The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

252 Swedenborg, Emanuel
influenced philosophers and theologians from the 19th
century on.
Swedenborg was born in Stockholm on January 29,
1688, the second son of the Lutheran bishop of Skara.
The family name was then Swedberg; the father changed
it to Swedenborg when they became part of the nobility
in 1719. After graduation, Swedenborg traveled to the
Netherlands, Germany, and England, where he met the
astronomers Edmund Halley and John Flamsteed. By the
time of his return to Sweden in 1716, his reputation called
him to the attention of King Charles XII, who named him
a special assessor to the Royal College of Mines. Fascinated
by the mining industry, Swedenborg turned down
the opportunity to teach at Uppsala.
Swedenborg never married and devoted himself to
work instead. He was a creative inventor, conceiving of a
device to carry boats overland for a distance of 14 miles,
submarine and air guns that could fire 60 or 70 rounds
without reloading, and flying machines. In 1734–44,
Swedenborg wrote various treatises on animals, mineralogy,
geology, creation, and anatomy. In 1745, he published
Worship and the Love of God, based on his visionary
experiences, and turned his attention completely to the
study of religion and God’s revelations.
Swedenborg began having ecstatic visions in 1743. Up
to that time, he had not given much thought to spiritual
matters, although he had argued that the soul existed.
Suddenly, he was overcome with revelations about heaven
and hell, the work of ANGELS and spirits, the true meaning
of Scripture, and the order of the universe.
He was fully conscious during the visions and could
remain in a trance for up to three days. During these
times, his breathing would be severely slowed, and he
would be insensible, but his mental activity remained
sharp. He once likened his trances to what happens when
a person dies and is resuscitated.
He also had the unusual ability to remain for prolonged
periods in the borderland state between sleep and
wakefulness, either as he was going to sleep or as he was
awakening. In this twilight state of consciousness, he was
immersed in vivid images and voices. He called his visionary
travels being “in the spirit,” and he clearly knew
that he was out of his body.
In 1744 and 1745, he had visions that had a profound
effect on him and greatly opened his spiritual senses.
He later was able to exist simultaneously in the material
world and the spiritual realms. He quit his job as assessor
in 1747 to devote himself fully to his visionary work.
In his later years, he moved to England, and he died
there at age 84. He is buried in London.
After his death in 1772, some of Swedenborg’s followers
established various churches and societies to study
and promulgate the mystic’s theories. The Church of the
New Jerusalem was founded in England in 1778 and in
the United States in 1792. The Swedenborg Society was
established in 1810 to publish translations of Swedenborg’s
books, create libraries, and sponsor study and lecture.
Spiritualists embraced Swedenborg’s concept of the
spirit’s survival after death and the possibility of communication
with spirits. As did Swedenborg, they rejected
reincarnation.
Swedenborg recorded his visionary experiences in 30
volumes in Latin. Of those, Heaven and Hell (1758) describes
how souls go to the spiritual world and choose the
realm with which they resonate in terms of their earthly
interests. It describes societies, cities, life, work, children,
and other topics.
According to Swedenborg, people, through free will,
create their life and eventually choose heaven or hell. Men
and women are completely at liberty to pursue lives devoted
to love of the divine and charity toward the neighbor
or to glorify self-love and evil. By so doing, they make
their own heaven or hell. Choices are final.
Immediately after death, the soul passes to an intermediary
state called the spiritual world or world of the
spirits, halfway between Earth and heaven and hell. The
spiritual world and the material world are separate and
distinct but mirror each other through the law of correspondences.
The soul awakens to find itself in an environment
similar to the one left behind. This “first state”
lasts for a few days. Angels, friends, and relatives greet
the newcomer. If a spouse has preceded the newly arrived
soul, they may reunite.
The first state is followed by the second state, in which
the soul enters interior contemplation and judges its
true character, which is impossible to hide. One’s secret
thoughts and intentions in life are more important than
actions, for the soul may have acted falsely to impress
others or curry favors for itself. This self-examination
prepares the soul to move into its permanent home in
heaven or hell. In the first state, evil and good souls are
together, but they separate in the second state.
Evil souls go on to hell at the end of the second state.
Good souls go through a “vastation,” or a purification of
spiritual impurities. They then enter the third state, in
which they receive instruction for becoming angels in
heaven.
Swedenborgian hell differs greatly from the eternal
fire of damnation propounded by preachers of his day.
It is quite a modern place, peopled by those who choose
self-love and evil rather than divine love and truth. The
Lord casts no one into hell but instead works steadfastly
through his angels to save that soul. During life, angels try
to replace evil thoughts and intentions with good ones.
But those who still embrace evil and falsehood make their
own hell after death.
Hell’s denizens continue their earthly lives and habits,
much as angels do, but with the continual threat of
punishment if they exceed acceptable levels of vice and
corruption. Retribution is the only restraint on their
evil natures. There is no fallen LUCIFER or SATAN leading
them. Lucifer and Satan themselves mean hell, and there