There is a deceptively simple idea at the heart of the spiritual
philosophy offered here: That there is a divine intention at the heart of all creation, an intention so deep that it formed the most intrinsic laws of physical reality, an intention so constant that it continues to express itself in every aspect of the natural world, and an intention so human that creating and nurturing us is its only goal.
We call that intention “love” and name it “The Lord,” and look out on a world that is - from the sun and moon down to the least blade of grass - an expression of the Lord’s love for us. If we knew enough, we could look at a tree and see meaning in every leaf, look at a beach and learn from each grain of sand.
Swedenborg says that ancient people actually did “know enough” - they were so wise they could commune with the Lord through nature, perceiving the love expressed in everything around them. But eventually, over thousands of generations, they were enticed by the power of their own minds, and chose thinking for themselves over perceiving from the Lord. To keep a connection with them, the Lord led people to institute rituals and symbols to carry the same meaning in more tangible ways. But eventually, over many more generations, people corrupted those connections, too, turning them to serve themselves.
So the Lord turned to a new human innovation: the written word. Swedenborg says that as the ancient Hebrews began recording stories passed from their ancestors and tracking their own history, the Lord entered into the work, filling it with the same kind of spiritual meaning the ancients had seen in nature. This happened without the knowledge of the human authors, but was so deep and so complete that every letter of the original language contains multiple layers of meaning. And it continued through the works of the prophets, the four Gospels of the New Testament and the Book of Revelation.
This ensured that the Lord would always have a way to reach humans, however far they wandered - love had a permanent container, a permanent form; it was preserved, even if no one in the world knew it was there. And the Lord could bring it out when humanity was ready to hear it.
Swedenborg says that time came in the middle of the 18th century, and that he was chosen as the Lord’s instrument. He says that the Lord opened his mind, and that from the 1740s until the end of his life in 1772 he was able to read the Bible and perceive the infinite meaning within its text, and that the Lord charged him to share that meaning with the world as best he could. The first work he published was a phrase by phrase study of Genesis and Exodus that ran to 12 volumes; he later addressed Revelation in a similar way, and his more philosophic works are thick with references to Bible passages and their internal meanings.
And what do these works tell us? They reveal that on one level the Bible, which appears to be natural history, is actually sharing the spiritual history of humanity. On a deeper level, it is telling the parallel story of the spiritual journey we all can follow in our own lives, from the innocence of infancy to the fierce battles of youth to the temptations and gradual emergence of adulthood. And on the deepest level, the Bible is telling the spiritual journey the Lord took himself when he took on human form (and human frailties) as Jesus.
Swedenborg discusses much of this through what Swedenborgian scholars call “correspondences” -- the idea that specific things in the Bible have specific spiritual meanings. It is easy to compare that idea to symbolism, and we tend to use that language because it is generally understood. But Swedenborg states emphatically that the internal sense is far deeper, more consistent and more meaningful than such human constructions. Rather than hinting at possible meaning, the text of the Bible serves as a container for spiritual meaning - meaning more real than any words could be, meaning more profound than words could ever fully express.
It’s also tempting to think of the internal sense as a “Bible code,” a sort of one-to-one word cipher we can use to solve some mystery. But this falls desperately short. For one thing, context is a huge factor in a spiritual reading of the Bible. Ideas that carry a certain meaning in one context may carry the opposite one -- or a seemingly unrelated one -- in a different context. For another, the actual spiritual meaning is infinite, dwarfing not only the text of the Bible but also the text of Swedenborg’s works. Indeed, Swedenborg is clear that the best he can offer is hints and tools and outlines; his works often have an air of wonder and frustration as he tries to describe the marvels that exist there beyond the easy reach of language.
The beauty of all this, though, is that it leaves room for endless exploration, and is open to the insights of every curious new mind. Everyone can engage with the process and -- if they are willing to be led by the Lord -- can hope to find what they need to become better people in their own lives.
Passages from Swedenborg:
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1965
- This then is the internal sense of the details in this chapter concerning Abram, Hagar, and Ishmael. Yet how inexhaustible that sense is, that is, how limitless the details it contains, may be seen from the single consideration that, as every single thing in the Word looks in the internal sense to the Lord and has the Lord as its subject, the life of the Word, being the Word itself, arises out of this. In addition every single thing has at the same time in the internal sense the Lord's kingdom in heaven as its subject, and also His kingdom on earth, which is the Church. And in a similar way it has as its subject each individual who has the Lord's kingdom within him, besides having in general everything celestial or spiritual as its subject. For the Lord is the source of all these things, and this accounts for Abram's also representing the celestial Church, the celestial man, as well as the celestial itself, and so on. To extend the explanation any further however would take much too long.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6444
- These are the things that are meant by 'Benjamin'; but can anyone without the internal sense state what is implied by the things said about him - that he 'is a wolf', 'will seize in the morning', 'will devour the spoil', and 'at evening will divide the plunder'? The meaning of these details would lie completely hidden unless the internal sense revealed it. Very much of what is contained in the Prophets is like this; little of it is intelligible if considered literally, but all of it is intelligible if considered from the internalsense.
