Scientific discovery of Spiritual Laws given in Rational Scientific Revelations. TheisticPsychology.org

The evolutionary significance of the Writings of Swedenborg is that they define and establish human rational consciousness. Until the Writings were written (1743 to1771) the human race on earth possessed only a sensuous consciousness. The mind or spirit is composed of an outside portion called the external mind, and within that, an interior portion called the internal mind. These two minds functioned in an entirely different way before the Writings and after.

Rational ideas, when loved, become true wisdom. With this we can lead a life of good and prepare ourselves for life in eternal bliss, conjugial joy, and community bonding.

Introduction

Science in the future is going to be theistic just as it was in the past. Materialistic science is a phase of development in scientific evolution. Materialism, monism, atheism, secular humanism, naturalized, corporeal, or mystical spirituality--are all materialistic and abstracted reflections of the human mind in search of understanding reality, of actuality, of what is. The word theistic in English has two parts which can be rendered "the is" and "-tic." "The is" refers to the fundamental of being or existence. In ancient Hebrew, "the is" is rendered Jehovah which means "the I am." So the first part of theistic is a reference to Jehovah. The second part is a grammatical form "-tic" meaning belonging to or about. So theistic science is the science about Jehovah, and thus the science of what is, hence the science of reality. Materialistic or atheistic science also depicts itself as the science of truth and reality, so there is no change in theistic science as to the purpose of having science.

Theistic science is a systematic, generational, and cumulative discovery tool for reality and its truths using scientific revelations as the departing principles of deduction.

Scientific revelations are given in three layers--the surface language layer called the literal of the Word, and two invisible but deducible inner layers, as discussed below. Theistic science is the rational, methodological, communal, and generationally cumulative process of extracting knowledge from the literal of Sacred Scripture.

In the course of civilizations on this earth there have been an orderly sequence of Divine "dispensations" or versions of "the Word of God," each being given as a new revelation at the beginning of a succeeding civilization that is to mark a new evolutionary step in human consciousness. Further explication on this historical evolution of the Word will be found in this article: De Hemelsche Leer--Part 1 and Part 2.

The materialistic and atheistic position in science is not logical and cannot be justified on rational grounds. It is merely a "negative bias" for which no proof is possible. This can become clear to you if you're willing to make this thought experiment. To begin with assume that there is an infinite God Person, possessing infinite power and intelligence, who created the universe and who maintains it running in Divine order according to rational laws of order, and that this reality has been revealed in Sacred Scripture throughout the ages. Is this too much for you to assume for now? If your mind is resisting this idea by wanting to dismiss it or laugh at it as naive, etc., it's because of your current prejudicial views. We all get this prejudicial dose in our education and culture. If you continue to study theistic science you will discover why scientific revelations exist and are necessary for the growth of our consciousness. But for now, just assume it's true as a thought experiment for a few minutes or hours, while you are evaluating what I have written.

Now look at materialistic and atheistic science from this "positive bias" perspective.

What do you see? Materialistic science has made God an unwelcome concept, a non-entity scientifically, or a foolish idea of the unscientific mind. God is officially banned from science until some materialistic scientist can come up with a materialistic proof of God's existence. But this is not a rational demand. By definition, it is impossible to prove something spiritual in a materialistic way, since the materialistic bias denies anything but what is material (physical, natural), and God is not material. It is a logical fact that a material God would not be able to create a material world. The creator must be of a higher order of existence in order to be able to create the material universe of time, space, and matter.

There is an obvious fundamental flaw in the idea that the material universe could originate from itself or some material origin. Aristotle and the ancient Greeks knew this. It was brought to light again by Swedenborg. When thinking rationally, rather than sensuously, we can clearly see that there must be an infinite non-material Being, outside the parameters of time and space, who by rational design created a finite material universe of time, space, and matter. It is also evident when thinking rationally that the Creator could not create outside of Himself what was already within Himself. For instance, He could not create life, love, truth, rationality, freedom, spiritual heat, spiritual light, beauty, harmony, unity. These are called "uncreate" things or substances. They have no beginning of existence. They always existed as part of the infinite substances in God.

Hence, God could only create what is outside these uncreate things. God could only create a dead universe -- dead in endless time, dead in immense space, dead in frozen matter. But He could create these material things to be able function as receptor organs for the uncreate things. Hence the natural stars could be receptors of spiritual heat from within them, which externalized as physical heat, light, energy, ether, and matter. Similarly, dead chemical objects like biological plants and animals could be created to be able to receive and contain uncreate substances within themselves, by which they take on the appearance of living things. The same with the highest level of created things -- human minds. These organic units are specially organized clumps out of immortal fibers and neurons constructed out of the spiritual heat and light that emanates from the Spiritual Sun, permeating the entire spiritual spheres or ethers in which human minds are born and live forever.

The human mind is a spiritual organ of reception in the same sense as the physical eye is a physiological organ capable to detect and receive physical light into itself. The physical eye is transformed by reactions to the physical light it received into itself, and leads to the familiar sensation of vision in the mind. The organ of the will in the mind (affective domain) is constructed to receive within itself the spiritual heat from the Spiritual Sun. The organ of the understanding in the mind (cognitive domain) is constructed to receive within itself the spiritual heat from the Spiritual Sun.

The two organs are thereby activated and operationalized, so that we have the sensation of thinking as-of self whatever we want and reacting to things by feelings that seem our very own such as love, fear, anger, fantasy, satisfaction, determination, etc. We thus can appear to be beings who are alive, intelligent, rational, immortal. This appearance is possible as a reality because God constructed our mind as receptor organs capable of receiving uncreate things that belong to Him, and as a result, feel that they are as-if our own in us. This makes us human and immortal.

There is an endless order of progression built into this system of receiving uncreate things that are God's infinite things in us. As a result we have human consciousness, which is the reception of the spiritual light in our understanding. There is an endless continuum of improvement or elevation possible for the human mind so that the quality of its consciousness can be perfected and purified endlessly, as it approaches but never reaches the outskirts of God's consciousness. This was the purpose God had in creating the universe.

Are you still in the thought experiment? You can see from this perspective that materialistic science is forever barred from becoming conscious of this awesome reality.

Can you prove visually that sound exists? All you can do is to show correlations, as for example, when loudness increases a visual wave form on a suitable screen also increases, and vice versa. So if you insist irrationally that the existence of sound must be proven visually, in a direct way and not by correlation, then you're going to have to deny the existence of sound. So the demand to prove God's existence by physical or material proof is irrational and self-defeating. Instead, what is needed is a rational proof (not physical or material). The rational is a human form of the spiritual, and God being infinite, can easily be proven rationally. The Writings of Swedenborg contain thousands of proofs of the existence of God and His Laws of Order.

