The Spirits of the Church or Earth called Jupiter
By Rev. Paul Booth
Lessons: Genesis 1: 26, 28 | John 14: 1,2 | Earths in the Universe 49 - 1
By Rev. Paul Booth
Lessons: Genesis 1: 26, 28 | John 14: 1,2 | Earths in the Universe 49 - 1
"They related that in the region of their earth where they had lived when in the world, the multitude of human beings were as great as the earth could support; that it was fertile, and abounded in all things; that the inhabitants desired no more than sufficed for the necessities of life, and that what was not necessary they did not regard as useful; and that therefore the multitude of human beings was so great. They said that their principle was the education of their children, and that they loved them most tenderly".
(Earths in the Universe 48)
(Earths in the Universe 48)
The thing that we learn first about this 'earth' or church is: at its conception they were in truths and as such these were the necessities of life and so were useful. As a result they loved being innocent for in that innocence comes their understanding of goodness. This of course is what is understood by in the internal or spiritual sense said in number 48 which was just read concerning the church or 'earth' of Jupiter.
We learn that they had lived in clams, families, and households together separate from others as did those before and during the Most Ancient and Ancient times spoken about in chapter one of Arcana Caelestia. In this way they spoke only with their own members and were taught accordingly. It was thus, also, that good nesses and truths were in them arranged in order according to the Lord, and that order is only of good and truth as comes from Him - His Esse and Essence. If one never knows what others have then he will not covet the other's things. We learned that in the Most Ancient and Ancient Church times the love of self entered and the lust of exercising dominion invaded the mind. This shows a parallel of what the church call Jupiter is to those of the Most Ancient and Ancient which are revealed in the Word.
One learns the spirits that came from the church called Jupiter the truths enter their mind and thus spiritual good was acted on from within them. As such there was influx communicated from them of their affection that was as, Swedenborg puts it, 'gentle and sweet as to be inexpressible'. Here, we see there is also a difference between the influx of the spirits from their 'earth' or church and from ours, but that disagreement in influx is soon adjusted. One might wonder is there still such a church or 'earth' Jupiter and if its spirits still come to its inhabitants today, though they do not reveal to them the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, yet still they still know the Lord as Human and as the One only Supreme Being. What we see is that these spirits have an inborn disposition of the life they lived when they were in the natural state just as any spirit does. We see or learn is that their interiors, while on earth, were not closed, but opened to heaven and thus they could receive Divine good, blessedness and interior happiness, but we see also that so did those who had lived around the time of the Most Ancients and Ancients who were lead by the Lord. By contrast those of our church today have their interiors closed, but may open them through the science of correspondences of spiritual things written in the Word. Though an infant and child's interiors are opened. The question is: would the 'church' or earth called Jupiter have continued to exist unless the Lord was able to become born on the Jewish Church, which was not even a true church? It is obvious there were those who lived in the times before the Most Ancient and Ancient who came into the spiritual world that had much the same disposition and became spirits and angel. Are these spirits and angels all that were needed in the Grand Man or does the Lord still require that such an church's inhabitants should still be available for the Grand Man of heaven and that thus there is today a earth or planet with them on it in some far distant universe and have these inhabitants remained in this same natural state or is there still inhabitants of the same character on this earth? This answer is left up to each individual as to his belief.
Then we learn a peculiar thing which was said about the inhabitants of this 'earth' known as Jupiter. Their spirits related how the inhabitants of Jupiter traverse. "As they advance they assist themselves with their hands, and alternately half raise themselves on their feet, and at every third step they face about sideways and behind them, and at a time also bend the body a little." (Earths in the Universe 55) They turned their face about, for to them it is unbecoming to be looked at except in the face. Even the spirits from that church appear as though they are 'swimming' in order to assist their moving about. It was also said they always keep facing the earth ahead and the heaven and if they do not get accustom to this that eventually they are expelled from the society. If we look at this spiritually we can understand that by not walking erect means they did not look towards the celestial, though they did to the spiritual. But, by the use of their hands together with their feet is internally meant they were natural men, yet within their interior they were spiritual. The inhabitants of this church's mannerism are that they want to face towards others in order to show their face; that in this way their mind, whether sincere or forced, is revealed to others.
