by Dr. Leon James
Professor of Psychology
University of Hawaii
Published on the Web in 2004
Last update: 2007

For Permissions Note and Conditions of Use see Volume 18

The Topical Index to Sections, the Subject Index, and References are found in Volume 18

This is Volume 7

Character Reformation

(version 47i)

7.0   Character Reformation
             7.0.1      The Method of Affective Realignment for Character Self-modification
             7.0.2      The Affective--Cognitive Interaction
                            7.0.2.1    What is "Charity"?
                            7.0.2.2    Double State: Inwardly a Devil and Outwardly an Angel

             7.0.3       The Role of the Sensorimotor Mind
             7.0.4       The Source of Anxiety, Worry, and Depression
                            7.0.4.1    Psychobiology of Conscience
             7.0.5       Struggle Between the Natural and the Spiritual Mind
                            7.0.5.1 The Law of Karma of Good and Evil
             7.0.6       As-of Self Principles of Living: The Power of Self-Regulation  
             7.0.7       The Power of Affective Positivity: The Positive Bias Glow
             7.0.8       Anger and the Spiritual Function of Mood
             7.9       Sacred Scripture in Relation to the Mental World
             7.0.10      Independent Empirical Confirmation of the Dual Meaning in Sacred Scripture
                                7.0.10.1    Extracting the Inner Sense of Deuteronomy Chapter 1
             7.0.11      Moral Intelligence and Evolution 
             7.0.12     Self-Witnessing Exercises

7.1     Focusing or Attending to Corporeal Wisdom

7.2    Swedenborg's Character Reformation

            7.2.1     Swedenborg's Journal of Dreams

7.3    Collective Behavior

            7.3.1      The Vertical Community

            7.3.2      Emotional Contagion

                    7.3.2.1    The Media -- Information, Entertainment, Advertising
                    7.3.2..2    Inherited Tradition -- Ritual, Song, Dance, Food
                    7.3.2..3    God Substitutes -- Idols, Gurus, Saints

            7.3.3      The Grand Human
            7.3.4      Leadership Qualities
            7.3.5      The Hexagram of Consciousness and Reality
                            7.3.5.1    Level 1 Consciousness (Infancy) – Sensuous Incorporation
                            7.3.5.2    Level 2 Consciousness (Childhood) – Sensuous Absorption
                            7.3.5.3    Level 3 Consciousness (Adolescence) – Sensuous Belonging
                            7.3.5.4    The Inversion
                            7.3.5.5    Level 4 Consciousness (Young Adulthood) – Rational
                                                        Acknowledgment of God
                            7.3.5.6    Level 5 Consciousness (Adulthood) – Rational
                                                        Conjunction with God
                            7.3.5.7    Level 6 Consciousness (Old Age) – Rational Love of God
            7.3.6      The Heavenly Law of Diversity and Unity
            7.3.7      Subject Spirits
            7.3.8      The Spirits of Mercury
            7.3.9       Earths in the Universe
            7.3.10     The Perizonius Thesis
            7.3.1 1    The Perfection of the Created Universe

The Topical Index to Sections and Reading List is in Volume 18

7.0   Character Reformation

Psychology thus far has not been able to explain what is a feeling. What is it made of? How does it act? Since non-theistic psychology has no access to spiritual objects it therefore has no direct access to feelings. There is therefore a tendency to reduce feelings to brain hormones and action. This cuts off any avenue for research on feelings directly. But in theistic psychology feelings and thoughts are organic operations of spiritual fibers constructed out of the efflux of the Spiritual Sun, as explained before. Swedenborg had access to observations on the spiritual body or mind by being conscious in the spiritual mind. He could therefore confirm this as a daily observation for many years that feelings are visible to the "spirits," the name by which we are designated when we enter the afterlife or spiritual world.

Theistic psychology brings to us  two new important properties of feelings. First, feelings are real substances that can be seen by the spiritual body just like the physical cortex can be seen by the eye of the surgeon. Second, feelings are active and operational only when the fibers are stimulated by the efflux of substances from the Spiritual Sun streaming into the spiritual body.

Feelings are therefore "online" like email and the electric bulb. Cut off the influx and you cut off the light bulb or the email file. The difference is that feelings are operations going on in spiritual fibers that depend on the Spiritual Sun for activation and operation. The same is the fact with thoughts in the cognitive organ. As the streaming efflux from the Spiritual Sun enters the spiritual body the light of the rays is received by the cognitive organ and activates mental operations. The heat of the rays of the Spiritual Sun are received in the affective organ and activates feelings and goal-related needs. The cognitive operations are connected to the affective operations, and there is a constant growth process by which the two sets of operations get more and more integrated as the individual develops personality and character.

Our mind receives input from both a natural and a spiritual source, but in different locations of its anatomy. The lower portion of the mind is called the natural mind and its input is exclusively from the physical world through the senses. The upper portion is called the spiritual mind and its input is from the spiritual world through the spiritual body and its organs. Both lower and upper input is necessary to make the mind grow. The input into the natural mind from the physical body is conscious, but not the input into the spiritual mind from the Spiritual Sun. The natural and spiritual portions of the mind are both spiritual organs but the source of their content is different. Both portions of the mind are located in the spiritual body, hence when the physical body dies, we awaken in conscious awareness in our spiritual mind. Even then we retain our natural mind and all its content.

It should be noted that the spiritual body cannot have any injuries and maladies that the physical body can have. Swedenborg confirms that people born physically blind, deaf, or brain damaged awaken in the spiritual body at death as fully operational in every organ. If this were not the case it would be grossly unjust and irrational for some people to be born defective and to suffer from that condition to eternity. Theistic psychology is theistic because it incorporates the action and character of God in human affairs and the universe. God's motivation for creating and managing the universe is Divine Love through Divine Wisdom, and these spiritual substances make it impossible for injustice to occur in the spiritual world. It is different in the natural world where God permits injustice for the sake of people's rational and spiritual mental development. Many possibilities of injustice and cruelty are not permitted to come into existence because they are conducive to the spiritual good of people. God's overall purpose for the universe is to cause people to be born in a natural world so that they can develop their heavenly mind, with which they can live in eternal happiness and joy in an immortal spiritual body.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 3321. For I am weary. That this signifies a state of combat, is evident from the signification of "weary," or of "weariness," as being a state of combat (see n. 3318).

Mention is here again made of being weary, for the sake of confirmation that the conjunction of good with truth in the natural is effected by spiritual combats, that is, by temptations. In regard to the conjunction of good with truth in the natural, the case in general is this: Man's rational receives truths before his natural; and this to the end that the Lord's life, which as before said is of love, may flow in through the rational into the natural, and dispose the natural, and reduce it to obedience.

For the rational is purer, and the natural grosser; or what is the same, the rational is interior and the natural exterior; and as may be known it is according to order that the interior or purer can flow into the exterior or grosser, but not the reverse.

[2] Hence it is that man's rational can be accommodated to truths and receive them before his natural, as may be plainly seen from the fact that with one who is to be regenerated the rational man battles much with the natural; or what is the same, the internal man with the external. For as also is known, the internal man can see truths and also will them, but the external refuses assent and resists; for in the natural man there are memory-knowledges which are in a great measure derived from the fallacies of the senses, and which notwithstanding their being false the man believes to be true; there are also things innumerable which the natural man does not apprehend; for he is relatively in shade and thick darkness, and that which he does not apprehend, he believes either not to exist, or not to be so; there are likewise cupidities which are of the love of self and of the world, and all things that favor these he calls truths; and when the man yields to these the dominion, all things that result are contrary to spiritual truths. There are also in the natural man reasonings that are grounded in falsities impressed from infancy.

Moreover, man apprehends by manifest sense what is in his natural man, but not so what is in his rational, until he has put off the body. This also causes him to believe the body to be everything; and all that does not fall into the natural sense, he scarcely believes to be anything.

