Swedenborg Sampler

Gradus 1: Swedenborg Sampler Introduction

Gradus 2: Part 1: True Christian Religion

Gradus 3: What is God's love like?

Gradus 4: Why doesn't God save everyone?

Gradus 5: Why do we need the Lord?

Gradus 6: The power He can give us

Gradus 7: Fatal errors in traditional Christian doctrine

Gradus 8: Why is a notion of God such a remote part of Western culture?

Gradus 9: What do people see when they look at the Word of God?

Gradus 10: The Word's deeper meaning

Gradus 11: The Word's deeper meaning (continued)

Gradus 12: Levels of meaning in the Ten Commandments (from the section on "You shall not steal")

Gradus 13: Levels of meaning in the Ten Commandments (from the section on "You shall not steal") (continued)

Gradus 14: Levels of meaning in the Ten Commandments (from the section on "You shall not steal") (continued)

Gradus 15: How do we acquire faith?

Gradus 16: How much do we have to know?

Gradus 17: What is charity?

Gradus 18: What is charity? (continued)

Gradus 19: First remove the beam from your own eye

Gradus 20: True expressions of charity are God working through us

Gradus 21: Doesn't everyone believe that people have freedom of choice in spiritual things?

Gradus 22: Our freedom exists from our spirit

Gradus 23: What seems like freedom isn't necessarily so

Gradus 24: Repentance is the first thing of the church with a person

Gradus 25: Repentance is not just a matter of saying the right words

Gradus 26: A person is not born evil, but is born with inclinations to love things that are evil

Gradus 27: Seeing good and evil within our own lives

Gradus 28: What is real repentance?

Gradus 29: It's easier to see sin in another than in oneself

Gradus 30: Two advancing states of mind for those on the path to heaven

Gradus 31: The Lord brings about spiritual rebirth with our cooperation

Gradus 32: What is temptation?

Gradus 33: Why do some people think that God doesn't care what choices we make in our daily life?

Gradus 34: There is a current drawing all toward heaven

Gradus 35: Part 2: Arcana Coelestia

Gradus 36: People don't see the Lord's presence in the Word

Gradus 37: People don't see the Lord's presence in the Word (continued)

Gradus 38: The state of mind of a person before his regeneration

Gradus 39: The evil of every church that ever was and is. . . .

Gradus 40: The evil of every church that ever was and is. . . . (continued)

Gradus 41: Seeing the evil in others versus seeing the good in them

Gradus 42: How the love of self blinds a person to reality

Gradus 43: Why Christianity has been split into conflicting groups

Gradus 44: What motivates a person's efforts in difficult times?

Gradus 45: Without charity in our hearts we cannot live together as brethren

Gradus 46: The Lord never compels anyone because it doesn't work; each person needs to compel himself

Gradus 47: The quality of a person who knows the truth but doesn't care about what is good

Gradus 48: True wisdom of life is gentle and yet also conquers all

Gradus 49: The essential importance of self‑compulsion

Gradus 50: The Lord's willingness to adapt to where a person is

Gradus 51: Prayer regarded in itself is talking with God

Gradus 52: An affirmative or negative approach to God's Word

Gradus 53: Feeling terrible can lead to wisdom

Gradus 54: The Lord cares for the very tiniest details of our lives

Gradus 55: If a person believed as the case really is. . .he could not become guilty of any evil

Gradus 56: If a person believed as the case really is. . .he could not become guilty of any evil (continued)

Gradus 57: The Lord does not allow the evil which accompanies doubt and temptation unless some good can come of it

Gradus 58: Peace has in it confidence in the Lord

Gradus 59: Care for the morrow and trusting in the Lord

Gradus 60: The Lord looks after the details as well as the big picture

Gradus 61: Stages of human development

Gradus 62: Part 3: Divine Love and Wisdom

Gradus 63: Love is the life of a person

Gradus 64: Feeling the joy of another as joy in oneself, that is loving

Gradus 65: If a person thinks from ideas of space and time, he can never understand God or anything spiritual

Gradus 66: Without a knowledge of discrete degrees [spiritual levels] nothing of cause can be known

Gradus 67: There are three degrees of spiritual life potential in each person

Gradus 68: There are three degrees of spiritual life potential in each person (continued)

Gradus 69: What distinguishes humans from animals?

Gradus 70: In the human mind the will and understanding work together, but the will leads

Gradus 71: The quality life of a person who is natural but with whom the spiritual degree of his mind is opened

Gradus 72: The quality of life of a person who is natural and in whom the spiritual degree of his mind is not opened, yet not closed

Gradus 73: The quality of life of a person life who is natural and in whom the spiritual degree of his mind is not entirely closed.

Gradus 74: A bad person as well as a good one who has both freedom and rationality

Gradus 75: In a state of evil, goodness seems like slavery and evil like freedom

Gradus 76: True love has use for an end and intends it

Gradus 77: All things created by the Lord are uses -- Uses for sustaining the body

Gradus 78: All things created by the Lord are uses -- Uses for perfecting the rational

Gradus 79: All things created by the Lord are uses -- Uses for receiving the spiritual from the Lord

Gradus 80: Reasons why it is excusable for some people to see nature as a source of life

Gradus 81: Love of self and the world were by creation heavenly loves

Gradus 82: Part 4: Divine Providence

Gradus 83: A person can see the Lord's hand in all of creation if he wishes

Gradus 84: The Divine Providence of the Lord has as its goal a heaven from the human race

Gradus 85: The more someone recognizes what he gets from the Lord, the more free he is

Gradus 86: It is a law of the Divine Providence that people should act from freedom according to reason [that is, according their best understanding of what is true].

