Rational Scientific Theories from Theism

For a definition of theistic science and its methodology, please consult this article on De Hemelsche Leer--Part 2.
See also Dr. Ian Thompson's site TheisticScience.org

See also Religious Behaviorism ||  see also Scientific Dualism ||  see also De Hemelsche Leer

Preface

The evolutionary significance of the Writings of Swedenborg is that they define and establish rational consciousness. Until the Writings were written (around 1740 to 1771) the human race on earth possessed only a sensuous consciousness. The mind or spirit is composed of an outside portion called the external mind, and within that, and interior portion called the internal mind. These two minds functioned in an entirely different way before the Writings and after.

Before the Writings human consciousness was restricted to the external mind, which is entirely composed of conscious ideas built up through the senses. For instance, people's idea of God was sensuous. For God to exist in their consciousness there had to be an external manifestation or appearance of God, which meant some physical object, power, or event to which there could be witnesses. Such was God's appearance to Moses (burning bush, voice of thunder), Abraham (three angels wearing a robe and sharing a meal with him), John (man on a horse), Paul (lights and thunder and dynamic motions), and many other examples from all the religions.

Similarly,  people's ideas of heaven are also material. One common idea is that heaven or the afterlife is a resurrection of the physical body in a physical world. Sometimes a different civilization and planet are involved. It is common to suppose that heaven is a place to which people are admitted or rejected depending on a variety of things such as your family origin, your religion, certain rituals you enacted before death or during your lifetime, or the state of evolution of your spirit. This is a sensuous idea of heaven because the idea of being admitted or rejected is based on the idea of a physical place.

If all the ideas of humanity on earth were catalogued and examined it will be found that they are all based on sensuous consciousness until around 1740 and from then on some of the ideas begin to be based on rational consciousness, including the idea of God, heaven, and the as-of-self (freedom and individuality). To me it is astonishing that I should be so close to the beginning of the race's greatest evolutionary step. So early that only a tiny number of people on this planet are willing to acquire this rational consciousness now available to anyone.

The external mind could not function without an internal. This is a plain necessity of spiritual biology. Sensuous consciousness in the external mind could not exist without the internal mind prepping the external mind to its consciousness. But since we did not possess any rational consciousness we could not function ourselves in our internal mind. Therefore by necessity the internal mind was taken over and operated by our spiritual associates. In other words while our body is part of a horizontal community in some society on earth, our mind or spirit is part of a vertical community in some society in the spiritual world. Thus, minds live in spiritual societies in the spiritual world, while bodies live in physical societies in the natural world. Of course, the two are interconnected by absolute laws of correspondence. Knowing these laws allows us to discover and see the causes of events in the natural world. Every natural event or quality is called an effect, and its cause is traceable to an event or quality in the spiritual world.

The internal mind of people on earth functioned through the direct action of the vertical community. This refers to the connection our mind or spirit has with societies in the spiritual world, in heaven, or hell. The vertical community connects us to those people in the spiritual world. these are our spiritual associates. Their direct action into the internal mind of every individual, allowed that individual to have sensuous consciousness in the external mind. Thus the human race existed until the Writings. Once the Writings started to be read by various people (1750s onward) they were able to acquire new ideas that have never yet existed in human history on this planet. These ideas include: the Divine Human, the as-of-self, discrete degrees, spiritual correspondences, vertical community (called spiritual societies), substantive dualism, conjugial love, the Laws of permission, rational faith, miracles, scientific revelations, the relation between the mind and heaven or hell, and many many other ideas. These are all called rational ideas because they cannot come into the mind of sensuous consciousness. The are possible only in the internal mind. The Writings opened the internal mind of the race by teaching numberless ideas all of which are rational.

Through the action of the spiritual associates in the internal mind of the individual, one could use sensuous consciousness to build an infra-structure of sensuous rationality that appeared to encompass such truly rational ideas as God's Omnipotence, substantive dualism, infinity, life, spirit, eternity, and so on. But when you examine these existing ideas, now or from the past, from the rational perspective of the Writings, you will be able to see that the earlier ideas of God, dualism, infinity, life, etc., were merely sensuous definitions, sensuous conceptions based on the ideas of time and place and identity. Thus natural, not rational. As well, the activity of the spiritual associates that were infused into the internal mind of the people on earth allowed these people to reason in an apparently rational manner.

The reasoning power of sensuous consciousness does not lie in sensuous knowledge or understanding. For this is merely at the level of sensory input and its abstracted properties. People have often confused "abstraction" and "rational," believing that the abstracted knowledge or principle is rational or arrived at through a rational process. But they were unaware that this rational process was not the one they believed they were using. It was the rational process of the spiritual associates. Their internal mind was functioning on their own so they had rational consciousness. This is true of everyone who passes on into the afterlife. As soon as the physical body is no longer responding to the commands of the spirit and soul, the mind in its own spirit-body, is extracted from its connectivity to earth, and resurrects into the spiritual world. This extraction process takes about 36 hours.

Once the individual lives as a spirit in the spiritual world, the internal mind begins to function on its own, so that they have rational consciousness. Life in the spiritual world depends on rational consciousness being from the individual themselves, not by mediation through the vertical community. Once possessed of a functioning internal mind, individuals in the spiritual world can start being active in the vertical community. Thus they contribute their uses and abilities to those on earth, acting into their internal mind, thereby giving them the ability to think rationally as-if from themselves, from their own sensuous consciousness.

Today we can write about rational consciousness in a way that it can be understood by those who are in sensuous consciousness. This was not possible before. The action of the spiritual associates in the past could not lead to this ability (rational consciousness). Rational consciousness means that we are able to see, acknowledge, and understand some rational idea or truth that is described to us. I have many rational ideas from the Writings. Many of these ideas have been described in my writings and collected into this Swedenborg Glossary of Theistic Science. Just as I was able to see and understand rational ideas when I read them in the Writings, in the same way others are able to understand rational ideas when someone explains it on the basis of their knowledge of the Writings.

I invite you to study the Writings and see for yourself how easy it is for you to begin developing your rational consciousness. This is the true road to understanding spirituality, religion, God, and what awaits us in the afterlife.

Rational ideas, when loved, become true wisdom. With this we can lead a life of good and prepare ourselves for life in eternal bliss, conjugial joy, and community bonding. The Swedenborg Glossary of Theistic Science is to help those who are making the transition from sensuous consciousness without an internal rational of our own, to sensuous consciousness with a rational of our own.

Introduction

Science in the future is going to be theistic just as it was in the past. Materialistic science is a phase of development in scientific evolution. Materialism, monism, atheism, secular humanism, naturalized spirituality--are all reflections of the human mind in search of truth, that is, of reality, of actuality, of what is. The word theistic in English has two parts which can be rendered "the is" and "-tic." "The is" refers to the fundamental of being or existence. In ancient Hebrew, "the is" is rendered Jehovah which means "the I am." So the first part of theistic is a reference to Jehovah. The second part is a grammatical form "-tic" meaning belonging to or about. So theistic science is the science about Jehovah, and thus the science of what is, hence the science of reality. Materialistic science also depicts itself as the science of truth and reality, so there is no change in theistic science as to the purpose of having science. Theistic science is a systematic, generational, and cumulative discovery tool of reality and its truths using scientific revelations as the departing principles of deduction.

