Despite
his
obvious
impact,
Swedenborg's
name is
still
not
well-known
three
hundred
years
after
his
birth.
He was
an
inventor,
a
scientist,
a civil
servant,
and a
philosopher
before
he
accepted
God's
call to
be a
rational
revelator
during
the Age
of
Enlightenment.
While
Swedenborg's
genius
may be
found in
all his
works,
it is
his
claim to
be a
revelator,
and his
spiritual
vision,
which
truly
set him
apart.
Historically
it has
been
this
claim
which
has
attracted
interest
in him;
and it
is his
theological
writings
that
have
been the
source
of his
greatest
influence.
Swedenborg
stands
apart
from
other
revelators
because
of the
means
through
which he
received
revelation,
its
substance,
and the
process
of its
transmission.
Because
his
Writings
are
exclusively
a
written
revelation,
Swedenborg
was able
to
integrate
in them
elements
which in
traditional
religious
movements
have
been
distinct;
for
contained
within
the
Writings
are both
the
charismatic
vision
and the
rational
codification
of its
development.
In
offering
only a
written
revelation
to the
world,
Swedenborg
dramatically
decreased
the
probability
of its
discovery.
However,
by
widely
distributing
his
books,
he made
discovery
a
permanent
possibility;
but it
was a
possibility
over
which
Swedenborg
himself
would
have no
personal
control.
Swedenborg
left
completely
open who
would
respond
to his
vision,
under
what
conditions,
and at
what
time and
in what
place,
or
whether
anyone
would
respond
at all.
In
presenting
a vision
counter
to the
prevailing
religious
and
secular
paradigms
of the
day, he
invited
ridicule;
and, in
not
organizing
a group
of
followers
to carry
his
vision
into the
future,
his
ideas
did not
become
part of
the
mainstream
in the
development
of
modern
western
thought.
However,
the
scope of
his
influence,
as
documented
in this
book,
suggests
the
unfolding
of
another
reality,
because
Swedenborg's
legacy
has
endured.
A
biography
of
Swedenborg
and a
chronological
list of
his
major
works
are
included
in this
anthology
because
a
knowledge
of the
man and
the
substance
of his
writings
may
provide
some
insight
into the
persistence
of his
influence.
Background
Emanuel
Swedenborg
was born
in
Stockholm
on
January
29, 1688
. At the
time of
his
birth,
Sweden
's
century
of
expansion
was
drawing
to a
close.
In
asserting
her
independence
during
this
century,
the
Swedish
kingdom
became
more
economically
and
politically
integrated
into
Europe
's
cultural
orbit.
The
great
mineral
wealth
of
Sweden
and war
were
important
ingredients
in this
process.
Foreign
miners
and
mercenaries
were
brought
to
Sweden
to
assist
in her
development
and
modernization.
The
Swedish
arms
industry
was
established
at this
time,
strengthening
the
military
position
of
Sweden
and
providing
a
valuable
export.
The
internal
administration
of the
kingdom
was
further
centralized
through
the
development
of a
state
bureaucracy,
with the
University
of
Uppsala
providing
the
training
for the
corps of
civil
servants.
During
this
period
the city
of
Göteborg
was
established
as an
export
center
and
Stockholm
was
transformed
into a
modern
showplace.
While
all
these
changes
were
taking
place at
one
level in
Sweden ,
the life
in the
countryside
remained
essentially
unchanged.
The
rhythms
of
agriculture,
of the
seasons,
of
sowing
and
harvest,
of
dearth
and
plenty
were
untouched.
In this
world
the
supernatural
brooded
over the
landscape
and in
the
hearts
of men.
The
struggle
between
light
and
dark,
heaven
and
hell,
God and
Satan,
salvation
and
damnation,
good and
evil
dominated
men's
thoughts
and
pervaded
their
physical
world.
Only a
thin
veil
separated
life and
death,
and
which
was
which
was
shrouded
in
ambiguity.
The
reality
and
intensity
of this
world is
brilliantly
captured
in the
novels
of Selma
Lagerlöf,
winner
of the
Nobel
prize
for
literature
in 1909.
Jesper
Swedberg,
Swedenborg's
father,
was born
into
this
reality.
Born at
"Sveden"
in 1653,
the
family
homestead
not far
from
Falun,
Swedberg's
life
fortunes
were
dramatically
altered
when the
new
mining
techniques
imported
from
abroad
made a
family-owned
mine
once
again
productive.
These
additional
resources
enabled
Swedberg
to
attend
the
University
of
Uppsala
and
opened
to him
the
world of
modern
Sweden
through
a career
in the
Church.
Immediately
after
his
ordination
in 1683
Swedberg
married
Sarah
Behm, a
modest
and
religious
woman,
whose
family's
wealth
was
derived
from
extensive
mining
interests.
Noticed
by the
King
early in
his
career
while
serving
in the
position
of
chaplain
of his
horse
guards
in
Stockholm
, in
1702
Swedberg
was
elevated
to the
post of
Bishop
of
Skara,
having
served
in
Uppsala
as a
professor
of
theology
and Dean
and
Rector
of the
Cathedral
in the
interim.
He
remained
in Skara
until
his
death in
1735.
His
tenure
in Skara
is
remembered
today
because
of his
deep
interest
in
education.
Despite
his
prominence,
Swedberg
remained
outside
of the
Church's
formal
power
structure
and
innocent
of her
official
ideology
of faith
alone.
Throughout
his long
and
prosperous
life,
Swedberg
never
abandoned
the
perspective
and
sensitivities
of his
early
rural
upbringing
with its
emphasis
on the
supernatural,
piety,
and good
works.
Early
Life
Emanuel
was the
third of
nine
children
and the
second
son born
to
Jesper
and
Sarah
Behm
Swedberg.
