Rummaging
through a used book store I found this little book “The Pomegranate with Seeds of Gold.”
When I looked through it I realized that it contained stories based
on the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg.
I had heard of him in my religious studies but never knew that he wrote
extensively about conjug(i)al love.
Here
is one story from that booklet; then I like to explore more about the life of
Mr. Swedenborg.
“TRULY
CONJUGIAL, namely, that love truly conjugial,
which is that of one man with one wife, from its origin and correspondence, is
celestial, spiritual, holy, and clean above every other love, n.”
The Grapes with Leaves of Silver
The
day after his visit to the heaven of the Golden
Age, Swedenborg was still in the world of spirits; he was in his home here,
and again the angel came to him. It was
the same angel who the day before had guided him to the heaven of the Most
Ancient Church, called the Golden Age.
The
angel greeted Swedenborg and asked, “Do you wish me to guide you to the heaven
of a people who lived in ancient times in an age called the Silver Age?”
Swedenborg
was happy to see the angel who was again to be his guide and companion.
“Yes,”
he said, “and we may hear from these people about marriage in those ancient
times.”
The
angel answered, “As before, we may not come near this heaven, either, unless
the Lord permits, but He has sent me to guide you.” Swedenborg quickly made ready for the
journey, and he and the angel set out.
They
came first to a hill on the border between the East and the South. They climbed to the top and saw before them a
wide stretch of country, and beyond, a mountain far away. Between this mountain and the hill on which
they stood was a valley, and farther on a field gently rising toward the
mountain.
They
walked slowly down the hill in order to cross the valley, and as they were
passing through the valley they saw on either side statues or images of men,
and of various animals, birds, and fish.
Many of these were beautifully carved in wood, and others were cut from
stone.
Swedenborg
examined them with interest and then asked the angel, “What are these; are they
idols?”
“No,
indeed they are not,” answered the angel.
“Each of these sculptured figures has a special meaning which the people
who live here understand. Some of these
forms represent certain virtues such as telling the truth and unselfishness,
others represent truth itself. Among the
people of this age the science of correspondences was known, and as every man,
beast, bird, and fish corresponds to some quality, so each of these carved
figures represents some particular aspect of virtue or truth. This is what the Egyptians showed in their
art, and in their hieroglyphics.”
Conversing
thus they continued on their way through the valley and came to the large
field. Here they saw horses and chariots
passing through the country. The horses
had richly decorated harness of many kinds.
The chariots were made in strange forms; some were carved like eagles,
and others like great whales of the sea, others were carved in the form of
graceful deer with branching antlers, and still others like unicorns with one
small horn in the center of the forehead.
The chariots were painted in bright colors, and were magnificent in
appearance.
At
the other end of the field Swedenborg and the angel saw several wagons, and on
one side of the field there were stables.
As they went farther into the field these chariots changed, and strange
to say, the horses and the wonderfully carved chariots began to disappear, and
in their stead men in couples were seen walking about, talking and earnestly
discussing.
Swedenborg
was astonished at this change, but the angel told him what the appearance of
the men instead of the horses and chariots meant. He said, “The men appear at a distance like
horses and various kinds of chariots because they represent the intelligence of
men at that age. For horses signify an
intelligent understanding of truth, and chariots the teaching of truth. The stables signify schools. This is according to correspondences, for in
heaven we can sometimes see in this way what correspondence is.”
They
passed near these men without stopping and climbed another steep hill. At last when they reached the top they found
themselves near a city. They were at the
very gate, which they entered. Looking
about them, they decided to walk through some of the streets and beautiful
squares, and to see the houses. Many of
the houses were really palaces, more beautiful than any Swedenborg had ever
seen here on earth. They were built of
marble, pure white, and the steps to imposing doorways were of alabaster partly
transparent, smooth and white. On each
side of the steps were pillars of jasper stone of a dark green opalescent
color.
The
visitors stopped to gaze with awe at a temple.
It was built of precious stone, the color of sapphire a rich clear blue.
They
wandered on through the streets enjoying the beauty of the buildings, the
trees, and the gardens. Thus wandering about
they saw also some of the people of the Silver
Age walking in pairs, and as they were husbands and wives, the angel said
to Swedenborg, “Let us wait a little.”
“Yes,”
answered Swedenborg, “We can hope that perhaps one of these couples will ask us
into their home.”
They
were thinking about this and at that very moment the door of a nearby palace
opened and a young man with his wife came out and down the steps. They called Swedenborg and the angel, and
when the young couple came to where the visitors were standing they invited
them into their home.
Swedenborg
and his companion were delighted and accompanying the husband and wife they
went up the alabaster steps. They stood
there a moment while greetings were exchanged.
When they entered the reception hall, the angel speaking on behalf of
Swedenborg, told the young couple why they had come to the heaven of the Silver
Age. He said, “We have wished to lean
about marriage among those ancients who now live in this heaven.”
On
hearing this, the husband and wife gave them a cordial welcome, and the man said,
“We are from a people in Asia, and have lived in this heaven for many hundreds
of years. The constant study of our age was truth. From this and the study of correspondences we
became intelligent.”
The
angel then asked, “Will you tell us something about marriage in the Silver
Age?”
The
husband replied, “From our study of correspondences we learned that truth and
good of the Church can only exist with a husband and wife who are in love truly
conjugial. For there is a correspondence
between spiritual marriage which is of truth and good , and natural marriage
which is of one man and one wife.”
The
wife then said, “But let us go in this room.”