[3] From such causes and many others, it results that the natural man receives truths much later, and with greater difficulty, than does the rational man. Hence arises combat, which continues for a considerable time, not ceasing until the vessels recipient of good in the natural man have been softened by temptations, as before shown (n. 3318); for truths are nothing but vessels recipient of good (n. 1496, 1832, 1900, 2063, 2261, 2269), which vessels are harder in proportion as man is more fixedly confirmed in the things which have been mentioned; and if the man is to be regenerated, the more fixedly he has been confirmed, the more grievous is the combat.

As the case with the natural man is such that the conjunction of truths with good therein is effected through the combats of temptations, it is therefore here repeated, "I am weary." (AC 3321)

7.0.1  The Method of Affective Realignment for Character Self-modification

Knowing the anatomy of the affective organ of the mind gives us the ability to influence its growth and operation.  This is a critical issue for psychology regarding better techniques for education, counseling, and therapy. Modest success has been achieved in these areas by the use of principles of psychology but everyone recognizes the limitations of psychology in terms of improving the human condition and social ills like crime, obesity, depression, anger, spouse abuse, child abuse, discrimination, and so on. The reason for psychology's limited success is clear from the perspective of theistic psychology. These behavior problems in society come about by the malfunctioning of the affective organ in many individuals, perhaps the vast majority of the population.  Anger, rape, child abuse, habitual violence, are negative behaviors resulting from negative emotions and malfunctioning cognitive operations. The key to their control is the affective operation.

Theistic psychology can bring new power for the management of feelings and emotions. One method that deserves immediate research effort is something that may be called the method of affective realignment.

This involves a basic dynamics of personality, namely, to change the rank order of the affections in an affective hierarchy. Modifications in affective hierarchy results in new thoughts and new behaviors. According to many leading personality theorists and therapists, the way to change affective hierarchies is by appropriate cognitive activity. Therapy is based on this idea which is that patients and clients get better through the therapy exchange, most of which is verbal. By talking out our problems and receiving good advice we can have new feelings -- that has been the general assumption so far. But some therapists realize that the talking through is not effective unless the affective hierarchy also changes.

 Consider the dynamics involved in affective reorganization. All feelings are arranged in hierarchies and sub-hierarchies in a top down order by the ruling love which occupies the top position. Consider the following sample affective hierarchy ruled by altruism.

In theistic psychology altruism or "charity" is defined as the motive to be useful to others in their needs. This contrasts with selfishness and selfism which is the motive to do things for the sake of oneself, not others. When we are in an affective state of altruism the affective alignment may be as indicated above.

This is the essence of Divine Love which is the source of all altruism through influx from the Spiritual Sun into the affective organ This influx is turned around in self.

7.0.2  The Affective--Cognitive Interaction

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

In man love and wisdom appear as two separate things, yet in themselves they are one distinctly, because with man wisdom is such as the love is, and love is such as the wisdom is. The wisdom that does not make one with its love appears to be wisdom, but it is not; and the love that does not make one with its wisdom appears to be the love of wisdom, but it is not; for the one must derive its essence and its life reciprocally from the other. With man love and wisdom appear as two separate things, because with him the capacity for understanding may be elevated into the light of heaven, but not the capacity for loving, except so far as he acts according to his understanding. Any apparent wisdom, therefore, which does not make one with the love of wisdom, sinks back into the love which does make one with it; and this may be a love of unwisdom, yea, of insanity. Thus a man may know from wisdom that he ought to do this or that, and yet he does not do it, because he does not love it. But so far as a man does from love what wisdom teaches, he is an image of God. (DLW 39)

AC 3833. And it came to pass in the evening. That this signifies the state as yet obscure, is evident from the signification of "evening," as being an obscure state (see n. 3056). Among the ancients, who were in congruent rituals, the feasts that were made in the evening, that is, the suppers, signified nothing else than the state of initiation which precedes conjunction, which state relatively to the state of conjunction is obscure. For during man's initiation into truth and thence into good, all that he learns is obscure to him; but when good is being conjoined with him, and he regards truth therefrom, it then becomes clear to him, and this successively more and more; for now he is no longer in doubt as to whether a thing exists, or whether it is so; but he knows that it exists, and that it is so.

[2] When man is in this state, he then begins to know innumerable things, for he now proceeds from the good and truth which he believes and perceives as from a center to the circumferences; and in proportion as he proceeds, in the same proportion he sees the things which are round about, and successively more and more widely, for he is constantly pushing out and widening the boundaries. Thenceforth also he commences from every subject in the space within the boundaries; and from these as from new centers he throws out new circumferences, and so on.

In this way the light of truth from good increases immeasurably, and becomes like a continuous lucidity, for the man is then in the light of heaven, which is from the Lord. But with those who are in doubt and in discussion as to whether a thing exists, and whether it is so, these innumerable, nay, illimitable things do not appear one whit; to them all things in both general and particular are utterly obscure, and are scarcely regarded as one really existing thing, but rather as one thing the existence of which is doubtful. In such a state is human wisdom and intelligence at this day, when he is deemed wise who can reason with ingenuity as to whether a thing exists; and he is deemed still wiser who can reason that it does not exist.

[3] For example take the proposition that there is an internal sense of the Word, which is called mystical: until this is believed, it is impossible for men to know the least of the innumerable things which are in the internal sense, and which are so many as to fill the whole heaven with an infinite variety.

Another example is that the man who reasons concerning the Divine Providence, as to whether it is only universal, and not in the singulars, cannot possibly know the innumerable arcana of Providence, which are as many in number as are the contingencies of everyone's life from first to last, and from the creation of the world to its end; nay, even to eternity. Again: he who reasons as to whether it is possible for anyone to be in good, seeing that the will of man is radically depraved, can never know all the arcana relating to regeneration, nor even that a new will is implanted by the Lord, nor the arcana relating to this implantation; and so with everything else. From this it may be known in what obscurity such persons are, and that they do not even see, much less touch, the first threshold of wisdom. (AC 3833)


AC 3834. The man who is in the affection of internal truth, that is, in the desire to know the interior arcana of the Lord's kingdom, has not at first these arcana conjoined with him, even although he knows them, and at times acknowledges, and as it were believes them, for as yet there are present with him worldly and corporeal affections, which cause him to indeed receive and as it were believe these arcana; but insofar as these affections are present, so far the interior truths in question cannot be conjoined.

It is only the affection of truth from good, and the affection of good, that applies these arcana to itself; and insofar as man is in these affections, so far interior truths are conjoined with him, for truths are the vessels that receive good.

[2] The Lord also provides that celestial and spiritual truths (such as are all interior truths) should not be conjoined with any other affections than genuine ones. For this reason the general affection of truth from good precedes, and the truths that are insinuated therein are nothing but general truths. The states of truth are altogether in accordance with the states of good, that is, the states of faith with the states of charity.

For example: it is possible for the wicked to know that the Lord rules the universal heaven, and also that heaven is mutual love and love to the Lord; also that by such love those who are there have conjunction with the Lord, and wisdom, and likewise happiness; nay, it is possible for them to be in the persuasion that it is so; and yet the truth of faith may not be conjoined with them, and still less the good of love. From the life it is known whether these have been conjoined, just as a tree is known by its fruit. The case in respect to this is like that of grapes in which there are no stones, and which, when buried in earth however fertile, dissolve into mere mold; or like that of an ignis fatuus in the night, which is dissipated as soon as the sun rises. But of the Lord's Divine mercy more on this subject hereafter. (AC 3834)

AC 3839. There are two things which constitute the internal sense of the Word, namely, affections and actual things; the affections that lie hidden in the expressions of the Word are not manifest to man, but are stored up in its inmost recesses; nor can they be made manifest to him, because during his life in the body he is in worldly and corporeal affections, which have nothing in common with the affections in the internal sense of the Word; these latter being affections of spiritual and celestial love, which man is the less capable of perceiving because there are few who are in them, and these few are mostly simple persons, who are not able to reflect upon their affections, while all the rest do not even know what genuine affection is.

