reversing the earlier trend of exclusive male medicine.

Unless the mental body of a man and a woman were completely reciprocals of each other, full and total conjunction between them would not be possible, hence the human heavens would not be possible because these are built within the conjoint self of a married couple.

This is worth repeating, so important it is for you to know it and take into account when you are thinking about yourself and your relationships in the positive bias in science mode. Full and total conjunction, or unity marriage, is possible between the husband and the wife because their mental bodies are constructed as anatomical reciprocal of each other. This is the principle of unity through differentiation and reciprocity (see Section 11.3.2). The consequence of this physiological difference is that a man and a woman may think of the same thing, and yet not have the same meaning -- which may lead to issues in communication (see Section xx). It is the same with emotions like fear, pleasure, anger, loyalty, etc. -- each is different in a man's mind as compared to a woman's mind. They may use the same dictionary definition and pass the same SAT exams -- yet women and men will have reciprocal meanings for words and things. They overlap enough for external communication, but not enough for internal communication, which is called mental intimacy (see Section xx). The husband achieves mental intimacy with his wife in proportion his willingness to align his thinking operations in the cognitive organ, with the wife's willing operations or states in the affective organ -- as you can see portrayed from the chart above, Stage 1.

The second stage is called the internal marriage. The internal conjoint self is built up from the wife's internal cognitive organ (thinking operations), which receives the substance of internal truth from her spiritual mind -- conjoined with the husband's internal cognitive organ, which receives the substance of internal truth from his spiritual mind (see chart).

To summarize (try memorizing this):

Mental conjunction between a husband and a wife always involves an affective and a cognitive organ. In the external marriage, this conjunction involves the natural mind (Stage 1) by means of external truth in the husband's cognitive organ and external good in the wife's affective organ. In the internal marriage, this conjunction involves the spiritual mind (Stage 2) by means of internal truth in the wife's cognitive organ and internal good in the husband's affective organ. When the internal marriage is functional and operative, the external marriage is an external correspondence of the internal marriage. The couple is then in the unity model of marriage (see Section 11.3).

What is external truth and good in the natural mind vs. internal good and truth in the spiritual mind?

Remember that good and truth are spiritual substances streaming out from the Spiritual sun around the God the Divine Human (see Section xx). Remember also that the mental organs are constructed to function as receptors of spiritual light (cognitive organ) and spiritual heat (affective organ). These substances then inflow and are received differently by a man ad a woman since their mental body physiology is reciprocal and differentiated (see Section xx). This is like sunlight from our sun entering different sorts of plants. It is the same sunlight, and heat within it, but each plant does something different with it, according to its genetic species. This occurs because the operations in the physical body are correspondences of their causes in the mental body.

Since women receive spiritual heat and light differently relative to each other, and in a reciprocal or converse manner relative to men, you can see that the consequence of this physiology is that a woman's mental operations will be differentiated from a man's mental operations.

The realization of these anatomical differences between the mental body of men and women will help couples to understand rationally what they must be willing to do in order to achieve a conjoint self in an internal marriage that will last to eternity or never end. Both the husband and the woman must be willing to grow into new selves that are no longer independent mentally. This is the conjoint self. The heaven of eternity is constructed out of this conjoint self. That is, the conjugial human heavens are built within this conjoint self, just as your heart and lungs are built within your physical body. This would be equivalent to being joined twins, as with some unusual births. Imagine they have only one circulatory system and only one respiratory system.

In the mental body of the celestial couple in a unity marriage, the husband's affective organ is conjoined with the wife's cognitive organ.  This unity shows both here on earth through the conscious natural mind and in eternity through the spiritual mind. Here on earth, the internal marriage shows externally by the observable harmony, agreement, and inmost friendship that the two married lovers and soul mates have for each other, with never an exception. Swedenborg reports that in the world of the afterlife, this harmony between a wife and her husband shows itself by a beautiful visual phenomenon: When a husband and wife are seen from a distance, only one angel walking is seen, but when they draw near, a husband and a wife angel couple are seen.

Also, when Swedenborg was having a conversation with some angel husbands in their conjugial heavens, they showed him that the wife of each was present, though not visible to Swedenborg's eyes. When the wife of one of the husbands became visible to him, Swedenborg saw on her facial expression whatever the husband was taking about, so intimate was their mental union. In that state of conjugial heaven, it is not possible for a man to think of something without his wife's willing also be involved. Hence he could not think anything that is disagreeable to the wife. When a couple here on earth is committed to reaching a unity relationship, the husband can think less and less that which his wife would disapprove of.

Women inherit a mental body that is powerfully oriented toward external conjunction with a man they select for that purpose through affections and love for him. As the chart shows in Stage 1, the woman wills to conjoin her willing (affective organ) with the husband's thinking (cognitive organ).  In this process (Stage 1), the woman leads and prompts and urges. She learns this as a girl, socialized to become a man's "helper" and "mate." She learns the skills of taking care of men -- father, brother, boyfriend, boss, children. A girl friend quickly learns and acquires her boyfriend's way of thinking about many things they share together. During Stage 1, the man cruises in the relationship, almost taking a passive role and enjoying all his male prerogatives like being served and taken care of in many ways he enjoys. Now in order for the marriage to become mentally intimate and move on to Stage 2, the husband has to take the lead by willing himself to conjoin his wife's internal truth, rationality, and wisdom, to his internal love or good. It is out of this union that the conjugial heavens are built for their eternal happiness and bliss (see Section xx). If the man is unwilling to do this, the marriage cannot go on to Stage 2. As a result, they will not be together in the afterlife.

Swedenborg reports that women who remain in an external marriage here on earth because their husband is unwilling, are given to meet a suitable man after resuscitation.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

CL 56. The Second Memorable Relation:
Once, while talking with angels in the world of spirits, I was inspired with a pleasant desire to see the Temple of Wisdom which I had seen once before;* and I asked them the way. They said, "Follow the light and you will find it." I said, "What do you mean by "Follow the light"?" and they said: "Our light shines more and more brightly as we draw nearer to that temple. Therefore, follow the light according to the increase of its brightness; for our light proceeds from the Lord as a Sun, and hence, considered in itself, is wisdom."

Then, walking in company with two angels, I followed the increasing brightness of the light and ascended by a steep path to the summit of a hill which lay in the southern quarter. There was a magnificent gate there. Seeing the angels with me, the keeper opened it and, lo, there was seen an avenue of palm trees and laurels, and along this we walked. It was a winding avenue and terminated in a garden in the midst of which was the TEMPLE OF WISDOM. As I looked around me, I saw also small buildings, similar to the temple, and in them were wise men. We approached one of these buildings and, at the entrance, spoke to the host there and told him the reason of our coming and the manner of our approach. He then said, "Welcome; come in; be seated and let us join together in discourse on wisdom.:

[2] Within the house, I saw that it was divided into two and yet was one. It was divided into two by a transparent partition; and it seemed to be one because of the transparency of the partition which was as though of purest crystal. I asked why this was the case. He said, "I am not alone. My wife is with me; and we are two and yet not two but one flesh."

I then said, "I know that you are a wise man, but what has a wise man or wisdom to do with woman?" At this our host, with some indignation, changed countenance. He then stretched out his hand and, lo, from neighboring houses other wise men were present. To these, he said jestingly, "Our new-comer here, for the purpose of learning, asks what a wise man or wisdom has to do with woman?" At this they all laughed and said, "What is a wise man or wisdom without woman, that is, without love? The wife is the love of a wise man's wisdom."

[3] Our host then said, "Let us now join together in some discourse on wisdom. Let the discourse be concerning causes, and for the present concerning the cause of the beauty of the female sex." They then spoke in turn. The first gave this as the cause: "Women were created, by the Lord, affections of the wisdom of men; and the affection of wisdom is beauty itself." A second gave this: "Woman was created by the Lord through the wisdom of man because from man. Hence, being a form of wisdom inspired with the affection of love, and the affection of love being life itself, woman is the life of wisdom. The male is wisdom, and the life of wisdom is beauty." A third gave this: "To women is given a perception of the delights of conjugial love; and because their whole body is an organ of that perception, it cannot be otherwise than that the abode of the delights of conjugial love with its perception is beauty."

[4] A fourth gave this: "The Lord has taken the beauty and grace of life from man and transcribed them into woman. Hence, without reunion with his beauty and grace in woman, a man is stern, austere, dry, and unlovely; nor is he wise save for himself alone, and then he is stupid. But when man is united with his beauty and grace of life in his wife, he becomes agreeable, pleasant, animated, and lovely, and thus wise." A fifth gave this: "Women are created beauties for the sake not of themselves but of men, that men, of themselves hard, may be softened; that their minds, of themselves severe, may become mild, and their hearts, of themselves cold, warm; and they do become such when they become one flesh with their wives."

[5] A sixth gave this: "The universe was created by the Lord a most perfect work; but in that universe nothing was created more perfect than woman, beautiful in face and graceful in manners; and this to the end that man may render thanks to the Lord for this bounty, and may repay it by the reception of wisdom from Him.

After these and many like sentiments had been expressed, the wife appeared through the crystal partition and said to her husband, "Speak, if you please." And when he spoke, the life of wisdom from his wife was perceived in his speech; for her love was in the tone of his voice. Thus experience bore witness to truth.

After this we examined the Temple of wisdom, and also its paradisal surroundings, and then, filled thereby with joy, we departed, and, passing through the avenue to the gate, went down by the way we had come.
* See APOCALYPSE REVEALED (published in 1766), n. 875; the present work was published in 1768. (CL 56)

CL 57. LOVE TRULY CONJUGIAL
Conjugial love is of infinite variety, not being the same with one person as with another. With many it does indeed appear to be the same, but it appears so only before the judgment of the body, and from this judgment, seeing that it is gross and dull, man has little discernment of such things. By the judgment of the body is meant the judgment of the mind from the external senses. Before those who see from the judgment of the spirit, the differences are apparent; and more distinctly apparent before those who can elevate the sight of this judgment still higher, which is done by its withdrawal from the senses and its exaltation into higher light. Such men can then confirm themselves by the understanding and so can see that conjugial love is not the same with one person as with another.

Yet no one can see the infinite varieties of that love in any light of the understanding, even though elevated, unless he first know the nature of the love itself in its essence and integrity; thus its nature when together with life it was implanted in man by God. Unless its state then be known, a state which was most perfect, its differences cannot be discovered by any inquiry, there being no stable point from which, as a commencement, those differences can be deduced, and to which, by keeping it in view, they can refer themselves and so be seen truly and not fallaciously.

This is the reason why we have set out to describe this love in its genuine essence; and, since it was in this essence when together with life it was infused into man by God, to describe it as it was in its primeval state. In this state it was truly conjugial, and therefore this chapter is entitled LOVE TRULY CONJUGIAL. The description shall be given in the following order:

I. That there is a love truly conjugial, which is so rare at this day that it is not known what it is and scarcely that it is.

II. That the origin of this love is from the marriage of good and truth.

III. That the correspondence of this love is with the marriage of the Lord and the Church.

IV. That, regarded from its origin and correspondence, this love is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, above every love which is from the Lord with the angels of heaven and the men of the Church.
V. That it is also the fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves, and thence of all natural loves.

VI. And that into this love are gathered all joys and delights from their first to their last.

VII. But that no others come into this love and can be in it save those who approach the Lord, love the truths of the Church and do its goods.

VIII. That this love was the love of loves with the ancients who lived in the Golden, Silver, and Copper Ages, but that afterwards it gradually departed.
The explanation of these points now follows: (CL 57)

CL 58. I. THAT THERE IS A LOVE TRULY CONJUGIAL, WHICH IS SO RARE AT THIS DAY THAT IT IS NOT KNOWN WHAT IT IS AND SCARCELY THAT IT IS. That there is a conjugial love such as is described in the following pages, can indeed be acknowledged from the first state of that love when it is insinuating itself and entering into the heart of a young man and woman; thus as it is with those who begin to love one only of the sex and to desire her as their bride; and still more during the time of betrothal and during the continuance of this time as it progresses towards the nuptials, and then in the nuptial ceremony and during the first days that follow. Who does not then give acknowledgment and consent to the following: That this love is the fundamental of all loves, and that into it are gathered all joys and all delights from their first to their last.

And who does not know, that after this happy time these states of gladness successively decline and pass away till at last the married pair become scarcely sensible of them? If it be said to them then, as before, that this love is the fundamental of all loves and that into it is gathered every joy and gladness, they neither assent to it nor acknowledge it, and perhaps they will say that these are idle words or that they are transcendental mysteries. It is evident from this, that the primitive love of marriage emulates love truly conjugial and presents it to view in an image; and this because love of the sex, which is unchaste, is then cast out and, implanted in its place, resides love of one of the sex, which is love truly conjugial and is chaste. Who does not then look upon other women with a loveless nod and upon his own with a loving? (CL 58)

CL 59. The reason why love truly conjugial is so rare that it is not known what it is and scarcely that it is, is because the state of pleasure before the nuptials is afterwards changed into a state of indifference arising from insensibility to that pleasure. The causes of this change of state are more than can here be adduced, but they will be adduced in the following pages when the causes of colds, separations, and divorces are disclosed in their order. There it will be seen that with most men at this day, the image and with it the knowledge of conjugial love is so far effaced that it is not known what it is and scarcely that it is.
It is known that every man when born is merely corporeal, and that from being corporeal he becomes natural, more and more interior, and then rational, and finally spiritual. The reason why this takes place progressively, is because the corporeal is as the ground wherein, in their due order, are implanted things natural, rational, and spiritual; thus the man becomes more and more a man.

[2] It is almost the same when he enters into marriage; the man then becomes a fuller man because conjoined with a consort with whom he acts as one man. In the first state, spoken of above, this is effected in an image; then in like manner he commences from the corporeal and advances into the natural, but now as to the conjugial life and hence as to conjunction into a one. They who then love corporeal natural things, and only from them love things rational, cannot be conjoined with a consort as into a one except as to those externals. And when the externals fail, cold invades the internals and dispels the delights of that love, first expelling them from the mind and so from the body, and then from the body and so from the mind, and this until nothing is left of the remembrance of the early state of their marriage, and consequently no knowledge concerning it.

Now since this is the case with most men at the present day, it is clear that it is not known what love truly conjugial is and scarcely that it is. Not so with those who are spiritual. With them, the first state is an initiation into perpetual states of happiness; and these states are promoted in the degree that the spiritual rational of the mind of the one, and from this the sensual natural of the body, conjoins and unites itself with that of the other. But such men are rare. (CL 59)

CL 60. II. THAT THE ORIGIN OF THIS LOVE IS FROM THE MARRIAGE OF GOOD AND TRUTH. Being a universal truth, it is acknowledged by every intelligent man that all things in the universe have relation to good and truth. It must also be acknowledged that in each and everything of the universe, good is conjoined with truth and truth with good, for this also is a universal truth cohering with the other. The reason why all things in the universe have relation to good and truth, and why good is conjoined with truth and truth with good, is because both proceed from the Lord, and proceed from Him as a one. The two things which proceed from the Lord are love and wisdom, for these are Himself and are therefore from Him; and all things pertaining to love are called goods, and all pertaining to wisdom are called truths. And since these two proceed from Him as the Creator, it follows that these two are in the things created. This can be illustrated by the heat and light which proceed from the sun. From these are all things on the earth, it being according to their presence and according to their conjunction that things germinate; and natural heat corresponds to spiritual heat which is love, and natural light to spiritual light which is wisdom. (CL 60)

CL 61. That conjugial love proceeds from the marriage of good and truth will be shown in the treatise or chapter that follows. It is mentioned here merely that it may be seen that this love is celestial, spiritual, and holy, because from a celestial, spiritual, and holy origin. That it may be seen that the origin of conjugial love is from the marriage of good and truth, it is important that here something concerning it be presented in a brief summary. It was said just above, that there is a conjunction of good and truth in each and every created thing, and conjunction is not possible unless it be reciprocal, for conjunction from the one side and not in turn from the other is dissolved of itself. Now since there is a conjunction of good and truth, and since it is reciprocal, it follows that there is a truth of good or truth from good and a good of truth or good from truth. That the truth of good or truth from good is in the male and is the masculine itself, and that the good of truth or good from truth is in the female and is the feminine itself, and that there is a conjugial union between these two, will be shown in the chapter that next follows. It is mentioned here that some preliminary idea may be had concerning it. (CL 61)

        1.0.1.2.2.1   The Mental Origin of Semen

The origin of every single thing in the natural world of time-space is a thing in the spiritual world of eternity. The spiritual thing is the cause and the natural thing that corresponds to it is the effect. Nothing can exist in the natural world that is not an effect of something in the spiritual world. So the cause must occur first in the mental world of eternity before any effect can exist in the natural world of time-space. This is the law of correspondences that God created to maintain control over the various layers of things in both worlds (see Section xx).

Here we are considering the cause or origin of human semen in particular, but also all seeds that germinate and reproduce in the plant world. The spiritual cause of the power to inseminate and reproduce in the natural world is a truth in the mental world. If human beings lost the ability to comprehend and love truths revealed by God in Sacred Scripture, truths would disappear from the mental world of eternity. At the same time, all seed and semen, all biological reproduction, would cease on earth. Put the truths back in the mental world, and the power to produce semen or seed, returns to earth.

The ancient people on this planet, before industrialization and civilization began as we know it, possessed the science of correspondences and applied it to draw out information from the correspondential sense. This is how they knew that the semen and seed are produced by correspondence from truths in the mind of humanity. All truths in the mind originate and inflow from God through the Spiritual Sun (see Section xx).

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: [explanations in square brackets are not in the original] [ ]

CL 220. (11) The sexual abundance men have is according to their love of propagating the truths of their wisdom and according to their love of performing useful services.

[This says that a man's physical semen is produced in the testicles by the dualist laws of cause-effect correspondence. The cause is the man's love of transmitting truths to others and his love of making use of truths to improve things;. the effect is the "abundant" production of semen in the testicles.]

That this is the case is one of the secrets known to people of ancient times and which today have been lost. In ancient times people knew that each and every activity that takes place in the body does so from a spiritual origin.

They knew, for example, that actions flow from the will [affective organ], which in itself is spiritual [mental]; that speech flows from thought [cognitive organ], which likewise is spiritual; also that natural sight [sensorimotor organ] results from spiritual sight [cognitive organ], which is one of the intellect; that natural hearing [sensorimotor organ] results from spiritual hearing [affective with cognitive organ], which is an attention of the intellect [cognitive organ] and at the same time a conformity of the will [affective organ]; and that the natural sense of smell [sensorimotor organ] results from a spiritual [mental] one, which is perception [affective organ]; and so on.

In similar manner the ancients saw that a man's power of insemination [semen] stems from a spiritual [mental] origin; and from many evidences of both reason [science] and experience [empirical observation] they concluded that it [semen] results from the truths of which the intellect consists [cognitive organ].

Moreover, they said that from the spiritual marriage [conjunction, synergy] that exists between goodness [spiritual heat] and truth [spiritual light], which flows into each and every thing in the universe [from the Spiritual Sun], nothing else is received by members of the male sex but truth [spiritual light received in the cognitive organ] and what relates to truth [science, rationality]; and that this, in its descent into the body [correspondence from spiritual substance to natural matter], is formed into seed or sperm (which is why seeds, spiritually interpreted, mean truths) [wherever the word "seed" in the literal sense appears in Sacred Scripture, God is actually discussing "truths" in the mental world]

[2] Regarding the process, they said that the male soul, being intellectual  in nature [cognitive organ predominates] is therefore truth [inflowing spiritual light]; for anything intellectual in nature is nothing else. Consequently as the soul descends, truth also descends. This is so, they said, because the soul is the inmost element in man and in every animal, and in its essence is spiritual [mental]; and from an inherent effort towards its propagation, in its descent it seeks and endeavors to reproduce itself.

Then, when this happens, the whole soul [inmost anatomy of the mind]  forms itself and clothes itself [achieves a correspondence in the natural world]  and becomes [physical] seed or sperm.

Moreover, this can take place thousands and thousands of times, they said, because the soul [mental genes of an individual]  is a spiritual essence [mental substance, spiritual heat and light] , which does not have dimension but repleteness [completion, unity], and from which there is no taking away a part, but instead a reproducing of the whole without any loss to it [like making a digital copy] . As a result, the soul is as fully present in its tiniest vessels, which are the seeds or sperm, as it is in its largest one, which is the body [just as there is a full set of genes in every cell] .

[3] So then, since truth in the soul [spiritual light from the Spiritual Sun in the mental world] is the origin of the seed or sperm [in the physical world], it follows that the sexual abundance [physical semen] men have is according to their love [mental] of propagating the truths of their wisdom [cognitive organ] .

It is also according to their love of performing useful services, because useful services are the good effects which truths produce. Some people know in the world as well that the diligent have an abundance, and not the lazy.

I once asked how something female can be generated from the soul of a man [spiritual genes are transmitted by the father only]. The answer I received was that it originates from good [spiritual heat in the affective organ] in the intellect [cognitive organ], because this in its essence is truth [spiritual light substance]; for the intellect [cognitive organ] can think that something is good, thus thinking as true that this something is good. It is different with the will [affective organ]. This does not think about goodness and truth but loves them and does them.

Therefore, in the Word, sons symbolize truths, and daughters, qualities of goodness (as may be seen above in no. 120); and when seed is mentioned in the Word, it symbolizes truth. (CL 220)

Anatomically from the female soul they have, women predominantly receive spiritual heat substance into their affective organ, while men predominantly receive spiritual light substance into their cognitive organ. Semen corresponds to truths or spiritual light. Hence it is that men, having a predominant cognitive organ, have semen, while women, having a predominant affective organ, do not have semen, but instead, have the capacity to receive semen, which men do not. Receiving semen and using it as a blueprint for conception and pregnancy, is a power women have because of they receive spiritual heat into their predominant affective organ. Thus, men and women each have their reciprocal spiritual function in order to achieve reproduction of new life. The source of this ability is spiritual light and spiritual heat from the Spiritual Sun, thus from God (see Section xx).

It is the good and truth in God's affective and cognitive organs that constitute the infinite source of the Spiritual Sun. From God's affective organ, infinite good and love flows out and into the mental world of humanity in the form of spiritual heat and light entering the affective and cognitive organs respectively, but in different or reciprocal order of predominance for men and women, thus creating gender and reproduction.

Conjugial couples who are in their spiritual mind in eternity (or "heaven"), do not have physical semen or physical reproduction of children. Physical semen or seed must be present for reproduction on earth to take place. This is not possible in the mental world of eternity where there is no physical anything. Hence physical birth and reproduction is not possible in the mental world of eternity. Instead, mental births occur, that is, the birth of mental things like new ideas, now insights, new truths. These are the mental children couples have in heaven. And as couples in their heavens produce more and more new ideas of truth and insights or realizations (spiritual offspring), the more physical semen and reproduction can occur on earth, and all the inhabited earths in the physical universe, which is endless.

Week 4  Readings: Section 1.0.1.2.2  (Report 1)

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 6

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 7

4.1.
(a) Describe the mental physiology of men and women.
(b) How do you relate to this anatomical difference? Will it make a difference to your life in any way?

4.2.
(a) Describe the physiology involved in the two stages of marriage. Consult Volume 11, Section 11.4.5 "Conjunction Dynamics in Marriage" at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch11.htm#conjunction-dynamics
Write out your own explanations and draw your own diagrams.
(b) When you are ready, explain it to one or two friends. What difficulty did you run into?
(c) What is your conclusion?

4.3.
(a) Explain why the mental body of men and women have to be reciprocals of each other in order to achieve conjugial unity.
(b) How do you assimilate this piece of knowledge in the positive bias in science mode?

4.4.
(a) Read  the book Flatland at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/flatland.pdf
Do you see similarities between its ideas and what you know of the mental world of eternity?

4.5.
(a) Do a google search on marriage. What impressions do you get from this? Summarize the trends and ideas that seem to dominate this topic.
(b) How would theistic psychology fit into this?

4.6.
(a) Describe the the mental physiology of men and women.
(b) Discuss it with a friend or two. What difficulties do you encounter when explaining this to them?
(c) What is your conclusion?

4.7.
(a) Read at least five of the student reports on marriage listed at:
        www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy26/409b-g26-lecture-notes.htm#readings
and discuss your overall impression of them.

Study Questions:  1.0.1.3 to 1.0.7  (Report 2)

Week 5  Readings: Section 1.0.1.3 to 1.0.5.4

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

5.1.
(a) Describe the psychobiology of "conjunction" with God from the perspective of the positive bias in science. You need to include the concept of how thoughts and feelings are spiritual substances operating inside mental organs.
(b) Explain why this is called psychobiology. Explain the degrees of conjunction.
(c) What happens to this psychobiology when we are in the negative bias in science?
(b) How do you see this concept as applying to you?

5.2.
(a) Describe the infrastructure of physical things from the perspective of substantive dualism.
(b) Show that the inmost of any object is the mental world of humanity.
(c) How does this change the way you look at objects around you?
(d) Are you able to explain this to a friend and be heard?

5.3.
(a) Explain why God hides from people. Include the concept of sensuous vs. rational spirituality.
(b) What would happen if God showed Himself to your friends?

5.4.
(a) Describe how Divine Speech operates our mental life.
(b) Why does God not operate the minds of psychologists towards the positive bias in science?
(b) How does this change your view of God and His relationship to people?

5.5.
(a) Where is heaven and hell?
(b) Describe its anatomy.
(c) Why do they both exist in everybody's mind?
(d) If you came to accept this, how would it affect your lifestyle or character?

5.6.
(a) Describe the two methods God uses to conjoin or communicate with people.
(b) In what way have you experienced these two avenues of relationship with God?
(c) Why does God not speak with people in their mind, like a dialog or conversation?

5.7.
(a) Explain why this is a perfect world despite the appearances of imperfection. Define what is perfection in the created world. Include the idea that the world was created for human beings to help them evolve to their eternal heavens.
(b)  How do you answer some of the arguments people make when they insist that this is far from being a perfect world today. How do you counter their facts?

5.8.
(a) Why does spirituality, or relationship to God, have to be rational?
(b) What happens with "sensuous spirituality" -- discuss what happens in the afterlife.
(c) How do you react to or assimilate these ideas about your own future?

5.9.
(a) Explain the formula "mental world = spiritual world = afterlife = eternity". Write out your proof after reading the assigned Section. Read it and edit it until it makes sense to you. Make sure each = link is rationally justified in your proof.
(b) Now try to explain the proof to a friend or two. How well did you succeed?
(c) What is your conclusion.


Week 6 Readings: Section 1.0.6 to 1.0.7

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

6.1.
(a) Explain the Swedenborg reports in relation to the positive bias in science.
(b) Describe what happened to him? What did he discover?
(c) Describe how you manage to take on the positive bias in science regarding the Swedenborg reports. Are you succeeding? What conflicts are you having to contend with in your mind?
(d) Compare your adaptation efforts at the positive bias in science with those of your friends with whom you discussed it so far.

6.2.
(a) What is the purpose of Sacred Scripture? What would happen without it?
(b) How does God want it to be used?
(c) How has it been used (today and before)?
(d) What might be a solution? (e.g., theistic psychology or...)

6.3.
(a) Explain the two senses we can find in Sacred Scripture.
(b) Give several illustrations from this Section.

6.4.
(a) Give two illustrations not found in this Section, so you will need to search for this in Volume 18. Make sure you indicate which Sections you took your two illustrations from.
(b) How do you react to finding out that there is a hidden scientific sense in Sacred Scripture that is still unsuspected by most scholars even today?

6.5.
(a) What is rational spirituality in relation to God?
(b) Explain how we can comprehend higher spiritual ideas by means of the new mental organ called spiritual-natural or interior-natural organ.
(c) How did it come into existence?
(d) Describe its role in the evolution of human consciousness.
(e) How do you react to these ideas that apply to your own mind?

6.6.
(a) Explain why substantive dualism is called substantive.
(b) How does substance differ from matter?
(c) Search google for "dualism" and explain how what you found is different from substantive dualism in theistic psychology.

6.7.
(a) What is the most exciting piece of news or fact you have heard so far in theistic psychology?
(b) Share this exciting fact with your friends and family. What do you conclude form their reaction?

6.8.
(a) List some objections you or your friends can come up with against the Swedenborg reports
(b) against the positive bias in science
(c) against the inclusion of God in science, and
(d) against one other issue of your choice.

Be sure you comment for each issue you list -- (i) what the doubt is and (ii) what your current position is on it.

6.9.
(a) Make up a dialogue between you and a hypothetical friend in a situation where you are telling your friend about this course. No length is specified. It depends on how you write the dialog. You can add lines of explanations, like a stage play, if you want.
(b) Show the dialog to a couple of people. Describe their reaction and your discussion.

    1.0.1.3 Revelation: Divine Speech Exteriorizing as Sacred Scripture

The two diagrams discussed in the previous Section clearly indicate that the Divine Human's Divine Speech is nothing else than the spiritual substances of good and truth flowing out from the Spiritual Sun in infinite variety, and creating the mental world of eternity. Then, going beyond that, exteriorizing still further, as shown in the diagram on simultaneous order above, Divine Speech creates then enters the spiritual mind, where it forms the human heavens in every individual from birth onward. But whether the individual will be able to live in that mental state in immortality depends on developing the rational mind so that it comes into correspondence with our spiritual mind. Once we start thinking and willing every day in conformity with our rational understanding of Sacred Scripture, we are regenerating our mind (see Section xx), so that it may become a "little heaven" or a "heaven in miniature." We then start living the rest of our lives on earth in a mental heaven in our natural mind, instead of the mental hells so many people live in most of the time (see Section xx).

Divine Speech appearing outwardly as Sacred Scripture is the only source of facts, knowledge, and principles about the spiritual world of eternity and the afterlife. In other words, all forms of rationality and truth that human beings exhibit, originate from Divine Speech, and Sacred Scripture is the only containant of Divine Speech. Hence, there can be no other source of truth or knowledge of reality than Sacred Scripture. This assertion must be understood differently than usual, when we examine the hidden layers of information that lie beneath the literal sentences of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

How do we know what is Sacred Scripture? Whose opinion are we to follow? And what if they are wrong?

The definition of Sacred Scripture in theistic psychology is any collection of writings in a natural language that is produced by God through the mind of a particular individual on earth.

In other words, Sacred Scripture = Divine Speech transformed into a natural language written by an individual.

Note that since it is written by an individual, Sacred Scripture is necessarily a historically produced ethnic document written and published in some country where the document serves as the creation and foundation of a particular religion.

Note that it is not the belief or faith of people that makes a particular document to be Sacred Scripture.

Billions of people could believe that document X is Sacred Scripture, but this would not make it Sacred Scripture.

Sacred Scripture is only that which is Divine Speech authored through the mind of an individual, regardless of who believes or does not believe it, or who understands or does not understand it.

To test whether any document meets this definition, we must investigate whether there are hidden layers of meaning underneath the natural, historical, or religious meaning that is obvious to everyone who reads the document under investigation. What are these hidden layers of meaning?

Swedenborg's Writings demonstrate with historical, rational, and empirical proofs of various kinds, that the Old Testament and the New Testament collections of documents are Sacred Scripture in accordance with the above definition. How amazing!

He does not examine other documents or collections of the world's "sacred literature," focusing exclusively on the Old and New Testament books, of which he was an expert from childhood onward (see Section xx). To my knowledge, no one since Swedenborg has attempted to prove that other documents exist that are also Sacred Scripture, using the above definition. This definition is given in Swedenborg's Writings., which he uses to demonstrate that the words, phrases, and verses of the Old and New Testaments hide an internal spiritual meaning whose content is theistic psychology. The Writings do not use this phrase "theistic psychology" but it is an appropriate title for the knowledge that is extracted from Sacred Scripture, when a valid scientific methodology is used to extract the hidden knowledge that resides in Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). This extraction process will be illustrated, demonstrated, and studied in various detail throughout theistic psychology (see Section xx).

People sometimes imagine that they are hearing Divine Speech which they refer to as "the Voice of God came to me, and He said..." However, from the scientific perspective of theistic psychology, it is necessary to describe the actual psychobiology of how Divine Speech enters the human mind, just as biology describes the process of how sunlight enters the human eye and producing vision. These details are known to no one as they involve the spiritual mind, of which we are totally unconscious, its operations being unavailable for observation under any circumstances. Therefore it makes sense to think rationally, within the positive bias way of reasoning, that God must have a way of making His messages conscious to us. Indeed, this is the content of the hidden scientific layers of information that is contained in the historical or literal sentences of Sacred Scripture.

In other words, we can recover the original meaning of Divine Speech, prior to its being transformed and cast into a historical, ethnic, religious format or meaning.

This is the best news humankind has heard in many hundreds of years! Certainly the best news in science since its beginning. This news is first announced in the Writings of Swedenborg written and published in the second half of the eighteenth century, between 1743 and 1771 (see Section xx).

Why is this such good news for science and humankind? Because now for the first time we are given a valid methodology for interpreting Sacred Scripture.

Look what has happened without this knowledge. The Old Testament Sacred Scripture was written at the level of mentality and culture that was prevalent in the Middle-East approximately from 1000 BC to 400 BC. Anyone can see today that the literal meaning of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture reflects a barbaric civilization that is totally racist and totally patriarchal with women being officially treated in a slavish and cruel role. This barbaric era of human civilization produced a version of Divine Speech that is totally alien to God's true nature and personality (see Section xx). Today, from a perspective of democracy and modernism, we are horrified that they had such a perspective on God that God Himself had to enact a role to them historically that is alien and abhorrent to His very nature and personality (see Section xx).

For in the literal meaning of the Old Testament sentences, God is a God of fury and vengeance, who gets angry like a super-potentate against His subjects, and take it out on them from vengeance, bringing on the destructive forces of nature to punish and decimate what He created. And on top of that, God has to order them to make sacrifices by doing to animals things that we would be horrified today to do.

Worst of all, in my opinion, is the almost total absence of discussion, description, and explanation of what happens when we die. A few mysterious hints are given, but they are so little, that many people and scholars who know very well the literal meaning of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, are totally ignorant of what happens at death, and they have had to make up their own imaginative stories of what happens or might happen.

In other words, the literal religious meaning of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture does not reveal any knowledge of theistic psychology, which is the science of immortality and afterlife, extracted from the hidden layers of meaning of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, along with the New Testament Sacred Scripture, and the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

The New Testament Sacred Scripture was written in a more advanced era of human civilization around the first century AD, also in the Middle East. In its literal meaning, the New Testament Sacred Scripture presents a more universal and inclusive philosophy of life and God, and contains many important theistic psychology facts. To my mind, the most important of these is the revelation that "the kingdom of God is within you, among you, in the midst of you" (depending on the translation of Luke 17:21 -- see: http://bible.cc/luke/17-21.htm ). Few people have understood that the "within you" is not used metaphorically, but literally!

Yes, that's right. The heaven of eternity is in our affective organ of the spiritual mind (see Section xx).

In other words, our mind is already in eternity -- see the Section Born Into Eternity above.

The Writings Sacred Scripture were written and published by Emanuel Swedenborg and published in the eighteenth century, which was the era of the New Enlightenment of the modern age. The literal sense of the Writings are a mixture of theology, science, and religion.

From the perspective of theistic psychology, the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture is suitable for religion and theology, but not for science. Although the Writings Sacred Scripture are written by a modern scientist with a rational and empirical orientation, the literal language of presentation is immersed in history and religion surrounding Swedenborg's European cultural context. The Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures in their literal sense are even less suitable for science, as they are from an earlier civilization and historical mentality.

But when you make the literal sense of Sacred Scripture "vanish" from focus by translating the natural historical correspondences in which they are written, into their spiritual, universal and scientific meaning that is hidden within the literal sentences. This scientific spiritual meaning is the content of Divine Speech when regarded in the spiritual mind rather than the natural mind.

It is extremely important for you to remember that while the literal meaning of all Sacred Scripture is historical, ethnic, and religious, in contrast, the hidden layers of scientific meaning within it, are non-sectarian, non-historical, non-cultural. They are scientific, universal, spiritual, eternal, rational.

Political movements based on the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture are called fundamentalist. Fundamentalism is sectarian, intolerant, sometimes violent, and not based on rationality or science.

But the hidden layers of information within the literal meaning of all Sacred Scripture are universal and scientific because that is the very content of Divine Speech (see Section xx). When we decode what is within Sacred Scripture we find a theistic psychology manual and handbook. How amazing!

But why? Why in this way? For what purpose?

As you will discover when studying the anatomy of the mind and the afterlife of eternity, God creates the human mind into discrete or discontinuous layers, that interact or influence each other by the laws of correspondences (see Section xx). As Divine Speech descends it enters into our spiritual mind where it activates certain rational operations, of which we are unconscious. We can however describe what happens there when we use representative ideas (see Section xx). A few hours after death, we are resuscitated or awakened through our spiritual mind, which until then was unconscious, but now, not any more, and so we begin our life of immortality in the afterlife by means of this spiritual mind. Swedenborg became conscious in his spiritual mind at age 57, and for the next 27 years was able to see simultaneously what was happening in the physical world in Sweden and Europe, and what was happening in the world of the afterlife (see Section xx). See the Layers Diagram.

This is how he was able to empirically discover and describe the laws of correspondences between the layers of the mind. These are the correspondences that allow us to climb up the ladder of Divine Speech across the layers of the human mind, from Sacred Scripture, which is the bottom, to the highest potential in our mind called "heaven" (see Section xx).

Why Swedenborg?

No one has the capacity to be conscious in their spiritual mind. Swedenborg was a unique exception, accomplished by the God Divine Human to allow him to write the Writings Sacred Scripture. He was given to do this differently than the prophets of old in the Old and New Testament Scriptures. They received mental dictation into the natural mind, so that the thoughts merely appeared in their consciousness, and they wrote them down. They had no rational understanding whatsoever of what scientific knowledge was hidden within the sentences they wrote down. But Swedenborg was a scientist in the modern world of the 18th century. He was made fully conscious in the spiritual mind to enable him to make empirical observations and conduct spiritual experiments, according to his scientific mind and evaluation.

The result of this difference in how the Writings Sacred Scripture were produced is that the literal meaning of the Writings can be read rationally, and most of it can be read scientifically as well (see Section xx). But in addition, endless scientific knowledge lies hidden within the literal meaning that Swedenborg constructed. Swedenborg knew that what he wrote was "under the guidance" of the Divine Psychologist, and hence was Divine Speech expressed in Sacred Scripture in a modern scientific mode. Swedenborg understood that he himself had almost no access to this infinite storehouse of scientific knowledge hidden within the sentences he wrote down. And if Swedenborg is now in the heavens of his spiritual mind, he can read the Sacred Scripture that is there, without realizing or knowing, that he himself authored it when he was on earth (see Section xx).

Sacred Scripture is the sole source of rational knowledge about God (repeated from Section 15.0).

There are two different approaches to knowing God that have been practiced by humanity over the generations. In theistic psychology these two spiritual disciplines are called sensuous spirituality and rational spirituality (see Section xx).

The discipline of sensuous spirituality involves the attempt to experience the "divine" through various physical methods -- meditation, yoga, fasting, trance, self-flagellation, sexual abstinence, visions, animal sacrifices, making miracles happen, hearing living voices, ingesting psychotropic chemicals, and others. These methods involve the idea that the "divine" can be experienced by human beings through these physical techniques of sensing the body. In theistic psychology this is known as the philosophy of nonduality (see Section xx). Non-duality is the opposite of dualism (see Section xx). Nonduality asserts that God and human beings are of one continuous substance, which implies that we can climb high enough to actually realize that all along we each were God.

In contrast, rational spirituality is the spiritual discipline of getting closer to God through Sacred Scripture. In theistic psychology it is known that the spiritual mind in which our heaven of eternity lies, is formed by the spiritual-rational and celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech hidden within Sacred Scripture. This makes sense when you consider the fact that God is Divine Truth covered over with Divine Love (or good) (see Section xx). Good can only conjoin with its own truth (see Section xx). The higher the level of Divine truth that we can consciously understand rationally, the closer we come to God's Divine Truth and Rationality. Truth is the spiritual-rational and celestial-rational substance that forms the rationality in the mind of every human being (see Section xx).

Rational spirituality is the discipline of extracting the rational doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture using the method of correspondences that is revealed in Sacred Scripture, and then applying this doctrine of truth to one's daily willing, thinking, and doing (see Section xx).

It is not yet known in our modern times that the heaven of our eternity is located within spiritual-rational and celestial-rational correspondences of Sacred Scripture. When we understand and love these rational correspondences of Divine Speech, which means living and thinking according to them, then we are preparing our spiritual mind to be a conjugial heaven in which we know God directly and receive from Him all that we are willing and able to take in terms of human potential and happiness.

It is clear that knowledge about eternity and God is not possible to be discovered through the sensations from our physical body and the reasoning power of our natural mind. The proof of this is that traditional science, with its amazing history of inventions and explanations, knows zero about eternity and God, so that all it can do is to deny that such things exist or are part of scientific reality. Another proof is that the enormous scholarship and effort invested over the centuries in the literature on religion, God, and spirituality, has brought zero knowledge about God and eternity, and only wild speculations and disagreements among them.

All this proves that scientific and scholarly knowledge of God cannot be discovered and invented, but only received from God through the correspondences of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture -- not the literal sense of Sacred Scripture (which is sectarian religion), but the revealed correspondential sense that lies hidden within (see Section xx). The diagram below portrays the distinct difference between religion and theistic psychology, even though they are both closely related to Sacred Scripture.

Sacred Scripture is the expression of Divine Speech in a natural language, transformed through the laws of correspondences that God used to create the layers of mind and existence (see Section xx). See the Layers Diagram.

Although the sentences of Sacred Scripture are written out by a an individual in a particular language and culture, they are not the individual's own sentences, but sentences that have been transformed by correspondences as Divine Speech descends into that individual's mind from its unconscious spiritual level to its conscious natural level (see Section xx). First, Divine Speech enters the celestial-rational mind of the individual. This is unconscious while we are still connected to the physical world. Second, Divine Speech descends into the spiritual-rational layer of the individual's mind, which is also unconscious until our resuscitation (see Section xx). Third, Divine Speech descends by correspondential meaning into the natural mind of the individual, where it becomes conscious and the person is able to write it down. The "prophet" or "revelator" does not himself know what layers of correspondential meanings lie hidden with the sentences they write down. They and others are only aware of the literal meaning.

The descent of Divine Speech through the layers of the human mind takes place by correspondences (see Section xx). Those who are conscious in their celestial-rational mind after their resuscitation (see Section xx), are conscious of Divine Speech in terms of celestial-rational correspondences (see Section xx). These celestial-rational meanings or truths give human beings the highest possible consciousness, knowledge, worship, and love of God.

Those who, after resuscitation, are conscious in their spiritual-rational mind, are conscious of Divine Speech in terms of spiritual-rational correspondences (see Section xx). These meanings of Sacred Scripture give human beings the next lowest possible consciousness, knowledge, worship, and love of God. Those who are conscious in their natural mind, namely, us while we are still connected to earth, are conscious of Divine Speech in terms of natural correspondences of Divine Speech (see Section xx). These natural meanings of Sacred Scripture give human beings the next lowest possible consciousness, knowledge, worship, and love of God.

We are connected to earth by the laws of correspondences which functionally link together our mental body in eternity and our physical body in time-space. Our conscious natural mind is capable of entering virtually, as a training ground, into the various layers of worship and love of God. We begin with natural worship and love of God which is based on our ethnic membership in a particular religion and our historical ties to the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture recognized in that religion. If we do not try to live by the truths of Sacred Scripture as we understand them, then we are not preparing ourselves adequately for immortality in eternity (see Section xx). Instead of being or existing in a heaven within our spiritual-rational mind, our consciousness then sinks into the bottom of our natural mind, which is called the corporeal-sensuous mind, as opposed to the natural-rational mind (see Section xx). See the Layers Diagram.

At this level of feeling and thinking, the correspondences of Sacred Scripture cannot be comprehended rationally. All truth of Sacred Scripture is inverted and perverted through irrational thoughts and feelings, which taken together as a whole, are called the human hells in the mind (see Section xx). It is our choice, but the choice is to be made prior to death, while we still can reform our character from inherited hellish traits to freely acquired heavenly traits (see Section xx).

To the extent that we try to live by the truths of Sacred Scripture that we understand, to that extent God can elevate our consciousness from the natural-sensuous thinking and feeling, to the natural-rational thinking and feeling (see Section xx). When God thus elevates and enlightens our understanding of Him, we become capable of a higher spiritual-rational worship and love of God, as a result of which God can further elevate our consciousness from natural-rational, to spiritual-rational, and finally to celestial-rational meanings of Sacred Scripture.

 This process of elevation of the individual by God takes place through

(1) the individual's rational study and understanding of Sacred Scripture as Divine Truth, and
(2) in proportion to the individual's efforts at applying this understanding to one's daily willing, thinking, and doing. This means undergoing spiritual temptations.

        1.0.1.3.1   What are Spiritual Temptations

Knowledge of Divine truth cannot change our hellish character, but can only give us an understanding of how God's truth is to dictate our willing, thinking, and doing. Conjunction with God occurs afterward, and only to the extent that we are willing to give up our hellish and selfish enjoyments, and replace them with heavenly and altruistic enjoyments. In proportion as we do this, to that extent we are conjoined to God in rational understanding, worship, and love. Conjunction with God gives us an eternal conjugial heaven with a maximum of human love, altruism, enjoyment, and happiness (in the affective organ), along with their consequent rationality, wisdom. intelligence, knowledge, and inventiveness (in the cognitive organ).

We vary in sincerity and consistency. We must be willing to undergo the temptations that God puts in our way in our mind. This requires spiritual combat. Our understanding of Divine truth from Sacred Scripture provides the weapons for the combat against our hellish enjoyments (see Section xx). Once we engage in combat, as if of our own, then God immediately manages the victory for us. We can have no victory if we believe that we are fighting our evils with our own power and intelligence. God can provide victory only if we acknowledge in our mind and understand rationally, that by ourselves we have zero power since God is omnipotent and has all the power.

Remember this:
Spiritual temptations are within the natural temptations. It is not possible simply to have a spiritual temptation, but only a natural temptation within which lies deeply hidden a spiritual temptation. We can have natural temptations alone, without spiritual temptations in them. This phase is needed so that we can build a virtuous character to counterbalance our inherited preference for selfishness. In the selfish phase we are irrational because we are convinced that selfishness is better than altruism. If we continue in this mode of thinking all our lives, then when we are resuscitated, we automatically and gleefully choose selfishness for our eternal life, and this is in the hells of our mind (see Section xx). So it is in our best interest to use our conscience and our common sense to oppose selfish traits and to become a responsible ethical citizen. We do this by fighting our natural temptations like procrastination, laziness, deception for convenience and gain, revenge, rage, putting others at risk, being inconsiderate to neighbors or room mates, out of control gambling, drugs, promiscuity, etc. etc. These are character flaws and weaknesses that the Divine Psychologist brings to our attention through events in our environment, like who we meet when, what we remember or forget, what someone says or does, what emotions come to us, etc. etc. God manages these mental events so that our focus of attention may come to our temptation. In this way we can choose to give in and continue, or to resist and stop.

This is God's purpose, as revealed in Sacred Scripture regarding the process of regeneration (see Section xx). This is also called the process of becoming a spiritual person (see Section xx). It means that the phase of the natural temptations is going well with you so that you can enter the next phase, the one that really matters. This phase begins when you begin to think about the spiritual meaning and significance of your natural temptations. For example, let's say you've been working on yourself to be more considerate to people around you. So you turn down the volume on your radio or TV, avoid leaving dishes in the kitchen sink, and continue flossing your teeth every day. You are motivated to do this because you want to become a better, nicer, more rational person. You are experiencing natural temptations that bring thoughts to your mind in which you are trying to explain away your selfish actions, e.g., "Everybody else leaves dishes in the sink, so I will too." or, "I don't mind annoying my neighbors with my TV so I can retaliate against their partying late at night and keeping me awake." Etc. These are natural temptations because you have to use natural reasons to fight these thoughts and defeat them. For instance, you can say to yourself: "I've got to rise above it and be a better person they are. Their gad behavior does not justify my bad behavior. Treat them like you want them to treat you, not like they are treating you." Etc. These are natural-rational reasonings.

Once you begin to win these natural temptations on a regular basis and reliably, you are prepared for the spiritual temptations. In order to overcome spiritual temptations you must have spiritual truths to fight with. Prior to your possessing spiritual truths, God does not bring you into spiritual temptation, that is, God does not allow your mind to experience such thoughts. The reason is that if you did experience such temptations, you would give in to them. And once you give in to spiritual temptations your mental conditions is worse than before, much worse. Hence God is very careful to prevent you from having spiritual temptations until you have equipped yourself with spiritual truths that can fight these reasonings. For instance, you now avoid leaving dishes in the sink. Every time you are tempted to leave the dishes or postpone cleaning up, you reason it out with yourself, thinking that it's not fair for the other people, and you want to be a fair person instead of a hypocrite. You are successfully overcoming your natural temptation with your natural-rational reasoning. But now what if you were to think: "I don't need to be totally fair as long as I can get away with it. It's not good to be too good in a competitive world. Too much fairness is a weakness. Let the do-gooders who believe in truth and decency be fair. Me I rather be a winner and unfair, than fair and a loser in life."

You might have read some philosophy or self-help book that leads you to such thinking. If now, all of a sudden,  you begin to wonder whether such selfism is right or wrong, good or evil, in God's order or against it, then you are experiencing a spiritual temptation within the natural temptation.

People can read and adopt such philosophies of selfism and cynicism but they may do so without critically evaluating it. This means that the ideas of selfism are just on the surface of one's memory, having read it, and even saying that one likes it or adopts it, but without actually doing so in daily events. For instance, you turn down the radio volume because it bothers you that the sound bothers others. This is not selfism but the opposite. And when you have an opportunity to cheat without getting caught, and you decide not to because it's wrong and you don't want to be that type of person, then you are acting against the philosophy of selfism. But this is still a natural temptation and a natural victory. It leaves you connected to inherited character flaws related to selfism. In other words, though you reject selfish acts on the outside of your public life, you retain selfish emotions and intentions that are within, not so conscious. For example, you might prefer to avoid being inconsiderate for the purpose of gaining acceptance by others, which allows you to practice selfish traits without others knowing about it. This is sometimes called "having ulterior motives" and being "manipulative."

But now you started thinking more seriously about your afterlife and God. You are wondering whether it is right for you to be considerate for selfish reasons. You are now aware that God knows when you are selfish and pretending to be considerate for the purpose of gain, manipulation, or reputation. This is a spiritual temptation. God is bringing this spiritual temptation to you at this time because you have already acquired some spiritual truths from Sacred Scripture or from your conscience, or from some other person who already possesses spiritual truths. The natural temptation you are having is: "It's all right for me to look out for myself since no one else will. The strong win, the weak deserve to lose." The spiritual temptation you are having simultaneously is: "Only God is strong. Evil may appear to pay off, but in the end, evil return to evil. I don't want to be in evil. God gives me the power to make the right choices, to be good." This is a spiritual temptation, spiritual battle, spiritual victory. Spiritual enlightenment is experienced the moment one makes the decision against evil in oneself. Then comes spiritual ecstasy and peace (see below).

So spiritual temptations are always given within natural temptations and the two cannot be separated.

To understand this process in detail you need to know the difference between:
(a) being considerate for the sake of self 
(b) being considerate for the sake of others
(c) being considerate for the sake of God 
For explanations, see Sections 6.4 to 6.7

Under some conditions we fall into the persuasion that to fight our temptations as if on our own, would be to think that the power to fight is ours -- which is a hellish thought against the reality of truth. As a result of this kind of thinking, we fall into a passive mode and wait for God to liberate us in our trial. But this strategy cannot work and it prevents character reformation. In that case God cannot bring spiritual temptations for us to fight, but only natural temptations (see Sections xx). Natural temptations build our external personality, appearance, and overt conduct. This is necessary for acquiring morality according to one's conscience (See Section 7.0.4.1). But the inner character cannot be altered by natural temptations. It requires spiritual temptations. God brings spiritual temptations to our mind to the extent of our rational understanding of truth from Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

Without the truth of Sacred Scripture in our rational understanding, God cannot bring spiritual temptations to our mind, and as a result, we cannot be regenerated. We die in the character that we inherited, which is a hell (see Section xx). Only the truth of Sacred Scripture, applied to spiritual temptations, can give us the new heavenly character we need to live in the heavens of our eternity (see Section xx).

Hence it is necessary for us to have in our understanding Divine rational truth in order for us to be prepared for heaven by temptations through regeneration or daily efforts at character reformation. The higher the rationality in our understanding of truth from Sacred Scripture,  the more we can be regenerated by God to higher and higher heavenly potentials, in proportion to our daily efforts in applying the truth to our daily willing, thinking, and doing.

It makes sense therefore to think that God has provided a method by which we can acquire higher and higher meanings, or more and more rational meanings, so that we can apply it to our daily willing and thinking, and thereby become celestial beings in our heavenly eternity (see Section xx).

The diagram above shows that theistic psychology, and theistic science generally, is the scientific knowledge that is extracted from Sacred Scripture, when we apply the method of correspondences with enlightenment (see Section xx). There are two ideas to understand here: correspondences and enlightenment.

When Divine Speech, or Divine Truth, descends by correspondences through the layers of the human mind, we are conscious of it differently at each successive layer. That is, Divine Speech forms our consciousness at each level of the mind, through meanings of Sacred Scripture. See the Layers Diagram.

Divine Speech becomes conscious to human beings through the meanings of Sacred Scripture, and these meanings in the layers of the mind vary from highest (celestial-rational) to lowest (natural-sensuous), that is, from most rational to less and less rational. Divine Speech is Divine Truth hidden in layers of Sacred Scripture, and therefore it is pure and absolute rationality. This Divine rationality is adapted or accommodated to the individual's mind by means of the layers of meanings in correspondences. When we ask, What does this sentence of Sacred Scripture mean? And then when we give a paraphrase of it, then our thinking is operating at some level across the layers of meanings possible in our mind, from highest to lowest (see Section xx).

The change in meaning of Sacred Scripture is managed by God through successive levels of correspondences. God wants us to know what these laws of correspondences are that He uses to manage the created universe through Divine Speech (see Section xx). God has therefore revealed through the Writings Sacred Scripture what these correspondences are (see Section xx). Illustrations and demonstrations will be given in the following Sections (see also Section xx). See the Layers Diagram.

One must therefore study and understand the laws of correspondences by which Divine Speech becomes Sacred Scripture at various levels of human thinking and feeling. These laws are Divine and cannot be discovered. Nor must we invent them or construct them from human intelligence. In the Writings Sacred Scripture, God has revealed what these correspondences are. The same correspondences apply to all Sacred Scripture since there is only one Divine Speech that filters through the various natural language versions of Sacred Scripture in all the genuine religions that God has created on this earth.

Important to note the following:
It is taught in the Writings Sacred Scripture that knowing correspondences is useless unless God enlightens the individual's mind to perceive their spiritual-rational correspondences, and later, their celestial-rational correspondences (see Section xx).

You can read a dictionary of correspondences (see Section xx) and try to understand the spiritual meaning of natural expressions in Sacred Scripture -- but this will only allow you to perceive the natural meaning of these correspondences. For instance we can read in the dictionary of correspondences that when Sacred Scripture mentions "water" (rain, ocean, river, flood) it is actually discussing natural truths in our understanding. But when Sacred Scripture is mentioning "wine" it is actually discussing spiritual truths. This is easy to translate mechanically, but what does it mean? What is spiritual truth vs. natural truth? In order to know this, we need to study other passages of Sacred Scripture while God is opening our rational understanding of it. And God does this with any person who is studying for the sake of applying the truth to daily life.

Theistic psychology is the scientific knowledge that we accumulate through the method of correspondences with enlightenment. You can see the result of this effort as you read throughout the 18 volumes of this work. If your purpose for studying theistic psychology is to acquire correspondential truths from Sacred Scripture, with a view to applying them to your daily willing, thinking, and doing, then God will enlighten you, raise your consciousness to the highest levels, and empower you with wisdom and conjugial love (see Section xx).

Divine Speech emanates from God the Divine Human and permeates the universe, creating the mental world, and the physical world in successive order, and maintaining everything in a simultaneous order order that serves God's purpose of love for humanity (see Section xx). Divine Speech enters the human mind at the highest level of consciousness that humans are created into called the Third Heaven in the spiritual mind. Then it descends and exteriorizes to the Second Heaven in our spiritual mind. From there, to the First Heaven in our spiritual mind. From there into the rational and the natural mind, which is where we become conscious of our mental operations.

We first become conscious of Divine Speech in our natural mind when we read Sacred Scripture, or are exposed to derivative forms of it such as prayers, songs, stories, lessons, instructions. At this point we understand Divine Speech in a natural way, in the way we understand the instructions or explanations of teachers and parents. As we grow older and we are able to read Sacred Scripture on our own, we begin to form more abstract notions of God, though not yet spiritual notions. As we become more mature we also become conscious of the voice of conscience in our rational mind (See Section 7.0.4.1). This is a second way in which we become conscious of Divine Speech. We have the liberty to reject what we hear from Sacred Scripture and from our conscience. If we do this repeatedly until it becomes a habit, then we cannot regenerate our character, and after resuscitation we insist on living in the hellish thoughts and feelings we have acquired and loved.

Focusing our attention on Sacred Scripture brings us into direct contact with God because the content of Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech expressed in a natural language for the natural mind of humanity. You can see from the two anatomical diagrams discussed that before Divine Speech reaches the conscious natural mind, it has passed through the spiritual mind and the rational mind without our knowing it at the time. In fact, the spiritual substances of good and truth from the Spiritual Sun must continuously inflow into the mind, or else the mind collapses or is extinguished. But this is not possible. After we are resuscitated, a few hours following the death of the physical body, we become conscious in our spiritual mind. Then for the first time, as experienced by Swedenborg, we begin to see rational things in Sacred Scripture which before were hidden from our conscious awareness.

Swedenborg reports that he often was able to see and inspect the books of Sacred Scripture in the mental world of eternity. In fact, he saw libraries of books there, that stood visible as long as the person in it was interested. But when the person is in a different mental state, no libraries are seen. Further, when a person sees a library there, only those books are seen which the person has an interest in, and can understand the content. So the book in the mental world of eternity are not like books in the physical world which are read and held through the physical body. Obviously, every book that has ever been written is merely a physical containant of mental ideas rendered through sentences. There is an exact correspondence between physical sentences and mental events that create meaning for them to the reader or hearer. So it's logical to expect that every physical book on earth is just a copy of a mental book in the world of eternity. Swedenborg reports that books of Sacred Scripture in the spiritual mind of eternity appear to glow with an intense light that blinds anyone from approaching, unless the person's mind has been prepared for reception of Divine Speech.

Without this preparation, the person's mind would go through a melt down. Once Swedenborg saw a man recently resuscitated, approach the book of Sacred Scripture, ignoring the warning given him by a by-stander. The instant he reached out his hand to touch it, he was thrown at a great distance away, where he lay unconscious for awhile, before coming to, and going away.

Saying that Divine Speech is proceeding from God is exactly the same as saying that Divine Truth is proceeding from God.

Divine Truth is a spiritual substance called spiritual light that is streaming forth from the Spiritual Sun that Swedenborg was able to see in the world of eternity that was in his spiritual mind (see Section xx). At age 57 he suddenly found himself with the unique ability of being conscious in his spiritual mind, which is unconscious to us until the afterlife. When we are resuscitated a few hours after death, we awaken in full conscious awareness of our spiritual mind, which until then was unconscious. Now it is the natural mind that becomes unconscious, and the spiritual mind becomes conscious. As a result, we can no longer see or hear anything in the physical world through our physical body, to which we are no longer connected by correspondence. The physical body dies when it can no longer be in correspondence with the mental body, due to illness or other causes. Becoming conscious in our spiritual mind means that we can now hear, see, and feel everything in the world of eternity called the spiritual world.

Swedenborg discovered that this world of eternity outside time-space, which is known to people from Sacred Scripture, is nothing else than the mental world of humanity which existed since creation. This fact is not known outside theistic psychology and Swedenborgian theology. No one today knows this "heavenly secret"  and when you tell your friends, it will be big news! Just remember this formula and learn to explain it from the discussions above:

 spiritual world of afterlife in eternity = mental world we are already in now

(see "born into eternity" as "dual citizens").

Since Swedenborg was the only scientist in history whose spiritual mind was conscious, he is the only scientist in history who can give us an objective and empirical description of the spiritual world of eternity. Everything that he wrote down and published, called the Writings of Swedenborg (published between 1747-1771), is part of Divine Speech as Sacred Scripture in a natural language. God opened or made conscious Swedenborg's spiritual mind so that he could objectively report to the world of science what the conditions are in the afterlife of eternity. To study Swedenborg's Writings as Sacred Scripture is the positive bias in science, as discussed.

From all this you can see what are the three basic premises upon which theistic psychology is founded, namely

  • dualism of substances in time vs. eternity

  • theism of Divine influx controlling all phenomena

  • revelation from the hidden scientific meaning of Sacred Scripture

Practice talking about these concepts after taking notes from the discussion on Topic 1.

1.0.2  Topic 2: The Spiritual World of Eternity

When Swedenborg's spiritual mind became conscious at age 57 his amazing discovery was that the spiritual world of eternity in the afterlife was nothing else than what we call the mental world!

In other words:

spiritual world = mental world = rational substances = afterlife = eternity

This equation brings it home to us. We are very familiar with the mental world. We are in it. It is our life. Take away our sensations, thoughts, and feelings, and what have we got left? Nothing but a biological shell, like a tree or rock. Human beings are alive in the sense that their sensations, thoughts, and feelings are alive. This is the mental world. So the mental world is alive, unlike the physical world which is dead.

Note carefully the rational answer to: Where are you now?

You are not in this physical room. Your physical body is in this room. You are not your physical body just like the banana peel is not the banana. Your mind or mental body is in the mental world. What is so familiar to us from minute by minute experience and life, is actually the spiritual world of the afterlife in eternity known to people from Sacred Scripture. We don't know this directly or by observation because we have no awareness of our spiritual mind, like we do of our natural mind. As long as our spiritual mind remains unconscious, we have the illusion or compelling sensation that we are in the room, with the physical body, and that what we are sensing through the body is the room and its environment.

But in fact we are not sensing the room, nor the stimulus from the room to the sensory organs and the brain. We are sensing the sensations in our mind, the thoughts in our mind, the feelings in our mind. We are sensing the mental world, not the physical world. The two are of course in correspondence (see Topic 1), so that my sensations in the mental world correspond to the neuronal activity in the brain. These physical neural operations in the brain correspond to the physical details of the room and its environment.

Once you realize this -- that your natural mind exists in the spiritual world, not in this physical world -- you can begin to understand that we are immortal human beings. Your personality, your memories and identity, your feelings, emotions, and thoughts -- these are not physical and temporal materials; they are immortal, eternal, spiritual substances constructed out of spiritual heat and light from the Spiritual Sun (see Section xx). Hence you can see that sensations, thoughts and feelings must be immortal and eternal, because they are not existent in time and space. As a mental being it is not possible for you to be in a physical room.

Swedenborg discovered that when he was conscious in his spiritual mind he was able to be in company with people he had known who had died, and people he read about in history and literature. This proved that everyone who dies is resuscitated in the spiritual world and continues life there forever. Swedenborg observed thousands of people die and be resuscitated about 36 hours later in the spiritual world. Most of these people he said are pretty surprised to see themselves up and running after dying.

Swedenborg's discovery that the spiritual world of the afterlife, being eternity, is nothing else than what we call the mental world, is surely the greatest scientific discovery of all times.

This amazing discovery changes our most fundamental concepts of the universe and life.

Substantive dualism is not a theoretical supposition. It is an absolute fact that is familiar to every human being. Nothing can be more familiar to us than the mental world of our sensations, thoughts, and feelings in which our conscious awareness is immersed every moment of our life. Who would have suspected this amazing fact that Swedenborg discovered, namely, that this familiar mental world is the world of eternity!!

Sensations, thoughts, and feelings are operations or states of mental organs that are made of spiritual substances, and not at all like physical objects made of physical matter, like the brain. Physical objects are in time and space, hence they must be temporary. Everything temporary is in time-space, and everything in time-space is temporary, that is, has a temporary existence, not permanent. But mental objects like thoughts and feelings are not in time and space. Thoughts have no mass, no physical energy, and cannot be measured or detected by anything physical. Only the brain's activity can be measured. Thoughts and feelings cannot be measured because they take up no space, they have no weight, no mass, and no time dimension. It is the same with sensations and feelings.

Mental objects are spiritual objects, and everything spiritual is outside time and space, and this is called eternity. Our sensations, thoughts and feelings are in eternity. They can never leave eternity and enter time-space. They cannot stop existing because they are made of eternal living substances (see Section xx). Your personality, which is nothing but your sensations, thoughts and feelings, is therefore eternal or immortal. Your self is immortal. You are immortal! We are born into eternity and our self exists only in the world of eternity outside time and space. This is the mental world, which is also called the spiritual world.

You are immortal. Wait till you tell the good news to your friends! You can say: "I bear good news. You were born immortal. Only your physical body is in time and space, and when it dies, your conscious awareness awakens in the spiritual mind, which until then remained unconscious." See if they are willing for you to explain it rationally. But if they don't take it seriously, do not despair. Continue studying theistic psychology and soon you will understand enough to really prove it to them -- anyone who believes in you enough to hear you out all the way with a positive bias.

Swedenborg's reports are hardly known today after being published and republished for more than 200 years now. And yet these reports present and prove his amazing discovery that there is only one mental world called the spiritual world of eternity. Every human being is born into this one mental world, which has been called the spiritual world of eternity. When we are born we are dual citizens for awhile. Our physical body and organs are born in the natural world while our mental body and organs are born into the spiritual world. The two are connected until the physical body dies. When the separation occurs, we are resuscitated or awakened in our spiritual mind which was unconscious until then. We were conscious in our natural mind only. Hence we could not see or be aware of the other people who were also there in the spiritual world. Now that our natural mind is made unconscious, our awareness is brought to our spiritual mind. Now we are able to see and interact with the people who are also there. Swedenborg interviewed thousands of people, some of whom he knew while they were alive in Sweden, others he knew only from history books, and yet he was able to see them as they are now and to talk to them.

At the end of his last book published in 1771, Swedenborg gives an Index of his spiritual travelogues which he calls "Memorable Relations" -- things he saw and heard in the spiritual world of the afterlife, outside time and space. You can read all his Writings and Memorable Relations online at:
www.theheavenlydoctrines.org  and at  www.smallcanonsearch.com/ 

Use the following conversion Table to help you translate the religious literal content to its universal scientific meaning.
 
Religious Literal content of
the Writings Sacred Scripture
Conversion to Universal Scientific Content
in Theistic Psychology
the Lord God the Divine Psychologist
His New Church, the New Jerusalem theistic psychology
He has opened the interiors of my mind or spirit God activated my conscious awareness in the spiritual mind
angels people in the afterlife with a heavenly personality
evil spirits, satans people in the afterlife with a hellish personality
men people
Who in the Christian world Who among believers of all religions that worship one God
spiritual world, the heavens the mental world of eternity or afterlife
the Word Sacred Scripture

Note: underlined words are theistic psychology renditions of the original, as indicated in the conversion Table above. The number where the Memorable Relation can be found is marked in parenthesis at the end of each paragraph below.

TCR 851. I foresee that many who read the Memorable Relations annexed to the chapters in this work will believe them to be inventions of the imagination. But I affirm in truth that they are not inventions, but were truly seen and heard; not seen and heard in any sleeping state of mind, but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased God to manifest Himself to me, and to send me to teach those things which will belong to theistic psychology, which is meant by "the New Jerusalem" in the Apocalypse. For this purpose God activated my conscious awareness in the spiritual mind, whereby I have been permitted to be in the spiritual world with people in the afterlife with a heavenly personality, and at the same time in the natural world with people, and this now during twenty-seven years.

Who among the religious believers of all faith that worship one God could have known anything about Heaven and Hell, had it not pleased God the Divine Psychologist to open the sight of someone's spirit, and show and teach him? That such things as are described in the Memorable Relations do appear in the mental world of eternity or afterlife, is made clear by the like things seen and described by John in the Apocalypse, also in the Sacred Scripture of the Old Testament by the prophets.

 This topic is dealt with in more detail in several places in theistic psychology (see Section xx).

1.0.3   Topic 3: Divine Speech, Sacred Scripture, and Conjunction With God

Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech transformed by correspondence into a natural language (see Section xx). All genuine Sacred Scripture has therefore two levels of meaning. The clearly visible literal sense is historical and cultural, leading to particular religions. The hidden correspondential sense is universal and culture-free. Hence although the literal sense of the various collections of Sacred Scripture is necessarily cultural and ethnic, also divisive against each other, the hidden correspondential sense of all Sacred Scripture is unified and consistent, relating to the rationality and love of Divine Speech as One God for all.

(See also Section 15.0 for additional discussion)

1.0.3.1  Part 3A: The Psychobiology of Conjunction with the Divine Human

Our life of immortality is not something that belongs to us. It is not inherent in us. We are human "vessels" or receptor organs, created to receive life from God by reacting to God's influx with good and truth substances. In other words, God cannot give life to us in the sense that we then possess life from ourselves as we go about our daily life. For example, when you fill your car's gas tank and drive off (after paying for it), you have that gas in the car. It is yours and the car's. God cannot give life to us like the gas station gives gas to the car. Think instead of your electric stove at home. When you turn it on and it gives out heat, that operation of giving heat is totally dependent on the inflowing electricity into the elements that consequently heat up. As soon as the flow of electricity is cut off, the heat stops. So the heat element is capable of reacting to the inflow of electricity in such a way as to generate heat.

This is similar by analogy to the situation with God's life inflowing into the mental organs which were constructed by God out of the spiritual substances of good and truth, so that they may be able to react to new inflow of good and truth from God.

"To be able to react" = being affected = being conjoined.

The ear drums of our physical body are constructed out of physical substances to have the property of reacting to the inflow of air waves produced by sounds in endless variety. The cognitive organ of our mental body is constructed out of spiritual substances to have the property of reacting to the inflow of truth substances in endless variety. What is amazing is that these two operations -- in the ear drum and in the cognitive organ -- must go on together, synchronously, in simultaneous order, if we are going to hear sounds and interpret their meaning.

 Our mind has existential continuity because it is re-created, re-born, every instant from birth to eternity. This is literally true, not an exaggeration. God has revealed this astonishing fact about the universe! The mental world and the physical world are created by the inflow of good and truth, and they live in a moment of time. Then they die. But here comes the next inflow of good and truth, and recreates the mind, exactly such as it was the instant before. Then the universe dies. God recreates it once more the next instant, exactly such as it was before. And this goes on to endless time and eternity.

So if we know this, then we cannot rationally attribute any power, any life, or any intelligence to ourselves. From ourselves we are dead organic receptors, being revived from instant to instant by inflow of new life into our mental organs. We also would want to realize that the Divine Human does all this out of love for us, so He wills that we not feel the death-recreation cycle instant by instant. In this way we have a sensation of subjective continuity of life from ourselves, as-of self, forever, endlessly. This is the result of God's love for us. The Writings Sacred Scripture reveal that the essence of love is to desire to make another happy from ourselves. For instance, most pet owners love their pets, and when you observe them with their pets you can see how they are always trying to make their pet happy.

It is the same with parents who are always striving to benefit their child from what they own -- their house, their money, their services, their attention, their promises, their contacts. In short, if you love someone you try to make them happy or benefit them out of what you own yourself. God the Divine Human has good and truth in infinite variety that He wishes, desires, and intends to benefit us with. If we believe that these goods and truths are from ourselves, instead of from God, we interrupt the inflow of good and truth, and what we end up with are their filtered opposites manufactured in our mind -- corrupted goods called evil, and falsified truths called falsities. God communicates scientific facts to the human race through Sacred Scripture, but not directly in the literal meaning, for this would not be understood by most people who rely on Sacred Scripture for their religion.

The scientific revelations laid hidden in Sacred Scripture for thousands of years before God could prepare the human race for their rational understanding. This required the modern mind of science. Swedenborg (1688-1772), a noted and respected scientist in his era, was among the first to achieve a modern scientific mind in the mode of theism. Until then the topic and study of God remained in the exclusive prerogative of religious people and theology experts. But now, with theistic psychology having arrived on the scene of science, God is entering the realm of modern science. This is possible only because of the Swedenborg reports, which are called the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

When you are thinking about how God's Divine Human life inflows into us and does not belong to us, you can give your friends this analogy. Think of the TV we watch. It is designed to receive electronic signals that are displayed on the screen and loudspeaker. The TV does not possess the content of those images and sounds. It just receives them. Similarly, we do not possess life, intelligence, rationality, power, or freedom of our own. These are spiritual things belonging to God. But God constructed our mental organs out of spiritual eternal substances called good and truth, and designed the organs to function as as receptors of good and truth substances that issue from God and belong to God even when these substances are in our mental organs and are operating our thoughts and feelings!

Even then, the good and truth remain belonging to God since God cannot give away anything Divine, hence cannot separate anything Divine from Himself. But He can extend Himself to exist outside of Himself (see Section xx). This is the meaning of "Divine influx" which refers to how God extends Himself to exist in created things. This extending is accomplished by means of the spiritual substances of good and truth proceeding from Himself to outside of Himself into creation ("influx").  And whatever has proceeded to be outside of Himself still remains Himself, though now in a different relationship to humanity than before (see Section xx).

So there is God in Himself (unreachable to human beings), and there is God as He extends Himself outside of Himself in the created world (reachable by human beings). Human beings can be conjoined to God outside of Himself, but not to God as He is within Himself. The expression "Divine Proceeding" or "Holy Spirit" is often used to refer to the part of God we can be adjoined to and conjoined with, namely the good and truth from Him as Him in our mental organs. It is not logical to think that the Divine good and truth within our mental organs is ours, and those who think in this way, might even say that human beings are God. A lesser version of this belief is that human beings are pieces of God. Another belief is that we are unreal images as we know ourselves, and there in reality we are God. And so on. These various accounts of how we are related to God are not based on Sacred Scripture, hence they are not part of theistic psychology.

We need to make a distinction between

(1)     "our afterlife in eternity" -- which is created and has a beginning in the creation of the human race; and

(2)     "the uncreated eternity of the Divine Itself"

Only the second is infinite, not the first. “Infinite” is defined as having no beginning and no end. Only God and His attributes – love, good, truth, life, rationality – are infinite and have no beginning. Hence the created dual universe is finite for it has a beginning even if it will have no end. So it’s rational to think that the infra-structure or building blocks of the finite created dual universe has to be the uncreate things of good and truth – since there is nothing else created out of which then created universe can come from or be built out of. Something cannot be built out of nothing. So the only rational conclusion is that the infrastructure or building blocks of creation are uncreate, infinite, with no beginning.

Theistic psychology refers to the afterlife as “the mental world of eternity" because the mental world of the human race is constructed out of spiritual heat (or love) and light (or truth) from the Spiritual Sun (the Aura around God), and these two substances are uncreate and infinite in the Divine eternity of love and truth that has no beginning. Hence the eternity of the human afterlife has a beginning even though it can be endless. Because of this mixed nature, the mental world of eternity can interact with an infinite God since then mental world is constructed out of the uncreate substances of this infinite God.

Hence it is that we must make a distinction between "God as He is in Himself" from infinite eternity without beginning vs. "God as He is Outside of Himself in Creation" such as

  • Divine Speech

  • the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture

  • the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture

  • the voice of conscience

  • the soul

  • the Divine Psychologist (“Holy Spirit”)

  • Divine Providence

  • The Divine Child or the Natural Divine Human

 These are various manifestations or appearances of "God as He is Outside of Himself." Note carefully that it is irrational to think that God can create a universe without Himself being in it, for He would then not be omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. But at the same time rationality dictates that these two cannot be the same. Hence the infrastructure of creation is God as He is in Himself, but the creation itself is not God, but manifestations of God as He is Outside of Himself. The manifestations appear finite and therefore can relate to finite things like human beings.

Note also that the finite Divine manifestations of God in the created dual universe are part of an evolutionary process by which God shapes, guides, and pulls the development of human consciousness and potential generation after generation.

Note also that this rational conception of God and creation is not at all like some theories or philosophies that say that we ourselves are God but don't realize it until we evolve our individual mind towards higher and higher consciousness through reincarnated lives. This view is contrary to scientific dualism in theistic psychology. God as He is in Himself is a Person who always was, in whom infinite love and truth make one. This Divine Person Creator could not be somebody else, like a human being He created with a beginning.

You can see from the two charts in the previous section that when you look at your physical body in the mirror, and you do it with theistic psychology x-ray vision, you are looking at an external "temple of God" inasmuch as your mind is a discrete degree within your physical body, your heaven in eternity is in your spiritual mind, and God the Divine Human is a discrete degree within that heaven. Clearly then, God exists as the inmost of your physical body in terms of discrete degrees. You cannot logically think that this portion is yours! If it were yours, you would be God. But you are not God. So it is not logical to think this way.

But at the same time you can see from this biological account that we are in symbiotic relationship to God. This relationship has two modes of depth --

  • (1) adjunction to God

  • (2) conjunction with God

The closer or deeper we are conjoined with God the more good and truth we can receive from Him. This shows itself as greater intelligence, inventiveness, skillfulness, love, happiness, and zest of life. These are the substances of good and truth in infinite variety operating in our sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective organs (see Section xx). Those who deny God in the negative bias mode are nevertheless equally dependent on conjunction as those who love God. Every human being by birthright, is entitled to receive things from God. This is granted by God to everyone, even those who ridicule Him and construct magical rites and belief systems to pervert His good and truth. Even they are entitled to inalienable rights they have for being born human beings.

One such human right is immortality. It is awful to think of ourselves as temporary and mortal. It hurts our true humanity to believe such an illogical idea. It perverts our conscience and leads us to a hellish personality (See Section 7.0.4.1). So God effects unconscious conjunction in the mind of those who deny Him or pervert Him. He protects their right to spiritual freedom, so that at any moment in their life from birth to eternity, they have the endless opportunity to change their mind, to turn toward reality, hence to God Himself who is the center of their reality and the origin of everything they own and desire.

The purpose of religion over the millennia on this planet has been to conjoin human beings to God. According to the dictionary, the word "religion" comes from the Latin "religare" meaning to connect or to bond  with God. So God uses religion for conjoining human beings to Himself, so that He may bestow upon them ever more good and truth, and thereby to make them happy from Himself. So human happiness and ability are the outward operations of the Divine Human substances of good and truth inflowing instant by instant, into our mental body. First, into the unconscious spiritual mind, where our heaven is. Second, into our rational mind, and thence into our natural mind. Our physical body is consciously operated by our natural mind. this is the mechanism of living as a human being.

It is clear that our biological immortality belongs to God, not to us, and we have it only as long as we are conjoined to God by unconscious influx and reception, and by conscious communication through rational ideas from Sacred Scripture. The instant we should go "offline" so to speak, and stop receiving the spiritual input signal of life, power, love, and intelligence, that instant we disintegrate into something incoherent that dissipates and disappears from existence as a human being.

To understand how we are alive and what it means to be alive, we need to know what God has revealed about Himself to humanity. These revelations are known as Sacred Scripture. The literal meaning of Sacred Scripture in a natural language was given to serve as the basis of religion. The scientific meaning hidden within the literal, was given to serve as the basis for theistic science and theistic psychology (see Section xx).

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

SS 78. Further, it is through Sacred Scripture that God the Divine Psychologist is present with us and is conjoined with us, for God the Divine Psychologist is Sacred Scripture, and as it were speaks with us in it. God the Divine Psychologist is also Divine truth itself, as likewise is Sacred Scripture. From this it is evident that God the Divine Psychologist is present with us and is at the same time conjoined with us, according to our understanding of Sacred Scripture, for according to this we have truth and the derivative rational knowledge in our cognitive organ, and also pro-social motivation in our affective organ. God the Divine Psychologist is indeed present with us through the reading of Sacred Scripture, but we are conjoined with Him through the understanding of truth from Sacred Scripture, and according thereto; and in proportion as God the Divine Psychologist has been conjoined with us, in the same proportion theistic psychology is active in our mind. Theistic psychology is within us; theistic psychology that is outside of us is the institutionalized scientific discipline with a number of us who have theistic psychology within them. This is meant by the words of the Incarnated Divine Human to those who study theistic psychology without applying it to their daily willing and thinking who want to know how heaven is established in our mind:
        "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21).
Here the "kingdom of God" means God the Divine Psychologist, and from Him, knowledge of theistic psychology. (SS 78) (see Note below)

 Note: The following substitutions were made in the above paragraph indicated by italics:
 

Original Literal Expression in the
Writings Sacred Scripture
(for religion)

Equivalent Translated Concept into
Theistic Psychology
(for science)

the Word

Sacred Scripture

the Lord

God the Divine Psychologist, Incarnated Divine Human

a man, him, his, he is

us, our, we are

faith rational knowledge in our cognitive organ
love and the derivative life pro-social motivation in our affective organ
the church is in man; with man; within him; outside of man the knowledge of theistic psychology is active in our mind; outside of us is the institutionalized scientific discipline of theistic psychology
the Pharisees those who study theistic psychology without applying it to their daily willing and thinking
who asked who want to know
when the kingdom of God would come how heaven is established in our mind
within you in our mind

The conversion Table above illustrates the way in which theistic psychology is extracted from the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture. As you can see, all traces of the original historical or ethnic references vanish, and what remains is universal science applying to all human beings. Many more illustrations will be given in what follows (see also Section xx).

Let us recapitulate a few propositions that you need to remember and keep in mind as a context for what you are reading as you go on:

(a) God creates and manages the universe through the infinite mental substance of Divine Speech, which is Rational, Human, and Divine. Divine Speech proceeding from God is Divine Truth, which is the substance of spiritual light streaming from the Spiritual Sun. Spiritual light substance, or Truth substance (also called Wisdom), contains within it, spiritual heat substance, or Love substance (also called Good).

(b) Physical objects on earth are made of atoms from the natural sun that are whirling in sub-atomic space, which forms the object's infrastructure in time and space. Every physical object is constructed of these atoms from the sun. The sun is actually still part of these atoms. But physical matter, atoms and space, are themselves made of something at a discrete level higher, or within, that is not physical matter in time, but spiritual substance in eternity, which originates from the Spiritual Sun in infinite variety. The spiritual infrastructure at a discrete degree within the atoms and within space, keeps the atoms and the space in existence. Rationally viewed a thin cannot give origin to itself. Hence when you see a thing rationally, you are thinking of that which causes it to exist and to maintain itself in existence. That cause or infrastructure is the spiritual substances of the Spiritual Sun.

From this you can see that Divine Love (or Good),  and Divine Truth (or Rationality), are the spiritual eternal substances that make up the infrastructure of the spiritual world, also called the mental world in eternity, and this makes up the infrastructure of the physical world, which is in time and space. To say that God creates the world out of and by means of Divine Speech, means that God's mental substances of good and truth, pouring out of Him, create the world of eternity, which is the environment in which exists the mental world of humanity. Your sensations, thoughts, and feelings, moment by moment endlessly operating in your mental body, all exist in the world of eternity. They cannot exist anywhere else. And since that world is made of spiritual substances, you can see that our sensations, thoughts, and feelings must be also made of spiritual substances. Our mental world is a real world of immortal substances. Our thoughts and feelings, coalescing into a coherent self or person, exist as substances operating in our immortal mental body, which we acquire at birth (see Section xx).

(c) In other words, eternity is the infrastructure for time and space.

This chart depicts any object's infrastructure of existence.  It applies to whatever unit you are looking at in the physical world -- galactic, planetary, object, sub-atomic particle -- you are looking at the world of time-space-matter, whose infrastructure in simultaneous order is the world of eternity. This is true globally as well as at any size or level of physical abstraction. Question: What is inside your pocket or purse? If you take "inside" in terms of discrete degrees, then the answer would be, "The world of eternity made of the substances of the Spiritual Sun is inside my pocket or purse." What about your tooth brush? The answer is the same. What about your brain? Same answer. Try to explain this magnificently rational secret to your friends. they will jump for joy -- if they are willing to hear you out long enough so they can understand rationally what you can understand from studying theistic psychology.

Since the spiritual world of eternity = the mental world of the human race (Swedenborg's great discovery), therefore the human mind is the infrastructure for the physical universe, as shown in the chart above. (See Section xx)

The physical world is the outside of the universe, while the spiritual world, or mental world, is the inside of the universe. When we are born, our temporary physical body is in the outside world of time and space, while our mental body is in the inside world of eternity. When the physical body dies, our consciousness of the outside world ceases, and we become conscious of the world of eternity. For 27 years (from age 57 to 84), Swedenborg lived consciously present in both the world of eternity and the world of time-space in Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries. When you are resuscitated, a few hours after your physical body dies, you awaken in your spiritual mind, and the world of eternity becomes conscious to you. You can see everybody else who is there, where they live, how they live, and you can join any society that you choose. Swedenborg talked to people like Aristotle, whom he knew from the history books, and many other persons, some who had lived on other planets than earth (see Section xx).

Our first reaction to hearing such stories is that they are fantastic visions of a strange person. But this is an external perspective on Swedenborg in the negative bias mode. Remember that Swedenborg was not some kind of a strange person whose mind was somewhat deranged and living on the streets or in an asylum. During the 27 years while he was conscious in both worlds and wrote the reports we are studying, he did the following things on a daily basis:

  • held a demanding job as a government engineer and administrator of mining

  • was a member of the Swedish House of Lords and authored several bills on finance reform

  • was a publisher of science magazines and reports

  • traveled throughout Europe visiting with the labs of famous scientists

  • collected books for his brother-in-law's bookstore

  • frequently attended dinners at the palace by invitation from the royal family

  • wrote and published respected scientific books on metallurgy, chemistry, physics, astronomy, anatomy of the brain

All of Swedenborg's biographers agree that he was one of the greatest geniuses the world has ever seen. So now this famous scientist at age 57 suddenly becomes conscious in the spiritual mind! He applied his genius and enthusiastic motivation to this new area of investigation that he was uniquely given to explore. He left behind 30 volumes that are an entire integrated series of all that he was able to observe and rationally explain. And now we have come to realize that these reports are actually the Writings Sacred Scripture. As soon as I made this discovery, based on the insights of a few others (see Section xx), I was able to apply to it the systematic method of extraction specified in the Writings themselves (see Section xx). The result was the new science called theistic psychology, which you are now studying. This new discipline is not yet known to other psychologists, so you are still among the first people in the world who are exposed to theistic psychology. You can access the student reports by earlier generations through the list in Volume 18, Readings, Part 2.

To me one of the most significant of Swedenborg's scientific discoveries is that when we die, we are actually not dying, but awakening in our spiritual mind, where we live our immortality in eternity. This is traditionally called the "spiritual world" by many people who know about it from Sacred Scripture. Swedenborg direct confirmation of this process by observation and experimentation for 27 years, is new evidence that has not been available to science before. Theistic psychology is based on this new evidence, when read with the positive bias in science. Further, all or most of Swedenborg's discoveries can be confirmed by each one of us, either by rational proof or by self-witnessing observations of one's own daily life (see Section xx).

Our mental world, the one we are in already now, is the spiritual world of eternity. The entire human race, regardless of their physical earth location, is resuscitated into the same mental world of eternity, so that you too will have access to people not born on earth -- should you desire that. Everything one desires in the mental world of eternity, one can have. Everything in that world is instantaneously created when you want it, and disappears from existence when you don't want it any more (see Section xx). Wait till you tell your friends about this! Reality is better than what they could have imagined.

God is not a mysterious force that is inaccessible or difficult to access. Theistic psychology shows how God is actually an intimate participant, enabler, and manager of our mental world, every single detail of it, and much more of it that we know nothing about. So it is extremely important that this knowledge be placed at the disposal of all people. God is a Divine Human Person with whom we can have a conscious relationship. God desires that we reciprocate our relationship because when we do, He can empower us with new intelligence, skills, and happiness. This is God's sole motivation for being involved in every human being's thoughts and feelings from birth to endless immortality.

But God will not appear in front of you and talk to you in a physical way. God will not send you a letter or a taped message. God will not speak to you with a physical voice you can record. The only way God will communicate with us physically or externally is through Sacred Scripture. When we read Sacred Scripture we are hearing God's Divine speech come down into the sphere of the natural mind. This has lasted for many generations. It has been the basis of all religions. But since the Writings Sacred Scripture have been written and published (1747-1772) by Swedenborg, God has revealed to modern science, for the very first time, that all Sacred Scripture is sacred because it is Divine Speech, which means that there is a hidden scientific and universal meaning that cannot be seen when reading the sentences of Sacred Scripture.

The reason the correspondential sense of Divine Speech is hidden within the literal meaning, is a physiological one. As you already know from the anatomical charts you studied up to now, and more later on, a human being is human because of the physiology of the mental body that contains our mental organs whose operations provide us with sensations, thoughts, and feelings at various discrete levels (see Section xx). Divine Speech is already in our spiritual mind, which is built to receive it directly in its correspondential sense. But then Divine Speech has to descend into the rational mind, and the natural mind, and in that descent or exteriorization, Divine Speech changes from spiritual meaning to natural meaning.

So what we read in Sacred Scripture is the literal meaning not the spiritual meaning. Remember also that what is in successive order, appears in simultaneous order when the successive phase is complete (see Section xx). At that point what was First or Highest, now becomes inmost. So the spiritual meaning of Divine Speech is inmost within the literal historical meaning. This secret was unknown until the Writings Sacred Scripture described and demonstrated the appropriate method of extraction by which we identify the spiritual meaning that is hidden in its inmost. Theistic psychology is the knowledge we obtain when we apply this prescribed technique to analyzing Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

You can see therefore that theistic psychology cannot be made up of theories people invent, like non-theistic psychology and the rest of materialistic science. New-age spirituality, transpersonal psychology, paranormal research -- are all collections of theories by numerous people. This is not at all the method by which theistic psychology can be developed and grow in your mind, or as a cumulative science for future generations. The only way theistic psychology can cumulate in a genuine or valid direction, is the flawless application of the methods of extraction prescribed and demonstrated in the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

(d) Our consciousness, our understanding, and our feelings are all initiated and governed by Divine Speech proceeding from God into the universe and propagating itself simultaneously through all human minds. There are no specially privileged minds that receive more than others of the substances of God's Divine Truth and Divine Good. They inflow simultaneously into every human mind since all human minds overlap in the world of eternity (where there is no physical space). When Divine Speech enters the rational mind, we become conscious of its effects in the natural mind such as the ability to think logically, or the ability to experience human feelings and emotions.

Everything we do, sense, think, or feel are operations of our mental organs while they are activated and operationalized by Divine Speech entering the mind in the form of good and truth substances -- the substance of good into our affective organ giving rise to feelings and motives, and the substance of truth into our cognitive organ giving rise to cognitions and thoughts. The substance of good is spiritual heat, and the substance of truth is spiritual light, the two flowing out of the Spiritual Sun in infinite variety, providing our ability to have new and unique human thoughts and feelings for every human being from birth to endless immortality, continuously.

(e) Divine Speech conjoins our mind with God, and it is this conjunction that gives humans the ability to be immortal and rational beings. The mechanism of conjunction is presented in the next Section. There are gradations of conjunction or closeness with God. This determines the quality of our feelings, thinking, and sensating. Closer conjunction with God results in a higher quality of feeling, thinking, and sensating. Swedenborg observed and compared the life and personality of people in their Third Heaven, Second Heaven, First Heaven, as well as people in the hells of their mind (see Section xx). He found that the level of available human potential goes up or down depending on closeness to God. Any human being can choose to be either close or distant from God, who enables whatever a person chooses from freedom or preference.

Those who freely maintain themselves in the hells of their mental eternity think irrationally, are under the spell of illusions and delusions, and their social environment is miserable, vicious, and uncivilized. They are the furthest they can be from conjunction with God, and as a result, what they receive from good in terms of good they pervert into its opposite or evil, and what they receive from God in terms of truth, they convert into its opposite, or falsified truth. This is how they willingly maintain themselves in the hells of their mind. They could ascend at any time from the hells to the heavens in their mind. Swedenborg talked to many of them about God and the heaven in their own mind, which they hated and irrationally denied. Whenever Swedenborg mentioned to them anything good and true, they became enraged with hatred and turned the idea into its opposite of evil and false.

The people who dwelt in the First Heaven of their mind, were extremely skilled in all daily activities such as business, sports, art, education, architecture, government -- far superior to the best skills they had while living on earth. But remember that these expert activities in the mental world of eternity are not at all like they were on earth where time and space determine what happens (see Section xx). The people who dwelt in the Second Heaven of their mind were a discrete degree superior to those in the First Heaven, and similarly those in the Third Heaven of their mind were a discrete degree superior to them. Closeness of conjunction with God therefore physiologically determines the level and quality of human life from birth to eternity.

While we are still attached to the body on earth, the quality and level of our life also depends on closeness to God, but in a less obvious way compared to the afterlife. This is because God hides His Sensuous Presence in the natural and rational mind. The reason for this is that on earth we are undergoing character change, reformation, and regeneration, while this is not possible in the afterlife (see Section xx). In order to undergo character reformation that is permanent we must do it as-if on our own, with as-of self effort and the willingness to resist temptations (see Section xx). Only in this manner of voluntary and free choice is the new character something we can love, something we can accept as our eternal heaven (see Section xx).

Due to the necessity of this freedom of choice and as-of self effort, God hides His Sensuous Presence in our natural mind so that we may feel free to reject Him if that is our choice (see Section xx). If God suddenly spoke in your natural mind, you would hear voices like the prophets of old before the modern era. But today this kind of direct sensuous communication would be harmful to our modern mind, and you would be diagnosed as delusional or schizophrenic -- a very serious mental disease. Hence it is that God would never speak to you in the natural mind with a physical voice, or would not appear to you visually to your physical eyes. Our understanding of reality and God, to be valid and effective, must be based on the rational understanding of God as He describes Himself in Sacred Scripture.

To see God with the "inner eyes" is possible for people on earth, and this inner sight is called rational understanding. You know this from our popular expression "I see what you mean." To understand rationally = to see with the inner senses. This refers to the sensorimotor organ of the spiritual mind (see Section xx).

Once we have a rational basis for a relationship with God, we become capable of seeing God's Presence rationally in our mind, that is, in terms of the good and truth substances that operate our thoughts and feeling (see Section xx).

If we do not identify all the good and all the truth we have as being God's good and truth in our mental organs, then we attribute our intelligence and abilities to our self. When we do this, we physiologically alter the operations of good and truth in our mental organs, transforming them into their opposites. Then our consciousness resides in the hells of our mind, which is the furthest distance from the rationality of God that forms our heavens far above the hells (see anatomical charts throughout).

Even though we consciously choose to reject God we cannot get rid of God in our physical and mental environment. God continues to run our mind and our environment regardless of our acknowledgement of Him. This is God's omnipotence and omnipresence by which he controls every detail of the universe -- the thoughts and feelings in our mind, the events of biography and history, the motion of molecules in objects, stars, and galaxies. God controls and manages every detail according of His order of truth and his purpose of good (or love).

(f) Summary formulaic expression:

gradations of voluntarily chosen closeness of conjunction with God

=    quality of human intelligence and abilities that God can give us
=    level of our rational understanding of Divine Speech within Sacred Scripture
=    consistency of our effort in applying doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture
         to our daily willing and thinking

Note the bottom line in this equation. Closeness to God and quality of human potential depends entirely on our daily effort of changing the way we think and what we enjoy from our inherited hellish traits. The doctrine of truth we properly extract from Sacred Scripture tells us how to think and what to enjoy in order to get closer to God and thereby be able to increase our human potential.

Sacred Scripture reveals that we are born with an inherited character that contains numerous hellish traits. We also have numerous good traits by virtue of the influx of good and truth into our mind (see Section xx). The hellish traits we inherit in our natural mind tend to corrupt and invert the heavenly traits that flow in moment by moment from our spiritual mind. Every individual must therefore be willing to freely put up the voluntary effort of resisting the old hellish traits and enjoyments, until eventually we come to loath them and avoid them like the plague (see Section xx). As the hellish traits are gradually rejected are extinguished, a new way of thinking and feeling in our natural mind replaces the old. Now our natural mind is in an orderly state that corresponds to and is in accordance with the heavenly order in our spiritual mind. Then we can have the good life that surpasses everything we could hope for or imagine.

Denial of God through materialist philosophy and cynicism, is the negative bias in science that puts us at a distance from  God. In this orientation we cannot receive directly anything good and true from Divine Speech as Sacred Scripture. But we still receive things indirectly, such as the ability to think with common sense, and the instinct of preservation and social cooperation. However this indirect association with God is not powerful enough to overcome our inherited hellish tendencies. God keeps control just as much as ever, but in this situation of irrational denial or the love of disobedience, He allows the occurrence of evils in order to preserve people's sense of freedom of choice (see Section xx). As long as people retain this freedom to choose, they can change their mind and become human again. If God took away this choice from people, they would no longer be human. Hence God goes along and supports the irrational and evil plans and deeds of people, even if this is not what He desires for them. Even so, God allows only those evil thoughts and acts to occur, which He can turn into good for the victims of the evil, including the perpetrator (see Section xx). All other thoughts or plans or deeds of evil, God does not allow to occur or happen.

It appears that many people are unwilling to put up the mental and emotional effort to change their inherited character traits and weaknesses. As a result, God allows much evil and false ideas to run amuck in society, making the lives of people a hell on earth, as is indicated by the symptoms of crime, prejudice, injustice, abuse, depression, ill health, ugliness, unhappiness, divorces, poverty, lack of education, etc. All these evils are allowed by God in order to preserve the freedom of all individuals to chose voluntarily to reform and to prepare for a life of heaven in eternity -- or not. Those who fail to do so, can only experience a life of hell in eternity (see Section xx). Swedenborg reports that once people are settled in their hells of immortality, no one, or almost no one chooses to leave those mental states. Better not get stuck there!

1.0.3.2  Part B: Degrees of Conjunction with God

God provides two methods for the natural mind to be conjoined with Him, and thereby to receive intelligence, love, and energy in greater and higher degree, in proportion to our willingness to conjoin with God the Divine Human. It is obviously important for us to understand the mental procedure that allows us to conjoin more and more closely to God, and gain access to all the benefits which God desires to bestow on every human being.

God provides two methods for approaching Him. Another way of saying this is that good and truth substances from the Spiritual Sun enter our mental organs automatically, by God's laws of correspondences, but what matters to us is how our organ reacts to it. We do not experience the good and truth itself, which remains God's alone (see Section xx). What we experience as sensation, thought, and feeling is the reaction of our organ to God's good and truth inflowing into them. Our mental organs react physiologically to the incoming spiritual heat (good) and spiritual light (truth). This reaction is our experiencing of sensations, thoughts, and feelings.

So what is ours, our immortal self, our permanent unique identity and personality, is not God's inflowing substances of good and truth, but our organ's unique way of reacting to them. These are called the operations of our mental organs. "Mental operations" = states of mental organs and their phases, occurring in reaction to inflowing spiritual substances. These operations are ours, but not the substances that activate them and maintain them in receptive form for receiving spiritual heat and light inflowing from the Spiritual Sun.

The two methods of conjunction with God the Divine Human are both rational.

This fact is not widely known today except to those who study theistic psychology. Many people today are led by the materialistic persuasion that God wants to manifest Himself in the physical world and by sensuous experience of Him in the form of witnessing a healing miracle and other acts of Divine grace like touching sacred relics or carrying a talisman for luck. But these ideas are not taught in Sacred Scripture.

In fact, the Writings Sacred Scripture give an explanation of this in the literal sense, so it is easy to understand it. It has been mentioned before in earlier Sections, and is mentioned throughout theistic psychology under the topic of "sensuous vs. rational spirituality" (see Section xx). Prior to the modern scientific civilization starting in the 18th century, most people could not approach God by means of rational concepts. Therefore it was necessary for God to perform miracles as a visible proof of His power and Presence. But this limited the degree of conjunction possible between God and the conscious rational and natural mind. Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

DP 131. From these considerations it may be evident that faith [=knowledge of God] induced by miracles is not faith but persuasion; for there is nothing rational in it, still less anything spiritual, as it is only external [=natural-rational ideas] without an internal [=spiritual-rational ideas]. It is the same with all that a man does from this persuasive faith, whether he acknowledges God, or worships Him at home or at church, or performs good deeds. When a miracle alone leads a man to the acknowledgment of God, to worship, and to piety, he acts from the natural man and not from the spiritual. For a miracle infuses faith [=knowledge about God] by an external and not by an internal way, thus from the world and not from heaven. Now the Lord does not enter [=reception of spiritual-rational truths] by any other way with man than the internal way [understanding the correspondential sense], which is by the Word [=Sacred Scripture], by doctrine and by preaching from it [=theistic psychology]; and as miracles close up this way[=rational or scientific knowledge of God], at this day [=prior to our regeneration] no miracles are wrought. (DP 131)

Now in the modern world of democracies almost everyone on the planet receives an education that includes science and rational thinking about abstract concepts like everyday management and business. All this was gradually brought about by God through the advance of science, engineering, and rational thinking in society and government. Since 1772, when Swedenborg published the last book of the collection known as the Writings Sacred Scripture. From that moment on in the history of the race, the rational heavens were created in every human being already born, and will be in every human being to be born in the future.

Swedenborg witnessed the momentous changeover in the mental world of humanity, when the old sensuous human heavens were transformed and replaced by the new rational heavens. This event marks the final and total completion of the creation of the human race (see Section xx) From then on the approach to God, conjunction with Him, and consequent benefits of heavenly immortality as conjugial couples, is possible only by the approach of rational spirituality, not sensuous (see Section xx).

Now God is providing two methods of rational spirituality for conjunction with Him -- conscience and Sacred Scripture.

Every individual is born with a conscience. There is an organ of conscience within the cognitive and affective organs of the natural mind, from where its operations originate in our conscious awareness (See Section 7.0.4.1). You know the popular expression "Listen to the voice of your conscience." But this is not a sensuous, auditory voice. It is a rational voice or realization and insight. Conscience is a human organ, not possessed by animals, that is based in the natural-rational mind (see Section xx). From the rational mind we are able to see and monitor what our sensuous mind is doing, a discrete degree below the rational. When the sensuous mind is about to do something that is contrary to good and truth, the rational mind is able to recognize the danger from a rational perspective. Conscience reacts to that by correspondence, and we immediately experience a cognitive and affective reaction. This is the "voice of conscience" because we are consciously aware that we are thinking of doing something that is contrary to good and truth (See Section 7.0.4.1). God then maintains our mental state in freedom, so that we may freely choose to listen or to ignore the voice of conscience. This voice is heard by all human beings, regardless of education or culture, because all human beings possess this mental organ.

Besides conscience, the other method of conjunction God provides is Sacred Scripture. It requires rational thinking and understanding to be able to relate to the meaning we get when reading or hearing about Sacred Scripture. People who memorize Sacred Scripture but do not figure out what it means logically and rationally, cannot derive benefits from it because all benefits come from the meaning of it, and this is a rational activity. The physical book of Sacred Scripture is not sacred at all and has no power to conjoin to God; but only the meaning of its words and sentences in the minds of people who think rationally of God and their relationship to Him.

The degree of conjunction with God through Sacred Scripture and through conscience, develops in the conscious natural mind in three stages -- natural, spiritual, and celestial as follows:

Stage 0.    Conscious Disjunction With God through the negative bias thinking

Based on hypothesis arising from sensory experience and measurement
Based on non-theistic persuasive teachings (e.g., science education, socialization)
Based on unwillingness to subordinate the human self to a higher power (e.g., non-theistic humanism)

Stage 1.    Natural, External Conjunction With God
                        through natural-sensuous thinking and feeling about Sacred Scripture

Stage 2.    Spiritual, Mediate Conjunction With God
                        through natural-rational thinking and feeling about Sacred Scripture

Stage 3.    Celestial, Interior Conjunction With God
                        through spiritual-natural thinking and feeling about Sacred Scripture

The four stages described above are stages of evolution in our thinking, in our rationality, in our consciousness. It is the journey closer to God, and to our supreme human potentials. In the early external stage of conjunction with God (stage 1), our thinking about God and the things mentioned in Sacred Scripture is a natural way of understanding the sentences -- their literal meaning in a historical, cultural, and religious context. At stage 2, mediate conjunction is achieved through understanding the ideas of Sacred Scripture less literally, more abstractly and symbolically, hence more universally and less historically, culturally, and theologically.  Finally at stage 3, inmost conjunction with God is achieved through the understanding of Sacred Scripture spiritually, which refers to the recognition of spiritual-rational and celestial-rational correspondences hidden within the natural meaning (see Section xx).

What about stage 0 or disjunction with God? Actually, all four stages may be going on within the same individual, but not at the same time of course. For instance, John and Mary may be two students of theistic psychology who are studying the spiritual concepts extracted from the Writings Sacred Scripture. Their purpose is to gather the spiritual knowledge they need to undergo character reformation so that they may become prepared for heavenly life in eternity. Because they are cooperating with the Divine Psychologist they experience enlightenment and are given an interior understanding, so that they may see the concepts rationally. They are at stage 3 conjunction with God. After studying, John and Mary decide to go out and have some fun. They end up at a bar where they drink too much and got into fighting words with another couple that started annoying them. They leave the bar and drive home. Along the way they get into heavy traffic and they both end up swearing at another driver. Etc. You can see from this type of common scenario that people typically vary the degree of conjunction with God as they pursue their normal daily activities.

Character reformation can only begin in adult life when we are mature enough to think for ourselves. Until then we usually think from our undigested socialization and education habits. We ingest our culture and knowledge but we do not digest it. To ingest knowledge and attitudes is to acquire them as habits and to do them routinely out of habit. To digest knowledge and attitudes is to appropriate them, to make them our own. This process of appropriation to self only happens when we freely choose something after thinking about what it is we prefer or like. When we reach adult life and some financial and political independence, the future that lies ahead of us is ours -- which means that we are more free to choose what we want, what we desire, what we love. Without being able to choose what we love, we don't feel free. Until we feel free, we cannot freely choose our life style, the things we believe within ourselves, the things we support in our mind.

When we reach this state of freedom to think in adulthood, we are capable of beginning character reformation. This takes a lifetime of cooperation with the Divine Psychologist (see Section xx). We undergo regeneration by means of battles with the temptations that the Divine Psychologist brings to us by arranging the environment appropriately and by managing our thinking and feelings to face the temptations. This we do by fighting against the hells we inherited using the weapons of the doctrine of truth we acquire from Sacred Scripture or from conscience and education. Gradually through this procedure, God builds a new character in our mind, one that is fit to live happily to eternity in conjugial heaven (see Section xx).

1.0.3.3  Part C: Why This Is a Perfect World Despite Evil

But what happens when we give in to temptations, throw in the towel in the fight of good vs. evil, declare ourselves free from God's commandments, religious rules, or the dictates of our conscience? Note that this non-theistic or negative attitude (Stage 0) could be temporary or permanent in any one individual. Note also that people who practice a religion may do so spiritually or naturally. To practice religion naturally means that you only let it affect your outward behavior and not what you are thinking and feeling. This makes it impossible for the Divine Psychologist to bring spiritual temptations to you because you would not resist them -- which would harm your spiritual future (see Section xx). The only way we can change our inherited hellish traits is to reject them freely because they are contrary to conscience and Sacred Scripture. No other motivation can succeed in altering how we think and feel inwardly, but only how we act and talk outwardly.

Swedenborg observed thousands of people who were recently resuscitated after the death of their physical body (see Section xx). He interviewed many of them concerning their knowledge and beliefs about God. They all were still able to recall clearly their memories from earth, which we can do for awhile after resuscitation, and before settling into our true personality, who we really are (see "second death" Section xx). This evidence indicates that people after resuscitation, thus in eternity, cannot hold on to their rules of conscience and their religious beliefs when these were merely outward norms of conduct that they followed by habit, without independent examination.

Because they now rejected all rules of religion, conscience, morality, and respectability they felt completely free to feel, think, and do whatever they felt like spontaneously, uncritically (See Section 7.0.4.1). And because they had not undergone temptations and character reformation, their inherited tendencies and loves for evil and cruel things now took over completely, and they turned into an immortal life of hellish pursuits, delights, and sufferings.

On the other hand, Swedenborg observed some people after their resuscitation, who had no religion of any kind, but had had a strong sense of conscience and natural morality and respect for others, for animals, and for nature. When they were told and taught about God and Sacred Scripture, they were instantly able to understand it rationally, and were able to enter the life of conjugial heaven to eternity.

 If we consider the state of our civilization and society today it is obvious that there is more disjunction with God than conjunction. God has created a perfect system and is maintaining it in perfect order. This is His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence (see Section xx). People look at crime, social disorder, human unhappiness everywhere, and they conclude that either there is no God, or that God is not omnipotent, or that God is both good and evil. These are all false conclusions. In fact, society is perfect for its spiritual purpose or goal, and God is maintaining it in perfect order for that purpose, since God is omnipotent to carry out what He wants and plans. The difficulty has been for people to see rationally that society and life on earth has a higher purpose related to our immortality. Crime and disasters cannot reduce or take away from this purpose. Crime and human selfishness do make our experience on earth more ghastly, But this experience does not interfere with why we are here. God will not allow anything to interfere with this purpose.

The perfection of society as maintained and controlled by God, is that it gives people a life in which at any moment they can begin their character reformation and preparation for eternal happiness in heaven. No one is excluded. Everyone has an equal opportunity.

God maintains our ability to do and think evil things just as he maintains our ability to think and do good things. If God reduced our ability to think and do evil things, this would not be a perfect world because we could not regenerate our inherited character and we would be compelled to a life of eternal hell.

At any moment of our daily willing and thinking, the Divine Psychologist puts us up to a choice between choosing evil or good. The cumulative moment by moment choices we make every hour, day by day, over the decades of our life on earth -- millions of choices -- constitute our character. This is the vehicle of our immortality. After our resuscitation we are immersed by the Divine Psychologist into an intense life of recapitulation and self-discovery. All societal shackles are cast off in absolute liberty when we fully realize that we are now immortal, in a world where we are free to exercise our desires and loves whatever they are.  Now at last, without social pressure, responsibility, expectations, and rules of conscience, we can be whatever our feelings and thinking prompt us to be -- purely selfish, totally egocentric, wild and mad, cruel and obsessive, prompt to extremes and excesses of any kind whatsoever. These feelings and imaginings now create a hellish environment around us, where we continue our life with others who are similar to us (see Section xx).

When we think about it now, it is clear that we should avoid at all cost from ending our life on earth with a hellish personality on the inside, even if we have a civilized personality on the outside.

This is God's purpose in providing revelation of spiritual truths in the form of Sacred Scripture, namely, to allow us to see rationally that we must undergo regeneration of character in order to have a heavenly life in eternity. And as well, to teach us the techniques that are effective in this regeneration effort -- how we are to cooperate with the Divine Psychologist to reciprocate, and thus to conjoin with Him. By acknowledging God, by studying Divine Speech as Sacred Scripture, we become enlightened so that we can acquire doctrine of truth with which to resist temptations and consequently to be conjoined with God through willing what is good and thinking in accordance with our rational understanding of truth.

1.0.4  Topic 4: Forms of Divine Speech in Our Conscious Natural Mind

Divine Speech proceeds from God's Mind and propagates itself instantaneously across the entire universe in the form of spiritual light and heat, which enters every human mind from its third heaven, and descends by discrete degrees (see Section xx) into all the regions of the mind. The following is a listing of the levels or degrees of the action of Divine Speech in human minds, starting with the most universal and least conscious, and increasing in consciousness and effectiveness, all the way to the highest level of the mind, which is the closest potentially to God.

I    human instincts of mutual empathy, sympathy, cooperation, affiliation, curiosity, inventiveness

II    daily moods of high and low, clear and foggy, receptive and resistive, peaceful and conflictual

III    character, personality, norms of conduct, ethics, and lifestyle developed through
            socialization, enculturation, education, training, experience

IV    inner voice of conscience, civilized morality, allowed vs. taboo, right vs. wrong

V    the Letter of Sacred Scripture as religion, history, culture -- often distorted
            and corrupted, leading to sectarianism and conflict

VI    interior sense extracted from Sacred Scripture as theistic science or
            theistic psychology, which is universal and not historical, cultural, or religious

As you can see from the above listing, Divine Speech is present with every human being at different levels of closeness and conjunction. It is not until we reach level IV that we are conscious of God as a force that is higher than our own. At level V we are introduced to a personal and conscious relationship with God, but it's not until level VI that we form a genuine and uncorrupted awareness and relationship with God on a daily basis.

1.0.5  Topic 5: Sensuous vs. Rational Spirituality

1.0.5.1   Part A Why Doesn't God Make an Appearance at the United Nations?

Swedenborg was able to observe the character and life of every generation of people that had lived on earth, and then passed on to their life of immortality in eternity, either in their heavens or their hells, where Swedenborg was able to observe them. Since in this way Swedenborg had access to a cross section of all the people that had lived on earth, he was able to describe objectively and empirically the evolution of human consciousness across time. He discovered that the earliest generations, or the "Most Ancient" civilization on earth, was made of a celestial human race that now dwelt separately in their own human heavens, which are different from the heavens Swedenborg visited that belonged to the generations that came after the celestial race (see Section xx).

The celestial race eventually had died out on earth due to their inability to continue in their type of mind called celestial. Their brain was whole, while the spiritual race that succeeded them had split-brains, left and right portions, as we know it from our own race today. The switch over in evolution occurred sometime near the beginning of recorded history, possibly around 10,000 BC (though Swedenborg does not give precise dates).

The whole-brained celestial race had a united will (affective organ) and understanding (cognitive organ), unlike us who have the will and the understanding capable of acting independently. We, the split-brained spiritual race, are capable of thinking one thing (corresponding to the left brain) and willing its opposite (right brain correspondence). We can learn with our understanding what is the right way to think and act, and we can ignore this with our will and do the opposite. The celestial whole-brained race was not capable of this. They were unable to lie or simulate, hence unable to deceive others and do them evil. Swedenborg talked to them in their ancient heavens and was able to confirm their character as different from ours, completely innocent and ignorant of all evil (except for a few among them who are in their hells.)

The celestial race people were able to talk to their departed family members and teachers, who spoke to them from their heaven, instructed the people on earth, and sometimes imposed punishment on them to chastise them from any tendency to do or think evil. In other words, the celestial people on earth were dual citizens consciously. Like Swedenborg's unique experience (see Section xx) the celestial race had their spiritual mind activated and conscious, whereas the spiritual race that came afterwards, had their spiritual mind completely unconscious. From then on, the only source of knowledge of the afterlife of eternity was through revelation in Sacred Scripture. Swedenborg was able to read in the spiritual world the various versions of Sacred Scripture that the subsequent generations had received from God.

The conscious ability to communicate with God or the people in the afterlife is called sensuous spirituality, whereas the knowledge of God through the revelation of Sacred Scripture is called rational spirituality. It is crucial that we understand the difference because it is not possible today for the spiritual split-brain race to have direct sensuous spiritual awareness or communication with God or the people in the afterlife. There may be some exceptions to this rule (see Section xx).

An example of direct sensuous awareness of God or of spiritual things would be if God appeared today in physical space and time. For instance, God might appear at the United Nations or on the world TV stations, introduce Himself, give a speech, make some miracles, and even stay around so people can interview Him and make movies and recordings. This never happened and will never happen. Why not? There are two fundamental reasons you need to know about.

First, our relationship to God necessarily involves our rational mind, which is also called the spiritual mind (see Section xx). Everyone is born with an organ in the rational portion of the mind called heaven. Hence our relationship to God develops through truths and rationality from within our mind, not sensuous evidence or interaction on the exterior of our mind. God appearing in the streets or at the United Nations would be only an external relationship through the bodily senses and natural mind. This cannot remain in the afterlife, which is a world of rational ether, of truths, hence in the interior of the human mind, not in the exterior senses.

The second fundamental reason why God does not appear at the United Nations or on the streets meeting people, is that whatever God would say would be expressed in natural languages by correspondences, just like Sacred Scripture is the natural language correspondence of Divine Speech. Divine Speech is nothing but Divine Truth, and this is nothing but God's thoughts and reasoning, or Divine Wisdom, which is infinite and omniscient (see Section xx). Whatever God thinks is Divine Truth. This is spiritual light proceeding from the Spiritual Sun and permeating the mental world of the human race, that is, the mental organs of every individual. Divine Speech first enters the highest portion of the spiritual mind where those who dwell in their Third Heaven in eternity, become conscious of the proceeding. This conscious awareness of Divine Speech is the closest meaning or understanding the human race can have of God. This meaning is conveyed by means of "celestial-rational" correspondences (see Section xx).

Then Divine Speech or Truth, descends into the next layer of the human mind where those who dwell in their Second Heaven in eternity, become conscious of it in the form of "spiritual-rational" correspondences. Then Divine Speech continues to descend and exteriorize throughout the human mind, where it becomes conscious to those who dwell in the First Heaven of their mind in eternity, through "spiritual-natural" correspondences. From there Divine Speech or Truth exteriorizes still further, and becomes conscious to the natural mind through its levels of operation -- natural-rational correspondences,  natural-sensuous and corporeal correspondences. This is where most people first become aware of God --through the natural correspondences and meanings in Sacred Scripture expressed in a natural language (see Section xx). See the Layers Diagram.

So what would happen if God met you on the streets or gave an interview to journalists and scientists at the United Nations, or came to the University of Hawaii and taught this course in Theistic Psychology?

God would speak from His Own Mind and Divine Speech would flow down from His Divine Mind, through the human heavens, and finally would be heard by you in your natural language. The meaning of His sentences would be constructed of natural meanings, words, and concepts. People might be terribly disappointed! All they would hear, over and over again, is what Divine Speech has been telling the human mind since the beginning of creation. It would sound to them that God is not talking to them, but just quoting Sacred Scripture, again and again. People would hear different things, each in their own language and thought level. Some people who are regenerating by means of Divine Speech from Sacred Scripture, will hear more interior ideas in what God is saying, but those who are in the negative bias mode of thinking about God, will hear nothing but what they already believe.

So you can see that God cannot just burst unto the scene and give proof of His existence, and command people to do this or that. For He has already been doing this in Sacred Scripture, and those who are unwilling to acknowledge Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech in correspondences, will not change their mind when God appears in their living room and talks to them.

God wants us to know the rational methods by which He creates and manages the details of our lives and the universe. God wants us to know the anatomy and physiology of our mental organs so that we can take care of them appropriately. God has created our mind in such a way as to be capable of being conjoined with His Mind, and thereby we might be alive forever and never die. This amazing feat is accomplished through the spiritual substances of heat and light streaming forth from God (see Section xx), and permeating the mind of every human being, from the top of its anatomy, to the bottom.

This spiritual heat is called "Divine Love," and our affective mental organ called the will, was designed by God to be able to react to it, so that we have the subjective conscious life experience of willing something, like willing to lift our hand, or touch this or that, or ignore this or that. This free will as subjective experience is what gives us the living sensation of being conscious and alive. And it is activated in us by spiritual heat flowing in from the top of our mind. Should this flow of spiritual heat stop for an instant, we would experience the sensation of dying, and we would actually disappear from existence. It is this inflowing spiritual heat that makes us alive, keeps us alive, instant by instant, from birth to endless immortality and eternity.

In the same way spiritual light flows into our cognitive organ, activates it, the result being our subjective experience of self-conscious thinking, reasoning, understanding, talking about it, etc. This is the subjective experience that gives us content, meaning, culture, hence rational human beings capable of intelligent planning and imagining.

You can see from this physiological description that we are human beings from the inflow of Divine Love and Divine Truth, which activate our mind and give us the moment by moment continuity of our consciousness of self as a unique individual or person.

The split-brained spiritual race has two brains (left and right) because the physical structure reflects and corresponds to the mental structure, namely the split-mind in the form of the affective and cognitive organs having independent function. It was necessary that the race following the whole-minded celestials be split-minded, as the spiritual human race now is, so that people could learn spiritual truth through written Sacred Scripture, even though their inherited tendency was to rebel against that truth and to want to ignore it or reject it.

This is how we are today. We hear about God's commandments and we sense our conscience (See Section 7.0.4.1). In this way we learn about spiritual truth -- what our fate is to be in the the endless eternity of our afterlife. How we should be preparing for it to make sure it is a heavenly life instead of hellish. We take this into our knowledge and our understanding. We don't feel like following it, and we don't for the most part. Yet we know the truth as it has been revealed by God to us. This is the essence of the spiritual race: to have this choice. To know the revealed truth of God and to follow it or not. This is the freedom that God maintains in every human mind from birth to eternity. It is the perfection and the guarantee, that at any instant that we wish or choose, we can join our will to the understanding of truth -- which means to will the things that our understanding knows is good and right.

We do not have the power to do anything at all since all power is in God's omnipotence, which cannot be given away to a human being or to nature (see Section xx). But God wills to have things happen according to how we consciously will or choose. This shows you how close God is to the individual, how intimate our relationship is, much more so than any two human beings can have with each other.

               1.0.5.2 Part b (ii)   What About the Paranormal, Miracles, Telepathy, Magic?

Various people and traditions have attempted to prove the existence of the afterlife relying on paranormal data and research. An example is the book titled An Amazing Experiment  (1961) by Charles Drayton Thomas and available online at:  www.survivalafterdeath.org/books/thomas/contents.htm To me it is quite obvious that no such proof is scientifically believable because the data are so scant, impoverished, and practically non-existent. And of course, it is irrational and illogical to try to give physical proof for what is not physical. All paranormal phenomena are measured and explained in terms of energy of various kinds, and these are based on quantity, time, and space. Rational ideas are based on mental sates in eternity, outside time, without space, extension, quantity, number, or shape. Such are our feelings, emotions, ideas, thoughts, sensations -- they are all mental, spiritual, timeless, eternal states and operations (see Section xx).

It is the same with "medical miracles." One can never prove that God exists by classifying an observed physical event as evidence for a spiritual reality. Some people may be persuaded of God's existence by witnessing an event that cannot be explained medically, but this kind of persuasive belief is rejected by people after resuscitation, when they discover that they are now living in the eternity of the afterlife, in all its sensuous living experience (see Section xx). However they cannot hold on to rationality and sanity because their belief is based on a sensuous idea of God, not rational and spiritual. In the afterlife, sensuous ideas act like gravity objects in air or water -- they sink to the lowest bottom. The bottom of the human mind is called our hellish traits. We sink into our hellish traits, and we get rid of all of their heavenly traits, for which they have no use, and to which they react with fear and hate.

It is the same with magic, sorcery, ghosts, science fiction, etc. -- they are all natural ideas about physical energy, time, space, place. They are not spiritual because they are sensuous rather than rational ideas. All spiritual ideas must be rational ideas, for the two are the same (see Section xx).

 The Swedenborg Reports on the other hand are rational ideas, rational explanations, and rational observations. From age 57 to 84 Swedenborg was conscious in his natural mind as well as his spiritual mind, which is also called the rational mind (see Section xx).  Note that we could not have accepted these reports if Swedenborg had claimed that he had seen visions on earth, or interacted at a distance with people on earth or in the world of spirits through his natural mind. If this had been Swedenborg's claim, then he would have been diagnosed with psychotic or delusional disorders. But this was not his claim. Rather, Swedenborg claimed that his spiritual mind was opened or operationalized prior to his death. He continued to maintain that it was impossible for the natural mind to have any information about the spiritual world.

It is rational to think that Swedenborg could observe the afterlife of eternity with his spiritual mind, but sensuous to think that he could do this with his natural mind. The latter is impossible. The former is possible.

Part B Sensuous Consciousness of God Does Not Remain in the Afterlife

This amazing closeness is hidden from our direct sensuous awareness. We cannot show any direct evidence of it to someone else or even to ourselves. Anyone can deny God's presence, so hidden is it from our sensuous awareness. God will not appear at the United Nations, will not give an interview, will not appear to anyone on the street or a building, will not cause you to hear a sonorous voice your physical ears could hear, etc. God will not allow you to have a sensuous awareness of Him through your physical body and senses.

Instead, God wants us to rationally acknowledge His Presence in our mind and life.

This becomes clear when you consider the physiological fact that heaven is inside our rational mind (see Section xx). This was different for the celestial race, who now dwell in their celestial heavens, which Swedenborg was allowed to visit. Their celestial race heaven, which are separate and inaccessible to our heavens, is built physiologically within their sensuous mind, which is governed by the affective organ (the will) in conjunction with the cognitive organ (understanding). But the physiology of the human race was drastically evolved or altered when the spiritual race came into being. The heavens of the human race were now built up differently, inside the cognitive organ (understanding). The affective organ, which was hellish by inheritance since the Fall (see Sections xx), had to be regenerated or recreated through the battles of temptations, in which we fight for our life with the truth in our understanding (see Section xx). We must win this battle in order to be "saved" for heavenly life in eternity. It is the only way we can acquire heavenly traits, that is, by giving up voluntarily and getting rid freely of the hellish traits that we were born to enjoy and hang on to as dear life itself.

When we are regenerating, the Divine Psychologist is constructing our heavenly eternity within our cognitive organ (our understanding), and creates a new affective organ (our will) within that.

Thus, our life of eternity is now actuated by a rational conjunction with God through Sacred Scripture. God's presence in our mind is something we learn rationally, by constructing rational and scientific concepts that we acquire through study of Sacred Scripture and reflection upon it. It would destroy our ability to think of God's presence rationally if we had sensuous evidence of His Presence. The sensuous and the rational oppose each other in our mind.

As proof of this inherent opposition, Swedenborg interviewed people in the world of spirits shortly after their resuscitation, and discovered that some people had acquired a "persuasive" belief of religion based on a sensuous or physical presence of God. They acquired this persuasive belief through observing demonstrations of what appeared to them to be miracles performed by healers and "holy men."  Or else, they experienced visions of God or angels, as in Near Death Experiences (NDEs) (see Section xx). These "miraculous" events were seen as proof of God's physical presence in the world, and from this they believed in God.

Note that this physical demonstration of God's Presence is a sensuous spirituality, while rational spirituality is to look around and to see the splendor and intelligence of nature, and seeing that as a miracle, because it is from God's omnipotence and not from itself. Rational spirituality conjoins with God, but sensuous spirituality disjoins us from God.