(Click here to see a List of Swedenborg's Writings and have free access to them online.)

Well then, what is the conclusion to be formed from this thought experiment? That materialistic science will give way to theistic science as soon as scientists begin to realize that the three premises of theistic science (given at the beginning) are true and correct.  The Writings of Swedenborg fully establish the truth and correctness of these three premises. My purpose for creating this Glossary is to help diffuse the knowledge about Theistic Psychology as based on the Writings of Swedenborg. These Writings are scientific revelations, and the truth of this is established rationally by Swedenborg (1668-1771), one of the most respected and creative scientists of the Age of Reason (18th century science in Europe). For additional discussion on Swedenborg's view of science, see this article titled "The Fourteen Scientific Fallacies in in Swedenborg's AC 5084--Implications for Science Education" available here: www.theisticpsychology.org/articles/fallacies.html

I once had the following conversation with a colleague, a scientist in the field of biochemistry and genetics. I was eager to show him that there is a rational way of defining God in science.

Leon James:  I'm not violating any of your rational rules when I propose that we make a logical distinction between two types of things. Things that have a beginning and things that do not have a beginning. Is that all right?

Colleague:  Yes.

Leon James:  Good. Now let's add that the things that have a beginning may or may not have an end. For example, counting is a process that starts at 1 and then goes on indefinitely unless stopped. So counting, and number series, and possibly the entire physical universe could be in the category of having a beginning but not necessarily an end, though many things have an end like a rain shower, or an earthquake, or a century. So to summarize, we're not violating any rational rules by saying that the physical universe had a beginning and may not have an end. Now the other category, namely things that have no beginning.

Colleague:  What kind of a thing is that?

Leon James:  For the moment let's just call it the X Factor. So the X Factor is something that has had no beginning, and let's add, it doesn't have an end. It's not violating any of your rational rules to propose that an X Factor exists, right?

Colleague:  Well, I suppose I can't find anything strictly wrong with making such an assumption. And that's all it is, an assumption. Unproven. Just something you can think about.

Leon James:  OK. Let's state it explicitly. It's not irrational to suppose that there is something that has no beginning and no end. And when we say that it's not irrational to suppose that, then it also means that it's rational. To summarize: it's rational to assume that the physical universe has a beginning but that there is something else, something not physical, that has no beginning. Agreed?

Colleague:  Yes, it's rational to suppose this but it's not proven. It could just be nothing but a supposition.

Leon James:  I understand what you're saying. Now I propose that we give a name to this X Factor and I'd like to call it God. To repeat then, it's rational to assume that there is a God that has always existed and as well, that there is a physical universe that has a beginning in existence. Correct?

Colleague:  Correct. Just a supposition. And I agree that it's rational since it's not irrational. But being rational doesn't mean that it's true or actual or real.

Leon James:  I see what you're saying. Right now it's only necessary that we establish the truth that God is a rational concept in science. There is nothing unscientific, irrational or illogical about assuming God's existence. Now the next step is to make another assumption that is perfectly rational, namely, that God is responsible for the existence of all things that have a beginning. This is both logical, practical, and necessary, as long as we assume that there is God and that God has no beginning and no end.

Notice that God's rational definition includes or implies the idea that God is infinite. If God were not infinite it would not be logical to say that God is responsible for creating all things that exist that have a beginning (but possibly no end), as we established before. So only if we assume that God is infinite can we accept the idea as rational, namely that God is responsible for the universe. Agreed so far?

Colleague:  Yes, fine. You can rationally suppose, if you want to, that God is infinite and is responsible for creating the universe that itself is not infinite since it has a beginning, even if it has no end.

Leon James:  Excellent. Now to continue, it doesn't violate any rational rule to suppose further that the infinite God has a structure and a particular content, just as the finite world has a structure and a content. It's perfectly rational to suppose that the infinite God has a particular inner essence and outer layers of structure. All of these things belonging to God are of course infinite with no beginning or limit.

Colleague:  Fine, God has an essence and a structure and these are infinite. That's still rational. Structures and layers that are infinite may be rational--but are they real or just rational suppositions?

Leon James:  We're getting to that too. Now the next assumption is also perfectly rational and doesn't violate any scientific logic, namely, that God's essence and structure are Human. I mean human in the sense that science defines what is human at different levels--genetic, physiological, anatomical, psychological, social, and moral. In other words, these finite human characteristics exist as they do because they are representative finite copies of God's infinite qualities and structures.

In other words, God is the only true and actual Human Person, in an infinite form and existence, who has always been in existence--unlike people who are finite creations with a beginning. These facts about God's essence and structure are described in detail in the scientific revelations given by God to the human race since the dawn of history. Contemporary versions of these scientific revelations have been preserved as Sacred Scripture by all the major religions on this earth.

So to summarize our progress so far: God who is the Infinite Human, or the Divine Human, created the beginning point for the existence of the universe and is responsible for its continued existence and growth through rational laws of order called the Laws of Divine Providence.

Colleague:  All right, a set of suppositions that may be rational but have never been proven. I admit that at first I would have said that God has no place in science as a concept because it introduces mystical and undefined elements over which we have no control, and science ends there, shattered. But I can see that there is a way of defining the concept of God in science without violating any rational rules of operation and thinking. Would you care to continue? How does God manage this universe?

Leon James:  Swedenborg's Writings contain many scientific facts about how God runs the universe. In order to understand how God manages the universe we need to accept a few basic premises that will ensure that we continue to stay rational in all our statements about God and the universe. For instance, one of these basic premises is this: Nothing disconnected can exist. In other words, God runs the universe by being an omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent Creator and Manager. A revelation in Swedenborg's Writings is that God is everywhere--in all time and in all place--but not in time and place but apart from time and space. In other words we must acquire a new rational idea or operation in the universe--namely, the property or phenomenon of being omnipresent but not in time and space.

This idea posits rational structures that are able to comprehend and describe the relation between the infinite and the finite, that is, the relation between God and the various pieces of the created universe.

Colleague:  That's a big mouthful, doctor. But I'm still with you. What you're saying are a set of propositions that interact with each other and I must admit they are all possible, all rational. But are they true?

