Day: April 9, 2017

Chapter XXIV. The Third Degree of Regeneration.

< Chapter XXIII. The Second Degree of Regeneration. ^ Discrete Degrees ^ Chapter XXV. The Wicked. >

THIS diagram presents man regenerated to the highest or celestial degree a of his spiritual mind. The corresponding degrees of the natural, b and c, are also regenerated and conjoined to the highest. He now enjoys celestial perception. He leads a life the highest, purest, and happiest possible, performing uses the most essential and universal, the life and use of celestial love and wisdom and of inmost innocence and peace. The measure of every recipient faculty in every plane is full. The lower degrees of the spiritual mind opened and lived through as he passed on to the highest are closed beneath the one he now inhabits. Still, gathering their harvests of good and truth and garnering them in those lower planes, he extracted their celestial essences and bore them with him to his lofty home where the very primitives of the life and delight of the lower degrees bloom and fructify to eternity. (AC 5114; HH 208.)

The whole natural man (except the gross body to be rejected) is joined to the spiritual mind and ever after acts as one with it, the willing servant of a heavenly lord and master. Dying in this state man rises to an abode in the celestial heaven.

From the above concord of the natural with the spiritual there is however this abatement, the vanquished but not exterminated evils from the father and any actual evils that may have existed, though dormant, still remain in the circumference of the spiritual-sensual and spiritual-corporeal. These evils by the force of the ever increasing good within are continually pressed out into the farthest verge of that plane, where (though dormant) they cannot but emit deleterious effluvia which must sink from the highlands where the angels reside down into the lowlands surrounding the hells. (AC 4564, 1414, 1444, 4551, 4552.) In the above abatement must be included the limbus so far as tinctured with actual evil therein enrooted or affected by the influence of unexterminated evil in the higher degrees.

ON page 59 we deferred our interpretation of the teaching that with those who come into heaven, the limbus is below and the spiritual above, but the reverse with those who come into hell. The whole passage is as follows:

“The soul which is from the father is the man himself, and the body, which is from the mother is not in itself the man, but from him. The body is only the clothing of the soul woven of such [substances] as are of the natural world; but the soul is of such [substances] as are in the spiritual world. Every man after death lays aside the natural which he carried from the mother and retains the spiritual which was from the father, together with a certain limbus of the purest [substances] of nature around it; but this limbus with those who come into heaven is below, and the spiritual above, but the limbus, with those who come into hell, is above, and the spiritual below; thence it is that a man-angel speaks from heaven, thus what is good and true; but that a man-devil speaks from hell while from his heart, and as it were from heaven while from his mouth; this he does abroad, but that at home. “- TCR 103

This cannot mean that the limbus of the wicked is above their spiritual organism. Natural substances being created from spiritual must be below them and be their base. The wicked being in inverted order esteem the sensuals and corporeals of the limbus as more valuable than the spiritual, thus above the spiritual. With the good, true order is preserved, they hold the spiritual as above and the sensual as beneath. (AC 5076, 5077, 5094, 4552; TCR 402.)

We say man receives the Divine Love and Wisdom; but strictly these are of such order and force that no finite human organism could bear the least contact with them. What then is received? Men are organized of created substances spiritual and natural and receive life from the LORD which in itself is the inmost activity of the Divine Love and Wisdom. (TCR 471, 472.) Even this life cannot be received as it is in the LORD but as flowing forth from Him and moderated by the substances of the sun of the spiritual world and the atmospheres through which it passes. This proceeding Divine is dual, the activity of the Divine Love inmostly affecting man’s will and the activity of the Divine Wisdom affecting his understanding, producing in them states correspondent to Love and Wisdom in the LORD. (TCR 39.)

Previous: Chapter XXIII. The Second Degree of Regeneration. Up: Discrete Degrees Next: Chapter XXV. The Wicked.

Heaven is not just for Christians

The Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of love. Love trumps faith, that is, love trumps Christian knowledge. The reason is that love is the spiritual means by which the Lord God forms an intimate relationship with each of us.

The knowledge of God or belief in God only makes God present with us. But love, which is faith put into action, is how the Lord enters into our very lives – not just nearby.

God seeks a dwelling place in our hearts. Love is how the Lord enters into a covenant with us.

When we love the neighbor as ourselves we apply the Golden Rule, whether we attend a church, a temple, a mosque, or a baseball game. True worship is true love.

The mercy of the Lord is Infinite and cannot be limited to any one country, race, or belief-system. This is contrary to Divine Love and mercy.

People who believe that those who do not share their belief system will perish in hell overlook the fact that religion involves being good – not being right.

Furthermore, how can Christians even claim to be “right” when disdain for others, greed, and adultery is so prevalent among its ranks? This is the horrible outcome of the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, which separates religion from how we actually behave in the world.

It is also the disastrous outcome of interpreting Scripture merely as a literal account of history, which describes God as being “pissed-off,” promoting wars between countries, allowing slavery, polygamy, and depicting women as second class citizens.