The freshly resuscitated people that Swedenborg interviewed, mentioned above, demanded to be taken to heaven and to God's Court. But they were told by wise bystanders that God is nowhere to be found but in Sacred Scripture, or more precisely, in the rational understanding we acquire from Sacred Scripture. God is in that rational understanding that we form of the revelation of Divine Speech, but only to the extent that we intend and do that truth, that is, to the extent that we live according to the truth that we understand.

Those newly resuscitated people walked away in dismay when they heard the above. They kept their search up for God and heaven until finally they were led away by clever charlatans who prey upon such people in the world of spirits, meet them, pose to them as holy men who can do miracles, and promise to lead them to God and the Kingly Throne. At last they are led away into the entrapments of the hells where they become slaves to manipulating charlatans, and thereby experience a miserable existence.

Amazingly, Swedenborg discovered that they were unwilling to give up that life in the hells of their evil persuasions and insane fantasies. Isn't that amazing? They were not kept there as punishment for their misdeeds or false beliefs. They themselves, out of the free will God never removes from anyone, keep themselves in their hells. When they are exposed to the slightest rational suggestion or good intention, they become so enraged and insane that their miserable situation actually worsens. This is because nothing is as strong in their mind as their hatred for God, their disgust for heaven, their aversion for what is good, innocent, altruistic, loyal, wise. Hating these things so much, they are unwilling to exit from the hells of their mind since the only alternative is the heavens in their mind. There is no other existence in eternity, only heaven or hell. People have both in their mind, so it is their choice that keeps them in one or the other state of eternity.

With this type of evidence it is clear now why God won't appear to you in a vision, or on TV, or at the United Nations making a speech to the people of earth! It is also clear that real miracles are only those that run things as they are. For instance, it is a miracle when I get home every day after a half hour drive in traffic. It is a miracle of God that keeps those cars from hitting each other a thousand times more than actually happens. It is a miracle that God speaks to us in our rational understanding when we read Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. It is a miracle when we resist a temptation, strengthen our resolve, feel closer to God as a result. It is a miracle that each one of us is going to be resuscitated and carry on a life of immortality.

We have to discover ourselves as organic human beings belonging to an organic race. We are like a single vine that, over the ages, has populated an entire rocky island. It is just one vine, from one seed dropped by a bird, that fell into a crack in the rock, survived, and eventually covered the entire available area. You can walk around the island and you will see that each part of this vine is different in appearance, having had to adapt to different climatic conditions. And even a single leaf or flower that you may examine, is unique in form, shape, texture, size, biochemical condition, and even genetic, molecular, and sun-atomic structure. Each is unique.

In the Writings Sacred Scripture, Divine Speech has revealed to humankind that no two created things of any size of comparison, can be the same. And it is explained that this is because God is infinite. Whatever God creates from Himself through the infinite substances of the Spiritual Sun, must retain the infinity of God within itself. This is the source and cause for every created thing coming into being, existing, and subsisting over time and activity.

This is why every object, of any size, is unique.

The vine that populated the entire surface of the island is actually composed of myriads of unique individual elements. All these unique elements are differentiated from each other. Each element or individual particle possesses its unique identity. Even though there is only one vine, all its elements are uniquely differentiated to make up this one vine.

This vine is the human race.

1.0.5.3    Part C:  We are Dual Citizens in Discrete Layers

A complete human being is created by conception and birth, according to the Writings Sacred Scripture. The unique individual or person who is created by conception and birth, is created simultaneously into two worlds. One world is temporary, the other is permanent. The temporary physical body created into a natural world in time and space, and the permanent spiritual body created into the mental world of eternity, outside time and space.

The spiritual body, also called the mental body, is organic, like the physical body. Both bodies are made of the sun in their world. Our physical body is made of matter from the natural sun of this earth. Our mental body is made of mental substances from the Spiritual Sun, which is the entry point from infinite God into finite creation. From the Spiritual Sun there is constant and ceaseless streams proceeding into the finited universe, creating the spiritual world. This is the inner world, the mental world, the human mind and its organs. Then, as the proceeding spiritual substances descend and continue to externalize away from the central Spiritual Sun, the natural universe is created through the sun in each galactic zone or space. So when we are born our physical body is attached by correspondence or functional bond, to our mental body.

The physiology of this mind-body attachment has been revealed to us in Divine Speech, as we can read in the Writings Sacred Scripture. The mental body has three organs called affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. These mental organs are constructed out of the rational and immortal substances proceeding from the Spiritual Sun. This is why we are born immortal beings. What we call our mind or self as a person, is nothing else physiologically, than the operations of these three organs in the mental body. Our feelings are subjective experiences we have when the affective organ is stimulated by incoming streams from the Spiritual Sun. In other words, as the spiritual heat and light from the Spiritual Sun stream out into the created universe, they permeate the mental world of the human race. The affective organ is built to react to incoming spiritual heat, while the cognitive organ is built to react to incoming spiritual light.

The operations of the affective organ cause us to have the mental experience of feelings, intentions, preferences. The operations of the cognitive organ cause us to have the mental experience of thinking and being conscious. The operations of the affective organ cause us to have the mental experience of afferent sensations and efferent determinations to act in the physical body.

Note that the physical body is in an external world of time, while the mental body is in a timeless and spaceless, or eternal, world. The sensory organs and brain in our physical body react to electro-chemical activities of physical particles or cells reflecting our physical surrounding as it impinges upon the body. Every tiny action of every tiny particle in this physical process, is a correspondential “copy” of a parallel tiny action in the spiritual world or the mind. The proceeding control system from the Spiritual Sun determines every co-action between something in the spiritual world and its parallel in the natural world. The two worlds are bonded, connected, co-determined by the stream proceeding from the Spiritual Sun and permeating the entire created universe, spiritual-mental in spaceless eternity, and natural-physical in time-space.

We are dual citizens, living in both worlds from birth until the death of the physical body. At that point the connection between our individual mind and the physical world, is broken or terminated forever. From then on all the proceeding input is spiritual, whereas before, it was spiritual and natural.

There is no possible connection between the two worlds except by functional correspondence. It is not possible for something to go from world into the other world. Everything created in its own world stays in that world. There is no transfer between the two worlds. When our connection to the physical universe is broken, the natural mind that was active prior to death, is now inactivated or becomes unconscious, though this takes a lengthy process and is not instantaneous, as Swedenborg reports from his multiple observations (see Section xx). Prior to death, our spiritual mind was active from the proceeding stream, as explained above, but it was unconscious. None of its activity was available to our conscious awareness.

But when the spiritual mind activates the natural mind, we become conscious of feelings, thoughts, and sensations. The memories we have of our life on earth are recorded in every single detail, in the natural mind where are located the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor organs of the natural mind. These three organs in the natural mind cannot operate on their own. They cannot communicate with the sensory input form the physical body. They are dead, unless they are activated by the spiritual stream coming from the unconscious spiritual mind. When the natural mind responds to this influx, we have the subjective experience of being conscious, having thoughts we are aware of, and having feelings, intentions, motives. The experience we have is that these thoughts and feelings are “our very own” and that they originate in our conscious life in the natural mind. And when we think about analytically and abstractly, we may come to the conclusion that the natural mind originates from the sensory experience in the physical body.

But as Divine Speech describes our created mental anatomy and physiology, the human mind is constructed in discrete layers, or levels, like an office building without stairs or elevators. The people on the various floors can communicate with each other, but they cannot mingle. The levels of our mental operations are bonded together in action. They cannot act on their own. They always are compelled to act in unison. God does the compelling, and the surveying, and managing of every detail. Nothing can work or operate without this permanent and continuous immediate management by God.

When we are disconnected from our physical body, we have the experience of being “resuscitated,” which means being consciously awakened, as if from a dream. Swedenborg observed this resuscitation process thousands of time during his daily life in both worlds for 27 years (see Section xx). When people are “resuscitated,” they awaken in the memory and activity of their natural mind. This is for rational continuity so what is happening to us can make sense. Swedenborg talked to many people who have been just resuscitated. He calls them “novitiate spirits.” The majority of those in his era (spanning the 17th and 18th century) were apparently “astonished” that they were now alive in the spiritual world, and that they had their entire body as before. Quickly they discover that it is now an immortal body of spiritual substances.

This mental body has vastly more powers and abilities than our physical body. This makes sense when you think that the spiritual or mental body exists in rational ether from the Spiritual Sun; while the natural or physical body exists in physical space and matter from the natural sun. For instance, we may want to switch weather when it is raining, to fit with our afternoon plans. But we cannot wish the rain away. The rain is physical and the wish is mental. The mental has power over the physical by correspondence only, never directly. So the only way we can act upon the physical world is by mentally doing that which corresponds physically. We can move our hand or our body parts when we so desire and think. This is because there are built in correspondences between intentions in the affective organ, thoughts in the cognitive organ, and efferent motor determinations in the sensorimotor organ.

1.0.5.4   Part D:  There is Only One Mental World in the Human Race

But the correspondences that determine the weather are not available to our mental operations. Only God changes the weather in correspondence with planned purposes, ecologies, histories, and biographies. All of it is panned in advance by God and the plan becomes reality when God activates the built in correspondences. But in the mental world of eternity there is no physical weather system, no geological layout or land mass created by physical forces. Everything in the mental world is created by the mind!

You can easily understand this when you think about your dreams, fantasies, imaginations, and made up stories. You are in full control of events, including the weather. Why? Because these events are mentally constructed in mental world of imagination and invention. Our dreams can be strikingly vivid and detailed. Our feelings and thoughts create dramatic scenes that look and feel normal. We make up characters that talk to us. We can make them scare us, or embrace us, leave us, or come back. Everything in the mental world is controlled by our feelings and thoughts – what it is that we want happening.

But there are rules of correspondences in both worlds. Swedenborg observed that when people are resuscitated, they attract other people who are like them, who come around and have interactions. This tendency is so forceful that people gather together in cities that are mental recreations from memory, like in a dream. The difference is that in a dream you appear to be the only one making up the events and characters. But what would happen if people’s dreams started getting mixed up so that everybody’s dream took place in the same dream world. It would be frightening. I am in your dream, you are in my dream, we are in other people’s dreams – we no longer have control over the dream world, but only a tiny portion of it, that portion that we are making up.

That’s exactly how Swedenborg described the spiritual world, which is the objective mental world in which everybody’s thoughts and feelings played themselves out. It is the world of eternity because dreams, thoughts, and feelings are operations of our mental organs, which exist not in space, not in time, not in physical matter, but in spaceless, timeless, rational ether forming eternity.

The spiritual heat and light proceeding from the Spiritual Sun into the mental world of humanity, jointly create the objective spiritual world of the human mind. In other words, every person’s mental organs are in the same mental world. In fact, there is only one mental world! What an amazing revelation. You are in my mental world when you are in your mental world, and I am in your mental world when I am in my mental world. This is exactly what we are used to with the physical body. You are in this restaurant and I am in this restaurant and a down other people are in this restaurant. There is only one restaurant in which these people now are.

We can understand that. The restaurant has space for all these people, so all these people can be in this restaurant at the same time. It would be the same if people could merge their dreams into one dream world where all the dreams take place. Then I can dream of a restaurant, and you and a dozen other dreamers can be in it because my dream and their dream are in the same dream world. We can meet each other there. Every human being who is dreaming a dream, can meet with every other human being who is also dreaming – as long as there is only one dream world where people can do their dreaming and create events and objects in the dream.

This is what Swedenborg discovered: that there is only one mental world for humankind.

Furthermore, he discovered that this mental world is the world of the afterlife and eternity!

It’s hard to imagine anything more stupendous than this reality!

We can memorize these ideas with a formula:

mental world = spiritual world = afterlife = eternity

You can clearly see now that you are born to be immortal. Your mental world begins when you take your first breath (see Section xx). That’s when you become conscious of sensations. A few weeks later, we become conscious of thoughts and feelings. We are beginning to form a self, a personhood. We are becoming part of the human race. Our mental world appears private. We are alone in it, in comparison to our physical world where we see and interact with social others. So we grow up with the natural mind forming the idea or hypothesis that we are alone in our mental world. We follow the sensuous principle of “Out of sight, out of mind.” In other words, no one seems to be in our own private mental world, hence there is no one there. But this may only be an appearance or illusion.

Swedenborg became conscious in his spiritual mind at age 57, as already explained. We become conscious of our spiritual mind only when we are resuscitated, at the death of the physical body. But he was given this special mission by God which was, to reveal the scientific and rational facts about the human mind and God. Until this time, no one could know anything about the afterlife, the spiritual world, or the anatomy and physiology of the mind (see Section xx). How could God reveal these scientific facts to the modern person? Not by direct entry into the physical world and creating a university where God writes the curriculum and teaches to people. This would only encourage a sensuous relationship with God here on earth. It would be temporary. When people pass into the spiritual world, whatever they believed or conceptualized about God sensuously, disappears.

As explained in several locations in Theistic Psychology (see Section xx), sensuous rationality tied to the corporeal mind and physical body, does not survive because it is located in the natural mind, and these mental organs are de-activated or put to sleep and are no longer functioning in our life of immortality. We awaken in our spiritual mind, which is a discrete degree or level above the natural mind. Nothing whatsoever of the natural can enter there or exist there. This is why God does not make an appearance at the United Nations or on the streets of the cities, as He did during the Incarnation Event (see see Sections 1.6.8 and 1.8.4.2  and 1.8.6  and 2.19 and 3.7.2.2 and 3.10.1 and 4.4.5 and 4.4.6.1  and 5.0.6  and 5.1.1.5.1 and 13.0.11.1.1). That event was an evolutionary change in the spiritual mind of the human race (see Section xx).

Specifically, the Divine Human was embodied in a Physical Body, which God rendered suitable for His Human Divine Spiritual Body, which He always possessed from eternity. By rendering this Divine Physical Body suitable for the Divine Spiritual Body, God thereby brought about an evolutionary change in the levels of the human race. He created the new Rational Heavens in every human mind then alive in either world, and in every human mind that is born after that. Hence the human race was altered in a most significant way. We might say that God finally completed the creation of the human race. Until then we were not complete. Since then, the human race contains a rational heaven in the affective organ at the highest level of the mind.

It is absolutely necessary that we develop this potential in us before we pass into the afterlife. When we are resuscitated, the kind of life we have is determined by the idea we have of God, for all other ideas depend on this chief idea. If we can tolerate and acquire rational ideas of God, we can find a way to our heaven, and exist there forever. If we cannot tolerate rational ideas of God, our consciousness automatically sinks down into the lower levels where the natural mind is, with its sensuous concepts and corporeal images obtained through the physical body. Instead of being able to let go of all ideas based on time, space, number, quantity, we hang to them, and we reject the rational ideas.

The result is spiritual insanity. This involves a distorted mental physiology. When the spiritual heat and light from the Spiritual Sun, immerses them in its stream, their affective organ reacts hysterically and explosively, with extreme avoidance and compulsive rage. Swedenborg was able to observe this many times over the 27 years of his daily consciousness in the spiritual world. Sensuous ideas are opposed to rational ideas. Hence their ideas were opposed to heaven and God in their mind. When they were told some truth about God, they instantly denied it, and turned it around into its opposite – which of course was false. Swedenborg performed this experiment many times in different ways to make sure it is scientifically valid (see Section xx).

So you may be sure that God will not appear on the streets for the modern mind. Prior to the Incarnation Event, the human race had a sensuous heaven only, which was suitable to the original celestial race on earth (see see Sections 1.6.8 and 1.8.4.2  and 1.8.6  and 2.19 and 3.7.2.2 and 3.10.1 and 4.4.5 and 4.4.6.1  and 5.0.6  and 5.1.1.5.1 and 13.0.11.1.1). After the whole-brained celestial race had died out due to spiritual abuses of the science of correspondences, God created a new race called the split-brained spiritual race, of which we are members. This race had a new heaven in their mind, which is why the old race and the new race are segregated in eternity. Swedenborg however, was allowed to visit both races.

The need for the human race to create rational concepts of God and heaven led to the development of modern science. Today any modern person is educated in science and analytical thinking. These scientific concepts and attitudes make possible today the development of theistic science. Now God can be taught in school, not as religion, but as science (see Section xx). This would not have been possible before the Writings Sacred Scripture, the last volume of which was published by Swedenborg in 1771.

Now that God can be a scientific and rational concept for the basis of human thinking, every human being has the opportunity and ability to develop their rational heavens while they are still living in a physical body, and while still conscious in the natural mind. Every individual is exposed to the rational ideas in the Writings Sacred Scripture so that they may form their rational heavens through their idea of the Divine Human. People either receive this instruction on earth in society, or in the world of spirits, after their resuscitation. Every one is then instructed in the rational concepts revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture. Those who are willing to abandon their hellish loves with its false ideas of God, are able to open up their heavens and dwell there. But those who are unwilling, then abandon their heavenly loves and rational ideas of God. They open up the hells in their mind, into which they sink and immerse themselves with delight, as witnessed by Swedenborg many times.

You now have the unusual opportunity to discover the scientific concepts of God which God has revealed to humankind, barely 235 years ago through a Swedish scientist whose mind God had prepared for this special mission (see Section xx).

For more on sensuous vs. rational spirituality see Section xx.

1.0.5.5   The Daily Discipline of Rational Spirituality 

 

1.0.5.5.1   Recognizing Our Dual Existence

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

HH 434. A man cannot think and will without there being a subject that is a substance out of which and in which he can think and will. Anything that is supposed to come into existence apart from a substantial subject is nothing. This can be known from the fact that a man is unable to see without an organ which is the subject of his sight, or to hear without an organ which is the subject of his hearing. Apart from these organs, sight and hearing are nothing and are not given existence.

The same is true of thought, which is an internal sight, and of perception, which is an internal hearing; unless these were in substances and from substances which are organic forms and subjects, they would have no existence at all. From these things it can be confirmed that man's spirit as well as his body is in a form, and that it is in a human form, and enjoys sensories and senses when separated from the body, the same as when it was in it, and that all the life of the eye and all the life of the ear in a word, all the life of sense that man has, belongs not to his body but to his spirit, which dwells in these organs and in their minutest particulars.

This is why spirits see, hear, and feel, as well as men. But after being loosed from the body, they do this not in the natural world, but in the spiritual world. The natural sensation that the spirit had, when it was in the body, it had by means of the material part that was added to it; but even then it also felt spiritually in thinking and willing. (HH 434)

We are mental beings existing simultaneously in time and in eternity outside time.

We exist in time through the physical body and in eternity through the mental body.

Our birth involves the coming into existence of a physical body in time and a mental body outside time or in eternity. The physical body and mental body are functionally connected through the universal laws of correspondences. These Divinely created laws connect the two worlds of creation – the world of time and the world of eternity.

The physical world is in time and space. Its matter originates from stars that create gravitational fields or energies that operate by fixed laws. The stars are also the source of matter, heat, light, and through these, of planets and its weather systems. This arrangement of things in the physical world of time is brought about and managed by the arrangement of things in the mental world of eternity. Every single physical phenomenon, object, or property, is nothing but the effect of some corresponding mental source and cause. Everything that happens in the physical world of time is a corresponding result to something that first happens in the mental world of eternity.

For instance stars exist in the physical world of time because the Spiritual Sun exists in the mental world of eternity. You will be able to see the Spiritual Sun when your consciousness is no longer connected to the physical body. This happens at death. Following that, we are resuscitated, which occurs about thirty hours after the physical body is no longer able to remain connected to the mental body. After resuscitation our conscious awareness is entirely in the mental body. Now we begin our life of immortality in eternity.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), a Swedish scientist and engineer, was prepared from childhood to develop a mind and character to be able to receive, write, and publish new scientific revelations about the two worlds and how they are interconnected by the laws of correspondences. At age 57 God appeared to Swedenborg and informed him of his Divinely appointed mission as modern scientific revelator.

Swedenborg was then given the unique and unprecedented ability of being conscious simultaneously in both worlds. No scientist in human history has ever been given such an experimental laboratory which allowed him to do experiments and view it simultaneously in its effects in time and its prior cause in eternity. For the next 27 years, until his death at age 84, he kept daily records, in Swedish and Latin, of his dualist experiments. All his works were published and translated, and the English translation today contains about 30 volumes of his reports on the world of eternity.

Swedenborg observed thousands of people being resuscitated shortly after the death of their physical body. He was able to talk to all the people he had known and had passed into the afterlife. Furthermore, he was able to talk to dozens of famous names he knew from literature going back to thousands of years (e.g., Aristotle). He interviewed people who had lived on this earth when human life first began, and despite their ancient age their mental body appeared like the body they had on earth in their adolescence.

Swedenborg discovered that the world of the afterlife is in eternity, not in time. People often imagine their afterlife as coming back on a new reconstructed earth in which they will live forever. They thus imagine heaven to be on a physical planet in an immortal physical body. Swedenborg proved that the afterlife is in eternity, outside the physical world of time and space.

 1.0.5.5.2  The Mental World is the World of Eternity

When people hear about their immortal life in “eternity” and  the “spiritual world,” they think of something obscure and without content. They think it is something difficult to understand or be clear about. But all this changes when you realize that eternity is something you are more familiar with than you are with your kitchen or back yard. Eternity is nothing else than the mental world, and what is more familiar to you than your mental world of thoughts and feelings?

People are taught from the negative bias of science that thoughts and feelings are in the brain. Few people go on to examine and observe how irrational and unscientific this idea is. In order to see it and to be able to prove that eternity is our familiar mental world, all you need to do is to consider your dreams. Where are your dreams? Where is the space and the objects in the restaurant you are dreaming eating in?

The space is instantiated by your imagination! In the mental world we have the power to create instantly as much space we want, as much wealth we want, as much fun we want – or, strangely enough, their opposites – how frightened we can get, or miserable, or powerless. We can create a heaven or a hell in our mind both while we are dreaming and while we are awake. All this is familiar to you. What you did not know is that this mental world is the same as the afterlife of eternity!

When we are born we exist as two connected bodies, one in time, the other in eternity. Only the brain and its operations can be in time and space. The sensations we have from our sensory organs are not in the brain, not in the physical body, but in the mental body. Our thoughts and feelings must exist in a non-material world that is outside space, time, matter, energy, quantity, etc. Our sensations, thoughts, and feelings are not material, not physical, not in space, not in time, not in matter. They are spiritual, outside time and space, in a mental world that is eternal, because not in time. Our mental life cannot exist in our physical body.

From birth onward, our physical body transmits neuro-chemical and electro-physical signals to our brain, and there they remain. The mental body is connected by correspondence to these physical signals. We experience the sensation of an ice cube in the mouth after the physical signal went from the mouth to the brain. The mental sensation occurs simultaneously with the physical brain signal. If the brain malfunctions due to disease or injury, the mental sensation will not be experienced. Once the brain is dead however, and we are resuscitated in our mental body, we can experience sensations far more intensely because the sensory environment in the mental world is far more distinct than in the physical world – as you can tell from vivid dreams and nightmares.

So our life of immortality begins when the physical body is dead and the mental body now can experience the mental environment exclusively. This environment differs greatly from the physical environment we are familiar with here. On the surface the two worlds look alike because of our ideas of the environment we must have to live. For instance, the environment in your dreams may be normal or odd, but still it is made of things we are familiar with – people, houses, books, beaches, horses, running, eating, etc. The things in our dreams mostly make sense because they are the things in our daily lives.

1.0.5.5.3   Our Life in Eternity

It is easy to understand therefore that our mental world does not change much in appearance after death. Swedenborg reports that when people are resuscitated they appear to themselves to be in the same place that they died in – at home in bed, or a hospital, or battle zone. But this appearance quickly begins to change and we realize that we are no longer in a physical world. People seem to appear and disappear, houses and roads appear, clothes seem to change automatically on our body, we mostly never think of eating, and in any case, we soon realize we do not need to eat or drink to live, for we are immortal. But if we do think about eating, food we want suddenly appears on the table or in our hand, and it tastes very delicious.

Our life in the afterlife of eternity is social life with others who are like us. People live in groups and societies made of individuals who are similar in attitude and interest. It is the harmony and similarity of thoughts and feelings that causes people to appear with each other in groups and societies. This is completely an automatic sorting out process that starts at resuscitation. There are two separate groupings or collections of people in the afterlife, those who have heavenly thoughts and feelings and those who have hellish thoughts and feelings. The heaven or hell we live in is nothing else than the life we have inside our thoughts – a life in mental heaven if our thoughts and feelings are heavenly, and a life in mental hell if our thoughts and feelings are hellish.

While we are connected to the physical body it is possible for us to build up our heavenly thoughts and feelings and their hellish counterparts. At some point in our adult life we must start making choices that are either heavenly or hellish. Every choice we make remains with us into the afterlife. After resuscitation we go through a period of discovering which choices we made and which ones we are willing to give up or to keep. If we are willing to give up every single hellish choice, we enter immortal life in heaven. If we are not willing to give up a single hellish trait, we cannot enter heavenly life. Swedenborg reports that many people he observed after their resuscitation, were unwilling to give up this or that cherished attitude or pleasure, even if these were hellish. And so they gave up all their heavenly traits to enter life in hell forever.

How do we know which traits are heavenly or hellish?

When we make a choice on the basis of what we love our reasoning process immediately justifies the choice as good – even if it is evil. For instance, when people enjoy listening to loud music or TV they want to ignore how others are disturbed by it. They convince themselves that what they are doing is right since it’s their home, or since it’s still not late in the evening, or some other reason. Men can rape their dates and think that they didn’t do anything wrong because the girl encouraged them. People can drive drunk, kill someone, and convince themselves it’s not their fault. People betray each other and think they have the right to do that.

There are so many contradictory religions and philosophies because people want to call good that which they love, want, or enjoy. And so how do we know which of our traits are heavenly and which hellish? If we are wrong about this, it can costs us heaven or hell forever!

1.0.5.5.4   Why We Need Sacred Scripture

This is why it is absolutely necessary that God give people guidelines and definitions of what is heavenly and what hellish. We cannot rely on our own judgment. Hence it is that God gives Sacred Scripture to the human race. This is the Divinely given definition and criterion for what is good vs. evil, true vs. false, heavenly vs. hellish.

In Sacred Scripture God gives us several distinct layers of meanings and definitions. Our first encounter with Divine Speech through Sacred Scripture is the literal sense of the sentences that make up the books of Sacred Scripture. These sentences can be read by anyone and be understood in the literal sense. What are the topics of Sacred Scripture at this literal level of meaning? What is God talking to us about?

At the literal level Sacred Scripture has a historical and religious content. For instance, the Old Testament Sacred Scripture reads like the history of an ancient people, and contains poetry about God, visions and dreams by prophets, various prophecies of future history, numerous commandments and rituals that must be performed, and punishments and rewards are received accordingly. This literal-historical level of meaning of Sacred Scripture forms the basis for religion and its various denominations and varieties.

What happens when people form religions and belief systems based on the literal sense of Sacred Scripture? People interpret this literal content to suit themselves and what they love. People focus on the parts they like and ignore the parts of Sacred Scripture they don’t like. There is no consistency, no rational responsibility for being consistent. It is necessary therefore for people to go to the next layer of meaning in Sacred Scripture. This is called the spiritual meaning or the interior meaning, whereas the literal sense is called the natural meaning or the external meaning.

People are able to penetrate to the hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture by making these steps:

(1) Acknowledging that the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture can only be understood by being received from God. No one can do this on their own or from their own. Those who try come up with much improvable fantasy rather than truth and reality.

(2) Studying Sacred Scripture by rational and scientific methods. One must be completely consistent, explain apparent contradictions, and ignore no parts. This is called forming for oneself the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture. Theistic psychology is an instance of this approach.

(3) Applying each truth and idea to our daily willing and thinking. We must monitor the hundreds of choices we make every day. Every choice must be distinguished in our mind as either heavenly or hellish, as defined by the spiritual meaning of Sacred Scripture that God reveals to us on a daily basis.

If we practice these three steps on a daily basis, we are slowly building up our heaven and cutting our ties with hell. After resuscitation we happily and easily let go of whatever hellish traits remain, and we enter our heaven.

The correspondential sense of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures are revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg Sacred Scripture. The Writings Sacred Scripture teach us how to extract the correspondential sense of all Sacred Scripture. The literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture are the Swedenborg Reports in about 30 volumes that describe his experiments, observations, and rationale. It is revealed there that life in eternal heaven is a conjugial life, that is, everyone there is married. Swedenborg interviewed many married couples who live in their heavens. A husband and wife are soul mates and live out their immortal life in happiness and blessedness in company with other similar couples with who they form a society or city. Swedenborg describes the details of life in heaven and hell.

Why risk going to hell? Take charge of your immortality. Start studying theistic psychology and read the Writings Sacred Scripture. Gain knowledge of how to be successful in your character reformation and personality makeover. Everything depends on it!

1.0.5.5.5   The Hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture

What is God talking to us about in the hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture? And why is it hidden?

The idea of “God talking” is the same as the idea of “Divine Truth” because God thinks and speaks Divine Truth and nothing else. Remember that the mental world of eternity is the world created by God’s thoughts and purposes. God has no beginning and no end, and therefore God’s thoughts are eternal, which is the same as saying that God’s thoughts, or Divine Truth, forms the world of eternity. Remember also that the physical world of time and space is an effect or consequence of a mental cause. This mental cause of the physical world is Divine Truth, which is God’s thinking.

We at first think that the physical world is concrete and solid while the mental world is ephemeral, almost non-existent in concrete reality. We have sayings in popular culture like “It’s only in his imagination. It’s not real.” A popular song about an island the singer is dreaming of ends with “But there is no island at all, Just a picture on my wall.” So we grow up with the idea that the mental world is less real than the physical world.

But as we progress in our rational thinking we discover from the hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture that the mental world is more real than the physical world. Everything in the physical world is temporary and breaks down with time. Nothing is permanent. But in the mental world created by God’s thoughts every single thing is permanent. We are immortal because our mental world is created by the thoughts of God, that is, by Divine Truth. A human mind constructed out of God’s thoughts and feelings is an immortal being because nothing in it can die, everything in it is permanent in eternity. Animals do not have the same mental body we have.

While we have a natural mind and a spiritual mind, animals only have a natural mind. Upon the death of the animal the mental body containing the animal’s natural mind cannot remain itself, cannot survive, and dissipates. It is our spiritual mind that makes us different from all animals. Our spiritual mind is constructed as a receptor organ for God’s thoughts and feelings, while animals do not have such an organ. The natural mind animals have are similar to our natural mind in that its content is constructed through the sensory signals of the physical body. In contrast to this, the spiritual mind does not receive any input whatsoever from the physical body and the natural world. All the input into our spiritual mind comes from the spiritual world, that is, the mental world of eternity.

The input or inflow of God’s thoughts and feelings into our spiritual mind is unconscious and automatic. This is the source of rationality, that is, our ability to think and reason rationally in our natural mind. We are not conscious of the inflow of God’s rational thoughts. We are only conscious of the rational thoughts as we are thinking about something or solving a problem.

Why then are we not perfectly rational all the time? Why is the Divine Truth hidden in Sacred Scripture as its correspondential sense? Why not reveal the truth to everybody?

To understand the answer you need to recall that God’s thoughts and feelings flow out into the created mental world of eternity where the minds of human beings exist and live. God’s thoughts and feelings spread out into the mental world of humanity like sunlight and heat spread out into physical space and into the planets. Divine Truth as Divine Speech, spreads into the unconscious spiritual mind of every human being, insuring the rationality and immortality of every member of the human race. But where does Divine Truth go from there? How does it go from the unconscious spiritual mind to the conscious natural mind where we do our thinking 

The answer is that the natural mind and the spiritual mind are connected by the laws of correspondences. These laws govern the functional connection between the layers of reality, starting with the spiritual mind and its layers, spreading outward to the natural mind, and finally being written down as sentences in a book. At each level of descent there is a corresponding reaction so that the upper level causes the lower level to react in correspondence with itself. When Divine Speech, or Divine Truth, reaches the bottom of the natural mind, the meaning of the ideas are natural, not spiritual. The literal sense that the prophet writes down in sentences is not what God said or thought, but a correspondence to what God thought and said. See the Layers Diagram.

For instance the literal sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture often speaks of water, different forms of it, like rain, ocean, storm, flood, river, spring waters, etc. When Swedenborg read the Sacred Scripture people use in the heavens of their eternity, there was no mention of water anywhere. Instead, when Swedenborg compared the specific passages and phrases where the Old Testament Sacred Scripture mentions water, there was mention of various forms of truth, like external vs. internal truth, or mediate truth vs. genuine truth, or truth of doctrine, truth of religion, natural truth vs. spiritual truth, falsified truth, etc. In other words, Divine Speech discusses the varieties of truth in human minds, not the weather or bodies of water on earth.

Another example is the frequent mention and description of wars conducted by the children of Israel in the Holy Land. All sorts of sordid details are given, some quite revolting. In several passages God is quoted as saying that He orders the children of Israel to invade the land that was promised them, wage holy war against the inhabitants, and destroy their cities, and decimate their population. God orders that no one should be spared the sword, -- women, children, and cattle. Many people today are puzzled or offended by such a barbaric treatment commanded by God. But you can understand it if you look for the hidden spiritual meaning of these events. Every detail of war mentioned in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture can be analyzed and seen to deal with the details of the psychology of regeneration.

Swedenborg was conscious in both the natural mind, as we are now, and in his spiritual mind, as we will be after resuscitation, which is the process of awakening in the spiritual mind a few hours after the death of the physical body (see Section xx). Because Swedenborg was conscious in both minds simultaneously he was in a position of making direct empirical observations of how natural and spiritual phenomena are interrelated. He was able to read the literal meaning of the Bible in Hebrew and Greek so that he was conscious of its meaning in the natural mind, as we are, but also of its meaning in the spiritual mind, since the two are interrelated. This is how he empirically discovered the natural-spiritual correspondences in the Bible. Let's see what he discovered about the Genesis creation story as he compared passages in the Bible with Sacred Scripture that exists in every person's unconscious spiritual mind. In the following passages people are called "angels" when, after death and resuscitation, they become conscious in their spiritual and celestial layers of the mind. The expression "the Word" refers to Sacred Scripture. "The Lord" refers to the universal God the Divine Human (see Section xx). The expression "the Word in the world" refers to the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture as we are conscious of it in our natural mind, which is referred to as "the church."

Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg: [comments in italics are not in the original]

De Verbo 14. XIV  The Word in the heavens.

The Word [= Sacred Scripture] exists in all the heavens [= layers of the mind], and it is read there as it is in the world [= the meaning of it in our natural mind] , and sermons [= knowledge of theistic psychology] are based on it.

For it [= Sacred Scripture] is the Divine Truth which is the source of the angels' [= people in the afterlife already conscious in their celestial layers] intelligence and wisdom. For without the Word no one knows anything about the Lord [= God the Divine Human], love and faith, redemption, and all the other secrets of heavenly wisdom. In fact without the Word heaven [= consciousness in the afterlife in our celestial layers] would not exist, just as without the Word there would be no church in the world [= no way of regenerating our character], so that there would be no linking with the Lord.   (...)

[2] The Word in the Lord's spiritual kingdom [= unconscious spiritual layer of our mind] is not the same as the Word in the world [= conscious natural layer of our mind]. In the world there is the natural Word, but in that kingdom there is a spiritual Word. The difference is like that between its natural and spiritual senses.

The nature of the spiritual sense [= correspondential sense] has been demonstrated at length in my Arcana Coelestia, where the whole contents of Genesis and Exodus have been explained in accordance with that sense. The difference is such that no word is the same. Things take the place of names, and likewise of numbers; the histories are replaced by matters concerning the church [= the natural mind]. The surprising thing is that, when an angel reads it, he is unaware that it is not the same as what he read in the Word while in the world [= after resuscitation, we become conscious in the spiritual mind and unconscious in the natural mind]. This is because he no longer has any natural ideas, since they are replaced with spiritual ones; and the natural and the spiritual are linked by correspondences into a kind of unity.

So when someone passes from the natural into the spiritual [= at our death and immediate resuscitation], it seems to him as if they were the same. In fact an angel does not know that he is wiser than he was in the world, though his wisdom is really so superior as to be comparatively indescribable. He is unable to recognize the difference, because in his spiritual state he knows nothing of the natural state, which he had in the world; and he is unable to compare and differentiate them [= as Swedenborg was able to do], because he cannot return to his former state so as to make a comparison [= but Swedenborg was conscious in both before his death]. Still an angel in heaven is constantly being brought to a higher degree of perfection in wisdom than he had in the world, because his affection for spiritual truth is purer [= more rational and perfect].

[3] However, the Word in the Lord's celestial kingdom is far superior and wiser than the Word in His spiritual kingdom. The difference is of the same kind as that which distinguishes the natural Word in the world from the spiritual Word, as has been stated.

For that Word contains an inmost sense, called celestial, which in all its details refers to nothing but the Lord [= how God the Divine Human manages our mental operations]. In this Word [= celestial layer of our mind] the Lord [= God the Divine Human ] is read in place of "Jehovah" [= God's literal Name in the Bible], and of "Abraham", "Isaac" and "Jacob"; and also the Lord is named in place of "David", "Moses," "Elijah" and the rest of the Prophets; and His divinity is distinguished by special marks [= in the written version of Sacred Scripture that exists in our celestial mind]. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and also the names of the Apostles, when read there, convey something about the Lord as regards the church [= how we can change our inherited character]; and so with all the rest.

From this it became plain to me that the whole of the Sacred Scripture deals in its inmost sense with nothing but the Lord. The difference which distinguishes the two Words, the spiritual and the celestial, is like that between thoughts, the province of the intellect [= our cognitive organ], and affections, the province of the will [= our affective organ]. For the angels of the celestial kingdom are guided [=  our chief motives and loves] by love to the Lord and so affection for good [= wanting to be conjoined with God the Divine Human ]; the angels of the spiritual kingdom are guided by faith in the Lord and so by perception of truth [= wanting to be conjoined with the truths of God the Divine Human].

[4] Another difference between the celestial and spiritual Words is their script. The script of the spiritual Word is made up of letters resembling the printed letters of our world; but each letter has a meaning. If therefore you were to see that script, you would not understand a single word. For one letter succeeds another without a break, with dashes and dots above and below, since it is in accordance with spiritual speech, which has nothing in common with natural speech. The wiser angels are, the more they see of the inner secrets of their Word so written, more so than the simpler angels. What is stored there is plainly visible to the eyes of the wise, but not to the eyes of the simple. It is similar to what happens with our Word, but to a greater degree; here too the wise see more than the simple.

The script of the celestial Word, however, is made up of letters not known in the world. They are indeed alphabetical, but each one of them is composed of curved lines with serifs above and below, and there are small marks or dots in the letters, and also above and below them. I was told that the most ancient people on this earth had such a script. Some details agree with the Hebrew script, but not much. Such a script expresses the affections which make up a love; so it contains more secrets than they themselves can ever utter. They express these unutterable secrets which they perceive from their Word by means of representations. The wisdom hidden away in this Word surpasses the wisdom in the spiritual Word as a thousand does one.

[5] To make the difference between the three Words, the natural, the spiritual and the celestial, intelligible, let us take as an example the first chapters of Genesis, which deal with Adam, his wife and the Garden.

 In the natural Word which we have in this world there is a description of the creation of the world, the first creation of man, and the earthly pleasures and delights of man and the world. By the persons named following him up to the Flood [= hellish traits we inherit and acquire ] are meant his descendants, and the numbers mean their ages. But in the spiritual Word the angels of the spiritual kingdom have, this is not what is meant. The first chapter is a description of the reform and regeneration of the people of the most ancient church [= celestial traits we inherit and acquire]; this too is called a new creation. The second chapter describes as the Garden the intelligence of the people of that church; Adam and his wife stand for the church itself, and their descendants down to the Flood describe the changes in the state of that church [= evolution of mental states in the human race], up to the time when it came to an end and was finally destroyed [= ] by the Flood [= hellish traits we inherit and acquire].

But in the celestial Word possessed by the angels of the Lord's celestial kingdom, the first chapter describes the glorification of the Lord's Human; the Garden describes his Divine wisdom. Adam himself is understood to mean the Lord as regards the Divine itself and at the same time the Divine Human. His wife stands for the church, which since it has life from the Lord is called Eve from [the Hebrew word for] life. Adam says of her that she was to be his bone and his flesh, and [they should be] one flesh, because the church comes from the Lord, and is out of Him and with Him as if one. The names of the descendants of Adam describe the successive states by which the Lord was received by the people of that church and linked with them, until there was nothing at all received and so no linking.

[6] So when the first chapters in our Word are read by upright people, especially by boys and girls, and they feel joy at the state when everything was created and at the Garden, then these meanings are unfolded, and the spiritual angels [= those in the afterlife connected to the natural mind of people still on earth] understand them in accordance with their Word, and the celestial angels in accordance with theirs, without being aware that a person or a child is reading it [=  hence without prior knowledge or biased teaching]. These meanings are unfolded in their due sequence because they correspond, and correspondences are from creation like this.

This makes it plain what the Word is like in its depths, that is, it has three senses. The last is the natural one for men on earth; this deals mainly with worldly matters [= historical narratives] and where it deals with Divine matters [= spiritual meanings about the afterlife], they are still described by the kind of things which the world contains [= spiritual ideas described and understood naturally, not spiritually]. The middle sense is the spiritual one, which describes the kind of things which belong to the church [= mental world of eternity in the afterlife]. The inmost sense is the celestial one, which contains the kind of things which belong to the Lord [= how we are conjoined to God by loving Him].

For the whole of nature is a theatre representing the Lord's kingdom; and the Lord's kingdom, heaven and the church, is a theatre representing the Lord Himself. For just as the Lord glorified His Human [during the Incarnation Event], so too He regenerates a person; and as He regenerates a person, so too did He create him.

[7] These facts may establish what the Word is like in its depths. The natural Word as possessed by the Christian part of the world contains within itself a spiritual and a celestial Word. For the spiritual sense of our Word is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's spiritual kingdom; and the celestial sense of our Word, its inmost sense, is the Word in the heavens which make up the Lord's celestial kingdom. Our Word therefore contains both the spiritual and the celestial Words; but the spiritual Word and the celestial Word do not contain the natural Word. The Word of our world is therefore the one most full of Divine wisdom, and consequently more holy than the Word of the heavens [= because it contains the other two Sacred Scripture within itself].  (DE VERBO 14)

AC 4. While the mind cleaves to the literal sense alone [= of Sacred Scripture], no one can possibly see that such things [= heavenly secrets in the form of correspondences] are contained [= hidden] within it. Thus in these first chapters of Genesis [= Chapters 1 to 11], 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 [= secrets] 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 [= mental character change from inherited hellish traits to heavenly], 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. (AC 4)

AC 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. (AC 67)

AC 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. (AC 68)

AC 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 aught 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. (AC 69)

AC 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. (AC 70)

See the Layers Diagram.

Here is a summary of the correspondential sense of the first chapters of Genesis:

From: BibleMeanings.info (paraphrased from the Writings of Swedenborg):
http://www.biblemeanings.info/Bible/genesis.html

AC 6. The six days, or periods, which are so many successive states of the regeneration of man, are in general as follows.

AC 7. The first state is that which precedes, including both the state from infancy, and that immediately before regeneration. This is called a "void," "emptiness," and "thick darkness." And the first motion, which is the Lord‘s mercy, is "the Spirit of God moving upon the faces of the waters."

AC 8. The second state is when a distinction is made between those things which are of the Lord, and those which are proper to man. The things which are of the Lord are called in the Word "remains," and here are especially knowledges of faith, which have been learned from infancy, and which are stored up, and are not manifested until the man comes into this state. At the present day this state seldom exists without temptation, misfortune, or sorrow, by which the things of the body and the world, that is, such as are proper to man, are brought into quiescence, and as it were die. Thus the things which belong to the external man are separated from those which belong to the internal man. In the internal man are the remains, stored up by the Lord unto this time, and for this use.

AC 9. The third state is that of repentance, in which the man, from his internal man, speaks piously and devoutly, and brings forth goods, like works of charity, but which nevertheless are inanimate, because he thinks they are from himself. These goods are called the "tender grass," and also the "herb yielding seed," and afterwards the "tree bearing fruit."

AC 10. The fourth state is when the man becomes affected with love, and illuminated by faith. He indeed previously discoursed piously, and brought forth goods, but he did so in consequence of the temptation and straitness under which he labored, and not from faith and charity; wherefore faith and charity are now enkindled in his internal man, and are called two "luminaries."

AC 11. The fifth state is when the man discourses from faith, and thereby confirms himself in truth and good: the things then produced by him are animate, and are called the "fish of the sea," and the "birds of the heavens."

AC 12. The sixth state is when, from faith, and thence from love, he speaks what is true, and does what is good: the things which he then brings forth are called the "living soul" and the "beast." And as he then begins to act at once and together from both faith and love, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an "image." His spiritual life is delighted and sustained by such things as belong to the knowledges of faith, and to works of charity, which are called his "food and his natural life is delighted and sustained by those which belong to the body and the senses; whence a combat arises, until love gains the dominion, and he becomes a celestial man.

AC 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 any one the seventh.

Continued here: http://www.biblemeanings.info/Bible/genesis.html

Let us examine a Number from the Writings Sacred Scripture that will demonstrate to you how the scientific sense is extracted from the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture. This passage gives an analysis of a phrase in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Try to keep track of the topic by translating certain words from the literal meaning into theistic psychology concepts. See if you can memorize these correspondences:

THE WRITINGS
SACRED SCRIPTURE
CORRESPONDING THEISTIC PSYCHOLOGY CONCEPTS
the Word Sacred Scripture
the Lord God the Divine Human
church our understanding of truth from Sacred Scripture
labor, combat, works fighting against spiritual temptations
rest on the seventh day, peace not being in a state of temptation, conjunction with God the Divine Human
external man, internal man conscious natural mind, unconscious spiritual mind
Divine order, heaven rules man our daily thinking and willing conforms to the truth from Sacred Scripture that is in our understanding
born into loving the world and himself more than heaven and the Lord inherited hellish traits in the natural mind, materialism, selfism, negative bias in science
regenerating, regenerated, external things disposed so as to agree with internal things character reformation to conform to truth from Sacred Scripture in our understanding
the hells flow from all sides, continually endeavoring to infest particular connection to vertical community through our love for inherited enjoyments and attachments
the Lord continually protects and sets him free. the Divine Psychologist manages the process of character reformation to the extent we reciprocate
the body and its senses, see and act through influx from heaven sensations are not caused by the electro-chemical action of neurons, but the reverse
raised from external things into internal, and thus into the light of heaven. becoming conscious in the rational mind when is in correspondence with the spiritual mind
in this world are intelligent and wise, those who are in the truth and good of the church when we make our daily willing and thinking to conform to the truths of Sacred Scripture in our understanding, we receive intelligence in greater degree
[scientists who] confirmed themselves against the truths and goods of the church, are more insane and foolish that the rest materialistic monism or the negative bias in science, which denies God and the truths of Sacred Scripture, thus denies spiritual reality, which is irrational, thus is in the hells of the mind
after death they are raised by the Lord into angelic wisdom those who make their daily willing and thinking to conform to the truths of Sacred Scripture, are resuscitated in their mental body and choose to dwell in their conjugial heaven, where where they think and feel in terms of celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture: (words in italics appear in the table above)

AC 9278. Six days thou shalt do thy works. [Exodus. 23:12]

That this signifies the state of labor and of combat when the man is in external delights that are to be conjoined with internal, is evident from the signification of the "six days" which precede the seventh, as being a state of labor and of combat (see n. 737, 900, 8510, 8888, 8975). The labor and combat then are signified by the "works" which they were to do in the six days. By the "works of the six days," and the "rest on the seventh day," are signified those things which come forth in man in his first, and in his second state, during regeneration, and also those which come forth in him when he has been regenerated.  (Concerning the first and second states of man during regeneration, see above, n. 9274; and concerning those things which come forth with him when he has been regenerated, n. 9213.)

These things take place to the end that external things may be conjoined with internal; for there is an external man, which is also called natural; and there is an internal man, which is also called spiritual. The external man communicates with the world, and the internal man with heaven.

[2] The Divine order is that heaven should rule the world in man, and not the world rule heaven in him; for when heaven rules man, then the Lord rules him. Man is born into loving the world and himself more than heaven and the Lord. And because this is opposite to Divine order, there must be an inversion by means of regeneration; and this inversion is effected when the things of heaven and the Lord are loved more than those of the world and of self. This is the reason why the man who has been regenerated, as also he who is in heaven, is alternately in external and in internal things; for external things are thereby disposed so as to agree with internal things; and finally to be subject to them.

[3] When a man is in external things, he is in labor and combat, for he is then in a life which savors of the world, into which the hells flow from all sides, continually endeavoring to infest, and even to subjugate in the man the things of heaven; but the Lord continually protects and sets him free.

From this arise the labor and combat which are signified by the "six days of the week in which works are to be done." But when the man is in internal things, then, because he is in heaven with the Lord, the labor and combat cease, and he is in the tranquility of peace, in which tranquility conjunction also is effected. These are the things which are signified by the "seventh day." That the interiors of man have been created according to the image of heaven, and his exteriors according to the image of the world; thus that man is a heaven and a world in a little form, and according to the maxim of the ancients, is a microcosm, may be seen above (n. 6057); and consequently that it is according to Divine order that the Lord through heaven directs the world in man, and by no means the reverse.

[4] The nature of the labor and combat when a man is in external things, can be seen from the fact that he is then in such a state as to be in heat from the world and to be cold toward heaven, unless heaven be to him as the world; and that he is consequently in such a shade that he cannot conceive otherwise than that external things flow into internal, and consequently that the eye sees and the ear hears of itself, and that their objects bring forth thoughts, and produce the intellect, and that thereupon he is able of himself to believe, and likewise to love God; consequently from the world to see heaven.

From this fallacy he can scarcely be withdrawn until he has been raised from external things into internal, and thus into the light of heaven. Then for the first time he perceives that the things in him which are of the world, thus which are of the body and its senses, see and act through influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord, and not at all from themselves. From this it is evident why a sensuous man believes that everything of his life is from the world and from nature; that there is no hell, nor heaven; and finally that there is no God; consequently why he ridicules everything of the church insofar as he is concerned; but is in favor of it insofar as it concerns the simple, so that they may be in bonds, in addition to those of the laws.

[5] From this it can be known what it is to be in external things, and not at the same time in internal things, and that when a man is in external things, he is in cold and shade in respect to the things which are of heaven and which are of the Lord. From this also it can be known who in this world are intelligent and wise, namely, those who are in the truth and good of the church, because these are wise from heaven; and also who are foolish and insane, namely, those who are not in the good and truth of the church, because their knowledge is derived solely from the world; and that those among them who by means of the sciences of the world have confirmed themselves against the truths and goods of the church, are more insane and foolish that the rest, however much they may believe themselves intelligent and wise in comparison with others, and may call those simple who are in the good of life from the truths of doctrine; when yet the simplicity of these latter is wisdom in the eyes of the angels, and moreover after death they are raised by the Lord into angelic wisdom. (AC 9278)

You can see from the above that the hidden meaning of the verse "Six days thou shalt do thy works" in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture refers to the process of regeneration by which the natural mind is made to correspond to the rational mind by compelling our thinking and willing to conform to the truths of Sacred Scripture in our understanding. This self-compulsion on a daily and hourly basis is referred to as "six days of doing one's works." In God's purpose our main task on earth is to regenerate, hence the methods of regeneration is a major topic of Divine Speech hidden throughout Sacred Scripture.

For other demonstrations of extracting the hidden meaning of Sacred Scripture using correspondences, see Sections:

among others -- see also the Index Volume 18 for additional illustrations.

See also: BibleMeanings.info at http://www.biblemeanings.info/index.htm

1.0.5.5.6   Why We Need Theistic Psychology

This is what God wants us to know. Divine Love wants each human being to live in the heaven of eternity that is constructed out of God’s rational feelings and thoughts. God has arranged things so that He cannot make us to be in our heaven if we don’t want to. This is called spiritual freedom. God puts spiritual freedom above all other properties of human beings. Through His Divine omnipotence God maintains the spiritual freedom of every human being from birth to endless eternity. God makes sure that we remain totally unaware of the fact that our thoughts and feelings are nothing but reactions or adaptations in our mind to His thoughts and feelings in the form of the spiritual substances of good and truth inflowing from Him (see Section xx). His thoughts and feelings are not our thoughts and feelings!  But our reactions to the substances of good and truth inflowing into our mental organs, are our thoughts and feelings. Our thoughts and feelings are never God's thoughts and feelings, and vice versa, but they are related to each other by correspondence (see Section xx).

God does not want us to actually sense or be sensuously aware of the fact that our thoughts and feelings are mere reactions and adaptations to His thoughts and feelings inflowing as good and truth substances. Why not?

Because we would not like it, and could not be happy in heaven. In order for us to feel happy it is a necessity that we feel like an independent self or person, and that we act from our free will according to our own desires and understanding. We don’t want our thoughts and feelings to be controlled by God. And so because God has made us this way, He makes sure that we are unconscious of the source of our thinking and feeling as being from God rather than from self.

God gives us the sense and feeling that we think and feel from ourselves. This is called the as-of self (see Section xx). In other words, we do not have a self that originates in ourselves. The collection of thoughts and feelings we call a human person is not built up by ourselves, but by God’s actions in our mind, and to which each of us reacts in a unique fashion. Every human being is born from parents so that the mental world of the offspring is an actual offshoot to the mental world of the parents. This has been true since the beginning of the race so that everyone lives in the same inherited mental world of humanity. Our mental body contains all the qualities of our parents, and they inherited their mental qualities from their parents. Various specific genealogies thus evolve as races, blood lines, families, and nations, each sub-variety of culture being a particular zone in the mental world. The inheritance of the visible physical traits are correspondences to the inheritance of the mental traits.

Over the many generations of human beings on this planet there occurred a progressive decline in mental traits because people falsified the thoughts of truth that came into their conscious natural mind from their spiritual mind. The original generations lived in a paradise on earth because this corresponded to their mental states, which were heavenly (see Section xx). They were in direct communication with conscious awareness, of their family and friends already in the afterlife of eternity. This was through their spiritual mind, which in those days was still conscious. But later generations began to falsify the thoughts of truth in their natural mind. Falsified truths serve to justify feelings and intentions that are contrary to good. In this way they created a hell in the mental world and became unconscious of their spiritual mind while on earth.

Hell in the thoughts and feelings of our natural mind is nothing but the perversion of the thoughts and feelings in our spiritual mind or heaven, because evil, which is hell, is nothing but the corruption or adulteration of good, which is heaven.

The hells of the human mind then kept growing and accumulating from generation to generation. The New Testament Sacred Scripture reveals that every human being born on this earth had become a hell by the time of the Incarnation Event two thousand years ago, by which God made Himself be born as a human child on earth. By acquiring a Divine Natural Body, God radically changed His relationship to the human race and our evolution of consciousness. The Divine Child, while on earth, created in His natural mind a new mental organ that did not exist before in the human race (see Section xx). This organ is called the spiritual-natural mind. (see Section xx)

1.0.5.5.7   The New Evolution in Rational Consciousness of God

In other words, God created a new anatomical area in the human mind that did not yet exist there. This new anatomical organ is called the spiritual-natural mind. Note that it is both natural and spiritual. This is its new power. Before this mental organ was created by the Divine Child in Himself two thousand years ago, there was only a conscious natural mind and an unconscious spiritual mind (see Section xx). But the reverse, after resuscitation. Until our death we are conscious in our natural mind; after death we are conscious in our spiritual mind. Swedenborg was conscious in both minds, like the people of the earliest generations on earth (see Section xx).

The Divine Child created a new mental plane of operation called spiritual-natural. This is now the conscious rational meeting place between God and the individual still regenerating on earth. It is the intermediate zone, half in time, and half in eternity. With the mental operation at this new spiritual-natural level of the mind, we are fully conscious of God in our rational spirituality. We can see spiritual reality rationally. Theistic psychology is the content of this new spiritual-natural organ, containing our consciousness, knowledge, and awareness of eternity, of God, of heaven and hell.

Theistic psychology is the knowledge extracted from the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture by following the exact steps prescribed for the extraction process (see Section xx). The unveiling of this new theistic science marks the beginning of the New Age that shall never end or be succeeded by a another age. Now at last the human race is complete in its creation. The creation of the conscious spiritual-natural mind by the Divine Child in Himself, was the last act of organic creation that completed the human race. From then on every human being possesses this spiritual-natural organ. With this organ the individual can enter heaven before death and live out a life on earth as if in heaven, and after resuscitation, in actual heaven. But our consciousness of this organ is proportional to our regeneration efforts (see Section xx).

Rational spirituality is the daily life discipline of dwelling consciously in the presence of God as we go about our daily activities. The spiritual-natural organ is activated more and more as we live the discipline of rational spirituality. The more this organ is activated the more we are happy, effective, and loving human beings. We are enlightened. We can instantly recognize genuine truth from distorted truth. We cannot be led away by others or distracted by human foibles. We are most useful to others through our understanding and compassion. We are angels on earth for a time.

The discipline of rational spirituality has these components:

(1) Acknowledging God’s omnipotence and its implications for how we think about events.

(2) Acknowledging God’s Divine Speech in the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture. This is called theistic psychology.

(3) Studying theistic psychology on a daily basis in the conscious presence of God. Being a student of it. Making notes, lists, tables, charts, and diagrams. Considering this a Divine or sacred task. Developing and cumulating the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture. Acknowledging that it is God who puts this Doctrine in our understanding. Acknowledging this Doctrine as Divine Truth in our mind, placed there by God, and maintained there by God.

(4) Self-witnessing our threefold self – (a) the affective self of feelings, emotions, and intentions; (b) the cognitive self of thoughts, plans, justifications; (c) the sensorimotor self of sensations and motor determinations. Applying the Doctrine in our understanding. Examining every thought or intention or enjoyment, asking ourselves: Is it from heaven or from hell. Applying the Doctrine of Truth to make this decision. Doing this all day, every day.

(5) Acknowledging the Doctrine of the Wife (see Section 11.4). Swedenborg has confirmed that our immortality in heaven is in the married state. No one enters the heaven in their mind except as a married couple. There are no heavens for singles. This is because the portion of the human mind called heaven in eternity consists of a conjoint self. This means that the mental body of the husband and wife are joined together and function as one unit. The husband’s respiratory system or thinking is joined to the wife’s circulatory system or willing (see Section xx).

The conjoint mental body is made up on the outside, of the wife’s affective organ united to the husband’s cognitive organ, and on the inside, it is made up of the wife’s cognitive organ united to the husband’s affective organ. In order to achieve this conjoint self the husband must practice the Doctrine of the Wife as a daily spiritual discipline (see Section 11.4). As he makes progress, he begins to see that the Doctrine of the Wife and the Doctrine of Truth are the same.

Study Questions: 1.0.1.3 to 1.0.5.4

1. Describe the psychobiology of "conjunction" with God? You need to include the concept of how thoughts and feelings are substances. How do you see this concept as applying to you?

2. Describe the infrastructure of physical things from the perspective of substantive dualism. Show that the inmost of any object is the mental world of humanity. How does this change the way you look at objects around you?

3. Explain why God hides from people. What would happen if God showed Himself to your friends? Include the concept of of how Divine Speech descends through the layers of meaning through the human mind, reaching its lowest as the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture.

4. Describe how Divine Speech operates our mental life. How does this change your view of God and His relationship to people?

5. Where is heaven and hell? Describe its anatomy. Why do they both exist in everybody's mind?

6. Describe the two methods God uses to conjoin or communicate with people. In what way have you experienced these two avenues of relationship with God?

7. Explain why this is a perfect world despite the appearances of imperfection.

8. Why does spirituality, or relationship to God, have to be rational? What happens with "sensuous spirituality" -- discuss what happens in the afterlife.

9. Explain the formula "mental world = spiritual world = afterlife = eternity" and write it down. Read it and edit it until it makes sense. Now try to explain the proof to a friend or two. How well did you succeed? What is your conclusion or future plan?

1.0.6  The Negative and Positive Bias in Science

"Theistic" psychology contrasts with "non-theistic" psychology which prohibits the use of God as an explanatory concept for any phenomenon or theory in psychology. By contrast, theistic psychology makes use of knowledge about God from "scientific revelations" which are found in Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). We will examine the data and experiments Swedenborg presents in his reports about the spiritual world of the afterlife.

Note that by examining this evidence presented by a prominent author well  known in Western literature--though not in science, you are not automatically granting that it is authentic scientifically. You only need to grant -- right from the beginning -- that it is possible that Swedenborg's observations might be accurate, valid, and scientific. This is called maintaining the "positive bias in science," in contrast to maintaining a "negative bias in science," which automatically excludes God and Swedenborg's reports about his observations in heaven and hell.

Those who read Swedenborg's Writings while maintaining the negative bias in science are not able to evaluate the objectivity and rationality of Swedenborg's reports about the spiritual world, the afterlife, devils, and angels. The entire collection of his reports are dismissed prior to seeing the evidence he presents. Whatever evidence may be presented in these reports, if read with the negative bias in science, will not be critically assessed because it was already rejected in advance.

Those who want to examine the objectivity and rationality of Swedenborg's reports must therefore do so by maintaining the positive bias in science while examining the evidence.

This means to grant in advance that it's possible that there is a God and that scientific revelations are given by God to humankind, and that Swedenborg was given the Divinely appointed task of scientific revelator to humankind, which involved the ability of being simultaneously conscious in this world and in the spiritual world.

Everyone has the ability of being conscious, first in this world, and then in the afterlife of the spiritual world. But no one has this conscious perception of both lives or worlds at the same time. Swedenborg at age 57 suddenly found himself to be conscious in the spiritual world while he was going about his busy daily schedule as a Swedish mining engineer in the 18th century (see Section xx).  Though somewhat disoriented at first, he quickly adapted to it and lived until age 84 in that dual consciousness state, being able to write and publish some 30 volumes of notes giving his observations and experiments in the spiritual world.

To examine whether this evidence is rational and scientifically objective we must grant the possibility that his reports are scientifically accurate and honest. This is the positive bias in science. It is no different from the positive bias in science we must have when reading a textbook in any science course. We assume that the data and experiments reported are not fabricated by delusional scientists. If we maintained the negative bias in science about science books and reports we would be thinking that these are fake data by dishonest people, and we could hardly evaluate them critically. It is normal therefore to adopt the positive bias in science in advance of a critical examination of a report. Keep in mind that Swedenborg had an impeccable reputation for honesty as a science publisher and inventor. Almost all of his reports prior to age 57 have been given high marks by biographers and science reviewers. But after age 57 all his published reports were about the spiritual world.

During the 27 years of his dual existence he continued his public life in Sweden, making important contributions in engineering, metallurgy, and finance legislation, and he was never accused by anyone of fraud, deception, or delusion. Swedenborg's reports are written in the rational style of science and philosophy. He always maintains an overall coherence through systemic integration of all his concepts into a rational account, never contradicting what he has already established. Finally, in the past 200 years hundreds of scientists, historians, theologians, philosophers, commentators, and translators have read all of Swedenborg's reports and have praised them as inspired, veridical, and rational to the highest degree. I myself have read them several times and have found them to meet the appropriate standards of a scientific work.

Given these considerations, it makes sense for you to adopt the positive bias in science by granting the possibility that these scientific revelations are indeed from God and that Swedenborg was the person through whose mind these revelations were delivered to humanity. At the end of this exploration you might decide that you prefer to reject the evidence or that the evidence is insufficient. Or, you might decide that you want to embark upon further study of Swedenborg's Writings.

Within this positive bias in science mode, scientists and scholars can look at the entirety of the Swedenborg reports -- about 30 volumes in English translation. Theistic psychology is the attempt to organize the Swedenborg reports into a coherent psychological approach that meets the essential standards of behavioral methodology and empiricism. Anyone can now decide on rational grounds whether the evidence in theistic psychology is not just possibly true, but actually valid and accurate.

This is what remains to be examined. I have written this book in multiple volumes to help scientists, scholars, and students examine the Swedenborg evidence from the scientific point of view of modern behavioral psychology, which I have taught for 40 years in psychology departments known nationally for their high scientific standards. I have contributed to the development of this field, in some modest way. The list of my publications can be consulted here:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leonpublish.html and here:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leonarticles.html (see also the Readings).

Note: Students who use this work in my Seminar on Rational Spirituality should be aware that there is no pressure or expectation for them to change their mind on anything relating to science, psychology, or God. There is only the usual expectation in academic courses that students show the ability and effort it takes to read critically and to evaluate rationally. Since the topic is "spirituality," and more specifically "God and the spiritual world of the afterlife," the first impression one may get is that this is a topic from religion rather than science. When we think that, we are a little shocked that this should be the topic in a research seminar for undergraduate majors in psychology. You are welcome to examine the reports of students who have used this book as lecture notes (see Reading List Part 2). I found that the initial impression of students is succeeded by more informed thinking which clarifies for them completely the difference between religion and theistic psychology.

The majority of students who have used this book have had a childhood in which religion was considered a required part of family activities. Some have been Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, Buddhists, and self-declared atheists with a passion to oppose the idea of God. After getting through their first reactions, as you can read from their reports, they were so intrigued that many of them started staying after class to continue discussion of the fascinating evidence. It seemed to me that all students benefited from this critical examination of theistic psychology, whether or not they ultimately came to accept or reject the evidence. Even those who rejected it found it interesting and impressive, though they chose to maintain their stand from the beginning, which was that the evidence is not sufficient to be considered a scientific proof.

Those who came with a firm idea of God from their religion did not exhibit conflict or distaste to the idea that God might be introduced into science. Some decided yes, some no. The students who read at least half of the material assigned, gained the most and had the least conflict with the subject matter. About one third of the students expressed deep appreciation and great happiness for their new ability to think of God scientifically without in any way threatening their strongly held religious views.

There are two perspectives one can use while examining this work--the negative bias in science and the positive bias in science. The negative bias perspective is that the Swedenborg's reports are automatically disqualified as science because he claims that his observations came from his ability to be conscious simultaneously in both the natural world and the spiritual world of "eternity" or the "afterlife." He claims to have interviewed people who lived in heaven and hell and that God appointed him for this task. In their estimation, Swedenborg gets an automatic disqualification as a scientist and psychologist. They take up the position that there is no need to read his reports in any detail or to evaluate their scientific validity. This is the negative bias perspective.

The positive bias perspective is that it is possible that non-theistic psychology is wrong and that there is a God who manages human minds, which are born immortal and live forever. This possibility has never been disproven by science, and in fact, it is not possible for non-theistic science to disprove it. Hence we are stuck, initially, with a bias no matter which way we choose. If we choose the negative bias in science, there is no scientific reason to examine Swedenborg's Writings in detail. But if we choose the positive bias in science, there is a scientific reason to critically examine the Writings in detail, namely, to see if they have scientific merit. I have examined them with the positive bias in science and have determined that they are scientifically valid. I will attempt to present the evidence I found and to make sense of it from the perspective of the science of psychology.

If the Writings of Swedenborg are scientifically valid reports, then the psychology they present is a theistic psychology which contrasts with the current non-theistic psychology. Theistic psychology is therefore dualist and spiritual, while non-theistic psychology remains monist and materialist.

Here is a view by two contemporary scientific psychologists who are also trying to work with a positive bias in science, though they are apparently not aware of theistic psychology, nor of Swedenborg's Writings.

Selections from:
Scientific Psychology and Christian Theism
Harold D. Delaney and Timothy E. Goldsmith
www.leaderu.com/aip/docs/delaney-goldsmith.html

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III. Preserving the Person

Fundamental Presuppositions of Modern Psychology

The fundamental presupposition of not only radical behaviorism but of modern psychology in general is that of naturalism. Human behavior, like the phenomena of other natural sciences, is to be explained by citing only natural causes. Contemporary psychology is largely defined, to use the phrase of Daniel Robinson, by its taking "Method as Metaphysic" (Robinson, 1995, p. 330ff.). By this Robinson means that psychology's adoption of empiricism or the scientific method as an epistemology has devolved into an endorsement of materialism as the nearly universally accepted position on metaphysics or ontology. The casualties of this perspective have been not only the elimination of ideas of the reality of God or the soul from the field, but also the traditional perspective of persons as agents. To quote Robinson again, "If 'scientific' psychologies of various stripes have a common ground, it is that upon which rejections of 'autonomous man' have always been based" (1995, p. 362).

(...)

 A particularly ironic implication of the elevation of the model of science to the correct metaphysical description of man is that it ends up undercutting the trustworthiness of science itself. This point is well-developed by C. Stephen Evans in his helpful study Preserving the person. The scientist tries to persuade a community of peers of the plausibility of a theory by offering reasons why such a theory should be accepted. In explaining why he supports a particular hypothesis, the scientist does not provide mechanistic explanations of his own behavior (Evans, 1982, p. 75), e.g. "this theory makes me feel better" or "I want to discredit Prof. X so I am offering a theory which is contrary to his theory". Indeed, any time we think that a person's beliefs can be explained by nonrational causes, we are less likely to accept those beliefs as trustworthy. For a scientist to accept that his own behavior in endorsing a particular hypothesis is accounted for by his unconscious desires or his biological state is tantamount to admitting that "his work is not scientific in character, as it is not governed by rational criteria" (Evans, 1982, p. 79.

 Nonetheless, the methodological training of psychologists fosters this schizophrenic view of persons, with those who are research participants being regarded as hopelessly governed by their conditioning history and biological predispositions while those who are experimenters are responsible agents who rationally arrive at conclusions, free of the distracting influences of what Bacon termed idols. As Van Leeuwen put it, there is "an implicit double standard at work in psychology: a cognitive capacity on which the very doing of science depends is routinely assumed to be present in psychologists themselves yet ignored or circumvented in the persons they study" (1985, pp. 70-71). There are some, like Malcolm Jeeves, who embrace this dichotomy as reflecting complementary truths about human nature (Jeeves, 1984, pp. 18-21). Jeeves, in something of the same fashion as the evolutionary psychologists (Daly & Wilson, 1988, p. 269), sees the assumption of viewing oneself as controlling one's own destiny as psychologically healthy but viewing others' behavior as largely determined by factors beyond their control as promoting compassion (Jeeves, 1984, pp. 29-31). While this is perhaps compatible with a view that individuals possess varying degrees of real freedom of choice, there is an inherent inconsistency between a total, undirected determinism that applies to the rat-like subjects in your experiments but viewing yourself as free and rational.

 Essence of Personhood

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Man's uniqueness from the rest of creation lies in his being created in the image of God. As God's image bearer he shares in a limited form many of the attributes of God. These include his ability to love, to know, and to choose. He is a person. His is an immortal and living soul. Man is a moral being. Man is a rational agent. Man's life has a purpose and his experience of the world is meaningful.

 At the same time, man is a creature, and shares many attributes with the rest of the created order. Made of the dust of the earth, he is a biological system and has certain needs that are similar to those of other organisms.

Thus, the Biblical view of man is mixed: created in the image of God and declared very good, yet his fallen nature is such that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"; an immortal soul temporarily encased in a very mortal body; God-like and animal-like; part divine, part dust; spiritual yet carnal.

 Finally, the capacity to make decisions, to choose between alternatives, and to make those choices poorly or well is the essential basis of personal responsibility. One of the most fundamental characteristics of people, the Law of Human Nature as C.S. Lewis terms it (1952), is this inherent ability not only to perceive right and wrong, but to choose to do either the right or wrong.

 Routes to Resolution

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How can this conflict between the person as traditionally understood by Christians and the image of the human as a determined machine be resolved? The most helpful analysis of this issue that we are aware of is that provided by the philosopher C. Stephen Evans (1977). Evans notes that the apparent conflict between truths drawn from science and truths drawn from Scripture arises because of scientism and the "unity of science" thesis. By scientism is meant the view, due in large part to Comte, that the truth that science gives is ultimate and complete. By the unity of science thesis is meant that there is a single method that all true sciences employ and that consists of searching for naturalistic, deterministic causal explanations of phenomena.

 Evans outlines three broad categories of responses to, or routes to resolution of, this dilemma: Reinterpreters, Limiters of Science, and Humanizers of Science. Reinterpreters essentially capitulate, and accept the perspective of the sciences. That is, they solve the problem by revising their view of the person. Arguments that might be advanced for this alternative are that history should teach us, witness the Galileo incident, that Christians are likely to be embarrassed when they oppose the claims of science because of their supposed incompatibility with Scripture. Proponents likely would also stress the sovereignty of God, arguing that the Bible reveals a God who controls and determines all things. The deterministic laws of human behavior are thus to be regarded merely as "the means whereby God's sovereign decrees are accomplished" (Evans, 1977, p. 96). Or in the King James style language of the Westminster Confession, "although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet by the same providence he ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently". Thus the will of man is regarded as one of the secondary causes by which God accomplishes his purposes, though nonetheless human choices are not "by any absolute necessity of nature determined to good or evil" (Leith, 1973, p. 200 and 205 as quoted in Evans, 1977, p. 99). Even so, Evans argues that Calvinists cannot comfortably be Reinterpreters as he defines the position because the claim of science to be the whole story cannot be true because, although it may give us an account of how God accomplishes his purposes it does not give us the why, a portion of which it revealed in the book of God's word not the book of God's works.

Thus, a more palatable means of resolving the problem is the Limiter of Science position. This involves at least a partial rejection of the scientistic claim that science provides the ultimate truth about the whole of reality. The most typical form of this response is that science is a limited albeit valid perspective on humanity. Thus, the perspectivalist Limiter of Science would argue that the psychologist has no right to discount the knowledge of other, non-scientific approaches. And, of course, it is just this sort of scientistic claim that psychologists such as Skinner make, e.g. when he argues that "the traditional 'knowledge'" of fields such as religion, philosophy, history, education, and family life "must be corrected or displaced by a scientific analysis" (Skinner, 1971, p. 17). This is an error that perspectivalist and Christian neuroscientist Donald Mackay has labelled "nothing buttery" (MacKay, 1979, p. 27). It is similar to an electrician's claiming that a lighted sign is 'nothing but' a collection of wires and electrical currents, and thus any consideration of what the words on the sign mean is not only superfluous but invalid (Jeeves, 1976, p. 39).

 What typically characterizes perspectivalists such as MacKay, Jeeves and Myers is what is regarded by some Christian psychologists as an "extremely high view of science" (Van Leeuwen, 1985, p. 66). That is, although they reject scientism they nonetheless endorse the view that all sciences involve the objective pursuit of deterministic, causal explanations. This in turn may be justified in part by noting that devout Christians were at the forefront of the beginnings of modern science. When the lens of science is turned on man it still is a valid means of discovering truth, they reason, but it simply reveals a truth that should be regarded as complementary to the truths at other levels of analysis. This of course invites the question "which of the levels of analysis is ultimate?" or "how do the truths from different levels of analysis relate to each other?".

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The principal proponents of the Humanizer of Science position within secular psychology are those in the "third-force" movement of clinical psychology, e.g. Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers or Gordon Allport. There is much in these movements with which many Christians can agree. The person is regarded as a unified self, the person's choice is seen to be of critical importance, and values are presumed to be critical not only in daily life but in science itself. The individual is regarded as transcending the natural order to some extent rather than being only a determined victim of material causes, and the healthy response of such individuals is regarded as not simply conforming to a fixed environment but exercising one's capacity for creativity to forge new paths. The client in a therapy room or the participant in an experiment is regarded as another person to be encountered and with whom to dialogue.

 Humanizers of science also find support among those revisionist philosophers of science such as Thomas Kuhn or Michael Polanyi who stress the importance of psychological and cultural factors in all of science, not just the human sciences. Thus, the scientist, by these lights, is necessarily working within the framework of a given paradigm which can be regarded as a world view, based like the Christian world view in part on faith commitments, and personal loyalties (Kuhn, 1970).

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We would not dispense with attempts at objective, quantitative research in the human sciences but we would endorse efforts to take advantage, even in such studies, of the self-reflective capacities of the research participants to offer their own hypotheses about their actions which are being monitored in such research. Similarly, we would explicitly want to encourage research that makes explicit the relevant assumptions about human nature derived from the Christian view of man. Given the same God authored the special revelation of Scripture and created in his own image the people psychologist study, conceptual models derived from Scriptural assumptions about human nature should have an inherent advantage in terms to their fit to behavior relative to those that are not based on this solid foundation.

(...)

 References (selections)

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Evans, C. S. (1977). Preserving the person: A look at the human sciences. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

 Evans, C. S. (1996). Wisdom and humanness in psychology: Prospects for a Christian approach. Vancouver, B.C., Canada: Regent College Publishing.

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Jeeves, M.A. (1976). Psychology and Christianity: The view both ways. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

 Jones, S. L. (Ed.) (1986). Psychology and the Christian faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker.

 Jones, S. L, & Butman, R. E. (1991). Modern psychotherapies: A comprehensive Christian appraisal. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

 Koteskey, R. L. (1980). Psychology from a Christian perspective. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

(...)

Myers, D. G. (1978). The human puzzle: Psychological research and Christian belief. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

 Myers, D. G., & Jeeves, M. A. (1987). Psychology through the eyes of faith. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

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Van Leeuwen, M. S. (1985). The person in psychology: A contemporary Christian appraisal. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

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Watts, F., & Williams, M. (1988). The psychology of religious knowing. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

(...)

Please consult the original entire article to be found here:
www.leaderu.com/aip/docs/delaney-goldsmith.html

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You can note from the above brief selection that the authors realize that a positive bias in science is needed to defeat the negative bias of scientific materialism. But they do not offer any new knowledge, facts, information from the positive bias perspective. Actually we need to examine their books to see what they have to offer. They could be offering to look at the revelations God provides in Sacred Scripture. They could propose that scientific psychology in  the positive bias could study God from Sacred Scripture, which is "God's Word" according to all Christians, as they point out. There is a whole set of concepts that psychology could examine from the New Testament Sacred Scripture, as for example, what is heaven and hell in relation to the mind? Or, what is the relationship we can have with God in daily life? Or, what principles does God use to manage people's lives? Or, what does God say about the afterlife of eternity?

Theistic psychology considers these topics, and many more. This is possible for theistic psychology because it bases its methodology on the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture, rather than on its literal sense, which is the only sense they probably considered, not knowing of the existence of the correspondential sense (see Section 1.0.5.5.5). But because the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture is a scientific methodology anyone can test its adequacy and objectivity. This approach may be called substantive dualism in science.

1.0.7  What is Substantive Dualism in Science

Science is the systematic, rational, and observational study of the universe and of reality.

Science creates rational explanations for observed facts and strives to create an overall integrated understanding of the universe, its parts and how they interact by lawful mechanisms to produce the variety of phenomena that exist.

Psychology as a science strives to unify the observations and explanations of human behavior into a rational and comprehensive account. There are however methodological difficulties to overcome when we study mental phenomena such as feelings, thoughts, and sensations. Two opposing approaches have been adopted in the history of psychology, one monist, the other dualist. The monist approach in science is based on the unproven assumption or belief that both the mind and the body are made of physical matter, space, and energy. Note that this assumption is unproven and may be wrong. It may be that the mind is not made of physical matter like the physical body and brain. We will need to consider what other scientific proposals exist for explaining what the mind is made of and what the physical body is made of.

The dualist approach in theistic psychology is based on the empirical reports given by Swedenborg showing that the mind is of a different substance than the physical body, and lives or exists not in the natural world but in a world outside time and space called the spiritual world of "eternity." The mind and the body interact through the laws of "correspondences" while the physical body is alive. But when it dies, the mind then continues a life of immortality in the spiritual world. The dualist approach refers to the existence of two functionally interconnected worlds, one in time-space, the other outside of it. Feelings, thoughts, and sensations are phenomena in the spiritual world, while electro-chemical firings of neurons in the brain are phenomena in the natural world.

Scientists since Aristotle have proposed that the universe is made of two kinds of "stuff." The physical world is made of stuff called "matter," while the mental world is made of stuff called "substance." Matter is physical or material and has the property of time, space, and mass. Substance is spiritual or non-material, and does not have the property of mass, space, or time.

Consider your thoughts, feelings, daydreams, fantasies, and dreams--they do not occupy space, mass, or time. Dreams and sensations are not physical. Before Swedenborg, dualist scientists like Descartes or Leibniz, had no observational evidence to suggest to them what thoughts and sensations were made of or where thoughts were, if not in the physical brain and body. But since the Swedenborg reports (published 1743-1771) dualism in science has become "substantive dualism." By coining this phrase I mean to reflect the fact that the mental world is a spiritual world and that all thoughts and feelings are spiritual operations located in the mind. The mind is a real spiritual organ that has multiple parts made of spiritual fibers and neurons, which are constructed out of substances collected from the Spiritual Sun and its constant outpouring of spiritual substances. All things in the natural world are made of matter and energy that come from the sun or stars. All things in the spiritual world are made of substances that come from the Spiritual Sun, which is the only sun there, and permeates the entire spiritual world. Within this sun, the Divine Human is visible. The Spiritual Sun is thus an aura surrounding the visible Divine Human. It is the interface God uses to create the universe and to communicate with the human race.

In substantive dualism, thoughts and sensations cannot exist unless they are made of some stuff that can operate somewhere in some functioning spiritual or mental organ. This stuff is a substance that forms the rational ether around the Spiritual Sun in the spiritual world. In order to understand this more concretely, think of the universe as "dual." The outside of it is made of physical space created by the natural suns or stars that populate this outer (physical) portion of the universe. The inner (spiritual) portion of the universe is not visible to the outer physical world. It is created by means of the Spiritual Sun which creates a spiritual or rational atmosphere around itself. The substance of this atmosphere can be called "rational ether." Our thoughts and feelings exist in this rational sphere. It is impossible for sensations, thoughts, and feelings to exist in an electrical or chemical atmosphere in space-time.

We are born dual citizens of this universe. The physical body is born in the outer natural world and is built up from the materials of the physical sun and stars. The mental body, or the organ of the mind, is born at the same time in the spiritual world of rational ether. It grows and is built up by the substances it gathers from the rational ether that streams out of the Spiritual Sun. For instance, when we eat with our physical body in the natural world, our mind in the spiritual world is simultaneously experiencing sensations. Thus, the operations in the physical body and the operations in the mental body (or mind) are functionally connected to each other and operate in lawful correspondence (see Section xx).

When the physical body is no longer able to carry out its functions, it "dies." On the other hand, the mental body or organ continues its operations in the spiritual world, as it always has. Swedenborg was unique in that he has lived consciously as a dual citizen for 27 years. Thus, although he had no special abilities other than what everyone has, he was able to be conscious of the spiritual-mental world while he was still attached to his physical body on earth. As a result of this unique situation, Swedenborg was able to give us the observations that we all will be able to confirm, once we are resuscitated at the death of the physical body (see Section xx).

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

CL 326  Seeing them from my lodging I came into the spirit, and in the spirit I went out to them; and I approached the chief teacher, who lately had proposed the question concerning the soul. When he saw me he said, "Who are you? I wondered, when I saw you approaching in the way, that now you came into my sight and the next moment passed out of sight, or that at one moment you were visible to me and suddenly became invisible. You certainly are not in our state of life."

To this I answered, smiling, "I am not a player of tricks, nor one who changes himself; but am an alternate, now in your light, now in your shade, and thus foreign and also native." At this the chief teacher looked at me and said, "You say strange and amazing things. Tell me who you are." I said, "I am in the world in which you were, and from which you departed, which is called the natural world; and I also am in the world to which you came and in which you are, which is called the spiritual world. I am therefore in a natural state, and at the same time in a spiritual state; in the natural state with men on earth, and in the spiritual state with you; and when I am in the natural state I am not visible to you, but when in the spiritual state I am visible. That I am so has been given by the Lord. To you, O enlightened man, it is known that the man of the natural world does not see the man of the spiritual world, nor the reverse; therefore when I let my spirit down into the body, I was not visible to you, and when I raised it out of the body I became visible." (CL 326)

The mind is therefore an organ made of rational ether or spiritual substance, just as the physical brain is an organ made of physical matter and space. Materialistic scientists reject this substantive view of the mind and prefer to argue that thoughts, feelings, and fantasies are not real, so they are not made of matter or stuff. They refer to the mind as an "epiphenomenon" of the brain, that is, something unreal that appears real but isn't. As soon as the physical brain dies, there is no mind, no self, no person. But dualist scientists argue that when the physical brain dies, the mind continues to live--not on earth but in the spiritual world where it was born and will always remain.

The mind-body controversy has gone on for centuries among scholars of Europe and its history is reviewed in most history of psychology textbooks, which usually take the issue all the way back to Aristotle and Plato, both of whom were dualists. Descartes is the modern dualist best known to psychology students. As we examine the psychology of the 20th century, of which I was a part, all dualism disappears from the main scientific literature. Today, few psychology majors can say that they have had to study any dualists among the dozens of psychologists whose work they had to read or memorize. The reason for this is the powerful influence of the negative bias in science. Materialistic science has a negative bias that automatically discounts and rejects dualism and accepts materialistic monism, even though there is no scientific proof for either position.

This book is therefore most unusual and may represent a new trend that might grow in the future of psychology. Theistic psychology is based on only one author's work--Swedenborg-- a fact that both surprises and understandably bothers some people. But we have no choice in this because Swedenborg is the only scientist who had observational access to the spiritual world for almost three decades of dual consciousness. I am excluding other "claims" many people make that they are able to talk to spirits or psychically communicate with the dead, or that God speaks to them, or that they can attain "oneness" with God, etc. I have never been impressed by any of these claims and have never found anything scientific and rational in them. Of course, they are not scientists. Swedenborg is the first and only modern scientist to have made the claim of being conscious in both worlds simultaneously on a long term basis.

When I first came across Swedenborg's reports in 1981 I was delighted because I did not have to face someone's mere speculations and beliefs about the spiritual world. Instead I was presented with the observational evidence and the rational explanations that, as a scientist, I expected and demanded for any scientific account of the human mind. I only had to make sure that I was evaluating the evidence critically. When I became a scientist in my early twenties I retained no interest in mystical experiences of the type that psychologist William James discusses in his book The Varieties of Religious Experiences (see Reading List). I was looking for rational evidence of God and the afterlife, not visions and  mystical experiences of "oneness" with God claimed by this or that person.

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was the first and only respected scientist in history who wrote a large collection of scientific works detailing his direct observational experiences in what he called "the spiritual world."

For the last 27 years of his life on earth he was able to be conscious in both worlds--the world on this earth, in which he was a Swedish government engineer and member of parliament, and the spiritual world, in which he was able to move and travel and talk to the people who were there and observe their life. Swedenborg's careful daily notes and explanations amount to nearly 30 volumes in English translation. These books are now in most academic and public libraries in the U.S., as well as on CDs and online on the Internet. Obviously Swedenborg's Writings have attracted a large audience over the past two centuries due their unique content.

The Writings of Swedenborg are available online and searchable at: 
www.theheavenlydoctrines.org
www.smallcanonsearch.com/ 
www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/index1a.html

In 1981 while I was browsing the shelves of Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii, I discovered the collection of Swedenborg books and began to read them. I did not know anything about Swedenborg despite my familiarity with the literature in psychology (I earned a Ph.D. degree from McGill University in 1962). I quickly realized as I was reading, why Swedenborg is never referred to in modern psychology. I was taught to have a very strong negative bias against God and the afterlife as explanatory concepts in psychology. When I taught History of Psychology courses I became familiar with the several of the textbooks in that field. Not one ever mentioned Swedenborg even though others who were dualist were mentioned, like Plato, Descartes, Malherbes, and Leibniz, among others. I realized that the reason is that Swedenborg was a different kind of dualist, quite unique. To reflect the difference, I coined a new phrase for his approach: "substantive dualism," which could also be called "theistic dualism."

This term reflects the idea that Swedenborg's dualism involves the existence of two worlds, one natural or material and the other spiritual or substantive. While this is a familiar idea in the history of theology and philosophy, it has never reached the halls of science until Swedenborg. The word "substance" has two opposite usages, one traditional and another modern, as we are told in the dictionary. The traditional meaning has been long used in philosophy and may be defined as the "essential nature" of something, or the "ultimate reality that underlies all outward manifestations and change." The modern meaning of substance is "physical material from which something is made or which has discrete existence" and also, "matter of particular or definite chemical constitution."  The modern meaning is monist and materialist, while the traditional meaning is dualist or spiritual.

The "essential nature" of something refers to the "ultimate reality that underlies" it, and this is called "spiritual." The essential or underlying reality of physical things cannot be physical, by definition. Something cannot be its own underlying reality. This must be "substantive," which is spiritual. The spiritual is therefore the essential (underlying) reality of the natural, its infrastructure. The spiritual is a discrete degree "within" the natural and imparts life and function to it (see Section xx). The essential underlying infrastructure of something physical must be outside time-space in order to make up the essential component of that which is in time-space. The spiritual is "apart from" the natural, that is, not in time-space. The two form a dual universe, one in time-space called natural,  the other apart from or within time-space called spiritual eternity. Mental events are spiritual. The spiritual within and the natural outside are connected functionally to each other by the laws of correspondences (see Section xx).

When we pass into the afterlife, our consciousness exits the natural mind and awakens to the spiritual world in the spiritual mind, where it continues life forever. This is the world Swedenborg was able to explore through his dual citizenship. This is the world in which he found the people who had lived in this world and were now in the immortality of their afterlife. He talked to people he knew as authors from the world's literature. He talked to neighbors and acquaintances of his in Sweden who had already passed on ahead of him. He described the cities he saw and what they were made of (not physical matter!). He described the laws of the spiritual world, which are the laws of the mental world. He ran experiments to see how people reacted when certain mental facts were removed from their memory or else fabricated for them (see Section xx).

He described the laws of correspondences which were plain to his senses. He discovered the origin of Sacred Scripture and the language of spiritual correspondences in which they were written. And many other things besides this, relating to the inhabitants of other planets to whom he talked to once they entered their afterlife in the spiritual world (see Section xx). The entire human race of all times and places congregates in the spiritual world and any person can talk to any other person in accordance with the laws of the spiritual world. No one before Swedenborg had direct access to a any of these facts. His Writings mark the beginning of a new modern age of consciousness for the entire human race.

From these considerations you can see that every object has an outward portion and an underlying portion, and these two portions are in different worlds or degrees of existence. The outward portion of your shoes is made of physical matter from the natural sun of which the planet is made. But the underlying portion of your shoes is made of spiritual substances from the Spiritual Sun (see Section xx).

What is the underlying framework, essential infrastructure, or spiritual substance out of which your physical shoe is built?

It is the planning, designing, and use of the shoe. These are spiritual phenomena in the minds of human beings, not in the natural world in which the shoe is.

The physical existence and reality of your shoe is based on its use -- why people designed it and why you bought it.

The spiritual is the cause of the natural, while the natural is only an effect.

In other words, the intention, the thinking, planning, and designing of shoes are rational or spiritual operations, not physical,  It is this rational or spiritual portion of the shoe's existence that has created the physical shoe. Further, the cause remains connected to the effect. The cause-effect sequence -- or spiritual-natural sequence, operates by the laws of successive discrete degrees, but the connection of the cause (spiritual) to the effect (natural) is in simultaneous discrete degrees (see Section xx).

It is the same with every object in this physical world -- the cause that created it is spiritual or mental. The Spiritual Sun is nothing but the mental operation of God carried out within spiritual substances. These Divine mental operations are the substances out of which the rational ether is made of, and thus what the organ of our mind is made of. The mental is therefore the cause and underlying reality of the physical. The two are always connected by the laws of correspondence.

The traditional meaning of substance refers to the underlying or inner framework of something upon which the outer structure is built. The "stance" in the word "substance" comes from Latin "to stand" so that "sub" - "stance" refers to that which stands below or is underlying. For instance, if you think of an iceberg, what you see above the surface of the ocean is the outward structure, while the underlying portion is not visible yet much larger and more dangerous to ships.

Or, think of the sentences you create when you speak or write.  The words strung in a sentence make up the outward portion while the grammar that puts the words in the right order is the underlying portion. The sentence is "generated" by the grammar so as to serve the speaker's intentions. The speaker's intention is the mental or spiritual cause of the physical sentence that is put together by the grammar we have learned.

This is the fundamental thesis of substantive dualism in theistic psychology. The outward portion of the individual human being is a physical body made of matter from the natural sun, while the underlying portion of the individual human being is the mind made of substances from the Spiritual Sun. The former is mortal, because made of temporary matter; the latter, immortal, because made of substances outside time-space.

Substantive dualism recognizes two different suns, one natural, the other spiritual. Each creates its own world around itself. The natural sun creates planets and gravity fields, while the Spiritual Sun creates natural suns and human minds.

When human beings are born they are made of two distinct portions, each being born in its own world but functionally connected together by the laws of correspondence. The outward temporary portion is born on earth and is the physical body. The underlying eternal portion is born in the spiritual world and is the mind as a spiritual organ or mental body. The physical body and the mental body grow together and act as functionally one by correspondence. When the physical body dies, the mind continues to live in the spiritual world forever (called "eternity").

You can see from this that substantive dualism is the view that there are two worlds, one natural and the other spiritual. The natural world is in time and space and has mass, while the spiritual world is in rational ether, thus not having space, time, or matter--it is limitless and eternal. This view was held by most ancient writers though there was no proof of it since no one was able to "come back from the dead" and tell their story. As a result, dualism and the eternal afterlife was abandoned by modern scientists who focused only on the physical world. But Swedenborg reopened the issue in modern science by being able to be conscious in both worlds simultaneously. No other scientist has ever made this kind of claim. If true, then Swedenborg's observations constitute the first scientific proof that the spiritual world actually exists and that substantive dualism is the correct approach in science. It is also proof that human beings are immortal and that there is a heaven and a hell.

When Swedenborg suddenly acquired the ability to be conscious in both worlds simultaneously, he was a well known and respected scientist known throughout Western Europe. His scientific publications included explanations of dualism in terms of the spiritual causes within every natural phenomenon. He regarded every natural phenomenon as an effect of a prior spiritual phenomenon. His dualism at that time was substantive, but he had no direct evidence of the existence of substances from the spiritual world. As a result, his early scientific books, up to age 57, were admired by many, but not included in the rapid development of several sciences in his century--physics, chemistry, physiology, anatomy. Swedenborg's books on these topics were not included in the mainstream of 18th century science. Instead, he became known as a theologist and religious revelator when he started publishing his later books on the spiritual world. I am possibly the first modern scientist who sees Swedenborg's books as science books rather than theology books.

Swedenborg's dualism prior to his dual consciousness was not demonstrably substantive. He had no scientific knowledge about the spiritual world, though he assumed that it must exist. How astonished he was during those first few months when he suddenly started being aware of the spiritual world! He was at first disoriented, but he quickly adapted to his new lifestyle. He continued his official duties, travels, and publications while this started happening to him, and he also kept careful daily notes of his observations. The collection of his 30 volumes constitute a unique record in the history of humankind and his books have influenced many key authors and thinkers in the18th and 19th centuries. And today his influence continues on the Internet. Soon his influence will extend to all of science (I predict).

Scientists, scholars, and biographers who have examined Swedenborg's unique record have had two main reactions: (1) he was a great genius, but he was deluded; (2) he was sane and honest and was one of the great minds of all of literary history.

I have had the second reaction and after years of careful study, I came to the conclusion that the Writings of Swedenborg present the greatest scientific discovery since the beginning of science. I then started my research efforts in trying to incorporate into psychology the data Swedenborg recorded in the Writings. He wrote in Neo-Latin which was the language of scientists in the 17th century and his books have been translated into many languages.

In order to incorporate Swedenborg's Writings into modern scientific psychology, I had to overcome two difficulties: the negative bias against dualism and that against God. Substantive dualism, or the world of spirits, was unknown in psychology except in abnormal and clinical psychology where "spirits" were reported by delusional patients. Some of Swedenborg's detractors called him delusional because he claimed to talk to "spirits" in the spiritual world. The second obstacle was the concept of God which has been automatically excluded from "non-theistic" science that started in the 20th century. The concept of God formed an essential pivot role in Swedenborg's substantive dualism and could not be left out from a serious attempt to incorporate Swedenborg's dualism into modern psychology. God and dualism cannot be separated in science because the spiritual world has no meaning without God. Unlike the natural world where God is invisible to the physical senses, the spiritual world reveals God as an essential partner in the person's life. God is visible in the spiritual world because when we are cut off from our physical body, we are "spirits," which means being conscious in the spiritual world. God appears visually as a Divine Human in the midst of the Spiritual Sun. Swedenborg was able to see this just like the rest of the inhabitants of the spiritual world, all of whom had been born on some planet in the physical universe.

One may think this kind of report to be preposterous and outside the scope of science.

When thinking in the negative bias mode, this would be the case.

But it should be considered that Swedenborg's record is an exceptional and unique case that becomes evident when his reports are analyzed. It is totally without precedent in the history of humankind where a well known scientist and noted community member, declares in his published writings that he was given by God the special and unique ability to be conscious in both worlds for the purpose of bringing to humankind the scientific proof of our immortality in the afterlife .

It was Swedenborg's understanding that he was not "picked" but prepared since childhood to become the kind of scientist that would have the reputation and genius to pull this off, if I may put it that way (see Chapter 13). Insurmountable heaps of opposition were surely forthcoming from the other scientists when one of among them dares to make such an unheard of claim. Yet Swedenborg was able to keep his job and to finish up his scientific publications, and then to begin a new series of publications called the Writings (1743-1771) in which he tells the world of his unique situation, along with careful notes and explanations.

The proof that he succeeded is that more than 200 years later a modern scientist like myself can unexpectedly run into his 30 Volumes in the library of our university, translated into English, and I can read his work, understand it rationally, and see that it is valid. And this same proof has been accepted by other scientists who likewise did what I did -- see for example the Web site of physics professor Dr. Ian Thompson of England:  www.TheisticScience.org as well as others mentioned in the Reading List of collateral literature. Anyone can investigate whether this is so or not.

How do other psychologists react when I explain that I have found the Writings of Swedenborg to be rational, scientific, and valid?

The choices about me are similar as with Swedenborg: (1) I am not a scientist and am delusional; (2) I am experienced and sane. These two choices apply to Dr. Thompson and all the others you can investigate who have found the Writings of Swedenborg to be rational and valid. To pick choice (1) is called the negative bias in science because it is only a general reaction to the topic and its theistic and dualist concepts. To pick choice (2) is called the positive bias in science because it is only a general reaction to the topic of God and the spiritual world, and perhaps to my reputation as a professor for the past 40 years. Whichever choice you make is a bias, but they have vastly different consequences.

If you opt for the negative bias in science against Swedenborg you deny yourself the possibility of examining the evidence in full. You can rationally examine the report only if you read it with a view to understanding it critically and rationally. One can read the Writings in the negative bias just to prove that Swedenborg was mad and that the ideas in there are fantastic and delusional. Of course this is not a fair or objective assessment. But with the positive bias in science you are granting in advance that the report may be true. In the negative bias in science you are not granting that the report may be true. This is then the big difference.

It's correct to call the negative bias in science approach as "biased." This is because the conclusion that Swedenborg's reports cannot be true and must be delusional, is a conclusion not based on the evidence presented. The evidence was not examined except perhaps in part and only with the view of finding a way of rejecting it. The arguments for rejection of Swedenborg's Writings have not been objective or rational. They merely deny that a scientist can gain entrance into heaven and hell and see God. But we must inquire whether this is a rational response. Why is it not possible that God exists and that He can admit anyone into heaven or hell?

A traditional answer might be that "science is about the physical world, while God, heaven, and hell are not physical in time and space. Therefore to bring God into a scientific theory or explanation is to try to bring in something irrelevant or outside the scope of science. And this should not be allowed or it will weaken or destroy science."

Everyone educated knows this traditional objection since it is taught in public schools everywhere. But this objection is not valid if dualism is reality.

If dualism is reality then there is a spiritual world where God is visible and determines what happens in our mind. Swedenborg is a reputable scientist who has confirmed it by observation. I am a reputable scientist who has rationally confirmed Swedenborg's reports and explanations. Others like me exist and have written about it. Clearly one cannot reasonable dismiss both Swedenborg and all the scientists and scholars who have confirmed the rationality and objectivity of the evidence.

The purpose of this book is to critically examine the premises of theistic psychology and to evaluate whether it is possible for psychology to be theistic and still remain a science.

National surveys over many years consistently show that the vast majority of Americans assume that there is a Divine Person to whom an individual can talk, and be heard by Him, and that God intervenes and controls the course of all events through infinite Love and Wisdom. non-theistic psychology's position has been to dismiss these explanations about God's influence on events and behavior and to prevent these ideas from entering the science of psychology. However today it has become clear that this exclusion of God from scientific explanations is a premise adopted by scientists without actual proof, and that it is not necessarily a rational premise. Hence it is a negative bias in science without proof.

Therefore it makes sense to explore the alternative premise, which is that the cause of every event and behavior is God who is an intelligent Person, though infinite, who is carrying out a rational goal from loving motives. But it is necessary to go beyond religious ideas and to establish the rationality of God in science independently of religion, culture, and times. Theistic science, and theistic psychology, are therefore pan-cultural and above all religions or cultures.

There are two positions one can take about  the proposal of introducing God into science. According to one position--the negative bias, scientists automatically exclude God from scientific explanations. This may be called the negative bias in science since there is no way of proving empirically that God does not exist. The other approach may be called the positive bias in science since it accepts the possibility of  God's existence without being able to prove it first. But while the negative bias in science continues unproven as a permanent position, the positive bias in science allows us to examine the evidence. Once the evidence is examined, and seen as valid, the positive bias in science is no longer a bias but a proof. The negative bias in science remains a bias.

I once had the following conversation with a colleague, a scientist in the field of biochemistry and genetics. I was eager to show him that there is a rational way of defining God in science.

Leon James:  I'm not violating any of your rational rules when I propose that we make a logical distinction between two types of things. Things that have a beginning and things that do not have a beginning. Is that all right?

Colleague:  Yes.

Leon James:  Good. Now let's add that the things that have a beginning may or may not have an end. For example, counting is a process that starts at 1 and then goes on indefinitely unless stopped. So counting, and number series, and possibly the entire physical universe could be in the category of having a beginning but not necessarily an end, though many things have an end like a rain shower, or an earthquake, or a century. So to summarize, we're not violating any rational rules by saying that the physical universe had a beginning and may not have an end. Now the other category, namely things that have no beginning.

Colleague:  What kind of a thing is that?

Leon James:  For the moment let's just call it the X Factor. So the X Factor is something that has had no beginning, and let's add, it doesn't have an end. It's not violating any of your rational rules to propose that an X Factor exists, right?

Colleague:  Well, I suppose I can't find anything strictly wrong with making such an assumption. And that's all it is, an assumption. Unproven. Just something you can think about.

Leon James:  OK. Let's state it explicitly. It's not irrational to suppose that there is something that has no beginning and no end. And when we say that it's not irrational to suppose that, then it also means that it's rational. To summarize: it's rational to assume that the physical universe has a beginning but that there is something else, something not physical, that has no beginning. Agreed?

Colleague:  Yes, it's rational to suppose this but it's not proven. It could just be nothing but a supposition.

Leon James:  I understand what you're saying. Now I propose that we give a name to this X Factor and I'd like to call it God. To repeat then, it's rational to assume that there is a God that has always existed and as well, that there is a physical universe that has a beginning in existence. Correct?

Colleague:  Correct. Just a supposition. And I agree that it's rational since it's not irrational. But being rational doesn't mean that it's true or actual or real.

Leon James:  I see what you're saying. Right now it's only necessary that we establish the truth that God is a rational concept in science. There is nothing unscientific, irrational or illogical about assuming God's existence. Now the next step is to make another assumption that is perfectly rational, namely, that God is responsible for the existence of all things that have a beginning. This is both logical, practical, and necessary, as long as we assume that there is God and that God has no beginning and no end.

Notice that God's rational definition includes or implies the idea that God is infinite. If God were not infinite it would not be logical to say that God is responsible for creating all things that exist that have a beginning (but possibly no end), as we established before. So only if we assume that God is infinite can we accept the idea as rational, namely that God is responsible for the universe. Agreed so far?

Colleague:  Yes, fine. You can rationally suppose, if you want to, that God is infinite and is responsible for creating the universe that itself is not infinite since it has a beginning, even if it has no end.

Leon James:  Excellent. Now to continue, it doesn't violate any rational rule to suppose further that the infinite God has a structure and a particular content, just as the finite world has a structure and a content. It's perfectly rational to suppose that the infinite God has a particular inner essence and outer layers of structure. All of these things belonging to God are of course infinite with no beginning or limit.

Colleague:  Fine, God has an essence and a structure and these are infinite. That's still rational. Structures and layers that are infinite may be rational--but are they real or just rational suppositions?

Leon James:  We're getting to that too. Now the next assumption is also perfectly rational and doesn't violate any scientific logic, namely, that God's essence and structure are Human. I mean human in the sense that science defines what is human at different levels--genetic, physiological, anatomical, psychological, social, and moral. In other words, these finite human characteristics exist as they do because they are representative finite copies of God's infinite qualities and structures.

In other words, God is the only true and actual Human Person, in an infinite form and existence, who has always been in existence--unlike people who are finite creations with a beginning. These facts about God's essence and structure are described in detail in the scientific revelations given by God to the human race since the dawn of history. Contemporary versions of these scientific revelations have been preserved as Sacred Scripture by all the major religions on this earth.

So to summarize our progress so far: God who is the Infinite Human, or the Divine Human, created the beginning point for the existence of the universe and is responsible for its continued existence and growth through rational laws of order called the Laws of Divine Providence.

Colleague:  All right, a set of suppositions that may be rational but have never been proven. I admit that at first I would have said that God has no place in science as a concept because it introduces mystical and undefined elements over which we have no control, and science ends there, shattered. But I can see that there is a way of defining the concept of God in science without violating any rational rules of operation and thinking. Would you care to continue? How does God manage this universe?

Leon James:  Swedenborg's Writings contain many scientific facts about how God runs the universe. In order to understand how God manages the universe we need to accept a few basic premises that will ensure that we continue to stay rational in all our statements about God and the universe. For instance, one of these basic premises is this: Nothing disconnected can exist. In other words, God runs the universe by being an omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent Creator and Manager. A revelation in Swedenborg's Writings is that God is everywhere--in all time and in all place--but not in time and place but apart from time and space. In other words we must acquire a new rational idea or operation in the universe--namely, the property or phenomenon of being omnipresent but not in time and space.

This idea posits rational structures that are able to comprehend and describe the relation between the infinite and the finite, that is, the relation between God and the various pieces of the created universe.

Colleague:  That's a big mouthful, doctor. But I'm still with you. What you're saying are a set of propositions that interact with each other and I must admit they are all possible, all rational. But are they true?

Leon James:  Remember that we're not trying to prove that God exists--this was the assumption from the start, not the proof. We're only trying to prove that the concept of God can be rational and can be introduced into science without violating rational rules of inference and inquiry. This is theistic science, that is, science that works within the premises of God's existence and the scientific revelations God has given to the human race. Swedenborg calls these the Laws of Divine Providence and he is the first scientist to demonstrate that the Laws of Divine Providence are rational and human.

Study Questions:

1. Explain the Swedenborg reports in relation to the positive bias in science. What happened to him? What did he discover? Describe how you manage to take on the positive bias in science regarding the Swedenborg reports.

2. What is the purpose of Sacred Scripture? How is it meant to be used?

3. Explain the two senses we can find in Sacred Scripture. Give several illustrations from this Section.

4. Give two illustrations not found in this Section, so you will need to search for this in Volume 18. Make sure you indicate which Section(s) you took your two examples from. How do you react to being told that there is a hidden scientific sense in Sacred Scripture, that is unsuspected to most scholars?

5. What is rational spirituality in relation to God? Explain how we can comprehend higher spiritual ideas by means of the new mental organ called spiritual-natural or interior-natural organ. How did it come into existence? Describe its role in the evolution of human consciousness. How do you react to these ideas that apply to your own mind?

6. Explain why substantive dualism is called substantive.

7. What is the most exciting piece of news you have hears so far in theistic psychology?

8. List some objections you or your friends can come up with against the Swedenborg reports, against the positive bias in science, against the inclusion of God in science, and similar issues. Be sure you comment on each issue you list -- (a) what the doubt is and (b) what your current position is on it.

9. Make up a dialogue between you and a hypothetical friend in a situation where you are telling your friend about this course. No length is specified. It depends on how you write the dialog. You can add lines of explanations, like a stage play, if you want.

 

1.1  Three Levels of Thinking About God

↑  Read Chart from Bottom Up (1, 2, 3) 

LEVEL OF
 RATIONALITY

 

MAIN FEATURES

THEISTIC

PSYCHOLOGY

3

 

(a)  God is the cause of every natural event and all human behavior, including the sequence of thoughts and feelings we have.

(b)   In the Writings of Swedenborg, God has revealed scientific facts about the structure of the universe, about the anatomy of the human mind, and the details of life after death. Therefore all explanations about causes of events and of behavior must include God and the mechanisms by which God intervenes and manages the details of all events from beginning to end.


(c) Those who modify their character to become "heavenly" and rational continue life to eternity in the heaven of their mind; others in in the "hell" of their mind, which is delusional and irrational. Both heaven and hell are in the mind of everyone and every human being is immortal.
 

MYSTICAL

RELIGION

2

 

(a)  God is  the Divine infinite Creator who oversees every person's destiny from birth to life after death. God gives Divine revelation in written Scripture through the intermediary of a particular individual called revelator or prophet. Those who are faithful to their religion are rewarded with an afterlife in heaven, others are punished with an afterlife in hell.

(b)  Praying to God sometimes convinces God to give us what we want. Similarly with rituals and sacrifices. Some rituals can bring us closer to God by allowing us to experience His presence or to get a feeling of mystical union with Him.

(c)  God can get angry or disgusted with some people who are wicked or "sinful." Some people called the clergy or priesthood have a special relation to God and they sometimes can intercede with God to forgive people's sins or to avert a calamity.
 

MATERIALISTIC SCIENCE

MONISM

NEGATIVE bias in science

1

 

(a)  God may have created the universe (we have no way of knowing), but now it’s running on its own by means of universal natural laws that are discoverable by science through physical measurements and abstract theories about them. Today no explanation is accepted in science that refers to God.

(b)  Life after death, or heaven and hell, are not scientific issues but religious, and they are left to people's personal belief system which should not impact on their science. Anyone claiming to have seen God or heaven is automatically to be considered unfit as a rational scientist.

(c) Human behavior is not to be judged by religious ideas but by scientific assessments. Good and evil are not scientific ideas and do not belong in science. Ideas from the Bible should not be allowed in public school or scientific literature. There are many religions each with their own God and rules, which proves that religion is a cultural belief system, not a description of how the universe actually is.

Explanations of the Chart now follow.

1.1.1   Level 1: Materialistic Science (Monism, Negative bias in science)

According to the positive bias in science, the lowest form of  rational thinking is the denial of God or atheism, but it includes other intellectual forms and justifications such as materialism, which denies the existence of anything that isn’t physical. For instance, it asserts that there is no spiritual world; there is no creation; there is no higher power or higher intelligence that is not part of the natural universe. In addition, there are other forms of thinking that deny God such as animism, which asserts that natural objects are spirits or gods, or that a rock is really alive, and so on. Or else, the universe is alive as the "Great Spirit," which is again a denial of God as one Divine Infinite Conscious Rational Human Person from whom all things come and by whom all things are created, shaped, organized, and managed through rational laws that  operate to bring about an ultimate Divine purpose. According to this rational view of God, all things that God creates cannot have life of themselves, neither any power to grow, to act, or to think. This is a rational consequence of the concept of "omnipotence" which asserts that no other power can exist but the power of God and in God.

The rational view of God sees that human beings do not have life from themselves as their own, neither can we think anything without power. Hence God must supply the power and the intelligence. Life and rationality are God's qualities. These are uncreate and infinite. They cannot be given to human beings so that these belong to them. But God created all things in such a way as to be receptor forms or organs of all the uncreate things that are infinite in Himself. Hence plants, animals and human beings have receptor organs for life.

Human beings have receptor organs for love and truth, both of which are uncreate and infinite, and in God only. But as receptors, our finite mental organs can react by correspondence to the continuous inflow and presence of Divine love and truth in our mental organs. God wills that we receive the inflow of His love and truth as-if they were our own. His infinitely variable love substance and infinitely variable truth substance inflow into our mind through the Spiritual Sun. They then activate by correspondence a variety of thoughts and feelings that we can experience as our own. Unless we felt that the love and truth in us is our own, we could not be happy, nor function as a normal human being.

Those who reject the objectivity of rational spirituality have evolved a subjective mystical spirituality of God that depends on the idea of a "nonduality" between God and human beings. This is the idea that in our deepest and highest core, we human beings are each the Divine. The ultimate and highest evolution of a human being is to reach the consciousness of this Divine Being. In other words, what they call God or Divine is of the same basic substance as human beings. Human beings and God are the same substance and state. This is a self-realization we attain when we are able to let go of the illusion and delusion that we are each individual human beings struggling on a planet to survive. In the intellectual framework of nonduality the path to God is the path to Self (see my book on nonduality available online here:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/nonduality.html ).

You can see from this that mystical spirituality relies on a sensuous consciousness or experience of God while rational spirituality relies on a rational consciousness or understanding of God. This rational understanding is based on God's revelations made in Sacred Scripture. Since God and created human beings cannot be of one substance, there is a continuous duality between them that cannot be overcome to eternity. The things of God in human beings that they feel as-if their own, are not their own. We feel life and intelligence as if our own, but we know they are God's life and intelligence in us. We think of the rational analogy with the eye and light. The light enters the eye and gives us the ability to see. This light does not belong to the eye and can never be one with the eye. Similarly, the love and truth that is in us as-if our own, is actually God's love and truth inflowing into the mind's receptor organs.

Other intellectual forms of nonduality include theosophy and spiritism. These belief systems rely on materialistic ideas of God and spirit, such as the "Spirit of the Times," or, the "subtle realm" of the innate spiritual forces in the human mind, which itself is sometimes called "divine." These are anti-rational ideas of God leading to traditions and disciplines of asceticism, specialized meditation, sexual abstinence, and guru worship. "The Divine" is then defined as beyond thinking, beyond understanding, beyond rationality. It cannot be talked about. In rational spirituality based on Divine revelations, God must be talked about and understood rationally. Without this direct conscious communication by language and thought, God cannot be approached.

Another form of nonduality that denies God is magic because it attributes powers to things other than God such as devils and "dark forces" or "energies." Hence for those who believe in magic or practice sorcery, God is not the only source and cause of all power. They may talk about God as well, but their idea of God is not really God since to put any limits on God's power is the same as denial of God. This is because God, by definition, is infinite and omnipotent, which means that no other power exists. As defined in the dictionary:

God. capitalized : the supreme or ultimate reality: The Being who is perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness, and who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe.

The supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions.

The denial of God's existence, or else God's Personal omnipotence, or personhood, automatically precipitates the thinker into subjective belief systems that are found to be attractive, but later are discarded in exchange for another one, and so on.  If you assume that God exists, or at least could exist (the positive bias in science), and you are looking from that perspective on the denial of God, it would seem to you that it is similar to an engineer denying that the earth is round. Or a chemist that would deny that different forms of energy exist. Whatever theories and explanations this engineer will make, will all be false and contrary to reality. By God is meant One Infinite Omnipotent Omniscient Omnipresent Person or Being who has human purposes and involvements. From this perspective of affirmation of God, it is contrary to reality to attribute power or intelligence to other sources such as other gods, other forces, other energies. In contrast to materialistic non-theistic science, theistic psychology starts with the assumption that God exists as the Infinite Person who makes scientific revelations about Himself, about creation, about our life after death, and about the rational rules God uses in managing every detail of the universe.

God communicates these revelations to humankind in order to encourage people to cooperate with Him in the process of acquiring a celestial mind. It is the celestial mind that lives in eternal conjugial joy in the immortality of our afterlife. God's love for humankind prompts Him to provide these instructional methods by which we can acquire a celestial character before we pass into the afterlife. One wonders why God doesn't instruct us orally and directly by appearing to each one of us and instructing us with the Living Voice of God. Or God can appear at an international conference or world press release and prove to the scientists and reporters present that He is indeed God. It's just that simple. Why doesn't God just do it and put an an end to all this doubt, denial, or fantasy?

God has communicated to humankind many principles He uses for governing the universe, and the rationality of those principles fully explains why God does not physically appear to us and set the record straight in a direct provable fashion. It explains why it is necessary for God to appear to us only in our rational consciousness, and to avoid the sensuous consciousness while we are still living in this life. To appear directly at the United Nations and face the scientists would take our civilization back to the days of the New Testament two thousand years ago when God appeared as a physical man born in history on this planet (see section xx). The appropriate steps of human evolution require that God manifest Himself to us in our rational consciousness so that we may develop for ourselves rational proof of His existence in our mind and life. This is the only rational process that can develop in us a celestial mind that can live in eternal conjugial heaven. For God to appear miraculously and give physical proof of His existence would destroy the growth of our celestial mind, when yet this is the very purpose for which God has created us on earth.

You can see why God would not, could not, condemn us to enter the life of immortality without the celestial mind we need to live in heaven.

The purpose of Divine scientific revelations is to have us think in accordance with these principles. When we think from these Divinely revealed facts,  principles, and truths, we think rationally and in accordance with the revelations.

Once we think from these revealed truths, we are challenged by the Divine Psychologist Present with each of us, to will according to the revealed truths which are in our mind from Sacred Scripture. We are to will what we think is good. We make hundreds of thousands of decisions each day and each decision is a situation that God brings to us so that we may have the opportunity to make a choice of that particular type or in that particular area of our character and loves. In this way, choice by choice, we either cooperate with God or not. If we cooperate, we cumulate, and soon all our choices will be in accordance with God's order. The contrary if we do not cooperate, in which case we acquire an infernal mind that can live in eternal hell.

That's the awesome significance of choice!

Do not think that hundreds of thousands of choices a day is an exaggerated number. Assume the number is correct. How can you explain it? This line of thinking will lead you to discover, perhaps for the first time in your life, that the majority of the choices you make are governed by your affections and loves that remain outside your focus of conscious awareness. And yet it is these thousands of individual choices that you make every day that are building up the mind of your immortality, that is, your spiritual mind. You can discover your choices by systematic and persistent self-witnessing (see Section xx). For instance, for a few minutes or hours after you read this, focus your persistent attention on what your eyeballs are doing. You will begin to notice that when you don't interfere, your eyes naturally move here and there as you walk or drive, or as you talk to someone, or when you read a magazine or watch the TV screen. Be aware of where your eyes are looking, where they stay longer, where they keep coming back. The movement of the eyes are directed by your affections and loves -- what you find attractive, what you are interested in, what arouses which emotion in you, and so on. these are your affections and loves. They are in charge of what your eyes are doing when you're not interfering due to some stronger purpose of the moment (e.g., avoiding an obstacle, or, hiding from others what you're really looking at).

The way your eyes are directed by your loves is the same way that the rest of your personality is put together. It is not by means of your conscious awareness that you put yourself together. You put yourself together by means of the sub-conscious loves you inherited and which shape your developing character (see Section xx). A similar useful discipline is to put mirrors around the house and to study your expressions. Also, recording your speaking and other sounds you make throughout the day (see Section xx).

From the perspective of the positive bias in science, the denial of God would be the bottom of the scale of rational thinking defined as thinking with revealed truths about reality. But those who reject the assumptions of theistic psychology will naturally reject the idea that atheism is irrational and instead, will see it as irrational and unscientific to assume God's existence and direct influence on every detail. You will no doubt be hearing these two sides echoing in your mind as you study theistic psychology. Recall the argument:

Materialistic science assumes that all phenomena are to be discovered or identified by physical measurements, or abstractions based on physical measurements. It rejects the use of God as an explanatory concept in science because such a concept is not physical and cannot be measured or abstracted from other concepts that are based on physical measurements. Instead we must assume that the natural world and physical forces have their own laws that must be discovered independently of any appeal to God or a spiritual world that cannot be detected or measured by physical instruments, or derived from other concepts based on physical measurements. Psychology today has adopted this "physicalistic" and "non-theistic" bias in science so that the mental world of thoughts and feelings are considered "epiphenomena," that is, not real. The real part, it asserts, is the brain activity, which consists of electrical and chemical events firing in certain sequences.

According to this materialistic outlook, all human behavior, including thinking and feeling, is nothing but these electrical and chemical events organized in a special way to give rise to self-conscious awareness--an "emergent phenomenon" that supposedly originates from the physical activity of the brain.  In other words, according to materialistic science, we are biological robots with limited time to exist, and at the death of the brain, the "epiphenomenon" that is based on it called consciousness or the mind, vanishes and disappears from existence. We are no longer anything except a memory in the minds of those who knew us--and this is of course just their memory, not the actual continuation of our existence.

Atheism is the tendency to develop multiple arguments to prove that God does not exist. Typically an atheist believes these arguments to be rational, but they are not -- if dualism is correct. It might be a useful exercise for you to pinpoint the rational flaws in the arguments of many atheists. I typed "if there is a God" in the google.com search engine and got thousands of sites by people who put a lot of energy developing arguments against the existence or perfection or goodness of God (see for example this Web site:   www.vexen.co.uk/religion/rm.html )

It is an important fact to consider that the majority of scientists in this country belong to a religion and attend some church. 

This segregation of thinking areas in the mind between one's religious beliefs and one's scientific premises, is often associated with the politics of "separation of Church and State." Materialistic scientists who have declared their belief in God (like Newton, Darwin, Einstein, William James, Jung, Carl Rogers, and many others), nevertheless do not include God in their scientific research or theory building, which remains strictly and solely materialistic or physicalistic. Carl Rogers and Gustav Jung have described themselves as having a religion but they do not bring God into their scientific theories about human behavior. The only major exception is Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) who wrote a book called Rational Psychology in 1742, in which he makes God and God's revelations, part of his overall theory of human behavior. A few years later Swedenborg published his 12-volume work titled Arcana Coelestia (Heavenly Secrets), in which he gives many new observational facts about the mind, its structure, its development, and its immortality in heaven or hell.

The resistance or prohibition in science to use Divine scientific revelations as a source of knowledge about reality, is an unsupportable bias in science, if indeed God exists and makes scientific revelations.

In contrast,  theistic psychology assumes that God is the source of all reality and the real cause of all events in the world today, in the past, and in the future. Since God's purpose for creating and running the universe is a Human purpose involving love, and since God uses rational methods of managing the universe, it makes sense to discover what these Divine rational laws are and to make use of them in practical daily applications to further our human potential.

Theistic psychology will enhance natural science if indeed all natural events have a spiritual cause. By knowing the spiritual cause of natural events we can control our environment better, both physical and mental. This is especially important if there is an afterlife and the quality of life there depends on the mind we form with our choices while we are in this life. This book will summarize many of the facts and proofs given by Swedenborg that God exists as the Divine Human, that we are born immortal, and that our life in heaven or hell in the afterlife, depends on the habits of choices we accumulate in this life. To reveal these things to people on earth is the purpose of God's communications with humankind in the form of Sacred Scripture. This communication is the basis of human rationality and freedom. Without Divine revelations about these things, humans make up their own materialistic ideas of them in the form of false belief systems, persuasive faiths, delusional perceptions, or irrational ways of thinking. The only source of true rationality about God and the afterlife is Divine revelation.

It has been known throughout the ages that people get inspired and are able to think more excellent thoughts and insights during these moments of inspiration. We are familiar from history with the character of the Muses who inspired ancient Greek artists, musicians, and philosophers. Swedenborg was told by Aristotle, whom he interviewed in the spiritual world, that a muse would appear to him in the form of a blue flame while he was writing, guiding him in his thought processes. The concept of the vertical community in theistic psychology (see Section xx) shows that the thoughts of every individual on earth are inspired by spirit subjects or societies to who God connects us and reconnects us moment by moment to assist us in the continuity and coherence of our thinking process moment by moment while awake, and then at night while asleep and dreaming. Without the influx into our mind from the spirits that surround us, we could not have a single thought. Our mind would be isolated and as if frozen like a statute.

Inspiration is a mutual mental influencing process. It is part of the orderly mechanisms that God uses to manage every detail in the universe.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

CL 415. I shall add here the following account of an experience.

One morning on waking from sleep, I was meditating in the light of a fine dawn before being fully awake, when I saw through the window what looked like a flash of lightning, and soon afterwards heard what sounded like a peal of thunder. I wondered where it had come from, and heard these words from heaven: 'There are some near you who are engaged in a furious dispute about God and nature. The flash of light like lightning and the roaring in the air like thunder are correspondences, which present the appearance of a battle and a clash of arguments, with one side speaking in favour of God, the other of nature.'

This spiritual battle had started like this. There were some satans in hell who said to one another, 'If only we were allowed to talk to angels in heaven, we should prove to them fully and completely that what they call God, the source of everything, is nature, and God is nor more than an expression, unless we mean by it nature.' Since those satans deeply and whole-heartedly believed that, and were so keen to talk with the angels in heaven, they were permitted to climb out of the mud and darkness of hell, and talk with two angels who came down from heaven. They met in the world of spirits which lies midway between heaven and hell.

[2] The satans on seeing the angels rushed up to them, and shouted in a furious tone, 'Are you the angels from heaven with whom we can meet to debate God and nature? You call yourselves wise because you acknowledge God, but oh how simple you are! Who has ever seen God? Who understands what God is? Who can comprehend that God rules, and can control the universe and all its parts? Does anyone but the common people and the crowd acknowledge what they cannot see and understand? What is more obvious than that nature is the all in all? What else has the eye seen but nature? What else has the ear heard? What else has the nose smelt? What else has the tongue tasted? What else has anyone felt by the touch of his hand or body? Are not our bodily senses our only factual witnesses? It is on their evidence that anyone can swear that a thing is so. Are not your heads in nature? What do the thoughts in our heads come from but from that influence? Take away nature and you cannot think at all.' Much more was said of the same sort.

[3] On hearing this the angels replied, 'You talk like that because you are wholly under the influence of the senses. All in the hells have their mental ideas so sunk in the bodily senses that they cannot lift their minds above that level. So we forgive you. A life of evil leading to a belief in falsity has so shut off the inner levels of your minds that it is impossible for them to be lifted above the sensual level, except in a state where you are distant from the evils of your lives and your false beliefs. For a satan can understand truth just as well as an angel when he hears it, but he does not retain it, because evil obliterates truth and substitutes falsity. But we observe that you are now in that distanced state, so that you can understand the truth we are telling you. So pay attention to what we are about to say.