While
living
in
Uppsala
, in
1696,
Swedenborg
suddenly
lost his
mother
and his
older
brother
Albert
in an
epidemic.
A year
later,
Swedberg
married
for a
second
time.
His new
wife was
Sarah
Bergia,
a
wealthy
widow,
who also
had
mining
interests.
She
seems to
have
been
particularly
fond of
Emanuel
and upon
her
death in
1720, he
inherited
half of
her
estate,
Starbo,
and a
modest
fortune.
Swedenborg
wrote
very
little
concerning
his
early
life,
and
except
for the
following,
which
was
written
in a
letter
to a
friend
in 1769,
what
little
else is
known
comes
from
public
records
and his
father's
autobiography:
From my
fourth
to my
tenth
year, I
was
constantly
engaged
in
thought
upon
God,
salvation,
and the
spiritual
sufferings
of men,
and
several
times I
revealed
that at
which my
father
and
mother
wondered....
From my
sixth to
my
twelfth
year my
delight
was to
discourse
with
clergymen
concerning
Faith—that
the life
thereof
is love,
and the
love
that
gives
life is
the love
of one's
neighbor....
After
his
family
moved to
Uppsala
,
Swedenborg
spent
the next
seventeen
years
there.
He lived
in his
father's
home for
eleven
years,
until
Bishop
Swedberg
was
called
to
Skara.
For the
next six
years,
until
his
graduation
from the
university
in 1709,
he lived
with his
sister
Anna and
her
husband,
Eric
Benzelius,
who was
the
Librarian
at the
University.
Benzelius
was a
modern,
forward-looking
man who
was
eventually
named
Bishop
of
Linköping.
He was a
brilliant
man and
an
"ardent
Cartesian"
who was
convinced
that
science
held the
key to
the
future.
With
that
perspective,
he
eagerly
took on
the
responsibility
of
modernizing
the
holdings
of the
Library.
To
accomplish
this he
corresponded
with
many of
the most
prominent
men of
learning
in
Europe
and in
this way
he
gained a
knowledge
of the
developing
intellectual
trends
of his
day.
Both
Swedberg
and
Benzelius
were
important
influences
in
shaping
Swedenborg's
aims and
interests.
Swedenborg
himself
acknowledges
this in
dedications
that he
wrote to
both
men.
Swedenborg
dedicated
his
thesis
"Selected
Sentences
from
Publius
Syrus
Mimus
and L.
Annaeus
Seneca"
to his
father
with the
following
words:
"May I
grow,
with
increasing
years,
in the
imitations
of those
deeds
which
have
covered
the name
of my
parent
with
honor
and
Fame.
May I
resemble
him in
his
writings
as well
as in
mind and
character."
In 1734
Swedenborg
dedicated
his
Infinite
and
Final
Cause of
Creation
to
Benzelius.
In that
dedication
he
states:
In you I
acknowledge
the
source
of
personal
benefit,
inasmuch
as it
was by
your
advice
and
wishes,
that my
mind,
then
ripening
and
eager
for
study,
though
hesitating
and
ignorant,
nevertheless,
as at
that
early
age it
is wont
to be,
to what
pursuits
to turn,
was
directed
to the
present
and
similar
subjects,
which
were
auguries
of a
personal
career
in
literature....
And as
it was
at your
instigation
that I
applied
myself
to these
studies,
so I
hope you
will in
a
measure
acknowledge
this
offspring
of my
powers,
poor
though
it be,
as in
some
part
your
own; and
therefore
allow
that of
right it
should
be
dedicated
to no
one but
yourself.
Although
Swedenborg's
interest
in the
natural
sciences
and
mathematics
may be
attributed
to
Benzelius'
influence,
his
fascination
with the
factual
and the
concrete
also
seems
quite
similar
to
Swedberg's
vigorous
concern
for a
"down to
earth,"
living,
practical
theology;
and
Swedenborg's
distaste
for the
abstract
in the
realm of
science
is
reminiscent
of his
father's
animosity
toward
cerebral
faith
and
dogmatics
in
religion.
Therefore,
it is
possible
to see
evidence
of his
father's
character
in his
scientific
career
as well
as
seeing
Benzelius'
more
rational
and
universal
concerns
echoed
in his
theology.
Studies
Abroad
In 1710,
on the
advice
of
Benzelius,
Swedenborg
left for
England
to
immerse
himself
in the
most
modern
scientific
currents
of his
day; he
stayed
for two
years
studying
mathematics
and
astronomy.
During
his stay
he also
frequented
the
shops of
booksellers
and
instrument
makers
in order
to
enlarge
his
library
and his
knowledge,
and
while in
London
he lived
with a
variety
of
different
journeymen
in order
to learn
their
trades.
In this
way he
learned
the arts
of
engraving,
making
mathematical
instruments
and
cabinetry,
and
later in
Holland
he
learned
glass-grinding
as well.
While in
England
Swedenborg
studied
with the
astronomers
John
Flamsteed
and
Edward
Halley
and,
perhaps
during
conversations
with
them,
became
intrigued
by the
competition
seeking
a
reliable
means to
find the
longitude
at sea.
He
devoted
considerable
time and
energy
to
solving
the
problem,
and it
is clear
from his
letters
that he
discussed
his
solution
with
both
Flamsteed
and
Halley.
His
method
required
exact
lunar
tables,
which
were
unavailable
at the
time. In
spite of
the
criticism
his
method
received,
he
continued
to have
confidence
in his
idea,
perhaps
because
the
problem
was not
finally
resolved
until
the
1740s,
"when
John
Harrison
perfected
a
chronometer,
successfully
used by
James
Cook."