Scientific revelations are given in three layers--the surface language layer called the literal of the Word, and two invisible but deducible inner layers, as discussed below. Theistic science is the rational, methodological, communal, and generationally cumulative process of extracting knowledge from the literal of Sacred Scriptures. In the course of civilizations on this earth there have been an orderly sequence of versions of "the Word of God" each being given as a new revelation at the beginning of a succeeding civilization and evolutionary step in human consciousness. Further explication on this historical evolution of the Word will be found in this article: De Hemelsche Leer--Part 1 and Part 2.

The materialistic and atheistic position in science is not logical and cannot be justified on rational grounds. This becomes crystal clear if you're willing to make this thought experiment. To begin with assume that there is an infinite God Person, possessing infinite power and intelligence, who created the universe and who maintains it running in Divine order according to rational laws of order, and that this reality has been revealed in Sacred Scriptures throughout the ages. Is this too much for you to assume for now? If your mind is resisting this idea by wanting to pooh pooh or laugh at it as naive, etc., it's because of your current prejudicial views. We all get this prejudicial dose in our education and culture. If you continue to study theistic science you will discover why this pattern exists and in fact is even necessary to allow us to grow in consciousness. But for now, just assume it's true as a thought experiment for a few minutes.

Now look at materialistic and atheistic science from this perspective. What do you see? A stubborn and illogical refusal to search for reality such as it is, like the proverbial ostrich burying the head in the sand to avoid a fearful enemy. Materialistic science has made God into an enemy, or a non-entity and foolishness. Can you believe that? God is banned until some materialistic scientist can come up with a materialistic proof of God's existence. But this is not a rational demand. It is impossible to prove something spiritual in a materialistic way, since it denies anything but what is material, and God is not material, and neither is the major portion of the created universe and reality!  (Are you still in the thought experiment?) Hence materialistic science is forever barred from reality--assuming the three premises of theistic science are correct (see box on top of the page). Can you prove visually that sound exists? All you can do is show correlations, as for example, when loudness increases a visual wave form on a suitable screen also increases, and vice versa. So if you insist irrationally that the existence of sound must proven visually, in a direct way and not by correlation, then you're going to have to deny the existence of sound. So the demand to prove God's existence by physical or material proof is irrational and self-defeating. Instead, what is needed is a rational proof (not physical or material). The rational is a human form of the spiritual, and God being spiritual, can be easily proven rationally. The Writings of Swedenborg contain thousands of proofs of the existence of God and His Laws of Order. Click here to see List of Swedenborg's Writings

Well then, what is the conclusion to be formed from this thought experiment? That materialistic science will give way to theistic science as soon as scientists begin to realize that the three premises of theistic science are true and correct.  The Writings of Swedenborg fully establish the truth and correctness of these three premises. My purpose for creating this Glossary is to help diffuse the knowledge about theistic science as based on the Writings of Swedenborg. These Writings are scientific revelations, and the truth of this is established rationally by Swedenborg (1668-1771), one of the most respected and creative scientists of the Age of Reason (18th century science in Europe). For additional discussion on Swedenborg's view of science, see this article titled The Fourteen Scientific Fallacies in in Swedenborg's AC 5084--Implications for Science Education.

I once had the following conversation with a colleague, a scientist in the field of biochemistry and genetics. I was eager to show him that there is a rational way of defining God in science.

Leon James: I'm not violating any of your rational rules when I propose that we make a logical distinction between two types of things. Things that have a beginning and things that do not have a beginning. Is that all right?

Colleague:  Yes.

Leon James:  Good. Now let's add that the things that have a beginning may or may not have an end. For example, counting is a process that starts at 1 and then goes on indefinitely unless stopped. So counting, and number series, and possibly the entire physical universe could be in the category of having a beginning but not necessarily an end, though many things have an end like a rain shower, or an earthquake, or a century. So to summarize, we're not violating any rational rules by saying that the physical universe had a beginning and may not have an end. Now the other category, namely things that have no beginning.

Colleague:  What kind of a thing is that?

Leon James:  For the moment let's just call it the X Factor. So the X Factor is something that has had no beginning, and let's add, it doesn't have an end. It's not violating any of your rational rules to propose that an X Factor exists, right?

Colleague:  Well, I suppose I can't find anything strictly wrong with making such an assumption. And that's all it is, an assumption. Unproven. Just something you can think about.

Leon James:  OK. Let's state it explicitly. It's not irrational to suppose that there is something that has no beginning and no end. And when we say that it's not irrational to suppose that, then it also means that it's rational. To summarize: it's rational to assume that the physical universe has a beginning but that there is something else, something not physical, that has no beginning. Agreed?

Colleague:  Yes, it's rational to suppose this but it's not proven. It could just be nothing but a supposition.

Leon James:  I understand what you're saying. Now I propose that we give a name to this X Factor and I'd like to call it God. To repeat then, it's rational to assume that there is a God that has always existed and that there is a physical universe that has a beginning in existence. Correct?

Colleague:  Correct. Just a supposition. And I agree that it's rational since it's not irrational. But being rational doesn't mean that it's true or actual or real.

Leon James:  I see what you're saying. Right now it's only necessary that we establish the truth that God is a rational concept in science. There is nothing unscientific, irrational or illogical about assuming God's existence. Now the next step is to make another assumption that is perfectly rational, namely, that God is responsible for the existence of all things that have a beginning. This is both logical, practical, and necessary, as long as we assume that there is God and that God has no beginning and no end. Notice that God's rational definition includes or implies the idea that God is infinite. If God were not infinite it would not be logical or likely that God is responsible for all things that exist that have a beginning but possibly no end, as we established before. So only if we assume that God is infinite can we accept the idea as rational, namely that God is responsible for the universe. Agreed so far?

Colleague:  Yes, fine. You can rationally suppose, if you want to, that God is infinite and is responsible for creating the universe that itself is not infinite since it has a beginning, even if it has no end.

Leon James:  Excellent. Now to continue, it doesn't violate any rational rule to suppose further that the infinite God has a structure and a particular content, just as the finite world has a structure and a content. It's perfectly rational to suppose that the infinite God has a particular inner essence and outer layers of structure. All of these things are of course infinite with no beginning or limit.

Colleague:  Fine, God has an essence and a structure and these are infinite. That's still rational. Structures and layers that are infinite may be rational--but are they real or just rational suppositions?

Leon James:  We're getting to that too. Now the next assumption is also perfectly rational and doesn't violate any scientific logic, namely, that God's essence and structure are Human. I mean human in the sense that science defines what is human at different levels--genetic, physiological, anatomical, psychological, social, and moral. In other words, these finite human characteristics exist as they do because they are representative finite copies of God's infinite qualities and structures. In other words, God is the only true and actual Human Person, in an infinite form and existence, who has always been in existence--unlike people who are finite creations with a beginning. These facts about God's essence and structure are described in detail in the scientific revelations given to the human race since the dawn of history. Contemporary versions of these scientific revelations have been preserved as Holy Scripture by all the major religions on this earth.