God is infinite love. We are made in God’s image not by having ten fingers and ten toes, but by having spiritual love.

It is only through sincere mutual love for each other that the world can be saved. Can the process of saving the world be different from the process of saving our souls?

This spiritual process of exalting love is open to all men and women on earth.

Otherwise, the Creator would be extremely inefficient in perfecting the heavenly kingdom and sharing eternal blessings.

Posted on September 8, 2008by thegodguy

Posted in god, Inner growth, Life after death, love, Reality, religion, spirituality, unity | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hope – But what to pin it on?

Turn on the television news, look at your bank statement, listen to your friend’s woes. Faced with the basic problems of living who hasn’t despaired of things ever turning out okay? How are you to be delivered from all that is going wrong with the world – the hate and violence, crime, stress, family breakdown, business dishonesty? What power for good is going to make a real difference? In what can you turn to for confidence about things improving?

Hope in bodily pleasure

One answer is to rely on bodily pleasure. Who doesn’t look forward to escaping home at the end of a fraught day and crashing out. Some people get a bit tipsy after work trying to forget their troubles. Or indulge in comfort eating. Those who are bored with life perhaps look forward to the excitement of a new sexual thrill or dangerous sport. Others may take recreational drugs to enhance their mood.

Whatever your fix, you will know deep down that it can’t be relied upon to make things better other than on a temporary basis. Bodily indulgence is just a temporary distraction that never really solves anything.

Hope in technology

How about counting on technological invention to permanently make life very different? Given time, engineers, who designed vacuum cleaners and washing machines, will probably create other labour saving equipment in the home. The electronics industry will probably change your life as much as did computers and smart phones.

But do machines make you any more contented? Do they reduce work stress or just give us more emails to answer? Do they help us cope with personal relationships or just take away our privacy whilst using social media? Do they liberate human beings from mundane work or just make people redundant?

Hope in politics

You might be banking on politics to make a real difference to your life. The hope is that it may produce a better world to live in. National government can provide solutions to social and economic problems by ensuring good public services such as education and health care. Can politicians do all this and at the same time protect the environment, encourage commercial enterprise and pay for our security? Certainly, they are happy to appeal for votes with policies claimed to meet the country’s need for good housing, high rates of employment, a sense of social justice, and a level of socially cohesion that enables good community relations.

The trouble is there seems in Britain to be a widespread disenchantment with the main political parties. Can we really hope politicians will offer us salvation from our economic and social woes or will they just be too busy slagging off the other side creating falsehood, fear and smear? How can national policies expect to radically change the way human beings behave towards each other in the home, and in the workplace? What the government do cannot make us show more respect for others, give us a social conscience, and reduce our self-interest.

Hope in therapy

Perhaps you should be looking to some form of counselling to rid you of unpleasant feelings like anxiety and depression. Talking with a friend or with a professional therapist is for you when going through a bad time or when you have emotional problems you can’t sort out on your own. You can hope that life will be made easier if you look at your problems in a different way and learn new personal skills.

Critics, however, point out that with over a 25% drop out rate from professional therapy, what may count is how you and the other person get on. What is called the quality of the therapeutic relationship. But choosing who is best for you to work with in confidence is virtually impossible in advance. Also although therapists may be seen as the new high priests, they can’t actually solve the deeper issues of life – tissues to do with your sense of identity, the meaning you attach to being alive, your eventual death and an unknowable future. Nor can they alleviate the socially caused problems that beset you, over which you have no influence.

Hope in oneself

Many will feel that if you want a job doing well then do it yourself. In other words in the end one has to put one’s hope in one’s own solutions to difficulties. Don’t depend on others but become more self-reliant. Taking responsibility for dealing with the mess you find yourself in can be liberating. It can reduce the feeling of helpless dejection by giving a new sense of control. This self-confidence may seem to be a good idea for those who feel they are managing life’s difficulties.

But when you are in crisis being confronted by failure, and factors beyond your own influence then you will be brought up sharp by the burdens of reality and a sense of helplessness. The need is to turn to something that is stronger then yourself to effect change. Members of AA turn to a higher power to help them abstain from alcohol.

Hope in the transcendent

In my view, in rightly rejecting the punitive and judgmental ideas of traditional religion, many people today nevertheless believe in a life force that gives nature its vitality. Others recognize a universal spirit which inspires humane compassion and love; and a divine providence that provides us with the opportunities for learning life’s lessons so that we can become wiser and calmer in the face of adversity.

hopeI happen to believe that what saves you, from all that is bad, is a humble acknowledgment that what is good ultimately does not come from the world or from yourself. For we humans are finite. Instead it originates in an infinite source of goodness itself, far beyond your or my own strength to create. A source of divine love and wisdom which is both mysteriously simultaneously transcendent beyond us and immanently present within us. To find a lasting sense of hope is to put one’s faith in this divine power. Perhaps that is why even in these secular times in Britain many people in crisis, who do not normally do so, pray to God when they are desperate for help.

