Studying Swedenborg

[qos]

After spending the first six weeks of class reading and discussing a biography of Swedenborg, we're finally focusing on this theology. The biography described several elements about Swedenborg's theology and visions which I had a hard time dealing with. (More than I want to go into here, but if you're curious, leave a comment and I'll elaborate.) Now that we're going through the theology, I'm reminded why this is the first church I've been able to attend in more than a decade. For example, he writes "There are many churches, each one of them called a church, and each one is a church to the extent that the good result of love and faith reigns in it" (HH 57). It's not about doctrine (although Swedenborg had some strong opinions on doctrinal matters) -- it's about how well the members of the church live lives that are guided by Love and Wisdom.

On the other hand, one of my tensions with Swedenborg is the density and importance of his doctrine of correspondences. When I first read about it, I laughed out loud because it seemed so very Pagan. He makes some vivid, beautiful points using this doctrine, but after a while I get tired of the complexity of it. At a very basic level, I'm a mystic: I find my connection to the Divine in the ancient injunction: "Be still and know that I am God." And yet, even the great mystics of the Christian tradition have usually admonished those who read their writings that the internal journey to God needed to be guided and balanced by an external counselor, who could help identify when the search for God became an exercise in self-delusion.

Balance, always balance: between internal and external authority, between the solitary path and the fellowship of community, between trust and challenge, between the rule of rationality and the rule of the heart. (Of course, Swedenborg would say that head and heart, love and wisdom, are two manifestations of the same Divine impulse, just as light and heat are two manifestations of the energy of the sun.)

Comments

[queenofhalves]

tell me what you didn't like about swedenborg's visions. i am curious.

Curious...

[cookingwithgas.livejournal.com]

As always. I know nothing about Swedenborg, however the idea of visions interests me. As a concrete rationalist, I would even say they facinate me. I have no belief in the divine primarily because I have no experience of it. Obviously, many people who have visions think they are having a direct experience of the divine. Of course, many who do not have vision still believe they have had direct experience of the divine.

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Ponderances of a Layman

[semanticvandal.livejournal.com]

I freely admit I know nothing of Swedenborg other than what I've seen mentioned here.

But I enjoyed the bit about balance. God and the Devil. Yin and Yang. Salt and Pepper.

One thing I find entertaining is those who try to quantify faith when the very essence of the subject is based on the intangible.

For me religion is about one's own person. Body as well as spirit. To define the divine in some ways seems a cheapening of that which elevates us beyond the realm of animal instinct.

Just some woolgathering on my part. Perhaps too much blood in my caffiene stream. =D

Re: Ponderances of a Layman

[qos.livejournal.com]

"Defining the Divine" is an eternal --- and eternally futile -- human pursuit, because one of the fundamental attributes of the Divine is Mystery. Any time a human tries to put a name on the Divine, or to define the Divine, something essential is lost. All language about the Divine is poetry or metaphor -- even when those who use it do so as if they were speaking in cold, concrete facts.

One of my personal ongoing struggles is to continue to honor the vast Mystery of Divinity and approach the Divine in intimate personal relationship. Sometimes it takes a deliberate suspension of disbelief when I use one of the names of God in invocation. But I do so, trusting that the Divine will answer -- not because I'm using the "right" name, but because I am calling out in faith and love.

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