The Swedenborg Library Vol 1/Chapter 2
II.
THE REAL MAN.
HOEVER duly considers the subject may know that the body does not think, because it is material; but that the soul does think, because it is spiritual. The soul of man, about the immortality of which so many have written, is his spirit; for this is immortal as to all that pertains to it. It is this also which thinks in the body, for it is spiritual; and what is spiritual receives what is spiritual, and lives spiritually, which is to think and to will.
All the rational life, therefore, which appears in the body, belongs to the spirit, and nothing of it to the body; for the body, as was just said, is material; and materiality which is proper to the body, is added, and almost as it were adjoined, to the spirit, in order that the spirit of man may live and perform uses in the natural world whereof all things are material and in themselves void of life.
And since what is material does not live, but only what is spiritual, it may be evident that whatever lives in man is his spirit, and that the body only serves it, as an instrument is subservient to a living moving force. It is said, indeed, of an instrument, that it acts, moves, or strikes; but to believe that these acts are those of the instrument and not of him who acts, moves, or strikes by means of it, is a fallacy.
Since everything that lives in the body, and from life acts and feels, belongs exclusively to the spirit, and nothing of it to the body, it follows that the spirit is the real man; or, what is similar, that man considered in himself is a spirit, and that the spirit is also in a form similar to that of the body; for whatever lives and feels in man belongs to his spirit,—and everything in him, from his head to the sole of his foot, lives and feels.
Hence it is, that when the body is separated from its spirit, which is called dying, the man still continues a man, and lives. I have heard from heaven that some who die, when they are lying upon the bier, before they are resuscitated, think even in their cold body, nor do they know otherwise than that they still live, except that they are unable to move a single material particle belonging to the body.
Man cannot think and will, unless there be a subject which is a substance, from which and in which he may think and will. Whatever is supposed to exist without a substantial subject, is nothing. This may be known from the fact that man cannot see without an organ which is the subject of his sight, nor hear without an organ which is the subject of his hearing. Sight and hearing are nothing without these, nor can they exist. It is the same also with thought, which is internal sight; and with perception, which is internal hearing: unless these existed in and from substances, which are organic forms that are the subjects of these faculties, they could not exist at all.
From these considerations it may be seen that the spirit of man is in a form as well as his body, and that its form is the human; and that it enjoys sensories and senses when separated from the body, just the same as when it was in it; and that all of the life of the eye, and all of the life of the ear, in a word, all of the sensitive life that man enjoys, belongs not to his body, but his spirit; for his spirit dwells in them, and in every minutest part thereof. Hence it is that spirits see, hear and feel, the same as men; but after separation from the body, not in the natural but in the spiritual world. The natural sensation which the spirit had when it was in the body, was by means of the material which was adjoined to it; but even then it enjoyed spiritual sensation at the same time, by thinking and willing.
These observations are made in order that the rational man may be convinced, that man, in himself considered, is a spirit, and that the corporeal frame adjoined to him for the sake of performing functions in the natural and material world, is not the man, but only an instrument for the use of his spirit.
But confirmations from experience are preferable, because the deductions of reason are not comprehended by many, and because they who have confirmed themselves in the contrary opinion, turn them into matters of doubt by reasonings drawn from the fallacies of the senses. It is usual for those who have confirmed themselves in the contrary opinion, to think that beasts live and feel the same as man, and thus that they, too, have a spiritual nature like that of man; and yet that dies with the body. But the spiritual of beasts is not the same as the spiritual of man.
I will here relate a certain arcanum concerning the angels of the three heavens, which has never before entered the mind of any one, because no one has hitherto understood the subject of degrees. The arcanum is this: that with every angel, and also with every man, there is an inmost or supreme degree, or an inmost or supreme something, into which the Divine of the Lord first or proximately flows, and from which it arranges the other interior things which succeed according to the degrees of order with the angel or man. This inmost or supreme [degree] may be called the Lord's entrance to angels and men, and his veriest dwelling-place with them. By virtue of this supreme or inmost, man is man, and is distinguished from brute animals; for these do not possess it.
as to all the interiors of his rational and natural mind, be elevated by the Lord to Himself, can believe in Him, be affected with love toward Him, and thus see Him; and that he can receive intelligence and wisdom, and converse in a rational manner. It is for this reason also that he lives forever. But what is disposed and provided by the Lord in this inmost [degree], does not come manifestly to the perception of any angel, because it is above his thought, and transcends his wisdom.
