From Swedenborg's Works

 

Other Planets #1

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The Planets in the Universe

The Earthlike Bodies Called Planets in Our Solar System and in Deep Space, Their Inhabitants, and the Spirits and Angels There, Drawn from Things Heard and Seen

1. By the Lord’s 1 divine mercy the deeper levels within me, which belong to my spirit, have been opened, enabling me to talk with spirits and angels 2 -not only those near our world, but also those close to other planets. Because I have had a longing to know whether there are other worlds, what they are like, and what their inhabitants are like, the Lord has granted me opportunities to talk and interact with spirits and angels from other planets. With some of them I spent all day, with others a full week, and with still others months on end. I learned from them about the planets they came from and are close to now, about the life, customs, and worship of the inhabitants of those planets, and various other noteworthy details about them. Since it has been granted to me to know such things in this way, I am in a position to offer descriptions based on things I myself have heard and seen. 3

[2] It is important to know that all spirits and angels are human 4 and that they remain close to their planet of origin. 5 They know what is happening on that planet; and any people whose deeper levels have been opened to the point where they can talk and interact with spirits and angels can learn such things from those spirits and angels. After all, in our essence we too are spirits; 6 and in our deeper levels we are already among other spirits. 7 So anyone whose deeper levels have been opened by the Lord can talk with spirits and angels the way people talk with each other. 8 For twelve years now, this has been granted to me daily. 9

Footnotes:

1. On Swedenborg’s use of the term “the Lord” to refer to Jesus Christ as God, see note 10 in New Jerusalem 1. [Editors]

2. On spirits and angels in Swedenborg’s works, see note 2 in New Jerusalem 25. [Editors]

3. The Latin words here translated “based on things I myself have heard and seen” are ex auditis et visis, literally, “from things heard and seen.” It repeats a phrase that appears in the full Latin title of Other Planets. For more on the significance of this phrase, see note 2 in Last Judgment 17. [Editors]

4. [Swedenborg note] There is no such thing as spirits and angels who are not human: 1880.

5. [Swedenborg note] The spirits from each planet remain close to that planet, because they once lived there themselves, they have a nature similar to that of the current inhabitants, and the inhabitants need their help: 9968.

6. [Swedenborg note] The soul that lives after death is our spirit, which is the essential person within us; in the other life it appears in a perfect human form: 322, 1880, 1881, 3633, 4622, 4735, 6054, 6605, 6626, 7021, 10594.

7. [Swedenborg note] Even while we are in this world, in our deeper levels, meaning our spirit or soul, we are surrounded by spirits and angels whose character is like our own: 2379, 3644, 4067, 4073, 4077.

8. [Swedenborg note] It is possible for us to talk with spirits and angels; the early people on our planet did this frequently: 67, 68, 69, 784, 1634, 1636, 7802. These days, however, it is dangerous to talk with them unless we have true faith and are being led by the Lord: 784, 9438, 10751.

9. On the commencement of Swedenborg’s spiritual experiences, see note 2 in Last Judgment 15, and compare Other Planets 124. It may be noted that while this passage in Other Planets reports the length of Swedenborg’s spiritual experiences as twelve years, Heaven and Hell 1 reports thirteen years, though both books were published in 1758. The simplest explanation for this discrepancy is that Other Planets was written before Heaven and Hell. On the order in which the works published in 1758 were actually written, see the editors’ preface, pages 29-33. [Editors]

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4734

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4734. 'And Reuben said to them' means an exhortation. In the proximate sense this describes the Church's confession of faith in general, meant by 'Reuben', 4731, exhorting or charging them not to do violence, as follows below.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2495

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2495. It has been stated and shown in many places already that the Word has an internal sense within it that is not seen in the letter. Also the nature of that sense is evident from the explanation given so far from Genesis 1 onwards. Even so, because the few at the present day who do believe in the Word do not in spite of that belief know about the existence of such an internal sense, let further confirmation of it be given.

[2] The Lord describes the close of the age, that is, the final period of the Church, as follows,

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-25.

That 'the sun' here does not mean the sun, nor 'the moon' the moon, nor 'the stars' the stars, but that 'the sun' means love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, 'the moon' faith received from love and charity, and 'the stars' cognitions of good and truth, has been shown in 31, 32, 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 2120, 2441. Thus these words spoken by the Lord mean that when the close of the age or final period has arrived there will no longer be any love or any charity, or consequently any faith. It is evident that this is their meaning from similar words of the Lord that occur in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

Behold, the day of Jehovah comes, to make the earth a desolation, and He will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not shine with their light. The sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not give its light. Isaiah 13:9-10.

This too refers to the final period of the Church, or what amounts to the same, the close of the age.

[3] In Joel,

A day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and obscurity. The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining. Joel 2:2, 10.

Here the meaning is similar. Elsewhere in the same prophet,

The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes. Joel 2:31.

In addition in the same prophet,

The day of Jehovah is near. The sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining. Joel 3:14-15.

In Ezekiel,

When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in the heavens I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

Likewise in John,

When he opened the sixth seal I looked, and behold, a great earthquake took place, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became like blood, and the stars fell to the earth. Revelation 6:12-13.

In the same book,

The fourth angel sounded, so that the third part of the sun was struck, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, and a third part of them was darkened. Revelation 8:12.

[4] These places show clearly that the Lord's words in the Gospels embody much the same as the Lord's words in the Prophets - namely that in the last times there will be no charity and no faith - and that this is the internal sense. All this is further evident in Isaiah,

The moon will blush, and the sun be ashamed, for Jehovah Zebaoth will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. Isaiah 24:23.

The meaning here is that faith, which is 'the moon', will blush, and charity, which is 'the sun', will be ashamed because their condition is such; for it cannot be said of the moon and the sun that they will blush and be ashamed. And in Daniel,

The horn of the he-goat grew towards the south, and towards the east, and grew even towards the host of heaven, and it cast down to the earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them. Daniel 8:9-10.

Here it is evident to anyone that 'the host of heaven' does not mean a host, nor 'the stars' the stars.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.