These spiritual and celestial affections are contained in charity toward the neighbor, and in love to God. Those who are not in them believe that they are not anything, when yet they fill the whole heaven, and this with unspeakable variety. Such affections together with their varieties are what are stored up in the internal sense of the Word, and are there, not only in each series, but also in each expression, nay, in each syllable, and they shine forth before the angels when the Word is being read by those who are in simple good and who are at the same time in innocence; and this, as before said, with unlimited variety.

[2] There are principally two kinds of affections which shine forth from the Word before the angels, namely, affections of truth and affections of good-affections of truth before the spiritual angels, and affections of good before the celestial angels. Affections of good, which are of love to the Lord, are altogether unutterable to man, and are therefore incomprehensible; but affections of truth, which are of mutual love, may in some measure be comprehended as to what is most general, yet only by those who are in genuine mutual love, and this not from any internal perception, but from such as is obscure.

[3] For example, in regard to the affection of indignation, which is here treated of-whoever does not know what the affection of charity is, in consequence of not being in it, can have no other idea than of such indignation as a man has when anything evil is done to him, which is the indignation of anger. The angels however have no such indignation, but an indignation altogether different, which is not of anger, but of zeal, in which there is nothing of evil, and which is as far removed from hatred or revenge, or from the spirit of returning evil for evil, as heaven is from hell; for it springs from good. But as before said the nature of this indignation cannot be expressed by any words. (AC 3839)

AC 3849. Exterior affections are natural affections which are subservient to internal ones. The reason why these exterior affections are means serviceable to the conjunction of truth with good, is that nothing which is of doctrine, and indeed nothing which is of memory-knowledge, can enter into man, save by means of affections; for in affections there is life, but not in the truths of doctrine and of memory-knowledge without affections.

That this is the case is very plain; for a man cannot even think, nor so much as utter a syllable, without affection. He who pays attention to the matter will perceive that a voice without affection is like the voice of an automaton, and thus is but a lifeless sound; and that in proportion to the amount and the quality of the affection therein, such is the amount and the quality of the life in it. This shows what truths are without good; and that the affection is in the truths from the good.

[2] He who pays attention may also know, from the nature of man's understanding, that it is no understanding unless the will is in it; the life of the understanding being from the will. This again shows what truths without good are, namely, that they are no truths at all; and that truths derive their life from good; for truths belong to man's intellectual part, and good to his will part.

From all this anyone can judge what faith (which is of truth) is without charity, which is of good; and that the truths of faith without the good of charity are dead; for as before said the amount and the quality of the affection in truths, determine the amount and the quality of the life in them. But that truths nevertheless appear animated, even when there is no good of charity, is from the affections of the love of self and the love of the world, which have no life, except that which in the correspondential sense is called death, that is, infernal life. It is said affection, and thereby is meant that which is continuous of love.

[3] From all this we can see that affections are means subservient to the conjunction of truth with good; and that affections are what introduce truths, and also dispose them into order-genuine affections, which are of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, into heavenly order; but evil affections, which are of the love of self and the love of the world, into infernal order; that is, into the opposite of heavenly order.

[4] The most external affections are those of the body, and are called appetites and pleasures; the next interior affections are those of the natural mind, and are called natural affections; but the internal affections are those of the rational mind, and are called spiritual affections. To these last-spiritual affections of the mind-doctrinal truths are introduced by means of exterior and most external, or natural and bodily affections. Hence these affections are subservient means. (AC 3849)

7.0.2.1   What is "Charity"?

AC 379. The fact that such things are meant by these statements is clear from what has gone before, and from the fact that 'one who is cursed' means one who became alienated, as also shown already in 245. For it is forms of iniquity and abomination, which are forms of hatred, that alienate a person and cause him to look downwards only, that is, towards bodily and earthly interests, and so to things that belong to hell. This takes place when charity is banished and annihilated. Indeed the bond that exists between the Lord and man is in that case put asunder. Charity alone, or love and compassion, is what joins the two together. Faith without charity never does so, for that is not faith, but mere knowledge such as even the devil's crew is able to possess and by which they are able to deceive and mislead the upright and pretend to be angels of light.

Very wicked preachers are sometimes accustomed to act in a similar way; they preach with a zeal that seems to be an expression of inner godliness but is in fact nothing more with them than that which they bear on the lips. Can anyone be so lacking in judgement as to believe that faith alone residing in the memory has the power to achieve anything, or that mere thought from the same source has? Everyone from personal experience knows that nobody places any value on another person's words and assentings if these are not an expression of his will and intention. It is will and intention that make them acceptable and join one person to another.

The activity of the will is the real person, not thought and utterance of that which he does not will.

From the activity of his will he acquires a particular nature and disposition, for his will is what moves him.

If his thoughts are of good, the essential element of faith, which is charity, is contained in his thinking, because it contains the will for good. But if he asserts that his thoughts are of good and yet lives wickedly, the activity of his will cannot possibly be anything else than the will of evil, and as a consequence faith does not exist. (AC 379)

"Charity" refers to acting from spiritual-rational motives rather than from natural-sensuous and natural-rational motives (see Section xx). Every individual acts from a hierarchy of motives, some lower, some higher. The "lower" motives are called "corporeal" because they have to do with satisfying pre-civilized needs and enjoyments, while "higher" motives have to do with satisfying acquired needs and enjoyments regarding relationships, community, morality, and the afterlife of heaven and hell (see Section xx). For instance, consider what happens in daily situations where people annoy each other by making excessive noise or sounds. They have a decision to make and this shows whether they are trying to satisfy their inborn lower needs or their acquired higher needs.  It's common for people to satisfy their lower needs for enjoying their loud music, partying with friends, or vacuuming their apartment late at night, or even just talking loud in a restaurant or on the cell phone in a waiting room. This is called a "corporeal" outlook that involves thinking and feeling that is oriented to satisfying self at the expense of others. This is from hell, and takes the person to hell in the afterlife of mental eternity (see Section xx).

All human beings on this planet are born with corporeal needs and enjoyments. But as we become socialized in a civilized society we acquire more noble personality traits that orients towards the survival of the community and thence the survival of self. In other words our survival as individuals becomes the result of our efforts in the survival of the group. This orientation is called "charity" because altruism is a feeling of love for others and not just for self. One way this plays out in daily life is our behavior and thinking regarding how we affect others around us when we manufacture some sort of noise or sound they can hear.

The passage quoted above in AC 379 discusses the phenomenon known in social psychology as behavioral intentions (see Section xx). Through socialization we all possess the acquired needs of becoming honest, moral, upstanding citizens and neighbors, and many also acquire religious rules of life. These acquired needs become behavioral intentions only when we put up the mental effort of intending to act from these higher altruistic principles. The passage above has this:

The activity of the will is the real person, not thought and utterance of that which he does not will.

From the activity of his will he acquires a particular nature and disposition, for his will is what moves him.

If his thoughts are of good, the essential element of faith, which is charity, is contained in his thinking, because it contains the will for good. But if he asserts that his thoughts are of good and yet lives wickedly, the activity of his will cannot possibly be anything else than the will of evil, and as a consequence faith does not exist. (AC 379)

"The activity of the will" refers to the individual's behavioral intentions. This is "the real person" rather than what the individual claims to be to self and others. People may actually convince themselves that they are "basically honest and fair" or that they "support this or that cause." But when their actions are examined one finds that they do not act in accordance with their claims, principles, and reputation they have with themselves about themselves. They are inconsistent. The passages refers to "the will for good" which is the behavioral intention of performing the act in the external world. For instance, if it bothers you that the neighbor is bothered by the noise you are producing, you will not be able to enjoy what you are doing. The altruistic intention will then result in your overt action. You will reduce or eliminate the offending sounds coming from you into the neighbor's ears. Doing this is "charity" and this is from heaven and leads to heaven.