Copyright 2015 Stephen Russell-Lacy
Author of  Heart, Head & Hands  Swedenborg’s perspective on emotional problems

 

IS – How to see Islamic State fighters?

ISSelf-named IS (Islamic State) fighters partly formed out of al-Qaeda in 2013. They were responsible for a humanitarian crisis: an estimated 1.2 million terrified and homeless Iraqis, having fled from them to the mountains, were exposed to soaring heat, often without anything to eat or drink.

Most Muslims are completely blameless. But the extremists behave barbarically. One historian has pointed out that many centuries ago Islam was:

“born into a world that (already) took for granted the right of conquerors to extort tribute from the conquered; to capture and keep slaves; to maim and execute rebels.” (Historian Tom Holland)

Nevertheless many of us are bewildered that anyone would be willing in this day and age to cause such suffering. How can we understand the mind-set of Islamic militants committing atrocities?

What inspires young men to join IS?

It seems that one factor is the thrill and excitement of combat: something that will appeal more to those young men who are bored, and frustrated in their everyday lives.

Another possible factor is the chance to find an alternative identity through belonging to a new movement: possibly an appealing prospect for those, wherever they live, who are not accepting or assimilated into the Western world culture with its values of consumerism, individualism, feminism, and democracy.

However, a major factor appears to be an increase in social status. Such people correctly or incorrectly feel applauded by friends and others in the wider Islamic world as IS tries to reassert the importance of Islamic society following the end of the Ottoman Empire and to emulate the history of Islamic ascendancy.

Many centuries ago, the Prophet Mohammed led military campaigns in present-day Saudi Arabia to unite disparate Arabian tribes under Islamic rule. Since then Islam had made very successful and rapid military expansions into the Middle East, northern Africa, Central Asia and even into parts of Europe.

There seems to be a yearning for a regained dominance among some of the young Muslims who are disaffected by the current prevalence everywhere of Western influence. They believe all Muslims should be joined together in one glorious political state, ruled by Islamic law rather than by a secular democratic system, and stronger than the Western powers that have long invaded it.

So is religion to blame for this mess?

There is consensus amongst Islamic scholars, reported by for example Javed Ghamidid, that the concept of jihad includes armed struggle against persecution and oppression. Whether the Koran sanctions defensive warfare only or commands an all out war against non-Muslims is said to depend on the interpretation of the relevant passages. Today, some Muslim authors only recognize wars with the aim of territorial defence as well as the defence of religious freedom as legitimate. According to polls, in Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan and Morocco, the majority use the term to mean “duty toward God”, a “divine duty”, or a “worship of God”, with no militaristic connotations

However, it seems that when they do pay any attention to their scripture, the IS fighters tend to take the Koran literally rather than perceive any deeper humane message within its text and wish to compel people to follow the law to the letter.

A Koranic verse grants Christians tolerance in exchange for acknowledging their submission and paying a tax, and this has been interpreted as justifying the stealing of their churches and stripping them of their belongings. The result is homelessness and risk of starvation. Because the Koran makes no mention of the faith followed by the Yazidis, the men of that religion have been condemned as pagans and targeted for slaughter and their women and children taken into slavery. And Muslims deemed to be inadequately Islamic (such as Shia Muslims) have been crucified, beheaded or shot.

Religious belief without any charitable heart

Emanuel Swedenborg has always been known for criticising what has been called a ‘faith alone’ Christian theology: the doctrine that as long as you believe in Christ as your Saviour then you are justified in what you do no matter whether or not you have a charitable heart. In other words Swedenborg maintained that religious belief without love for other people and doing what is good is of no use: such a belief amounts to hypocrisy. For him

“All religion has relation to life, and the life of religion is to do good” (Emanuel Swedenborg, theologian)

He wrote about what he termed ‘persuasive faith’ as an imitation of true faith. People are persuaded of something when it suits them; when it gives them personal position, honour or gain. Religious knowledge with them:

“goes no further than through the ears into the memory, and from the memory passes out on to the lips. It does not enter the heart and from there into a confession of it.” (Emanuel Swedenborg)

I would suggest that the IS fighters have this kind of religiosity. It sounds as though they persuade themselves of their version of Islamic teaching: and that they believe in it if they see it as colluding with their dream of absolute power rather than for the sake of truth, or for the sake of what is good in life.

In 2008, a classified briefing note on radicalisation, prepared by MI5’s behavioural science unit, was leaked to the Guardian. The analysts concluded that “a well-established religious identity actually protects against violent radicalisation”, the newspaper said.

I strongly suspect that men who take sadistic pleasure in bombings and beheadings try to justify their violence with recourse to religious rhetoric. Taking the Koran literally they believe they have a licence to maim, enslave and kill. They completely fail to understand the spiritual communication from God which is supremely compassionate and wise.

Copyright 2014 Stephen Russell-Lacy
Author of  Heart, Head & Hands  Swedenborg’s perspective on emotional problems