She let them from the reception hall into a large and magnificent room.
The
walls were decorated with paintings, which were splendid works of art. The visitors admired these decorations, and
then Swedenborg turned to see on the table by which he was standing some
exquisite little figures cast in silver.
There were other similar figurines on tables and stands about the room.
“What
are these?” he asked.
The
man replied, “Each of these little silver statues has a special meaning that
has to do with our live together.” He
took one in his hand, “This one,” he said, “represents the unity of our souls.” He put it down and took another, showing it
to Swedenborg. “This beautiful little
figure,” he said, “represents the harmony of our hearts.”
While
they were looking at this figurine, Swedenborg happened to glance at the wall,
and to his astonishment he saw a rainbow.
This had not been there before.
It was in three brilliant colors, royal purple, sea blue, and dazzling
white; and as he gazed in wonder and admiration, he saw that the colors did not
remain fixed, but seemed to flow one into the other. He saw the royal purple color pass through
the sea blue, and tinge the beautiful white with blue, while the white flowed
back through the blue into the purple and raised it to a brightness as of
flame.
“Do
you understand these changes of color?” the husband asked, observing Swedenborg’s
wonder.
Swedenborg
answered, “No, will you please instruct me?”
“The
royal purple color,” their host replied, “represents the wife’s love and the
dazzling which the intelligence of the husband.
The sea blue represents the beginning of a true love in the husband,
which is from the wife. The blue with
which the white is tinged corresponds to the husband’s love. The flowing back and forth of the colors in
the rainbow appears on our walls when we think about true love and are looking
at the rainbow that you see glowing there.”
Swedenborg
listened to this intently, and then said, “At the present day such things are
more than mystical, for they represent the love of one man and one wife.”
The
husband answered,” The flowing colors in the rainbow do represent this love,
but to us here in this heaven it is not mystical.”
Just
as he said this they all saw through the open door, a chariot at some
distance. It was drawn by small white
horses.
The
angel guide then said, “The appearance of the chariot and the small white
horses in the distance is a sign for us to say farewell.”
Swedenborg
and the angel with the husband and wife then came out of the palace and began
to go down the alabaster steps between the blue pillars, the husband was
holding something in his hand which he gave them as they stood there for a
moment, it was a cluster of white grapes which the leaves still attached. To their wonder the leaves were turning to
silver.
This
beautiful gift was a sign to Swedenborg that he and the angel guide had visited
the heaven of the Silver Age. And they
left for the journey home.
Note: in the writings of
Swedenborg, he describes 4 metal ages: gold, silver, bronze
and iron which correspond to the Most Ancient Church, the Ancient Church, the
Israelitish Church, and the Christian Church.
Emanuel Swedenborg was
born and lived in Sweden from 1688-1772.
He was a scientist, philosopher, theologian, mystic and spiritual
explorer. In his early years, he
travelled through Europe, researching and developing scientific projects and
inventions that was his scientific period.
He also involved himself in the study of the human anatomy. Since he himself had a speech-impairment, he
chose to write about most of his research rather than presenting it in public.
At
the age of 53 he entered into his spiritual phase. Around Easter 1744, he started to have dreams
and spiritual visions, which led him to a spiritual awakening which he believed
to come directly from Jesus. He became
the inspiration of many well-known historians in the following years, being the
voice which would prepare people for the Second Coming. He often entered the spiritual world and
conversed with Jesus, the angels, demons and other
spirits. He founded the Swedenborgian Society
and his teachings influenced writers and poets like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl
Jung, Immanuel Kant and Helen Keller.
What
astounded me was his awareness of the meaning of married life which he called conjugial love. He himself never married but he
considered erotic love of divine origin, truly pure and holy. He also made us aware that human beings can
easily pervert it to selfish love with evil endings.
From
his writings we can clearly see that Emanuel Swedenborg was way ahead of his
time. That’s why his teachings are still
relevant today. His spiritual
explorations correlate with the many near death experiences (NDE) people have. I read Raymond Moody’s book Life After Life with great
interest. Dr. Eben Alexander just
recently released his story in: Proof of Heaven: A
Neurosurgeon's Near Death Experience and Journey into the Afterlife. Or the very touching story of Dr. Mary Neal, a woman who had a NDE by
drowning and was revived only to experience her son’s death a few years later: To Heaven and Back.
The
teachings also reveal to us the meaning of married love and the beauty of the
exchange between a man and a woman. It
is not only the physical intimacy which binds the two together for procreation
and building a family, but it also shows the higher dimension of spiritual love
by being connected to the creator which will continue for eternity.
“Man is born to meet woman and woman to meet
man. And man and woman together are born
to combine together with a higher level of love which is God’s love. Neither man nor woman can touch God’s love
alone. If a man or woman alone tried to
unite with God’s love, it would just be a one-sided love. Neither one would be able to combine with a
three-dimensional, spherical love.
Therefore, man and
woman must get married in order to jump into the realm of a higher-level
three-dimensional love. In the original
world, the more man and woman become united, the greater the center of the
activating power becomes, forming a sphere.
Therefore, the more and more man and woman become connected
horizontally, the more God, who is the maternal womb of the vertical power of
love, becomes connected. Then our mind
and body become united.”
Rev.
Sun Myung Moon, Blessing and Ideal Family – Why we marry
There
is a Divine Eternal Truth which we have had only a small glimpse to know. The spiritual world is alive and most of all,
God our Heavenly Parents are alive, and waiting for us to start a living
relationship with.
Let’s
start a true conjugal relationship with God.