In other words, in order for you to live a heavenly mental state when you are resuscitated (see Section xx), you need the ability to feel happy when you are being altruistic all the time without exceptions.

Can you learn to enjoy being good and doing good to others all the time without exceptions?

This is the challenge of life and the job we have to do while our conscious life is still here connected to the physical body. Once we are resuscitated, just 30 hours following death, we continue life in a mental world of eternity, which is our mental world for there is only one mental world for the entire human race (see Section xx). When they are resuscitated people can choose to "ascend" to their higher acquired intentions and enjoyments, in which case they are in the heavenly layers of the human mind; or, they can choose to "descend" to their lower corporeal intentions and enjoyments, those they were born with and those they acquired in their daily living, in which case they are in the hellish layers of the human mind. Every individual is capable of making this choice as often as wanted. You can go up to the heavenly layers in your mind or you can descend to the hellish layers. It is completely a free choice of personal preference.

Swedenborg gives us some observational data concerning this. On some occasions he saw "novitiate spirits" (as we are called when resuscitated), ascend in consciousness to the heavenly layers in the mind, which they had formed on the basis of their religious beliefs and teachings. But once they were in that consciousness they complained that they didn't feel good and wished to leave. When prevented from leaving, they started feeling like they were dying and fell into a comatose state. As soon as their consciousness was taken back to their hellish layers, they revived, became active, and refused ever to go back to their heavenly consciousness.

Similar phenomena occurred when the direction was in the other way. Swedenborg observed some people who were in the heavenly layers of the mind, leave that state in order to be with their children who were in the hellish layers. The parents had attached themselves to their children unconditionally while raising them on earth. They made their choice for heavenly life in eternity but when the children died and were resuscitated, they became aware of this, as often is the case, and they were drawn by their feeling to meet them in the world of spirits where everyone is resuscitated. The children chose to continue their life in the hellish layers of the mind and the parents were unable to break away from them. They thus had to also join them in the hellish layers where they were in great pain and suffering. Eventually the parents were able to break their attachment to their children and returned to their heavenly life.

As you can see it is critical for each of us to observe and monitor our behavioral intentions in daily living. While doing this we need to keep practicing altruistic behaviors and intentions so that we may break our inborn captivity to selfish enjoyments. You need to realize rationally that being altruistic is not a self-sacrifice at all. Remember the difference again:

• selfish        =  to do something for self without regard for others
• altruistic    =  to do something for others that also benefits self

For example, you can wear wireless earphones when you watch television. You will enjoy doing this for the sake of your room mates or neighbors. It is a higher enjoyment, altruistic, heavenly. This is what the human heavens are -- the maximum enjoyment you can experience for doing things for others. Another example is the enjoyment you get when you take care of your body by eating right and consciously following a healthy exercise program. Here it may appear at first that you are doing something selfish since you are taking care of your own body. But this is wrong thinking. As you can rationally understand, you need to be healthy and able to be a good citizen, worker, friend, or family member. If you neglect your body you reduce your ability to be altruistic and heavenly. Similarly with your education and lifelong striving for more knowledge, more truth, more rational understanding. This is a heavenly motivation, altruistic in intention because by taking care of your education and mental development you are better able to serve community, family, and friends.

Note that there is another meaning to the word "charity" that we also learn, especially from religious instruction. It means "giving" of your time or money to benefit those who are poor and less fortunate than you in their life circumstance. Charity in this religious sense means volunteering and fellowshipping with others on various community projects. It is in this sense of charity that people practice giving to charitable organizations and also practice praying for one another for health, safety, or success. This meaning of "charity" needs therefore to be distinguished from the meaning of "charity" as used in theistic psychology, which has to do with general altruism rather than specific giving. General altruism is similar to "being useful to society." Some people prefer to keep to themselves and don't socialize, don't volunteer, don't give their money to charitable organizations. And yet these people may be altruistic if they follow mental habits that are moral and dignified. This means that they honor people's dignity in the privacy of their thoughts and feelings. They feel compassion for people generally even though they choose not to get together with them. For instance, they hope for people's success and they are not envious of people's good fortune. They avoid contributing in any way to people's misery and they are happy when they hear that something good has happened to someone. This type of outlook and practice will allow them to choose a heavenly lifestyle after they are resuscitated.

In contrast there are other people who also keep to themselves but in their thoughts and feelings they live in the hellish layers of their mind. They denigrate people in their mind and they do not feel happy when others are successful and happy. This type of outlook and practice will not allow them to choose a heavenly lifestyle after they are resuscitated.

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

TCR 589. It must be appreciated that the capacity for raising the understanding to the level of intelligence enjoyed by the angels of heaven is inherent in every person from creation, the wicked as well as the good; in fact even in every devil in hell, for all who are in hell were once people on earth. I have had this shown me by direct experience on numerous occasions. However, in spiritual matters devils are not intelligent but in the grip of madness, because they do not will good, but evil. As a result they loathe knowing and understanding truths, since these favour good and oppose evil. This too makes it clear that the first stage of re-birth is the reception of truths by the understanding, and its second stage is willing to act as truths direct and eventually doing these things.

All the same, no one can be called reformed by only getting to know truths, since the capacity a person has for raising his understanding above the love of the will enables him to learn truths, and also to talk about them, teach them and preach them. A person is reformed if he has an affection for truth for truth's sake, for this affection links itself with the will, and if it continues, links the will with the understanding. That is when regeneration begins. The subsequent progress and development of regeneration will be described in the following pages. (TCR 589)

7.0.2.2    Double State: Inwardly a Devil and Outwardly an Angel

The following passage deals with the double state that we can be in, partly devil partly angel, but in different layers of one's personality. Heavenly and hellish traits cannot reside in the same layer of one's personality for they would destroy one another. Hence our inborn lower hellish traits and our acquired higher heavenly traits exist in different layers of anatomy in our mental world (see Section xx). Swedenborg is relating some of his observations of life in eternity to which he had access by becoming conscious in his spiritual mind, something that happens to us only after we are resuscitated (see Section xx).

CL 269. Afterwards we went up from this underworld into the south, where we had been before, and the angels there told me a great deal worth recording about the longing which is not just a vision or induced by fantasy, that everyone has from birth. 'While people are in this state, they are like fools, though they seem to themselves as if extremely wise. From time to time they are brought back from their folly into the rational state they have outwardly. In that state they see, acknowledge and confess their folly, but they still hanker after returning from their rational to their foolish state, and they plunge into it, as if escaping from compulsion and unpleasantness into freedom and pleasure. So it is longing that inwardly delights them, not intelligence.

[2] 'There are,' they said, ' three universal loves of which every person is from creation compounded: the love of the neighbour, which is also the love of performing services, and this is a spiritual love; the love of the world, which is also the love of possessing wealth, and this is a material love; and self-love, which is the love of ruling over others, and this is a bodily love.

[3] A person is truly human when the love of the neighbour, or the love of performing services, makes up the head, and the love of the world makes up the body, and self-love makes up the feet. But if the love of the world makes up the head, a person is only human in the way a hunchback is. And if self-love makes up the head, he is not like a person standing on his feet, but like one standing on the palms of his hands with his head down and his haunches in the air.

When the love of the neighbour makes up the head, and the other two loves duly make up the body and feet, the person as seen from heaven appears to have the face of an angel with a lovely rainbow around his head. But if the love of the world makes up the head, seen from heaven he seems to have a pale face like a corpse with a yellow ring around his head. And if self-love makes up the head, seen from heaven he seems to have a swarthy face with a white ring around his head.'