Swedenborg
published
his
method
in 1718
and
again in
1769. At
the time
of his
second
publication,
he
presented
his
method
to the
Royal
Society
in
England
.
Swedenborg
remained
abroad
until
1715,
spending
considerable
time in
Holland
and
France
absorbing
new
knowledge,
and time
in the
German
city of
Rostock
developing
his own
insights.
His
approach
to each
new
environment
was
similar
to the
way he
approached
his stay
in
London :
he
attended
public
lectures,
visited
the best
libraries,
searched
bookshops
and
stalls,
read and
studied,
and held
frequent
conversations
with
academics
on
topics
of
importance
to him.
Throughout
his tour
mathematics
was the
major
focus of
his
interest.
During
his
year-long
stay in
Rostock
he took
time to
order
and
integrate
his
studies
and
reflections
of the
previous
four
years.
"In a
letter
he wrote
to
Benzelius,
he lists
and
briefly
describes
fourteen
inventions.
Included
in the
list are
the
following:
a
submarine,
an
airplane,
a
mechanical
carriage,
a lock
system
for
raising
the
height
of ships
and 'a
method
of
conjuring
the
wills
and
affections
of men's
minds by
means of
analysis.'
For some
of his
inventions
he made
drawings;
for all
of them
he made
the
necessary
mechanical
and
mathematical
calculations."
The
fourteen
inventions
Swedenborg
described
to
Benzelius
were the
most
obvious
but not
the only
intellectual
fruits
of his
first
trip
abroad.
He left
Sweden
in 1710
a
Christian
and a
Cartesian
who was
still
willing
to
acknowledge
a debt
to
Aristotle—he
appreciated
both
system-building
and the
experimental
sciences,
and his
driving
intellectual
quest
was to
rationally
understand
the
relationship
between
first
causes
and ends
without
being
forced
into a
determinism
that
eliminated
freedom.
He
firmly
believed
that
truth
cannot
be
fabricated
from a
priori
knowledge
alone,
but must
be
capable
of
demonstration.
The
purpose
of his
trip to
England
"was to
learn
the
language
and
method
of
scientific
proof,
to learn
the
rules
governing
the
demonstration
of truth
through
experience,
and to
learn
the laws
through
which
nature
operates."
While in
England
Swedenborg
deepened
his
appreciation
for the
beauty,
the
power,
and the
necessity
of the
experimental
sciences
as the
proper
key to
understanding
the
natural
and
physical
universe.
Upon his
return
to
Sweden
he
endorsed
the
views of
the
noted
Swedish
inventor
and
engineer
Christopher
Polhem,
who was
critical
of the
Cartesians.
Philosophically,
however,
he did
not
become a
Newtonian.
Swedenborg
returned
from his
sojourn
abroad
aware of
both the
tremendous
power
and the
limits
of
empiricism.
He
realized
that a
complete
understanding
of the
human
condition
simply
cannot
be
grasped
empirically—an
insight
that was
not
unique
to him.
However,
"most
eighteenth
century
philosophers
were
content
to
explore
the
questions
which
could be
addressed
through
the
instrument
or
agency
of
reason
and
confirmed
by
experience."7
They
consciously
abandoned
the
quest of
penetrating
into
absolutes,
ultimates,
and
ends.
They
were
content
to ask
the
questions
which
they
felt
they had
the
tools to
answer,
rather
than
seeking
new
instruments
to
explore
the
essential
question
of human
existence,
"What
shall we
do and
how
shall we
live?"8
For
Swedenborg
the
essential
question
remained
the
quest.
Search
for a
Career
Swedenborg
had gone
abroad
to learn
everything
he could
about
the
practical
sciences
of his
day. His
interest
was both
personal
and
civic,
for he
had
dreams
of
assisting
the
modernization
of
Sweden
by means
of his
own
career
in
science
and
technology.
However,
upon his
return
to
Sweden
at the
age of
twenty-eight,
Swedenborg
was
confronted
with the
very
practical
problem
of what
to do.
How
could he
integrate
who he
was and
what he
had
learned
abroad
into the
rather
static
and
aristocratic
social
environment
of
Sweden
—an
environment
in which
a man's
connections
were the
currency
of
placement
and
position,
and
where
competence
and
achievements
were
secondary
or
unimportant
considerations?
Immediately
upon his
return,
Swedenborg
threw
his
energy
into
introducing
a
journal
which he
called
Daedalus
Hyperboreus,
dedicated
to
practical
scientific
inquiry.
He had
conceived
the idea
for the
journal
while he
was
abroad,
and he
saw it
as a
means of
stimulating
the
development
of
mechanics
and
manufacturing
in
Sweden ,
the
growth
of which
he felt
would
strengthen
the
national
economy.
The
journal
was
published
in
Swedish
in an
attempt
to
encourage
the
interest
of the
general
public
in these
matters,
and six
issues
were
published
over the
next
several
years.
The
articles
covered
a wide
range of
topics,
including
mine
machinery,
salt-making,
a flying
machine,
and
coinage.
Although
the
journal
sold
moderately
well,
Swedenborg
was
unable
to find
others
willing
to back
it
financially,
and
discontinued
its
publication
in 1718.
Even
though
Daedalus
was
commercially
unsuccessful,
it was
intellectually
innovative
and is
regarded
as the
foundation
of the
present
Royal
Society
of
Sciences
of
Uppsala.
The
question
of a
career
appeared
to be
resolved
when
Charles
XII
appointed
him
Extraordinary
Assessor
of the
Board of
Mines in
1716.
Although
the
King's
warrant
was
initially
accepted
and he
was
seated
on the
Board,
after
the
King's
death in
1718 and
a shift
in the
political
climate,
the
regularity
of the
appointment
was
questioned
and the
Board
denied
him the
seat and
a
salary.
