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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