'You lived,' they said, 'in the natural world and there you died, and you are now in the spiritual world. Did you know anything before about life after death? Surely you denied its existence and put yourselves on a level with animals. Did you know anything before about heaven and hell, or about light and heat in this world? Or the fact that you are no longer within nature, but above it? For this world and everything in it are spiritual, and the spiritual is so far above the natural that nature cannot exert the slightest influence on this world. But you, because you believed that nature was a god or a goddess, still believe that the light and heat of this world are identical with the light and heat of the natural world. They are not in the slightest, for natural light is here darkness, and natural heat here is cold. Did you know anything about the sun of this world, the source of our light and heat? Did you know that this sun is undiluted love and the sun of the natural world is undiluted fire? That the sun of the world, being undiluted fire, is the source from which nature came into and continues in being? So nature, which you make into a god or a goddess, is completely lifeless.

[4] 'You can, if given protection, come up with us into heaven; and we can, if given protection, go down with you into hell. In heaven you will see magnificent and splendid sights, in hell foul and filthy ones. The reason for the difference is that in heaven all worship God, in the hells all worship nature. Those magnificent and splendid sights in the heavens are the correspondences of the affections for good and truth; but the foul and filthy sights in hell are the correspondences of the desires for evil and falsity. From both these facts you can now form a conclusion whether God or nature is the all in all.'

To this the satans replied, 'In our present state we can draw the conclusion from what we have heard that God is the all in all. But when the delight of evil takes hold of our minds, then we can see nothing but nature.'

[5] The two angels and the two satans were standing on the right not far from me, so I could see and hear them. Around them I suddenly saw many spirits who had been distinguished for their learning in the natural world. I was surprised to see these learned men standing at one moment next to the angels, at another next to the satans, and applauding the party they stood next to. I was told that their changes of position were changes in their mental states, as they favoured one side or the other, for they behave like weathercocks. 'And we will tell you a secret,' they said. 'We looked down to earth to see those distinguished scholars who had used their own judgment to think about God and nature, and we found six hundred out of a thousand on the side of nature, and the rest on the side of God. But we found them to be on the side of God, not because of any understanding, but because, relying on having been told that nature comes from God, they had often said so. Keeping on saying a thing from memory or recall, while not at the same time prompted by thought and intelligence, produces an appearance of belief.'

[6] After this the satans were given protection and went up with the two angels into heaven, and saw magnificent and splendid sights. On being enlightened by the light of heaven they there acknowledged that there is a God, and that nature was created to minister to life, which is in God and comes from Him; and that nature is in itself lifeless, and so does nothing of itself, but is acted upon by life. When they had seen these sights and experienced these perceptions, they went down; and as they came down, their love of evil returned and shut off their intellect above, opening it underneath. Then there appeared above what looked like a covering flashing with hellish fire. The moment their feet touched the earth, the ground yawned beneath them, and they sank back down to their own kind. (CL 415)

A current illustration of the negative bias thinking in science and popular science discussions, is the bestseller titled The God Delusion by a well known scientist in England, Richard Dawkins. Here are some selections from the popularizing online Wikipedia entry for this book. While reading it, keep in mind that 85 percent of Americans believe in God, the afterlife, and heaven. Hawkins is therefore saying that 85 percent of Americans are delusional! Also note carefully that since he does not prove his point, and he can never do so, his entire argument is based on a bias. But since he denies that it could be a bias, he engages in level 1 thinking and reasoning to try to argue that he is right and others are delusional.

[My comments are inserted in italics and square brackets.]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Delusion

"In the book, Dawkins argues that belief in a supernatural creator qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He is sympathetic to Robert Pirsig's observation that "when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion."

[Note that the two best known psychologists of the twentieth century -- Sigmund Freud and B. F. Skinner -- also made similar points. This negative bias is entrenched also in science education today so that teachers in high school science courses don't tell their students that the anti-God stance of science is a negative bias in science, not a proof. The fact that they don't tell indicates a political attitude in education that I believe is detrimental to the public good. Now that the positive bias in science exists, there may be a change in this uncritical anti-God orientation.]

[But note this also:
The negative bias in public school science courses in the U.S. can be understood in terms of the long standing group practice in the history of this nation to separate religion from state. This explains why the court systems have struck down local laws that require biology teachers to teach the creation story in Genesis (Old Testament). But in theistic psychology we discuss God as a scientific concept, and we gather evidence from the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture. Since religion is based only on the literal sense of Sacred Scripture, and not on the correspondential sense, it is now possible therefore to discuss God in Science independently of religion. This was not possible before theistic psychology. But now it is! See also Section xx for more discussion on this.
]

Continuing with the Wikipedia entry:

"Dawkins writes that The God Delusion contains four "consciousness-raising" messages:

  1. Atheists can be happy, balanced, moral, and intellectually fulfilled.

  2. Natural selection and similar scientific theories are superior to a "God hypothesis" — the illusion of intelligent design — in explaining the living world and the cosmos.

  3. Children should not be labeled by their parents' religion. Terms like "Catholic child" or "Muslim child" should make people flinch.

  4. Atheists should be proud, not apologetic, because atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind.[1] "

[Commenting on the above: According to theistic psychology the characteristics mentioned here under (1) are part of the character of our inherited natural mind (see Section xx). The distinction atheist attitudes vs. religious attitudes is not inborn or inherited from parents. People who have a religion vs. people who deny God are equally capable of developing their natural mind and all its characteristics. However because atheism and morality are not opposed, which is correct, it does not follow that therefore God does not exist. This is an illogical conclusion.

Regarding point (2), it is not relevant to the "God as a scientific concept" issue whether the science in natural selection theory is superior to the science in intelligent design theory. Neither of these two are relevant to the issue of God in science since both are based on the literal sense of the Bible, and not at all on the correspondential sense. Hence Dawkins is clearly wrong in concluding that the "God hypothesis" is inferior scientifically to the natural selection hypothesis.

Regarding point (3), it is a matter of culture and socialization, not science. Certainly Dawkins is wrong if he argues that this is a scientific decision rather than cultural, political, and religious.

Regarding point (4), it is a prescription, not a proven point. This is his belief or blind faith in atheism. What if he is wrong? We know from theistic psychology that he is wrong regarding the denial of the mental world of eternity. So the question becomes: What effect does atheism have upon a person's life in eternity? This is discussed in theistic psychology in many places since it is central to the purpose of studying theistic psychology (see Section xx).

Back to the Wikipedia article on The God Delusion by Dawkins:

"The God hypothesis"

"Dawkins begins Chapter 2 by describing Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, as "arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak, a vindictive bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidical, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."[10]

[Others have also made this observation about the literal sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Although this description is exaggerated and vindictive, it does contain some accuracy regarding how God is portrayed in many passages (see Section xx). It is also imbalanced, because other passages present God as loving, forgiving, just, compassionate, all knowing, and omnipresent. The description by Dawkins is certainly biased, as stated, because it imputes without proof evil intentions to God, as if to suggest that God can be good, but He is also evil, as portrayed in the Old Testament Bible. This imputation of God's intentions and character is certainly illogical and unfounded.

But theistic psychology needs to explain why God appears in some passages to be angry, vengeful, or regretful of what he had done, or why God orders the massacre of women, children, and cattle in some wars. When we look at the correspondential sense of what God says in Sacred Scripture, we never find anything that God says that is not good, loving, compassionate, omnipotent, omniscient, and always involved in helping and supporting every human being from birth to endless eternity (see Section xx).]

Continuing with the article:

"Hence the inability to disprove the existence of God provides no positive reason to believe. Rather, Dawkins argues that the burden of proof is on the advocates of the existence of God."

[Note his realization of "the inability to disprove the existence of God". Dawkins knows that he is thinking within the negative bias mode of science. He realizes it is a bias. Unfortunately, science teachers in public schools do not do the same. They do not admit to the students that the denial of God is unproven in science. All they say is that God is not scientific. They have lo logical or rational warrant to say this to students. No doubt they themselves may believe it out of confusion. They would be able to change their teaching if they were informed by the science textbook writers from which they learn, that the denial of God in science is not proven, and therefore it is a negative bias in science.

Note also that Dawkins says that those who believe that God is a reality should prove the existence of God. This is illogical and unfair since he already admits that denying God's existence cannot be proven. So it follows that for the same reason, proving that Go exists is also not possible. Hence it is called the positive bias in science. Either way it is a bias and cannot be proven. It is illogical and unfair for him to require that the positive bias be proven rather than accepted as a bias -- and then it is examined for evidence, as we do in theistic psychology.]

Continuing with the article:

"In chapter 6, Dawkins turns his attention to the subject of morality, arguing that we do not need religion in order to be good. Instead, he maintains that our morality has a Darwinian explanation: altruistic genes have been selected through the process of our evolution, and we possess a natural empathy."

[Note that Dawkins is ignorant of mental anatomy (see Section xx) which shows that we are born with a natural-rational mind and a spiritual-rational mind. The natural mind serves us in this life, while the spiritual mind serves us in the afterlife of eternity. Morality in the natural mind ("altruistic genes") is possible even if the spiritual mind is denied (see Section xx). But being spiritually good is not possible if the spiritual mind is denied. People can be naturally good or moral, yet be spiritually insane and evil. After resuscitation in the afterlife of eternity we live in our spiritual mind, not the natural mind. People who are naturally good or moral in the natural mind, may be insane and evil in the spiritual mind, and in that case they select a hellish life for themselves, while people who are spiritually sane and good, select a heavenly life for themselves in eternity (see Section xx).

This raises again the important issue whether denial of God and natural morality is sufficient to develop a character that chooses heaven in eternity. Theistic psychology shows why this is not sufficient, and that it is necessary to have a theistic orientation in this life in order to develop our spiritual mind so that it is heavenly rather hellish when we are resuscitated in eternity (see Section xx).]

Continuing with the article:

"Dawkins turns to the question of why he feels so hostile towards religion in Chapter 8, arguing with examples that religion subverts science, fosters fanaticism, encourages bigotry towards homosexuals, and influences society in other negative ways. Dawkins states that Southern preachers used the Bible to justify slavery by claiming Africans were descendants of Abraham's sinful son. During the Crusades, "pagans" and "heretics" who would not convert to Christianity were murdered, and there are other similar examples."

[Note that these criticisms of religion have been voiced by many in literature and Dawkins is repeating them in his book. However they are all false because they are based, not on God and what God says in reality, but on the literal sense, which is adapted to the culture and its prejudices. Sacred Scripture would have been rejected by people if the literal sense were not expressive of how they think and what they are willing to accept (see Section xx). Also, it is illogical to attribute wars (like the Crusades, etc.) to God or to religion when clearly these wars were waged because of political ambitions and prejudices of kings and bishops. The wars and conflicts were not based on God or Sacred Scripture. In fact until the twentieth century the vast majority of people did not read Sacred Scripture. But it is rational, logical, and scientific to separate these two: God and Sacred Scripture on the one hand, and religion, culture, and politics on the other. As theistic psychology proves, the correspondential sense of all Sacred Scripture is universal, culture free, and scientific.]

Check the original article for more discussion from the perspective of people who share the negative bias mode of thinking. Also check out this review of the book that disagrees with Dawkins, but on wholly different grounds than I do above.: http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/002/1.21.html

 1.1.2  Level 2: Mystical Religion

 Religions are "mystical" in the sense that they do not give a rational and scientific explanation of God and the universe. Instead they give a creed that must be accepted as a belief system or faith which specifies who God is and what He demands from the members of that religion. Those faithful who live according to the doctrine of their religion are rewarded by God and receive eternal happiness in life after death. But those who do not live according to their doctrine, and all those who live according to a false faith, are punished and relegated to eternal misery in their life after death. Some faiths include the idea that this punishment is not eternal since people can change from bad to good following their phase of punishment in the afterlife. Some religions include the idea that this punishment takes place by being reincarnated in the natural world until the individual attains freedom from illusion and becomes divine.

Level 2 thinking is above level 1 thinking in rationality, if the assumption that there is God is true. In that case Level 2 thinking is a better representation of reality, more valid, more powerful, more useful, and more practical than non-theistic science is about the subject of God and how best to prepare for the afterlife. Materialistic science thinking (level 1) cannot help us at all in terms of preparing ourselves for the afterlife. This is a huge disadvantage since it's extremely important and urgent that we prepare ourselves adequately for the afterlife -- if there is such a thing. This is totally obvious if you consider it from theistic psychology which describes the life after death as either eternal happiness and sanity or eternal misery and delusion. Which it is depends on our preparation. Hence religion is a more rational and effective method of psychological preparation than non-theistic psychology. Clearly, from a practical point of view, it is important that we get this issue right, and that we remember what's at stake if we are right or wrong about God and the afterlife.

But mystical religion is not yet a fully rational and scientific perspective on God. One proof of this is that there are various religions and they not only contradict each other but sometimes want to annihilate each other. Even when they are peaceful to one another, some of them still believe that all others are false and lead their believers to eternal unhappiness in the afterlife. Obviously, if the religions were fully rational, they could not disagree with each other in such a drastic way. Rationality is the process of unifying diverse things into a coherent whole. Genuine rational faith unifies all varieties of doctrine into one overall doctrine that agrees with genuine truth and can live with genuine good. The purpose of all rational faiths (or religions) is to lead people to the good of heaven in the afterlife, and this always requires a change of character and a new way of making our daily choices. This is the truth of all religions that are based on genuine rational faith obtained from Sacred Scripture. Rational faith always leads to love and peace, for hostility and scorn cannot be associated with rational spirituality. Rational spirituality is the only genuine spirituality. It is based on Divine Speech or Divine Truth transmitted through Sacred Scripture (see Sections xx). 

But faith that is not based on rational spirituality does not put love and peace ahead of doctrinal differences. Such persuasive faiths are exclusive and hostile to one another. A notable contrast to this pattern of religion is the New Church which has been based on the Writings of Swedenborg (see Reading List). They acknowledge the idea from the Writings of Swedenborg that God accepts all religions and that eternal happiness (or "heaven") is not denied to anyone who is capable of living a heavenly life, which means capable of having altruistic feelings in the afterlife as the basis of their inner character. This inner character is what we form for ourselves by the way we live on earth through the thousands of choices we make every day. The immortal "spiritual body" we have in the afterlife is nothing else than the character we have formed with our life in the natural world. In the spiritual world, which is a mental or rational world, feelings and thoughts create what is around us, as will be explained (see Section xx).

Theistic psychology teaches people the skills they need to rebuild their character into heavenly traits with which they can have a life in heaven (see Section xx). Clearly this is of incalculable benefit to every person.

Theistic psychology assumes that there is an absolute universal standard for all human character regardless of planet, religion, culture, or personality. This is a necessary assumption since it defines good vs. evil and truth vs. falsity in terms of scientific revelations from God. Rationally, there can be only one God since God is infinite and two infinites are impossible. Since God is absolute truth and the sole source of all truth, there is an absolute standard for the human race regardless of origin or time. This absolute truth or reality is communicated to humans in two ways--externally by means of scientific revelations given by God to a particular prophet or revelator, and second, by inner voice of one's conscience by which God influences and guides the rational conscious decisions of every person, whether one denies God or not (See Section 7.0.4.1). When we deny God, we still possess a moral conscience which guides our life decisions and keeps us human. God secretly (or unconsciously) maintains the operation of moral conscience in individuals regardless of their stated belief systems.

A student reacting to some of the ideas in this book wrote:

"One statement that I disagreed with was “ Taylor says if a person or church does not understand the true god properly than all doctrine, dogma and ritual are possibly invalid.” I disagree with Taylor because I don’t understand the true God and I don’t think anyone ever could really understand him truly. Taylor believes “that God appears as “mysterious” to people and therefore god cannot truly be a part of the mind if He is not understood.” I think God is always present whether we understand him or not and mysterious is a part of our misunderstanding of God that makes him great. One of the statements that I agree with is when Elisabeth disagrees “I think there will always be mystery with God, because we have a finite mind while God has an infinite mind.” I agree with this totally I think God is beyond our comprehension."

A common idea is voiced here, namely that since God is infinite, He is incomprehensible. Therefore God and mystery are inseparable. However, Swedenborg points out two aspects of God, the one that we relate to consciously and the one that we are not conscious of. We do not ever relate in any way to God's infinity and immensity. For instance God's essence is infinite Divine Love and Truth. We cannot relate to that for it is incomprehensible. But God has created human beings with rational minds that can relate to God's ability to limit His rationality by means of correspondences to His infinite reality.  Therefore we can know and understand God by His love and intelligence which exist in our mind as-if our own love and intelligence (see Section xx). In other words, God has created human beings to be able to receive correspondential versions of His infinite Love and Intelligence. These correspondential versions feel like they are our own, and it is this ownership upon which is based our immortality. It is God's love and intelligence in us as-if our own, that makes us immortal. If we didn't feel that they are our own, we could not have a mind that lives forever. Animals cannot feel that the instinct and capacities they experience are as-if their own. This requires rational thinking ability. Therefore animals cannot be immortal, though Swedenborg has seen animals in the spiritual world (but these are not the animals from earth -- see Section xx).

We can have conscious communication and interaction with God as the Divine-Human through the love and truth that issue from Him, enter our mind, and operate there as-if they were our own love and intelligence. Love and truth in our mind are the basic spiritual substances that activate the operations of the mind and form its content, meaning, and consciousness. If God were to remove the feeling that His love and intelligence streaming into our mind are as-if our own, we would instantly cease to think, to reason, to plan, to intend, or to desire and want anything. We would no longer be human beings.

We are immortal by the fact that we can be adjoined to God through His love and truth entering our mind and operating there as-if it were our own love and truth. Nothing else but the spiritual substances of love and truth can make us human. The essence of being human is doing things we want to (=love) by planning and understanding rationally (=truth). Animals are neither immortal nor human because, though they have love and the ability to do things they want, they are not capable of pursuing their loves by planning and understanding rationally (=truth). This is why humans are responsible for their choices while animals are not -- they just follow their innate instincts or biologically-based tendencies. Only when love is combined with truth can humanity begin. And since love and truth are eternal, uncreate, immortal substances of God, humans become immortal when they can appropriate these immortal substances to be God's love and truth in them as-if their own, and make them the substances out of which the organ of their mind is constructed. This is the scientific psycho-biological explanation of our immortality (see Section xx).

We also have the ability to reject and distort the love and truth that enter the mind. In that case we cut off conscious communication with God and give up higher ways of thinking for the sake of materialism. Note carefully that God is equally in every individual regardless of the individual's religion or belief system. But there is a significant difference between the mental states in which we reject God and the mental states in which we acknowledge and honor God. When we acknowledge God's management involvement with every event in our mind and life, we are elevated in the level of our conscious operations in relation to God. In that state of conscious elevation (or "enlightenment"), God reveals meanings and understandings to us internally. The higher meaning or truth seems to just pop into our consciousness when we approach daily tasks with constant acknowledgement of God's active presence and co-participation. The more we are conscious of God's actual co-participation in every second of life, the more our consciousness is elevated, the more we can act rationally and lovingly with truth. Science would improve, society would improve, the environment would improve, in short, all that is human would improve and become of a higher quality.

This higher meaning and rational understanding of God, and how God manages us and the universe, is not available to our mind in states of denial of God or states of forgetting of God in the doing of daily tasks. In these two states of "God ignorance" we are not capable of accepting the idea of God rationally.

Progress in our spiritual development is tremendously enhanced when we make a serious effort to consider God's presence in all our actions all day long every day. By studying theistic psychology we can develop our rational understanding and explanations of how God co-participates in every thought, feeling, action, or seemingly chance event. This requires that we understand God's goals and management techniques. God has revealed them in the Writings of Swedenborg. If we maintain the positive bias in science, we will be able to investigate Swedenborg's arguments and proofs. If we stay with the negative bias in science, we cannot rationally examine his evidence--we can only reject it in advance.

Another student wrote:

"Question 2: Make up a gain-loss sheet that lists and briefly explains what you could gain or loose by adopting the negative vs. positive bias in science regarding God’s existence as a scientific reality.

Answer 2: (...) Gains and Loses

In the Negative bias in science a gain that I thought of is that one can have a strong appreciation and knowledge of the natural laws of science, namely biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology. One would have a firm grasp of this information because they do not believe in God or that He had any part in the creation of the universe or mankind. They would believe in Newton’s Laws and so forth concerning energy, and the chemical make up of all other organic compounds. Nothing in their belief systems consists of objects or ideas that cannot be scientifically tested, retested, observed by all and falling outside of these tested laws. (...)

On the other hand there are also loses when one takes on the positive bias in science and it is basically that they loose the negative bias in science. They may lose respect for the natural laws of sciences since they believe that God is what created and controls the universe and not these natural laws."

Actually, we need to avoid thinking that the positive bias in science involves attributing less importance to natural laws than the negative bias in science.

Instead, the positive bias thinking is that God manages every detail of the natural world through omnipotence and rational management techniques called Divine Laws of Providence and Permissions (see Section xx). The negative bias in science is that these laws operate on their own. The positive bias in science is that these laws are the means or the method by which God manages the natural world. They could not work on their own. Take for example the force of gravity. A force needs a continuous source. What is the source that keeps gravity force going? It is God's omnipotence applied through the substances of the Spiritual Sun (see Section xx).

Consider the diagram above. The positive bias in science conceptualizes all physical phenomena in the natural world as being effects, while their causes lie in the spiritual world of eternity, that is the mental world (see Section xx). This is because the world to time-space is created in perfect functional correspondence with the world of eternity that is not in time-space. Before time-space phenomena can come into existence there must be a spiritual stimulus that causes the natural event. This is because God creates and manages the two worlds to be functionally interconnected, and not independent. In terms of successive order of creation, Divine Speech as spiritual light and heat from the Spiritual Sun enters the mental world in successive layers, the lowest of which is the corporeal mind. Anatomically this organ is constructed to be an organic interface with physical stimuli and mental awareness of them (see Section xx). From the corporeal mind there is a discrete jump to the physical body and world of time-space.

As you can see, Divine Speech exits the Spiritual Sun, enters the mental world, goes through the layers of created existence, and exits or rests in the phenomena of time-space (see charts in Section xx). This perspective is shown in the above diagram by representing the mental world of eternity as cause (arrow), which is a discrete degree within or above, the natural world of time-space. The negative bias science is shown as containing cause-effect relations at the same level. That is, both causes and effects are considered physical phenomena in time-space-matter.

The two diagrams side by side indicate that every single physical phenomenon that negative bias scientists study is of equal relevance and importance to positive bias scientists. It's not the case that the positive bias scientists study religion or the mind, while negative bias scientists study nature.

Rather, positive bias science is a new scientific paradigm for all science. It is just a continuation and evolution of science itself. It is a new paradigm that requires new explanations and theoretical accounts for all the physical phenomena known, and those still to be discovered.

The positive bias in science does not mean believing in God and having a religious membership. The positive bias in science does not mean religion, faith, belief, philosophy. The positive bias in science is a new paradigm in science for viewing and explaining in a different way all the current data and knowledge in physics, mathematics, psychology, biology, neurophysiology, engineering, computer science, business, law, forensics, metallurgy, art, dance, music, etc. The positive bias in science affects not only the sciences but also the arts and humanities (see Section xx).

1.1.3  Level 3: Theistic Psychology

 According to the positive bias of theistic psychology,  scientific revelations have been given by God in the Writings of Swedenborg (1688-1772) and these revelations make up the basic assumptions and premises for theistic psychology.

Without these scientific revelations it would be impossible to have access to these details about God's management methods, since they cannot be discovered in any other way. Whatever other authors have written in the past, necessarily represents their guesses or visions, which remain limited. By definition it is impossible for any of them to see beyond the human level. But scientific revelations are Divine and come from the level of the Divine Omniscience. They make accessible to science a database of knowledge about God and the afterlife that can never be discovered or invented by humans living in the natural world. Further, they reveal new principles that explain how scientific laws actually work by means of the "science of correspondences" (see Section xx).

These scientific revelations are not like prior revelations which were at the level of mystical thinking and understanding rather than modern scientific. The Writings Sacred Scripture contain a comprehensive, global, and integrated account of how God manages the physical world through the laws of spiritual correspondences (see Section xx).

The details of the revelations were not dictated to Swedenborg while he was in a trance or asleep or by having a vision. Instead, Swedenborg was given the unique capacity to be conscious simultaneously in the natural and the spiritual worlds, and thereby empirically observe and confirm the cause-effect action of correspondences. For 27 years on a daily basis he accessed the spiritual world mentally and kept daily notes that comprise his data, his observations, his experiences, his experiments, and his explanations. He therefore was able to compile a unique record of how the spiritual and natural worlds interact and depend on each other through the cause-effect action of correspondences.

Swedenborg discovered, confirmed, and proved that the spiritual world of the afterlife called eternity, is the mental world of each individual.

Amazingly, the mental world of all human beings overlaps with each other so that the entire human race congregates after death in this spiritual-mental environment. This was the first time in the history of science that a scientist was given the tools for the direct observation of the spiritual world of eternity.

Swedenborg was able to interview those who had lived on earth thousands of years ago, and are now living in their heaven or hell. He was also able to interview people he knew in his native Sweden who had died but recently. He was a reputed scientist who had suddenly come into possession of a new observation platform of the human mind. He could see and talk to the people who were undergoing the process of "resuscitation," which is the switching over from the physical body to the spiritual body at "death." This process takes approximately 30 hours (see Section 1.7).  He conducted controlled observations and experiments and reported what he saw and heard in the spiritual world (see these examples in Volume 18 -- Selections Keyed to Subjects, entry on [EXPERIMENTS]).

He had rational conversations and exchanges with those who inhabit the afterlife. He described their language, their thinking, their lifestyle. His rational and scientific explanations of these events are therefore to be read as science. He proved in several ways that there is a correspondential relationship between every sentence and word in Sacred Scripture and an ongoing activity in the spiritual world of eternity that he could observe. Further, all the people in the world of the afterlife could also see these relationships. Everyone one of us will be able to confirm these relationships as soon as we undergo resuscitation after death of the physical body.

This book examines whether God and Divine scientific revelations, can have a scientific role in the scientific explanations of human behavior, without invalidating psychology as a behavioral science.

We will consider the entire spectrum of human behavior, from birth to the life after death in immortality. We will also consider how the spiritual world and the natural world are interlocked by rational laws of correspondence so that the laws of feeling, thinking and acting cannot be explained without recourse to what is happening in the spiritual world simultaneously while we are acting and behaving in this world through our physical body.

The spiritual and natural worlds are connected so that we are born dual citizens --  the physical body and brain are in the natural world while the organ of the mind (or "mental body") is in the spiritual world. The two are locked into functional correspondence--what one of them does determines what the other does according to specified laws of correspondences.

These laws of correspondence are used in theistic psychology to do research about the inner mind that is within the spiritual or mental body. The inner mind of every individual is unconsciously in constant contact with the minds of individuals who are already in the afterlife. In this way there is a continuous network of interaction between all individuals of the human race, past and present. I refer to this universal  interaction network as the "vertical community" (see Section xx). The methods and procedures of this interaction process are described in the Writings Sacred Scripture. As a result, a tremendously useful new database of scientific knowledge is now available to the human race.

Here is a physicist's article in the mode of the positive bias science. Dr. Thompson has written a number of articles on theistic psychology topics, but from the perspective of a nuclear physicist who is currently (2007) still very much engaged in government funded research. Yet he sees how the Swedenborg Reports present new scientific concepts that can help physics move into still deeper topics and explanations of reality.

From: http://www.newdualism.org/papers/I.Thompson/pldi.html

The Consistency Of Physical Law With Divine Immanence
Ian Thompson
Published in: Science & Christian Belief, 5 (1993) pp.19-36

Abstract:

A model is presented to show how the existence of physical law could be a reasonable consequence of Divine Immanence in the world of natural phenomena. Divine Immanence is seen as the continual production of the principal causes or dispositions which enable created things to act and change. It is argued that this model is physically consistent, philosophically coherent, and theologically sound.

Selections from the article:

Divine Dispositional Immanence

For these reasons I wish in this paper to restate an old idea, one that has been only occasionally taken up[8], and expand it using a modern philosophy of dispositions. This idea is a simple scheme for the relation of Divine and natural powers, and suggests how physical laws might be not only compatible with Divine Immanence in nature, but also a consequence of Immanence. The thesis I wish to defend may be called the hypothesis of `Divine Dispositional Immanence' (DDI for short), and is : 
DDI: The dispositions of an object are those derivatives of Divine Power that accord with what is actual about that object.
Here, `actuality' is defined as that which is not constituted by capacities, potentialities and/or dispositions of any kind. Exactly what is actual about a natural object depends on a detailed physics, and will be different according to Newtonian and quantum mechanics (see ref. [9]). Which actualities then correspond to which dispositions is a subject for further investigation, as is whether this is a strict one-to-one correspondence. 

To explain what the DDI thesis means, consider two analogies. God provides life as the sun shines on the earth. The sun shining on the earth is constant, but the energy received by the earth varies by days and seasons. We know, however, that this variation is according to the earth's distance and orientation: according to something actual about the earth, not because of variations in the sun. A second analogy is that God provides life as we are provided with food. Consider the way animals consume food in order to live. What an animal is capable of doing after eating depends on its digestive system and how it has assimilated the food. Different species will respond quite differently to the same food, according to how they are constituted. (These analogies are discussed further in section 2.5.) 

If on first sight the hypothesis seems too far-fetched or implausible, remember that it is designed to reproduce just those kinds of effects we usually see in the world around us. Remember too that I have not specified what in fact is `actual', so strictly speaking the thesis has `materialistic', `dualistic' and `idealistic' versions, depending on whether only matter is actual, or both matter and mind, or mind only. Thus, the DDI thesis defines a general framework in which these theories of nature can be discussed within a theistic context. One consequence of Immanence should be to make all things (mind and/or matter) behave as if they were active from themselves, as that is the way they appear to us. We might rightly be wary of a God with absolute and arbitrary power to act under any pretext whatsoever: the precise content of the DDI thesis is that, on the contrary, God acts in a reasonable and orderly fashion compatible with (some kind of) natural regularities. 

This paper may be regarded as an exercise in the Theology of Nature, but of a kind that is hypothetico-deductive, not inductive. That is, we postulate an explanatory hypothesis such as the DDI thesis, and follow its consequences to see how well they agree with what we know already. The hypothesis can only be entertained, however, if expressed coherently, and considered logically possible. To that end, section 2 presents philosophical analyses of four constituent concepts used in the DDI thesis. Only if these ideas are not incoherent can the DDI thesis be reasonably considered. The thesis must also be shown to be consistent with physics, as physics is an existing attempt to relate the actual forms of natural objects to their dispositions and potentialities. 

Finally, the DDI thesis will be considered within the framework of a theistic theology that might be considered already well established. Since the DDI thesis is a statement of what God does, and may be a restriction on arbitrary omnipotence, the thesis will have to be shown to be theologically reasonable. We should also see if it is preferable to occasionalism, whereby God is the direct and only cause of natural events, and to concurrentism, whereby God is a general cause which must cooperate with pre-existing natural powers. That is, we must show that the DDI thesis describes what would be done by God as He is understood in the western tradition, and is not opposed by other attributes the tradition believes essential to the Divine. The demonstration will be based on the argument that God, if Life Itself, cannot create natural beings that both are distinct from Him, and live from themselves (i.e. that are their own dispositions to act). What can be done is to provide the life of these beings for them to live as if from themselves. This is what appears to happen, although in this paper I will be discussing only natural dispositions, and not looking at the full range of `life'. 

Continued in the original article.

From: http://www.newdualism.org/papers/I.Thompson/pldi.html

See also Dr. Thompson's Web site on the New Dualism in Science: http://www.newdualism.org/ 

See also Dr. Thompson's directory of articles on the Web related to consciousness, dualism, theism, materialism, mentalism, parapsychology:  http://www.newdualism.org/online-articles.htm

1.1.4  Ten Rational Conclusions Derived From the Proposition That God Exists

The positive bias science takes an affirmative position on God's existence, while the negative bias science takes a negative position on God's existence. It is necessary to put aside the negative bias in science in order to examine fairly whether the positive bias in science is viable or not as a rational scientific methodology.

The positive bias in science begins with the proposition that God exists. This is a bias, since it cannot be proven as a conclusion. Similarly, the proposition in negative bias science that "God does not exist." cannot be proven, and must remain a bias. So, departing with the positive bias in science that "God exists." what kind of rational propositions follow logically from this one assumption? Here is an analysis. Try to memorize it enough so you can duplicate the arguments with your friends. See how far they are willing to go.

=========
God exists.
=========

This is the starting point. All the rest follows logically from this one truth.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines God as

A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions.

(A) First Conclusion: God is a Person, at once Divine and Human.

Words for God like “being” “perfect” “ruler” indicates that God is a Person, not an impersonal energy or entity like the universe. It’s a strange thing to do to pray to the universe! But it’s perfectly logical to pray to a Person who is the Supreme Being. Because God is a Person, He can be loving and wise, or, good and rational. It makes rational sense to pray, or to have a relationship with, a Divine Human Person who is loving and wise to perfection (see Section xx).

(B) Second Conclusion: God’s Omnipotence Must Control Every Event

The word omnipotent refers to all power. Try to think of something that does not involve power. The motion of an atom or a planet requires power. For you to read this requires power to move your eyes, power to select thoughts and to sequence them into a logical order, and power to want to read that sentence. Clearly, God must be a controlling element in your reading this sentence.

At first we think that God has created the universe with its own source of power. For instance, once God has created electro-magnetic forces into a certain physical order, other phenomena then stem from this physical energy and order, not directly from God. There is a popular lyric that says “God is watching us” and sometimes we can hear someone ask in anguish “Where is God now!” Both of these ideas in our mind are consequences of the illogical background assumption that God can give away some of his power to nature or to people who are supposed to think and make decisions on their own.

But logic requires us to say that God’s power cannot be given away to nature or to people because once this is done, God is no longer omnipotent. And that’s not possible or logical. God is omnipotent necessarily means that none of God’s power can be given away, no matter how tiny. If even the tiniest power were given away by God, He would no longer be omnipotent.

(C) Third Conclusion: God is Perfect in Love and Rationality

Omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, and perfection means that God is perfectly and totally loving and wise. There cannot be an exception, not even one, for then God would not be perfectly loving. There cannot be a mistake because then God would not be perfectly wise and omniscient.

At first we think that God may be perfect but He does not have perfect control over what happens because He gives people freedom to decide as part of what it means to be human. This is an illogical idea because God’s omnipotence means He controls everything, including people’s decisions. Hence, we need to create a rational explanation for the fact that people make bad decisions, are selfish, deceitful, and cruel to each other.

Since God is omnipotent, perfectly loving and wise, we can conclude logically that He must have a rational and good reason for allowing people to make bad decisions and to be cruel to each other. Why does God allow this since He can stop it?

Not only can He stop it, but God must be the power behind each step or detail. A simple example is a DUI driver who kills a mother and her baby in a head on crash. Logic tells us that since God is omnipotent it was God’s power that gave the driver the power to lift his hand and ingest the alcohol to excess, then it was God’s power that gave the two cars energy to collide, and it was the power of God that took the life of the mother and the baby. Every molecular detail of the drinking, driving, crashing, and dying was controlled by God, including the thought processes and decisions of the drunk driver and the mother.

Since God is perfect in loving and wisdom or rationality, it is logical to conclude that every feature and detail of the event was good and wise, or else God could not possibly bring it into existence. Every part of the event. There cannot logically be an exception. In this case it includes the drinking, the production of alcohol, bars, cars, mothers driving their babies, drivers making hundreds of decisions, cars functioning in all their parts, or malfunctioning. all is included in God’s omnipotence, perfection, love, and wisdom.

The above sounds logical enough, but it is not satisfying – not until we can explain rationally how these details are indeed good – innocent mother and baby being killed, alcohol industry and marketing, dangerous cars, people making selfish and cruel decisions, etc. We must be able to explain these details rationally, as the actions of a perfect omnipotent God. If we cannot explain it rationally, we reject God from the inmost of our mind, and then we are in deep trouble.

(D) Fourth Conclusion: There are Two Worlds, One in Time-Space, the Other in Eternity

God the omnipotent Divine Human with perfect love and wisdom, is the creator of the universe. It is illogical to think that God could be in the created universe. In order to create physical energy, time, space, and matter it is logically necessary that God be outside what is created. God could not create the physical universe if He is part of the universe He creates. It is rational therefore to conclude that there are two types of existence, or two types of universes, one outside time and space, and the other in time and space. This rational principle is called dualism in science.

God has always existed. This conclusion is rational because if God had not existed, than how did He get into existence? So logic requires that we think that God has always existed. We need therefore two names for existence (dualism=two). One type of existence is called eternity and is not in time and space. The other type of existence is time and space. These two types are traditionally called natural and spiritual.

Most people are confused about how to define what is spiritual. Much nonsense has been written and is being taught and believed. But spiritual is nothing else than the existence of eternity, and natural is the existence of time-space, also called the physical universe.

The physical universe is created and all things created must have a beginning in time. But God and anything that belongs to God, is not created, and therefore does not have a beginning. Everything that belongs to God as part of God has no beginning and no end in eternity. But all things that God creates as created thing has a beginning in time and in eternity. This can be fully understood rationally, and must be, or else our mind will reject it and we will be in deep trouble.

The universe of created time and space is an outside covering to the universe of eternity which does not have time and space. To understand this more clearly, consider how we create objects in our visualization or dream. If you picture yourself eating in a restaurant right now you will see in your imagination various objects like tables, chairs, people, and food, along with sounds, smells, movements, and events. These are objects created by your imagination in your thinking. They are your thoughts that you have covered over with physical looking objects. So you can see that the chair you are sitting on in that imagined restaurant is a thought that is covered over with an external physical-like shape.

This is exactly how we can understand God from eternity, being outside time or space, creating and managing events in time and space. God is omnipresent not in space but apart from space. This is a rational necessity since God could not be omnipresent in space – logical impossibility. If we think logical impossibilities about God, we cannot believe He is perfect and omnipotent. And when we stop thinking that, we are in deep trouble.

Every event in that restaurant you are dreaming up is an event created by your thinking and imagining. Your thinking and imagining must be outside your dream, or else you could not create your dream. In the same way, God creates every detail of events in time-space by covering up His thoughts and feelings with created things. Every created thing must therefore have both types of existence – one in time and the other in eternity. A rock or a pencil or the wind, must therefore have an existence in time-space and one outside of it.

A rock is therefore some idea of God in eternity covered over with some time-space-matter. Some people illogically say, “Look around the wonders of nature. This is when I see God.” This is not rational. When you look at nature all you can see is the outside time-space-matter. This is an outside covering. You cannot see the eternity that is within as its substantial framework. You cannot see it but you can think it, understand it, reason with it. You can rationally understand that it is something spiritual or eternal that makes the rock and keeps it to be what it is, second by second.

(E) Fifth Conclusion: Humans are Born Dual Citizens, In Time and in Eternity

Before we acquire rational spirituality in our understanding we are vulnerable to all sorts of misleading ideas and philosophies. People debate whether there is an eternity, whether there is an afterlife, whether heaven is on earth or in some other place, and so forth. Some popular new age gurus say that eternity is here, that it is called stillness, or peace, or whatever, and that you can have it and be in it, and then you are God looking down at yourself doing things in the world of people and time. Many scientists and intellectual leaders deny that there is God, afterlife, or eternity. These are the ways in which people get into deep trouble, because these illogical beliefs create maladaptation.

The symptoms of maladaptation characterize our life and our society, namely, unhappiness, depression, rage, destructiveness, lack of productivity and creativity, lack of health and vitality, lack of rational management systems, and so on. These are the symptoms of thinking irrationally about God, about eternity, about reality.

Since God is omnipotent and perfectly loving and wise, it is illogical to think that we are born, then die, and that’s the end of our existence. Think about you as a parent. Would you create a child that is going to die when you can create one that is going to be immortal? Obviously you would create children who continue to live forever. Now if you would do that, how can we think logically that God would not? God is omnipotent and so clearly, He can create living beings that are temporary or He can create living beings that are permanent or immortal. Since God is perfect love and wisdom, it is rational to think that He would create conscious human beings to live forever.

But we must understand how God does this, if we are going to fully accept such a principle and reason from it in our mind.

God creates our existence when we are conceived and born. Our existence starts in both worlds of time and eternity. This means that we are born dual citizens. Our soul or spiritual body is born in eternity, which is also called the spiritual world. Our physical body is conceived and born in time and space. The two bodies are interconnected and act together as long as they are connected. At death, the connection between the physical body and the spiritual body is broken. We then continue our existence in the spiritual body in eternity.

This may sound hypothetical at first. But upon more reflection you can see rationally how this works. First, consider that sensations, thoughts, and feelings are not physical objects in time and space. Thoughts and feelings have no mass, no weight, require no space, are not measurable by physical instruments. Only the brain’s electrical neural activities can be measured, but not thoughts and feelings. Thoughts and feelings are outside time and space, hence they are in eternity (see Section xx).

So if thoughts and feelings are not physical, and are not housed in the brain, where are they?

They are in the mind or spiritual body. The spiritual body and the physical body operate together, develop together. Our mental activities and development take place solely in the spiritual body in eternity outside time and space. Right now, as you are reading this, your thoughts, reactions, and feelings cannot exist in this world, as the lines and the ink and the physical light exist in this world. So right now you are operating in the physical world from the spiritual world. You are not in the physical world. You are in the spiritual world.

Right now you are temporarily connected to the physical world through your physical body which is connected to your spiritual body which is in eternity. Upon death of the physical body the connection is broken and you become conscious instantly of the spiritual world. Right now you cannot see the spiritual world of eternity and what is in it. It is necessary for our growth and development as an immortal human being to acquire knowledge and experience in our spiritual body. But this experience cannot be acquired directly in the world of eternity into which we are born. Some mechanism had to be created by God so that we can have experiences in time and space, and then begin our full life in eternity, outside time and space.

(F) Sixth Conclusion: The Eternity of the Afterlife is Our Mental World Now

This is the greatest open secret that is available to anyone who is willing to think about rational spirituality. Much nonsense has been written about where is eternity or where is the afterlife or where is heaven or where is God. Even the most popular new age gurus and authors today know absolutely nothing about this open secret that anyone could figure out with rational spirituality.

The mental world = the afterlife world of eternity.

This open secret hits you as obvious as soon as you allow yourself to think rationally about it. We have picked up so much illogical thinking from society today that it prevents us from thinking rationally and seeing the obvious. But it is obvious! Consider.

The mental world is the world of thoughts and feelings. These are non-physical objects, outside time and space. Anything that is outside time and space is in eternity. Obviously then, our mental world is the world of eternity where thoughts and feelings exist. 

We know the world of the afterlife, or eternity, very well indeed. We are so skilled at it that we are able to create dreams that contain dramatic scenery, exciting events, intense sensations of taste and touch, unlimited resources in terms of how many houses or diamonds or bottles of wine you want to have, or how famous you want to be. But also this: how scared you can get with amazingly real nightmares. All this we can expertly produce in our imagination. People illogically think that what we produce in the imagination is not real. They don’t get too excited about the idea that they can have anything they want in the dream world they create with their imagination. It’s not real to them. So what, they think.

But when we start thinking rationally about it, we can see that the objects we produce in our imagination or dream are real appearances. They cannot be nothing. It’s not logical to think that a dream is nothing. A dream is constructed, produced, created in our spiritual body called the affective organ, the cognitive organ, and the sensorimotor organ. These three organs make up our mind at various levels of operation. The affective organ’s operations are experienced as having feelings. The cognitive organ’s operations are experienced as having thoughts. The sensorimotor organ’s operations are experienced as having sensations. Thoughts, dreams, visions, etc. are actual operations in our spiritual organs. They actually become visible when we are no longer connected to the physical body at death (see Section xx).

At death we start our conscious life in eternity and lose all contact with the world of time and space. Although we lose contact with physical objects we retain contact with the people we know and love because this contact is based on thoughts and feelings, not merely physical contact. The physical contact is no longer possible, but the mental contact is uninterrupted. However, one is not conscious of this mental contact in a direct way, but in a subtle way.

(G) Seventh Conclusion: We Are Born With Heaven and Hell in Our Mind

Another way of saying this that we are receptive to both heavenly and hellish influences. Every person has good traits like being able to think and carry out required tasks. To finish a job requires persistence in motivation, and this is a heavenly trait. To have and raise children requires self-sacrifice and the love of others, and this is a heavenly trait. But to snap at someone in anger not caring in that moment, about how it makes the person feel, is a hellish trait. To cheat and lie and deceive so that we can unfairly obtain something, or so that we can take advantage of someone, is a hellish trait. To reject someone unfairly due to our prejudice, is a hellish trait. Some people are depressed and can’t work, and this is a hellish trait. Being aggressive on the road or obnoxious to a neighbor, are hellish traits, as are mistreating animals or wasting resources.

So each person grows up with a pack of heavenly traits and a pack of hellish traits in their personality and character. The hellish traits form a society together in our mind, and this society is called hell. The heavenly traits form a heavenly society in our mind. God is involved in the every detail of setting up the heaven and the hell in the mind. This is critical to our life in eternity. God does not allow heaven and hell to mix together in our mind because they mutually destroy each other, being opposites and hatreds to one another. So people alternate between heavenly states and hellish states on a periodic basis – monthly, weekly, hourly, by the minute and second. God controls the exact alternation, when, and where.

When we lose contact with the physical body, it immediately breaks down into chemical matter. This is called the first death. We suddenly become conscious in the spiritual world of eternity. But we are still the same person. We have not changed anything. So our mental world doesn’t change that much at first. We see our body just like we are used to, even though we realize it’s not a physical body. We see ourselves in a mirror and we look similar to how we looked when we passed on. We look around and things look similar to what we saw before dying. But we quickly begin to notice the differences. Now we are in a mental world, not physical. We notice things we could never notice before about others who are around. They have an aura of light around the head. One can see activity of light in the mental organs, actually seeing thoughts and feelings in the person.

We see a house in the distance and we feel like walking there. All of a sudden, we are there. We enter. At first we see people drinking at a bar, but the next instant they are brandishing swords and running at you menacingly. Suddenly you don’t see them and you are sitting with your father who passed away years ago. And so on. You discover you can eat if you want to, but you no longer have to do it to survive. Experiences come to you fast and furious, as you explore your new life with all sorts of interesting people that come around, and you notice that your face is changing. Your entire appearance is changing.

You have new feelings you never knew you had. They are so intense, so purely what they are. It frightens you. It elates you. You alternate between the heaven and the hell you came with into eternity. But things are getting more compulsive, more spontaneous, more emotional. You lose all sense of control. None of the things that held you back before are able to contain these new raw emotions, feelings, desires, compulsions, attractions. And very soon you arrive at the moment of your second death. This is it. It’s the final free choice you will be making on your own as an individual.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 5935. VASTATION. After a spirit has completed his time in the world of spirits, he at length arrives at the last [period], which is his vastation. He then appears, for the most part, such as he was in the world, and is set at liberty to go whither he pleases; and thus he reaches a place where all conjunction with anything spiritual is taken away. He thus becomes, as it were, silly, and casts himself into hell. (AC 5935)

It’s a simple choice: You must chose to give up all the hellish traits or all the heavenly traits. It is impossible for you to continue alternating. It’s completely out of your control, like the neurons in the brain when you see something, or like the expansion of the lungs when you breathe in air. Every human being is faced with this required last choice. You cannot keep a single heavenly trait if you choose the hellish traits, and vice versa. Your eternity is either in the heaven of your mind or in the hell of your mind. Once the final choice is made, you cannot change your mind because half of your mind is put the sleep forever (see Section xx).

At first we illogically think that hell is a punishment for the bad things we did and heaven is the reward for the good things we did. This is all right to think at first, while we are developing and growing. But to grow up we need to think about this rationally or else we will reject the idea in our interior mind. We then realize that since God is perfect in love it would be illogical to think that God punishes people in the afterlife for the sins they committed while attached to earth. Love cannot punish, but only emend. As parents we realize we have to help our children to learn to be mature and self-reliant. We use punishment to insure that this happens. But once we are in the afterlife, what would punishment be for? God would not retaliate for He has no such motivation.

Hence we conclude rationally that hell is not a punishment but a choice. And likewise, heaven is not a reward but a choice. What would make people want to choose hell?

We all are familiar with hell in our daily lives and experiences. By observing our own thoughts and feelings we can notice how we create a heaven and a hell in our mind. For instance, we may experience jealousy of a person at work, and we are conscious of a negative emotion when we think or see that person, like fear, resentment, annoyance. These are hellish feelings. They do not exist in the heavens of our mind. Then we notice a strong desire to be hostile to this person, to plot against the person, to try to get this person in trouble. And we can also notice that when this person is in trouble, we feel satisfied, happy, glowing. This is a scenario of how we can build up hell in our mind, until it pervades all our thinking at work, and then beyond.

We can see rationally that we are not responsible for this hell – initially. These negative emotions and hostile intentions and acts seem to tumble out of us, spontaneously. Even when we try to stop them, they won’t. So how can we be held responsible for them by God? Rationally we have to say that God does not hold us responsible for this initial experiencing of the negative emotions and intentions. It’s what we do next, that makes us guilty of hell. This means: We will choose hell at our second death. This is called being guilty, but you can see that it is free choice, the last free choice God allows us to make.

And so it goes with all our weaknesses and negativity. People experience the pleasure and delight of not having to work. But if they turn this into a lifestyle, it becomes a hell in their mind. To create a heaven in the mind is to do the opposite. People strive to please others because they feel bad when others are upset because of them – this is building a heavenly society in your mind. Some people devote tremendous care to a hobby or interest. To get better at it becomes their striving, and this is building a heaven in the mind.

Our heaven in eternity is built from our heavenly traits. But we cannot hang on to them if we are unwilling to let go of every single hellish trait. People who are unwilling to let go of some hellish trait, but desire strongly to be in the heaven of their mind, are going to be in deep trouble when they enter the afterlife. Surely this is going to mean a lot of mental anguish for them before they can let go of the hellish trait. This is sometimes subtle. For instance, some people will avoid being dishonest out of fear of getting caught, even though they would do it if the fear were not there. You can have two people, both avoiding to be dishonest, but one does it for an external reason (presence of fear), while the other does it for an internal reason (wanting to be good). In that case, one will choose hell while the other will choose heaven, even though both lived similar outward lives.

(H) Eighth Conclusion: Heaven is a State of Marriage Between Soul Mates

When we think about it rationally we can understand that God created men and a women so that they may be conjoined together, so that out of two distinct and unique individuals they may become as one distinct and unique whole. Two halves of something can become one, but two wholes cannot become one. Hence it is evident that the unit of the whole person is the man and the woman conjoined as one. Only this can create a heaven in eternity out of their mind. In the hells of people’s minds, instead of conjunction there is disjunction, and instead of friendship there is hostility to one another.

Some people think that marriage is a piece of paper. More couples today are inclined to shack up and even have children without getting married. This is because they are allowing themselves to remain in the external phase of marriage. At this level, marriage is a socio-legal contract and arrangement, and couples who don’t want to participate in that arrangement, perhaps as a form of protest and independence, do not see the purpose in getting married. However this is faulty thinking and puts them in deep trouble. The majority of those marriages end in divorce, and many of those that endure, remain external marriages in which neither partner can be fully fulfilled or happy, no longer involved in constantly growing together.

It is obvious that marriage must be part of the mechanism God has created for a man and a woman to bond together, to fulfill each other, and to raise children. Marriage is part of creation, part of how God fulfills the grand plan of creating a heaven of eternity in the mind of the human race. Our life tied to a physical body on earth is a temporary arrangement. We are born dual citizens, and we are immortal beings. Our eternity starts in the afterlife, about 36 hours after the corpse is cold or destroyed. Life then continues in eternity, outside time and place, either in the heavens or the hells of the individual’s mind. Each person makes that final choice at their second death (see Section xx).

Marriage is a union of minds (see Section xx). Consider that for two things to make a perfect whole, they must be reciprocals of each other so they may fit into one functioning unit. For example, to open a locked door or engine, we need a key and a keyhole. To light up for a smoke, you need a cigar and a flame. To shake hands with someone with the right hand, you need to face each other. An officer in the military needs underlings who carry out orders. A marriage needs a man who wants to be a husband and a woman who wants to be a wife.

Nothing in a man can be like anything in a woman. This is the principle of reciprocity through maximum differentiation. Even if one thing were the same in a man and a woman, they would no longer be able to form a perfect unity. Every person is born either a man or a woman, and since we are immortal, we remain what we were born. A woman’s physical body is a covering around her spiritual body. Her physical shape and form merely reflects the shape of her eternal and immortal spiritual body. It is the same with a man. This spiritual anatomy insures that a woman and a man remain what they are. A woman’s spiritual body reflects her mind, and so does a man’s spiritual body. Clearly, the mind of a woman is different from the mind of a man, as is evident from the body.

It is easy to see the reciprocity of man and woman when you consider how they have sexual intercourse. This physical reciprocity is actually an accurate reflection of their mental reciprocity. A woman cannot think one thing that a man thinks in the same way that he thinks it, and it is the same for a man. Similarly, a woman and a man cannot have the same feeling or emotion. Men and women are not opposites; they are reciprocals. Opposites don’t fit and cannot create a unity. But reciprocals can, and do.

Since every marriage starts with the external union, the issue becomes how a couple can move to the internal union. The external phase of marriage is adequate for producing and raising children, and for joining together as partners in a team to help each other achieve more than what we can do on our own in society. As well, many couples are polite and civil to one another most of the time, and so they can have companionship and friendship, instead of having to be alone or with people who are not committed to each other in long term relationships. External marriage is therefore a good thing, a useful thing, a necessary thing.

But it is not fulfilling!

In order for the wife and the husband to be really fulfilled, really happy, really positive and productive and vibrant, they must enter the interior marriage relationship. This is gradual and takes years, maybe decades. But the critical issue is not how long it takes, but whether the couple is moving ahead in that direction, year by year, and week by week.

Marriage is a spiritual conjunction between two minds and therefore it involves a physiological change in the mind of each partner (see Section xx). This physiological growth process involves the mental organ of the woman becoming dependent on the mental organ of the man. This happens early in the marriage phase because women are prepared since girlhood, to form themselves according to a man. When a woman meets a man whom she is considering as a possible husband, she begins the process of conjoining her mind to his mind. Women do this spontaneously and with expert skill. They drink in the man’s philosophy and they learn his sense of humor. A woman learns how to talk to the man, how to listen to him, what to say, how to think things through, what to choose, what to love – all as an effort to conjoin her mind to his. In this way, the man feels that he is attached to her.

But note carefully: The man has done nothing yet to reciprocate. He merely allows the woman to adapt her mentality to his so they can be in one house and form a partnership in daily activities. This is the external marriage that is suitable for raising a family and having a career. In all these years the wife is marking time, waiting for her romance to become reality in her husband. She is waiting for his reciprocation. She has conjoined herself mentally and physically to him. Now it is his turn to reciprocate.

He now has to do what it takes to conjoin her to himself!

The moment he starts this physiological process, both are thereby changed (see Section xx). Now they are finally taking off for their eternity. Now he can see that it is not the children or the career that is the most important for him and her. From now on he can clearly see that it is their unity together that is the purpose of the whole thing, and was the purpose all along. All else was necessary as a sort of intermediate stage for this, the real thing.

When the husband reaches this stage, he is called spiritually enlightened. What this means is discussed next.

(I) Ninth Conclusion: Divine Speech as Sacred Scripture Produces Consciousness and Enlightenment

The word enlightenment has been bandied about for centuries and more in our literature. Today’s new age gurus and authors use the word frequently. They use it to refer to something mystical that is beyond human words so they give it various symbolic names like Stillness, or Pure Consciousness, or Ego-less State, and so forth. What are these names but words we all know used in some unknown mysterious way – “beyond words to describe. You can only know it if you experience it.” This is what Diane and I call the conspiracy of the gurus (the title of one of our projected books). It’s a conspiracy of silent agreement by teachers, authors, seminar leaders, noted philosophers, etc. They did not enter into such an agreement officially or directly by talking to each other.

But they all make the same mysterious claim to would be followers and purchasers – Do what I tell you, step through these ritualistic hoops, meditate so many hours in so many ways that I tell you, purchase my books and audiotapes, believe in me like you believe in God, and at some unpredictable point, Voila! Your inner eyes will come alive and you will see this Pure Consciousness and you will feel its rational ecstasy, its bliss, its peak experience, and so forth. Some gurus add self-flagellation as a requirement, others advise against sexual contact with women. And so it goes. What are these things but entertainment for those who are not serious about eternity, about heaven and hell, about God.

The conspiracy of the gurus is centered in what is known in philosophy as nondualism or nonduality. The is the explicit justified denial of dualism or duality between God and human beings. The new age spirituality that has invaded the Western mind in the past few decades is a fundamental attack against the historical and ingrained Western rationality based on the duality of God vs. the universe, or of the Divine Human vs. created human beings. This philosophy is bent on merging the two worlds – the natural and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal. This merger is irrational and impossible as we can realize by rational analysis (already discussed in several Conclusions above).

The reality is that the only enlightenment is the spiritual light from God which we can receive in our mind through the interior way. An example is our conscience (See Section 7.0.4.1). We do absolutely nothing to construct our conscience. It is there for every human being. We instantly know what God defines as right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, real vs. delusional. It is the same with Sacred Scripture. Both of these methods are used by God to communicate with us individually. Every individual feels that their conscience is their own. It is one to one talk between God and human beings.

It is the same with Sacred Scripture. Since the beginning of creation God formed the minds of people in three ways:

  • (1) unconsciously, in the background; in the form of rationality;

  • (2) consciously, in the form of conscience, insight, inspiration;

  • (3) consciously, in the form of doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture.

All three methods are called true spiritual enlightenment. We have much to discuss about how these three methods actually work. To anticipate just a bit: There are two levels of reading Sacred Scripture. One is called the level of sensuous or mysterious spirituality, and the other is called the level of rationality, as discussed in these Ten Conclusions.

The lower, external, literal, historical level of reading Sacred Scripture creates religions – diversified, in conflict with each other, based on blind faith or persuasion (like so-called miracles and so-called holiness or saintliness). The higher, interior, universal, culture-free, genuine spiritual level creates theistic science, rationality, celestial thinking as in eternity. This is the level that reflects and contains Divine Speech, Divine Meaning, Divine Order. As we study this level of meaning of Divine Speech, we extract the inner hidden meaning by rational Conclusions. This is what God is talking to us about. It’s about our mind. Our eternity. Our heaven and hell. There is no other saintliness. No other holiness. No mystery. No ritual. Just this rational understanding of Divine Speech (see Section xx).

This reveals to us everything we want to know. We can understand all that we need to do and all that we can do. God is working for us because we are obeying His order. We must understand this Order to obey it, to put our mind in that Order. It is a rational Order because God is a Divine Human, has a mind, thinks, wants things, creates with purpose, loves. Divine Love is the desire God has to share what He has in His Mind, His Feelings of Bliss and Happiness, His way of loving one another. Sacred Scripture reveals at this level of reading and understanding the verses, that God creates the universe for the purpose of having endless numbers of human beings end up in the heaven of their conjugial eternity as husband and wife!! You can read that again, Steve We can prove it! this is Divine Love and this is the purpose of the universe. There is no mystery, only rationality.

(J) Tenth Conclusion: Salvation, Liberation, Peace, and Wisdom Are Attained By Spiritual Discipline

In a real sense this last Conclusion is the most important because the last and the beginning of anything contain all that is in between. The beginning of this is

God exists.

This is the starting point. All the rest follows logically from this one truth. And the ending is about salvation, liberation, peace, and wisdom, which must be obtained by spiritual discipline.

The purpose of spiritual discipline is twofold. The first is to prevent ourselves from choosing to live in the hells of our mind when we enter eternity at death. The second is to prepare ourselves to choose to live in the heavens of our mind. No other spiritual discipline is worth anything in comparison to these two steps. This is the spiritual discipline commanded by God in all Sacred Scripture and it has to do with how we can manage to enter heaven. God commands this discipline to influence us to follow it. He wants us to follow this discipline so that we may be successful in rejecting our inborn hellish loves, and in choosing our heavenly loves which are also given in our mind. The purpose of our life here on earth is to learn to reject the enjoyable hellish loves and to learn to feel attraction for the heavenly loves, which do not appear so enjoyable at first, but later, they are felt with far greater joy than anything before. Spiritual discipline leads to the death of the old corrupt self that hurts others and destroys self, to the birth of the new self, that respects others and enjoys virtuous mental states.

What is salvation? It is the acquired ability to reject hellish loves (egotism and lusts) and to accept heavenly loves (virtues and conjugial love). How do we know rationally which love is hellish and which is heavenly? How do we avoid doubt and confusion? People can be misled by teachers, writers, and prophets who promote untruth.

The only answer is from the Divine Psychologist and from Sacred Scripture when it is studied more and more at the interior spiritual level of meaning, not just at the literal historical level. The knowledge and understanding we get from this study and the consequent enlightenment, is called the Doctrine of Truth from Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

God the Divine Psychologist in every person's mind, manages all the details of our mind, the details we are aware of consciously and the details we are not aware of because they are going on unconsciously. The mind is an immortal biological engine that stays active from birth to endless eternity. How could an engine run by itself? It could not. God creates the immortal mental engine and keeps it running in such a way that it evolves more and more towards its perfection, never quite attaining it, but getting closer and closer to it endlessly. God manages this endless and ceaseless activity. Not a single thought or sensation can enter your mind or stay there as a memory by itself. God manages this process, just as God manages the details of the molecular motions that construct the biochemistry and physiology of your physical body. Nothing can run by itself, not a molecule, not a galaxy, not a human mind. And what is true of the whole is also true of every part. In other words, no part or detail of any activity can go on without God managing its course and existence. This conclusion is a logical necessity that follows from the premise that God is omnipotent. No detail can be exempted.

How do we know all this? God has revealed the method He uses for our regeneration, which is the containment or confinement of the hells in our mind, allowing the opening of the heavens in our mind. Regeneration is effected by temptations (see Section xx). God as the Divine Psychologist, brings us through sequenced experiences and their thoughts, so that we can consciously realize as-of ourselves, where the evil trait is in us, and where the heavenly trait is, i.e., which is which. Then the Divine Psychologist brings us into the temptation event which requires of us to use the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture that we have acquired in our thinking. This is the voice of conscience strengthened by reason. The Divine Psychologist activates our conscience in the affective organ, giving us a clear and intense feeling of right or wrong, good or bad. Then comes our turn. We reciprocate God's action by reasoning it out with the truths we have from Sacred Scripture in our mind from prior study. is reasoning process is the application of rational truth to the situation that our conscience has flagged for us. So the sequence is:

  • (1) situation, temptation event (God's action)

  • (2) voice of conscience (our reaction)

  • (3) reasoning with spiritual truth from Sacred Scripture (joint action God and us)

  • (4) resistance to and rejection of temptation, thus spiritual victory (as-of self battle and effort)

  • (5) new enlightenment and heavenly peace (our reception of God's action)

  • (6) new opening of our heaven (our love for virtues)

This process of God and human interactionism goes on hour by hour, every day, every year, until the passing on at death and the resuscitation in eternity. Then it continues there in our heaven, but in a different way. Those who choose to live in the hells of their mind do not regenerate any more. Hence they cannot improve. They cannot because they won’t. God never forces people against their free will choice. When a person insists on a certain choice and won't give it up no matter what, then God cooperates by giving the person the ability to carry out that choice. This is called being in the hells of your mind. God manages every detail in the hells and in the heavens. Both are details happening in the human mind of eternity. God manages all details. People who spend their eternity in the hells of their mind are managed by God so that (a) they don't get worse than they have to; (b) they don't torture others in hell beyond a certain point; and (c) they don't influence or possess the natural mind of people on earth except when they are raised into the resuscitation zone where they serve to excite temptations in people's minds (see Section xx).

There are natural temptations, spiritual temptations, and celestial temptations (see Section xx).

Exercise:
Here is an instructional story that I copied from an email discussion:

Seems there was a monk who plopped himself down in a busy marketplace in order to meditate on God. Rushing through the marketplace was a housewife. Focused on the shopping list in her mind, she bowled over the monk without realizing he was there, and hurriedly continued on her way. The monk quickly righted himself, and shouted after the woman, 'Why don't you watch where you're going? Can't you see I was meditating on God? How dare you, a lowly householder, disrespect a man of God!' The sharpness of the monk's voice having pierced her focused attention, the housewife stopped and turned. Realizing now what had happened, she said to the monk, 'I was concerned with my shopping list and didn't notice you. Had you been as concerned with God as I am with my shopping list, you wouldn't have noticed me!

What are your thoughts on this story in relation to the whole Section? Try to figure out the symbolism involved. What in our own lives is represented by the busy housewife and the uncharitable monk?

1.1.4.1  How the Idea of God Makes Us Immortal

In the following quote from the Writings Sacred Scripture "the learned" refers to the negative bias in science, while "the simple" refers to those who accept the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. If you read theistic psychology from the negative bias perspective of non-theistic psychology, you are called "the learned" because you accept the perspective of the negative bias scientists, as taught to you in your science education and professional enculturation. You are choosing by default to maintain this negative perspective on God and dualism. But when you accept what Sacred Scripture says in its literal sense, you are called "the simple" because you are not on your defensive guard when hearing about God and science in one focus. Here, Swedenborg is given to write down the content of his conversation with people who at resuscitation have arrived into the world of spirits with the negative bias perspective on dualism and the afterlife of eternity.

AC 3747. I have occasionally conversed with spirits concerning the learned of our age-that they know only the distinction of man into internal and external, and this not from any reflection on the interior things of the thoughts and affections in themselves, but from the Word of the Lord; and that still they are ignorant what the internal man is, and that many even have doubts as to whether it exists, and also deny its existence, because they do not live the life of the internal man, but that of the external; and because they are so much led astray by the appearance as regards brute animals, in their seeming like themselves in respect to organs, viscera, senses, appetites, and affections.

And it was said that the learned know less about such subjects than the simple, and that still they seem to themselves to know much more; for they dispute about the interaction of the soul and body, and even about the nature of the soul, as to what it is; when yet the simple know that the soul is the internal man, and that it is man's spirit which is to live after the death of the body; also that it is the real man which is in the body.

[2] And further it was said that more than the simple, the learned make themselves out to be like the brutes, and ascribe all things to nature, and scarcely anything to the Divine; and still further, that they do not reflect that as distinguished from brute animals man has a capacity for thinking about heaven, and about God, and thereby of being elevated above himself, consequently of being conjoined with the Lord by love; and thus that men cannot but live after death to eternity.

And it was added that they are especially ignorant that all things whatsoever belonging to man depend on the Lord through heaven, and that heaven is the Grand Man, to which correspond all things in man in both general and particular, and also all things in nature; and possibly when they shall hear and read these things they will seem to them like paradoxes, and unless experience confirms them they will reject them as a fanciful affair; as they will also do when they shall hear that there are three degrees of life in man, as there are three degrees of life in the heavens, that is, three heavens and that man so corresponds to the three heavens that when he is in the life of good and truth, and by this life an image of the Lord, he is himself in image a little heaven.

[3] I have been instructed concerning these degrees of life-that it is the last or ultimate degree of life which is called the external or natural man by which man is like animals as regards lusts and fantasies; that it is the second degree of life which is called the internal and rational man by which man is above animals, for it is through this that he is able to think and will what is good and true, and have dominion over the natural man, by restraining and also rejecting its lusts and the resultant fantasies, and also by reflecting within himself concerning heaven, nay, concerning Divine, which brute animals are altogether incapable of doing; and lastly that the third degree of life is that which is the most unknown to man, although it is that through which the Lord inflows into the rational mind, whereby man has the faculty of thinking as a man, and also has conscience, and perception of what is good and true, and also elevation by the Lord toward Himself.

But these things are remote from the ideas of the learned of this age, who merely dispute whether a thing exists; and who, so long as they do this, cannot know that it does exist, and still less what it is. (AC 3747)

In other words, when we place ourselves in a receptive perspective on God and Sacred Scripture we can know that we are eternal spirits in a temporary material body":

"the simple know that the soul is the internal man, and that it is man's spirit which is to live after the death of the body; also that it is the real man which is in the body."

What makes us immortal is not the prolongation of human life in the physical body. Our immortality must be something that we already possess in eternity.  The natural or animal mind cannot operate with concepts that are based on eternity. God and eternity are rational concepts, not physically sensuous or empirical.

[the learned] do not reflect that as distinguished from brute animals man has a capacity for thinking about heaven, and about God, and thereby of being elevated above himself, consequently of being conjoined with the Lord by love; and thus that men cannot but live after death to eternity.

Our life in eternity is possible because of our "conjunction with God by love." In other words, by having a rational concept of God, and by loving God, we are "conjoined" to God. Since God is in eternity, we are being conjoined to immortal life in eternity. Without this knowledge of God, we cannot be conjoined to eternity. All human beings have a rational level of thinking and have an idea of God and eternity. Hence all human beings are immortal. Note what the passage says about our mind being "in image a little heaven":

there are three degrees of life in man, as there are three degrees of life in the heavens, that is, three heavens and that man so corresponds to the three heavens that when he is in the life of good and truth, and by this life an image of the Lord, he is himself in image a little heaven.

We have both hell and heaven in the mind (see Section xx). This is obvious to everyone when we reflect on how we sometimes feel great and at other times we feel bad, even very very bad. When we feel bad we cannot be in our heaven, obviously, since heaven is nothing else than feeling good. If we are not in our heaven, we are in our hell. We alternate in our heavenly feelings and hellish feelings. Similarly, when we are in our heaven we not only feel good but we are being genuine, authentic, real. We are being good to others, and that's the main source of our feeling good.

  • Heaven is feeling good from doing good, and feeling bad from doing bad.

  • Hell is feeling good from doing bad, and feeling bad from doing good.

The feelings in the hell of our mind appear to be good but are the opposite in disguise. What creates this falsified appearance? It's critical to know this. Without knowing this we are unable to recover once we are in the hell of our mind. No one knows the answer to this except from Sacred Scripture in its scientific correspondential sense.

The reason why doing bad appears good to us when we are in the hell of our mind, is that doing bad is a sensorimotor act that follows from the conjunction or cooperative action between a prior affective act (intending bad) and a corresponding cognitive act. There must be a corresponding cognitive act to the bad intention. The cognitive act is the act of justifying the evil intention by thinking that in this case it is good despite what it looks like. This gives us permission to carry out the bad act. For example, you finally find a parking space after having to look for it a long time, and when you get there you notice that one of the adjoining cars parked over the white line in the vacant parking space. You realize there is not enough space for you to pull in and be able to open the door to get out. You feel angry against the inconsiderate driver. You get out and with your key you scratch the side of the offending car. You feel better as you drive away.

What happened here? When you realized you would not be able to park, you felt very bad. You were in the hell of your mind. That is, your consciousness descended into that portion of your mind that is the source of bad feelings and negative emotions. None of these feelings or emotions are possible when your consciousness ascends into the heaven of your mind. You are in your hell when you feel the awful explosion inside of you as you explode with anger and fury. What is this feeling? It is not a civilized feeling. It is not a rational feeling. It is a dangerous feeling. It is hostile. That feeling now activated in you, wants to continue living and enduring in you. It attaches itself to your consciousness. Now you are immersed in that feeling of rage. It surrounds you. It is like drowning.

As the evil feeling struggles to continue surviving in you, it searches your memory and your philosophy and quickly finds a situational condition, an exception clause to the general rule. The general rule is that you think of yourself as good person at least some of the time, and some people think they are good most of the time. This is the reputation a person has with himself or herself. So as you think of yourself as a good person, but you are now feeling like retaliating against the other driver, you give yourself permission to do something bad by justifying it, which means finding a rationale that would allow you to do and still you could retain the reputation of being a good person.

For example, you might think that the other driver is a really really bad person for doing this to you. He or she is a menace to everyone. Somebody ought to teach this inconsiderate person a lesson. Everybody will be benefited in the future if you teach this person a lesson. You go ahead and plan some act of hostility and retaliation. You see the opportunity as you are holding the key in your hand standing by the other car. You go ahead and key the car leaving a long scratch. You are feeling better for doing something bad but in your mind it is not bad. It is just and deserved punishment. You are unable to see that your consciousness is now rooting itself in the hell of your mind.

How do you get out of hell? We do it by rational understanding.

In order to understand ourselves we need to know that we are living mentally along three levels or degrees of operation called natural, rational, and celestial. The natural degree of our life is called the natural mind or the natural self. We share this degree of life with animals. Next, the second degree of our life is called rational. Animals do not possess this degree of life. The rational mind or self is capable of understanding the difference between God and us, and possesses the voice of conscience by which we know right from wrong and good from evil (See Section 7.0.4.1). Next, the celestial mind is unconscious while we are attached to the physical body. After resuscitation, we continue life in eternity in the conscious awareness of our celestial mind, which sometimes is also called the spiritual mind (see Section xx). In the quote above (AC 3747) these three degrees of life are described as follows:

(a) it is the last or ultimate degree of life which is called the external or natural man by which man is like animals as regards lusts and fantasies;

(b) it is the second degree of life which is called the internal and rational man by which man is above animals, for it is through this that he is able to think and will what is good and true, and have dominion over the natural man, by restraining and also rejecting its lusts and the resultant fantasies, and also by reflecting within himself concerning heaven, nay, concerning Divine, which brute animals are altogether incapable of doing;

(c) the third degree of life is that which is the most unknown to man, although it is that through which the Lord inflows into the rational mind, whereby man has the faculty of thinking as a man, and also has conscience, and perception of what is good and true, and also elevation by the Lord toward Himself.

In other words, the thoughts and feelings in our natural mind are created out of the sensorimotor experience in our daily living with the physical body. At birth our natural mind is empty of sensory or cultural content. Animals on the other hand are born with specific content that varies with each species. As a result they do not need to be educated in culture and language. Some animals are separated from parents immediately at birth so they cannot be trained, and there are species that fend for themselves from the moment of birth. Both these types of animals are able to survive and thrive. Observation shows that small animals with simple physiology, like ants and bees, engage in complex social interactions by inborn mental processing that operates in their natural mind. Nevertheless, no matter how much complexity animals are born with, their natural mind is physiologically not capable of operations that belong to the human rational mind. We may be very impressed by the intelligence demonstrated by our pets of many species, but we all know that they will never be able to vote or to plan for a wedding.

We are human not because we have a natural mind, like animals, capable of learning from experience and of adapting to changing conditions in the environment.

We are human because we have a rational mind above our natural mind.

The rational mind is the beginning of being human (see Section xx).

The quote above says that the second degree of our life is called rational and it is by this means that we are "above animals."  This means that we are able "to have dominion" over our "lusts and fantasies." To be above something physically corresponds mentally to a higher level of functioning -- being able to realize and understand what we cannot at a lower level. This brings the power to control. In human beings the rational self has a built in dominance or power over the natural self. This is the reason that civilization is able to grow from savage to modern. Our history of development or evolution clearly shows that the rational mind of the human race is gaining power over the natural mind. For example, today we have countries called democracies that have laws that protect the human rights of people and their fundamental right to due process regardless of social standing and power. Contrast this with what the attitude is in countries that are not practicing democracies. 

Contrast how people are today and how they appear to be from the Old Testament or other historical documents. Our modern mentality is elevated compared to them. They had laws in place that discriminated against people on the basis of birth and race. They had laws that allowed the abuse of women by men. Etc. We can easily see that the mentality of the human race was much more animalistic and less rational in comparison to today. These changes occurred gradually as the rational mind was able to put the natural mind under its control.

The quote above points out that the natural mind of human beings, no more than the natural mind of animals, is not capable of "reflecting within himself concerning heaven, nay, concerning Divine, which brute animals are altogether incapable of doing." The more we are rational the better we are able to reflect on God, dualism and the afterlife of eternity. These are rational ideas, rational concepts, not natural. The natural mind can learn a definition of the word "God" or the expression "the afterlife in eternity." But this would merely be rote memory, not rational understanding. The natural mind can only understand concepts or meanings that are based in the sensory experience we have through the physical body. These natural concepts contain the perspective and the assumptions of space, time, and matter. This is why the natural mind sticks with the negative bias in science. In our natural mind, there is no possibility of creating real-world concepts about no-time, no-space, no-matter. Hence God and eternity cannot be accepted as a possibility.

No rational concept can be accepted at the natural level.

The quote above says that it is not until the next higher degree of life called the celestial mind, that we become true and genuine human beings. This degree is called "the most unknown" while we are still connected to the physical body. That it is "most unknown" signifies that it is unconscious while we are connected to the physical body, thus before resuscitation (see Section xx). It is revealed that spiritual heat and spiritual light "inflow into the rational mind." from the Spiritual Sun, or God. In other words the capacity to have genuinely human feelings and to think rationally in our daily living, is a capacity that unconsciously flows into the rational mind through our celestial mind. The more we grow in rational spirituality the more we are allowing this celestial influx to influence and manage our daily thoughts and feelings. These more interior rational understandings elevate us in consciousness and operation to the celestial level of life. We can now extract spiritual truths from Sacred Scripture and live according to them (see Section xx). We thereby obtain the life of heaven here, while we are still in the physical sphere, and then afterward, in our conjugial eternity in heavenly life (see Section xx).

For views on God that appear related to theistic psychology, but are not, see:

Thomas Aquinas: Reasons in Proof of the Existence of God (1270) at:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/aquinas3.html

Charles Tart: A Future for Dualism as an Empirical Science. (2006). 
http://www.newdualism.org/papers/C.Tart/Tart-Dualism.pdf

A Practical Man's Proof of God:  http://www.doesgodexist.org/Phamplets/Mansproof.html

Scientific Proof Of God:  http://www.allaboutcreation.org/scientific-proof-of-god-faq.htm

If you google "proof of God" you will get more links of this type.

1.1.4.1.1   The Incarnation Event: God Enters the World of History and Science

About two thousand years ago an extraordinary and totally unique event took place that altered the course of human evolution in a fundamental way that is only now being discovered by science. The Universal God the Divine Human, Creator and Manager of the universe, entered history and science by the Incarnation Event (see entry for Incarnation Event in the Subject Index in Volume 18).

This event had been foretold in the most ancient Sacred Scriptures (see Section xx).

The ancient prophecy was given at the beginning of a phase of human evolution called The Fall (see Section xx). Before this, the celestial human race existed on this earth (see Section xx). At the end of this phase called the Golden Period, the new spiritual phase began on this earth. We are of this race. We are called spiritual in contradistinction to the earlier race called celestial. The human mind was created in three discrete layers -- celestial, spiritual, natural (see Section xx). Hence the evolution of the race must follow the anatomical composition of the human mind. The celestial layer of the human race was evolved, developed, and completed through the lives of the individuals that lived in the early generations on this earth. When the celestial anatomical layer was complete, the celestial race was "consummated" or extinguished. A few "remnants" whose anatomical structures deviated from the norm were the carriers that insured the connection between the extinguished celestial race and the newly beginning spiritual race.

As we are part of the spiritual race we possess a functioning operational celestial layer of our mind even though nothing of its operations is conscious to us. Our celestial mind is above our spiritual mind, a discrete degree within it, and whatever is within or above, is far superior all that is below it. Our celestial mind is far superior to our spiritual mind. But even so, we only become conscious of our spiritual mind after resuscitation (see Section xx). This happens just a few hours after physical death. When we are resuscitated we at first are conscious in our natural mind, which is the layer we know ourselves in everyday life here on earth. This natural layer forms the content of who we know ourselves to be. But shortly thereafter our natural mind begins to fade like a distant memory -- our identity, profession, hobbies, knowledge of history and science -- all of this that is stored up in our natural mind, slowly begins to fade like a distant memory from childhood or some land we once visited.  See the Layers Diagram.

This happens because the natural mind is totally unsuited for life in eternity which is a mental world without time, space, matter, or sickness and death. Everything now depends on our rational feeling and thinking. What kind of people we are with and what the environment and situation is like, depends entirely on our ruling loves. Not like before on earth out of which the content of the natural mind was formed. Now in eternity the laws that govern reality are purely rational laws. To try to operate with the natural mind after resuscitation doesn't get you anywhere. You have to disregard your identity, your culture, your nominal religion, your citizenship awards, your achievements and reputation -- all of these things are formed in your natural mind and are part of the natural mind. But after resuscitation you are existing in your spiritual mind.

Swedenborg reports that some people he talked to after resuscitation insisted on not letting go of the natural mind. The only way this is possible is to act insane in the spiritual mind, pretending by fantasy that you are still in your natural mind and in your physical body on earth. The result of this spiritual inanity is very sad and frightening. People in this mental state are victims of their own emotions and feelings. In the spiritual mind the environment around you is created by correspondences of your emotions and thoughts. So if you have insane thoughts and emotions the environment you exist in are correspondences to them in the natural world. For instance the intention to rob someone by misleading them and posing as a friend, immediately causes deadly scorpions and poisonous flying snakes with an ominous darkening of the skies. So the intended victim can immediately recognize the stranger's evil intentions. Nevertheless, some victims who are also spiritually insane, fantasize something totally different that is going on. And so they fall victim to the machinations of others. And Swedenborg reports that no matter how clever someone is, there is one who is more clever in and endless series of the layer of the human mind called the hells.

Everyone is born into eternity with a permanent and immortal mental body and temporary physical body (see Section xx). After the celestial race was extinguished, as discussed above, what happened to those people who had been celestial and had lived on earth all those generations? Well, they were in the immortal heavens of their mind called the celestial heavens of the most ancient peoples (see Section xx). Swedenborg visited with them in their mental states, seeing the habitations they lived in that corresponded to their feelings and thoughts. So even though the celestial race died out on earth, the people of that race continued to evolve in their celestial heavens.

This fact is of greatest importance for us to understand because our unconscious celestial mind is made up of their celestial heavens. Whatever the mental operations they experience, these are the causes of the operations in our unconscious spiritual mind. And whatever we experience here in our conscious natural mind is a consequence of the operations going on in our spiritual mind, which are connected by correspondence to the celestial mind of those who are in that state. Hence it is that the various distinct layers of the human mind are connected by the laws and operations of correspondence (see Section xx).

The Universal God the Divine Human manages the layers of the human mind through the laws of correspondences. Divine Speech or Divine Truth issues forth from God's mind into the layers of the human mind, first into the inmost or highest layer called celestial heavens, and from there in descends or externalizes by correspondence into the spiritual layer of our mind, and from there by correspondence into the conscious natural layer of our mind where it presents itself as Sacred Scripture in a natural historical language. This process of the sequence of correspondences initiated by Divine Speech is the continuous and permanent method by which God rules the universe (see Section xx). See the Layers Diagram.

Until two thousand years ago the long history of evolution of the race on earth was managed by God the Divine Human in this way through correspondences. But there was a creeping mentality of materialism that came about as the natural mind of the human race on earth was becoming more scientific and more rational in consciousness, mentality, and civilization. In order to allow for democratic modernism to evolve on this planet it was necessary to develop the sensuous sub-layer of the natural mind as opposed to its rational layer. The sensuous layer of the natural mind tends to be submerged into materialism to such an extent that we start denying the existence of God or the afterlife of eternity. These concepts require a rational understanding and when people reject rational understanding as not important to them, they lose the ability to comprehend spiritual things like theistic psychology. See the Layers Diagram.

So materialism was strengthened while religious ideas and practices became cultural and national expressions rather than spiritual.  Once people lost their rational ability to see spiritual truths and realities, they could no longer be conscious or aware of the existence of God and the afterlife. Even those who had religious ideas and practices could not understand Sacred Scripture in a universal scientific or rational sense.

What was God going to do about this? This was a serious situation where the human race could die out so that those who were already in their eternity could also be destroyed since the created order no longer worked to keep all things into one synergistic unit. Of course God had already provided for the solution since the beginning of creation, since to God all things are united into one -- past, present, and all future. The solution had to be such that the natural mind could once more recognize that God exists.

God cannot exist for us in full strength or conjunction unless each individual reciprocates God's love for the individual. We must acknowledge God's love for us or else we cannot closely be conjoined to God. And without this there are consequences. God manages molecules, planets, animals, and all things directly by correspondences which provide for the cause-effect relation between adjacent layers of discrete degrees (see Section xx). God manages human beings in two ways. One is immediately and unconsciously across the layers of the mind. The second is mediately and consciously through the conscious layers of the mind. The celestial race is conscious at the celestial level. The spiritual race is conscious at the natural level prior to resuscitation, and afterwards at the spiritual level. When materialism took hold of the natural mind on earth, God disappeared from conscious awareness of people on earth.

The prior conscious awareness of God was replaced by a blind faith in God.

But a blind faith is not the same as a rational faith based on conscious understanding of God such as we have in theistic psychology. Blind faith only enters the natural layer of the mind. The spiritual layer requires rational faith. So while people on earth had a rational faith in their unconscious celestial and spiritual mind, they only had a blind faith at the conscious natural level.

The only way God could remedy this situation is by entering history and science.

God made Himself be born as a Divine Human Child. This Child was at first not conscious of who He was, namely the Incarnated God in the natural or physical world. God the Divine Human was always both Divine and Human. This is why He created human beings who are in His Image as the Divine Human. So God has always been in the Human Form. However, God's Human Form was a mental body that consisted of a celestial affective organ and a spiritual cognitive organ. The affective organ is in the Human Form and the cognitive organ is in the Human Form. This is therefore also true of us. Our affective and cognitive organs are both in the human form.

However, God did not have a physical body. This was completely unnecessary in the prior generations because people could see spiritually, and therefore they could see God's Human Form replicated in their own mental body. People were able to look upon the human form they had and see God's Human Form. But after the Fall, the spiritual race was no longer able to see God's Human Form in their own body and mind. Whenever God wanted people to have a communicative exchange with Him He would "possess" or take over the conscious mind of an individual in the celestial or spiritual race in their heavens. They were called "angels" when they appeared to people's natural consciousness. God spoke through the angels and everyone could see and hear that.

But once materialism crept into the mind, people were no longer able to even believe that there are angels, let alone see and hear them through their internal mind. In the past God could communicate with people's internal mind and thereby influence them and protect them. But this path of communications was destroyed by materialistic thinking which denied God and taught the negative bias in science. This is what you and I were taught in our generation. Hence we no longer had the ability to hear God, to recognize Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture.

But when God entered the physical world, this suddenly changed. The Divine Child grew into an adult male and He declared Himself to be Divine. God's life on earth as a citizen of a small mid-eastern nation created a historical biography, which makes God's presence on earth a historical fact. This was His mission, to make Himself once more visible to humankind on earth. Now people had a choice as to whether to acknowledge God or not. People did not have that choice before God's Incarnation.

Furthermore, by entering history, God entered science.

It is true that the literal sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture is used as a religion by various groups who disagree with each other on almost everything about God and the afterlife. It is the literal sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture that gives the historical account of God's Incarnation and its details.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 2803. (...) But the Divine Human which was born from eternity was also born in time; and what was born in time, and glorified, is the same. Hence it is that the Lord so often said that He was going to the Father who sent Him; that is, that He was returning to the Father. And in John: [New Testament Sacred Scripture]

In the beginning was the Word (the "Word" is the Divine Truth itself), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-3, 14; see also John 3:13; 6:62).

(AC 2803)

Doc. Lord 1. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the

Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
The light is come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19).
While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be sons of light. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me should not abide in the darkness (John 12:36, 46).

From these passages [in the New Testament Sacred Scripture] it is evident that the Lord is God from eternity, and that this God is the selfsame Lord who was born in the world; for it is said that the Word was with God, and God was the Word, and also that without Him was not anything made that was made; and it is added that the Word was made flesh, and they beheld Him. (Lord 1)

TCR 3. (...) Jehovah God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, or Good itself and Truth itself. He came down in the form of Divine Truth, which is the Word and which was God with God, and took upon Himself human form, so as to reduce to order everything in heaven, in hell and in the church. For at that time the power of hell was stronger than the power of heaven, and on earth the power of evil was stronger than the power of good, so that utter damnation stood threatening at the gates. This impending damnation was removed by Jehovah God by means of His Human, which was Divine Truth, and thus angels and men were redeemed. Afterwards He united in His Human Divine Truth with Divine Good, or Divine Wisdom with Divine Love, and so returned into the Divinity which was His from eternity, together with and in His glorified Human. This is the meaning of the passage in John: [New Testament Sacred Scripture]

The Word was with God and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh. John 1:1, 14.

(TCR 3)

Here there is an explanation about the New Testament Sacred Scripture saying that "the Word was God ... And the Word was made flesh." The Word" = Divine Truth or Divine Speech = God the Divine Human. "Was made flesh" = incarnation in a physical body on earth. That this was God who incarnated is clear from the statement that "the Word was God' and that the Word was made flesh. Hence it was God who incarnated in a physical body on earth. This is the Divine Child (see Section xx).

The literal sense of Sacred Scripture is always used by religion, not science. Hence there are disagreements according to culture and interpretation. But the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture reveals its scientific sense, which is universal because it does not mention culture or anything in the natural mind, but only the spiritual and celestial mind. Theistic psychology is based only on the correspondential sense and hence cannot be identified with any religion. The Incarnation Event is therefore not only an religious event but an evolutionary scientific event.

The correspondential sense of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture reveals that the Divine Child created a new layer in His Natural mind that did not exist before in the human race. This new layer is called the spiritual-natural layer or the interior-natural layer. Once this layer was created in the Divine Child's mind, it became available to every human being, past, present, and future. This was the momentous new evolutionary step that was taken by the human race about two thousand years (see Section xx). See the Layers Diagram.

From then on we would be able to be consciously aware of spiritual truths. This fact then restored the race to its celestial level, though in a totally different way. Now we would be able to receive a new mind that was not contaminated by inherited evils. This new mind then could form the basis for our heavenly eternity. This new mind was constructed within our natural mind, so that we could be conscious of it. But this ability would be dependent on our regeneration. Only when we are willing to undergo character reformation, can we see anything with this new spiritual-natural capacity (see Section xx). This requires the positive bias and theistic psychology.

There remains a logical puzzle about the Incarnation Event. The New Testament Sacred Scripture records few biographical facts about God's life on earth as a citizen of the Ancient Holy Land. Almost all the facts reported about Him are external, belonging to His social and political life. Almost nothing is recorded about His state of mind, what He thought of as a Divine Man on earth, or what He was busy doing in the universe while He was growing up as a Divine Child. But these biographical facts about God's inner life while on earth are revealed in the correspondential sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, written hundreds of years prior to the Incarnation Event! For instance, the Psalms of David, one of the Books of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, records the thoughts and feelings that King David had when he was stressed under attack from his political enemies from whom he was forced to flee for awhile.

By Divine Providence David was allowed to think, compose, and write down only those thoughts and emotions, that corresponded to what the Divine Child would undergo mentally when stressed under the attack of the hells. And similarly with the histories of the the patriarchs and their families that make up a large portion of the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Every recorded detail fits by correspondence all the developmental stages that the Divine Child went through in order to create the new human organ called the interior-natural organ within the conscious natural mind (see Section xx). This new creation was one of the central purposes for God's Incarnation, as explained above.

So we have all these biographical details of the thoughts and feelings of the Divine Child during the Incarnation Event. So the puzzle is this: What explains the strange history of God, portrayed as a political problem to the authorities of the land and was put to death by them at age 33? What happened to God on earth so that these events could befall Him? After all He was God, and so He was still omnipotent and running all things in the universe. He was of course running the details of His Own Incarnation. He was running the minds of the authorities who tried and condemned Him, and He was running the Roman soldiers who executed Him.

After the execution and His death, He caused Himself to be resuscitated in His physical or natural body.

This was a unique event in the history of the human race. God the Divine Human was now equipped with a Natural Body, born and grown on earth in time-space, in history and science. God's relationship to the human race took a whole new turn, that was not possible before. Now God could be seen in the conscious awareness of the natural mind. It is easy to picture and see in one's mind the event of God as a Man with a Natural Body, a Face, Hands, Feet, Heart, Lungs, Liver, etc. God was always in the Human Form, as explained above, but now in addition to the mental human form, God acquired the natural human form.

Note carefully this detail: human beings do not resuscitate in the physical body.

We resuscitate in the mental body in the afterlife of  eternity (see Section xx). The physical body or corpse, disintegrates. But with Himself, God caused His resuscitation with the physical body. Swedenborg confirms that He often saw God's Natural Body in eternity , and in fact, we will all be able to confirm this with our own observation when we are resuscitated. All those who were in their heaven in eternity could also see God's Natural Body there.

God's Natural Body in eternity is not physical but substantial. This is described and explained under the topic of "glorification" (see Section xx).

Note that without the idea of God's Natural Body born on this earth it is not possible to picture God in any way since He is infinite and we cannot picture something that is not in the human form. The religions based on the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, including the Koran Sacred Scripture, created the rule that it is not permitted to picture God in human form. And this is understandable for it is not possible to picture an infinite God who is not in the human form. Now if you allow the Incarnation Event as part of theistic psychology, it is permitted to picture God in the human form. Now we know what God looks like in the Natural Form, namely like we do. And this is why it is said in Sacred Scripture that we were created in God's Image and Likeness.

So by creating a Natural Body for Himself God changed His relationship to the human race. In this way He repaired the loss suffered by the race called the Fall (see above). The race had already completed the celestial and spiritual layers of the mental world of eternity, and now it was necessary to complete the last layer called the spiritual-natural or interior-natural layer of the mental world. This required that God obtain for Himself a Natural Body on earth.

The sad and ignominious details of God's short  life on earth was constructed by God for the sake of correspondences. In Sacred Scripture God's incarnation is called "the Word made flesh" (as discussed above). He is Divine Speech, He is Divine Truth, He is Sacred Scripture or "the Word." Written Sacred Scripture had been given to people since the Fall, but with the rise of materialistic thinking people lost the spiritual meaning of Sacred Scripture and interpreted all its meanings with materialistic ideas. For instance, they pictured the afterlife as happening here in the physical world. They rejected the idea of an afterlife in mental eternity. They could not comprehend such a thing.

As a result, they reinterpreted Sacred Scripture to suit their pet philosophies and political lifestyles. Hence Sacred Scripture lost all its spiritual value and it became useless for the purpose of preparing oneself for a life in eternity. In other words, they "killed the Word."  Since God was "the Word" or Sacred Scripture, He enacted in physical life by correspondence, what people had done to Sacred Scripture over the generations. They perverted Sacred Scripture for their political gain, thus killing God in their own mind. When God incarnated, He created those details in His biography on earth that corresponded and represented the details of how Sacred Scripture was killed in the minds of people.

Henceforth people would no longer be able to kill Sacred Scripture in their mind because it is now known in history and science that God is a Man, and that His Divine Speech is Sacred Scripture. The human race is now on a permanent rise in evolution so that any individual regardless of cultural or religious background, can have a living relationship with God the Divine Human born on this earth. In theistic psychology this living relationship is called the Divine Psychologist (see Section xx).

It is important to have a rational understanding of God (see Section xx). This understanding requires knowing about correspondences, that is, knowing how God has formed all things in discrete non-overlapping layers of existence. The only connection between the layers is that they operate together by correspondences. The layers have no independent existence of functioning.  It is that the human mind, or the world of eternity, was created by God in corresponding layers so that all the layers react to each other as cause and effect. In this way the entire creation is held together as one in God's Mind.

Further, you need to remember the distinction between "God as He is in Himself" and "God as He is Outside of Himself" (see Section xx). God as He is in Himself is changeless from eternity to eternity, is infinite, incomprehensible, and cannot be approached directly. Because of this, God created the mental world of eternity, and then the physical world of time linked to it by correspondences. God's creative activities are rational and developmental. When the human mental world evolved sufficiently in the course of numerous generations, it reached a phase where God could reveal Himself in a Natural Body taken up from earth. So God made Himself be born a Divine Child in the land that had been entrusted by Him centuries before, to study and protect the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. This Sacred Scripture was a theistic psychology textbook on what the Divine Child is going to do, what thoughts He is going to have, and how He is going to change the psychobiology of the mental world in eternity. Every human being past, present, and future will therefore be directly affected by this change.

God's Natural Body is Divine because it is made of Divine substances. All the substances of earth or matter that formed His inherited physical body had been replaced by the death and resurrection process. Now God had a Divine Natural Body along with His Divine Natural Mind He constructed for Himself on earth. This is the Body that can now be seen by anyone from the spiritual and celestial layers of their mind (see Section xx).

But it is necessary to think of this Natural Body as Divine, and therefore infinite. This is a difficult idea to comprehend rationally and without the idea of space, time, or place (see Section xx).

God's Natural Body can be seen by anyone, regardless of where they are or which way they turn. Swedenborg confirmed this amazing phenomenon. He observed with the people who live in the third heaven or celestial mind, that whichever way they turn turn or face, the Spiritual Sun in which God's Natural Body appears, remains in front of them at the same altitude of height on the horizon, and, equally brilliant in light. God can now appear in this Natural Body in every individual's mind. This is why the Incarnation Event had to happen. This Divine Human Natural Body is in every place but apart from space (see Section xx). It is therefore omnipresent. That is, God the Divine Human is omnipresent and omnipotent in this Divine Human Natural Body.

1.1.4.1.1.1   Completion of the Creation of the Human Race

The Writings Sacred Scripture reveal many historical and scientific details about the earlier stage of evolution of the human race called the celestial race (or "Most Ancient Church"). We are part of the subsequent phase of evolution called the spiritual race, that started with "the Fall." Compared to the celestial human race we are called a "fall" because the spiritual character is lower than the celestial character in the human mind. When our consciousness is in the celestial mind, our human potentials are incomparably greater and more wonderful, than the potentials we have in the spiritual layer of our mind. Right now, in the consciousness of our natural mind here on earth, we function incomparably lower in potential than we do in our spiritual mind. See the Layers Diagram.

Nevertheless there is an immense difference between the natural mind when it is ordered by the celestial mind, in comparison to the natural mind when it is ordered by the spiritual mind.

 With the generations of the celestial race on earth, the natural mind was the foundation and basis for the celestial mind. When this is the case, the natural mind is angelic and the physical environment on earth is a paradise, since the physical is a reflection of the mental. In the course of time and further evolutionary changes, this celestial human race died out on earth, though not of course in their eternal habitations in heaven, where they were visited by Swedenborg in the eighteenth century. But after the Fall, the spiritual race began out of a few transitional people from the celestial race.

With the Fall, paradise earth started changing to reflect the mental character of the spiritual race. You know what that character is, since we are part of that spiritual race of humanity. We are a mixture of heaven and hell so that we alternate between heavenly traits and hellish traits. For instance, one minute we are happy and having a good time, the next minute someone insults us, and we feel like hell. Or, one minute two people are happy and nice with each other, and the next minute they start disagreeing, fighting, and injuring each other. One minute we steal something when no one is looking, the next minute we buy someone a birthday present. One minute a child is happy, agreeable, cooperative, and the next minute the child is throwing a temper tantrum and breaking things.

So we are a mixture of heaven and hell in our mind while we are here on earth. So now the question arises: How is the spiritual race being regenerated by God so that we can prepare for heaven in eternity? Since we are a mixture of heaven and hell, how do we make sure that heaven prevails, and not hell, when we are resuscitated? This is where the Incarnation Event comes in.

In the era of the celestial race on earth, the environment was a paradise in reflection of the peaceful and spiritual love they all felt for each other as human beings. After the Fall, the spiritual race had a ferocious character when hellish, and a peaceful character when heavenly. To reflect this ambivalence, the physical environment split into diverse zones and climates, some extreme, harsh, and inimical to survival, reflecting the hellish traits, and some favorable and moderate, reflecting the heavenly traits. Poisonous species of animals and plants, and natural disasters reflect the spiritual race's hellish traits. Useful animals and plants, and the beauty of nature, reflect their heavenly traits.

God manages the spiritual race's regeneration on earth by means of Sacred Scripture. Every civilization and tribe in the spiritual race has received some form of oral or written revelation. These revelations contain spiritual truths. When these are memorized and rationally understood, it elevates the mentality and consciousness of the individual. With the reasoning process based on truths from revelation, people of the spiritual race are able to look objectively at their hellish traits, to identify them, to condemn them, to resist them, and finally, to get rid of them so that the hellish traits are no longer loved and enjoyed, but the opposite. This is the sole method by which God regenerates the spiritual race.

This process worked for many generations until people began to deliberately falsify the truths in revelation. They taught the people to acquire a form of relationship to God called blind faith.  Instead of studying the sacred texts of revelation, the people turned to interpretations of revelation written by various people who wanted to exploit them for their own gain. As a result, a diverse religious culture of blind faith evolved throughout earth and the rational understanding of God was no longer honored or valued. This brought about an evolutionary crisis in the spiritual race on earth. Because the truths of Sacred Scripture were cut off from the people, they were no longer able to be regenerated by God.

At that point in time, God entered the physical world. The instant that God was born as s Divine Child and citizen of a country on earth, everything about the universe and the human race was forever altered in a most profound way.

Until that instant, no one of the human race, either in eternity or on any of the countless earths in the universe, was able to form a direct substantive idea of God, but only an indirect abstract idea. The instant that the Divine Child was born, everyone in the human race, past and future, would be able to form a direct and substantive idea of God.

Until barely two thousand years ago, when the Incarnation Event occurred on this planet, it was impossible for the human race to see God sensuously, or to form a sensuous image of God. The Writings Sacred Scripture tell us that the most ancient generations on this earth, called the celestial race (see Section xx), some of whom Swedenborg interviewed in their eternity, had from revelation, the idea of God as a Divine Human or God Man. They were unable to see this Divine Human Man, but they knew from revelation that one day they will be able to see God directly, when He incarnates, and they looked forward to that experience. At last, two thousand years ago, they suddenly were able to see the Divine Human Himself.

God does appear indirectly in all Sacred Scripture as a Divine Man since God refers to Himself by "I" and by a Name, talks about His hopes and loves for human beings, tells us He "hates sin," etc. So the omnipotent God, who is the Creator and Manager of the universe, is a Divine Person, with feelings and thoughts, thus with affective and cognitive organs. In the Old Testament Sacred Scripture written thousands of years before the Incarnation event, there are passages describing encounters between God and human beings. Each time God appears to the person, not as Himself, but through representation by another human being. People's spiritual mind was made conscious for a few minutes, and they were able to see "angels" or people who already live in their heavenly eternity. But no one could see God because God was not yet visible, that is, did not yet acquire a physical or natural body.

Since God was not visible, He had to act through the mind of intermediaries, namely "angels" which a word in Hebrew meaning "messenger of God." This worked well while people were willing to listen to and obey God through His intermediaries. Eventually, people drifted into selfishness and started thinking and enjoying acting contrary to God's order and harmony in their mind. The result was the activation of the hells in the human mind or mental world. This is called the Fall of the race on this earth (see Section xx). Once hellish traits and enjoyments were passed on by inheritance, God had to create new conditions in the mental world of humanity that would allow people to inhibit and suppress their hellish traits.

This new evolutionary condition was the direct presence of God in our conscious natural mind. The Incarnation Event accomplished this.

The construction of a new physiological organ in the natural mind of humanity gave this new ability to every human being -- namely, the ability to see God, to form a concrete picture upon which we can base our concept and knowledge and love. By loving this new presence of God in our mind as a Divine Natural Man, we are able to operationalize the new spiritual-natural organ, to make it fully functional in our mind, and thus to see God as reality. From this seeing, we derive new powers to suppress and separate from ourselves the hellish traits we inherited or acquired. This process is called regeneration (see Section xx). From now on every individual, regardless of knowledge or religion or culture, has the power to be good by opposing the bads in oneself, and thereby, effective prepare a mind that can live in an eternal conjugial heaven (see Section xx).

The immensity of this difference, achieved in one instant of existence, is somewhat like the difference between a paradisal garden and a burning inferno, or like the difference between a fleet of new cars in perfect running condition and a heap of rusted metals in a cemetery for discarded cars. This immense and incomparable difference is reflected by the human race before the Incarnation Event and the after. It is the difference caused by an indirect abstract idea of God versus a direct substantive idea of God.

How can this be explained rationally and scientifically?

Remember that there is only one mental world (see Section xx). So when God incarnated as man in a physical body, His thoughts and feelings as the Divine Child occurred in this one mental world of humanity. This Divine Child was able to go through and alternate between two mental states called "humiliation / exinanition" and "glorification / Divine." The text of the New Testament Sacred Scripture records various historical and biographical events about the Divine Man that portray these two states He went through. While the Divine Human natural man was in a state of humiliation, He was in a schizoid state, knowing He was God, but unable to feel Divine power and omniscience. While in this mental state, God Man was able to descend to the hells in Him, that He inherited through the virgin birth by an ordinary and preselected woman. This woman also inherited the hells from her parents, and passed it on in the birth of the Divine Child. Now the Divine Child was able to face these hells in Himself.

This was a most momentous event in the history of human evolution. Remember that there is only one mental world, so the hells that God Man faced and battled in Himself, were just the same hells as every individual is connected with and has to battle in order not to end up with them in eternity. What weapons did God Man use, in His states of humiliation, to fight the hells in the human mind?

He used spiritual truths from the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, which are books He was given to study as a young boy raised in the Jewish-Israeli culture. As a young Child of three or four, He was able to reveal to Himself from His Divinity and omniscience, who He was, and what His mission was. This information and knowledge lay hidden in the correspondential sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture and no one could decipher it except Him, from His omniscience during his states of glorification.

God could not attack the hells as God, for to do so would be to destroy those people, which He would never do. As a result, the hells were getting more and more emboldened and powerful in their enslavement of people everywhere. From birth people inherited a connection to them, and people were unwilling or unable to cut off their connection to the hells. This changed when the Divine Child ordered and contained the human hells in His mind in His states of humiliation. When He faced the hells down He did not hurt them, but only restricted them, restricted their sphere of influence on human beings who were on earth and connected to them by inheritance.

You can see now rationally why God had to incarnate in the natural world in history and reality. It was to put Himself in a state of humiliation that limits His omnipotence and omniscience. In this weakened, less than Divine state, He was able to face down the hells He inherited, thus all the hells in the human mental world of eternity. Once He did this, God Man's mission was ended. He had created a new mental organ, called the spiritual-natural organ, and this organ was now present in the mental world of humanity, thus in every individual. Now every person could see God consciously in the natural mind. With this new concrete knowledge of God, we are able to face down our own inherited connections to the hells.

Through this new creation by God Man in Himself, the human hells will never again invade the mind of every individual born in time. For instance, you and me are born with a connection to our hells in our mind. We know this from self-witnessing our feelings and thoughts all day long. We can see that we possess hatred for others and selfishness for ourselves that lead us to a life of misery -- conflict, depression, lack of motivation and energy, enslavement to hurtful pleasures and addictions, failed relationships, etc. All this human misery is caused by our connections to the hells. Then, after we are resuscitated, we are right back in the hells of our mind. All sorts of people suddenly come around and try to seduce us and incite us to go with them and explore hell. Those who do, ultimately end up there, having zero motivation to exit, hence remaining in hell forever. What a miserable fate!

But we can now fight successfully against this process of the Fall of humanity. Now we have God the Divine Human concretely in the conscious awareness of our natural mind. Now we can make use of this image and certainty of knowledge, to read Sacred Scripture and extract from it spiritual truths that we apply to our daily willing and thinking (see Section xx). So now we can go through this process of fighting and overcoming our connections to hell in our mind. This is called "being saved" since it saves us from having to live in hell forever. What a relief!

In its literal sense the Old Testament Sacred Scripture presents an indirect abstract revelation of God, while the  New Testament Sacred Scripture presents a direct substantive revelation of God. The collection of sacred books that make up the Old Testament Sacred Scripture were all written hundred of years prior to the Incarnation Event. The collection of sacred books that make up the New Testament Sacred Scripture was written after the Incarnation Event. So you can see why the Old Testament Sacred Scripture must necessarily present an indirect abstract understanding of God, while the New Testament Sacred Scripture is able to present a direct and substantive relationship with God. Even more so, the Writings Sacred Scripture are able to give a substantive view of God because it is written through the mind of Swedenborg, a modern scientist with a modern perspective on the universe. The most advanced and substantive definition of God is possible in theistic psychology, which is based on the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture.

A scientific or rational definition and explanation of God is the most concrete and particuylar relationship human beings can have with God. (See Section xx).

It took the Incarnation Event 18 centuries to complete itself -- from 1 AD to 1771 AD when the last book of the Writings Sacred Scripture was published by Swedenborg.

It takes some knowledge of mental anatomy and physiology to be able to explain rationally the evolutionary difference between BC and AD dates. The Incarnation Event marks the switch in calendar from "BC" ("Before the Christian Era") to "AD" ("After the Christian Era"). Historically, in the literal sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture, the Incarnation Event is contextualized as a Christian religious event that occurred within the Jewish religion, which for many centuries had had historical possession of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture.

But the Writings Sacred Scripture prove that the correspondential sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture is theistic psychology, and likewise, that the correspondential sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture is the same theistic psychology, continued where the other left off.

By studying theistic psychology you are in fact studying the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture given in prior centuries of revelation.

When the truths of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture were falsified, and thus rendered inoperative for regeneration, the New Testament Sacred Scripture was given. Now God was revealed in a different relationship to the human race. Prior to God's embodiment or incarnation, God did not exist on the plane of the natural world, and hence, the natural mind where we are conscious here on earth. This was equally true in the heavenly layers of eternity were countless number of humanity had congregated from the endless earths in the universe (see Section xx). No one in heaven was able to see God!

God did not exist for humanity at the sensorimotor level of perception or visualization. The closest human beings were able to imagine God is to think of God like themselves. Some people imagined that God was an immense giant. Others imagined that God was not localized in one place, so could not be a person like we are. Others were afraid to imagine God because their religious beliefs made it a taboo to try to picture God. All these imagined ideas about God are called abstract because they are not real. They are made up constructions with one's imagination.

What happens when it comes to fighting our hellish traits using as a crutch this abstract, empty conception of God?

For many generations the answer was believed to be offering animal sacrifices to this abstract God, to appease the forces of vengeance for braking the commandments. This was accompanied later with the performance of elaborate worship rituals. Sacrifices and rituals were two ways in which people tried to strengthen their idea and relationship to a silent indivisible God. This was a dangerous God, sometimes vengeful and always scary and unknown and unknowable, hence inapproachable. This was the abstract idea people have of God when it is based solely on the Old Testament Sacred Scripture in its literal sense.

In contrast, the New Testament Sacred Scripture no longer presents an abstract or general idea of an invisible and incomprehensible God, but points the fingerprints and birth certificate of a man, saying this is God. This is the furthest you can be from an abstract idea of God. This is a new reality, a new condition. God has entered history, and therefore science. That God entered history was acknowledged immediately by many h people, but that God entered science had to await the revelations of the Writings Sacred Scripture 18 centuries later. The New Testament Sacred Scripture could not exist without the Incarnation Event since it is the story and explanation of it. The Writings Sacred Scripture could not exist without the New Testament Sacred Scripture and the Old Testament Sacred Scripture since the Writings derive all their topics from the earlier two revelations. The three together, in their correspondential sense, constitute one coherent rational series called theistic psychology.

When we have a substantive idea of God as a real person in history and science, we are prepared to undergo regeneration, thus, preparation for our eternal life in conjugial heaven. God can regenerate us and prepare us for heaven only to the extent that we are willing to cooperate. The psychology of cooperation with God is the most important and critical reason for studying theistic psychology (see Section xx).

God regenerates our character from hellish to heavenly, by arranging our daily life to present particular challenges that we are to handle and overcome. In these challenges we are faced with temptations (see Section xx). People believe that God "tests" them with calamities to strengthen their character and their faith in God. This theme recurs in the literal sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. However, in the correspondential sense of these themes, we are actually being informed about how temptations work.

The first step in the process is for God to bring spiritual truths to your attention, expecting you to memorize them, reflect on them, understand them, make them the basis of your thinking and reasoning. This first step is called reformation of your thinking and reasoning with regards to God's role in your daily life. Now you are equipped with spiritual truths that are in your thinking and reasoning.

The second step is for God to bring things to your attention in your willing, thinking, and doing. For instance, you may lose something you are attached to. This suddenly exposes you to the temptation of enjoying and expressing hellish traits: e.g., blaming somebody, breaking something in anger, being in a bad mood and making friends suffer, etc. These are inherited hellish traits that are called forth from your character. God arranges for these types of experiential challenges on a minute by minute basis, or a second by second basis, from your birth to your endless eternity.

The third step is for you to face the temptation with the spiritual truths already in your understanding and reasoning process from step 1. You have to talk yourself so that you are willing to inhibit the hellish reactions because they are contrary to your heaven in eternity.

The fourth step is for God to immediately remove the challenge. You suddenly realize that you have victory in your spiritual combat. God gives you a feeling of heavenly peace and closeness to Him. You are now prepared to repeat step 1. After victory God enlightens you so that now you can see deeper spiritual truths. As a result, God can now bring you to face still more spiritual and even celestial temptations. When you are resuscitated, your are immediately ready for the second death, during which you shed all contact with any remaining hellish traits. This elevates you to your conjugial heaven.

These four steps of regeneration can best work when people have a direct and substantive idea of God. In contrast, abstract or indirect ideas of God allow types of reasonings about God that are not spiritual, but natural. Our relationship to God, instead of being based on rational understanding, is based on blind faith. This means that they accept the literal sense of Sacred Scripture without inquiring into its correspondential sense. The problem with this is that various people at various times present their imaginative ideas and interpretations of what the literal sense means. This kind of confusion is possible because of the abstract idea of God. This kind of idea limits God's ability to enlighten the person. Hence there are limits to how much God can regenerate that person. But when one's idea of God is direct and substantive, that is, historical and scientific, then God's ability to regenerate us is effective and thorough.

Swedenborg reports that after resuscitation every human being is instructed in various ways about the spiritual truths in Sacred Scripture. People are are then either willing or unwilling, to receive this instruction, to examine it and understand it rationally. Those who are willing, are enlightened and they are able to see spiritual truths. Now God can elevate them to heavenly life. But those who are unwilling to examine and receive the instruction, are at liberty to go off and live their new life. Through a series of experiences they are stripped from their social and philosophical pretenses, and nothing is left except what is fully compatible to their ruling love and willing to be in its service.  The person now becomes a caricature of the former self, since anything that is heavenly is gone, and what's left is something partly human and insane.

An abstract idea of God is not real. It is empty or spurious. It does not last in eternity.

The recognition is now beginning in twenty-first century science that a substantive definition of God makes it into a scientific concept (see substantive dualism, Section xx).

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

SE 374. CONCERNING HELL AND THE CRUELTY OF THE INFERNAL CREW
What the cruelty of the infernal crew is like can never be described; they act from phantasies in the most hostile manner against others upon whom they exercise such cruelties that if they were to be described they would horrify. For if they could exercise cruelties according to their phantasies, their butcheries would be even more cruel than those of the most ferocious wild beasts. By their phantasies they as it were bring forth axes and instruments of death, and unless God Messiah subdued their savagery, those whom they intend to torment would also have the most cruel sensation. For such is the power of phantasies amongst souls that they can induce a sensation as though it were corporeal, thus likewise torments. God Messiah removes those sensations; indeed He takes away the instruments of death from the infernal crew. In a word, these cruelties are more horrifying than one can ever believe. The human race, which is worse than the most ferocious wild beasts, would have exercised such cruelties unless God Messiah had saved them and redeemed them, and thus He continually liberates them from infernal punishments. 1747, Dec. 21.

The expression "God Messiah" refers to the Incarnated Divine Human. This passage in the literal sense discusses the historical situation of human civilization on earth when people became connected by inherited genes to the hells in the mental world. These hells are made of savage and cruel feelings with which people carry out their unspeakable fantasies in torturing anyone whom they can capture with their persuasive reasonings (remember Pinocchio?). To prevent people from believing these fantasy persuasions and falling under their cruel spell, God the Divine Human had to battle them and subdue them -- without destroying them since they were human and God never abandons any human but looks after each from birth to eternal immortality. God had to present Himself as He is Outside of Himself in a state of mere human weakness, rather than as the Divine Human Himself. God removed contact between His Divine Human and His mere human on earth so that the mere human on earth no felt weak and had to rely on His own self-intelligence to combat these spirits of fantasy and cruelty in the mental world.

Nothing in the mental world can be destroyed since everything in it is immortal. But people in their spiritual body of immortality can be restricted by God the Divine Human under appropriate conditions without hurting their human freedom to remain where they are if they so choose. So people who are conscious within these feelings and fantasies of cruelty, and love them so much they refuse to back out of them, can be restricted but not by God in His Divine Infinite Power, but my the mere human born in time, history, and science two thousand years ago. This mere human is called "the Messiah" in the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. Long before the birth of the Messiah occurred in history the event was foretold by revelation in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, and in Sacred Scripture prior to that. So God revealed in Divine Speech to the human race that He would be born in time and history as a mere human who contained from within His Infinite Human. It was also foretold that He would confront the hells in the mental world of humanity and that He would restrict or confine to mental prison houses those people who live in the hellish feelings and enjoyments. In this way they would no longer be able to attack and ensnare and mislead others who now could be "saved" for life in their heavenly feelings and enjoyments.

In His lower mental states as a mere human, God Messiah could face all the human hells in their endless variety and engage them in mental combat, and defeat them at their own games. The price of God's victory is the containment of all those in the hells of their mind from being able of influencing and ensnaring the rest of humanity. From then on, once they had been imprisoned in mental hells, they were no longer able to influence anyone except those people on earth with whom God connected them under His watchful eye. God as the Divine Psychologist in every person's mind or life, connects and disconnects the hells and the heavens moment by moment as each of us lives our daily round activities every day. For example, we might be tempted to cheat even though we know it's wrong. Or, we might be tempted to discriminate unfairly against someone. Or, we might break a promise when it's convenient. Etc. It is the Divine Psychologist who engineers these events to serve as temptations. Each temptation gives us one more opportunity to reject the hellish and to choose the heavenly. The more such choices we exercise the more we are establishing our own future in eternity to be heavenly. This freedom to choose is called "salvation" in Sacred Scripture.

 We have this freedom to choose ever since the Divine Human on earth battled and confined all hellish feelings into mental prison houses where they cannot influence others except when allowed specifically by the Divine Psychologist. When we are to undergo a temptation, the Divine Psychologist releases some of the people from their hellish prison houses and they are allowed to access once more their natural mind. From this state they influence the individual on earth undergoing temptation in their natural mind. At the same time the Divine Psychologist releases people from their heaven back into their natural mind and from that state they influence the individual undergoing a temptation. The people from hell think and desire to cheat, and this state influences by correspondence what the individual in temptation is thinking and feeling (e.g., thinking that it's all right to cheat because of various reasons that occur). At the same time what the people from heaven are thinking and intending influences the individual in temptation, which by correspondence brings thoughts and feelings that cheating is wrong. In this way the Divine Psychologist keeps the individual in perfect balance between heaven and hell, thus providing the individual with a true free choice.

This process does not work when the individual is not capable of reasoning clearly due to mental impairment which might be due to ill health or injury. For instance, when people are sick they get so scared that they are ready to repent and make resolutions to be good from then on. However when they recover they forget about the resolutions and revert to their former lifestyle of enjoying hellish traits and not wanting to fight against them in temptations. When people on earth are sick or scared or fear for their life they fall under the persuasive  influence of people from hell whose way is to fake one's repentance so that they can influence God or fate, but inwardly have no intention of following it.

These temptation battles were not possible prior to the incarnation of God Messiah and His accomplishment of restricting and confining all the human hells to mental prison houses from where they could no longer mislead people on earth through their natural mind -- except under the controlled and watchful eye of the Divine Psychologist.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

Life 63. A religious persuasion has prevailed that no one can fulfill the Law; and the Law is, not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, and not to bear false witness. Every civil and moral man can fulfil these precepts of the Law from civil and moral life; but that he can fulfill them from spiritual life this religious persuasion denies. Thus it follows that his abstinence from doing these evils is merely to avoid punishments and losses in the world, and not to avoid punishments and losses after he has left the world. Hence it is that the man with whom the above-mentioned religious persuasion prevails, thinks these evils lawful in the sight of God, but unlawful in the sight of the world.

[2] On account of this thought, from this religious persuasion of his, the man is in the lust of all these evils, and only refrains from doing them on account of the world. Such a man, therefore, after death, although he had not committed murder, adultery, theft and false witness, still lusts to do them; and further, he does them when the external which he had in the world is taken away from him. Every lust remains with man after death. Hence it is that such persons act in unity with hell, and cannot but have their lot with those who are in hell.

[3] Another lot, however, awaits those who, because to do these things is against God, do not will to kill, to commit adultery, to steal and to bear false witness. After some combat against these evils they do not will them, and consequently they do not lust to do them, saying in their hearts that they are sins, in themselves infernal and diabolical. These, after death, when the external which they had for use in the world is taken away from them, act in unity with heaven; and because they are in the Lord, they also come into heaven. (Life 63)

This passage explains that we need to obey the commandments for appropriate reason or from the right motivation. If our motivation is external or instrumental, we merely inhibit the overt performance of the hellish traits -- to lie, to deceive, to steal, to hate, etc. This passage tells us that people who don't break the commandments but continue to want to break them, will break them when the external threats disappear. People will commit the crimes if they believe they won't get punished. After resuscitation people are no longer afraid to be punished for their deeds since they cannot die, cannot be threatened with physical violence. As a result they now start performing all the hellish things they were afraid to do before. But people who acquire an inner motive for being good and loving heavenly things do not commit these crimes after resuscitation because they have learned to shun evils as contrary to their heavenly life.

1.1.4.1.1.2    A Brief History of God and Humanity

See the Layers Diagram.

1         

God as He is in Himself is the Infinite Life having no beginning, in whom infinite uncreate things make one consciousness, from whom radiates, as from a Spiritual Sun, love substance united to truth substance, that is, spiritual heat united to spiritual light.

2         

God as He is outside of Himself has a beginning with the act of creation. Spiritual heat and light radiate downward and outside of God as He is in Himself. These two substances provide the infrastructure for creation. God is omnipresent, or present in all created things, as their infrastructure constructed out of spiritual heat substance (love, good) and spiritual light substance (truth, rationality).

3

At the first level of creation, good substance (or spiritual heat) and truth substance (or spiritual light) make up the mental world of eternity, layering it in three discrete degrees called the celestial-rational degree of the mind, the spiritual-rational degree of the mind, and the spiritual-natural degree of the mind. All discrete degrees are connected by the laws of correspondences which are cause-effect relations between events in the upper layer and those in the lower layer.

At each of the three degrees or layers, there are created three mental organs: (i) the affective organ for the reception of spiritual heat, which then exists in the human mind as goods, loves, virtues; (ii) the cognitive organ for the reception of spiritual light, which then exists as truth, intelligence, rationality; (iii) the sensorimotor organ for the ultimation of the united affective and cognitive organs acting as one.

4

At the second level of creation, a new discrete layer is created downward and outside and is called the natural mind (or the world of spirits). It has three discrete sub-layers called the natural-rational mind, the natural-sensuous mind, and the natural-corporeal mind.

5

At the third level of creation, a new layer is created downward and outside and is called the natural world (or physical universe) that contains time, matter, and place.

6

At birth, every human being is made up of two portions. The first portion is the spiritual body located in the mental world of eternity (see Step 2). The second portion is the physical body located in the natural world (see step 5). The physical body is connected by correspondence to the spiritual body until death when the connection ceases. The spiritual body then continues life in the mental world of eternity (see step 3).

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Since there is only one mental world of eternity, the immortal spiritual body of every human being must co-exist with each other. An individual’s uniqueness from birth to eternity consists of the person’s unique cumulative collection of sensations, thoughts, and feelings that are accumulated every moment of life. This unique identity in eternity determines one’s life environment. Feelings and thoughts that are compatible with each other cause people to appear to each other, to be present with each other, and thus to form spiritual dwelling communities or societies. Those whose feelings are incompatible or oppositional are kept at a greater subjective or psychological distance so that communication become difficult or impossible.

Spiritual societies or collectivities create a psychological environment or intersubjectivity that is constructed out of the interactions between the individuals. Each spiritual society in eternity is distinguished by the characteristic feelings and thoughts of its inhabitants. These affective and cognitive operations produce by correspondence a sensorimotor environment of appearances that reflect the quality of the feelings and thoughts. The result is the appearance of things resembling the places and content of our natural mind, which is filled with the content of our experiences through the physical body we had on earth.

As a result, the spiritual societies made of people with feelings ordered by good and love substance in the affective organ, with corresponding thoughts ordered by truth and rationality substance in the cognitive organ, are called heavens. Their cities and habitations appear palatial, pleasant, and friendly. In contrast, the spiritual societies made of people who are distorting the inflow of spiritual heat and light in themselves, turning them into their opposites, are called hells. Their habitations appear dingy, unpleasant, and hostile.

8

The quality of feelings people have in eternity is determined by the choices they themselves make when they are resuscitated, which occurs approximately 30 hours after separation from the dead physical body. Upon resuscitation people in eternity become visible to each other, along with the external appearances that correspond to the quality of their feelings and thoughts. A series of experiences or happenings then lead each person to discover their primary inner feelings and affections (or ruling love). As they become aware more and more of their own deep-set feelings and intentions, their environment changes correspondingly, as they are led into a series of spiritual societies. In this way each individual is gradually led to abandon all feelings and thoughts that are not compatible with their ruling love. When the transition is completed (called the second death), the individual is fully embedded on a permanent basis in a spiritual society, which is either heavenly and receptive of spiritual heat and light, or is hellish and distorts the inflowing spiritual heat and light into its opposite.

The quality of life in eternity is therefore determined entirely by one’s ruling love or affections. These adhere to each person in the course of one’s daily feelings, thoughts, and actions while living on earth through the temporary physical body. The first few generations of people on earth received the inflow of good and truth without distortion. Their earthly environment was a paradise, and they were instructed by direct communication with their departed family members and teachers in heaven, whom they then joined upon their own death. Later generations however introduced into themselves feelings of selfishness and hostility towards others. They did this by distorting the inflow of good, love, and virtue. In this way evil was introduced into the mental world of humanity. When people with these feelings were resuscitated, their ruling love was contrary to heavenly influx, which allowed them to create the hellish habitations.

9

From then on with all the succeeding generations, including us today, people grew up into adults whose ruling love was hellish. Through these hellish traits people on earth made a unity with people in hell. This resulted in the deterioration of life on earth – anti-sociality, crime, wars, mental illness, unhappiness, degraded rationality and wisdom. The entire future human race was therefore in danger of becoming hellish. At that point in history, God Himself entered the natural world through the Incarnation Event. During the 33 years that God was embodied in a physical body He lived life as an ordinary citizen of a country in the Middle East, as described in the New Testament Sacred Scripture. This did not affect God’s omnipresence and omnipotence that God maintained as always. There was therefore a separation between God as He is in Himself (see step 1) and God as He is outside of Himself, and in this case, in a natural body.

