Des oeuvres de Swedenborg

 

Worlds in Space #1

Étudier ce passage

/ 178  
  

1. I. THE WORLDS IN SPACE

By the Lord's Divine mercy I have had my interior faculties, which belong to my spirit, opened, so that I have been enabled to talk with spirits and angels, not only those in the vicinity of our earth, but also with those near other worlds. Since therefore I was desirous of knowing whether there were other inhabited worlds, and what they and their inhabitants were like, I was allowed by the Lord to talk and mix with spirits and angels from other worlds. With some this lasted a day, with others a week, with yet others for months. I was informed by them about the worlds they came from and in the vicinity of which they were, about the life, behaviour and religious practices of their inhabitants, and other matters worth relating about them. Since I was allowed to gain my knowledge in this fashion, I can describe them from what I have heard and seen.

[2] It needs to be known that all spirits and angels are from the human race; 1 they are near their own world, 2 and know what happens there; and they can inform someone whose interior faculties are open sufficiently to be able to talk and mix with them. A human being is in essence a spirit, 3 and associates with spirits at the interior level. 4 Consequently anyone whose interior faculties are opened by the Lord can talk with them, exactly as a man can with another man. 5 I have been permitted to do this daily for the last twelve years.

Notes de bas de page:

1. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] There are no spirits or angels who are not from the human race (Arcana Caelestia 1880).

2. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] The spirits of each world are in the vicinity of their world, because they come from its inhabitants and share their character. It is also so that they can be of service to them (Arcana Caelestia 9968).

3. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] The soul which lives on after death is a person's spirit, which is his real personality; in the next life it appears in a completely human form (Arcana Caelestia 322, 1880-1881, 3633, 4622, 4735, 6054, 6605, 6626, 7021, 10594).

4. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] A person while still in the world is at the inner level, that is, as regards his spirit or soul, among spirits and angels of similar nature to himself (Arcana Caelestia 2379 [2378 in original], Arcana Caelestia 3645, 4067, 4073, 4077).

5. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] A person can talk with spirits and angels; in ancient times people in our world often did so (Arcana Caelestia 67-69, 784, 1634, 1636, 7802). But nowadays it is dangerous for a person to talk with them, unless he has true faith and is guided by the Lord (Arcana Caelestia 784, 9438, 10751).

/ 178  
  

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

Des oeuvres de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #9438

Étudier ce passage

  
/ 10837  
  

9438. PLANETS OUT IN SPACE, AND THE INHABITANTS, SPIRITS, AND ANGELS BELONGING TO THEM

Those who are in heaven are able to talk and mix not only with angels and spirits who come from planets within our solar system but also with others who come from planets in the universe outside it, yet not merely with the spirits and angels from those planets but also with the actual inhabitants there whose interiors have been opened, so that they can hear spirits and angels from heaven who speak to them. Anyone during his lifetime in the world can in like manner hear them once the Lord has permitted him to talk to spirits and angels. For as to his interiors the person is a spirit or angel, the body which he carries around in the world being merely that which is of service to him in the functions he performs in this natural or earthly sphere, which is the lowest.

[2] But no one is permitted to talk to spirits and angels as a spirit or angel unless his character is such that he can have fellowship with them in faith and love; and he cannot have that fellowship unless the faith is faith in the Lord and the love is love directed to the Lord. For a person is joined to [the Lord] through faith in Him, thus through truths that belong to religious teachings, and through love to Him; and when he has been joined to Him he is kept safe from attack by evil spirits from hell. No others can possibly have their interiors opened, since they do not abide in the Lord. Here is the reason why few are permitted at the present day to talk to and mix with angels. A clear sign of this may be seen in the fact that at the present day there is scarcely any belief in the existence of spirits and angels, let alone a belief that they are present with every individual person, and that through those present with him a person is linked to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord. Still less do people believe that when a person dies as to the body, he is alive as a spirit, and indeed in human form as before.

  
/ 10837  
  

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