Considered as a planet, the Earth basks in the light and heat of the sun, the first and most general recipient of the energy that drives all the life on its surface. But not all parts of the Earth are fertile — there are stony mountains, arid deserts, lakes and seas that are sterile for various reasons. There are, however, also parts that are incredibly fertile, like farms, fields and gardens. We prepare these to nurture seeds and transform the sun’s energy into food and other useful products.
It makes sense, then, that all these things represent humanity in various forms. We are, according to Swedenborg, the recipients of the Lord’s love, just as the Earth is the recipient of the sun’s energy.
As the most general and all-encompassing of these ideas, “earth” represents our exteriors — the most outward aspects of an individual person or a collection of people acting as a church. There is potential for life, but nothing cultivated and nothing planted.
On our earth we can look for good ground, areas in our minds with the potential for spiritual growth. We can establish fields and plow them, breaking the hard surface (rejecting things we know to be false and evil) to give seeds (desires for good and the ideas that make good things possible) a chance to take root. If we do it right and keep tending our fields, we will get crops — the inspiration and deeper understanding that can help move us toward heaven.
And in the best parts of the earth we can plant gardens, with a bounty and variety of food along with trees and flowers that celebrate the gifts of the sun — states of love and joy in the good things we can produce and share.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 17
- Verse 2 And the earth was a void and an emptiness, and there was thick darkness over the face* of the deep; and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face* of the waters. The person who has yet to be regenerated is called ‘a void and an empty earth’, and also ‘ground’, in which no good or truth at all has been sown – ‘void’ where there is no good, and ’empty’ where there is no truth. Consequently there is ‘thick darkness’, or stupidity and lack of knowledge about anything that has to do with faith in the Lord and so anything that has to do with spiritual and celestial life. This kind of person is described by the Lord through Jeremiah,
My people are foolish, they know Me not; they are stupid children, having no understanding; they are wise to do evil, and know not how to do good. I looked to the earth, and, behold, a void and an emptiness; and towards the heavens, and they had no light. Jer. 4:22, 23, 25.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 89
- Verse 4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when He created them, on the day in which Jehovah God made the earth and the heavens.
‘The generations of the heavens and the earth’ are stages in the formation of the celestial man. The fact that the formation of that man is now the subject is also quite clear from the details that follow, for example ‘no plant had yet sprung up’, ‘there was no man to till the ground’, then ‘Jehovah God formed the man’, and after that ‘every beast and bird of the air’.* According to the previous chapter, man, beast, and bird have been formed already, which means that a different man is the subject here. This is further evident from the fact that ‘Jehovah God’ is now mentioned for the first time, whereas previously, when the subject has been the spiritual man, He is called simply ‘God’. Also ‘ground and field’ are referred to now, whereas previously it was merely ‘the earth’. And in the present verse ‘heaven’ is first of all mentioned before ‘earth’ and then ‘earth’ before ‘heaven’. This is because ‘earth’ means the external man and ‘heaven’ the internal. With the spiritual man, in whom reformation is taking place, the starting point is the earth or external man; but here, where the subject is celestial man, the starting point is the internal man or heaven.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 2162 (part 8)
By ‘the earth’ lower rational and natural things are meant, which from correspondence are likewise referred to as celestial and spiritual things, such as those that exist in the lower heavens and also in the Church, and those things which belong to external worship and also those present in the literal sense of the Word. In short, all things that stem from internal things and manifest themselves in external are, being natural things, called ‘the earth’ and ‘the Lord’s footstool’.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 552
- It (the dragon) was cast to the earth, and its angels were cast out with it. This symbolically means that they were cast into the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, from which a direct conjunction is formed with people on earth.
The earth to which the dragon is said to have been cast means the world of spirits, because this world lies directly under the heavens, and when anyone is cast out of heaven, he does not sink immediately into hell, but onto the land in this world that is the nearest one beneath. For this world is midway between heaven and hell, being situated below the heavens and above the hells. More on this world may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758), nos. 421�535.
The people in this world all communicate directly with people on earth. The dragon and its angels consequently communicate with people caught up in falsities and their accompanying evils, owing to the heresy they have accepted regarding faith alone. The text accordingly says later in verse 12 of this chapter,
Therefore rejoice, O heavens…! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has a short time.” (Revelation 12:12)
We are also told in verses 13-17 that the dragon pursued the woman into the wilderness, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring.
It should be known that in respect to his affections and consequent thoughts, everyone is present in a society with people in the world of spirits, and indirectly through them with people either in heaven or in hell. Everyone’s life depends on that conjunction.