Now, let us look at the words 'solar system' - or the 'system of this sun'. Both in the religious works of Swedenborg and in that of the Old and New Testaments one sees that when the sun is mentioned that its correspondence is the Lord God. We can, therefore, understand that because these books - the Old, New Testaments, and writings of E. Swedenborg - concerns the Lord, the Divine Human of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christianity, that 'this sun' refers to the Christian Religion or system, thus, to the Christian Church.
The words we read literally, such as names, in the spiritual world, and in the spiritual sense, means or signify of what quality. Thus, we come to understand that the name 'Mercury' is not meant the planet Mercury or its inhabitants. However, what those qualities are can be seen, to some degree, in their nature as is evident in the text before us where it is said "they are allowed to wander about, and to acquire for themselves cognitions" or internal knowledge of the things that are in the universe. And that "they have reference to the memory" What they acquire are thoughts and their affections, and generally are truths as may be seen in the chapter called 'The Spirits of the Planet Mercury' (AC 6807). However, because they are spirits and no longer are in the natural body, but are internal or spiritual men of the spiritual universe, they wander or inquire, and acquire spiritual and celestial knowledge and, in fact, the knowledge that has cultivated the rational, that facility that allows a man to commune with God. In this you can see what their use in the Grand Man, that is, in Heaven is. Thus, it may be seen that there are other religions other than Christians that men come from and enter Heaven. These are the 'other earths' that are "beyond the 'solar system'."
Why would the Lord permit Swedenborg, to writing the Latin Word, and want him to speak of other human beings from other earths or churches being in Heaven? There are probably many reasons, but one that is obvious is to teach the truth, to clear away fallacies and doctrinal falsities. One such fallacy is that one must be a 'Christian' before he can enter Heaven. Don't many Christians, even today, say that only if you accept Jesus Christ as Savior can you be saved? So, from a merely literal understanding of these words it is reveal or shown that there are in Heaven far more than just Christians, but people coming from other religions, from other earths 'that is' from other churches as well. However, when such is understood in its spiritual sense, the apparent truth that there are human beings on other planets are then seen as things, primarily, as concerning God, Heaven, and a man's regeneration.
Lastly, we turn to the preposition that God would not create a universe so vast and there not be life on other planets and even in other solar systems.
"Who can ever think that a means so immense was made for an end so small and limited as it would be, if only one earth alone?" (AC6698).
Yet, when this is understood at to its internal sense we understand:
Can it be supposed that the universe, especially Heaven within, seen as the Grand Man, which is immeasurable, exists from only one Church wherein is the good of doctrine, and so the good of life and charity from the Lord?
What we understand here is Heaven as seen in an image of God and man as being made into that image, for Heaven exists from myriads of truths and goods received by mankind. Such is the work of Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, and of Uses and is a coherent from firsts to lasts, from celestial to spiritual to natural. In this regard, the universe we see is only the external of the spiritual world in which Heaven as the Greatest Man is before God; often call the Lord's footstool.
The subject here is not the physical universe where there are other planets or earths and in which one sees the stars and other planets, but the subject here is the immeasurable truths and goods, the knowledges, and the faiths of all mankind. In the spiritual world, especially in Heaven, are not the stars understood as knowledges of truths and goods, though they appear in that Heaven and the moon as faith of spiritual goods and truths of intelligence, and other planets as churches from which comes Heaven, even as from our Church? Is not the existence of the universe a manifestation of the essence of God within every subject? Was not man at the beginning lead by God and had perception and thus saw natural things with their natural eyes, but understood what such things signified spiritually? And, isn't in Heaven things seen, as the things that are seen in the universe, in appearances? It is the Divine Love of the Lord flowing from the Divine that appears as Heaven and it appears as a man and in the image of God. The Church in man, who is in an external state, is seen as an image of the world, for is he not a man as is the universe, both spiritual and external, the external as the natural and the internal as the spiritual? In fact, man was created for Heaven and therefore, man is a microcosm of the both Heaven and the world, that is, the Heaven and the universe. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth, that is, both spiritual / celestial and the natural of man.
It is the goods and truths in man that makes the Church in him and with him and it is this that makes Heaven and not the inhabitants themselves whether they are believed to be on any earth or planet in the universe, for they are only correspondences which signify and represent the various churches in which and from which are those qualities from the Lord within and that go to make Heaven Heaven.
Finally, in the second to the last paragraph in this short chapter we may be able see in only its literal sense a rational explanation of why 'other earths' signify other churches or other religions other than Christianity. First, there it is explained that their worship of the Divine 'acknowledges the Lord as the One only God'; but that they do not know that the Lord assumed the Human and made it Divine on this 'Earth'. And, they see the Divine, not as an incomprehensible, but through the human form as He had appeared to Abraham and others who are seen as the 'father of Christianity'.
Now, any student of world religions will tell us that these are descriptions of other churches or religions that are on the earth. Example: Most world religions worship one God, except when there is deterioration such as idolatry. In fact, they abhor the Christian idea of three Gods of the Trinity. Again, most individuals of these other churches do not know or believe that the Divine has assumed the Human, yet God is seen as in a human form. We also see that when the spirits of these 'other earths' (various states of churches) were told that the Lord has assumed the Human in the Christian Church they understood this as being necessary for the salvation of the human race. That the spirits and angels that are from different churches are separated from each other is similarly spoken of elsewhere in The Last Judgment where the various world religions are seen separated into different regions of Heaven.