While on earth with a physical body God put Himself through two distinct mental states. The first is called a state of humiliation (or exinanition) in which there was a separation. In this state the Incarnated God was called the “Son of God” rather than God. But in the

Second state, which is called a state of glorification, the Incarnated God was one with God as He is in Himself. When the Incarnated God was in a state of glorification He produced miracles, but when He was in a state of humiliation, He denied Himself the exercise of omnipotence, appearing as if He was just an ordinary man.

During His states of humiliation God connected Himself to the hells of the human race in order to create a new order for the human mind in which the hells were counterbalanced by the heavens in each individual’s mind. God could not accomplish this by retaining His omnipotence because this would have destroyed the hells, consequently the human mind and the entire race. Hence He had to incarnate and assume states of humiliation in which He limited His omnipotence, allowing the hells to attack His mind. These attacks are called temptations. By overcoming temptations with new truths He constructed, the Incarnated God created the truths that would henceforth allow every human being born on earth to also fight and defeat the hells that are inherited in the mind of every newborn. When people grow up to be adults, they are ready to face their hells through conscience and truths of Sacred Scripture.

By overcoming temptations we are able to disconnect our mind from the inherited hells. Through this we are able to hate evil traits and love heavenly traits. This will insure that at our resuscitation we will choose to retain our virtues instead of our vices.

10

At the completion of His task on earth, the Divine Human born in time was completely unified with Himself as God is in Himself. God now had a totally new presence in the created universe. Prior to this moment God did not have a sensuous presence in His creation. No one could see God or talk to God as person to person. Humanity did not have the ability to be with God directly, but only indirectly. Those times recorded in Sacred Scripture where God spoke to an individual, there was always an intermediary necessary, which was a role filled by people who were conscious in the celestial-rational mind, which is the highest awareness possible in the mental world of eternity. These individuals appeared to people in their natural mind so that those to whom they appeared became conscious of them, saw them, heard them, and called them “angels” of God. The person filling the role experienced the influx of God as a full possession of their mind or spirit, as perhaps in some celestial trance. As they spoke the words of God flowing into them, they subjectively felt like they are God Himself, but this ceased as soon as the influx ceased, at which moment they become conscious of themselves again.

This method of communication (called prophecy or visions) was constructed by God in order to retain historical and conscious contact with the human race prior to the Incarnation Event. But once this event was completed, the older method of prophecy and visions ceased in order to encourage a more direct access to God that He newly created through the acquisition of a visible or sensuous physical body in time. And yet no sooner than He acquired it, God took His Natural Body out of the physical world of time and into the mental world of eternity. Since then God is directly present in the mental world of  humanity, at all the layers, including the lowest called the natural mind. Now God is directly present in the natural mind of humanity. Every human being living on earth in a physical body, and being conscious in a natural mind, can have direct communication, communion, or conjunction with God in His Divine Human. This was not possible before. The human race’s contact with God was indirect, but now, it was direct.

11

The difference is critical in evolutionary terms because God could not complete the creation of the mental world of eternity by omnipotence and indirect communication. God could not be directly present in the mind of any human being until the completion of the Incarnation Event. This was equally true of the people who already existed in their heavens and had been born on earth since the beginning. They too now for the first time were able to see God with their eyes and speak to Him face to face. They knew from Sacred Scripture that God was a Human Divine, but now they could see with their senses that God was a Divine Human.

People now can face their inherited hellish predispositions, turn to God the Divine Human in their conscious natural mind, and ask for the power to overcome each hellish trait at a time. Direct acknowledgement of God in our conscious natural mind is therefore the spiritual weapon by which we face our selfishness and desire to rule over others. This is the ruling love that controls and maintains in us the multitude of hellish traits we enjoy so much that we refuse to abandon them --- being untruthful, being cruel or uncaring, conceited, arrogant, irrational, lazy, unhealthy, biased, misguided, and so on. We enjoy being this way, which is why people don’t want to change themselves. At the same time we don’t enjoy heavenly traits and we turn away from them --- being truthful, avoiding deceit or cheating, being responsible, hard working, caring, clean, unselfish. How is it possible to change when we love what is evil and false, and hate what is good and true? If we do not change prior to resuscitation, it is certain that we will choose to let go of our heaven and to seek out our hell.

12

Nothing less is needed therefore than a full rebirth of our character and its gradual regeneration through into a new character that no longer contains the love for evil. This cannot be done through indirect communication with God, as in the past. It cannot be done by God’s omnipotence and control over our mind, for we would then turn into spiritual robots, not human beings. It can be done only through the direct conscious presence of God the Divine Human in our natural mind.

If God made an appearance today at the Unite Nations and addressed the planet, and then appeared in various cities around the world, He would then be present to people consciously and directly, and sensuously. Not rationally. The result would be that after some time people would deny that it was God who showed up, and if He shows up again and again, people would reject Him as not God. But if God appears to our conscious natural-rational portion of the mind (see step 4), He remains permanently and can bring us to heavenly life after resuscitation.

Direct presence of God in our conscious natural-rational mind begins when we acknowledge God the Divine Human as being omnipresent and omnipotent, and one with God as He is in Himself (see step 1). This acknowledgement must be made rationally, not sensuously, not persuasively, not by authority, not by rote memory or repetition. We must acquire for ourselves an actual living and direct relationship with God the Divine Human who is present in every mind and fills the mental world of eternity with spiritual heat (love, good) and spiritual light (truth, rationality).

Once this rational acknowledgement is made with full and clear understanding of God, we have the opportunity to form a relationship, which is done day by day, hour by hour, as we proceed with our daily round of activities. We strive to think and act in the presence of God. We must keep track or monitor the flow of our thoughts, feelings, emotions, actions, and effects on others and society.  This is called self-witnessing our life. From conscience and from Sacred Scripture we have principles that allow us to judge what we feel, what we think, and what we do that affects others. Any feeling, thought, or act that is contrary to conscience or Sacred Scripture must be condemned, banished, and held in aversion as a sin against God the Divine Human who creates our heaven.

13

This cannot be done without struggle. We must fight as of self, but in the presence of God. We fight by thinking against the evil in ourselves that our self-witnessing reveals. One by one, feeling by feeling, thought by thought, we fight all our life every day and hour. God the Divine Human is present and does all the work of overpowering the hells and disconnecting our mind from it. After each combat and victory, God gives us a “Sabbath” rest or peace of mind like that of heaven. Then another fight begins. This goes on till the end of life here.

When we acknowledge the conscious direct presence of God the Divine Human in our natural-rational ideas of Him, we are kept in a state of freedom to choose good or evil, truth or falsified truth. Without this conscious acknowledgment of Him, God is still able to influence us indirectly and thus to help us develop morality of life through conscience and external education and socialization (See Section 7.0.4.1). This natural morality is an essential component of civilized life. But it is not sufficient to penetrate deeply enough to influence our ruling love. Although we may act morally all our life yet when we are resuscitated and shed off all external constraints of compliance and obedience, we are no longer motivated to act morally. In that case we are also unmotivated to acquire spiritual truths about heaven. We turn to our hellish traits and delight in them with like-minded companions.

But when we understand God rationally and acknowledge Him in our mind and life, we are able to face spiritual temptations through the truths that God reveals to us in Sacred Scripture and in conscience. As we then face our evil enjoyments, condemning them as a sin against God and heaven, we are then given victory by God through His omnipotence. We are able to withhold ourselves from continuing to love and repeat the evil acts, thoughts, and feelings. We then have spiritual freedom. Prior to that we have natural freedom, but not spiritual.

14

Theistic psychology is the science of regeneration extracted from Sacred Scripture. All Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech in correspondences. Divine Speech, which is Divine Truth (or spiritual light), flows into the celestial-rational level of the mental world. There it appears as written Sacred Scripture in the language we all speak innately when in that mental state or layer. This visible Sacred Scripture is written in celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech. This is the layer that humanity is wisest and is able to understand Divine rational things about good, love, truth and wisdom.

Then another version of Sacred Scripture appears in the spiritual-rational layer of the mental world. This is written in a spiritual language that we innately possess when conscious in the spiritual-rational layer of the human mind. A still different version appears in the spiritual-natural layer, and finally a still different version that appears in our natural mind here on earth as we read Sacred Scripture in one or another natural language. The four layers of Sacred Scripture exactly correspond to each other, but at successively lower levels of rationality. Theistic psychology gives us the knowledge of how to climb up this ladder of rationality with our conscious awareness. When we extract spiritual-natural correspondences and spiritual-rational correspondences form Sacred Scripture, we are in effect climbing up as to consciousness, to our natural and spiritual heavens in eternity.

15

There is a new medical field of research today called neuro-theology. It is based on initial research with a few subjects from different religions showing that when they are praying with intense focus, certain areas of their brain “light up” on the computer screen that shows color maps of their brain being monitored by digital imaging techniques. Hence there may be a correlation between mental activity and brain activity. Logically there ought to be a different brain activity configuration for every unique mental state.

From this correlation a few scientists and news reporters have drawn an amazing conclusion, namely, that certain people are biologically programmed or wired to be religious, to have faith, to pray, to believe in God. This would then explain why there are religions, why some people believe in God while others do not. This astonishing conclusion is illogical. A mere correlation between mental and brain activity is turned into a cause effect relation, and this in the wrong direction. Our mental activity in eternity are spiritual causes that act by correspondence on physical events, which are their effects in the physical world of time. When people are praying or meditating they are in a certain mental state.

This means that their affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor organs act jointly in correspondence with each other. For example, we may want something that God can give us (affective organ), we love and respect God (affective organ), we are motivated to ask God for that thing (affective organ), we construct sentences addressed to God (cognitive organ), we silently speak them to ourselves (sensorimotor organ). This is praying. It is a mental activity in eternity that we do through our spiritual body that contains our mental organs. This mental activity now activates specific regions in the neurons of the brain that correspond to the mental activity. Every mental activity has its own particular reflection in neural activity and pattern.

The idea of a biological predisposition to be religious is illogical because “to be religious” refers to faith and praying which are mental events while “biological predisposition” refers to physical events such as physical neurons and physical genes. The reason these scientists and news reporters fail to see the illogic is that they consider faith and God to be physical like neurons and genes. This negative bias in science is called materialism. This is called a negative bias in science because it is accepted and enforced even though it cannot be proven. Materialism cannot be proven, hence to maintain it and require it is a formally accepted and practiced intellectual bias.

The other option is called the positive bias in science, as in the theistic sciences that are now being created, like theistic psychology. Since theistic psychology cannot prove dualism, it is called the positive bias in science. In this mode of thinking we are born dual citizens, with a temporary physical body in time and a permanent spiritual body in eternity. All mental events are therefore located in the mental world of eternity and these are linked by functional correspondence to the events in the physical body.

Traditionally, being religious and faith in God and an afterlife were considered outside the bounds of science. But now we have an overlap in two directions. One direction is neuro-theology and the other direction is theistic psychology. Neuro-theology is the direction of reductionism, that is, reducing mental to physical, which is the same as reducing the eternal to the temporal, and also, reducing God to a human fiction or imagination. And this after all, is biological, and hence the genes are god. One is led to such illogic by the bias of materialism.

16

If God is omnipresent and omnipotent why is there a hell and why do wicked people succeed in their hurtful plans against innocent people?  And why does God maintain in existence things that hurt human beings, such as hurricanes, poisonous substances, or viruses and bacteria? If God is perfect then why is His creation not perfect? Or is it

See the Layers Diagram.

Yes, God maintains what He created in a perfect order that is designed to create a heaven in eternity out of the human race and for the human race. Heaven in eternity is the upper layer of the human mind and the more individuals join that state of life in themselves, the more it is that heaven evolves into a human perfection to endless eternity. What is life in heaven like? It is not unknown. In fact nothing can be more familiar to us than our mental states. God gives each person numerous heavenly mental states in the course of our earthly life in the natural mind so that we may learn to love them. These are called heavenly "remains" because God stashes them away in places in the mind that are not conscious. thus protecting them from corruption.

Look at babies, infants and young children. Every moment they seem to experience the fullness and beauty of life in an unselfconscious way, but being totally in the wonderment of life around them. These involve feelings of wonderment, curiosity, peace, excitement, love for parents and other infants, obedience, innocence, love of learning. These are heavenly traits that we love as children and God collects them and saves them in your heaven to be. Throughout life on earth we receive such moments of heavenly impulses and loves and enjoyments. God retains every one of them and makes them available to us in our heaven, if only we choose to raise our consciousness there and be content doing that

And so the fact that there is crime, evil, sickness, and war does not mean that these things hamper God's ability to bring the individual to a desire for heaven through cultivating a love for heavenly traits and enjoyments. This desire or love cannot be imposed by God on an individual. Every love is an individual operation. Love does not stick to you by glue or osmosis. A person's love is a subjective assimilation of spiritual heat flowing into the affective organ. If the individual does not assimilate the love from self and as-of self, it does not remain in the individual's mind but flows away. Only the enjoyment of love binds it to the person forever. Heavenly traits must be loved in order to have a heaven to go to, for heaven is in your love of good and truth from God. Without loving good and truth from God, we cannot exist in the celestial layer of our mind in eternity since that layer is constructed out of the rational love of good and truth we receive from God the Divine Human.

 God allows only that kind of evil that He can use to help people learn to love heavenly traits. That is God's highest ruling love, namely, to continuously strive to help people He creates to learn to love heavenly traits, for this alone can realize God's plan of a heaven from the human race perfecting itself forever. In this perfect evolution of perfection rests boundless and endless happiness for each human being. This is God's Passion from His Divine Love and Essence.

The history of God is the history of the human mind.

1.1.4.2  The Three Benefits of Rational Spirituality: Enlightenment, Empowerment, Rational Ecstasy 

The benefits of studying theistic psychology is the progressive evolution and development of our rational spirituality. This is what our heaven is constructed of. The benefits of rational spirituality are innumerable but they fall into three major categories called enlightenment, empowerment, and rational ecstasy.

1.1.4.2.1  Spiritual Enlightenment

Enlightenment refers to the elevation of operations in the cognitive organ of the mind. You can see that when you first start studying a subject or activity your cognitive operations are those of a novice or beginner. As you gain experience and knowledge about something, your cognitive operations become more effective and and more complex. When you reach the stage of being an expert at something -- like a supervisor or a parent -- your cognitive operations are still higher and abstract. You can understand why things happen and how to control them. So this is a kind of enlightenment, but it is natural-rational mind rather than spiritual-rational mind. Your heaven is in your spiritual-rational consciousness, while your hell is in your natural-corporeal consciousness (see Section xx).

So there is a natural-rational type of enlightenment, like expertise or being good at something from experience, and there is a spiritual-rational type of enlightenment which comes only from the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). The source of our natural-rational enlightenment is the natural mind through the physical body. The source of our spiritual-rational enlightenment is the spiritual mind through the spiritual body. It is similar with reading and understanding Sacred Scripture. At first we understand it naturally with our natural-sensuous and natural-rational mind. This is the literal sense of Sacred Scripture and provides natural enlightenment about God, salvation, and eternity. We can read Sacred Scripture in the form of the Old Testament, the New Testament, or the Writings of Swedenborg and focus on the literal sense. This will not lead to our spiritual enlightenment.

But we can achieve spiritual enlightenment from Sacred Scripture if we translate the literal sense into its universal correspondential sense (see Section xx). In this way we begin to accumulate knowledge of theistic psychology. The rational understanding of this knowledge constitutes spiritual enlightenment. Note that we can read theistic psychology, like this textbook, and understand it not rationally, but naturally. Probably most students who happen to enroll in this course are reading theistic psychology at the natural level of understanding (see student reports at:   
     www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/#part2

What is spiritual enlightenment?

It is the elevation of consciousness to the level of operation in our mind called heaven (see Section xx). What is consciousness? It is the perception of truth which forms reality. There is only one reality, one truth. This is the reality and truth of God. This reality in the form of Divine Truth is created by the spiritual substances streaming out from the Spiritual Sun and creating the rational ether out of which the human is constructed in eternity (see Section xx). Divine Speech issues from the Mind of God, the Divine Human, and since this is a an actual real substance, it forms everything real out of itself. Every object or event or feeling is constructed out of this spiritual substance called truth, within which is God's love. Divine Love substance is the operation of God's Affective Organ, which is covered over with Divine Truth substance, this being the operation of God's Cognitive Organ. This Divine Human operation is also called the marriage of good and truth, or the marriage of love and wisdom. It is called a marriage because love always conjoins with its own kind of truth when it creates reality.

Reality is created in our mind in two steps. First, there is the influx of spiritual heat into the affective organ of our unconscious spiritual mind. Simultaneously, there is an inflow of spiritual light into the cognitive organ of our unconscious spiritual mind. Reality in our mind is constructed by this inflowing operation of good and truth in our spiritual mind that is completely independent of our will and awareness. This involuntary operation of reality in our spiritual mind then activates by correspondence the events in our conscious natural mind. The result of this is the reality of rationality and conscience in our conscious natural mind (See Section 7.0.4.1).

Everyone is aware of the operation of conscience and rationality in their conscious natural mind (See Section 7.0.4.1). Conscience is the rational perception of right and wrong, good and evil, heavenly and hellish. This rational perception is available to our conscious natural mind only because it "descends" into our conscious understanding from our spiritual mind where it is received by influx from the Spiritual Sun. Now the Divine Psychologist supervises and manages every detail of these mental operations. This is often hard to understand and accept because we still tend to attribute the power of thinking to ourselves. While God wills that we appear to ourselves as thinking as-though from ourselves, we need to remember consciously and rationally that it is God who does all things in us and outside us. If we include this in our thinking, we grow in rationality, but if we forget it or deny it, our real rationality ends, and what we have instead is a kind of quasi-rationality that misleads us and instead of understanding reality, we construct a false imaginary reality. As a result we are less human, more animalistic, more hellish. God continues to exercise control over us whether we are rational or animalistic. Either way, God continues to make things happen that allow us to become more rational.

Enlightenment is the state of mind we are in when our natural thinking is re-aligned to fit our rational thinking.

We are born with a mental tendency to enjoying hellish operations. Asserting ourselves over others regardless of good and truth, is a common way in which we maintain ourselves in a hellish state of mind. We promise things we don't perform by excusing ourselves and justifying our neglects and weaknesses by which we make others suffer. We care less about how we make others suffer as much as we care about getting our way, whatever it is, even if it is unjust, unfair, irrational, cruel, uncaring, animalistic. Because we are unwilling to resist these feelings or giving them up, we remain in a mental state of hell. This is the opposite of enlightenment. When we are in the opposite state of enlightenment we go through phases of feeling bad for doing the right thing, and feeling good for doing the wrong thing. This is the state of hell and leads to disorder, injury, destruction, unhappiness, and lack of productivity and inventiveness. It may appear to us at first that we are making progress and gaining, but ultimately we set ourselves up for failure and hell.

We cannot be enlightened when our natural habits of feeling, thinking and doing are based on our inherited hellish states of mind. But at some point in adult life we experience an awakening, an intense desire to be enlightened spiritually. This is a desire for more rationality in our mind. We then begin to explore what our culture has to offer in terms of spirituality. Our first phase is to get involved with sensuous spirituality (see Section xx). This often involves an interest in new age nonduality (see Section xx). This attitude of mind is based on the idea that there is a continuity between us and God, so that as we grow in spirituality, we will be God (see Section xx). Of course this is a total denial of the rational duality as given in Sacred Scripture, which is that God must be outside the created universe in order to be able to create it. Hence it is irrational to think that this duality of creator/created can be continuous, or of the same substance and quality. New age nonduality can involve the mind endlessly, and hopelessly, getting us deeper and deeper into a mental state that is not capable or willing to receive the rational truths of Sacred Scripture.

But at one point we are ready to move on with our character reformation and preparation for heavenly eternity. This starts with our enlightenment. We begin to see that we have an eternal future based on our relationship to God. We begin to see that we alternate in our daily life between mental states of being in our heaven and in our hell. We begin to see more clearly from conscience as to what is right and what is wrong in our life, feelings, thoughts, and conduct. We begin to form in our understanding the Doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture. These now constitute the reality we identify with and that we want. We recognize the supervisory role of God in our mental life. We accept it. We begin to love it and to trust God. Now begins the phase of our temptations and regeneration (see Section xx).

1.1.4.2.2  Spiritual Empowerment

The period of enlightenment now continues to develop. The progress of our spiritual development is proportional to our willingness to endure spiritual temptations. We are already familiar with natural temptations and our battles with conscience to maintain moral conduct as a citizen, parent, spouse, and individual. We can continue to develop morally even if we are not enlightened. But no matter how much we make progress in our moral development, we cannot begin to progress in our spiritual development -- until we are enlightened, as discussed above, and then we must be willing to undergo spiritual temptations.

Natural temptations have to do with moral dilemmas like wanting to take unfair advantage of someone, wanting to cheat, wanting to make yourself feel good at the expense of someone else, wanting to be rewarded for something we don't deserve, and so on. These natural temptations must be overcome successfully through our conscience and our principles of living (See Section 7.0.4.1). Natural temptations start in childhood and go on throughout life. Spiritual temptations only start in adulthood, after we undergo enlightenment. If we are unwilling to be enlightened by rational spirituality through Sacred Scripture, we cannot undergo spiritual temptations, and therefore, we cannot regenerate our character from hellish to heavenly (see Section xx).

Spiritual temptations are brought to our conscious awareness by the Divine Psychologist who chooses the timing on the basis of what we are willing to obey. The Divine Psychologist also arranges the events in our life so that the temptations can be brought to our awareness. The Divine Psychologist has revealed in Sacred Scripture that He never brings a spiritual temptation to someone who is not ready to oppose it and fight like hell against it. We must engage in spiritual combat against the hells to which we are connected by birth. The Divine Psychologist only brings us to spiritual temptations after He has equipped us with the weapons of truths that we must possess in order to engage in spiritual combat.

These inner power tools are constructed out of the spiritual truths we obtain from translating the literal sense of Sacred Scripture into its correspondential sense (see Section xx). The correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture is called the spiritual Doctrine of Truth (see Section xx). This is the Doctrine we must construct and build up in our mind as we study Sacred Scripture. Once it is in our mind, we begin to filter everything in our daily life through that Doctrine. As the Divine Psychologist brings spiritual temptations to us we experience an attack on our understanding of Doctrine.

This spiritual attack is felt like a doubt in our spiritual truths that we have already appropriated in our reformation and regeneration. We feel intense pressure from the hells to reject or modify the rational truths of Sacred Scripture that we already possess. We want to feel, think, and do what we desire and feel we must have regardless of what our spiritual Doctrine says in our mind. We want to weaken our connection and loyalty to the spiritual truth, so that we may abandon it for now, make an exception for now. But if we do, we throw ourselves back into our natural life where we feel good for doing bad, and feel bad for doing good. we don't want to do good, to think right, to feel and intend from our heaven. We are in mortal danger at this point and this is when the Divine Psychologist, or God as the "Holy Spirit" in our mind, is the closest to us ever (see Section xx).

It doesn't feel like that though! Subjectively it feels like we are in agony. It feels like God has abandoned us to our own devices to fight the un-fightable hells in us. We do not have slightest power to overcome these hells in our spiritual temptations. We are assailed, inundated, suffocated. But we can overcome all this when we activate our rational understanding of how the Divine Psychologist is behind all this drama!

Sticking with the Divine Psychologist is called "cleaving to God" or "loving God more than anything." And the strength of this love is that it is our individual unique reciprocation to God's activity in our mind. That's all God needs to instantly wipe out the hells from contact with you. This is called "being delivered." God delivers us from our inherited connection with the hells, breaks it, makes it impossible for the hells in our mind to break out again into our consciousness and make us doubt the Doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture. The temptation is then consummated. It is over. Never again will the hells in our mind be able to attack us from that same direction, though we must know that there are many directions, many door, many connections that must be individually dismantled through this process of character reformation (see Section xx).

Now in the phase immediately following our victory in spiritual combat, we experience rational ecstasy.

1.1.4.2.3  Rational Ecstasy

Rational ecstasy refers to the feeling and perspective we have when we are in the heavens of our eternity.

Swedenborg was conscious in his spiritual mind from age 57 to 84, when he passed on never to return to earthly consciousness. But during those 27 years of dual citizenship (see Section xx), Swedenborg was able to see, hear, and talk to numerous people who are in their heavenly eternity in the afterlife. He described their mentality and life, and he called them angels or angel-people (see Section xx). They lived in constant and unceasing rational ecstasy.

Immediately following victory in spiritual combat, we are given to experience raitonal ecstasy, which is called "the sphere of heaven." It is also called "the elevation of the mind into heaven" and also "being in company with angels and in communication with them." Physiologically, the Divine Psychologist opens a channel of correspondence between some event in our unconscious spiritual mind and its corresponding conscious event in our natural mind. It is the mental state of victory in which we are after our spiritual combat, that allows the Divine Psychologist to open in us this spiritual channel of communication with our heaven. We know that the Divine Psychologist, out of His Divine Love for the universal human race, would desire to open this spiritual channel for everyone and to keep it open from here to eternity. We know from Sacred Scripture that God desires to do this because His purpose in maintaining the universe is to bring human beings into a state of mental heaven in eternity (see Section xx).

In order to accomplish this, God must find a way of getting each human being to love rationality.

God's omnipotence makes this happen. God wills that we fight for our principles when tempted to give them up. This is the only way the break or disconnect our attachment and delight in hellish traits. We are already attached to hellish delights and life, so if we were to be cut off from them, we would feel that our life is ending. Our happiness and freedom is ending. Our humanity is ending. This is so irrational that  it is impossible for us to get into the rationality of our heaven. Swedenborg saw people who were just resuscitated, demand that they be admitted to heaven on account of their religion. They were then brought into the mental state of their heaven. They literally freaked! they were not ready to endure even a few seconds in the atmosphere and mental life of their heaven. Everything within their thoughts and feelings contradicted the sphere of heaven. They felt tortured and quickly precipitated their consciousness back down into their hellish mind, whereupon they revived and were able to continue their life.

This is what would happen to us if God suddenly cut off the life of delights we have from hell.

And so we must learn gradually to be cut off from our hell. And this is done through spiritual combats against the delights of our hells and the beliefs and false principles that go with the hells in our mind. When we win in spiritual combat, our love for the Doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture is immediately strengthened, and consequently our rational spirituality of God grows more interiorly towards the Spiritual Sun and towards Him as the Divine Human in whom infinite things make one (see Section xx).

As we approach God through our love and loyalty for His Sacred Scripture, using it in daily spiritual combats against our hellish traits, we begin to feel rational ecstasy more continuously, not just in the victory after combat.

It is important to understand that waging spiritual combat does not mean natural or social combats against others in our environment and society.

Many people have made use of Sacred Scripture to fight social combats against those whom they see as promoting evils and falsities in society. This is not what is meant here by spiritual combats. Obviously, when you fight against others in your social environment, you are engaged in natural combats in your society, also called politics and civil war. These are not spiritual wars. the only wars that allow us to regenerate are spiritual wars, and the only spiritual wars are those we fight with ourselves in our own mind.

When we are victorious and prevail against others in natural and moral battles, we may feel good, but it is not rational ecstasy. This is felt only with spiritual combats and victories. Rational ecstasy is a celestial sensation called "being in the stream of Divine Providence" and also "the peace that surpasses all understanding." It is in fact a rational feeling, or sensation, a kind of subtle vibration or tremulation (see Section xx). It is a constant conscious reminder that we are spirits in a material body, temporarily trapped, but soon to be released. It is also a feeling of trust which comes from the rational understanding of God's omnipotence and love. Even if you feel anxious, depressed, stressed out because of external natural circumstances, you do not lose the sensation of rational ecstasy. You are permanently immersed in it. It is like contained excitement on the edge of enthusiasm and energy. It is wonderful. And it helps you remain aware of the continuous presence and role of the Divine Psychologist in our mind.

1.1.4.3    How Divine Speech Descends In the Human Mind Through
                                            Discrete Layers and Keeps It Functioning
                   

Our mental heaven in eternity is inborn. This heaven is already present in our mind when we are born, just as hell is present in the human mind at birth. Physiologically, our mind is constructed out of heavenly feelings and traits and out of hellish feelings and traits. In other words, heaven and hell are located within the spiritual organs of the mind. This awesome secret has been revealed thousands of years ago in the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. An example is the scientific revelation in the New Testament Sacred Scripture:

Being demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them, and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation; neither shall they say, Lo here! or, Lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20-21).

The phrase "cometh not with observation" means that the natural mind, which is formed by physical content, cannot be in heaven. In the literal sense it means that heaven is not in the natural world but in the spiritual world of eternity. Hence this passage, among others in the New Testament Sacred Scripture, reveals the scientific reality of dualism, that is, of the existence of this world in time-space, and the world of eternity which is snot in time-space. The phrase "the kingdom of God is within you" means that eternity is in our mind. "Within you" contrasts with the phrase "with observation" which is outward through the physical senses, while "within you" is mental and is not observable outwardly by the physical senses.

I am amazed that I did not realize the meaning of this passage the first time I read it thirty years ago (see Section xx). And I am astonished that no one until Swedenborg in the eighteenth century, took note of this amazing scientific revelation in the New Testament. It wasn't until I became an expert on Swedenborg and then read this passage again that its meaning hit me. It is the Divine revelation of scientific dualism (see Section xx). Similar scientific revelations occur in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, as for instance the Genesis verses:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Gen. 1:1).

And the heavens and the earth were finished (Gen. 2:1).

These are the nativities of the heavens and of the earth (Gen. 2:4),

In the literal sense it plainly says that God created the spiritual world of eternity ("the heavens") and the natural world of time, space, and energy. This is the Divine confirmation of scientific dualism as a reality, not a hypothesis or theory. What is not revealed here is that the world of the heavens in eternity is the same as the mind. For thousands of years people who derived their religion from the Old Testament had a materialistic worldview, not abstracted from the senses. They were not willing to think of the heavens as being created in a separate universe, outside time, space, or region. To think of the universe of eternity, not in space, not in time, involving no material substances, and yet still supportive of human life and happiness, requires a rational spirituality, not material or sensuous. It requires a rational consciousness of God. This level of thinking had not yet developed in the human mind until the age of science and modernism starting in the 18th century (see Section xx).

This is the reason that 20 centuries of Christian scholarship and adoration of the New Testament were not able to uncover this obvious heavenly secret, namely, that "the Kingdom of God is within you." In theistic psychology I render this statement by the following formulaic expression:

the Kingdom of God = eternity and human life there = the heavens = within you = your mind = your mental organs = your feelings, thoughts, and loves = the self = immortality

Is this not an astonishing realization?

You too will be astonished as soon as you begin to reflect on this amazing rational equation. This equation shows that all human beings are born immortal! Who knew this? The vast majority of people on this planet today belong to the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist religions and practices. None of these religions give a clear and factual description of our immortality or life in eternity. None of the religions give any clear explanation of the most basic facts that Swedenborg presents in the Writings Sacred Scripture. As for instance the fact that every human being who dies is resuscitated within 36 hours and continues life in eternity as himself or herself. Which religious leader, prophet, or scholar has known this? The reason is that Sacred Scripture reveals almost nothing about life after death -- when you consider the literal meaning of the sentences of Sacred Scripture. This is why all sorts of imaginative and fantastic interpretations have been given of the Book of Revelations, which is the last book of the New Testament Sacred Scripture, and is written in a prophetic and visionary style, rather than historical narrative, as the rest of the New Testament is written.

The most popular beliefs surrounding the symbolism and interpretation of the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, have been that its visionary scenes that John witnessed "while being in the spirit," describe symbolically the historical scenes that will take place on earth at the so-called "end of times" or when the physical planet is destroyed and instantaneously remade, while the faithful who are saved, are "caught up in the air" and kept safe during these tumultuous events that destroy earth. Then a "new earth" is created by God for those who are "resurrected from the graves," put back together again with new and immortal bodies, to enjoy forever on the new earth.

These amazingly imaginative ideas come from one source -- the practice of interpreting the literal sense of Sacred Scripture in accordance with one's own ideas, beliefs, scholarship, intelligence, or imagination. None of these approaches can yield the true spiritual meaning that is hidden within the literal sense of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). Instead, it was necessary to wait until God reveals the appropriate method for extracting the hidden meaning from the literal sentences. This method had been revealed before by God to the most ancient peoples on this earth. Swedenborg interviewed some of these people who have been living since then in their celestial heavens. They informed him that when they were on earth they called this knowledge the Science of Correspondences (see Section xx).

This therefore is the most ancient science on the planet. It has to do with how the spiritual world of causes relate or act upon the natural world of effects. In other words, the science of correspondences was the rational revelation of scientific dualism and how the two worlds are connected by laws. Swedenborg interviewed people in eternity who were from different historical eras on earth. He was thus able to piece together a historical chart of the succeeding civilizations on this earth (see Section xx), describing the mentality and character of those people. After some generations, the most ancient civilization died out and in its place arose a series of civilizations. By the time the Old Testament Sacred Scripture was written about three thousand years ago, almost nothing was left of the knowledge of the science of correspondences. It was so well hidden that no one knew, not even the prophets who wrote the Bible, that the sentences of Sacred Scripture were written in correspondences because they represented the content of Divine Speech.

This history is necessary for us to know because of a rational principle that I would like to phrase as follows:

Individual biography recapitulates human evolution and history

In other words by knowing the details of the mental evolution of the human race on earth we are able to know details of our own mental states and how they develop in our life from birth to eternity (see Section xx).

It wasn't until the Writings of Swedenborg in the eighteenth century that the human mind was first given knowledge again of the lost science of correspondences. Now for the first time we are able to read Sacred Scripture and extract from it the Divine Speech that is hidden within it. In order for God to revive this consciousness in the human race it was necessary that He select a scientist, like Swedenborg, who was given the scientific genius, rationality, and reputation, to bring this science of dualism back into modern times and the modern person of the future. In order to succeed, it was necessary for this person to be given access to the laboratory of eternity.

This was done by making Swedenborg's spiritual mind to be conscious while he was still living on earth. At age 57, he became a dual citizen, living and interacting in both worlds simultaneously! Only a scientist who had access to both worlds simultaneously could make the necessary observations of this science of correspondences, since it is the science of how the worlds are connected by functional cause-effect laws for all phenomena. Now any person who studies these laws of correspondences can read Sacred Scripture and figure out its hidden correspondential sense. This correspondential sense is the content of Divine Speech. Theistic psychology is the knowledge extracted from the literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).

In order to understand this more clearly, it is necessary to have a mental chart of the human mind and how it is created, ordered, and managed by God through Divine Speech. Study the following conceptual diagrams which are explained elsewhere in theistic psychology (see Volume 6):

1.1.4.3.1   Conceptual Charts of the Physiology of God and the Human Mind

Chart 1

Chart 2

 

Chart 3

Chart 4

 

Chart 5

Our consciousness is designed to travel up and down the various levels of our mind. When we are born our spiritual body has various levels of operation along which our consciousness can travel up and down. Divine Speech, or Divine Love and Truth as spiritual heat and light, streams forth from the Spiritual Sun into the universe, and enters simultaneously into every individual mind of the human race -- just as sunlight and heat from the natural sun, enter every plant, giving it the energy to grow, survive, and reproduce. In this way spiritual heat and light from the Spiritual Sun enter the human mind at its highest level called "the third heaven" (see Section xx).

If you knew how to elevate your consciousness to your third heaven right now, you would understand Divine Speech at the level called celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech. At this level you are nearly omniscient, because anything whatsoever you think about or are curious about, instantly appears in your awareness. You do not have to search for the answer or understanding, you do not have to discover it, study it, or ask someone else about it. The information comes to your awareness to fill the gap of wondering about it. This is why our mental state in the third heaven can be described as nearly omniscient. Of course we do not have this knowledge and understanding from ourselves, and the instant we think we do, it disappears from our mind and we become stupid. We must know rationally that this omniscient knowledge is God's knowledge that He grants to be within us, and if we forget this, we lose the knowledge because we lose that close communication with Divine Speech in which all possible knowledge is contained.

The celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech that we have in the third heaven of our mind causes correspondential operations to occur in our second heaven of our mind. If you were conscious of this level of operation in your mind, you would be thinking and reasoning with spiritual-rational correspondences of Divine Speech as it descends and expands into the universe. At this level of thinking you must do research and studying before you can know and understand the many rational things you are curious about. You don't just recognize truths instantly but must reflect and figure out in order to be able to confirm it.

The spiritual-rational correspondences of Divine Speech that we have in our second heaven causes correspondential operations to occur in the first heaven of our mind. Swedenborg saw the mentality of people who dwell in their first heaven. their reasoning was based on spiritual-natural correspondences of Divine Speech. This level of thinking and reasoning is most familiar to us when we gain knowledge and expertise in our activities. We do not think of these in a fully rational way because we mix what is rational with what is not rational. An example would be the knowledge possessed by artists, scientists, managers, or skilled workers. They do not think purely rationally and often confuse what they see with the senses and what they think rationally separated from the senses.

The spiritual-natural correspondences of Divine Speech that we have in the first heaven of our mind causes correspondential operations to occur in our conscious natural mind. At this level of operation in our mind, we think and reason with merely natural correspondences of Divine Speech as it descends and expands into the universe. At this level of thinking we cannot figure out what is sensuous-empirical and what is rational-spiritual. When Sacred Scripture of Divine speech is written down at this level it appears as history that reflects the mentality of the people rather than God's mentality. As a result people are able to interpret Sacred Scripture in any way they please to suit their purposes.

These purposes are selfish rather than heavenly. The more selfish and hostile are a person's purposes, the more one distorts one's rationality. Since every heavenly level of thinking and reasoning can be distorted by evil intentions and motives, there are in the human mind levels of hell, which are the contradictions and perversions of each level of heaven. Hence there is a first hell in our mind which is the contradiction of the reasoning process in our first heaven. Similarly there is a second hell and a third hell to correspond to the heavens.

Your consciousness can travel up and down these built in levels of mental operation, from the third heaven at the top of the human mind, all the way down to the third hell at the bottom of the human mind. Because Swedenborg's spiritual mind was made conscious to him at age 57, he was able to travel up and down this consciousness path, and he described them all (see Section xx). You too can see and learn what he learned if you were suddenly made conscious in your spiritual mind. As it is, this normally happens at resuscitation, 36 hours after we are cut off from the physical body by its death. Then we remain conscious in our natural mind for a short while, until our second death, at which time our natural mind is put to sleep and we are propelled by our ruling love to keep our consciousness where it is. If this ruling love is in one of the three heavens, that is the level of life we enjoy to eternity. But if the ruling love is in hell, that's where spend our eternity.

Study Questions: 1.1 to 1.1.4.3.1 (Report 3)

Week 7 Readings: Section 1.1 to 1.1.4.1

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

7.1.
(a) Study the Table that begins Section 1.1  "Three Levels of Thinking About God." Explain the history of your own development regarding the idea of God.
(b) Use the Table to describe your own thinking today at each level.
(c) Can you guess about where will your thinking take you in the future?

7.2.
(a) Make up a gain-loss sheet that lists and briefly explains what you could gain or lose by adopting the negative vs. positive bias in science regarding God's existence as a scientific reality.
(b) Read the list. Comment on it from an objective point of view.

7.3.
(a) Why does God allow people to be in the negative bias in science and survive as well as those who are in the positive bias in science?
(b) Comment on this situation. Do you understand it? Do you see problems with it?

7.4.
(a) Explain the difference between religion as a mystical view of God and Sacred Scripture vs. theistic psychology as scientific view of God and Sacred Scripture.
(b) Is knowing about this difference important to you? Explain.

7.5.
(a) Summarize the ten conclusions that follow logically from the positive bias assumption that God exists in science.
(b) Does this proof make sense to you? Do you accept it as proof?
(c) Do any of your friends accept it as an adequate proof that if God exists then He must be a Divine Human Person whose creation must therefore be perfect.

7.6.
(a) Prove rationally that our mental world is the world of eternity.
(b) What will be the consequences for society when this knowledge becomes known?
(c) Check it out with your friends. Are they jumping up and down with joy when they hear you describe it?

7.7.
(a) How are humans different from animals?
(b) What makes us human? Justify the statement that we are human because we are rational.
(c) Explain why animals are not immortal.
(d) How do you react to this knowledge?

7.8.
(a) Describe the Incarnation Event from the perspective of theistic psychology.
(b) Explain what it means to say that "when God entered history He entered science."
(b) Does this makes sense to you? Does it change anything about your ideas of God?
(c) What would happen if this knowledge becomes known to the public in general?

7.9
(a) In what sense can we say that the Incarnation Event is the completion of the creation of the human race?
(b) What difference does it make to the human race? What new evolutionary abilities does it give us? How does this influence our future in eternity?


Week 8 Readings: Section 1.1.4.2 to 1.1.4.3.1 

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

8.1.
(a) Explain how we become spiritually enlightened by studying theistic psychology.
(b) What is the difference between natural and spiritual enlightenment?
(c) Who do you know that is enlightened?

8.2.
(a) What are temptations? Explain how our spiritual development depends on our willingness to fight our temptations.
(b) What happens after we are victorious in a temptation?
(c) What have you observed about your own temptations in the past?

8.3.
(a) When and how did Sacred Scripture reveal that heaven in eternity is the mental world?
(b) Why do you think that this knowledge remains unknown or disbelieved?
(c) Search the Web to see if anything about this is known. What is your conclusion?

8.4.
(a) Explain the principle that "individual biography recapitulates human evolution and history."
(b) How does this influence the way you see yourself?

8.5.
(a) In your own words explain chart 1 in Section 1.1.4.3.1. Do not just guess. You will need to do some research in Volume 18 to find the explanations and clarifications: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/#Searching_for_something

8.6.
(a)  In your own words explain chart 2 in Section 1.1.4.3.1. Do not just guess. You will need to do some research in Volume 18 to find the explanations and clarifications: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/#Searching_for_something

8.7.
(a) In your own words explain chart 3 in Section 1.1.4.3.1. Do not just guess. You will need to do some research in Volume 18 to find the explanations and clarifications: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/#Searching_for_something

8.8.
(a) In your own words explain chart 4 in Section 1.1.4.3.1. Do not just guess. You will need to do some research in Volume 18 to find the explanations and clarifications: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/#Searching_for_something

8.9.
(a) In your own words explain chart 5 in Section 1.1.4.3.1. Do not just guess. You will need to do some research in Volume 18 to find the explanations and clarifications: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/#Searching_for_something

Report 3: due March 7. Answer Questions for Weeks 7 and 8.

 

1.1.4.3.2   Extracting the Content of Divine Speech Through Correspondences

See the Layers Diagram.

All Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech, "God's Word" or Divine Truth expressed in a natural language. God communicates with people in two ways -- conscience and Sacred Scripture. Conscience is an inner voice that only the individual can hear or feel (layers 7A, 7C), while Sacred Scripture is a physical book that has to be read or heard with physical senses (layer 12S).  God uses these two means of communication to elevate the rational understanding of a person. People refer to conscience as something intuitive and vague. But in fact we all experience conscience as definite and sometimes overwhelming. The more we are willing to listen to our conscience, the more we develop our natural-rational mind (layer 7C). This is because conscience (layer 7) is a organ that reacts by correspondence to the truths (C) and goods (A) in the spiritual layer 6 above it. The more we disregard the voice or insight of conscience, the more sensual-scientific we become (layer 8). At this layer, no spiritual-natural or spiritual-rational truths can exist, hence the layers of our heavens above cannot develop into maturity. Listening to conscience is very effective in facing temptations. Ultimately however, most people will need reinforcing their conscience with more particular knowledges and spiritual truths from Sacred Scripture.

The more we are willing to be elevated in our rational understanding (layer 7C) through conscience and Sacred Scripture, the more we can be spiritually enlightened to understand more interior truths such as spiritual-natural (layer 6C) or spiritual-rational truths (layer 5C). This raises our human potential, our ability to be intelligent and happy, loving and cooperative in social life. Ultimately, our condition and quality of life in the afterlife world of eternity will depend on our rational development. In order to live in a heaven of eternity (layers 6, 5, 4) we must be able to understand God rationally or spiritually. So God's purpose in communicating with people through Sacred Scripture  is to raise their human potential through rational correspondences of Sacred Scripture, and to bring them to their never ending conjugial happiness in eternity (see Volume 11).

From conscience every person knows in a general way what is right or wrong, good or bad (See Section 7.0.4.1). From Sacred Scripture every society and culture teaches that there is God, that there is life after death, and that our quality of life in eternity depends on whether we acquire habits of good or habits of evil. Without Sacred Scripture these essential things of living and survival would not be known. So God communicates information about our eternity. This means knowing what will happen when we die and cross onto eternity.

God gives Sacred Scripture revelations to every culture and society in all the ages, whether a small isolated tribe in the jungle, or large nations like the United States or India. Every generation in all geographic locations has had access to a Sacred Scripture from God. Sometimes the same Sacred Scripture is handed down for many generations, while at other times new Sacred Scripture is given.

From this you can see that the revelation of Divine Speech enters the mind of the prophet or revelator who has a special relationship to God in order to serve this purpose of receiving the Divine Speech in his conscious natural mind, and writing it down. What the prophet or revelator writes down is Divine Speech translated into some natural language through the conscious understanding of an ordinary person, often uneducated and inexperienced. So the sentences that the prophet writes down are limited in meaning to what the prophet can understand or transmit. And so the style of any particular Sacred Scripture can vary from prophet to prophet, and from culture to culture. You probably know some Sacred Scripture from education or literature. Most Western democracies today are familiar with the Old Testament Sacred Scripture and the New Testament Sacred Scripture ("Bible").

Remember however that the prophet does not write down Divine Speech in its celestial and spiritual meanings as these descend from his unconscious spiritual mind into his conscious natural mind. This descent changes by correspondence what the prophet "hears" or "sees." In fact the prophet can only see and hear natural correspondences of Divine Speech. Nevertheless, hidden within these natural correspondences in simultaneous order are the entire series of correspondences as Divine Speech descended in sequential order across the layers of the spiritual mind.

Different religions base themselves on different Sacred Scripture. Since all Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech, and there is only one universal God, why then do the different versions of Sacred Scripture lead to conflict among religions?

The answer is that it is not the different versions of Sacred Scripture that lead to conflict, but their literal interpretation applied the wrong way.

For example, the Name of God in different Sacred Scripture varies and yet the literal sense states that only this Name must be worshipped. When people with different versions of Sacred Scripture take this literally (layer 8C)without rational interpretation (layer 7C), then their ideas and principles come into conflict with each other. Other religions who worship God by another Name are therefore seen as false religions with teachings contrary to one's own religion, which is seen as the only true religion. So you can see how this leads to conflict, disagreement, even warfare and hatred for each other. And yet cruelty and hatred are contrary to God's instructions in every Sacred Scripture.

So it is clear that God wants people to read Sacred Scripture not just literally (layer 8C), but in its rational meaning (layer 7C), which is also its spiritual meaning (interior of the external natural). This has been done to some extent as societies advance in civilization and justice mentality. People give interpretations of Sacred Scripture that try to reconcile the differences and promote tolerance and mutual respect. And yet this is not true for people in every generation, hence conflict continues. People who undergo reformation through conscience and through truths of Sacred Scripture that they interpret rationally or spiritually, tend to back off from intolerance and conflict. For them, altruism and heavenly tolerance ("charity" or "spiritual love") takes precedence over distinctions in interpretations and doctrines ("faith").

When Swedenborg became conscious in his spiritual mind at age 57, he discovered that the people in the afterlife of eternity also read Sacred Scripture. As a scientist, he was now in a unique position to run an experiment to gather data on how Sacred Scripture creates the layers of the human mind. He had in front of him the wording of Sacred Scripture that he had on earth and was reading with his natural mind (layer 8C), which was his Bible in Swedish, Latin, Hebrew, and Greek. He also had the Sacred Scripture in the spiritual mind across its layers (6, 5, 4). He could read all versions simultaneously -- the version written in a natural language and the version written in the spiritual language across the upper layers. This is the language that all people start using spontaneously (without learning) immediately after resuscitation when they become conscious in their spiritual mind. But the versions of this spiritual language become more and more interior as you ascend the layers 6, 5, 4.

Swedenborg discovered that the natural language version of Sacred Scripture was the correspondence of the spiritual version. Every word or expression in the natural version of Sacred Scripture was a correspondence of the equivalent spiritual expression that people used in the mental world of the afterlife. None of the historical names and places appeared in the spiritual version because these are natural representations of spiritual things. Every detail mentioned in the natural version use words that refer to things on earth -- animals, mountains, the sun, rivers, cities, countries, names, places, physical objects and actions, armies of one country invading another country, famines, natural disasters, women giving birth, children, etc. This is the natural content of Sacred Scripture in its literal sense. None of this appears in the spiritual sense of Sacred Scripture.

You can now realize that Sacred Scripture is written in correspondences of natural things that represent spiritual things. There is no other way that Divine Speech can be expressed to people who are thinking at the level of 8C and 9C. When we express Sacred Scripture in rational correspondences (layer 7C) it is possible to discuss the topics of theistic psychology. Most people would not be interested in the spiritual meaning of Sacred Scripture (or theistic psychology). It is necessary therefore that Sacred Scripture be expressed at the level comprehensible to most people in their exterior-natural mind (layer 8C). The spiritual content of Divine Speech is the developmental psychobiology of the human mind. This is a scientific topic and very complex in all its parts. Hence it is that it is necessary that Sacred Scripture have both a literal historical meaning and a correspondential scientific meaning.

Theistic psychology is now possible because God has revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg what the correspondences are that are hidden in the spiritual depth of Sacred Scripture.

1.1.4.3.2.0    What are Correspondences in Sacred Scripture?

The new scientific revelation of the existence of correspondences, once this becomes known to people generally, will allow humankind to understand two important principles:

  • (1) how God manages the universe by rational laws of correspondence that are spiritual (layers 6, 5, 4) but have a natural representation (layers 7, 8, 9)

  • (2) how our mind works in discrete but corresponding layers from the lowest to the highest human potential of consciousness and abilities

God created the dual universe -- the natural or physical or material world of time-space-matter, and the spiritual or mental world of eternity. Anything that is something must be made of of something prior to itself. Memorize this sentence and reflect on it from to time. It is the logical proof of substantive dualism (dual citizenship), and of the idea that every human being is born with two bodies. One body is physical in the material world of time-space, while the other body is spiritual in the mental world of eternity. These two bodies (layers 12 and 10) must be made of something that comes from prior to them (layers 9 to 1)!

Our physical body (layer 12) is made of matter in time-space. Our spiritual body (layer 10) is made of substances in eternity (not in time-space).

The natural matter in time-space that composes our physical body (or natural body) comes from the planet, which comes from the sun, which is one of many stars in the physical universe that God created and is continuously creating and managing in every detail.

The substances in eternity that compose our spiritual body (and its mental layers) comes from the substances of the Spiritual Sun (layer 1), which is an aura of spiritual light and heat around God the Divine Human. Swedenborg reports that anyone who raises their human potential to their highest layer of the mind called celestial-rational (layer 4), can see the Spiritual Sun. Sometimes the Divine Human can also be seen since He now possesses a Divine Natural that is visible (see Section xx).

Material light and heat stream out of the natural sun, forming force fields, gravity, and matter. In other words, the physical sun creates a gravitational space around itself, then breaks off pieces of itself which cool off as planets of matter, and these supply the material needed for all things on earth.

Spiritual light and heat stream out of the Spiritual Sun, forming rational ether in which are constructed the layers of the human mind. The layers contain the mental organs at each level: affective (A), cognitive (C), and sensorimotor (S). The affective organ is a receptor or spiritual heat, while the cognitive organ is a receptor of spiritual light.

Note that "natural sun" is not capitalized because if is not alive or Divine, while the Spiritual Sun is always capitalized, like God and Sacred Scripture. This is because spiritual substances are alive and Divine. This is one of the most difficult rational concepts to understand in theistic psychology. The reason theistic psychology is grounded in substantive dualism is that there is no other scientific way of explaining the dual universe. If there is a dual universe created by God, as it is asserted in theistic psychology, then both worlds must be made of something -- either something like matter, which we all know well, or something like substance, which we all also know full well.

Actually, you know the world made of spiritual substances much better than the world made of matter.

How can this be? What is that world that you know so well?

Think!

That's it. It's the world of thinking (C) -- and feeling (A), and sensations (S). The threefold self. You. I. Each of us. Is there anything that we know better than our mental world? It is the most familiar thing we know. It is our very life, our very consciousness as a being. So familiar every day -- my thoughts, my sensations, my feelings in my private world called my mind.

So you are most familiar with your mental world.

What you may not know yet is that there is only one mental world of eternity just as there is only one physical space in the natural world of time and space.

In other words, this most familiar world we call "my mind, or me" is located in the mental world of eternity. Your thoughts and feelings and sensations are actually things or objects, spiritual things or mental things, and they must be made of something. Our mental organs in our spiritual body (layer 10), which we get at birth of course, are made of spiritual substances from the Spiritual Sun. This occurs when we are born, and then it never ceases to eternity. Our sensations, thoughts, and feelings are immortal because they are constructed of spiritual substances from the Spiritual Sun, and these substances are immortal, because Divine. These substances are called "uncreate" and exist in God and are from God. They do not stop being Divine outside of God in created things. This is why our infrastructure of the soul (layers 3) is not accessible to us but remains the "abode" of God in a human being. From there God activates and manages all lower layers through the built-in laws of correspondences.

So God had to create the mental world of eternity for the human race in which to develop and to exist forever. He had to construct the world eternity out of something because out of nothing there cannot come forth anything. This something out of which the mental world was constructed, is the spiritual light and the spiritual heat streaming out of the Spiritual Sun on a continuous basis in endless variety forever -- thus reflecting God's infinity. Hence it is that our mind, which is made of mental organs in our spiritual body (layer 10), is born immortal. Our mind is born in the spiritual world of eternity and stays there. We never had a mind here on earth, but only a physical body that has a brain that is responsive to our mind through the built-in laws of correspondences. The two worlds are connected by the laws of correspondences. This was unknown until it was revealed in Swedenborg's Writings in the 18th century.

The spiritual world of eternity and the natural world of time-space are functionally connected by the laws of correspondences as a built-in part of their creation. The dual universe could not possibly work separately. The physical body without the mind is just a robot that does not have a spiritual body in eternity, does not have a mind, cannot be immortal. Similarly the mind without its own spiritual body cannot exist as a functioning unit or person. Our sensations are operations in the sensorimotor organ of the mind (S). Our thoughts are operations in the cognitive organ of the mind (C), and our feelings and motivations are operations in our affective organ (A).

So from now on you need to start thinking of your sensations, thoughts, and feelings as substantive, not material like the physical brain, which contains only operations of electricity and chemistry, not psychology. Only the mind has operations of psychology, and the mind (layers 9 through 4) is not in the physical body (layer 12), but in the spiritual body (layer 10) in eternity, where it remains since birth, and continues living after it is disconnected from the physical body at death a few hours later. Swedenborg was right there as thousands of people were being resuscitated from death, just 30 hours after dying (see Section xx).

One of your jobs once you're no longer connected to earth, might be to assist in the resuscitation process of millions of people every day from countless numbers of planets in the physical universe where the human race exists.

Note that whether we say spiritual body or mental body, it is the same. Spiritual = mental = eternity. Since we are born dual citizens, in time-space and in eternity, we need two very different kind of bodies to exist in each world. So we have a temporary physical body made of physical matter, and a permanent ("immortal") spiritual body made of the substances of the Spiritual Sun. We can call this a mental body or a spiritual body. Either way, it means a human body made of organs and held together in a body that is made of spiritual substances from the Spiritual Sun.

Now why do we say that the Spiritual Sun is in the mental world of eternity? Here is the explanation.

Since God is the Divine Human Person in whom infinite things make one, God has a Rational Mind and therefore His infinite cognitive organ operates according to the order and laws of rationality (or truth), this being God's Own Nature or Being in relation to the created human race. Some people believe that to approach close to God we need to reflect deeply or to meditate, clearing the mind of worldly things, clearing the mind of everything in it, until a higher consciousness is reached, beyond human thinking, and this allows a feeling of "oneness" with the Divine, leading to ecstatic feelings and states. However, according to theistic psychology based on Sacred Scripture, Divine Truth is the same as Divine Rationality, so that to approach God we need to do it by elevating  our mind to higher and higher forms of rational understanding. We are closest to God when we can think and reason with celestial-rational correspondences of Sacred Scripture (layer 4C). The essence of being human is rationality.

But you need to realize that truth does not exist by itself, no more than sunlight can exist without heat within it that gives it energy and power to accomplish things. The operations of the cognitive organ cannot occur by themselves, no more than wood can be made to burn with a powerful flashlight. For light to exist, there must be heat in it. For spiritual light, which is truth, to enter and activate our cognitive organ at each layer, there must be spiritual heat simultaneously entering the affective organ at each layer. The affective (A) and the cognitive (C) must operate together if either is going to operate.

To be elevated in consciousness to the celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Truth (layer 4C) requires that we also have our affective organ (A) elevated at least above the natural level. This can only occur through our heavenly traits, when the enjoyment of our hellish traits has been withdrawn from our motivational system. Then our inherited and acquired hellish traits are gradually and progressively put to sleep by the Divine Psychologist. We are then able to enjoy our heavenly traits, and this love for them insures our existence in the heavenly layers (6, 5, 4) after resuscitation.

In the negative bias mode of thinking in science, called materialism or monism, it is denied that there is a dual universe without being able to provide a proof for this ("negative bias in science"). Hence there is no God, no eternity, no mental world. Just the brain and its electricity and chemistry. This cannot be proven, hence it is called a bias. In this mode of thinking, mental things like ideas or thoughts and dreams are nothing. They don't really exist -- except as electricity and chemistry. So if you still think this way (called "reductionism"), you will not understand theistic psychology at all.

So you need to switch to the positive bias in science, which is to accept the concepts introduced here as possibly true and scientific, but still remaining to be proven. This is called the positive bias mode of thinking in science because you are accepting that the Spiritual Sun might possibly exist even though no one can prove it by instruments or calculations. The point now is: What are the consequences and benefits of taking on the positive bias mode of thinking in science? You will be the judge of that as you continue your studies.

Now, since God is the Divine Human Person, He is in the human form. This means that God has a spiritual body like we do, that is a substantial mental body, and containing God's mental organs: affective organ (A), cognitive organ (C), sensorimotor organ (S), which includes face, hands, legs, torso, heart, lungs, brain, etc.. The only difference is that God's spiritual body is uncreate and infinite, while ours is created and finite. So God made us look like Him, male and female versions (see Part 2 for male and female mental anatomy). When God thinks in the cognitive organ, that thought is an actual construction made of rational substances called spiritual light.

This light now projects itself through the Spiritual Sun (layer 1) into the created universe and each object in it (layers 2 through 12). Thoughts are actual substances that flow out and into organs of reception (C), just as our physical eye is an organ of reception for physical light streaming into it from the sun millions of miles away. As this light strikes objects and then enters our physical eye, and then brain, our spiritual body then transforms the pattern of electro-chemical impulses in the brain cells into the familiar experiences we call a sensation. This familiar experience is not in the brain at all, but in the sensorimotor organ of the spiritual body in eternity that is tied to the physical brain by correspondence.

But once we "die," our spiritual body suddenly stops receiving information by correspondence from the physical body. Everything from earth, the physical world, the physical body, is now gone. Silent. We are now free from the shackles of the the time-space-matter world. You might think that now somehow you are more restricted living a life less interesting than what you had through the physical body. Right? Did you think that?

Well Swedenborg reports from direct observation that the opposite is the case. In our spiritual body, no longer attached to the physical world, we soar on the wings of the wind, like a dream world made for you. Except: there are others. Everyone who was tied to a physical body, and then lost the tie, is now in the world of eternity called the afterlife.

The mental world is much more real than the physical, as you know, when you have a nightmare or a sexual experience in a dream. When you awaken, you can still remember how vivid and intense and pure the experience was, whether heavenly or hellish. We need to ask what these dreams are they of.

Dreams are made of spiritual substances. Let us call this substance "rational ether." Think of it as the space or atmosphere that creates mental spaces when you think, imagine, or dream. What about the objects and the people in your dream? What are thy made of? You can't say that dreams are made of nothing, for this is illogical or reductionistic. The answer is: Dreams, thoughts, images, reasoning sequences, are all operations of the cognitive organ. This mental organ is made of spiritual substances from the Spiritual Sun. It is also activated by these substances as spiritual light from the Spiritual Sun streams into the mental organs (C) of every human being. This constant stream of spiritual light from the Spiritual Sun is responsible for our thoughts.

So our spiritual body and its mental organs are immersed in rational ether from the Spiritual Sun, and can see things that appear around, just as the physical eye can see physical objects from the light of the physical sun. But what are the spiritual objects we can see with the eyes of the spiritual body?

The objects in your dreams are spiritual objects, so we are already very familiar with spiritual objects. If you are dreaming of eating in a restaurant, the table, the food, and the waiter are all spiritual objects. This means that these objects are constructed out of the rational ether in the mental world created by the Spiritual Sun (see discussion above). Spiritual objects are produced by means of correspondences. Your feelings, intentions, and loves spontaneously and automatically produce these spiritual objects that make up the environment of your dream. You can understand this in a general way when you realize that dark moods and fears are feelings that produce scary spiritual objects and events, like falling off a mountain during a storm at night, or being attacked by a bear that suddenly appears out of nowhere, etc. Good moods and feelings can produce beautiful dreams of charming weather and friendly animals and people.

Quoting from a Web site explaining the concept of correspondences in Swedenborg's Writings:

A correspondence is a living link between one plane of life and another. It is the link between spiritual planes and natural planes, e.g. the feelings and the body. Smiling is a physical expression which corresponds to feelings of delight. Correspondences are so much part of our life we take them for granted. We often use them in speech. We use “seeing” to mean understanding something, or the “heart” when describing feelings, as in, “broken hearted”, “hard hearted”. The connection is more than words. We can actually feel pain in our hearts or our stomachs, when we are heart broken or fearful. Swedenborg shows how correspondences are the link between the distinct planes through which we receive our life from God. Through them God is in touch with His creation and sustains it.
http://www.spiritualwisdom.org.uk/correspondences-symbols.htm

There are two levels to the "plane of life." We are born into both levels -- into the the plane of life outside time-space known as eternity, and into the plane of life in time-space known as the natural world. The mental world is permanent since it exists in eternity since birth. In other words, human beings are born immortal beings. But the physical body is temporary since it exists in time since birth. God created these two planes of existence so that human beings could acquire a self and personality through interacting with the natural world in time-space. God could not create us directly into the world of eternity. The laws of life and existence in the world of eternity are quite different from what people know on the earths in the physical universe (see Section xx). This will be discussed further as we proceed in the study of theistic psychology.

It makes sense therefore to think that God had to create a method of correspondence between our immortal spiritual body and our temporary physical body.

And these cause-effect laws of interaction -- correspondences -- had to apply not just to the structure of human beings but to the environment of our physical body as well, hence to the entire planetary and galactic system of the natural world.

Hence the laws of correspondences are a blue print by which God creates and manages all the cause-effect events in the dual universe.

These laws were revealed to the earliest generations on this planet. When they started writing down these correspondences, science was born (see Section xx). The Science of Correspondences was known to the ancient civilizations (see Section xx). Subsequently they were lost and forgotten due to evolutionary events (see Section xx). Now for the first time in modern times, correspondences have been revealed once more in the Writings Sacred Scripture. The knowledge of these correspondences now allows us to see through the literal sense of Sacred Scripture, and extract from it the scientific revelations God wants humanity on earth to know.

 As the quote above indicates, correspondences have been preserved in the structure of natural languages. Here are common instances you will recognize:

NATURAL OBJECT OR QUALITY
IN PHYSICAL TIME-SPACE
CORRESPONDENTIAL EQUIVALENT
IN MENTAL ETERNITY
smiling feelings of delight
seeing understanding
the heart feelings of love
broken hearted loss of a love and consequent feelings of sadness
hard hearted cold feelings of lack of sympathy for someone
hot under the collar feeling angry emotions
it's clear to me comprehending something
he has a generous hand he is motivated to help
he is only on the periphery he does not know inside information
this place gives me the creeps I'm scared
I was kept in the dark they intended to keep the information from me
it's a heavy burden on my shoulders I feel anxious and preoccupied by it
take out the gnat in your eye stop believing what is false about yourself
he is straight as a whistle he has an upright character
he's got a strong head he is intelligent
he is bull headed he is stubborn
he is a chameleon he is hypocritical or unpredictable
he is a wolf he cannot be trusted
he is a pig he has no manners or civility
he is a snake he is not trust worthy
she is a doll she is pretty or feminine
she eats like a bird she eats very little
she is a fox she tricks people
they easily fly off the handle they easily get mad
etc. etc. (how many more can you think of? Can you group them into categories? What are those categories?)  

It makes sense that our natural mind constructs these correspondential equivalents between the temporary world of our physical body and the eternal world of our mental body.

Linguists and philosophers study "figures of speech," also known as metaphor, simile, symbol, analogy, and so on (see Section xx). The basis for constructing these figures of speech are correspondences between the natural world of time and the spiritual world of eternity, also known to us as the mental world. What could be more familiar to you than eternity, since you are already so familiar with your own mental world. You did not know that your familiar everyday mental world is the world of eternity, the world of the afterlife, the world of your immortality!

The organs of the physical body are formed and shaped according to the organs in the spiritual body:

MENTAL-PHYSICAL CORRESPONDENCES

SPIRITUAL BODY
BORN INTO ETERNITY
PHYSICAL BODY
BORN INTO TIME-SPACE
affective organ as our spiritual heart heart with its circulatory system of arteries, veins, and capillaries
cognitive organ as our spiritual lungs lungs with its respiratory system and esophagus
sensorimotor organ as our spiritual sensory and musculature brain with afferent sensory organs and efferent musculature attached to skeleton

Here are a few examples from the tradition of theistic astrology or astronomica, contributed by David Chambers (see Section 6.12):

She is a hot head (Aries/Mars) She is reckless
He is stiff necked (Taurus/Venus dark side) He is stubborn
She is a chatterbox (Gemini/Mercury lower octave) She is communicative
He is crabby (Cancer/Moon) He is moody
She is lionhearted (Leo/Sun) She is courageous
He is a nit-picker (Virgo/Mercury higher octave) He is fastidious
She is a right madam (Libra/Venus light side) She is vain
He is too hot to trot (Scorpio/Pluto) He is passionate
She has a big heart (Sagittarius/Jupiter) She is generous
He is a tightwad (Capricorn/Saturn) He is frugal
She has got her head in the clouds (Aquarius/Uranus) She is absent minded
He is a slippery customer (Pisces/Neptune) He is elusive

All Sacred Scripture is composed of pure correspondences of Divine Speech and their representatives (see Section xx).

Divine Speech is the same as Divine Truth or Divine Rational Thinking. Also called spiritual light within which is spiritual heat (see Section xx).

When you arrive in the third heaven of your mind (layer 4) you will be able to see God as the Divine Human. Surrounding God the Divine Human you will see a bright aura called the Spiritual Sun (layer 1). From this Spiritual Sun stream forth spiritual light and spiritual heat in infinite variety. These two Divine Human substances are God Himself as He wills Himself to exist outside of Himself and in created eternity, as well as in the natural world of time through His Divine Physical Body that he acquired fro Himself in the Incarnation Event  (see Section xx). Spiritual light and heat are substances that create the world of eternity, which is the mental world of the human race, and they create the world of time, which are the materials of the earths in the natural world out of which our physical body is made.

So every physical stone or molecule or planet has a mental or spiritual infrastructure which creates it and maintains it in subsistence. See the simultaneous view of the layers in Part 1.

God establishes a chain of correspondences across the layers of creation. Creation and its continuous maintenance or re-creation, starts with Divine Speech, which is Divine Truth, which is the content of God's infinite cognitive organ streaming forth as spiritual light within, which is spiritual heat that issues from God's infinite affective organ. God's spiritual heat is called Divine Love or Divine Good. God's spiritual light is called Divine Truth or Divine Wisdom and Rationality.

  1. Spiritual Sun -- spiritual light (Divine truth or rationality) and spiritual heat (Divine good or love)

  2. Heaven of human internals

  3. Soul

  4. Celestial-rational layer (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor) (third heaven)

  5. Spiritual-rational layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor) (second heaven)

  6. Spiritual-natural layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor) (first heaven)

  7. Natural-rational layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor)

  8. Natural-sensual layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor)

  9. Natural-corporeal layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor)

  10. Spiritual body

  11. Natural limbus

  12. Physical body and planet

Try to memorize this list if you haven't already from the chart of layers in Part 1.

Note that God's infinite good and truth are spiritual or mental substances streaming out of the Spiritual Sun (layer 1). It is God's Own mental substances that are streaming out of Him, forming an aura called the Spiritual Sun. This is the first layer of the mental world of eternity. God is the First Cause,  creating all the lower layers through these substances within Himself. By causing these mental or spiritual substances (good and truth) to exist outside of Him, God starts His creation.

Note that creation must start outside of God. Creation cannot be inside God, since in that case there is not yet a creation. To create anything therefore, God must cause His Own mental substances to come out so that they exist outside of Himself. The first such an event is the Spiritual Sun or layer 1. Note that this First layer is not made of created substances. Infinite Divine Good or Love substance and infinite Divine Truth or Rationality substance have always existed in God and have no beginning. But all things that have a beginning are created. This is the definition given in Sacred Scripture of what is infinite.

Note that "infinite" does not mean without an end. It means without a beginning. Think of time or counting from 1 onward. The process of counting can go on endlessly, forever. But this this not make counting infinite because it always will have a beginning. Also, think of physical space as endless, limitless, going on without ever stopping. This does not make physical space infinite because it had a beginning at the creation of the physical world. So the only thing that can be infinite is that which does not have a beginning, always existed. This is God, including all the infinite uncreate substances in God that make a One as a Divine Human Person. God and His mental substances are the only infinite that exists. There cannot be two "infinites" for in that case neither would be infinite.

 The idea some people have that "God is the universe" is not a rational concept. I think it is easy for them to see this, but they say that it does not have to be rational, but is above the rational (e.g., beyond human understanding), and some say, below the rational (e.g., mystical). But in theistic psychology it is necessary to use only rational concepts, and only those that are extracted from Sacred Scripture. According to this source God is a Person and the source of all rationality, wisdom, or truth.

The two types of substances in God's Mind are infinite in variety and "quantity," though "quantity" is a concept that applies to physical things not mental. In the mental world we create any quantity we want and there is no limit as in the physical world. Be aware of our negative bias idea that because it's "only mental" it is not as real as physical money bills in the hand. This definition of reality only describes the physical world (layer 12) and corporeal mind (layer 9). Once you move upward across the layers from 9 to 4, things are becoming more real, more permanent and forever. In the spiritual mind our mental powers are truly awesome. Swedenborg saw magnificent palaces and architecture and art that cannot exist in the physical world. These were all created in an instant by the mental operations of the people in that state of mind. Mental substances are immortal and powerful, while things made of physical matter are inert, slow, and temporary.

God's mental substances, exiting outside of Himself through the Spiritual Sun, are powerful enough to create the layers of existence in the mental world of humanity, each person being immortal, never ending once born. Eternity is created by the substances of the Spiritual Sun. The substances of spiritual heat (= good or love) exist as God's infinite affective organ in which infinite loves and affections make a unit, an integral whole that is live or alive. Physical substance is not alive, but mental substance is alive. So our mind can have the constant experiencing of consciousness because the mental organs are constructed of live substances, namely, the mental substances of God in whom everything is live or alive. This aliveness is life itself and exists only in God and in the Spiritual Sun.

The life that we have as human beings is not our life but God's life in us through the substances of the Spiritual Sun. The substances of spiritual heat and spiritual light flow into every one of our mental layers, and as they are received by our affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor organs, these organs appear to be alive on their own. But they are not. We feel alive to ourselves because God's spiritual substances are operating in the organs and our conscious experiencing is the result of those operations. If that inflow of substances would cease, the organs would be inert, without life in them. So life is nothing but those substances from the Spiritual Sun inflowing and operating in our mental organs.

It is not simple to think of our sensations, thoughts, and feelings as substances, especially if these substances are called good or love, and truth or rationality. In our layer 8C (sensual mind) we cannot understand this because what is mental does not seem as real as what is physical. But in our interior-natural mind (layer 7C) we can think with rational concepts rather than with sensual concepts.

We can say therefore that God is in us, but it is not rational to say that God is part of us.

God's spiritual mental substances flowing into our mental organs allows our mind to react to the mental substances of God flowing in. We are not those substances, but we react to them. So we have nothing whatsoever of God that can be part of us, or ours. God's substances are the core of every created thing, as you can clearly see from the simultaneous view of the 12 layers.

You can clearly see that God through the Spiritual Sun is present as the inmost of anything created. Present -- but not "part of."

God in Himself prior to the Spiritual Sun is unknowable. God can be seen visually by those whose consciousness is at level 4 through the understanding of celestial-rational correspondences. Swedenborg and all those with whom he associated in the "third heaven" could visually observe with the eyes of their spiritual body, the substances of light from the Spiritual Sun entering their cognitive organ, and the substances of spiritual heat entering their affective organ. They had a living perception of it entering their mind and what effects it causes there in terms of their consequent sensations, thoughts and feelings. Every individual experienced this in a uniquely variable manner, and yet, they could each sense how the others experienced it, so that together as a group or society, they were able to have a more perfect love and understanding of God (see Section xx).

Through a more perfect understanding and love of God we can receive ever new and higher sensations, thoughts and feelings to endless eternity. This is called heaven (layers, 4, 5, 6).

These 12 layers of creation must be interconnected, or else God could not manage the whole as one immense rational system (see Section xx). The functional laws of interaction between the 12 layers are called the laws of correspondences. These layers are also called discrete degrees (see Section xx). Divine Speech is at level 1 and as it descends in the form of spiritual heat and light, it creates each subsequent layer below. The layers are connected by correspondence, which means cause-effect relations -- every detail at the lower layer is called the effect, and every corresponding detail at the next upper level, is called its cause.

Now look at the 12 layers again. Where in it would you place Sacred Scripture?

The answer is layer 12. Are you surprised? Remember that Sacred Scripture is a physical book or document which was caused by God to be written by an individual whose mind He prepared for it. The process was experienced by the prophet either as hearing words dictated by a "voice from heaven" or "an angel," or, by organizing the individual's mind to think in a certain way, which is then written down. Either way, what the individual writes down is God's Speech or God's Divine Truth or, what is the same, God's Rational Organ in which infinite truths and intelligences make one. Sacred Scripture is God's Word to humankind, the source of Divine Truth revealed to humankind. In Sacred Scripture infinite truths make one, that is, are integrated into rational series that comprise a whole. This whole is called heaven and it is the highest mental state in the mental world of the human race, therefore, of every individual human being (layers 4, 5, 6).

But this is only half of the process by which correspondences create the mental world of eternity and the physical world of time-space. You need to know the other half of the description.

The physical document called Sacred Scripture (layer 12) is caused by the natural mind (layers 7, 8, 9) of a particular individual with whom God initiates this process of writing down Divine Speech in a natural language. The content of our natural mind is cultural and social. Hence the content of Sacred Scripture is cultural and historical, reflecting the civilization and the geography of the individual engaged in this process with God. This historical and cultural content forms the basis of religion. This means that every religion has its own version of Sacred Scripture produced by an individual from that culture whom God chose and prepared for that purpose.

Thus far in theistic psychology the following collections of Sacred Scripture have been investigated:

  • The Old Testament Sacred Scripture (Jewish religion) (see Section xx)

  • The New Testament Sacred Scripture (Christian religion) (see Section xx)

  • The Writings Sacred Scripture (New Church religion) (see Section xx)

  • The Qu'ran Sacred Scripture (Islam religion) (see Section xx)

  • The Sacred Texts of Hinduism and Buddhism (see Section xx)

Other versions of Sacred Scripture will be researched in the future.

Definition of Sacred Scripture :

Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech or Truth transformed by layers of correspondences, from the celestial-rational mind (third heaven -- layer4), to the spiritual-rational mind (second heaven -- layer 5), to the spiritual-natural mind (first heaven -- layer 6), and then, to the natural mind (layers 7, 8, 9), where we are conscious of the literal meaning of the printed sentences (layer 12).

Look at the layers again:

  1. Spiritual Sun -- spiritual light (Divine truth or rationality) and spiritual heat (Divine good or love)

  2. Heaven of human internals

  3. Soul

  4. Celestial-rational layer (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor) (third heaven)

  5. Spiritual-rational layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor) (second heaven)

  6. Spiritual-natural layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor) (first heaven)

  7. Natural-rational layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor)

  8. Natural-sensual layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor)

  9. Natural-corporeal layer of our mind (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor)

  10. Spiritual body

  11. Natural limbus

  12. Physical body and planet

Layer 1 is the source of the mental substances of Divine Speech  which is Proceeding outward into the created universe, or exteriorizing into creation. Layer 4 is the first Divine Proceeding that is actually knowable to humanity. Every individual has immortal mental layers 3 to 10. While we are still connected to the physical body (layer 12), we are conscious in the natural mind (layers 7, 8, 9). Following resuscitation, which occurs a few hours after the death of the physical body (layer 12), we are conscious in our spiritual mind (layers 6, 5, 4). Both spiritual (5) and celestial layers (4) are rational, but the celestial-rational (4) is higher than the spiritual-rational (5). The natural-rational mind (layer 7) in which we are conscious now on earth, is relatively lower still. In our spiritual mind our human potential is far greater than in our natural mind.

It is critical to realize that as the layers of correspondences descend or exteriorize from 1 to 12, the immediately preceding layer (called the cause) lodges itself a discrete degree within the next lower layer (called the effect). So layer 3 (soul) is a discrete degree within layer 4 (celestial mind), which is within layer 5 (spiritual mind), which is within layer 6 (spiritual-natural mind), which is within layer 7 (natural-rational mind). So by the time you are reading a book of Sacred Scripture here on earth (layer 12) you are looking at the literal content in a natural language and culture that has been transformed several times by correspondences. The literal verses of Sacred Scripture here on earth (layer 12) contain within them prior layers of correspondences. Swedenborg demonstrated in detail how these hidden layers can be extracted from the literal sense by means of the knowledge of correspondences. (see Section xx).

The content of Divine Speech changes from layer to layer, but all the layers remain in correspondence with each other in an unbroken rational series.

The closest we can get to the content of Divine Truth is the state of our heaven in the celestial mind (layer 4). This mental state can be reached following the mental state in which we are resuscitated. When we are in our "celestial" mental state, we can read the version of Sacred Scripture that the communities and societies of  the third heaven possess, as witnessed many times by Swedenborg over the course of 27 years of dual citizenship, being simultaneously conscious in both his natural mind and his spiritual mind (see Section xx). Swedenborg was able to observe how the content of Sacred Scripture actually varied as he was allowed to travel in consciousness across all the layers of the human mental world in eternity (layers 4 , 5, 6) (see Section xx).

This experimental situation allowed Swedenborg to compare the content of Sacred Scripture across the layers of the human mind as Divine Speech descends across the layers by correspondences. By comparing the specific changes in meaning of particular verses of Sacred Scripture between one layer of the mental world and another, Swedenborg was able to give an empirical demonstration and analysis of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures in terms of correspondences (see Section xx). This has never happened before in the entire extensive literature of Bible interpretation. The reason is that no one since the spiritual race began, has had access to correspondences until they were observed by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772).

 Religions are based on the literal sense of the Sacred Scripture they were given by God when each religion was founded. Since the literal sense is a historical and cultural document, each religion has its own history and culture. Hence religions are contrastive to each other, just like one language contrasts with all other languages. Religions do not agree with each other because the literal sense of their different Sacred Scripture varies and does not agree with the literal sense of other Sacred Scripture.

Theistic psychology is not trying to conjoin religions or make them fit together. Theistic psychology is not based on the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. Hence, theistic psychology is not directly relevant to religion and does not in any way affect religions.

However, we know from the Writings Sacred Scripture that all Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech hidden across layers of correspondences.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 5287. In the other life, especially in the heavens, all thought, and hence all speech, are carried on by means of what is abstracted from persons, and therefore thought and speech there are universal, and are relatively without limit; for so far as thought and speech are determined to persons and their specific qualities, and to names, and also to words, so far they become less universal, and are determined to the actual thing, and there abide. On the other hand, insofar as they are not determined to persons and what is connected with them, but to realities abstracted from them, so far they are determined away from the actual thing, and are extended beyond self, and the mental view becomes higher and consequently more universal.

[2] This is very apparent from man's thought, which insofar as it regards the words of one speaking, so far it does not regard his meaning; and which insofar as it regards the particular things of the memory, and dwells on them, so far it does not perceive the nature of the real things; and, still more important, insofar as it regards itself in everything, so far it narrows the thoughts and removes itself from viewing a subject in a universal manner. Hence it is that in proportion as anyone loves himself more than others, in the same proportion he is less wise. From this it is now plain why things abstracted from persons are signified in the internal sense by the things which in the sense of the letter are determined to persons (see also n. 5225). (AC 5287)

1.1.4.3.2.2    Drinking Blood and Other Examples of Correspondences in Sacred Scripture

Here is an example from the New Testament Sacred Scripture:

Except ye shall eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you (John 6:53).

What does this mean? The Incarnated Divine Human is speaking here, referring to Himself as "the Son of man," and commanding people to eat His flesh and drink His blood. He was not encouraging cannibalism! Obviously the literal contains a spiritual meaning that is hidden from the surface and must be figured out rationally by the reader. The universal explanation over the past two thousand years has been that Jesus is talking symbolically. Here is one example I found on the Web:

From: Bible Tools. Commentaries on John 6:53
http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Bible.show/sVerseID/26311/eVerseID/26315
Jesus Christ explains that both the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood are required if we are to have eternal life. As we symbolically drink His blood when we partake of the wine at Passover, we acknowledge our individual part in the shedding of His blood, and reconciliation with God occurs. But the process does not stop here. Once we are reconciled, we must also feed on His flesh, His words, to gain eternal life. Still, this is not enough—we must continually repeat this process as long as we live.

In other words people "symbolically drink His blood" when they celebrate the death on the cross of the Incarnated God who spilled His blood for the sake of humanity, that people may be able to live in the heavens of their mental eternity, rather than their hells. This is called "salvation" of the human race. According to the literal meaning of the New Testament Sacred Scripture the Incarnated God (see Section xx) dying on the cross is to be compared with the immolation or sacrifice of animals commanded by God in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture as a religious practice instituted with priests. The sins of the people were thus "laid upon the animals" as it were, like the "sacrificial lamb," or other animals including oxen, goats, pigeons, etc. The priests were commanded to sprinkle some of the blood of the sacrificed animals all around the place, and other such ceremonies, as described and commanded in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. One of these ceremonies included the ritual eating of designated portions of the flesh of the sacrificed animals (e.g., at the "Passover meal"). However it was strictly forbidden for the people or the priests to drink any blood.

It is in this religious, national, cultural, and historical context that God incarnated as a Divine Human in a particular country in the Middle East more than two thousand years ago, offering Himself as the ultimate blood sacrifice for the sins of all humanity, since the former sacrifices of animals ceased to be effective ritual methods when people began to misuse them for insincere and commercial purposes. Such rituals were endowed with Divine power as long as they were used sincerely, but as soon as they became merely the object of religious politics and commercialism, their Divine effectiveness ceased. Now humanity had no Divinely prescribed method for saving them from these sins, which meant, going into the hells of eternity.

In the context of theistic psychology the idea of "sin" is related to the evil traits in our inherited character that we are unwilling to change because we love them and enjoy them. As a result our spiritual mind is closed and cannot be developed while we are still living in this life on earth. When we die and are resuscitated we do not have a sufficiently functional spiritual mind and are forced to function with our interior-natural mind (layer 7). This mind when it is not regenerated contains all the inherited and acquired evils and enjoyments accumulated during our lifetime on earth in the natural mind. The consequence is that we become spiritually insane and spend our eternity in delusional and beastly mental states called "hell." The animal sacrifices were a way that God had provided in ancient times for the removal of these "sins" by giving "sinners" the opportunity to focus on their injurious behaviors and repent, that is, make a resolution not to continue them. When people did this sincerely, the Divine Psychologist was able to turn off their inherited traits and provide heavenly traits. But when it was done insincerely, just using the ritual to receive "forgiveness," not really repenting, then the Divine Psychologist was unable to "save" them from their fate in hell.

Two thousand years ago God had to introduce or create a totally new method for saving people from heading towards the hells in their minds. The Incarnation (or physical birth) of God as a human being on this earth and a citizen of a particular country, was God's method of providing new ways of avoiding the hells after our resuscitation. This new method involved the creation of a new mental organ in our conscious natural mind (layer 7) (see Section xx). This organ is called the interior-natural mind (layer 7). Every human being now possesses such an organ from birth. In order to activate this organ the individual must study theistic psychology in one form or another -- from Sacred Scripture or from instruction. 

This interior-natural layer is also called the natural-rational mind. It is the direct rational consciousness of God as explained in this Volume. This conscious rational proof in our mind of God's existence and presence in our mind, was not possible prior to the Incarnation Event, prior to the evolution of the new interior-natural mind. As a result people had needed physical proof of God's existence and presence in layers 12, 9, and 8). This was provided through sacrifices, miracles, voices, interventions, visions, angels, prophets, and other experiences of sensuous spirituality (layers 9 and 8), as this was provided through the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. When sensuous spirituality ceased to be Divinely effective due to mental corruption and misuse, the new approach of rational spirituality began (also called "Holy Spirit"). In order to promote this approach God had to reveal the existence of the Science of Correspondences that had lain hidden in the spiritual sense of Sacred Scripture. The study of Theistic Psychology represents the full maturation of the new rational approach God has created for humanity.

To allow the foundation of theistic psychology as a universal science it was necessary for God to promote the development of scientific thinking, method, and knowledge so that the human race on this earth could become a modern civilization and learn scientific ideas in their education and schooling. Such a modern scientifically educated mind became possible when Swedenborg was born at the end of the 17th century when modern science and public science education became a historical reality.

To drink God's blood as a representative ritual or symbol of His Self-sacrifice on the cross, is a literal meaning even if it is called symbolic. The symbolic meaning still retains the tradition of blood sacrifice as a religious method for having one's sins forgiven or wiped away, as if the sins had never been committed. You can see that the symbolic meaning is just as natural as the literal meaning (both in layer 8). Both meanings are in the sensual and corporeal mind (layers 8, 9) and have to do with the physical sensual world and how things are done in the physical world, namely, sacrificing (killing) animals, sprinkling blood, the Incarnated God nailed to the cross as a "sacrificial Lamb," and the other historical and scientific details in the literal of the New Testament Sacred Scripture.

Contrast this sensual-corporeal approach (layers 8, 9) with the correspondential spiritual meaning (layer 7) given in the Writings Sacred Scripture as it discusses this New Testament passage:

LORD 27. That the Lord [= the Incarnated Divine Human] is called "the Son of man" when Redemption, Salvation, Reformation, and Regeneration are treated of, is evident from these passages: [from the New Testament Sacred Scripture]

The Son of man came to give His life a redemption for many (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:5).
The Son of man is come to save, and not to destroy (Matt. 18:11; Luke 9:56).
The Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).
The Son of man is come that the world through Him may be saved (John 3:17).
He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man (Matt. 13:37).

Redemption and salvation are here treated of, and as the Lord effects these by means of the Word, He here calls Himself "the Son of man." The Lord says,

That the Son of man has power to forgive sins (Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24) (that is, to save).

And also,

That He is the Lord of the Sabbath, because He is the Son of man (Matt. 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5)

(i.e. because He is the Word, [= the meaning of Sacred Scripture in the natural mind]
which He is Himself then teaching). [= He is the Divine Psychologist ("Holy Spirit") in the conscious natural mind of every human being]

He says, further, in John:

Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27).

By "meat" is meant all truth and good of doctrine from the Word [=theistic psychology], thus from the Lord; and this is also meant there by the manna, and by the bread which came down from heaven; and also by the following in the same chapter:

Except ye shall eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you (John 6:53).

"Flesh," or "bread," is the good of love from the Word; "blood," or "wine," is the good of faith from the Word, both from the Lord.  (LORD 27)

You will note that the Writings Sacred Scripture present the correspondential sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture, not the symbolic meaning. Thousands of proposals have been advanced regarding the meaning of obscure Bible passages, all centering their focus on the symbolic interpretation. The fact is that any person who believes in God and acknowledges the Bible as the Word of God will automatically render a symbolic interpretation the literal sentences, rather than imagine such awful things about what God ordered people to do.

Besides commanding people to "drink blood," God has talked about Himself in terms that cannot be considered good or Divine. The Old Testament Sacred Scripture frequently describes God's disgusted feeling with His "chosen people" whom He was guiding to the good life. But when they disobeyed His commandments repeatedly God throws a fit of rage and cries out how He hates His people, how He regrets creating them, how He is going to take vengeance on them, and not only on them but on their children, grand children, and subsequent generations. This kind of description of God cannot possibly be taken literally if one defines God as omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Divine Love and Mercy, as He is also described repeatedly in Sacred Scripture.

Further, when He forgave His chosen people and took their children into the "Promised Land" that He gave to their ancestors, He commanded them to exterminate the inhabitants that already lived in that land. bade them to intermarry or even use their animals. He ordered them to kill men, women, children, animals, and to burn everything down, before they would be allowed to build their own cities. The mind of the average person today recoils at these horrendous things Sacred Scripture says about God. So it is obvious that we must give a symbolic interpretation, not a literal one. And many have been presented. In fact millions of people who hear Christian sermons every Sunday are presented with symbolic interpretations of the Bible passages that constitute the Lesson for that week.

Remember that symbolic interpretations of the Bible passages are mental operations of reasoning and thinking in layer 8, which is the exterior-natural mind, also called the sensual mind or scientific mind. This is below layer 7, the interior-natural mind, also called the rational mind. We need to remember that "rational" in theistic psychology refers to thinking based on spiritual truths from the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture.

According to this definition nothing spiritually rational can be thought of below layer 7, which is the layer that is in between the spiritual world of eternity and the physical world of time-place. The content and basis of thinking in the exterior-natural mind (layer 8) is materialistic by necessity since it is in the negative bias mode, which denies the existence of something that is not material in time and place. For example, when people who believe in "God's Word" think about the afterlife, since this is promised there, they think of a heaven on earth, and a resurrection of their physical body on earth, or some other planet. They do not think of the afterlife as the mental world of eternity. If Sacred Scripture were to say this and other such things as you are studying in theistic psychology, few people would be left who would be willing to be good and obey God's commandments. This is because they are thinking of the mental world of eternity idea as worthless to them. In their materialistic thinking of God they can only imagine a God who rewards you with physical goods, not just mental.

It's only when we start thinking in layer 7 that we can begin to understand substantive dualism, dual citizenship, and the resuscitation of the spiritual mind in the mental world of eternity. We can then understand rationally (not materialistically) that all our feelings, thoughts, and sensations are real in their own world, that these are never here in the physical world of the brain or the skin, which only form a covering for them (layers 11, 12). Once covering disintegrates in the dying process (layer 12) while everything else remains. Understanding these ideas requires that people inquire into the meaning of those Bible passages at a spiritual level, and this is interior or higher (layer 7) to the exterior (layer 8, materialistic spirituality). 

Symbolic interpretation is necessary for the literal of Sacred Scripture, but there are higher layers to be explored and received from God. This higher layer is the understanding of Sacred Scripture in terms of correspondences. This new understanding is progressive, starting with spiritual-natural correspondences (layer 6C), continuing with spiritual-rational correspondences (layer 5C), and finally with celestial-rational correspondences (layer 4C). Since these layers of our mind remain unconscious until our resuscitation, God supplies us with a conscious interior-natural mind that is capable of representing to itself all the layers above. Even though these are only representations of the actual higher correspondences in our upper layers, they are endowed by God with the power to connect with those layers. The more we study and develop our rational understanding of higher order correspondences in Sacred Scripture, the more these higher layers of our mind can develop. This not only insures a life of heaven in eternity, but we derive the benefits immediately in the conscious natural mind.

But there is one hitch to this wonderful cognitive ability in our conscious interior-natural mind. We construct invalid or corrupted representations, thus useless for development, unless we are engaged in spiritual combat in our regeneration. The degree of our regeneration imposes a limit on the degree of our understanding. God has built into this a growth mechanism that protects us from spiritual catastrophe. The Divine Psychologist allows us to understand only those correspondences that we are not going to misuse and corrupt for hellish purposes.

I have noticed in my years of regeneration and study of Sacred Scripture that the correspondences I understand in one year deepen in subsequent years. Even when I reread what I have written in the early days of constructing theistic psychology, I get new, higher meaning out of it. Expressions and sentences are such wonderful vehicles that they can contain an endless series of higher meanings to be discovered gradually. Consider how correspondences work by thinking of a some examples. You will discover that correspondences is a natural way of thinking for us because we normally describe mental things by physical things, and we do this in our daily thinking and speaking.

The correspondential sense of the physical activity "to eat" (layer 12) is the mental activity of "to appropriate as our own." "To drink" has a similar correspondential sense as "to eat" or "to ingest." A physical act "to eat" or "to drink" corresponds to the mental act of "to appropriate" or "to incorporate the information." "Flesh" in the physical world corresponds to "good" or "love" in the mental world. "Blood" or "wine" correspond to spiritual truths (in layers 7, 6, 5, 4, the interior layers), while "water" corresponds to natural truths (in layer 8, the exterior sensual-scientific mind).

 In other words, physical flesh or bread offered in a sacrifice to God represents the "good of love," which in the mental world is the substance of spiritual heat that streams out of the Spiritual Sun, and thence into the mind of every human being (see Section xx). Similarly, physical blood or wine in a sacrifice to God represents the "good of truth" (or rational faith). The physical act of eating or drinking represents the process of "appropriation" by which the good of love (received in our affective organ, A) is conjoined to the good of truth received (in our cognitive organ, C) in our natural mind throughout its layers. This only occurs during regeneration. And so Sacred Scripture is telling us that unless we undergo regeneration ("eating flesh and drinking blood") we cannot stop being hellish.

Note that this conclusion cannot be reached merely from the symbolic meaning of the expressions. Knowledge of correspondences must be applied.

The "truths in Sacred Scripture" are nothing but spiritual light streaming from the Spiritual Sun into our cognitive organ. Spiritual heat as a substance is called "good" or "love" when it is received by the affective organ of human beings. Spiritual light as a substance is called "truth" or "wisdom" or "rationality" when it inflows into the cognitive organ. Hence "to eat the flesh or meat of the Son of man," i.e., the "Divine Human," has nothing to do with the physical act of eating from the sacrifices of animals, which is its symbolic meaning. The correspondential meaning  of eating flesh or meat is to appropriate the spiritual heat from the Divine Human, and this means to allow love into our heart or motivational and behavioral intentions. Similarly, the correspondential meaning of drinking blood or wine is to appropriate the spiritual light from the Divine Psychologist, and this means to allow spiritual truth from Sacred Scripture in our mind or thinking. This we do first in reformation, then in regeneration (see Section xx).

The correspondential sense of "blood" is "spiritual light" or spiritual truth (rational faith), which only God can originate, coming from the Spiritual Sun. People cannot construct or think any spiritual truths in the exterior-natural layer of the mind (8), where only natural truths can operate. This is why that layer is called the sensual or scientific mind, meaning that all its contents is based on sensory input through the physical body, leading the negative bias in science and materialism in everyday thinking and reasoning. Materialism either opposes the idea of God or turns it into a materialistic concept (anti-dualism, anti-eternity, anti-spiritual mind).

Spiritual truths involve concepts that describe the reality of the mental world of eternity, and since no one has conscious access to that world until resuscitation, it is clear that these facts about our life in eternity must be revealed through Sacred Scripture. A theistic science could not make its appearance until modern civilization began in the 18th century, which is when the Writings of Swedenborg were published (see Section xx). There was no use making these scientific revelations to humanity until people had enough of a rational outlook to be able to adopt the positive bias in science. Rational proof of God can only be given in rational consciousness, not sensuous consciousness.

Once the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture was revealed, along with its scientific concepts and principles (see Section xx), it became possible for scientific thinking to access the empirical facts about the mental world of eternity, which is our afterlife of immortality. The physical matter of blood corresponds to the mental substance of spiritual truth received in the cognitive organ (layer 7C) as spiritual light substance streaming in from the Spiritual Sun, both directly into layer 7C and indirectly through the upper layers that we share with those who are already in eternity (see "Vertical Community" in Section xx). Hence, to "drink the blood of the Son of man" has nothing to do with drinking or with sacrifices (as in their literal and symbolic meaning). It has to do with appropriating spiritual-rational information to one's conscious natural mind (7C), and hence to make spiritual truths part of our thinking in daily life and in science (layer 8C). This is what God is telling us when we see in the literal of Sacred Scripture the commandment to "drink His blood and eat His flesh."

Now consider the following illustrations from the Old Testament Sacred Scripture as discussed in the Writings Sacred Scripture. It proves that "flesh" and "blood" are used as correspondences for spiritual "good" and "truth" throughout the Old Testament Sacred Scripture as well, not just in that passage. This is important because it proves that we are not just making an arbitrary interpretation of that one passage.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 3813. As regards "flesh," in the supreme sense it signifies the own of the Lord's Divine Human [= His affective organ], which is Divine good [ = spiritual heat ], and in the relative sense it signifies the own of man's will [ = affective organ ] made alive by the own of the Divine Human, that is, by His Divine good
[ = when we are resuscitated and enter our heavenly layer, our feelings are personal adaptations of God's feelings in each of us ].

This own is what is called the heavenly own [ = our personality in layers 6, 5, 4 ], which in itself is the Lord's alone appropriated to those who are in good, and thence in truth [ = our thoughts and feelings are personal adaptations to God's thoughts and feelings ]. Such an own have the angels who are in the heavens [= our mental states in layers 6, 5, 4 ], and men who as to their interiors or as to the spirit are in the Lord's kingdom [= when we are regenerating our inherited character through the truths in our conscious natural mind ]. But in the opposite sense, "flesh" signifies the own of man's will, which in itself is nothing but evil [ = from inheritance ], and not being vivified by the Lord is called "dead," and thus the man himself is said to be dead [= prior to regeneration we have our inherited character which is connected to the hells in our mind. To be in hell is called to be dead.]  (...)

[3] The same was represented in the Jewish Church [= the literal sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture ] by the ordinance that Aaron, his sons, and they who sacrificed, and others who were clean, might eat the flesh of the sacrifices, and that this was holy (Exod. 12:7-9; 29:30-34; Lev. 7:15-21; 8:31; Deut. 12:27; 16:4). If therefore an unclean person ate of that flesh, he was to be cut off from his people (Lev. 7:21). (That these sacrifices were called "bread," may be seen above, n. 2165.) That "flesh" was called the "flesh of holiness" (Jer. 11:15; Haggai 2:12), and the "flesh of the offering which was on the tables in the Lord's kingdom," see Ezek. 40:43, where the new temple is described, by which there is evidently signified the worship of the Lord in His kingdom. (...)

[5] (...) They who know the internal sense, know that they shall come into the other life with a body, but a purer one [ = spiritual body, layer 10 ]; for in the other life there are purer bodies [ = not made of physical matter but of immortal substances ]; for they [ = once we are resuscitated in the spiritual body ] see each other, converse together, and enjoy every sense as in the present body, but in a more exquisite degree. The body [ = physical body, layer 12 ] which man carries about here on earth is for uses on earth, and therefore consists of bones and flesh [ = from physical matter ] ; and the body which the spirit carries about in the other life is designed for uses in that life, and does not consist of bones and flesh, but of things which correspond to them [ =  bones and flesh from spiritual substances ] (n. 3726).

[6] That in the opposite sense "flesh" signifies the own of man's will, which in itself is nothing but evil, is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:

They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm (Isa. 9:20).
I will feed their oppressors with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with new wine (Isa. 49:26).

In Jeremiah:

I will feed them with the flesh of their sons, and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat everyone the flesh of his companion (Jer. 19:9).

In Zechariah:

Let those who are left eat everyone the flesh of another (Zech. 11:9).
In Moses:
I will chastise you seven* times for your sins; and ye shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat (Lev. 26:28-29).

The own of man's will, that is, the nature of man, is thus described, for this is nothing else than evil and the derivative falsity; thus is hatred against truths and goods, which is signified by "eating the flesh of his arm, the flesh of sons and daughters, and the flesh of a companion."

[7] In John: [New Testament Sacred Scripture]

I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all both free and bond, both small and great (Rev. 19:17-18; Ezek. 39:17-20);

that here by the "flesh of kings, of captains, of mighty men, of horses and of those that sit upon them, of all, both free and bond," are not signified such things as these, must be evident to everyone; thus that by "flesh" are signified other things which have hitherto been unknown. That evils which are from falsities, and evils from which are falsities, both from the own of man's will, are signified, is manifest from the several expressions.

[8] As in the internal sense the falsity which results from the own of man's understanding is "blood"; and as the evil which results from the own of his will is "flesh," therefore the Lord speaks as follows concerning the man who is to be regenerated:

As many as received, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13). [New Testament Sacred Scripture]

Hence it is that by "flesh" in general is meant every man (see n. 574, 1050); for whether you say man, or man's own, it is the same thing. (...)  (AC 3813)

You can see from these illustrations that correspondences are universal and fixed by creation. They do not depend on subjective or personal interpretation, as with the symbolic meaning or interpretations that various scholars have offered for these strange passages. Consequently correspondences do not change. They are the same regardless who the prophet is because they don't depend on the prophet's understanding or thinking.

The prophets who wrote pieces of Sacred Scripture received the words they wrote down purely by inspiration. They did not know what the words meant or even that they were correspondences. Nor were they familiar with what other prophets had written earlier or subsequently. Hence the fact that all these writers over several centuries independently wrote by the same correspondences, constitutes scientific proof that Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech laid down in correspondences (see Section xx). Try if you can to think of another explanation for this agreement in correspondences.

Further, correspondences are not symbolic or figurative expressions. Correspondences are laws between cause and effect. Every mental state or property has a correspondence with some specific property of a physical object or event. The mental property is the cause while the physical property or event is the effect.

With this principle you can see how Sacred Scripture contains a literal and symbolic meaning on the surface, and a spiritual or correspondential meaning hidden in its deeper layers of meaning. These hidden layers discuss a different topic than the surface layers. As indicated above in the illustrations, the surface literal meaning may be discussing sacrifices, blood, rituals, and eating flesh, while the deeper spiritual layers are discussing theistic psychology, the anatomy of the mind, character reformation, life in heaven and hell, etc. Clearly there is no hint from the natural world surface topics what are the mental eternity topics that lay hidden within. Until the laws of correspondences were revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture in the 18th century, scholars could only speculate and hypothesize and make wild guesses as to the meaning or message in the visionary scenes described in the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. It is the same with other Sacred Scriptures.

This speculative or symbolic approach is continuing today since there is not yet an interest or knowledge in the Writings of Swedenborg. Hence authors today continue to publish dozens of new books every year giving their latest theories of what the last book of the Bible means. This Book of Sacred Scripture is called The Book of Revelation and also The Apocalypse. If you google these titles you will see the amazing frenzy of intellectual activity devoted to trying to penetrate this topic.  It appears from the literal meaning and the symbolic meaning that John's Book of Revelation in the Bible is talking about the "end of times." This is the theory that the physical world will end sooner or later because that's what the Book of Revelation seems to say. Then, after the predetermined time, the physical world is recreated, but this time without the blemishes. This idea is also supported by several passages in the New Testament and Old Testament Sacred Scriptures that appear to discusses the end of times (destruction and recreation of the physical world). You can research all this very easily on the Web with google. After that you will have more of a context to contrast with theistic psychology.

All this shows definitively that no one can come up with correspondences on their own and give a coherent rational account of the Book of Revelation, as well as hundreds of other visionary passages in the Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures. Swedenborg made a careful study of these passages and compared them to the wording of Sacred Scripture that he found in the spiritual layer (5) of the mental world, and also above that, in the celestial layer (4). If you would be able to become conscious in your spiritual mind right now, you too would be able to make that comparison, as long as you retained your conscious awareness in the natural mind, as happened to Swedenborg. But without this simultaneous dual consciousness it would not be possible to empirically discover correspondences.

For instance, Swedenborg was surprised at first to discover that people who are already conscious in their celestial layer (4) of the mind in eternity -- he called them "angels" -- are far more intelligent than we are here in our natural mind, yet they too did not know that their Sacred Scripture was written in correspondences (celestial-rational). This is because the natural mind, with all its memories of Sacred Scripture and etc., becomes unconscious when we complete the resuscitation process at our second death and enter the celestial layer of immortal conjugial life (see Section xx).

When we read Sacred Scripture in our interior-natural mind (layer 7) the meanings we are conscious of are totally different in content from the meaning of Sacred Scripture in our exterior-natural mind (layer 8). The difference is as we have discussed above, namely, that all references and topics to names of places, natural objects, numbers, natural ideas about countries, government, kings, etc., do not appear at all in the correspondential sense. Instead, their correspondences appear. Instead of "blood" or "wine" there appears "truths" of different kind, and instead of the number "10" there appears the word "remains" which refers to the heavenly mental states in our life on earth that the Divine Psychologist stores up for us to enjoy in our heavenly immortality (layers 4, 5, 6)  (see Section xx). Instead of the names of places on this earth like "Jerusalem" or "Egypt" or "Syria" there appear references to the mental states to which these names correspond, e.g., our principles of life based on Sacred Scripture ("Jerusalem"), our materialistic thinking and negative bias approach in science ("Egypt"), or positive bias approach applied to Sacred Scripture ("Syria").

You can see why no one over the centuries could come up with these correspondences on their own, especially since they don't know the details of the mental world.

It is revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture that the names of places mentioned in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture were given to those places by a more ancient generation that inhabited that portion of the Middle East. This ancient civilization still had left over knowledge of correspondences and they assigned names to geographic places according to natural representatives to mental correspondences. As a result, when the Old Testament prophets wrote about the events of the day in relation to God, they mentioned those names of places where the historical events took place. This is how those names became part of Sacred Scripture, and by Divine foresight and management, the events and the places where they took place, corresponded to spiritual information. In this way there was an unbroken rational series in the correspondential sense of the narrative of Sacred Scripture. The organized and integrated knowledge of these rational series is what we call today "theistic psychology."

Another amazing aspect to correspondences is that they give a scientifically powerful description of mental states, and this information has been sought after since the beginning of literature and science. Think about a dictionary. It's an alphabetical listing with definitions and examples of the various mental compartments we have when we are cultured and educated. What's the difference between saying "I prefer to take this one." and "I'll take this one." They are close or synonymous, and yet there is a difference. Try to get a sense of the difference. These two sentences refer to two different mental states. The dictionary defines the words and expressions, which are nothing but references to mental states (e.g., "I am angry" vs. "I am content," or "I don't want to eat now." vs. "I'm pretending to eat."). These physical actions are expressions for mental states and when people speak this way they are interested in the mental states or meaning of what's being said.

Think of a Thesaurus. It too is an arrangement of words and expressions, but instead of an alphabetical arrangement it is hierarchical, made of categories within categories so that all the words in a language belong to some category. What are these categories? They are references to mental states. So the Thesaurus is a map of our cognitive organ where all these mental distinctions are constructed. The branch of the science of linguistics called semantics consists of theories and observations about how meanings are constructed and arranged in the cognitive organ of our natural mind. Now we know that this arrangement of mental operations in our natural mind (layers 7, 8) is a correspondence of the mental operations in our spiritual mind (layers 6, 5), and this in turn is an arrangement by correspondence in our celestial mind (layer 4), and this in turn is an arrangement by correspondence caused by the arrangement in God's Cognitive Organ, as expressed through the Spiritual Sun (layer 1) (see Section xx).

From this you can see that God creates and manages all details of the dual universe by means of a top down series of correspondences (layers 1 through 12). This is God's way of proceeding by rational science. Correspondences must be in Sacred Scripture because the physical book of Sacred Scripture and its meaning in the natural mind are both effects produced by correspondence.

You can also now see this amazing thing: that the knowledge of correspondences gives you power that you don't have without it.

Note: The topic of correspondences in Sacred Scripture continues in Section 1.8.8.1. 

1.1.4.3.2.3    Metaphors, Symbolism, Simile, Figurative Speech -- Are Not Correspondences

Metaphoric language or figurative speech is to use physical objects or properties to describe other physical objects and properties. For example, a famous metaphor that appears in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is "Juliet is the sun." Most people translate this as "Juliet is like the sun." Explanations given include the idea that to her lover, the young woman's face appears bright from love and shines like the sun. One physical object (her face) is described through another physical object (the sun). In the expression "It's raining cats and dogs" heavy rain is likened to cats and dogs falling from the sky. Here is one explanation I found for this expression:

The most favoured one in the references I have found is mythological. It seems that cats were at one time thought to have influence over storms, especially by sailors, and that dogs were symbols of storms, often accompanying images and descriptions of the Norse storm god Odin. So when some particularly violent tempest appeared, people suggested it was caused by cats (bringing the rain) and dogs (the wind).
Michael Quinion. World Wide Words at:  http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-rai1.htm

Notice that these descriptions discuss how one physical thing (heavy storm) is related to another physical thing (cats and dogs). Here are some more examples, as the subject is presented to teachers:

From: http://specialed.about.com/od/literacy/a/figurative.htm 

Figurative Speech/Language comes in many forms:

Simile (Comparisons often with as or like): As smooth as silk, as fast as the wind.
Metaphor (Implicit comparison without like or as)): You're such an airhead. It's bursting
                 with flavor.
Hyperbole (Exaggerating a statement) In order to get my assignment done, I'll have to  
                burn the midnight oil.
Personification (Giving something a human quality) The sun smiled down on me...The
                 leaves danced in the wind.

Figures of Speech Phrases:

At the drop of a hat.
Axe to grind.
Back to square one.
Bells and whistles.
Bed of roses.
Burn the midnight oil.
Clean sweep.
Chew the fat.
Cold feet.
Coast is clear.
Down in the dumps.
Ears are burning.
Forty winks.
Full of beans. Give me a break.
Give my right arm.
In a nutshell/pickle.
In the bag.
It's greek to me.
Final straw.
Let the cat out of the bag.
Long shot.
Mum's the word.
On the ball.
Out on a limb.
Pass the buck.
Pay through the nose.
Read between the lines.
Saved by the bell.
Spill the beans.
Take a rain check.
Through the grapevine.
True colors.
Under the weather.
Up my sleeve.
Upset the apple cart.
Walking on eggshells.

Figurative VS Literal Language From Sue Watson at:
http://specialed.about.com/od/literacy/a/figurative.htm

Now you can see from all this that figurative speech is not correspondence. For instance, the last entry above, Walking on eggshells, relates two physical things: (1) how we walk normally, and (2) how we walk when we are walking on egg shells and don't' want to break them. These two physical things give no clue to what people mean when they use this figure of speech. It takes awhile for children to learn figures of speech like this one. People use it to mean that they have to be very careful at what they are doing so they don't disturb or offend someone who is sensitive. Another expression above, Under the weather, is used to mean that we are sick. The expression Pass the buck, is used by people in the sense of not taking responsibility for something when it appears that they should.

Now let's consider some correspondences from Sacred Scripture. Wherever "water" is mentioned in some form -- e.g., ocean, spring rain, river, storm, flood, well, fountain -- the spiritual layer mentions some operation in the cognitive organ -- e.g., truth, intelligence, wisdom, doctrine, understanding, rationality and in their opposites senses -- falsification of truth, lack of rationality, fantasy, persuasion, dogma. You can see that a correspondence unites something physical (water) to something mental or eternal (truth, rationality).  Another instance was discussed above: whenever Sacred Scripture mentions "flesh" the correspondence referred to is good or spiritual heat in the affective organ, and whenever "blood" or "wine" is mentioned in Sacred Scripture, the correspondential meaning indicated is spiritual truth as distinguished from natural truth (water). whenever Sacred Scripture mentions "death" or "passing on" the correspondent meaning is resuscitation in eternity. Whenever a "sword" or "knife" is mentioned, the correspondential sense is the mental struggle we experience during temptation when we use some truth we know to convince ourselves not to do something bad. The sword fights against enemies, and truth fights against evil traits.

Here are some things about correspondences that are revealed in the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 2987.
2987. CONCERNING REPRESENTATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCES.
Few know what representations and correspondences are, nor can anyone know this unless he knows that there is a spiritual world, and this distinct from the natural world; for there exists a correspondence between spiritual things and natural things, and the things that come forth from spiritual things in natural ones are representations. They are called correspondences because they correspond, and representations because they represent.

AC 2988.
2988. That some idea may be formed of representations and correspondences, it is only necessary to reflect on the things of the mind, that is, of the thought and will. These things so beam forth from the face that they are manifest in its expression; especially is this the case with the affections, the more interior of which are seen from and in the eyes. When the things of the face act as a one with those of the mind, they are said to correspond, and are correspondences; and the very expressions of the face represent, and are representations. The case is similar with all that is expressed by the gestures of the body, and with all the acts produced by the muscles; for it is well known that all these take place according to what the man is thinking and willing. The gestures and actions themselves, which are of the body, represent the things of the mind, and are representations; and in that they are in agreement, they are correspondences.

AC 2989.
2989. It may also be known that such forms do not exist in the mind as are exhibited in the expression, but that they are merely affections which are thus effigied; also that such acts do not exist in the mind as are exhibited by the acts of the body, but that it is thoughts which are thus figured. The things which are of the mind are spiritual, but those of the body are natural. From this it is evident that there exists a correspondence between spiritual things and natural things, and that there is a representation of spiritual things in natural things; or what is the same, when the things of the internal man are effigied in the external man, then the things that appear in the external man are representative of the internal man; and the things that agree are correspondences.

AC 2990.
2990. It is also known, or may be known, that there is a spiritual world, and also a natural world. In the universal sense the spiritual world is where spirits and angels dwell; and the natural world is where men dwell. In particular, there is a spiritual world and a natural world with every man: his internal man being to him a spiritual world, and his external man being to him a natural world. The things that flow in from the spiritual world and are presented in the natural world, are in general representations; and insofar as they agree they are correspondences.

AC 2991.
2991. That natural things represent spiritual things, and that they correspond, may also be known from the fact that what is natural cannot possibly come forth except from a cause prior to itself. Its cause is from what is spiritual; and there is nothing natural which does not thence derive its cause. Natural forms are effects; nor can they appear as causes, still less as causes of causes, or beginnings; but they receive their forms according to the use in the place where they are; and yet the forms of the effects represent the things which are of the causes; and indeed these latter things represent those which are of the beginnings. Thus all natural things represent those which are of the spiritual things to which they correspond; and in fact the spiritual things also represent those which are of the celestial things from which they are.

AC 2992.
2992. It has been given me to know from much experience that in the natural world and its three kingdoms there is nothing whatever that does not represent something in the spiritual world, or that has not something there to which it corresponds. Besides many other experiences, this was made evident also from the following.

On several occasions when I was speaking of the viscera of the body, and was tracing their connection from those which are of the head to those which are of the chest, and so on to those which are of the abdomen, the angels that were above me led my thoughts through the spiritual things to which those viscera correspond, and this so that there was not the least error. They thought not at all of the viscera of the body of which I was thinking, but only of the spiritual things to which these correspond. Such is the intelligence of angels that from spiritual things they know all things in the body in general and particular, even the most secret things, such as can never come to man's knowledge; nay, they know everything there is in the universal world, without a mistake; and this because from spiritual things are the causes, and the beginnings of causes.

AC 2993.
2993. The case is similar with the things in the vegetable kingdom; for nothing whatever exists there that does not represent something in the spiritual world, and correspond thereto; as has been frequently given me to know by a like interaction with angels. The causes also have been told me, namely, that the causes of all natural things are from spiritual things, and the beginnings of these causes are from celestial things; or what is the same, all things in the natural world derive their cause from truth which is the spiritual, and their beginning from good which is the celestial; and natural things proceed thence according to all the differences of truth and of good in the Lord's kingdom; thus from the Lord Himself, from whom is all good and truth. These things must needs appear strange, especially to those who will not or cannot ascend in thought beyond nature, and who do not know what the spiritual is, and therefore do not acknowledge it.

AC 2994.
2994. So long as he lives in the body, man can feel and perceive but little of this; for the celestial and spiritual things with him fall into the natural things in his external man, and he there loses the sensation and perception of them. Moreover the representatives and correspondences in his external man are such that they do not appear like the things in the internal man to which they correspond, and which they represent; therefore neither can they come to his knowledge until he has put off those external things. When this happens, blessed is the man who is in correspondence, that is, whose external man corresponds to his internal man.

AC 2995.
2995. As the men of the Most Ancient Church (concerning whom see n. 1114-1125) in every thing of nature saw something spiritual and celestial, insomuch that natural things served them merely as objects for thought about spiritual and celestial things, they were for this reason able to speak with angels, and to be with them in the Lord's kingdom in the heavens at the same time that they were in His kingdom on earth, that is, in the church. Thus with them natural things were conjoined with spiritual things, and wholly corresponded. But it was otherwise after those times, when evil and falsity began to reign; that is, when after the golden age there commenced the iron age; for then as there was no longer any correspondence, heaven was closed; insomuch that men were scarcely willing to know that there was anything spiritual; and at last even that there is a heaven and a hell, and a life after death.

AC 2996.
2996. In this world it is a great secret, although in the other life nothing is better known to every spirit, that all things in the human body have a correspondence to those in heaven; insomuch that there is not the smallest particle in the body, to which something spiritual and celestial does not correspond; or what is the same, to which heavenly societies do not correspond, for these exist according to all the genera and species of spiritual and celestial things; and this in such an order that together they represent one man, even as to all his parts, in general and in particular, both the interior and the exterior.

Hence it is that the universal heaven is also called the Grand Man; and hence it is that it has been so often said that one society belongs to one province of the body, another to another, and so on. The reason is that the Lord is the Only Man, and heaven represents Him; and the Divine good and truth that are from Him are what make heaven; and because the angels are therein, they are said to be in the Lord. But they who are in hell are outside this Grand Man, and correspond to things unclean, and also to bodily corruptions.

AC 2997.
2997. This may also in some degree be known from the fact that the spiritual or internal man (which is man's spirit and is called his soul) has in like manner a correspondence to his natural or external man; and that this correspondence is of such a nature that the things of the internal man are spiritual and celestial, while the things of the external man are natural and corporeal; as may appear from what was said above (n. 2988, 2989) about the expressions of the face and the acts of the body. Moreover as to his internal man, man is a little heaven, because created after the Lord's image.

AC 2998.
2998. That such correspondences exist has become so familiar to me in the course of years that hardly anything can be more so; though the fact itself is such that man does not know of its existence, nor believes that he has any connection with the spiritual world; when yet all his connection is from this correspondence; and without this connection neither himself nor any part of him could subsist a moment; for all his subsistence is from it. It has also been given me to know what angelic societies belong to each province of the body, and also of what quality they are; as for instance what societies and of what quality belong to the province of the heart; what and of what quality to the province of the lungs; what and of what quality to the province of the liver; and also what and of what quality belong to the different sensories, as to the eye, to the ears, to the tongue, and the rest; concerning which, of the Lord's Divine mercy we shall speak singly.

AC 2999.
2999. Moreover nothing is possible in the created world that has not a correspondence to the things in the spiritual world, and therefore that does not in its own manner represent something in the Lord's kingdom. From this comes the existence and subsistence of all things. If man knew how these things are circumstanced, he would never as is his wont attribute all things to nature.

AC 3000.
3000. Hence it is that all things in the universe both in general and in particular represent the Lord's kingdom; insomuch that the universe with all its constellations, atmospheres, and three kingdoms, is nothing else than a kind of theater representative of the Lord's glory which is in the heavens. In the animal kingdom not only man, but also each particular animal, even the least and lowest, is representative; as for instance the little creatures that creep on the ground and feed on plants; these, when their time for wedding is at hand, become chrysalises, and presently, being supplied with wings they soar from the ground into the atmosphere, their heaven, and there enjoy their delight and their freedom, sporting together and feeding on the spoils of the flowers, laying their eggs and thus providing for a posterity; and being then in their state of heaven, they are also in their beauty. Everyone can see that these things are representative of the Lord's kingdom.

AC 3001.
3001. That there is one only life, that of the Lord, which flows in and causes man to live, whether he be good or evil, is evident from what has been said and shown above, in the explication of the Word (n. 1954, 2021, 2536, 2658, 2706, 2886-2889). To that life correspond the recipient things which are vivified by that Divine influx, and this in such a manner that they appear to themselves to live from themselves. This correspondence is that of life with the recipients of life. Such as are the recipients, so they live; those men who are in love and charity are in correspondence, for they are in agreement, and the life is received by them adequately; but those who are in things contrary to love and charity are not in correspondence, because the life itself is not received adequately; hence they have an appearance of life in accordance with their quality.

This may be illustrated by many things; as by the organs of motion and of sense in the body, into which the life flows through the soul; according to the qualities of these, such are their actions and sensations. The same may be illustrated also by the objects into which light flows from the sun; the light producing colorings according to the quality of the recipient forms. But in the spiritual world all the modifications that come into existence from the influx of life are spiritual, whence come such differences of intelligence and wisdom.

AC 3002.
3002. From this also we can see how all natural forms, both animate and inanimate, are representative of spiritual and celestial things in the Lord's kingdom; that is, that in nature all things, in both general and particular, are representative in accordance with the measure and quality of their correspondence.

AC 3213.
3213. CONTINUATION CONCERNING REPRESENTATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCES.
In the world of spirits there come forth innumerable and almost continual representatives, which are forms of actual things spiritual and celestial, not unlike those which are in the world. Whence these come it has been granted to me to know by daily interaction with spirits and angels. They inflow from heaven, and from the ideas and speech of the angels there; for the ideas of angels and their derivative speech, when they come down to spirits, are exhibited representatively in various ways. From these representations upright and well-disposed spirits are enabled to know what the angels are saying among themselves, for inwardly within the representatives there is something angelic, which, in consequence of its power to excite affection, is perceived even as to its quality.

Angelic ideas and speech cannot be exhibited before spirits in any other way; for as compared with the idea of a spirit an angelic idea contains things illimitable; and unless it were formed and exhibited representatively, and thus visibly by images, a spirit would scarcely understand anything of its contents, which are for the most part unutterable. But when the ideas are represented by forms, then insofar as the more general things are concerned they become comprehensible to spirits. And wonderful to say there is not even the smallest thing in that which is represented which does not express something spiritual and celestial that is in the idea of the angelic society from which the representative flows down.

AC 3214.
3214. Representatives of things spiritual and celestial sometimes come forth in a long series, continued for an hour or two, in such an order successively as is marvelous. There are societies in which these representatives take place; and it has been given me to be with them for many months. But these representations are of such a nature that it would take many pages to relate and describe a single one of them in its order. They are very delightful, for something new and unexpected continually follows in succession, and this until what is represented is being fully perfected; and when all things have been perfectly represented, it is possible to contemplate everything in one view; and then it is at the same time given to take note of what is signified by each detail. Moreover good spirits are in this way initiated into spiritual and celestial ideas.

AC 3215.
3215. The representatives that come forth before spirits are of an incredible variety; yet they are for the most part similar to things which exist on the earth, in its three kingdoms. (For the better understanding of their nature, see what has been related above concerning them, n. 1521, 1532, 1619-1625, 1807, 1808, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980, 1981, 2299, 2601, 2758.)

AC 3216.
3216. In order that it may be still better known how the case is with representatives in the other life, that is, with those things which appear in the world of spirits, take some further examples. When the angels are speaking about the doctrinal things of charity and faith, then sometimes in a lower sphere, where there is a corresponding society of spirits, there appears the form or pattern of a city or cities, with palaces therein exhibiting such skill in architecture as is amazing, so that you would say that the very art itself was there in its native home; not to mention houses of varied aspect; and wonderful to say in all these objects both in general and in particular there is not the smallest point, or visible atom, that does not represent something of the angelic idea and speech: so that it is evident what innumerable things are contained in these; and also what is signified by the cities seen by the prophets in the Word; and likewise what by the holy city or New Jerusalem; and what by the cities in the prophetic Word; namely, the doctrinal things of charity and faith (n. 402, 2449).

AC 3217.
3217. When the angels are discoursing of that which relates to the understanding, then in the world of spirits, beneath the angels, or in the corresponding societies, there appear horses; and these of a size, form, color, attitude, and varied equipment, in accordance with the ideas which the angels have concerning the understanding. There is also a place at some depth a little to the right, which is called the abode of the intelligent, where horses continually appear, and this by reason of those present being in thought about what is of the understanding; and when angels whose discourse is about this subject flow into their thoughts, there is a representation of horses. This shows what was signified by the horses seen by the prophets, and also by the horses mentioned elsewhere in the Word; namely, the things of the understanding (n. 2760-2762).

AC 3218.
3218. When the angels are in affections, and are at the same time discoursing about them, then in the lower sphere among spirits such things fall into representative species of animals. When the discourse is about good affections, there are presented beautiful, tame, and useful animals, such as were used in sacrifice in the representative Divine worship in the Jewish Church-as lambs, sheep, kids, she-goats, rams, he-goats, calves, bullocks, oxen; and then whatever appears upon the animal presents some image of their thought, which it is given to upright and well-disposed spirits to perceive. This shows what was signified by the animals that were employed in the rites of the Jewish Church; and what by the same when mentioned in the Word; namely, affections (n. 1823, 2179, 2180). But the discourse of the angels about evil affections is represented by beasts that are repulsive, fierce, and useless, such as tigers, bears, wolves, scorpions, serpents, mice, and the like; and these affections are also signified by the same beasts in the Word.

AC 3219.
3219. When the angels are conversing about knowledges, and ideas, and influx, there then appear in the world of spirits as it were birds, formed in accordance with the subject of their discourse. Hence it is that in the Word "birds" signify rational things, or those which are of thought (see n. 40, 745, 776, 991). There were once presented to my view birds, one dark and unsightly, but two noble and beautiful; and when I saw them, there then fell upon me some spirits with such violence as to strike a tremor into my nerves and bones. I imagined that then, as several times before, evil spirits were assaulting me, with intent to destroy me; but this was not the case; for when the tremor ceased, together with the emotion of the spirits who fell upon me, I spoke with them, asking what was the matter.

