RE: Lucifer
July 22, 2016 at 12:15 pm
(This post was last modified: July 22, 2016 at 12:16 pm by Neo-Scholastic.)
(July 22, 2016 at 5:41 am)chimp3 Wrote:(July 21, 2016 at 6:49 pm)lisah Wrote: I stumbled upon Swedenborg when researching Helen Keller. I haven't read a lot of Swedenborg's ideas, but it seemed very complicated. However, his writings I also found to be some of the most creatively inspired writings that I have read to date. Interesting stuff.
Creative to say the least. Swedenborg traveled freely to hell and heaven , drew elaborate and detailed sketches of the landscapes, described the genitalia of the angels. He talked to alien spirits from the known planets in our solar system. All this from a man that was on the verge of discovering the role of the neuron in the brain until he abandoned science to go peeking up angels dresses.
All true. It is also true that the Writings about spirits on 'Other Earths' is considered a problem text even among Swedenborgians. I will say in its defense that a major theme running throughout all the Writings is the idea of correspondence - that an esoteric meaning lies within literal descriptions. As such, I think the text needs to be interpreted through the filter of alchemical nomenclature. You will find that the spirits associated with the known planets have the character traits associated with those planets. For example, the inhabitants of Mercury are described as flighty with short attention spans. In other words, he is not writing about the physical planets so much as categories of sentient beings, including those that purportedly exist elsewhere in the wider universe.
Historically wondering about the relationship between potential inhabitants of "other Earths' and Christian doctrine was a widely discussed theological conundrum during the Enlightenment. Leading scientists, including Ben Franklin, generally believed that life would be found on the nearby planets. So if Jesus is the exclusive means of salvation, what does that mean for people on Jupiter? It's an interesting topic, one that IMHO doesn't get the attention it deserves.