This led me to ask, 'What do the rings around the head represent?' 'Intelligence,' they replied, 'the white ring around the head of a person with a swarthy face represents his intelligence being limited to externals or around him, and his craziness being in his internals or inside him. Also a person of this sort is wise when in the body, but crazy when in the spirit. No one is wise in the spirit except by the Lord's doing; this happens when he is born again and created anew by the Lord.'

[4] When this was said, the ground opened up on the left, and through the opening I saw a devil rising with a shining white halo round his head. 'Who are you?' I asked. 'I am Lucifer,' he said, 'the son of the dawn. I was cast down for regarding myself as like the Most High.' He was not really Lucifer, but he thought he was.

'Since you have been cast down,' I said, 'how can you rise again from hell?' 'There,' he said, 'I am a devil, but here I am an angel of light. Don't you see I have a sphere of light round my head? And you will see, if you wish, that among moral people I am more than moral, among rational people more than rational, among spiritual people even more than spiritual. I can also preach, and have done so.'

'What did you preach about?' I asked. 'I preached against cheats, against adulterers, and all the loves of hell. In fact it was then I called myself the devil Lucifer and invoked curses on myself as such, so that I was praised to the skies. That was how I got the name of the son of the dawn. To my own surprise when I was in the pulpit I could think of nothing but speaking correctly and properly. But I discovered the reason, that I was in my outward state, and this was separate from my inward one. Yet although I had discovered this, I still could not change myself, because my pride prevented me from looking to God.'

[5] 'How then,' I asked next, 'could you speak like that, when you are yourself a deceiver, an adulterer and a devil?' 'I am different,' he replied, 'when I am in my outward or bodily state from what I am in my inward or spiritual state. In the body, I am an angel, but in the spirit I am a devil. For in the body I am under the control of the intellect, but in the spirit under that of the will. The intellect carries me aloft, but the will drags me down. When under the control of the intellect, I have a white halo round my head; but when my intellect makes itself subservient to the will and becomes its creature, as ultimately happens to us, then the halo turns black and disappears. Once this has happened, we can no longer come up here into the light.

Later he talked more rationally than anyone else about his double state, inward and outward. But suddenly on seeing I had angels with me, his face and voice caught fire, and he became black, even the halo about his head doing the same; and he fell back into hell through the same opening he had come up by. On seeing this the bystanders arrived at this conclusion, that it is a person's love which determines what he is like, not his intellect, since love easily carries the intellect away to support it and makes it subservient.

[6] Then I asked the angels, 'Where do devils get such powers of reasoning?' 'It comes,' they said, 'from the radiance of self-love, for this is enveloped in radiance, which can even raise the intellect into the light of heaven. For everyone's intellect can be raised, depending on what he knows; but his will cannot be raised except by living in accordance with the truths taught by the church and by reason. This is why even atheists, who have a radiant reputation as the result of self-love, and are therefore proud of their own intelligence, enjoy higher powers of reasoning than many other people. But this happens when they are engaged in intellectual thinking, not when their will is engaged in affection. The will's affection controls a person's interior, but the intellect's thinking controls his exterior.'

The angel went on to explain the reason why a person is a mixture of the three loves mentioned above: the love of service, the love of the world and self-love. This is to enable him to think from God, although as if from himself. He said that the highest level in a person is turned up towards God, the middle level outward towards the world, and the lowest level downwards towards oneself. Since this level is turned downwards, he thinks as if his thoughts came from himself, yet in fact they come from God. (CL 269)

 

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AE 1147. "Of brass and of iron" signifies natural goods and truths also that have been profaned.

This is evident from the signification of "brass," as being natural good (see n. 70); also from the signification of "iron," as being natural truth (see n. 176).

But as what is here presented relates to the natural man [ = the natural mind ], it is to be known that the natural of man is threefold-rational, natural, and sensual; the rational is the highest in it, the sensual is the lowest, and the natural is the middle.

The genuine rational [ = rationality originating from theistic psychology ] is from influx from the spiritual world [ = spiritual mind ], the sensual is from influx from the natural world [ = sensory input from the physical body through the corporeal mind ], and the mediate natural is either of the rational or of the sensual [=corporeal mind].

That the natural is threefold can be seen [ = empirical confirmation ] in men who while they are in the world [ = prior to resuscitation ] are either rational or sensual or intermediate. Which of these they are is clear especially from their perception of civil, moral and spiritual laws.

Those are rational who think, judge, and conclude well from reason, and the thoughts of such are raised above material things; but those who are sensual think from material things and in them [ = negative bias in science or materialism ], and what they speak from thought is only from the memory [ = without understanding what they believe = to think from authority and persuasion ].

As there are these two degrees, there is also an intermediate degree which is called the natural. What men are can be known also from their understanding of the Word [ = theistic psychology from Sacred Scripture ].

The rational draw [ = extract scientific knowledge by applying the correspondential sense ]  from the sense of the letter [ = literal meaning ] such things as pertain to doctrine [ = theistic psychology or the doctrine of truth from Sacred Scripture ], while the sensual abide in the letter only [ = the literal meaning without extracting the correspondential sense ] and draw from it nothing more interior [ = from the spiritual mind ].

The same distinctions exist in the spiritual world [ = the mental world of eternity in the spiritual mind ], since in the lowest heaven [ = lower layer of the spiritual mind ] there are the same degrees of natural men; the lowest there are the sensual, and the highest the rational; but of these more will be said elsewhere.

That natural goods and truths, which are signified by "iron and brass," have also been profaned by Babylon [ = motivated by self-interest when interpreting Sacred Scripture ], is evident from the profanation of the sense of the letter of the Word [ = interpreting Sacred Scripture without applying correspondences ] by such; the sense of the letter of the Word is the natural sense.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] On this subject also we [ = Swedenborg reporting what he sees in his spiritual mind ] will speak from experience [ = empirical observation and scientific revelation ].

The angels of the higher heavens [ = our state of mind in the highest layer of the spiritual mind ] have a clear feeling and perception that their goods [ = operations in the affective organ of the spiritual mind ] and truths [ = operations in the affective organ of the spiritual mind ] are from the Lord [ = the Divine Psychologist in each human mind ], and that they have nothing at all of good and truth from themselves [ = see it as a scientific fact that their affective and cognitive organs operate by influx from the Spiritual Sun ].

And when they are let down [ = returning in consciousness to the operations of the natural mind ] into the state of their self or proprium [ = our character prior to reformation and regeneration ] as is now and then done, they have a clear feeling and perception that the evil and falsity belonging to their self or proprium they have from hell [ = inherited and acquired connections with those in eternity who live in their evil affections ].

Some angels of the lowest heaven, who did not comprehend that evil and falsity are from hell, because they had believed in the world [ = natural mind ] that they were themselves in evils from birth and from actual life, were led through infernal societies [ = a variety of hellish affections ] from one to another, and in each one while they were in it [ = while they were enjoying hellish traits ] they thought just as the devils there thought [ = falsified cognitive operations are produced by corrupted affective operations ], and differently in the several societies, thinking in opposition to goods and truths [ = heavenly traits ].

They were told to think from themselves, and thus otherwise [ = as we think in our spiritual mind ], but they said that they were wholly unable to do so. In this way they were made to comprehend that evils and falsities flow in from hell. It is the same with many who believe and insist that they have life in themselves.

Also it sometimes occurs that angels are separated from the societies with which they are connected, and when thus separated they are unable to think, will, speak, or act, but lie like newborn infants; but as soon as they are restored to their societies they revive. For everyone, man [ = our natural mind ], spirit [ =  our spiritual mind] or angel [ = the highest layer of our spiritual mind ], is connected as to his affections and thoughts therefrom with societies, and acts as one of them; and for this reason it is known what each one is from the society in which he is [ = mental state in which we are ]. All this makes clear that the quality of each one's life flows in from without.

