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Summary of Swedenborg's Spiritual Philosophy
"The Lord regards nothing else in a person but the person's
aim or purpose. Whatever the thoughts and deeds may be, varying in
countless ways, they are all good provided the purpose is good. But if
the end in view is bad, they are all bad. . . . . A person's aim is his
very life.
Emanuel Swedenborg Arcana Caelestia, from paragraph 1317
A UNIVERSAL AND WHOLISTIC SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHY
It is well recognised and accepted today by people everywhere that life
is multifaceted and very complex. There are no easy answers for coming
to terms with whom we really are, or with the purpose of our life, or
with our various relationships, let alone the bigger questions
concerning a Divine Being and the spiritual domain. What we can sense
is that all these issues are interconnected and any degree of
understanding will only come as the larger picture emerges.
 The
spiritual philosophy in Swedenborg's writings draws together the many
and varied dimensions to life in a universal and wholistic way at both
the micro and macro levels; universal in the sense that it has
application for every individual in whatever circumstances they find
themselves, wholistic through the drawing together of the many aspects
in a way that each supports the other. The atom exists through a
complex inter-relationship of energy forces and the same pattern
applies at the level of the human mind.
This summary is simply an outline of some of the basic concepts analysed by Swedenborg, each of which relate to the whole.
DIVINE NATURE
Divine Love and Wisdom continuously creating and maintaining what is created
The Divine Itself is the unity of love and wisdom. Whilst in
reality one does not exist without the other, our intellectual mind
sees them as distinct. Divine Love, being the very substance of
creation, is invisible; Divine Wisdom, which gives form and direction
to Divine Love, is visible in what is created. United Love and Wisdom
is not static but a source of power which continually creates and
sustains what it has created. The closest example that we have in this
world is through the heat and light of the sun acting together and
providing the power for sustaining natural life.
The Divine is outside the constraints of space and time, which exist
only in this natural realm, and our own reflecting on the Divine nature
must recognise that this is so.
OUR NATURE
We are each a unique soul receiving and responding to the Divine Life which animates us
We are finite spiritual beings born with a material body in order
to function in this natural world. As a unique soul formed at the time
of conception, we each continuosuly receive the Divine Life of Love and
Wisdom enabling us to live as feeling and thinking beings. As the
highest form in creation, we have the ability to reason and make
choices about spiritual matters as if we had our own life. The true
person - the spirit - is immortal and on discarding the material body
we become fully conscious of the spiritual realm. The qualities of love
and related intelligence - our ruling love - that we have made our own
in this world remain with us and become the basis for our spiritual
development to eternity.
SPIRITUAL INFLOWING
We are constantly under positive and negative influences from the spiritual realm
As spiritual beings living in the worldly plane of existence, our
internal minds are open to both positive and negative influences from
spirits in the same way that our conscious minds are directly affected
by our external circumstances. These influences - positive from spirits
in heavenly states and negative from those in hellish states - are kept
in equilibrium by the Lord to preserve our freedom. As part of the
total mind processes, the spiritual influences filter into our
consciousness and impinge on our choice processes. But we need to
become aware of them, especially the subtle and persuasive hellish
influences, and only take on board those influences for good in our
decision making if we want to be in tune with the Divine to achieve
lasting spiritual growth.
PROVIDENCE
The Divine constantly works in every detail of life according to spiritual laws that look to our eternal welfare
Just as this world operates in accordance with natural, scientific,
laws which apply consistently and coherently, so there are
corresponding laws which govern all aspects of our spiritual life.
These laws are the Divine Providence in action, which has for its end
the eternal happiness of every person. The purpose of our existence
here is to become sensitive to the Divine Will and act in ways that are
harmonious with the laws of Providence. When we do live in accord with
the Divine plan, as we understand it to be, our lives will be blessed
ultimately, if not at once. Yet, even if we do act contrary to them,
the Lord works untiringly giving us countless opportunities to return
to the stream of Providence.
In this world we always remain open to the possibility of misfortune
but that will not be detrimental to our eternal welfare if we respond
positively to these apparently adverse circumstances.
FREEWILL
We cannot always choose what happens to us; we can choose how we respond to it
We are all creatures of our heredity and environment. The worldly
life of most people is determined by circumstances outside of their own
immediate control - the law, governments and social expectations all
impinge. Nevertheless, our internal response to such circumstances is
something over which we have total control.
The God-given gift of freedom to choose rationally how we will
act and react in any given situation remains available to us at all
times unless our mental capacity becomes impaired, at which time we are
no longer responsible spiritually and our eternal welfare is protected
by God.
All of these internal choices placed before us are
character-building and we gradually build up the type of person we want
to become.
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
A purifying process which through an inner struggle to overcome
selfish motives we can enjoy the peace and joy of the Divine within
The whole purpose of our life in this realm of existence is to grow
spiritually and achieve a transformation of our inner self - a lifetime
of choices and change! We are born with inclinations towards
selfishness - clearly displayed in early childhood behaviour - which if
left to develop unchecked will eventually dominate our whole being and
motivation. We can do something about it.
Temptations - the inner struggle of choosing between higher and
lower motives - are very much part of the process even being something
we should expect and welcome. Nature is full of examples of beauty and
perfection coming through struggle; it is the same spiritually. We may
only just begin the process here, but in doing so we will engage in
dynamic and expanding awareness and growth patterns to eternity.
SPIRITUAL HEALTH
Through loving what is good and true and applying in life our
understanding of it for the eternal welfare of others (Karmic principle)
All health and disease have spiritual origins. Bodily ill health
often appears to result solely from external reasons but nothing in
this material world exists which does not have a spiritual cause and
connection. The spiritual plane is the plane of causes, the physical
one is the plane of effects. Thus, all types of disease are caused by
states of evil and falsity either coming from specific spiritual states
within us or from the general causes of evil inflowing into the world.
Irrespective of our bodily condition, we are in a state of
spiritual health when our mind or spirit is in the love of what is good
and truth - those things which bring us lasting delight and thoughts we
love to dwell on. If we are caught up in fear, worry, hatred, greed,
lust for power, revenge, and so on we are in spiritual ill health.
Spiritual health automatically involves our own personal growth
and a genuine concern for the welfare of others which, in turn, brings
inner peace, humility and joy - spiritual riches beyond measure.
DIVINE MANIFESTATIONS
The Divine reveals Itself through the imagery of sacred scriptures and in the functioning of created forms
"God" has always provided communication with men and women both by divine revelation and through nature.
Without direct revelation we cannot know of, or acknowledge, the
existence of a Divine Creator. Sacred scriptures, especially the Word,
give us this knowledge even if rather obscurely at times until we
accept them in a psychospiritual framework concerned with our inner
world - spiritual truths contained symbolically within natural images
and stories.
This relationship between the outer and inner worlds also applies
to nature, being the result of the continuous divine creative process.
The functioning and usefulness of each individual part reflects the
love and wisdom of the Divine so that through an understanding of how
the material world operates we can gain insights into the nature of the
Divine.
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