2.1.  What’s the difference between religion and theistic psychology?

The difference is that between mystical and scientific. Mystical systems depend on blind faith or credulity and as a result, there are a variety of mystical systems, or religions, and each believes to have the real truth while thinking that the others do not. This is why religion depends on declared membership, on affirmations of a common creed, and dependence on the willingness to believe something that cannot be explained in a scientific manner. As a result, when we examine religions in a rational or scientific way, we cannot arrive at a conclusion since the creed or faith resists breakdown and rational analysis.

On the other hand theistic psychology is not a religion but a science. Theistic psychology contrasts with non-theistic psychology which automatically excludes God as an explanatory concept. Theistic psychology automatically includes God as a concept in all explanations about human behavior and dynamics. While religion depends on creed and faith, theistic psychology depends on rational and scientific explanations of the laws and mechanisms by which God causes every event and behavior to occur. Therefore theistic psychology advances by cumulative research and critical analysis of all models, theories, and data.

The idea and knowledge of God in theistic psychology is not based on direct experience. If this were the case, it would cease to be a science because one individual's experience of God is not the same as another's, and neither has access to the other. Sensuous consciousness of God is rightly categorized as mystical. Theistic psychology is based on rational consciousness of God. This means that no one can make up what God is or is not, or what God wants or does not want, or how God manages the created universe, or what our fate is in the afterlife. No one can know these things. They can invent them, but those are mere hypothetical and imaginative portrayals. I for one was never attracted to anyone's idea of God or experience of God because I had no way of verifying their notions. Unless I could understand God from my rational perspective as a trained and practicing scientist, I was unable to get involved, or be interested for very long, in other people's theories and systems.

Rational consciousness of God is based, not on human imagination and intelligence, but on Divine revelation of Himself by God.

This is clearly the only possibility. God created human beings with a mind that can comprehend God's Truth. Truth is rational, hence God's basic character or nature is a Being who is rational. All the laws of nature we have discovered are rational, and the whole fits together rationally. Therefore, to know God rationally is the only way to know God in truth. God is a rational Being. Obviously, God created human beings to possess a rational mind that is capable of knowing and understanding God. From this knowledge we are able to love God if we so choose. This is what God wants, that we love Him more than anything else He has created. Why?

Because by loving God He is able to give us what we were created for, but not otherwise. The purpose God had in creating human beings is that they be born on some physical earth, develop a rational mind, and at death, be resuscitated into an eternal world of conjugial happiness called heaven. This is a noble and loving purpose and we can appreciate it by feeling gratitude. So it makes rational sense to say that the rational mind God creates in us needs to be given information about God so that we can know God and love Him more than anything else we know. This information comes to us through Divine Speech or Sacred Scripture dictated by God. This is the same as Divine Truth which gives us the facts about God and true reality, rationally understood. Divine Speech must be the source of all information for theistic psychology.

Clearly, if information about reality, God, and the universe is made up as someone's theory, we will never know the real reality, the real truth, which only God the Creator possesses. Obviously, the human mind is created to receive communication from God as Divine Speech. If this were not the case science would never know about true reality. It doesn't make sense to separate reality into two parts, one that we can test and another we can only speculate about. Reality is integrated and cannot be separated. If you separate reality into non-overlapping components you can never understand reality rationally, which it is. God is rational and runs the universe rationally as shown by the rationality of laws we can discover about the physical universe and the rationality of God's revelations.

Theistic psychology is therefore based exclusively on Divine scientific revelations. Nothing is added to it that is from another source.

Theistic psychology was created by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) who was given the unique ability in modern history to be conscious simultaneously in this world and in the spiritual world. This special ability, which he had between the ages of 57 and 84, was given to him by God who elevated his rational consciousness all the way to the highest level of thinking possible called the "third heaven" in the human mind. He was thus given the unique task of authoring the third component of Sacred Scripture which took several thousand years of human evolution to deliver to our conscious mind (see Preface). Today the Western tradition has received the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Writings of Swedenborg. These three components of Sacred Scripture have been given to humankind in order to allow us to have a rational consciousness of God. Theistic psychology is based exclusively on these three collections of revelations, also known as the "Threefold Word."

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.

This is why God revealed to us precisely what methods of extraction must be followed.

Sacred Scripture must therefore be viewed in both its literal historical meaning and its correspondential or universal meaning. This is the meaning we extract or recover when we apply the method of correspondences as specified in the Writings. When viewed in its literal meaning, Sacred Scripture discusses religion and history. But when viewed in its universal meaning derived from the science of correspondences, Sacred Scripture is science. Both positions--religious and scientific-- are legitimate and do not contradict each other. Literally, the Writings appear to be written for the New Christian Church prophesied in the Book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament of the Bible. The Writings are therefore a continuation of that revelation but at a more rational level of presentation as suitable to the modern scientific mind.

Religion is always bound up with culture and history, while theistic psychology is universal, of relevance to all religions and cultures and times. Different religions have different and contradictory explanations for the same phenomenon, while there is only one theistic psychology. Within theistic psychology there cannot be any disagreement or contradictory scientific theories since its knowledge base consists solely and exclusively of the scientific revelations given in the Writings of Swedenborg--a one time event in history that cannot repeat itself. The reasons why there cannot be new additional revelations in the future are fully explained and established in the Writings. Therefore the giving of these scientific revelations mark the beginning of a new evolutionary path for the human race.

This new state of development is made possible because of these Divine rational revelations. A biological analogy might be this: when a new breed of dogs or species of flowers is engineered, the new breed is permanently altered and is different from all previous breeds. Similarly, the new comprehensive scientific revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg create a new elevated state for the human mind since the revelations give us knowledge of causes of the events in this world. Our consciousness and awareness are therefore permanently altered allowing for new lives, new lifestyles, new societies, and also, new heavens and hells in the continuation of our lives after the death of the physical body. This is most important since our life in the spiritual body is eternal and immeasurably longer than our relatively short life in the physical body.

Theistic psychology is possible only when one can read the Writings of Swedenborg and understand them rationally. That rational understanding gives readers the perspective that it is a true account of what Swedenborg saw and heard. Readers who doubt the validity of Swedenborg's reports and analyses give themselves no other choice but to reject them as delusional or made up. As scientists we cannot accept the observational reports of another scientist unless we can fit them into a rational and coherent structure that is not contradicted by what we ourselves can observe.

As a scientist I have read the Writings of Swedenborg thoroughly more than once, and I was able to understand them rationally. There were no contradictions with anything that I already knew. Neither were there any internal inconsistencies in the Writings even though they cover many topics in some 30 volumes in English. I've also read the opinions of hundreds of commentators and experts on Swedenborg and his life (1688-1772). Not one of them was able to find a single inconsistency or omission. They all acknowledge the rationality and consistency of Swedenborg's explanations. But those readers who merely read some of the Writings and could not understand them, rejected them as the delusions and fantasies of an unusual genius.

Theistic psychology is a science and therefore cannot depend on belief, faith, or personal preference. As we study theistic psychology it's important to proceed by what is rational and makes sense at every step so that nothing is based on mere acceptance by persuasion, authority or fancy. When an apparent contradiction arises in the mind, it's useful to trace the contradiction to our existing beliefs and assumptions. It's necessary to stick with the issue in the mind until we are able to see that Swedenborg's explanation is rational and consistent while our own former beliefs are fragmentary, of unproven validity and doubtful rationality. In this way we are able to continue building up in our mind the concepts of theistic psychology. At every point we must examine each issue rationally, consistently, and without rejecting what is not yet fully understood. This will allow the orderly and cumulative growth in our knowledge and understanding of human behavior, along with their enormous benefits to society and the individual, both in this world, and in our immortal life in the spiritual world.

If you examine the doctrines and dogmas of religions today you will see that the level of thinking is not fully rational and not scientific. This doesn't prove that religions are wrong about their beliefs, especially since they are based on revelations. But the level of explanation and rationality is not scientific. For instance, "creationism" is not a scientific theory but a religious interpretation of the literal meaning of the first few Chapters of the Bible. In the Writings of Swedenborg, the ancient Science of Correspondences is once more revealed to humankind. When you apply this code to the literal sentences of the Bible you can see that the Bible was written at two levels--literal and correspondential. Religions are based on the literal of Sacred Scripture while theistic psychology is based on the correspondential meaning of revelations (see below the answer to Question 12).

