In fact, it is even more remarkable since those who knew me 37 years ago gave my marriage just three short years to last. Why? I was too wild and self-absorbed to remain in any traditional commitment.

Everyone was correct about my character flaws but what they did not take into account was that I was intensely interested in Emanuel Swedenborg’s ideas on personal transformation and spiritual regeneration.

I applied these spiritual ideas to my life and sincerely suffered to make real changes in my character.

Sue simply had the wisdom and patience to wait for these eternally benevolent ideas to finally “kick-in” and take effect within my inner spirit.

Below I have reproduced the exact words from my original wedding invitation for your entertainment:

Susan Weaver, the crystallizing effect of the combining of

the representative truths and goods of Mr.& Mrs. K. W. Weaver,

and Edward F. Sylvia, the corresponding effect of Mr. & Mrs. Edward F. Sylvia,

invite you to attend the sacred ceremony of their reciprocal exchange

of conscious arisings in their being-essences

and the joining of the feminine and masculine aspects of

the emanation of the Divine in which the third force

proceeding from Our Common Father, Almighty-Autocrat-Endlessness

will become as obvious as a peacock in a robin’s nest.

I may have been committed to spiritual growth and eternal, conjugial marriage but that does not mean I couldn’t hold on to one of my biggest vices—to turn institutions on their head!

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An author represents the human will because he or she is the heart and life of the book project. A publisher brings the author’s passion into the world. This means bringing form to the author’s wishes. What is rarely considered is that bringing form to some desire or affection is to put constraints and limits on that desire.

For instance, time and space constrain a book to a certain size and number of pages. Available funds for printing, marketing and publicity also constitute constraints.

This is a universal principle. All love and energy is under some law—otherwise they have no way to exist. The constraints of law determine the parameters and measure of something’s existence.

As an author I am currently looking at my fourth book, just back from the printer. My author’s heart wants tell everybody about it—immediately! But my publishing intellect tells me that I must take all the proper steps first. Gr-r-r-r-r-r!

These steps (constraints) involve additions on my website, creating bookmarks and sell sheetss, attending trade shows, and seeking the proper reviews. All this must happen in a three-month period before the release of the book to the public. Conflicts result. There is give and take between the author’s heart and the publisher’s intellect all the way through fruition of the project.

According to scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, spiritual principles can be found in all topics. (Theologically speaking, Jehovah God represents the author mode of the Divine and Jesus the publisher mode of the Divine). I have not only identified this archetypical design of God’s Love and Wisdom in the author/publisher relationship but also the spiritual suffering required in the process of unifying and harmonizing them both!

In Holy Scripture, Jesus’ life on earth and ultimate Glorification represented this sacred suffering!

As above, so below.

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Unfortunately, such stories have been deemed “savage” towards children by some post-modern thinkers who are strident at pointing out any kind of injustice they think they see with their physical eyeballs.

The biggest problem with political correctness is that it ignores the higher levels of truth contained in symbolic storytelling. This ancient form of storytelling conveys perennial wisdom enfolded within fantastic scenarios. These fantastic stories were designed to challenge the human habitual mind in the hopes that it would stretch and elevate the imagination to perceive new levels of consciousness and truth.

Political correctness only embraces one level—the lowest terrestrial level of life on earth. Higher realities (and communications) are ignored, and worse—not even suspected.

Witches symbolize various psycho-spiritual evils that reign in the un-transformed human heart. Children represent innocence, particularly innocent thoughts (little boys) and feelings (little girls).

Witches and the evils they represent can only be sustained by devouring any form of innocence that comes their way. That is what keeps evil alive—the destruction of innocence.

The oldest of our Fairy Tales were written to present us with a creative panorama of our innermost world—to make our hidden psycho-spiritual reality more observable to our normal consciousness. Witches eating children is something that happens deep inside everyone’s hearts and minds every time our ego destroys goodness. (That is the kind of message that is relevant even to those who champion terrestrial fairness, political correctness and justice.)

Every time we each do something that destroys innocence, our inner witch comes alive and snacks on the inner children that were destined to grow up and mature within our hearts and minds!

According to scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, Jesus spoke totally in this ancient form of symbolic communication (called correspondences). Not knowing this has made many modern thinkers conclude that God’s Holy Word is not inerrant nor contains any real authority.

I find it embarrassing that many of the self-proclaimed heroes of modern thought actually have horribly atrophied minds when it comes to recognizing real enlightenment and perennial wisdom. The future of humankind will depend on elevated minds.

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Actually, anybody who touts their self-importance loves to munch on their own flesh! And many scientists certainly consider themselves as living in the rare air of exalted human intelligence.

This unfortunate condition of negative psycho-spiritual consumption is rampant in the modern world.

Symbolically speaking, a person who is overly proud of their own intelligence is hungry for self-importance, fame, reward and status. (This is not angelic behavior!)  “Flesh” represents the living principle that embodies one’s actual love and inclinations. The “arms” represent the power by which one puts that particular love into action and confirms his or her abilities.

Most people love to eat up anything confirming their self-value and powers. It’s quite yummy!