Now, was this church to remain in this way even to today? And if so why? Is it because it is in this way that they fill a particular need in the Grand Man, which we learn has a relation to the imaginative (part) of thought, which is of the interior sensual thought of affections. This affection probably explains why they have such a love for their children, teaching them to think well and justly on all things as occur in life. It seems difficult to think that this church called Jupiter, even if it were on another distant world in another universe, would remain in its interior and exterior state forever and that any development would lead to their becoming evil. On the other hand, it is possible that even today there are clans, families and tribes here on our world whose life is as described here and, as such might fill the need for imaginative thought in the Grand Man. Now as to their gait or way of walking mentioned had they only reached that particular advancement in their evolution? That is, if of course, you are inclined to accept that theory. In fact, there are many things about such inhabitants that would make one believe they were like the primitive mankind of our very world - simple homes made of wood, having primitive spiritual beliefs, their way of sitting, when they ate and worshipped and many others. If so, why had they not continued to advance into the spiritual state and later to the celestial state? Has God created these various 'earths' or churches in their particular states for the sole purpose of making the Grand Man, that until He led man into the final church state - the New Church of the New Jerusalem, the crown of all churches that now descends on our earth? Who are we to question God in His creation?
It is a bad commentary upon the spirits that came from our church into the spiritual world - the Christian - at the time Swedenborg was there in heaven. The spirits of the earth Jupiter said of the Christians that they were cunning, cleaver, in contrivances of evils and think little about good. It also was said by the spirits of the earth Jupiter that they themselves were much wiser than the spirits of our earth. In fact, they think spirits of our earth are external men. Yet, thanks to God there were some at that the time when this was written that had become angels. The wisdom of the spirits of Jupiter comes from thinking well and justly in things that occur in life, which they had learned on earth from their parents from their childhood and was transmitted to posterity and increases accordingly. The spirits from the 'church' or earth Jupiter know nothing or want to know anything of the sciences that those spirits coming from our church know. They had learned this from the conduct they saw of those coming from our church or 'earth' who having placed these sciences in their memory only and not in the rational. These see only in terms and from terms and now in the spiritual world such science they learned appears as little formless masses and as clouds before the intellectual sight; others perceive even still less from their conceit of their learning.
From all this those of this church called Jupiter we learn did not develop the sciences as we have today and as such did not so much end up boasting of things they learned as matters of memory. We see that the spirits from Jupiter concluded that the sciences had blinded those (in) our church - the Christian - as we all are well aware of. However, as a matter of fact, the natural sciences are means of both opening one's intellectual sight or the light of heaven and are the means also of becoming insane, favoring Nature and the world against the Divine and heaven. Here we learn the difference between the 'church', the earth called Jupiter and our church. The prior's intelligence comes from their parent's understanding of wisdom - in thinking well and justly about all things in life as has been said. The latter comes from learning the sciences which opened up spiritual things of heaven and thus of becoming spiritually intelligent; this is learned from the written Word. Can it be that the 'church' or earth of Jupiter's development is or was before the state of the spiritual man that we read about in Genesis chapter 1, or like those who fell from the Celestial Church that we read about in Genesis chapter 2 that fell back into a prior state where they were merely natural-spiritual men? And, has such beliefs and natural ways continued today on earth in some people?
We find that the church called Jupiter is led and taught by the Lord concerning truths, and that He preserves it with them, and gives eternal life to those of it who worship Him from good. In addition, He teaches them how they ought to live and believe and this is passed on by the parents. He is also seen by many as a Man which very well may be by their spiritual eyes. In this way it seems as if their doctrine is written on their minds. Because of this when they come into the spiritual world they then seek Him and find Him. As spirits of Jupiter they are unaware that the Lord was born a man on our earth, neither do they concern themselves about this even if they later learn about it and say only to know He is Very Man and governs the universe is sufficient. Though should they learn of the Lord's glorification as Swedenborg had read in the Word, they are filled with a holy influence and acknowledge it as the Supreme Divine.