[3] With regard to myself I can testify [ = Swedenborg reporting from his spiritual mind ] that for fifteen years I have clearly perceived that I have thought nothing and willed nothing of myself [ in the natural mind ]; also that every evil and falsity has flowed in from infernal societies, and that every good and truth has flowed in from the Lord.

Some spirits [ = people after their resuscitation ] reflecting upon this declared that I had no life. It was permitted me to reply, I am more alive than you are, since I feel the influx of good and truth from the Lord and see and perceive the enlightenment. I also perceive from the Lord that evils and falsities are from hell, and not only that this is so, but also from what spirits they come; and it has been granted me to speak with these, to rebuke them, and to reject them with their evils and falsities, and thus I was delivered from them. Furthermore, it was granted me to say that now I know that I live, and before I did not know it. From all this I have been fully convinced that every evil and falsity is from hell, and every good and truth, together with the perception of them, is from the Lord; and moreover, that I have freedom and thus perception as if from myself.

[4] Again, that every evil and falsity is from hell it has been granted me to see with my own eyes. Over the hells there is an appearance of fires and smoke; evils are fires and falsities are smoke. These are continually exhaled and rise up, and the spirits that dwell in the midst between heaven and hell  [ = our mental states prior to resuscitation ] are affected by them according to their love [ = according to our motives and intentions ].

It shall be told briefly how evil and falsity have power to flow forth from hell, when there exists only one acting force, which is the life that is God; this also has been revealed. There was uttered with a loud voice out of heaven a truth from the Word, which flowed down to hell and through it to its lowest part; and it was heard that this truth in its flowing down was successively and by degrees turned into falsity, and at length into such falsity as is wholly opposite to the truth; then it was in the lowest hell.

It was so changed because everything is received according to the state and form; so truth flowing into inverted forms, such as are in hell, became successively inverted and changed into the falsity opposite to the truth. From this it is clear what hell is from top to bottom, also that there is but one acting force, which is the life that is the Lord. (AE 1147)

 

AC 4247 [2] From what has been said several times before on this subject, it may be seen how the case is with good and truth [ = spiritual heat and spiritual light substances streaming forth from the Spiritual Sun and simultaneously entering the minds of all human beings ], and with the influx of good into truth [ = spiritual heat is a discrete degree within spiritual light ], and with the appropriation of truth by good, namely, that good is continually flowing in, and that truth receives it, for truths are the vessels of good [ = just as physical light from the natural sun carries physical heat within it and inflows into all earth objects ]. The Divine good cannot be applied to any other vessels than genuine truths, for they correspond to each other [ = spiritual light flows into the cognitive organ and if it is not distorted there it can receive goods from the Divine Psychologist. Spiritual goods that inflow into the affective organ gives us all our human abilities.]

When a man [ = our natural mind ] is in the affection of truth [ = being interested in growing in knowledge and understanding ] (in which he is in the beginning before he begins to be regenerated), even then good is continually flowing in, but as yet has no vessels (that is, truths) into which to apply itself (that is, to be appropriated); for in the beginning of regeneration man is not as yet in knowledges [ = knowledges of spiritual truths from the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture, or theistic psychology ]. At that time, however, as good is continually flowing in, it produces the affection of truth; which is from no other source than the continual endeavor of Divine good to flow in [ = Divine good or spiritual heat in endless variety continuously flows into the mental world of eternity where our spiritual mind is located, and gives each person the motivation and interest to seek truths, both natural truths from daily study and experience, and spiritual truths from Sacred Scripture ].

From this it is evident that even at that time [ = in the natural mind prior to reformation ] good is in the first place, and acts the principal part, although it appears as if it were truth that did this [ = it appears that first we think of something then act it out, but in reality, first we have the motivation to think about something, and then we think about it ]. But when a man is being regenerated (which takes place in adult age when he is in knowledges) [ = when we acquire spiritual truths from Sacred Scripture and commit ourselves to think and live accordingly ], good then manifests itself; for the man is not then so much in the affection of knowing truth, as in the affection of doing it [ = to commit ourselves to living according to the doctrine of truth for the sake of character reformation or becoming a heavenly person ]. Heretofore truth had been in his understanding [ = operations in the cognitive organ without being connected to the corresponding operations in the affective organ ], but now it is in his will [ = cognitive and affective operations are now connected and act together ] ; and when it is in the will, it is in the man; for the will constitutes the man himself [ = our character in the affective organ is not affected by good until we follow through with our behavioral intentions based on the spiritual truths that we understand. This is how we become more and more spiritual in our thinking and willing ].

Such is the constant circle in man [ = developmental stages of our natural mind as we become more spiritual in our thinking and willing ] that everything of knowledge is insinuated through the sight or through the hearing into the thought [ = sensorimotor input from the physical body into the natural mind through the corporeal layer there ], and from this into the will [ = affective organ ] , and from the will through the thought [ = cognitive organ ] into act [ = sensorimotor organ ].

Or again from the memory [ = in our cognitive organ ], which is like an internal eye [ = e.g., as in the expression: I see what you mean ], or internal sight, there is a similar circle-from this sight through the thought [ = cognitive organ ] into the will [ = affective organ ], and from the will through the thought into act; or if anything hinders into the endeavor to act [ = prevents the behavioral intention from coming out into the act ], which, as soon as that which hindered is removed, goes forth into act.

[3] From this it is evident how the case is with influx [ = inflow of spiritual heat and light from the Spiritual Sun into the spiritual mind, and from there into the natural mind ], and with the appropriation of truth by good, namely, that first of all the truths of faith [ = the truths of life we extract from Sacred Scripture ] are insinuated through the hearing or through the sight [ = sensorimotor mind ] , and are then stored up in the memory [ = in the cognitive organ ] ; from which they are successively elevated into knowledge [ = in the cognitive organ ], and at last flow into the will [ = affective organ ], and when in this they proceed thence through thought [ = cognitive organ ] into act [ = sensorimotor organ ]; and if they cannot go into act, they are in endeavor, which is itself an internal act, and whenever there is an opportunity this becomes an external act.

Be it known, however, that while there is this circle, nevertheless it is good which produces the circle [ = the affective organ is primary, as in the saying: it is the heart of the matter ]; for the life which is from the Lord [ = God ] does not flow in except into good, thus through good, and this from the inmosts [ = from the highest layer of the spiritual mind down to the lowest layer of the natural mind ] .

That the life which flows in through the inmosts produces this circle, may be seen by everyone, for without life nothing is produced; and as the life which is from the Lord does not flow in except into good and through good, it follows that good is that which produces; and that it flows into truths, and appropriates them to itself, insofar as the man is in the knowledges of truth, and is at the same time desirous to receive them. (AC 4247)

(to be continued)

Regarding the Affective-Cognitive Connection discussed in this Section, see these entries in the Encyclopedia of Theistic Psychology and related articles:

Revelation About the Affective and the Cognitive || The Will and Understanding  ||  The Heart and Lungs  ||  Good and Truth  ||  Religious Behaviorism   ||  Religious Psychology  ||  Comprehensive Discourse Analysis and Its Applications   ||  Driving Behavior  ||  Phases of Development in Becoming Internet Literate ||  In Psychotherapy   ||  The Threefold Self || Symbols and Drawings ||  Topical Organization in Social Psychology || Titles of Articles  ||  Resistance to Health Behaviors  ||  Language Teaching   ||  Song Analysis  ||  Genetic Culture  ||  Cross-cultural Atlas of Affective Meanings ||  Swedenborg's Theory of Trisubstantivism  || The Genes of Consciousness 

7.0.3  The Role of the Sensorimotor Mind

The sensorimotor organ in the mind has its own function or role to contribute in the integration of the three domains of the self. ACS integration (affective=A, cognitive=C, sensorimotor=S) is the key to character reformation, and thus to optimal adaptability and to eternal happiness. In order to succeed in the perfect integration of our personality we need to understand the role of the sensorimotor mind and how the affective reacts to changes in its operations.