Note carefully: The symbolic meaning of revelation is decoded by applying the code that has been revealed. If this revealed code is not used, but some other one invented or preferred by someone, the result is not science but pure conjecture and imagination of the author, as you can know by reading dozens of books people have written on "Bible exegesis" or Bible codes. The only way science can be maintained is by using the science of correspondences revealed in the Writings. This makes the decoding process fully rational and empirical. It's essential to understand that this unique code called "correspondences" is not something Swedenborg invented. It is called "science" of correspondences because each correspondence or symbolic representation, is a universal scientific law that governs the interaction between cause and effect in the universe. This is fully explained and demonstrated by Swedenborg. For 27years he was able to be conscious simultaneously in the natural world through his physical body, and in the spiritual world through his spiritual body. I can only imagine what that must have felt like! But he kept a daily Journal and wrote all his observations down. He was thus able to provide empirical evidence for the laws of correspondences through which all Divine revelation is written. I have examined all of the Writings and there is no doubt in my mind that anyone who has scientific literacy can read the Writings and confirm that they are rational, scientific, universal, empirical, objective, and applied.

Theistic psychology encompasses religion that is based on the literal sense of revelation. While religion defines God in personal and historical terms, theistic psychology provides a rational account of the mechanisms or rational procedures that God uses to manage every cause and effect. Theistic psychology therefore has a scientific explanation for the terms and concepts used in religion, e.g., omnipotence, Divine Providence, sin, salvation, heaven, hell, angel, devil, regeneration or rebirth, prayer, sacraments, and so on. Every religious practice and idea is given a scientific explanation in theistic psychology. This is possible because these scientific revelations were embedded or hidden in the literal sense of revelation. There they lay for many centuries unsuspected by all those who studied and wrote about revelation and the Bible. But now that the science of correspondences has been revealed, we have available to us a vast source of new facts about God and how the universe is managed. Sin is real but what makes it real and how does it injure us? Heaven and hell are real but they exist as states of our mind. Miracles are real but they are no different from ordinary every day phenomena in terms of how God makes events happen. No event can occur except that God makes it happen in that particular way. This is the rational consequence of the concept of "omnipotence" and "infinity" as applied to God.

But to believe that God is omnipotent is religion. To show rationally and in empirical detail how God exercises this omnipotence, is theistic psychology. This is fully accomplished in the Writings of Swedenborg and it is understandable and confirmable by anyone who has the motivation to make the effort.

Consider this amazing fact in relation to proving the premises of theistic psychology:

The Bible was authored by dozens of "prophets" who claimed to receive Divine revelation which they wrote down. These authors were completely independent of each other, separated by many centuries. What they wrote down was some history, some visions of the spiritual world, and some quotes from God who was speaking to the them as messengers to go to the people and report God's words. They did so. Now two thousand years later along comes another prophet or Divine revelator whose name is Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). From his revelation, this author now reports that all the previous authors of the Bible over the centuries were inspired to write down history and visions, not knowing that in every sentence and every word there was hidden through a secret code, another meaning which was universal or spiritual. This hidden meaning was actually a scientific revelation about the anatomy of the human mind and its relationship to heaven and hell; also, about how God runs the universe through rational laws; and also many other scientific revelations about the structure of the universe, about cause and effect relations, about communication between the inhabitants of earth and the spiritual world, about plants, animals, history, and many more things.

On the one hand, if Swedenborg merely invented these scientific revelations and claimed to see them in the ancient language of the Bible, there world be no scientific or rational reason to believe him. He may simply have been a great genius who believed that  these scientific explanations and facts came from his reading the Bible. But why should we necessarily believe him? There is no compelling reason just on account of his own beliefs.

On the other hand, the situation is completely different if Swedenborg can show and prove how these independently written Bible chapters do contain the same code. Furthermore, he needs to prove that this code is related to reality by empirical and experimental observations and facts. Finally, the code must make rational sense so that anyone can use the code to explore, analyze, and extract the scientific revelations that are contained in Sacred Scripture. And all this must be done by independent researchers or scientists who must then agree on the results.

This is exactly what Swedenborg has accomplished, according to my own analyses over several years, and as well, the independent analysis of hundreds of other scholars and scientists. Therefore we can say rationally that the premises of theistic psychology are provable.

The most obvious difference between religion and theistic science is the explanatory level of phenomena or events. In religion God is personal, historical, and cultural or ethnic. God rules the world like a King with super powers. He speaks, and things happen. He commands and physical things obey. He gets angry when disobeyed but He also forgives and loves with mercy and grace. If you beg Him through prayer, He relents and does what He is asked. He has His favorites in people. He can be placated by sacrifices. He sometimes changes His mind. In short, for religion, God is a super-Man with human emotions and sometimes acts inconsistently with His prior decisions for the sake of some person or people. In all this there is very little science that can be obtained. All of it is based on the literal sense of history and visions of "chosen" prophets. Let us accept that the religious and historical things said in Sacred Scripture are completely true, since it is Divine Speech.

At the same time, let us realize that there is a universal meaning beneath the literal meaning, since this is a characteristic of all Divine Speech. It's not until the 18th century that God saw fit to reveal how to extract this universal meaning from the literal of Sacred Scripture. This new revelation had to be done by some person or through that person's rational mind. God's Divine Speech to humankind goes through many layers of understanding and meaning (see Section xx). When the rational mind finally came into existence in18th century Western science, the new revelation was given through the mind of a man in Sweden who had been prepared for this universal mission since his early childhood.

Using the now revealed code of correspondences we are able for the first time to know what spiritual or universal content is hidden within the literal sentences of Divine Speech. This inner sense can be extracted rationally, logically, and systematically by applying the method of correspondences. What is thus obtained is a vast collection of new scientific revelations that were hidden in the literal sentences of the Bible, and those of the Writings. Through this new spiritual knowledge we can piece together a more advanced scientific explanation of how God operates. We discover that God does not operate by merely speaking commandments to physical objects, who then obey, for this is not a scientific explanation of how it happens. It turns out that God operates every physical event by means of natural-spiritual laws of interaction called the laws of correspondences. There is a chain of logical cause-effect events that proceed from God through various stages of externalization or transformation, until the bottom of the chain is reached with physical events.

This is no different than what we are used to in managing our every day affairs. How does the Congress rule the country? First there is debate and passage of a law. Then there is monitoring and enforcement through various levels including inspectors, judges, lawyers, police, etc. It's a complicated chain of events that is rational and scientifically describable, understandable, and controllable. Similarly, how are cars possible in our society? It's through a complex chain of events that includes mining and transporting iron and aluminum to smelters, shaping the metal, adding other materials made of rubber, glass, etc., assembling together, selling the cars, maintaining them, and driving them. If you ask a child or illiterate person how we have cars, the answer would be unscientific and unworkable in reality. We have a similar distinction between the idea of God in religion, which does not go into rational and logical mechanisms, and the idea of God in theistic psychology, which shows the logical intervening steps of how events take place from God's Will downward to the created world.

These cause-effect intermediate steps are completely unknown and undiscoverable by science, which is why God needs to make scientific revelations, bringing the knowledge and the facts to us. Once the facts are known from revelation, they can be explored, confirmed, extended, and applied just like we do with other scientific facts and explanations.

Once again note that the scientific revelations are not opposed to the religious perspective. In fact, the scientific approach confirms the religious one, and goes further in explicating the reality of God.

2.2  What about evil, sin, hell, devil, and heaven in relation to theistic psychology?

Look at the Chart or model of theistic psychology (above). At level 2, mystical religion, heaven and hell are defined personally: "Those who are faithful to their religion are rewarded with a new life in a heavenly environment; others are punished with a life in hell." This level is not yet universal even though it is more rational than materialistic science (level 1) which prohibits the scientific use of heaven and hell in explanations about human behavior. Since, according to theistic psychology,  there is a heaven and a hell, to deny its existence or refuse to include it, is not rational. But there needs to be a level 3 thinking in order to properly make use of heaven and hell as universal scientific concepts for explaining all human behavior, regardless of times, religion and culture.

Level 3 thinking about heaven and hell, as formulated in the Writings of Swedenborg, raises the rationality of these concepts to a universal pan-human, and timeless level. "Those who modify their character to become altruistic and rational continue life to eternity in heaven; others in hell." (see Chart above) The Writings present a precise description of the anatomy of the human mind as a spiritual-biological organ located in the spiritual body which Swedenborg studied and observed daily for 27 years. These details indicate that the human mind has two major levels, each level having its particular organs of the affective and cognitive operation.

The lower level is the natural mind with two sub-levels: the corporeal-sensory mind (receiving input from physical sensations reaching the brain), and above this, the natural-rational mind (receiving input from the corporeal-sensory mind, and deriving abstract ideas from it). The natural mind is also called the "external" mind.

The higher level called the spiritual mind, also has two sub-levels of physiological operation: the rational-spiritual mind and the rational-celestial mind. The spiritual mind does not receive input from the natural world, as in the case of the lower external mind.  The higher spiritual mind operates with input from the spiritual world only. It cannot receive input from the natural world. The operations of the spiritual or "interior" mind are unconscious while we are connected to a physical body. Upon death of the physical body, we are cut off from input from the natural world. At that point we "awaken" and become conscious in the spiritual mind (see "resuscitation" in Chapter 1). Once fully resuscitated (about 30 hours after death), we are able to observe the environment in the spiritual world, which we could not do before. At that point we begin to observe and confirm what Swedenborg was able to see and hear for 27 years prior to his death in 1772.