According to scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, this state of mind is completely delusional. Only God can enlighten humans concerning truth and goodness. Drawing conclusions from the senses and the world (without God’s guidance) always leads to false and incomplete belief systems. Scientists will forever concoct new theories about reality—munch, munch!

In the Holy Bible, such people were referred to as “Great in flesh.” Those who therefore eat “the flesh of their own arm” (Isaiah 9:19,20) wish to appropriate (digest) the titillating power of self-professed enlightenment—finding sustenance from the very fiber of their own egos.

Whether you’re a scientist or not, do you like the taste of your own arm?

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After almost forty years of studying Swedenborg’s writings I am firmly convinced of the truth of his theological investigations concerning the deeper meanings contained within the biblical stories. After all, since God is Infinite, His Word must also contain infinite depth.

Also, since God is a spiritual being, His words must contain a spiritual and heavenly quality within the natural sense of the terrestrial language used. Swedenborg further maintained that the higher meaning of a word is an exact similitude (correspondence) of its worldly meaning, raised to its logical abstraction. In other words, the biblical narratives contain rational symmetries between their distinct levels of meaning.

This is nothing less than symbolism under scientific law.

Every now and then I come across a word where Swedenborg offers an anti-intuitive translation of its deeper, spiritual meaning and makes me scratch my head. The word “bruising” is just such a word.

I often associate the word “bruising” with a negative connotation. It usually means some kind of hurtful, superficial wound. But Swedenborg states that in Scripture, the word “bruising” can also have a positive signification.

(And thou shalt bruise of it small – Exodus, 30:34-38.)

Swedenborg compares “bruising” with the word “grinding” (such as in a mill to prepare grains). Both words have a similar spiritual translation and convey the idea of preparing or disposing something for greater usefulness. I can plainly see this elevated interpretation with “grinding” but “bruising” still felt like something quite foreign to the notion of an application to increased usefulness.

Then I realized, as a gardener, that sometimes seeds with particularly hard shells have to be scored or bruised to help them germinate. When something germinates it obviously creates increased utility.

On further contemplation I remembered that in the Garden of Eden it was predicted that a Savior would come and have His heel bruised by the Serpent. This “bruising” prepared the Lord God for the greatest use of all—human salvation!

I also suspect it will take a bunch of bruised human egos to embrace the idea that Holy Scripture contains such relevant depth!

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I am in favor of this dynamical approach to understanding a universe that is in profound process.

Under this type of analysis, the fundamental world of first causal principles can be said to consist of a deeper and more fundamental disposition or endeavor. This thinking allows one to speculate that God’s Creative Love can assume that fundamental causal disposition as primal substance. This would create a rational approach to unifying science and theology. (My good friend, physicist Ian J. Thompson, is proposing such a theistic science.)

However, according to scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, God’s Love is not only the fundamental creative fabric and mover of all reality, it is a living and organic former of coherent structure. This adds a new wrinkle to the theory. In other words, creation—based on Love—by necessity must produce more relational phenomena as it unfolds its various series of events. This cooperative sharing increases unity between all created things (something not predictive of merely dead matter).

These dispositional series are dependent on each other and support each other! That means each unfolding series must rely on more than the inner thrust of its dispositional properties but also on outer inputs (that is why people must eat, breathe and receive sensory data).

Therefore, I predict that the future of scientific thinking will produce an organic model of dispositional essentialism that shows where sharing and subsistence enters into the coordination and subordination of each unfolding series with mathematical precision. This will give us a truly organic view of the laws (and wisdom) ruling the universe.

I have offered a deeper look at this final organic theory in my award-winning book Proving God. Only God’s angels are allowed to say more.

http://www.provinggod.com

In the spiritual world—which is closer to the origins of our being and mind—individuals communicate their ideas and affections directly to others (forgoing terrestrial words). Since these ideas and feelings make up a person’s inner reality, they present an elevated language that provides a perfect picture to others of the quality of that person’s very soul.

To put it more technically, spiritual speech is like a psychical hologram, displaying all the views of one’s personal humanity. No one can lie on this interior level!

Inwardly, we are nothing other than what we think and desire—whether you believe in God or not. We humans have also been designed to examine our thoughts and feelings so that we can determine our true nature and make refinements that are harmonious with our conscience.

According to scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, the human race was created solely to become receptive forms of God’s love and wisdom. Nothing else is behind human evolution, which moves towards our interior possibilities.

So, what are you really saying behind the words you are using?

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I have reason to feel good about my life, but it is just that kind of thinking that always gets me into spiritual trouble. Just when I succeed at some spiritual challenge, the Lord God gives me new evidence of how rotten and selfish I still really am.

Thankfully, scientist/theologian has helped me to understand what is really going on here so that my self-worth is not dependent on fantasy. Simply put, the Lord God is cleaning out my spiritual house, where all my inner flaws have their abode (and fortress).

Swedenborg insisted that we finite, mortal humans are nothing but evil from our own personal essence. That means God has endless material to work with during our process of eternal salvation. Angels of the highest heaven are continually being purged of these imperfections.