Swedenborg
refused
to
accept
the
decision
of the
Board
and
continued
to
insist
on the
legitimacy
of his
appointment.
The
matter
was
settled
to
Swedenborg's
satisfaction
in 1723.
From
1715
until he
was
officially
recognized
by the
Board of
Mines,
besides
publishing
Daedalus
Swedenborg
threw
his
talent
and
energy
into
three
other
areas:
he
worked
as an
assistant
to
Christopher
Polhem
working
on a
variety
of
mechanical
inventions
and
various
military
projects
under
the
direction
of
Charles
XII; he
wrote
several
books
and
treatises
including
some
reflections
on
theology
and
anatomy;
and,
after
his
ennoblement,
due to
his
father's
position,
he wrote
and
submitted
to the
Riksdag
a
variety
of
memorials
on
important
political
and
economic
problems
which
were
plaguing
Sweden.
Throughout
this
period
he
received
no
retainer
or
salary
in any
position,
and
every
enterprise
was
begun
and
sustained
exclusively
through
personal
relationship—with
writers,
printers,
the
mercurial
inventor
and
engineer
Christopher
Polhem,
and the
strong-willed
King.
During
this
period
Swedenborg
was both
frustrated
and
discouraged
about
his
ability
to find
a stable
position
through
which he
could
serve
Sweden .
Swedenborg's
personal
fortune
was
dramatically
enhanced
when he
inherited
Starbo
at the
death of
his
stepmother,
Sarah
Bergia,
in early
1720.
Although
her
death
was a
personally
painful
experience
for him,
it
provided
the
financial
resources
for
Swedenborg
to
pursue a
career
as an
independent
scholar.
Intending
to
research,
write,
and
publish
as soon
as the
matter
of the
inheritance
were
settled,
Swedenborg
left
Sweden
for
Holland—first
leg of a
journey
in which
he also
planned
to visit
England,
France,
Italy,
Austria-Hungary,
and
Germany.
In
Holland
he
published
three
works: A
Forerunner
of the
Principles
of
Natural
Things,
commonly
known as
Chemistry;
New
Observations
and
Discoveries
Respecting
Iron and
Fire;
and A
New
Method
of
Finding
the
Longitude
of
Places
on Land
and at
Sea, by
Means of
the
Moon.
These
works
contained
a
collection
of
articles
addressing
old
interests
and new
ideas.
In the
work on
Chemistry
Swedenborg
articulated
for the
first
time one
of the
principles
of his
philosophy:
"The
first
conception
is that
all
things
are in
series;
there is
a series
of
particles,
beginning
with
mathematical
points
and
ending
in
water,
salt and
earth."
Although
he wrote
on a
variety
of
different
subjects
during
his stay
abroad,
it is
clear
that the
issue of
the
assessorship
was
still on
his mind
and that
one of
his
objectives
in
publishing
was to
become
an
authority
on
mining.
He
dedicated
Parts I
through
III of
his
Miscellaneous
Observations
to Count
Gustaf
Bonde,
the new
president
of the
Board of
Mines,
and he
published
some new
observations
and
research
on
mining
techniques
in Part
IV. He
also
sent a
prospectus
entitled
The
Genuine
Treatment
of
Metals
to a
variety
of
learned
journals.
It was
published
in the
Nova
Literaria.
Swedenborg
was
called
home by
his
father
in the
midst of
his trip
to help
settle
another
inheritance
dispute
within
the
family.
After
arriving
in
Sweden
in June
of 1722,
he
quickly
helped
to
settle
the
family
problem
and then
turned
his
attention
to two
other
important
matters,
one
private
and the
other
public—his
career
and
Sweden's
dire
economic
situation.
To
further
his
career
he
proposed
a test
of a new
method
to smelt
copper;
and to
address
Sweden
's
economic
problems
he wrote
a
memorial
on
coinage
and six
other
memorials
on the
state of
Sweden
's
economy.
The
memorial
on
coinage
"caused
a great
stir, as
it took
a firm
stand
against
the
debasement
of the
coinage."10
His
memorials
on
economics
were
read in
the
House of
Nobles,
but were
not
acted
upon,
while
his
pursuit
of the
position
of
Assessor
finally
bore
fruit.
In March
1723,
Swedenborg
was
invited
to
attend
the
sessions
of the
Board
and in
April an
agreement
was
reached
on the
issue of
his
seniority.
In 1724
he was
finally
awarded
a
salary.
Having
achieved
the
position
he had
pursued
with
such
dogged
determination,
Swedenborg
devoted
himself
to the
broad
and
complex
duties
of an
assessor
which
required
administrative,
technical,
and
judicial
competence.
He
remained
active
in this
position
until
1747,
when the
King
regretfully
accepted
his
resignation,
noting
in a
letter
his
faithful
and
exemplary
service
to
Sweden .
Upon
assuming
the
assessorship,
Swedenborg
brought
to a
close
one
phase of
his life
and
began
another.
During
this
period
Swedenborg
had
touched
base
with all
the
major
concerns
to which
he was
to
devote
the rest
of his
life:
cosmology,
anatomy,
and even
theology.
These
efforts
notwithstanding,
perhaps
his
major
accomplishment
during
this
period
was his
persistence
in
pursuing
what he
thought
was the
right
and
legitimate
course,
without
much
external
recognition
and
support.
The
Philosopher
It would
appear
that
securing
a
position
of
public
employment
freed
Swedenborg
to focus
his
intellect
on what
was for
him the
essential
problem
of
philosophy—the
relationship
between
the
Creator
and the
world of
creation.
For
twenty
years
from
1724 he
investigated,
reflected
upon,
and
wrote
down his
understanding
of this
problem—both
how to
approach
it and
what the
structure
of the
relationship
might
be.