Leon James:  Remember that we're not trying to prove that God exists--this was the assumption from the start, not the proof. We're only trying to prove that the concept of God can be rational and can be introduced into science without violating rational rules of inference and inquiry. This is theistic science, that is, science that works within the premises of God's existence and the scientific revelations God has given to the human race. Swedenborg calls these the Laws of Divine Providence and he is the first scientist to demonstrate that the Laws of Divine Providence are rational and human.

The point is that our automatic resistance to the idea of God in science is not based on rational considerations but on a gut reaction implanted in our education. Theistic science is freedom from that gut reaction, offering us the opportunity of a rational examination of the issue. The benefits of theistic science to humankind are immense. While materialistic science is an inductive and bottom up procedure, theistic science is a synthetic bottom down procedure. The first works in materialistic darkness and gropes for the light of understanding and wisdom; the second works in rational light and deduces from revelation various inventions and resources available for the picking. One is impotent in solving our societal problems and produces much foolishness, unhappiness, and cruelty. The other is being carried along in the Divine current that leads to much wisdom and intelligence, happiness, bliss, peace, and compassion.

Some years ago, before I started reading the Writings of Swedenborg, a student in psychology once asked me in class: "Dr. James, you've mentioned the word "spiritual" several times. Can you give us a definition of it?" Curiously I don't remember what I said exactly, or even approximately, but I very well remember how I felt about it after class when I started thinking about my inability to deliver a clear and precise answer. How could I be using a word in my lectures that I don't understand? Whatever I was able to gather from the literature that came my way as I searched around, felt inadequate to me in a fundamental sense, namely, that I remained unable to give a coherent and precise definition of what is spiritual. Everything I learned to say about it from others amounted to something vague having to do with something internal or maybe with higher consciousness. Of course it was somehow related to religion and faith and God and afterlife--but how?

What was the difference between spiritual and religious? How was spiritual related to me? Was it for everybody or only a few? Was it rational or mystical? What did magic have to do with spiritual? What about sorcery, and ghosts, and ecstasy with God? Well I could talk about these things, since I was a professor--by habit as well as by profession. But the proof that I knew absolutely nothing of what is spiritual lies in looking back at what I knew from the perspective of my current position based on Swedenborg.

What I know and discovered since I started studying the Writings of Swedenborg has solved my problem (I tell the story of my discovery here:  www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s98/shintani/logos.html ). Since that time, when I'm asked what is spiritual, I reply that

spiritual relates to the spiritual world where the immortal mind is born and lives, in contrast to the natural world where the temporary physical body is born, lives, and dies.

This is simple to understand, very precise, and totally accurate, as can be known from scientific revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg. Theistic Psychology is established in the Writings through scientific revelations about the spiritual world, the laws of correspondences by which the natural phenomena are caused, the process of resuscitation that occurs with everyone as when passing from this world into the spiritual world. Resuscitation is a process of being extirpated from the physical corpse and being awakened in an immortal spiritual body. This and many other amazing and wonderful revelations about both worlds are given in the Writings. If you're eager to start reading, his entire set of theological writings are available online--  www.theisticpsychology.org/articles/abbrev.html.

To help those readers who have come upon this without much background about Swedenborg's Writings, we can project ahead together, briefly, to the idea of a spiritual world that is not in time and space. What is it like to live in the spiritual world, into which every one must pass when the physical body becomes a corpse?

One image that might help is to think of yourself as a spirit body inside a material body. This is a temporary connection that lasts until the death of the physical body. We know that it is the cells' genetic code that directs the shaping of the organs and their mineral and biochemical composition and function. This genetic code is itself directed by your soul. It is not raitonal to say that the genetic code is built by itself or that it maintains its power to direct growth by itself. Rational thinking has to say that the genetic code must be taking its code and and its shaping function from some source that it not itself material, like the protein cells that hold the code. This higher super-material or super-natural entity is called the soul and is part of the what God creates when a human being is born. God manages the genetic code through the action of the soul upon the code and the biochemistry of the body.

Through the processes of conception and birth, both your soul and your mind (or "spirit") are created as a unique human individual. The soul receives immediately the power from the infinite Divine Human. It is like being online, where the power inflows without stop. Through the actions of the soul God determines the genetic code and the biological structures that make up the physical cells. This "mediate" action by God through other created objects, like acting upon the cells through the soul, is typical of God's way of proceeding, as you'll see when getting to know more of Theistic Psychology.

God always operates both immediately (thus retaining total control from within the inmost of something), and mediately through others. The mediate step down actions by which all things are controlled, serve to integrate the universe into a unity. The vertical community connects the human race into a one. No one is ever alone, no one does anything or think anything alone. Entire populations of human beings, comprising numerous societies, are mediately involved in the production of one of our thought sequences while brushing our teeth or looking for a parking space. It has been revealed through the Writings of Swedenborg, that in God infinite things are one. And also, that before God the entire human race is as one Grand Human.

The physical body and the mind (or spirit) grow through the oversight and control of the soul, by means of the soul's continuous (never-ending) reception of influx from God. The soul is connected to the body and the mind (or the spirit) by correspondence, not by physical presence or proximal contact. This is most important to understand and keep in mind.

To be connected by correspondence means that as the soul acts, there is a correspondential effect in the mind and body. It's not rational to say that the soul is "inside" the body in the sense that the heart is inside the chest cavity. When it is said that the soul is inside the body it makes sense only in the sense that the spiritual world is inside the natural world.

Now this cannot be a physical location (like the heart inside the chest) because the spiritual world is outside time and space and it is not possible for the spiritual to be physically located in time and space. This is a critical scientific revelation!

All along, during the past centuries of science, and millennia of literature, when it was said that the the soul or the mind, or the psyche, is inside the body or the brain, people could have no other idea than that it was physically inside. For instance, it is well known that Descartes, cited in the literature as a dualist, thought that the soul was inside the pineal gland of the brain. People often picked the brain, for the location of the soul, especially the center or inside portion of the brain. But no one had any concrete idea of what the soul was made of and no one thought it illogical to think that the soul -- a non-material object outside time and space, could be inside the brain, a material object in time and space. And yet this doesn't make sense rationally.

But now, with the scientific revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg, we have a totally new understanding of how the soul or mind or spirit, is "inside" the body or brain. It is inside not physically but correspondentially, as explained. All things in the universe are arranged in discrete degrees or levels removed from the Spiritual Sun and each other. These levels are of different substances and function and there is no possibility of a continuum between them. One cannot go directly from one level to the next. Everything is created in its own level or degree and can never exit from that degree. But the levels are functionally related so that whatever happens at one level has an effect on the next lower level, and this effect is specified by the laws of correspondence, now revealed in the Writings of Swedenborg.