Upon "death" the spiritual mind continues its operation and serves for our immortal life in the spiritual world. You can see that the quality of the spiritual mind that we each bring "with us" determines the quality of our life in the spiritual world.  The spiritual mind is the containant of our inner character--what we love more than anything--the hierarchy of our motives and satisfactions. The quality of the human mind is defined by the level of its affective and cognitive functioning. The quality of the "external" natural mind is determined by the quality of our experiences and knowledge, built up over years of development and growth. The affective organ operates our feelings and motives, while the cognitive organs operates our thinking and reasoning. According to theistic psychology, there is a built-in  hierarchy of functioning in the human mind so that our thinking and feeling can be rational and altruistic, or by deliberate inversion,  irrational and selfish.

Irrational and selfish thinking and feeling in the external conscious natural mind prevents the interior spiritual mind from developing within the conscious natural mind. On the other hand, rational and altruistic thinking and feeling in the external conscious natural mind allows for the full development of the interior spiritual-natural mind. When we "awaken" to our immortal life in the spiritual body, it is the quality of this spiritual interior mind that determines our fate forever. In level 2 religious thinking, hell is a place of punishment for "sins" while heaven is a place of reward for faith and charity. But at level 3 thinking, theistic psychology gives a rational, medical, and scientific definition for sin and hell. Sin refers to the conscious lifestyle we choose when we acquire habits of thinking and feeling that are selfish and irrational. Sin is therefore a personality habit evaluated in terms of the anatomy of the human mind and its built-in structure and operation.

Swedenborg interviewed many individuals in the world of spirits whose permanent residence was called "the hells." They are called "devils," "satans," and "genii," depending on the specific forms of their evil lifestyle. Reading these interviews, one can recognize their habits of thinking and motivation, which tend toward extreme forms of irrationality, egocentrism, and delusion.  By contrasting novice arrivals with those who had been there for a long time, Swedenborg was able to show that the longer you live in the spiritual world, the more advanced becomes the form of your character. If the interior spiritual mind with which you arrive contains rational and altruistic habits of operation, then you continue to grow in that direction. Swedenborg interviewed inhabitants of "the heavens" who have been there a long time and found superior forms of intelligence and community with them. Likewise, Swedenborg found large individual differences among the inhabitants of the hells, so that these are actually arranged in layers of "degrees of evil." The inhabitants of the heavens are called "angels," and they are similarly arranged in layers of "degrees of good."

Given these anatomical descriptions of the human mind you can see that a major purpose of theistic psychology is to help individuals develop rational and altruistic habits of character. Nothing in this life on earth can be more important since how we train ourselves during a few decades here on earth, determines how happy or miserable we will be forever in our immortality. Note that heaven and hell refer to mental states or operations. The human mind is an organ built from immortal substances of the Spiritual Sun just like the brain is built from temporary matter from the physical  suns or stars in our galaxy.  

When we operate at the lowest level in our mind, our conscious awareness is flooded with "hell," that is, with feelings and thoughts that are irrational and selfish, like aggressiveness, rage, cruelty, prejudice, discrimination, injustice, unfairness, depression, envy, fear, anxiety, compulsion, destructiveness, disrespect for others, etc. Living or experiencing these negative mental operations is called "being in hell." Conversely, when we operate at the higher level in our mind, our conscious awareness is flooded with "heaven," that is, with feelings and thoughts tat are rational and altruistic, like compassion, cooperativeness, respect for others, obedience to moral norms, rational cumulative knowledge, inventiveness, industriousness, peacefulness, honesty, sincerity, etc.

Note that while we are still living attached to the natural world we are able to operate in both heaven and hell in our mind, though not at the same time. Everyone experiences moments of terror, depression, selfishness, or insane hatred and rage, just as everyone experiences moments of sincerity, self-sacrifice, and respect for others. You cannot be simultaneously in heaven and in hell, but you can alternate and take turns rising to the upper level of your mental functioning and dropping to the bottom. But this bimodal or ambivalent mental functioning radically changes when we are cut off from the physical body and begin functioning in the spiritual body in the world of spirits.  We are called "spirits" when we lose our physical body and awaken in our spiritual body. After a brief period of rapid change, we continue life permanently either as "devils" living in our lower states of mind ("the hells"), or as "angels" living in our higher states of mind ("the heavens").

It's extremely important to realize and understand that the spiritual physiology of the mind does not allow mixing of lower and upper states of thinking and feeling. Once we become "spirits" there is no possibility of mixing or alternating our mental operations from low to high, or high to low, as we do  while we are still conscious in the physical body. Swedenborg reports a number of experiments he conducted in which he was able to observe what happens when some "devils" living in their lower mind were experimentally introduced in the "heaven" of their mind. In other words, the entire range of their mental potential was artificially activated and made operational. Within a few moments these subjects reported that they can see the heavens and the angels there and they were able to feel what it's like to be an angel. Swedenborg observed them carefully and noted that they started feeling very upset and were soon filled with such terror and agony that they lost consciousness. They were then returned to their normal mental state of hell, upon which they immediately started feeling normal. These experiments clearly prove that it is not possible to switch from hell to heaven or vice versa, once we become spirits.

The explanation is that the mental physiology that is predominant becomes the only operation of life in the spiritual world. Swedenborg describes the hellish portion of the mind as containing masses of neurons and networks  that curl counterclockwise, the opposite of the neuronal pathways of our heavenly mind. Either one or the other must predominate and then eliminates or silences the function of the other.

2.3. Is theistic psychology really science?

 Theistic psychology is science because it meets all the requirements of science.

(a) It is based on cumulative research by independent scientists who can rationally evaluate each other’s work.

(b) It employs empirical methods for extracting knowledge from the scientific revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg (1688-1772). These include

• data on the spiritual world,

• observations of experiments in the spiritual world,

• interviews with large samples of individuals who are living in the afterlife,

• descriptions and models of the anatomy of the human mind which becomes visible in the spiritual world, historical details about pre-historic life on this planet,

• descriptions of life on other planets,

• the science of correspondences, and

• a rational model of God’s management techniques.

(c) Systematic application of revealed principles to the description of events and behavior. Theistic psychologists do not invent their own theories as in non-theistic psychology, which has ended up with a potpourri of contradictory explanations of portions of human behavior. All theories in theistic psychology must be drawn from these scientific revelations and must agree with them. Other psychologists must be able to corroborate the theories in two ways:

            (i) theoretical—any new theory must not contradict the rational structure that has already developed by lawful extraction from the scientific revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg . Instead, it must enrich it by explaining more than what has been explained so far about any topic in human behavior. Other psychologists must be able to comprehend and corroborate the new theory by confirming  it with the Writings of Swedenborg for consistency and acceptability.

            (ii) predictive—every theory or model must also be able to predict new data about human behavior and must explain related data that other psychologists may bring in.

Given these prerequisites of science, theistic psychology meets all of them.

Further, new knowledge about human behavior can come into existence when the scientific revelations are used as predictive models for empirical research. New applications can be discovered through the self-witnessing approach which consists of self-study, self-observation, self-monitoring in the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor areas of behavior (see Section xx). The mental states and their changes come about as a result of being influenced through the vertical community. Knowledge of the vertical community described in the Writings of Swedenborg allows theistic psychologists to trace the effects to particular mental states. This approach opens up new effective advances in therapy, education, and behavioral engineering.

Of course if one rejects the idea that the Writings of Swedenborg are Divine scientific revelations, there is then no basis for most of the assumptions and explanations in theistic psychology. This would be a negative bias associated with non-theistic science. But it is rational to take the positive bias and accept as a premise that these are Divine scientific revelations. Those who claim that the very idea of "Divine scientific revelations" is unscientific and irrational cannot prove this point because the idea of Divine scientific revelations is rational and scientific. Since either position is possible in science this course examines the consequences of adopting the positive bias in science.

Consider this: Many writers have come up with various ideas they claimed to be scientific, but they were not. How did people know that they were unscientific? Several instances are discussed in the history of psychology. For instance, people introduced phrenology as a science based on the theory that  "as the skull takes its shape from the brain, the surface of the skull can be read as an accurate index of psychological aptitudes and tendencies... For example, a prominent protuberance in the forehead at the position attributed to the organ of Benevolence was meant to indicate that the individual had a "well developed" organ of Benevolence and would therefore be expected to exhibit benevolent behavior" (quoted on the Web at pages.britishlibrary.net/phrenology/overview.htm ). Phrenology failed as a science because of two reasons. One is that it made factual claims that were proven wrong. The other was that it lacked internal consistency. This means that it was not a rationally integrated system, so that if one extended one explanation to its logical limit, it would clash with other explanations already given.