[2] They said that they had fallen down from a certain angelic society in which there was discourse concerning thoughts and influx; and that they had held the opinion that things relating to thought flow in from without, that is, through the external senses, according to the appearance; whereas the heavenly society in which they were, held the opinion that they inflow from within; and as they (the speakers) were in falsity, they fell down-not that they were cast down, for the angels cast no one down from them, but being in falsity they fell down of themselves; and they said that this was the cause.

[3] By this it was given to know that discourse in heaven concerning thoughts and influx is represented by birds; and that of those who are in falsity by dark and unsightly birds; but that of those who are in the truth, by birds noble and beautiful. I was at the same time instructed that all things of thought inflow from within, and not from without, although it appears so; and I was told that it is contrary to order for the posterior to flow into the prior, or the grosser into the purer; thus for the body to inflow into the soul.

AC 3220.
3220. When the angels are discoursing about things of intelligence and wisdom, and about perceptions and knowledges, the influx from them into the corresponding societies of spirits falls into representations of such things as are in the vegetable kingdom; as into representations of paradises, of vine-yards, of forests, of meadows with flowers, and into many lovely forms that surpass all human imagination. Hence it is that things which are of wisdom and intelligence are described in the Word by paradises, vineyards, forests, meadows; and that where these are mentioned, such things are signified.

AC 3221.
3221. The discourses of the angels are sometimes represented by clouds, and by their forms, colors, movements, and changes; things affirmative of truth by bright and ascending clouds; things negative by dark and descending clouds; things affirmative of falsity by dusky and black clouds; consent and dissent by the various gatherings together and partings asunder of the clouds, and these latter as in a sky like that of the heavens in the night.

AC 3222.
3222. Moreover loves and their affections are represented by flames, and this with inexpressible variation; whereas truths are represented by lights, and by innumerable modifications of light. This shows whence it is that by "flames" in the Word are signified the goods which are of love; and by "lights" the truths which are of faith.

AC 3226.
3226. Among the eminent faculties which man possesses, although he is ignorant of it, and which he carries with him into the other life when he passes thither after his liberation from the body, is that he perceives what is signified by the representatives which appear in the other life; also that he is able by the sense of his mind to express fully in a moment of time what he could not express during hours in the body; and this by ideas from those things which are of the light of heaven, assisted and given as it were wings by suitable appearances representative of the subject of discourse, which are such as cannot be described; and whereas man after death comes into these faculties, and in the other life has no need to be instructed respecting them, it is evident that he is in them (that is, that they are in him) during his life in the body, although he does not know it.

[2] The reason of this is that there is a continual influx with man through heaven from the Lord. This influx is an influx of spiritual and celestial things, which fall into his natural things and are there presented representatively. In heaven among the angels nothing else is thought of than the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom; but in the world, with man, scarcely anything else is thought of than the corporeal and natural things which belong to the kingdom in which he is, and to the necessaries of life. And since the spiritual and celestial things of heaven which flow in are presented representatively with man in his natural things, they therefore remain implanted, and when a man puts off the body and leaves the world behind, he is in them.

AC 3337.
3337. CONTINUATION CONCERNING CORRESPONDENCES AND REPRESENTATIONS.
What correspondences are, and what representations, may appear from what has been said and shown above, namely, that there are correspondences between the things which are of the light of heaven and those which are of the light of the world; and that the things which take place in those which are of the light of the world are representations (n. 3225). But what the light of heaven is and what is its quality cannot be very well known to man, because he is in the things that are of the light of the world; and insofar as he is in these, the things that are in the light of heaven appear to him as darkness, and as nothing. It is these two lights which-life flowing in-produce all the intelligence of man.

The imagination of man consists solely of the forms and appearances of such things as have been received by bodily vision wonderfully varied, and so to speak modified; but his interior imagination, or thought, consists solely of the forms and appearances of such things as have been drawn in through the mind's vision still more wonderfully varied, and so to speak modified. The things which come forth from this source are in themselves inanimate, but become animate through the influx of life from the Lord.

AC 3338.
3338. Besides these lights there are also heats, which likewise are from two fountains-the heat of heaven coming from its sun, which is the Lord; and the heat of the world from its sun, which is the luminary visible to our eyes. The heat of heaven manifests itself to the internal man under the form of spiritual loves and affections; but the heat of the world manifests itself to the external man under the form of natural loves and affections. The former heat produces the life of the internal man, but the latter that of the external man; for without love and affection man cannot live at all. Between these two heats also there are correspondences. These heats become loves and affections through the influx of the Lord's life; and hence they appear to man as if they were not heats, although they are; for unless as to both the internal and the external man, man derived heat from this source he would fall down dead in a moment.

These facts must be evident to everybody from the circumstance that in proportion as man is inflamed with love, he grows warm; and in proportion as love recedes, he grows torpid. It is this heat from which the will of man lives, and it is the light above spoken of from which comes his understanding.

AC 3339.
3339. In the other life these lights, and also these heats, appear to the life. The angels live in the light of heaven, and also in the heat above described; from the light they have intelligence, and from the heat they have the affection of good. For in their origin the lights which appear before their external sight are from the Lord's Divine wisdom; and the heats which are also perceived by them are from His Divine love; and therefore the more the spirits and angels are in the intelligence of truth and the affection of good, the nearer they are to the Lord.

AC 3340.
3340. To this light there is an opposite darkness, and to this heat there is an opposite cold; in these live the infernals. Their darkness is from the falsities in which they are, and their cold is from the evils; and the more remote they are from truths, the greater is their darkness; and the more remote they are from good, the greater is their cold. When it is permitted to look into the hells where such infernals are, there appears a dark cloud in which they have their abode; and when any exhalation flows out thence, there are perceived insanities that exhale from falsities, and hatreds that exhale from evils.

A light is indeed sometimes granted them, but it is a deceptive one; and this is extinguished with them, and becomes darkness, the moment they look at the light of truth. Heat also is sometimes granted them, but it is like that of an unclean bath; and this is changed into cold with them as soon as they observe anything of good. A certain person was let into that dark cloud where the infernals are, in order that he might know how the case is with those who are there; he being protected by the Lord by means of angels. Speaking from thence with me he said that there was there so great a rage of insanity against good and truth, and especially against the Lord, that he was amazed that it could possibly be resisted; for the infernals breathed nothing but hatred, revenge, and slaughter, with such violence that they desired to destroy all in the universe; so that unless this rage was continually repelled by the Lord, the whole human race would perish.

AC 3341.
3341. Inasmuch as the representations in the other life cannot take place except by means of differences of light and shade, be it known that all light, consequently all intelligence and wisdom, are from the Lord; and that all shade, consequently all insanity and folly, are from that which is their own in man, spirit, and angel; from these two origins flow forth and are derived all the variegations which are of light and shade in the other life.

AC 3342.
3342. All the speech of spirits and of angels is also effected by means of representatives; for by wonderful variations of light and shade they vividly present before the internal and at the same time before the external sight of him with whom they speak, all they are thinking about, and insinuate it by suitable changes of the state of the affections. The representations that come forth in such speech are not like those before described, but are quick and instantaneous, being simultaneous with the ideas that belong to their speech.

They are like something that is described in a long series, while at the same time it is exhibited in an image before the eyes, for, wonderful to say, all spiritual things themselves whatever can be representatively exhibited by forms of imagery that are incomprehensible to man, within which are things of the perception of truth, and still more interiorly those of the perception of good. Such things are also in man (for man is a spirit clothed with a body); as is evident from the fact that all speech perceived by the ear, on ascending toward the interiors, passes into forms [ideas]* not unlike those of sight, and from these into intellectual forms or ideas, and thus becomes a perception of the sense of the expressions.

Whoever rightly reflects upon these things may know from them that there is in himself a spirit which is his internal man, and also that after the separation of the body he will possess such a speech, because he is in the very same during his life in the world, although it does not appear to him that he is in it, by reason of the obscurity and darkness which earthly, bodily, and worldly things induce.

AC 3343.
3343. The speech of the angels of the interior heaven is still more beautifully and pleasantly representative; but the ideas which are representatively formed are not expressible by words, and if they should be expressed by any, they would surpass not only apprehension, but also belief. Spiritual things, which are of truth, are expressed by modifications of heavenly light, in which are affections, which are wonderfully varied in innumerable ways; and celestial things, which are of good, are expressed by variations of heavenly flame or heat; so that they move all the affections. Into this interior speech also man comes after the separation of the body, but only the man who during his life in this world is in spiritual good, that is, in the good of faith, or what is the same, in charity toward the neighbor; for he has this speech within himself, though he is unaware of it.

AC 3344.
3344. But the speech of the angels of the still more interior or third heaven, although also representative, is yet such as to be inconceivable by any idea, and consequently is indescribable. Even this perfect form of speech [idea] is also within man, but in the man who is in celestial love, that is, in love to the Lord; and after the separation of the body he comes into it as if born into it, although as before said nothing of it could be comprehended by him under any idea during his life in the body. In short, by means of representatives adjoined to ideas, speech becomes as it were alive; least of all with man, because he is in the speech of words; but more so with the angels of the first heaven; still more so with the angels of the second heaven; and most of all with the angels of the third heaven, because these are most nearly in the Lord's life. In itself whatever is from the Lord is alive.

AC 3345.
3345. From what has been said it is evident that there are kinds of speech successively more interior, but yet of such a nature that the one comes forth from the other in order, and also that the one is within the other in order. The nature of man's speech is known, and also his thought from which the speech flows, the analytics of which are of such a nature that they can never be explored. The speech of good spirits, that is, of the angels of the first heaven, together with the thought from which it flows, is more interior, and contains within it things still more wonderful and unexplorable. The speech of the angels of the second heaven together with the thought from which again this flows, is still more interior, containing within it things still more perfect and unutterable. But the speech of the angels of the third heaven together with the thought from which again this flows, is inmost, containing within it things absolutely unutterable. And although all these kinds of speech are of such a nature that they appear different from one another, nevertheless there is but one speech, because the one forms the other, and the one is within the other; moreover that which comes forth in the exterior is representative of the interior.

A man who does not think beyond worldly and bodily things cannot believe this, and therefore supposes that the interior things with him are nothing, although in fact they are everything; and the exterior things, that is, the worldly and corporeal things that he makes everything, are relatively scarcely anything.

AC 3346.
3346. In order that I might know these things, and know them with certainty, of the Lord's Divine mercy it has been granted me for several years to speak almost constantly with spirits and angels; and with spirits (that is, with the angels of the first heaven)* in their own speech; also at times with the angels of the second heaven in their speech; but the speech of the angels of the third heaven has only appeared to me as a radiation of light, in which there was perception from the flame of good within it.

AC 3347.
3347. I have heard angels speaking concerning human minds, and concerning their thought and the derivative speech. They compared them to the external form of man, which comes forth and subsists from the innumerable forms that are within-as from the brains, the medulla, the lungs, the heart, liver, pancreas, spleen, stomach, and intestines, besides many other organs, as those of generation in both sexes from the innumerable muscles encompassing these organs; and lastly from the integuments; and from all these being woven together from vessels and fibers, and indeed from vessels and fibers within vessels and fibers, from which come the ducts and lesser forms; thus that the body is composed of things innumerable; all of which nevertheless conspire, each in its own way, to the composition of the external form, in which nothing appears of the things that are within.

To this external form they compared human minds, and their thoughts and the derivative speech. But angelic minds they compared to those things which are within, which are relatively illimitable, and also incomprehensible. They also compared the faculty of thinking to the faculty that belongs to the viscera of acting according to the form of the fibers, saying that the faculty is not of the fibers, but of the life in the fibers; just as the faculty of thinking is not of the mind, but of life from the Lord flowing into it. When such comparisons are made by angels they are at the same time exhibited by means of representatives, whereby the interior forms above spoken of are presented visibly and intellectually, in respect to their smallest incomprehensible parts, and this in a moment; but comparisons made by means of spiritual and celestial things, such as take place among the celestial angels, immeasurably surpass in the beauty of wisdom those made by means of natural things.

AC 3474.
3474. A certain spirit came to me not long after he had departed this life. This I was able to deduce from the fact that he still did not know that he had entered the next life but supposed that he was living in the world. I perceived that he had been a person dedicated to scholarly pursuits, about which I spoke to him. But at that moment he was suddenly carried up on high, which amazed me. I presumed that he was one of those people who had aspired to high things, since such people are usually taken up on high; or else that he was one of those who imagined heaven to be far away up on high and who likewise are usually taken away up on high, so that from up there they may know that heaven does not exist up on high but in what is internal. But shortly after that I noticed that he was carried up to the angelic spirits who were in a forward position and slightly to the right, on the very threshold of heaven. From there he then spoke to me, saying that he saw things more exalted than human minds could ever take in. While all this was happening I was reading Deuteronomy 1, about the Jewish people - how the men were sent to explore the land of Canaan and what was in it. As I read it he said that he discerned nothing of that which occurs in the sense of the letter, only the things in the spiritual sense, and that these were marvels beyond his powers of description. This was merely at the threshold of the heaven of angelic spirits, so what must the marvels be within that heaven itself, and what must they be within the angelic heaven!

[2] Certain spirits who were with me at the time, and who had not previously believed that the Word of the Lord was of such a nature, began to repent of their unbelief. They said that in their present state they now believed because they had heard that spirit say he had heard, seen, and perceived that it was so. But other spirits continued in their unbelief, saying that it was not so but all a delusion. They also were therefore suddenly carried up, and spoke to me from where they were. They now confessed that it was anything but a delusion, for now they perceived from amid spiritual realities that it was so, their perception indeed being far keener than can possibly be imparted to any of the senses during the life of the body. Shortly afterwards others also were carried up into the same heaven. I had known one of them during his lifetime, and he bore similar witness. Among other things he also said that he was so dazed by the glory of the Word in its internal sense that he was unable to describe it. Speaking at this time with some kind of compassion he said it was remarkable that people on earth know nothing at all of such matters.

On two occasions after this I saw others who had been carried up to the second heaven among the angelic spirits, and from there they spoke to me, while I was reading Deuteronomy 3 from beginning to end. They said that they understood none but the interior sense of the Word, declaring at the same time that there was not even the smallest part of a letter which did not have a spiritual sense within it that did not link with everything else in a very beautiful way. They also said that in the interior sense the names used in the Word mean real things. Thus these people as well were confirmed in the same knowledge of such things, for they had not previously believed that every single thing in the Word has been inspired by the Lord. This they also wished to affirm before others on oath, but they were not allowed to do so.

AC 3476.
3476. From this one may now see what the situation is with the Word; for the Lord has given the Word to mankind, and also to angels, so that by means of it they may be with Him. Indeed the Word is the means by which earth is united to heaven, and heaven to the Lord, its literal sense being that which unites mankind to the first heaven. Now seeing that the literal sense holds within itself the internal sense, the subject of which is the Lord's kingdom, and the latter holds the highest sense, the subject of which is the Lord; and seeing that these senses exist in order one within the next, it is evident what the union with the Lord by means of the Word is like.

AC 3477.
3477. It has been stated that in heaven representatives are of constant occurrence, such representatives in fact as embody wisdom's deepest arcana. Those that are evident to man from the literal sense of the Word are comparatively few, as few as the waters of a tiny pond when compared to the waters of the ocean. What the representatives in heaven are like may become clear from what I have related several times already from things I have seen, and also from the following: To certain spirits, as I saw, there were represented the broad road and the narrow road mentioned in the Word - the broad road which would lead them to hell, and the narrow to heaven. The broad road was planted with trees and flowers, and other such things as in outward appearance looked beautiful and delightful. But various types of snakes and serpents which they did not see had been concealed there. The narrow road was not adorned in the same way with trees and flower-beds for the eye to see but looked sad and dreary. Yet there were along that road young angel-children adorned most attractively among very lovely tree-gardens and flower-gardens, which those spirits however did not see. They were at that point asked which road they wished to take. They said, The broad one. But all of a sudden their eyes were opened and they saw the serpents along the broad road, but the angels along the narrow one. They were then again asked which road they wished to take. This time they were at a loss and remained silent. As long as their sight was opened they said that they wished to take the narrow road; but as long as it was closed they said that they wished to take the broad one.

AC 3478.
3478. To some there was also represented the tabernacle with the ark, for to those who, when they lived in the world, have taken very great delight in the Word such things are presented to them visually. So on the occasion referred to they saw the tabernacle with all its furnishings; that is to say, they saw its courts, its curtains round about, its veils inside, the golden altar or altar of incense, the table where the loaves were placed, the lampstand, and the mercy-seat with the cherubim. At the same time these upright spirits were allowed to perceive what each particular thing meant. It was the three heavens that were represented by the tabernacle, and the Lord Himself by the testimony inside the ark, above which there was the mercy-seat. And to the extent their sight was opened they saw within those objects more heavenly and Divine things, of which they had had no knowledge at all during their lifetime. And what was amazing, every least thing there, even every hook or ring, was representative. Consider merely the bread placed on the table. Within this as within a representative and symbol they perceived the food on which angels live, and so perceived celestial and spiritual love together with all the bliss and happiness that the angels enjoy. And within that love, also that bliss and happiness, they perceived the Lord Himself as the bread or manna from heaven. They perceived more besides from the shape, position, and number of the loaves, and from the gold which was around them, and from the lampstand which lit up those things and displayed further representations of things that are indescribable. The same was so with everything else in the tabernacle. From all this one might also see that the religious observances or the representatives of the Jewish Church contained all the arcana of the Christian Church, and also that those to whom the representatives and meaningful signs of the Old Testament Word are disclosed are able, while living in the world, to know and perceive the arcana which belong to the Lord's Church on earth. And when they enter the next life they are able to know and perceive the arcana of arcana which belong to the Lord's kingdom in heaven.

Note: The topic of correspondences in Sacred Scripture continues in Section 1.8.8.1. 

See also these references you can find in the Writings Sacred Scripture with full details on correspondences:

D. Wis. 2. More about Correspondence can be seen in the work HEAVEN AND HELL, Nos. 87-102, 103-115: and about various correspondences in ARCANA CAELESTIA, namely, the correspondence of the face and its expressions with the affections of the mind, Nos. 1568, 2988-9, 3631, 4796-7, 4800, 5165, 5168, 5695, 9306: the correspondence of the body in posture and action with intellectual and voluntary things, Nos. 2988, 3632, 4215: the correspondence of the

Senses in general, Nos. 4318-30;

Eyes and sight, Nos. 4403-20;

Nose and smell, Nos. 4624-34;

Ears and hearing, Nos. 4652-60;

Tongue and taste, Nos. 4791-805;

Hands, arms, shoulders and feet, Nos. 4931-53; Loins and organs of generation, Nos. 5050-62;

Viscera inside the body, in particular the stomach, the thymus gland, and the receptacle and ducts of the chyle, Nos. 5171-89;

Spleen, No. 9698;

Peritonaeum, kidneys and bladder, Nos. 5377-96; Skin and bones, Nos. 5552-73;

Xiphoid (or ensiform) cartilage, No. 9236;

Memory of abstract things, No. 6808;

Memory of material things, No. 7253:

the correspondence of heaven with man, Nos. 911, 1900, 1928, 2996, 2998, 3634, 3636-43, 3741-5, 3884, 4041, 4279, 4523-4, 4625, 6013, 6057, 9279, 9632: the knowledge of correspondences with the ancients was the chief of knowledges, specially with the orientals, though it has at the present day become completely lost, Nos. 3021, 3419, 3472-85, 4280, 4749, 4844, 4964, 4966, 5702, 6004, 6692, 7097, 7729, 7779, 9391, 10252, 10407: without a knowledge of correspondences the Word is not understood, NOS. 2890-3, 2987-3003, 3213-27, 3472-85, 8615, 10687: all things seen in the heavens are correspondents, NOS. 1521, 1532, 1619-25, 1807-8, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1980-1, 2299, 2601, 3213-26, 3348, 3350, 3475, 3485, 3745, 9481, 9575-7: all things in the natural world and its three kingdoms correspond to all things in the spiritual world, NOS. 1632, 1881, 2758, 2890-3, 2987-3003, 3213-27, 3483, 3624-49, 4044, 4053, 4116, 4366, 4939, 5116, 5377, 5428, 5477, 8211, 9280.

In addition to the above, the ARCANA COELESTIA treats of the correspondence of the natural sense of the Word, which is its literal sense, with spiritual things which are the things of love and wisdom in the heavens from the Lord, these things constituting its internal sense: this correspondence, moreover, you may see confirmed in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, NOS. 5-26, and further on in NOS. 27-69. To form an idea of the correspondence of the Will and Understanding, what has been said above may be consulted, NOS. 366 and 367.***

(D. Wis. 2.)

 

1.1.4.3.3   Three Levels of Thinking About God:  Energy, Person, Truth From Good

  • (I) "God as energy" --  is a natural idea of God.

  • (II) "God as Divine Person" --  is a spiritual idea of God.

  • (III) "God as Truth within which is Good" is a celestial idea of God.

(I) God as energy is a natural idea of God.

Some people say that the universe is God. Some people think that God is nature and they point to a flower and say, this is God, and they point to new born puppy and a flying eagle, and say this is God. Others have said that the sun is God. Psychologists have said that God is a concept or idea that people make up in order to have a Father figure around. Some say that God created the universe but has left its running to natural laws. Others have said that the elements are so many gods and spirits, or Fate, or the Unknown, or the Mysterious, or the Devil, etc. etc.

These are all natural ideas of God. Not rational or spiritual.

 All natural ideas are based on experiences people have with the physical environment. From the physicalistic (non-rational) perspective, "God" is a logically impossible concept since God is defined as a creator who exists outside time and space. The idea of something outside time and space doesn't make sense at the natural level of thinking. It is likely that as you are reading this, you too are thinking of God with natural ideas. This can't be helped for we all start with an external time-bound and space-bound idea of God in religion, which is based on the literal sense of Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). Indeed, the literal sense of Sacred Scripture is always expressed at the natural level of thinking and with natural content from this world. Hardly anything is mentioned in the literal sense of Sacred Scripture about the mental world of eternity in the afterlife. So little is said about it, that the majority of people who call their Sacred Scripture holy and Divine, believe that the afterlife is in this world and starts after all the dead are raised to life again. Nothing at all is known about eternity.

With the publication of the Writings Sacred Scripture in the 18th century by Emanuel Swedenborg (see Section xx), there has therefore taken place a most important shift in God's management of the human race. All prior Sacred Scripture given to humankind has withheld telling about and explaining rationally the mental life of eternity. But now God has decided that "it is permitted" (Latin: Nunc Licet) to rationally investigate God through theistic science: Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

TCR 508. Afterward, when I drew nearer, I saw this inscription above the door, Nunc Licet - It is now permitted - which signified that it is now permitted to enter understandingly into the mysteries of faith. From seeing this inscription it came into my thought that it is exceedingly dangerous to enter with the understanding into dogmas of faith that are concocted out of self-intelligence, and therefore out of falsities, and still more so to confirm them from the Word; by this means the understanding is closed above, and gradually below as well, to such a degree that theology is not only despised but also obliterated from the mind, as writing on paper is by worms, or the wool of a garment by moths. Then the understanding abides only in political matters, which have regard to man's life under the government where he is, and in the civil matters pertaining to his employment, and in the domestic affairs of his own house. And in all these things he constantly kisses nature, and owing to the allurements of her pleasures, loves her as an idolater loves the golden image in his bosom. (TCR 508)

"To enter understandingly into the mysteries of faith" means to investigate God rationally and scientifically. This was not possible before the Writings Sacred Scripture were published. This collection of nearly thirty volumes is a holistic, rational, and integrated explanation of God and the afterlife based on the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture. In other words it proves that Sacred Scripture is written at two levels of meaning, one natural, the other correspondential. When the correspondences are known, one can read the text of Sacred Scripture in their correspondential sense, as we do in theistic psychology (see Section xx). Further, Swedenborg was an empirical scientist all his life who, at age 57, was given by God a unique ability of being conscious in both this world and the world of the afterlife. At last the human race on earth had a direct scientific window into eternity! Swedenborg's reports on life in eternity are empirical and scientific confirmations of the existence of correspondences in Sacred Scripture

It turns out that the correspondential sense of all Sacred Scripture, regardless of religion, is the knowledge that we call theistic psychology (see Section xx).

In theistic psychology we have a scientific method of investigating God and eternity.

We now have rational and scientific answers to the "mysteries" of the ages such as:

How can God be everywhere at the same time (omnipresence)? Unless God is space itself, which is everywhere, or energy which is in everything. This is thinking about God with natural concepts or ideas. There is no way of breaking through this natural level of reasoning, based on only what is part of time-space-matter. Even if we are practicing members of a religion, the idea of God and eternity can only be comprehended naturally, as for example, the idea many people have that the afterlife of immortality is to take place on earth when we are supplied once more with a physical body ("physical resurrection"). This is an example of the natural idea of God. Along with this natural level of thinking, is the belief that salvation, heaven, and hell depend on specific prescribed membership rituals, declarations, or acts (see Section xx). Hence people who fail to perform these rituals or declarations cannot be saved from a life in hell. These natural ideas of God and the afterlife stem from restricting oneself to the literal sense of Sacred Scripture (or teachings and ideas based on the literal sense of it).

For instance, the literal sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture is phrased to be read by people who have this natural idea of God. The literal sense informs them that God is not natural because He is a Spirit (but not explaining that Spirit = mind = eternity). What happens at this natural level of thinking when we are told that God is the Divine Being or Person. In order for us to accept or believe this idea it is necessary that Sacred Scripture portray God as a stern, unforgiving but just Divine despot or king. He can love human beings, but He can also hate them, retaliate and punish them with plagues, famines, and being invaded and tortured by cruel enemies. All these events are told in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Not a very likable portrayal of God. And yet, this is necessary, or else God would not be believable and consequently would not be listened to. This is the why the literal sense of all Sacred Scripture must be written with natural content and reasoning.

All religions are necessarily based on the literal sense of Sacred Scripture, and this sense has a natural content and reasoning process. Natural = time-bound, space-bound, place-bound. Hence all Sacred Scripture in its literal sense is always historical -- that is, involving time, place, identity, culture, politics, events, declarations, commandments, rituals, language.

From the literal sense of the Old and New Testament Sacred Scripture we can recognize the mentality or level of thinking and reasoning about God, in the pre-modern and pre-democratic times, cultures, and philosophies, not only in the Holy Land, but in Asia Minor, Greece, and the Far East, hence on the entire globe. Today we are still going through this natural phase of understanding God, but we now possess the modern scientific mentality that gives us the ability to go on to the next level of thinking about God.

(II) God as Divine Person is a spiritual idea of God.

About two thousand years ago God entered both history and science (see Section xx). This is the event called the Incarnation. It means God's embodiment in flesh. In other words, when God created the physical universe of time, space, energy, and matter, He obviously had to be outside of it in order to create it. Think about this for awhile. When we manufacture a car, we obviously have to be apart and outside the car, in order to create it. The engineer cannot be part of the car, but the car is a product or creation of the engineering team. First God has to exist, then, from infinite substances within Himself, God can create the world of eternity for our mental organs and life, and the world of time-space-matter for our physical body. So God as He Is in Himself has to exist outside the eternity He created, and outside the material universe of time and space. But God as He is Outside of Himself, can be both in created eternity and in created time (see Section xx).

What is outside time and space? We must have a word for it in order to discuss it and study it. There is a word others have used for it, and you know it too. It is the word eternity.

Eternity means outside time and space. You can see this in your own mental world, which is the mental world of the human race, and which exists in eternity (not in time-space, see Section xx). There is no time or space or matter in eternity. What do you know that's like it? There is something with which you are very familiar every day that is just like it -- it has no time, it has no space, it has no matter. What is it?

It is your mental world of feelings, thoughts, dreams, imaginings, perceptions, and sensations! (see Section xx)

So you are a person because you have feelings, thoughts, and sensations. And these are mental activities in mental organs. They cannot exist in your brain because thoughts and feelings have no mass, no weight, no space limitations, no dependence on energy, not composed of atoms and molecules like the brain is. The mind is a mental organ constructed of mental substances that exist outside time and space in eternity. Your thoughts and feelings are real, but they are not natural. They are spiritual or rational.

You need to understand that we are dual citizens. When we are born we are born into two worlds, one in time-space, the other in eternity. Our physical body is born in the physical world of time and space and is temporary. Simultaneously, our mental body ("spiritual body") is born in the mental world, which is outside time and space, and is eternal. So we live our life "on earth" unconscious of the the fact that we are dual citizens. It becomes immediately obvious though, if you start thinking about it. The world of our thoughts and feelings is the real and actual me, rather than my liver, heart, or brain. In the negative bias non-theistic psychology that is taught today, the reality of the mental world is denied. Instead, the reductionistic method is taught, which is that thoughts and feelings = electro-chemical firings in the physical brain, and not mental or spiritual operations outside time and space.

Now in theistic psychology it is known that at the death of the physical body we undergo the 30-hour process of resuscitation, and we regain consciousness in our spiritual body, continuing our life of immortality in the world of eternity where we exist since birth as dual citizens. This proves that to be a person means to have a spiritual body, not just a physical body. Though we have a physical body at birth, it is only for awhile. Some people live just a few minutes in their physical body, die as neonates or infants, and then continue to finish becoming adult minds in their spiritual body. Swedenborg confirmed this by observation of many children who had passed on while he was conscious in both worlds simultaneously, from age 57 to 84  (see Section xx).

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

HH 345. What the difference is between those who die in childhood and those who die in mature life will also be told. Those dying in mature life have a plane acquired from the earthly and material world, and this they carry with them. This plane is their memory and its corporeal natural affection. This remains fixed and is then quiescent, but still serves their thought after death as an outermost plane, since thought inflows into it. Consequently such as this plane is, and such as the correspondence is between the things that are in it and the rational faculty, such is the man after death. But little children who die in childhood and are educated in heaven do not have such a plane, but they have a spiritual-natural plane, since they derive nothing from the material world and the earthly body. For this reason, they cannot be in such gross affections and consequent thoughts, since they derive all things from heaven. Moreover, these little children do not know that they were born in the world, but believe that they were born in heaven. Neither do they know about any other than a spiritual birth effected through the cognitions of good and truth and through the intelligence and wisdom, from which man is a man; and as these are from the Lord they believe themselves to be the Lord's own, and love to be so. Nevertheless, it is possible for the state of men who grow up on the earth to become as perfect as the state of little children who grow up in heaven, provided they put away bodily and earthly loves, which are the loves of self and the world, and receive in their place spiritual loves. (HH 345)

To be a person means to have feelings, thoughts, and sensations. Animals also have these mental or spiritual experiences, but only at the natural level. Animals have a natural mind like we do. This does not yet mean that we are a human person. To be a human, which is to be a person, we must have a spiritual or rational mind that is immortal. When we are born, our mind contains an organic spiritual mind that is unconscious, and a natural mind that is conscious. Both minds must grow and mature together, though we are conscious of only one. Swedenborg was conscious in both, from age 57 to 84. Upon the death of the physical body, our consciousness switches from the natural mind to the spiritual mind. Our true human mind is therefore the spiritual mind within the spiritual body. This is immortal. Whereas animals are not immortal because their natural mind does not have a spiritual mind above them in which they can live in eternity (see Section xx).

Nevertheless, Swedenborg reports that animals are plentiful in the world of the afterlife. But these animals are created instantaneously by our thoughts and feelings, just like we create our surroundings for social and city life (see Section xx. But while you are no thinking of your pet or garden or house, these things disappear, only to be recreated the instant you think about them (see Section xx).

Because only immortal human beings can be called "persons", we are called "spirits" in Sacred Scripture, while animals are not. For instance, we can say that we are spirits looking out though a material body -- until death, and in the afterlife, we are spirits in a mental body forever. The mental world cannot end or disappear. It is eternity.

From all this you can see what it means to say that God is a Person. It means that God as He is Outside of Himself, is a Spirit or Divine Human Person in eternity, who has feelings, thoughts, and sensations. You have heard that we are created in the "likeness and image of God." What makes us human is that God is Human, that is, God is a Divine Human Person. Hence it is appropriate to call God "the Divine Human", as it is done in the literal sense of the Writings Sacred Scripture (written out by Swedenborg in Latin).

To think of God as a Spirit or Person, that is, to think of God as the Divine Human, requires a higher level of rational thinking and reasoning than the natural level which thinks of God as energy, the universe, or nature. For instance, when the Incarnate Divine Human ("God in flesh") arrived on the historical scene two thousand years ago (see Section xx), people could see God at the natural level of reality they could comprehend. God as He is Outside of Himself, now was in His Natural Body. Until then God was only a natural abstraction in their mind. They could not think of God as a Person. They were even forbidden by their religion to think of the infinite incomprehensible God as a human person, which was called "anthropomorphizing God". They could not love an abstraction of God, so they were given sacred power rituals that they took as physical proof of God's existence and presence with their nation. They could not love God but they could love God's physical rituals and sacred objects.

But when God entered history and science with a natural body and a socio-legal citizenship (see Section xx), everyone who is at the materialistic mentality of natural thinking can easily form an idea or picture of God. In this way they can leave the first natural level and start a new life, a new way of thinking that is entirely different and higher in rationality. This level starts with the comprehension of the idea that God as a Divine Human Person who always existed in eternity from where He created the physical universe. And we can then understand our immortality as "souls", since souls are created into the world of eternity where God is, and only temporarily do we have our consciousness trapped by a natural body.

Now for the very first time in human consciousness and evolution, human beings can start loving God in a different way. This new way in which we can reciprocate God's love for us, is the final phase in the evolution of conjunction of God with the human race (see Section xx). What makes possible this new way of loving God, is the Incarnation Event, by which God acquired for Himself a Divine Natural Body along with a Divine Natural Mind. This is therefore a new way in which God is present in the mind of every human being. Through this new creation for Himself, God as He is Outside of Himself has changed forever. In this new Divine Natural Body and Mind, God can appear in the conscious awareness of the natural mind.

This is a momentous development in the evolution of the human race because we can love God more closely when we can understand Him rationally with our conscious natural mind. Until two thousand years ago when God acquired a Divine Natural Body and Mind, human beings in both worlds were incapable of picturing in their conscious natural mind, the actual form of God. This was impossible because God did not have a natural form that one can picture. We can picture angels because they are in the human form. We cannot picture God as infinite love and wisdom except in the human form. God already had the human form in His Love and Wisdom, for these are human, that is, belonging to a person. We are in God's image, and therefore we too have love and wisdom in the human form.

God's infinite love, good, and power (omnipotence), are operations of His Affective Organ, which is constructed out of the eternal substance of good or spiritual heat. In this organ, infinite varieties of love, virtue, and power are gathered together and functioning as one affective organ. This organ is in the human form. Hence it is that our affective organ is in the human form. Hence also it is that the heart with its circulatory system extending into every inch of the physical body, is also in the human form.

God's infinite wisdom, truth, and rationality (omniscience), are operations of His Cognitive Organ, which is constructed out of the eternal substance of truth or spiritual light. In this organ, infinite varieties of truths, knowledges, and understandings are gathered together and functioning as one cognitive organ. This organ is in the human form. Hence it is that our cognitive organ is in the human form. Hence also it is that the lungs with its respiratory system extending in their effects into every inch of the body, is also in the human form.

God's infinite presence, participation, and availability (omnipresence), are operations of His Natural Body, which is constructed out of the Glorified physical body, not the original physical body prior to His death and resurrection (see Section xx). In this new Glorified Body (made Divine), which God obtained on this earth merely two thousand years ago, infinite varieties of uses, sciences, and arts are gathered together and functioning as one Divine Natural Body and Mind. This Divine Body is in the human form. Hence it is that our physical body is in the human form. Hence also it is that the musculature, skeleton, and brain with its nervous system extending into every inch of the body, are also shaped in the human form.

The conjunction between God and every human being can now be made perfect or complete. How close or perfect a conjunction we have with God, now depends solely on each individual. The closer our conjunction with God, the more God can give the person full potential in eternal happiness, conjugial love, intelligence, ability. Now that God is omnipresent in His Natural Body, we can see the Divine Human in our rational understanding. Blind faith or one that is based on mystery and little comprehension, cannot provide a clear and distinct picture of God in our natural mind. Mystical belief in God is not as close a conjunction with God as rational understanding of God (see Section xx).

What we do not understand rationally, we cannot fully believe, and what we cannot fully believe, we cannot fully love. Hence it was necessary for God to create this next step of our evolution by acquiring for Himself a Divine Natural Body in which He can be omnipresent in every person's mind -- should the person want to picture Him for the sake of loving Him more.

Until we start loving God fully from rational understanding, we are not completely human. It is our rational love for God that makes us into a "likeness and image" of God, hence fully human. The beginning of being genuinely human is the rational mind. Below that is the sensuous mind that we share in common with animals (see Section xx). This means that we can think and feel in our conscious natural mind at the level of spiritual rationality or truth. We cannot appropriate rationality as our own trait until we love God from rationally understanding Him. Rationality comes through the love we maintain for God as the Divine Human Person who creates us and maintains us from birth to eternity. While we are in the lower mentality of sensuous thinking of God we cannot love God with full conjunction and we cannot receive God's rationality as-if our own (see Section xx).

Hence the Incarnation event (God's embodiment) was the most momentous single event in human history and evolution. As a result of that event every human mind contains rational heavens and irrational hells. The Incarnation event separated the human mind into these levels which can never again be mixed (see Section xx). Since they cannot be mixed, our life in eternity is either all in one, or all in the other. When we love God as a Divine Human Person who is omnipotent and infinite, then we can receive the rational thoughts and feelings that allows us to live in the heavens.

(III) God as Truth within which is Good is a celestial idea of God.

Once we understand that God is a Divine Human Person, we are thinking rationally. The level of meaning of this rationality is called spiritual-natural and spiritual-rational correspondences of Divine Speech (see Section xx). This is also called our first and second heaven. But there is a more interior level of thinking and feeling, still higher, which is our third heaven, at is is called celestial-rational correspondences of Divine Speech. At this level of thinking we do not focus on the idea that God is a Person. We do not deny it since every time we come back to the lower level of thinking and feeling, we see this, we understand that God is a Person, and we love Him as the universal God the Divine Human and as our own Divine Psychologist. But when we ascend to the celestial-rational level of thinking about God, we put the Person idea behind us, or below us, and we love God in a different way, a higher way, a more universal way.

(1) God has revealed in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture that He is a Divine Person from eternity.

(2) God has confirmed in the New Testament Sacred Scripture that He is a Divine Human Person from eternity, and has revealed that he has acquired a Divine Natural Mind and Body in time and space, which He Glorified or made Divine substantial, expelling the inherited human corporeal through death and resurrection.

(3) God has confirmed in the Writings Sacred Scripture that He is a Divine Human Person from eternity, and has revealed that with His Divine Natural Mind and Glorified Natural Body He is omnipresent, and that thereby He is present as the Divine Psychologist in the conscious mind of every human being, providing all good and truth we need, in proportion to our willingness to undergo regeneration of our inherited character. And has also revealed the correspondential sense of all Sacred Scripture, making it possible for us to extract scientific knowledge from Divine Speech.

These three sets of revelations in historical sequence over thousands of years have formed the advance of civilization through the progressive development of rationality in the human mind. These also mark the mental states of development that every human being must go through in order to be prepared for eternal life in the heavens of the human mind. If we know these details, we can make sure that we manage the process appropriately, thus insuring for ourselves a heavenly life in immortality. It is not our merit or power that allows us to be prepared for heavenly life, since all power belongs to the omnipotent God. However, since regeneration and heavenly life occur only through the process of personal freedom of choice, God cannot force us into heaven. That would not be heaven, but a hell. Hence the Divine Psychologist in our conscious daily natural mind urges and encourages us to cooperate with Him.

The amount of good and truth He can give us depends on the degree to which we are willing to cooperate. We cooperate with God in our mind by engaging in combat as-of self, fighting our hellish traits, urges, and enjoyments, actively rejecting them because they are contrary to our heaven (see Section xx).

Our preparedness for heavenly life in eternity depends on our willingness to regenerate our inherited selfish or hellish character traits, as they are more animal than human. Acquiring rationality depends on acquiring the willingness to cooperate with the truth from love that enters our mind from God's mind through Divine Speech. It is the same whether we say truth from love, or truth from good, because love = good (see Section xx).

What does it mean to love God as Truth from Love?

We can no longer think that God is going to punish us in this world (natural level of thinking) or in the afterlife (spiritual level of thinking). God is truth from love, and this cannot punish. We can no longer think that God is angry with us because we are in sin (spiritual level of thinking). Or that God needs a sacrifice from us, or some other way, to forgive us, or to be reconciled to us. These are outward perspectives on God. But God is omnipotent and omnipresent. God is activating the content and sequence of our thoughts, and the events around us. God is not out there separated from us on account of this or that in our past, etc. At the celestial level of thinking we understand that God has already forgiven us before we even sin and that God is the one who managed the details of our sinful conduct. God cannot be turned away from us, or go away from us, etc. These are not rational ideas at the highest level of thinking.

Instead we can see that God and the individual form a functioning team or unit, managing every single particular detail of our thoughts, feelings, intentions, reasonings, etc. Once we understand this, the final step is to understand where God's truth from love is in us as part of the team we make as a person.

To love God at the celestial level of thinking and feeling means to love good and truth as God.

In other words, when you love good and truth you love God. This is totally different from loving God as a Divine Human Person. They are not incompatible of course, but one is below the other in thinking level of rationality.

For example consider the commandment that we love our neighbor. Every religion that acknowledges God from eternity as Person ("monotheism"), teaches God's commandment that we must love others rather than ourselves, if we are to live in the heavens of eternity. In the Old Testament mentality (natural thinking about God), to love the neighbor means to love your own kind. This is a racist perspective. Next in the New Testament mentality (spiritual thinking about God), to love the neighbor means to love everyone regardless of their race, background, or character. Next, in the mentality of the Writings of Swedenborg, to love the neighbor means to love the good and the true in the neighbor. We must not love everything about our neighbor. Only the good and true in any particular person. This is what we are to love because this is God's truth and love and we must love God's truth and love for this is what it means to love God.

Hence at the highest level of thinking rationally we will calibrate and make distinctions in what we love. We only want to love that which is good and true. Most people have both good and bad in their will and in their enjoyments. Our children are born with both. Our parents have both. But we must not love our children, our parents, or anyone, unconditionally. For this would mean to love the good and the bad in a person. This would be disastrous (see Section xx).

It is hard to understand at the spiritual level of thinking (God is a Divine Human Person) why we must not love a person unconditionally out of charity and love. But at the celestial level of thinking (good and truth is God), you can see that religious sectarianism is not rational. Anyone with whatever background can be prepared for a life in heaven if they love good and truth, regardless of what they also may think about God as a religion (see Section xx).

For other views on God that are not part of theistic psychology, see:
http://www.doesgodexist.org/ 

For a popular treatment, see Time magazine article on God vs. Science (2006):
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1555132,00.html 

1.2  Mystical vs. Rational Approaches to Theistic Psychology

 It's important to understand clearly the difference between mystical and rational spirituality since they have significantly different consequences through the choices we make. The basis for distinguishing mystical vs. rational spirituality is to examine how they each conceptualize our relationship to God.

The mystical approach is based on seeking sensuous consciousness of the Divine.

The sensuous consciousness of the Divine is often referred to by adherents as "sensing oneness with God" and other references to "the experience of God." This sensing and experiencing are operations of the corporeal-sensuous portion of the mind, which is very close to the natural order of the physical body, but far from the rational operations in the rational portion of the mind. Direct experience of God is therefore a "corporeal spirituality" or a sensuous spirituality grounded in non-rational experience. It will therefore be a "materialistic spirituality" whose order of operation will reflect physicalistic objects and laws, as discussed above. For instance, God will be conceptualized as a "spirit" and spirit is something that floats around or moves like the wind, or fills everything in its sphere like sunlight, or a field of energy or power. Some people claim to sense this energy field, or even to use it as "spiritual" power objects to heal a friend or kill an enemy, or just o experience ecstasy and out of body experiences.

These are the outward social psychological manifestations and culture of a mystical spirituality based in corporeal or physicalistic experience.

In contrast to this, rational spirituality is based on a rational consciousness of God as a Divine Human or Person.

The anatomy of the human mind (see Section xx) reveals that the rational portion of the organic mind lies above the corporeal-sensuous portion. Whatever meaningful and logical explanations we have of the corporeal-sensuous world around us, is a meaning constructed by the rational portion which is capable of more complex cognitive and affective operations. The anatomical charts in Section xx show that the rational portion of the human mind is exposed to two sources of stimuli. At its bottom portion, the rational mind receives stimuli from the corporeal-sensuous experiences of our physical body living in a natural universe. At its upper portion, the rational mind receives stimuli from the spiritual-celestial experiences of our spiritual body living in a spiritual universe. In other words, we are born dual citizens, with the spiritual body in the spiritual world and the physical body in the natural world.

Our two bodies are functionally connected by the laws of correspondences (see Section xx). At the death of the physical body our corporeal-sensuous experiences are no longer connected to the physical world. Instead, our spiritual body (or "mental body") is then the basis of our corporeal-sensuous experiences. We then begin an immortal life outside time and space in the spiritual universe, which is a mental universe created by rational ether emanating from the Spiritual Sun. The details of these operations were directly observed by Swedenborg for 27 years while he found himself with the unique and unprecedented capability of being conscious simultaneously in both his bodies. He could then explore the spiritual-mental universe with his spiritual body while taking notes with his physical body and publishing them. These 30 volumes are called the Writings of Swedenborg (published 1743-1771).

Since we now know the anatomy of the human organic mind we see that there are two levels of rational thinking, a physical rational, or materialistic rational level, and a spiritual rational level. The materialistic level of rational operations are abstract metaphors or analogies constructed on the basis of our corporeal-sensuous experiences -- touching, measuring, smelling, weighing, counting, localizing in space and time, contrasting, distinguishing, etc. The most abstract of advanced  theories in physics, economics, or biochemistry are based on  the physicalistic order imposed on or filtered through the senses, in other words, based on corporeal-sensuous experiences. These are operations of the lower portion of the rational mind. All its ideas and explanations will therefore be limited to the order of the physical sensory world of matter, space, and time. Hence God will also be a physicalistic idea, as for instance that God is infinite energy called Spirit, or that God is the Divine above rationality that can be only sensed, not understood and described. Or that God is a force that can be influenced by various methods -- incantations, sacrifices, obedience, anointment, rituals, etc. These are ideas of materialistic spirituality constructed by the materialistic natural portion of the mind. (See further in Section xx.)

Nevertheless its' important to realize that materialistic-rational ideas vary in severity of denial of God and the afterlife. Atheism, cultism, cynicism, spiritism, scientology, sorcery -- are severe forms of denial because an elaborate intellectual system has been built around the denial. Milder forms of denial of God include religious dogma, idol worship, adoration of sacred objects or other human beings, superstition, persuasive faith. These are less severe because there is "blind faith" involved rather than intellectual justification. As a result they are able to receive rational instruction after they are awakened in their resuscitation process. But the former group are more resistant to rational instruction and tend to hang on to their intellectual system no matter what is being shown them.

Those are most accepting of the new spiritual instruction who have lived the life of good in their daily choices and have not thought much about the dogmas of their religion. Thus they have not rationalized and internalized the anti-rational ideas contained in their mystical  religion.  Their altruistic and peaceful character allows them to understand and accept with enthusiasm the new spiritual-rational truths that are harmonious with the good in their character. But those who have made daily choices of deception, selfishness, and lack of compassion, reject the new spiritual instruction because it is not harmonious to their character. They rather continue being the way they are than changing to fit the new spiritual truths.

Rational consciousness of God never depends on direct sensuous experience but only on the understanding of scientific revelations contained in Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech.

This refers to spiritual truths or meanings that continuously stream into every individual from the upper portion of the rational mind. We are not directly conscious of these rational truths in our spiritual mind but we can benefit from their presence there if we acquire conscious rational ideas that correspond to them. When we study Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech our rational mind is elevated to the celestial level of enlightenment by means of the higher-order correspondences we acquire for ourselves (see Section xx).

The rational mind receives stimuli from the physical universe, in its lower portion, and receives stimuli from the spiritual world in its upper portion. The rational mind is "bathed" in rational ether like the physical senses are bathed in sunlight and atmospheres of air and gravity. The atmosphere of rational ether that surrounds our spiritual body in the spiritual world, is formed by the Spiritual Sun, which is a substantive emanation of God's infinite Divine Love and Wisdom in the form of spiritual heat and spiritual light (see Section xx).

While we are still connected to a physical body, our conscious awareness is located in the operations of the materialistic mind. We are therefore unconscious of the spiritual-rational ideas and operations entering the upper portion of the rational mind. Nevertheless, we can become conscious of them through learning the hierarchy of correspondences, to be discussed throughout theistic psychology (e.g., see Section xx). This built-in hierarchy of correspondences activates our consciousness, or conscious understanding, allowing it to understand rationally the Divine revelations God gives through a prophet or revelator at different times in the history of civilization on this earth. What the prophet or revelator then writes down is called Sacred Scripture. These contain all the hierarchy of correspondences by which we can raise our consciousness to the celestial-rational level called "heaven." At that level of rational spirituality we think of God in terms of higher order correspondences nearest to true reality and what it affords human beings -- eternal life in conjugial bliss that is ever growing and perfecting (see Section xx).

When our connection to the physical body is broken at "death," we begin our life of immortality in rational ether by means of our spiritual body which is the organic mind containing our feelings and thoughts, and all their operations -- our self, our personality, our memories, our identity, our ambitions and desires,  etc. None of these mental operations are located in the physical body or brain. All along they existed in the mind or mental body. Nothing is therefore lost as we lose the physical body except our ability to receive stimuli from the natural world.

This new life of immortality in rational ether is completely different from the life we experienced on earth in the physical universe. Swedenborg was able to describe it in detail as he lived in it for 27 years while he was also still doing his daily duties on earth -- being an engineer, publisher, and member of the Swedish parliament. It took him a little while, as you can imagine, to adjust to this sudden new duality of consciousness in which he had to live from age 57 to 84. Until then he was a noted scientist and public figure, but shortly after he began his dual life he resigned from his main job and managed to write 30 volumes of notes that he published himself at his own expense and then sent all the copies free to scholars and bishops all over Christian Europe. Swedenborg's reports were unanimously rejected or ignored by the clergy and science. Nevertheless, every generation since then has had a small number of dedicated Swedenborg adherents who translated his many volumes into various languages, and this process is going on today (see Readings). 

While we are still living on this earth, we cannot confirm what Swedenborg saw and heard by our own direct sensuous consciousness of the spiritual world. Swedenborg was a unique case. God prepared his mind from birth in order to be capable of living a dual consciousness life, and this not until he was mature at age 57. The reason we are not given direct sensuous and conscious awareness of the spiritual world is that such an experience would inhibit the normal development of our rational mind, which would endanger or corrupt the quality of life in our immortality. When we awaken at death in our spiritual body -- a process Swedenborg observed carefully with thousands of people -- we are no longer able to be divided in our lower and upper portions of the mind. While we are conscious in this world the two portions function separately, one conscious the other unconscious. A similar independence is replicated with our external behavior and our internal feelings and intentions. We can appear friendly and orderly on the outside, meanwhile we can be plotting in our mind to do the opposite. This kind of "divided mind" is no longer possible in the afterlife of immortality.

Hence we now begin to act on the outside exactly as we feel on the inside. Swedenborg observed for years the visible environment in the spiritual-mental world where everyone awakens after death. Remarkably, the visual environment is created by each person's thoughts and feelings. We are familiar with this idea when we consider our dreams. The visual and other sensory environment while we dream feels very real, even more intensely real than the environment we wake up to. The physical environment is fixed and stable, unaffected by our feelings and thoughts. But our dream environment is changeable and reflects our thoughts and desires. This is because dreams are in the spiritual body which lives in a mental-spiritual atmosphere that is reactive to the mental operations of every person.

Swedenborg describes some people who arrive with obsessive fantasies and don't have the rational operations by which to overrule these irrational thoughts and desires. As a result their feelings and thoughts create a spiritual environment around them called "hell" in which they interact with others who are in similar delusions. Swedenborg confirmed by multiple observations and experiments in the spiritual world that people who have a poorly developed rational mind sink their consciousness into their corporeal-sensuous experiences that they had acquired from life on earth. They live out their immortality in dire conditions and despite many efforts at re-education, they are unwilling to change (see Section xx).

You can see why no one is allowed to have direct sensuous experience of the spiritual world. It is a physiological function that is normally blocked by God to protect the individual. If we can have no physical proof of God's existence, or of the mental-spiritual world of our afterlife, then we are able to develop a rational consciousness or understanding of God and our life of immortality in rational ether.

The more rational power we have, the higher we can raise our consciousness of God, and the more perfect will be our afterlife in immortality. "Heaven" refers to this level of rational life in which we act like angels or celestial humans -- we love obedience to God, we make choices on the basis of His rational definitions of reality and truth, and we love others as much or more than ourselves. "Hell" refers to the level of corporeal-sensuous life, which is below the true human life. This lower life tends to veer downward since it acts independently of the higher rational mind, and falls prey to its own fantasies, irrationalities, obsessions, and hatreds.

The central purpose of our life on earth is therefore the growth and development of spiritual-rational ideas and thoughts of God and ourselves. Through this rational spirituality we can spend our immortality in "heaven." Without it, we spend it in "hell." Nothing therefore can be as important to us right now as to realize this difference and its consequences to us.

For every generation of people on earth God provides a powerful and effective method for growing our spiritual-rational mind. At different times God inspires the mind of selected individuals to have a vision or hear a message of Divine Speech. When this is written down it is called Sacred Scripture. The prophet or writer only understands the literal meaning of what he writes down, if that much. But hidden in this simple minded literal meaning is the hierarchy of correspondences that is like an elevator shaft, or staircase, by which our consciousness can travel upward higher and higher. The secret of how to extract these higher-order cognitions was not known by anyone until the method of correspondence was revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg (see Section xx). The knowledge we gain from this lawful extraction process is called theistic psychology.

The words and sentences of Sacred Scripture reveal Divine truths of reality, but at various levels of rationality. The lowest or most external level is the literal meaning of Sacred Scripture. This tends to be historical, cultural, religious, mystical, visionary, and poetic in style. These are the natural correspondences of Divine meanings. But anyone can think more deeply about the sentences of Sacred Scripture. This attempt remained limited and people came up with all sorts of contradictory explanations and interpretations of the spiritual meaning that lies hidden in Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). The Writings of Swedenborg now provide a full revelation and explanation of how to extract correspondences from Sacred Scripture. Theistic psychology is based on this knowledge.

Sensuous and mystical spirituality is a way of avoiding the rational application of correspondences as revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg. And yet our fate in eternity depends on the growth of our spiritual-rational mind. We develop this mind more and more by analyzing and understanding the correspondences hidden in the literal sentences of Sacred Scripture. We develop our rational understanding by problem solving with those sentences and ideas, and creating a "doctrine for life" out of them, which means making up rational rules and principles by which we conduct our daily affairs and relationships.

Our task is to live our daily life according to this doctrine of life from Sacred Scripture. It is what determines the content of our mind, what we take with us from this temporary life to the afterlife of immortality. Swedenborg has observed over and over again that people are unwilling to become more rational once they are in the afterlife. We therefore "get stuck" at the level of rationality we bring with us. Whatever rationality we bring with us gets then developed and perfected endlessly to eternity. And since people bring different qualities of rationality with them they congregate together with others of similar rationality, some higher, some much higher, and some much much higher (see Section xx). Swedenborg visited three levels of "heavenly" life and they were quite different. Similarly, he visited many layers of "hellish" life, some much worse than others (see Section xx).

It is the rational operation of the mind that is essential for understanding God through God's revelation of truth in Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech--according to the approach of rational spirituality. But in mystical spirituality, understanding of God is seen as limited while experiencing God is seen as more immediate and powerful. However, according to rational spirituality the attempt to "experience" or "sense" God directly is a delusion of corporeal spirituality. It stems from self-intelligence and makes self-intelligence or the self, equal to the Divine. This is known as "nonduality" because it assumes that God and human beings can form a one as if their consciousness were of the same substance or level. But rational spirituality creates an absolute "duality" between God and human beings since God is infinite and there cannot be a "oneness" between the infinite and the finite. Nothing from the infinite (i.e., the Divine) can be an integral part of the finite (i.e., human beings). I discuss the issue of nonduality at length in Volume 1 of A man of the Field available on the Web:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/volume1-nonduality.html

According to rational spirituality we can be "conjoined" with God, or "adjoined to Him,  in a reciprocal duality or relationship, where the parts always and forever remain distinct from each other, and there is never a "melding" or other "oneness" possible.

Our immortality is a result of our conjunction with God.

This is sometimes called "salvation," that is, not having to die like other natural things. It allows our consciousness and life to ascend to the highest human potential called "heaven," and in that state of mind we enjoy eternal life in the heaven of our mind. But the delusion of "oneness" with God brings falsities in one's life instead of truth, and the eventual result is the corruption of the rational mind so that the self sinks into the lowest state of human life called hell. Obviously it's crucial to be able to distinguish between these two forms of spirituality, for one leads to eternal happiness and rationality, while the other leads to eternal corruption and delusion. Of course, those who follow the mystical approach reject the premises of rational spirituality as ludicrous and they see no merit in it. Therefore people must decide carefully for themselves by examining the rationale of these two approaches to God and angelic life.

One may wonder why God doesn't show Himself sensuously so people can have direct sensuous experience of God -- seeing Him, touching Him, having a chat with Him. Then God would be just like any other real part of our lives, like our uncle, our neighbor, or the president. The answer to this puzzle is explained rationally and scientifically in the Writings of Swedenborg. Theistic psychology now understands that all human minds are born and exist as organic structures in the spiritual world, not in the natural physical world. The mind is functionally tied to the physical body as long as its temporary existence still holds. But once the physical body becomes a corpse, the connection is broken and we seem to ourselves to awaken in the spiritual world. There we continue a life of immortality. It is the mind (or "spirit")  -- not the physical brain -- that actually senses, thinks and feels, while the neurons in the brain parallel or react by correspondence to the mind's operations. We need the physical brain while we are connected to earth, but once the connection is broken, our new sensory input is from the spiritual world through our mental body (or "rational ether body").

Swedenborg had the unique opportunity in the history of humankind to receive the ability of being conscious simultaneously in the natural world and in the spiritual world, and this continuously without interruption for 27 years. His physical body gave out at age 84 in 1772 and he was no longer conscious of this world. But he left behind some 30 books about what he found out in the spiritual world. He was an experienced and respected scientist and was able to write these books in a scientific language and rational outline. Theistic psychology is the knowledge we have by studying the Writings of Swedenborg.

We now know that the mind is a spiritual organ that looks like the physical body in shape and form. The mind is not just in the brain, as passed writers have thought. The mind is in the entire body and the physical body has this shape because it parallels the mind in form.

The fibers and neurons of the mind's organs must grow in a proper manner, and if they don't, they are corrupted or impaired. Mental development must be adequate to support the proper growth of the rational mind. Negative and harmful experiences people have in childhood introduce malfunctioning in the mental organs. We also inherit many dysfunctional operations of the mind so that people have a strong tendency to be irrational, selfish, violent, or disrespectful of authority. The mind is therefore a battle ground between healthy and unhealthy tendencies. When our connection with the physical world is terminated, the mind then lives an immortal life in the spiritual world. The quality of that life depends on the state or quality of the functioning mind -- its content and habitual operations. Negative thoughts and antisocial traits cause our conscious awareness to sink into the lowest portion of the mind called "hell." We then live in that state forever in dire conditions of insanity and obsession, being unwilling to do what it takes to raise ourselves from that terrible state. Positive affectivity and rational thoughts cause our conscious awareness to be elevated into the highest portion of the human mind called "heaven." We then live in that state of mind to eternity in conjugial joy, rationality, and wisdom.

Obviously an omnipotent God must supervise and manage these operations for every individual, from birth to endless immortality. God remains out of people's direct sensuous confirmation or physical proof of Him or His existence. He does this in order that we may develop a strong rational consciousness of Him. We get closer and closer in our conjunction with God as we acquire more and more rational ideas and knowledge of Him through Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. The more we allow God to take us closer in conjunction with Him, the more we can enjoy rationality and bliss forever in our immortality. Closeness of conjunction with God is through rational consciousness of Him, not sensuous. This is why God will not appear to people directly to our external organs or mystical experience.

It's an issue of psycho-biology. The anatomy of the mind is such that its highest portion is pure rationality. The more we have spiritual-rational concepts of God, the closer He can conjoin us to Himself, and the more we are eternally wise, happy, altruistic, and good. It is this spiritual rationality that forms the content of theistic psychology. The rational ideas from the Writings are expressed in terms of the modern science of psychology. Many people in the past two hundred years have contributed to this knowledge by studying and researching the Writings of Swedenborg (see Readings).

Since God avoids speaking to people directly or communicating mystically "one on one," He uses another method of communication called Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. These are written in hidden rational correspondences that reveal all the ways in which people can be conjoined to God. For its content and facts, theistic psychology relies on the lawful process of extracting hidden correspondences from Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. This is how we obtain facts about God, what we must do to be conjoined with Him, and how we must prepare adequately for life in immortality and eternity. All personal, subjective speculation or fabrication about these topics can thus be totally avoided.

All knowledge and facts of spiritual rationality are based exclusively on this revealed source. However, as will be explained later in detail, we must rely on the underlying or hidden meanings of Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. If we rely on the surface literal meaning, we obtain mostly historical facts about a place and people, and religious injunctions for a particular cultural and racial group. These are not suitable for a science of theistic psychology. But the "method of correspondences" revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg allow us to systematically extract rational scientific knowledge and facts about God and our immortality. Details on this method will be presented throughout the following chapters.

1.2.1  Who was Swedenborg?

As a background to who was Swedenborg, I quote from an article that gives a brief but authoritative biography of Swedenborg by Dr. Jane K. Williams-Hogan. The Web address of the article is
www.glencairnmuseum.org/jkwh.html (see also the
Reading List). Here are some relevant quotes:

In his study he [Swedenborg] gradually realized that the Word alone could form the experiential ground of a new revelation from God to man. Because this ground is universally available to all people and unlike a private vision, it can be challenged or confirmed by other men's rational and experiential response to it.  (...)

 As he grew to understand it, that commission required both intellectual and spiritual preparation. The need for such preparation, according to Swedenborg's own testimony, lay in the nature of the revelation he was to receive. As he stated in Arcana Coelestia, internal revelation, or revelation from perception, requires preparation of the mind and soul, in order to create a foundation for it. External revelations through dreams, visions or hearing a voice, on the other hand, such as those received by the Jewish prophets, do not require a similar foundation. Revelations of this kind are revelations without perception or understanding.  (...)

 Because Swedenborg was an instrument of an internal revelation, his spiritual mission took place in both the spiritual and natural worlds. He believed that his commission to the natural world entailed only that he should faithfully write, publish, and disseminate the heavenly truths that were revealed to him by the Divine-Human. This is all that he did during the twenty-three years of his public mission. He never put any effort into direct proselytizing or into organizing a new church, nor did he personally attempt to convert anyone to his views. Throughout this time he underwrote all of the expense necessary to fulfill this mission, and whatever income he received from the sale of these books he directed his printer to reinvest in their publication. He sold his books below cost and he also sent many copies of his works to libraries, prelates, and various other notable individuals. During this time from 1749 to 1771 he published eighteen separate theological works.  (...)

 Swedenborg's religious teachings provide a new vision of God, new insight into the nature of the relationship between the spiritual and natural worlds, and a universal and rational ethic to guide men to a useful life. It is a radical and rational Christian religion: radical because it breaks with both Catholic and Protestant traditional interpretations of the Trinity, original sin, the atonement, and imputation and justification; and rational because the focus of its theology is the penetration and clarification of the mysteries of faith, through which a new understanding of salvation emerges which grants man cooperative efficacy in spiritual things.  (...)

According to Swedenborg, the purpose of spiritual and natural creation was to form a heaven from the human race. However, this required free response on the part of man, and provision for his salvation. The spiritual world, of which heaven is a part, is the world of causes, while the natural world is that of effects. Therefore, for a new revelation to be truly new and universal, it must reveal the world of causes which was for so long hidden from man, and it must essentially address the question of order at that level; for so far as the world of causes is ordered, so will be the world of effects.

See also this  brief biography of Swedenborg and his place in the world today:
Williams-Hogan, Jane K. (2006). From Swedenborg to the New Church: Interview. Religioscope. Available at: http://religion.info/english/interviews/article_247.shtml 

 

Here is a brief description of Swedenborg's works
compiled by Dr. Ian Thompson

Primary Theological Works

Arcana Coelestia (sometimes translated as Heavenly Secrets)

1747-1756

An extensive verse by verse explanation of the deeper levels of meaning of Genesis and Exodus describing the spiritual development of a human being and the nature of the Divine. (Published in 12 volumes.)

Spiritual Diary (sometimes called Spiritual Experiences)

1747-1763

The personal notebooks kept by Swedenborg of his experiences in the Spiritual World and reflections upon them. They were unpublished until the mid 1800s.

Heaven and Hell

1758

A description of the structure and phenomena of the Spiritual World.

Earths in the Universe

1758

Conversations Swedenborg had with people in the Spiritual World who said they were from other planets in the universe.

The Last Judgement

1758

Description of events in the Spiritual World preparing the way for the establishment of the New Church.

The White Horse

1758

A brief explanation of the meaning of the white horse with its rider from the Book of Revelation chapter 19 as the Divine truth of the Lord's Word.

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine

1758

A brief summary of the fundamental doctrines of the New Church with extensive references to the Arcana Coelestia for further reading.

The Doctrine of the Lord

1763

A brief work summarizing the teachings about God - His Divinity and Humanity - with extensive references to the Old and New Testaments.

The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture

1763

A brief work summarizing the teachings on the nature of revelation.

The Doctrine of Life

1763

A brief work describing the qualities which comprise a life of good which leads to heaven.

The Doctrine of Faith

1763

A brief work explaining the nature of faith and its role in the life of regeneration.

A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgement

1763

A continuation describing various erroneous beliefs about the Divine and the path of spiritual development.

Divine Love and Wisdom

1763

A philosophic treatment of creation - how the Divine finited Himself to produce the natural world and the human race.

Divine Providence

1764

A thorough explanation of how the Lord leads people in freedom to become angels in heaven; also, why He allows evils to occur.

Apocalypse Revealed

1766

A two volume, verse by verse treatment of the Book of Revelation.

Conjugial Love (or Marital Love)

1768

An explanation of the sources of love in marriage and a practical guide on how husbands and wives can grow ever closer forming an eternal union.

A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church

1769

A point by point comparison of fundamental Catholic and Protestant doctrines with the teachings of the New Church.

Inter-relationship of the Soul and Body

1769

A brief description of the relationship and interaction between the spiritual and natural realms.

True Christian Religion

1771

A comprehensive overview of the fundamental doctrines of the New Church, including the Lord, the Ten Commandments, Faith, Charity, Repentance, Reformation, Regeneration, Holy Supper, Baptism, and the Second Coming.

Primary Scientific and Philosophical Works

Principles of Chemistry

1720

Swedenborg's first effort at explaining creation.

Miscellaneous Observations

1722

A second attempt at explaining creation.

The Principia

1734

Swedenborg's full explanation of creation, including an introduction on the means leading to a true philosophy.

The Infinite and Final Cause of Creation

1734

A philosophical argument for the existence of God based upon the order in nature.

The Economy of the Animate Kingdom

1740-1741

An anatomical work looking at the blood, embryology, etc., seeking an answer as to how the soul operates in the body. This is Swedenborg's first clear articulation of the doctrines of discrete degrees and correspondences.

The Fiber

1741

Contains Swedenborg's doctrine of physical forms.

The Rational Psychology

1743

An exploration of the workings of the mind as a "mixed intellect" between the soul and the "animus."

The Animal Kingdom

1744-1745

A second effort at explaining how the soul operates in the body. Includes material on the five senses and generation.

The Worship and Love of God

1745

An allegorical depiction of creation by God.

Swedenborg and his career is discussed throughout the book and you will gain additional insight on who he was as you proceed. You can also consult the Readings for biographies of him.

Swedenborg's Writings were recently selected by the United Nations to be part of the Memory of the World Register, a collection of important books from the past that must be saved for posterity. Here is an explanation:


CENTER FOR HISTORY OF SCIENCE

The Swedenborg Collection – A World Memory

The Emanuel Swedenborg Collection, one of the largest collections of manuscripts from an individual of the 18th century, is managed by the Center for History of Science.

In June 2005, the collection was inscribed on UNESCO:s Memory of the World Register.
 Read UNESCO:s press release >>

The Collection consists of manuscripts, original editions and letters by Swedenborg (1688–1772). The collection contains documents from his years as a scientist and technician as well as from the later part of his life, when he became a prophet and a religious writer.

Some of the documents from the Swedenborg collection. © Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Read about the purpose of the Memory of the World Programme on their web-site >>

Documentary heritage reflects the diversity of languages, peoples and cultures. It is the mirror of the world and its memory. But this memory is fragile. Every day, irreplaceable parts of this memory disappear forever.

UNESCO has launched the Memory of the World Programme to guard against collective amnesia calling upon the preservation of the valuable archive holdings and library collections all over the world ensuring their wide dissemination.

Emanuel Swedenborg as prophet, holding a book about future apocalypses.
© Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Scientist and prophet
Emanuel Swedenborg was a very productive writer. After his death in 1772 his manuscripts were donated to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences by his relatives. Swedenborg had himself been a member of the academy.

Swedenborg is one of the most famous Swedes in the world and the only one whose work inspired the founding of a new church. After a successful career as a scientist and technician he went through a religious crisis in the 1740´s. This crisis culminated in a revelation in which he was given the mission to tell mankind of the Bible´s inner meaning and also reveal what the angels and other spirits told him. This divine mission resulted in many books about the deeper truths in the Bible which were written during the last 25 years of his life.

Swedenborg´s spiritual message reached all over the world and still many of his followers read his texts with deep reverence. His manuscripts are regarded as holy relics for some of them. As early as the 1870´s many of Swedenborg's religious texts were reproduced with a new innovative photolithographic technique. This technically pioneering project was conducted by American and British followers of Swedenborg.

From: http://www.center.kva.se/engelska/swedenborg_collection.htm

Swedenborg Chronology
From The Essential Swedenborg by Sig Synnestvedt

newearth.org/frontier/esmain.html

1688 Born in Stockholm, Sweden, on January 29.
1699 - 1709 Attended Uppsala University.
1710 - 1715 First journey abroad, to England and the Continent.
1716 First publications by Swedenborg in the magazine Daedalus.
1716 Appointed Assesssor in the Royal College of Mines.
1718 Ennoblement of Swedberg family with name changed to Swedenborg. Assumption by Swedenborg of seat in House of Nobles of Swedish Diet.
1720 Publication of Swedenborg’s first book, a philosophic work titled Principles of Chemistry.
1729 - 1734 Writing and publication of his most important philosophical works in three volumes, titled Philosophical and Mineralogical Works.
1735 - 1744 Period of intensive study, writing, and publication on the nature of human existence, particularly as regards the concept of the soul.
1743 - 1744 First transcendent experiences, visions or dreams, in Holland and England.
1745 "Call" to become a revelator, London, England.
1747 Resignation from the Swedish Board of Mines to allow time for theological writing.
1747 - 1758 Writing and publication of the twelve-volume Arcana Coelestia, - Swedenborg’s first major theological work.
1759 - 1761 Incidents of the Stockholm fire, the Dutch ambassador’s receipt, and the Queen’s secret illustrating Swedenborg’s clairvoyance.
1768 - 1771 Heresy trial at Gothenburg, Sweden, involving state church accusations against Swedenborg’s theology.
1771 - 1772 Publication of the two-volume True Christian Religion in Amsterdam, Holland, his last major theological work.
1772 Death in London, England, at age 84, on March 29.

 

Here is another compilation (selections only) covering Swedenborg's earlier works on science:

from:  The Works of Emanuel Swedenborg in Chronological Order

1714

Published Works

  • Joyous Accolade for Charles XII’s … Arrival in His Own Pomerania.

  • Heliconian Pastime, or Miscellaneous Poems that Emanuel Swedberg Composed for Various Occasions.

Documents Not Published

  • Possible Draft of a Design of a Submarine Ship

  • Possible Draft of a Design of a Siphon

  • Possible Draft of a Design of a Hoist for Heavy Objects

  • Possible Draft of a Document About Constructing Sluices

  • Possible Draft of a Design of a Big Machine for Pumping Water

  • Possible Draft of a Design of a Drawbridge

  • Possible Draft of a Design of an Air Pump

  • Possible Draft of a Design of an Air Gun

  • Possible Draft of a Design of a Universal Musical Instrument

  • Possible Draft of a Design for Creating Shaded Images Using Engraving

  • Possible Draft of a Design of a Water Clock

  • Possible Draft of a Mechanical Carriage and a Flying Carriage

  • Possible Draft of a Method for Analyzing Feelings or Inclinations

  • Possible Draft of a Design of Cords and Springs

1716

Published Works

  • Either the Ages are Returning … (First Epigram for “Daedalus Hyperboreus” - Sweden’s First Scientific Journal (1716-1718))

  • Assessor Polhem’s Instrument to Aid Hearing

  • Another Similar Instrument

  • On the Little Ear-Trumpet Used in England

  • Assessor Polhem’s Experiments on the Quality of Sound

  • Experiments That Yet Remain to Be Conducted in Our Country Sound

  • On a Speaking-Tube

  • First Lifting and Reversing Machine

  • Second Lifting Device

  • Experiments That Can Be Conducted in Winter

  • Table for Converting Carolins to Copper Dalers, Silver Dalers, and Riksdalers

  • Another Handy Method for Converting Carolins … into Any Type of Currency …

  • Second Edition of Heleconian Pastimes

  • Assessor Polhem’s Division of a Steelyard

  • On an Air Pump …

  • Calculation and Measurement of the Width and Height of Water and Air in Such Pumps

  • A Sapphic Ode for the Birthday of My Beloved Father, Doctor Jesper Swedberg …

  • Assessor Polhem’s Reliable Observations on the Air’s Resistance to Falling Weights and Surfaces

  • Sketch of a Machine to Fly in the Air

  • An Experiment with Round Shot and Paper

  • An Experiment on the Resistance of Water and Snow to Round Shot

  • A New and Reliable Method of Finding East and West Longitudes … by Means of the Moon

  • The First and Easiest Way: Accurate Location by Means of the Longitude Here

  • The Second Way: Find the Difference of Meridians or Longitudes of a Place by Means of the Aforementioned Stars

  • Behold, Daedalus takes to the air … (Second Epigram for “Daedalus Hyperboreus”)

Documents Not Published

  • On Several Types of Soils and Muds

  • Possible Draft on Reflections on Perspective

  • Untitled Draft of a Memorial on a Society of Sciences

  • Remarks on Mussels, Snails, and So On in Limestone and on Slate

  • Description of a Daedalian or Flying Machine

  • A Siphoning Machine

  • New Ways to Sail Against the Stream …

  • Notes on Some Small Tests and Experiments

  • Untitled Draft of a Design of a Screw Jack

  • Stereometric Proportions and Some New Principles of Stereometry

  • The Use of Water to Calculate the Amount of Lead in Medium Quality Iron of the Same Weight and Source

  • Description of a Crane

  • Experiment with Echoes

  • Memorandum on the Improvements That Await Being Made at Carlscrona

  • Youth’s Honor (possibly written by Polhem)

1717

Published Works

  • … Polhem’s Ingenious Tap …

  • Table for Calculating the Volumes of Cubes, Cylinders, and Spheres When One Knows the Surface Measurements in Inches

  • An Easy Analytical Method of Demonstrating Both the Preceding and Other Points Geometrically

  • Information about the Tinwork of Steirsund, Its Use, and Tinning

  • An Easy Way of Counting Round Shot Stacked Together in a Triangular Pile

  • A Proof That Our Vital Essence Consists for the Most Part of Small Vibrations, That is, of Tremulations

  • On a Rounded Line or Curve Whose Dividing-Lines, That Is, Secants, Always Form Equal Angles to the Curve

1721

Published Works

  • A Letter from Nobleman Emanuel Swedenborg to the Celebrated Jacob a Melle (Indications of the Earth’s Former Submersion)

  • A Precursor to the Basic Principles of Nature or of New Attempts at a Geometrical Explanation of Chemistry and Experimental Physics

  • New Observations and Discoveries Regarding Iron adn Fire, Especially the Elementary Nature of Fire; Also a New Furnace Design

  • A New Method of Finding the Longitudes of Places on Land and at Sea with the Help of the Moon

Documents Not Published

  • In the Name of the Lord: A New Method of Finding the Longitudes of Places on Land and at Sea with the Help of the Moon

1733

Documents Not Published

  • On the Motion of the Elements in General

  • Untitled Journal from October 1733 to March 1734

  • Untitled Notes on Wolff’s “Empirical Psychology”

  • Untitled Quotation from Wolff’s “Empirical Psychology”

  • Untitled Extracts from Shurig 1729

  • Untitled Translation of Extracts from Richter 1722

  • Mechanism of the Soul and Body

from:  The Works of Emanuel Swedenborg in Chronological Order

 

        1.2.1.1    Swedenborg's Autobiographical Letters

1. ANSWER TO A LETTER WRITTEN TO ME BY A FRIEND. A LETTER FROM EMANUEL SWEDENBORG TO THE REV. THOMAS HARTLEY.{1}

I rejoice at the friendship which you manifest in your letter; and I thank you sincerely for both, but especially for your friendship. The praises with which you overwhelm me, I receive simply as expressions of your love for the truths contained in my writings; and I refer them, as their source, to the Lord, our Saviour, from whom is everything true, because He is the Truth Itself (John xiv. 6). I have considered chiefly the remarks you make at the close of your letter, where you express yourself as follows: "If, perchance, after your departure from England, your writings should be the subject of discussion, and occasion should arise for defending you, their author, against some malignant slanderer, who may wish to injure your reputation by a web of falsehoods--as those are in the habit of doing who hate the truth--would it not be well for you, in order to repel such slanderers, to leave with me some particulars respecting yourself, your degrees in the University, the public offices you have filled, your friends and relations, the honors which, I am told, have been conferred upon you, and anything else that might be useful in establishing your good name, so that ill-conceived prejudices may be removed; for it is our duty to use all lawful means lest the cause of truth should suffer injury."

After reflecting on this, I have been led to yield to your friendly advice, and will now communicate to you some particulars of my life, which are briefly as follows:-

I was born at Stockholm on the 29th of January in the year 1689.{2} My father's name was Jesper Swedberg, who was bishop of West-Gothland, and a man of celebrity in his time. He was also elected and enrolled as a member of the English Society, for the Propagation of the Gospel; for he had been appointed by King Charles XII Bishop over the Swedish churches in Pennsylvania, and also over the church in London. In the year 1710 I went abroad. I proceeded first to England, and afterwards to Holland, France, and Germany, and returned home in the year 1714. 1 In the year 1716, and also afterwards I had many conversations with Charles XII, King of Sweden, who greatly favored me, and in the same year appointed me to the office of Assessor in the College of Mines, which office I filled until the year 1747, when I resigned it, retaining, however, the salary of the office during my life. My sole object in resigning was that I might have more leisure to devote to the new office enjoined on me by the Lord.

A higher post of honor was then offered me, which I positively declined, lest my mind should be inspired with pride. In the year 1719, I was ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleanora, and named Swedenborg; and from that time I have taken my seat among the nobles of the rank of knighthood, in the triennial sessions of the Diet. I am a Fellow and member, by invitation, of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm; but I have never sought admission into any literary society in any other place, because I am in an angelic society, where such things as relate to heaven and the soul are the only subjects of discourse; while in literary societies the world and the body form the only subjects of discussion. In the year 1734, I published, at Leipsic, the Regnum Minerale, in three volumes, folio. In the year 1738 I made a journey to Italy, and staid a year at Venice and Rome.

With respect to my family connections, I had four sisters. One of them was married to Eric Benzelius, who subsequently became the Archbishop of Upsal, and through him I became related to the two succeeding archbishops, who both belonged to the family of Benzelius, and were younger brothers of Eric. My second sister was married to Lars Benzelstierna, who became a provincial governor; but these two are dead. Two bishops, however, who are related to me, are still living; one of them, whose name is Filenius, and who is Bishop of East Gothland, officiates now as President of the House of the Clergy in the Diet of Stockholm, in place of the Archbishop, who is an invalid; he married my sister's daughter: the other, named Benzelstierna, is Bishop of Westmanland and Dalecarlia; he is the son of my second sister. Not to mention others of my relations who occupy stations of honor.

Moreover, all the bishops of my native country, who are ten in number, and also the sixteen senators, and the rest of those highest in office, entertain feelings of affection for me; from their affection they honor me, and I live with them on terms of familiarity, as a friend among friends; the reason of which is, that they know I am in company with angels. Even the King and the Queen, and the three princes, their sons, show me great favor: I was also invited once by the King and Queen to dine with them at their own table, which honor is generally accorded only to those who are highest in office; subsequently the Crown Prince granted me the same favor. They all desire me to return home; wherefore, I am far from apprehending, in my own country, that persecution, which you fear, and against which in your letter you desire in so friendly a manner to provide; and if they persecute me elsewhere, it can do me no harm.

But all that I have thus far related, I consider of comparatively little importance; for it is far exceeded by the circumstance, that I have been called to a holy office by the Lord Himself, who most mercifully appeared before me, His servant, in the year 1743; when He opened my sight into the spiritual world, and granted me to speak with spirits and angels, in which state I have continued up to the present day. From that time I began to print and publish the various arcana that were seen by me and revealed to me, as the arcana concerning Heaven and Hell, the state of man after death, the true worship of God, the spiritual sense of the Word, besides many other most important matters conducive to salvation and wisdom. The only reason of my journeys abroad has been the desire of making myself useful, and of making known the arcana that were entrusted to me. Moreover, I have as much of this world's wealth as I need, and I neither seek nor wish for more.

Your letter has induced me to write all these particulars, in order that as you say "ill-conceived prejudices may be removed." Farewell; and from my heart I wish you all the happiness both in this world, and the next; which I have not the least doubt you will attain, if you look and pray to our Lord. EMAN. SWEDENBORG

@1 Rev. Thomas Hartley, A.M., a friend of Swedenborg, and one of the first receivers of his doctrines, was a clergyman of the Church of England, and rector of Winwick, Northamptonshire The letter asking for particulars respecting Swedenborg's life, to which the above is a reply, was written August 2, 1769 (See Documents Concerning Swedenborg Vol. I, pp. 3-5, 6-9.--TR.$

@2 The original edition has "1689," which is probably a printer's error. Swedenborg was born January 29, 1688.--TR. 1 The original edition has "1714," but Swedenborg did not return to Sweden until after April, 1715.--TR.

2. MY EARLY YOUTH. {1}

FROM A LETTER OF SWEDENBORG TO DR. BEYER.

I will now give you an account of my first youth: From my fourth to my tenth year I was constantly engaged in thought upon God, salvation, and the spiritual affections (passiones spirituales) of men; and several times I revealed things at which my father and mother wondered: saying, that angels must be speaking through me. From my sixth to my twelfth year I used to delight in conversing with clergymen about faith, saying that the life of faith is love, and that the love which imparts life is love to the neighbor; also that God gives faith to everyone, but that those only receive it who practice that love. I knew of no other faith at that time, than that God is the Creator and Preserver of nature, that He imparts understanding and a good disposition to men, and several other things that follow thence. I knew nothing at that time of that learned faith which teaches that God the Father imputes the righteousness of His Son to whomsoever, and at such times, as He chooses even to those who have not repented and have not reformed their lives. And had I beard of such a faith, it would have been then, as it is now, above my comprehension.

I remain, with all affection and friendship,
Your most obedient servant and friend,
EMAN. SWEDENBORG
STOCKHOLM, November 14, 1769.
To the Reverend and Most Learned Doctor and Lector
GABRIEL AND. BEYER, Gottenburg.
@1 See Documents Concerning Swedenborg, Vol. II, pp. 278-280.$
 

Autobiographical statements from Swedenborg's Writings

AC 5. That this is really the ease 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.

AC 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.

AC 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.

AC 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.

AC 150. The state of man when in his Own, or when he supposes that he lives from himself, is compared to "deep sleep," and indeed by the ancients was called deep sleep; and in the Word it is said of such that they have "poured out upon them the spirit of deep sleep" (Isa. xxix. 10), and that they sleep a sleep (Jer. li. 57). That man's Own is in itself dead, and that no one has any life from himself, has been shown so clearly in the world of spirits, that evil spirits who love nothing but their Own, and obstinately insist that they live from themselves, were convinced by sensible experience, and were forced to confess that they do not live from themselves. For a number of years I have been permitted in an especial manner to know how the case is with what is man's own, and it has been granted to me to perceive clearly that I could think nothing from myself, but that every idea of thought flows in, and sometimes I could perceive how and whence it flowed in. The man who supposes that he lives from himself is therefore in what is false, and by believing that he lives from himself appropriates to himself everything evil and false, which he would never do if his belief were in accordance with the real truth of the case.

AC 227. As it is desirable that the origin of perception, internal dictate, and conscience, should be known, and as at the present day it is altogether unknown, I may relate something on the subject. It is a great truth that man is governed by the Lord by means of spirits and angels. When evil spirits begin to rule, the angels labor to avert evils and falsities, and hence arises a combat. It is this combat of which the man is rendered sensible by perception, dictate, and conscience. By these, and also by temptations, a man might clearly see that spirits and angels are with him, were he not so deeply immersed in corporeal things as to believe nothing that is said about spirits and angels. Such persons, even if they were to feel these combats hundreds of times, would still say that they are imaginary, and the effect of a disordered mind. I have been permitted to feel such combats, and to have a vivid sense of them, thousands and thousands of times, and this almost constantly for several years, as well as to know who, what, and where they were that caused them, when they came, and when they departed; and I have conversed with them.

AC 446. I have discoursed with spirits concerning the common opinion that prevails among men at the present day, that the existence of the spirit is not to be credited because they do not see it with their eyes, nor comprehend it by their memory- knowledges (scientias), and so they not only deny that the spirit has extension, but also that it is a substance, disputing as to what substance is. And as they deny that it has extension, and also dispute about substance, they also deny that the spirit is in any place, and consequently that it is in the human body; and yet the most simple might know that his soul or spirit is within his body. When I said these things, the spirits, who were some of the more simple ones, marveled that the men of the present day are so foolish. And when they heard the words that are disputed about, such as "parts without parts," and other such terms, they called them absurd, ridiculous, and farcical, which should not occupy the mind at all, because they close the way to intelligence.

AC 448. I have conversed with many who had been known to me in this life (and this I have done for a long time-for months and years), in as clear a voice, although an inward one, as with friends in this world. The subject of our conversation has sometimes been the state of man after death, and they have wondered exceedingly that during the bodily life no one knows or believes that he is so to live when the bodily life is over, when yet there is then a continuation of life, and such a continuation that the man passes from an obscure life into a clear one, and those who are in faith in the Lord into a life that is more and more clear.

They have desired me to tell their friends that they are alive, and to write and tell them what their condition is, even as I had related to themselves many things about that of their friends here. But I replied that were I to tell their friends such things, or to write to them about them, they would not believe, but would call them delusions, would scoff at them, and would ask for signs or miracles before they would believe; and I should merely expose myself to their derision. And that these things are true, perchance but few will believe. For at heart men deny the existence of spirits, and even those who do not deny it are unwilling to hear that any one can speak with spirits. In ancient times there was no such state of belief in regard to spirits, but so it is now when by crazy ratiocination men try to find out what spirits are, and by their definitions and suppositions deprive them of all the senses, and do this the more, the more learned they desire to be.

AC 449. Hitherto the nature of heaven and of heavenly joy has been known to none. Those who have thought about them have formed an idea concerning them so general and so gross as scarcely to amount to any idea at all. What notion they have conceived on the subject I have been able to learn most accurately from spirits who had recently passed from the world into the other life; for when left to themselves, as if they were in this world, they think in the same way. I may give a few examples.

AC 545. But in order that I might know the nature and quality of heaven and of heavenly joy, for long and often I have been permitted by the Lord to perceive the delights of heavenly joys, so that as I know them from actual experience I can indeed know them, but can by no means describe them. However, in order to give some idea of it I may say that heavenly joy is an affection of innumerable delights and joys that form one general simultaneous joy, in which general joy, that is, in which general affection, there are harmonies of innumerable affections that do not come distinctly to perception, but obscurely, because the perception is very general. Yet I was permitted to perceive that there are things innumerable within it, in such order as can never be described, these innumerable things being such as flow from the order of heaven.

Such order exists in every least thing of the affection, all of which together are presented and perceived as a very general one according to the capacity of him who is the subject of it. In d word, in every general joy or affection there are illimitable things ordinated in a most perfect form, and there is nothing that is not alive or that does not affect even the inmost things of our being, for heavenly joys proceed from inmost things. I perceived also that the joy and deliciousness came as if from the heart, and very softly diffused themselves through all the inmost fibers, and so into the congregated fibers, with such an inmost sense of delight that the fiber is as it were nothing but joy and deliciousness, and the whole derivative perceptive and sensitive sphere the same, being alive with happiness. In comparison with these joys the joy of bodily pleasures is like gross and pungent dust as compared with a pure and gentle breeze.

AC 548. I have sometimes spoken with spirits fresh from the world concerning the state of eternal life, telling them how important it was for them to know who is the Lord of that kingdom, and what is the nature and form of its government, just as those in this world who go into another kingdom are especially interested to know who and of what sort is the king, what is the nature of the government, and many other things that belong to the kingdom; and how much more should they be interested in this kingdom, where they are to live forever. I told them that the Lord alone rules both heaven and the universe, for He who rules the on must rule the other; and that the kingdom in which they were now is the Lord's kingdom, the laws of which are eternal truths, all of which are based on the one great law that men shall love the Lord above all things and their neighbor as themselves, and now even more than themselves, for if they would be as the angels this is what they must do.

To all this they could make no reply because in their bodily life they had heard something of the kind, but had not believed it. They marvelled that there is such love in heaven, and that it is possible for any one to love his neighbor more than himself, seeing that they had heard that they were to love their neighbor as themselves. But they were instructed that in the other life all goods are immeasurably increased, and that the life in the body is such that men can go no further than loving the neighbor as themselves because they are in the things of the body, but that when these are removed, the love becomes purer, and at last angelic, which consists in loving the neighbor more than themselves. The possibility of such love is evident from the conjugial love that exists with some persons, who would suffer death rather than let their married partner be injured; and also from the love of parents for their children, in that a mother will endure starvation rather than see her infant hunger, and this even among birds and animals and likewise from sincere friendship, in that perils will be undergone for our friends; and even from polite and feigned friendship, that would emulate real friendship in offering the better things to those to whom we wish well, making great professions even when they do not come from the heart.

And finally its possibility is evident from the very nature of love, which finds its joy in being of service to others, not for the sake of self but for the love's own sake. But all this could not be comprehended by those who loved themselves more than others, and who in the bodily life had been greedy for gain, and least of all by the avaricious.

AC 561. But what are remains? They are not only the goods and truths that a man has learned from the Lord's Word from infancy, and has thus impressed on his memory, but they are also all the states thence derived, such as states of innocence from infancy; states of love toward parents, brothers, teachers, friends; states of charity toward the neighbor, and also of pity for the poor and needy; in a word, all states of god and truth. These states together with the goods and truths impressed on the memory, are called remains, which are preserved in man by the Lord and are stored up, entirely without his knowledge, in his internal man, and are completely sept rated from the things that are proper to man, that is, from evils and falsities.

All these states are so preserved in man by the Lord that not the least of them is lost, as I have been given to know from the fact that every state of a man, from his infancy to extreme old age, not only remains in the other life, but also returns, in fact his states return exactly as they were while he lived in this world Not only do the goods and truths of memory thus remain and return, but also all states of innocence and charity. And when states of evil and falsity recur-for each and all of these, even the smallest, also remain and return-then these states are tempered by the Lord by means of the good states. From all this it is evident that if a man had no remains he must necessarily be in eternal damnation. (See what was said before at n. 468.)

AC 699. That I might witness the torment of those who are in hell, and the vastation of those who are in the lower earth, I have at different times been let down thither. To be let down into hell is not to be carried from one place to another, but to be let into some infernal society, the man remaining in the same place. But I may here relate only this experience: I plainly perceived that a kind of column surrounded me, and this column was sensibly increased, and it was intimated to me that this was the "wall of brass" spoken of in the Word. {1} The column was formed of angelic spirits in order that I might safely descend to the unhappy. When I was there I heard piteous lamentations, such as, O God! O God! take pity on us! take pity on us! and this for a long time. I was permitted to speak to those wretched ones, and this for a considerable time. They complained especially of evil spirits in that they desired and burned for nothing else than to torment them. They were in despair, saying that they believed their torment would be eternal; but I was permitted to comfort them. @1 Jer. i. 18; xv. 20.$

AC 831. There are women who have lived in the indulgence of their natural inclinations, caring only for themselves and the world, and making the whole of life and the delight of life to consist in outward decorum, in consequence of which they have been highly esteemed in polite society. They have thus, by practice and habit, acquired the talent of insinuating themselves into the desires and pleasures of others, under the pretense of what is honorable, but with the purpose of gaining control over them. Their life therefore became one of dissimulation and deceit. Like others they frequented churches, but for no other end than that they might appear virtuous and pious; and moreover they were without conscience, and very prone to shameful acts and adulteries, so far as these could be concealed. Such women think in the same way in the other life, knowing not what conscience is, and ridiculing those who speak of it. They enter into the affections of others, whatever these may be, by simulating virtue, piety, pity, and innocence, which are their means of deceiving; but whenever outward restraints are removed, they rush into things most wicked and obscene.

[2] These are the women who become enchantresses or sorceresses in the other life, some of whom are those called Sirens; and they there become expert in arts unknown in the world. They are like sponges that imbibe nefarious artifices; and are of such talent that they quickly put them in practice. The arts unknown in this world which they learn in the other are these. They can speak as though they were in another place, so that their voice is heard there as from good spirits. They can as it were be with many at the same time, thus persuading others that they are as if present everywhere. They can speak as several persons at the same time, and in several places at the same time. They can turn aside what flows in from good spirits, even what flows in from angelic spirits, and in divers ways pervert it instantly in favor of themselves. They can put on the likeness of another, by the ideas of him which they conceive and fashion. They can inspire any one with an affection for themselves, by insinuating themselves into the very state of another's affection. They can withdraw suddenly out of sight, and escape unseen. They can represent before the eyes of spirits a white flame about the head, which is an angelic sign, and this before many. They can in divers ways feign innocence, even by representing infants whom they kiss. They also excite others, whom they hate, to kill them (for they know they cannot die), and then divulge it and accuse them of murder.

[3] They have called up out of my memory whatever of evil I have thought and done, and this most skillfully. While I was asleep they have talked with others, just as if from me, so that the spirits were persuaded of it, thus of things false and obscene. And many other arts they have. Their nature is so persuasive that no room is left therein for any doubt; therefore their ideas are not communicated like those of other spirits. And their eyes are like those ascribed to serpents, seeing and paying attention every way at once. These sorceresses or sirens are grievously punished, some in Gehenna, some in a kind of court among snakes; some by wrenchings and various collisions, attended with the greatest pain and torture. In course of time they are separated from all society and become like skeletons from head to foot. A continuation of the subject follows at the end of the chapter.

AC 842. [2] It is the same with one man during temptation and when the commotions or waters of temptation cease, as it is with man in general, as I have learned by repeated experience; for evil spirits in the world of spirits sometimes band together in troops, and thereby excite disturbances until they are dispersed by other bands of spirits, coming mostly from the right, and so from the eastern quarter, who strike such fear and terror into them that they think of nothing but flight. Then those who had associated themselves are dispersed into all quarters, and thereby the societies of spirits formed for evil purposes are dissolved. The troops of spirits who thus disperse them are called the East Wind; and there are also innumerable other methods of dispersion, also called "east winds," concerning which, of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter.

When evil spirits are thus dispersed, the state of commotion and turbulence is succeeded by serenity, or silence, as is also the case with the man who has been in temptation; for while in temptation he is in the midst of such a band of spirits, but when they are driven away or dispersed, there follows as it were a calm, which is the beginning of the disposal of all things into order.

[3] Before anything is reduced into a state of order, it is most usual that things should be reduced into a confused mass, or chaos as it were, so that those which do not well cohere together may be separated, and when they are separated, then the Lord disposes them into order. This process may be compared with what takes place in nature, where all things in general and singly are first reduced to a confused mass, before being disposed into order. Thus, for instance, unless there were storms in the atmosphere, to dissipate whatever is heterogeneous, the air could never become serene, but would become deadly by pestiferous accumulations. So in like manner in the human body, unless all things in the blood, both heterogeneous and homogeneous, did continuously and successively Sow together into one heart, to be there commingled, there would be deadly conglutinations of the liquids, and they could in no way be distinctly disposed to their respective uses. Thus also it is with man in the course of his regeneration.

AC 946. I have spoken with spirits concerning the fact that possibly few will believe in the existence of so many and such wonderful things in the other life, in consequence of the absence of any but a very general and obscure conception - amounting to none at all - of the life after death, and in which men have confirmed themselves by the consideration that they do not see a soul or spirit with their eyes. Even the learned, although they say there is a soul or spirit, so cleave to artificial words and terms - which rather obscure or even extinguish the understanding of things than assist it - and so devote themselves to self and the world, and but rarely to the general welfare and to heaven, that they believe still less than do sensuous men. The spirits to whom I spoke marveled that men should be of such a character, seeing that they are well aware of the existence in nature itself, and in each of its kingdoms, of many wonderful and varied things about which they are ignorant, as for example those in the internal human ear, concerning which a book might be filled with things amazing and unheard of, and in the existence of which every one has faith. But if anything is said about the spiritual world, from which come forth all things in the kingdoms of nature both in general and in particular, scarcely any one gives credence to it, on account - as before said - of the preconceived and confirmed opinion that because it is not seen it is nothing.

AC 968. Certain spirits had brought with them from the world the idea that they must not speak with the devil, but flee from him. But they were instructed that it would do no harm at all to those whom the Lord protects, even if they should be encompassed by all hell, both within and without. This it has been given me to know by much and by marvelous experience, so that at length I came to have no fear of even the worst of the infernal crew, to hinder my speaking with them; and this was granted in order that I might become acquainted with their character. To those who have wondered that I spoke with them, I have been permitted to say not only that this would do me no harm, but also that the devils in the other life are such as have been men, and who when they lived in the world passed their life in hatred, revenge, and adultery, some of them being then pre-eminently esteemed; nag, that among them are some I had known in the bodily life; and that the devil means nothing else than such a crew of hell. And furthermore, that men, while they live in the body, have with them at least two spirits from hell, as well as two angels from heaven; and that these infernal spirits rule with the evil, but with the good have been subjugated and are compelled to serve. Thus it is false to suppose that there has been a devil from the beginning of creation, other than such as were once men. When they heard these things they were amazed, and confessed that they had held a totally different opinion in regard to the devil and the diabolical crew.

AC 1110. Those who have assumed righteousness and merit on account of their good works, and so have attributed the efficacy of salvation to themselves, and not to the Lord and His righteousness and merit, and have confirmed themselves in this in thought and in life, in the other world have their principles of falsity turned into phantasies, so that they seem to themselves to be hewing wood: this is exactly as it appears to them. I have spoken with them. When they are engaged in their labor, and are asked whether they are not fatigued, they reply that they have not yet accomplished enough work to be able to merit heaven. When they are hewing the wood there appears to be something of the Lord under the wood, thus as if the wood were merit that they are getting. The more of the Lord there appears in the wood, the longer they remain in this condition; but when that appearance begins to cease, their vastation is drawing to an end. At length they become such that they too can be admitted into good societies, but still they long fluctuate between truth and falsity. Great care is taken of them by the Lord, because they have lived a dutiful life, and He from time to time sends angels to them. These are they who in the Jewish Church were represented by the hewers of wood (Josh. ix. 23, 27).

AC 1116. Dwellings were shown me of those who were of the second and third posterities of this Most Ancient Church. They are magnificent, extending to a great length, and diversified with beautiful colors of bright crimson and cure blue. For the angels have most magnificent dwellings, such as cannot be described, as I have often seen. To their eyes so real is their appearance that nothing can be more real. But whence such real appearances come, will be shown of the Lord's Divine mercy hereafter. They live in an aura, so to speak, of resplendent pearly and sometimes of diamond-like light. For there are wonderful auras in the other life, of inexpressible variety. They greatly err who do not believe that such things exist there, and indefinitely more than any one ever could or can conceive. They are indeed representative, like the things sometimes seen by the prophets but yet are so real that they who are in the other life hold them to be real, and the things which are in the world to be relatively unreal.

AC 1121. I have been informed by sons of the Most Ancient Church concerning the state of their perception, that they had perception of all things that belong to faith, almost as have the angels with whom they had communication; for the reason that their interior man, or spirit, by means also of the internal respiration, was joined to heaven; and that love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor are attended with this; for man is thus conjoined with angels through their veriest life, which consists in such love. They said that they had the law written upon them, because they were in love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; and such being the case, whatever the laws prescribe was in agreement with their perception, and whatever the laws forbid was contrary to it. Nor did they doubt that all laws, human as well as Divine, are founded in love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor, and regard these as their fundamental. Wherefore, as they had this fundamental in them, from the Lord, they could not but know all things that were from it. They believe too that those who live in the world at this day, who love the Lord and the neighbor, have also the law written upon them, and are acceptable citizens everywhere on earth, as the same are in the other life.

AC 1122. I have been further informed that the men of the Most Ancient Church had most delightful dreams, and also visions, and that it was insinuated into them at the same time what they signified. Hence their paradisal representations, and many other things. The objects of the external senses therefore, which are earthly and worldly, were nothing to them; nor had they any perception of delight in them, but only in what they signified and represented; and therefore when they looked at earthly objects they did not think about them at all, but only about the things which they signified and represented, which were most delightful to them; for they were such things as are in heaven, from which they see the Lord Himself.

AC 1270. Presently some were let out of that hell; but the Lord made such a disposition by means of intermediate spirits and angels that they could do me no harm. Out of that deep they came in front, and appeared to themselves to be working their way toward the front, as it were through caverns in the rock, and so upward. At last they appeared from above to the left, in order that from there, and thus from a distance, they might inflow into me. I was told that they were permitted to inflow into the right side of the head, but not into the left side; and from the right side of the head into the left side of the chest; but by no means into the left of the head, for if this occurred I should be destroyed, because they would then flow in with their persuasions, which are direful and deadly; whereas if they flowed into the right of the head, and thence into the left of the chest, it would be by means of cupidities. Such is the case with influx.

[2] Their persuasions are of such a nature that they extinguish all truth and good, so that those into whom they flow can perceive nothing whatever, and after that cannot think; and therefore the other spirits were removed. When they began to flow in I fell asleep. Then while I slept they flowed in by means of cupidities, and this with such violence that if awake I could not have resisted them. In my sleep I was sensible of the vehemence of it, which I cannot describe, save that I afterwards remembered that they tried to kill me by a suffocating afflatus, which was like a terrible nightmare. Then, waking, I observed that they were near me; and when they perceived that I was awake, they fled away to their own place above, and flowed in from thence.

[3] When they were there they appeared to me as if they were being wrapped up in a cloth, such as was spoken of before (n. 964). I thought they were being thus wrapped up, but it was others whom they were wrapping up. This is effected by means of phantasies; but yet the spirits against whom they thus work by phantasies know not but that they are really being wrapped up. It appeared as if those whom they thus wrapped up rolled down a certain rocky declivity. But those who were thus wrapped up were released and set at liberty. They were spirits who were unwilling to withdraw, and who were thus preserved by the Lord, for otherwise they would have been suffocated-although they would have revived again, but after great suffering. The spirits from that hell then went back by the rocky declivity; and there was heard from thence a sound of boring, as if many great boring instruments were at work; and it was perceived that it was from their intensely cruel phantasies against the Lord that such a sound came. They were afterwards cast down through dark caverns into their hell beneath the misty rock. While they were in the world of spirits, the constitution or order of the sphere there was changed. {1}
@1 See Spiritual Diary, n. 3367. [Reviser.]$

AC 1376.CONTINUATION CONCERNING SITUATION AND PLACE, AND ALSO CONCERNING DISTANCE AND TIME, IN THE OTHER LIFE. I have frequently conversed with spirits concerning the idea of place and of distance among them-that it is not anything real, but appears as if it were, being nothing else than their states of thought and of affection, which are thus varied, and are in this manner presented to view in the world of spirits; but not so much so in heaven among the angels, since these are not in the idea of place and time, but in that of states. But the spirits to whom bodily and earthly ideas adhere, do not apprehend this, for they suppose that the case is exactly as they see it to be. Such spirits can hardly be brought to believe otherwise than that they are living in the body, and are not willing to be persuaded that they are spirits; and thus scarcely that there is any appearance, or any fallacy, in relation to the matter, for they desire to live in fallacies. Thus do they preclude themselves from the apprehension and acknowledgment of truths and goods, which are as far as possible from fallacies. It has been shown them many times that change of place is nothing but an appearance, and also a fallacy of sense. For there are two kinds of mutation of place in the other life; one is that which has been spoken of before, when it is laid that all spirits and angels in the Grand Man constantly keep their own situation therein; which is an appearance. The other is that spirits appear in a place when in fact they are not there, which is a fallacy.

AC 1378. I have been informed, both by conversation with angels, and by living experience, that spirits, as spirits, in regard to the organic forms which constitute their bodies, are not in the place where they are seen, but may be far away, and yet appear there. I know that they who suffer themselves to be carried away by fallacies will not believe this, but still the case is so. This has been illustrated to those spirits who have believed nothing to be true that they did not see with their eyes - even if this were mere fallacy - by the fact that something similar is exhibited among men in the world. Take for instance the sound of a speaker's voice coming to the ear of another person: if the person who hears it did not know to the contrary, by the discriminations of sound, learned by experience from infancy, and did not see the speaker at a distance, he would have no other belief than that the speaker was close to his ear.

So with a man who sees remote objects: if be did not at the same time see intervening objects, and know from them, or judge of the distance by what he knows, he would believe a distant object to be near his eye. Much more is this the case with the speech of spirits, which is interior speech; and with their sight, which is interior sight.

[2] And the spirits were told, further, that when plain experience declares a fact, they ought not to doubt, and still less deny it, on the ground that it does not so appear to the senses, and that they do not perceive it. For even within the realm of nature there are many things that are contrary to the fallacies of the senses, but are believed because visible experience teaches them. For example, the sailing of a ship around the globe: they who suffer themselves to be carried away by the fallacies of the senses, might believe that ship and sailors would fall off when they came to the opposite side, and that the people at the antipodes could never stand upon their feet. Such also is the case with the subject before us, and with many things in the other life that are contrary to the fallacies of the senses, and yet are true, - as that man has no life of himself, but from the Lord; and very many other things. By these and other considerations, incredulous spirits could be brought to believe that the case is as we have stated it.

AC 1387. I have several times conversed about perception with those in the other life who, while they lived in the world, had regarded themselves as able to penetrate and understand all things telling them that angels perceive that they think and speak, and will and act from the Lord. But still they could not conceive what perception is, but supposed that if all things were to inflow in this way, they would be bereaved of all life; because in that case they would think nothing from themselves, or from what is their own; and in this they had made life to consist; and that in that case it would be another who was thinking, and not themselves; so that they would be mere organs devoid of life. But they were told that between having perception, and not having it, the difference of life is like that between light and darkness; and that men first begin to feel alive when they receive such perception; for then they live from the Lord, and also have what is their own, which is given together with all happiness and delight. It was also shown them by varied experience how the case is with perception, and at the time they acknowledged the possibility of it; but after a while they again did not know, doubted, and denied. From this it has been made evident how difficult it is for man to comprehend what perception is.

AC 1505. I have also been informed how these spheres, which in the other life become so perceptible to the senses, are acquired. Take as an example one who has formed a high opinion of himself and of his own pre-eminent excellence. He at last becomes imbued with such a habit, and as it were with such a nature, that wherever he goes, though he looks at others and speaks with them, he keeps himself in view; and this at first manifestly, but afterwards not manifestly, so that he is not aware of it; but still it is regnant, both in the particulars of his affection and thought, and in those of his bearing and speech. Men can see this in others. And this is the kind of thing that in the other life makes a sphere, which is perceived, but no more frequently than the Lord permits. The same is the case with other affections; and therefore there are as many spheres as there are affections and combinations of affections, which are innumerable. The sphere is as it were the man's image extended outside of himself, the image in fact of all things that are in him. In the world of spirits that which is presented to the view or perception is only something general; what the man is as to particulars, is known in heaven; but what as to the least particulars is known to none but the Lord.

AC 1523. That I might know the nature of that light, I have often been conducted into the abodes of good and of angelic spirits, and have seen both the spirits and the objects there. I have also seen infants and mothers in light of so great a brightness and resplendence that there could not possibly be anything brighter.

AC 1628. All the angels have their own dwellings in the places where they are, and they are magnificent. I have been there, and have sometimes seen and marveled at them, and have there spoken with the angels. They are so distinct and clearly seen that nothing can be more so. In comparison with these, the habitations on earth amount to scarcely anything. They also call those which are on the earth dead, and not real; but their own, living and true, because from the Lord. The architecture is such that the art itself is derived from it, with a variety that knows no limit. They have said that if all the palaces in the whole world should be given them, they would not receive them in exchange for their own. What is made of stone, clay, and wood is to them dead; but what is from the Lord, and from life itself and light itself, is living; and this is the more the case that they enjoy them with all fullness of sense. For the things that are there are perfectly adapted to the senses of spirits and angels; for spirits cannot see at all by their sight the things that are in the light of the solar world; but things of stone and wood are adapted to the senses of men in the body. Spiritual things are in correspondence with those who are spiritual, and corporeal things with those who are corporeal.

AC 1635. The speech of spirits with me has been heard and perceived as distinctly as the speech of man with man; indeed, when I have spoken with them while I have been in company with men, I observed that just in the same way as I heard the men speaking sonorously, so also did I hear the spirits; insomuch that the spirits sometimes wondered that others did not hear what they said to me; for as regards the hearing there was absolutely no difference. But as the influx into the internal organs of hearing is different from that of speech with men, it could be heard only by myself; to whom of the Lord's Divine mercy these organs have been opened. Human speech passes in through the ear, by an external way, by means of the air; but the speech of spirits does not enter through the ear, nor by means of the air; but by an internal way, into the same organs of the head or brain. Consequently the hearing is the same.

For additional autobiographical statements by Swedenborg, see the Swedenborg Compendium Selections to the Writings Sacred Scripture Keyed to Theistic Psychology Subjects for the entry [EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED BY SWEDENBORG IN SPIRITUAL WORLD] www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/#selections


       1.3  Rational Substantive Dualism

Here is a contrastive Table that will help in keeping track of the distinction between a rational or scientific view on Swedenborg, as in theistic psychology, and a mystical view of Swedenborg as in the anthology: Testimony to the Invisible: Essays on Swedenborg. Edited (1995) by James Lawrance (Swedenborg Foundation). For reviews see Generation 21 reports at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459f2004

  Two Contrastive Views on the Writings of Swedenborg
 
NON-SUBSTANTIVE DUALISM
(mystical and sensuous)
 
SUBSTANTIVE  DUALISM -- Theistic Psychology
(rational and scientific)

1

Swedenborg is called a "visionary" and what he reports are called "visions." Swedenborg is called a "dual citizen" and his Writings are "scientific reports." (See Section xx)
 
2 Swedenborg's communication with spirits is viewed as "spiritism" or "shamanism" or "mystical oneness with God." Swedenborg enjoyed "dual citizenship" or the ability to be conscious simultaneously in both his "natural mind" and his "spiritual mind." (See Section xx)
3 Swedenborg was able to "probe the depth" of the sub-conscious mind and achieve "supra-consciousness." Swedenborg described what he could see and hear in the spiritual world of the afterlife, and used a rational or scientific explanatory approach and content in his reports. (See Section xx)
4 Swedenborg was a "great genius on the edge of sanity" and insanity. Swedenborg had the orientation of a rational and empirical scientist doing field work and running experiments in the spiritual world of eternity. (See Section xx)
5 Swedenborg was a "pioneer explorer," continuing the work of other "visionaries and mystics" in the preceding centuries and millennia. Swedenborg was a unique case in all of history and had a specific Divinely commissioned task, that of giving a scientific description of the mental world of the afterlife by being given access to interviews, experiments, and travel in the spiritual world for 27 years. (See Section xx)
6 Swedenborg's "visionary experiences" are edifying and stimulating intellectually but they should not be taken literally.
 
Swedenborg proved the validity of  his empirical reports and observations by showing that Sacred Scripture was written in an ancient code called "correspondences" which matched perfectly the objective observations he made of the events and scenes in the spiritual world of eternity. (See Section xx)
 
7 Swedenborg's writings are "hard to understand," written in a pedantic theological style, heavy, dry, dull, but always brilliant. Swedenborg's Writings are easy to understand, crystal clear, completely rational, integrated and fully consistent.

The mind-body issue is one of the oldest in psychology. It may still be seen today as a key issue that impacts on all of psychology. Today the most advanced views on the mind-body issue in psychology take two main forms which can be called epiphenomenalism and mystical dualism. These two stand in contrast with the substantive dualism of theistic psychology. A review of current scientific views on consciousness and the mind can be consulted at these Web locations: 
www.newdualism.org
http://jamaica.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers/online.html 
www.klab.caltech.edu/~koch/crick-koch-cc-97.html

Epiphenomenalism is the view that the mind -- feelings, thoughts, sensations--is not a functioning organ but a subjective by-product of the operations of the brain. Sometimes the word "emergent" phenomena is used to indicate that the operations of the brain can be abstracted somehow into sensations or feelings. In other words our feelings and sensations are not as real as the brain. This view sees the operations of the brain as objective, whereas the feelings and thoughts "the brain gives rise to," are subjective, which means that they do not have an independent objective existence. This approach is not practical as it relegates the most important feature of humans to nonexistence. With this view, humans are just a more advanced form of animals. When the brain dies, so does the mind. God and immortality are not recognized as part of the reality of our life and future.

Dualism is the view that the mind is a separate and independent type of phenomenon than the physical brain. The mind has an objective existence just like the brain. It is common to suppose that the mind survives the death of the physical brain, though no one in modern psychology has given an adequate or comprehensive account of what happens when the brain dies. The ancient psychologists like Aristotle and Plato knew that the mind must be an immortal organ because it is capable of wisdom, and this is not material but spiritual and eternal. The Egyptians, the Greeks, the Hindus all had detailed accounts of what happens to the mind (or "soul") when the physical body dies. But in modern science all this was rejected.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is named in the history of psychology textbooks as the first modern psychology thinker who held the approach of "dualism" since he claimed that the body is a biological robot and only the mind or soul has sensations and feelings. However, since he was unable to give a rational account of what the "soul" is or how it survives without the body, his dualism has been relegated to history. Swedenborg (1688-1772) was the first modern psychologist who was able to give a completely rational and scientific account of how the mind survives at the death of the physical body. Before discussing Swedenborg's "substantive dualism" there is also a form of dualism that is different from either Descartes or Swedenborg, so I'd like to refer to it as "mystical dualism."

Mystical dualism is the approach represented by several well known authors who have had a special interest in Swedenborg. A sample of this group is represented by the articles and comments on Swedenborg that appear in a collection titled Testimony to the Invisible (see Reading List below). Both Western and Eastern philosophy and religion share this mystical view on the mind and God. It is the idea that humans have the capacity to experience the "divine in themselves," which they take to be the same as the objective Divine God. In other words human beings are of one substance with the Divine. Under the right conditions of meditation it is possible to "feel one with the Divine." The experience of "ecstasy" has been described by many authors for centuries and popular intellectual movements have been based on this kind of sensuous approach to God. It has been called mystical because the experience is subjective, difficult or impossible to describe afterwards except in words that do not do it justice. So when others read these descriptions they cannot really know what the experience was like, and certainly they cannot experience it themselves by reading the descriptions. William James also reviews this approach in his well known book Varieties of Religious Experiences (see Reading List). His views in that book have had a strong influence on the development of the other "new age" movements in psychology. As a result, non-theistic psychology has created an non-theistic psychology of religion, which sounds like quite an anomaly!

In Testimony to the Invisible Wilson Van Dusen describes himself as a mystic who has had this experience of "oneness with God" and has been trying to develop techniques of meditation that others can use to also achieve this experience. The other authors in that book are not themselves mystics but describe Swedenborg as a mystic. In other words they reject the view of "substantive dualism" as described in theistic psychology. They claim that Swedenborg was not a scientist but a visionary mystic who tried to describe his experiences in terms of an allegory of the spiritual world and the people he "visited" there, not unlike the highly regarded poetic fiction of William Blake (1757-1827), who had read Swedenborg and wrote imaginative poetry to describe the Heaven and Hell Swedenborg describes. All mystical dualists, and the transcendentalists (Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882), have rejected the idea that Swedenborg actually traveled to the spiritual world and did observations and experiments there.

Substantive dualism is based uniquely on the Writings of Swedenborg because he is the only one who had access to the spiritual world for observation and experimentation.

Theistic psychology is based on this objective approach. There are two worlds, natural and spiritual, and they are connected by the laws of correspondence. Whatever happens in the natural world is an effect whose cause is in the spiritual world. This is called "substantive" dualism because it specifies two functionally connected worlds each with its objective reality. The natural world is made of matter, energy, space, and time. All things in the natural world are temporal. The spiritual world also has its Sun but it is made not of matter, but of spiritual substances that are outside time and space. Spiritual objects are immortal or eternal. The mind is a spiritual organ that is born simultaneously with the physical body. The mind is also called the spiritual body. The shape and form of the mind is the same as the body. In other words, the mind is not just within the brain but within every cell of the body, so that the mind as a whole, has the shape of the body. More correctly, it is the physical body that is formed to correspond to the shape of the mental body or mind since spiritual things precede and cause natural things.

The mind or spiritual body is also called the "spirit" and "soul."

Because the mind has the shape of the physical body, the mental body also has hands, legs, torso, genitals, a brain, etc. Everything the physical body can do and sense, the mind-body or "spirit" can also sense and feel (in the spiritual world), but far more keenly and intensely. As the physical body grows, so does the spiritual body or mind. The experiences, memories, feelings, thoughts, choices, are all situated in the mind, not the physical brain. Feelings, thoughts, and sensations operate within the mind, each in a different sub-organ of the mind. Feelings operate in the affective organ, thoughts in the cognitive organ, sensations in the sensorimotor organ. Further, these mental organs operate together at three different non-overlapping discrete levels called natural, spiritual, and celestial. The natural mind contains the memories and experiences we obtain with the physical body, but the spiritual and celestial mind contain the "influx" or inflow of information from the spiritual world. So the content of the three mental organs are different but they are functionally interconnected  by the laws of correspondence. Upon the death of the physical body, we appear to ourselves to awaken in the spiritual body in the spiritual world, where we continue life forever.

Substantive dualism is based entirely on Swedenborg's "dual citizenship," that is, his unique ability to be conscious in the spiritual world while he was still connected to the physical body. This ability to be conscious in the spiritual world is fundamentally different from the experience described by mystical dualism.

Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg:

TCR 793. A person is just as much a person after death, although he is then invisible to the eyes of the material body. This can be established from the cases of the angels seen by Abraham, Hagar, Gideon, Daniel and some of the prophets, from the angels seen in the Lord's tomb, And afterwards on many occasions by John, as he describes in Revelation. Above all, this is proved by the Lord Himself, who showed by touch and by eating that He was a human being, although He Vanished from their sight. Can anyone be so crazy as not to acknowledge that, although invisible, He was just as much a human being? The reason they saw Him was that the eyes of their spirit were opened; and when these are opened things in the spiritual world appear just as plain as things in the natural world. The difference between people in the natural world and those in the spiritual world is that those in the spiritual world are clothed with a substantial body, but those in the natural world are clothed with a material body. This, however, has the substantial body within it, and a substantial person can see another one just as clearly as a material person can see another one. But a substantial person cannot see a material one, nor a material person a substantial one, on account of the difference between the material and the substantial. This is capable of being described, but not briefly. (TCR 793)

Swedenborg  was not in a trance or meditating or in the throes of some mystical unition with God. He was fully conscious as a scientist, just like doing field trip research in some foreign land. He saw cities, lands, lakes, gardens, animals, people whom he called spirits, angels, and devils, depending on their state of life and personality. The mystics and visionaries have experiences that are so different from Swedenborg's travelogue approach that they reject the idea that Swedenborg actually went through those places in the spiritual world. Instead, they believe that Swedenborg chose to write in that way about his mystical experiences. But this idea completely destroys Swedenborg's objective credibility, which gives the mystics and critics freedom to re-interpret what Swedenborg is saying so that it may agree with their preferred picture of the mind. Theistic psychology would not be possible under such circumstances. We would merely fall back on a mixture of obscure descriptions of various experiences by various people, not unlike the dead end that psychology encounters in William James' Variety of Religious Experiences.

The great news about substantive dualism is that the geography of the spiritual world is identical to the anatomy of the mind.

With this astonishing discovery Swedenborg was able to describe the anatomy of the mind by means of the objective observation of the geographic features of the spiritual world (see Section xx).

For instance, he found  that the spiritual world has three regions -- heaven, the world of spirits, and hell. These three regions are therefore in the mind. Every individual has a heaven and a hell in the mind. Swedenborg observed how some people arriving into the spiritual world at death, raise themselves into their heaven while others immerse themselves into their hell. This activity depends on the content of their mind, their personality and character.

Another great news is that while we are still tied to the physical body on earth we appear alone in our mind to ourselves, but not to the others who are already fully conscious in the spiritual world. They can see our mind and its general content. They cannot see the physical body  since they lost direct contact with the natural world upon the death of their physical body. But they can see our spiritual body which actually houses our mind and its content. And we can see theirs as soon as we enter the spiritual world at the death of our physical body. Until then our conscious awareness is restricted to the natural mind and its attachment to sensory input from the physical body.

Another great news of substantive dualism is that our life of eternity in the spiritual body can be and must be prepared for. Our lot or level of life in eternity is completely determined by the content of the personality and character we have developed while living on earth. Hence any individual can make the conscious choices now that will later lead to eternal happiness and super-natural abilities.

Although we can no longer have interaction with earth we have something far greater and neater. In the state of mind called "heaven," our mind has the power to create the quality of our environment -- unimaginable treasures of architecture, art, apparel, food, knowledge, wisdom, truth, love, travel, entertainment, work opportunities, etc. Of course these things are entirely different from earth where these things are external to our mind while in "heaven" they are internal. For instance, food is not required for survival yet it appears on the table at social occasions, and their taste and quality is unimaginably superior and novel, as witnessed many times by Swedenborg. Similarly with your clothes which appear as a surprise in closets or directly on your spiritual body. Similarly with housing, which Swedenborg was unable to describe due to their un-earthly "ineffable" magnificence and architecture.

You can see from these types of observational reports by Swedenborg that most scientists of his day dismissed them as fancy. How was this received by the many famous authors and philosophers who called Swedenborg one of the greatest geniuses in history, like Emerson and the contributors to Testimony? They viewed it as Swedenborg's literary device (or trick) with which he tried to present his philosophical, poetic, and theological insights.

But theistic psychology makes sense as a science only if Swedenborg's reports are made of actual, real, empirical observations and experiments.

When I first started reading the Writings of Swedenborg in 1981 it never occurred to me to take his reports as an allegory or poetic artifact. I had been a professional scientist and psychology professor for twenty years before that and all my readings had to do with science and psychology. Reading Swedenborg was a unique experience since no one else has made such claims and justified them with evidence and rational analysis. Years later I began to discover that his Writings were actually famous in literature and that a new religion had been founded on them. To my amazement none of these sympathetic readers saw Swedenborg's reports as scientific revelations.

It appears then that I am a forerunner of the future of science in that I clearly see and understand that the Writings of Swedenborg are scientific revelations. This book on theistic psychology is therefore the first time in history that the reports from the Writings of Swedenborg are used in a seminar in psychology as science. Note however that other scientists who disagree with my approach would say that I am extending and enlarging the meaning of science in an illegitimate way that is neither rational nor productive, just personal and subjective. Let us keep this criticism in mind as we go through the evidence from the Swedenborg reports. I intend to show that they are rational, factual, and verifiable in some modified sense. Also, that these scientific revelations collected and integrated into a theistic psychology imparts knowledge of a new source of mental power by which we can engineer our eternal future and happiness.

The potential benefits of theistic psychology are quite significant. As you study theistic psychology you will have a choice between two common reactions. One is to decide that the evidence I present is insufficient in your opinion to prove the case that theistic psychology is a science. The other is that the evidence is sufficient to merit further study, and especially, reading the Writings. People making either choice will benefit from the study of theistic psychology, as long as they allowed themselves freedom from the negative bias in science while examining the evidence.

I recommend that you keep track of the progression of your thoughts as you read theistic psychology. Write them down in a notebook so that you can examine the course of your involvement and reactions. The topics of theistic psychology are inherently interesting to most people because they deal with God and the afterlife in a factual manner rather than hypothetical or subjective. For 27 years Swedenborg daily travels through the lands of the afterlife called heaven and hell and takes careful notes, then he adds his rational genius to give us a scientific explanation of what he hears and sees, to whom he talks and what they said, including God, spirits, devils, and angels. This sounds psychotic to the negative bias psychology of materialism. This is an inescapable judgment in the negative bias in science--What else but crazy is a man who talks to God, devils, and angels, and especially crazy if he is a scientist. And yet Swedenborg was a famous scientist, well respected and the opposite of crazy.

There is a legitimate reaction to hearing about the contents of Swedenborg's Writings. And this is to take into account that I am not crazy, that the other scholars and scientists referred to in the Readings are not crazy, and that the hundreds of authors in the literature who give homage to Swedenborg, are not crazy. The craziness impression comes only when one refuses to budge from the negative bias materialism of non-theistic psychology. It would be reasonable to say that in view of what I am saying and what the others have said about Swedenborg, one has the rare opportunity here to examine evidence of the afterlife in a systematic way, as presented by a practicing modern scientist like myself. All you need to do to make this examination real and objective, is to be willing to grant that the Swedenborg reports may be reliable and scientific observations rather than delusions. This is called adopting the positive bias in science. The negative bias in science would be to decide in advance that the Swedenborg reports cannot be scientific (hence he is delusional, and I am a fool for believing them).