A built in feature in human development is that we are permanently affected or influenced by the affective quality of influx into our spiritual mind, and from there into our natural mind. What influences the quality of affective inflow into the spiritual mind? There are two forces at work, one at each end of the mind. The upper part of the organ is the spiritual mind and the lower part is the natural mind, as explained before. The spiritual force or inflow reacts by correspondence to the natural input from the physical world. The content of the sensorimotor mind depends on the physical events around the body, e.g., food, light, sounds, speech, music, touch, taste, smell, proprioceptive motion, etc. This physical input into the sensorimotor mind occasions the quality of the affective inflow into the spiritual mind. The two input forces are completely determined by each other through the universal laws of correspondence. These laws are built into the substantive dualism of the universe.

For instance, you're surfing the Web and you come upon a Page that suddenly starts playing music. The music inflows through the senses into the brain and the neural patterns of firings occasion a particular sensorimotor operation or reaction. This the dualism crossover between the physical and the spiritual worlds. Note carefully that there is no crossover of matter into the mind, nor of sensation into the brain, for this would be impossible and contrary to rational order. Instead, the laws of correspondence determine which operation in the mind will occur in correspondence with which physical sensation occurs.

It appears as an illusion that the physical energy stimulates the physical organs, transmitting it to the brain, and from there transmitting it to the mind so that the electro-chemical energy becomes mental sensation in consciousness. But Swedenborg proved in different ways that there is no continuity or transfer of matter between the body and mind. In his book Rational Psychology (1742) he describes each cortical cell as a mini-brain in full, and then describes the "finer natural" materials like natural "ether" that intervenes or mediates between the cortical cell and the sensorimotor mind.

Another way of describing what happens in the build up of our personality is to think of our spiritual body in the spiritual world as an automatic switchboard organ. Which spiritual societies will have access to inflow into your spiritual body? Numerous or countless societies in the spiritual world are eager to communicate with any spiritual body whose owner is still conscious in the physical body. Only a few societies on any occasion can have access at any moment. What determines their position in the queue?

Spirits, as we are called when we enter consciousness into our spiritual body, congregate together by the quality of their feelings in conjunction with the content of their thoughts. Swedenborg visited many such cities and described them. In point of fact spirit societies "send out" one individual who will act as a medium for the entire society. Whatever that medium experiences everyone in that society experiences. this is characteristic of all spiritual societies, namely that they normally share each other's feelings and thoughts, though individuality remains private and unique. It's more like everyone being online on the same mental network but still retaining themselves as the unique self taking all that in and reacting individually and uniquely to it. Here is a paragraph from Swedenborg's 12-volume series Arcana Coelestia ("Heavenly  Secrets") in which he discusses the role of these "emissary spirits":

That man has communication with hell and with heaven through the two spirits and the two angels, may be seen from the fact that in the other life one society cannot have communication with another, or with anyone, except through spirits who are sent forth by the societies. These emissary spirits are called Subjects, for through them as subjects the societies speak. To send forth subjects to other societies, and in this way to get communication, is one of the familiar things of the other life, and is very well known to me from the fact that subjects have been sent to me a thousand times, and that without them the societies could not know anything appertaining to me, and could communicate to me nothing appertaining to themselves. This shows that the spirits and genii with man are nothing but subjects through whom he has communication with hell, and that the celestial and spiritual angels are subjects through whom he has communication with the heavens. (AC 5983)

So you can see the lineup of the emissary spirits around your spiritual body ready to inflow and communicate when possible. What occasions a particular spirit's inflow? It is the state of the sensorimotor mind. For instance, you're entering a public bathroom and you're hit in the nose by a bad smell lingering there. In order for you to recognize that it is a bad smell one of the emissary spirits must be allowed to rush in to communicate with your spiritual body. Depending on who it is, or which spirit society is involved, you can then experience revulsion or enjoyment. The affective reaction of the spirit society must first be allowed to instantiate before you can experience either revulsion or enjoyment. Their affective reaction is made possible by the "occasion" of the smell hitting your brain and having the sensorimotor mind react by correspondence. That reaction in our sensorimotor mind is simultaneous with the reaction of the spirit society that inflowed through the emissary spirit communicating with your spiritual body.

There must therefore be three conditions that must be satisfied before you can experience the revulsion or the enjoyment. First, an event in the natural world, which gets recorded in the brain through the sensory organs. Second, the application of the built in laws of correspondence by which a particular brain reaction occasions its corresponding spiritual counterpart in the sensorimotor mind (this is experienced as a sensation). Third, an event in the spiritual world, which consists of an emissary spirit inflowing into our spiritual body simultaneously with the reaction in our sensorimotor mind.

Note that I'm using the "occasions" in the same sense as Skinner used it. I acquired this idea from Skinner. I always thought it was a brilliant way of looking at behavior. No doubt he would have been shocked to see how his term has been applied by me to spirit societies, though he would not be shocked today, where he is now, in one of those spirit societies! The idea of "occasions" works very effectively in theistic psychology as well.

You can see from this description of how a single bad smell experience (and also a single good odor experience) involves many other human beings in different states of life in their mind. This is one of the most astonishing and liberating of the scientific revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg. It's the idea I call vertical community (discussed in several places before). We are never alone in our thoughts and feelings. For a single sensation, thought, or emotion to occur, our spiritual mind must be in communication with emissary spirits from different societies involving numberless people. Ultimately no thought or emotion in one human being can be contained, but instantly spreads and reverberates into the entire rational ether that constitutes the spiritual world. This is analogous to the light of stars in the physical world which spreads out into the entire space at near-instantaneous velocity. Also like the sound of two people talking in a room spreads throughout the room. A feeling, thought, or sensation by one individual communicates itself to all other individuals in the spiritual world. This is because thought and feeling are spiritual substances that permeate the rational ether in which all human minds are born and carry on life to eternity.

Hence, we are never alone in our thoughts and feelings. They are community produced and maintained. And yet we are not capable of being conscious of this amazing universal interaction until our spiritual mind becomes conscious at the death of the physical body. Then it becomes a normal habit to observe, as Swedenborg did for 27 years, according to his carefully kept records.

What we need to do is to use this new knowledge from scientific revelations to manage better our daily emotions, feelings, intentions, motives, and attitudes. This is discussed in the sections that follow.

Animals also depend on spiritual influx which enters their natural mind. They do not possess a rational or spiritual mind, and only the lower portion of the natural mind such as humans have, called the corporeal mind, sometimes called the instinctive mind or just instinct. However because animals do not have a spiritual mind they cannot have immortal life. Their spiritual components or "soul" dissipate when they die. Swedenborg reports that animals can be seen in the spiritual world in great abundance but these are not the same animals that were born on earth. Instead they are instantaneously created by human affections and thoughts, not unlike what we do in dreams when we run from a bear or hug our cat.  Animals in the spiritual world disappear when our affection and thoughts change involvement to something else.

7.0.4  The Source of Anxiety, Worry, and Depression

Quoting from the Writings Sacred Scripture:

AC 759. That the "rain" here is temptation is evident from what has been said and shown above, concerning a "flood" and an "inundation;" and also from the signification of the "fountains of the deep were broken up" and the "cataracts of heaven were opened" as being temptations. (AC 759)

AC 760. That the "forty days and forty nights" signify its duration, was shown above, at verse 4. By "forty" as before said, is signified every duration of temptation, whether greater or less, and indeed severe temptation, which is of the things of the will.