Although
on the
surface
his
published
works
appear
to be
investigations
of
widely
divergent
topics,
his
works
during
this
period
form a
series.
His
first
work,
the
three-volume
Philosophical
and
Mineralogical
Works,
was
published
in
Leipzig
in 1734.
The
first
volume
is the
Principia,
and the
second
and
third
volumes
are
scientific
studies,
On Iron
and On
Copper.
His
second
major
philosophical
work was
published
in
Dresden
in 1734.
It was a
small
volume
entitled
The
Infinite
and
Final
Cause of
Creation.
His
third
work was
called
The
Economy
of the
Soul's
Kingdom,
published
in
Amsterdam
in 1740
and
1741.
Dissatisfied
with his
efforts
in the
Economy,
he began
another
work
called
The
Soul's
Kingdom.
Three
parts of
this
work
were
published
before
Swedenborg
abandoned
his
enterprise.
The
first
two
parts
were
published
in
Amsterdam
in 1744,
and a
third
part was
published
in
London
in 1745.
Swedenborg's
desire
to
understand
the
order
and
purpose
of
creation
first
led him
to
investigate
the
structure
of
matter
and the
process
of
creation
itself.
In the
Principia
he
outlined
his
philosophical
method,
which
incorporated
experience,
geometry
(the
means
whereby
the
inner
order of
the
world
can be
known),
and the
power of
reason;
and he
presented
his
cosmology,
which
included
the
first
presentation
of the
nebular
hypothesis.
In 1734,
satisfied
that he
had
understood
the
mechanics
of the
unfolding
of the
natural
universe
from the
first
natural
point or
the
first
finite,
he
turned
his
attention
to the
problem
of the
nature
of the
infinite
and its
relation
to the
finite.
In the
Principia
Swedenborg
concluded
his
presentation
of his
cosmology
with a
discussion
of man,
because
in his
view man
completes
creation.
In
ending
this
work
with a
discussion
of the
place of
man in
creation,
Swedenborg
was
pointing
to the
focus of
his
philosophical
endeavor
for the
next ten
years of
his
life.
The
completion
of his
philosophical
system
required
Swedenborg
to move
precisely
in this
direction.
Without
a
consideration
of man,
who
alone of
all
creation
can
worship
the
Creator,
and who
can thus
return
what has
been
created
to the
Creator,
his
system
would be
incomplete.
However,
before
he could
examine
the
manner
in which
the
human
body is
animated
and
functions
and is
thereby
connected
to the
creator,
it was
necessary
for him
to
address
the
essential
or
pivotal
question
of his
entire
philosophical
system—the
existence
of "the
Infinite
itself."
At the
beginning
of the
Principia
the
infinite
was
identified
as that
from
which
all of
creation
proceeds,
and at
the end
of that
work,
Swedenborg
indicated
that it
is to
the
infinite
that all
of
creation
must
return.
However,
before
he could
explore
how that
return
is made
possible,
he found
it
necessary
to
demonstrate
that the
infinite
does, in
fact,
exist
and that
it is
both the
first
and
final
cause of
creation—the
Alpha
and the
Omega.
In this
essay he
also
found it
necessary
to
demonstrate
why
man's
place in
nature
should
be
examined
at all.
According
to
Swedenborg,
"Since
man
resembles
nature
as to
his body
and
organs,
or as to
means,
if he is
undifferentiated
from the
rest of
nature
as to
ends as
well,
then the
principles
which
explain
the
'least
of
creation'
would
likewise
explain
man"—making
any
further
philosophical
examination
of
nature
unnecessary.11
In his
treatise
on The
Infinite
Swedenborg
demonstrated
the
existence
of the
Infinite,
and the
unique
role of
man in
the
order of
creation.
Mankind
is the
means
whereby
the
final
cause is
effected,
and the
medium
of
conjunction
between
the
Creator
and man
is love.
In this
essay
Swedenborg
emphasized
that all
man's
faculties—his
sensual,
his
rational,
his
freedom,
and his
capacity
to
love—serve
in the
realization
of the
final
cause of
creation,
each in
its
proper
place.
In The
Infinite,
Swedenborg
for the
first
time
drew
together
truths
from
reason
and
revelation
for the
sake of
man's
understanding.
Revelation,
as he
employed
it in
this
work,
was not
a
"stopgap"
for
reason,
but an
independent
and
necessary
source
of
truth.
At the
end of
this
work
Swedenborg
set as
the next
task of
his
philosophical
inquiry
"to
demonstrate
the
immortality
of the
soul to
the very
senses."12
This is
what he
attempted
to do in
The
Economy
of the
Soul's
Kingdom
and in
the
Soul's
Kingdom.
In these
works,
he was
seeking
to
discover
the
world of
cause
from a
detailed
examination
of the
world of
effects,
or to
understand
the
rules of
government
whereby
the soul
operates
in its
kingdom,
the
body.
Ultimately,
he was
interested
in
understanding
the
principal
cause
whereby
the
microcosm
operated,
or "to
trace
out the
nature
of the
human
soul"
itself.13
While
pursuing
this
goal
Swedenborg
wrote
several
remarkable
treatises,
including
his work
on the
brain
and his
rational
psychology.
Ultimately,
however,
he gave
up his
endeavor,
as he
yearned
to go
where
the
methods
of
philosophy
could
not take
him. At
the
beginning
of his
quest he
was
animated
by a
desire
to seek
immortal
truth
both for
its own
sake and
for the
sake of
banishing
mere
appearances
of
truth—a
desire
which is
compatible
with the
pursuit
of
science
and
philosophy—whereas
in the
end he
stated
that he
was
engaged
in his
labors
for the
sake of
those
who can
only
comprehend
high
truths
by way
of the
intellect,
and not
by
faith.