So to summarize our progress so far: God who is the Infinite Human, or the Divine Human, created the beginning point for the existence of the universe and is responsible for its continued existence and growth through rational laws of order called the Laws of Divine Providence.

Colleague:  All right, a set of suppositions that may be rational but have never been proven. I admit that at first I would have said that God has no place in science as a concept because it introduces mystical and undefined elements over which we have no control, and science ends there, shattered. But I can see that there is a way of defining the concept of God in science without violating any rational rules of operation and thinking. Would you care to continue? How does God manage this universe?

Leon James:  Swedenborg's Writings contain many scientific facts about how God runs the universe. In order to understand how God runs the universe we need to accept a few basic premises that will ensure that we continue to stay rational in all our statements about God and the universe. For instance, one of these basic premises is this: Nothing disconnected can exist. In other words, God runs the universe by being an omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent Creator and Manager. A revelation in Swedenborg's Writings is that God is everywhere--in all time and in all place--but not in time and place. In other words we must acquire a new rational idea or operation in the universe--namely, the property or phenomenon of being omnipresent but not in time and space.

This idea posits rational structures that are able to comprehend and describe the relation between the infinite and the finite, that is, the relation between God and the various pieces of the created universe.

Colleague:  That's a big mouthful, doctor. But I'm still with you. What you're saying are a set of propositions that interact with each other and I must admit they are all possible, all rational. But are they true?

Leon James:  Remember that we're not trying to prove that God exists--this was the assumption from the start, not the proof. We're only trying to prove that the concept of God can be rational and can be introduced into science without violating rational rules of inference and inquiry. This is theistic science, that is, science that works within the premises of God's existence and the scientific revelations God has given to the human race. Swedenborg calls these the Laws of Divine Providence and he is the first scientist to demonstrate that the Laws of Divine Providence are rational and human.

A student in psychology once asked me in class: "Dr. James, you've mentioned the word "spiritual" several times. Can you give us a definition of it?" Curiously I don't remember what I said exactly, or even approximately, but I very well remember how I felt about it after class when I started thinking about my inability to deliver a clear and precise answer. How could I be using a word in my lectures that I don't understand? Whatever I was able to gather from the literature that came my way as I searched around, felt inadequate to me in a fundamental sense, namely, that I remained unable to give a coherent and precise definition of what is spiritual. Everything I learned to say about it from others amounted to something vague having to do with something internal or maybe with higher consciousness. Of course it was somehow related to religion and faith and God and afterlife--but how?

What was the difference between spiritual and religious? How was spiritual related to me? Was it for everybody or only a few? Was it rational or mystical? What did magic have to do with spiritual? What about sorcery, and ghosts, and ecstasy with God? Well I could talk about these things, since I was a professor--by habit as well as by profession. But the proof that I knew absolutely nothing of what is spiritual lies in looking back at what I knew from my current position. What I know and discovered since I started studying the Writings of Swedenborg has solved my problem (I tell my story here). Since that time, when I'm asked what is spiritual, I reply that spiritual relates to the spiritual world where the mind lives in contrast to the natural world where the brain lives. This is simple to understand, very precise, and totally accurate, as can be known from scientific revelations, especially in the Writings of Swedenborg. Theistic science is established in the Writings through scientific revelations about the spiritual world, the laws of correspondences by which the natural phenomena are determined, the process of resuscitation that occurs with everyone as when passing from this world into the spiritual world. This is a process of being extirpated from the physical corpse (a process called resuscitation), and being awakened in an immortal spiritual body, and many other amazing and wonderful revelations about both worlds. If you're eager to start reading, his entire set of theological writings are available online--click here.

To help those readers who have come upon this without much background about Swedenborg's Writings, we can project ahead together, briefly, to the idea of a spiritual world that is not in time and space. What is it like to live in the spiritual world, into which every one must pass when the body becomes a corpse?

One image that might help is to think of yourself as a spirit body inside a material body, a temporary connection that lasts until the death of the physical body. The body is a shapeless mass without living function or form. It is its genetic code that directs the shaping of the organs and their mineral and biochemical composition and function. This genetic code is itself directed by your soul. Through the processes of conception and birth, your soul and self is created as a unique individual, with power from the infinite Divine, to determine the genetic code in the physical cells. Another way to think of this is that God creates the genetic code through your soul, rather than immediately. This is typical of God as you'll see when getting to know more of theistic science. God always operates both immediately (thus retaining total control from within the inmost of something), and mediately through others (thus integrating the human race into a one--see the concept of vertical community discussed throughout this article). Revelations in Holy Scripture from several religions confirm this fact, namely, that God "uses" people to accomplish things or to carry messages to others. It has been revealed that in God infinite things are one. And also that before God the entire human race is as one Grand Human.

The body and the mind (or spirit) grows through the oversight and control of the soul, by means of the soul's continuous (never-ending) reception of influx or directed power from God. The soul is connected to the body and the mind (or the spirit) by correspondence, not by physical presence or proximal contact. This is most important to understand and keep in mind. To be connected by correspondence means that as the soul acts, there is a correspondential effect in the mind and body. It's not rational to say that the soul is "inside" the body in the sense that the heart is inside the chest. When it is said that the soul is inside the body it makes sense only in the sense that the spiritual world is inside the natural world. Now this cannot be a physical location inside (like the heart inside the chest) because the spiritual world is outside time and space and it is not possible for the spiritual to be physically located in time and space. This is a most crucial scientific revelation! All along, during the past centuries of science, and millennia of literature, when it was said the the soul or the mind, or the psyche, is inside the body or the brain, people could have no other idea than that it was physically inside, and if not physically, in what way? Something vague and dark then invaded the mind and there was no resolution except falling into fantasies and delusions of insanity. But now, with the scientific revelations in the Writings of Swedenborg, we have a totally new understanding of how the soul or mind or spirit, is "inside" the body or brain. It is inside not physically but correspondentially, as explained.

There is thus a synchrony between the spiritual and the natural phenomena, and the relationship is governed by the laws of correspondence. Now these laws have been revealed and they are fully understandable, rational, and simple. It takes no mathematics or technical knowledge to understand what they are. And this is because the laws of correspondence are the same laws that govern the relation between the mind and the body, two objects with which we are very familiar, all of us.

Where does the mind or spirit come from? It is built up through experience and growth. The body and mind grow under the determination of the soul, as the mind experiences the natural world through the body's sensory mechanisms that are integrated in the brain. This integration is not under the immediate control of the soul but under the control of the mind, and the mind is under the control of the soul that itself is under the control of influx from spiritual societies, and ultimately from the Sun of the spiritual world that is made of the substances of love and wisdom inside the infinite Divine or God. There is thus a chain of mediation from God to sub-atomic particle or force field. This chain of mediation is governed rationally by rational laws of correspondence and Divine Providence--remember that God's Mind is purely rational and loving to infinity. Hence it makes sense that a rational mind would create a rational universe and this must involve full integration of the universe, with no part of it being cut or independent from any other part. This is a rational universe because God can only think rationally and God's thinking is equivalent to the operational laws of reality and existence.

