At various points in the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg he discusses people he knew on earth who he interacts with again in the spiritual world. This week Helen shares one story about love and marriage in the spiritual world that Swedenborg documented about one of the former queens of Sweden. -Editor
Swedenborg had a lot of friends and acquaintances when he lived on earth, and he met a large number of them during his explorations of the spiritual world. These people had recently died, or died years before, and for all of them he had some form of recognition, not only of whom they had been on earth, but also some deep-seated insights into their character. Needless to say, many of these people were in the throes of unfinished regeneration, and the evils they had been succumbing to during their life on earth were still plaguing them. There are many lessons to be garnered from their stories, but right now I'd like to tell you about two people, one of them a queen of Sweden who Swedenborg knew while on earth, and the other a Russian Empress who lived during his time here. Both had the kind of experience that fairy tales are made of, including riding in a horse and carriage with a spiritually handsome man whom they really loved. In other words, the stories are insights in how marriages come to be in heaven.
Princess Ulrika Eleonora, the Younger, of Sweden was born the same year as Swedenborg, 1688, but she died in 1741, thirty-one years earlier than he did. On earth she was described as
friendly, modest and dignified, with good posture and beautiful hands, but she was not regarded to be either intelligent or attractive. Her grandmother said Ulrika was stubborn, and she was known to demonstrate dislike by simulating illness. (Wikipedia)She enjoyed playing the clavier while her sister sang; she took care of her dominating grandmother, and "lived most of her life under the shadow of others, outshone by her brother the king, and by her attractive sister" (Wikipedia). She sounds like a normal person to me except that in 1718 she became queen; her brother, King Charles XII, died in that year, and her more accomplished sister had already died in 1708 from smallpox, both of these things showing the fragility of life back then. Ulrika reigned for two years as queen of Sweden, then abdicated in favor of her husband, Frederick I.
In his Spiritual Diary, Swedenborg writes that he was with Ulrika's husband, Frederick, on the 15th day after he died. "He heard the same day that he was being buried, and was able to see some of it" (4725m). In addition to seeing some of the funeral, Frederick "heard the sound of bells and, for many hours, he spoke with me" (ibid). At a little later time Swedenborg met him again and Frederick had changed; Swedenborg was able to see that "he was lascivious to the highest degree and wholly given to pleasure. He did not wish to perform any useful work" (4738m).
Swedenborg doesn't relate how Ulrika came to know the truth about her earthly husband, but it is a spiritual reality that all a person’s deeper motives are uncovered in the next life. When Swedenborg saw Ulrika, she was not with Frederick. Instead, he reports that,
a man invited her to come up into the carriage [with him], which she was reluctant to do, but, being pressed, she did it. That man was from Germany, from a certain duchy there, and had died when a boy, and, like her, had studied the Word, and had loved the knowledges of spiritual truth. (Spiritual Diary 6009)After this, they visited various societies and put on the states befitting them. I think Swedenborg means here that they learned things important for their lives while in those various societies. In addition were added "also the associate, or conjugial states" (ibid). It seems he's saying they were prepared for marriage to each other.
One of the good things in this story is the beautiful way in which Ulrika and her mate were similar spiritually. During their lifetime on earth, they both loved spiritual truths. Since shallow things no longer bind couples together in the afterlife, this has to be the main thing which deeply attracted one for the other. The story ends with, "Afterwards, they were conveyed to a palace" (Spiritual Diary 6009). With these few words, I think Swedenborg is telling us that they lived happily ever after.
Swedenborg tells another story of a marriage in the spiritual world between Empress Elizabeth of Russia (1709 - 1761) and her mate, Count De la Gardie. He was a Swedish nobleman who passed away in 1741, the first year of Elizabeth’s reign. The story is longer and in even greater detail, and will be presented here next week.
Helen has been writing for many years, and, after going through a long spell of writer’s block, has finally returned to the writing she loves. Currently, essays have been her main focus, and she finds the material in Swedenborg’s Writings packed with unique, interesting and ponderable concepts. They make living forever a joyful prospect.