For example, mental operations in the mind are in a higher degree than muscular operations in the limbs. There is no way of going from muscle to mind directly. Muscle is made of physical matter while mind is made of spiritual substance. But the muscle and the mental operation are connected by correspondence so that when I have a certain feeling (e.g., desire to get an object), the mental operation has a corresponding effect on the arm and legs, so that I begin to walk towards that object.

Another example of correspondence is the arrangement of the three heavens in the human mind, which Swedenborg was able to confirm by visiting the three heavens of the spiritual world. It was demonstrated to him what happens when a sentence is written down by those who inhabit their third heaven, and is "let down" to be read by those who inhabit their second heaven. The original sentence was written in the celestial-rational correspondences in which they think and reason who dwell in their third heaven. They are called angels or celestial minds. Nothing of the original meaning was retained and what was left was the correspondence in the lower degree called spiritual-rational correspondences. This is the level of thinking and reasoning of those who dwell in their second heaven and they are called angelic spirits.

The same thing happened when the paper on which the sentence was written was let down into the minds of those who inhabit the first heaven in their mind, called good spirits. Only spiritual-natural correspondences remained in the meaning of the sentence. This experiment proved that the three heavens in the human mind communicate with each other only through correspondences.

Another example of correspondences is the specific action of spirit societies who act into the human organism to produce its biochemistry. Swedenborg was given the opportunity to map out the character of the spirits with the symptoms of malfunction in particular organs, as well as their proper function. For a helpful compendium and commentary on these passages see Worcester's book on Spiritual Correspondences, available online:  www.theisticscience.org/books/worcester/index.htm 

There is thus a cause-effect synchrony between spiritual and natural phenomena, and the relationship is governed by the laws of correspondence.

These laws have now been revealed and they are fully understandable, rational, and simple. It takes no mathematics or technical knowledge to understand what they are. And this is because the laws of correspondence are the same laws that govern the relation between the mind and the body, two objects with which we are all very familiar.

Where does the mind or spirit come from?

It is built up through experience and growth. The body and mind grow under the determination of the soul. The mind experiences the natural world through the physical body's sensory mechanisms that are integrated in the brain. This integration is not under the immediate control of the soul but mediately through the control of the mind, and the mind is under the control of the soul, which itself is under the control of influx from spiritual societies, and ultimately from the Sun of the spiritual world that is made of the substances of love and wisdom inside the infinite Divine Human.

There is thus a chain of mediation from God to sub-atomic particle or force field. This chain of mediation is governed rationally by rational laws of correspondence. Remember that God's Mind is purely rational and loving to infinity. Hence it makes sense that a rational mind would create a rational universe. A rational universe is one that involves full integration under the determination of good goals or outcomes of love, with no part of it being cut or independent from any other part, nor from the the goal of love. This is a rational and loving universe because God can only think rationally from infinite love, and God's thinking is equivalent to the operational laws of reality and existence.

Another way of discussing "God's thinking" is God's Truth since only Divine Truth is involved in God's thinking. God's Truth is the basic substance out of which everything in the universe is created and upon which they all rest and have existence. Remove the Divine Truth upon which they rest, and they disappear from existence. Hence truth is the basic building block of all created objects. Truth is another way of saying God's thinking, God's rationality, or God's Divine Speech. It is by Divine Speech therefore, that God creates and rules the universe and human minds.

God's Speech descends into the discrete levels or atmospheres of the created universe. As it descends, it is transformed by correspondences into a lower degree truth. It passes through the three heavens in the human mind and builds them up. This is what creates our immortality -- the truth that constructs our mental fibers. These fibers are immortal. Without this truth no one can exist or live. The level of truth in our understanding or consciousness determines our character and the quality of our life now, and in immortality. 

Theistic psychology is the knowledge extracted from Divine Speech in Sacred Scripture, using the methods prescribed there for the extraction process.

When we study this knowledge, and understand it, our rationality is enlightened and our spirituality is elevated. From a higher rationality we are capable of a higher love, and with this we reach the immortal conjugial heavens in our mind. We become wiser individuals, better citizens, conjugial partners in marriage, more effective parents, fully peaceful neighbors, creative artists.

To summarize:

The laws of human development operated by the Divine Human through our soul, are responsible for the birth and development of our mind or self, which is also called our spirit or spirit body. At the moment of birth we have no functioning mind because no integrated experiences occur in the womb despite the sucking of the finger by the fetus, or the response of the fetus to vibrations and noises. No doubt this revelation will be studied and understood better in the future. It is stated in the Writings that the mind as an individual that has a destiny and immortal life after passing on, begins at birth with the first breath of air entering the lungs.

This action opens the mind and from then on it will grow as an immortal spirit in eternity. If the infant dies immediately after the first breath is drawn, its mind is opened thereby, and then continues to grow to adulthood in the spiritual world where the infant is taken care of and raised by surrogate mothers from the angelic societies who receive these infants, adopt them instantly, love them, and see to their socialization and education under the auspices of Divine Providence.

When they reach a mental maturity of young adulthood (in their teens or adolescence), they appear as fully grown adults, and are then introduced to the process of marriage, by meeting, courting, getting engaged, and participating in a wedding ceremony before starting life as a conjugial couple in eternal happiness. This happens to all infants and children who pass on before they have an adult mind.

Those who develop an adult mind while tied to the physical body enter the spiritual world as adults when that physical body dies. Swedenborg has observed this many times, thousands of times: those who have passed on are called spirits or inhabitants of the spiritual world and they are able to visually see you as a spirit just like they can see each other, except that you don't interact with them. It appears to them that are sleeping. Spirits are prevented from approaching these sleeping spirit bodies by a characteristic odor which prompts them to turn away. When we are resuscitated, we seem to those already there that have awakened from a coma, and are now fully interactive with them. 

What does the mind look like? What shape does it have?

This is obvious and yet only after it's stated:  the mind has the shape of the spirit and the spirit has the shape of the body!

Yes, isn't that amazing!! But it's more correct and rational to put it the other way:  the physical body is shaped like the mind or spirit body.

Now this makes sense because recall that the shape of the body is determined by the genetic code and this in turn is controlled by the soul through continuous influx from God. Everything God creates is in the Human shape, that is, in God's Own Image, and so it's obvious that the soul is shaped like a human, and therefore the mind or spirit body is shaped like a human, and finally, therefore the material body is shaped like a human.

