materialism

Spiritual Substance and Material Reality

Spiritual substance, in particular, is hard for our material minds to grasp. We’re so used to thinking of everything solid as being material, and of everything non-material (thoughts, feelings, etc.) as being wispy and insubstantial. But dreams show us a world that is non-material, and yet solid when we’re in it. Dreams are more like spiritual “movies,” so they’re not quite at the level of reality of being fully conscious in the spiritual world. But they do give us some inkling of its reality.

I recently watched the movie Matrix (the original one, on video, not the subsequent movies), and it plays with this idea of a whole different world that is non-material (in this case, a constructed reality piped directly into people’s brains), and yet very real for those in it. The funny thing is, while I was watching it, I was thinking of this world as the illusion, gripping and mesmerizing people with its sensory pleasures and material satisfactions, all while the people are completely unconscious of a world far more real than this one. Swedenborg interprets “sleeping” in the Bible as being unconscious of spiritual reality, and completely absorbed in material reality. And many prophets and mystics, including Swedenborg, speak of having their “eyes opened” when they see into the spiritual world.

In the movie Matrix the constructed world that people live in looks and feels exactly like the world we actually live in. The “real” world, on the other hand, is a dark, blasted, and destroyed place. I like Swedenborg’s vision better: of the real world (for those who choose heaven) as incomparably brighter and more living than this material world–which is a mere shadow of the greater spiritual realities.

There is also a reversal that takes place in the minds of those who are moving from being materialistic to being spiritually-minded. When we are materialistic, we think of the material world as the most real thing there is, and things get progressively more unreal to us as our thoughts move to spiritual things, and finally to God–whom we see as a non-existent illusion believed in only by simple-minded and gullible people.

But as we move away from materialism and toward spiritual life, our perceptions of reality are turned the other way, and we more and more begin to think of God as the ultimate reality, and spirit as the “real world” for human beings, while seeing the material world as relatively unreal, and its pleasures and privileges as temporary, and even as illusory compared to spiritual pleasures. Yes, this world is real. But the spiritual world is much more real, and God is the most real of all.

Copyright 2012 Lee Woofenden

Reprinted from Who Is The God Of Heaven website

Lee Woofenden is a pastor in New England and may be contacted through information@swedenborg.ca

End of the world – What does it mean?

end of the worldIn recent times there have been huge changes to the social climate and attitudes in Britain, even over the course of a generation or two. We now live in a world of instant  communication, sexual freedom, consumerism, environmentalism, multiculturalism, and the cult of celebrity. These developments certainly mean it is the end of the world that our parents and grandparents knew.

So the question arises should the phrase ‘the end of the world’ be understood in this symbolic sense rather than as some actual physical event?

End of the world and personal communication

It has been said that our economic and social relationships with others have been less visible and less interrelated in morally meaningful ways than was the case in the past. If so, perhaps it is because most of us in the industrialized West live in large urban areas not even knowing many of our neighbours and having little or no sense of local community. In addition, it may be because commercial companies have got too big to act in humane ways. Another factor put forward is our use of technology such as television and the internet that encourages our isolation and even anonymity.

End of the world of Christendom

With the demise of Christendom in England, along with its traditional social norms of how to behave, people are now beset with a confusing wide range of beliefs, ideals and values. You often hear someone say something along the lines of “That may be right for you but it is not right for me.” There seems to be a greater freedom these days to develop one’s own lifestyle and think what one wants.

End of the world and spiritual famine

I would suggest the common attitude seems to dismiss any notion that there are any transcendent universal principles. However this results in a danger of materialism and spiritual famine.  One sign of this is seeing the acquisition of material possessions as the key to the good life: an attitude that, I believe, adds considerably to emotional distress. Another sign, I think is the vast gulf between the rich and the poor, even within the same country, and the attitude that this is not such a bad thing.

I would suggest another sign is the damage to committed loving relationships where sexual intimacy is commonly shown in television and film drama as a casual affair.

Another sign is a public that avidly reads and watches a mass media which superficially focuses so much on image and fame and the personal lives of the stars. We are quick to put them on pedestals and even more spellbound when they topple back down to earth.

End of the world of shared understanding

What hope is there for discerning what is false from what is true in a world lacking any deep sense of shared meaning and clear direction?

There are a myriad of different and sometimes incompatible worldviews on offer: examples that come to mind include humanism, atheism, mysticism, neo-paganism, spiritualism, and materialistic science, not to mention the world’s main religious traditions. They can’t all be right, but I suspect each has something valid to bring to the table even if I believe it is mixed up with mistaken notions. And so many people understandably tend to adopt a ‘pick and mix’ approach in relation to these systems of thought.

Leading contemporary writers have discarded or reinterpreted so many a traditional dogma, that used to be thought to be set in stone, but now is seen as a social construct, no longer relevant to today’s needs. As a consequence, personal experience and emotion are more important to people these days than rational discourse for guiding their lives. Yet at the same time at the back of some of our minds there might be a doubt that we are simply basing our eclectic choices on some strong sentiment that lacks a cohesive framework of rational thought.

End of the world of a distorted God

I believe what has been lost is a rationally coherent religious understanding of the Divine source of the universe and our place in it. I would suggest our error prone human nature is in danger of floundering without deep understanding of how such a higher power can be present in the bewildering flood of difficulties and emotions that can surround us. I would argue that when the going really gets tough no matter what our spiritual insights are, without such a beacon of light, darkness and confusion can easily arise.

In the eighteenth century Emanuel Swedenborg was impressed with the purity and genuineness of the earliest phase of the Christian church. And even today I would say there are many individuals who have found a deep spirituality and sense of communion with the Divine through their Christian faith. However, Swedenborg equated a decline of Christianity with the later formulation of its dogmatic creeds; these he said distorted the original faith.