The words we read literally, such as names, in the spiritual world, and in the spiritual sense, means or signify of what quality. Thus, we come to understand that the name 'Mercury' is not meant the planet Mercury or its inhabitants. However, what those qualities are can be seen, to some degree, in their nature as is evident in the text before us where it is said "they are allowed to wander about, and to acquire for themselves cognitions" or internal knowledge of the things that are in the universe. And that "they have reference to the memory" What they acquire are thoughts and their affections, and generally are truths as may be seen in the chapter called 'The Spirits of the Planet Mercury' (AC 6807). However, because they are spirits and no longer are in the natural body, but are internal or spiritual men of the spiritual universe, they wander or inquire, and acquire spiritual and celestial knowledge and, in fact, the knowledge that has cultivated the rational, that facility that allows a man to commune with God. In this you can see what their use in the Grand Man, that is, in Heaven is. Thus, it may be seen that there are other religions other than Christians that men come from and enter Heaven. These are the 'other earths' that are "beyond the 'solar system'."
Why would the Lord permit Swedenborg, to writing the Latin Word, and want him to speak of other human beings from other earths or churches being in Heaven? There are probably many reasons, but one that is obvious is to teach the truth, to clear away fallacies and doctrinal falsities. One such fallacy is that one must be a 'Christian' before he can enter Heaven. Don't many Christians, even today, say that only if you accept Jesus Christ as Savior can you be saved? So, from a merely literal understanding of these words it is reveal or shown that there are in Heaven far more than just Christians, but people coming from other religions, from other earths 'that is' from other churches as well. However, when such is understood in its spiritual sense, the apparent truth that there are human beings on other planets are then seen as things, primarily, as concerning God, Heaven, and a man's regeneration.
Lastly, we turn to the preposition that God would not create a universe so vast and there not be life on other planets and even in other solar systems.
"Who can ever think that a means so immense was made for an end so small and limited as it would be, if only one earth alone?" (AC6698).
Yet, when this is understood at to its internal sense we understand:
Can it be supposed that the universe, especially Heaven within, seen as the Grand Man, which is immeasurable, exists from only one Church wherein is the good of doctrine, and so the good of life and charity from the Lord?
What we understand here is Heaven as seen in an image of God and man as being made into that image, for Heaven exists from myriads of truths and goods received by mankind. Such is the work of Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, and of Uses and is a coherent from firsts to lasts, from celestial to spiritual to natural. In this regard, the universe we see is only the external of the spiritual world in which Heaven as the Greatest Man is before God; often call the Lord's footstool.
The subject here is not the physical universe where there are other planets or earths and in which one sees the stars and other planets, but the subject here is the immeasurable truths and goods, the knowledges, and the faiths of all mankind. In the spiritual world, especially in Heaven, are not the stars understood as knowledges of truths and goods, though they appear in that Heaven and the moon as faith of spiritual goods and truths of intelligence, and other planets as churches from which comes Heaven, even as from our Church? Is not the existence of the universe a manifestation of the essence of God within every subject? Was not man at the beginning lead by God and had perception and thus saw natural things with their natural eyes, but understood what such things signified spiritually? And, isn't in Heaven things seen, as the things that are seen in the universe, in appearances? It is the Divine Love of the Lord flowing from the Divine that appears as Heaven and it appears as a man and in the image of God. The Church in man, who is in an external state, is seen as an image of the world, for is he not a man as is the universe, both spiritual and external, the external as the natural and the internal as the spiritual? In fact, man was created for Heaven and therefore, man is a microcosm of the both Heaven and the world, that is, the Heaven and the universe. In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth, that is, both spiritual / celestial and the natural of man.
It is the goods and truths in man that makes the Church in him and with him and it is this that makes Heaven and not the inhabitants themselves whether they are believed to be on any earth or planet in the universe, for they are only correspondences which signify and represent the various churches in which and from which are those qualities from the Lord within and that go to make Heaven Heaven.
Finally, in the second to the last paragraph in this short chapter we may be able see in only its literal sense a rational explanation of why 'other earths' signify other churches or other religions other than Christianity. First, there it is explained that their worship of the Divine 'acknowledges the Lord as the One only God'; but that they do not know that the Lord assumed the Human and made it Divine on this 'Earth'. And, they see the Divine, not as an incomprehensible, but through the human form as He had appeared to Abraham and others who are seen as the 'father of Christianity'.
Now, any student of world religions will tell us that these are descriptions of other churches or religions that are on the earth. Example: Most world religions worship one God, except when there is deterioration such as idolatry. In fact, they abhor the Christian idea of three Gods of the Trinity. Again, most individuals of these other churches do not know or believe that the Divine has assumed the Human, yet God is seen as in a human form. We also see that when the spirits of these 'other earths' (various states of churches) were told that the Lord has assumed the Human in the Christian Church they understood this as being necessary for the salvation of the human race. That the spirits and angels that are from different churches are separated from each other is similarly spoken of elsewhere in The Last Judgment where the various world religions are seen separated into different regions of Heaven.
End.