Another example of rejecting the scientific claim made by some people is the "science" of the paranormal. The Skeptics Society on the Web gives numerous examples, of which I shall quote just one:

clairvoyance or second sight
Clairvoyance is an alleged psychic ability to see things beyond the range of the power of vision. Clairvoyance is usually associated with precognition or retrocognition. The faculty of seeing into the future is called "second sight" if it is not induced by scrying, drugs, trance, or other artificial means.

People can predict the future. We do it all the time, but we usually, if not always, do it by taking into account our experience, knowledge and surroundings. Some predictions by psychics come true. So do some predictions by non-psychics. No doubt much of our anticipation of the future is unconscious and second nature, but it is based on quite natural and mundane abilities not on mysterious or supernatural powers. (The Skeptic's Dictionary at skepdic.com/clairvoy.html ).

In other words, the claim to science by the paranormal investigators failed because their explanations for the facts they observed did not make a coherent system and other already existing explanations were available to explain the observed facts.

In the case of theistic psychology these problems are not present. There are no better explanations for the facts Swedenborg reports. Those who deny that these facts are real have no explanation for them other than that Swedenborg was delusional or deceptive. This is the negative bias. In fact there have been many independent biographical investigations on his life and it was universally determined that Swedenborg was a reputable, honest, sincere, and moral person with strong religious convictions all his life. Swedenborg is recognized as a great genius from his literary works and scientific inventions. The explanations he offers for the facts in his reports are rational and scientific because that's who he was. And he is so successful that nothing can be found in his 30 volumes that is inconsistent with something else. Instead of contradictions we find richness of meaning so that we can investigate specific topics or concepts by comparing passages and cumulating what is said about that topic. Unexpected new understanding comes from such "extractive" research (see Section xx).

2.3.1  Psychology as Science

In terms of evaluating Swedenborg's explanations and principles, consider that many theories and concepts exist in psychology today that have never been proven to be valid or correct, and many that have been proven false or incorrect. It is not easy to prove that a scientific theory is correct or incorrect because a theory leads to multiple predictions and not all conditions can be controlled or accessed. Further, several contradictory theories can yet explain the same facts, though not all the facts. Hence the "science" of psychology is a diverse collection of theories and concepts that are not consistent with each other. It's common for psychologists to have disagreements about methodology so that some psychologists see themselves to have proven something, while their critics do not.

Consider further what is considered proof in scientific psychology today. For example, the history of psychology is replete with studies showing a significant positive correlation between intelligence and performance on many types of tasks. Some of the best correlations go up in the .80's. Now what kind of proof is this? A correlation of .80 means that (.80x.80x100)=64 percent of the variance in performance is due to intelligence. Clearly, intelligence influences performance but in one third of the process it does not. Is this therefore a scientific explanation? Yes, even though it's not provable. Science is so complex that it's not accurate to describe it as consisting only of that which is provable. I would venture to say that the majority of concepts used in the scientific journal literature today, is probably not provable.

Take another example. Experiments have been done that prove that people who have been abused as children, later become abusers themselves. Yet there is always a certain percent of people that do not fit the proof (people who have been abused as children but have never abused anyone).

Take another example. Clinical psychologists are strongly research oriented yet they justify certain practices even though there is no scientific proof for them. For instance, sex therapists advice some of their clients to improve their marital sex by fantasizing being with others while the married couple is having sex. The unproven theory is that fantasy is harmless because it's just in the mind. It's not like having an affair. In theistic psychology much is known about the mind that is not known to clinical psychologists. Fantasy is in fact more real than having an affair, so that both are destructive of married love, which is based on permanent exclusivity and totality (see Section xx).

Freud is consistently selected today among the greatest psychologists who have helped create the science of psychology. Yet Freud's theories were never proven to be correct. Mush research exists in the field of "psychodynamic psychology" yet no one has been able to prove that the unconscious exists, nor the ego, nor the superego, nor the sexuality of children, etc.

In the area of "educational psychology" mush research has been done on theories and methods of instruction, yet many of them are contradictory to each other, and none of them are effective enough to benefit many children. Clearly, theories of learning in instruction are not proven to be correct yet they form part of the science of psychology. Similarly with theories about parenting and about criminal behavior--research that is heavily supported by the federal granting agencies. None of these theories are proven to be correct and the research continues as theories come and go.

In fact there is little we can find in the science of psychology that gives proof of any theory or hypothesis. Instead, we have probabilities obtained with samples and we accept the 95 percent or 99 percent cut off point. In other words hardly any proof of any theory exists in the science of psychology. All that exists is probability, sampling, and conventional limits of acceptance. Clearly, the concept of God is kept out of the science of psychology today not because there is proof that it is an invalid concept or model, but because there is an agreement to keep it out, and all its related topics. This is the negative bias.

To argue that the science of psychology proceeds only by proof is therefore an oversimplified and inaccurate view. What does make psychology scientific?

To understand this issue we need to look at it historically. Looking at history from the Western perspective, psychology as a specialized knowledge goes back thousands of years to Aristotle and Plato, and some before that. In the 18th century, at the time Swedenborg was publishing the books of the Writings, psychology as an academic discipline was mixed with philosophy. It' not until the end of the 19th century that psychologists were given their own department and filed of science. It was necessary to make a quick and sharp break with philosophy so that psychology can become a science and join the rapidly growing sciences in all fields of society.

Psychologists formed themselves into a distinct profession at the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time there were just a few hundred psychologists. by the time I joined the American Psychological Association in 1959 it had 20,000 members. Today APA membership is around 100,000. You can see more details about APA growth in this article:  psychclassics.yorku.ca/Fernberger/1943

The science of psychology is a science today not because it works only with scientific proof of its theories, but because it follows rational methods of inquiry. Since psychology is defined as the study of human behavior, following rational methods of inquiry means that we have methodological procedures for collecting facts about human behavior. We are able to set up data collection procedures under certain stated conditions, and we then cumulate the results from independent researchers, forming rational and consistent explanations at both the level of the data collected and its integration with other data. This is what makes psychology a science.

Contrast psychology with the fields of philosophy or religion. Neither of these two academic disciplines claim to be a science because they do not have methodological procedures for collecting data that some theory predicts. Neither are they committed to the idea that all theories in philosophy or religion should fit together into one rational and integrated system.

2.3.2  Criteria for Theistic Psychology as Science

Theistic psychology is a proposal to allow God as a scientific concept as long as it meets scientific, rational, and logical criteria, as follows: It must

(1) be rational, coherent, internally consistent, comprehensive, understandable, capable of representation in models and diagrams

(2) not contradict common sense and scientific reasoning

(3) have a factual empirical basis of systematic observations and experiments

(4) be capable of supporting normal scientific cumulative research by a generational scientific community

Are there others that are not included here? Any scientist like myself can study the Writings of Swedenborg and critically evaluate them on the basis of these four essential criteria for what constitutes a scientific proposal. I have done so for a number of years and I have concluded that the Writings of Swedenborg conform fully to these four criteria.

Note this important observation: Many scientists feel free to reject the proposals of theistic psychology without having read the Writings of Swedenborg. Thus, they do not make a rational analysis, nor an informed conclusion. This is the negative bias. There are hundreds of professional scientists and philosophers who have made a thorough examination of the Writings of Swedenborg and have come to a similar conclusion that I have, namely, that they are valid and rational explanations of God, the mind, the spiritual world, the afterlife, natural-spiritual correspondences, revelation, and many more topics (refer to the Reading List).

Swedenborg's name has been excluded from the history of psychology because the field of psychology struggled to become accepted as a full fledged science in the 20th century, and to include Swedenborg's unique experience about another world, and his claim to have talked to Aristotle, the Virgin Mary, Newton and many others, would have threatened the ability of psychology to achieve the status of science in the eyes of materialistic scientists.  Excluding Swedenborg, regardless of his genius, appeared necessary for self-preservation. This is known to have actually happened in the case the famous philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), a contemporary of Swedenborg. According to the dictionary  he was a German philosopher who "developed critical philosophy determining the nature and limits of knowledge, categories of consciousness and their ethical and aesthetic consequences." Kant had heard of some strange powers possessed by Swedenborg and placed an order for one of his books with a publisher. The letter he wrote has been published in biographies of Kant and it shows that Kant asked the publisher not to tell anyone that he had ordered a Swedenborg book because he thought that to be associated with Swedenborg might hurt his chances of getting a professorship he was hoping for at the university. Kant's reputation as the founder of "critical philosophy" had to be maintained as rational and scientific, as defined by the materialistic course that science was setting for itself in the 19th century.

Psychology was trying to separate itself from philosophy. History of psychology literature and textbooks invariably trace the birth of scientific psychology to Wundt in 1879. This momentous event is founded on actually something very small -- a little room in the building where Professor Wundt was teaching in Leipzig, Germany, which he officially designated as a "Psychology Laboratory." It contained some tables and chairs and a few pieces of equipment to measure vision, perception, and hand movements. That's it. How could this be taken to be the beginning of scientific psychology? It seems so modest and insignificant for such a momentous claim: In 1878 psychology was not yet a science. In 1879 psychology became a science.