The mind or spirit body is born in the spiritual world and stays there, while at the same time it is connected by correspondence to the material body out there (or below there) in the natural world. When this connectivity is broken and the body becomes a corpse, the mind or spirit body awakens in the spiritual world where it always had been since its birth, but now it is awake there, and starts its life as a spirit.

If you compared a photograph of the spirit body to its former material body in the physical world, you would see a clone or duplicate relation. But this is only true at the beginning of one's life in the spiritual world, immediately following the resuscitation process. Soon afterwards our spirit body begins to assume the outward appearance of our inner loves. If these loves are orderly and arranged in correspondence from the Divine Human, then the spirit body assumes the shape and outward appearance of a young and beautiful angel, man or woman. But if these loves are contrary to God, the spirit body assumes the shape and outward appearance of a monster or devil. The surrounding environment and quality of life also reflects the inner loves in the spirit body. Such are the laws in the spiritual world.

For a definition of Theistic Psychology and its methodology, please consult this article on De Hemelsche Leer--Part 2.  See also this Glossary entry on Scientific Revelations. You might like to read Swedenborg's Letters in which he talks about his mission as revelator.

Why Theistic Science is the Future of Science

The benefits of theistic science are enormous. Materialistic science has been operating as an inductive science which means that it builds theories bottom up, based on empirical observations. This type of intellectual activity is full of error because there are numerous theories that compete against each other and there is no guarantee that any one of them is accurate. In fact, it has been recognized that most scientific theories are temporary and carry the seed of their own weakness. Scientific theories replace each other over time, sometimes within a decade, sometimes within a century. Big changes in direction are called "scientific revolutions" and "paradigm shifts." You can see that the application of these temporary and false or inadequate theories has been quite mixed so that engineering and medical research has brought both benefits and disasters where people and societies have been hurt. This pattern of false theories and injurious applications will continue into the future of materialistic science as long as it is operating in the dark, bottom up, from fact to explanation.

Theistic Psychology operates in the opposite way, namely, top down or deductively and synthetically or generatively--like linguistics and theology. This is because all the top premises and principles and theories are given in scientific revelations and the task of research is to deduce empirical applications from these truths and doctrines. There are no wrong theories or revolutions or injurious mistakes. The research is still necessary because the revelations are for the most part rational in a language of correspondences rather than natural or historical. There are numerous natural and historical revelations in Holy Scriptures and the Writings of Swedenborg, but these are limited in number and can be counted. On the other hand the correspondences and series hidden in the literal language are not limited. Probing these revelations for new discoveries can go on indefinitely into the future of theistic science. There is no limit to the possible number of discoveries that can be made or extracted from scientific revelations. Also, this mining operation must proceed through a scientific methodology.

It's important to realize the exact relationship between theistic and materialistic science. It's not the case that Theistic Psychology is just another new revolution or paradigm shift. It's more like a coming of age of science. The evolution of science must go through stages of development and materialistic science is the first growth and also the outer bark of its future growth which is more inward. Swedenborg described the process using an analogy that I diagrammed in this way:

DIAGRAM 1 The Trigrammatic Construction of the Universe

Let the column depict the evolution of science in its full fledged development.  Pre-modern science is the outermost, materialistic science is the middle, and theistic wisdom is the highest and inmost. Evolution or development starts in the outermost and proceeds inward. Modern science first evolved at its materialistic level and continues to develop at that level. With the scientific revelations given through the Writings of Swedenborg (1668-1771) the highest level has started to form. This is what I call theistic science. The above diagram appears in a related Glossary entry where further discussion will be found on relation to the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor levels of development.

Another way of representing this evolutionary growth process of science is to apply the following diagram to it:

DIAGRAM 2  The Three Compositions and Layers of the Universe

The above diagram pictures the threefold evolution of physics in theistic science. The bottom level is pre-modern science that is limited to the world of manifestation and surface phenomena as could be observed with the senses. Modern science begins at the middle with a materialistic concept of the universe. It is the level of existence, that is, human explanations and understandings of the manifested phenomena out there in the physicalist world. It is the mind looking outward to the world as it sees it below itself, or outside of itself. This is a rational mind but it is an external rational formed exclusively of the incoming sensory stimuli from below, or out there. These sensations of the outside world the rational mind ingests and orders in rational series, and through this arrangement, discovers meaning and truth. But this meaning and truth is only external. It is the rational mind's external existence. Above the world, yes. Inside, yes. But not inmost, and not in the highest region of the mind. For this level, science needs a new growth, a new evolutionary creation of itself. This starts in the third or inmost or highest region depicted above as Level III Subsistence. This is where theistic science begins and starts growing. The difference is non-overlapping between levels II Materialistic Science as the study of Existence and III Theistic Science as the study of Subsistence. This is the study of how  the laws of Divine Providence given through scientific revelations operate to create and maintain the universe. I discuss these issues further in this Glossary entry, where the above diagram appears, along with Tables showing the three phases of scientific evolution, including examples of scientific concepts at the three levels.

Here is a third diagram that illustrates the three phases to be found everywhere in all fields of theistic science, whether physical-natural or mental-rational and spiritual-celestial.

DIAGRAM 3  The Three Levels of Science

There are two phases of evolution going on continuously, one is the reverse of the other. The first is bottom up, the second is top down. The sequence 1, 2, 3 is bottom up and proceeds inductively, but the sequence 3, 2, 1 is top down and proceeds synthetically or deductively. Historically, the 1, 2,  3 sequence is known as the pre-modern stage of natural science. It was in total darkness as to the environment and self above the level of appearances.  It is also the first phase of individual development which we go through from the time we get our adult teeth around age 7 to pre-teens around 13 (with lots of variation, of course). We then move into the second phase, even as our first phase continues to develop on its own. In this second stage our thinking assumes the thinking of materialistic science through which we are made ready to be citizens and lead an economically productive existence in accordance with the laws of the land. At last in middle age at some point varying with one's character and personality one can enter (or not) into the third and mature phase and begin life, that is, loving,  thinking, and perceiving in accordance with Divine truths and realities.  Now we reverse directions and proceed downward from being up, or, proceed outward from being inward. Knowing and loving scientific revelations, we proceed outward to scientific research of how the Divine laws apply to the maintenance of existence (the universe). This is a deductive direction: From known truths to unknown findings to be interpreted through these truths.  It's the opposite of the step up from 2 to 3 which is what Swedenborg did to no avail in his search for materialistic evidence of the soul. This is what we all do as we interpret Holy Scripture according to our common sense or our materialistic science, the result of which is to lead to materialistic science, which has nothing spiritual in it, for it is below it, and outside of it.