Gradus 87: It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should, apparently by their own power, remove evil [thoughts and deeds] as sins in the external person.

Gradus 88: It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should not be compelled by external means to think and will, and therefore to believe and love, the things of religion, but should persuade and at times compel himself to do so.

Gradus 89: It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should be led and taught by the Lord from heaven by means of Word, and doctrine and preaching from the Word, and this to all appearance as of himself.

Gradus 90: The Word taught by means of people, but still directly by the Lord

Gradus 91: It is a law of the Divine Providence that a person should not perceive and feel anything of the operation of the Divine Providence, but still that he should know and acknowledge it.

Gradus 92: Why doesn't the Lord allow us to gain a specific knowledge of future events?

Gradus 93: Why doesn't the Lord allow us to gain a specific knowledge of future events? (continued)

Gradus 94: How would we tend to behave if we were able to clearly see the direction the Lord is leading us?

Gradus 95: God is the master architect of our eternal lives

Gradus 96: If therefore, you wish to be led by the Divine Providence. . . .

Gradus 97: What is fortune or luck?

Gradus 98: Images of the Divine Providence operating in our lives

Gradus 99: The Lord never wills that an evil [event] should happen, but He does permit it to occur

Gradus 100: Reasons why people doubt or deny that there is such a thing as the Divine Providence

Gradus 101: Evil [loves] cannot be removed unless they appear

Gradus 102: No one is born to fry

Gradus 103: The operation of the Divine Providence from birth to the end of life

Gradus 104: Part 5: Conjugial Love

Gradus 105: Very few people know the true source of joy in heaven

Gradus 106: What happened to people who arrived in the life after death thinking that heavenly happiness comes from endless opportunities for wonderful conversations?

Gradus 107: What happened to people who arrived at the life after death thinking that heavenly happiness comes from mere admission to heaven?

Gradus 108: In the life after death a male is still very much a male and a female very much a female

Gradus 109: What about the Lord's statement from the New Testament that there is no marriage after death?

Gradus 110: What is a male angel's reaction to the opposite sex?

Gradus 111: What happens when married partners meet after death?

Gradus 112: Why some marriages formed on earth do not continue to eternity?

Gradus 113: All joys and all delights are gathered within a true love of marriage

Gradus 114: A true love of marriage requires a person to approach the Lord directly

Gradus 115: The arguments of a polygamist (in the life after death) on why his approach to marriage is best

Gradus 116: Contrary to some people's ideas, the husband is not the head of the wife

Gradus 117: Love of marriage is closely related to a person's outlook on religion

Gradus 118: The states of mind that accompany a true love of marriage

Gradus 119: Will my marriage get better or worse as time goes by?

Gradus 120: What happens when a relationship is a power struggle?

Gradus 121: A temporal or non-eternal focus is contradictory to a true love of marriage

Gradus 122: The first meeting of a future husband and wife in heaven

Gradus 123: Spiritual intimacy is the real basis for a true love of marriage

Gradus 124: Part 6: Heaven and Hell

Gradus 125: Why did Swedenborg have the experiences that he did, and why was this book written?

Gradus 126: The Lord loves variety

Gradus 127: Everything of this world springs from and has permanent existence from the spiritual world

Gradus 128: The Lord's presence in heaven is like the light and warmth of the sun

Gradus 129: The Lord's presence in heaven is like the light and warmth of the sun (continued)

Gradus 130: The ups and downs in the life of an angel

Gradus 131: Life in heaven does not follow a clock

Gradus 132: Life in heaven does not follow a clock (continued)

Gradus 133: Life in heaven does not follow a clock (continued)

Gradus 134: In heaven when you want to be somewhere, distance doesn't get in the way

Gradus 135: In heaven when you want to be somewhere, distance doesn't get in the way (continued)

Gradus 136: What is the innocence of a wise person?

Gradus 137: What is heavenly joy like?

Gradus 138: What happens to children who die?

Gradus 139: What happens to children who die? (continued)

Gradus 140: Children in heaven need to learn how to resist the pressure to follow others

Gradus 141: The Lord doesn't expect us to choose a poor and rough life to earn heaven

Gradus 142: The Lord doesn't expect us to choose a poor and rough life to earn heaven (continued)

Gradus 143: What happens after death to someone who intentionally chose a deprived life to earn a heavenly reward?

Gradus 144: Being poor can lead one away from heaven just as much as being rich

Gradus 145: How big is heaven?

Gradus 146: How big is heaven? (continued)

Gradus 147: Angels live at the peak of youthful life forever

Gradus 148: We are spirits even now

Gradus 149: We are spirits even now (continued)

Gradus 150: The end of natural life is but a passing

Gradus 151: Intention makes the person

Gradus 152: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death?

Gradus 153: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Gradus 154: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Gradus 155: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Gradus 156: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Gradus 157: What happens to a person when he wakes up in the life after death? (continued)

Gradus 158: It is not so difficult to lead the life that leads to heaven

Gradus 159: How is there a balance between the power of heaven and that of hell?

Gradus 160: Determined evil can be controlled only by punishments

Gradus 161: How does anyone end up in hell if the Lord sends no one there?

Gradus 162: What is it like to arrive in a community in hell?

Gradus 163: How does the equilibrium between heaven and hell affect our lives?