To summarize, the laws of human development or growth operated by the Divine through our soul, are responsible for the birth and development of our mind or self, which is also called our spirit or spirit body. At birth we have no mind because no integrated experiences occur in the womb despite the sucking of the finger by the fetus, or the response of the fetus to vibrations and noises. No doubt this revelation will be studied and understood better in the future. It is stated in the Writings that the mind as an individual that has a destiny and immortal life after passing on, begins at birth with the first breath of air entering the lungs. This action opens the mind and from then on it will grow as an immortal spirit in eternity. If the infant dies immediately after the first breath is drawn, its mind is opened thereby, and then continues to grow to adulthood in the spiritual world where the infant is taken care of and raised by surrogate mothers from the angelic societies who receive these infants, adopt them instantly, love them, and see to their socialization and education under the auspices of Divine Providence. When they reach a mental maturity of young adulthood (in their teens or adolescence), they appear as fully grown adults, and are then introduced to the process of marriage, by meeting, courting, getting engaged, and participating in a wedding ceremony before starting life as a conjugial couple in eternal happiness. This happens to all infants and children who pass on before they have an adult mind.

Those who develop an adult mind while tied to the physical body spend years experiencing the spiritual world before they pass on as adults. We are not conscious of this spiritual company. But in fact, Swedenborg has observed this many times, thousands of times: those who have passed on are called spirits or inhabitants of the spiritual world and they are able to visually see you as a spirit just like them, except that you don't interact with them but appear to be sleeping. In fact, spirits are prevented by Divine laws to approach these sleeping spirit bodies whose conscious awareness is still tied to the physical material body and its sensory mechanisms in time and space. And what does the mind look like? What shape does it have? It's obvious and yet only after it's stated:  the mind has the shape of the spirit and the spirit has the shape of the body! What?? Yes, isn't that amazing!! But it's more correct and rational to put it the other way:  the physical body is shaped like the mind or spirit body.

Now this makes sense because recall that the shape of the body is determined by the genetic code and this in turn is controlled by the soul through continuous influx from God. Everything God creates is in the Human shape, that is, in God's Own Image, and so it's obvious that the soul is shaped like a human, and therefore the mind or spirit body is shaped like a human, and finally, therefore the material body is shaped like a human. The mind or spirit body is born in the spiritual world and stays there, while at the same time it is connected by correspondence to the material body out there (or below there) in the natural world. When this connectivity is broken and the body becomes a corpse, the mind or spirit body awakens in the spiritual world where it always had been since its birth, but now it is awake there, and starts its life as a spirit. If you compared a photograph of the spirit body to its former material body in the physical world, you would see a clone or duplicate relation. But this is only true at the beginning of one's life in the spiritual world. Soon afterwards our spirit body begins to assume the outward appearance of our inner loves. If these loves are orderly from the Divine, the spirit body assumes the shape and outward appearance of a young and beautiful angel, man or woman. But if these loves are contrary to God, the spirit body assumes the shape and outward appearance of a monster or devil. The surrounding environment and quality of life also reflects the inner loves in the spirit body. Such are the laws in the spiritual world.

For a definition of theistic science and its methodology, please consult this article on De Hemelsche Leer--Part 2.

See also this Glossary entry on Scientific Revelations. You might like to read Swedenborg's Letters in which he talks about his mission as revelator.

Why Theistic Science is the Future of Science

The benefits of theistic science are enormous. Materialistic science has been operating as an inductive science which means that it builds theories bottom up, based on empirical observations. This type of intellectual activity is full of error because there are numerous theories that compete against each other and there is no guarantee that any one of them is accurate. In fact, it has been recognized that most scientific theories are temporary and carry the seed of their own weakness. Scientific theories replace each other over time, sometimes within a decade, sometimes within a century. Big changes in direction are called "scientific revolutions" and "paradigm shifts." You can see that the application of these temporary and false or inadequate theories has been quite mixed so that engineering and medical research has brought both benefits and disasters where people and societies have been hurt. This pattern of false theories and injurious applications will continue into the future of materialistic science as long as it is operating in the dark, bottom up, from fact to explanation.

Theistic science operates in the opposite way, namely, top down or deductively and synthetically or generatively--like linguistics and theology. This is because all the top premises and principles and theories are given in scientific revelations and the task of research is to deduce empirical applications from these truths and doctrines. There are no wrong theories or revolutions or injurious mistakes. The research is still necessary because the revelations are for the most part rational in a language of correspondences rather than natural or historical. There are numerous natural and historical revelations in Holy Scriptures and the Writings of Swedenborg, but these are limited in number and can be counted. On the other hand the correspondences and series hidden in the literal language are not limited. Probing these revelations for new discoveries can go on indefinitely into the future of theistic science. There is no limit to the possible number of discoveries that can be made or extracted from scientific revelations. Also, this mining operation must proceed through a scientific methodology.

It's important to realize the exact relationship between theistic and materialistic science. It's not the case that theistic science is just another new revolution or paradigm shift. It's more like a coming of age of science. The evolution of science must go through stages of development and materialistic science is the first growth and also the outer bark of its future growth which is more inward. Swedenborg described the process using an analogy that I diagrammed in this way:

DIAGRAM 1 The Trigrammatic Construction of the Universe

Let the column depict the evolution of science in its full fledged development.  Pre-modern science is the outermost, materialistic science is the middle, and theistic wisdom is the highest and inmost. Evolution or development starts in the outermost and proceeds inward. Modern science first evolved at its materialistic level and continues to develop at that level. With the scientific revelations given through the Writings of Swedenborg (1668-1771) the highest level has started to form. This is what I call theistic science. The above diagram appears in a related Glossary entry where further discussion will be found on relation to the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor levels of development.

Another way of representing this evolutionary growth process of science is to apply the following diagram to it:

DIAGRAM 2  The Three Compositions and Layers of the Universe

The above diagram pictures the threefold evolution of physics in theistic science. The bottom level is pre-modern science that is limited to the world of manifestation and surface phenomena as could be observed with the senses. Modern science begins at the middle with a materialistic concept of the universe. It is the level of existence, that is, human explanations and understandings of the manifested phenomena out there in the physicalist world. It is the mind looking outward to the world as it sees it below itself, or outside of itself. This is a rational mind but it is an external rational formed exclusively of the incoming sensory stimuli from below, or out there. These sensations of the outside world the rational mind ingests and orders in rational series, and through this arrangement, discovers meaning and truth. But this meaning and truth is only external. It is the rational mind's external existence. Above the world, yes. Inside, yes. But not inmost, and not in the highest region of the mind. For this level, science needs a new growth, a new evolutionary creation of itself. This starts in the third or inmost or highest region depicted above as Level III Subsistence. This is where theistic science begins and starts growing. The difference is non-overlapping between levels II Materialistic Science as the study of Existence and III Theistic Science as the study of Subsistence. This is the study of how  the laws of Divine Providence given through scientific revelations operate to create and maintain the universe. I discuss these issues further in this Glossary entry, where the above diagram appears, along with Tables showing the three phases of scientific evolution, including examples of scientific concepts at the three levels.