Theistic science is the step down from 3 to 2, that is, from scientific revelations to scientific research generated by and through these revealed principles. Note that I call this scientific research materialist science, to distinguish it from materialistic science, which is natural-rational, hence not spiritual. Only the spiritual-rational is from a spiritual origin while the natural rational is from a natural origin. That which is from a spiritual origin comes into the mind from above (or within), that is, from the spiritual world into the internal rational mind (spiritual-rational). But that which is from a natural origin comes from below or outside, that is, through the  senses of the physical body.  This applies to concepts ass well. All concepts and theories and knowledges and sciences that are built up inductively through empirical data from the physical senses are entirely natural. Obviously, any concept about the universe, God, the spiritual, faith, revelation, etc., will also be only natural. Hence they are nothing but materialistic through and through. What is truly or actually in the universe or in any concept cannot be seen or thought of. But when the concept is deduced from scientific revelation, it is made entirely from the spiritual substances and nothing of it is made from natural existence.  You can see then that scientific research in materialist science is entirely different from scientific research in materialistic science--even though both are at level 2, namely natural-rational.

So the natural-rational can be in harmony with the spiritual-rational in the top down evolution, and in this superior phase we can call it materialist rather than materialistic which is out of order and not in harmony with the truth.

Theistic Science Methodology

Swedenborg was an exceptionally careful and worthy scientist. This is clear to anyone who studies his biography and writings.

Swedenborg's scientific interests were broad and deep. If you'd like to read a little work titled ON MECHANICAL TREMULATION, VIBRATION IN THE BODY you'll be impressed by his acuity and originality.  He has many excellent demonstrations of the methodology of theistic science. I discuss this issue in several Glossary entries, for example, here (1) and also here (2) and here (3) and many other places. The methodology practiced in the scientific revelations given through the Writings of Swedenborg are scientifically mature and modern. Swedenborg's theistic science fully takes into account the scientific works of earlier insightful methodologists--Aristotle, Leibniz, Descartes, Wolff, Schwammerdam (? I need to check this), Newton--to mention some of the pillars of modern scientific thinking in biology, mathematics, psychology, and physics. Swedenborg's biographers have detailed his amazing intellect in many sciences. He made innovative contributions in scientific thinking as recognized by historians--in metallurgy and mining engineering, economic legislation, mathematics education, cosmology, physiology, psychology, and theology. His voluminous productivity left behind hundreds of works varying in length. His best known are the 57 volumes that comprise his theological Writings written after age 57 when he was suddenly precipitated into the unique state of permanent dual consciousness. A sampling of what others today are saying about Swedenborg can be viewed on the Web by clicking on the links on the Swedenborg Home Page Hawaii site.

Swedenborg's dual state was entirely different from the ordinary state we're all in, in which our state of awareness is restricted to input from the physical senses and the content of our own natural mind that is built up entirely from this sensori-motor experiencing as we grow up. We are conscious humans centered in the natural mind and we have no perception of what lies in the rational mind, spiritual mind, and celestial mind. Neither do we have perception of sensory input into our spiritual senses or organs. Therefore, since we do not have perception except of the natural mind it is not possible to know what is in the regions of the mind above the natural. Swedenborg himself diligently searched for years to obtain information from this region of his mind, but to absolutely no avail until his dual consciousness was precipitated. Once he was in a dual consciousness state, he was able to describe in natural language and description--thus for the natural mind that we are in--the entire anatomy and physiology of the human mind. Thus now we know from scientific revelations many things that could not have been known in science at this time, and possibly never, had it not been for these revelations.

It's not possible to appreciate the contributions of Theistic Psychology until one examines the idea of substantive dualism and why this is logically and rationally necessary. The body-mind distinction is at the center of it. In materialistic science the mind cannot assume real existence. Hence it is called a pseudo-phenomenon, and sometimes, an emergent phenomenon. Thoughts and feelings in the mind must therefore also be less than fully real. One is left with the idea that thoughts and feelings are effects and consequences of the primary action of the brain. But this is nonsense--merely a downfall of the departure premise of monism which is inherent in materialism. In other words, materialism is the false hypothesis that the universe is monist, that is of one constitution called space-time-mass continuum. Since this is the only existence one is forced to deny mind and God as having reality. Since mind and God have a reality, but not a material one, this reality must be denied in any system of thinking in which there is only material existence in time-space. This restricted, constricted, and false assumption has all sorts of harmful and illogical consequences which I shall discuss in many places.

Theistic science assumes a dual universe, one material and the other substantive. Similar views were also recognized by Aristotle and Plato as known from their writings. Swedenborg confirmed what is said in these writings by talking directly to Aristotle and Plato, or their immediate colleagues. Every thing that comes into existence has a dual structure: the internal structure or framework is substantive, while the outside appearance is material and exists in the phenomenal world. Only this substantive-material structure is real and rational. A substantive structure by itself could not be real or rational, nor a material structure by itself. A molecule of matter and its aggregate structures in the form of objects--physical or biological--is composed of this dual structure. What is inside a rock? Substance is inside. What is inside the brain? Substance is inside. What is inside the mind? Substance is inside. What is a thought made of? It is made of material sensory stimuli within which is substance. What is a feeling made of? It is made of substance covered over with matter. What is a dream made of? It is made of thoughts, images, feelings--all of which are substances covered over and shaped into the form of material stimuli. This notion can be made clearer by seeing how it applies to specific things we're familiar with.

When we dream substances are being formed or covered over with a material appearance. Say you dream of eating ice cream while walking on a beach and enjoying looking at the people there and engaged in all sorts of activities. We know that your brain is active and this can be measured by various instruments. But we don't want to fall into the materialistic trap and equate the dream with the brain activity. Neither do we want to say that the dream is an emergent phenomenon produced by the brain activity. Instead, we want to explain the dream using dualist concepts. This is more rational because it assumes that dreams are made of something real not something pseudo. How can dreams be produced by the brain activity? To assume this is not logical because its' not possible to obtain existence that is not in space and time from something that is in space and time. Clearly dreams are not in space and time--they have no mass, no spatial field or time by which they are limited. Dreams and thoughts have no mass and are not in space in time. But they are real, not pseudo. Their reality is substantive, outside time and space and mass. Think of the objects in your dream. You never can run out of space and content. A small rock, a huge, mountain, one dog or 10 trillion dogs--it makes no difference in terms of mass or count or limit. Clearly thoughts and reams and feelings are substantial, not material. And so is the whole of the mind, and the whole of the spiritual world.