See also:  James, William. (1898). Human Immortality. Online at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/William-James-immortality.htm 

1.3.1   The Psychology of Religion in Nontheistic Psychology

Quoting from an article on the Web:  http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/USA.html

Psychology of Religion in the USA

Michael E. Nielsen, Ph.D. Georgia Southern University February, 2000

The psychological study of religion in the USA illustrates tensions and opportunities that exist between psychology and religion. It also demonstrates the multifaceted views taken by psychologists as they address areas of living that have personal implications. In this article I summarize how American psychologists have dealt with religion in their profession, and characterize the psychology of religion as a field of inquiry.

(...)

Following the early period, American psychology's push toward behaviorism resulted in the neglect of spiritual matters. The reductionist methods of behaviorism left little room for matters of faith, or for any other theoretical constructs that were not measured directly. Consequently, psychology left religion for other topics that were considered to be more scientific, and several decades of neglect ensued.

Psychologists' interest in religion resumed in the 1950s. Gordon Allport's (1950) attempt to describe the role of religion in people's experience began his indelible mark on the field, and to this day his Intrinsic - Extrinsic distinction in religious motivation remains the most influential approach in psychological studies of religion in the USA. In the years since then, several developments have combined to suggest, according to the traditional view of psychology of religion, that the field is experiencing a resurgence of interest. These include the establishment of professional journals giving an outlet to psychological research on religious topics, a division of the American Psychological Association dedicated to the psychological study of religion, and the apparently increasing availability of college classes focusing on psychology of religion.

(...)

The place of religion in American psychology stems largely from methodological assumptions underlying the two fields of inquiry. Primary among these is the psychological assumption of reductionism. At its core, this view-that scientists understand something by examining the effects of its component parts-is at odds with the religious assumption that the world cannot be taken at face value. The prototypic psychological scientist emphasizes methodological rigor and considers knowledge gained by intuition or mysticism to be of little value. Dispassionate science, according to this viewpoint, offers a more sure way to understand the world than do other modes of knowledge, which are more likely to yield biased and unreliable knowledge.

In addition, as Wulff (1991) points out, psychologists who study other phenomena assume that those phenomena are real. Psychologists who study religion, however, address "an object whose reality can be received only in the state of faith" (p. 32). The act of belief is critical to religious knowledge and experience. In psychology, skepticism is an enduring value, but in religion it is an intermediate step on the pathway to belief. This sets up a tension between psychology and religion, which results in psychologists having low rates of religious activity, when compared to other scientific and academic groups (Richards & Bergin, 1997). The methods and assumptions favored by psychology have appeared to be incompatible with the more subjective and experiential methods of religion despite recent efforts to harmonize the two (Richards & Bergin, 1997).

(...)

There is some evidence of increasing interest in religion among American psychologists, or at least of increased visibility of religious issues among psychologists. For example, religion was the cover story of the August 1996 APA Monitor, the monthly news organ of the American Psychological Association. The APA also has published several books that address the role of religion in counseling or clinical psychological practice. Among these books is one by Richards and Bergin (1997) who suggest not only that therapy is more effective when it respectfully addresses clients' religious beliefs, but also that it is possible to have a "theistic" psychology that includes God.

A more encyclopedic view of religion in clinical psychology in the USA is found in Shafranske's (1996) book, which offers several different perspectives -- all basically favorable -- on the relevance of religion to therapy. In many ways, the beginning of this movement seemed to gain momentum in a debate between Allen Bergin (1980) and Albert Ellis (1980), published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Not only did this debate highlight the distinct difference in the naturalistic assumptions underlying Ellis's view, and the theistic assumptions of Bergin's view, they also coincided with an increased post-modern concern regarding values and assumptions in science more broadly. This climate of questioning scientific assumptions has made psychologists more open to the study of religion and its application to mental health issues.

(...)

Among research psychologists the tensions in assumptions will, in all likelihood, continue. As neuropsychology, evolutionary psychology, and other sub-fields continue to advance, the difference between knowledge gained by scientific and religious means will remain evident. Psychologists interested in religion may address these gaps by developing successful theory and research. For example, attachment theory can be seen in terms compatible with evolutionary psychology. Such research, however, suggests a field that focuses on psychology more than it does religion. The distinction between psychology of religion, which emphasizes how psychology enlightens our understanding of religion, and religious psychology, emphasizing religious interpretation of psychology, has been a long-standing issue in the field, and it is an issue that will not go away soon.

(...)

The above article does not include the method of theistic psychology in the positive bias approach to science. Clearly this new approach presents an entirely new course for psychology as a science -- from nontheistic to theistic, and from the negative bias to the positive bias.  Theistic psychology brings to science new assumptions and conceptual definitions.  Instead of "God" being a "belief system some people have," God now becomes a cause-effect concept for real phenomena. The scientific investigation of God is then not merely the study of someone's attitudes and beliefs, but of a real phenomenon that participates centrally in every event we can observe. 

Clearly if God is a real entity in the universe science can investigate God just as it investigates all other real phenomena.

In order to pursue this kind of investigation objectively and with a sound methodology the following conditions must hold:

(1) God as an explanatory concept must fit with other explanatory concepts to form a rational and coherent theory or set of explanations.

(2) Any scientist or researcher should be able to contribute to this investigation. No special ability or knowledge should be required such as mysticism or religious experiences.

(3) There should not be glaring gaps in the theory so that if God is given an objective definition, then it should also fit with other objective definitions of concepts that are related to God such as:

  • Sacred Scripture ("the Word of God")

  • the process of revelation

  •  life after death

  • heaven and hell

  • communication with those in the afterlife

  • empirical observation of the afterlife and of heaven and hell

  • mental anatomy or spiritual psychobiology

  • geography of life in eternity

  • etc.

Unlike the psychology of religion, theistic psychology offers positive solutions to each of these requirements.

1.3.1   Substantive Dualism and Theism in Science

Quoting from

The Struggle Between Christian Theism, Metaphysical Naturalism And Relativism: How To Proceed In Science? by Jitse M. van der Meer ((Preprint: November 24, 1995)

My thesis is that Christians are mistaken in their belief that material reality can be understood without reference to non- material created causes, such as mind, or to non-material uncreated causes, such as God. The reasons I offer are that Christians know of the existence of non-material beings such as spirits and God and that ignoring this leads to a distorted view of reality or even a neglecting of empirical evidence. Broadly conceived, I suggest that materialism can be excused to be methodological only if it is open to revision, but that this is seriously hampered by the psychological and sociological power of beliefs antagonistic to theistic beliefs.

The first set of these beliefs concerns the materiality of the world. Those deeply committed to the belief that reality is nothing but matter (monistic materialists) are extremely unlikely to revise their materialism. Those who accept the existence of a realm in addition to matter (dualists), be it a mental or a supernatural realm, and also believe that this non-material realm has no effects in the material world, have a weaker but still very robust attachment to materialism. For them science is concerned only with matter. Finally, revision is unlikely among dualists who believe that God and mind have effects in material reality (interventionists and interactionists, respectively), but also believe that science ought not to be concerned with this non- material dimension.

I then argue that those who do believe the non-material is the business of science still have a hard time limiting materialism, but that this is due to a second and different set of beliefs. These beliefs do not concern the nature of reality, but the nature and purpose of explanation. I show that the ideal of the unity of scientific knowledge forces a preference for explanations in material terms even when the non-material presents itself as a possibility or when it is in conflict with empirical evidence.

I then suggest that science needs to expand its methodology beyond the current confines. This expansion consists of accepting non-material causes in scientific explanations, and using broader criteria for theory choice. Instead of explanations that use material causes only, science needs multi-dimensional explanations that admit the causal efficacy of purpose and intent. Not only is the pursuit of several different explanations more adequate for a multi-dimensional reality, but it also provides a way of limiting one-dimensional explanations including those developed in terms of matter alone. This is an hermeneutical approach to explanation in the natural sciences which emphasizes "understanding" and sees explanation in material terms as one form of it. Criteria for theory choice include not only the standard consistency with observation, internal consistency, simplicity, scope, fruitfulness, accuracy, coherence, etc., but also consistency with conceptual and religious beliefs about the nature of reality and about the nature and purpose of explanation. This creates the possibility of accounting for the historic role of beliefs in the construction of knowledge and opens the possibility of proposing rules for the interaction between religion and science. To a large extent the nature of these interactions remains to be explored.

Full article can be accessed here:  www.asa3.org/evolution/vandermeer.html

This is an interesting article from the perspective of theistic psychology. The author correctly points out that science ought not to used to enforce the negative bias in science which denies the possibility that God exists or that a world of eternity exists. This "methodological materialism" paralyzes scientific thinking, unable to recover from the materialism, unable to start incorporating additional new paradigms like dualism and theism in science. The author's proposed solution is to consider positively the ideas in religion and other areas of traditional "hermeneutical" approaches in the history of esoteric sciences. This solution is very different from that of theistic psychology which locates all scientific knowledge of God in Sacred Scripture as the only valid source. The beliefs of people regarding what Sacred Scripture says plays no part in the methodology of theistic psychology. The literal meaning of Sacred Scripture is the foundation of all religion, but the correspondential sense hidden within the literal meaning, is the foundation of theistic psychology. The literal sense of Sacred Scripture leads to beliefs called "blind faith" while the correspondential sense extracted from the literal meaning, leads to rational faith and science (see Section xx).

God has given humanity a a dual source in Sacred Scripture, one for religion and faith, the other for theistic science. But note very carefully: if the same channel of Sacred Scripture is used for both religion and science, as many have proposed, there results an artificial blend of science and religion that is filled with people's hypotheses and theories, if not hunches. Much of this may be useless or misleading because people don't know which is right and which is wrong in this blending of ideas.

But if one leaves the literal meaning to religion, and enters the hidden scientific sense within, there results a true science of God and from God (see Section xx).

See also Section 1.8.9 Theistic Science: The Scientific Alternative to Creationism and Intelligent Design:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch1.htm#intelligent-design

See also Theism on the Web compiled by Dr. Ian Thompson at
http://www.newtheism.com/webtheism.htm

In theistic psychology the following rational equation is demonstrated (see Section xx):

God
=    the Divine Human, who is Divine Good and Divine Truth, in whom infinite things
            are one (see Section xx).
=    Divine Good and Divine Truth proceeding through the Spiritual Sun in eternity,
            as spiritual heat, which is Divine Good, and as spiritual light, which is
            Divine Truth, and give form to the two worlds out of themselves as eternal uncreate
            substances in an infinite variety (see Section xx).
=    Divine Speech, which is Divine Truth proceeding from the Divine Human,
            creating the universe and maintaining it in order by means of the laws of
            correspondences (see Section xx).
=    Divine Speech, as Divine Truth within which is Divine Good, entering the human
            mind by influx, and activating the mental organs, resulting in the experience
            of feeling, thinking, and sensating (see Section xx).
=    Divine Speech descending through the layers of the human mind, and when it
            reaches the conscious natural mind, it is expressed in a natural language
            as Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).
=    Sacred Scripture as the sole source of scientific knowledge about the laws of
            correspondences by which God creates and manages the cause-effect
            interactions for all phenomena in the universe -- but not in the literal
            sense of Sacred Scripture, but in the correspondential sense that is hidden within the
            literal sense, and which must be extracted according to the methods prescribed in
            the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx).
=    Heaven in eternity within the human mind, forming the endless joyful life of an
            angel couple in conjugial love existing in an enchanted paradise, in social
            community of like-minded couples (see Section xx).

As you can see from the above rational equation (or conceptual formula), God is the beginning of everything. See the Layers Diagram.

God always existed along with the infinite uncreate qualities or substances that are in God. These uncreate substances are of two major types -- substances of good (or spiritual heat) and substances of truth (or spiritual light). These two uncreate substances have always existed as part of God in infinite and inexhaustible variety. Good and truth in God, thus part of God, exist in endless variety so that everything that exists is created out of these two substances. If we were able to analyze any object across its discrete micro-layers of infrastructure, we would find on the outside of the object, the things of physical matter in time-space. The next discrete layer we find would be the three Human mental layers in order -- natural mind, then spiritual mind, then celestial mind. These are called mental layers because they refer to the mental organs of the human race constructed out of good and truth. These mental organs are called the affective organ, the cognitive organ, and the sensorimotor organ. And if you continue still further into the infrastructure of any object, you will find good and truth, which are God's Own substances outside of Himself, or Proceeding from Himself into the created things.

Study Questions:

Week 9 Readings: Section 1.1.4.3.2 to 1.3.1

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

9.1.
(a) Explain how Divine Speech descends through the three discrete degrees of our mind.
(b) How do you react to this knowledge?
(c) How do your friends react to this knowledge?
(d) What is your conclusion?

9.2.
(a) Explain correspondences in relation to Sacred Scripture.
(b) What is your reaction to this new knowledge?

9.3.
(a) Show how correspondences influence the way we think in daily life.
(b) Search the Web for what people know about correspondences and explain what you found.

9.4.
(a) Many people uncritically repeat the idea that "God is energy." Give a rational proof that this belief is illogical.
(b) Then compare the logic of the opposite idea that "God is a Person."
(c) In your opinion, why is there opposition to the view that God is a Person?

9.5.
(a) The highest idea of God is also the most rational. What is this celestial view of God in relation to the substances of good and truth?
(b) Can you imagine having this view?

9.6.
(a) How does rational consciousness of God differ from sensuous consciousness of God?
(b) How would you describe your consciousness of God?
(c) Contrast your consciousness of God with that of a friend or two. How do they differ, or how are they similar?

9.7.
(a) Explain who is Swedenborg.
(b) Contrast the rational perspective on Swedenborg with the mystical perspective that some people have.
(c) How do you relate to both of these perspectives?

9.8.
(a) Google the expression "substantive dualism" (in quotes) and then the expression "theism and science" (in quotes). Summarize your assessment of this literature indicating how it relates to theistic psychology.

9.9.
(a) Discuss the book or movie Matrix in relation to theistic psychology. See for example:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_movie    or    www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
Alternately, you can choose the movie What Dreams May Come. See for example:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Dreams_May_Come   or   www.imdb.com/title/tt0120889/
If you prefer another choice, email the instructor or discuss it in class.

 

1.3.2   Discrete Layers of Substances

Remember this concept:

[any created object = discrete layers of substances  (on the outside, physical, then going inward, mental, which is constructed out of good and truth, then in its inmost, God the Divine Human omnipresent] (see Section xx).

If you remember this concept and understand it rationally, it will greatly help you to understand theistic psychology at a higher level of rationality.

Practice making a paragraph out of it. Practice explaining it to your friends. Formulate questions about it and see if you can find the answers in other Sections. See the tips for how to find things in the Index Volume 18:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/index.htm#Searching_for_something

To understand the concept you need to understand its sub-components:

Discrete layers = all substances are arranged in discontinuous layers so that nothing can cross between them. They are forever separated. But they are functionally locked together by the laws of cause and effect, called the laws of correspondences (see Section xx). God maintains rational order in the universe allowing only those phenomena to come into existence that obey the laws of correspondences. Another way of saying this is that God creates all things by means of the laws of correspondences (see Section xx). So the concept of discrete degrees of substances relates to the concept of correspondences.

Outside, going inward, inmost = the discrete layers of substances out of which the universe is made are arranged in concentric circles around each other. These are: natural substances in time-space-matter, human mental substances of feelings and thoughts, and the uncreate substances of good and truth in eternity that exist in God the Divine Human. So when we think of God as omnipresent (see Section xx), it is not logical to think of Him as present in time-space like our house or our physical body. Omnipresence in physical space is an illogical concept. Hence it cannot be scientific.

The rational concept of omnipresence is explained in the Writings Sacred Scripture in the quotes below. Note that "spiritual world" = mental world, which does not have time and space, but the appearance of time and place -- just like in our dreams:

DLW 69. THE DIVINE, APART FROM SPACE, FILLS ALL THE SPACES OF THE UNIVERSE

There are two things proper to Nature, SPACE and TIME. It is from these that man in the natural world forms the ideas of his thought and thence of his understanding. If he remains in these ideas and does not raise his mind above them, he can never perceive anything spiritual and Divine, for he involves them in ideas derived from space and time, and in proportion as he does this, the light (lumen) of his understanding becomes merely natural.

To think from this in reasoning about spiritual and Divine things is like thinking from the dense darkness of night about those things which appear only in the light of day. From this comes Naturalism. But he who knows how to raise his mind (mens) above ideas of thought derived from space and time, passes out of dense darkness into light, and discerns spiritual and Divine things, and at length sees those things which are in them and from them.

And then from that light he disperses the density of natural light, relegating its fallacies from the middle to the sides. Every man who has understanding can think above things proper to Nature; and he actually does so. And then he affirms and sees that the Divine, because it is Omnipresent, is not in space. He is also able to affirm and to see the things which have been adduced above. But if he denies Divine Omnipresence and ascribes all things to Nature, then he does not wish to be raised even although he can be. (DLW 69)

DLW 71. To make it clear that the merely natural man thinks of spiritual and Divine things from space, and the spiritual man apart from space, let the following serve for illustration. The merely natural man thinks by means of ideas which he has acquired from objects of sight, in all of which there is figure partaking of length, breadth, and height, and of shape determined by these, either angular or circular. These [conceptions] are manifestly present in the ideas of his thought concerning things visible on earth; they are also in the ideas of his thought concerning those not visible, such as civil and moral affairs. This he is unconscious of; but they are nevertheless there, as continuations.

With a spiritual man it is different, especially with an angel of heaven, whose thought has nothing in common with figure and form that derives anything from spiritual length, breadth, and height, but only with figure and form derived from the state of a thing resulting from the state of its life. Consequently, instead of length of space he thinks of the good of a thing from good of life; instead of breadth of space, of the truth of a thing from truth of life; and instead of height, of the degrees of these. Thus he thinks from the correspondence there is between things spiritual and things natural. From this correspondence it is that in the Word "length" signifies the good of a thing, "breadth" the truth of a thing, and "height" the degrees of these. From this it is evident that an angel of heaven, when he thinks of the Divine Omnipresence, can by no means think otherwise than that the Divine, apart from space, fills all things. And that which an angel thinks is truth, because the light which enlightens his understanding is Divine Wisdom. (DLW 71)

CL 328. To think spiritually is to think apart from time and space, whereas to think naturally is to think in terms of time and space. For to every idea of natural thought there clings some element derived from time and space, but not to any idea of spiritual thought. The reason is that the spiritual world does not exist in time and space, as the natural world does, but it exists in an appearance of these two. Our thoughts and perceptions differ in this respect as well. Therefore you can think of God's essence and omnipresence from eternity, that is to say, of God before the creation of the world, since you think of God's essence from eternity apart from time and of His omnipresence apart from space; and in so doing you comprehend matters which transcend the ideas of a natural person. (CL 328)

To summarize, our thoughts in the natural mind are formed from experience through the physical body. This insures that every idea and concept we construct automatically contains subconscious presuppositions (or assumptions) that involve time, space, shape. This is obvious when we think about physical objects like a chair or a dog. But it is less obvious when we think about abstract things like say the immorality of cheating in business. But you can become aware of the hidden assumptions that involve time-space as soon as you ask questions about it: What immorality? Whose immorality? People doing immoral things? Things that some people call immoral and others not? Or things that are immoral in place but not in another? etc.

As soon as you answer any of these questions you will note that time and space are involve, like people doing things in places. So now when we think of God's omnipresence we tend to think as usual with assumptions of time and space. This creates obscurity of understanding so that people often say that this is a mystery, or that this is beyond human understanding. But actually these statements simply mean that the person saying them is in total obscurity as to rational understanding of the concept. This applies to all concepts in theistic psychology. They are seen in obscurity when the reader is in the negative bias in science, but they can be seen in rational light when the reader is in the positive bias in science.

So now if you apply the rational concept of discrete layers of substances to understanding God's omnipresence, you can see that reality is such that physical objects in time are constructed on a mental infrastructure in eternity. You could think of it visually as the idea that if you take part any object you will find a tunnel to eternity where God is. God look out through all the tunnels and sees the objects. This is just a natural analogy, not a rational picture, nevertheless the analogy might help you see how God is omnipresent in all space but apart from space. What is "within" an object that exists in space is the infrastructure of eternity, which has no space since it is a mental world (like your dreams). Amazing, isn't? And all these scientific facts of reality are revealed in the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture that is hidden in the literal sense (see Section xx).

Correspondences are cause-effect chains across the discrete layers or degrees of the mental world of eternity. When a particular celestial operation takes place in our celestial mind (cause) there is a corresponding reaction (effect) in our spiritual mind, and this acts as a cause of a corresponding reaction in our natural mind (effect). So what we are conscious of in our natural mind is the effect by correspondence of something we are thinking unconsciously in our spiritual mind, and this in turn is a reaction by correspondence to something we are thinking in our unconscious celestial mind. Here is how Swedenborg observed these layers of reactions:

AC 5658. For when a discussion takes place in a higher heaven about what is good, this reveals itself among those underneath them in the first or lowest heaven as what is golden; and when a discussion takes place about what is true this reveals itself there as what is silvery. Sometimes not only the walls of the rooms where they live are gleaming with gold and silver but also the very air within them. Also, in the homes of those angels belonging to the first or lowest heaven who are moved by good to live among what is good, tables made of gold, lamp stands made of gold, and many other objects are seen; but in the homes of those who are moved by truth to live among what is true, similar objects made of silver are seen. (AC 5658)

HH 294. The nature of the communication of heaven with good spirits, and of hell with evil spirits, and of the consequent conjunction with man of heaven and hell, will also be told. All the spirits who are in the world of spirits have communication with heaven or with hell, the evil spirits with hell, and the good spirits with heaven. Heaven is distinguished into societies, and so is hell. Any one spirit belongs to some society, and continues to exist by influx from it, thus acting as one with it. Consequently, as man is conjoined with spirits so is he conjoined with heaven or with hell, even with the society there in which he is in respect of his affection or his love. For the societies of heaven are all distinguished in accordance with their affections of good and truth, and the societies of hell in accordance with their affections of evil and falsity. (Concerning the societies of heaven see above, n. 41-45; also n. 148-151.) (HH 294)

LETT 1. The Lord, nevertheless, so disposes it, that spirits and men are seldom brought together so closely as to converse with one another;** for by communication with spirits men are brought into such a condition as to their souls, that they are speedily in danger of their life;*** wherefore I would dissuade all from cherishing such desires. The Lord Himself has been pleased to introduce me into converse and communication with spirits and angels for the reasons which have been explained in my writings; wherefore I am protected by the Lord Himself from the many desperate attempts and attacks of evil spirits. The way in which spirits and men are kept apart is this; spirits are kept in spiritual and men in natural thought and speech; whereby they are separated so as to make one only by correspondences; the nature of which has likewise been treated of. As long therefore as spirits are in a spiritual, and men in a natural state, they are not brought together so as to converse with one another, although they are together in affection; but when spirits converse with men they are out of their spiritual state, and in a natural state like men, and then they may bring them into danger of soul and life, as has been stated above. For this reason they have to be kept apart, so that the spirits do not know anything of man, nor man of them, although they are always together; for man cannot live unless he be associated with spirits, through whom he is connected with heaven and hell, and thereby receives his life.

["Stockholm, August 11, 1760."]
* Documents Concerning Swedenborg, Vol. 2, pp. 232-233.
** In the original draft the following words are added here: "for this is more dangerous than men suppose."
*** The following words are added in the original draft: "Unless the Lord Himself bring them into this condition, and take them under His care, and protect them specially, as is the case with me."
(LETT 1)

SE 159. CONCERNING THE GENERAL POWER OF SPIRITS COMMUNICATIVE WITH MEN IN GENERAL
This morning it was clearly shown to me how spirits operate upon man, that is, how God Messiah leads man by means of spirits and angels. I was wide awake, engaged in thought, in a state which formerly was familiar to me, so that with a rather vivid imagination I was talking to myself, as it were, about a certain matter, and I continued in that thought; I was thus almost in the same state as I had been before, when spirits did not speak with me. I am in a similar state now as I am writing these things, and also for the most part when I am conversing with friends in company, as at the table, and when I am writing letters.

In order that I might learn the way of that communication of spirits with man - because at times I have had doubts about it since no sense then perceives the operations of spirits upon oneself, thus even less those of the angels, and still less of God Messiah through the angels - therefore, after I had been in that state for some time, so that I was, as it were, without spirits being around me, that state was then suddenly changed, and spirits began to address me.

From permission granted by God Messiah, they began to tell me about the state in which they had been when I was in that thought in myself, as it were, namely, that they knew no otherwise than that they were the ones who were then thinking and thus meditating, and speaking within themselves, as it were; and indeed, so much so, that those who were nearest believed that it was they who were thinking; those, however, who were more distant, believed this less, and those who were still more distant, believed less still, although they also were in such a state to some extent, but with a difference according to their distance, or what is the same, according to the affinity of that subject to the spirits. (SE 159)

SE 162. What also seemed amazing to me was that I have gotten to know places like these, where I even spoke with them, and have been able to speak with them again as if they were present, although I was a hundred miles away, for distance amounts to nothing; but this happens only insofar as God the Messiah grants it.

About this fact I have spoken from time to time with spirits, and have proven it to them by means of human sight, which likewise sees objects at a very great distance apart from distance, like the Sun, Moon, stars. So why should there not be communication with spirits, who are on a deeper plane than that grosser nature where the sight [of the eye] is?

So there is communication of even the most distant angels and spirits with humanity. Their being present with me was a sensory illusion; for something like a presence results when spirits are taking part in someone's thought, that is, those spirits who as intermediates and from closest by are to help carry out the matters which God the Messiah wills and permits to be done. These [words were written] on the 24th day of August, 1747 (old calendar). (SE 162)

SE 557. About communication of spirits with mankind
As has been stated and demonstrated [319, 445], when spirits, who are the souls of those dead as to the body, are present with people on earth and stand at their back, they believe that they are in every way those people. And if they were allowed, they could be entirely engaged in the life of the world through a person who speaks with them, although it could not be done through others. In fact, this could be done so openly, that through that person they would be able to communicate their own thoughts by words, even by letters. For several times, in fact quite often, they controlled my hand while writing, entirely as if it were their own, so that they believed it was they themselves who were writing. This is so true, that I can swear to it. Indeed, if they were permitted, they could write in their own style, which I know also from a bit of experience; but they are not permitted to do this. 1748, the 26th day of January. (SE 557)

SE 1085. THAT NOTHING CAN INFLOW FROM EVIL SPIRITS INTO HEAVENLY SOCIETIES OR INTO HEAVEN; BUT SPIRITS WHEN THEY PERCEIVE THIS FLEE AWAY
I was in a certain heavenly society, although still in the midst of spirits. During the time I was in that society the communication of the spirits who had been speaking with me before, and whose operations had been quite manifestly inflowing, was then perceptibly dulled, so that nothing of theirs could enter into the sphere in which I was. I manifestly perceived this. When a spirit wanted to infuse his communicative forces there was a smooth dullness, as it were. He therefore also lamented, saying, that now he could do nothing, and at the same time he was indignant. He wanted to flee away. Thus no communication of evil spirits with any heavenly society is possible; nevertheless, a like communication is granted by means of spirits of an intermediate disposition, as often as the Lord so pleases. 1748, Feb. 29. (SE 1085)

SE 1092. CONCERNING THE STATE OF THE DYING AND OF THOSE WHO ARE BEING RAISED FROM DEATH
This morning I was let into the state of those who are dying, in order that I might know what their state is when dying, and what follows after death. I did not indeed die, but still I came into a state of a kind of insensibility as to the corporeal sense, the interior life remaining entire, so that I could thence perceive and retain in my memory the things that happen to those who die. For my respiration was not taken away, and so long as the respiration remains man sensates, and if his respiration is such as I had, the man sensates from internals, but not from the objects of the senses, or from externals. (SE 1092)

SE 1093. In order that the communication [of my spirit with the body] might to some extent be taken away, my respiration was also tacit, or insensible. (SE 1093)

SE 1094. The heart was first occupied, and as to my heart I seemed to be conjoined to the celestial, with whom I was at length so united that scarcely anything of my own was left. This continued for some hours. (SE 1094)

SE 1095. The first state of one who is dying, therefore, is such that I did not hear the spiritual, or those who were speaking, except in such a way that I was, as it were, removed from them. Thus there was almost no, or scarcely any, communication with the spirits who otherwise spoke with me, so that I indeed heard them, but I was, as it were, without communication with them. Nor did the spirits know otherwise than that I was dead, and thus removed from the life of the body, for I heard them speaking. This took place in my case, but the like does not happen to others who are dying, and who do not talk with spirits as I do. (SE 1095)

SE 1905. Of what nature the reflection of spirits and angels is, and upon what subjects exercised, it would be endless to speak, for without reflection there is no life.

1905 1/2. By means of reflections given, spirits saw through me, as they oftentimes confessed. Whenever it was granted me that they should reflect upon objects, they confessed that they saw them, as they are seen among men, but not otherwise than through me. Inasmuch, then, as men do not [generally] believe themselves to be governed by means of spirits, such a reflection cannot be given them; wherefore spirits do not see through man, but only know from his interiors. This was very often made manifest to me, so that spirits could see each particular object that was in the world, as well as what was in the imagination and in the thought. While the gate of the mind is thus open towards heaven, there is given a certain continual reflection, whence is a communication of spirits with man, and thence they know that they are not the men with whom they are. (SE 1905 1/2)

SE 4496. CONCERNING A PROFANE FEMALE, [CONCERNING] MAGIC, AND THE MAGICAL HELLS.
That magical and adulterous one, concerning whom above, who had infested me with her profanations almost a half year, concerning whom much might be written - sufficient indeed to fill many pages - at length lost a part of her communication with spirits, and was conveyed nearly in front beyond the desert of the robbers, and there rose up near me about my head for some time a continuous something with a kind of whisper, the effect of her communication with one side of my head; this she persisted in for a long time, from an art which she knew in the world and practiced [there].

But she was then conveyed downward to the first hell of the magicians, which is proximately beyond the desert of the robbers, not in the depth, but in a certain plane, where are those of both sexes who practiced magical things in the life of the body. She then, for a whole night, so tied or interlocked herself with several parts of my face, as the mouth and so forth, and also of the head [that I was strangely affected].

On waking up from time to time, I felt myself bound as to external ideas, and perceived her almost continual presence there. It was afterwards made known what she had done in the world [namely], that she had learned magical things from a certain one whom she had paid [to teach her how] she might be able to allure to adulteries anyone whom she pleased, and that she had practiced this upon a partner in adultery, by looking on the right side of his face, and various [other] parts, and by muttering magical [formulae] to herself. This she had practiced in her adulteries, and a certain one [of her paramours] confessed it before a priest - who said that he had often heard such abominable things from herself - remarking in his confession, that he was astonished at his burning so suddenly with venereal ardor. This was detected, and being inspected, she was found to be skilled in fourteen arts of this kind, which were magical, when yet scarce anyone in the life of the body was aware of this. (SE 4496)

SE 4860. CONCERNING GENII AND THEIR HELL.
I was let down, with certain spirits, into a certain hell of genii which is at the back; but it was then granted me to see but little; for it was dangerous for the sight to be opened, because, in this way, their operations - which are most hurtful because they are not into the very matter of the thought, but into the affections thereof - would at once inflow. This it was granted me to see. There were walls, as of a great building, but without roof and without windows. In place of windows are great openings. It was said, there, that they cannot dwell in houses that have roofs and windows, and that, in case they do, they experience tightness, as if they are being suffocated. The reason is, because windows signify those things which are of thought, and roofs its upward limit. (SE 4860)

SE 4861. It was also said, that they dwell in marshes and in most filthy places; and that they do indeed see each other, but do not speak together. Those who become genii are such as in the world, spoke but little, but loved to think, and always ill of the neighbor, and exulted when injury was suggested to them - especially if they were able to carry it out clandestinely, and all the while lie concealed. In that life, they love the like conduct; but, then, the faculty of thinking is taken from them by degrees - the will, from which they are in the continual attempt to do evil, remaining similar to what it was in the world. They also do evil, if in no other way, from a certain kind of interior phantasy. This also, which is abominable to see, appears when the sight is opened that far. (SE 4861)

SE 4862. Thought is taken away from them, for the reason that if it were left to them they would communicate with spirits, and thus confusion would arise; for if thought remained to them, then there could exist communication with those spirits who think more than they are affected with the desire of doing; and so they [the genii] would destroy the whole of their reason and completely annihilate it, and they would also have communication with men, and would excite their hereditary evils and quite destroy the whole process of regeneration. They would forthwith pervert the reason, thus all truths and the idea of every truth whatever, and inspire an affection of the false instead of one of truth. (Se 4862)

SE 5547. ABOUT HEAVEN IN GENERAL AND ABOUT ITS DEGREE.
There are heavens above heavens, and communication between them. Spirits and angels do not know how the case is with the communication and conjunction, except those who are in the highest heaven. There are seven degrees of these, distinguished, in general, between those who are internal and those who are external. Those who are internal are called celestial, and those who are external are called spiritual. The internal are distinguished into three, and the external into three; and, between the internal ones and the external ones is given a medium for the sake of conjunction. The ones who constitute the medium are called celestial-spiritual. Hence it is that there are seven degrees. (SE 5547)

SE 5548. The first degree, which is the inmost one with the internal, is the Lord's alone, and may be said to be the very dwelling-place of the Lord* in heaven; for what is there transacted the angel does not know, but yet he is ruled by the Lord through it. The second degree with the internal, is one which comes to their perception indeed, like the internal of man does to that of his external. The third degree is the one in which these angels live, and where they have their perception: their human is there, and their soul in the second degree; just as man thinks in his natural and sensual, and not in the internal intellectual. Thus those in that heaven possess an external like all spirits; but it is quiescent with them, and they do not know that they have it: thus, it is quiescent like a man's external when he is asleep. But, still, that external is filled with their internals. Through it occurs the communication with those who are in externals, or in the spiritual world,** by means of the celestial-spiritual.
* The inmost degree of the human mind is so described in Heaven and Hell, no. 39. -ED.
** The phrase "spiritual world" seems to be employed here in a sense altogether unusual, as designating, namely, the "world," or region, in the other life, which the "spiritual" angels, as distinguished from the "celestial," inhabit. -ED.  (SE 5548)

SE 5549. The angels who are in the spiritual heaven, are not in internals but in externals. That external also is tripartite, namely, into internal, middle and external. The external, which approaches towards the external sensual in the world, is quiescent In the middle degree, they live, as to thought and observation. The internal is like a soul to them. They indeed have the internal which is above, but it is shut up. The communication [of the Lord] with these occurs through the celestial-spiritual heaven, across the celestial. Hence it is that spiritual angels are in the internal of the natural. (SE 5549)

SE 5550. From these things it is plain that there are three degrees of heavens, or of angels in the heavens. The same number of degrees, also, are given with men in the world who are angels; but, then, they do not know what is transacting in the internals. After death these are opened. (SE 5550)

SE 5551. These degrees are altogether distinct for each other; but I doubt whether the learned of the world can take this in, for the reason that, for the most part, they have the idea, about externals and internals with man, of continuity from gross to subtle, without any other distinction. (SE 5551)

SE 5552. Man, or the human race, is the ultimate, and what heaven closes in; for the reason that man has heaven in himself and corresponds to it. His sensual which stands forth in the world, is the ultimate itself, and therefore, also, the foundation upon which heaven rests, like a house upon its foundation - for there is a connection of all things, from firsts to lasts: also, man's sensual is comparatively fixed. What sort of fixity it is, can only be known by this, that all things which are on earth, are also in the heavens, but there they are not fixed; still however, there is the appearance as of fixity. Many things may be enumerated, as houses, fields, gardens, carriages, animals. It is hence plain, that, when man lives in the world, he acquires to himself a plane of fixity, and that this, therefore, cannot be changed; whence it is that man remains to eternity of the quality he has been in the world. He has this plane with him, but it is entirely passive. Still, his interiors close in it. Except he has this correspondence with internals in him, it cannot be well with him. It is well with him, also, to the extent to which this correspondence prevails. But he must have his interiors good: if the interiors are evil then he comes into hell. (SE 5552)

AC 3749. A certain spirit came to me without warning and flowed into my head (spirits can be identified one from another by whatever parts of the body they flow into). I wondered who he was and where he came from. But after he had stayed silent for some while the angels present with me said that he had been chosen from the spirits present with some learned person still alive in the world today. He - that is, the learned man - had sought the reputation of possessing more learning than others. At that point communication through this intermediary spirit with the thought of that man was also permitted. I asked the spirit what idea that learned man was able to have about the Grand Man and about its influx, and therefore about correspondence. He replied that he was able to have none.

After that I asked what idea did that man have of heaven. He said, None at all, apart from blasphemous ones, such as that those in heaven spend their time playing musical instruments like those on which country people are accustomed to produce a tune. Yet that individual is held in higher esteem than others and is thought to know what influx is, what the soul is, and what its interaction with the body is. He is also probably thought to have greater knowledge than others of what heaven is. This shows what those are really like who teach others at the present day; that is to say, using mere stumbling-blocks they oppose the goods and truths of faith, though publicly they declare something different. (AC 3749)
















 

 

 

1.3.3   The Substances of the Mental Organs

Remember that when you are thinking of good and truth, you need to think of them as substances. Without this rock bottom organic grounding of the mental substances, the mind vanishes into nothingness.

This is exactly what happens to scientists in the negative bias mode of thinking. To them it seems that thoughts and feelings, or the mind, don't really exist in the same rock bottom sense as the electro-chemical activity of the brain's neurons. So they see the mind and our consciousness as not really real, using the word "epiphenomenon" and "emergent phenomenon" rather than "phenomenon" to refer to it. But in the positive bias mode of substantive dualism thoughts and feelings, or the mind, are organic mental substances that are more real and more permanent than the physical substances of the brain.

The affective organ is constructed out of the mental substance called Divine Good, which enters the human mind in the form of spiritual heat from the Spiritual Sun, just as a flower or fruit is constructed out the physical substance called space-time matter, which enters the plant in the form of heat from the sun. Note that the plant is made of matter that comes from the sun, which formed the planets. When the plant grows, it constructs itself out of the soil and air, which are matter from the sun, like oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, carbon, etc. At the same time, the plant also receives heat and sunlight, which it takes in and uses for its operations.

These natural phenomena of plant growth are made to follow these steps by the laws of correspondence which insure that physical matter will behave like mental substance behaves. So what we can observe externally with plant growth we can apply directly to mental growth since the two are in perfect correspondence with each other in every single detail (see Section xx). So from these correspondences we can know that the affective organ is constructed out of the substances from the Spiritual Sun, which we know from Sacred Scripture, is made of Divine good and Divine truth. At the same time, the affective organ, like the plant, receives new substances from the Spiritual Sun in the form of spiritual heat, which inflows in infinite variety. This flow of the substance of good, or spiritual influx, into the affective organ is continuous and is the cause of our mental life of feelings, emotions, and motivations.

Thoughts and feelings cannot be made of nothing, for nothing is nothing, and gives rise to nothing. Neither can our thoughts and feelings be electricity or chemical exchanges of molecules, for these things are not thoughts -- they are physical events, not mental events. Hence we must think rationally or logically of thoughts and feelings as real, and therefore made of something. Sensations, feelings, and emotions are made of the mental substance called "Divine good" which flows from the Divine Human's Mind in infinite variety and enters the receptors that were created by Him. Every quality of objects and materials, every ability that animals and humans possess, every natural and rational law, are operations of the Divine good in the form of spiritual heat that enters each from its inmost discrete degree. This influx of good into every thing that exists is continuous, and should this Divine online influx be blocked for an instant, the object would disappear from existence, just as your television screen instantly shuts off, when there is a power failure in your neighborhood. From our birth to immortality in endless eternity, our affective organ grows and survives because of this influx of good in the form of spiritual heat from the Spiritual Sun, which is from the Divine Human (see Section xx). The inflowing substance of good into our affective organ causes our human emotions and feelings, which make us immortal beings.

Similarly with our other two mental organs. The cognitive organ is constructed at birth out of spiritual light, which is a mental substance, like spiritual heat. But the affective organ only receives spiritual heat, while the cognitive organ only receives spiritual light, which is also called Divine truth. So the two mental organs specialize as receptors of Divine influx, one for heat or love, the other for light or truth. The cognitive organ is set into operation by this influx of spiritual light. This influx causes the thinking process, which ceases the instant that the spiritual light is blocked from entering. Our thought sequences are kept in a rational sequence because of this influx of truth substance. Truth substance is rationality itself from the Divine Human. His cognitive organ is truth itself, so whatever proceeds from Him, is Divine Truth. The inflowing substance of truth into our cognitive organ causes our rational understanding and our human consciousness and awareness in the here and now.

Similarly with physical objects. They are constructed not of nothing, but out of the substances of good and truth inflowing from the Divine Human's Mind through the Spiritual Sun.

It may seem strange to think that a discrete degree within any physical object is the human mental world! How could this be? We are not aware in our mind that it is located within the chair we are sitting on, even if we say "located a discrete degree within." How can our mental world create the physical world of objects without our awareness? This would remain a strange puzzle were it not for for the fact that the laws of correspondences have been revealed to science in the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). Now we know what human emotions, feelings, thoughts, and imaginings, create which physical objects and events (see Section xx). This may not seem so strange if you remember these two critical things:

  • (a) God is a Divine Human Person in whom infinite good and truth make one.

  • (b) Good and truth are substances that can flow out of God and into created objects.

The first proposition may be easier to understand than the second. We are familiar with the first proposition from the dictionary definition of God as a Being who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent (see Section xx). It is not scientifically rational to say that the universe was created by God out of nothing, since out of nothing, nothing proceeds. The Old and New Testament Sacred Scriptures indicate in their literal sense that God created the world by means of Divine Speech or "the Word." But the literal sense does not reveal What is Divine Speech or how "the Word" can make things come into existence. A more rational answer is given in the hidden correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture, which is that "the Word" or Divine Speech is Divine Truth, and this is a substance, an uncreate eternal substance. And that is the second proposition above.

So now you need to understand what difference it makes to say that good is a substance, or truth is a substance. What's a substance?

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture regarding substantive dualism:

LJP 286. [262.] Observations Regarding Leibniz and Wolff

I have spoken with Lord Wolff and Leibniz about simple substance and preestablished harmony. (LJP 286)

[Note by translator: Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (or Leibnitz), 1646-1716, an influential German philosopher, writer, and mathematician. According to his Monadology, the universe consists of an infinite number of "monads" or simple substances, and nothing else. These monads are autonomous centers of force, indestructible, indivisible, and eternally active. As every monad contains within it the whole infinity of substance, each is a living mirror of all existence. Each is, however, limited and different from all the rest, mirroring the universe in its own way. Monads do not interact, but are organized to operate synchronously in a "pre-established harmony" instituted by God before their simultaneous creation. They form a continuously ascending series from the lowest to the highest. Although Leibniz sometimes described God as the highest of the monads, he nevertheless could not avoid the difficulties in reconciling the inclusion of God in the monadic series with the Christian doctrine of Divine transcendence. In some places he spoke as though God were outside the series and the cause of the monads' existence, or as though they proceeded from Him by what he called "fulgurations."]

[Note by translator: Baron Christian von Wolff (or, less correctly, Wolf), 1679-1754, an influential German philosopher and mathematician. In an attempt to systematize the principles of Leibniz, he developed a comprehensive system of philosophy. Wolff's system gained great popularity and was substantially that taught in most of the German universities in the latter half of the 18th century. It also provided the background to the Critical Philosophy of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). Wolff wrote a very long series of treatises covering nearly the whole field of speculative philosophy.]

LJP 287. [263] Concerning the simple substance Leibnitz said, that his opinion concerning the monad was never like that of Wolff concerning the simple substance. He said that he indeed acknowledged monads as unities but that there were in them simpler and purer substances by which the monad was formed, from which changes of state existed therein; since if there were nothing therein, it would be nothing, in which there cannot be any change of state, for a vacuum admits of no change. Leibnitz therefore wondered that Wolff held that his monad, which he calls a simple substance, was created out of nothing, and that when divided it falls into nothing; and yet he had attributed changes of state to it; and also that he had called some existences simple substances, and which are in nature, which anyone can see are aggregations of substances, like the parts of the air and ether, the elements of metals, and also souls. Wolff said that he wished by his definitions of his simple substances to captivate the minds of theologians, who want it to be believed that all things have been created by God out of nothing, immediately; at that time not knowing that his followers, by confirming these principles in themselves, would close in themselves the ways to angelic wisdom, which nevertheless are founded on natural truths. (LJP 287)

LJP 89. [265] NEWTON. I spoke with Newton concerning a vacuum, and concerning colors. (LJP 89)

LJP 290. [266] Concerning a vacuum he said, that in the world he had believed in the existence of a vacuum; but when the angels perceived that he had an idea of a vacuum, as an idea of nothing, they turned themselves away, saying that they cannot bear the idea of nothing, since when there is an idea of nothing the idea of the essence of things perishes. And when the idea of the essence of things perishes, the idea of thought, understanding, affection, love, and of will with men and angels perishes, which things are not given in nothing.

They asked him whether he believed that the Divine, whence is all angelic wisdom, and all intelligence to men in both worlds, the spiritual and the natural, is a vacuum, and thus that any Divine operation inflows through a vacuum into their vacuum and can present itself to perception. At that question he was disturbed. He replied that it cannot through an absolute vacuum, which is nothing, but through an apparent vacuum, because the Divine is the Esse itself of wisdom and love with the angels in heaven and with men in the world, and it fills all things. Also Esse itself and nothing are so contrary to each other, that if one be admitted the other cannot. Therefore the angels entreated that he and all those who cherished the idea of a vacuum as of nothing would desist from it, that they might be together, knowing that nothing of their life can ever be given in nothing, but in those things which are, and which are or exist from the Esse. They added that not anything can be said of a vacuum which is nothing, which has relation to acting, reacting, receiving, or attracting, thus to the life of their wisdom and love; in which there are so many infinite affections with their variations, perceptions, and sensations; for nothing is nothing, and of nothing we cannot predicate something. When he had heard these things, Newton said that before this he had desisted from that idea, and he would desist from it hereafter; knowing that he is now in the spiritual world, in which, nevertheless, according to his former idea, would have been his vacuum; and that even now he is a man, and therein he thinks, feels, acts, yea breathes, and this could not take place in a vacuum which is nothing, but in something which is, and from Esse exists and subsists, and that an interstitial nothing is impossible, because that would be destructive of something, that is of essences and substances which are something. For something and nothing are altogether opposites, even so that he was horrified at the idea of nothing, and would beware of it, lest his mind fall into a swoon.

We want to avoid the unscientific idea that God created the universe out of nothing. It makes sense rationally to say that God created the universe out of the infinite mental substances of good and truth that exist in Himself. This makes logical sense -- as long as you are still assuming that God is a Person in whom infinite things are one (see Section xx). Without this assumption, what is being said here about good and truth makes no sense. So in the positive bias mode you would first assume that it could be right, and then go on to investigate if you can see that it is right. So, if you are willing to assume that God is a Person in whom infinite things are one, you can see how there is no limit to the amount or variety of good and truth in Himself, and if these things are actual organic substances, you can also see how God could create a universe outside Himself, even though there was no such universe, there was nothing. But God can use the mental substances in Himself to construct human minds outside Himself.

The last sentence is underlined to indicate that you need to study it and remember it.

This sentence indicates that it's illogical to think that we are God! God must be before the universe was created, in order to create the universe. It's not logical to equate God with anything that God created. This is called the fundamental theistic dualism in theistic science and theistic psychology (see Section xx). There is a logical necessity to separate what is made and the maker. The maker cannot be the same as what is made, and vice versa. So created human beings cannot be God and God cannot be a created human being. This is a matter of rock bottom logic and rationality in science.

  1.3.4  God's Mental Substances as the Framework of the Universe

So even though all created things are created out of God's Own mental substances of good and truth, these created things can never be God. Even though our own mind is created by God's mental substances, we are not God. We and God are a fundamental rational, logical, scientific, and actual dualism. But we need to explain further what exactly is the relationship human beings have with God in this dualism.

By creating things outside of Himself, using mental substances inside of Himself, God the Divine Human created a reciprocal relationship between Himself and each member of the human race. This means that He created human minds in such a way that they are human at the level of immortal self and personality, but they are not themselves at the level of the infrastructure of their self and personality. Think of the sequence of thoughts you must construct in order to solve a problem that comes up in the course of your day. You are the one constructing the sequence of thoughts in your own unique way on that occasion.  But you are not the one controlling the sequence and keeping it in a logical order that can lead to the solution. The sequence is kept in order by the laws of rational thinking, and these laws are nothing else but the truth substance that inflows as spiritual light into your rational mind (see Section xx).

It is the same with love, enjoyment, and pleasure. When you experience the pleasure of your favorite food or drink, that sensation and its mental repercussions, are yours, and you feel them uniquely. But the infrastructure of each distinct sensation and pleasure is not yours and is not you. It is nothing else than the mental substance of good, which is God outside of Himself.

So this is a new distinction you need to make about God which is described in the hidden scientific meaning of Sacred Scripture. God is the infrastructure of every created thing, for without this, the created thing could not exist. So when you look at a created thing, or consider it in your thinking, there is the outside discrete level of it, and there is the inside discrete level of it. The outside level is the thing itself; the inside level is the mental substance of good which now exists outside God, but is still God.

God's mental substance of good inflows into our affective organ and sets in motion operations that we experience as feeling, emotion, interest, love, motivation, etc. -- all having to do with our affective operations (see Section xx). God's mental substance of truth inflows into our affective organ and sets in motion operations that we experience as thinking, reflecting, problem solving, inventing, understanding -- all having to do with our cognitive operations (see Section xx). The inflowing of the Divine Human's mental substances of good and truth are infinite in variety and can never be exhausted in uniqueness to endless eternity.

You can construct things with a substance. Things must be made of something, and this something is the substance of good and truth in infinite amounts in the Divine Human's Mind. Good and truth are mental substances in the Mind of God. Since God is Human, the only Divine Human, He has mental organs like He created for us to have. We are "in God's image and likeness" as is revealed in the literal sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. Our mental body is patterned as a blueprint model of God's Mental Body, which is the original. God's affective organ is the seat of His good substance in infinite variety, His love for every human being He creates and maintains alive to eternity, and His compassion in filling our experiences with an infinite variety of joyfulness and intelligence. God's cognitive organ is the seat of His truth substance in infinite variety, His perfect and omniscient wisdom, and His Human intelligence and inventiveness in infinite variety. Our life is nothing but the activity of our affective and cognitive mental organs. This activity is operated by God's own affective and cognitive organs, almost as if human beings, mentally considered, were little extensions of God outside of Himself.

So we need to think of God in two ways. God as He is in Himself. And God as He is outside of Himself. These two are not the same and must be distinguished rationally and scientifically.

God as He is in Himself always has a Divine Name in various religions -- Jehovah, Allah, God the Father, Creator of the Universe, Father of Eternity, and many others. God as He is Outside of Himself is called God the Son, Incarnated God, Holy Spirit, Divine Providence, Divine Proceeding, Divine Psychologist, good and truth. The infrastructure of created things is good and truth (as explained above), or God as He is Outside of Himself.

There is therefore a close relationship, called a conjunction, between created things and God as He is Outside of Himself. Human beings are immortal because of this conjunction process. All our thoughts and feelings, hence the totality of our self and personality, exists and rests upon a mental infrastructure that is not ours, but is God as He is Outside of Himself, in conjunction with our thoughts and feelings. So God is conjoined to our thoughts and feelings as we grow and become unique selves. Whether you believe in God or not, whether you are in the negative or positive bias mode, it makes no difference -- your thoughts and feelings are still conjoined to God's mental substances as He is Outside of Himself, namely good and truth streaming out of Himself and into our affective and cognitive organs.

Because of this conjunction process, not a single thought, emotion, or feeling can ever die. God as He is Outside of Himself in the form of good and truth substance, is actually the inmost framework of each thought or feeling. They are immortal because good and truth are immortal, being God's uncreated mental substances outside of Himself.

So now we can consider that out of this infinite variety of mental substances in His Mind, God can form these substances into created objects. These created objects are made of the substances of good and truth. Since the substances of good and truth are mental substances, you can see how the universe is created out of mental substances which God has in infinite variety. Next you need to understand how mental substances in eternity can become physical matter in time-space.

So now you can see that God is present in our mind in two ways. One way God is present in our mind is unconscious to us, which is the infrastructure of each thought and each feeling we experience from birth to eternity. This has just been discussed above. And it was said that God is present in this way with every human being regardless of their conscious idea or belief about God. But God can also be present in our mind in a way that is conscious to us!

The unconscious presence of God in the infrastructure of our mind makes our thoughts and feelings immortal, as explained above. The conscious presence of God in our mind makes our thoughts and feelings heavenly.

Heaven is an organ of life where God is present consciously.

So it clearly is beneficial to the individual to acquire the skill of being consciously in the presence of God.

Prior to being consciously in the presence of the Divine Psychologist, we are continuously in transition between heaven and hell. You can confirm this empirically by monitoring your thoughts and feelings over the course of a day or a week (see Section xx). If you keep track of your thoughts while you are being challenged, you will quickly become aware of the hellish thoughts and feelings into which your experience is immersed. Next time you drive, for instance, monitor your thoughts about other drivers and pedestrians (see Section xx). Or when you find out you didn't pass an exam, or didn't get a job, or your partner left you, you get sick, depressed, or you are kidnapped by terrorists, etc. You may spend a few hours at work and feel like you are in a mental hell, then you get home, relax, ingest, hug and kiss, and you feel like you're back in heaven.

This up and down pattern is hard on our mind. It spoils the good times with the bad. Wouldn't we want to be in our heaven all the time! Well, this is possible. While you maintain yourself in the presence of the Divine Psychologist, you are in heaven. You cannot fall out of heaven unless you all of a sudden forget His presence. Then you are acting in a delusional reality, as if God did not matter in the things you are doing, in the things you are trying to get. This delusional reality kicks you into the up and down mode, just described.

Theistic psychology is called the "science of immortality" because it provides the scientific knowledge of acquiring the skill of staying in the conscious presence of the Divine Psychologist. As long as you consciously stay in His presence, which is solely up to you, He keeps you in your heaven, no matter what happens on the outside around you. The same thing no longer stress you out, the same things no longer have the power to disturb you. Instead of thinking negative, you now think positive. Instead of resentment, you have compassion. Instead of weakness in motivation and enthusiasm for some required work, you now have initiative and endurance. As a general explanation of this amazing phenomenon, we can say that God's mental substances of good and truth can give us these mental powers if we are willing to receive them in our conscious thoughts and feelings.

For example, we feel like retaliating against a friend who failed to do something promised. We think bad thoughts about that person. These thoughts exclude you from the presence of the Divine Psychologist. You fall into the hellish mode of thinking and emoting and behaving. You experience hell. You are frustrated, enraged, and you hate yourself as well. You hate the way you feel. You want to change your mental state. You can! Change your thoughts in such a way that heavenly feelings can enter into them. This means thinking truth which comes from Sacred Scripture. The truths you have acquired from Sacred Scripture are the thoughts in which the Divine Psychologist is present with you. Make thse thoughts conscious and voluntary, and you are now in heaven again. You never have to leave. It's up to you.

So you can see that the most important task we have while we live in the physical body in time-space, is to learn the skill of remaining always in the presence of the Divine Psychologist. Swedenborg interviewed many couples who dwell in the eternity of their heaven. They said they are continuously in the presence of the Divine Human, whom they can see in front of their eyes no matter which way they seem to face outwardly. Of course, this outward visual appearance of God is an appearance. God real and actual presence with them is on the inside, inside their thoughts and feelings, which are solely heavenly. They told Swedenborg that if for a they begin to have thoughts of their own former nature which is not heavenly, they instantly find themselves projected out of their heaven, and soon into their hell.

1.3.5  Benefits of Understanding Theistic Psychology

The benefits are discussed in detail in Section 1.1.4.2 where they are categorized in three types as Enlightenment, Empowerment, Ecstasy. Here we rephrase some those benefits in terms of specific skills in our daily activities.

(i) Relief from existential anxiety. It is known that people are afraid to die. This is a natural reaction of the sensuous-natural mind (see Section xx). When you understand rationally how it is the case that you are actually immortal, this natural anxiety is reduced, and eventually completely eliminated.

(ii) Seeing every event in our lives as motivated towards a rational and good end or purpose. Nothing can happen to us blindly or by fate. The Divine Psychologist only allows those events to occur which He can use to our spiritual benefit in eternity (see Section xx). This rational knowledge liberates us from worrying or feeling bad about many events in our daily life like not winning at something, or losing something, or being criticized, or not achieving our goal. These negative events lose the power of negativity if we rationally understand that they are building our future in eternity.

(iii) Being able to distinguish true from false regarding the explanations and concepts people propose. There are so many books, so many new age gurus, so many experts in spirituality or lifestyle. You can be forever involved in circles pursuing these accounts. People typically go from theory to theory, proposal to proposal, author to author, being persuaded blindly, not being able to use rationality to test the various proposals. So one becomes a victim of all these ideas and false representations of reality. But knowledge of theistic psychology gives you a global, comprehensive, and integrated account, following rational concepts, ideas, and reasoning, delivered to us directly as God's Divine Speech (see Section xx). This allows you to recognize immediately the non-rational components of accounts and explanations you read about God, religion, science, philosophy, and immortality or the life after death.

(iv) Being able to understand Sacred Scripture in both modes -- (a) literal meaning for one's religion and for our rational understanding of religions in general; and (b) spiritual meaning hidden within the literal for one's theistic science and psychology. Many people walk away from Sacred Scripture because they do not agree with parts of it that seem illogical, outdated, strange, perverted, culture bound, and showing racial and gender bias (see Section xx). All these problems are overcome completely and disappear when we leave the literal sense, and enter the hidden correspondential sense that lies within it. Every topic in this meaning is universally applicable scientific knowledge about God, mental anatomy, and the afterlife in eternity (see Section xx). The hidden scientific sense never contradicts the literal sense, but amplifies it and elevates it to a higher level of understanding of the actual content of Divine Speech, which is Divine Truth, and hence, pure rationality itself.

(v) Being able to prepare effectively for our life of immortality in eternity. Although the literal sense of Sacred Scripture is a necessary start in our daily lifelong efforts at character reformation, this required physiological process of self-modification and regeneration,  is made more effective through the rational concepts of theistic psychology. These explain to us in detail what are the consequences of doing this or that in our mind. We have a rational understanding of mental anatomy, of how heaven and hell are in our mental organs, and how our moment by moment actions are tied to the vertical community of people in eternity (see Section xx).

(vi) Being able to effectively shape a professional self out of our personality. God wants us to be maximally competent at what we choose to do. The Divine Psychologist is right there, in your conscious mind, and making all the wheels turn the right way. By talking in our mind to the Divine Psychologist all day long we are learning to acknowledge His presence in our consciousness. When we make this acknowledgement, and keep it active all day long (or most of it), then the Divine Psychologist empowers us to raise ourselves to the level of professional self. Every task we accomplish, every reasoning process, every feeling and emotion, every motive and intention, are now changed by the Divine Psychologist so that we may achieve greater competence in each physical and mental activity.

(vii) Being able to help others more effectively and lead a more useful life of service to people and country. When others are confused, our theistic psychology knowledge can help because we have a more rational perspective on what's happening to them.

(viii) Being able to build a unity marriage (see Section xx). Many marriages remain in an external level, both partners retaining independence of thinking and feeling. But knowing the principles of conjugial love revealed in Sacred Scripture (see Section xx), allows us to enter into the inner marriage by learning to align our thoughts and feelings into a reciprocal mode that conjoins wife and husband into "one angel" (see Section xx). The unity model is unique to theistic psychology as it is based on Divine Speech and applying universally to every human being from birth to eternity.

(ix) see if you can add to this list from your own experience of studying theistic psychology.

1.4  Partial List of Scientific Revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg

The following list encompasses many of the topics of theistic psychology. You can read them as a summary of what's to come in the rest of this book.

(1)  cosmology or the origin of the universe through the "two suns" and their intervening atmospheres, and the methods of its current maintenance by the Laws of Divine Providence and Permissions. Also: the character of evolution of civilizations on planets, such as the fact that our planet is the only one to have a mechanized or industrialized society.

(2)  medical science including the characteristic functions and origins of some viruses not yet identified in his lifetime.

(3)  the nature of psycho-somatic operations, such as the observation that "anxieties about the future affect the stomach more than the rest of the viscera"

(4)  the anatomy of brain structures too small to identify with the microscope

(5)  the lack of sensation and thought in the fetus

(6)  anthropology and archeology, including many unknown facts about ancient peoples, sacred scriptures, culture, religion, lifespan, death rituals, symbols, hieroglyphics, science of correspondences, the nature of unconscious motivation in human affairs, and still others

(7)  psychology and neurophysiology, especially the detailed working of the mind--body interaction, including the unobservable elements and components of brain cells, their respiration, and their initiation of activity through the will and the understanding. Also, the relation between the cerebellum and the affective domain, on the one hand, and on the other, the relation between the cerebral cortex and the cognitive domain. Also the identification of the right brain as dealing with love and affections, and the left brain as dealing with digital information or "cognitions." Also included, are many psychological revelations about relationships, marriage, and life's developmental phases, including language, thought, memory, and reasoning.

(8)  physics and chemistry, such as the impossibility of a vacuum or the description of the inner structure of objects in terms of three degrees of discontinuity analogous to the universal law that applies without exception to every single phenomenon, object, process, or functional quality:

(9)  the shape of the spiritual world or mind is not spherical but humanoid, as visually witnessed by Swedenborg when he was taken to an "outside position"  to view it, as if from a great distance.

(10)  the universe contains two suns, with the Sun of the spiritual world forming and generating all the suns or stars in the natural world on a continuous basis so that the physical universe constantly expands; further, after generating the physical suns, the spiritual Sun remains "within" them on the basis of simultaneous degree, and from that underlying causative position, acts on them from "within," and brings about lawful development and evolution.

(11)  events in the natural universe are totally constricted within limits imposed by events in the spiritual world, the latter being "within" the former as cause is "within" effect in simultaneous degrees of existence;

(12)  randomness (or chance) and evolutionary patterns such as selection and adaptation, are in reality non-random but totally determined by Divine-Human purposes involving love, good, value, wisdom, morality, truth, justice, usefulness. From these come also their opposites when they are received in the human mind and deliberately corrupted by free choice. For instance, the variety and evolution of animal forms parallel and are constrained by the variety and hierarchical structures of human affections, emotions, and sentiments. Every species and genus, every homological structure, every biochemical process is constrained by, and parallels exactly, the taxonomy of the human mind-- its affections, thoughts, and sensations built up into subjective agencies called "selves," living within cultures through personality and society. Nature is a theater of the spiritual: Swedenborg gives this principle a scientific basis.

(13)  the evolution or developmental phases of Divine revelations over history, or the history of religious "churches" from the earliest generations on this earth.

(14)  the spiritual meaning of the Bible and the method of correspondences by which this meaning can be extracted, formed into Doctrine that then serves as the basis of one's regeneration (or preparation for heavenly life).

(15)  the nature of one's life in heaven or eternity, and in hell, revealed in great detail through his journeys and conversations in the spiritual world.

(16)  the methods of regeneration we must follow in order to prepare for heavenly life, how we must live our daily lives in orderly obedience to God through religion and conscience. Thus we choose heavenly or hellish life in eternity by our cumulative choices which form our permanent inner character as an immortal "spirit". People who have a good character enter heaven regardless of their religion or belief system.

(17)  the human mind has three rational regions (natural, spiritual, and celestial), and their sub-regions. For detailed discussion on this, consult my book Moses, Paul, and Swedenborg: The Three Phases of Religious Behavior, available on the Web at: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/moses.html

(18)  every individual's mind functions in conjunction with numerous other individuals through a chain of unconscious interconnections with other individuals, from those whose state of consciousness is in the highest regions of the human mind (“Third Heaven"), to those who are in the lowest state ("hell"). I call these unconscious interconnections the "vertical community" to distinguish it from the horizontal community of our neighborhood or country on earth.

(19)  every planet is created for carrying human life and numerous planets are now inhabited and new ones are constantly being created--all in a grand Divine plan to create immortal human beings that live in eternal bliss in the heavenly regions of the mind.

(20)  animals are not immortal and their soul dissipates back into the spiritual world. Only human beings can be immortal because they are created with an upper region in the mind called rational, while animals are not so created. Thus we have freedom of the will in accordance with our understanding, and it is this freedom of decision making that forms the organic spiritual body that can be immortal. Only rational thinking operations can receive continuous spiritual influx without which we cannot be immortal. Nevertheless, the spiritual world--or higher regions of the mind, are filled with animals of all sorts, with greater variety and beauty than what exists on earths. Swedenborg has seen them thousands of times. But these are not animals born on earth who passed on to the higher regions. These are spiritually created animals and they have spiritual characteristics.

(21)  there is no vacuum. Space is not empty. We can call it ether, or dark matter, or fields, etc., but not empty nothing--an irrational concept. Here's what Newton had to say about his idea of vacuum when Swedenborg addressed him in the spiritual world.

Quoting from Swedenborg's Writings

 NEWTON. I spoke with Newton concerning a vacuum, and concerning colors. (LJP 289)

Concerning a vacuum he said, that in the world he had believed in the existence of a vacuum; but when the angels perceived that he had an idea of a vacuum, as an idea of nothing, they turned themselves away, saying that they cannot bear the idea of nothing, since when there is an idea of nothing the idea of the essence of things perishes. And when the idea of the essence of things perishes, the idea of thought, understanding, affection, love, and of will with men and angels perishes, which things are not given in nothing. They asked him whether he believed that the Divine, whence is all angelic wisdom, and all intelligence to men in both worlds, the spiritual and the natural, is a vacuum, and thus that any Divine operation inflows through a vacuum into their vacuum and can present itself to perception. At that question he was disturbed.

He replied that it cannot through an absolute vacuum, which is nothing, but through an apparent vacuum, because the Divine is the Esse itself of wisdom and love with the angels in heaven and with men in the world, and it fills all things. Also Esse itself and nothing are so contrary to each other, that if one be admitted the other cannot. Therefore the angels entreated that he and all those who cherished the idea of a vacuum as of nothing would desist from it, that they might be together, knowing that nothing of their life can ever be given in nothing, but in those things which are, and which are or exist from the Esse.

They added that not anything can be said of a vacuum which is nothing, which has relation to acting, reacting, receiving, or attracting, thus to the life of their wisdom and love; in which there are so many infinite affections with their variations, perceptions, and sensations; for nothing is nothing, and of nothing we cannot predicate something.

When he had heard these things, Newton said that before this he had desisted from that idea, and he would desist from it hereafter; knowing that he is now in the spiritual world, in which, nevertheless, according to his former idea, would have been his vacuum; and that even now he is a man, and therein he thinks, feels, acts, yea breathes, and this could not take place in a vacuum which is nothing, but in something which is, and from Esse exists and subsists, and that an interstitial nothing is impossible, because that would be destructive of something, that is of essences and substances which are something. For something and nothing are altogether opposites, even so that he was horrified at the idea of nothing, and would beware of it, lest his mind fall into a swoon. (LJP 290)

What is space made of? Not of nothing. Scientists today are beginning to use the word "ether" again, which was in use in Swedenborg's time (18th century). Ether would thus be a thinner layer of matter than particles, waves, and energy fields. Thinner than energy fields? Yes, why not? Swedenborg refers to the thinnest materials of the natural world that are formed between the body and the mind as a mediating construction, partly material, partly spiritual, thus having a dual existence. The mind is built up of spiritual substances from the spiritual Sun, but also from these thinnest natural substances that contain sensorimotor information from experience. This thin layer of matter that encloses the natural mind is called "the limbus" (Latin for border). Theistic psychology research needs to investigate the nature of the limbus and whether the fabric of space is stretched out on a similar limbus that allows the two worlds to communicate through the functional laws of correspondence.

(22)  we are the only industrialized society of all the planets that Swedenborg was allowed to perceive through the minds of the local inhabitants, and it is explained why this will remain so.

(23)  the universe is maintained and created larger and larger continuously, through the operation of two suns--the Sun of the spiritual world and the suns (or stars) of the natural world. Spiritual substances called goods and truths stream out of the Sun of the spiritual world, forming the upper regions of the human mind and habitations, while physical substances stream out of the suns of the physical world, forming the lower regions of the human mind and all the physical matter of which the natural mind and the physical body are made of. These two suns act in concert through the laws of correspondences.

(24)  when we become inhabitants of the upper regions of the mind (called the Heavens) we live forever, we live as married couples (called the Conjugial Love unit), we live in a society, we operate spiritually in both spiritual body and mind, and this is totally different from how the physical body and mind operate.

(25)  the action of a virus on the physical body acts in correspondence with the function and characteristics of spiritual regions of the mind. The virus cannot act without this spiritual correspondence simultaneously going on. The spiritual correspondences are determined by particular societies in the vertical community to which we are associated as individuals. The mental characteristics of these spiritual associates (all of whom were people on earth until they passed on), determines the biochemical actions of the virus. Thus, knowing the characteristics of the associates allows us to know the viral characteristics. For a detailed description of this methodology and its implications for both theistic and materialistic science, consult this unique work The Third Source, on the Web at.  www.theisticscience.org/blomdahl/Sweden.htm

(26)  life after death begins approximately 30 hours after the death of the physical body. Resuscitation is described in detail in Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia (12 volumes). (See Section 1.7)

(27)  in all plant reproduction the materialistic appearance is that the male plant component fertilizes the female plant component. But this appearance must be contextualized in its actual operation, which is, that in the bringing forth of plants (growth), the earth is the mother (female) component to all plants, while the seed is the male component. I understand this to mean that all plants (what we call male and female) are to be considered male while the growing matter, soil, or minerals are to be considered as part of earth, it being the female womb that brings the plant forth through the action of the male seed. This action is through the genes or inmost component of the seed, and this is male. Also: seed=truth, but there are many truths--natural, spiritual, celestial.

(28)  children inherit the parents' character traits as a character tendency which becomes their own unless they undergo regeneration or character rebuilding (reformation). Those who do not undergo regeneration remain inhabitants of the lower regions of the mind, in this world, and they continue this state of mind in the afterlife to eternity. While we're still in the physical body, inhabiting the lower regions of the mind appears normal, and only once in a while delusional or insane. But once the physical body is separated, the resuscitated rational ether body (or mind) which now forms our external sensorimotor self, can no longer maintain the appearance of being normal and quickly explodes into delusion , insanity, and gross insanity such as characterizes the lowest regions of the mind called animal, beastly, and hellish.

(29)  regeneration is a necessary operation to recover from our inherited and injured character. This recovery operation proceeds in two steps repeatedly performed on a daily basis for many years. The first step is called reformation and starts the moment we feel remorse about some character trait that comes to our attention through self-examination of our acts and thoughts. The second step is to make a conscious decision to avoid that behavior or thought because it is injurious to the upper regions of our mind. If this process of reformation and regeneration is avoided or neglected, the inherited character remains, is passed on as a tendency to our children, and in the afterlife, takes us down to the lowest regions of the mind where we endure a miserable existence. This hellish existence in eternity is not a punishment for misdeeds, for this would be cruel and unreasonable punishment, irrational, contrary to God's Personal Character and order. Instead, they who pass on without regenerating their injured character, insist on being what they are, namely, wild hateful cunning beasts in human form striving to injure and torture anyone they can overpower. For such is our inherited character and this is why it must be regenerated. Here in the natural world, external laws of society and their enforcement, prevent us from breaking out into uncivilized barbaric acts--most of the time, though not always. But in the other life we cannot fake it. People in that dangerous state of mind must therefore be segregated in mental regions called "hells" where they live in company with others who share similar wild emotions and enjoyments.

(30)  character is our spiritual body and is formed of spiritual substances that are immortal and permanently part of our self. We are kept in spiritual freedom continuously. This is effected by being associated with spiritual societies on both sides of a decision-making process (our "vertical community"). Every time we make a decision, a permanent immortal substantive engram is formed in the spiritual body or the organ of the "character" in the mind. This physiological record is indelible, though it can be covered up and moved to the side during the regeneration process. The nature of the spiritual engram encompasses a variety of good tendencies and a variety of evil tendencies. Many of these decisions are tiny and automatic, like where we move our eyes and what pleasure or interest we derive from such investigation or information processing. Each eye movement is a response to some inherited love or interest and leaves a permanent record as an indelible engram in the immortal mind. Small or large, every one of these counts, cumulates, and remains permanent. While these cumulations hardly show in this life, in the spiritual body the character assumes total control--nothing can stop it for it is in total freedom to choose and express. If this character is anti-social and irrational, the individual is unable to withhold the self from injuring others. They must then be restrained and kept segregated in the lower regions of their mind called the hells.

(31)   the structural mechanics of the physical universe is formed according to the human character. Every atom or particle has a form traceable to the human character. This is true of minerals, plants, and animals, that is, all geology and biology, hence all their derivatives. The shape of the human character when well formed is that of an angelic person, but when injured, it has the shape of a monster or devil. The entire spiritual universe is in the shape of the human form. The entire human race, past and present, on all the inhabited planets, and as it continuously grows in size, is integrated in God's Perception as one human and one monster.

(32)  the upper regions of the mind are marked for the unity between one husband and a wife. However, there are variations to be taken into account. A man's character is constructed on a reciprocal basis to a woman's character so that the two may become one united person in the uppermost regions of the human mind. For this unity to be effected to its full potential perfection, it is necessary that not a single component of the man's character be like any component of the woman's character.

A general article discussing the scientific revelations in Swedenborg may be found at this address:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/theistic.html

Quoting from the Swedenborg Foundation:

Besides "the Writings of Swedenborg" which contain the scientific revelations about the spiritual world, Swedenborg (1688-1772) also made various contributions and inventions to natural science. He was a state employed engineer and a member of the Swedish legislative parliament. A partial list of his inventions includes:

  • A Glider-Aircraft

  • An Archimedean Glass

  • A Water Pump

  • An Ear Trumpet

  • An Airtight Stove

  • The Wave Motion of Light

  • The Molecular Basis of Magnetism

  • The Relationship between Magnetism and Electricity

  • The Nebular Hypothesis

  • The Function of the Endocrine Glands

  • Functions of the Cerebellum

  • Centers of Thinking and Memory in the Cerebral Cortex

  • Formation of Cerebro-Spinal Fluid

  • Integrative Action of the Nervous System

www.newchurch.org/Swedenborg/inventions.html

Quoting from Swedenborg:

From my fourth to my tenth year, I was constantly engaged in thought upon God, salvation, and the spiritual sufferings of men, and several times I revealed that at which my father and mother wondered.... From my sixth to my twelfth year my delight was to discourse with clergymen concerning Faith -- that the life thereof is love, and the love that gives life is the love of one's neighbor.  (Swedenborg: Letters 1769)

1.5  Some of the People Who Have Acknowledged Swedenborg

I present this list to demonstrate that Swedenborg, though unknown in science, is quite well known in the history of literature. But I should indicate that these "endorsements" and opinions do not contribute to establishing the scientific status of Swedenborg's Writings. Theistic psychology has quite a different approach to Swedenborg than these non-scientific opinions.

"The most remarkable step in the religious history of recent ages is that made by the genius of Swedenborg."  Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I admire Swedenborg as a great scientist and a great mystic at the same time. His life and work have always been of great interest to me."  Carl Jung, Psychologist

"For you Westerners, it is Swedenborg who is your Buddha, it is he who should be read and followed!"  D. T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhist Scholar

"The correlations between what Swedenborg writes of some of his spiritual experiences and what those who have come back from close calls with death report is amazing."  Raymond Moody, author of Life After Life

"People who have had near-death experiences peek through the door of the after-life, but Swedenborg explored the whole house." Kenneth Ring, founder of International Association for Near Death Studies (I.A.N.D.S.)

"Let me explain why Swedenborg merits scrutiny. It is a fact that the greatest poets and prose writers have borrowed liberally from him. The list is long: first Blake, as his direct spiritual descendant; then Goethe, a fervent reader of Swedenborg (as was Kant followed by Edgar Allan Poe, Baudelaire, Balzac, Mickiewicz, Slowacki, Emerson, Dostoevsky...." Czeslaw Milosz, 1980 Nobel Prize, Literature

"Swedenborg's enormous work has been my companion throughout my entire life." Henry Corbin, Islamic Scholar

"Swedenborg's message has meant so much to me! It has given color and reality and unity to my thought of the life to come; it has exalted my ideas of love, truth, and usefulness; it has been my strongest incitement to overcome limitations."  Helen Keller

"I have come back to Swedenborg after vast studies of all religions... Swedenborg undoubtedly epitomizes all the religions - or rather the one religion - of humanity."  Honore de Balzac

"More truths are confessed in Swedenborg's writings than in those of any other man... One of the loftiest minds in the realm of mind... One of the spiritual suns that will shine brighter as the years go on."  Thomas Carlyle, Theologian

"Swedenborg was one of the world's greatest geniuses. With his rare intellect and deep spiritual insight he has much to contribute to our modern life."  Norman Vincent Peale

"To my mind, the only light that has been cast on the other life is found in Swedenborg's philosophy. It explains much that was incomprehensible."  Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Other artists, writers, thinkers and leaders influenced by Swedenborg include:

William Blake
Jorge Luis Borges
Robert Browning
John "Johnny Appleseed" Chapman
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
John Flaxman
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Frost
Northrop Frye
Victor Hugo

George Innes ,
Henry James, Sr.,
George Macdonald
Ezra Pound
Howard Pyle
Georges Sand
August Strindberg
Henry David Thoreau
George Washington
William Butler Yeats
Bill Wilson (co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous)
and others.

©2001 Information Swedenborg Inc. All Rights Reserved. Original here:
www.swedenborg.ca/swedenborg/influence.html

Helen Keller Young Helen Keller

Quoting from: web.archive.org/web/20011215231651/www.swedenborg.net/arcana2000/newstuff/keller/keller.html

The Secret of Helen's Strength ----------

It is a remarkable fact that in this most remarkable of lives, little is known of the source of Helen's steadfast strength--her religion. Amid all the excitement and sensationalism surrounding the Helen Keller story, it is important to remember that she was neither a saint nor a savage, but simply one of us--frail and human, subject to fits of temper, moods of discouragement, and times of despair. Therefore, like all of us, Helen needed to rely on something deeper than sheer human will power. She needed a religion. She wrote:

No one knows--no one can know--the bitter denials of limitation better than I do. I am not deceived about my situation. It is not true that I am never sad or rebellious. But long ago I determined not to complain. The mortally wounded must strive to live out their days cheerfully for the sake of others. That is what religion is for--to keep the heart brave to fight it out to the end with a smiling face. This may not be a very lofty ambition. But it is a far cry from surrendering to fate. But to get the better of fate, even to this extent, one must have work and the solace of friendship, and an unwavering faith in God's Plan of Good.

Helen's religious sense was dependent upon a clear understanding of the afterlife, a world that would be happier and more beautiful than anything she could imagine on earth. She believed that her life in the spiritual world would be free of bodily limitations. She saw it as a place where she would be able to fulfill all the desires of her heart. Writing in a mood of sadness, she reveals the aching loneliness that she sometimes felt:

What earthly consolation is there for one like me, whom fate has denied a husband and the joy of motherhood? At the moment my loneliness seems a void that will always be immense.

But in the next breath she rises above her sorrow and writes:

Fortunately I have much work to do--more than ever before, in fact--and while doing it I shall have confidence as always that my unfulfilled longings will be gloriously satisfied in a world where eyes never grow dim nor ears dull.

The vision of a glorious afterlife was uppermost in Helen's mind, even while she strove with all her heart and soul to be a creator of good, a helper of her kind while on earth. This vision sustained her through times of despair, filled her with hope during times of sorrow, and lifted her above what sometimes seemed to be insurmountable obstacles. She had placed her trust in a seer named Emanuel Swedenborg whose vision of the other world had given her life a spiritual focus. "We who are blind," she wrote, "are often glad that another's eye finds a road for us in a wide, perplexing darkness. How much more should we rejoice when a man of vision discovers a way to the radiant outer-lands of the spirit." To her, Swedenborg's testimony about the life to come was like "a sweet breath from God's presence." She referred to his voluminous writings as the Great Message, and declared that the promise it contained gave her the strength to overcome her limitations. She wrote:

Swedenborg's message has meant so much to me! It has given color and reality and unity to my thought of the life to come; it has exalted my ideas of love, truth, and usefulness; it has been my strongest incitement to overcome limitations.

Clearly, Swedenborg's message was the secret behind Helen's strength. It was as if a gentle hand had reached out to guide her through the perplexing world of spirituality, given her a tour of heaven, and introduced her to the God of Love--the same God she already worshipped in her heart of hearts. Swedenborg, Helen's guide in the realm of spirit, was able to explain to her, in comforting tones, the reality of God's promises, and the immanence of His presence.

And yet, this secret--the power of Emanuel Swedenborg's teachings in her life--is almost never mentioned when the Helen Keller story is told. Most often, the emphasis is upon the deep bond that she had with her teacher Anne Sullivan, or the experience at the well where she learned the meaning of the word "water." Seldom, however, is any reference made to the secret of Helen Keller's strength--her religion. "I cannot imagine myself without a religion," she said. "I could as easily fancy a living body without a heart."

------------------------------------------------------- "My Religion" ---------------------------

In 1927, at the age of 47, she wrote a book that she called, very simply, My Religion. In it she opens her heart and her mind to tell of the living faith that enabled her to rise above life's crushing adversity and still find joy in useful service. In reading her words, we are encouraged to go and do likewise--to rise above our own limitations, to discover that the light still shines in the darkness, and that, whatever sorrows have crossed our path, our lives still have meaning and purpose.

She was always clear about her trust in Providence, never doubting that her severe physical limitations had been turned by the Hand of God into the greatest possible good. In June of 1956, at the age of 76, she submitted an article to Guideposts magazine in which she again referred to the tremendous impact that Swedenborg's teachings had in her life:

Swedenborg has shaken down the barriers of time and space in my life and supplied me with likenesses or correspondences between the world within and the world without, which give me courage and determination beyond my three senses.... Since my seventeenth year I have tried to live according to the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg. By "church" he did not mean an ecclesiastical organization, but a spiritual fellowship of thoughtful men and women who spend their lives for a service to mankind that outlasts them.

And she concludes her article with this great promise of hope:

There are two ways to look at destiny, one from below and the other from above. In one view we are being pushed by irresistible forces, obsessed by the fear that war, ignorance, and poverty will never be abolished. But looking up to the clock of Truth, I see that man has been civilized only a few minutes, and I rest in the assurance that out of the problems that disturb thinking minds and warm hearts, there shall break the morning star of universal peace.

In sum, Helen Keller--like all of us--was neither angel nor demon, neither saint nor savage, but rather another mortal, imperfect human being striving to become all that she could be--an immortal soul on the way to perfection, born for a specific use in the kingdom of heaven, and shaped perfectly by the circumstances of her earthly life so that she might attain it. Truly she would say, "I thank God for my handicaps, for through them I have found myself, my work, and my God." She remains, for each of us who struggle daily with our own limitations, a luminous and inspiring symbol of hope.

For a brief biography of Swedenborg and his place in the world today, see this interview:
Williams-Hogan, Jane K. (2006). From Swedenborg to the New Church: Interview. Religioscope. Available at: http://religion.info/english/interviews/article_247.shtml 

Study Questions: 1.1.4.3.2 to 1.5 (Report 4)

Week 9 Readings: Section 1.1.4.3.2 to 1.3.1

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

9.1.
(a) Explain how Divine Speech descends through the three discrete degrees of our mind.
(b) How do you react to this knowledge?
(c) How do your friends react to this knowledge?
(d) What is your conclusion?

9.2.
(a) Explain correspondences in relation to Sacred Scripture.
(b) What is your reaction to this new knowledge?

9.3.
(a) Show how correspondences influence the way we think in daily life.
(b) Search the Web for what people know about correspondences and explain what you found.

9.4.
(a) Many people uncritically repeat the idea that "God is energy." Give a rational proof that this belief is illogical.
(b) Then compare the logic of the opposite idea that "God is a Person."
(c) In your opinion, why is there opposition to the view that God is a Person?

9.5.
(a) The highest idea of God is also the most rational. What is this celestial view of God in relation to the substances of good and truth?
(b) Can you imagine having this view?

9.6.
(a) How does rational consciousness of God differ from sensuous consciousness of God?
(b) How would you describe your consciousness of God?
(c) Contrast your consciousness of God with that of a friend or two. How do they differ, or how are they similar?

9.7.
(a) Explain who is Swedenborg.
(b) Contrast the rational perspective on Swedenborg with the mystical perspective that some people have.
(c) How do you relate to both of these perspectives?

9.8.
(a) Google the expression "substantive dualism" (in quotes) and then the expression "theism and science" (in quotes). Summarize your assessment of this literature indicating how it relates to theistic psychology.

9.9.
(a) Discuss the book or movie Matrix in relation to theistic psychology. See for example:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_movie    or    www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
Alternately, you can choose the movie What Dreams May Come. See for example:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Dreams_May_Come   or   www.imdb.com/title/tt0120889/
If you prefer another choice, email the instructor or discuss it in class.


Week 10 Readings: Section 1.3.2 to 1.5

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

10.1.
(a) Explain the concept of "discrete layers of substances" in the mental world. What is the role of correspondences in maintaining these discrete layers?

10.2.
(a) Explain the meaning of "space" in the mental world of eternity.
(b) What is there in your own experience that gives you a sense of space in the mental world?
(c) What creates this appearance of space where there is none?

10.3.
(a) Define sensations, thoughts, and feelings in terms of spiritual substances.
(b) Explain this concept to a friend or two. What difficulty do they run into as they try to comprehend this new idea?
(c) What is your conclusion?

10.4.
(a) What is your idea of a vacuum as you learned it from science classes?
(b) Describe the encounter between Swedenborg and Newton where they discussed the meaning of a vacuum.
(c) What is your reaction?

10.5.
(a) Explain the difference between the concept "God as He is in Himself" vs. the concept "God as He is outside of Himself." What's the importance of making this distinction?
(b) How does this increase or change your understanding of God?

10.6.
(a) Explain the concept "being consciously in the Presence of God."
(b) Select a convenient day to practice being consciously in the presence of God.
You can do this in various ways, as you see fit, but it should involve talking to God in your mind, expressing your appreciation for all that you have and enjoy as things coming from Him.  Also, by expressing regret to Him when you think or do something that is not heavenly, like swearing, denigrating others in your mind, not doing what you know you should, procrastinating, doing something that's harmful to yourself or others, etc.
You can do this exercise regardless of what your views are about God. Just enact the role of the positive bias in science. After you had a successful day doing the above exercise, write it up by describing what you did and what the results were.
(c) What is your overall conclusion?

10.7.
(a) Explain the benefits of studying theistic psychology. For each item you mention, explain also how you relate to that particular benefit.
(b) Are you planning to continue studying theistic psychology on your own? Explain your thinking about it.

10.8.
(a) Identify five revelations found in the literal meaning of the Writings of Swedenborg.
(b) Describe each and indicate your thoughts on it. How does it relate to anything else you know about these subjects?

10.9.
(a) Google Swedenborg. What is your impression of the activity around his name. Give examples.

Report 4: due March 21. Answer Questions for Weeks 9 and 10.


 

1.5.1  Students Speak Out on Swedenborg Swedenborg

In 1981, while browsing in our university library in search of Bible commentaries, I came across a set of the works of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). I was greatly impressed by the authoritativeness and rationality with which the writer treated the major spiritual issues with which I had been concerned. Is there life after death? What is it like? How can I be sure of it? Is there Heaven and Hell? How do I prepare for Heaven? What is the role of the Bible and is it related to the science of psychology? Is spirituality compatible with science? Is there life on other planets?

In the Writings of Swedenborg I was suddenly confronted with scientific, rational, empirical and actual observational answers to these questions. Swedenborg speaks as an eyewitness reporter, a meticulous scientific observer of the spiritual world of the afterlife or eternity.

To me this was a unique claim in the history of science. Swedenborg was a reputed and well respected scientist throughout Europe. No reputable scientist in the history of science has claimed what he has claimed, namely, that he suddenly became conscious in both worlds when God appeared to him in a vision and awakened his consciousness in the spiritual mind. This is the mind that is unconscious now, while we are still conscious in our natural mind and the physical world of time and space. But when we are resuscitated a few hours after separation of our two bodies (called "dying"), we regain consciousness in our spiritual body and mind. Then we gradually forget our natural language, culture, and earthly experiences, and assume a new life in eternity with our spiritual body. We can then meet with anyone who has already died and is living in the afterlife of eternity. Swedenborg went through this resuscitation process so that he could describe it as a scientist. He observed thousands of people over a 27-year period undergo resuscitation. He interviewed many of them. He interviewed many who had undergone resuscitation ages and ages ago.

What is amazing to me is that this spiritual world of the afterlife is the same as our mental world right now!

See the Layers Diagram.

You will be studying the anatomy of the mind, that is, the anatomy of the spiritual body which contains the mental organs. Swedenborg was an expert in anatomy and many other fields of science. He discovered that we already live in the spiritual world of the afterlife because every human being is born into eternity through the spiritual body and in time through the physical body. When we are born, our conscious awareness in daily living is our natural mind. This is the lowest layer of the mental world of eternity. So we are very familiar with eternity, though only in its lowest layer called "the natural layer."

Above the natural layer is the spiritual layer which remains unconscious until our resuscitation. Then our natural mind gradually becomes unconscious and our conscious life in eternity then begins in our spiritual mind. The highest layer of the mental world, above the spiritual mind, is called the celestial mind. Those who desire to live in this layer of consciousness can. It is called the human heavens. Swedenborg often visited this region of his mind and discovered the heavenly habitations and cities and what daily life is like in that state of mind.

If Swedenborg had just made up these things as a kind of fantasy or joke or science fiction, they would not fit rationally together with all that we know in science and from Sacred Scripture.  It would be like saying, suppose you've been misled all your life and there is really no science, just some books people have written to make it look like that science is real. What you say? You might say, "Well look at all the teachers and professors I've had who teach that stuff. Have they all been hoodwinked into thinking that science is real and that all those experiments they talk about have actually been done instead of invented?"

What makes professors and students accept scientific knowledge and method as real? If science were all invented, would it fit together as it does coherently and rationally, and would it relate to the real world of engineering and manufacturing? Our acceptance of scientific knowledge and method rests on the fact that science is rational, consistent, cumulative, and productive.

 This same philosophy applied to Swedenborg's Writings shows to any serious reader that theistic psychology

  • (a) is an entire field that encompasses all of human behavior and the mind

  • (b) is a science because it is rational, consistent, cumulative, and productive

  • (c) is a science because it confirms its explanations with direct observation, cumulative data, and experimental methods.

For decades I had been relentlessly searching for methods and theories of inner growth. For my Ph.D. degree in experimental and social psychology I was trained to think with objective behavioral concepts tied into a logical, self-contained, and limited system. I was never satisfied with any of the theories and speculations which abounded within and outside traditional systems of thought in the vast literature of historical and contemporary psychology. They were all interpretive and speculative constructions -- about the mind, about the spiritual world -- and I could never bring myself to accept anything merely because it was being asserted as a possibility. I was stuck with a sense of diffidence, perhaps even discouragement, if not cynicism, when the bombshell of the Swedenborg reports exploded into my attention. Here was something totally different, entirely new. A reputable scientist bringing back data from the afterlife, not just from a single experience, or a few, but thousands, from decades of daily observations lasting for hours at a time.

I longed to share my great discovery with my colleagues and students. I started mentioning Swedenborg in my lectures whenever the topic was related to our discussions. As my research and understanding of the extensive Swedenborg reports grew, I gradually evolved a standard set of arguments and facts which form the outline of an integrated theory of human behavior. This psychological theory takes a positive bias in science , rather than a negative bias in science towards the hypothesis that the spiritual world exists.

Since I sometimes taught an undergraduate course on the History of Psychology I frequently have the opportunity in my lectures to present information from the Swedenborg reports. Almost all textbooks in this area focus on the mind/body issue viewed through a chronological exposition of writers, beginning with Ancient Greece and leading up to the twentieth century. Since the mind/body issue comes up in every chapter I am able to bring in some aspect of the Swedenborg reports throughout the semester. The last time I taught this course on the history of psychology was in the spring of 1991, at the end of the fifteen-week semester, I asked students to hand in a brief anonymous answer to the following question:

Should Swedenborg be included in the history of scientific psychology?

None of the existing textbooks in this area mention Swedenborg, and I wanted to know what would be their conclusions on this issue. Of the 23 students in the class, 13 said Yes and 10 said No. It is interesting to see the justifications they gave. Their verbatim answers follow below. These answers can be contrasted with those given by students in the past few semesters since I started teaching an entire course on Swedenborg, and especially the generations since 2004 when I started teaching theistic psychology. Student comments on theistic psychology are presented below.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Student comments in the History of Psychology classes:

1. Swedenborg tried to bring spirituality into science. He contributes to the psychology of the mind. Revelation as a phenomenon has not been disproven. Others who were wrong, were included (like Freud), so why not Swedenborg? He gives a new paradigm.

2. Swedenborg's revelations should be examined, not automatically rejected. A decision should be made whether to include it in psychology or not. We must be careful with claims about revelations since this can come from God or Satan!

3. Science deals with proving something as a fact. Since Swedenborg is the only one who experienced this revelation, it should be automatically excluded from science. Swedenborg's writings belong to religion. Therefore they must contain things that are dogmatic. Science should be free of this and only accept ideas that have a concrete basis.

4. The fact that his ideas are based on his own experiences and no one else's, makes it difficult for science to accept them. Where do we draw the line? Will we have to accept anyone's experiences? Swedenborg should be mentioned as a theory maybe, but not necessarily as fact.

5. To accept Swedenborg would be to accept the belief of God and the Spiritual World thus forcing everyone to one person's view of God. This is dogma. Science does not allow things in without proof (repeatable, observable evidence). Science rejects dogma. As far as being mentioned in the history of psychology, I think Swedenborg should be mentioned since other theorists are reviewed who were proven wrong, had no evidence, yet gave valuable avenues of thought (e.g., Freud).

6. The spiritual view of man should receive serious consideration in psychology textbooks. Since there is a God, to exclude revelation is foolish, and gives a seriously distorted view of the total human psyche. The Christian viewpoint should be included in psychology. There is no evidence that Swedenborg was mentally ill or insane, so he should be considered. Swedenborg presents a paradigm that should not be excluded.

7. Would you believe it today if someone claimed to have seen the other world? The definition of science excludes "faith" concepts. Still, as long as Swedenborg's claims are remotely possible, and have not been disproven, we shouldn't dismiss his theories, but instead, look upon them as one more paradigm. Personally, I don't think his theories would survive very long.

8. I don't have to accept Swedenborg's views but they, along with other Christian views, should be accepted into psychology, else psychology is reduced to a small area of human behavior.

9. Why include him since Swedenborg's observations are not repeatable by others, and since he requires God, which is never provable and repeatable.

10. Why exclude Swedenborg since not everything in science is provable and since God and spirituality should be part of science. Swedenborg might provide a new important paradigm for psychology.

11. Swedenborg cannot be included in the science of psychology since he has no scientific basis (repeatability, measurement, proof), and is purely personal. Similarly, Plato, Aristotle, Freud are not science.

12. In my opinion, revelation is possible so one should not totally exclude it. To exclude Swedenborg from psychology would exclude anything spiritual from it. I'm not arguing whether Swedenborg was right or wrong, but he may give us some valuable information just as Freud's theories did, although some of his work has been proven wrong.

13. Swedenborg's work is based on his experiences alone and is personal. We have no means of measuring it. How would we ever find out that what he said was true? Swedenborg has no scientific basis so he cannot be included in psychology as science. Spirit, mind, etc. are not concepts included in the definition of science (maybe philosophy, religion?). How can we explain his concepts without hard core evidence?

14. Science is based on empirical facts. Therefore, revelation should not be included in psychology unless it can be measured empirically. Swedenborg's revelations are more like a religion, a belief. On the other hand, if you can't prove that revelations don't exist, it may be true. Therefore, psychology should not rule it out.

15. I do think that Swedenborg and his revelations should be included in psychology because they can help people grow mentally. Since the history of psychology already includes the mind/body issue, why not include Swedenborg? No one has settled the debate yet.

16. In terms of scientific theory and psychology's adherence to scientific methods in the study and measurement of mental processes and behavior, revelation has not and will not be proven to be possible. Because revelation is not "real" Swedenborg's reports are not real. Therefore his reports have no scientific substance and are possibly imagined.

17. Revelation has been reported and experienced by many notables, including Swedenborg. His reports provide insight into and enlightenment of real life occurrences, as well allows one to better understand the functions of and interactions between the body, mind, and spirit. These three are central to the study of human psychology. Whether real or made up, Swedenborg's reports provide increased understanding of human psychological functions and behavior.

18. Swedenborg's reports must and should be respected as well as accepted by the science of psychology. Swedenborg's viewpoint provides another paradigmatic perspective to better understand the human psyche and gain access into learning of ultimate human functioning.

19. Swedenborg is contributing an understanding of the mind/body issue. Revelation has not been disproven, hence his ideas ought not to be excluded. The parts of Swedenborg that are psychology can be used while the religious parts can be omitted.

20. We have not proven whether revelation is real or not so how can we ignore Swedenborg's reports? That would be cutting off a possible avenue of obtaining information. I believe that revelation is possible being that there is a spiritual and a material world. Swedenborg's ideas cannot be excluded from the history of psychology on the basis of being "wrong" or else everyone else's ideas from the past have to be excluded.

21. Some of Swedenborg's ideas deal with religion, I agree, but others deal with psychology and those should be included in psychology. The definition of science makes it difficult to include Swedenborg but his ideas are too important to be ignored. They should at least be presented so that others can use them to expand on. By not including them, it means they're being rejected.

22. Swedenborg should not be include in the science of psychology. Science can be measured - how can his reports be measured? Just because he wrote so many volumes of his accounts - who is to say they weren't just imagination? I think Swedenborg should rather be included in religion because the belief is based on faith (faith in Swedenborg, that he is real).

23. Swedenborg's reports cannot be proven. His accounts can't be repeatable. True, yet taking into account previous psychologists who have not been proven right, yet they are accepted. Why can't that also be for Swedenborg? He should be included as a way to view things from a different perspective. After all shouldn't psychology be open to everything and anything in order to allow for a greater understanding of the mind?

To summarize these comments, there were 13 students (out of 23) who indicated their support for the inclusion of Swedenborg in the science of psychology, and there were 10 who were against it. The reasons for saying Yes fall into two categories. First, spirituality and revelation are real psychological phenomena of the mind (see student comments numbered 1,2,6,12,15,17,18,19,20,21,23). Second, God and religion should be part of psychology (see comments 8,10). Those who voted No also gave two main reasons. First, Science and religion should be kept separate and Swedenborg belongs to religion (see comments 3,9,16). Second, Swedenborg's experiences are not provable, repeatable, or measurable (see comments 4,5,7,13,14,22). I am delighted by these results. They show that the positive bias in science can become a new and viable paradigm for the science of psychology. In just a few weeks of listening to my sporadic references to Swedenborg, 11 of 23 senior college students were able to articulate for themselves the idea that spirituality and revelation are real psychological phenomena of the mind and should be part of the science of psychology, for which they were being professionally prepared. I am now left wondering what it would take to achieve such a success ratio with my colleagues and fellow scientists.

Sample student comments in theistic psychology classes:

I had never heard of Swedenborg and when I read his article on marriage, it reaffirmed many of my same beliefs that are different from Christian beliefs. One of the strengths of believing this way would be that the majority of people in the US believe in God. You are definitely a minority when you do not believe in God. By taking this view, God can fill in a lot of blanks that science can not fill. My view of God and science is still the same. I do not think that God should be brought into science - PERIOD. I do not trust the government and most religious folk to be impartial to all religions. We can not show favoritism when it comes to a freedom. I do believe that this approach could have a significant impact on the future development of psychology.

When I first walked into the class, I thought that Swedenborg was a crazy man. But, now I am more open to new ideas and accept ideas that other individuals might not readily agree with, such as man creating heaven and hell. I learned so much from this course, such as looking deeper within myself and about my level of thinking and I hope that the future students are able to do the same. I think that this course helps us grow individually, spiritually, and mentally. I also think that this course will help individuals search for the true meanings or purpose in their lives.

Overall, by doing this research to answer the question if Swedenborg should be included in the history of psychology, the more I believe that he definitely should be. Even if not ready or willing to completely accept Swedenborg’s idea of the spiritual world and how it governs us, people should accept it as another possible theory of why we act, think, and feel the way we do. By totally disregarding Swedenborg from the history of psychology is a shame for other’s are denied the right to decide for themselves if they want to accept Swedenborg’s psychological views of man’s existence.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459f2004/zukowski/459-g21-report2.htm


The ten students who thought that Swedenborg should not be taught said that ideas like God and the afterlife are religious ideas, not scientific ones. Since religion and science should be separate, they say that Swedenborg belongs to religion and not science.

A second group of students who said no to Swedenborg had the same problem that I expressed in many sections throughout these reports. They did not think that Swedenborg should be included because his claims are not observable to anyone else. If they are not observable to anyone else, they cannot be measured, replicated, or proved.

I do not have that problem any longer, and I really think that theistic psychology can be scientific. It happened when Dr. James said that the observations and experiments, like all observations and experiments, can be seen and repeated by anyone under the same conditions. When the person is in the right environment, the experiments can be replicated.

By studying theistic psychology, though, that’s not even really necessary. A person could run experiments to prove some ideas from theistic psychology right now by observing behavior and how it changes under varying conditions. She could also fill in the blanks of existing studies and theories with theistic psychology. So, it’s actually scientific, and people who do not think so probably have not examined theistic psychology carefully enough to understand that.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/ciano/ciano-report5.htm


The mystical perspective of Swedenborg’s writing appears mainly in Swedenborgian religions. They believe that Swedenborg was trying to describe mystical experiences in using these symbolic interpretations. These new church religions have misinterpreted what Swedenborg really was doing. He was not promoting another type of religion, but he was using his gift to scientifically report events that occur in the afterlife. His claimed purpose for such a gift was to enable show humans in scientific methods how God works in our life through rational thinking, rather than through mystical religious experiences.

The Rational Perspective

Swedenborg was given the gift of conscious dual citizenship for the Divine mission of showing others how to rationally think about God. In Theistic psychology, we can study Swedenborg and what he discovered rationally because we leave out any religious connotations. Theistic psychology agrees with Swedenborg’s observations of the spiritual world and they are considered scientific in theistic psychology, because when in the spiritual world, anyone can see what Swedenborg did, and anyone could reproduce his studies. According to theistic psychology, Swedenborg’s observations are empirical, but no one living can reproduce the conditions to replicate his experiments. Through understanding his experiments rationally, one can achieve a higher level of thinking.

My reaction to the mystical perspective is that people by nature automatically assume that when we talk about God, we are talking about religion. This is exactly what happens in the mystical perspective when people begin reading Swedenborg’s writings. They take into consideration the fact that we are dual citizens and we must live according to good and truth, and so they begin creating rules, and rituals etc. It is very easy for people to misunderstand things about God because they are uncertain about how to go about getting to heaven. I think my relation to this perspective is that I can understand how easy it is to misread things and we, including myself, need to use more caution when we automatically think we get it at a first glance, I am talking about reading text and comprehending the correct meaning.

With regard to the rational perspective, I can relate to it because we are able to really understand the meaning logically through rational thinking. This is done in theistic psychology and although people cannot believe the Swedenborg actually experienced this, if they review the writings of Swedenborg, then perhaps they will change their minds. The number one argument is that how ca this be science if only one man was able to do the experiments? How can anyone replicate them? Not every experiment needs extensive replication. People read the thesis and the methods and in good experiments the results are common sense because of our experience in the world. Not every experiment that is possible to replicate, is done so to prove a theory, especially in psychology. We cannot simply call Swedenborg’s writings invalid because of this, but rather we should look to the law of correspondences in Sacred Scripture, scientifically follow what we can of Swedenborg’s writings and see what we get there. Really, it all comes down to rationally being able to think about God’s existence.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/davis/davisreport_4.htm


When I first started this class I didn’t know what to think of Swedenborg and his claims to being conscious in the afterlife. It was hard to accept that what I have been taught all my life in church was not completely true and to have a teacher sit there and tell you that. However at the same time the information I was presented with was put in a rational and logical was that it was hard to dispute it. The other thing that I found was that it agreed with a majority of the things I was taught in church only it went into deeper detail and was very specific and left nothing up to blind faith. Till this day I cannot come to a firm decision on what perspective I side with. This new knowledge of Theistic Psychology gives me something to think about far beyond my educational means for this class.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/moore/moore-report4.hm


Taking a more scientific perspective of Swedenborg’s writing, that is with the positive bias in science, one is more inclined to understand all facets of his writing and in doing so is exposed to the hidden meaning of the New Testament, the Old Testament, and Swedenborg’s writing itself.

Through mystical religion, Swedenborg is another contributor to a religion that is slowly becoming corrupt. He is another messenger of a literal translation of sacred scripture. Each religion dwells on merely the literal translation of Sacred Scripture and every word is taken at face value.

In theistic psychology, Sacred Scripture is being translated for the hidden meaning behind what is actually written. In theistic psychology Swedenborg is the largest contributor to the ideas presented, he began the idea of theistic psychology and is much appreciated for his discoveries.

Swedenborg’s Writing is rationally analyzed by very few scientists, enlightening them on God’s plan and God’s existence in our lives, through theistic psychology, is not mysterious but thoroughly explained. By exploring the entire mental world, Swedenborg has produced answers to many questions that through religion remain mysterious. It offers answers that were not capable of being answered before. Because of this, it is a rational understanding.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/afonin/afonin-report4.htm


I think I can say his perspective can be as scientific facts because even it is not measurable, it is understandable because the reason why we can not measure it is we can not measure anything in the spiritual world because the physical world and spiritual world are completely separate. It does not matter whether it is measurable or observable for anyone, Swedenborg explained and proved enough these are not measurable and observable. He stated enough details to prove these are facts and these can be as scientific facts.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/suzuki/suzuki-report5.htm


The Writings reveal and demonstrate that all Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech transformed into a natural language.

The Writings reveal a rational method of reconstructing the original content of Divine Speech before it was transformed and written down in a natural language. We need to do be able to do this reconstruction or recovery, since the natural version of Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture is mostly natural in content and appears as history and prophecy. The spiritual information about God, the afterlife, or God's management laws of the universe, are hidden from the literal sense of Sacred Scripture. And yet it is the spiritual information that we need in order to form a rational understanding of God and how God runs the universe. We cannot invent hypothetical interpretations and hope to be fully right. Then we won't know when we are right and when wrong, and our spiritual progress will end in contradiction and conflict. Therefore God must reveal to us a rational method for recovering from Divine Speech what He tells us about the spiritual world and the rational laws He uses to manage the universe.

The Writings of Swedenborg are therefore a scientific revelation because they give us rational methods for discovering what God has been telling us through Divine Speech encoded and transformed into a natural language. Theistic psychology is the knowledge we can extract from these scientific revelations. Whatever is thus extracted must follow the laws of extraction set forth in Divine revelation. If we use other methods of extraction we get nowhere towards the truth.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459f2004/nakamura/459-g21-report2.htm


I have always been conscious of God. Since I went to church sporadically I was always taught that God was present in all that we do and watches every move we make and all that happens in the world around us. Very few of my friends went to church, so they were not at same level of consciousness of God as me. After taking this class, my level of consciousness has been elevated high above my friends.

I am now equipped with specific rational and logical explanations of what goes on in the spiritual world of the afterlife in eternity. I have also be given the instructions on how to protect myself from my inherited hellish traits in order for me to be able to give them up and choose the heaven of my mind after my resuscitation.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/inayoshi/Inayoshi-report4.htm


I’m not sure if I understand the idea of rational consciousness the way Theistic Psychology would like me to. I understand that what is physical is only surface value and there is probably a deeper meaning that we need to try to see. It sounds like Theistic Psychology would say that every action and event in the physical world has a spiritual correspondence, but I don’t think I can see things that way yet. Theistic Psychology may say that if my friend drops a pen, it means that there is some important correspondence in the spiritual world, but I would probably still view that is simply a friend dropping a pen. As far as the Bible and Sacred Scripture, I completely agree that there is more to understand than the face value that we get when we simply read the words on the page. We need to meditate on those words and try to see what God wants us to get out of those words. The interpretation I get may not be the same that Theistic Psychology would call rational thought, but it is definitely beyond what is written in physical words.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/takahashi/takahashi-report4.htm


At a rational level of understanding, the spiritual world is produced from Light and Heat from the Spiritual Sun. God is infinite who produces and created all spiritual events, which then produces natural events. Therefore everything in the mind is also products of the Spiritual Sun. This means that all mental events are produced in the spiritual body in the spiritual world. The mind in the spiritual world consists of our thoughts and feelings made from the substances of the Spiritual Sun.

b) Since the goal of theistic psychology is to enhance and prepare the quality of one’s life for eternity, theistic psychology needs to develop the consciousness from scientific revelations to provide us with the Divine Truth from the Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture. People need to be taught and understand scientific revelations in a rational way to become knowledgeable of God’s plan for us. With this true knowledge our mind is capable of rationally building a heaven for eternity.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2006/bulda/bulda-459-g24-report2.htm


People should be concerned about their afterlife because according to theistic psychology when we are in the physical world, we are actually preparing our life in the spiritual world that is for eternity. In the physical world we are creating our own environment for our eternity. Since all of our affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor organs are recording all of our thoughts, feelings and sensations while in the natural world, we must learn to live righteously according to God’s Divine Speech.

With this true knowledge our mind is capable of rationally building a heaven for eternity. If we are not knowledgeable of the Divine Truth of God and choose to believe the false loves in our life in the physical world then we have chosen to live in the hells of our mind for eternity. After we have past and are resuscitated, we will see the spiritual world as we have developed and created it while on earth.

(e) The vertical community is located in the spiritual world in which the spiritual body can be seen, heard, touched by other spiritual bodies in the spiritual world. Communication in the vertical community only occurs when there are similar thoughts and feelings amongst other minds of different spirits. This means that we are never alone in our thoughts and feelings because we are not capable of doing so without the association of other minds.

People should focus on their dual citizenship because our thoughts and feelings in the natural world affect our environment in the spiritual world forever. Since we are dual citizens, whatever we feel, think, or sensate on earth will be permanent in our spiritual mind. When we are resuscitated after we pass, we will end up associating in a vertical community with those having the same thoughts of feelings.

Another reason why people should be concerned of their dual citizenship is because when we are resuscitated, we will begin to see God’s spiritual world as a process, but only those who have opened up their internal-natural organ and have built a rational level of thinking will be able to be prepared for the rejections of the loves of hell that will be presented to them to choose for eternity.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2006/bulda/bulda-459-g24-report2.htm


Growing up in a Swedenborgian society I was always taught that the natural world was correspondential to what is happening in the spiritual world. However, this is a difficult concept to grasp when you are young. It was not until the onset of my young adulthood that I was able to formulate a rational idea of this concept. Although the idea that science and religion can be very well connected it did not appear to me that that was what the world as a whole understood. It still seemed to be in ignorance on the matter. Because of the worlds inability to understand the relationship of religion and science it either completely abandoned one of the two. Thus we get atheistic science, and religions that completely disregard scientific findings. Thus we get the dichotomization of science and religion.

This dichotomy is not a universal perspective though. There seems to be a growing attempt at finding ways to integrate the two. The focus of my research on the web was to see some of the ways people have been trying to incorporate science and religion together. The following discussions are about those attempts and how they can be compared to theistic science. (...)

Imagine how scientists would react if they found out that science could investigate the afterlife, heaven, hell, Gods relation to man, and all things related to spiritual? Swedenborg did just that! It was the scientific investigation of the spiritual realm. It is the bridge between science and religion. The problem is that most people refuse to believe that Swedenborg had access to the spiritual. The gap between science and religion is here, but the rigid closure of peoples mind is what makes the bridge seem inexistent. (...)

Theistic psychology is the incorporation of God and spirituality into modern science and psychology using the works of Emanuel Swedenborg. Swedenborg was an 18th century scientist who was given by God access to the spiritual world. Having his spiritual eyes open, Swedenborg had many discussions with angels and spirits in the spiritual world. Through the discussions, observations, and experiments he did in the spiritual world he was able to write down many volumes to describe the spiritual world and how it operated and related to the natural world.

Psychology and science today function from a monistic and materialistic perspective. Because of this it functions from the atheistic perspective also. All theories involved in modern science are based on a rational account of the empirical investigation of the natural world. According to science today, all things the in world have their cause in the natural, physical world.

Theistic psychology and science function from dualism rather than monism. It sees the mind as something entirely separate from the body and the brain. This is one of the most distinct differences between theistic psychology and psychology today. To theistic psychology the mind is something that is spiritual and eternal. It is what makes up our spiritual lives. The brain and the body are just things that the mind work through in order to function in the natural world. But when we die in this world our body and brain cease to exist while our mind endures forever. (...)

This is where the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg become so important. Because the mind is spiritual one needs revelation in order to truly understand it. The mind is an extremely complex entity that we can only begin to truly understand while we are in the natural world, but the divine revelations of Emanuel Swedenborg allow one to begin to cohere how it functions and works.

In order to understand how the mind (which is spiritual) works, one has to go back to the Primary Cause of all things which is God. God is the perpetual creator and maintainer of all things in the universe. If one were to erase God than all else would fail to exist, for an effect cannot exist without its cause, and God is the cause of all life. The first emanation from God is the spiritual sun, which exists in the spiritual world and is only visible to angels in the three heavens. This effulgent sun radiates divine heat and divine light. This comes forth in the spiritual substances of divine love and wisdom, also known as good and truth. Good and truth are what give life to everything in the universe, just as the light and heat of the natural sun is the external cause of all things in the natural world. Through the divine process of influx every individual receives infinite divine love and wisdom from God. The internal mind is the vessel for these spiritual substances. The will receives divine love, and the understanding receives divine wisdom. Our life is imperatively dependent on the constant influx of the spiritual substances of divine love and wisdom. Without this influx we would cease to exist. The state of our mind is directly proportional to our reception or rejection of these spiritual substances. www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2004/cooper/report1.htm


The main problem I have with accepting that the Writings are factual is that they are not verifiable. We can not truly be sure that Swedenborg actually did travel throughout the spiritual world. Eventually we will be able to test his data, but this will only happen when we die and go to the spiritual world. I do not see how there is any way to test the validity of his Writings in this world. This is why that I think that until the Writings can be shown to be true and accurate descriptions of heaven and hell, then we have nothing to stand as the basis for theistic psychology. Theistic psychology seems similar to religion, in that we must use faith to believe that these Writings are scientific. Also, even though the Writings are consistent with other known facts and consistent within themselves, that does not necessarily mean that they are factual. I think that the Writings are different from other theories (such as those of Freud) because those theories are verifiable. We could show that some of Freud’s theories are false. How will we ever be able to do such tests with the Writings? I do not think that they should be considered scientific theory because there is no way to show that they are either true or false. However, until the Writings of Swedenborg are shown to be scientific and rational revelations, I will keep the positive bias in science and know that it is possible that this is exactly what they are. On the other hand, there is no evidence that shows that Swedenborg was not schizophrenic or delusional, so I will also keep the positive bias in science that it is possible this is exactly what he was.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2004/howard/459report1.htm


We should be thankful for Emanuel Swedenborg. His contributions to the world scientifically and spiritually are numerous and his ability to live in the spiritual world and physical world is evidence that there is a higher divine being. [TP 1.0 section 7] This divine being is called the Divine Psychologist. The Divine Psychologist is a very important factor in Theistic Psychology. When one reads about the Divine Psychologist in the Sacred Scriptures the term Divine Psychologist refers to God, an omnipotent and human being. God in theistic Psychology is equivalent to, Divine Human in Whom infinite things are one, Divine Love proceeding as Divine Truth, Spiritual Sun, love, and spiritual light, the Divine Speech, Sacred Scripture, God's blueprint for running the universe, mental development. He is considered a “human being” because like a human being, the Divine Psychologist has thoughts and feelings. Knowing that God has thoughts and feelings like us, allows us to form a closure bond with him. In every major religion and even in our modern day dictionary, there is a similar thread of God as an omnipotent, thoughtful and a caring authority.

One must accept this concept because by accepting that there is a God, people will know that there is something more to the physical world than what we see. After we die, there is a heaven and a hell (that we create) depending whether or not we live our lives according to God’s teachings. If the concept was left out for the reason of acceptance, than people will have no one to build a relationship with or communicate with. The concept of God will allow one to understand why things are the way they are in the physical world and why the world was created and works. This understanding will lead a person to want to build an in-depth relationship with the Divine Being, a relationship that would be nonexistent if the concept of God disappeared. There should be no alternative to the Divine Psychologist. Either you accept the concept as a whole, or not at all. The relationship between the Divine Psychologist and the human psychologist is that the Divine Psychologist shows the human psychologist a deeper meaning in life.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2006/jones/jones-459-g24-report1.htm


I believe in the idea of God and a guardian angel. I have always believed in this idea since I was a young child. I would not need to change in my ideas to accept the idea of the Divine Psychologist. The psychology of cooperation is our cooperation as a person with the Divine Psychologist. We must cooperate by examining our inner life, judging it by means of the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture, cease doing what is not allowed or condemned thereby, and start doing what is allowed or commanded. By doing this we will prepare our minds to not give into temptations and help ourselves created a more spiritual heaven in our mind.

This could be something that is important to me right now because I do not know when I am going to die and when I do I want to be prepared mentally to go to heaven. I know that I do not want to spend eternity in the hell of my mind. I think that if I start slowly not in the future choosing to do good and not give into evil tendencies will be easier and more instinctive. I think that everyone should be trying to do good and choosing that over evil temptations. (...)

I learned that one must give up their hellish traits and embrace heavenly loves to get into the spiritual world. I learned about reformation and the second death. I realized that I will need to chose all my heaven loves over my hellish loves. I know now that I need to focus on all the good and rational thinking. I need to let go my evil thoughts and irrationality. It helped me learn what is important in my life.

I learned that there is one omnipotent God and I realized that I need to be more careful on what I do on earth because it will effect my afterlife. I learned that there are in fact angels and devils. I learned that there is a afterlife, a heaven or a hell. I learned that there is more life than this natural earth and there is more to look forward to after our physical death. It gave me more to look forward to.

I have learned so much in theistic psychology over this one semester that I do not know where to start or where to end. I have learned such valuable life information. I know that it has made me more educated and helped me know how to change my life for the better. I learned about heaven traits vs. hell traits and I think for me that was the most important. It made me realize that I need to be a better person so that I can prepare my mind for the spiritual heaven. I know what I need to work on.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2005/alcover/alcover-459-g23-report2.htm


It is apparent that students new to the idea of Swedenborg always have doubts. And the first day of class (and most classes thereafter) there will be one student who asks a question of skepticism. I think you should use this inevitability as an asset to the class. If someone asks the question “How the heck is it possible that the spiritual world is shaped like a human???” Let him have his doubt, then ask either for the whole class or specific volunteers to search for information on The Grand Human and also bring in any info their own religion/beliefs has on the shape of the spiritual world (if there is any).

Next class period, re-raise the question and let the other students answer him. Then look at the Buddhist view, or the Mormon view on the shape of the spiritual world and see the connections between what Swedenborg wrote and what they believe. This will put the universal quality of Swedenborg in light and quicken the process of making that connection between one’s own beliefs and how Swedenborg does not contradict religions, he helps explain them on a much higher level. This is a connection which would most likely happen later in the course anyway, but I think discussions setup like this would speed up the process.

Also, having the students ask the questions and answer the questions will give them motivation to explore the Writings independently. I like the idea of bringing religions into the discussion, because it is real. Even if having a religious viewpoint is evidence of a natural minded thinking, people are more familiar and more comfortable with religion than with higher spirituality. Showing them, or rather, letting them show each other, the connections between religions and having them see the Swedenborg Reports cannot fall into one of these categories, but the umbrellas will help you and the students find common ground.

Also using more contemporary examples and vocabulary would help students make the connection between what Swedenborg writes about and what they are living now, in the 21st Century. There is defiantly a way to bridge the chasm between his understanding/your understanding and ours. Relate the vortex of the mind to that guilty à angry sequence of feelings one goes through when they are caught making a mistake. Explain the mental pathways in terms of REAL life. The thought process you have to go through in order to say no to cheating on your spouse, or explain why it is so difficult to say no to getting a beer with the guys even though you don’t drink! It’s because you are not just grappling with wanting to drink alcohol, you are fighting against the evil spirits in HELL!

I think it is hard for many people to see the relevance of something that happened 2000 years ago (Jesus’ death) or the relevance of the spiritual world in their bill paying, cell phone talking, test cramming life of today. That’s where you come in. You can show people how the actions of today can have eternal implications! Explain to them how the more they resist extramarital sex, excessive drinking and drugs the stronger their character will be!

There are so many young adults who have been completely turned off to the Bible and the idea of God after bad experiences in their life, and through your class you can explain to them the meaning within the Bible. The exciting significance of MISTAKES in our lives and how they are representative of our spiritual placement! There is extreme relevance in the Bible and in the Writings that lost young adults do not readily see and you have the opportunity to open their eyes, so God can save their lives.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2005/swenson/459-g22-report2.htm


I am better able to look at my own thoughts and experiences and understand how I need to change my behavior in order to have a deeper connection with God. I want to personally grow emotionally, mentally and spiritually and I feel that Theistic Psychology has helped me to do so. However, I have only just begun this long journey and have a lot of work ahead of me!

As I stated above, this course has given me answers to a lot of confusion that I have had about various religious groups and the people who belong to them. I feel like I understand their behavior more rationally and can look at them from a perspective that is not hostile or discriminatory (merely because I haven’t understood) and now I can be more accepting and loving in my approach to other people.

I agree with the perspective of Theistic Psychology because it makes sense! Plain and simple. A student in class on the first day had taken this course before. She could tell we all thought our teacher was insane for teaching a course like this, and she said, “just wait, it makes perfect sense, and you will understand, just give it a try.” She was right, I did and it does make sense. When something rings true for you, and you understand rationally, you can accept it as truth and begin to incorporate it into your life.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2005/beard/459-g22-report2.htm


Theistic Psychology offers a scientific approach that completes the religious perspective and makes it true and rational by explaining the reality of God. The incomplete perspective that religions preach are the cause negative aspects associated with religion. Theistic psychology completes and extracts the true meaning of Sacred Scripture by means of scientific revelations.

While theistic psychology consistently remains rational and scientific, religion is driven by blind faith and mysticism. Religion is dependent on the membership of the community and is based on the member’s willingness to believe the teachings of a particular prophet. It is only obvious that when mystical groups are formed on belief systems, the outcome will include a diversity of religions because different people acquire different beliefs while growing up.

The different beliefs are shown when different religions interpret and explain the same phenomena or events provided in sacred scripture in different ways with different contradictory meanings. Religions apply the literal meaning of the Bible and their membership is mostly based with associating God with history and culture. Theistic psychology is universal and when the true scientific meaning is extracted from the literal sentences through correspondence, the scripture becomes universal and useful for all mankind.

Theistic psychology derives the scientific explanation for the terms and concepts used in religion. This is possible through correspondences found in the terms used in religious practices. The correspondences help us “translate” the hidden revelations in the literal sentences of sacred scripture. The science of correspondences helps us decode the true rational meaning expressed in the Bible. Now that these correspondences are available to us we can understand what constitutes as sin, salvation, hell, heaven, omnipotence, prayer, etc. rather than believe the interpretations of these terms.
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2005/valle/459-g22-report2.htm#PriorGenerations


The Divine Psychologist is the key to understanding Theistic Psychology’s role in today’s society. Depending on our thoughts and actions in the Spiritual World, we can be sent to the heaven or hells of our mind. What the Divine Psychologist does is try to test us with our hellish thoughts to make us stronger within the heavens of our mind. It is through Him that we can make ourselves better people and to understand our limitations and to embrace them.

The Divine Psychologist is there to guide us and to challenge us. He is the one who allows us to become better than we currently are and be in a state of always trying to improve ourselves. It is because of Him that we are able to live in the heavens of our mind, if we are willing to accept what He has to give us.

d) In order for someone to believe in the value of the teachings of Theistic Psychology, you must take on the positive bias. All that the positive bias asks is that you, as a student of Theistic Psychology, consider the possibility that the writings of Swedenborg are empirical and can be proven- just not in the natural world.

By taking on the positive bias, the student can reap the full benefits of all that Theistic Psychology is teaching. It may be difficult because we are taught through science that we need physical evidence that things happen in order for us to believe it. That is the negative bias. (...)

This course has given me a better idea of heaven and hell because what was said through the readings and discussions in class painted a more rational picture. It makes sense that in heaven we are not in the natural world and that we are close to God. It also made sense that hell is a place that seems dark and scary from the viewpoint of someone who does not want to be there. What I found really interesting was learning how one gets to heaven or hell. Religion has always made it known that you go to hell because you sinned and God put you there when you die. It is reassuring to know that we determine our own afterlife based on our ruling loves. (...)

The first thing I think any student of Theistic Psychology should know is to accept the positive bias. All Dr. James asks is to accept the possibility that God exists, he does not say you have to believe in it. Once you accept the possibility your studies in Theistic Psychology will become much easier and then you can form your own beliefs once you gain enough insight into what Theistic Psychology is telling you.

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2005/sonoda/report2.htm


We must cooperate with the Divine Psychologist by the daily practices of self-witnessing. This can be considered a spiritual practice because it involves the motivation of doing for the purpose of our character reformation which will be very important in the afterlife. This is one of the main important topic in theistic psychology.

Self-witnessing is the self-observation of our feelings, intentions, thoughts, perceptions, focus of attention, social appearance, and actions or movements of the body, hands, legs, eyes, etc. These are the procedures that every individual accomplishes in the course of their entire life in a group or society. These procedures can be observed by our self-monitoring skills, when we are fully motivated by the spiritual discipline.

Our task in cooperating with the Divine Psychologist is to exert the mental effort of:

(a) examining our inner life

(b) judging it by means of the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture

(c) cease doing what is not allowed or condemned thereby

(d) start doing what is allowed or commanded

This process prepares your mind for temptations, the main method the Divine Psychologist does to regenerate our will or what is known as our affective organ, from hellish to heavenly. This will help in reformation. A new affective organ is provided which is then grown and expanded gradually as the person is regenerating. There are natural, spiritual, and celestial temptations, and each category has a developmental series that must be started or experienced. The result is a spiritual heaven in our spiritual mind that is prepared and ready for each of us, as we undergo the second death or reformation of our mind. (...)