Here is a third diagram that illustrates the three phases to be found everywhere in all fields of theistic science, whether physical-natural or mental-rational and spiritual-celestial.

DIAGRAM 3  The Three Levels of Science
 

Levels	Typology	Name	Focus	Source	Mode of operation
3	spiritual-rational	theistic science	Subsistence	written scientific revelations	principles extracted rationally from revelation
2	natural-rational	materialist science	Existence	cumulative scientific research	empirical data and inductive theories about limited areas
1	natural	pre-modern science	Manifestation	magic or superstition	ritual behavior or incantations

There are two phases of evolution going on continuously, one is the reverse of the other. The first is bottom up, the second is top down. The sequence 1, 2, 3 is bottom up and proceeds inductively, but the sequence 3, 2, 1 is top down and proceeds synthetically or deductively. Historically, the 1, 2,  3 sequence is known as the pre-modern stage of natural science. It was in total darkness as to the environment and self above the level of appearances.  It is also the first phase of individual development which we go through from the time we get our adult teeth around age 7 to pre-teens around 13 (with lots of variation, of course). We then move into the second phase, even as our first phase continues to develop on its own. In this second stage our thinking assumes the thinking of materialistic science through which we are made ready to be citizens and lead an economically productive existence in accordance with the laws of the land. At last in middle age at some point varying with one's character and personality one can enter (or not) into the third and mature phase and begin life, that is, loving,  thinking, and perceiving in accordance with Divine truths and realities.  Now we reverse directions and proceed downward from being up, or, proceed outward from being inward. Knowing and loving scientific revelations, we proceed outward to scientific research of how the Divine laws apply to the maintenance of existence (the universe). This is a deductive direction: From known truths to unknown findings to be interpreted through these truths.  It's the opposite of the step up from 2 to 3 which is what Swedenborg did to no avail in his search for materialistic evidence of the soul. This is what we all do as we interpret Holy Scripture according to our common sense or our materialistic science, the result of which is to lead to materialistic science, which has nothing spiritual in it, for it is below it, and outside of it.

Theistic science is the step down from 3 to 2, that is, from scientific revelations to scientific research generated by and through these revealed principles. Note that I call this scientific research materialist science, to distinguish it from materialistic science, which is natural-rational, hence not spiritual. Only the spiritual-rational is from a spiritual origin while the natural rational is from a natural origin. That which is from a spiritual origin comes into the mind from above (or within), that is, from the spiritual world into the internal rational mind (spiritual-rational). But that which is from a natural origin comes from below or outside, that is, through the  senses of the physical body.  This applies to concepts ass well. All concepts and theories and knowledges and sciences that are built up inductively through empirical data from the physical senses are entirely natural. Obviously, any concept about the universe, God, the spiritual, faith, revelation, etc., will also be only natural. Hence they are nothing but materialistic through and through. What is truly or actually in the universe or in any concept cannot be seen or thought of. But when the concept is deduced from scientific revelation, it is made entirely from the spiritual substances and nothing of it is made from natural existence.  You can see then that scientific research in materialist science is entirely different from scientific research in materialistic science--even though both are at level 2, namely natural-rational.

So the natural-rational can be in harmony with the spiritual-rational in the top down evolution, and in this superior phase we can call it materialist rather than materialistic which is out of order and not in harmony with the truth.

Theistic Science Methodology
 

CL 419 "Anyone can convince himself in favor of the divine by observing nature, when he studies what is known about bees. They know how to collect wax from grasses and flowers, and to suck up honey; how to build cells as little houses, and arrange them so as to make a city with streets through which they can come and go. They can smell at a distance the flowers and grasses from which they collect wax for building and honey for food, and laden with these fly back on the right heading for their hive. Thus they provide themselves with food and dwelling for the coming winter, as if they knew this and could foresee it. They set over themselves a mistress or queen, from whom their offspring are propagated; and they construct for her a sort of court up above, with attendants around it. When it is time to give birth, she goes accompanied by her attendants from one cell to another, laying eggs which the crowd of followers seals in to prevent them being harmed by the air. This is how their new generation is produced. Then later, when this reaches the adult stage so as to be able to do likewise, it is thrown out of the hive. The swarm thrown out first of all gathers together, and then in a squadron to avoid losing touch with one another, flies off to find itself another home. About autumn time the useless drones are brought out, and deprived of their wings, to prevent them returning and eating up food which they have done nothing to provide. And there are many more facts, from which it can be established that they have, on account of their usefulness to the human race, as a result of influence coming from the spiritual world the same kind of government as human beings on earth, or rather of angels in heaven.  Can anyone whose reason is not impaired fail to see that such things among bees cannot come from the natural world? What has the sun, the origin of nature, in common with a government parallel to and virtually that of heaven? These and similar arguments drawn from the lower animals can lead one who admits and worships nature to convince himself in favor of nature, and one who admits and worships God to convince himself in favor of the Divine. For a spiritual person sees spiritual effects in these, and a natural person natural effects, each according to what he is. For my part, such arguments were evidence of the influence of the spiritual on the natural, or of the spiritual world on the natural world, that is, produced by the Lord's Divine wisdom.  Consider too whether you can think analytically about any form of government, or any civil law, or any moral virtue, or any spiritual truth, without the Divine influencing you from His wisdom by means of the spiritual world. I can answer for myself that I have not been and am not able to do so. For I have noted my perception and feeling of this influence for the last twenty-five years continually, so I make this statement from personal experience. " From Swedenborg's Conjugial Love No. 419 Click here to see List of Swedenborg's Writings

Swedenborg was an exceptionally careful and worthy scientist. This is clear to anyone who studies his biography and writings.

Swedenborg's scientific interests were broad and deep. If you'd like to read a little work titled ON MECHANICAL TREMULATION, VIBRATION IN THE BODY you'll be impressed by his acuity and originality.  He has many excellent demonstrations of the methodology of theistic science. I discuss this issue in several Glossary entries, for example, here (1) and also here (2) and here (3) and many other places. The methodology practiced in the scientific revelations given through the Writings of Swedenborg are scientifically mature and modern. Swedenborg's theistic science fully takes into account the scientific works of earlier insightful methodologists--Aristotle, Leibniz, Descartes, Wolff, Schwammerdam (? I need to check this), Newton--to mention some of the pillars of modern scientific thinking in biology, mathematics, psychology, and physics. Swedenborg's biographers have detailed his amazing intellect in many sciences. He made innovative contributions in scientific thinking as recognized by historians--in metallurgy and mining engineering, economic legislation, mathematics education, cosmology, physiology, psychology, and theology. His voluminous productivity left behind hundreds of works varying in length. His best known are the 57 volumes that comprise his theological Writings written after age 57 when he was suddenly precipitated into the unique state of permanent dual consciousness. A sampling of what others today are saying about Swedenborg can be viewed on the Web by clicking on the links on the Swedenborg Home Page Hawaii site.
 