To summarize: If thoughts and feelings are real, they must exist in a non-material world, and this is called the substantive world. The world outside time, mass, and space is the world inside time, mass, and space. The natural world could not be constructed on itself because it is finite--has a beginning point--did not always exist. But the infinite always existed--has no beginning. So it is fully rational to assume that the finite is created by the infinite from itself. The infinite is also called substance or spirit. I know this is not ordinarily recognized, but scientific revelation clearly affirm this and explain it in relation to God. God is infinite, therefore God is the only infinite. It's not rational to say that there is more than one infinite. So it's not rational to say that there is more than infinite God. So it's totally rational to say that the one infinite God is made of unchanging, eternal, and limitless substances out of which God created the material universe by giving these substances certain imposed limits. In other words, by covering up the substances by means of an external that has a built-in limitation that the substance itself does not have.

What are these infinite substances that exist within God and out of which God formed material limits? Scientific revelations identify them--they are very familiar to us--necessarily familiar because we are created in the image of God, that is, with the infrastructure of these substances within God. Among these are:

DIAGRAM 4  The Three Divine Aspects

This diagram refers to the Divine substances. Divine celestial substance is love and its infinite derivatives, a few are mentioned in the table. Divine spiritual substance is wisdom and its infinite derivatives. Divine natural substance is life power or action and its infinite derivatives. Note that God has celestial substances, spiritual substances, and natural substances. Of course you need to remember that natural substances, also called the Divine Natural, is to be distinguished from natural materials or matter. In fact we can assume that matter is formed along three discontinuous degrees or levels. The matter that is most external, is most removed from substance, and thus most limited. such are the molecules and particles forming clusters of rock, sand, air, and the rest of the inert matter in the physical world. This type of matter is the most external, the most limited by space and time. Then there are clusters of less external matter, or more inward matter, and these clusters form plant growth and other plant-like operations and structures at the microscopic level such as bacteria. Then there is a final level of matter that is most inward and is made of material clusters called animal, including the bodies of humans and its sub-structures and operations called living.

Matter cannot exist at the more inward levels or degrees of existence beyond the living organisms of animals and human beings. If you consider what's there, in these more inward levels, the answer is substances. And these substances also exist at three discontinuous levels or degrees. These three inward substantive degrees are shown in the Table above: Natural Substance is the first or lowest inward level, while the second is spiritual, and the third celestial. You can see from the table how you can construct trigrammatic units of these substances. You might like to look at some additional tables like this in this file. Also, physicist Dr. Ian Thompson, discusses these levels in a more formal manner, as referenced in this file.

Additionally, the table above shows the Trinitarian construction of God's infinite substances and how it imposes a Trinitarian structure on the created universe through the mind of human beings. Our mind is an organ like the brain is an organ. The brain has many major sub-parts and billions of smaller sub-sub-parts in the form of cells, each one of these being a miniature brain that itself is composed of numberless sub-sub-parts. This construction pattern is rational and follows a principle I call synechdoche because the dictionary defines this word as conveying the idea that the whole is reproduced in the part. Thus, God's inherent, eternal, unchanging, and infinite constitution is Trinitarian, as we know from scientific revelation given by God, which asserts, explains, and demonstrates that God is rational from inmost to outmost. The table above labels the three Divine and infinite aspects by using the expressions Creative Aspect, Nurturing Aspect, and Managerial Aspect. I believe these are adequate phrases for Theistic Psychology but in various religions, the Creative Aspect of God is called the Divine Paternal while the Nurturing Aspect of God is called the Divine Maternal. God has a paternal and a maternal essence and existence. Finally, the third and most external constitution of God is labeled the Managerial Aspect of God and, in religions, this is variously referred to as The Divine Proceeding, The Holy Spirit, The Great Seer, Lord, and various special names associated with a particular nation or ethnic group.

The Divine Maternal is also called the Holy Church or the Bride of God--also Wife, Virgin, and Daughter, though each with a variation in sub-meaning. But there has been a change since the Fall of the human race, that is, since the race entered a new evolutionary phase called The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which has to do with the loss of ability to communicate directly with those in the spiritual world. At one time in our evolution as a race direct communication was possible with those who passed on. They, as spirits (or inhabitants of the spiritual world), were able to communicate consciously with the minds of those around them who were still tied to the physical body. This communication became a threat to themselves when a new philosophy of life was gradually adopted in the land and taught from generation to generation, namely, that we act from ourselves by our mind and body, and not as the earlier generations taught, that we act from our ancestors through our mind. This is difficult to grasp and I shall continue to explain it in various places. (You may pursue this by looking up the entry on as-of self.

But to continue with the consequences of this Fall or new evolution, the affective and the cognitive domains of the mind were split, while they were united before, acting as one. Now, the will and the understanding no longer acted as one. Before this one had no choice but to act according to one's desire or affection, just as it is for animals since they act according to their motivation or need, unmodified by their thinking which helps them figure out how to achieve the goal of fulfilling their need. Their thinking is tied to their feeling and there is no freedom of action from the thought, but only from the will. Such were the first generations of the human race, according to scientific revelation. The spiritual phenomenon of the mind splitting into two resulted in the natural phenomenon of the brain also splitting into right and left brains with partially independent functions. The split was necessary to allow the recovery operation of the human race through a new freedom of decision-making that was not possible before the mind-brain split. Now people could evolve moral consciousness by first understanding what is good and evil with the cognitive understanding without the will (left brain functions), and then exercising conscious control over their will. This allowed them to act according to the dictates of their understanding or belief system even if it meant acting against the urgings of their desires. Thus was born conscience, and through the process of temptation, a new mind or spirit was being created in every individual. This new spirit was no longer in the Fall but outside of it and with this new spirit the individual was once again given the ability to exist in rational order to eternity.

Recall that with the generations that followed the Fall a Redemption Operation became necessary from the Paternal Divine, that is, a new creation. This second aspect of the Divine then was called the Son of God or Messiah because it became a healing operation that was only accomplishable through the process of Incarnation and subsequent Glorification. These notions may sound like mysteries but they are not. They are neither mysterious nor complicated, only detailed! But this is how science is, detailed! I will be discussing these issues further, as they come up in the Glossary.