But this attitude can be understood if we put it in the context of psychology in the 20th century wanting desperately to be accepted as a full fledged science. Where can 20th century psychology as a science trace its roots to? It makes sense to pick an event that highlights psychology's involvement with a methodology based on physical measurements. That's what Wundt's action did. He declared to the world that psychology from now on was going to be allied to physics, chemistry, and anatomy. Note that Swedenborg's psychology antedates Wundt by more than 100 years, but Swedenborg disqualified himself by talking about the spiritual world, Sacred Scripture, and heaven and hell. This is what psychology wanted to run away from so that it may independent of religion, theology, and philosophy.

Kant was influential in the development of scientific psychology but he himself was a philosopher and Kant appears mostly in the history of psychology books rather than in psychology books. What happened to Kant regarding Swedenborg happened to another philosopher who was even more influential than Kant in the development of 20th century psychology. His name is William James (1842-1910). You can see a useful chronology of his life here: www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/jphotos.html He belonged to a well known literary family. His brother was the famous poet and novelist Henry James, and his father, Henry James, Sr., was a well-known literary figure and critic. Henry James had read Swedenborg before the birth of the two sons, and he was so taken and passionate about the Writings that he wrote two books and dozens of magazine articles trying to convince people of the uniqueness and greatness of these Writings.

Henry James home schooled his two sons Henry and William so I expect that the boys grew up familiar with Swedenborg's ideas through their father. And yet here is the remarkable fact: neither Henry nor William James ever mention the name of Swedenborg in their many famous and influential publications. How can this be? My answer is that referring to Swedenborg in circles of materialistic science at the end of the19th century would have been the kiss of death for their career. William James received a professorship at Harvard University and having studied in Germany it was natural for him to create a laboratory of psychology and a department of psychology separate from the philosophy department.

Before that William James actually got and MD degree at Harvard and taught courses in anatomy and physiology. His first course in psychology was taught in 1875, four years prior to Wundt's famous laboratory. He was appointed professor of philosophy in 1885.  He published his famous two-volume book Principles of Psychology in 1890. This is considered to be the first textbook of the science of psychology.  William James had chapters on habit, attention, perception, association, memory, reasoning, instinct, emotion, imagination, psychological methods, hypnotism, consciousness, and self. He relied heavily on laboratory research data and excluded concepts that could not be tied down to laboratory measurements. William James showed the rest of the 20th century psychology how to transform philosophical ideas like attention, consciousness, instinct into materialistic concepts that were measurable under controlled conditions.

One can understand therefore that William James did not want to refer to the name of Swedenborg in a book he hoped to be the world's first scientific textbook in modern psychology.

But what about his subsequent books, that are equally well known, even today: The Will to Believe (1897), Talks to Teachers (1899)  and especially, Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), which discusses why people believe in God and what emotions and feelings are involved in their relationship to God. His approach is strictly objective, somewhat like the literature on the psychology of religion is today and has been since the 1950s. Swedenborg is not mentioned anywhere.

In 1900 the science of psychology stood at a critical crossroad. The fateful dilemma facing the field was represented by two American psychologists, one at Harvard by the name of William James and the other at Cornell by the name of Edward B. Titchener. Both had studied in Germany with the great Wundt at Leipzig who created the first laboratory of psychology. Both came back and enjoyed a following of admirers. Both were doing research on consciousness, perception, and learning. Titchener based his research on the method of introspectionism while William James based his research on materialistic measurements such as Wundt and Fechner had invented. The science of psychology decided to stake its scientific future with the functional behavioral methodology of William James, Watson, and Skinner. Introspectionism as a method of studying the human mind was eliminated. By mid century in the 1950s when I began the study of psychology, it was no longer an option for Ph.D. graduate students to do their research using the method of introspectionism.

Now, a century later, as we are launching ourselves into the 21st century, theistic psychology emerges on the horizon of the science of psychology. One can only wonder what psychology would be today had the field picked Titchener to follow instead of William James. It strikes me as a historical irony that non-theistic psychology counts William James as its American founder given that William James was home schooled by Henry James, Sr., one of the staunchest and well known 19th century supporter of the Writings of Swedenborg.

The systematic exclusion of Swedenborg from the development of psychology can therefore be understood as the attempt to maintain a strict and pure negative bias regarding God in materialistic science. Along with God, psychology excluded almost every concept Swedenborg wrote about -- heaven, hell, spirits, immortality, angels, devils, resuscitation, revelation, sacred scripture. All these ideas were lumped together as either religion, superstition, or fantasy, but not science. Thus, although Swedenborg's Writings were well known and influential in the literary intelligentsia of 19th century life, he was totally unknown to scientists in the 20th century.

Nevertheless there were dozens of scholars who studied Swedenborg and kept translating the Writings into modern languages and publishing articles and books on him. At the end of the 20th century, and today, at the start of the 21st century, a steady new trend has begun in the halls of science. I call this new trend in science "the positive bias." This new attitude will allow more scientists, especially psychologists, to approach Swedenborg's Writing's in order to critically examine it as psychology, rather than to dismiss them automatically without critically examining them. It is noteworthy that theistic psychology uses a methodology called self-witnessing (see Section xx). This consists of self-monitoring activities that are essentially "introspective" and whose purpose is to allow us to know the content of our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. William James rejected both introspectionism and the theistic psychology of Swedenborg. But a century later both return to science through this textbook.

For a less pessimistic view of William James' relationship to Swedenborg, see the interesting article by Dr. Sonia Werner, a contemporary Swedenborgian scholar (see Reading List).

For additional details on my perspective of behaviorism and the history of psychology, consult this article on the Web: www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499ss99/pun/ccp1.html

2.3.3  Can an atheist be an expert in theistic science?

This is an odd question. It is similar to this: Can an overweight psychologist be an expert in weight loss methods? Can a three times divorced marriage therapist be an expert in marriage therapy? An atheist retains the negative bias towards the Writings. This bias will influence the interpretation given to every sentence. Reading the Writings in the negative bias orientation guarantees that its facts will be dismissed as having been made up by Swedenborg. The rationality that is so obvious and enlightening in the positive bias orientation, will not be apparent in the negative bias mode of reasoning. Failing to see the coherence and the rationality, one is then left to the wishy washy conclusion that has been often voiced by mystical enthusiasts--"Swedenborg was one of the greatest geniuses of all times and he traveled to realms of human experience few have reached." I refer to this as wishy washy in the sense that it doesn't settle the issue. We are thrown right back into something inconclusive from the perspective of rational understanding.

We are not convinced by anything we cannot fully understand. If there is anything about an account that we do not fully understand, yet we accept it as true--then we are being mystical. We are turning into a mystic. We will be doing either of these two things, or alternately both: (a) not believe anything and remain in the negative bias; or (b) believe anyway even though it is a "blind faith." Some mystics even assert that blind faith is the only genuine and true faith since you have to believe in what you don't understand and what is a mystery to the human mind. Also, that God is beyond human understanding, hence blind faith is greater than any faith based on what we can understand. This is what I call an anti-intellectual argument. It is based on questionable assumptions, and in fact the opposite is the case, as demonstrated in the Writings.

Swedenborg was in the unique position of interviewing thousands of novitiate spirits (or new arrivals) in the spiritual world, as well as how they changed in the course of their transformation in the second death, which is the phase where we undergo total separation between our hellish and heavenly traits. It is clear when you read his reports that inevitably all those who arrived with a blind faith, which is also called a "persuasive faith," did not have enough power of rationality to acquire the rational truths that every spirit must acquire in order to retain the heavenly traits and let go of the hellish traits. This is the second death, and the result is that people are either awakened in the heaven of their mind, or in the hell of their mind. a fateful phase that is irreversible to eternity!

Why? Or better, how does this happen? What are the specific mechanisms by which this fateful separation is carried out? Theistic psychology can speak rationally to these issues.

Think of how a computer is run by its program or how an awards banquet is run by the host. Each step is followed by the next step as dictated by the program or protocol. Now consider what happens when a disorderly guest decides to follow another order than what is prescribed. There is a disruption created and if the guest insists, he or she is removed by force so that the program or protocol can run its course. Consider now what happens in rational ether in which our mind exists, and from which its organs are made. The affective organ is different from the cognitive organ and both are different from the sensorimotor organ. They each have their own working rationality, which refers to the program or protocol that creates and activates their operations. But all three organs must operate, if they operate, in rational ether.