"I was once asked how from a philosopher I became a theologian; and I answered, In the same manner that fishermen were made disciples and apostles by the Lord; and that I also from early youth had been a spiritual fisherman. On hearing this the inquirer asked, What is a spiritual fisherman? I replied that a fisherman in the spiritual sense of the Word, signifies a man who investigates and teaches natural truths, and afterwards spiritual truths rationally." From Swedenborg's Work titled Intercourse Between Soul and Body Article No. 20

Swedenborg's dual state was entirely different from the ordinary state we're all in, in which our state of awareness is restricted to input from the physical senses and the content of our own natural mind that is built up entirely from this sensori-motor experiencing as we grow up. We are conscious humans centered in the natural mind and we have no perception of what lies in the rational mind, spiritual mind, and celestial mind. Neither do we have perception of sensory input into our spiritual senses or organs. Therefore, since we do not have perception except of the natural mind it is not possible to know what is in the regions of the mind above the natural. Swedenborg himself diligently searched for years to obtain information from this region of his mind, but to absolutely no avail until his dual consciousness was precipitated. Once he was in a dual consciousness state, he was able to describe in natural language and description--thus for the natural mind that we are in--the entire anatomy and physiology of the human mind. Thus now we know from scientific revelations many things that could not have been known in science at this time, and possibly never, had it not been for these revelations.

It's not possible to appreciate the contributions of theistic science until one examines the idea of substantive dualism and why this is logically and rationally necessary. The body-mind distinction is at the center of it. In materialistic science the mind cannot assume real existence. Hence it is called a pseudo-phenomenon, and sometimes, an emergent phenomenon. Thoughts and feelings in the mind must therefore also be less than fully real. One is left with the idea that thoughts and feelings are effects and consequences of the primary action of the brain. But this is nonsense--merely a downfall of the departure premise of monism which is inherent in materialism. In other words, materialism is the false hypothesis that the universe is monist, that is of one constitution called space-time-mass continuum. Since this is the only existence one is forced to deny mind and God as having reality. Since mind and God have a reality, but not a material one, this reality must be denied in any system of thinking in which there is only material existence in time-space. This restricted, constricted, and false assumption has all sorts of harmful and illogical consequences which I shall discuss in many places.

Theistic science assumes a dual universe, one material and the other substantive. Similar views were also recognized by Aristotle and Plato as known from their writings. Swedenborg confirmed what is said in these writings by talking directly to Aristotle and Plato, or their immediate colleagues. Every thing that comes into existence has a dual structure: the internal structure or framework is substantive, while the outside appearance is material and exists in the phenomenal world. Only this substantive-material structure is real and rational. A substantive structure by itself could not be real or rational, nor a material structure by itself. A molecule of matter and its aggregate structures in the form of objects--physical or biological--is composed of this dual structure. What is inside a rock? Substance is inside. What is inside the brain? Substance is inside. What is inside the mind? Substance is inside. What is a thought made of? It is made of material sensory stimuli within which is substance. What is a feeling made of? It is made of substance covered over with matter. What is a dream made of? It is made of thoughts, images, feelings--all of which are substances covered over and shaped into the form of material stimuli. This notion can be made clearer by seeing how it applies to specific things we're familiar with.

When we dream substances are being formed or covered over with a material appearance. Say you dream of eating ice cream while walking on a beach and enjoying looking at the people there and engaged in all sorts of activities. We know that your brain is active and this can be measured by various instruments. But we don't want to fall into the materialistic trap and equate the dream with the brain activity. Neither do we want to say that the dream is an emergent phenomenon produced by the brain activity. Instead, we want to explain the dream using dualist concepts. This is more rational because it assumes that dreams are made of something real not something pseudo. How can dreams be produced by the brain activity? To assume this is not logical because its' not possible to obtain existence that is not in space and time from something that is in space and time. Clearly dreams are not in space and time--they have no mass, no spatial field or time by which they are limited. Dreams and thoughts have no mass and are not in space in time. But they are real, not pseudo. Their reality is substantive, outside time and space and mass. Think of the objects in your dream. You never can run out of space and content. A small rock, a huge, mountain, one dog or 10 trillion dogs--it makes no difference in terms of mass or count or limit. Clearly thoughts and reams and feelings are substantial, not material. And so is the whole of the mind, and the whole of the spiritual world.

To summarize: If thoughts and feelings are real, they must exist in a non-material world, and this is called the substantive world. The world outside time, mass, and space is the world inside time, mass, and space. The natural world could not be constructed on itself because it is finite--has a beginning point--did not always exist. But the infinite always existed--has no beginning. So it is fully rational to assume that the finite is created by the infinite from itself. The infinite is also called substance or spirit. I know this is not ordinarily recognized, but scientific revelation clearly affirm this and explain it in relation to God. God is infinite, therefore God is the only infinite. It's not rational to say that there is more than one infinite. So it's not rational to say that there is more than infinite God. So it's totally rational to say that the one infinite God is made of unchanging, eternal, and limitless substances out of which God created the material universe by giving these substances certain imposed limits. In other words, by covering up the substances by means of an external that has a built-in limitation that the substance itself does not have.

What are these infinite substances that exist within God and out of which God formed material limits? Scientific revelations identify them--they are very familiar to us--necessarily familiar because we are created in the image of God, that is, with the infrastructure of these substances within God. Among these are:

DIAGRAM 4  The Three Divine Aspects
 

Creative Aspect (Paternal Divine) (essential cause) (CELESTIAL)	Nurturing & Redeeming Aspect (Maternal Divine) (instrumental cause) (SPIRITUAL)	Managerial Aspect  (Divine Proceeding) (effect or consequence) (NATURAL)
love striving innocence justice compassion endeavor peace desire affection etc.	wisdom intelligence rationality consistency understanding planning integrity knowledge culture etc.	life power action foresight predictability morality success harmony pleasure beauty etc.
Affective Domain (celestial psychobiology)	Cognitive Domain (spiritual psychobiology)	Sensori-Motor Domain (natural psychobiology)

This diagram refers to the Divine substances. Divine celestial substance is love and its infinite derivatives, a few are mentioned in the table. Divine spiritual substance is wisdom and its infinite derivatives. Divine natural substance is life power or action and its infinite derivatives. Note that God has celestial substances, spiritual substances, and natural substances. Of course you need to remember that natural substances, also called the Divine Natural, is to be distinguished from natural materials or matter. In fact we can assume that matter is formed along three discontinuous degrees or levels. The matter that is most external, is most removed from substance, and thus most limited. such are the molecules and particles forming clusters of rock, sand, air, and the rest of the inert matter in the physical world. This type of matter is the most external, the most limited by space and time. Then there are clusters of less external matter, or more inward matter, and these clusters form plant growth and other plant-like operations and structures at the microscopic level such as bacteria. Then there is a final level of matter that is most inward and is made of material clusters called animal, including the bodies of humans and its sub-structures and operations called living.