Lest we think the people in that church are all in some degree of innocence because of their simple life we learn that the "greatest care is taken to prevent any one falling into wrong opinions respecting the One only Lord" (The Earths in the Universe 68). This care is taken or made effective by spirits which come from their 'church' or earth to them that are still natural. It is the spirits who through the punishment of depriving those who wrongly respect the Lord as the One only of respiration and consequently life, though after they were first threatened with death. What one needs to understand here is the truth that mankind was "governed by the use of spirits" - that "he had communication with the world of spirits and by angels with heaven". . . that. . . "man could not live at all" without the spirits and that "his life depends on this conjunction". (Arcana Caelestia 50) This was explained as: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." (Genesis 1: 26). The 'us' refers to the spirits that are with man. What we see from this is that this 'church' or earth's development or growth may have very well began before those who had reached the spiritual state that was written about in the Old Testament and that is explained by correspondences in the Third of Last Testament.
We also see that within that church there were some who began to put themselves forth as intermediaries or lords and to say the sun is the face of the Supreme Lord and is His abode; thus they adore the sun. Others that are in that church or earth hold them in aversion and do not speak with them and so a division is seen among them. So, we see that from that earth or 'church' there is those who also come into hell, being merely natural without the least of what is spiritual. In this there are those who are just as there are in the Christian Church who believes they are to merit salvation. So, they appear to themselves as to cut wood in some hell. As regard to the spirits that come to those in that earth they are both good and evil spirits.
Another thing we learn about the inhabitants of Jupiter or church is they think much about heaven and the life after death and care little about the life of the world. They know that they shall live after their decease in a happy state in the internal man. The same can be said of the inhabitants of the ancient times in our 'earth' or church as has already been shown of the ancients. It appears that those of the earth called Jupiter still remain in that state where they think about heaven and not for things of the world. Are there not such people on this earth today that care little for worldly things, who are taught by the parents to respect all things that occur in life, thinking well and justly on them, who worship the One only Lord daily and if not are cast out?
Lastly, one learns that angels of that earth speak by means of ideas into the interiors and were abstracted from verbal expressions until there was an influx into the brain where such appeared like speech into the interior understanding. These angels of Jupiter were not aware that the Word, the Truths of doctrines of the Church were published and could thus be learnt through writing and printing.
There are other things that could be said about this earth which can be known whether according to the natural sense when understood literally and the spiritual sense if it is made open to man.
Amen
We learn that they had lived in clams, families, and households together separate from others as did those before and during the Most Ancient and Ancient times spoken about in chapter one of Arcana Caelestia. In this way they spoke only with their own members and were taught accordingly. It was thus, also, that good nesses and truths were in them arranged in order according to the Lord, and that order is only of good and truth as comes from Him - His Esse and Essence. If one never knows what others have then he will not covet the other's things. We learned that in the Most Ancient and Ancient Church times the love of self entered and the lust of exercising dominion invaded the mind. This shows a parallel of what the church call Jupiter is to those of the Most Ancient and Ancient which are revealed in the Word.
One learns the spirits that came from the church called Jupiter the truths enter their mind and thus spiritual good was acted on from within them. As such there was influx communicated from them of their affection that was as, Swedenborg puts it, 'gentle and sweet as to be inexpressible'. Here, we see there is also a difference between the influx of the spirits from their 'earth' or church and from ours, but that disagreement in influx is soon adjusted. One might wonder is there still such a church or 'earth' Jupiter and if its spirits still come to its inhabitants today, though they do not reveal to them the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, yet still they still know the Lord as Human and as the One only Supreme Being. What we see is that these spirits have an inborn disposition of the life they lived when they were in the natural state just as any spirit does. We see or learn is that their interiors, while on earth, were not closed, but opened to heaven and thus they could receive Divine good, blessedness and interior happiness, but we see also that so did those who had lived around the time of the Most Ancients and Ancients who were lead by the Lord. By contrast those of our church today have their interiors closed, but may open them through the science of correspondences of spiritual things written in the Word. Though an infant and child's interiors are opened. The question is: would the 'church' or earth called Jupiter have continued to exist unless the Lord was able to become born on the Jewish Church, which was not even a true church? It is obvious there were those who lived in the times before the Most Ancient and Ancient who came into the spiritual world that had much the same disposition and became spirits and angel. Are these spirits and angels all that were needed in the Grand Man or does the Lord still require that such an church's inhabitants should still be available for the Grand Man of heaven and that thus there is today a earth or planet with them on it in some far distant universe and have these inhabitants remained in this same natural state or is there still inhabitants of the same character on this earth? This answer is left up to each individual as to his belief.