As he
said in
his
introduction
to The
Soul's
Kingdom,
"For
these
persons
only am
I
anxious...and
to them
I
dedicate
my work.
For when
I shall
have
demonstrated
truths
themselves
by the
analytical
method,
I hope
that
those
debasing
shadows
will be
dispersed;
and
thus...that
an
access
will be
opened
and a
way laid
down, to
faith.
My
ardent
desire
and zeal
for this
end is
what
urges
and
animates
me."14
This
passage
highlights
the
transformation
of
Swedenborg's
motivating
love or
purpose.
Scholarship
and a
love of
truth
for its
own sake
have
become
transformed
from
ends in
themselves
into
means.
Faith
has
become
the
primary
end,
with his
philosophy
serving
as the
means.
Such an
end is
ultimately
perhaps
more
compatible
with the
love of
saving
souls,
which is
a
priestly
rather
than a
philosophic
love.
It is at
this
point in
Swedenborg's
life, in
1743,
that he
underwent
a
profound
spiritual
crisis
which is
documented
in The
Journal
of
Dreams.
In his
journal
Swedenborg
recorded
his
dreams
and
visions
which
were
dramatizations
of his
temptation
to
determine
his own
way
rather
than
choosing
God's.
It is
important
to
realize
that
once the
process
was
begun
the
outcome
hung in
the
balance.
To
continue
his
search
to
understand
the
relationship
between
the
Divine
and man
required
more
than
intellectual
passion
and
clarity—it
required
his
absolute
devotion.
That
devotion
could
only
come
about
through
the
subordination
of his
self-love
to the
love of
God.
What may
have
activated
the
necessity
of
temptation
at this
time,
and to
this
depth,
was
Swedenborg's
joining
the love
of
saving
souls
with his
own
philosophy
as the
means.
Prior to
his
spiritual
crisis,
Swedenborg
had
experienced
"a
certain
cheering
light
and
joyful
flash"
darting
through
his
brain
when he
was in
the
presence
of
truth.15
Thus,
whenever
he felt
any lack
of
clarity
or
mental
confusion
he took
that as
a sign
not to
go on
immediately.
As he
proceeded
with his
investigations
he came
closer
to
passing
over the
abyss
between
matter
and
spirit
and
between
philosophy
and
revelation.
His
journal
of
dreams
not only
documents
his
spiritual
crisis,
but also
serves
as a
record
of his
personal
call.
I saw
also in
vision
that
fine
bread on
a plate
was
presented
to me;
which
was a
sign
that the
Lord
Himself
will
instruct
me since
I have
now come
first
into the
condition
that I
know
nothing,
and all
preconceived
judgments
are take
away
from me;
which is
where
learning
commences;
namely,
first to
be a
child
and thus
be
nursed
into
knowledge,
as is
the case
with me
now.16
With
this
realization,
Swedenborg
was
ready to
put
aside
his
philosophical
studies
in order
to focus
all his
attention
on the
spiritual.
But how?
It was
not
absolutely
clear to
him what
he ought
to do.
At this
time he
began a
manuscript
entitled
The
Worship
and Love
of God,
of which
he
published
the
first
two
parts in
London
in 1745.
It
stands
apart
from the
philosophy
that
preceded
it and
from the
Arcana
Coelestia
that was
to
follow.
Like The
Infinite
it was
both a
culmination
and a
beginning.
It
differs
from the
philosophic
works
more in
tone and
form
that in
substance,
and it
differs
from the
later
revelatory
works
both
formally
and
substantively.
This
poetic
work was
written
as an
offertory
to
express
his love
and
adoration
to God
the
Creator
and
Redeemer.
The
third
part of
this
work
Swedenborg
left
unfinished
in
manuscript
form,
abandoned
in
mid-sentence;
in this
section
he
intended
to move
beyond a
poetic
summary
of his
published
philosophical
works to
present
a
treatise
on the
Sun of
Life. A
consideration
of both
man's
freedom
and the
fall
were to
be
incorporated
in the
discussion.
The
literary
metaphor
with
which he
chose to
illustrate
these
things
was a
vision
of the
spiritual
sun,
seen by
the
first
married
pair as
they
awoke
from the
conjugal
bed. But
perhaps
he
became
concerned
that
this
direction
was
based
too much
on his
own
private
vision,
and
violated
his own
concern
that the
rules of
evidence
be
followed.
It
became
apparent
to him
that the
more
objective
path was
to be
found in
the
study of
the Holy
Bible or
the
Lord's
Word.
The
Revelator
In his
study of
the
Word,
Swedenborg
interiorly
heard
the Lord
calling.
In a
small
unpublished
manuscript
entitled
The
Messiah
About to
Come, he
wrote
down
passages
that
held
special
meaning
for
him—perhaps
they are
the
passages
in which
he could
hear the
Lord
most
clearly
speaking
to him.
At the
end of
the
manuscript
is a
brief
note
written
in
Swedish
on
November
17, 1745
. In
part it
says
"Lord
Jesus
Christ,
lead me
to and
on the
way on
which
Thou
willest
that I
shall
walk."17
In his
study he
gradually
realized
that the
Word
alone
could
form the
experiential
ground
of a new
revelation
from God
to man.
Because
this
ground
is
universally
available
to all
people
and
unlike a
private
vision,
it can
be
challenged
or
confirmed
by other
men's
rational
and
experiential
response
to it.
Desiring
to
direct
his life
to
serving
the
Lord,
Swedenborg
saw no
further
need to
remain
abroad,
and he
abandoned
his
projects
and
returned
to
Sweden
in the
summer
of 1745.
For the
next two
years he
continued
to
fulfill
his
duties
at the
College
of Mines
, while
privately
he
methodically
studied
the
Bible,
reading
it in
Hebrew
and
Greek as
well as
in
Latin.