The “expanse” of the spiritual world may be called rational ether which is also the expanse in our mind. It is like the grammar of the language you speak. The grammar is made up of an integrated collection of rational rules called "syntax." Linguists have given precise mathematical descriptions to these abstract higher order psycho-linguistic units in language. Everyone thinks in terms of rational categories imposed by the structure of the mental organs in which thinking takes place. Now if you arrive into the spiritual world you must be able to function rationally, or else you are an irrational person living in a rational world. And that produces a hell in the mind. In this world one can be irrational in many things and be rational in some other things. This is because our heavenly traits are all rational while our hellish traits are all irrational. Traits are kept in place by the affective organ where our loves and motives operate and live. Good loves or altruistic loves can only unite with rational thoughts, while hurtful loves or selfish loves can only unite with falsified truths which, if believed, make us irrational.

This is then the mechanism by which we rise to our heaven or fall into our hell. It is a predetermined and unchangeable universal law for all humans, just like pregnancy and birth are. While we are still in this world we can alternate between rational and irrational states, which means also, that we can alternate between good loves and bad. But this alternation is impossible in the spiritual world where opposites destroy each other if brought together. The only way heavenly and hellish character traits can both survive forever, is by strict and total segregation, never to be brought together again. Nothing of the bad can ever enter heaven, any more than a house can pass through the pores in your skin. Nothing of the good can enter hell, any more than an ice cube can survive under the heat of a torch. This is quite clear if you consider the psycho-physiology and biochemistry of the spiritual body (see Section xx). It would be similar to opening a door lock by turning the key clockwise, which is the way it was closed in the first place. It is mechanically, logically, and rationally not possible. Not a single injurious or selfish trait can live, operate, or survive in the sphere of rational ether purified, as it is in the heaven of every human being.

2.3.4  Who is to tell us what are good traits and what evil?

There are two possible sources for information on good vs. evil, one human, the other Divine. Any theory developed by another human being is fallible and potentially erroneous, as seen when more of the facts come to light. Hence whatever people have said about good vs. evil over the generations was up for debate between followers and antagonists of the theory. Evidence is often uses in these debates but is not foolproof evidence and the other side can always question it on this or that ground.

The second source to tell us what is evil vs. good is Divine revelation in the form of Sacred Scripture or Divine Speech which enters the conscious natural mind of a chosen individual who was prepared for receiving it. The individual writes it down accurately word for word. A collection of such Divine dictations has been given several times in the history of peoples and cultures on this earth. Divine Speech is the source of our rational ideas, ideas that are based on spiritual reality, not natural appearances. This is how the succeeding generations knew that there is God, heaven and hell, and what we must do to avoid hell and enter heaven. These revelations can be called scientific because they are rational truths about the natural world and how its phenomena are dependent on the spiritual world. In the history of scientific revelations, only the Writings of Swedenborg come to us through the rational mind of a scientist and engineer with an impeccable reputation and admirable accomplishments--and not through mystical dictation not understood by the prophet, as in the case of the Old and New Testaments.

Theistic psychology as science was not possible prior to the Writings of Swedenborg because only mystical theories and subjective speculations were available about a supposed spiritual world. We had to be satisfied with someone's incomprehensible claims about mystical experiences such as a "feeling of oneness with the All," etc. This never really impressed me because I had no interest whatsoever in believing anybody's theory or experience. It seemed useless to me in terms of my own mental development. But when I fell upon the books of the Writings in our university library in 1981 I left my beliefs behind and focused totally on the unprecedented state of clear rationality, page after page, and book after book. Belief and faith are nothing to me while understanding rationally is everything. Rational understanding is a relief that is difficult to imagine in advance. We get used to living in a negative bias that is filled with half-truths and incomplete understandings of the major issue in our lives--love, truth, heaven, hell, marriage, God.

Now as one enters into the rationality of scientific revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg, a  cognitive dense fog lifts from the mind and is replaced by crystal clear mental vision of all the important things in life, and especially what is a good trait in our mind and what is a bad trait. Upon this distinction our eternal future is based. It's a practical or pragmatic issue for all of us. Nothing can be a more vital issue. Can you think of anything more important?

2.4  What about the spiritual world and the afterlife—how can that be researched?

 Theistic psychology investigates the overlap between the mental world and the spiritual world by means of the laws of correspondences revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg. These scientific revelations indicate that we are born dual citizens in the natural and spiritual world, living in both worlds simultaneously. Our physical operations in the brain and its physical body parallel exactly our mental operations in the mind and its spiritual body. Our brain is active in correspondence with our mind—what we think and feel. The mind is in the spiritual body while the brain is in the physical body, and the two are tied by scientific correspondence laws. When the physical body dies, the connection is broken, and the person becomes conscious in the spiritual body. This is what Swedenborg was able to experience many times, but prior to the death of his physical body. When we awaken in the spiritual world a few hours after death, we can begin the process of corroborating directly everything that Swedenborg was able to perceive.

Before the death of the physical body, the individual’s conscious awareness is in the natural mind, which receives input from the physical senses, and therefore what we see around us is the natural world on the planet. But upon the death of the physical body we lose our conscious awareness of the physical world, since our natural senses are no longer functioning. Instead, we now have conscious awareness of the spiritual world through the senses of the spiritual body or mind. Now we live an immortal life in this spiritual world. The character of this life and the laws of the spiritual world are described in detail through the direct observations of Swedenborg for 27 years of daily living in both worlds. His conscious awareness was working for both his natural mind and his spiritual mind so that he could observe how the two interact. This kind of dual ability was not granted to any scientist since the beginning of history.

He could also report what he noticed about people when they were recent arrivals in the spiritual world. He was able to make a comparison between their external mind, which they had at arrival, and their internal mind, which became visible when their external mind was made functionless (the "second death"). You can corroborate the existence of your two minds by practicing self-witnessing or self-monitoring of the stream of your thoughts and feelings all day long. As you practice you can notice that your mind is organized at two levels. The internal mind is able to perceive the thoughts of the external mind so that you can be conscious of what your "lower self" is thinking and intending. Often our external mind is civilized and polite while our internal mind is furious and resentful. Most people are not aware that they are radically different on the inside, below their subconscious. Sometimes we surprise ourselves by thinking or feeling something, and that's because we don't really know our inner feelings and thoughts. Once we awaken in the spiritual world at the death of the physical body, everyone is able like Swedenborg, to observe how new arrivals in the spiritual world cast off their outer personality of being nice and reasonable, and suddenly become ugly, aggressive, and irrational. And sometimes the reverse also happens.

We can therefore investigate the life after death through Swedenborg's data, and also, investigate how our current behavior is influenced by the behavior of those who come into contact with our spiritual body in the spiritual world--the vertical community (see Section xx). Swedenborg was able to talk to an acquaintance from Sweden while he was being buried at the funeral, and he was amazed that the mourners thought of him as being dead. He was not able to be conscious of events in the physical world, as Swedenborg was, so he was relying on what Swedenborg was seeing by being present at the funeral.

In the spiritual world there is no physical space but only the appearance of space, as in dreams. Mentally we can travel to any distance instantaneously and therefore in the spiritual world, which is like the mental world, all "travel" is instantaneous and depending on the state of mind. When you change your thinking or your mood in the spiritual world, the surrounding environment completely changes to reflect your new mental state. Stability and localization in spiritual space depends entirely on your mental state. Two individuals who are in an entirely different mood cannot approach each other or be in the same "space" for contact. The spiritual world is thus a map of the mental world, and vice versa. This correspondence offers various methodologies for research which we will explore (see Section xx).

We may wonder in what way Swedenborg was special that he was able to be conscious simultaneously in the natural and spiritual worlds. Could this happen to anyone else?

In terms of human anatomy there was nothing special or different about Swedenborg. Every human being possesses at birth a spiritual body and mind, which is an organ with three sub-components able to operate at three separate levels of feeling, thinking and sensing. The first level of the mind is called the natural mind and it forms our normal consciousness every day. Its content is our socialized life on earth. When educated, the natural mind can ascend in consciousness to abstract thinking about self and the world. This level of thinking is called the natural-rational level of thinking. Above this natural mind we have our second mind which is the middle mind. This spiritual mind is the intermediary between the outer natural mind and the inmost celestial mind, which is the third and highest mind.

The middle mind is called the spiritual mind and our thinking at this level is called spiritual-rational thinking. This type of thinking is rational but it differs from the rational of the first level called natural-rational thinking. What's the difference? The rationality of the natural mind is a rationality based on sensory input through the physical senses. This natural-rational way of thinking leads to atheism and materialism unless redirected by our spiritual-rational mind which takes input from the inmost celestial mind. The inmost celestial mind takes input solely from the spiritual world. Its content is from what is happening in the spiritual world surrounding our spiritual body. For diagrams depicting the anatomy of the mind see Section 5.1.