Matter cannot exist at the more inward levels or degrees of existence beyond the living organisms of animals and human beings. If you consider what's there, in these more inward levels, the answer is substances. And these substances also exist at three discontinuous levels or degrees. These three inward substantive degrees are shown in the Table above: Natural Substance is the first or lowest inward level, while the second is spiritual, and the third celestial. You can see from the table how you can construct trigrammatic units of these substances. You might like to look at some additional tables like this in this file. Also, physicist Dr. Ian Thompson, discusses these levels in a more formal manner, as referenced in this file.

Additionally, the table above shows the Trinitarian construction of God's infinite substances and how it imposes a Trinitarian structure on the created universe through the mind of human beings. Our mind is an organ like the brain is an organ. The brain has many major sub-parts and billions of smaller sub-sub-parts in the form of cells, each one of these being a miniature brain that itself is composed of numberless sub-sub-parts. This construction pattern is rational and follows a principle I call synechdoche because the dictionary defines this word as conveying the idea that the whole is reproduced in the part. Thus, God's inherent, eternal, unchanging, and infinite constitution is Trinitarian, as we know from scientific revelation given by God, which asserts, explains, and demonstrates that God is rational from inmost to outmost. The table above labels the three Divine and infinite aspects by using the expressions Creative Aspect, Nurturing Aspect, and Managerial Aspect. I believe these are adequate phrases for theistic science but in various religions, the Creative Aspect of God is called the Divine Paternal while the Nurturing Aspect of God is called the Divine Maternal. God has a paternal and a maternal essence and existence. Finally, the third and most external constitution of God is labeled the Managerial Aspect of God and, in religions, this is variously referred to as The Divine Proceeding, The Holy Spirit, The Great Seer, Lord, and various special names associated with a particular nation or ethnic group.

The Divine Maternal is also called the Holy Church or the Bride of God--also Wife, Virgin, and Daughter, though each with a variation in sub-meaning. But there has been a change since the Fall of the human race, that is, since the race entered a new evolutionary phase called The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which has to do with the loss of ability to communicate directly with those in the spiritual world. At one time in our evolution as a race direct communication was possible with those who passed on. They, as spirits (or inhabitants of the spiritual world), were able to communicate consciously with the minds of those around them who were still tied to the physical body. This communication became a threat to themselves when a new philosophy of life was gradually adopted in the land and taught from generation to generation, namely, that we act from ourselves by our mind and body, and not as the earlier generations taught, that we act from our ancestors through our mind. This is difficult to grasp and I shall continue to explain it in various places. (You may pursue this by looking up the entry on as-of self.

But to continue with the consequences of this Fall or new evolution, the affective and the cognitive domains of the mind were split, while they were united before, acting as one. Now, the will and the understanding no longer acted as one. Before this one had no choice but to act according to one's desire or affection, just as it is for animals since they act according to their motivation or need, unmodified by their thinking which helps them figure out how to achieve the goal of fulfilling their need. Their thinking is tied to their feeling and there is no freedom of action from the thought, but only from the will. Such were the first generations of the human race, according to scientific revelation. The spiritual phenomenon of the mind splitting into two resulted in the natural phenomenon of the brain also splitting into right and left brains with partially independent functions. The split was necessary to allow the recovery operation of the human race through a new freedom of decision-making that was not possible before the mind-brain split. Now people could evolve moral consciousness by first understanding what is good and evil with the cognitive understanding without the will (left brain functions), and then exercising conscious control over their will. This allowed them to act according to the dictates of their understanding or belief system even if it meant acting against the urgings of their desires. Thus was born conscience, and through the process of temptation, a new mind or spirit was being created in every individual. This new spirit was no longer in the Fall but outside of it and with this new spirit the individual was once again given the ability to exist in rational order to eternity.

Recall that with the generations that followed the Fall a Redemption Operation became necessary from the Paternal Divine, that is, a new creation. This second aspect of the Divine then was called the Son of God or Messiah because it became a healing operation that was only accomplishable through the process of Incarnation and subsequent Glorification. These notions may sound like mysteries but they are not. They are neither mysterious nor complicated, only detailed! But this is how science is, detailed! I will be discussing these issues further, as they come up in the Glossary.
 

Divine Providence DP 3. I. THE UNIVERSE, WITH ALL THINGS IN GENERAL AND IN PARTICULAR THEREIN, WAS CREATED FROM THE DIVINE LOVE BY MEANS OF THE DIVINE WISDOM.  It was shown in the treatise THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, is as to His Essence Divine Love and Divine Wisdom; and that He from Himself created the universe and all things therein. It follows from this that the universe with all things in general and in particular therein was created from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom. In the same treatise it was also shown that love without wisdom cannot do anything, nor wisdom without love; for love without wisdom, or the will without the understanding, cannot form a single thought. Indeed, it cannot see, perceive, or say anything; therefore it cannot do anything.  In like manner wisdom without love, or the understanding without the will, cannot form a single thought. It cannot see or perceive anything nor indeed can it say anything. Therefore it also cannot do anything; for if love is taken away from those operations there is no longer any will, and so there can be no action. As this is the case with man when he performs any action, much more was it the case with God, who is Love itself and Wisdom itself, when He created and made the universe and all things therein.  [2] That the universe, with all things in general and in particular therein, was created from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom can be confirmed from all things in the world that may be examined by the eye. Take any object in particular and examine it with some degree of intelligence, and you will be convinced. Take a tree, or its seed, its fruit, its flower or its leaf, and, summoning what wisdom you have, view it with a powerful microscope, and you will see wonderful things; yet there are more interior things, which you do not see, still more wonderful.  Observe the order, step by step, in which the tree grows from the seed till it produces new seed; and consider whether there is not in every step a continuous endeavor to propagate itself further; for the goal to which it tends is seed, in which its prolific principle exists anew. Then if you will but reflect upon this spiritually also, and this you can do if you please, will you not see wisdom displayed?  Moreover, if you will reflect deeply enough from the spiritual point of view, you will see that this prolific principle is not from the seed, nor from the sun of this world which is pure fire, but that it is in the seed from God the Creator, to whom belongs infinite Wisdom. You will see that it is present not only at creation but also continuously afterwards; for maintenance is perpetual creation, as subsistence is perpetual existence. The operation of the prolific principle in creation may be illustrated from these considerations: work ceases if you take away will from action; speech ceases if you deprive it of thought; motion ceases if effort is withdrawn; in a word, the effect perishes if you remove the cause; and so on. [3] Everything indeed in the order of creation has been endowed with power; power, however, accomplishes nothing of itself, but only from Him who has bestowed it.  Examine also any other object on the earth, as a silk-worm, a bee, or any other tiny creature, and view it first naturally, afterwards rationally, and finally spiritually. Then if you can raise your thoughts to a high level, you will be astonished at all you perceive; and if you permit wisdom to speak in you, you will say in astonishment, "Who does not see the Divine in these things? They are all the work of Divine Wisdom." Still more will this be the case if you observe the uses of all the things which have been created, noting how they proceed in their own order right up to man, and from man to the Creator from whom they are; and that from the conjunction of the Creator with man the connection of all things depends, and, if you will acknowledge it, the preservation of all things. It will be seen in what follows that the Divine Love created all things, but did nothing without the Divine Wisdom.

