126. Anyone can conclude that there are many solar systems from the fact that we can see so many stars in the universe. It is common knowledge in the learned world that each star is a sun in its own region, remaining fixed the way the sun of our planet does in its own position, and only their great distance from us makes stars appear small. So we may conclude that like our sun, each star has planets around it that are worlds. 1 We cannot see them with our eyes because they are at a vast distance from us and because the light they have from their star is not strong enough to be reflected all the way to us.
What other use could there be for such a huge expanse of space and so many stars? After all, the purpose of the creation of the universe is humankind and, through humankind, a heaven of angels. If the human race and the resulting angelic heaven came from just one planet, how would that satisfy an infinite Creator, for whom a thousand planets or even millions would not be enough?
[2] I once calculated that if there were a million planets in the universe, with three hundred million (300,000,000) people on each planet, and two hundred generations over six thousand years, 2 and if each individual or spirit were given a space of three cubic ells, 3 then the total of all these people or spirits gathered into one place would not fill the space 4 of a thousandth part of this planet-perhaps the space, then, of one of the moons of Jupiter or of Saturn. This would be an almost invisibly small space in the universe-we can scarcely see those moons with the naked eye. What would this be for the creator of the universe, for whom it would not be enough if the whole universe were full? The Creator is, after all, infinite.
[3] I discussed this with angels and they said they have a similar idea of the meager extent of the human race in comparison to the infinity of the Creator, although they think of it in terms of states rather than of space; to their minds, no matter how many millions of planets one could ever imagine, they would still be absolutely nothing compared to the Lord.
But the source of the material that follows about extrasolar planets is [not theory or imagination but] my own personal experience. Among other things the accounts will show how my spirit traveled to those planets while my body stayed where it was.
Footnotes:
1. On the history of knowledge and speculation to Swedenborg’s time about stars and planets outside the solar system, see the introduction, pages 85-90. [Editors]
2. Swedenborg is apparently taking 300 million as an arbitrary figure to represent the average population of each generation on the planets in his calculation. The figure six thousand for the period of years, however, is probably not entirely arbitrary: it is the figure Swedenborg usually uses for the duration of the world since creation (see Marriage Love 29, 39, 182:5; True Christianity 693:5). It agrees roughly with the total of the intervals of time in biblical history, as analyzed by various scholars in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, with the addition of the years since the final events recorded in the Bible. Of the many chronologers who attempted to determine this sum, perhaps the most notable is James Ussher (1580-1656), whose conclusions were published in his influential seventeenth-century work Annals of the Old Testament (Ussher 1650-1654). [SS]
3. An ell is an old measure that may have originally been based on the length from the tips of the fingers, or from the wrist, to the elbow or the shoulder (see the Oxford English Dictionary, under “ell”). The “standard” ell varied from region to region in Swedenborg’s time, but if the old English ell of 45 inches (1.25 yards), or 1.143 meters, is taken as an example, three cubic ells would be 158.20 cubic feet (5.86 cubic yards), or 4.48 cubic meters-approximately the volume of the passenger and cargo space of a large automobile. [SS]
4. Apparently by “space” in this sentence, Swedenborg means “volume,” since he has indicated the volume of three cubic ells required by each person, rather than the square area of living space each would require. This reading is further supported by comparison with the parallel passages Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) §1114, Secrets of Heaven 9441, and Heaven and Hell 417:6. In Spiritual Experiences 1114 in particular, Swedenborg explicitly considers how much room would be available for a similarly large number of people if “the space to the center of the planet were counted as living-space” and even “if the universe were filled [with people] from one end to another.” [SS]