You can see from this anatomical description of the mind that every human being is capable, like Swedenborg, to receive input from the spiritual world through our celestial mind. If we would be able to be conscious of this input, we would be walking around in the spiritual world like Swedenborg. The only difference is that we are not conscious of the operations in our celestial mind while Swedenborg was allowed to be conscious in both his natural mind and in his celestial mind. He records an encounter with the Divine-Human that happened when he was 57 years old. The Divine-Human identified Himself as God and told him in advance what's going to happen and for what purpose, also implying, that He had been preparing Swedenborg for this mission since early childhood. Swedenborg now, at age 57, had acquired scientific knowledge, a rational way of thinking, and deep reverence for God. He was ready to have his consciousness opened in the celestial mind. He was able to see what we also experience when we lose connection to the physical world and become spirits in the rational ether of the spiritual world.

It took Swedenborg several months to get completely adjusted to this new state of dual citizenship, but he then settled down to the enormous task of writing scientific reports about what he saw and heard with his celestial mind, of which he was conscious. He could therefore record who he talked to in the spiritual world, what details he noticed in the environment, what the geography was like, the language people speak when they become spirits, whether families or spouses reunite in the "afterlife," how the spirits interact with us, and many more details. The Writings of Swedenborg constitute about 30 volumes in English translation.

Today no one else can be given the ability of conscious awareness in the celestial mind without spiritual injury, for reasons explained rationally in the Writings. Therefore we must rely on the only source of objective data about the spiritual world. This is far better than to speculate or to rely on what some people claim to be visions of the spiritual world. Theistic psychology is therefore defined exclusively in terms of the Writings of Swedenborg, the only source of objective data.

See also Section 5. 4 called  The Mental Technology of Spiritual Self-Witnessing.

2.5  Is it possible that Swedenborg made it all up or was delusional at times?

 Science is structured so that whatever theory is being offered by someone must meet the requisite criteria for science. First, other psychologists must be able to understand and corroborate every explanation or conclusion based on the theory. Second, the theory must be rational with coherent parts that fit together, and each part agreeing with what is already known and accepted. Third, the theory must lead to accurate and verifiable predictions about human behavior.

Swedenborg’s explanations in his Writings about God and the spiritual world fully meet these three criteria. First, I am an independent psychologist reading the Writings more than two hundred years later, translated into English from Latin, and am able to understand and corroborate every explanation or conclusion he presents. Second, I can corroborate that it is a rational system, that all parts of it fit together in a coherent and logical fashion, and that its conclusions agree with everything that is already known about human nature, though it disagrees with invalid theories, of which there are very many in materialistic psychology. Third, I have incorporated some of the ideas into my research in psychology, and I discovered that it offers good predictions regarding those aspects of human behavior that constitute my research specialty. Some of this research is listed in the Reading List.

Further, I expect that as theistic psychology grows, more research on applied theistic psychology will be generated in human areas of great need--addictive behavior, parenting, instruction, marriage, relationships, anger management, depression, therapy, and others (see Section xx). This research will stem from Swedenborg's many observations of how the human mind works. He was in a unique situation to be able to observe empirically people before and after they had died. Ordinarily the thoughts and feelings of people can only be inferred indirectly by various techniques that are rudimentary in psychology and neuroscience--like personality tests and cat scans of the brain. But none of this leads to a direct observation of a person's actual mental world of thoughts and feelings.

But when scientists wake up in the spiritual world shortly after the death of their physical body and brain, they are able to directly observe and corroborate what Swedenborg observed when he was permitted to have conscious presence simultaneously in the natural and spiritual worlds. This special ability was given by God to Swedenborg for the purpose of making it possible for him to deliver the scientific revelations in the Writings. These revelations show why it is not permitted for other scientists to have the same observation platform. Direct conscious observation of the spiritual world is an ability that every human being is born with. This dual awareness or consciousness was available to the earliest civilizations on this planet, according to Swedenborg's interviews with the people in the spiritual world who lived on this earth in those early days. But, as fully explained in the Writings, this dual awareness was made neuro-biologically inert in subsequent generations in order to allow for the evolution of rational spirituality (see Section xx).  If direct awareness of the spiritual world were allowed today, it would destroy the rational evolution to which the human race is being taken.

Hence we cannot corroborate Swedenborg's data by our own direct observations of the spiritual world while we are still in this world. Some people argue that because of this limitation, theistic psychology cannot be a true science. But I do not agree with this argument, and I have brought forward many reasonable considerations showing that this type of direct  corroboration is not a requirement for scientific proposals to be valid, as long as the other criteria I specified are in force.

There are hundreds of other scientists like myself who have been reading Swedenborg and have investigated his rationality, his credentials, his honesty. There is a near unanimous agreement by these investigators that Swedenborg was fully rational, sane, and honest and that his Writings are among the deepest and most important literature ever written.

2.6  What's the relation between the body, the mind, and the spiritual world?

Quoting from the Writings of Swedenborg:

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 1376)

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 1378)

Swedenborg's observations and experiments are unique in the history of science because he was able to be simultaneously aware of the natural and spiritual worlds.  His data rationally demonstrate that every event in the natural world is preceded by a corresponding event in the spiritual world. In other words, what happens in the physical body (natural world) corresponds one to one with what happens in the mind (spiritual world). Recall that in the spiritual world the mind is visible just like the physical body is visible in the natural world.

Here some facts we need to know in order to understand the relation between "physical body" and "spiritual mind" (see the concept of "substantive dualism" in Chapter xx).

    (1) The scientific laws of correspondence between natural events and their spiritual causes were known in prehistoric times on this planet, but were subsequently forgotten due to evolutionary and ecological changes described in the Writings (see the "Science of Correspondences" in Chapter xx). Now that they are revealed and accessible again, psychology can use it as a methodology for body-mind investigations. For example, there is a correspondence between the circulatory system of the body and the affective mind, and between the respiratory system and the cognitive mind. This parallelism indicates that the mind is a biological organ and has an anatomy that can be described. The mind has two organs made of spiritual substances (not natural). Spiritual substances originate from the Spiritual Sun of the spiritual world, while natural substances originate from the natural sun near each planet. There is an exact correspondence between how the natural sun produces the heart and the lungs, and how the Spiritual Sun produces the affective and cognitive mind.

Future research in theistic psychology will be able to discover the detailed relationships between body and mind. Since the physical body is visible to our instruments and measurements, its known physiology becomes a model for the mind's psychobiology that cannot be observed with physical measurements.

    (2) Every human being is born simultaneously with a physical body and a spiritual body (see "dual citizenship" in Chapter xx). The physical body is located in the natural world while the spiritual body is located in the spiritual world. Swedenborg reports that the spiritual body of those who are still alive on earth, is visible to the inhabitants of the spiritual world, though no direct conscious communication is possible until the person awakens in the spiritual body as soon as the physical body is functionally dead (becomes a corpse). The mind with its affective and cognitive organs is located in the spiritual body while the brain is located in the physical body. Whatever happens to the physical body on earth we can sensate and feel in our spiritual body in the spiritual world. Since sensations. thoughts, and feelings are not physical objects, they cannot be located in the material brain which is physical. Non physical objects, that is, spiritual objects, must be located in the spiritual body in the spiritual world. Sensations, thoughts and feelings are spiritual objects and events.

    (3) Natural objects, like the physical body and brain, have a temporary life or existence, but spiritual objects, like the mind or spiritual body, are permanent (immortal or eternal). In other words, sensations, thoughts, and feelings are immortal parts of human beings. Thus every thought and feeling we have is recorded permanently in our interior memory, which is in the spiritual body. Swedenborg demonstrated that people in the spiritual world are able to recall every single detail of their lives on earth.

    (4) When people awaken in their spiritual body (shortly after death of the physical body), they begin their new life in eternity. What kind of life is it? Swedenborg reports visiting the lands and cities where people congregate there. Social life there depends on the character or interior personality of the individuals. People whose character is in altruism and mutual love, congregate together and see their environment as some heavenly appearance that corresponds to their altruism and mutual love. They appear young, beautiful, and ecstatically happy in their condition of eternal conjugial life. Nothing is lacking. Everything is supplied before them, whatever they want or fancy, which is all good.

But people who are selfish, cruel, and dishonest in their character or interior personality habits, congregate in different places that appear like hell cities in their atrocities, cruelties, and hatreds for each other. In this way human lives are spent in eternity, either in heavenly conditions or in hellish conditions, depending on people's character, which is the quality of the mind, of the thoughts and feelings they have and constitute their living, or very life. These cannot be taken away or substituted for other thoughts and feelings without destroying the very self or basis of the individual as a unique human being.

Hence it is that theistic psychology is so important for humanity for it can give everyone the tools and motivation needed for character change here on earth, so that we may become altruistic and live in mutual love. Nothing can be more important to each of us than this, assuming Swedenborg's reports to be true. If one rejects all the evidence recorded in Divine scientific revelations as untrue or delusional, then none of this preparation for the afterlife can make sense or be important. But if these revelations are indeed Divine and true, then nothing can be more important. To decide whether it is true or not, it is necessary to examine all the evidence that Swedenborg brings forth. It should not be rejected out of hand just because it doesn't fit the negative bias of non-theistic science today.