Then we learn a peculiar thing which was said about the inhabitants of this 'earth' known as Jupiter. Their spirits related how the inhabitants of Jupiter traverse. "As they advance they assist themselves with their hands, and alternately half raise themselves on their feet, and at every third step they face about sideways and behind them, and at a time also bend the body a little." (Earths in the Universe 55) They turned their face about, for to them it is unbecoming to be looked at except in the face. Even the spirits from that church appear as though they are 'swimming' in order to assist their moving about. It was also said they always keep facing the earth ahead and the heaven and if they do not get accustom to this that eventually they are expelled from the society. If we look at this spiritually we can understand that by not walking erect means they did not look towards the celestial, though they did to the spiritual. But, by the use of their hands together with their feet is internally meant they were natural men, yet within their interior they were spiritual. The inhabitants of this church's mannerism are that they want to face towards others in order to show their face; that in this way their mind, whether sincere or forced, is revealed to others.
Now, was this church to remain in this way even to today? And if so why? Is it because it is in this way that they fill a particular need in the Grand Man, which we learn has a relation to the imaginative (part) of thought, which is of the interior sensual thought of affections. This affection probably explains why they have such a love for their children, teaching them to think well and justly on all things as occur in life. It seems difficult to think that this church called Jupiter, even if it were on another distant world in another universe, would remain in its interior and exterior state forever and that any development would lead to their becoming evil. On the other hand, it is possible that even today there are clans, families and tribes here on our world whose life is as described here and, as such might fill the need for imaginative thought in the Grand Man. Now as to their gait or way of walking mentioned had they only reached that particular advancement in their evolution? That is, if of course, you are inclined to accept that theory. In fact, there are many things about such inhabitants that would make one believe they were like the primitive mankind of our very world - simple homes made of wood, having primitive spiritual beliefs, their way of sitting, when they ate and worshipped and many others. If so, why had they not continued to advance into the spiritual state and later to the celestial state? Has God created these various 'earths' or churches in their particular states for the sole purpose of making the Grand Man, that until He led man into the final church state - the New Church of the New Jerusalem, the crown of all churches that now descends on our earth? Who are we to question God in His creation?
It is a bad commentary upon the spirits that came from our church into the spiritual world - the Christian - at the time Swedenborg was there in heaven. The spirits of the earth Jupiter said of the Christians that they were cunning, cleaver, in contrivances of evils and think little about good. It also was said by the spirits of the earth Jupiter that they themselves were much wiser than the spirits of our earth. In fact, they think spirits of our earth are external men. Yet, thanks to God there were some at that the time when this was written that had become angels. The wisdom of the spirits of Jupiter comes from thinking well and justly in things that occur in life, which they had learned on earth from their parents from their childhood and was transmitted to posterity and increases accordingly. The spirits from the 'church' or earth Jupiter know nothing or want to know anything of the sciences that those spirits coming from our church know. They had learned this from the conduct they saw of those coming from our church or 'earth' who having placed these sciences in their memory only and not in the rational. These see only in terms and from terms and now in the spiritual world such science they learned appears as little formless masses and as clouds before the intellectual sight; others perceive even still less from their conceit of their learning.
