Other Planets #123

By Emanuel Swedenborg

Studere hoc loco

  
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123. Extrasolar Planets

People in heaven are able to speak and converse not only with angels and spirits from the planets in our solar system but also with those who come from planets in the universe outside that system. They can communicate not only with the spirits and angels from these [extrasolar] planets, but also with the inhabitants themselves, though only with those whose inner reaches are opened so that they can hear people speaking from heaven.

We too can do the same while we are living in this world if the Lord allows us to talk with spirits and angels, since we ourselves are spirits as far as our inner selves are concerned. The bodies we carry around in this world simply enable us to function in this earthly or terrestrial realm, which is the outermost one. To communicate with spirits and angels as spirits ourselves, though, is allowed us only if our character is such that we can be in angelic company with respect to our faith and love; and we cannot be in that company unless our faith and love are focused on the Lord. 1 This is because we are joined [to the Lord] through faith in him and love for him-that is, through truths we have been taught and good actions we have done that originate in him; and when we have been joined to him, we are safe from any assault of the evil spirits who come from hell. Other people’s inner reaches cannot be opened that far because they are not in the Lord.

This is why there are not many people nowadays who are given the privilege of talking and interacting with angels. One clear sign of this is the fact that hardly any believe that spirits and angels even exist, let alone that they are with every one of us and that through them we have a connection with heaven and through heaven with the Lord. Still less do people believe that when our body dies we live on as spirits, and in just as human a form as before.

V:

1. For more on interaction with angels or spirits, including passages in which Swedenborg describes the dangers and deceptions that can arise from it, see Other Planets 71; Secrets of Heaven 69, 1634-1640; Heaven and Hell 246-257; Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) §§1587, 2686-2687, 5151. [LSW]

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.