That man is a spirit as to his interiors, has been taught me by much experience, which, were I to adduce the whole of it, would fill volumes,—to use a common saying. I have conversed with spirits as a spirit, and I have conversed with them as a man in the body. And when I conversed with them as a spirit, they knew no otherwise than that I myself was a spirit, and in the human form as they were. Thus my interiors appeared to them; for when I conversed with them as a spirit, my material body did not appear.
That man is a spirit as to his interiors, may appear from the fact, that after his separation from the body, which takes place at death, he still lives a man as before. That I might be confirmed in this, I have been permitted to converse with almost all whom I ever knew when they lived in the body; with some for hours, with others for weeks and mouths, and with others for years; and this chiefly in order that I might be sure of it, and bear testimony to its truth.
I may add to what has already been said, that every man as to his spirit is in society with spirits even while he lives in the body, although he does not know it. By them as mediums a good man is in some angelic society, and an evil man in some infernal society; and after death he comes into the same society. This has been often told and shown to those who, after death, have come among spirits. The man does not, indeed, appear as a spirit in that society while he lives in the world, because he then thinks naturally; but those who think abstractedly from the body sometimes appear in their own society, because they are then in the spirit.
To elucidate the truth that man is a spirit as to his interiors, I will relate from experience what it is to be withdrawn from the body, and what it is to be carried of the spirit to another place.
In regard to the first, that is, being withdrawn from the body, it occurs thus: The man is brought into a certain state, midway between sleeping and waking; and when in this state, he cannot know but that he is perfectly awake. All his senses are as thoroughly awake as in the highest state of bodily wakefulness, the sight as well as the hearing, and what is wonderful, the touch, which is then more exquisite than it ever can be when the body is awake.
In this state also, spirits aud angels are seen in all the reality of life; they are likewise heard, and what is wonderful, they are touched, scarcely anything of the body then intervening. This is the state which is called being absent from the body, and not knowing whether one is in the body or out of the body.[1] I have been let into this state only three or four times, merely that I might know what it is, and at the same time be convinced that spirits and angels enjoy every sense; and man also, as to his spirit, when he is withdrawn from the body.
As to the other,—being carried of the spirit to another place,—I have been shown by living experience what that is, and the manner in which it occurs; but this only two or three times. I will adduce a single instance. Walking along the streets of a city, and through fields, conversing also with spirits at the same time, I knew no otherwise than that I was awake, and seeing as at other times. Thus I walked on without mistaking the way, being in vision meanwhile, seeing groves, rivers, palaces, houses, men, and various other objects.
But after walking thus for some hours, I suddenly returned into my bodily sight, and discovered that I was in another place. I was greatly astonished at this, and perceived that I had been in a state like that experienced by those, of whom it is said, that they were carried by the spirit to another place;[2] for while it continues, the distance is not thought of, even though it were many miles; neither is time attended to, though it were many hours or days; nor is there any consciousness of fatigue; the person is also led unerringly, through ways whereof he is ignorant, even to the place of his destination.
But these two states of man, which are states appertaining to him when he is in his interiors, or what is the same, when he is in the spirit, are extraordinary, and were shown to me only that I might understand their nature, their existence being known within the church. But to converse with spirits, and to be with them as one of their number, has been granted me even in full wakefulness of the body, and this now for many years.
By man's being a spirit as to his interiors, is meant as to those things which belong to his thought and will, since these are the interiors themselves which cause him to be man, and such a man as he is in respect to these. (H. H. 432-443.)
- ↑ [As in the case of the Apostle Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 2, 3.—Ed.]
- ↑ [As happened to Philip (Acts vii. 39); and often to the prophets (1 Kings xviii. 12; 2 Kings ii. 16).—Ed.]