I find my ego interfering with everything I do—even in my spiritual writings. For instance, as an author of spiritual books, I am always tempted to puff out my chest when readers give me flattering feedback. But God has empowered me to observe my own foolishness. In fact, God has empowered me to boldly uncover increasingly unflattering traits within my heart and mind. Ouch.

I know this process is for my own eternal good, but it is amazingly unrelenting. So far, I am able to endure and learn from the unflattering things that the Lord is allowing to bubble up from within the depths of my inner realty. But I always feel like I am on shaky ground. The reason for this is that I am finding that dealing with these inner temptations (vastations) is quite different from what one might think when simply reading about these transforming processes or attending church. They seem to be dug in and ready for the fight.

When the Lord God is truly “lowering you into your evils” (for the sake of salvation) they have the intensity of an addiction that brings temporary pleasure with it. This makes the spiritual combat quite intense, because you’re challenging yourself and what you love. We each must learn (often the hard way) that these pleasurable evils and compulsions can only be removed with the Lord’s help.

Unfortunately, most people prefer not to submit themselves to this kind of personal inventory, and instead, bypass this process by hiding their flaws from the world (and themselves) while engaging in the more personally “rewarding” outward acts of kindness (Swedenborg calls this imitation).

If I am of any real spiritual value to my readers it is because I am allowing the Lord God to put me through the mill. There is no other way to procure sincere humility and innocence into my life. Otherwise, I would be lying and leading you astray.

http://www.provinggod.com

All kinds of human physical contact and touching, like hugging, symbolizes a non-verbal form of communication. Hugging represents the soul of one person trying to confirm a deep connection and sharing with another soul.

However, scientist/theologian Emanuel Swedenborg suggests that the spiritual element behind hugging can be greatly amplified. For instance, one individual can intensify the caressing of another’s soul by sharing valuable spiritual knowledge. This allows the hugging to transition to a deeper level of communication and intimacy from a principle of genuine concern (love).

(We often say, “we have been touched deeply” by a rousing speech—even though the speaker didn’t physically touch us.)

On an even deeper level of hugging, one individual can offer another insights on how to purify the human heart. This deepest level of hugging takes place when one individual cares for the spiritual evolution and salvation of another. Things can get tricky here because sometimes this means telling the person you care for things he or she doesn’t want to hear.

Communicating spiritual and sometimes discomforting knowledge is the aim of all my posts. So if any of my readers feel I do not love them, please consider that my hugs are being given on deeper levels.

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The hope is that the audience will associate the product’s value with the celebrity’s notoriety and popularity. This is why such a tactic is called “borrowed interest.”

A church can do this as well—by identifying important or famous people among their past and current membership and congregation to impress outsiders (with the hope that they, too, will join).

I once belonged to a small church which spread the idea that one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) was inspired by its unique spiritual doctrines (there is still some debate about the verity of this claim). But there is an irony here.

Anyone familiar with AA knows that it offers a twelve-step program to help those suffering from the addiction of alcohol. What caught my attention is that this small church failed to connect its doctrine of salvation with an important AA principle identified in the twelve-step program. They failed to borrow the secret dynamic behind personal transformation!

Duh!

AA promotes the practice of personal introspection (personal inventory). This includes the admission by a sufferer that his or her affliction is beyond their own control and help is needed from something greater than themselves. AA calls this admission “hitting bottom.” In terms of personal transformation, one can “hit bottom” from any type of character fault. But you have to allow yourself to see that a particular trait is ruining your life. This sight comes from the heart, which gives the permission, not the eyes or intellect.

But this church, that I once attended, never borrowed this important idea of self-examination and hitting bottom (even though the church contains these same ideas in its Doctrine of Repentance and Regeneration). Rather, it chose to focus directly on the more positive ideals like compassion, empathy and love.

This is a misstep—although it is a popular one.

The point is that compassion for others does not root out one’s own negative compulsions (which we all have in abundance) but can easily be added onto our worldly personality and reputation. In such a case, one can indeed be of service to others but still fail to personally be “made holy.” (AA describes such a person as a functioning alcoholic.)

True salvation requires a purification and cleansing process. (AA grasps this!) This cleansing operation allows the Lord God’s love and wisdom to find the space to flow into and fit into a person’s heart and mind, bringing true order to one’s inner reality. Being kind and opening one’s heart to the neighbor and greater numbers of the “needy” can become spurious if it sidesteps this personal purging process.

Most people just don’t want to hear this kind of negativity about personal flaws and would rather attend a church to be consoled and find hugs and approval from a community of colleagues!

Never have I attended a church where its members openly discussed their personal evils and bad traits (like they do in AA) and the difficulty they find in removing them. Instead, everyone is encouraged to be positive, have hope, know that God loves you—and simply open your heart and reach out to others (as if we finite mortals had the capacity for true love from our own finite niftiness).

Purification and salvation leads to genuine good works and spiritual love, not vice versa. That is why the road to hell can be paved with gold. Yes, heaven consists of those who do “good” for others, but true goodness needs spiritual innocence.

Innocence is gained ONLY from purification.

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