From all that has been said it may now be seen perfectly clearly that Jacob's sons and the tribes named after them mean the kinds of things that constitute the Lord's Church and kingdom.
Divine Providence (Dole) n. 172
- I explained in Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture that the Lord is the Word and that all the teaching of the church should be based on the Word. Since the Lord is the Word, then, it follows that when we are being taught by the Word we are being taught by the Lord alone.
Doctrine of Sacred Scripture (Dick) n. 33
- From this it follows that the Word without the sense of its Letter would be like a palace without a foundation, a palace in the air instead of on the ground, a mere shadow which would vanish away. Again, it would be like a temple, containing many sacred things, whose central shrine had no protecting roof or dividing wall, which are its containants. If these were wanting, or were taken away, its holy things would be carried off by robbers, and violated by the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air, and thus destroyed. It would be like the tabernacle (in the inmost of which was the Ark of the Covenant, and in the centre the golden lampstand, the golden altar upon which was the incense, and the table upon which was the shewbread, which were its holy things) without its outermost things, namely, the curtains and the veils. Indeed, the Word without the sense of its Letter would be like the human body without its coverings, called skins, and without the support of its bones: without these all the inward parts would fall asunder.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4783
- (T)he sense of the letter of the Word contains general ideas which, being like vessels, can be filled with truths or else with falsities and so can be given whatever explanation suits one's own point of view. And because they are general ones they are also obscure compared with other ideas, receiving light from nowhere else than the internal sense. For the internal sense exists in the light of heaven because it is the Word as angels know it, whereas the sense of the letter exists in the light of the world because it is the Word as men know it before they come to the light of heaven received from the Lord, by which light they are then enlightened.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1984
- Few can believe that within the Word there is an internal sense which does not show itself at all in the letter. They cannot do so because it is as remote from the sense of the letter as so to speak heaven from earth. But it is clear from what has been stated in various places in Volume One that the sense ofthe letter contains such things within itself, and represents and means arcana which nobody sees except the Lord and the angels, who see them from Him. The relationship of the sense of the letter to the internal sense is like that of man's body to his soul. While a person is in the body and thinks from bodily things he knows hardly anything of the soul, for the body's functions are different from those of the soul, so different that if the soul's functions were disclosed they would not be acknowledged as such. It is similar with the inward part of the Word. Present there is its soul, that is, its life; and that inward part has no regard to anything except the Lord, His Kingdom, the Church, and those things with man which belong to His Kingdom and Church. And when the regard is to these it is the Word of the Lord, for in that case they have life itself within them.
True Christian Religion (Dick) n. 226
- (1) WITHOUT DOCTRINE, THE WORD IS UNINTELLIGIBLE.
This is because the Word in the sense of the Letter consists of pure correspondences, so designed that spiritual and celestial things may be simultaneously in it, and that every word of it may contain them and serve as their basis. For this reason Divine truths in the sense of the Letter are rarely unveiled. For the most part they are veiled, and being so are called appearances of truth, being accommodated to the perception of simple people, whose thoughts do not rise above what they see with their eyes. There are, moreover, some things which appear like contradictions, whereas there is not a single contradiction in the Word, when it is regarded in its own spiritual light.
True Christian Religion (Dick) n. 215
- The truths of the sense of the Letter of the Word are, in some cases, not naked truths, but appearances of truth, being, as it were, similitudes and comparisons, taken from such things as are in nature, accommodated and adequate to the apprehension of simple people and children; but because they are at the same time correspondences, they are the receptacles and abodes of genuine truth. They are the vessels that contain it, as a crystal cup contains good wine, or a silver dish nourishing food.
Doctrine of Sacred Scripture (Dick) n. 26
- 5. HENCEFORTH THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD WILL BE MADE KNOWN ONLY TO THOSE WHO ARE IN GENUINE TRUTHS FROM THE LORD. This is because no one is able to see the spiritual sense except from the Lord alone, and unless he is in Divine truths from the Lord. For the spiritual sense treats only of the Lord and of His kingdom; and in the understanding of that sense are His angels in heaven, for that sense is the Divine Truth there. Man can violate Divine Truth, if he has a knowledge of correspondences and by it proceeds to explore the spiritual sense of the Word from his own intelligence; since by a few correspondences known to him he may pervert the spiritual sense, and even force it to confirm what is false. This would be to offer violence to Divine Truth, and also to heaven. Therefore, if anyone desires to discover that sense from himself and not from the Lord, heaven is closed to him; and when heaven is closed he either sees no truth, or becomes spiritually insane.
De Verbo (Whitehead) n. 5
- V. THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD AND ITS NATURAL SENSE.
I have spoken at times with spirits who did not wish to know anything about the spiritual sense of the Word, saying that its natural sense is the only sense of the Word, and that this is holy because it is from God; and they asserted that if the spiritual sense were to be accepted, the Word in the letter would become nothing. There were many who insisted upon this, but they were answered from heaven that the Word without the spiritual sense within it would not be Divine; and because the spiritual sense is its soul, it is thence Divine, yea, living, for without it the letter would be as it were dead; the very holiness of the Word consists in this.