The Divine Paternal and the Divine Maternal are the substances out of which our soul and mind are composed. These are organs of reception made of these two substances in infinite variety. One such composition I'd like to mention here, namely, the mind of a man and the mind of a woman. Scientific revelation specifies that the male human mind is composed of the Divine Paternal (love) covered over with the Divine Maternal (wisdom). The female mind is the reciprocal of this, namely, Divine Maternal (wisdom) covered over with Divine Paternal (love). So the minds of men and women are created of two basic substances, love and wisdom, but in reciprocal relation. The mind of a woman is inner wisdom covered over with outer love. The mind of a man is inner love covered over with outer wisdom. There is a diagram I have of this psychobiology of gender and sex (don't forget to come back here for the rest of the story).

Here is another way of representing the psychobiology of the mind in accordance with the table above:

DIAGRAM 5  The Male Mind and the Female Mind (part 1)

This is a rational representation in accordance with scientific revelation. It remains for Theistic Psychology to apply this knowledge to education and counseling. As you can see, a woman from a man's point of view is inside out, and vice versa for a woman's view on man. And yet it works like the attraction of magnetic forces of so-called opposite poles or particles. Perhaps we can stop calling them opposites and refer to them as reciprocals. For opposites cannot unite inwardly, as explained in scientific revelation. Thus, a man as husband and a woman as wife can be united inwardly as to the mind or spirit. This is important because once the physical body is left off, the spirit is free and is not willing to consociate with someone who doesn't fit or is disharmonious with oneself. Since the spirit is unwilling, the two cannot maintain presence with each other but thin out and  disappear. It is not like this in the physical body and spouses can remain together in external physical and legal relationship--but inward, in the mind where they are free, they are not husband and wife, and as soon as they are freed from the body they can no longer act married since they are not. The concept of inward unity of the minds of a marital couple is known as the state of One Flesh. In the spiritual world this state manifests itself externally by the phenomenon Swedenborg marveled at ant witnessed thousands of times, namely, that from a distance a spirit couple appear as one handsome person walking or standing, but as one gets nearer to the couple, they appear as two individuals. But this phenomenon only occurs with couples that inhabit the celestial regions for only they are united inwardly. We are told that in the low and dark regions of the mind called the hells, those who insist on inhabiting those regions are called by various names depending on the species of their character evils--devils, satans, genii, sirens, dragons, snakes, and other names. These people act like they think they are wild animals and as long as they intend to hurt others whom they meet in the spiritual world, they are a menace, and must be contained in prison areas and work houses for as long as they are unwilling to give up hurting others. They do this, despite the punishments and restrictions, because it so delightful that it is the delight of their life. Therefore, lest they feel that they are not alive any more, they are permitted to plot and hurt those that are willing to congregate with them and be exposed to their brutal exploitations. Swedenborg visited these sad places of the human mind, or spiritual world, and the accounts are very revealing in terms of human pathology. Blom-Dahl's observations on how this type of methodology can work for science may be found here.

DIAGRAM 6  The Male Mind and the Female Mind (part 2)

The Incarnation of God had to be enacted in a male physical body because God is internal love covered over with external truth. God's essence is love and God's existence is truth, hence the externalization of the physical body must be a male man.

The male  mind is composed of the same substances as the female mind but in reciprocal order.  Truth that is external is different from truth that is internal. Similarly, good that is external is different from good that is internal. The Divine Maternal when in external position is intellectual truth (male) but when in the internal position, it is moral truth (female). Similarly the Divine Paternal when in external position is creative good  (Father) but when in the internal position, it is nurturing good  (Church or Son).  Another way of saying these things is this: The male mind is the Divine Paternal Love (internal) covered over with the Divine Maternal Wisdom (external), while the female mind is Divine Maternal Wisdom (internal) covered over with Divine Paternal Love (external). Also, woman's love is external, but man's love is internal. Further, woman's wisdom is internal, but man's wisdom is external. The physical anatomy of a woman is determined entirely by her mind and reflects the anatomy of her mind. Similarly with a man so that no mental component of one can be like that of the other gender. Consequently, no physical cell in a woman's body can be like a physical cell in a man's body. The xy chromosome that is said to determine sex leaves one with the idea that only the reproductive cells or system is different between the two sexes, but as it is clear from spiritual psychobiology and Theistic Psychology, nothing in the female physical body can be like that of the male physical body, not even a single cell.

Why the Trinity is a Rational Necessity

It takes three things or functional operations for God to run the universe:

• First, creating the universe--this is called the Divine Paternal Substance or God's Essence
• Second, nurturing the universe--this is called the Divine Maternal when it is order and the Son of God when it has degenerated and requires redeeming. Also known as the God's Existence
• Third, Managing or maintaining the universe--this is called the Divine Providence and is the ultimate end of creation or its external manifestation.

God is One since logically there can be only one infinite. God's infinite nevertheless is organized into three aspects, layers, or levels, each being part of the infinite substances in God. The inmost essence or Divine Paternal is love substance. The intermediate level is God's Existence or the Divine Maternal, and is truth substance. The outermost layer of God is the natural-spiritual substance or Appearance. God is infinite in all three aspects. Each aspect is within the One God and has its particular function in relation to the other aspects.

All things created involve the three aspects of God. The Paternal love is the will that desires and intends the created object or operation and becomes the inmost essence of the created thing. Then the Maternal truth covers up the essence as it externalizes to the intermediate level called Existence. Love and truth are thus the two infinite substances that are the constructionist framework that keeps all objects in existence. Since the varieties of Divine Love and Divine Truth are infinite, the combination of different things that can exist is also infinite. Finally, the natural-spiritual substance is created as the outer covering of the other two. Now for the first time the essence and existence of it manifest and appear in the phenomenal world where it can be experienced or known through science. Thus every object or operation has these three divine aspects or substances out of which they are constructed and which forms their bulk or mass and form. It is when all three aspects are finally together that something actually exists and stays in existence by continuous re-creation. The essence of it creates itself anew through love substance; the intermediate of it comes out into existence through truth substance; and the natural-spiritual shows it up in phenomenal appearance. This three-way operation repeats itself instant by instant, or moment by moment, so that whatever is created remains in creation and in existence and in phenomenal appearance through the re-start of the process continuously. If the process were to stop for an instant, the thing created would be nil and void or non-existent.

In coresspondential symbolism, God the Father creates, God the Son redeems and maintains through truth, and God the Holy Spirit manages or regenerates through uses, that is, through temptations of what is against good and truth. Let us draw some diagrams by way of summarizing these relations.

DIAGRAM 7   The Trigrammatic Structure in Parallel Series

DIAGRAM 8  The Ennead of Levels and Substances: Celestial, Spiritual, Natura