From all this those of this church called Jupiter we learn did not develop the sciences as we have today and as such did not so much end up boasting of things they learned as matters of memory. We see that the spirits from Jupiter concluded that the sciences had blinded those (in) our church - the Christian - as we all are well aware of. However, as a matter of fact, the natural sciences are means of both opening one's intellectual sight or the light of heaven and are the means also of becoming insane, favoring Nature and the world against the Divine and heaven. Here we learn the difference between the 'church', the earth called Jupiter and our church. The prior's intelligence comes from their parent's understanding of wisdom - in thinking well and justly about all things in life as has been said. The latter comes from learning the sciences which opened up spiritual things of heaven and thus of becoming spiritually intelligent; this is learned from the written Word. Can it be that the 'church' or earth of Jupiter's development is or was before the state of the spiritual man that we read about in Genesis chapter 1, or like those who fell from the Celestial Church that we read about in Genesis chapter 2 that fell back into a prior state where they were merely natural-spiritual men? And, has such beliefs and natural ways continued today on earth in some people?
We find that the church called Jupiter is led and taught by the Lord concerning truths, and that He preserves it with them, and gives eternal life to those of it who worship Him from good. In addition, He teaches them how they ought to live and believe and this is passed on by the parents. He is also seen by many as a Man which very well may be by their spiritual eyes. In this way it seems as if their doctrine is written on their minds. Because of this when they come into the spiritual world they then seek Him and find Him. As spirits of Jupiter they are unaware that the Lord was born a man on our earth, neither do they concern themselves about this even if they later learn about it and say only to know He is Very Man and governs the universe is sufficient. Though should they learn of the Lord's glorification as Swedenborg had read in the Word, they are filled with a holy influence and acknowledge it as the Supreme Divine.
Lest we think the people in that church are all in some degree of innocence because of their simple life we learn that the "greatest care is taken to prevent any one falling into wrong opinions respecting the One only Lord" (The Earths in the Universe 68). This care is taken or made effective by spirits which come from their 'church' or earth to them that are still natural. It is the spirits who through the punishment of depriving those who wrongly respect the Lord as the One only of respiration and consequently life, though after they were first threatened with death. What one needs to understand here is the truth that mankind was "governed by the use of spirits" - that "he had communication with the world of spirits and by angels with heaven". . . that. . . "man could not live at all" without the spirits and that "his life depends on this conjunction". (Arcana Caelestia 50) This was explained as: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." (Genesis 1: 26). The 'us' refers to the spirits that are with man. What we see from this is that this 'church' or earth's development or growth may have very well began before those who had reached the spiritual state that was written about in the Old Testament and that is explained by correspondences in the Third of Last Testament.
We also see that within that church there were some who began to put themselves forth as intermediaries or lords and to say the sun is the face of the Supreme Lord and is His abode; thus they adore the sun. Others that are in that church or earth hold them in aversion and do not speak with them and so a division is seen among them. So, we see that from that earth or 'church' there is those who also come into hell, being merely natural without the least of what is spiritual. In this there are those who are just as there are in the Christian Church who believes they are to merit salvation. So, they appear to themselves as to cut wood in some hell. As regard to the spirits that come to those in that earth they are both good and evil spirits.
Another thing we learn about the inhabitants of Jupiter or church is they think much about heaven and the life after death and care little about the life of the world. They know that they shall live after their decease in a happy state in the internal man. The same can be said of the inhabitants of the ancient times in our 'earth' or church as has already been shown of the ancients. It appears that those of the earth called Jupiter still remain in that state where they think about heaven and not for things of the world. Are there not such people on this earth today that care little for worldly things, who are taught by the parents to respect all things that occur in life, thinking well and justly on them, who worship the One only Lord daily and if not are cast out?
Lastly, one learns that angels of that earth speak by means of ideas into the interiors and were abstracted from verbal expressions until there was an influx into the brain where such appeared like speech into the interior understanding. These angels of Jupiter were not aware that the Word, the Truths of doctrines of the Church were published and could thus be learnt through writing and printing.
There are other things that could be said about this earth which can be known whether according to the natural sense when understood literally and the spiritual sense if it is made open to man.
Amen
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