True Christian Religion (Dick) n. 194
- (1) WHAT THE SPIRITUAL SENSE IS.
The spiritual sense of the Word is not that which shines from the sense of the Letter when any one searches the Word and explains it to prove some dogma of the Church. This may be called the literal and ecclesiastical sense of the Word; but the spiritual sense is not apparent in the sense of the Letter; it is interiorly within it, as the soul is in the body, or as the thought of the understanding is in the eye, or as the affection of love is in the countenance. It is this sense especially that makes the Word spiritual, not only for men, but also for angels; and therefore the Word by means of this sense communicates with the heavens. Since the interior content of the Word is spiritual, it is written by pure correspondences; and what is thus written exhibits in its ultimate sense the style of the Prophets, the Evangelists and the Revelation.
Doctrine of Sacred Scripture (Dick) n. 25
- The spiritual sense of the Word has at this day been disclosed by the Lord because the doctrine of genuine truth has now been revealed; and this doctrine, and no other, agrees with the spiritual sense of the Word. This sense also is signified by the appearing of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with glory and power, Matthew xxiv 30, 31; and this chapter treats of the consummation of the age, by which is meant the last phase of the Church. The opening of the Word as to its spiritual sense was promised also in the Revelation. It is there meant by the white horse and by the great supper to which all are invited, chapter xix 11-18.
True Christian Religion (Dick) n. 209
- (8) SOME WONDERFUL THINGS CONCERNING THE WORD FROM ITS SPIRITUALSENSE.
In the natural world wonderful appearances do not proceed from the Word because the spiritual sense is not manifest there; nor is it interiorly received by man, as it is in itself. In the spiritual world, however, wonderful things do appear from the Word, for there all men are spiritual, and spiritual things affect the spiritual man just as natural things affect the natural man. I will now mention a few of the many wonderful things that arise in the spiritual world from the Word. The Word itself placed in the shrines of the temples there, shines before the eyes of the angels like a great star, and sometimes like a sun, and from the bright radiance which surrounds it there also appear as it were beautiful rainbows. This happens whenever a shrine is opened. [2] I was also able to observe, that all the individual truths of the Word cast a radiance, from this fact that when any verse from the Word is written upon a piece of paper, and the paper is thrown into the air, the paper shines with a radiance in the form in which it has been cut; so that spirits by means of the Word can produce various shining forms, including those of birds and fish. But what is still more wonderful, if any person rubs his face, his hands, or the clothes he is wearing, against the open Word, so as to touch the writing with them, his face, hands and clothes shine as though he were standing in a star, encompassed with its light. This I have often seen to my great wonder; and it was thus evident to me why the face of Moses shone, when he brought down the Tables of the Covenant from Mount Sinai.
True Christian Religion (Rose) n. 192
192
Any of us who are unaware that the Word has a spiritual meaning, like a soul within its body, have nothing else to judge the Word by except its literal meaning. Yet the literal meaning is like a case that contains the precious objects of the spiritual meaning. When we are unaware of the spiritual meaning, we cannot judge the divine holiness of the Word any more than we could judge a precious stone on the basis of the ore that envelops it, which sometimes looks very ordinary. Or imagine a case made out of jasper, lapis lazuli, amianthus (also called mica), or agate that contains rows of diamonds, rubies, sardonyxes, oriental topazes, and so on. If we do not realize it contains gems, it is no wonder we do not value the case any more than the worth of the material it is visibly made of. It is the same with the Word's literal meaning.
Therefore to prevent people from doubting that the Word is divine and most holy, the Lord has revealed to me its inner meaning, a meaning that is essentially spiritual and exists within its outer, earthly meaning like a soul in a body. The inner meaning is the spirit that brings the letter to life. The inner meaning has the power to prove even to our earthly self that the Word is divine and holy - provided we are willing to be convinced.
Who (or What) is Swedenborg?
The ideas on this site are based on the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, an 18th-century Swedish scientist and theologian. Swedenborg claimed that his religious writings, the sole focus of the last three decades of his life, were done at the behest of the Lord himself, and constituted a revelation for a successor to the Christian Church.
In keeping with Swedenborg’s own statements, modern believers downplay his role as author, attributing the ideas to the Lord instead. For this reason they generally refer to Swedenborg’s theological works as “the Writings,” and some resist the label “Swedenborgian” as placing emphasis on the man rather than the message.
Since “the Writings” would be an unfamiliar term to new readers, we have elected to use the name “Swedenborg” as a label for those theological works, much as we might use “Isaiah” or “Matthew” to refer to books of the Bible. The intent, however, is not to attribute the ideas to Swedenborg, any more than we would attribute the divinity of the Bible to Isaiah the man or Matthew the man.
So when you read “according to Swedenborg” on this site, it’s really shorthand for “according to the theological works from the Lord through Swedenborg.” When you read “Swedenborg says,” it’s really shorthand for “the theological works of Swedenborg say.”