During
this
time he
began an
extensive
Biblical
Index
and a
four
tome
exposition
of the
Bible,
entitled
The Word
Explained,
which he
never
published;
while in
another
journal
he
recorded
his
experiences
and
insights
from the
spiritual
world.
This too
he never
published.
In 1747
he was
appointed
first
Councillor
at the
Board of
Mines.
Swedenborg,
realizing
that the
responsibilities
of such
a
promotion
would
hinder
the more
important
spiritual
work he
was
doing,
asked to
be
passed
over for
this
appointment
and then
he
submitted
his
resignation
from the
College.
The King
accepted
his
resignation
with
mixed
feelings:
gratitude
for
Swedenborg's
steadfast
and
faithful
service
to
Sweden ,
sadness
because
he was
leaving
that
service,
and
confidence
that his
latest
endeavor
would be
as
beneficial
to the
public
as his
other
works
had
been.
These
feelings
of
gratitude
and
respect
were
concretely
reinforced
by the
King's
genuine
pleasure
in
granting
Swedenborg's
request
for a
pension.
In
leaving
the
King's
service
Swedenborg
was able
to focus
his full
attention
on his
Divine
commission.
As he
grew to
understand
it, that
commission
required
both
intellectual
and
spiritual
preparation.
The need
for such
preparation,
according
to
Swedenborg's
own
testimony,
lay in
the
nature
of the
revelation
he was
to
receive.
As he
stated
in
Arcana
Coelestia,
internal
revelation,
or
revelation
from
perception,
requires
preparation
of the
mind and
soul, in
order to
create a
foundation
for it.
External
revelations
through
dreams,
visions
or
hearing
a voice,
on the
other
hand,
such as
those
received
by the
Jewish
prophets,
do not
require
a
similar
foundation.
Revelations
of this
kind are
revelations
without
perception
or
understanding.
That
Swedenborg's
understanding
of
scripture
deepened
and
changed
from the
time he
felt his
call
until
his
first
theological
work
(Arcana
Coelestia)
was
published,
is made
obvious
through
comparison.
The
Arcana
was his
fourth
effort
to
unfold
the
hidden
meaning
of
Genesis.
According
to
Swedenborg
himself,
it was
begun
only
after a
change
of state
had
occurred
within
him
which
permitted
him to
view
"the
heavenly
kingdom
in an
image."18
With
this
change
of state
the last
veil had
been
removed
and he
had
achieved
the
degree
of
perception
necessary
to be an
instrument
of a
rational
revelation.
From
seeing
Genesis
first as
cosmology,
as he
did in
"The
History
of
Creation
as Given
by
Moses,"
and then
as
historical
prophecy
as he
had in
both in
the
"Biblical
Index"
and The
Word
Explained,
he was
ultimately
led to
see that
Genesis
treats
primarily
of the
process
of the
Lord's
glorification
and
man's
regeneration.
With
reference
to man,
the
story of
creation
refers
not to
man's
first
creation
an
earth,
but
rather
to his
second
or
essential
creation—his
spiritual
birth.
Swedenborg's
Public
Mission
The
eight
quarto
volumes
of the
Arcana
Coelestia
were
published
anonymously
in
London
between
1749 and
1756.
Even
though
he did
not
claim
authorship,
the
publication
of the
Arcana
initiated
the
"public"
phase of
Swedenborg's
mission
because
his
inner
visions
and
spiritual
experiences
were no
longer
to serve
primarily
his own
enlightenment.
They
were now
to be
shared
with the
world.
Because
Swedenborg
was an
instrument
of an
internal
revelation,
his
spiritual
mission
took
place in
both the
spiritual
and
natural
worlds.
He
believed
that his
commission
to the
natural
world
entailed
only
that he
should
faithfully
write,
publish,
and
disseminate
the
heavenly
truths
that
were
revealed
to him
by the
Lord.
This is
all that
he did
during
the
twenty-three
years of
his
public
mission.
He never
put any
effort
into
direct
proselytizing
or into
organizing
a new
church,
nor did
he
personally
attempt
to
convert
anyone
to his
views.
Throughout
this
time he
underwrote
all of
the
expense
necessary
to
fulfill
this
mission,
and
whatever
income
he
received
from the
sale of
these
books he
directed
his
printer
to
reinvest
in their
publication.
He sold
his
books
below
cost and
he also
sent
many
copies
of his
works to
libraries,
prelates,
and
various
other
notable
individuals.
During
this
time
from
1749 to
1771 he
published
eighteen
separate
theological
works.
The
scope of
Swedenborg's
theological
writings
is
immense.
Two of
his
works,
Arcana
Coelestia
and
Apocalypse
Revealed,
expound
the
internal
sense of
Genesis,
a
portion
of
Exodus,
and the
Apocalypse,
utilizing
the
doctrine
of
correspondences
to do
so. In
some of
the
other
works he
published
he
discusses
such
topics
as: life
in
heaven
and
bell,
the Last
Judgment,
Divine
providence,
the
doctrine
of the
Lord,
the
doctrine
of the
Sacred
Scripture,
life in
the
universe,
marriage
love,
and the
essentials
of the
true
Christian
religion.
Swedenborg's
religious
teachings
provide
a new
vision
of God,
new
insight
into the
nature
of the
relationship
between
the
spiritual
and
natural
worlds,
and a
universal
and
rational
ethic to
guide
men to a
useful
life. It
is a
radical
and
rational
Christian
religion:
radical
because
it
breaks
with
both
Catholic
and
Protestant
traditional
interpretations
of the
Trinity,
original
sin, the
atonement,
and
imputation
and
justification;
and
rational
because
the
focus of
its
theology
is the
penetration
and
clarification
of the
mysteries
of
faith,
through
which a
new
understanding
of
salvation
emerges
which
grants
man
cooperative
efficacy
in
spiritual
things.
