Utterly Enchanted

There are parts of the Bible that seem no longer relevant in modern life. This week Helen demonstrates a way of taking the information we have from Swedenborg's Writings and making applicable connections about those passages. -Editor.

Sometimes in his Writings, Swedenborg tells us of a person who lived in the past. It usually makes me stop and think about being alive hundreds, or maybe thousands, of years from now, like in the line from the hymn, Amazing Grace, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years…” As I turn back to the page, Swedenborg is telling me something about the state of the person from the past.

One such example is Cicero (Jan 3, 106 BC – Dec 7, 46 BC). Because he lived in ancient Rome, he would not have known about the Word unless he came in contact with some Jewish traders. He certainly learned about it when he went into the next life, though, because Swedenborg relates the following about him,

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An Experience from the Word

Helen didn't always understand the significance of the Bible. She shares this week about the things in her life that led her to a new interest in religion and ultimately to the Writings. She explains some of the biblical passages that are only clearly explained and made accessible through the Writings and describes the difference this makes to her understanding. -Editor.

In 1974 my father passed away, and I felt a lack of religion in my life because he had been a very spiritual man. But at the same time, it felt like he was in my heart with me, nudging me to believe in something more than myself and the world, and so I started going to church again. By the end of six months, I had grown tired of the ordinary Mass the Catholics had, and joined a group of Charismatics who were seeking more feeling, more emotion, more meaning from the Catholic religion. After a few months of going to the meetings, I picked up on one of the things they were stressing, which was the importance of reading the Bible. Catholics hadn’t been taught to do that. I started reading it every day, and when coming to the book of Micah, something popped out from the text for me. It was about people going up the mountain of the Lord and coming down again (Micah 4). In that moment I realized it wasn’t talking about going up a mountain but about our minds going up to the Lord, communing with him, and coming back down again. During those light, magical moments I was aware that a very loving and extraordinary Being was reaching out to me. After, I kept reading the Bible hoping for the mental expansiveness to come back. The rigid way my mind usually worked had given way to something very moving and more loving than I ever experienced before.

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Why Read the Word/Bible?

Reading the Word can be confusing, but this week Helen offers a way of reading it to enjoy the mystery and the pieces to be puzzled over and put together in an effort to understand our loving creator. -Editor.

Many of us love mysteries and knowing something deeper is meant, then trying to ferret out what the meaning is. An example for those who are older is 'Rosebud' in the movie, Citizen Kane, or, for middle aged people, the symbolism and powers of the ‘Ark’ in Raiders of the Lost Ark. A movie fraught with symbolism is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In it a man and woman are inexplicably lured to a volcano-like mountain in Wyoming. In its time this movie was spellbinding to the public, and when the meaning was finally revealed, it turned out that extra-terrestrial beings were trying to talk with people on earth.

It’s easy to place God into that story, because he is an extra-terrestrial being communicating with people here on the Earth, or at least trying to. He did for many thousands of years in pre-history, but failure in the lines of communication kept occurring and eventually they became fully blocked. Way back when, his wisdom showed that he needed to come here on the Earth and talk with people directly. But before he could do that, he symbolically represented that he was going to do it, which helped hold open the lines for the centuries between the Fall of Adam and his birth here on Earth.

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Good Relationships

Social anxiety can be a difficult barrier in knowing how to build good relationships. This was a problem for Helen for much of her life. But after much reflection and work to understand God's desire for people to live and interact with other people to eternity she has found peace and confidence. -Editor.

Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. 1 Samuel 7:14

In my mind, the recovery by the Israelites of territory that the Philistines had taken represents the Lord restoring to the spiritual mind much of the natural mind that had turned away from it, all the way toward the outermost parts which have to do with our knowledge of how to live. The land the Israelites held was more interior, while the land of the Philistines was further west all the way to the ocean. The Writings say a sea represents knowledges (Secrets of Heaven 2761:2).

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People Swedenborg Knew While on Earth Part 1

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.

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Beyond the Range of Human Thought Part 2

Continuing with her theme from last week, Helen offers more passages about the afterlife. This second helping provides food for thought especially about speech, writing, sound and music. -Editor

This week we continue to think about the differences between the angels of the highest heaven and those in the middle heaven. Though it seems beyond what we can know about, these things become unconscious influences on the minds of humans on earth.

Sounds in heaven:

Angels and spirits distinguish sounds on the basis of differences in goodness and truth. They do this with the sounds not only of singing and instruments but also of words, and they refuse to listen to any but those that harmonize. (Secrets of Heaven 420)

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