2.7  Theoretical Implications of God's Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence

The concept of God in theistic psychology has logical implications that must apply to all explanations and models.

God is the only concept that implies infinity.

In the Writings of Swedenborg it is revealed that "in God-Man infinite things are one distinctly" (DLW 22). This means that God is the unifying concept that explains how the universe is integrated in a coherent whole. No detail, event, or quality in the dual universe (natural and spiritual) can exist detached from this whole. "Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence " are logical implications that follow from the definition of God as infinite, which means that God has no beginning or end. Rationally, there can be only one infinite. Two infinites are not possible--it's a logical contradiction since infinite means no limits, and if there are two infinites, each is limited, and this is illogical. Therefore only God can be infinite.

Infinity has several logical implications, besides there being only one infinite. Since God is infinite He cannot remove Himself from anywhere, since there cannot be a limit to God's infinity. Every attribute one can assign to God must be infinite. To say that God is infinite is the same as saying that whatever is in God is infinite. We know from God's revelations to humankind that there are many things in God, and they can be summarized as Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. Divine Love includes God's Goodness, Mercy, Grace, Benevolence, and Sympathy for the human race. God loves every human being endlessly, passionately, and maximally all the time. Divine Wisdom includes God's Truth, Rationality, Intelligence, Omniscience, and Inventiveness. Clearly, God is a Human since He Has all the Human traits we know of. People have these traits--love, sympathy, intelligence, rationality, etc. But in fact these traits are God's traits in people.

This is a logical necessity implied by the concept if infinity. Infinity cannot be limited or be absent. Nor can infinity give something away since it would then have less than before, which is putting a limit on infinity, and this is illogical. Hence God cannot give away His Humanness to people He creates. God cannot give away some of His love, some of His life, some of His rationality, to people. However God created a method that achieves a result that appears similar to giving His Divine infinite things away.

This is the method of appearances.

In other words, God makes it look like He is giving away some of His Humanness to individual human beings that He creates.

Birds fly and look for food and raise a new generation of birds. It seems that they are each doing it from themselves. A plant grows, becomes a tree, gives fruit we enjoy, and provides for its the survival of its own species. Galaxies burst apart into pieces that cool down and evolve into planets that are governed by natural laws. God is hidden from these events, short like a Brownian motion of electrons, or long like the formation of new galaxies. God has not removed Himself from these natural events, for this would put a limit to His infinity, something which is illogical. God cannot be removed from anywhere. But God is managing things from within what is visible. God is present within every sub-atomic particle of the created universe, and from that omniscient and omnipotent position, God activates each component of an atom, integrates the many motions of a living cell, and brings about the galactic developments of the expanding universe.

God has not given away anything to natural laws and therefore natural energy and lawful action is not the action of "nature" but the action of God who is within the inner framework of every motion and energy. To me it is clear that one would be foolhardy and irrational to say that there is some force or energy or power that is not God's or that God has removed Himself from it. In other words, nothing can run by itself, but God makes it look like it does by acting from within the visible plane of events or objects.

It's common for people to say: Well, if there is a God, why can't you prove it to me? Or: If you can prove that there is a God I will believe it. Until then I don't have to.

But from the discussion above we can see that "believing in God" is not the issue! We don't have a rational choice to believe or not to believe. We must examine the issue rationally and we choose the outcome of the rational investigation, for this is what makes sense. Do we have a choice about whether the earth is flat or round? It's not a question of belief, but fact, proven in many ways. Similarly, it's not rational to limit God's infinity by what we believe. We have to think logically, starting with the scientific concept of infinity, as explained above. Infinity must exist. Infinity cannot be divided. Infinity includes all human traits like love and rationality or intelligence. Therefore these traits are in infinity, not in ourselves, which are finite. The infinity that has these human traits must therefore be Human. A Human infinity is called God. Hence God is referred in the Writings as the "Divine-Human" or "God-Man."

Just as the Divine-Human makes it appear that the world runs itself, He also makes it appear that human beings run themselves. God not only synchronizes the action of brain cells, but He also manages the operations of the mind--our thoughts, memories, dreams, motives, loves, and enjoyments. God synchronizes the precise one-to-one relations between operations in the mind and in the body. God blocks your memory at times, so you can't remember something or forget something. At other times, God makes you recall something or notice something. God is therefore a "hands on" manager of your mind. Clearly He doesn't let us see His management. It appears to us as if we are managing ourselves. This is why the Writings use the expression "as-of self" instead of the "self." This may sound disturbing at first.

What, we don't have a self? It's only an illusion? We are really robots caught in a Divine Matrix?

We don't have life of our own but only god's life in us. We don't have intelligence of our own, but only God's intelligence in us. The choice is not between "we are God or we're robots." There is another rational alternative. We are not God, for this illogical. We are not robots, for this is would unloving, and we cannot say that God is unloving, for then His love would have a limit, and this is illogical. The rational alternative is to say that we are "human as-of selves."

We are human because we are created in the "image of God" who is the Divine-Human, the only humanness there is. To be created "an image" refers to the "human as-of self." This is an actual creation. It is not a robot, for a robot is not human. Humanness must come from God in the created object. Only people have humanness because only people are created with the organic structure for receiving human traits from God. "Receiving" refers to the appearance of as-of self to our conscious awareness and rational thinking. It is necessary to have conscious awareness and rational thinking in order to operate the as-of self in every individual human being.

In the Writings of Swedenborg God has revealed the method He uses to operate the as-of self. It consists of connecting the mind of every human being with every other human being in a vast network across space, time, and world. I call this our "vertical community" (see Section xx). Simultaneously, God controls the communication or mutual influencing process, so that different types of people influence a person at different times. In a single episode like cutting a slice of bread, there may be several societies of people in the world of spirits whom God brings into more direct contact with our mind as our hands handle the knife and the bread on the counter. Our as-of self is the conscious agent who manages the cutting. We become aware of thoughts from one society: "Be careful. Focus." These thoughts are joined to the rational motive of prudence and self-preservation. We also become aware of thoughts from another spirit society: "Wasn't that fun last night." and "Oops, I'm late." These thoughts are joined to the irrational motive to want to save time by being careless. We, the as-of self agent controlling the hands, are not conscious of these societies which activate some of our thoughts and motives. We are only aware that the thoughts somehow suddenly occurs to us. We are less aware of the motives that direct these thoughts, though we can become conscious of them through self-witnessing (see Section xx).

If we cut our finger, are we responsible?

Yes, because it is the as-of self agent who is given power by God to accept or reject the societal influences of the vertical community. Accepting one amounts to rejecting the other. God makes certain that the balance between accepting and rejecting a spiritual influence on our mind, always remains focused between a choice for either heavenly traits vs. hellish (see Section xx). This is the mechanism God uses to keep us developing into a mind that can mature and live in our immortality of heaven. Because this mind can only grow through free choice we make, God also gives us the power to choose to follow the motives and thoughts of evil spiritual societies. In this way we are responsible for our character, whether it is good or bad, that is, altruistic and heavenly, or selfish and hellish.

As you can see, God is a rational concept that is not up for believing or disbelieving. 

Omnipotence refers to the fact that no power exists in the dual universe that is not God's power. This is true at the macro and micro levels of events, e.g., the formation of galaxies, the motion and path of an electron, the falling of a fruit from a tree, the results and events of a war, the random distribution of raindrops on a leaf, the weather or cloud formations,  a car crash and the particular injuries, the trigger finger firing a gun, the sequence of words in any sentence, the answers someone gives on a quiz or test, something remembered or forgotten, something felt or sensed, etc. Every event or property requires power to exist and God is therefore that power without any exception.

Omniscience refers to God's infinite knowledge and intelligence. The Writings of Swedenborg reveal that to God all the past, all the present, all the future is present to view simultaneously (e.g., "for in Him the past and the future are present" (AR13). And: "God is omniscient, that is, He perceives, sees and knows down to the tiniest detail everything that happens according to order; and from these things also what happens contrary to order." (TCR 49). Note also that Omnipotence and Omniscience logically imply that God is an intelligent Person with Divine-Human qualities that are infinite. This implies that God has motivation, intention, and purpose in the exercise of His Omnipotence. Through scientific revelations God has made it known to the human race what His purpose is for creating the universe. According to the Writings of Swedenborg: "This mighty system which is called the universe is a single unit coherently organized from beginning to end, because God had one end in view in creating it, to create from the human race a heaven of angels. The means to this end are all the things of which the world is composed; for he who wills the end, wills also the means. (TCR 13).

In the Writings the uppermost regions of human consciousness and life is called heaven and people who reach that state are called angels. God's purpose in creating a universe is to form a basis or environment for supporting the life and existence of human beings in that state of heaven to eternity. This purpose is also called Divine Love.

Omniprese