I believe in the idea of God and a guardian angel. I have always believed in this idea since I was a young child. I would not need to change in my ideas to accept the idea of the Divine Psychologist. The psychology of cooperation is our cooperation as a person with the Divine Psychologist. We must cooperate by examining our inner life, judging it by means of the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture, cease doing what is not allowed or condemned thereby, and start doing what is allowed or commanded. By doing this we will prepare our minds to not give into temptations and help ourselves created a more spiritual heaven in our mind. (...)

This could be something that is important to me right now because I do not know when I am going to die and when I do I want to be prepared mentally to go to heaven. I know that I do not want to spend eternity in the hell of my mind. I think that if I start slowly not in the future choosing to do good and not give into evil tendencies will be easier and more instinctive. I think that everyone should be trying to do good and choosing that over evil temptations. (...)

I learned that even though one is married on earth in the natural life. After natural death and while in the spiritual world one may get remarried to someone who is more compatible and suitable for that person or wait for their husband/wife if they are meant to be. I found this very surprising and interesting. It just made me realize that I need to be more aware who I chose to end up with. I hope that I find my soul mate and end up in complete happiness. (...)

I have learned so much in theistic psychology over this one semester that I do not know where to start or where to end. I have learned such valuable life information. I know that it has made me more educated and helped me know how to change my life for the better. I learned about heaven traits vs. hell traits and I think for me that was the most important. It made me realize that I need to be a better person so that I can prepare my mind for the spiritual heaven. I know what I need to work on. (...)

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2005/alcover/alcover-459-g23-report2.htm


The concept of the Divine Psychologist is a very essential feature of theistic psychology [TP Section 6.3.1.1.1 (IX)]. The purpose and function of every concept in theistic psychology is to develop and open up the interior-spiritual organ, to do our thinking and reasoning through spiritual-rational concepts of the Divine Speech rather than through natural-rational concepts of Divine Speech. The Divine Psychologist cooperates with our minds to reason and to think rationally about the decisions that we make everyday. The Divine Psychologist is God who is omnipotence and omnipresence in everything we do and think. It is through Gods’ Divine Speech that we are constantly trying to understand the underlying meaning of Sacred Scripture that is universal, and biological throughout the entire human race, which, are presented in the Old Testament, New Testament, and the Writings Sacred Scriptures. (...)

I had always believed that God was omnipotent and omnipresence. I had never pictured the Divine Psychologist as a scientific concept or as a collector of my feelings of heaven or hells to be built in my spiritual heaven and spiritual hell of my mind yet; I can easily comprehend how God helps me to make decisions throughout my day to be as altruistic as I can so far understand. In order for me to fully accept every idea as completely real in my life, I would have to presume the positive bias role. From this position, I am able to open up my spiritual rational organ to understand the underlying meanings of the Sacred Scriptures that I have already been exposed to from my religious background. I can then allow self-witnessing to occur to self-modify my actions to prepare my own spiritual heaven. (...)

The Divine Psychologist was present in my thoughts about indulging into more chocolates. I began to think of the unnecessary excess amounts of chocolates that I wanted to continue to eat, but this behavior would not be rational at all. Because I was fantasizing a hellish enjoyment, due to the fact that I was eating it because I was sad, I realized that this chocolate has nothing to do with my own true happiness. This chocolate will not bring me happiness to my mind, but instead it will allow me to destroy my physical body which is a part of God. From this Monday night, I would have to self-modify my habits into healthy habits that instead of being in pursuit of my selfish temporary happiness, into habits for the sake of Gods’ pure Love, which will build my eternal heavens. (...)

My assessment of how other classmates react to the study of theistic psychology is that the entire class can understand the concept but may not believe it to be true. In my class, the students are all very intelligent and with some studying on their own time, each of my classmates is capable of explaining the specific concepts that we have so far discussed. Although each student can understand the concepts of theistic psychology, I don’t believe that they will take the concepts seriously to model their life accordingly. The entire class has a somewhat negative bias in general, but will assume the positive bias role in order to understand the concept. Most of us are very shocked and overwhelmed by the new theory we are presented with, but are very eager to understand the concept. (...)

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2006/bulda/bulda-459-g24-report1.htm


The term mental biology was hard for me to understand when I first heard about it. It took me a little while before I understood what this term meant. As we started to discuss this topic more in class, I could see how it was related to almost everything in theistic psychology. Mental biology is a very important aspect in understanding certain things in theistic psychology and how they relate to other topics.

The way that I understand mental biology is that it is the basis of how our physical body is able to do things that we are subconsciously unaware of. Some examples of this are looking at certain things or walking. How do we know we are doing this? It feels so natural to us to do these things, but if you think rationally, you must believe that there is somewhere that these actions and movements have derived from. They could not have possibly have been created out of thin air.

We are able to move in our physical world through the meaning of mental biology. In order for us to move, our affective organ and cognitive organ must work together in harmony. Our cognitive organ is important in that it controls our thinking, which occurs in our mind. Our affective organ is important because it is our source or motivation. Thinking about it rationally, without the unity of these two organs we would not be able to create movement. Using the example of walking, the cognitive organ, which is involved with thinking, is thinking about how to walk. On the other hand, the affective organ is the motivational force that is giving the purpose for walking. Therefore we are thinking and wanting to walk. One may say how can this be possible, because they are not thinking about walking, but rather the legs just do it by themselves. (...)

By learning this diagram I have opened myself up to the possibility of theistic psychology. Prior to this I had no idea of how any of these things worked. To be really honest I didn’t really care. Learning this has not contradicted anything I believed in because I really didn’t know what to believe, and I had no beliefs about it. I’m glad that I have learned this because it has expanded my knowledge to other possibilities and have gave me some answers to questions that I have always pondered. (...)

I personally think that this is a great concept. I think that this is the only rational way for God to maintain order in the universe and at the same time grant us free will. I think that this concept of as-of-self is a perfect way to put how God is able to give us freedom and at the same time omnipotent. I can easily accept this concept because I can see the rationality and fairness in it. I don’t think that I would be able to think of another way to set up a system like this. I don’t think that it is important that you accept this concept because I think that the bottom line is that you feel that you have your own personal freedom. As long as you feel that you have this freedom you will be happy and have the opportunity to decide what you do on a daily basis, and where you will end up in the after life. (...)

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2006/chang/chang-459-g24-report2.htm


Through this class, I discussed many times about theistic psychological view, but no one has positive bias unfortunately. It is because of their lack of knowledge about theistic psychology and also lack of my explanation about concepts of theistic psychology.

However, their fundamental position of negative bias is based on monism or materialism. Most of my friends said if Swedenborg saw what happens in the spiritual world, he had to prove why he could acquire the ability. He could not say just when he was 57 years old, he became to see and experience both spiritual and physical worlds at the same time. If he proved it experimentally or scientifically, more people can be able to believe and understand what he said because if people can not understand and believe why he acquired the skill, people might just think he made up a story.

I agree what my friends said, yet I also could say the Writing of Swedenborg might be true because it is consistent and valuable for each person’s life. (...)

As I mentioned several times, the basic concepts of theistic psychology were super hard for me. For example, the existence of God as a scientific fact, afterlife, mental levels, etc were unfamiliar to me before. Dr. James said in class once that all science should follow the theistic psychological views. When he said, my reaction was “WHAT!?” because I thought what he meant was we have to think everything based on the God. At that time, I still kept thinking that the theistic psychology is kind of a religious belief. Now, I understand that every feelings and thoughts are in our mind and these are correlated to the God. (...)

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/suzuki/suzuki-report5.htm


Seeing God as a person is dependant on the thinking, feeling, acting aspects of God, but to love God as truth, a person would have to see the reality, the essence, or the essential idea behind God as a person. The idea of the idea behind God as a person becomes the significant understanding that people who live in the celestial layer have, which creates a perspective that allows them to love good and truth as God. (...)

I can imagine having this view of God and the universe, and I think it would be wonderful. It seems like something that people should be able to appreciate and want to work towards. Existing in the celestial mind is something that I think people would look forward to if they knew about it. Also, knowing that higher perspectives are out there is motivation for people, I think, to cultivate understanding as high as possible now since they can see what is available later if they reach for it and make it possible. (...)

I can have a positive bias that Swedenborg made the observations, but I still think it takes a leap of faith to call it science when it’s impossible to replicate until death. I can see how it might be science, though, with enough understanding of theistic psychology.

Not every experiment needs extensive replication. People read the thesis and the methods and in good experiments the results are common sense because of our experience in the world. Some experiments are replicated by people on a daily basis in their lives because the effect is the law of the world. I think the principles of theistic psychology work. If someone sees them and practices them in their daily lives and thinks rationally about it all the time, Swedenborg’s results may just become logical sense, like saying “What goes up must come down.” (...)

It is not the physical layer in which God exists. God is in the mental world and is the essential idea behind every object, and he is the most true, most pure essence of everything. Since the physical is the least true, complete form that things can take, we might know that God does not exist in the physical.

Despite the surface deceptiveness to our natural minds, the physical is still good and true, but it is good and true because it is connected to its own spiritual layers through laws of correspondences. The physical is the end result of causes in the mental or spiritual layers, the inmost being God. So, everything is caused by God.

The laws of correspondences do not only work for each object in the physical world. Correspondences work for the whole physical world and the whole mental world. The mental world is not private. All humans share it and live in it, and it is created in correspondence with God’s thoughts. The mental world is both our thoughts and the world we live in and become conscious of after death. Each discrete layer in every physical person and object correlates with a layer of the mental world, and is that layer of the mental world.

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/ciano/ciano-report4.htm 


This concept can directly apply to me. When I go to church and focus on the teachings of God or Sacred Scripture I am taught heavenly ways. With these heavenly thoughts and feelings in my mind I am closely conjoined with God, because if my thoughts and feelings are focused on my heavens the closer I can be conjoined to God and the more good and truth I can receive from Him.

This also applies to me because God is conjoined to me in my mental mind and my thoughts and feelings. He has extended Himself to me. It is important to note that the parts of Himself that He has extended to me is not mine but His.

A new application I found is that religion can help someone regardless of the particular religion, as long as it is based on the Sacred Scripture. As long as hellish traits are minimized and heavenly traits are focused on, they can be closely conjoined with God; receiving more of the substances of good and truth from Him. This knowledge could be very helpful if more people knew about it. So many religious groups are so focused on which church is the “right” or “true” church, when really all the churches that base their teachings on sacred scripture are helping human beings in the same way. This knowledge can be used to end many “holy” wars in the middle east and in the holy land of Jerusalem. (...)

God hides his sensuous presence in the natural mind and rational mind due to the very reason why we are put here on Earth. We are put here on Earth because when we are born we have inherited hells and heavens already in our body. In order for us to be “accountable” for our actions we must have an equal chance to either dwell in our hells or dwell in our heavens.

Due to this necessity of freedom of choice God needs to stay hidden so that one can make their freedom of choice on their own, of self effort and one’s willingness to resist temptations. If God would revile himself people will not be given the choice to reject Him. (...)

This is the most difficult question I have had to answer so far. The reason is because I can not find anything in his reports I have objections with. Everything he has said goes along with what I have been taught and believe in. This makes understanding the Swedenborg reports easy for me. In fact, I find that it is easier to understand then sacred scripture. These reports are written so logically it is hard to find objections. Rather then finding objections to his writings there is one topic I think I need more explanation and clarification on

In stead of listing some objections I will just talk about a topic I need clarification on. The issue is that our spiritual or mental body is not in existence until we are born. I was always taught that we exist in the spirit world where we stay until it is out time to get a physical body and come to Earth. I was taught that our families were already planned in heaven where we choose who are parents were going to be. Again in agreement with theistic psychology we need to come to Earth so we can have the opportunity to choose to accept God or reject Him. I find it hard to understand that if or mental body is eternal how can it be created when we are born; instead of already existing and only the physical body is created at conception.

For the time being my current position on this issue is going to remain at what I have been taught by my religion. I am sure there may be missing information from my religion and/or from theistic psychology that can better help me understand this issue. I am not saying that theistic psychology is wrong or that my religion is wrong, only that I need more information until I can make a decision on which stance I find more logical and rational.

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459f2006/moore/moore-report2.htm


I react to this knowledge in the positive bias in science. We must assume it as a possibility and move forward logically from there. When you take it in from that standpoint, you can see clearly that this is highly useful and inspirational knowledge to come across.

It is very useful because it allows us to see the world more clearly and under the right light. Also, it gives us the opportunity to find a treasure trove of information previously unseen in the sacred scripture. There is a plethora of information and guidance pertaining to the world, God, and the universe, including how it functions. More importantly, it tells us how we should live our lives and what we need to do to ensure that we are aligning ourselves properly in preparation for the afterlife.

It is inspirational in its’ messages of love and truth. It is profound knowledge that motivates one to be a better person and to fight to improve oneself in all ways. If everyone was made aware of the truth in this information, then the world would be a better place. (...)

Swedenborg has told us of the nature of one’s life in eternity. Before, we had no idea of what the afterlife would be like. But Swedenborg experienced it first hand and can tell us exactly how things work there and what it will be like. This is very helpful information and enables us to relieve some of the tension and anxiety we may have felt about dying. (...)

It seems to me that people are becoming more and more aware of the experiences of Emmanuel Swedenborg and they were very inspired by them. People want to spread the information that they have come across and many people do it just out of interest alone, but many are also taking a more religious perspective on this. At the far end of the spectrum, people like Dr. James are starting to see the more scientific aspects of Swedenborg’s writings.

So, it looks like people first become interested in Swedenborg’s writings simply because they present novel ideas, then they start to believe in it in a religious sense, although only in a mystical way. Finally, they start to realize the scientific truth in it, and they start to rationalize, and finally at this point they are starting to see things in a spiritual way like God intended. So you can see the progress of human understanding of Swedenborg’s revelations. It is very interesting to watch these changes in people indeed. (...)

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2007/rupp/rupp-report4.htm


I have learned so much this past semester and I appreciate it because I was not expecting to learn as much as I did. I would have to agree with Bering that culture is a big factor in our spirituality and that our behavior is a big factor in where we go after we die. I will not take this class for granted because it has taught me how to be a better person by reading articles from different people like Swedenborg and Bering. I was always in the positive bias and now that I was able to use that perspective in this class, it will always be in my heart that I am a part of the positive bias. Science is everywhere and it can be hard at times to learn in a class that is negative bias based. I believe that God helps me through it and I am happy that I took a class that was based on the positive bias. (...)

I can definitely see the differences in each student’s reports about how they were first skeptical about taking this class in the beginning and did not know what they were getting themselves into. I can see the transformation of people being a part of the negative bias in report one, and than seeing them start seeing that the positive bias would actually help them get through this class. It was amazing seeing students putting feedback in what they believe in spiritually because this allows me to see where I am with God. I enjoyed reading the other students reports because it actually gave me a better perspective about how theistic psychology works. To be honest with you, I don’t think I would be this far in the class if it was not for the students because they have helped me outside of class with my reports. That is something I will never take for granted. (...)

The main message that God is trying to tell us in life is that we need to follow Him in order to conjoin with Him after we die. He wants us to live a life of pure behavior so that we will not spend an eternity in Hell. God does not like watching people go to hell because they will be going through pain and death for eternity. He is heart broken by this and wants everyone to see that He is the light. He is a God like no other. He is not a god that is made out of gold and has to have food presented towards it; He is a God that has all of the power in the universe. He created the universe and every single one of us. He has a plan for us and we have to listen to God for what that plan is and than follow His path so that we can fulfill it. (...)

Theistic psychology has taught a lot about God and I appreciated this class so much because I have never taken a college course that was based on God! I will never take this class for granted and I am looking forward to telling others about how God can save them and that He has a plan for every one of them no matter what they are going through. I am glad that I took this course and I hope that it will be worth it for you too.

www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/459s2007/sepkowski/sepkowski-report%205.htm



To see a list of student reports in theistic psychology:
        www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/index.htm#part2 

To see the list of prior generation student reports on their study of Swedenborg, see here:
            www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/swedenborg.html#students

 

 1.5.1.1  The Swedenborg Reports

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

CL 326. To this I will append two narrative accounts [about Swedenborg's experiences in the spiritual world]. Here is the first:

After the question concerning the soul had been discussed in the school and answered, I saw the people going out in order, the headmaster in front, after him the older men, with the five young men who had responded to the question in the midst of them, and after them the rest. As they left the building, they went around to the sides, where there were walkways surrounded by bushes. And gathering there, they broke up into small groups, all of them circles of young men conversing on matters of wisdom, with one of the wiser men from the balcony in each.

Seeing them from my place of lodging, I entered a state of the spirit and in the spirit went out to them. And there I went over to the headmaster, who a little before had posed the question concerning the soul.
When he saw me he said, "Who are you? As I watched you approaching on the way here, I was astonished to see that one minute you would pop into view, the next minute drop out of sight, so that one moment I would see you and suddenly then not. Surely you are not in the same life-state as our people."

Gently laughing at this I replied, "I am not a marionette, nor a chameleon, but I am one who alternates, being sometimes in your light and sometimes not, so that I am an alien and at the same time a native."

[2] At this the headmaster looked at me and said, "These are strange and extraordinary things you are saying. Tell me who you are."

So I said, "I live in the world in which you once lived and from which you have departed, which is called the natural world; and I live as well in the world into which you have come and in which you are now living, which is called the spiritual world. I am as a result in a natural state and at the same time a spiritual one - in a natural state when I am with people on earth, and in a spiritual state when I am with you. Moreover, when I am in a natural state, I am not visible to you; but when I am in a spiritual state, I am. To be as I am is something I have been given by the Lord.

"Being an enlightened man, you know that an inhabitant of the natural world does not see an inhabitant of the spiritual world, or vice versa. Therefore when I conveyed my spirit into my body, you did not see me; but when I conveyed it out of my body, you did.

"You also taught in your school exercise that you are souls, and that souls see souls because they are human forms. But you know that you did not see yourselves or your souls within your bodies when you were in the natural world. This fact is due to the difference that exists between something spiritual and something natural."

[3] When he heard me mention a difference between something spiritual and something natural, he said, "What is the difference? It is not like the difference between something more pure and something less so? So what is something spiritual but a purer form of something natural."

But I replied, "That is not what the difference is, but it is as the difference between something prior and something subsequent, between which there is no finite relationship. For the prior is in the subsequent, as a cause in its effect, and the subsequent exists from the prior, as an effect from its cause. That is why the one is not visible to the other."
To this the headmaster said, "I have reflected and ruminated on the difference, but so far in vain. I would like to have some concept of it."

[4] So I said, "You shall not only have a concept of the difference between something spiritual and something natural, but you will even witness the difference." Whereupon I spoke to him as follows:

"You are in a spiritual state when you are with your own people, but in a natural state with me; for you speak with your associates in spiritual language, the common language of every spirit and angel, whereas with me you speak in my native tongue. Indeed, every spirit or angel in speaking with a mortal person uses the person's customary language, thus speaking French with a Frenchman, English with an Englishman, Greek with a Greek, Arabic with an Arab, and so on.

"So then, to learn the difference between something spiritual and something natural in terms of languages, do the following: Go over to your associates, say something there and remember the words. Then with these memorized, come back and repeat them to me."

So he did as I said, and returned to me with the words in his mouth, but when he uttered them he did not know what any of them meant. The words were altogether strange and unfamiliar, being words not found in any language of the natural world.

After he repeated this experiment several times, it became clearly apparent to him that people in the spiritual world all speak a spiritual language which has nothing in common with any language of the natural world, and that every person comes automatically into use of that language after death. At the same time he also then discovered that the very intonation of spiritual language is so different from the intonation of natural language that the intonation of spiritual language, even when loud, is not at all audible to a natural person, nor the intonation of natural language to a spiritual person.

[5] After that I asked the headmaster and some others standing by to go over to their associates and write down some thought on a piece of paper, and with that piece of paper come back to me and read it. They did as I said, and they returned with the piece of paper in hand; but when they went to read it, they were unable to make out what any of it meant, since the writing consisted only of some alphabetic letters with curly lines over them, each of which carried some meaning connected with the subject. (Because every letter of the alphabet carries some meaning there, it is apparent from what origin the Lord is called the Alpha and the Omega.)** As they again and again withdrew, wrote and returned, they discovered that their writing included and contained a countless number of elements which no natural writing could ever express. But they were told that this is because a spiritual person thinks thoughts incomprehensible and inexpressible to a natural person, and these cannot descend or be put into any other form of writing or language.

[6] Then, because the others standing by were unwilling to believe that spiritual thought so far surpasses natural thought as to be inexpressible in comparison, I said to them, "Try an experiment. Go over into your spiritual association, think on some subject, and holding the thought come back and express it to me."

So they went, thought, held the thought, and came back; but when they went to express what they had thought, they could not. For they did not find any natural mental concept equivalent to any spiritual concept. So neither did they find any word to express their thoughts, since ideas of 7the mind take form as words in speech. At that they then began to withdraw and return, to prove to themselves that spiritual ideas were higher than natural ones, being inexpressible, ineffable and incomprehensible to the natural man. And because spiritual ideas are so transcendent, they began to say that spiritual ideas or thoughts compared to natural ones were the essences of ideas and the essences of thoughts, and that they therefore expressed the essences of qualities and the essences of affections; consequently that spiritual thoughts were the germs and origins of natural thoughts. It also became evident from this that spiritual wisdom was the essence of wisdom, thus unintelligible to any person of wisdom in the natural world.

They were then told from the third heaven that there is a still more interior or higher wisdom, called celestial, which has a similar relationship to spiritual wisdom as spiritual wisdom does to natural wisdom; and that these levels of wisdom flow in succession in accordance with the heavens from the Lord's Divine wisdom, which is infinite. (CL 326)

CL 421. To this it should be added that men who from things visible in the world, have so confirmed themselves in favor of nature that they became atheists, have been seen by me in the spiritual world. Seen in spiritual light, their understanding was open below but closed above, and this because in heir thought they had looked downwards to the earth and not upwards to heaven. Above their sensual, Which is the lowest part of the understanding, appeared, as it were, a veil. With some it was flashing from infernal fire, with others it was black as soot, and with still others, livid as a corpse. Let every one, therefore, beware of confirmations in favor of nature. Let him confirm himself in favor of the Divine; there is no lack of material. (CL 421)

CL 422. Some indeed are to be pardoned for having ascribed certain visible things to nature, in that they have not known anything about the sun of the spiritual world where the Lord is, and about influx therefrom; nor anything about that world itself and the state thereof, no, nor anything about its presence with men. Thus they could not have thought otherwise than that the spiritual was a purer natural, and that angels were either in the ether or in the stars; and of the devil, that either he was man's evil or, if he actually existed, that he was in the air or in the deep; and that after death the souls of men are either in the inmost part of the earth or in some Ubi or Pu, until the day of judgment; and other like notions which fantasy has induced from ignorance of the spiritual world and of its sun. This is the reason why they are to be pardoned who have believed that nature Produces her visible things from something implanted from creation.

But those are not to be pardoned who by confirmations in favor of nature have made themselves atheists; for they could have confirmed themselves in favor of the Divine. Ignorance does indeed excuse, but it does not take away the falsity that has been confirmed, for this coheres with evil, and evil with hell.  (CL 422)

DeConjugio 2. Since love truly conjugial is in its origin pure delight itself of the mind, and that love is the fundamental of all loves, and from love is all the beauty of the angels in heaven, for love or the affection of love forms everyone, wherefore every angel is as to his face the image of his love or affection, hence it is that all the beauty of the angels in heaven is from their conjugial love; for the inmost of their life which shines through is thence. An angel was seen by me, who was in pure conjugial love (he was from the third heaven); such was his beauty that the bystanders were carried away with admiration, saying that it was beauty itself in its essence. (De Conjugio 2)

Never in the history of science has such a report surfaced.

How can we build a scientific theory or understanding of our major human concerns if we have no access to data that might verify even the slightest of our hypotheses? For example, the hypothesis that there is life after death cannot be convincingly verified from any of the available data such as the testimony of ancient scriptures or the recent interest in near death experiences.  NDEs (Near Death Experiences) are insufficient by themselves as scientific proof of life after death because of their extreme limitation in scope. They are mostly composed of the vision of lights and, occasionally, the appearance of ghostly personalities or voices. Google NDEs and sample from the nearly half a million sites, and you'll quickly get an impression of how strongly this idea has swept through people's beliefs. Or you can also start with Wikipedia, which has an entry with related links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-death_experience 

Psychic phenomena are also insufficient, even when reproducible - and mostly they are not, because they are reported in trance or hypnotic states rather than in the ordinary state of scientific or legal reporting. Thus questions about any claimed psychic phenomenon cannot be discussed with the medium, who afterwards cannot offer the simplest of accounts about the identity of the "spirits" they spoke to or their life condition and environment.

By contrast I found a tremendous watershed of data about the spiritual world in the Swedenborg reports. Over a period of 27 years, Swedenborg had observed thousands of people go through the process of dying and entering the spiritual world -- a process he calls resuscitation (see Section xx). He was able to interview many whom he knew in the world as well as many celebrities he had known through their books and from history. He witnessed their daily life activities in cities and houses, and he participated in their festivals, public debates, and games. In the language of an intelligent and observant explorer, he describes their customs, language, occupations, and form of government. You might like to read from his book Heaven and Hell, available online here:

Swedenborg, Emanuel. (1758) Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen.  www.swedenborgdigitallibrary.org/contets/HH.html

Besides the wealth of unique information in the Swedenborg reports, what makes them even more impressive to me is Swedenborg's unbroken consistency in tying all of the data together into a scientifically acceptable account..

He presents a spiritual geography of the mental world of eternity, whose coordinates coincide with the anatomy and physiology of the body (see Section xx).

A map of the spiritual world would consist of a giant Grand Human, a composite of male and female anatomy. The psychological and moral character of individuals in the afterlife of eternity projects an outer environment that corresponds to the character and content of their mind.

Healthy and generous spirits coalesce in a telepathic spiritual community that manifests itself in an agreeable and benign external environment. There are cities "in the region of the hand", or in the region of the right eye, or the bladder, and so on. The character or genius of each society in the spiritual world reflects the physiological or anatomical function of the body part of the Grand Human which marks their location.

Antisocial and pathological minds congregate in degraded societies whose character corresponds to specific physiological malfunctions or anatomical distortions. They coalesce into a map that pictures a Grand Monster.

This spiritual geography is a remarkable aspect of the Swedenborgian scientific system. It describes an empirical approach to the study of the mind and the afterlife since knowledge about the functions and characteristics of the body allows confirmation of hypotheses about the properties of the mind and about phenomena in the spiritual world. For more on methodology in theistic psychology see Volume 5.

1.5.1.2  The Negative Bias in Science

Here is a representative article by a negative bias psychologist, viewed on the Web in March 2006 at www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Bering-11302004/Referees/Bering-11302004_preprint.doc

To be published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (in press) © Cambridge University Press 2006

The Folk Psychology of Souls

Jesse M. Bering
Department of Psychology
University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR, 72701 jbering@uark.edu    www.uark.edu/depts/psyc/fbering.html

Abstract: The present article examines how people’s belief in an afterlife, as well as closely related supernatural beliefs, may open an empirical backdoor to our understanding of the evolution of human social cognition. Recent findings and logic from the cognitive sciences contribute to a novel theory of existential psychology, one that is grounded in the tenets of Darwinian natural selection. Many of the predominant questions of existential psychology strike at the heart of cognitive science. They involve: causal attribution (why is mortal behavior represented as being causally related to one’s afterlife? how are dead agents envisaged as communicating messages to the living?), moral judgment (why are certain social behaviors, i.e., transgressions, believed to have ultimate repercussions after death or to reap the punishment of disgruntled ancestors?), theory of mind (how can we know what it is “like” to be dead? what social-cognitive strategies do people use to reason about the minds of the dead?), concept acquisition (how does a common-sense dualism interact with a formalized socio-religious indoctrination in childhood? how are supernatural properties of the dead conceptualized by young minds?), teleological reasoning (why do people so often see their lives as being designed for a purpose that must be accomplished before they perish? how do various life events affect people’s interpretation of this purpose?) among others. The central thesis of the present article is that an organized cognitive ‘system’ dedicated to forming illusory representations of (i) psychological immortality, (ii) the intelligent design of the self, and (iii) the symbolic meaning of natural events evolved in response to the unique selective pressures of the human social environment.

Keywords: causal reasoning; death concept; evolutionary theory; existential psychology; folk biology; intelligent design; intentionality; mental representation; teleological reasoning; theory of mind.

(...)

There is clear evidence showing that emotive factors can be powerful contributors to people’s belief in life after death (e.g. Alvarado et al. 1995; Dechesne et al. 2003; Thalbourne 1996). In general, psychologists who study this area have tended to focus on individual differences, specifically the role of death anxiety, and have posited a variety of “comfort hypotheses” involving the human motivation to construct such supernatural beliefs. In contrast, less is known about the basic components underlying the strong cognitive bias to entertain belief in an immortal soul (Astuti in press). These more basic questions concerning the cognitive architecture behind afterlife representations are also important pieces of the puzzle and will be explicitly addressed in the present article. Whatever one’s personal motivations for rejecting or endorsing the idea of an immaterial soul that can defy physical death, the ability to form any opinion on the matter would be absent if not for our species’ defining capacity to differentiate unobservable minds from observable bodies (Povinelli & Bering 2002; Suddendorf & Whiten 1999; Tomasello & Call 1997).

(...)

In what follows, I examine how this human folk psychology of souls, as well as closely related supernatural beliefs, may open an empirical backdoor to our understanding of the evolution of human social cognition. Recent findings and logic from the cognitive sciences contribute to a novel theory of existential psychology, one that is grounded in the tenets of Darwinian natural selection. The central thesis of the present article is that an organized cognitive ‘system’ dedicated to forming illusory representations of (i) psychological immortality, (ii) the intelligent design of the self, and (iii) the symbolic meaning of natural events evolved in response to the unique selective pressures of the human social environment.

Psychological Immortality as a Cognitive Default

From an evolutionary perspective, it is important to first ask whether humans “naturally” reason about death as a transitional state of consciousness or simply acquire such ideas through cultural exposure (perhaps from adults who “invent” such notions to ameliorate their own death anxiety, e.g. Dechesne et al. 2003; Harris & Giménez 2005). Although conventional wisdom tends to favor a general learning hypothesis for the origins of afterlife beliefs, recent findings suggest a more complicated developmental picture.

(...)

Unfortunately, among cognitive scientists, scant attention has been paid to the evolutionary significance of the human capacity to represent the self sub specie aeternitatis (“under the aspect of eternity”). Instead, many scholars categorize afterlife concepts in the same way they do other types of religious concepts, as especially virulent strains of culturally transmitted ideas that are highly effective at pirating core cognitive architecture (Atran 2002; Boyer 2001; for an exception, see Baron-Cohen 1999). According to this perspective, only the cognitive architecture itself can be the product of natural selection; religious ideas are seen as simply being parasitic on this evolved architecture—as nothing more than noise that shares a general frequency between cultures (e.g. Pyysiäinen 2001; Sperber & Hirschfeld 2003). For instance, in his book Religion Explained Boyer (2001:40) writes: “People have religious notions and beliefs because they acquired them from other people. On the whole, people get their religion from other members of their social group.” Boyer and other cultural epidemiologists view afterlife concepts, as well as other types of supernatural concepts, as unavoidable carryovers of cultural selection.

Specifically, Boyer (2000, 2001) has argued that religious ideas exploit information-processing mechanisms into paying attention to them because they violate ontological regularities by hybridizing or transgressing natural categories (see also Mithen 1996). Thus, religious ideas are especially likely to attach to evolved cognitive templates that are designed for reasoning about exemplars from natural categories — such as PERSON or ANIMAL — because these templates act as flypaper for salient, “counterintuitive” cases (Atran & Norenzayan 2004; Barrett 2000, 2004; Pyysiäinen 2001; Slone 2002; Sperber & Hirschfeld 2003). According to Boyer (2003), then, a ghost is a person who is without a physical body and as such is a conceptually seductive idea. The concept of an afterlife therefore is easily generated and transmitted between minds. Like all other religious concepts, however, it is otherwise treated as a biologically sterile byproduct. Similarly, Sperber and Hirschfeld (2004:44) write that, “explaining religion by a religious disposition lacks insight and plausibility.” Instead, these scholars argue that religion is a non-adaptive byproduct (i.e. a spandrel), one that arises through adapted human cognition acting in concert with culturally migrating counterintuitive concepts that change shape both within and between minds (for critical reviews, see Alcorta & Sosis 2005; Bulbulia 2004 2005; Sosis & Alcorta 2003).

(...)

Experimental findings of prosocial behavioral change in light of supernatural primes (e.g. Bering et al. 2005) also link up with the ethnographic database concerning afterlife beliefs. In some religious ideologies, the fate of the soul after death is determined by the social behaviors of the individual during life. Reflections on the ultimate consequences of (im)moral actions (e.g. whether the soul is expelled to Hell or dissipated in nirvana) should be capable of exerting a causal influence on today’s overt behavior, which would have the effect of preserving reputation by encouraging the inhibition of selfish acts or facilitating self-control. In the United States, for example, the majority (79%) of people believe that there will come a day when God judges them and decides whether they will go to Heaven or Hell (Gallup Organization 1999; see also Lester et al. 2002). For current purposes, such poll data may actually be misleadingly low. What people say they believe about the supernatural and how they implicitly reason are quite different things (Subbotsky 1997 2001). Scientific knowledge about causal relations between behaviors and consequences may therefore destabilize this adapted system, but more by overriding supernatural beliefs than by replacing them (McCauley 2000; Subbotsky 2001).

(...)

However, to understand the relationship between belief in gods or other supernatural agents who are interested in our social behaviors and belief in immortal souls requires that we disentangle several related strands of causal reasoning. Consider that if God does not exist, then the unique self (i.e. the individual “soul” of any given person) cannot be the product of intelligent design; rather, it is simply the end product of standard machinations of genetic and environmental recombination. If the soul is not the product of intelligent design, then there is no teleological function that it is designed to fulfill, no raison d’être to explain its existence beyond human attributions of purpose. The task remains for cognitive scientists to determine why the teleological position is so frequently adopted, and prospers so vehemently, over the mechanistic alternative. The human mind cannot seem to easily accommodate itself to a godless, evolutionary canon when it comes to the self’s existence.

(...)

The categorical question “why am I here?” is important for evolutionary analysis because it may set the stage for an obligatory social relationship between the self and its presumed supernatural creator. If this cognitive illusion, enriched with social affect, plays a causal role in generating genetic fitness-enhancing responses (e.g. through the individual’s behavioral compliance with moral norms which the creator is believed to have authored), then an adaptationist hypothesis for the folk psychology of souls gains support.

(...)

In this light, there is no emotionally invested God who favors or disfavors the continued survival of the self. Consequently, whatever social contracts previously entered into with this non-existent agent that led the self to expect a reasonable deferment of death until old age are exposed as being spurious. Avenues by which individuals may re-enter into this illusory contract include just world beliefs (e.g. by reasoning that the person must have been somehow deserving of death), and judging that the decedent was different from themselves (and thus unlikely to have been in the same sort of privileged social relationship with God) (e.g. Hafer & Bègue 2005; Lerner 1980; Lerner & Miller 1978; Pyszczynski et al. 1995). The fact that most individuals do tend to re-enter into these illusory social contracts, even in the face of seemingly egregious violations, suggests that the affective push to do so is capable of overthrowing any rationalist weltanschauung. However, if this is the expression of an evolved system, as the current model alleges, then any explicit philosophical position that discards meaning is naturally disadvantaged, because the self can no sooner “choose” to be a subjective atheist than retinas can “choose” not to convert light energy into signals that are carried to the brain by the optic nerve (Bering 2005; McCauley 2000). Adapted psychological systems, by definition, determine the way that information can be processed due to design solutions in the brain that were engineered by natural selection. In the present case, just as we can close our eyes to prevent light from being converted into neural signals, science may provide a minority (i.e. nonbelievers) with the armamentarium to close their eyes to the supernatural.

(...)

Because the adjudication of an afterlife of eternal reward or damnation is seen as superseding “mere” human authority, people’s understanding of the origins of moral deontology—what one ought and ought not to do in life—shows a strong cognitive bias toward belief in a supernatural creator of human morality (rather than, for instance, a bias toward belief in design by nature or human whim). Reincarnation beliefs that rely on karmic principles are no exception because such principles require an intelligent designer of this morality based rebirthing cycle. This overall vein of reasoning helps to explain why people expect divine retribution for moral transgressions only, rather than, say, for breaches of social etiquette (e.g. Roes & Raymond 2003). As Camus (1991) writes, “revolt against men is also directed against God” (1991:94). From a genetic fitness perspective, what is important is that it is moral transgression that scars reputation most deeply and has the most costly effect on future social relations (Goffman 1963) and therefore behavioral compliance in this domain is critically important. Surprisingly, cognitive scientists who study religion have given the topic of morality relatively short shift. For example, Atran and Norenzayan (2004) recently argued that culturally acquired supernatural concepts (cf. Boyer 2001) receive emotional staying power because they are lent support by an evolved hyperactive agency detection device (see also Atran 2002; Barrett 2000; Guthrie 1993). According to these authors, this mechanism serves the protective function of hyper-vigilance in potentially dangerous environments, but as a consequence affectively primes individuals and causes them to over-attribute intentions to the natural world, such as might happen when a branch falls in the forest. The authors conclude that “supernatural agents are readily conjured up because natural selection has trip-wired cognitive schema for agency detection in the face of uncertainty” (2004:720). In particular, supernatural attributions occur because environmental stimuli “achieve the minimal threshold for triggering hyperactive facial-recognition and body-movement recognition schemata that humans possess” (2004:720).

(...)

Conclusion

In reviewing the available — though still very limited — evidence, there are good conceptual grounds to argue that natural selection may have set to work on specific human cognitive errors. These include simulation constraints leading to Type I errors in reasoning about the afterlife, teleo-functional errors leading to belief in the soul’s intelligent design, and theory of mind errors fostering a belief that natural events were intentionally caused by supernatural agents. The resultant cognitive system created the functional illusion that the social behaviors of the self “mattered” outside of human relations. As a consequence it became morally tamed under the auspices of this existential rubric and therefore was less likely to engage in acts that, if publicly exposed and harmful to one’s social reputation, seriously impaired genetic fitness. The present article has also served to lay out some general future directions for investigators to explore, in ever sharper detail, the Darwinian mechanisms at the heart of the existential system outlined here. Such work can further reveal how the standard architecture of ancestral human minds was co-opted by natural selection to create the functional illusion of an intelligently designed, immortal soul that was under nearly unbreakable moralistic contract with the natural world.

http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Bering-11302004/Referees/Bering-11302004_preprint.doc

(end of quote)

In contrast, here is are some quotes from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

128. The worldly and bodily-minded man says at heart, Unless I am taught about faith and about things that belong to faith by means of sensory evidence so that I see for myself, that is, by facts so that I understand for myself, I am not going to believe. And he confirms himself in this attitude from the consideration that natural phenomena cannot be at variance with spiritual. Consequently it is from sensory evidence that he wishes to learn about heavenly and Divine matters. But this is no more possible than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. The more he wants by this method to become wise, the more he blinds himself, until in the end he believes nothing, not even in the existence of anything spiritual or in eternal life. This arises out of the basic assumption he makes. This is eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the more he eats of it, the more dead does he become. But the person who wishes to be made wise not from the world but from the Lord says at heart that he must believe the Lord, that is, those things the Lord has spoken in the Word, because they are truths. This is the basic assumption of his thinking. He confirms himself by means of rational, factual, sensory, and natural evidence. And things that are not confirmatory he sets aside. (AC 128)

AC 2568. [4] There are therefore two principles; one of which leads to all folly and insanity, and the other to all intelligence and wisdom. The former principle is to deny all things, or to say in the heart that we cannot believe them until we are convinced by what we can apprehend, or perceive by the senses; this is the principle that leads to all folly and insanity, and is to be called the negative principle. The other principle is to affirm the things which are of doctrine from the Word, or to think and believe within ourselves that they are true because the Lord has said them: this is the principle that leads to all intelligence and wisdom, and is to be called the affirmative principle.

[5] The more they who think from the negative principle consult things rational, the more they consult memory-knowledges, and the more they consult things philosophical, the more do they cast and precipitate themselves into darkness, until at last they deny all things. The causes of this are, that no one can apprehend higher things from lower ones, that is, spiritual and celestial things, still less Divine things, from lower ones, because they transcend all understanding, and moreover everything is then involved in negatives from that principle. On the other hand, they who think from an affirmative principle can confirm themselves by whatever things rational, by whatever memory-knowledges, and whatever things philosophic they have at command; for all these are to them things confirmatory, and give them a fuller idea of the matter.

[6] Moreover there are some who are in doubt before they deny, and there are some who are in doubt before they affirm. They who are in doubt before they deny are they who incline to a life of evil; and when this life carries them away, then insofar as they think of the matters in question they deny them. But they who are in doubt before they affirm are they who incline to a life of good; and when they suffer themselves to be bent to this by the Lord, then insofar as they think about those things so far they affirm. As this subject is further treated of in the verses which follow,. it is permitted of the Lord's Divine mercy to illustrate them more fully there (see n. 2588). (AC 2568.)

Contrast these two views in psychology, one from the negative bias in science and from the positive bias in science. Ask yourself if the negative bias perspective is proven adequately and scientifically, or whether it is an unproven bias. On the other hand see how the positive bias in science is based on Swedenborg's actual observations, not his assumptions or interpretations. This will become even more clear to you as you acquire more information on what Swedenborg is presenting in his reports.

Exercise:

Read the following excerpt from FaithFreedom.org. Can you see how the author's argument is based on the idea that Sacred Scripture in the literal sense cannot contain scientific revelations. However, can you see how theistic psychology overcomes this problem because it is based on the correspondential sense.

From: http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/avijitroy/science_mirackes.htm

Nobel laureate Physicist Dr. Abdus Salam warned against people trying to explain Big Bang using verses from Koran, saying that the current version of Big Bang is the best known scientific explanation for the creation of the universe. What if a better scientific explanation than Big Bang is found tomorrow? Should the verses be changed to accommodate the new scientific view?

Religion can never vindicate or falsify science. The truth or falsity of a scientific principle lies within science itself. Religious scriptures cannot speak of any scientific principle. Religious revelations are absolute directives and narratives for humans to follow as faith unquestioningly. Many revelations clearly contradict many accepted scientific principles. No scientist of any repute have ever tried to substantiate scientific principles by religious beliefs. Most scientists and theologicans would rather not mix faith with objective and rational field of science.

 Koran/Bible/Gita etc are not books of science. Any coincidental vague semblance between a verse and a popular phrasing of a complex scientific principle is solely due to the very general and vague wordings admitting of any interpretation that one chooses to impose on it. All one needs is some vague reverse fitting argument to connect the two. One can find Quantum Mechanics in Tagore's poems, or relativity in the Buddhist Monk Nagarjun's writing. Just seeing what one likes to see because of a preset belief in a favored belief system doesn't make it so by any objective criterion. My purpose is not to disrespect religion or its revelation, but to question the attempt to reconcile the two in an illogical way. They can be irreconcilable and yet can continue and thrive as separate ways as long as one does not get in the way of the pursuit of the other.

From: http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/avijitroy/science_mirackes.htm

 

 1.5.1.3  Outline of Swedenborg's Spiritual Psychology

(1) Swedenborg's Background

A biographical sketch would include dates and titles of many of his books, his dual life in both worlds after age 57, his discoveries of inhabited earths in the universe from conversations with those in the spiritual world who had come from those planets, and two well known clairvoyant events -- the fire in Stockholm which Swedenborg described to those present five hundred miles away and, the information Swedenborg relayed to the widow about the lost payment receipt from her husband in the spiritual world). If you google these topics you can find out more specific details. See also my Swedenborg Web site for many links:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/swedenborg.html

(2) Life After Death: Heaven

Observational details and explanations of Swedenborg's eyewitness reports of life in the heavenly cities, including married life, conjugial bliss and sexuality, quasi-omniscience of all knowledge, jeweled palaces, instant food and clothing, and the education of children there.

(3) Life After Death: Hell

Observational details and explanations of Swedenborg's eyewitness reports of life in the hellish cities, including their horrible external appearance seen by those in heavenly light, their obsessiveness and unwillingness to comprehend rational things, and their frantic desire to return to the natural world and possess the inhabitants there.

(4) The Vertical Community

I use this expression to designate Swedenborg's extension of our understanding of community to include an external social community in time-space on earth -- our "horizontal community" by which we have membership in ethnicity, culture, religion, and society. Second, we have membership in an internal vertical community of spiritual consociations with people in the afterlife of eternity. Our horizontal community is in time-space so that physical geographical location often determines what our social life is. But our vertical community is not in time-space, so physical location of our body is not an issue. We consociate with the thoughts and feelings of people in eternity whose thoughts and feelings are compatible with ours. Incompatible thoughts and feelings separate and divide, while compatible and similar thoughts and feelings consociate and unite, depending on the degree of compatibility and similarity.

When you pass into the spiritual mind through the resuscitation process, where you are and whom you see and interact with, is determined by your thoughts and feelings.

This is why it's so important to study theistic psychology, which is the knowledge revealed by God regarding how we should prepare ourselves while we are here for a few brief decades, so that we can live in conjugial heaven and bliss in eternity.

(5) Negative and Positive Bias in Science

The negative bias scientist says, "I am a monist or materialist. If you claim that  there is a spiritual world, you're going to have to prove it before it can be accepted into science. And furthermore, you would have to use a type of proof that is already acceptable to science."

The positive bias scientist says, "I am a substantive dualist, which means that I accept the possibility that there are two worlds, one for the spiritual body in eternity, the other for the physical body in time-space. Now let me investigate whether these Swedenborg reports and claims have scientific validity."

Note that in the negative bias thinking of science, a good scientific theory is one that leads to experiments that help to disprove that theory. In psychology, good theories last about 10 to 20 years. After that the former theories are discarded as wrong and a new theory takes place. A decade later, this is declared as wrong and a new one is presented by someone that other scientists accept -- for a while. And this continues as a process in all nontheistic sciences. Google "Thomas Kuhn" to see how people discuss this topic today. Or, you can start with the Wikipedia entry for him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kuhn  However, this is different with the positive bias sciences like theistic psychology, in which all knowledge is extracted from Sacred Scripture by the methodology of correspondences (see Section xx). This is not a "trial-and-error" experimental methodology but a systematic rational translation of God's Speech into modern science. Hence all established extractions in theistic psychology remain forever valid and are not replaced by new extractions.

(6) No Function Without Substance.

This is where I present Swedenborg's scientific principle that there cannot be a function without a substance. In the historical debate on the mind/body issue, the materialistic scientist in the negative bias mode is forced by logic to deny the reality of the mind since thoughts and feelings have no mass or extension. The negative bias psychologist cannot account for such important human phenomena as awareness, imagination, attachment to symbols, uniqueness of the self, the centrality of religious feelings, the determining role of Divine Providence in the occurrences of history and accident, and prophetic revelation. Swedenborg, as a representative of the positive bias psychologist, has provided us with empirical facts and rational explanations for all these phenomena.

(7) The Swedenborg Reports as Science

Swedenborg's eyewitness reports pass stringent scientific criteria. The explanations are rational and hold together as a system. His reputation was impeccable and his observations were carried out for nearly three decades and repeated thousands of times with quasi-experimental variations. You can consult a sample of these observations and experiments listed in the Index Volume 18: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/#EXPERIMENTS

Meanwhile, his life in this world continued in the public eye -- as a celebrity and frequent guest of the royal family, as active member of Sweden's legislative body, as a government mining director and consultant engineer, as an inventor, writer and publisher of significant mining and navigational tools, and as a European traveler received by renowned scientists and scholars. His rational system is useful in many areas of psychology, including psychotherapy, education, humanistic and transpersonal psychology, and psychobiology. See a more detailed listing in my article here:

James, Leon. (2001). Overcoming Objections to Swedenborg's Writings Through the Development of Scientific Dualism. New Philosophy,  v. CIV n.3 & 4 pp. 153-217. Available at:  newphilosophyonline.org/journal/article.php?page=1027&issue=104b  
Copy Available at:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/np98.html

(8) Swedenborg's Scientific Psychology

Death, dying, and the afterlife are topics that belong to biology and psychology, not to religion alone. The Swedenborg reports are of interest to psychology as a science. They empirically define the following concepts:

  1. What is the spiritual world of the afterlife in eternity

  2. What is the influence on us of spiritual associations through our choices and inheritance

  3.  What is heavenly and infernal eternity

  4.  How are people on earth obsessed by spiritual influences

  5.  What are effective personal growth methods through a life of self-examination and reformation

  6. What is revelation and Sacred Scripture -- how it is made or given

  7.  How do spiritual correspondences operate in thought, language, art, and science

  8.  How do we explain the interconnection of all things in the universe to the mind (see the topic of spiritual geography)

  9. What is the explanation for the impossibility of a vacuum (Swedenborg's conversations with Newton in the spiritual world). Also: what is color.

  10.  What are the mechanisms of inheritance of parental mental traits and how are these inherited traits modified through reformation of one's character

  11.  What are the anatomical levels, layers, degrees, and operations of the mind (corporeal, sensuous, rational, spiritual, celestial)

  12.  Explaining the analysis of all human behavior into affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor domains ("love, thought, act" or "good, truth, use")

These concepts, together with many others found in the Swedenborg reports, constitute a new paradigm in psychology, which we can call spiritual psychology or theistic psychology. This psychology is rational, dualistic, integrated, empirical, experiential, experimental, behavioristic, functionalist, developmental, psychobiological, and revelatory.

The above list is a scientific perspective. I omit the historically important development of the New Church and its contemporary status. Google "New Church" to see some of the activities going on today. The fact that Swedenborg's Writings also serve as the basis for a new Christian religion is independent of the fact that the Swedenborg reports are viewed here as biology and psychology when this knowledge is extracted by means of correspondences (see Section xx). The literal sense of all Sacred Scripture is the basis of religions, but its correspondential sense is the extracted science of theistic psychology.

As a psychologist and scientist, I view Swedenborg's admission into the spiritual world and subsequent dual life as an event that makes his position fully empirical and scientific. His accounts of the soul and of correspondences turn from mere theory, prior to his admission into the spiritual world, to objective eyewitness reporting of the spiritual world from age 57 to 84. Swedenborg's admission into the spiritual world through the conscious awakening of his spiritual mind, and consequent dual life, advances his reports from theology to empirical and behavioral science.

Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg:

CL 532. To this I will append the following narrative account:

I was once in my spirit taken up to the angelic heaven and into one of its societies; and some of the wise there then came to me and said, "What news do you have from earth?"

"This is new," I said, "that the Lord has revealed secrets which surpass in excellence all the secrets previously revealed from the inception of the Church."

"What are they?" they asked.

I said that they were the following:

(1) That in the Word and in each and every particular of it, there is a spiritual meaning corresponding to the natural meaning; that through that spiritual meaning people of the church are conjoined with the Lord and affiliated with angels; and that in it lies the holiness of the Word.

[2] (2) That the corresponding elements of which the spiritual meaning of the Word consists have been disclosed.

The angels asked whether the inhabitants of the earth knew anything about correspondences before. I said that they knew nothing at all of them. They have lain hidden now for several thousand years, I said, namely from the time of Job. Among peoples who lived at that time and before, a study of correspondences was the study of studies, from which they had their wisdom, because they gained from it a concept of spiritual things having to do with heaven and so with the church. But because that study was turned into an idolatrous one, it was of the Lord's Divine providence so blotted out and lost that no one has seen any trace of it. However, knowledge of it has nevertheless now been disclosed by the Lord, I said, in order that people of the church may be conjoined with Him and affiliated with angels. This conjunction and affiliation are effected through the Word, in which each and every particular is a correspondent form.

The angels greatly rejoiced that it had pleased the Lord to reveal this great secret, which for several thousand years had lain so deeply hidden. And they said it was done in order that the Christian Church, founded as it is on the Word and being now at its end, might be revived and again draw its spirit through heaven from the Lord.

They inquired as well whether in consequence of that knowledge it had at this time been disclosed what baptism and Holy Supper symbolize, sacraments about which people have hitherto had such various thoughts. And I replied that it had been disclosed.

[3] I said further, (3) that the Lord has now revealed the circumstances of people's life after death.

The angels said, "What about life after death? Who does not know that a person lives after death?"

"They know it and do not know it," I replied. "They say that what lives after death is not the person but his soul, and that this lives on as a spirit, of which they harbor an idea as of its being like the wind or ether, saying that it does not live as a real person until after the day of the Last Judgment. At that time, they say, the elements of the body which were left in the world, even though eaten by worms, mice and fish, will be gathered together again and constituted once more into a body, and that it is thus that people will rise again."

"What is this you are saying?" the angels said. "Who does not know that a person lives as a person after death, the only difference being that he then lives as a spiritual person? And who does not know that a spiritual person sees a spiritual person as a material person does a material one, without their being aware of a single distinction, except that they are living in a more perfect state?"

[4] The angels then inquired, "What do people know of our world, and of heaven and hell?"

I said that they have known nothing, but (4) that the Lord has now disclosed the nature of the world in which angels and spirits live, thus the nature of heaven and the nature of hell; as also that angels and spirits live in affiliation with men; in addition to many other wonders connected with them.

The angels were gladdened that it had pleased the Lord to disclose such things, so that people would no longer suffer such ignorance as to be in a state of uncertainty regarding their immortality.

[5] Going on, I said, (5) "The Lord has now revealed that there is in your world a different sun from the one in our world; that the sun of your world is pure love, while the sun of our world is nothing but fire; that because your sun is pure love, everything that emanates from it brings with it something of life, while because our sun is nothing but fire, everything that emanates from it brings with it nothing of life; also that this is the origin of the difference between what is spiritual and what is natural, a difference hitherto unknown which has also been disclosed."

It has been made known in consequence of this, I said, from what source the light comes which enlightens the human intellect with wisdom, and from what source the warmth comes which kindles the human will with love.

[6] In addition, it has been disclosed (6) that there are three degrees of life, and consequently three heavens; that the human mind is divided into these degrees, and that the human being thus corresponds to the three heavens.

"Did people not know this before?" said the angels.

I replied that they knew about greater and lesser degrees in a range, but nothing about prior and subsequent degrees.

[7] The angels asked whether in addition to these disclosures anything else had been revealed. I said that a number of other things had been, namely, (7) concerning the Last Judgment; concerning the Lord, that He is God of heaven and earth, that God is one both in person and in essence, in whom is the Divine trinity, and that He is the Lord; also concerning the New Church about to be established by Him, and the doctrine of that church; concerning the sacredness of the Holy Scripture; as also that the Apocalypse has been revealed, nothing of which could have been revealed, not even in one little verse, except by the Lord.

Included also is a revelation concerning inhabitants of other planets and concerning other earths in the universe, I said; as well as many accounts and wonders from the spiritual world, by which much else having to do with wisdom has been disclosed from heaven. (CL 532)

CL 533. The angels rejoiced greatly at hearing these reports; but when they perceived in me a sadness and began to inquire what reason I had to be sad, I said that although these secrets revealed at the present time by the Lord surpass in excellence and importance any concepts hitherto imparted, still on earth they are regarded as worthless.

The angels were surprised at this, and they petitioned the Lord to permit them to look down into the world; and on looking down, behold, they saw only darkness there.

They were then told to write these secrets on a piece of paper, and to let the paper descend to the earth, at which time they would see a portent. So they did so. And lo, the piece of paper with these secrets written upon it was let go from heaven, and as it descended, while still in the spiritual world, it shone like a star. But as it floated down into the natural world, the light disappeared, and the further it fell, the darker it became.

Then, when the angels directed it into gatherings of people containing certain educated and learned representatives from the clergy and laity, a murmur arose from many of them, in which were heard the following words: "What is this? Is it of any consequence? What does it matter if we know these things or not? Are they not creations of the brain?"

Moreover, some of them appeared as though to take the piece of paper and to fold it, roll it up, and unroll it with their fingers, in order to obliterate the writing; while others appeared as though to tear it up, and some to try to trample it with their feet. But they were kept by the Lord from such a wickedness, and the angels were commanded to withdraw the paper and protect it.

After that, because the angels were saddened and thought to themselves how long this would be the case, they were told, "For a time and times and half a time." (Revelation 12:14) (CL 533)

CL 534. I afterwards spoke again with the angels, saying that something else had been revealed in the world by the Lord. When they asked what it was, I said, "Respecting truly conjugial love and its heavenly delights."

"Who does not know," the angels said, "that the delights of conjugial love surpass the delights of all other loves? And who cannot see that into some love have been gathered all the blessings, felicities and delights that could ever be conferred by the Lord, and that their receptacle is truly conjugial love, which is able to receive and perceive them to a full sensation of them?"

I replied that they did not know this, because they did not go to the Lord and live according to His commandments, refraining from evils as sins and doing good. For truly conjugial love with its delights comes solely from the Lord and is given to those who live according to His commandments. Thus it is given to those who are received into the Lord's New Church, I said, the church that is meant in the book of Revelation by the New Jerusalem.

To this I added that I was uncertain whether people in the world today would be willing to believe that this love in itself is a spiritual love and thus stems from religion, because they harbor only a fleshly idea of it.

At that the angels said to me, "Write about it and pursue the revelation; and afterwards we will take the book you have written on the subject and let it descend from heaven. Then we shall see whether the points it contains are received, including at the same time whether people are willing to acknowledge that the character of this love is in accordance with the religion in a person, spiritual in the spiritual, natural in the natural, and merely carnal in adulterers." (CL 534)

CL 535. After that I heard a hostile murmur from people below, and at the same time this cry, "Do miracles and we will believe!"

In response I asked whether these revelations were not miracles, and received the reply, "They are not."

So I asked what miracles they meant, then, and was told, "Show us and reveal to us things to come and we will believe."

But I replied, "Such knowledge is not granted from heaven, since to the degree that a person knows things to come, his reason and understanding fall with his prudence and wisdom into a state of passivity, become inactive, and are overthrown."

Again therefore I asked, "What other miracles shall I do?"

Whereupon I then heard the cry, "Do miracles like the ones Moses did in Egypt!"

To that I replied, "Perhaps you will harden your hearts to them as Pharaoh and the Egyptians did."

And they answered that they would not.

Again I said, however, "Swear to me that you will not dance around a golden calf and worship it like the posterity of Jacob,* which they did within the space of a month after they saw the whole of Mount Sinai ablaze and heard Jehovah Himself speaking from out of the fire,** thus which they did following a miracle which was the greatest of all. A golden calf in the correspondential sense is the pleasure of the flesh."

And the people replied from below, "We will not be like the posterity of Jacob."

But at that I then heard this declaration to them from heaven, "If you do not believe Moses and the prophets, which is to say, the Word of the Lord, you will not believe as a result of miracles any more than the children of Jacob did in the wilderness; neither any more than those others believed when they saw with their own eyes the miracles the Lord Himself performed when He was in the world."

For more narrative accounts by Swedenborg, google
"Memorable Relations" Swedenborg     (use the quotes as shown)

or, see the selected sample in Volume 18:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/#memorable-relations  

1.6  Spiritual Psychobiology

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) is the author of about two hundred serious scientific works on anatomy, psychology, and natural science. These have been translated into English and other languages from the original Latin by a steady though small number of Swedenborgian scholars and followers of the life philosophy Swedenborg outlines and rationally justifies. Some of the works are short journal articles but there are also about fifty titles of full length books. One of these runs to 12 volumes, another six volumes. Those who have surveyed these Writings are of the near unanimous opinion that they present a holistic and coherent account of human behavior and of the life after death.

What makes Swedenborg's approach particularly interesting to psychology is that it is an early form of behaviorism, functionalism, and organicity. Organicity is the premise that all functions of the mind must have a structural basis and must work together synergistically. In other words, the mind is a mental organ, not some epiphenomenon produced by the brain. This mental organ is not made of physical matter but of spiritual substance, as shall be explained below (see also Section 5.1).

A unique feature of Swedenborg's approach is that the structural components of the mind are defined as "spiritual substances" (see this article on dualism: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/dualism.html). Spiritual substances originate and belong to the "spiritual world." When we are born, we are born into two worlds simultaneously, the natural, which is physical and temporary, and the spiritual, which is permanent (or 'eternal'). This dual citizenship is hidden from ordinary perceptions, but upon death of the physical body, the person 'resuscitates' or awakens in the spiritual body and then lives with others in that world for ever (see Section 1.7). The individual retains his or her appearance, personality, and memory of experiences and skills. These and many other details are related by Swedenborg as eyewitness reports from the "afterlife" or spiritual world.

Swedenborg asserts that when he was 57 and well into his scientific career and public life, the Divine Human appeared to him face to face in a room while he was having lunch alone, and appointed him to publish scientific reports of the spiritual world.

Swedenborg's spiritual mind would be made conscious so that he could observe and report what he saw and heard in the spiritual world. The Divine Human had prepared Swedenborg's mind since childhood so that he could carry out this universal mission to the human race. Never before in the history of our race has such a process been put into operation by God. Now the time had come for the human race on earth to be given scientific proof of the afterlife and of the basic laws of correspondence by which God creates and manages the natural and spiritual worlds. Swedenborg was greatly humbled by the appearance of the Divine Human to his eyes. He accepted the Divinely appointed task with humility and adoration.

For the next few months, Swedenborg underwent the process of becoming fully conscious in both worlds through his natural mind and spiritual mind simultaneously. Our spiritual mind receives sensory input from the spiritual world while our natural mind receives sensory input from the physical or natural world. Upon death and resuscitation, our natural mind is no longer operative since it receives sensory input from the physical body, which is now gone. We awaken from resuscitation fully conscious in the previously unconscious spiritual mind. Swedenborg observed the resuscitation process of hundreds of people and it always took place in the same way. He himself underwent the process several times so that he may be able to understand it better.

The extraordinary and unprecedented case of Swedenborg is that he has his spiritual mind made conscious, while he was still attached to the physical body on earth. This has never happened before and the people in the spiritual world were as astonished to see Swedenborg there, as the people on earth were, when Swedenborg revealed publicly what was happening to him.

He quickly became adept at dividing his attention between the simultaneous sensory input from the spiritual world and the natural world. He kept his new mental state a secret for several years. He was able to have a conversation with those in the spiritual world even as he was carrying out tasks and duties on earth -- having lunch at the Royal Palace, making a speech at the legislature on Swedish finance reform, or overlooking the printing of one of his numerous publications in scientific journals. Swedenborg took copious daily notes throughout the 27 years of his dual consciousness. He passed into the spiritual world permanently in 1772 at age 84. He had maintained a furious pace of work right up to the end, publishing his last work in 1771. His notes and writings from age 57 to 84 have been translated in various languages over the past 200 years. They amount to about 30 volumes in English translation. They are called the Writings of Swedenborg.

Swedenborg wrote his reports from the perspective of a noted and well respected18th century scientist. He recorded the details of many things he learned from the spiritual world of the afterlife, and its connection to this life. Here are a few things Swedenborg tells about himself in a letter he wrote just two years before he passed into the spiritual world permanently.

 Quoting from one of his Autobiographical Letters:

I was born at Stockholm on the 29th of January in the year 1688.{2} My father's name was Jesper Swedberg, who was bishop of West-Gothland, and a man of celebrity in his time. He was also elected and enrolled as a member of the English Society, for the Propagation of the Gospel; for he had been appointed by King Charles XII  Bishop over the Swedish churches in Pennsylvania, and also over the church in London. In the year 1710 I went abroad. I proceeded first to England, and afterwards to Holland, France, and Germany, and returned home in the year 1714. 1 In the year 1716, and also afterwards I had many conversations with Charles XII, King of Sweden, who greatly favored me, and in the same year appointed me to the office of Assessor in the College of Mines, which office I filled until the year 1747, when I resigned it, retaining, however, the salary of the office during my life. My sole object in resigning was that I might have more leisure to devote to the new office enjoined on me by the Lord.

A higher post of honor was then offered me, which I positively declined, lest my mind should be inspired with pride. In the year 1719, I was ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleanora, and named Swedenborg; and from that time I have taken my seat among the nobles of the rank of knighthood, in the triennial sessions of the Diet. I am a Fellow and member, by invitation, of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm; but I have never sought admission into any literary society in any other place, because I am in an angelic society, where such things as relate to heaven and the soul are the only subjects of discourse; while in literary societies the world and the body form the only subjects of discussion. In the year 1734, I published, at Leipsic, the Regnum Minerale, in three volumes, folio. In the year 1738 I made a journey to Italy, and staid a year at Venice and Rome.

With respect to my family connections, I had four sisters. One of them was married to Eric Benzelius, who subsequently became the Archbishop of Upsal, and through him I became related to the two succeeding archbishops, who both belonged to the family of Benzelius, and were younger brothers of Eric. My second sister was married to Lars Benzelstierna, who became a provincial governor; but these two are dead. Two bishops, however, who are related to me, are still living; one of them, whose name is Filenius, and who is Bishop of East Gothland, officiates now as President of the House of the Clergy in the Diet of Stockholm, in place of the Archbishop, who is an invalid; he married my sister's daughter: the other, named Benzelstierna, is Bishop of Westmanland and Dalecarlia; he is the son of my second sister. Not to mention others of my relations who occupy stations of honor.

Moreover, all the bishops of my native country, who are ten in number, and also the sixteen senators, and the rest of those highest in office, entertain feelings of affection for me; from their affection they honor me, and I live with them on terms of familiarity, as a friend among friends; the reason of which is, that they know I am in company with angels. Even the King and the Queen, and the three princes, their sons, show me great favor: I was also invited once by the King and Queen to dine with them at their own table, which honor is generally accorded only to those who are highest in office; subsequently the Crown Prince granted me the same favor. They all desire me to return home; wherefore, I am far from apprehending, in my own country, that persecution, which you fear, and against which in your letter you desire in so friendly a manner to provide; and if they persecute me elsewhere, it can do me no harm.

But all that I have thus far related, I consider of comparatively little importance; for it is far exceeded by the circumstance, that I have been called to a holy office by the Lord Himself, who most mercifully appeared before me, His servant, in the year 1743; when He opened my sight into the spiritual world, and granted me to speak with spirits and angels, in which state I have continued up to the present day. From that time I began to print and publish the various arcana that were seen by me and revealed to me, as the arcana concerning Heaven and Hell, the state of man after death, the true worship of God, the correspondential sense of the Word, besides many other most important matters conducive to salvation and wisdom. The only reason of my journeys abroad has been the desire of making myself useful, and of making known the arcana that were entrusted to me. Moreover, I have as much of this world's wealth as I need, and I neither seek nor wish for more.

Your letter has induced me to write all these particulars, in order that as you say "ill-conceived prejudices may be removed." Farewell; and from my heart I wish you all the happiness both in this world, and the next; which I have not the least doubt you will attain, if you look and pray to our Lord. EMAN. SWEDENBORG

For additional autobiographical comments Swedenborg makes in the Writings, see Section 1.8.6.

Swedenborg continued to be productive in this world during his nearly three decades of simultaneous life in both worlds. Not only did he continue to publish both types of works -- natural science and theistic science ­­ but he also continued for some years in his job as Royal Assessor of Mines, an important engineering post in the Swedish government, and as well, continued to be active in the Swedish House of Lords where he was author of several influential bills on economy, the coinage system, alcoholism, and education. At first his theistic science books were published anonymously. Later however, it was discovered that he was the eminent author of a series of books on the afterlife of immortality. From then on he spoke openly of his experiences, even as he was continuing his busy public life. He continued to receive people's admiration and respect.

Some critics express a general skepticism regarding Swedenborg's mental state of simultaneous dual citizenship, which is unique claim in the history of science. Critics admit that they have had difficulty processing Swedenborg's system in its entirety, given its quantity and its theological topics. Their judgment is therefore based on their own belief as to whether such a dual citizenship is possible, and not on the objective scientific merit of Swedenborg's reports.  By contrast, we get a totally sympathetic evaluation of Swedenborg when the reviewers are familiar with his Writings as a totality, rather than from selections or even from the collateral literature about Swedenborg written by others, which is considerable. It is even less likely that a scientist today would become so involved that he would study 30 volumes of one man's work. But I did that. For the past 23 years I have studied the 30 volumes of the Writings, using my skills as a research scientist in behavioral psychology, a field I was trained in and have practiced for the past 44 years (see a list of my publications here: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/leonpublish.htm ). You can see my evaluation of the Writings by reading this work on theistic psychology.

It is interesting to note that a number of well known American and British writers, poets, philosophers, and influential thinkers have revealed in private letters, or in their less well known publications, the fact that they had read or studied Swedenborg's Writings, and that they were greatly influenced by them. The list is quite long, but included among them are Balzac, Berlioz, Blake, Conan Doyle, Emerson, Goethe, Victor Hugo, Henry James, Sr., Jung, Helen Keller, Maeterlinck, J. F. Oberlin, E. A. Poe, Ezra Pound, D. Suzuki, Yeats. Note the absence of any scientists in this list!

Swedenborg's case is unique in the history of science. Recognized as one of the most eminent and rational scientist of the Age of Reason in 18th century Europe, Swedenborg was very well acquainted with the history of Western science, its grounding in empiricism, its preference for formalism, and its negative attitude toward God as a concept in science. It is within this scientific skepticism that Swedenborg attempts to present his unique scientific reports. He is very well aware of the need to meet essential criteria of scientific inquiry; which include coherence, consistency, empiricism, experimentalism, and rationality (see Section xx).

For additional arguments see my article on "objections to Swedenborg" available here:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/np98.html.

Whatever is already known in science must be taken into account by the newly proposed system. The new scientific paradigm must be superior to the old in a convincing and demonstrable way. The new paradigm is superior if it can explain all the known facts that the current paradigm can explain, but in addition, can explain other facts that the current paradigm cannot explain. This is how scientific revolutions and paradigm shifts occur. I have observed at least two major paradigm shifts in my 44 years of being a psychology professor and researcher (see my autobiographical analysis in this article written in 1976, five years before I started reading Swedenborg's Writings: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499ss99/pun/ccp1.html ) (See also my autobiographical analysis which I have written several years after I started studying the Writings, available here: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/dhl3.html

Swedenborg used all the anatomy and physiology of his day to specify the mind­structures or mind­organs of the spiritual body. This was made possible by his astounding discovery that the physical body is a functional effect of the spiritual body (see Section 5.1). We have a head because the spiritual body has a head; we have circulation of the blood because the spiritual body has circulation of the blood; and so on down to the most minute biochemical process in the body and genetic structures. In the natural sciences Swedenborg anticipated genetics and neuroanatomy on the biological side, and on the chemical­physical side he anticipated nebular formation, magnetism, and relativity. His biographers and followers assert that Swedenborg's Writings will only be mined fully in the future when science is ready to accept the concept of the dual universe.

Swedenborg's book Rational Psychology (published in 1742) introduces a perspective on human behavior that anticipates the contemporary focus of American psychology. It is consistent with the major schools of psychological thinking and method, as represented by behaviorism, functionalism, gestalt, psychodynamic, and humanistic psychologies. This unusual communality is not due to eclecticism but to an overlap in fundamentals and basics of the scientific view of human behavior as it has evolved consistently in two thousand years of Western scholarship, literature, drama, philosophy, art, and science.

In its most general paradigm, rational psychology distinguishes between three interconnected domains of human behavior. These are the will (affective organ), the understanding (cognitive organ), and the sensorimotor effects of these two acting together. The actions of the  body correspond to these three domains of the mind.

Each domain of the mind consists of discretely different operations -- feelings, thoughts, and sensations. These mental operations are spiritual and therefore distinct from the electro-chemical operations of the physical brain. All operations in science must have a structural component or form in which the operations are carried out. Neuronal operations in the brain have a structural component in biochemical (protein) cells and components. Affective and cognitive operations in the mind have a structural component in mental organs constructed of spiritual fibers. Biochemical neurons in the brain are made of physical matter and energy form the sun of the natural world where all bodies are born and die. Mental neurons in the mind are made of spiritual substances from the Spiritual Sun of the spiritual world where all minds are born and live to eternity. Swedenborg's psychology was always connected to physiology and anatomy (see Section xx). He was unique in proposing anatomical structures for the mind defined as an immortal spiritual organ.

Swedenborg defines the chain of causation in behavior as follows:

(motive)   ORIGIN OF BEHAVIOR         (the Will) (affective domain)
(plan)       CAUSE OF BEHAVIOR        (the Understanding) (cognitive domain)
(act)         EFFECT OF BEHAVIOR      (the body) (sensorimotor domain)

The motive and the plan are not in this world but in the spiritual world. The spiritual world = the mental world. Modern psychologists define the mind as insubstantial or an epiphenomenon of the brain. Destroy the brain and you've destroyed the mind, they say. However Swedenborg argued on rational grounds that a function cannot exist in a vacuum or be an epiphenomenon. There must be an organic basis for all functional operations of the mind as well as of the body. Seeing is not possible without an eye. Blood circulation is not possible without heart and arteries. Swedenborg was unwilling to call the mind an epiphenomenon. He took the other scientific alternative which is that the mind is organic but of organic substances not detectable by physical senses.

Considering the locus and essence of thoughts and feelings prior to Swedenborg's dual consciousness at age 57, he postulated the existence of the spiritual world and our simultaneous and functional dual citizenship. Years later his hypothesis was confirmed empirically when he was introduced into the spiritual world and shown its reality. He then was able to talk to several of his "dead" acquaintances as well as to a number of well known men of history such as the Socratic group. Cicero, the Apostles, Luther, Leibniz, Newton, and many others. It appears from his reports of these conversations that these people had similar views and personality to those known about them in history. As well, Swedenborg was able to observe that the shape of the spiritual world is that of the human body and mind. He visually confirmed the observation when he was offered a bird's eye of the multitude of inhabited  lands and societies in the spiritual world. They are ordered into the shape and structure of what he called "The Grand Man of Heaven." This makes sense when you consider that the spiritual world = the mental world, and that the mind's shape or anatomy parallels that of the body (see Section xx). 

1.6.1  Three Levels of Behavior

Despite the variety of theories and methods in psychology there is a general overlap among them, and this commonality may be taken as stable over the changing history of schools of psychology. Consider for example the overlap between Freud, Skinner, and Rogers, these three being the representatives of separate yet widespread schools within twentieth century psychology. All three agree that affective behavior is the key to understanding the individual.

Freud looks for motivational data about his clients, in their memories, in their free associations, in the symbolism of their dreams, and in the slips of the tongue in daily talk. Contemporary psychiatry also emphasizes gestures, style of conduct, and influence of drugs. The clinical goal is to alter the individual's affective states, moods, and drive level.

Skinner makes the process of reinforcement the kingpin of his behavioristic technology. Reward schedules and the management of available social reinforcers are the principal techniques of behaviorists for modifying behavior. In other words, by controlling people's affective needs (= social rewards), the behavior technologist brings about modification in behavior. The control of affective needs is for both Skinner and Freud the key to the modification of behavior.

The same may be said about Rogers whose concept of unconditional regard specifies the affective behaviors between two people: whether one values the other, whether they can honestly express feelings with one another, whether there is acceptance of each other's wishes, and so on. The concerns of the humanistic therapist or counselor clearly relate to the clients' affective states or behaviors. So the affective or motivational domain of human behavior has received a central focus in all of psychology.

The second area of overlap between the widely differing schools of psychology is the general principle that cognitive behavior is an intervening or mediate activity between the affective motive to act and the outward performance of any act. Freud's theory specified several areas of cognitive behaviors including the unconscious, the subconscious, the ego, the super-conscious, and so on. Freud was clearly concerned with how unconscious affective needs were transformed into cognitive obsessions and delusions. Skinner gave the area of thinking a major role in his behavioristic programs of social engineering. In his 1957 book Verbal Behavior a major chapter was devoted to Thinking. This was defined as implicit or private verbal behavior, while verbal behavior was defined as behavior that affects others through discourse. Skinner defined discourse as operants under the control of social reinforcers. There is a general recognition in behavioral psychology that human affective behaviors (as in "social reinforcers") are functionally connected to human cognitive behaviors, which Skinner called implicit or private verbal operants.

In the case of Rogers, it is also clear that verbal behavior in the form of discourse and gestures is the principal method by which affective needs and habits are modified. Here too, the affective behavior is connected to the cognitive behavior, as for example, the behavior of having a good opinion of someone. The opinion or its content is the cognitive part, while the affective part is the desire to have that opinion and wanting to defend it or to justify it. The affective provides the motive, while the cognitive provides the content or plan. The two must work together to produce any overt behavior or interaction. This has been a generally accepted thesis in all of psychology.

Many labels are used for cognitive behavior by the varying schools. psychodynamic schools use the terms

  • open or closed mind

  • flexible or inflexible thinking

  • psychic pressure

  • cognitive dissonance

  • disordered thinking

  • self-image

  • basic identity

  • poor concentration

  • lack of knowledge

  • conflicting attitudes

  • strong opinions

  • illogical reasoning

  • and so on.

Behaviorist schools use various terms for cognitive behavior, including

  • thinking

  • reasoning

  • information processing

  • problem solving

  • verbal behavior

  • private operants

  • cognitions or cognitive processes

  • self­ reinforcement

  • self­ directed sentences

  • self-regulatory prompts

  • verbal cues

  • discriminant stimuli

  • neuronal cell assemblies

  • mediation reactions

  • and so on.

Rogerian and transpersonal psychologies use terms for cognitive behavior that includes

  • cognitive

  • mental or ideational

  • thoughts

  • intellectual reflection

  • consciousness

  • identity

  • self

  • insight

  • problem

  • conflict area

  • head tripping

  • inner self

  • meditation

  • and so on.

It is clear then that psychologists in general agree that human behavior is directed from the level of affective habits (or habitual affective states) and is thence interconnected with a lower level of cognitive habits. There is a  third area of overlap, what is recognized by all as the level of sensorimotor habits. Freudian analysts get paid for results; these effects of therapy must by visible in the individuals' sensory or motor life. For example, in therapy we seek for improvement in emotions and in thinking pattern, which are affective and cognitive behaviors. But we also seek changes in overt sensorimotor behaviors like the verbal statements we make about the self, or the elimination of certain unwanted acts like drug abuse, or a reduction in general muscle tension; blood pressure, or heart rate. These sensorimotor effects are used by all therapists and counselors to assess the effectiveness of the therapy or the change occurring in the client.

Behaviorists and therapists measure the sensorimotor effects of intervention programs, as for example:

  • motor movements (in relation to target behaviors)

  • rate of completion

  • frequency of errors

  • resistance to extinction

  • degree of generalization

  • transfer effects

  • gestures

  • tone of voice

  • position of the body

  • verbal claims and complaints

  • preference choices

  • expression of enthusiasm

  • and so on.

It is clear that psychologists work with the practical idea that behavior is organized in three levels; affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor. It is interesting to note here that this threefold schema for human behavior was explicitly held by earlier thinkers, going back to Aristotle.

A notable personage of the eighteenth century, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688­1772), has also catalogued human behavior in these three levels and developed an extensive and integrated psychology based on what he called the will, the understanding, and uses. The "will" was defined as the origin of affections, loves, motives, inclinations, and all impulses to act. This clearly corresponds to what contemporary psychologists call affective behavior (or motivational drives and goal­direction). The "understanding" was defined as all forms of intellectual activity, reasoning, judgment, and rationality. This level clearly corresponds with what we call today cognitive behavior or mental activity. Swedenborg defined "uses" as the locus or vehicle whereby the will is satisfied.

For example, we reach for the glass to drink it; this is the motive, goal, or impulse of the will, or voluntary freedom. Affective behavior is the tendency to reach at certain times, and not at other times. The cognitive behavior, or understanding, is the means or method through which we accomplish the goal. Here, we process the environment for suitable liquids which we know will quench our thirst. The sensorimotor behavior consists of the habits we acquired in reaching, timing, perception, etc. Swedenborg called this the "use" because it brings the wanted  liquid to our mouth. The sensorimotor use is the end result of the affective impulse acting through the cognitive knowledge. It is the attainment of the goal, which includes the sensations of drinking and getting satisfied.

1.6.2  Swedenborg's Laws of the Spiritual World

The question has been raised by Swedenborg's biographers (e.g., Trobridge) as to why believe the matters this unique man has brought back to us from the other world? Swedenborg scholars answer this question by pointing out three important considerations.

First, that the system Swedenborg erected is entirely rational, integrated, universal, with no contradictions, and is capable of rationally explaining all the major theological, philosophical, and scientific issues that have been debated since antiquity about God, immortality, the afterlife, and the dynamic laws that connect the natural and spiritual worlds. Second, that Swedenborg's reports of the spiritual world are objective and systematic, based on his eyewitness observations and field experiments in the spiritual world that he was able to conduct for 27 continuous years on a daily basis. He took careful and copious notes amounting to 30 published volumes. He was a scientist of impeccable reputation and a notable public life. Third, the system is entirely compatible with Western scientific attitudes of empiricism, functionalism, and organicity. In fact, Swedenborg's Writings anticipate major methodological issues that were rediscovered a century later by scientific psychology and behaviorism. To give but one example here, Swedenborg set a new scientific standard for dualism in science, which I can express as "No function without substance and structure." In other words, any concept referring to mental function (e.g., cognitive operations) must be tied to the substance and structure of a spiritual organ.

For instance, a concept widely used today in neuroscience, cognitive, science, and behavioral psychology  is the definition of the mind as either an "epiphenomenon" or a phenomenon that is " emergent" from the brain operations. Neither of these popular concepts meet Swedenborg's more empirical standard. Of course Swedenborg had access to direct observation of spiritual substances and structures out of which the mental organs are constructed. In contrast, neuroscience or psychology today does not even know yet that there exists a substantive spiritual world with a Spiritual Sun which radiates mental or "rational ether" substances out of which are constructed the mental neurons, fibers, and networked connections that make up the human mind. Furthermore, since neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, behavioral medicine, psychiatry -- are all lined up solidly behind the negative bias screen, there is a built in tendency to reject out of hand all of the evidence Swedenborg brings forth regarding the spiritual world and the substantive anatomy of the mental organs )see Section xx). Nevertheless, I predict that in the ensuing years more and more scientists will be willing to adopt the positive bias approach so that eventually all of science will be in the positive bias in science, a development that will bring great new benefits to humankind.

I myself have also examined the totality of Swedenborg's reports, which took several years to accomplish, and found no internal or external contradictions or inconsistencies. The claim that the system is empirically and biologically based is also correct. Swedenborg was an accomplished and well published scientist and public figure in Sweden in the18th century. His expertise includes advances in anatomy, brain functions, perception, sensation, instrument construction, metallurgy, chemistry, and astronomy, to name but a few. It is because of the rational and objective character of his system that enabled Swedenborgian ideas to have a strong influence on many thinkers of the l9th and 20th centuries (see Section 1.5). However, there are no examples of scientists who have incorporated his dualist concepts into normal science. I may be the only one so far in 2004, but I can foresee the surge ahead in the future...The future of science is theistic science and the future of psychology is theistic psychology.

In his Ingersoll Lecture on the possible existence of immortality, delivered at the turn of the century (1898), William James refers to a view held by "Swedenborgians" system and attempts to show that the concept of survival of consciousness after death is not contrary to scientific psychology, and especially, the accepted principle that consciousness is a function of the brain. William James points out that there are different types of functional interdependence, as for instance, productive vs. transmissive. Steam is productively a function of the tea kettle or other boiling apparatus; but the rainbow color stripe is transmissively a function of the prism or other refracting medium. Or, power is a productive function of the waterfall, but forced tonal air emerging from the organ with its characteristic sound is a transmissive. function of the instrument. In a productive function, if you destroy the means of production, you destroy the product; but in a transmissive function, if you destroy the means of production, you do not destroy the product. A modern day example of transmissive function is the relation between radio program and radio. Destroy the radio, if you will, but the program still exists.

In today's perspective, the transmissive model can be recognized as a correlational function between brain and mind, while the productive model can be recognized as a a cause-effect relation between them. In neuroscience today it is argued that the brain "causes" the "epiphenomenon" of mind and consciousness. This is a productive model. All such models are materialistic and monist since they equate mind and brain as belonging to physical matter, space, and time. But the transmissive or correlational model is dualist since the brain is constructed out of physical matter while the mind is constructed out of spiritual substance (see Section xx). The materialist models require that the mind vanish from existence when the brain is dead. The dualist model shows that we are born into two worlds, the body organs in the physical world and the mind or mental organs in the spiritual world. When the physical body dies, the mental body is resuscitated in the spiritual world and lives on to immortality (see Section xx).

William James refers to the dictum in physiological psychology that "thought is a function of the brain." He points out that with this dictum one can logically and scientifically be in either camp -- productive or transmissive. If you espouse the camp that believes that thought is a productive function of the brain (as most psychologists do), you must conclude that when the brain is destroyed, so is thinking and feeling. You must deny that immortality can be a scientific concept. However, if you espouse the camp that believes that thinking and feeling are transmissive functions of the brain, then you must conclude that immortality is a possible scientific concept. I may need to mention here that William James, after giving this proof, then declares his personal predilection to be in the productive camp. Nevertheless, the proof he presents is logically correct.

William James reminds us that it is useful for scientists to have theories that are acceptable to common sense and the rest of society. This point is relevant today. For instance, though the majority of undergraduates indicate they pray regularly, there is nothing they can find on praying in their psychology texts except a ridiculing of it, as is the case with Skinner, who defined praying as "superstitious behavior." There is a growing interest among American psychologists in "religious issues" (an APA Division) as shown by an increasing number of textbooks and periodicals. There is a renewed interest on the part of clinical psychologists to adjust the process of therapy so that it acknowledges the client's religious beliefs. This recognition in no way suggests that clinical psychology acknowledges God as a real causal factor in therapy. It only says that clinical psychology acknowledges the client's belief systems as relevant to the course of therapy.

William James mentions the concept of "influx" held by "Swedenborgians" which he interprets to mean that consciousness is the reception of influx that comes down from God. The brain is merely a transmissive organ for this consciousness, according to William James' speculation regarding the meaning of influx in Swedenborg's Writings.

This is the theory that natural forms limit the spiritual influx streaming into them from within. This is analogous to the radio: the turning of the dial changes the state of the condenser; in each state (indexed by a numbering system) the receptivity is different, so that changing the condenser state alters the radio frequencies it is receptive to. The radio wave system is in fact an inflow or input that is constantly present within the sphere of the radio as objects; but this input is received differently depending of the state of the radio components. Similarly, the brain is within a sphere whereby influx from the other world within) constantly streams into it, but it receives parts of this influx in accordance with the state in which the brain is, or the states of its component parts. As William James puts it, "And when finally a brain stops acting altogether, or decays, that special stream of consciousness which it subserved will vanish entirely from this natural world. But the sphere of being that supplied the consciousness would still be intact; and in that more real world with which, even whilst here, it was continuous, the consciousness might, in ways unknown to us, continue still." (1898/1956, p.l8).

One serious problem with this analogy is that both the radio waves and the radio components are physical in nature, while influx is not physical but spiritual in substance. Spiritual influx cannot be received into the organ of the physical brain but only in the organ of the mental mind, which is constructed of spiritual substances. William James was evidently not familiar enough with Swedenborg's Writings to realize this important fact which Swedenborg repeatedly makes throughout the books of the Writings. Instead, influx into the mind has a reactive response in the brain by correspondence only. Hence it is that when the physical brain dies, the influx into the mental organ continues uninterrupted to eternity.

I should mention this relevant fact.  William James had been exposed by his father, Henry James, Sr., to Swedenborg's system of which Henry James was an ardent public defender (Beck, 1933). William James was in charge of the posthumous publication of some of his father's papers, and one of them was a book about Swedenborg! William James chose not to incorporate Swedenborg's spiritual psychobiology in his influential textbook of 1897 on The Varieties of Religious Experiences, In fact, he doesn't to mention Swedenborg in any of his numerous books, articles, or essays, though he reviews the work of hundreds of authors, but never Swedenborg. This avoidance makes sense when you consider that William James' career was based on making a strong case for the new science of psychology, in which he had become a world leader. He was politically motivated to keep the science of psychology separate from philosophy, theology, or religion. Talking about Swedenborg could have jeopardized his grand plan.

In the Preface to the Second Edition of Human Immortality, William James is concerned about "many critics (who) have made one and the same objection to the doorway to immortality which my lecture claims to be left open by the 'transmission­theory' of cerebral action" (William James, 1898/1956). The objection is that "if our finite personality here below, be due to the transmission through the brain of portions of a preexisting larger consciousness, all that can remain after the brain expires is the larger consciousness itself as such, with which we should thenceforth be perforce reconfounded, the only means of our existence in finite personal form having ceased." (Preface). The objectors feared that William James has thus eliminated the Christian idea of immortality "which means survival in strictly personal form."

If you want to see his entire lecture, here is a copy of it (I highlighted in red and blue font the paragraphs of special interest to our current topic):  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/William-James-immortality.htm

Today, there is a trend in the humanistically oriented new field of transpersonal psychology to find it acceptable to contemplate the dissolution of personal life at death into the "mother­sea" (to qupte the old expression used by William James), and is even used in counseling activities for the dying (Arkoff, 1984). William James, however, is intent on satisfying the popular need for concepts that insure the personal survival of every unique individual: "one may conceive the mental world behind the veil in terms as individualistic as one pleases, without any detriment to the general scheme by which the brain is represented as a transmissive organ." (Preface).

Study Questions:

Week 11 Readings: Section 1.5.1 to 1.6.2

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

11.1.
(a) Summarize Section 1.5.1 "Students Speak Out on Swedenborg."
(b) Contrast the ideas of students in the History of Psychology earlier classes vs. the ideas of students later in theistic psychology. What is the difference in attitude and content?
(b) Give your impressions and conclusions of how students are doing in studying and accepting theistic psychology.
(c) Relate your conclusions to your own study of theistic psychology thus far. How do you fit or relate?

11.2.
(a) Section 1.5.1.2 "The Negative Bias in Science" presents an extensive quote by a negative bias mode psychologist (Bering). Analyze what he says.
(b) Make a conclusion in the light of what you already know from the positive bias perspective in theistic psychology.
(c) How would your other professors this semester relate to the idea presented in this class that nontheistic psychology assumes the negative bias in science? Would you predict that they agree that it is a bias or not?

11.3.
(a) Select a few concepts from Section  1.5.1.3 "Outline of Swedenborg's Spiritual Psychology." Make an outline of the entire argument.
(b) Which concepts are most interesting to you. Explain.
(c) Now present and explain the outline to a friend or two. Have a discussion about it.
(d) What observations can you make from this exchange?

11.4.  
(a) Section 1.5.1.3 also contains a "narrative account" in which there is a discussion with angels about what people on earth know about heaven and hell. What is your impression of this?
(b) Give an interpretation of the account as best you can at this point in your study of theistic psychology.

11.5.
(a) Summarize what is said in Section 1.6 "Spiritual Psychobiology."
(b) How does this relate to what you already know about the field of psychology?

11.6.
(a) Study Section 1.6.1 "Three Levels of Behavior." Based on that discussion, and your own limited knowledge of the field, explain the major differences between non-theistic psychology and theistic psychology. You can also consult other Sections, e.g., Section 2.3 "Is theistic psychology really science?" at  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/theistic/ch2.htm#Q2

11.7.
(a) Discuss your answer of question 6 with a friend or two. Describe your interaction.
(b) What is your conclusion?

11.8.
(a) Discuss the "transmissive model" (or "transmission theory") of the mind by William James in Section 2.3. He was familiar with Swedenborg's Writings from his father, who wrote a book about Swedenborg's Writings.
(b) Do you see a connection between substantive dualism and the model of William James?

11.9.
(a) Discuss your perceptions of how other students in this class (G26) are adjusting intellectually to the positive bias perspective.
(b) Read some of their reports. Do the reports show the same thing as the class discussions?
(c) How do you stand relative to others?


1.6.3  Criteria for a Scientific Theory in Psychology

Consider Freud's theory of the structure of the self in terms of id, ego, and superego. Is it a scientific theory? In general we would say that it is a scientific theory, though we might quickly add that it is not a very thorough one since it cannot be empirically investigated. But how do we know that Freud's theory is in general scientific? What about mental telepathy? What about creationism? To distinguish between a workable scientific theory in psychology and one that is unworkable by today's standards, we might evaluate each theory on the basis of these five criteria:

  • 1. Organicity. The proposed theory must be biologically grounded. In other words, no function without structure, medium, or substance.

  • 2. Objective Reality. The facts of the proposed system must come from objective observation, and must be verifiable by others.

  • 3. Operational Definition. The proposed theory must offer concrete measurement procedures for assessing the magnitude of effects indexed by dependent measures under various known independent conditions.

  • 4. Empiricism: Every step of the explanation or theory must be capable of being understood and verified by the person's own experience or self-witnessing observations.

  • 5. Usefulness: The theory must be applicable to all people and beneficial to society and individuals.

Discussion of these five criteria now follows.

        1.6.3.1  Organicity.

The proposed theory must be biologically grounded. In other words, no function without structure, medium, or substance.

The APA approved licensing procedures for clinical psychologists certifies that trained psychotherapists must have a sufficiently thorough knowledge in the biological and medical sciences. This general practice shows the fact that today's standards in psychology insist that psychological theories be biologically based. Swedenborg's system meets this requirement, and does so in a highly specific way unlike Freud whose Id/Ego/Superego structure had but vague biological definitions based on the analogy of a plumbing system in the mind. Swedenborg was the recipient of training by the finest European anatomists of the 17th and 18th centuries and used this knowledge in the system he erected. Swedenborg's books on the brain and the sensory predate by a hundred years the work of Fechner and Wundt on sensation and perception.

The difference between psychology and philosophy , what makes psychology a science, is that mental functions have an organic operation. Without this bottom line requirement psychological theories would be like science fiction or the theater. In psychology, sensations, thoughts, and feelings,  must be defined as operations or processes. Any operation must have a sphere, field, medium, or locus of movement, repetition, and change. In order for light (function) to travel between two spots it must have a medium of displacement. like space, a gas, a liquid, or a tube. In order for In order for a car to move (function) it must have an engine (medium, structure) capable of using a  source of energy. In order for people to pay their income tax (function) there must be a filing form (structure) provided by the government. Similarly, mental functions like problem solving (cognitive) and feeling attracted to something (affective), must have a medium in which these operations take place in appropriate sequences and hierarchies.  

Two types of answers have been given regarding this medium in which mental operations take place. One answer is materialistic and monistic, the other is dualist or substantive. The answer from monism is popular today in neuroscience and cognitive science. It says that conscious awareness of feelings and thoughts, thus of being a human self, is an "epiphenomenon," thus not something real, not something having its own real independence -- like the picture of yourself in the mirror is not real compared to your face. So the conscious self that each of us is familiar with is an "emergent phenomenon" resulting from the neuro-chemical firings taking place in the neurons of the bran. Although these neuro-chemical firings can be measured by various techniques today, all one gets by this techniques is a measure, pattern, color, or number, not a feeling or thought. To equate the number or color pattern with the feeling or thoughts is called reductionism, and is one of the consequences of the negative bias in science.

But with the positive bias of substantive dualism, as demonstrated in theistic psychology, the standard requirement for scientific objectivity can be restored to the concept of the mind and the spiritual world. We know from Swedenborg's reports that mental operations are visible in the spiritual world of the afterlife (see Section xx). It is common for people there to look at someone approaching and perceive whether the individual is friendly or hostile, honest or tricky, and what others they are in contact with. This is accomplished by observing the color and pattern of operations that are visibly flashing in various areas of the head and body.

Swedenborg defined the mind as a spiritual organ constructed out of the spiritual substances streaming forth from the Spiritual Sun in the spiritual world. all human minds are born in the spiritual world and as the individual grows in mental age, the natural mind is being formed out of the spiritual substances in its environment of "rational ether." Rational operations in the cognitive organ is what we call "thinking." These rational operations are reactions to the influx of spiritual light, a substance streaming forth from the Spiritual Sun. At the same time spiritual heat from this sun enters into the affective organ, which reacts by correspondence and creates the consciousness of feeling.

Swedenborg's descriptions are so consistent and detailed that anatomy charts can be prepared based on them. An excellent such attempt may be seen in Section xx which presents Burnham's diagrams.

Theistic psychology is a biological science. Substantive dualism makes it into an empirical science. Theistic psychology specifies a mental anatomy and mental physiology that constitute a spiritual psychobiology. In fact, the neuronal networks of the brain and their patterns of firing are governed by the laws of correspondences. This means that the brain activity merely reflects the mental neurons and their networks of operation in the mind. The spiritual physiology of mental organs is primary while the natural physiology of the brain is secondary or reactive to it by the laws of correspondence that specify the functional interactions between the spiritual and natural worlds.

Feelings and thoughts are actual operations in the affective and cognitive organs of the mind. The primary category for affective operations is selfish vs. altruistic (or hellish vs. heavenly), and the primary category for thinking, is truth vs. falsified truth (or rational vs. irrational).

        1.6.3.2. Objective Reality.

The facts of the proposed system must come from objective observation, and must be verifiable by others. .

Freud's psychodynamic concepts are usable by scientifically oriented psychiatrists because they help organize the observations about one's clients. Many of the clients' behaviors can be labeled using these concepts. In this sense, Freudian theory is empirical and objective, and discussible by practitioners as a common reference system. This makes it part of normal science, even if the concepts cannot be operationally defined and experimentally manipulated. In contrast, the case of ESP phenomena like telepathy or clairvoyance, has been less successful with scientists despite the heavy emphasis on the experimental approach in ESP research. The difficulty has been practical. The ESP behavior effects are so small that they are inconsequential for practical purposes.

A substantial proportion of scientific research in psychology has been polemic or controversial. Researcher A comes up with a new technique or concept. Researchers B, C, and D publish critical articles, failing to replicate the results of researcher A. Then, researchers E and F publish an article confirming the results of researcher A. More researchers join the hunt for the true facts and provable effects. When you examine a research area in psychology that spans two or three decades, you will find substantial amounts of such back and forth arguments about whether a proposed effect is real or not. This is "normal science" and is typical of how science progresses over decades -- see Thomas Kuhn's well known concept and book on The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962). Google.com gives you thousands of interesting hits if you search for this title along with the author's name.

Swedenborg's reports present facts and observations that are as objective as an eyewitness field report gathered in the notes of Ph.D. candidates doing their dissertations in anthropology, linguistics, geology, biology, architecture, or culinary art. All those who were present also saw the same facts he saw. they were objective events like something somebody says, or something that appears in the surroundings, or what a group of debaters are talking about, etc. In 27 years of daily explorations in the spiritual world, Swedenborg had made many companions whom he could consult with or interview, or act as assistants in his experiments. Everyone present was able to see what Swedenborg saw and reported.

It is the case that Swedenborg could not invite assistants or colleagues still living on earth to corroborate what he could see and what those could see who were already in the spiritual world of their afterlife. This is a barrier that cannot be overcome by employing some special methodology. We understand from theistic psychology why other scientists are not allowed to have dual consciousness like Swedenborg. But every scientist will have the opportunity of verifying Swedenborg's data and experiments as soon as they are resuscitated into the spiritual world, a few hours after they lose connection with their physical body.

Swedenborg's system is based on a universal law between the natural and spiritual worlds called "the law of correspondences" (see Section xx). Waldo Emerson, the founder of transcendentalism in the 19th century, had heard of Swedenborg's idea of correspondences between natural effects and spiritual causes. He was apparently delighted at the idea of a living symbolism between nature and the transcendental world of spirit. But he did not read enough of Swedenborg's Writings to realize that the correspondences Swedenborg discussed were not his own symbolic interpretations of the symbolisms of nature viewed from a poetic perspective. And so Emerson changed the correspondences to suit his own fancy or aesthetic ideas.  But of course correspondences are not someone's subjective symbolism. There is a universal law that fixes all correspondences between natural phenomena as effects and spiritual phenomena as causes.

        1.6.3.3. Operational Definition.

The proposed theory must offer concrete measurement procedures for assessing the magnitude of effects indexed by dependent measures under various known independent conditions.

This is where Freud's rich theories did not do well in the long run. His system is sometimes ridiculed by behaviorists. At any rate, it is to be noted that when Freud's theories, or parts thereof, were re­defined to permit operational definitions, the result was quite fruitful in research that is of acceptable standards, as for example the work of Adorno et. al. in The Authoritarian Personality, or the use of the Rorsach Ink Blot Test to measure abnormal emotions.

 Swedenborg was both a product and an architect of modern science. He was not only an anatomist and physiologist, but an instrument maker, engineer, metallurgist, and legislator influential in economic monetary policy. His precise professional training and job demands required operationalizing his ideas into rock bottom precision. When he received access to the spiritual world, he specified both the specific forces that tie the two worlds together and the transition stages that allow each individual person to go from this temporary life into a pre­existing eternal life. Over and over again he presents the observations he made over a 27­year period concerning how long it takes between death of the physical body and resuscitation or regaining of consciousness in the spiritual world. He described the attendant conditions to the resuscitation process, who is present, what role they play, what are people's reactions when they wake up, what they take from here to there in terms of knowledge and attitude, and many other things described in great detail and precision.

All of Swedenborg's descriptions of the laws of correspondences are given as operational definitions. He frequently makes use of equivalence formulae such as "A equals B" or "A signifies B" or "A represents B." A and B are always independently defined so that the A element is always natural while the B element is always spiritual, mental, or psychological (see Section xx).

        1.6.3.4. Empiricism:

Every step of the explanation or theory must be capable of being understood and verified by the person's own experience or self-witnessing observations.

One of the special aspects of Swedenborg's empiricism is that every step of his account or explanation is intended to be understood and verified by the person's own experience or self-witnessing observations. This is not the case with many other psychological theories since they tend exclude self-awareness as subjective rather objective. When it comes to people's feelings and thoughts, this attitude raises the socio­moral and political issue of whether someone else can accurately tell you about your own feelings, affections, motives, and thoughts. These "private" events are unavailable to psychologists, and therefore they cannot tell you objectively what you are thinking or feeling, or even, what the quality of your feeling and thinking is.

Behaviorism was historically a reaction against the objectivity of self-monitoring, which a hundred years ago used to be called "introspectionism" (see for example Titchener). Despite this, the science of psychology grew mostly through data based on self-monitoring. They include personality tests, verbal inventories, interviews, case histories, attitude scales, and multiple choice questions about one's mood, emotions, and thoughts. The science of psychology would not exist were it not for its heavy reliance on people's self-monitoring of their feelings, thoughts, and interests.

Swedenborg insisted on this type of empirical verification by readers prior to their acceptance of any idea or principle he presented. He championed the rational approach to government, philosophy, science, theology, religion, and instruction. He fought against dogmas of religion. His empiricism was impeccable having succeeded in proving what thousands of brilliant Bible scholars were unable to do for a thousand years before him. With the use of his own system of cross­references of Bible verses Swedenborg proved that the language of the Bible is written in correspondences that are uniform and integrated across the Old and New Testament books, despite their having been written independently by dozens of writers over hundreds of years. When the correspondences are analyzed, the literal historical meaning (the natural A elements) disappear, replaced by their spiritual counterparts (the B elements). And these spiritual elements turn out to be scientific descriptions of the human mind -- its anatomy and functional operations.

        1.6.3.5. Usefulness

The theory must be applicable to all people and beneficial to society and individuals.

Theistic psychology is the knowledge extracted from the Writings of Swedenborg. Its comprehensive topical structure is proof of the many uses, extensions, and applications of the knowledge contained in the Writings (see the Overall Table of Contents).

1.6.4  The Organic Basis of All Phenomena 

Swedenborg specifies the organic basis of death and the afterlife. In sketchy form we can say that we are born into two worlds, the spiritual and the natural, with two bodies, one for each world, and in which we exist and grow simultaneously. Prior to

death our awareness or conscious self is centered entirely in the natural body, and upon death, the natural body ceases to function and disintegrates, while the spiritual body now becomes the center and focus of our awareness. Subjectively, the person upon death experiences waking up in vaguely familiar surroundings with some initial feelings of amnesia and field dependent focus. After a few days, however, as the person walks around in the new social and external world, there is a dawning realization that one is now in the spiritual world. Swedenborg reports that most people are shocked to discover that the afterlife is so similar in outward appearance and inner feelings to this life. This impression changes, however, as the person's stay in the other world matures and evolves according to the laws of the spiritual world.

The first aspect of this part of the theory that needs to be pointed out is that it does not violate any behavioristic assumptions and standards. The other world is not ghostly or abstract or ephemeral or transpersonally oceanic and alien to what we already know as rock bottom individual personality, habit, and memories. Of course some have accused Swedenborg of insanity, though his biographers point out that during the 27 years that Swedenborg collected and wrote about data from the other world, he continued to publish scientific articles and books, and continued his job as government Assessor of Mines and parliamentary legislator with bills to his name on economic reform and other practical matters. He retained his reputation unblemished by the unsupported and ignorant charge of insanity, mental impairment, or psychosis and etc. (see Trobridge; Acton).

1.6.5  The Method of Psycho-Biological Correspondence

Quoting from Swedenborg's work Divine Love and Wisdom (DLW)

385. By means of this correspondence many arcana relating to the will and understanding, thus also to love and wisdom, may be disclosed. In the world it is scarcely known what the will is or what love is, for the reason that man is not able, by himself, to love, and from love to will, although he is able as it were by himself to exercise intelligence and thought; just as he is not able of himself to cause the heart to beat, although he is able of himself to cause the lungs to respire. Now because it is scarcely known in the world what the will is or what love is, but it is known what the heart and the lungs are, --for these are objects of sight and can be examined, and have been examined and described by anatomists, while the will and the understanding are not objects of sight, and cannot be so examined--therefore when it is known that these correspond, and by correspondence act as one, many arcana relating to the will and understanding may be disclosed that could not otherwise be disclosed; those for instance relating to the conjunction of the will with the understanding, and the reciprocal conjunction of the understanding with the will; those relating to the conjunction of love with wisdom, and the reciprocal conjunction of wisdom with love; also those relating to the derivation of love into affections, and to the consociation of affections, to their influx into perceptions and thoughts, and finally their influx according to correspondence into the bodily acts and senses.

These and many other arcana may be both disclosed and illustrated by the conjunction of the heart and lungs, and by the influx of the blood from the heart into the lungs, and reciprocally from the lungs into the heart, and therefrom through the arteries into all the members, organs and viscera of the body.

386. (6) Man's mind is his spirit, and the spirit is the man, while the body is an external by means of which the mind or spirit feels and acts in its world. That man's mind is his spirit, and that the spirit is the man, can hardly enter the faith of those who have supposed the spirit to be wind, and the soul to be an airy something like breath breathed out from the lungs. For they say, How can the spirit, when it is spirit, be the man, and how can the soul, when it is soul, be the man? They think in the same way of God because He is called a Spirit. This idea of the spirit and the soul has come from the fact that spirit and wind in some languages are the same word; also, that when a man dies, he is said to give up the ghost or spirit; also, that life returns, after suffocation or swooning, when the spirit or breath of the lungs comes back.

Because in these cases nothing but the breath or air is perceived, it is concluded from the eye and bodily sense that the spirit and soul of man after death is not the man. From this corporeal conclusion about the spirit and soul, Various hypotheses have arisen, and these have given birth to a belief that man after death does not become a man until the day of the last judgment, and that meanwhile his spirit remains somewhere or other awaiting reunion with the body, according to what has been shown in the Continuation concerning the Last Judgment (n. 32-38). Because man's mind is his spirit, the angels, who also are spirits, are called minds.

390. (7) The conjunction of man's spirit with his body is by means of the correspondence of his will and understanding with his heart and lungs, and their separation is from non- correspondence. As it has heretofore been unknown that man's mind, by which is meant the will and understanding, is his spirit, and that the spirit is a man; and as it has been unknown that man's spirit, as well as his body, has a pulse add respiration, it could not be known that the pulse and respiration of the spirit in man flow into the pulse and respiration of his body and produce them. Since, then, man's spirit, as well as his body, enjoys a pulse and respiration, it follows that there is a like correspondence of the pulse and respiration of man's spirit with the pulse and respiration of his body, --for, as was said, his mind is his spirit, --consequently, when the two pairs of motions cease to correspond, separation takes place, which is death. Separation or death ensues when from any kind of disease or accident the body comes into such a state as to be unable to act in unison with its spirit, for thus correspondence perishes, and with it conjunction; not, however, when respiration alone ceases, but when the heart's pulsation ceases.

For so long as the heart is moved, love with its vital heat remains and preserves life, as is evident in cases of swoon and suffocation, and in the condition of fetal life in the womb. In a word, man's bodily life depends on the correspondence of its pulse and respiration with the pulse and respiration of his spirit; and when that correspondence ceases, the bodily life ceases, and his spirit departs and continues its life in the spiritual world, which is so similar to his life in the natural world that he does not know that he has died. Men generally enter the spiritual world two days after the death of the body. For I have spoken with some after two days.

391. That a spirit, as well as a man on earth in the body enjoys a pulse and a respiration, can only be proved by spirits and angels themselves, when privilege is granted to speak with them. This privilege has been granted to me. When questioned about the matter they declared that they are just as much men as those in the world are, and possess a body as well as they, but a spiritual body, and feel the beat of the heart in the chest, and the beat of the arteries in the wrist, just as men do in the natural world. I have questioned many about the matter, and they all gave like answer. That man's spirit respires within his body has been granted me to learn by personal experience. On one occasion angels were allowed to control my respiration, and to diminish it at pleasure, and at length to withdraw it, until only the respiration of my spirit remained, which I then perceived by sense.

A like experience was granted me when permitted to learn the state of the dying (as may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 459). I have sometimes been brought into the respiration of my spirit only, which I have then sensibly perceived to be in accord with the common respiration of heaven. Also many times I have been in a state like that of angels, and also raised up into heaven to them, and being then out of the body in spirit, I talked with angels with a respiration in like manner as in the world. From this and other personal evidence it has been made clear to me that man's spirit respires, not only in the body but also after it has left the body; that the respiration of the spirit is so silent as not to be perceptible to man; and that it inflows into the manifest respiration of the body almost as cause flows into effect, or thought into the lungs and through the lungs into speech. From all this it is also evident that conjunction of spirit and body in man is by means of the correspondence of the cardiac and pulmonic movement in both.

392. These two movements, the cardiac and the pulmonic, derive their origin and persistence from this, that the whole angelic heaven, in general and in particular, is in these two movements of life; and the whole angelic heaven is in these movements because the Lord pours them in from the sun, where He is, and which is from Him; for these two movements are maintained by that sun from the Lord. It is evident that such is their origin since all things of heaven and all things of the world depend on the Lord through that sun in a connection, by virtue of form, like a chain-work from the first to outmosts, also since the life of love and wisdom is from the Lord, and all the forces of the universe are from life. That the variation of these movements is according to the reception of love and wisdom, also follows.

394. FROM THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE HEART WITH THE WILL AND OF THE LUNGS WITH THE UNDERSTANDING, EVERYTHING MAY BE KNOWN THAT CAN BE KNOWN ABOUT THE WILL AND UNDERSTANDING, OR ABOUT LOVE AND WISDOM, THEREFORE ABOUT THE SOUL OF MAN. 394. Many in the learned world have wearied themselves with inquiries respecting the soul; but as they knew nothing of the spiritual world, or of man's state after death, they could only frame theories, not about the nature of the soul, but about its operation on the body. Of the nature of the soul they could have no idea except as something most pure in the ether, and of its containing form they could have no idea except as being ethereal.

But knowing that the soul is spiritual, they dared not say much about the matter openly, for fear of ascribing to the soul something natural. With this conception of the soul, and yet knowing that the soul operates on the body, and produces all things in it that relate to its sensation and motion, they have wearied themselves, as was said, with inquiries respecting the operation of the soul on the body. This has been held by some to be effected by influx, and by some to be effected by harmony.

But as this investigation has disclosed nothing in which the mind anxious to see the real truth can acquiesce, it has been granted me to speak with angels, and to be enlightened on the subject by their wisdom; the fruits of which are as follows: Man's soul, which lives after death, is his spirit, and is in complete form a man; the soul of this form is the will and understanding, and the soul of these is love and wisdom from the Lord; these two are what constitute man's life, which is from the Lord above; yet for the sake of man's reception of Him, He causes life to appear as if it were man's; but that man may not claim life for himself as his, and thus withdraw himself from this reception of the Lord, the Lord has also taught that everything of love, which is called good, and everything of wisdom, which is called truth, is from Him, and nothing of these from man; and as these two are life, that everything of life which is life is from Him.

395. Since the soul in its very esse is love and wisdom, and these two in man are from the Lord, there are created in man two receptacles, which are also the abodes of the Lord in man; one for love, the other for wisdom, the one for love called the will, the other for wisdom called the understanding. Now since Love and Wisdom in the Lord are one distinctly (as may be seen above, n. 17-22), and Divine Love is of His Divine Wisdom, and Divine Wisdom is of His Divine Love (n. 34-39), and since these so go forth from God-Man, that is, from the Lord, therefore these two receptacles and abodes of the Lord in man, the will and understanding, are so created by the Lord as to be distinctly two, and yet make one in every operation and every sensation; for in these the will and understanding cannot be separated.

Nevertheless, to enable man to become a receptacle and an abode of the Lord, it is provided, as necessary to this end, that man's understanding can be raised above his proper love into some light of wisdom in the love of which the man is not, and that he can thereby see and be taught how he must live if he would come also into that higher love, and thus enjoy eternal happiness. But by the misuse of this power to elevate the understanding above his proper love, man has subverted in himself that which might have been the receptacle and abode of the Lord (that is, of love and wisdom from the Lord), by making the will an abode for the love of self and the world, and the understanding an abode for whatever confirms those loves. From this it has come that these two abodes, the will and understanding, have become abodes of infernal love, and by confirmations in favor of these loves, abodes of infernal thought, which in hell is esteemed as wisdom.

396. The reason why the love of self and love of the world are infernal loves, and yet man has been able to come into them and thus subvert the will and understanding within him, is as follows: the love of self and the love of the world by creation are heavenly loves; for they are loves of the natural man serviceable to spiritual loves, as a foundation is to a house. For man, from the love of self and the world, seeks the welfare of his body, desires food, clothing, and habitation, is solicitous for the welfare of his family, and to secure employment for the sake of use, and even, in the interest of obedience, to be honored according to the dignity of the affairs which he administers, and to find delight and refreshment in worldly enjoyment; yet all this for the sake of the end, which must be use For through these things man is in a state to serve the Lord and to serve the neighbor. When, however, there is no love of serving the Lord and serving the neighbor, but only a love of serving himself by means of the world, then from being heavenly that love becomes hellish, for it causes a man to sink his mind and disposition in what is his own, and that in itself is wholly evil.

397. Now that man may not by the understanding be in heaven while by the will he is in hell, as is possible, and may thereby have a divided mind, after death everything of the understanding which transcends its own love is removed; whereby it comes that in eves-one the will and understanding finally take one. With those in heaven the will loves good and the understanding thinks truth; but with those in hell the will loves evil and the understanding thinks falsity. The same is true of man in this world when he is thinking from his spirit, as he does when alone; yet many, so long as they are in the body, when they are not alone think otherwise. They then think otherwise because they raise their understanding above the proper love of their will, that is, of their spirit. These things have been said, to make known that the will and understanding are two distinct things, although created to act as one, and that they are made to act as one after death, if not before.

Swedenborg gives full theoretical attention to the issue of the biology of the spiritual body. We may use the term spiritual psychobiology to refer to the details he works out concerning the operation and development of the spiritual body. First, we may note that the two bodies are functional relations of each other in anatomical detail and in neurophysiologic operations. In fact, the theory asserts that not a single cellular, glandular, or hormonal activity in this body is possible without the simultaneous accompaniment of the equivalent activity in the other body. It is asserted that the other body takes precedence in determining the sequence of events in this body. For instance, suppose the other body is suddenly surrounded and invaded by the close contact of a group of people in the other world.

This interpersonal proximity sets up a communication flow of cognitive and affective reactions between the people and you. As a consequence, the neurophysiologic states of your spiritual body is altered in specific ways corresponding to the character of the group of people that surrounded you. Streams of affections and cognitions are received by each appropriate organ of the spiritual body. Swedenborg gives a great deal of detail here (running to the tune of several volumes!) and relates these interpersonal effects in the other world to individual effects in this body, such as specific diseases and mental malfunctioning. Thus, we can say according to this system, that our physical and mental functioning in this natural body is the consequence of the psychosocial environment of the spiritual body. Bad company in the other world causes disturbances in this world. See a related article on Swedenborg's contributions to modern psychological concepts.

A behaviorist at this point would demand an explanation of how such a connection is operationally carried off. We do not accept magical forces or vacuous operations. Swedenborg supplies us with detailed rational and biological and cosmogenic details regarding the substances of which the universe is made of, and their lawful or orderly interdependence. Not a single natural or psychological fact or event can have an exception to this rule. Here is where Swedenborg's extraordinary originality and ingenuity shows up well. He presents an evolutionary view of the world being one of the first scientists after Newton to propose a theory of galactic evolution of suns and planets. According to this theory the spiritual sun came first into being through an act of Divine creation and all other created things came into being through the natural action of this spiritual sun. As the particles of spiritual substances stream out of this eternal sun, they become denser and denser through changes in their motion or vibration, and solidify into atmospheres of increasing solidity and material density. Swedenborg specified nine atmospheres, the primary being thin atmospheres which he called love and wisdom, and the succeeding ones being heat, light, ether, air, and solid matter.

This is one of the most difficult and challenging aspects of the theory since behaviorists are not used to thinking along a substantial or organic composition for human emotions, feelings, thoughts, ideas, and intentions. Today behaviorism is still plagued by the archaic view that feelings and thoughts are epiphenomena corresponding to chemical reactions in the nervous system and the body. For example, the famous James­Lange theory of emotions, and its contemporary counterpart as the Shachter view of emotions in social psychology, is that emotions are nothing else than the physiological reactions in the body and their conscious sensation. We are not used to be told that emotions and feelings and thoughts are made of their own stuff, that they are real and concrete and substantial, and that they are not merely epiphenomena arising from the natural chemicals. Swedenborg system asks to reverse the view and say that the stuff of feelings and thoughts is substantial and exists within its own sphere of organized neurophysiology.

According to this theory, the original stuff that streams out of the spiritual sun is two­fold: affective and cognitive. These two substances cool down and become denser, in which state they appear as heat and light of the natural sun, and eventually they appear as chemicals. Thus, chemicals are nothing but affections and cognitions cooled down, slowed down, and solidified. The physiology of emotions thus partakes of how affective and cognitive reactions in the spiritual body come down and solidify as neurochemical reactions in the natural body.

Swedenborg's cosmogony specifies that these two elementary substances of love and wisdom (affect and cognition) exist eternally in the spiritual sun and are an infinite source for the creation of ever new worlds and ever increasing numbers of humans throughout the universe.

The interpersonal basis of the other world is firmly established by Swedenborg's psychology, sociology, and history, which together may be given the title of spiritual geography. It is remarkable that Swedenborg's descriptions of the other world are continuous with our familiar experience in this world, namely, ethnic varieties of people as we know them here, identifiable according to their religious beliefs, their styles of dress and housing, their customs and form of government, their ideals and attitudes towards work, science, recreation, and humor. Of course, this makes the whole system more acceptable since it offers full continuity with this world. At the same time there are significant differences.

For one thing, the language is universal, everyone speaking in their own language subjectively, but interpersonally, it is heard as an automatic translation into a universal thought­language by the brain of the spiritual body. Of course, this lingua franca does not insure good communication among varieties of cultures since these do not harmonize in their affective and cognitive habits. Swedenborg reports that new arrivals in the other world are frequently met by dead relatives or spouses and these live together for a while ­­ until they discover that they are incompatible effectively and cognitively, at which point they if they are compatible, they tend to cohabitate.

One of the new peculiarities new arrivals have to adjust to is the spatial law in the spiritual world whereby similarity of affect produces proximity of ecology. Swedenborg reports that in the other world a storm is produced, with thunder and lightning and wind, when people of clashing affections get together, which sometimes occurs for special purposes, he himself having witnessed such stormy battles in the other world. This law that interconnects affective and cognitive operations within the individual, and external ecological events of nature, is one of the striking features of life in the other world according to Swedenborg. He observed changes in plants, gardens, trees, clouds, and animals surrounding families he was visiting that occurred when he also perceived a change in the affections and attitudes of the inhabitants. This he also observed geographically, so that certain thoughts and intentions create instant deserts or jungles with dangerous animals that appear to attack to hapless thinker. Swedenborg reports that the art of fantasy and hypnotherapy is practiced extensively in the other world so that there is a constant struggle going on there between good and evil affections, true and false cognitions.

The law of the spiritual world is such that evil forces allied to false reasoning create a downward sphere or draft through which the people adhering to these affections and thoughts are pulled lower and lower, until they come to reside in underground, cavernous holes, where they pursue in perennial semi­darkness ever more restricted and specialized interests in a single overriding affection or lust, eventually turning into a kind of sub­human beast wallowing in one repetitious and endless sensation. The laws of the other world are such that those who adhere by preference and free will to upward moving drafts of affections, gradually find themselves in ever more beautiful surrounds, and ever richer and deeper feelings of contentment, fulfillment, and creative expression. The individual lives of people who make it a daily habit to be kind, altruistic, and useful become heavenly and filled with never ending intellectual and affective adventures in the eternal world.

The happiness and creativity of these people in their heavens exerts a strong human sphere of influence that extends down into the minds of people living on the earths of the universe. This heavenly sphere enters the individuals' life on earth through ideas and strivings, Similarly, a strong and contrary sphere of influence emanates from the deep hells of human experience and invade us upward; they are felt in our violence, greed, pride, and desire to dominate others at all cost. And so, our past and future are interconnected through these spheres. It will be pointed out below how these extraordinary and remarkable observations of the other world are applicable to our concerns in therapy and education. The connection lies in the fact that the spiritual world is within time/space/matter, hence the here and now of our life in the natural body can be better understood and hence, better modified.

1.6.6  Applications of Swedenborg's System 

One of the first questions we want to pose with regard to this theory is how does it explain better than other theories the things we are actually interested in. Table 1 mentions some authors that have shown a distinct interest in psychology towards extended notions of monistic and materialistic biology. When we compare these attempts to Swedenborg's massive system we may be struck by their puerile attempts, their self­acknowledged ineptness in a dark area, their humiliation in front of an enormous task dimly perceived and for which they have a total lack of tools to prosecute. They bring together speculation, bold guesses, edited myths and parables from foreign lands, and symbolism's interpreted hesitantly. In contrast to this attitude Swedenborg presents nothing but eyewitness news seen in brilliant light and sophisticated instrumentation.

This is of course the difference between intellectual constructions based on reasonings and the reality and ease of a blow by blow description of a traveler or experimenter. The comparison is not fair because the outcome is disproportionate, and this outcome was made possible by Swedenborg's extraordinary intermission into both worlds for the last 27 years of his long life (1688­1772). Some have speculated that Swedenborg's feat is replicable and that he is only the first of a new evolutionary interconnection between our two bodies. Psychologist Van Dusen is also of the opinion that there could take place a breakdown of the normal cleavage in awareness between our two bodies (Van Dusen) and has proceeded upon this assumption with many of his clinical patients who appear to be psychologically plagued by the presence of tyrannical people from the other world who succeed in obsessing the patients through their affections and thoughts.

Once we choose to identify with or internalize a particular affection or thought we establish a permanent association with a spiritual society in the other world that specializes in this type of affection or thought (for more discussion, see a related article on vertical community). For example, when a person staunchly believes a creed, dogma, or constitutional statement, we may say that this person loves the ideals and states contained in the statement. When this love is internalized and shows the characteristic of being persistently chosen and intensely pursued, the person comes into the chronic sphere of influence of a society in the other world from whom this sphere of interest and striving emanates.

Thus we see such phenomena as the mass societies of Iran and Iraq where millions of people act together in frenzied zeal under the maniacal influence of violence and hatred against each other. This maniacal influence can be broken only when the people involved voluntarily begin to change their spiritual associations, that is, their religious beliefs and persuasions. To engineer such a change from the outside, the world community would have to find elements in their belief system which are connected to spiritual societies of a different bend of affect and cognition. There may in fact be places in the Koran and ancillary Islamic doctrines which urge the faithful to be peaceful and tolerant. As these other aspects of their own religion receive greater attention and interest, their spiritual bodies begin to be extirpated from the hateful drafts or spheres of affective influence, and begins to rise to higher places in the spiritual world where it comes under the draft or affective influence of loving and wise societies, and when this new sphere of influence begins to be chosen more and more by the people and their leaders, their bodies and minds will be filled with altruistic and peaceful intentions toward one another. Unfortunately, we have no control over which way they choose.

Swedenborgian principles of rational psychology are based on an observed reality, and hence are capable of extension and application to an indefinitely large number of situations. A Swedenborgian technology of behavior is now possible and much needed in Skinnerian circles who have been left behind by the flights of humanism and transpersonalism. Others will have to contribute to this task and it is possible to give here only a few preliminary details. Table 2 provides one example of an approach to this extension work, and Table 2 provides a more specific application to driving behavior.

1.6.7  Behavioral Consequences of Swedenborg's System

From the behaviorist point of view Swedenborg's system may be labeled an organic­rational psychology with an empirical operationalism for phenomenological reality. This may appear a complicated method but when looked at practically, it will be seen to be a natural continuation and extension of contemporary functionalist views in both behaviorism and cognitivism. The functionalist pragmatism of William James, grounded in physiological psychology, and surrounded as it was by William James' Christian traditionalism and his inclination toward transcendentalism, comes closest to reflecting the psychology of Swedenborg's system. Since William James has remained acceptable to both behaviorists and humanists (MacLeod, 1969) it will be seen that Swedenborg as well will be acceptable to both factions. The first, and most difficult, step for the behaviorist desiring this attempt is to thoroughly understand and work out in one's mind the concept of duality.

Prior attempts exist in psychology but they have not been found generally acceptable; after all is said and done the behaviorist remains unmoved by the argument. In a way this testifies to the sincerity and persistence of the behaviorist not to be hoodwinked into philosophical issues from which psychology had to escape after centuries of polemics. Yet because of this very sincerity the behaviorist is compelled to examine the evidence for some new claim which appears genuine, especially if this new claim is continuous with its own felt solidity in biology and statistics. Swedenborg's definition of duality is unlike any offered before in the history of psychology. This duality is simply the actual reality of two interconnected bodies, one composed of natural substances and the other composed of spiritual substances.

