26. Swedenborg

What can be said about Swedenborg? To me he discovered new dimensions, but described these dimensions in such a non-Newtonian way that the world of Newtonian thinking could not understand what he described and outright rejected the whole thesis of such non-Newtonian dimensions.

Swedenborg dreamed of a region inhabited by other beings. In the beginning of this experience he tried to describe what he dreamed in Newtonian terms, as his previous work had been in, what I would call Newtonian (structured) style of research. He dropped that attempt because there was so much new in these dimensions.

He saw levels in this new region that had different characteristics. He noted that the levels showed differences in how the beings communicated. In the lowest level beings communicated by direct thought but it was much like talking with words in sentences. Then at a higher level the communication was more like in phrases, communicated as a whole, without words. The whole phrase was communicated at once so communication could be faster and more complete and understood.

Then at an even higher level the communication was like a whole sentence communicated at once so the communication was again faster and more complete and easier to understand. At the highest level it was like communicating whole concepts and ideas in a single communication. The understanding was complete and immediate. So we see a new dimension of communication as we follow Swedenborg’s description of these levels of communication. This is part of the levels of new dimensions in the new world he dreamed of.

The most awesome thing about this new world was Swedenborg’s description of the change in the time dimension. It seems from the beginning of his dreams, time was not ordinary. As he moved to the higher levels time became totally different as if time as we know it, was no more. There was still something like time but it was different. It was like communication being immediate, although in a continuum of some consciousness, the sense of time became an understanding of all time as though in a moment. He still observed this as part of some continuation but it was not the continuation of ordinary time. There was some kind of time - before getting the message - during the message - and after the message.

I see Swedenborg as seeing and describing a set of new dimensions that were not Newtonian. As he described these dimensions he encountered beings that appear to be some kind of guides to help the understanding, since pure Newtonian description would fail to describe what was occurring. That the beings are strange to us would be obvious, since the dimensions he, and they, reveal to us are very strange to us. It is in understanding these beings and their revelation of these new dimensions that we can understand such new dimensions that we were previously blinded to, because we had restricted our vision.

The Abstract as Meaning

Note the difference between abstract as meaning and as truth. As meaning the abstract is an guide and help to understand. As truth the abstract become a cause and a control. As meaning it is a friend; as truth it is an enemy.

Jerome Heath