One example of several false teachings he criticized was the idea of a God condemning non-believers to eternal damnation regardless of how they had lived their lives. Another was the idea of a God who wanted a scapegoat as the crucified Christ for the bad behaviour of the world.

Swedenborg’s explanation of the end of the world

Swedenborg thought one reason for distortions of the original Christian message had been a focus on the literal sense of the letter of the Bible without much deeper understanding of its inner truth. Another reason was the hypocrisy amongst its leaders who wanted to use religion for gaining power over people.

Not surprisingly, most of us in Britain have turned our backs on church-going, seeing Christians as having only simplistic and illogical religious explanations of the Bible. Scripture has come to be seen as outmoded and irrelevant to contemporary life.

Is this not the end of the world of religion as we knew it in the West?

I would say yes and as a result we have been experiencing a time of materialism and spiritual famine.

But wasn’t that ‘end of the world’ a necessary step? First the mind needs to cleared of distorted ideas about the Divine. Only then can there be a new freedom of thinking for those on a genuine spiritual quest.

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

End of the world – What does it mean?

End of the world – What does it mean?

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Ed

end of the worldIn recent times there have been huge changes to the social climate and attitudes in Britain, even over the course of a generation or two. We now live in a world of instant  communication, sexual freedom, consumerism, environmentalism, multiculturalism, and the cult of celebrity. These developments certainly mean it is the end of the world that our parents and grandparents knew.

So the question arises should the phrase ‘the end of the world’ be understood in this symbolic sense rather than as some actual physical event?

End of the world and personal communication

It has been said that our economic and social relationships with others have been less visible and less interrelated in morally meaningful ways than was the case in the past. If so, perhaps it is because most of us in the industrialized West live in large urban areas not even knowing many of our neighbours and having little or no sense of local community. In addition, it may be because commercial companies have got too big to act in humane ways. Another factor put forward is our use of technology such as television and the internet that encourages our isolation and even anonymity.

End of the world of Christendom

With the demise of Christendom in England, along with its traditional social norms of how to behave, people are now beset with a confusing wide range of beliefs, ideals and values. You often hear someone say something along the lines of “That may be right for you but it is not right for me.” There seems to be a greater freedom these days to develop one’s own lifestyle and think what one wants.

End of the world and spiritual famine

I would suggest the common attitude seems to dismiss any notion that there are any transcendent universal principles. However this results in a danger of materialism and spiritual famine.  One sign of this is seeing the acquisition of material possessions as the key to the good life: an attitude that, I believe, adds considerably to emotional distress. Another sign, I think is the vast gulf between the rich and the poor, even within the same country, and the attitude that this is not such a bad thing.

I would suggest another sign is the damage to committed loving relationships where sexual intimacy is commonly shown in television and film drama as a casual affair.

Another sign is a public that avidly reads and watches a mass media which superficially focuses so much on image and fame and the personal lives of the stars. We are quick to put them on pedestals and even more spellbound when they topple back down to earth.

End of the world of shared understanding

What hope is there for discerning what is false from what is true in a world lacking any deep sense of shared meaning and clear direction?

There are a myriad of different and sometimes incompatible worldviews on offer: examples that come to mind include humanism, atheism, mysticism, neo-paganism, spiritualism, and materialistic science, not to mention the world’s main religious traditions. They can’t all be right, but I suspect each has something valid to bring to the table even if I believe it is mixed up with mistaken notions. And so many people understandably tend to adopt a ‘pick and mix’ approach in relation to these systems of thought.

Leading contemporary writers have discarded or reinterpreted so many a traditional dogma, that used to be thought to be set in stone, but now is seen as a social construct, no longer relevant to today’s needs. As a consequence, personal experience and emotion are more important to people these days than rational discourse for guiding their lives. Yet at the same time at the back of some of our minds there might be a doubt that we are simply basing our eclectic choices on some strong sentiment that lacks a cohesive framework of rational thought.

End of the world of a distorted God

I believe what has been lost is a rationally coherent religious understanding of the Divine source of the universe and our place in it. I would suggest our error prone human nature is in danger of floundering without deep understanding of how such a higher power can be present in the bewildering flood of difficulties and emotions that can surround us. I would argue that when the going really gets tough no matter what our spiritual insights are, without such a beacon of light, darkness and confusion can easily arise.

In the eighteenth century Emanuel Swedenborg was impressed with the purity and genuineness of the earliest phase of the Christian church. And even today I would say there are many individuals who have found a deep spirituality and sense of communion with the Divine through their Christian faith. However, Swedenborg equated a decline of Christianity with the later formulation of its dogmatic creeds; these he said distorted the original faith.

One example of several false teachings he criticized was the idea of a God condemning non-believers to eternal damnation regardless of how they had lived their lives. Another was the idea of a God who wanted a scapegoat as the crucified Christ for the bad behaviour of the world.

Swedenborg’s explanation of the end of the world

Swedenborg thought one reason for distortions of the original Christian message had been a focus on the literal sense of the letter of the Bible without much deeper understanding of its inner truth. Another reason was the hypocrisy amongst its leaders who wanted to use religion for gaining power over people.

Not surprisingly, most of us in Britain have turned our backs on church-going, seeing Christians as having only simplistic and illogical religious explanations of the Bible. Scripture has come to be seen as outmoded and irrelevant to contemporary life.

Is this not the end of the world of religion as we knew it in the West?

I would say yes and as a result we have been experiencing a time of materialism and spiritual famine.

But wasn’t that ‘end of the world’ a necessary step? First the mind needs to cleared of distorted ideas about the Divine. Only then can there be a new freedom of thinking for those on a genuine spiritual quest.

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

This entry was posted in Meaning of life, Spiritual meaning and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.