While
engaged
in
making
known
these
new
spiritual
truths,
Swedenborg
was able
to
maintain
his
anonymity
for only
the
first
ten
years of
his
mission.
An
extraordinary
experience
that he
had
while
attending
a dinner
party in
Göteborg
in 1759,
in which
he
reported
a fire
in
Stockholm
three
hundred
miles
away,
gained
him a
reputation
in
Sweden
as a
clairvoyant.
Gradually
as his
books
became
known in
Sweden ,
those
who had
read
them
guessed
that
Swedenborg
was the
author
and when
asked by
them, he
acknowledged
authorship.
He
continued
to
publish
his
works
anonymously,
but
gradually
knowledge
of his
authorship
grew
outside
of
Sweden
as well.
It was
not
until
1769
that he
declared
himself
as
author
of any
of his
theological
writings:
on the
title
page of
Conjugial
Love he
wrote
"Emanuel
Swedenborg,
A
Swede."
As
knowledge
of his
authorship
of these
religious
books
increased,
men
began to
seek him
out to
discuss
them
with
him.
Swedenborg
almost
always
obliged;
however,
by this
time had
gained
notoriety
in some
circles
as a mad
visionary.
This was
due to
his
reputation
as a
clairvoyant,
the
nature
of his
claim to
be able
to see
into the
spiritual
world,
and to
his
descriptions
of that
world.
Many
people
who
sought
him out
did so
more
from
curiosity
than for
enlightenment.
He
refused
to
demonstrate
his
spiritual
prowess
but was
always
delighted
to
discuss
religious
issues
with
sincere
seekers.
Because
of
restrictions
on the
freedom
of the
press in
Sweden ,
Swedenborg
published
all of
his
religious
works
outside
of
Sweden ,
primarily
in
Holland
or
England
.
Neither
this
fact nor
the fact
that he
did not
try to
organize
a church
enabled
him to
escape
controversy
with the
Church
in
Sweden .
Toward
the end
of his
life two
men who
had
accepted
his
teachings
became
embroiled
in a
heresy
trial as
a result
of
propagating
the new
ideas of
Swedenborg
at the
University
of
Göteborg
. When
Swedenborg
heard of
this he
became
indignant
and
wrote to
the King
on
behalf
of these
men. His
letter
seems to
have had
a
positive
result,
and
eventually
the
matter
was
dropped.
The
universities
were
also
asked to
make a
judgment
regarding
Swedenborg's
writings.
After
three
years
they
asked to
be
excused
from the
duty
without
ever
presenting
any
findings.
It would
be over
one
hundred
years
before
an
official
New
Church
organization
was
established
in
Sweden
.
Swedenborg's
Mission
in the
Spiritual
World
According
to
Swedenborg,
the
purpose
of
spiritual
and
natural
creation
was to
form a
heaven
from the
human
race.
However,
this
required
free
response
on the
part of
man, and
provision
for his
salvation.
The
spiritual
world,
of which
heaven
is a
part, is
the
world of
causes,
while
the
natural
world is
that of
effects.
Therefore,
for a
new
revelation
to be
truly
new and
universal,
it must
reveal
the
world of
causes
which
was for
so long
hidden
from
man, and
it must
essentially
address
the
question
of order
at that
level;
for so
far as
the
world of
causes
is
ordered,
so will
be the
world of
effects.
Thus,
the
major
events
which
surround
the
formation
of this
new
church
occurred
in the
spiritual
world,
according
to
Swedenborg.
Thus,
the last
judgment
which is
referred
to in
the book
of
Revelation,
was an
event
which
took
place in
the
spiritual
world in
1757.
Once
that
judgment
took
place,
this
world of
causes
was
prepared
for the
establishment
of a new
heaven
there.
Both
this new
heaven
and new
church
were to
be
founded
on a
more
interior
or
essential
vision
of the
conjunction
of good
and
truth in
the
Divine
Human of
the Lord
Jesus
Christ.
The new
heaven
would be
established
among
the good
departed
souls
who had
not
received
a clear
understanding
of the
Lord as
a result
of their
experiences
in the
Christian
church
before
their
death,
or who
at death
knew
little
or
nothing
about
Christianity.
Swedenborg's
role in
the
spiritual
world
was to
serve as
an
instrument
whereby
the
world of
cause
could be
conjoined
to the
world of
effect,
not just
for the
sake of
his own
salvation,
but for
all men.
For in
The True
Christian
Religion,
his last
published
work,
Swedenborg
details
the
universal
theology
of the
new
church,
and
informs
mankind
that
with the
advent
of the
New
Church ,
"now it
is
permitted
to enter
with
understanding
into the
mysteries
of
faith."
What
will
bring
about
the
establishment
of this
church
both in
the
spiritual
and the
natural
worlds
is the
acknowledgment
on the
part of
spirits
and men
that the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
reigns.
The
publication
of The
True
Christian
Religion
inscribed
by the "Lord's
command"
with the
words "Servant
of the
Lord
Jesus
Christ,"
marked
the
culmination
of
Swedenborg's
dual
mission—to
serve as
an
instrument
for the
establishment
of a new
heaven,
and a
new
church
on earth.
These,
he
believed,
would be
established
by the
Lord
alone
among
those
who
freely
acknowledged
His
sovereignty
and led
a good
life.
Shortly
after
the
publication
of The
True
Christian
Religion
in
Amsterdam
in 1771,
Swedenborg
left the
Netherlands
and went
to
England
. He
suffered
a stroke
in
December
1771 and
died on
March
29, 1772
. |