For by continual pleasures, and by the loves of self and of the world [ = the inherited character of our natural mind before it is reformed and regenerated ], consequently by the cupidities that are the connected activities of these loves, man has acquired a life for himself of such a kind that it is nothing but a life of such things. This life cannot possibly accord with heavenly life [ = the spiritual order in which our spiritual mind is through influx from the Spiritual Sun ]; for no one can love worldly [ = what is not yet regenerate, hence remains attached to our enjoyments of evil traits ] and heavenly things at the same time [ = the order of mental states in our natural mind when it is reformed and being regenerated ], seeing that to love worldly things is to look downward [ = towards the lower layer of the natural mind, which is corporeal or animal, and not rational or human ] , and to love heavenly things is to look upward [ = our study and knowledge of the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture, i.e., theistic psychology ] .

Much less can anyone love himself and at the same time the neighbor, and still less the Lord.

He who loves himself, hates all who do not render him service; so that the man who loves himself is very far from heavenly love and charity, which is to love the neighbor more than one's self, and the Lord above all things. [ = for instance, to lower the volume on your radio or TV for the sake of the neighbors, and similar things that we do for the comfort of others rather than insisting on our comfort, etc. ]

From this it is evident how far removed the life of man [ = unregenerated natural mind ] is from heavenly life [ = regenerated natural mind ] , and therefore he is regenerated by the Lord through temptations [ = once the person undergoes reformation as of self ], and is bent so as to bring him into agreement [ = when we use our knowledge of doctrine to resist spiritual temptations ].

This is why such temptation is severe [ = experienced with strong emotional conflict, being pulled by the the love of enjoying evil traits and the love of becoming a heavenly person ], for it touches a man's very life, assailing, destroying, and transforming it, and is therefore described by the words: "the fountains of the deep were broken up, and the cataracts of heaven were opened." (AC 760)

AC 761.That spiritual temptation in man [ = our conscious natural mind in daily life ] is a combat of the evil spirits with the angels who are with him [ = combats going on in our unconscious spiritual mind. The results of these unconscious combats determine by correspondence the emotional conflict we experience in our conscious natural mind ], and that this combat is commonly felt in his conscience, has been stated before, and concerning this combat it should also be known that angels continually protect man and avert the evils which evil spirits endeavor to do to him.

They even protect what is false and evil in a man, for they know very well whence his falsities and evils come [ = those who have been regenerated and who are already present and conscious in the spiritual mind of the afterlife, can see and empirically observe how our unregenerate natural mind while we are still here on earth, is tied and influenced by those who are in the spiritual mind and in evil enjoyments ], namely, from evil spirits and genii. [ = these psychological, moral, and spiritual battles during temptations in our mind occur without us being consciously aware of the confrontations taking place in our spiritual mind ].

Man does not produce anything false and evil from himself, but it is the evil spirits with him who produce it, and at the same time make the man believe that he does it of himself. Such is their malignity. [ = we are born with the enjoyments of evil traits that we inherit. It seems to us that those are our own traits and that we enjoy them. But they are not our own traits. We actually enjoy the traits of those with whom we are spiritually connected in our spiritual mind by mental inheritance. ]

And what is more, at the moment when they are infusing and compelling this belief, they accuse and condemn him, as I can confirm from many experiences. [ = Swedenborg being conscious in his spiritual mind was able to observe the actions of the evil spirits who were connected to the individual by inheritance ].

The man who has not faith in the Lord cannot be enlightened so as not to believe that he does evil of himself, and he therefore appropriates the evil to himself, and becomes like the evil spirits that are with him. Such is the case with man. As the angels know this, in the temptations of regeneration they protect also the falsities and evils of a man, for otherwise he would succumb. [ = there is a useful purpose prior to regeneration for having intermediate beliefs and doctrines, that are not yet genuine spiritual rational ].

For there is nothing in a man [ = the inherited character of our natural mind before it is reformed and regenerated ] but evil and the falsity thence derived, so that he is a mere assemblage and compound of evils and their falsities. (AC 761)

AC 762. But spiritual temptations are little known at this day [ = prior to our reformation and regeneration ]. Nor are they permitted to such a degree as formerly, because man is not in the truth of faith, and would therefore succumb [ = to be in temptation without having the rational truths of doctrine to be able to resist ].

In place of these temptations there are others, such as misfortunes, griefs, and anxieties, arising from natural and bodily causes, and also sicknesses and diseases of the body, which in a measure subdue and break up the life of a man's pleasures and cupidities, and determine and uplift his thoughts to interior and religious subjects.

But these are not spiritual temptations, which are experienced by those only who have received from the Lord [ = our doctrine of truth extracted from the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture ] a conscience of truth and good. Conscience is itself the plane of temptations, wherein they operate. [ = people who do not have the opportunity or ability to study the correspondential sense of Sacred Scripture, nevertheless can accept influx into their conscience from the spiritual mind, and if they honor and obey their conscience, they are being regenerated and prepared for heavenly experiences in the afterlife of eternity ].

Here is a passage from the Writings Sacred Scripture that discuss the role of the vertical community in experiencing anxiety:

Here you see Swedenborg's empirical attitude and his attempt to use experimental manipulation as a way of confirming hypotheses. Note also that this was written some 200 years before the role of the stomach in anxiety was understood by modern medicine. Anxiety is frequently felt in the stomach due to the correspondential action between the stomach and the sensorimotor mind into which the spirits inflow who are delighted by the breakdown products in the stomach. In fact Swedenborg mapped out the relationship between every body part and the spirit societies that specialize in relating to each part of the body. The physiology and biochemistry of the physical body are so many detailed ways in which spirit societies communicate with the sensorimotor mind. The physiological operations are effects whose causes are the inflow of the various spirit societies.

In the 1960s when I was teaching at the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana), one of my colleagues was the well known behaviorist Hobart Mower. He had been suffering from debilitating depression and anxiety for several years despite drug treatments. He then had an insight that reversed the Freudian idea that people feel anxiety in response to an overactive super-ego or conscience. Freud's classic treatment consisted of trying to weaken the demands of the super-ego or of conscience to offer relief from guilt and anxiety leading to depression. But Mower discovered that the opposite was the case, namely, that instead of having an overactive conscience most people disregard their conscience in many situations and go ahead and do what they feel like at the moment. At the same time many people are oriented towards reducing guilt by weakening the power of one's conscience. Mower started arguing that instead what we need to do is to strengthen our conscience so that we keep ourselves from violating its injunctions. He developed a new form of group therapy called "integrity groups" which I attended for two years. It is there that I learned that if I strengthen the voice of my conscience I can keep myself from acting against my principles and thus not run into guilt, anxiety, shame, or depression. I was greatly relieved.

Here is a further description about the function of anxiety:

You can see that anxiety is produced by conscience for the purpose of maintaining us in freedom of choice and reminding us of spiritual responsibility. We have the power to disregard or inhibit this built in effect. However it is clear that we will suffer negative consequences when we weaken the motivational force of conscience. If we kill or weaken our anxiety Freudian style, we lose the ability to benefit from positive spiritual influences and we fall into mental states that are negative, injurious, and self-defeating.

Here is a similar paragraph discussing the source of anxiety:

Since worrying about the future produces feelings of anxiety in a person, and since such spirits appear in the region of the stomach, feelings of anxiety therefore have a greater effect on the stomach than on all other internal organs. I have also been allowed to recognize how those anxious feelings have increased or diminished as those spirits have become present or been removed. I have noticed that some anxious feelings exist more internally, others more externally, some higher up, others lower down, depending on the differences in origin, derivation, and direction taken by such kinds of worry. Here also lies the reason why, when such feelings of anxiety take hold of the mind, the area around the stomach is tense and sometimes pain is felt there, and also why feelings of anxiety seem to surge up from there. The same also explains why, when a person ceases to worry about the future or when everything is turning out right for him so that he no longer fears any misfortune, the area around the stomach is free and relaxed, and he has the feeling of delight. (AC 5178)