Swedenborg's proposed duality for psychology is thus organic and empirical rather than spiritistic and phenomenological. It does not exclude phenomenology and humanism; on the contrary, he emphasizes the human aspects of the universe, the human goals of love and wisdom, good and truth. But he insists that all humanism of good and truth, of will and understanding, must be grounded in good old earth, in the ultimate of chemical substances and evolutionary growth through environmental reinforcement. In this rock bottom attitude Swedenborg can be easily be claimed by the behaviorist as a founding father antedating Wundt, Watson, and Skinner.

But all won't be that easy. This is because, unlike Swedenborg, none of us can be conscious of our two bodies! However lamentable this state of affairs may appear to be we must now decide whether, because of this, we can afford to ignore the whole thing. I for one, want to wave the flag in front of my colleagues to draw their attention to this gold mine of information about human behavior. For granted that we don't have access to the same information as Swedenborg did, may it not be the case that the information his observations have accumulated could be of great service to us if we found a way of making behavioral deductions from them?

Take for example the following observations Swedenborg made about the behavior of our spiritual bodies in the other world.

1. Individuals there cannot think by themselves but only in groups.

2. No one can lie there, i.e., think one thing and say another.

3. External environmental features are functionally related to internal affective and cognitive states.

4. Similarity of affective states brings interpersonal co-presence.

5. Intelligence and power in the other world are functions of good uses acquired in this world. "Good uses" are actions performed for the sake of others rather than self only.

5. In the other world the insistent denial of truth causes insanity.

6. There are no degenerative diseases and death in the other world, but there are deformations and non­functioning elements. For example, antisocial feelings and attitudes produce a deadening of the senses, a darkening of the field of vision, and a general cold invades and slows the body. By contrast, altruistic and sociable feelings and intentions generate warmth and a quickening of all bodily functions and uses.

7. In the other world every individual feels compelled to act out their feelings and thoughts. Under these conditions, the person soon evolves a clear hierarchy of motives by which the person is ruled. It is easy, Swedenborg reports, for others to predict your behavior as soon as they know and see your motivational or affective hierarchy. A person's "ruling love," or chief drive and motive in life, shows in the person's facial expression, body posture and appearance, and matching verbal behavior.

8. Growth in the other world amounts to the continuous and never ending exploration or deepening of the packet of affections we brought with us from this world. Since in the other world affections create ecology, it can be seen that external evolution of the other world matches the internal growth of the people. But it is to be remembered that no one can exist separate from some group, hence the other world is characterized by disparate group evolution ­­ which is one of the striking features one notes when traveling in the other world (what a marvelous anthropological field it must be!).

Quoting from Swedenborg:

As it is desirable that the origin of perception, internal dictate, and conscience, should be known, and as at the present day it is altogether unknown, I may relate something on the subject. It is a great truth that man is governed by the Lord by means of spirits and angels. When evil spirits begin to rule, the angels labor to avert evils and falsities, and hence arises a combat. It is this combat of which the man is rendered sensible by perception, dictate, and conscience. By these, and also by temptations, a man might clearly see that spirits and angels are with him, were he not so deeply immersed in corporeal things as to believe nothing that is said about spirits and angels. Such persons, even if they were to feel these combats hundreds of times, would still say that they are imaginary, and the effect of a disordered mind. I have been permitted to feel such combats, and to have a vivid sense of them, thousands and thousands of times, and this almost constantly for several years, as well as to know who, what, and where they were that caused them, when they came, and when they departed; and I have conversed with them. (AC 227)

I have discoursed with spirits concerning the common opinion that prevails among men at the present day, that the existence of the spirit is not to be credited because they do not see it with their eyes, nor comprehend it by their memory- knowledges (scientias), and so they not only deny that the spirit has extension, but also that it is a substance, disputing as to what substance is. And as they deny that it has extension, and also dispute about substance, they also deny that the spirit is in any place, and consequently that it is in the human body; and yet the most simple might know that his soul or spirit is within his body. When I said these things, the spirits, who were some of the more simple ones, marveled that the men of the present day are so foolish. And when they heard the words that are disputed about, such as "parts without parts," and other such terms, they called them absurd, ridiculous, and farcical, which should not occupy the mind at all, because they close the way to intelligence. (AC 446)

I have conversed with many who had been known to me in this life (and this I have done for a long time-for months and years), in as clear a voice, although an inward one, as with friends in this world. The subject of our conversation has sometimes been the state of man after death, and they have wondered exceedingly that during the bodily life no one knows or believes that he is so to live when the bodily life is over, when yet there is then a continuation of life, and such a continuation that the man passes from an obscure life into a clear one, and those who are in faith in the Lord into a life that is more and more clear.

They have desired me to tell their friends that they are alive, and to write and tell them what their condition is, even as I had related to themselves many things about that of their friends here. But I replied that were I to tell their friends such things, or to write to them about them, they would not believe, but would call them delusions, would scoff at them, and would ask for signs or miracles before they would believe; and I should merely expose myself to their derision. And that these things are true, perchance but few will believe. For at heart men deny the existence of spirits, and even those who do not deny it are unwilling to hear that any one can speak with spirits. In ancient times there was no such state of belief in regard to spirits, but so it is now when by crazy ratiocination men try to find out what spirits are, and by their definitions and suppositions deprive them of all the senses, and do this the more, the more learned they desire to be. (AC 448)

Hitherto the nature of heaven and of heavenly joy has been known to none. Those who have thought about them have formed an idea concerning them so general and so gross as scarcely to amount to any idea at all. What notion they have conceived on the subject I have been able to learn most accurately from spirits who had recently passed from the world into the other life; for when left to themselves, as if they were in this world, they think in the same way. I may give a few examples. (AC 449)

But in order that I might know the nature and quality of heaven and of heavenly joy, for long and often I have been permitted by the Lord to perceive the delights of heavenly joys, so that as I know them from actual experience I can indeed know them, but can by no means describe them. However, in order to give some idea of it I may say that heavenly joy is an affection of innumerable delights and joys that form one general simultaneous joy, in which general joy, that is, in which general affection, there are harmonies of innumerable affections that do not come distinctly to perception, but obscurely, because the perception is very general. Yet I was permitted to perceive that there are things innumerable within it, in such order as can never be described, these innumerable things being such as flow from the order of heaven.

Such order exists in every least thing of the affection, all of which together are presented and perceived as a very general one according to the capacity of him who is the subject of it. In d word, in every general joy or affection there are illimitable things ordinated in a most perfect form, and there is nothing that is not alive or that does not affect even the inmost things of our being, for heavenly joys proceed from inmost things. I perceived also that the joy and deliciousness came as if from the heart, and very softly diffused themselves through all the inmost fibers, and so into the congregated fibers, with such an inmost sense of delight that the fiber is as it were nothing but joy and deliciousness, and the whole derivative perceptive and sensitive sphere the same, being alive with happiness. In comparison with these joys the joy of bodily pleasures is like gross and pungent dust as compared with a pure and gentle breeze.

548. I have sometimes spoken with spirits fresh from the world concerning the state of eternal life, telling them how important it was for them to know who is the Lord of that kingdom, and what is the nature and form of its government, just as those in this world who go into another kingdom are especially interested to know who and of what sort is the king, what is the nature of the government, and many other things that belong to the kingdom; and how much more should they be interested in this kingdom, where they are to live forever. I told them that the Lord alone rules both heaven and the universe, for He who rules the on must rule the other; and that the kingdom in which they were now is the Lord's kingdom, the laws of which are eternal truths, all of which are based on the one great law that men shall love the Lord above all things and their neighbor as themselves, and now even more than themselves, for if they would be as the angels this is what they must do.

To all this they could make no reply because in their bodily life they had heard something of the kind, but had not believed it. They marvelled that there is such love in heaven, and that it is possible for any one to love his neighbor more than himself, seeing that they had heard that they were to love their neighbor as themselves. But they were instructed that in the other life all goods are immeasurably increased, and that the life in the body is such that men can go no further than loving the neighbor as themselves because they are in the things of the body, but that when these are removed, the love becomes purer, and at last angelic, which consists in loving the neighbor more than themselves. The possibility of such love is evident from the conjugial love that exists with some persons, who would suffer death rather than let their married partner be injured; and also from the love of parents for their children, in that a mother will endure starvation rather than see her infant hunger, and this even among birds and animals and likewise from sincere friendship, in that perils will be undergone for our friends; and even from polite and feigned friendship, that would emulate real friendship in offering the better things to those to whom we wish well, making great professions even when they do not come from the heart.

And finally its possibility is evident from the very nature of love, which finds its joy in being of service to others, not for the sake of self but for the love's own sake. But all this could not be comprehended by those who loved themselves more than others, and who in the bodily life had been greedy for gain, and least of all by the avaricious. (AC 545)

 

1.6.7.1    The Anatomical Layers of the Mind

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

DLW 40. Divine love and wisdom are both substance and form. People commonly have an idea of love and wisdom as abstract entities flying about or floating in the subtler air or ether, or as exhalations emanating from something of that nature. Scarcely anyone thinks that they are really and actually substance and form.

People who do see that they are substance and form still perceive love and wisdom round about the subject of which they are predicated as properties emanating from it; and what they perceive round about a subject as emanating from it-even if perceived as something flying about or floating-they also call substance and form, not knowing that love and wisdom constitute the subject itself, and that whatever is perceived as flying or floating round about it is simply the appearance of the subject's underlying state.

[2] This has not been seen before for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is that the first perceptions out of which the human mind forms its understanding are appearances, appearances which it cannot dispel without investigating their cause; and if the cause lies deeply hidden, the mind cannot investigate it without keeping its intellect for a long time in spiritual light, which it cannot do because of the natural light that constantly draws it back down.
Yet the truth is that love and wisdom are real and actual substance and form, which constitute the very subject of which they are predicated.  (DLW 40)

AC 5008. It is impossible from natural light to see the things which are of spiritual light. This is contrary to order; but it is according to order that the things which are in natural light should be seen from spiritual light. (AC 5008)

AC 3498. When man is in the world, or lives in the body, his rational is distinct from his natural, insomuch that he can be withdrawn from the external sensuous things of the body, and also in some degree from the interior sensuous things of his natural man, and can be in his rational, thus in spiritual thought. (AC 3498)

AC 3827. By the affection of genuine love man is withdrawn from bodily and worldly things, for his mind is elevated toward heaven, and thus is withdrawn from the things of time. (AC 3827)

AC 2479. The case is that insofar as the mind can be withdrawn from sensuous or corporeal things, so far is it elevated to spiritual and heavenly things. (AC 2479)

AC 10229. In order that a man may think what is good, he must think from heaven, consequently his mind must be raised there. This is effected solely by means of truths such as are in the church from the Word; for these truths teach what God is, and what the neighbor, that there is a heaven, that there is eternal life, and in particular what evil is, and what good is. When these truths enter, then the interiors are raised above self, and are thus withdrawn from those things which are beneath self, thus from evils. (AC 10229)

AC 4096. They who have worldly and earthly things as their end, cannot withdraw their senses from them; and even if they did so, they would perceive what is undelightful; in which case they would be departing and withdrawing from the things they have as their end, that is, which they love. (AC 4096)

AC 9730. y the external sensuous is not meant the sense of the body itself, as its sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, but that which is most nearly from these; for he is called a sensuous man who thinks and desires according to these senses of the body and their appetites, and considers no further. He who considers further, and examines what the sensuous desires, and what he himself thinks from the sensuous, is said to be raised above the sensuous, or to be withdrawn from it, and to think interiorly. This is the case with those at the present day who are in the good of charity and of faith. When this is done, the sensuous is quiescent, and is deprived of its active life which it has from the world and its objects. AC 9730

AC 10362. Be it known further that to be led by self, and to be led by the Lord, are two opposites; for he who is led by himself is led by his own loves, thus by hell, because man's own loves are from hell; and he who is led by the Lord is led by the loves of heaven, which are love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor. He who is led by these loves is withdrawn from his own loves; and he who is led by his own loves is withdrawn from the loves of heaven, because they by no means agree together; for the life of man is either in heaven or in hell. (AC 10362)

AC 10330. Man is of such a nature that in respect to his interiors, which are of thought and will, he can look downward, and he can look upward. To look downward is to look outward into the world and to self, and to look upward is to look inward to heaven and to God. Man looks outward from self, and this is called looking downward, because when he does so from himself he looks to hell. But man looks inward not from self, but from the Lord; and this is called looking upward, because in respect to his interiors which are of the will and understanding he is then raised by the Lord to heaven, and thus to the Lord.

Moreover, the interiors are actually raised, and are then actually withdrawn from the body and from the world. When this is done, the interiors of the man come actually into heaven, and into its light and heat. From this he has influx and enlightenment, for the light of heaven illumines his understanding, because this light is the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord as a Sun; and the heat of heaven enkindles the will, because this heat is the good of love which at the same time proceeds from the Lord as a Sun. As the man is then among the angels, there is communicated to him from them, that is, through them from the Lord, the understanding of truth and the affection of good. This communication is what is called influx and enlightenment. (AC 10330)

AC 6613. When a man is being elevated toward interior things, he comes out of the gross sensuous light into a milder light, and at the same time is withdrawn from the influx of scandalous and filthy things, and is brought nearer to the things that belong to what is just and fair, because nearer to the angels who are with him, thus nearer to the light of heaven. This elevation from sensuous things was known to the ancients, even to the Gentiles, and therefore when the lower mind is withdrawn from sensuous things, their wise men said that it comes into interior light, and at the same time into a tranquil state, and into a kind of heavenly bliss; and from this they also concluded that the mind is immortal.

Man is capable of being elevated still more interiorly, and the more interiorly he is elevated, the clearer is the light into which he comes; and at last he comes into the light of heaven, which light is nothing else than wisdom and intelligence from the Lord. The three heavens are distinguished in no other way than according to elevations toward interior things, thus also according to degrees of light; the third heaven, being in inmost things, is in the greatest light, thus in a wisdom which far surpasses the wisdom of the lower heavens. (AC 6313)

AC 5301. Man has two minds, a rational mind and a natural mind; the rational mind is of the internal man, and the natural mind is of the external man. (AC 5301)

There are two minds in man; one is the natural, and the other the rational mind; the natural mind is the mind of the external man, but the rational mind is the mind of the internal man. The things of the natural mind are called memory-knowledges, but those of the rational mind are called intellectual reasons; they are also distinguished from each other by the fact that the things of the natural mind are for the most part in the light of the world, which is called the light of nature; whereas the things of the rational mind are in the light of heaven, which light is spiritual light. (AC 7130)

AC 2851. There are two ways which lead into man's rational mind--a higher or internal one, through which good and truth from the Lord enter, and a lower or external one, through which evil and falsity come up from hell. The rational mind itself is in the middle, and to it these ways tend. (AC 2851)

AC 3509. The rational mind is distinguished into two faculties, one faculty being called the will, and the other the understanding. During man's regeneration, that which proceeds from the will is called good, and that which proceeds from the understanding is called truth. Before man has been regenerated the will does not act as one with the understanding; but the former wills good, while the latter wills truth; insomuch that an effort of the will is perceived as being quite distinct from one of the understanding. This however is perceived only by those who reflect, and who know what the will is and the things that belong thereto, and what the understanding is and the things that belong thereto; but it is not perceived by those who do not know these things and therefore who do not reflect, for the reason that the natural mind is regenerated through the rational mind (see n. 3493), and this according to an order such that the good of the rational does not flow immediately into the good of the natural and regenerate it, but through the truth which is of the understanding, thus in appearance from the truth of the rational. (AC 3509)

AC 3020. As the natural mind is distinct from the rational mind and is in a degree below it, and as it also acts as if from what is its own, it is called relatively a "servant the elder of the house," and it is said to administer all the things in itself that belong to it. That the natural mind is distinct from the rational, and is in a lower degree, and is as if in what is its own, may be seen from the things within it, and from its offices. The things which are therein are all memory-knowledges, thus also all knowledges of every kind whatever; in a word, they are all things in both general and particular that belong to the outer or corporeal memory (concerning which see n. 2471, 2480). To this mind also belongs all the imaginative faculty, which is the interior sensuous with man, and which is in the greatest vigor with children; and in the first age of adolescence; to the same mind belong also all natural affections that man has in common with brute animals; all of which shows what its offices are.

[3] But the rational mind is more internal. The knowledges in it are not open before man, but while he lives in the body are imperceptible; for they are all things in both general and particular that belong to the interior memory (concerning which see n. 2470-2474, 2489, 2490). To this mind also belongs all the thinking faculty that is perceptive of what is equitable and just, and of what is true and good; also all spiritual affections, which are properly human, and by which man is distinguished from the brute animals. From these things this mind flows into the natural mind, and excites the things that are therein, and views them with a kind of sight, and in this manner judges and forms conclusions. That these two minds are distinct is clearly evident from the fact that with many persons the natural mind bears rule over the rational mind; or what is the same, the external man over the internal man; and that it does not bear rule but serves with those only who are in the good of charity, that is, who suffer themselves to be led by the Lord. (AC 3020)

AC 4009. Man's natural communicates on the one side with the sensuous things of the body, and on the other side with the rational things of the rational mind. By these intermediates there is effected as it were an ascent from the sensuous things that are of the body and that have been opened toward the world, to the rational things that are of the rational mind and that have been opened toward heaven; and also a descent from these, that is, from heaven to the world. (AC 4009)

AC 4345. The body itself, and the things of the body, such as those called the external senses and the actions, are relatively the most general. The natural mind and the things of this mind are less general, because more interior, and relatively are called particulars. But the rational mind and the things of this mind are still more interior, and relatively are singulars. (AC 4345)

AC 3849. The most external affections are those of the body, and are called appetites and pleasures; the next interior affections are those of the natural mind, and are called natural affections; but the internal affections are those of the rational mind, and are called spiritual affections. (AC 3849)

AC 8209. There is a sphere exhaling from the hells which may be called a sphere of endeavors, and which is a sphere of doing evil. I have several times been allowed to perceive this sphere. The endeavor in it is constant, and as soon as any opportunity offers, the effect breaks forth from it. But this sphere is restrained by the sphere of the endeavors of heaven which is from the Lord, and is a sphere of imparting benefits, in which is all power, because it is from the Divine.

Nevertheless equilibrium is maintained between these diametrically opposite endeavors, to the intent that man may be in freedom, and thus in choice, and that he can be reformed; for all reformation is in freedom, and without freedom there is no reformation. Spiritual endeavor is the same as will. During man's reformation he is kept in equilibrium (that is, in freedom) between willing good and willing evil; and insofar as he then accedes to willing what is good, so far he accedes to heaven and recedes from hell; and so far the new will which he then receives from the Lord prevails against his own will which he received by inheritance from his parents and afterward by actual life. When therefore a man has been so far reformed that he wills good and is affected with it, then good removes evil, because the Lord is present in good; for good is from the Lord, thus it is His, nay, it is Himself. From all this it can be seen how the case is with the endeavor of the influxes with man. (AC 8209)

 

    1.6.8  Sacred Scripture As the Source of Scientific Revelations

With the positive bias in science in view we can examine the content of Divine Speech that is contained in Sacred Scripture. It makes sense from the perspective of the positive bias in science to ask this question: What mechanisms or methods does God use to communicate with the human mind or the human race?

From a religious or non-scientific view one merely feels it to be obvious that God can talk to individuals through an outer or inner voice. In modern times God does not talk with an outer voice as in the days of the Old and New Testaments where thousands of people standing before Mount Sinai could all hear God's thunderous voice speaking the Commandments, or in some other miraculous event. But the modern mind, raised and educated in a culture of the negative bias in science, does not allow for God's outer voice. Today God speaks to every individual's rational mind through Sacred Scripture and conscience.

Sacred Scripture is an external source of access to communication with God, like a printed book, computer screen, sermon, lecture, or conversation. Conscience is an interior source of access to communication with God (See Section 7.0.4.1). Both external and interior sources provide the individual with a higher or purer rational thinking and reasoning about self, society, and eternity. Both sources of communication with God give us rational methods to develop morality and the legal system. For instance, the Ten Commandments that God speaks in the Old Testament Sacred Scripture inform us that fairness, honesty, conjugal loyalty, and respect for the rights of others are character traits that we must learn to acquire and love, and if we don't, then our personality will be evil, that is, connected to the hells in the mind. Upon resuscitation into eternity, our character determines whether we live a joyful and rational heavenly existence, or one that is filled with dissatisfaction and desperation.

If we make ourselves think and act in accordance with God's commandments in Sacred Scripture, then our character will be able to exist in the heavens of the mental world, but if we arrive with a character that enjoys unfair advantage, hates the good fortune of others, covets what is theirs, and plots to cheat and rob them whenever possible.

You can see that this knowledge is so crucial to us and that God communicates it to us in Sacred Scripture, which is God's Speech with mankind, translated into a natural language (see Section xx).

It is similar with the interior communication with God through our conscience. People talk about "the voice of conscience" because it feels like an internal voice talking, judging, analyzing, warning, confirming or disconfirming. God speaks to us through conscience when we sense that interior voice of rationality and good sense, fairness, respect (See Section 7.0.4.1).

God teaches us directly through the voice of conscience (interior access), and indirectly through our reflection and understanding of Sacred Scripture (external access). Both are necessary to achieve our full human potential in eternity. After resuscitation we undergo a psycho-biological change or evolution during which we shed off the superficial aspects of our personality.

For example a person on earth who was outwardly friendly and peaceful in his daily interactions, may have done this for selfish or hypocritical reasons or motivations. When he was showing an outward appearance of being a nice person, he actually in his own private mind was constantly ridiculing the people, denigrating them to himself, fantasizing all sorts of violence against them, and wishing their demise or injury. Now this is his actual character, the way he thins and what motivates him. But he has surrounded this character with a socially convenient role or enactment. This is his social personality. Outwardly a lamb, inwardly a wolf.

After resuscitation, this individual will rapidly shed the outward personality traits, and more and more become outwardly this person he had always been inwardly. When this process is complete, the person has gotten rid of anything that is not consistent with his ruling love.

The chief ruling loves of our hellish character are the love of self for the sake of self and the love of the world for the sake of world.

The chief ruling loves of our heavenly character are the love of self for the sake of others and the love of the world for the sake of others.

Memorize the above definition. Then you will be able to notice it in yourself when you observe yourself in your daily activities. It is clearly of the utmost importance for you and me to know where we are headed in eternity. It's like committing to a one way ticket to some address in the U.S. where you'll be stuck for a decade. Wouldn't you read the information on various addresses available before you use the ticket? You don't want to select a ticket to some prison, or meat factory, or cemetery, or hospital. See what's involved?

In this case the choice you make is not for a decade for an eternity, and not a mere hospital or prison, but a place of horror and extreme hardship. The instant you enter the positive bias in science in a real way, you will be enlightened and begin to see your way to the places of eternity in your mind. You are headed there regardless of what you think or want. Hence controlling the situation is the rational and safe thing to do. God gives us the information with which to control the situation, as discussed above.

For thousands of years, many generations including today, have read and worshipped the Old and New Testaments. Scholars have studied its every word and expression. Scientists have looked for hidden codes, messages, prophecies. Archeological effort was spent in finding old records and artifacts where the historical events are known to have taken place. The Bible is the most printed title in all publishing history, year after year, and continues so this year. But not a single person has ever discovered that the Old and New Testaments are written in a Divine Style that is layered in meaning, as the reader goes from surface meaning to deeper meaning.

No one. Until this giant scientific fact was revealed in the third portion of Sacred Scripture known as the Writings of Swedenborg (published between 1743 and 1771).  (See Section xx).

For the first time in human history God makes new scientific revelations for the modern mind.

Now we know that all Sacred Scripture is Divine Speech incorporating a scientific message from God to human beings. This is completely different from the other idea which is that God speaks to each individual through an inner voice. This is also true. However, when we look at it closer we can see that God's inner voice is more like being inspired when we are reflecting on some topic, and begin to see insights we haven't before. There is no actual voice from God that we hear when God is inspiring us or giving us answers to questions. The answers are in our own language of ideas or words, not in God's language or Divine Speech. This is why we call it "inspired" thinking, but not Sacred Scripture.

Sacred Scripture is actually Divine Speech, but not in the sense that God pronounced those words, except when God is quoted. I would guess that less than 10 percent of the Old and New Testaments, are direct quotes from God, and in the Writings, there are no quotes from God, except those from the Old and New Testaments. In other words, almost all of Sacred Scripture consists of sentences not directly spoken by God. And yet, the entire text of Sacred Scripture is a direct quote from God and is Divine Speech.

What kind of mystery is this? It is not. There is a perfectly rational and scientific explanation given in the Writings Sacred Scripture. And this explanation is the heart and soul of theistic psychology.

The text of Sacred Scripture actually starts out as Divine Speech spoken by the Divine Human who can be visually seen amidst the Spiritual Sun surrounded by it like a bright flaming aura. The Divine Human creates every human being with an organic mind containing built in levels of capability. The "celestial" level of the mind is the highest rational level, and below that is the spiritual  level of the mind, below that is the rational level, then the natural mind,  and finally at the bottom of the mind is the corporeal level (see Section xx). All these levels exist by birth in every human being. When God communicates an idea or truth to humanity, the Divine Speech descends from God and enters the mind of human beings at its highest level called celestial.

Swedenborg confirms that those who dwell in their highest heavens in their mind, receive the Divine Speech directly into their perception and understanding. The people who operate at the celestial level are the first echelon of humanity receiving the Divine meaning, truth, principle, or message. Any person can function at any level of the human mind, but only some people, according to Swedenborg's observations, are willing to function at the celestial level. They prefer to function at the spiritual or natural level. The level at which people are willing to function in their eternity depends on the personality and life style they acquired in this life (see Section xx).

If you understand that spiritual development is gradual from birth to eternity, you can see that God's Rational Truth is infinite in depth and cannot be fully comprehended by finite human minds even though they will live endlessly in the eternity of the mental world. Every human mind or spirit, is born with a celestial-rational organ at the top of the mind. This spiritual organ is created to be able to receive Divine Speech in a form accommodated to finite minds. This form is called celestial-rational correspondences to the Divine Truth contained in the Divine Speech. When our thinking and willing operates at the celestial level, which is the highest human potential, we are closest to God and are then called angels. Swedenborg talked to angels when God elevated Swedenborg's consciousness to the celestial level of operation. While in that state of mind, he was able to see the angels and talked to them.

This was a unique ability Swedenborg was given so that he could write the Writings Sacred Scripture based on the experiences and perceptions he was allowed to have. We likewise will see what he could see, but only after our resuscitation (see section xx). While our mind is still connected to a physical body on earth, the celestial level of the mind, and the spiritual mind, remain unconscious. Hence we have no idea as to what operations go on there. Nor can we talk to those who are in the afterlife, like Swedenborg did. Only when we resuscitate following the death of the physical body, and begin our life of immortality in the spiritual world, only then do we become conscious of our spiritual mind. The spiritual mind is an organ below the celestial mind and it is capable of operations of consciousness or meaning at the level of spiritual-rational correspondences to Divine Speech (see Section xx).

While we are in the physical body we are only conscious of our natural mind. This has several sub-levels. The highest level can think with natural-rational correspondences. The intermediate level can think with natural-sensuous correspondences. The lowest level can think with natural-corporeal correspondences (see Section xx). These three levels of human thinking are evolutionary for the historical race and ontological for each individual development. The individual development recapitulates the racial evolution (see Section xx). The Old Testament is written in natural-corporeal correspondences. The New Testament, written hundreds of years later, is written in natural-sensuous correspondences. Hence the two views of God are contrastive in terms of their mentality or rationality. Every individual starts with a natural-corporeal mentality of God which we maintain throughout childhood. Then we acquire a natural-sensuous mentality of God, and at last, a mentality based on natural-rational correspondences.

Our own level of understanding tends to reflect the mentality level of our culture. Those who function intellectually with natural-corporeal  correspondences of divine Speech, have an Old Testament mentality of society, marriage, family, and human interactions.  At this level of mentality we are impressed only by what is corporeal, even when we think about God and heaven. At this lowest level of materialistic thinking about God, we believe our sense impressions as the ultimate reality, even when sense impressions are appearances and illusions. We trust things we can see and touch and we consider the tangible like the brain, more real than the intangible, like the mind, soul, or spirit. We feel satisfied only if we obtain tangible goods, like money, fame, and possessions. We operate by the principle that blood is thicker than water, and we favor our biological children over step children or adopted children.

Common consequences of this mentality include racism, blood loyalty, animal sacrifices, superstition, genocide, cruelty and discrimination against women, harsh physical punishments for transgressions, authoritarian and autocratic systems of power, religious intolerance, sectarianism, social and political thought-control, caste system, unequal justice. These anti-democratic values of domination and racism are created by the low level of rationality contained in corporeal-rational correspondences of Divine speech.

At this level of mentality, God is portrayed as a harsh potentate or king who sometimes falls into rages against people, destroys them and the land they live on. Such a God exercises favoritism to one particular people just because they have the same bloodline to a patriarch. In this Old Testament mentality expressed in natural-corporeal correspondences, there is no consciousness or knowledge of the afterlife. It is mentioned once or twice, here and there, but nothing specific is given.

As a result, the religions based on the Old Testament Sacred Scripture teach religious materialism, which is the belief that the afterlife is going to be lived in the natural world, not the spiritual world of eternity. This belief puts the afterlife into the future, and those who die in the meantime, are kept by God somewhere as immaterial souls, which will then descend back to earth when physical bodies will be given them once more. These corporeal-spiritual ideas emerge from the literal sense of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture. This corporeal spirituality is the lowest form of Divine Speech, which started out at the top of the mind with celestial-rational correspondences, then as it descended through the other layers of the mind, was transformed in content and meaning, until it reached the lowest rational level of civilized human mentality, reasoning, and meaning.

We operate at the next level of rationality when our mentality is shaped by natural-sensuous correspondences of Divine Speech. This level of thinking and willing is described in the literal sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture regarding God, society, marriage, family, and heaven and hell.  At this level of mentality we are impressed by what is symbolic and mental, when it comes to God and heaven. We think of heaven and hell as not in this world but in the spiritual world. We think of ourselves not as material bodies but as spirits within the body. Our reward system is not based in worldly success and possessions, as in the earlier mentality described above. Instead, we now think that our reward for doing the right things is in eternity, not in this material and temporary world. The literal sense of the New Testament Sacred Scripture discusses the resuscitation of the spirits in the world of eternity immediately after the death of the physical body.

Divine Speech is perfectly rational but its rationality diminishes from perfection as it descends through the layers of every human mind. The topics and meanings of Divine Speech are closer to perfection in the upper levels of the mind, and diminish in perfection as Divine speech is translated into lower forms of correspondences, the lowest being the natural-corporeal correspondences of the Old Testament Sacred Scripture, as discussed above. The level just above this is the level of natural-sensuous correspondences in which the New Testament Sacred Scripture is written.

At this intermediate level of rational thinking we believe our sense abstractions as the ultimate reality, even when sense abstractions are only appearances of a higher reality. This is a higher level, rationally, than the corporeal spirituality where the thinking is based on the senses, not on abstractions from the senses. For example, consider the idea presented in the Sacred Scripture that God is a Spirit and that we are also spirits in a material body. This level of thinking uses the rationality of natural-sensuous correspondences. At this level we are able to comprehend the idea in the New Testament Sacred Scripture that "heaven is within you," which requires the idea that the spiritual world of eternity is the same as the mental world of the present. These ideas are sense abstractions, while the idea that the afterlife is here on earth, is merely based on the senses, without abstractions, and that level of mentality and thinking is called natural-corporeal correspondences of Divine Speech.

Common consequences of the higher rational mentality of natural-sensuous correspondences, include religion as universal rather than sectarian, which is an attitude of inclusion of the entire human race, an attitude of loyalty  towards others based on similarity of faith rather than on blood, an attitude of mental or psychological sacrifices for the sake of God rather than physical or animal sacrifices for worship, an attitude of prohibition against discrimination or cruelty, and an attitude supportive of democratic systems of power sharing and individual freedom. These values of equity and justice are created by the level of rationality contained in natural-sensuous correspondences. These are the cultural values promoted by the Divine Speech in the form of the natural-sensuous correspondences of the new Testament Sacred Scripture.

When we enter the next higher rational level of mentality and thinking, we are able to comprehend Divine Speech in terms of natural-rational correspondences about God, society, marriage, family, and the afterlife.  This is the level of mentality in the Writings Sacred Scripture. This level is the basis for theistic psychology. At this level of mentality we are impressed by what is rational and scientific, when it comes to God and heaven. At this highest level of rational thinking we believe rational scientific revelations of Divine Speech as the ultimate reality and truth, and we recognize that spiritual rationality cannot be discovered by observation or deduction, but only by revelation from God to the human mind. Common consequences of this mentality of rational spirituality include intellectual enlightenment, feeling networked to the entire human race, loyalty based on usefulness, cooperation with God in character reformation, constant self-improvement, and participation in democratic systems that promote individual freedom and the common good. These values of justice, goodness, and rationality are created by the level of mentality contained in natural-rational correspondences of Divine Speech, as we find them in the Writings Sacred Scripture.

The vast superiority of the natural-rational correspondences over the previous human mentality (natural-sensuous), lies in this, that the natural-rational correspondences contain spiritual-natural and spiritual-rational correspondences hidden within them. This means that it is possible to extract the hidden higher meanings by applying the special extraction techniques of theistic psychology (see Section xx).  Another way of saying this is that the natural-rational correspondences have the symbolic capacity of representing higher-order ideas and principles. These higher order ideas are called spiritual-rational correspondences. Once we have acquired natural-rational correspondences in our mind from theistic psychology, our cognitive organ is prepared to operate from inner influx. this is called illumination or enlightenment (see Section xx).

In other words, instead of merely natural thinking that we can perform with natural language expressions of God and the afterlife, we can also think with a superior, more rational type of language called spiritual thinking. Swedenborg was able to think spiritually in the universal spiritual language in which we all think and speak after resuscitation, when we awaken in our spiritual body a few hours after the death of the physical body. At that point we think only spiritually and talk only in a universal spiritual language that is spontaneously used by everyone in eternity. To think spiritually means to think with higher rational correspondences of Divine Speech, namely with spiritual-natural correspondences, then with spiritual-rational correspondences, and finally with celestial-rational correspondences.

Meanwhile on earth, before we are resuscitated, our spiritual mind is not consciously available to our awareness. We operate consciously only in our natural mind at the three levels, as explained above. At the highest level of the natural mind we think with natural-rational correspondences. But we are capable of becoming conscious of higher order meanings. When we acquire this capacity we are called enlightened. This simply means that when we are reading a sentence of the Writings Sacred Scripture, which is written at the level of natural-rational correspondences of Divine Speech, we are capable of understanding the sentence and its ideas at a deeper level of rational spirituality. This higher rational level of reasoning and understanding consists of thinking with higher order correspondences, namely, spiritual-natural correspondences, spiritual-rational correspondences, and celestial-rational correspondences.

The ideas we have through thinking with these higher rational correspondences of Divine Speech, are virtual representations of the actual spiritual thinking we do in our spiritual mind after resuscitation, when we arrive into our First Heaven (spiritual-natural correspondences), then in our Second Heaven (spiritual-rational correspondences), and finally in our Third Heaven (celestial-rational correspondences). Though we are still on earth, we are capable of thinking with spiritual and celestial ideas that are in themselves not spiritual and celestial, but are functionally equivalent. We therefore derive the benefits of a superior rational mentality in both thoughts and feelings.

Where do these spiritual-natural, spiritual-rational, and celestial-rational correspondences come from?

They cannot be discovered nor invented by the natural mind. Proof of this is found in history. With the rise of modern science, it became more and more materialistic science. Scientists started to live a schizophrenic intellectual life. They are materialists in their explanations during the week and on the job, but dualist in explanation at home and on Church or temple worship days. As a result, the two conceptions of the universe (materialist and dualist), and the religious notion of everyone's immortality after death, were so contrastive and contradictory that they could not be held consistently in the minds of scientists.  They had to be segregated in the mind of scientists. They were a divided mind -- materialistic at work, dualist at home. As a result they kept themselves unable to develop their higher rational mentality in science.

But theistic psychology introduces the human mind to dualism in the positive bias in science. Here for the first time in science we have access to the higher universal scientific content of Divine Speech. Until then we only had access to the natural correspondences of Sacred Scripture written in a historical or prophetic style. But ever since the third component of Sacred Scripture was revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg (1743-1771), humanity knows that Divine Speech descends to our mind by progressive correspondences downward in rationality. First Divine Speech is received in the Third Heaven (celestial mind) by means of celestial-rational correspondences. Then, Divine Speech is received in the Second Heaven (spiritual mind) by means of spiritual-rational correspondences. Then Divine Speech is received in the First Heaven (spiritual-natural mind) by means of spiritual-natural correspondences. Then Divine Speech is received in the natural mind at three sub-levels in descending rationality -- natural-rational correspondences (the ideas of God in the Writings of Swedenborg), natural-sensuous correspondences (the New Testament ideas of God), and finally natural-corporeal  correspondences (Old Testament ideas of God).

It is the level of correspondences we understand that determines the level of our mentality, consciousness, rationality, and civilization.

The Old Testament text was Divine Speech received into the mind of prophets whose mentality functioned at the lowest level of relating to historical and natural events (natural-corporeal  correspondences about God). God's Divine Speech came to them from God, but down the line from God's downward exteriorization in human consciousness. This is why the Old Testament text appears on the surface to be written about the history of a racial group in ancient Palestine. Compared to our modern democracy, they were of a barbaric mentality, racist, and selfish, hardly caring about anyone except their own tribe. This was the world mentality of all humanity at that time. People as adults or strangers who read the Old Testament for the first time are appalled that this should be considered Holy Writ. It is full of factual contradictions and confusing poetic talk about visions. The people do not even know that they are immortal and that there is an afterlife that starts immediately upon the death of the physical body (see Section 1.7). This abstract and rational  level of thinking they could not comprehend because they were bound to materialistic ideas of physical life.

At this level of thinking God comes across as complaining, vengeful, petty, self-involved, unsure of his works, and favoring this individual over that solely on the basis of race and blood line. This is the level of thinking about God when it is done with natural-corporeal  correspondences. The New Testament is written in natural-sensuous correspondences, which are at a higher level of abstraction. For instance, one idea presented in the New Testament is that "heaven is within you." This is much more abstract in rational content than the view that heaven is on this earth once the old earth is recreated and made new (Old Testament mentality). A mental (spiritual) heaven is at a higher rational level of comprehension of God than a physical, earthly heaven.

Seventeen centuries had to go by after the New Testament was written before Divine Speech could be written down in higher order correspondences called natural-rational correspondences (the Writings of Swedenborg). This higher level of reasoning is the basis of theistic psychology. With this level of rationality the human race has reached a new plateau of evolution. It is a kind of completion of creation in the sense that human beings are now routinely capable of thinking about God and the universe in terms of scientific revelations through reconstructing Divine Speech. This leaves religion completely alone and speaks only from the perspective of scientific correspondences hidden within the literal sentences of Sacred Scripture. Religion is tied to the literal meaning of sentences in Sacred Scripture. Theistic psychology starts where religion leaves off, namely in the hidden correspondences not visible to the normal reader reading their religious text. In fact, most religious organizations and representatives in the Christian world have ignored the Writings of Swedenborg.

Similarly, the New Church religion based on the Writings of Swedenborg, which considers the Writings as the "Word of God" along with the Old and New Testaments, are not inclined to probe the Writings for the higher scientific correspondences that are hidden in it. This is because the purpose of religion and that of theistic psychology are different. I think it is possible for people from any religion, Christian or non-Christian, to study theistic psychology as a science. This is because they are not put off by the literal meaning any more, when they penetrate to the interior scientific meaning so that the literal, historical, cultural, and religious meanings disappear from view or content. The copies Swedenborg saw in the spiritual world of the Old and New Testaments, and of his own Writings, were all written in the universal spiritual language, which is a language of grouped integrated thoughts more than individual words. When the people in the spiritual world read these books of Sacred Scripture they have absolutely no idea of the literal meaning that contains historical--cultural references such as the Jews, Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, Moses, Abraham, Gethsemane, or any of the numbers like 40 days or thousands of people.

Nothing historical, religious, cultural, or natural appears in the spiritual meaning of Sacred Scripture.

This is because the actual content of Divine Speech is about how the human mind works, how it is to be regenerated and prepared for heavenly life in immortality. There is no other subject mentioned by God in His Divine Speech to the human race. Look at the Overall Table of Contents of Theistic Psychology. You can see pages and pages of topics listed. They are all about the human mind. This is what God is talking about to the human race. Our modern educated rational mind can now comprehend the content of scientific revelations contained in the language of natural-rational correspondences (theistic psychology and the Writings of Swedenborg).  At this level of scientific and universal rationality we can acquire enlightenment so that we might start thinking in terms of representatives of spiritual thinking.

From all this you can see what is the role of Divine Speech in human life. It is what lines up and arranges the human mind in its created order of rationality. It accomplishes this through levels of human understanding that correspond to higher and higher rationality, which is the vehicle for evolution of human potential and eternal happiness. Divine Speech is the source of human rationality. The following table shows the level of consciousness attained through the different layers of correspondences laid down in Sacred Scripture.

  Read Chart From Bottom Up 

Levels of Development
of Rational  Consciousness

Sacred Scripture
Correspondences
of Divine Speech

Anatomical Area of Operation
 in the Human Mind

Level 6
phase three
theistic psychology

celestial-rational
(or interior rational)
correspondences

unconscious
celestial mind
(third heaven)

Level 5
phase two
theistic psychology

spiritual-rational
correspondences

unconscious
spiritual mind
(second heaven)

Level 4
phase one
theistic psychology

spiritual-natural
(or interior natural)
correspondences
 

enlightened conscious
spiritual-natural mind
(first heaven)

Level 3
the Writings of
Swedenborg

natural-rational
correspondences
 

 conscious
natural-rational mind

Level 2
New Testament

natural-sensuous
correspondences

conscious
natural-sensuous mind

Level 1
Old Testament

natural-corporeal
correspondences
 

conscious
natural-corporeal mind

The chart above maps out six levels of rational consciousness of God and ties them to the correspondences we extract from Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. Recall that individual mental development recapitulates or emulates the evolutionary steps of the historical human race. The six steps shown here are mental steps every individual goes through in the course of life on earth, and the level of development we attain in this brief life will determine the quality of our life in immortality. The chart also shows how human development and evolution is dependent on rational meaning supplied by God in Divine Speech.

The Old Testament mentality about God (level 1) is regulated by the "natural-corporeal " correspondences in which that ancient text is written. I call this the natural-corporeal mind because when we are still in this phase we hang on to the literal meaning of the Old Testament, so that our mentality is formed by the apparent harshness and sectarian content of this literal meaning. It is called corporeal because the correspondences are written at an external level of relationship with God, limited mostly to life in the natural world. At this level of mentality God operates in the physical world, and wants us to participate in community rituals of worship and self-purification. The afterlife is also on this physical earth, once it is recreated and the dead are raised from their grave. There is also an emphasis of blood line and race, and on vengeance and massacres. Hence it is a corporeal; focus of God and religion. It raises human rationality to the first level above animals. God is acknowledged as universal and infinite, creating and managing a universe by means of laws and rules. This makes the mentality rational. In other words, it is Divine Speech in the form of natural-corporeal correspondences (level 1) that creates the first human consciousness of rationality. Without this, we are not yet human in our evolution.

The New Testament phase of mentality (level 2) is a "sensuous" natural mind that is formed by the natural-sensuous correspondences in which this text is written. The literal meaning of New Testament sentences refer to various concepts or ideas that are completely absent from the Old Testament text. The people who wrote the New Testament had a more advanced rational idea of God because they were part of the generation during which the Incarnation Event or embodiment of God took place. God came to them in a physical mode so that they had a direct conscious sensuous knowledge of God as a Divine Man. The faith of subsequent generations, including today, is based entirely on the historical event they witnessed. Hence the Christian religion, which is based on the literal meaning of the New Testament, is founded on the sensuous identity of the Son of God. People know Him sensuously -- when He was born, what He went through in life on earth, how He was killed as a mere human, and then how He resurrected from the grave as a Divine Human and ascended to the heavens of the spiritual world where He can be seen in His Natural Body.

This sensuous consciousness of God as the resurrected historical Divine Human is at a higher level of rationality than level 1 because it recognizes that God is not only infinite and omnipotent, but Human as well. A sensuous consciousness of God allows the rational idea of the Holy Spirit, which is the presence of the Divine Human in the conscious mind of every individual. Thinking of God as present in the mind is a level 2 rationality that does not make sense at level 1 rationality. At level 1, God is seen as external to self. This is because God is seen only in terms of physical expression, and what is physical is external to the mental. But at level 2 it is taught and understood God is inside the mind because "God is spirit." Spirit is inside. It is mental. An example of the difference is the conception of heaven. At level 1 rationality, heaven is on this earth or some recreated earth. At level 2 raitonali8ty, heaven is in the mind, as stated in the New Testament text. And there many other differences, as will be discussed.

The Writings of Swedenborg phase of mentality (level 3) is a "rational" mind that is formed by the natural-rational correspondences in which the text of the Writings is written. God is now the Divine Human who not only is inside the mind, but forms it and participates in its formation moment by moment, from birth to eternity. This level of rationality is higher than the sensuous knowledge of God because it relies on the rational understanding of the Divine Human. The core quality of the Divine Human is the Divine Rational, also called the Divine Truth. This is a spiritual building substance for created things. The literal meaning of the sentences in the Writings are called natural-rational correspondences. They provide a conscious view of God's purposes and methods of managing the created universe. The rational mentality at level 3 is expressed in higher-order concepts that are not easily understood a level 2.

For example, heaven and hell at level 2 are seen in terms of connection to God. Those who feel a close connection and live their life accordingly, are rewarded with eternal life in heaven. Similarly, those who cut themselves off from God by rejecting a life based on His rules, are turned away from God and have to suffer the consequences of their rejection by suffering an eternal hell. But at level 3 mentality of heaven and hell, the Writings explain that those who chose to live outside of God's order develop a mind that avoids heaven at all cost. They hate how they feel in the purity of altruistic loves which one experiences in heaven. They need an environment where they can express their selfish loves and irrational beliefs, and only then can they feel that the are really alive. In heaven they feel dead, robbed of all the things they love.

Another example is the understanding of prayer. At level 1 and 2 mentality we believe that God can be influenced by our prayers. At level 3 mentality we realize that God already decides on every detail based on His rules of order by which He manages the universe. There are no details left out that need to be recited to Him .In fact He is the one who puts the ideas in our conscious mind so that we can pray them. Praying is of benefit because it helps us to acknowledge God's presence, and this raises our rationality level. But prayer has no power over God to influence what will happen next. God cannot change His mind about something, when He is viewed from level 3 rationality.

Level 4 mentality is called phase 1 theistic psychology. It is based on the extraction of knowledge from the literal meaning of the Writings. The literal sentences of the Writings are written in natural-rational correspondences. It is possible therefore to apply the method of correspondences specified in the literal meaning of the Writings and extract higher-order correspondences that are hidden within all Sacred Scripture as Divine Speech. These higher order correspondences are called spiritual-natural correspondences (level 4). This level is also called interior-natural because it is located anatomically "within" the natural-rational mind. The natural-rational mind is the consciousness that reads and studies the Writings. Your reading and study of this book takes place through mental operations located in that portion of your mind called the "natural-rational" mind. Through this level of thinking you are able to understand abstract and rational concepts such as those in theistic psychology.

This natural-rational mind gives us the ability of reasoning with scientific concepts. But only scientific concepts that are natural in origin. This is the level of materialistic science. It may be called rational, but not genuine rational. This is why we append the word natural to it -- the natural-rational mind (level 3). In this way we can distinguish it from genuine rational scientific concepts -- the spiritual-rational (level 5) and the spiritual-natural (level 4). The levels are all within each other when viewed from the laws correspondences applying to discrete degrees (see Section xx). Level 4 is within level 3, and what is "within" is always a discrete degree superior to that which is outside. This is why what is outward or outside is also called lower, beneath, and inferior, while what is inward or within is also called higher, above, and superior. This rule also applies to the six levels of consciousness discussed here.

In other words, the Divine Human through the Spiritual Sun is the inmost center of everything, and therefore the highest or most superior. When Divine Speech from the Divine Rational Mind of the Divine Human "descends" or "exteriorizes" into the created universe through the human mind, it goes through discrete levels successively. When it reaches the outmost or ultimate or "bottom" level, which is the most external relative to God, it rests there and abides, that is, exists and operates. The descending Divine Speech exteriorizes into the created universe and its first point of contact is the celestial mind. Those who are conscious at that level in their mind experience the Divine Speech as a form of understanding or enlightenment regarding some topic or issue they are able to think about. This is the highest science humans have available. It exists in the form of celestial-rational correspondences (level 6, third heaven). Swedenborg talked to these people when visiting the third heaven and he was aware that their thoughts and perceptions were far above what he could understand. What they said in celestial-rational correspondences (level 6) could only be understood by Swedenborg through their correspondences at a lower level.

But Swedenborg made a happy discovery when he visited the first or lowest of the three heavens (level 4). He observed that the people there think in spiritual-natural correspondences, matching the spiritual language of Sacred Scripture available to them there in spiritual script. I call this level of mentality "theistic psychology phase1" (level 4) because it consists of the extracted scientific knowledge from Sacred Scripture. Since level 4 is a discrete degree "within" level 3, you can see that the Writings here on earth written in a natural language, contain "within" them the spiritual-natural correspondences. When Swedenborg wrote down the sentences of the Writings he was using natural-rational correspondences (level 3). The copy of what he wrote on earth also appeared to the people in the first heaven (level 5). What content did they see? They were unable to see any content that referred to natural-rational correspondences (level 3). They were only able to read spiritual-natural sentences in their script. They could not see any content referring to earth, history, culture, and religion. Instead, they could only see what was a discrete degree "within," namely, their spiritual universal and scientific meaning.

The Writings reveal that the Divine Human has created a new organ within the human rational mind. This new anatomical organ is called the interior-natural organ of the mind. This new organ gives us a new human capacity never before possible for human beings on earth. The interior-natural organ is like a virtual heaven. Though it is located within the natural mind, it receives input not from the physical world, but from the spiritual world. Note from the chart above that the spiritual and celestial minds (levels 5 and 6), are unconscious while we are still conscious on earth. How then are we to know what are spiritual-rational and celestial-rational correspondences? This is where the new interior-rational organ comes in. This organ, being a virtual heaven, is capable of consciously representing to us higher-order correspondences of Divine Speech. In other words, with this new mental creation, the human race is brought into a new evolutionary state of consciousness, one that is capable of being enlightened to the highest heavens, even while we are still developing on earth. This has enormous advantages and benefits for our regeneration capacity. (For more discussion on this new organ see Section xx.)

Now here is the same chart, but this time I have added some of the principal ideas about God that occur with each level of understanding the correspondences in Divine Speech.

  Read Chart From Bottom Up 

Level of Rational Mentality

Sacred Scripture Correspondences Ideas Regarding God, the Afterlife, Salvation and Sin
6

phase three
theistic psychology

unconscious
celestial-rational
correspondences
==

interior rational organ
==
third heaven
 
(to be filled in by future research) 
5

phase two
theistic psychology

 

unconscious
spiritual-rational
correspondences
==
exterior rational organ
==
second heaven
(to be filled in by future research)
4

phase one
theistic psychology

enlightened
spiritual-natural,
spiritual-rational,
celestial-rational
correspondences
==
interior natural organ
==
first heaven

 
(i) God is the infinite Divine Human who operates our thoughts and feelings by connecting us to the minds of others. The individual minds of the entire human race are kept unconsciously interconnected so that they may influence one another. In this way God manages the train of our thoughts, our decisions, our perceptions, and our sensory environment. However, God creates the feeling in us that we are alone in our mind and that our mental life is our own alone. Thus He hides Himself from being discovered directly and sensuously.

(ii) Every planet in the expanding physical universe is created to be inhabited, but not necessarily in the same biochemical way as on this earth. In the afterlife all people can meet in face to face communication regardless of their earth of origin. People who have similar feelings and thoughts are in communication with each other, but they disappear from each other when they have contradictory thoughts or feelings.

(iii) The quality of life in immortality is determined by who we can communicate with, which is determined by what kinds of thoughts and feelings we have. Those who can rationally understand spiritual truths from Sacred Scripture are enlightened and are more willing to change their character to agree with their enlightened understanding. Those who are less willing to change their character are less enlightened, understand spiritual truths less spiritually and more materialistically. Temptations are used by the Divine Psychologist in our mind as a therapy tool for character makeovers.

(iv) Praying is just one of several ways of acknowledging and communicating with the Divine Human. Praying for specific  things is not practiced, but instead one strives to retain continuous awareness of the Divine Human's co-presence in every moment and His co-participation in every event that happens to us and every decision we make.

3

Writings of Swedenborg

conscious
natural-rational
correspondences
 
(i) God is the Divine Human in whom infinite things make one. He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. God has incarnated in the natural world to make Himself physically visible, accessible, touchable, and lovable to all humanity. The more we are willing to love Him by obeying Him, the more He can enlighten us and make us happy.

(ii) The physical world will continue endlessly as the seed bed for human beings. A few hours after the body dies, every person is resuscitated in the spiritual world where we are instructed in spiritual truths about the Divine Human and about life in immortality.

(iii) Those who have developed a good character are willing to accept the instruction and enter heaven where they live a conjugial love with their soul mate, along with like-minded companion couples. Those who have developed a bad character are unwilling to accept the instruction, become insane, and sink into hell. The Lord uses temptations to give people an opportunity to voluntarily give up their hellish traits.

(iv) Prayer is of benefit to the individual who prays but has no mollifying effect on God since God decides things solely on the basis of omniscience through His Rational Laws of Providence and Permissions. God cannot give away any of His power or holiness to any human beings. God participates and manages all details, even the most minute, for otherwise the universe would fall into chaos and disappear.

2

New Testament

conscious
natural-
sensuous
correspondences

(i) God manifests Himself in three Divine Persons as one Godhead. God as Father is invisible, unknowable, impersonal, partial to certain people, sometimes vengeful and angry, sometimes merciful. God as the Son is incarnated, visible, knowable, touchable, personal, impartial to all people, never vengeful or angry, always merciful. The Holy Spirit is felt in the rational mind and works within the mind to protect and guide.

(ii) God's plan is to eventually destroy the physical world when all the faithful then alive, and all the faithful who have been dead, will be caught up to God in heaven, where they will continue their eternal life, praising God and rejoicing forever. But the unfaithful or non-believers will be caught up together into hell, where they will be tortured to eternity. 

(iii) Everyone who sincerely declares their faith in God the Son as their Savior, Lord, and Master, is saved by Him and they receive eternal life in heaven as a reward. Everyone else is cut off from God and thrown into eternal hell. This is because God cannot look upon sin and they have turned themselves away from God's order. God allows the devil to tempt people in order to reprove them and encourage them to give up evils they love.

(iv) God responds to people's prayers and sometimes makes miracles to happen for them. Prayers are more effective when prayed together as a group or Church. God is mollified by personal acts of charity and sacrifice, so that He is more ready to ignore sins. God gives special gifts to some individuals such as the power to heal or the wisdom to lead.

1

Old Testament

 

conscious
natural-
corporeal
correspondences
 

(i) God is invisible, unknowable, impersonal, partial to certain people, sometimes vengeful and angry, sometimes merciful. God complains a lot about people's sins and threatens them with loss of livelihood, bad crops, sickness, and sterility.

(ii) God will destroy this earth and create a new earth where all the faithful will be resurrected and thereafter live forever in a glorious kingdom on earth.

(iii) God rewards the faithful who perform all the required rituals of religion. This reward is in terms of riches, popularity, power over other nations, and many children to carry on the blood line. God tempts people to test the loyalty of their faith. God rewards those who are loyal and punishes those who fail the test.

(iv) God's Glory demands that He be worshipped by human beings. He commands specific rituals that must be performed by the faithful under penalty of death, sickness, or loss of crops and livelihood. Community prayer rituals in groups are the most effective in mollifying God's anger. Animal sacrifices are also to be carried out under certain conditions.

  Read Chart From Bottom Up 

For more discussion on the three levels of mentality in spirituality and religion, see my book, Moses, Paul, and Swedenborg: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/moses.html

    1.6.8.1  Thinking from Scientific Revelation

Divine Speech in the passage below discusses the contrast between thinking from natural-rational correspondences (level 3) about theistic psychology vs. thinking from spiritual-natural correspondences (level 4). It may be surprising to you that Divine Speech discusses the negative and positive bias in science. But as you gain more knowledge of the details you will see that Divine Speech always discusses something about the human mind since the purpose of Divine Speech is to influence the human mind and to transmit to us new knowledge that will help us to regenerate. The Divine Human considers regeneration as the central issue in our existence. Hence most of Sacred Scripture deals exclusively with the human mind -- its anatomy, its functions, its development, its modification and regeneration. In other words, theistic psychology.

That the Old and New Testaments deal almost exclusively with theistic psychology is not known to anyone except those who have read the Writings of Swedenborg with a positive bias in science and are able to extract the underlying scientific meaning in its sentences (see Section xx). It is easier to see that the Writings of Swedenborg deal heavily with theistic psychology (level 4) because it is written in natural-rational correspondences (level 3) that describe the human mind in a consistent and integrated rational account. But the literal meaning of the sentences in the Writings (level 3) are filled with natural, historical, and cultural references. These all disappear at the level of theistic psychology (level 4). The natural-rational correspondences of the literal sentences in the Writings also contain gender-biased language and attitudes, which also disappear at level 4 in theistic psychology. Every word, concept, expression and sentence in the extracted correspondences from the Writings contain a universal reference to the human mind and the individual -- every individual.

I will comment on several sub-sections of this one passage (AC 2568) so that we can extract the universal scientific meaning of Divine Speech that is contained within the literal sentences of the Writings.

Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg:

AC 2568 [2] As regards man it is one thing to regard the doctrine of faith from rational things, and altogether another to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith.

"As regards man" refers to any human being who is studying theistic psychology. "The doctrine of faith" refers to theistic psychology. "Rational things" in this context refers to natural-rational ideas in contrast to spiritual-rational ideas. Ideas expressed in natural-rational correspondences constitute materialistic rationality, which is based on the appearances of spiritual ideas discussed in a natural language. But spiritual-rational ideas are based on scientific revelations in the Writings, which constitute the knowledge of theistic psychology from Sacred Scripture. This is called "the doctrine of faith" because the literal sentence is written in accordance with history ("doctrine") and religion ("faith").

The inner scientific meaning, however, is universal. Divine Speech is referring here to two modes of thinking when reading the scientific revelations in the Writings. One is in the negative bias in science since it says, "Let me see how the Writings are delusional and certainly not Divine." The other mode of thinking is the positive bias in science since it says, "I accept that the Writings may be rational and Divine. Now let me see how I can understand it."

"To regard the doctrine of faith from rational things" refers to the negative bias in science regarding theistic psychology. This is because "rational things" here refers to natural-rational ideas (level 3), in contrast to spiritual-natural ideas (level 4). "To regard from" refers to a critical analysis or examination of the issue. To analyze scientific revelations with a materialistic perspective (level 3 based on levels 1 and 2), is to operate within the negative bias perspective. The reality of the spiritual world is denied by the materialistic perspective and therefore nothing but a denial can result from analyzinf scientific revelations from this perspective. That's why it is called the negative bias in science.

 But "to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith" refers to the positive bias in science regarding theistic psychology. "Rational things" refers once again to the natural-rational ideas of level 3 in which the Writings are written. "Doctrine of faith" refers again to theistic psychology . To think about the natural-rational correspondences of the Writings (level 3) in terms of spiritual-natural ideas (level 4), is to think within the positive bias in science regarding theistic psychology.

Continuing with the passage which will now specify the consequences of thinking one way or the other.

To regard the doctrine of faith from rational things is not to believe in the Word, or in the doctrine thence derived, until one is persuaded from rational things that it is so; whereas to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith is first to believe in the Word, or in the doctrine therefrom, and then to confirm the same by rational things.

The former is inverted order, and results in nothing being believed; whereas the latter is genuine order, and causes the man to believe the better. It is the former that is here meant by its being said that Abimelech should die because of the woman; by which is signified that the doctrine of faith would become null and void if the rational were consulted (n. 2516, 2538); but the latter is meant by its being said that Abimelech gave flock and herd, and menservants and maidservants; by which is signified that the doctrine of faith was enriched with rational and natural goods and truths. (AC 2568)

The first paragraph confirms what we said above about the negative vs. positive bias in science. "The Word" refers to the literal text of the Writings, and "the doctrine thence derived" refers to theistic psychology when studied with the positive bias in science. "First to believe in the Word or in the doctrine therefrom" refers to the positive bias in science when reading the Writings of Swedenborg or when studying theistic psychology. "To confirm the same by rational things" refers to the effort to figure out rationally what one is reading in theistic psychology. It is useless to read without fully and clearly comprehending the Sections. When we read theistic psychology with understanding we can confirm that it makes sense and that it is true. But when we first deny the existence of scientific revelation and read theistic psychology in that mentality, we can only end up denying the whole thing.

The second paragraph in the passage above asserts that the negative bias in science is "inverted order" and when we examine theistic psychology from that inverted order, "causes the man to believe nothing," which refers to rejecting the validity of theistic psychology as a science. The positive bias in science is called "genuine order" and causes us to "believe better" which means to think with higher more rational correspondences about God. The rest of the paragraph shows how Swedenborg analyzed the text of the Old Testament to show that the hidden correspondences within the sentences are about scientific revelations, not historical figures.

Continuing with the passage:

[3] These things are much treated of in the Word in its internal sense, especially where Asshur and Egypt are spoken of; for the reason that while the doctrine of faith is regarded from rational things, that is, while a man does not believe until he is persuaded from them that it is so, it then not only becomes null and void, but whatever is contained in it is also denied; whereas when rational things are regarded from the doctrine of faith, that is, when a man believes the Word, and afterwards the same things are confirmed by rational things, the doctrine is then living and whatever is contained in it is affirmed. (AC 2568)

The above paragraph asserts once again that reading scientific revelations ("the Word") in the negative bias mode cannot convince anyone that it is true. But when you theistic psychology with a positive bias in science, accepting that it might be true and valid, then we can confirm that they true by being able to understand them rationally.

Continuing with the passage:

[4] There are therefore two principles; one of which leads to all folly and insanity, and the other to all intelligence and wisdom. The former principle is to deny all things, or to say in the heart that we cannot believe them until we are convinced by what we can apprehend, or perceive by the senses; this is the principle that leads to all folly and insanity, and is to be called the negative principle. The other principle is to affirm the things which are of doctrine from the Word, or to think and believe within ourselves that they are true because the Lord has said them: this is the principle that leads to all intelligence and wisdom, and is to be called the affirmative principle. (AC 2568)

The above paragraph says that the negative bias in science about scientific revelations leads to a delusional conception of reality ("all folly and insanity"), while the positive bias in science leads to rationality and sanity ("all intelligence and wisdom"). What is called here "the negative principle" is what we've been discussing as the negative bias in science. In contrast, "the affirmative principle" is what we have called the positive bias in science. The position that leads to sanity and intelligence is to adopt the positive bias in science towards what is being presented in Sacred Scripture and in the knowledge of theistic psychology that is based on it.

[5] The more they who think from the negative principle consult things rational, the more they consult memory-knowledges, and the more they consult things philosophical, the more do they cast and precipitate themselves into darkness, until at last they deny all things. The causes of this are, that no one can apprehend higher things from lower ones, that is, spiritual and celestial things, still less Divine things, from lower ones, because they transcend all understanding, and moreover everything is then involved in negatives from that principle. On the other hand, they who think from an affirmative principle can confirm themselves by whatever things rational, by whatever memory-knowledges, and whatever things philosophic they have at command; for all these are to them things confirmatory, and give them a fuller idea of the matter. (AC 2568)

In the paragraph above Divine Speech tells us that when we operate with the negative bias mode of thinking, we are in "darkness" which refers to the inability to comprehend spiritual ideas or anything about the spiritual world and how our life in immortality is dependent on our willingness to undergo character reformation and regeneration while we are still living on earth (see Section xx).

[6] Moreover there are some who are in doubt before they deny, and there are some who are in doubt before they affirm. They who are in doubt before they deny are they who incline to a life of evil; and when this life carries them away, then insofar as they think of the matters in question they deny them. But they who are in doubt before they affirm are they who incline to a life of good; and when they suffer themselves to be bent to this by the Lord, then insofar as they think about those things so far they affirm. As this subject is further treated of in the verses which follow,. it is permitted of the Lord's Divine mercy to illustrate them more fully there (see n. 2588). (AC 2568)

The final paragraph above asserts that when we think within the negative bias mode we "incline to a life of evil." This means that we are then incapable of judging what is right and wrong, good or bad. When we can't judge between good and evil, then evil appears to us as good and vice versa. IN this way we fall into a life of evil, meaning that we are not interested in character reformation. We are satisfied where we are, and since we deny the afterlife, we have no motivation for changing ourselves. We remain such as we were born with an inherited character that has ties to the hells (see Section xx). When we pass on and begin our new life of immortality, we have nothing with us in this new life but our inherited character. Such as our character is, such is the quality of life in eternity (see Section xx).

Study Questions:

Week 13 Readings: Section 1.6.3 to 1.6.8.1

  • Student 1:    1, 4, 7

  • Student 2:    2, 5, 8

  • Student 3:    3, 6, 9

13.1. List between 3 and 5 criteria that theistic psychology should have if it is going to make it as a science in the future. Briefly explain each and then give your assessment as to how theistic psychology as you know it, stacks up.

13.2. What is the method of psychobiological correspondence and how can it be applied in theistic psychology.

13.3. What is the organic basis of human thoughts, emotions, and feelings?

13.4. Study Section 1.6.7, which describes some features of what life is like in the afterlife of eternity. Discuss them. How do you react? How do your friends react? Is this something to look forward to?

13.5. How do you react to the idea in Section 1.6.8 that "Sacred Scripture Is the Source of Scientific Revelations"? Be sure to make a distinction between the literal sense of Sacred Scripture (religion) and its spiritual sense (theistic psychology).

13.6. Section 1.6.8 discusses how Divine Speech inflows into the mental world by levels, and each level is lower in rationality than the level above it, until it reaches the natural level of Sacred Scripture in a natural language. Describe this process in your own words, as if you were giving a speech about it to people interested in spirituality.

13.7. Discuss the 6 "Levels of Rational Mentality" in Section 1.6.8. Can you comprehend these levels of thinking about God?

13.8. Section 1.8.9 discusses theistic science as an alternative to Bible-based accounts of God and creation, which look only at the literal meaning. What is your assessment of where this topic is going in the future?

13.9. Now that you are nearing completion of the course, what has been the effect of studying theistic psychology this semester? What is your prognosis for continuing the study and its mode of thinking?


 

1.6.9    History of the Concept of Dualism in Science

                    1.6.9.1  Substantive Dualism

This is a brief historical review of the concepts that scientists have kept track of regarding dualism. Keep in mind that scientists over the past few centuries have operated from the negative bias perspective (see Section xx).  They attempted to develop a theoretical position on dualism which was therefore rationally untenable. A dualism that does not have one of its components outside time and space, is clearly insufficient as an idea for dualism. What is dualism from the positive bias perspective? The word dualism refers to a system that has two separate or discontinuous components. For instance, Swedenborg's dualism may be called substantive dualism because it describes all phenomena in the universe as having two components. Nothing in the universe can exist unless it has these two components. One component is located in time and space -- the natural world, and the other component is located outside time and space -- the spiritual-mental world of eternity.

Take for instance a rock or mountain or planet, and its constituent molecules, atoms, sub-atomic particles, energies, fields, and propensities (see Section xx). These are time-space-matter coordinates. No matter how micro you go inside each object endlessly, and no matter how macro you go outside each object endlessly, you will never be able to cross into the spiritual-mental world of eternity. This means that in substantive dualism, the two worlds are in discrete degrees, not continuous (see Section xx). There is no form of energy from the natural world that can cross or exert an influence on the spiritual-mental world of eternity. Nothing in time-space can be continuous with anything outside time-space. This is called the law of discrete degrees and correspondences (see Section xx).

The object, event, property, or phenomenon is called the effect, while the cause of that object or phenomenon is its substance. A rock on the outside is matter in time-space, but on the inside it is rational substance from the spiritual-mental world. Compare a rock we hold in the hand and a question we ask about it. Both the question and the rock must have two components, one in the natural world and the other in the spiritual-mental world. This is by definition of substantive dualism. The rock's natural component is made of matter from the sun, while the rock's spiritual-mental component is made of substance from the spiritual-mental sun in eternity. Similarly, the question that we verbalize must have the two components. The natural component is the recordable physical sound we make when speaking the question. The spiritual-mental component is the thinking operations of our mental cognitive organ and and the willing operations of our mental affective organ.

Does this mean that the inside of a rock, which is its cause of existence, is a mental phenomenon in our mind?

The answer is yes, as long as you apply the theistic psychology principle that spiritual = mental. The mental world is outside time and space. Sensations, thoughts, and feelings are not brain phenomena at all, as it is supposed to be in negative bias science and non-theistic psychology. In substantive dualism, it is known that we are born dual citizens, or else we could not be human (see Section xx). What makes us human is the ability to have thoughts and feelings that are discontinuous from time and space. These thoughts and feelings are our immortality. To be immortal means that our self and personality is not located in time and space. There is nothing to survive at death because our self and personality cannot die. Dying applies only to the physical body. When we are born we acquire by birth two bodies which allow us two simultaneous existences or lives. One life is in the spiritual body and the other is in the physical body. We are conscious of our natural body and of our natural mind, but we are not conscious of the spiritual body and our spiritual mind (see diagram xx Section xx).

As our physical body grows, our mental body also grows. Our mental body is in the spiritual world of eternity, also called the afterlife.  Actually, it is the development and maturation of the mental body through experiences, which is the cause of the physical body growing. For instance, when our mental body begins to fill out in its own shape or personality, at around mental age seven or eight, the physical body loses all its childhood teeth, and replaces it with adult teeth.  When our mental body attains full mental adulthood, and we begin to think what we want, the physical body reacts by producing our wisdom teeth. It is the same with gender hormones and sexual response as our mental world matures and our physical body responds.

How does the mental body act upon the physical body as a cause-effect relationship between the outside temporary natural-physical component and the inside eternal spiritual-mental component?

This interaction is governed by the laws of correspondences (see section xx). Swedenborg is the only notable scientist we know of, who has described this universal law in detail, and how it applies to all cause-effect relations in the universe.

So, as we review the history of the concepts of dualism in negative bias science, we can see where they go wrong in a rational attempt to explain the difference between mind and body. Their attempt is futile in the absence of the substantive dualism that separates time-space and outside time-space, in the first place, and in the second place, specifies a scientific relationship between the two. Without these two theoretical features, the attempt to explain reality rationally must fail.

The mind is a general expression that in particular, refers to the activity of our three mental organs with which we are born and which are located in our spiritual-mental body in eternity. The word experiences, or experiencing, refers to the holistic construction of a self or personality, through the conglomeration and organized collection of all our mental operations -- all our sensations (sensorimotor organ), all our thoughts (cognitive organ), and all our feelings or intentions (affective organ). Nothing whatsoever that is mental can get lost or disappear or die, because all mental objects are outside time-space, hence permanent, eternal, immortal, never-ending. Our self is immortal because it is a holistic construction entirely from immortal objects -- sensations, thoughts, and feelings. Not one of them that we ever experience, can ever be separated from our self of which they are part. This makes each immortal human being unique to eternity.

Does this mean that we should be able to produce a rock by wanting to?

Yes, in the spiritual-mental world of eternity; No, in the natural-physical world of time-space. Swedenborg confirmed through 27 years of consciousness in both worlds, that every object in the afterlife world of eternity, also called our spiritual mind, is instantaneously produced by the thoughts and feelings of the people there. You can understand this idea when you think about how you produce objects in your dreams or in your imagination. Those objects are real appearances in your mental world or consciousness. Swedenborg confirmed by multiple and repeated observation, that when people resuscitate into the afterlife (see Section xx), their dreams and mental visions and pictures, are visible to anyone who is standing around because the details of the dream or content of the imagination are instantiated and appear around the person. People in the afterlife who are similar or compatible in thoughts and feelings appear to themselves to be together in a group or spiritual society (see Section xx). Swedenborg visited such societies and what he saw was amazing. The outward visual and sensory appearance of these societies varies in correspondence with the level of mentality of the people in that society.

For instance, when Swedenborg was conscious in his spiritual mind, he was able to descend in consciousness to the lower portions of the spiritual-mental world. When he was in that state of mind he witnessed himself among the societies of the human hells, and when he ascended to the upper portions of the spiritual-mental world, he witnessed himself among the societies of the human heavens. The hellish societies are called that because their feelings, intentions, and thoughts are evil and delusional. At their second death, which occurs shortly after the first death of the physical body, people undergo an inevitable physiological change during which all their heavenly traits are separated from all their hellish traits. They then are forced to make a voluntary choice they cannot postpone or avoid. they must choose either to give up the hellish traits or to give up the heavenly traits. Before this process, people's hellish and heavenly traits are mixed up as it were in the soup of personality, so that at one moment a person can be fiendish and cruel, while at another moment that same person can be compassionate and rational.

This ability of switching from one to the other depending on the situation, is totally lost. This is why it is called the second death. Once the choice is made, and the physiology of the process is completed, whatever we don't choose -- our heavenly or our hellish traits -- is rendered non-operational, inaccessible to the person's consciousness or actual life.  Swedenborg observed that people always choose on the basis of one ruling love, and all the other loves that are compatible with it, remain attached to the choice. The ruling love is in complete charge. Throughout your experiences and choices prior to resuscitation, the ruling love arranges all things in your intentions and desires to be compatible with it. For instance, if your ruling love is to get ahead of others, you will develop a personality that is always looking out for an advantage for yourself. Your habits of thinking will evolve an attitude of life that justifies your actions and interactions, so that you always end up on top. By the time you are resuscitated this ruling love will have constructed a self or personality that is not willing to let go of it at your second death. Hence every trait in your personality that is not compatible with that ruling love, will be put to sleep.

What kind of person are you when your ruling love is a hellish trait? (See Section xx).

But when you mature in your life on earth with a ruling love that is heavenly, your self and personality will be constructed of heavenly traits around the ruling love. For instance, if your ruling love is to take care of those who are in your charge, the traits around this ruling love will be compatible with it, as for example, you will feel responsible towards others in your charge, you will protect them and give them good things, even if you have to give up some of the things you might want at the moment, but which you can see are selfish. Or to take still another example, suppose you love your career and you work hard to advance in it by learning discipline and self-control, and improving yourself as a person by overcoming temptations to be selfish and undisciplined. Your ruling love in doing all this may be either hellish or heavenly. The ruling love is hellish if you make yourself do all this work for the sake of gaining more power or money for yourself, at the expense of others. If you cheat for instance, or take advantage of others by being sly and manipulative, you know you are working hard for the sake of yourself and you have no compassion for the others you are cheating or taking advantage of.

Or else, your ruling love in your career may be for the sake of being useful to society, or being a good person who pulls their own share of the load. You might still like the power and the money -- there is nothing wrong with that, but you don't subordinate the other people to the power and money you can obtain. You make distinctions, and you refuse to do what hurts others for the sake of gaining advantage. You will limit yourself to that kind of career choices and actions that help you but don't hurt others unfairly. You can beat others in a fair competition, and still feel compassionate and good will towards them. If you feel this way, and you are not faking yourself out, then you know that your ruling love is heavenly. You know that your second death you will choose the heaven in your mind, not the hell.

            1.6.9.2  Prior Versions of Dualism in the Negative bias in science

A useful discussion of dualism will be found in these two articles:

Dualism (philosophy of mind) From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism_(philosophy_of_mind)  
and
Dualism in Descartes and Swedenborg by Dr. Ian Thompson
www.newdualism.org/papers/I.Thompson/dualism-descartes-swedenborg.pdf

The Wikipedia article starts out with this sentence:

"In the philosophy of mind, dualism is a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter, which begins with the claim that mental phenomena are, in some respects, non-physical."

Note that right from the first sentence, the article acknowledges itself as looking at dualism from the negative bias perspective. It says that dualism "begins with the claim that mental is non-physical." If the article were written from the positive bias perspective, it would say that materialism is the claim that the mental is the continuous with the physical. This shows to you that either way, negative or positive perspective on dualism, we are dealing with a bias. This is important for you to realize because until now materialism has been presented to you as scientific, while dualism has been presented to you as a "claim" that is not scientific. But now you can see that materialism is the negative bias in science towards the existence of the non-physical eternity. Materialism or monism in science is therefore not more scientific than dualism. This conclusion is opposed and counteracted continuously by those who operated within the negative bias in science. It's important therefore that we be aware of this.

Once we begin to understand that materialism is a negative bias not a scientific proof, we empower ourselves to be able to adopt the positive bias in science. As long as we don't clearly see that the non-theistic and materialistic attitude is a bias, we feel hesitant to even consider adopting the positive bias in science. We are realistically concerned that we are no longer being scientific when we discuss God and eternity in science. But when we see rationally that materialism is a bias and not a proof, we begin to wonder what motivates scientists to maintain this negative bias in science? Why are they so aversive to the idea of the dualism and the afterlife? Different scientists may have different reasons. But the important thing is that you have liberated yourself from the negative bias in science intellectual tyranny that was taught to you exclusively in your science education. Note that you were not given the opportunity to hear both sides of the issue! Note that you were never told that the materialistic anti-God, anti-immortality stance of science is a bias. You were never told that there is a positive bias in science called dualism, and that it is also a scientific possibility.

I think we should be more balanced in our science education curriculum. We should teach both the negative and the positive bias in all science courses where method, history, and definition is discussed. I can understand why this has not been done so far, namely, because the works of Swedenborg are still not known in science. Part of the reason they are still unknown is that they have been intentionally and vigorously kept out, due to the negative bias in science. But I predict that in the future more and more scientists will allow themselves to recognize that their current materialism is a negative bias in science. This will make them more receptive to considering the positive bias in science through the Writings of Swedenborg. However, since these Writings are written as Sacred Scripture, the literal sense will continue to be a barrier to most people. Hence the change will come through theistic psychology and theistic physics, theistic information science, theistic astronomica, theistic biology, and so on. There have been advances in each of these fields so far, as you can see from the Index and Readings in Volume 1.

Within each scientific discipline there will be new proposals within the positive bias in science, and eventually this will gain ground over the old monism. All this might take several decades, if not more, due to the tenacity with which materialism hangs on in the human mind. Swedenborg reports multiple conversations he had with materialists and monists when they are resuscitated and also after their second death (see Section xx). At first they deny they are in the world of the afterlife and eternity. They concoct various fantastic explanations for what they see, like reasoning that they somehow have been transported to an island, or another planet, or other naturalistic ideas. Or else that they are still dying and in a coma, and so on. But after awhile the sensuous phenomena and events that occur around them compel them to acknowledge that they are now in a different world. This is most effectively communicated to them when they meet up with their dead relatives and friends.

Nevertheless, most them continue to deny that there is a heaven and a hell, a God, or other rational truths such as those in Sacred Scripture from Divine Speech. They are instructed in the rational ideas of Sacred Scripture and the human mind, but they are unwilling to receive these ideas. They quickly take themselves out of such instructional atmosphere, and pursue those states of the human mental world that are not rational. These are called the hells of the human psyche. Anyone who believes in materialism at the second death, give up all rational and heavenly ideas, and continue life in an irrational mental state where they experience much suffering from delusions and the delusions of the companions with whom they are mentally locked by similar ruling loves against the good and the true, against God and the innocence of our relationship to God in our heaven.

The entire history of dualism in negative bias science is therefore a history of rejection and failure. This is not due to dualism being wrong, but to the fact that nothing whatsoever can be known about the mental world of eternity, through the physical senses and data and explanations based exclusively on them. The rationality of materialistic science is not due to the negative bias. Scientists think rationally due to the direct effect of Divine Speech in their cognitive organ (see Section xx). You can understand this better if you think about the sentences you speak or read. What allows you to make up a sentence that just about anyone in that language could understand? It's your knowledge of grammar or syntax for that language. You acquired that syntax unconsciously within the first two years of your socialization process. Once internalized, the syntactic rules allow you to generate an endless number of unique sentences, and you can understand as many when constructed by others who also internalized the same syntactic rules. So you can speak and understand sentences not because you are a genius or a linguist, but because you know the syntactic rules that generate sentences.

It is the same with the rational thinking of scientists, lawyers, and managers. Their reasoning process is rational because the rules or syntax of rational thinking are present in their spiritual mind. They get there directly from Divine Speech (see Section xx). Once there, they organize and arrange the reasoning process we carry out consciously in our natural mind. So this is the source of the rational aspects of science, engineering, and government in our society. Despite the rational insanity of materialism (assuming that dualism is the reality), society continues to survive and progress, though at an amazing cost of inefficiency, human decadence, suffering, depression, and ill health. All these are the symptoms of irrationality due to materialism and other ant-eternity stances and lifestyles.

Continuing with the history of dualism, Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is a name frequently associated with dualism. According to the Wikipedia entry, Descartes held that

"the mind is a nonphysical substance. Descartes was the first to clearly identify the mind with consciousness and self-awareness and to distinguish this from the brain, which was the seat of intelligence. Hence, he was the first to formulate the mind/body problem in the form in which it still exists today."

The Western version of the history of dualism goes back to the ancient Greeks. According to the Wikipedia article,

Plato
In the dialogue Phaedo, Plato formulated his famous doctrine of eternal Forms as distinct and immaterial substances of which the objects and other phenomena that we perceive in the world are nothing more than mere shadows. Plato's doctrine was the prototypical conception of all future manifestations of, what is now called, substance dualism in ontology.

Aristotle
What is important from the perspective of philosophy of mind is that Aristotle does not believe that intellect can be conceived of as something material. He argues as follows: if the intellect were material then it could not receive all of the forms. If the intellect were a specific material organ (or part of one) than it would be restricted to receiving only certain kinds of information, as the eye is restricted to receiving visual data and the ear is restricted to receiving auditory data. Since the intellect is capable of receiving and reflecting on all forms of data, then it must not be a physical organ and, hence, it must be immaterial.

Both Plato and Aristotle realized that the mental world of awareness and thinking must be immaterial, that is, not made of matter in time and space, as is the body and the objects of our perception. They understood this not from materialistic or empirical observations, but from rational proof. Continuing with Wikipedia history of dualism:

From Neoplatonism to Scholasticism
Early Christianity seems to have struggled to come to terms with the identification of a unique position with regard to the question of the relationship between mind and body, just as it struggled to define the relationship of the ontological status of Christ himself (see homoousianism, homoiousianism, Arianism, etc). A consensus seemed to emerge around, what is now called, Neoplatonism in the early Middle Ages. The doctrines of Neoplatonism were essentially minor modifications on Plato's general ideas about the immortality of the soul and the nature of the Forms. The Neoplatonic Christians identified the Forms with souls and believed that the soul was the substance of each individual human being, while the body was just a shadow or copy of these eternal phenomena.

This paragraph shows that that the perspective of dualism in the history of science has always been familiar with the rational idea that the physical world and our body in it, is a "shadow or copy" of the spiritual body we have in eternity ("eternal phenomena"). Swedenborg wrote that we are spirits in a material body looking out at the outside world through our senses. It is not the body that sensates and thinks, but the spirit within the body.

Thomas Aquinas
For Aquinas, the soul (or intellect) remained the substance of the human being, but, somewhat similarly to Aristotle's proposal, it was only through its manifestation inside the human body that a person could be said to be a person. While the soul (intellect or form) could exist independently of the body (unlike in Aristotle) the soul by itself did not constitute a person. Hence, Aquinas suggested that instead of saying "St. Peter pray for us" one should rather say something like "soul of St. Peter pray for us", since all that remained of St. Peter, after his death, was his soul. All things connected with the body, such as personal memories, were cancelled out with the end of one's corporeal existence.

Here is where the speculations of Aquinas begin to throw things of the rational path in the history of ideas. Note from the above that he made up the notion that in the afterlife we are souls lacking a body, and therefore we are not a person with memories and personality. This is a pretty depressing idea! We know from Swedenborg's observations that we are resuscitated a few hours after the death of the body and that we find ourselves at that point, in a spiritual-mental body in a rational ether created by the Spiritual Sun (see Section xx). From the fantastic speculations of Aquinas many false theories have arisen about the afterlife in the mind of those who think highly of him. One of these ideas is that when we die the soul goes to some kind of a holding tank, where it awaits the end of the physical world. When that happens all the souls, or only the deserving or chosen souls, will now get their physical body back, or one like it, and they will then continue life forever in an immortal body on earth. One of the worst and most repulsive idea that came through this line of thinking, is that some people are born "predestined" by God to go either to heaven or to hell when the world ends. This idea attributes to God what is abhorrent to love and justice. Why would God do such an awful thing as to predestine some people to be born for hell, with nothing they can do about it, even if they try to become good people?

Continuing from the Wikipedia article on dualism:

"Substance dualism
Substance dualism is a type of dualism most famously defended by Descartes, which states that there are two fundamental kinds of substance: mental and material. The mental does not have extension in space, and the material cannot think. Substance dualism is a viewpoint which contradicts physicalism, one of the most popular views in modern philosophy of mind. (...) Substance dualism is a philosophical position compatible with most theologies which claim that immortal souls occupy an independent "realm" of existence which is distinct from that of the physical world."

Here we have several accurate facts about dualism: (1) two substances or worlds, one material in time-space, the other spiritual-mental in eternity. (2) The spiritual-mental world of eternity has no "extension in space," which means that space is part of the physical world and does not exist in the mental world of eternity, which is outside time and space. (3) Thoughts are not material or time-space events or objects. They are eternal, spiritual, mental, immortal. (4) The dualism of material-immaterial, or physical-mental, or temporal-eternal, is contradicted by physicalism, which is the negative bias in modern science. (5) The soul is immortal and when it loses its physical body it goes on living in an "independent realm of existence" that is outside the time-space world.

Note that these facts are accurate although they are general rather giving specific details of the world of eternity. This is because no such details can be accessed by anyone conscious in the natural mind. Only after resuscitation, when the natural mind falls inoperative, and our conscious awareness awakens in the spiritual mind, only then, can we access directly, by sensuous consciousness, the details of life there. Swedenborg was the only human being who, prepared since childhood by Divine intervention, was capable of double consciousness from age 57 to 84, compiling some thirty volumes of daily notes of his observations and experiments, and their rational explanation, in relation to Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). To distinguish the earlier versions of dualism, like substance dualism, I use the phrase substantive dualism to refer to Swedenborg's reports (see Section xx).

Continuing from the Wikipedia article on dualism:

"Property dualism
Property dualism asserts that when matter is organized in the appropriate way (i.e. in the way that living human bodies are organized), mental properties emerge. Hence, it is a sub-branch of emergent materialism. Different versions of property dualism describe this in different ways. Epiphenomenalism asserts that while material causes give rise to sensations, volitions, ideas, etc., such mental phenomena themselves cause nothing further: they are causal dead-ends. Interactionism, on the other hand, allows that mental causes can produce material effects, and vice-versa."

This shows how the substance dualism of Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, and Descartes are completely destroyed by modern views within the negative bias in science. The notion of "emergent materialism" defines the mental world of thoughts and feelings as nothing but another form of physical energy, matter, and space. This notion called "epiphenomenalism" asserts that sensations, thoughts, and intentions are material and "nothing further." Sp this idea should not be called dualism ("property dualism") but quasi-dualism, which means not real dualism.

Continuing from the Wikipedia article on dualism:

Predicate dualism
Predicate dualism is the view espoused by most non-reductive physicalists, such as Donald Davidson and Jerry Fodor, who maintain that while there is only one ontological category of substances and properties of substances (usually physical), the predicates that we use to describe mental events cannot be redescribed in terms of (or reduced to) physical predicates of natural languages. If we characterize predicate monism as the view subscribed to by eliminative materialists, who maintain that such intentional predicates as believe, desire, think, feel, etc., will eventually be eliminated from both the language of science and from ordinary language because the entities to which they refer do not exist, then predicate dualism is most easily defined as the negation of this position. Predicate dualists believe that so-called "folk psychology", with all of its propositional attitude ascriptions, is an ineliminable part of the enterprise of describing, explaining and understanding human mental states and behavior. 

This shows how inventive scientists can be in trying to get around substance dualism. This position realizes that it is not valid to reduce mental events to physical brain events, and yet it wants to hold on to materialism or physicalism. So it asserts that sensations and feelings, though not real because mental, nevertheless are to be treated as if real, if we want to understand how human beings think and talk. According to this view, when you say that you like something, you're not having a feeling but pretending to have one, or talking as if you had one, or believing the illusion that you have one. All this is amazingly far fetched, and all of it, in order to get away from the reality of the two worlds, one in space-time, the other outside of it.

Continuing from the Wikipedia article on dualism:

"Parallelism
Psycho-psychical parallelism is a very unusual view about the interaction between mental and physical events which was most prominently, and perhaps only truly, advocated by Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. Like Malebranche and others before him, Leibniz recognized the weaknesses of Descartes' account of causal interaction taking place in a physical location in the brain. Malebranche decided that such a material basis of interaction between material and immaterial was impossible and therefore formulated his doctrine of occasionalism, stating that the interactions were really caused by the intervention of God on each individual occasion. Leibniz idea is that God has created a pre-established harmony such that it only seems as if physical and mental events cause, and are caused by, one another. In reality, mental causes only have mental effects and physical causes only have physical effects. Hence the term parallelism is used to describe this view."

This perspective is in the mode of theistic science, though not fully accurate when viewed from the perspective of Swedenborg's Writings. But it correctly identifies the impossibility of Descartes' version of dualism, because in substance dualism, the two worlds of time and eternity, are discontinuous, They cannot touch at some point in the brain, as Descartes thought. The solution that Leibniz and Malebranche came up with is that God coordinates the two worlds of time and of eternity just so that they may work together. Swedenborg Writings give us the complete particulars or mechanisms by which God does this work of coordination, namely, the laws of correspondences to Divine Speech (see Section xx). Divine Speech is Divine Truth, which enters the mental world through spiritual light streaming from the Spiritual Sun, that activates all causes and effects in the universe. Divine Speech enters the universe from the celestial mind of the human race. From there the laws of correspondences determine how the degree below the celestial will react, then below the spiritual, then below the natural, and finally into the physical universe through time, space, and matter.

This descent of Divine Speech is the cause of all phenomena in both worlds. The universe at all levels is nothing but a reaction by correspondence to Divine Speech. Every thing that exists has three components that constitute the whole or unity of the thing (see Section xx).  These three things are in discrete degrees of correspondence relative to each other and are thus interlocked in operation as source is locked to the cause which is locked to the effect. IN the effect, cause and source are present in simultaneous order (see section xx). Without the knowledge of discrete degrees linked by correspondences to Divine Speech, there is no scientific way of explaining how the physical and the mental interact, or how the temporal, which is the physical body, interacts with the eternal, which is the sensation that comes from it in our mental world. This difficulty is seen in the next quote.

Continuing from the Wikipedia article on dualism:

Arguments against dualism: Argument from causal interaction
Varieties of dualism in which mind can causally affect matter have come under strenuous attack from different quarters, especially starting in the 20th century. How can something totally immaterial affect something totally material? That's the basic problem of causal interaction. We can analyze the problem here in three parts.

First, it is not clear where the interaction would take place. For example , burning my fingers causes pain. Apparently there is some chain of events, leading from the burning of skin, to the stimulation of nerve endings, to something happening in the peripheral nerves of my body that lead to my brain, to something happening in a particular part of my brain, and finally resulting in the sensation of pain.

But pain is not supposed to be spatially localizable. So where does the interaction take place? If you were to respond, "It takes place in the brain," then I might say, "But I thought pains weren't located anywhere." And you, as a dualist, might stick to your guns and say, "That's right, pains aren't located anywhere; but the brain event that immediately leads to the pain is located in the brain." But then we have a very strange causal relation on our hands. The cause is located in a particular place but the effect is not located anywhere. Perhaps this is not a devastating criticism.

This shows the difficulty of explaining any sensation that we experience when signals from our burned skin arrive to the brain. There is no possibility of the chemical or electrical signal somehow entering the mind. This would violate the law of discrete degrees between the mental and the physical. There is no continuity between them so a signal cannot go from one to the other. Swedenborg's solution was that every pattern of signals ending up in the brain cells from the senses, is actually composed of smaller signals acting together as a pattern of input. Each of these signals is a physical event, hence an effect from a spiritual-mental cause. Each neural action in the brain has a temporal component in time-space called the effect, and a spiritual-mental component outside time called the cause. No thing is a thing unless it has these two components. So when one is modified, so is the other, since it is the same object being modified as a whole.

This view is quite different from that of Leibniz and Malebranche, discussed above. They thought that the two worlds were separate and independent creations, and that God saw to it that whatever happened in one world would have an effect in the other world. For instance, if we had the desire to touch something, God would know this, and would make our hand move accordingly, so that we had the illusion that our hand is moving from our intention to move it. But Swedenborg's view is that my moving hand itself is nothing unless it has two sub-things it is made of. My hand moving has a cause component, which is the mental event of my wanting to move it. This cause component is outside the physical world, in eternity. Simultaneously, my moving hand also has an effect component, which is in physical time and space. The moving hand is therefore a dual object, partly spiritual-mental and partly physical-temporal. The cause and the effect of every physical event are together in the event, giving it its existence. Neither can exist without the other. The existence of a thing starts when it acquires these two things -- its cause and its effect, also called, its substance and form (see Section xx). Let's continue to examine further how the negative bias in science tries to handle this problem.

Continuing from the Wikipedia article on dualism:

"So let's look at a second problem about the interaction. Namely, how does the interaction take place? You might think, "Well, that's a matter for science -- scientists will eventually discover the connection between mental and physical events." But philosophers also have something to say about the matter: the very idea of a mechanism which explains the connection between the mental and the physical would be very strange, at best. Why would it be strange? Compare it to a mechanism that we do understand. Take a very simple causal relation, such as when the cue ball strikes the eight ball and causes it to go into the pocket. Here we can say that the cue ball has a certain amount of momentum as its mass moves across the pool table with some velocity, and then that momentum is transferred to the eight ball, which then heads toward the pocket. Now compare this to the situation in the brain, where we want to say a decision causes some neurons to fire and thus causes my body to move across the room. The intention "I will cross the room now," is a mental event and, as such, it does not have physical properties such as force. If it has no force, then how on earth could it cause any neuron to fire? Is it by magic? How could something without any physical properties have any physical effects at all?"

Here we see the impossibility of explaining how discrete degrees, or discontinuous systems, can be functionally related like cause and effect are related. First, note the error in the logic about the cue ball hitting the eight ball and causing it to move toward the pocket. The cue ball collides with the eight ball which then starts moving in a certain direction. Swedenborg points out that these two types of actions are not cause and effect, but two effects correlating with each other, or following each other in sequence. One physical event cannot be the cause of another physical event because cause and effect are in discrete degrees. All causes in the universe are in the spiritual-mental world and all effects in the universe are in the natural world. In this case, the cause of the eight ball heading towards the pocket is not the cue ball, but the intention of the pool player.

The quote above shows the writer's puzzlement in figuring out how a mental event such as an intention, can be the cause of a physical event, such as firing neurons that move my hand that move the cue stick that strikes the cue ball. How do we get from the intention to the motor action? The writer continues to specify the puzzle as follows:

"The problem is that if we have something totally nonphysical causing a bunch of neurons to fire, then there is no physical event which causes the firing. That means that some physical energy seems to have appeared out of thin air. Even if we say that my decision has some sort of mental energy, and that the decision causes the firing, we still haven't explained where the physical energy, for the firing, came from. It just seems to have popped into existence from nowhere."

Exactly. The effect seems to just "pop into existence from nowhere." But we know from the scientific revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg that the brain does not have a coherent integrity of its own, so that no pattern in the brain can fire at all from itself or from the body. The brain is a dead organic mechanism made of protein matter, electricity, and space. It does not get activated by anything. Sensory input cannot occur on its own. Every little act of perception and sensation has a mental cause and all the little acts are put together in a rational sequence controlled and determined by a mental process which descends as cause into time-space as effect. The neural firing in the brain is not the cause or source of the sensation in the mind. The neural firing is the effect in the brain of the cause in the mind.

For instance, what our eyes see does not depend merely on what's in the room, but also on what's in our mind. When our mind is asleep or distracted, our eyes do not see things right in front of us. In order for the eye to pick up a visual signal from the environment, our mind must make the eye ready to perform the act of seeing. Without this cause in the mind, the eye in the effect cannot see anything. Similarly, when you move your hand to pick up something, the muscles would not work at all, at even less in coordination, unless the mental intention of preparedness to move, were first present as cause. So, every activity of the senses, organs, nerves, or brain, is an effect of a prior mental event that must precede it as cause precedes effect.

The article ends with the statement that dualism cannot continue to survive as a viable scientific idea in modern science, first because no good explanations have been provided for how the worlds interact, and second, because dualism violates "a general heuristic principle of science: the causal closure of the physical world." this is nothing but the negative bias in science which wants closure of science within the physical world and exclusion of anything else. Note however that the article does not mention Swedenborg, even though he is the only one who has proposed a rational solution. In addition to providing a rational solution, Swedenborg also confirmed it by empirical observation, as described in the Section on resuscitation below (Section 1.7). Other observational methods Swedenborg had access to are indicated in various quotations taken from his reports -- see Selections to the Writings Sacred Scripture Keyed to Theistic Psychology Subjects for the entry EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED BY SWEDENBORG IN SPIRITUAL WORLD; EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE.

1.6.9.3  Dualism and Consciousness

Another entry in the Wikipedia, is relevant to considering additional ideas about dualism and consciousness. This is the entry on Martin Heidegger. Quoting from the Wikipedia entry: (the links give direct access to other entries in Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidegger

"Heidegger (1889-1976)
Influences:  Pre-Socratics Plato Aristotle Kant Hegel Kierkegaard Nietzsche Husserl
Influenced: Jean-Paul Sartre Jacques Derrida Maurice Merleau-Ponty  Michel Foucault

Beyond his relation to phenomenology, Heidegger is regarded as a major or indispensable influence on existentialism, deconstruction, hermeneutics and postmodernism. He attempted to reorient Western philosophy away from metaphysical and epistemological and toward ontological questions, that is, questions concerning the meaning of being, or what it means "to-be". Much controversy has surrounded his status as a prominent academic member of the Nazi Party."

We need to examine the meaning of the contrast mentioned here, namely, metaphysical-epistemological vs. ontological in the context of consciousness (phenomenology) and what is human reality (existentialism, postmodernism, etc.). According to the Wikipedia article:

"The phenomenological approach to philosophy can be briefly sketched as an attempt to perceive experience unmediated by any prior knowledge and thus as a way of trying to reach the thing itself, bypassing every abstract theoretical assumption of it. Edmund Husserl was a founder and major exponent of this philosophical branch, and also Heidegger's teacher and mentor."

In other words, in relation to theistic psychology, the phenomenological approach may be identified with a type of sensuous consciousness of God, which contrasts with the rational consciousness of God (see Section xx). This topic is also covered under the topic of sensuous spirituality vs. rational spirituality (see Section xx). It is known from the Writings Sacred Scripture that the current human race on earth is characterized as the split-brain spiritual race to contrast it with the original race on earth called the whole brain celestial race (see Section xx). The celestial human race on earth had sensuous consciousness of heaven and and the spiritual world of eternity. This ability was subsequently lost, and rational spirituality could then evolve in the new spiritual race. After the Incarnation event in human evolution, the human mind was modified so that access to heaven in eternity now was possible only through rational consciousness of God (see see Sections 1.6.8 and 1.8.4.2  and 1.8.6  and 2.19 and 3.7.2.2 and 3.10.1 and 4.4.5 and 4.4.6.1  and 5.0.6  and 5.1.1.5.1 and 13.0.11.1.1). Rational consciousness of God is defined by Sacred Scripture, especially its correspondential sense (see Section xx).

The desire for sensuous consciousness of God leads people today to a phenomenological approach to spirituality and higher consciousness. Among these efforts are meditation, religious piety, altered states of consciousness, induced swooning, extreme physical disciplines, near death experiences (NDEs), witnessing and confirming miracles, mediumship, psychic phenomena, transcendentalism, rituals and secret incantations, group bonding and fellowship, and perhaps others (see my analysis in The Man of the Field. Reformation: The Struggle Against Nonduality at:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/v1ch1-nonduality.html )

The phenomenological approach to higher consciousness of reality assumes that higher consciousness is a mental state that is continuous with the consciousness we have in our natural mind. This view says that all consciousness is a continuity, from rock through animal through human to God. But we know from the Writings Sacred Scripture that the universe, the mind, all creation, is layered in discrete degrees (see Section xx). The levels are discontinuous. No matter how much we endlessly keep improving our consciousness in the natural mind, we can never enter the consciousness of the spiritual mind. Also, no matter how much we improve our sensuous consciousness of God and reality, we cannot even begin to experience our rational consciousness of God. These two are in discrete degrees. And since the new heavens of the human race are made out of rational consciousness of Sacred Scripture and God, it is clear that phenomenology cannot bring us closer to an understanding of reality and living life in its highest human form and potential.

Continuing from the Wikipedia article on Heidegger:

"The question of being was so to speak revived by Heidegger after being eclipsed by the metaphysical tradition from Plato to Descartes, and even more recently during the Enlightenment. Heidegger sought to explain being in terms of time, and thus to discover its real essence or meaning, that is, its intelligibility for us."

The philosophical system Heidegger pursued and championed is therefore the opposite of Swedenborg's philosophical system, which is in a form that carries Divine revelation, and hence called the Writings Sacred Scripture (see Section xx). Heidegger's system is the opposite of the Divine system given in the Writings Sacred Scripture because it locates the foundation of being in time rather than in eternity. His error is to suppose that we have no access to eternity because we are beings of time. This is indeed correct for sensuous being or consciousness, but it is not correct for rational being or consciousness. All rational states belong to eternity and are outside time and space, just as thoughts and feelings are not in the brain, matter, or space, but a discrete degree within them or apart from them (see Section xx). The mental world of sensations and thoughts consists of rational ether outside time and space, while the brain world of sensory input and neural action, consists of electro-chemical activity within time and space (see Section xx). God is omnipresent, not in space but apart from space (see Section xx).

It is interesting to pursue what phenomenology became under its next phase of development. This may be seen in the Wikipedia entry for Husserl:

"Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) (German philosopher, known as the "father" of phenomenology.)

In a later period, Husserl began to wrestle with the complicated issues of intersubjectivity (specifically, how communication about an object can be assumed to refer to the same ideal entity) and tries new methods of bringing his readers to understand the importance of Phenomenology to scientific inquiry (and specifically to Psychology) and what it means to "bracket" the natural attitude. The Crisis of the European Sciences is Husserl's unfinished work that deals most directly with these issues. In it, Husserl for the first time attempts a historical overview of the development of Western philosophy and science, emphasizing the challenges presented by their increasingly (one-sidedly) empirical and naturalistic orientation. Husserl declares that mental and spiritual reality possess their own reality independent of any physical basis, and that a science of the spirit ('Geisteswissenschaft') must be established on as scientific a foundation as the natural sciences have managed."

Here we see that Husserl restores to phenomenology what Heidegger has removed, namely, the idea that a spiritual-rational reality exists along with, or independently of, the natural world. The phenomenological world is now to encompass a substantive dualism of two worlds, one in nature and time, the other in the human mind and eternity. This idea then raises the notion of a rational phenomenology, which would mean that we must have a dual mind, one natural, the other spiritual. The spiritual mind is rational and requires that we "bracket out" the sensuous from reality. In this way Husserl proposes a phenomenology of the spiritual through the rational, not the sensuous. This idea is found in the Writings of Swedenborg (1668-1772), almost two centuries before Husserl and Heidegger, but the Wikipedia article does not note this fact. But it does note this historical irony between the reversal of positions between Heidegger and Husserl:

"Professor Husserl was denied the use of the library at Freiburg as a result of the anti-Jewish legislation the National Socialists (Nazis) passed in April 1933. His former pupil and Nazi Party member, Martin Heidegger, informed Husserl that he was discharged. Heidegger (whose philosophy Husserl considered to be the result of a faulty departure from, and grave misunderstanding of Husserl's own teachings and methods) removed the dedication to Husserl from his most widely known work, Being and Time, when it was reissued in 1941."

Heidegger's Nazi stance is obviously in conflict with Husserl's notion of a spiritual-mental world that is in eternity, an idea that forms the basis of all religions based on Sacred Scripture. The ideology of being that is based in time and nature can be consistent with the Nazi ideology of denying human dignity to some people. Such a horrific political stance can be justified by a morality based on the principle of survival of the fittest. But this kind of inhumanity is prohibited by a civilization based, not on nature and time, but on rational principles that are outside time and locality. This civilized attitude is requires the acknowledgement of substantive dualism and a positive bias in science toward Sacred Scripture having a universal, scientific, hidden spiritual meaning (see Section xx). (For a discussion on the relation between sensuous consciousness and anti-Semitism, see my article here:  www.newchurchissues.org/pre/lj03.htm )

Heidegger's reductionism of reality to the being of the natural, in time-space, has spawned many false notions around a phenomenology of nonduality (see Section xx). This idea can be heard today on television and read on the Web as the core of many "new age" movements of spirituality. It is the idea that consciousness is Divine and that there is a continuity between human and God, thanks to our ability to possess consciousness. There is therefore a nonduality of substance between God and human. According to this, we can attain our divinity, and become god, by abandoning all human involvements as below us, and encompassing them in ourselves, contemplating them from the stillness of non-state, above human thinking. The good and the evil are not absolute, in this view of nonduality. Their difference is illusory and belong to appearances of the lower consciousness involved in striving to attain temporal goals and victories.

Clearly these notions are contrary to rational spirituality from Sacred Scripture, which sees that all human life is made of mental states, and no consciousness apart from mental state is possible or meaningful. Also, that God has the highest consciousness, the perfect mental states of good and rationality, of love and wisdom. God must be separate and independent of human minds or anything that God has created. God must be outside of creation to accomplish creation and run it to its pre-creation ends of love and rationality (see Section xx). The human mind contains both evil and good, since God manages us by giving us freedom to reject good and distort truth. when we do this then we create a hell in our mental world. And this is permanent or eternal. In our eternity, or immortality after resuscitation, we are organically and physiologically compelled to separate the hellish and the heavenly traits, loves, and thoughts. This means that we are compelled to give up one or the other. If we give up the heavenly traits, we experience eternity in the hells of our mind. If we give up the hellish traits, we experience eternity in the heavens of our mind.

In order to examine some of the details of Husserl's proposals on the reality of consciousness we need to consult a more elaborate source, such as the Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy entry on Husserl at:  plato.stanford.edu/entries/husserl/

"2. Pure logic, meaning, intuitive fulfillment and intentionality
As a philosophically-minded mathematician, Husserl was interested in developing a general theory of inferential systems, which (following Bolzano) he conceived of as a theory of science, on the ground that every science (including mathematics) can be looked upon as a system of propositions that are interconnected by a set of inferential relations. Following John S. Mill, he argues in Logical Investigations that the best way to study the nature of such propositional systems is to start with their linguistic manifestations, i.e., (sets of) sentences and (assertive) utterances thereof.

How are we to analyse these sentences and the propositions they express? Husserl's approach is to study the units of consciousness that the respective speaker presents himself as having — that he “gives voice to” — in expressing the proposition in question (for instance, while writing a mathematical textbook or giving a lecture). These units of consciousness he labels intentional acts or intentional experiences, since they always represent something as something — thus exhibiting what Brentano called intentionality. According to Husserl, there are non-intentional units of consciousness as well. (He quotes pain as an example.) What distinguishes intentional from non-intentional experiences is the former's having intentional content."

Husserl's insight was significant. Today we use the expression interpretive discourse to refer to propositional accounts of acts for accomplishing some task. Comprehensive discourse analysis (see Section xx) identifies the smallest units in such self-witnessing descriptions. When examined, these units belong to the three domains of operations of the mind -- affective, cognitive, sensorimotor (see Section xx). These are the basis of mental anatomy, spiritual geography, and the genes of consciousness and human development (see Section xx). For an application of this type of discourse analysis in information science research, and how intentionality is defined, see this article by Diane Nahl:  www.itl.nist.gov/iaui/vvrg/hicss39/HICSS-2006-Nahl1.doc

Husserl spoke of the components of propositions as "abstract atemporal objects," while ethnomethodologists today speak of them as "social objects" (see Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation. 2 vols. Edited by Gail Jefferson with introductions by Emanuel A. Schegloff. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.) Much research is alive today on what are known as speech acts (Searle, John. Speech acts. Cambridge, 1969). Husserl's dualism is that between abstract objects like speech acts and logical propositions on the one hand, and on the other, the verbal use of them by an individual to refer to or index some particular unique subjective experience. This echoes Plato's dualism between the eternal ideal original Form and the temporal gross copies of it in nature or time. In theistic psychology we know that every natural object, form, pattern, or quality is an effect in time-space of a cause that is outside time and space (see Section xx). Natural objects such as a speech act or its verbalization are effects caused by thoughts and feelings, which are rational objects and events. All natural events and qualities are caused by rational events and qualities. Husserl did not fully realize this. There is no evidence that he was aware of the Writings of Swedenborg.

Another important notion developed by Husserl is intersubjectivity. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia entry:

"7. Empathy, intersubjectivity and lifeworld
One of the main themes of transcendental phenomenology is intersubjectivity. (...) (A particularly important critique of Husserl's view on intersubjectivity from a sociological viewpoint is found in Schütz 1966.)  According to Husserl, intersubjective experience plays a fundamental role in our constitution of both ourselves as objectively existing subjects, other experiencing subjects, and the objective spatio-temporal world. Transcendental phenomenology attempts to reconstruct the rational structures underlying — and making possible — these constitutive achievements.

From a first-person point of view, intersubjectivity comes in when we undergo acts of empathy. Intersubjective experience is empathic experience; it occurs in the course of our conscious attribution of intentional acts to other subjects, in the course of which we put ourselves into the other one's shoes. In order to study this kind of experience from the phenomenological attitude, we must bracket our belief in the existence of the respective target of our act-ascription qua experiencing subject and ask ourselves which of our further beliefs justify that existence-belief as well as our act-ascription. It is these further beliefs that make up the rational structure underlying our intersubjective experience. Since it takes phenomenological investigation to lay bare these beliefs, they must be first and foremost unconscious when we experience the world in the natural attitude."

We can communicate with each other because we share the same subjective feeling states. I can know what you are feeling now because I can reconstruct how I feel when I am in your situation. And because of this, I can say something about it that you can recognize as applicable to your experience. Talking with each other is nothing but the alternating operation of each of us taking turns to index for the other, the experiences we are having in real time. Note that Husserl realized that there is a "rational structure underlying our intersubjective experience." This rational structure is unconscious, but can be uncovered by "phenomenological investigation." In 1957, several decades after Husserl's death in 1938, sociologist Harold Garfinkel published his book titled Studies in Ethnomethodology. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall) which started a new field in sociology that came to be called ethnomethodology. Garfinkel was influenced by Schutz who was influenced by Husserl.

The purpose of ethnomethodology is to uncover and make explicit the "rational structure underlying our intersubjective experience," just as the the purpose of modern linguistics is to make explicit the rational or syntactic structure (grammar) that generates our sentences and speech acts. People cannot ordinarily explain how they put a sentence together, and if they try, their explanations are not sufficient or accurate. Yet the sentences they produce are grammatical and follow the syntactic rules of the language. Similarly, ethnomethodologists are trying to uncover the rules of the ordinary that dictate the pattern of our social activities. When we are walking in a shopping mall for instance, we must accomplish the act of walking without bumping into other people. Every pedestrian has a purpose and a destination, our paths crisscross each other, and yet we manage to accomplish the task of getting there without colliding with objects and one another. This practical accomplishment is achieved through each of us following the social rules of walking that are specific to each locality or condition. It is the same with how we manage to accomplish a day at work, where we do ordinary things following the rules of what it is to be ordinary in that social situation. The setting dictates the social practices, and the individuals enact them by intentional acts that conform to the setting rules.

An important feature of ethnomethodology that is based on Husserl's idea of intersubjectivity is that it is the doing of something that constitutes what it is. This constitutive feature of human action gives rise to the approach of constructionism, which in turn is related to interpretive discourse, as discussed above. (An example of constructionism in discourse analysis is the article by Diane Nahl mentioned earlier www.itl.nist.gov/iaui/vvrg/hicss39/HICSS-2006-Nahl1.doc  This feature of Husserl's approach may be seen from this passage in the Stanford Encyclopedia article:

"Roughly, his argument goes as follows. In order for me to be able to put myself into someone else's shoes and simulate his (or her) perspective upon his surrounding spatio-temporal world, I cannot but assume that this world coincides with my own, at least to a large extent; although the aspects under which the other subject represents the world must be different, as they depend on his own egocentric viewpoint. Hence, I must presuppose that the spatio-temporal objects forming my own world exist independently of my subjective perspective and the particular experiences I perform; they must, in other words, be conceived of as part of an objective reality. This result fits in well with — in fact, it serves to explain — Husserl's view, already stressed in Ideas, that perceptual objects are “transcendent” in that at any given moment they display an inexhaustive number of unperceived (and largely even unexpected) features, only some of which will become manifest — will be intuitively presented — in the further course of observation.

However, according to Husserl this does not mean that the objective world thus constituted in intersubjective experience is to be regarded as completely independent of the aspects under which we represent the world. For on his view another condition for the possibility of intersubjective experience is precisely the assumption that by and large the other subject structures the world into objects in the same style I myself do. It is for this reason that Husserl can be said to adhere to a version of both “realism” and “idealism” at the same time."

As mentioned before, Alfred Schutz was an important intermediary who modified Husserl's idea of intersubjectivity. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at plato.stanford.edu/entries/schutz/

"Alfred Schutz, (1899-1959) more than any other phenomenologist, attempted to relate the thought of Edmund Husserl to the social world and the social sciences. His Phenomenology of the Social World supplied philosophical foundations for Max Weber's sociology and for economics, with which he was familiar through contacts with colleagues of the Austrian school. When Schutz fled Hitler's Anschluss of Austria and immigrated to the United States in 1939, he developed his thought further in relationship to the social sciences, American pragmatism, logical empiricism, and to various other fields of endeavor such as music and literature. His work has been influential on new movements in sociological thought such as ethnomethodology and conversation analysis."

What people do with each other socially is the point of doing them. It is in the doing that intersubjective meaning arises. The social world of our daily reality consists of such constitutive acts of interaction, coordinated by the joint actors to produce an outcome, which is the doing of ordinary things that make up a day in the lives of people.

"In addition to this account of consciousness, motivation, and action, he examined the structure of the social world, including Consociates who share the same time and spatial access to each other's bodies, Contemporaries with whom one shares only the same time, and Predecessors and Successors with whom one does not share the same time and to whose lived bodies one lacks access. Consociates, present to each other physically, partake of each other's inner time, that is, the on-rolling life of the other, grasp the building up of the other's experience, and live in a We-relationship that entails “growing older together.” While Consociates revise their types of each other immediately, one must proceed more inferentially with Contemporaries, Predecessors, and Successors, constructing ideal types based on letters or reports and running greater risks of misunderstanding, depending on the degree of anonymity of the person to be understood. One could say, then, that Weber's method of ideal type construction, illustrated in his sociological account of the Protestant at the origins of capitalism, is not really that foreign to the everyday life-world in which actors beyond the Consociate level continually relate to each other via such type construction. Human actors in everyday life already adopt toward each other the attitudes of social scientists.

Schutz conceived his work as developing a “phenomenological psychology” of “inner experience” and focusing on the invariant features of the life-world toward which theoreticians, including social scientists, turn reflectively. Although Jürgen Habermas criticizes Schutz's account of the life-world for being “abridged in a culturalistic fashion” and not addressing institutional orders and personality structures (Habermas 1987, 2:126-132), it would seem that Schutz himself delimits his own work in just this fashion. According to him, social scientists develop constructs, ideal types, of the meaning-contexts of life-world actors, and they test these types to determine if they are causally adequate, that is conforming to past experience, and meaning adequate, that is, consistent with whatever else is known about the actor."

An important focus for Schutz was the attempt to reconstruct how we make decisions in our moment to moment transactions with others in our daily routines. A classic issue about introspection has been the philosophical difficulty of explaining how we can observe what is above the level of our thinking, thus the level of rational syntax that allows us to maintain coherent and logical thought sequences about real objects in time and space. Consider this description from the Stanford Encyclopedia entry. The first paragraph shows once more Schutz's dualism and his consequent opposition to positivism, which wants to "reduce experience to what the method of natural scientific observation found tolerable," such as the idea that sensing, feeling, and thinking are nothing more than the physical measurable brain neurons:

"Schutz's manuscripts on Bergson, produced from 1925 to 1927 and finally published in English in 1982, illuminate his subsequent works, with which they share the general purpose of “the grounding of the social sciences in the Thou experience.” (Schutz 1982, 34) In reaction to positivistic approaches of the Schlick Circle (in which Felix Kaufmann participated) that reduced experience to what the method of natural scientific observation found tolerable, Schutz sought to give an account of the life-form of pre-scientific experience preceding conceptual-categorical comprehension, the “highest and most powerful life-form.” (Schutz 1982, 53)

Of course, by moving in this direction, he encountered the problem, faced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Wilfrid Sellars, John McDowell, Robert Brandom, and others, namely, how it is possible to access the pre-conceptual without conceptualizing it. Hence, he acknowledged that his work is “in conflict with its material” since it “is forced to resort to conceptual formulations.” (Schutz 1982, 70)

This problem parallels the problem of reaching the life-form of the present unfolding of experience (duration) since one can only speak of it by arresting its flow, distinguishing its moments, and thus remembering what has lapsed -- but then one is in the new life-form of memory.

Although this gap between present duration and memory prompted his turn to Husserlian phenomenology, the problematic itself highlighted for him the pervasiveness and hiddenness of interpretive activity as one moves between interpretive frameworks -- a principal theme of all his later work. He took notice of this theme when he frequently pointed out how one's reconstitution of a past experience in memory varied according to the interests of the present from which one remembered the past."

This problem is known in the history of psychology in the work of Franz Brentano (1838-1917) who is credited for introducing the notion of intentionality into contemporary philosophy. See the Stanford Encyclopedia entry on him at plato.stanford.edu/entries/brentano/  He is "often considered a forerunner of both the phenomenological movement and the tradition of analytic philosophy" and he "exerted a strong influence on the work of Edmund Husserl" among others. Brentano argued that philosophy and psychology can be empirical sciences only if mental phenomena are observed directly as data. This means introspection, reflection, self-witnessing. Being a witness to one's mental operations is the only direct access that psychology has to its phenomena. According to the entry:

"All mental phenomena have in common, Brentano argues, “that they are only perceived in inner consciousness, while in the case of physical phenomena only external perception is possible” (Psychology, 91). According to Brentano, the former of these two forms of perception provides an unmistakable evidence for what is true. Since the German word for perception (Wahrnehmung ) means literally translated “taking-true,” Brentano says that it is the only kind of perception in a strict sense. He points out that inner perception must not be mixed up with inner observation, i.e., it must not be conceived as a full-fledged act that accompanies another mental act towards which it is directed. It is rather interwoven with the latter: in addition to being primarily directed towards an object, each act is incidentally directed towards itself as a secondary object.

As a consequence, Brentano denies the idea that there could be unconscious mental acts: since every mental act is incidentally directed towards itself as a secondary object, we are automatically aware of every occurring mental act. He admits, however, that we can have mental acts of various degrees of intensity. In addition, he holds that the degree of intensity with which the object is presented is equal to the degree of intensity in which the secondary object, i.e., the act itself, is presented. Consequently, if we have a mental act of a very low intensity, also our secondary consciousness of this act will have a very low intensity. From this Brentano concludes that sometimes we are inclined to say that we had an unconscious mental phenomenon when actually we only had a conscious mental phenomenon of very low intensity."

Brentano's dualism is referred to here as follows:

"Brentano's goal, as we have seen above, was to deliver a further criterion to distinguish mental from physical phenomena, and not to develop a systematic account of intentionality. The passage clearly suggests, however, that the intentional object towards which we are directed is part of the psychological act. It is something mental rather than physical. Brentano, thus, seems to advocate a form of immanentism, according to which the intentional object is “in the head,” as it were."

In other words mental acts are not continuous with the physical world in time-space. When we have an intention, the act is not in this world, but it must somehow be communicated to the physical act of the body, or else we would not have voluntary movement. Brentano correctly theorized that "mental acts cannot have duration." There is no evidence that Brentano knew of the Writings of Swedenborg.

My own solution to the inherent paradox of self-witnessing one's own thinking is presented in this article, written prior to my acquaintance with the Writings of Swedenborg and theistic psychology: 

Leon James. (1974). Radicalist empiricism: The Universal Modes of Enactment in Human Experience . A Self-Witnessing Account of the Discovery of Sudden Memory and My Interpretation of Its Significance for the Human Race. Available at:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499ss99/man/enactment.html

See also: The Hexagram of Sudden Memory at www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/updates/lee/section8.1.2.html

1.6.9.4  Dualism in Descartes and Swedenborg  

This discussion is based on Dr. Ian Thompson's article at:
        www.newdualism.org/papers/I.Thompson/dualism-descartes-swedenborg.htm

First, quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture regarding Descartes:

ISB 19. To these things I will add this Relation.

After these things were written, I prayed to the Lord that I might be permitted to converse with disciples of Aristotle, and at the same time with disciples of Descartes, and with disciples of Leibnitz, in order that I might draw forth the opinions of their minds concerning the interaction between the soul and the body.

After my prayer, there were present nine men, three Aristotelians, three Cartesians, and three Leibnitzians; and they stood around me, the admirers of Aristotle on the left side, the followers of Descartes on the right, and the supporters of Leibnitz behind. Quite a distance away, and at intervals from each other, were seen three persons as it were crowned with laurel, and I knew from an inflowing perception that they were those three great leaders or teachers themselves. Behind Leibnitz stood one holding in his hand the skirt of his garment, and I was told that it was Wolff**. Those nine men, when they beheld one another, at first saluted and spoke to one another in a courteous tone.

[2] But presently there arose from below a spirit with a torch in his right hand, which he shook before their faces, whereupon they became enemies, three against three, and looked at one another with a fierce countenance; for they were seized with the lust of disputing and discussing.

Then the Aristotelians, who were also scholastics, began to speak, saying, Who does not see that objects flow in through the senses into the soul, as one enters through the doors into a chamber, and that the soul thinks according to such influx? When a lover sees a beautiful virgin or his bride, does not his eye sparkle and carry the love of her into the soul? When a miser sees bags of money, does he not burn for them with every sense, and thence convey this order into the soul, and excite the cupidity of possessing them? When a proud man hears his praises from another, does he not prick up his ears, and do not these transmit those praises to the soul? Are not the senses of the body like outer courts, through which alone there is entrance to the soul? From these things and innumerable others like them, who can conclude otherwise than that influx is from nature, or is physical?

[3] To these statements the followers of Descartes, who had held their fingers on their foreheads, and now withdrew them, replied, saying, Alas, you speak from appearances. Do you not know that the eye does not love a virgin or a bride from itself, but from the soul? Likewise that the senses of the body do not covet the bags of money from themselves, but from the soul? and similarly that the ears do not seize on the praises of flatterers in any other manner? Is it not perception that causes sensation? and perception is of the soul, and not of the organs. Tell, if you can, what else makes the tongue and lips to speak but the thought? and what else makes the hands to work but the will? and thought and will are of the soul, and not of the body. Thus what makes the eye to see, and the ears to hear, and the other organs to feel, but the soul? From these things, and innumerable others like them, everyone whose wisdom is above the sensual things of the body, concludes, that there is no influx of the body into the soul, but of the soul into the body, which we call occasional, and also spiritual influx.

[4] When these had been heard, the three men who stood behind the former triads, who were the supporters of Leibnitz, lifted up their voices, saying, We have heard the arguments on both sides, and have compared them, and we have perceived that in many particulars the latter are stronger than the former, and that in many others the former are stronger than the latter; wherefore if it is permitted, we will settle the dispute. And on being asked how, they said, There is not any influx of the soul into the body, nor of the body into the soul, but there is a unanimous and instantaneous operation of both together, which a celebrated author has distinguished by a beautiful name, calling it preestablished harmony.

[5] Hereupon there appeared again the spirit with the torch in his hand, but now in his left, and he shook it at the back of their heads, whence their ideas of everything became confused and they cried out together, Neither our soul nor body knows what part to take, wherefore let us decide this dispute by lot, and we will favor the lot which comes out first. And they took three pieces of paper, and wrote on one of them, physical influx, on another spiritual influx, and on the third, preestablished harmony; and they put these three pieces into a hat. Then they chose one of their number to draw, and he, putting in his hand, took hold of that on which was written spiritual influx; and when this was seen and read, they all said, yet some with a clear and flowing, some with a faint and smothered voice, Let us favor this because it came out first.

[6] But then an angel suddenly stood by, and said, Do not believe that the paper in favor of spiritual influx came out by chance, but from providence; for you do not see its truth because you are in confused ideas, but the truth itself presented itself to the hand of him that drew the lots, that you might favor it. (** Christian Wolff (1679-1754), a follower of Leibnitz.)  (ISB 19) (see also TCR 696)

This historical encounter between Swedenborg and the three famous philosophers that preceded him, is most interesting and unusual. No previous scholar to Swedenborg was able to obtain directly from the original authors, what they were actually thinking about dualism and influx. Here we see the positions of Aristotle, Descartes, and Leibniz contrasted and compared in their essentials. There is no physical influx from the sensory organs and brain into the mental organs of the mind, as Aristotle believes. Neither is there is a preestablished harmony between the physical sensory organs or brain and the mental organs of the mind, as Leibniz believes. Descartes is correct in stating that there is spiritual influx from the mind into the body, as for instance, when he says that perception in the mind must precede sensation in the physical organs. Without a prior mental intention or preparedness in perceiving the physical object, there would be no physical ensation in the body.

However, the notion that Descartes had of the soul is not accurate:

INV 13. That at the present day nothing is known concerning the union of soul and body, is proved by the hypotheses of the learned concerning the soul; especially by that of Descartes and others, [who maintain] that the soul is a substance separated from the body, in some place or other;