The Divine Paternal and the Divine Maternal are the substances out of which our soul and mind are composed. These are organs of reception made of these two substances in infinite variety. One such composition I'd like to mention here, namely, the mind of a man and the mind of a woman. Scientific revelation specifies that the male human mind is composed of the Divine Paternal (love) covered over with the Divine Maternal (wisdom). The female mind is the reciprocal of this, namely, Divine Maternal (wisdom) covered over with Divine Paternal (love). So the minds of men and women are created of two basic substances, love and wisdom, but in reciprocal relation. The mind of a woman is inner wisdom covered over with outer love. The mind of a man is inner love covered over with outer wisdom. There is a diagram I have of this psychobiology of gender and sex (don't forget to come back here for the rest of the story).

Here is another way of representing the psychobiology of the mind in accordance with the table above:

DIAGRAM 5  The Male Mind and the Female Mind (part 1)
 

THE DIVINE MATERNAL SUBSTANCE outward wisdom, intelligence, truth, science THE DIVINE PATERNAL SUBSTANCE inward love, affection, caring, sharing, uniting  The Male Mind

THE DIVINE PATERNAL SUBSTANCE outward love, affection, caring, sharing, uniting THE DIVINE MATERNAL   SUBSTANCE inward wisdom, intelligence, truth, science The Female Mind

This is a rational representation in accordance with scientific revelation. It remains for theistic science to apply this knowledge to education and counseling. As you can see, a woman from a man's point of view is inside out, and vice versa for a woman's view on man. And yet it works like the attraction of magnetic forces of so-called opposite poles or particles. Perhaps we can stop calling them opposites and refer to them as reciprocals. For opposites cannot unite inwardly, as explained in scientific revelation. Thus, a man as husband and a woman as wife can be united inwardly as to the mind or spirit. This is important because once the physical body is left off, the spirit is free and is not willing to consociate with someone who doesn't fit or is disharmonious with oneself. Since the spirit is unwilling, the two cannot maintain presence with each other but thin out and  disappear. It is not like this in the physical body and spouses can remain together in external physical and legal relationship--but inward, in the mind where they are free, they are not husband and wife, and as soon as they are freed from the body they can no longer act married since they are not. The concept of inward unity of the minds of a marital couple is known as the state of One Flesh. In the spiritual world this state manifests itself externally by the phenomenon Swedenborg marveled at ant witnessed thousands of times, namely, that from a distance a spirit couple appear as one handsome person walking or standing, but as one gets nearer to the couple, they appear as two individuals. But this phenomenon only occurs with couples that inhabit the celestial regions for only they are united inwardly. We are told that in the low and dark regions of the mind called the hells, those who insist on inhabiting those regions are called by various names depending on the species of their character evils--devils, satans, genii, sirens, dragons, snakes, and other names. These people act like they think they are wild animals and as long as they intend to hurt others whom they meet in the spiritual world, they are a menace, and must be contained in prison areas and work houses for as long as they are unwilling to give up hurting others. They do this, despite the punishments and restrictions, because it so delightful that it is the delight of their life. Therefore, lest they feel that they are not alive any more, they are permitted to plot and hurt those that are willing to congregate with them and be exposed to their brutal exploitations. Swedenborg visited these sad places of the human mind, or spiritual world, and the accounts are very revealing in terms of human pathology. Blom-Dahl's observations on how this type of methodology can work for science may be found here.

DIAGRAM 6  The Male Mind and the Female Mind (part 2)
 

DIVINE PATERNAL LOVE OR GOOD (internal) DIVINE MATERNAL WISDOM OR TRUTH (external) MALE NATURAL MIND (internal love covered over with external truth) MALE PHYSICAL BODY

DIVINE MATERNAL WISDOM OR TRUTH (internal) DIVINE PATERNAL LOVE OR GOOD (external) FEMALE NATURAL MIND (internal truth covered over with external love) FEMALE PHYSICAL BODY

The Incarnation of God had to be enacted in a male physical body because God is internal love covered over with external truth. God's essence is love and God's existence is truth, hence the externalization of the physical body must be a male man.

The male  mind is composed of the same substances as the female mind but in reciprocal order.  Truth that is external is different from truth that is internal. Similarly, good that is external is different from good that is internal. The Divine Maternal when in external position is intellectual truth (male) but when in the internal position, it is moral truth (female). Similarly the Divine Paternal when in external position is creative good  (Father) but when in the internal position, it is nurturing good  (Church or Son).  Another way of saying these things is this: The male mind is the Divine Paternal Love (internal) covered over with the Divine Maternal Wisdom (external), while the female mind is Divine Maternal Wisdom (internal) covered over with Divine Paternal Love (external). Also, woman's love is external, but man's love is internal. Further, woman's wisdom is internal, but man's wisdom is external. The physical anatomy of a woman is determined entirely by her mind and reflects the anatomy of her mind. Similarly with a man so that no mental component of one can be like that of the other gender. Consequently, no physical cell in a woman's body can be like a physical cell in a man's body. The xy chromosome that is said to determine sex leaves one with the idea that only the reproductive cells or system is different between the two sexes, but as it is clear from spiritual psychobiology and theistic science, nothing in the female physical body can be like that of the male physical body, not even a single cell.

Why the Trinity is a Rational Necessity

It takes three things or functional operations for God to run the universe:

• First, creating the universe--this is called the Divine Paternal Substance or God's Essence
• Second, nurturing the universe--this is called the Divine Maternal when it is order and the Son of God when it has degenerated and requires redeeming. Also known as the God's Existence
• Third, Managing or maintaining the universe--this is called the Divine Providence and is the ultimate end of creation or its external manifestation.

All things created involve the three aspects of God. The Paternal love is the will that desires and intends the created object or operation and becomes the inmost essence of the created thing. Then the Maternal truth covers up the essence as it externalizes to the intermediate level called Existence. Love and truth are thus the two infinite substances that are the constructionist framework that keeps all objects in existence. Since the varieties of Divine Love and Divine Truth are infinite, the combination of different things that can exist is also infinite. Finally, the natural-spiritual substance is created as the outer covering of the other two. Now for the first time the essence and existence of it manifest and appear in the phenomenal world where it can be experienced or known through science. Thus every object or operation has these three divine aspects or substances out of which they are constructed and which forms their bulk or mass and form. It is when all three aspects are finally together that something actually exists and stays in existence by continuous re-creation. The essence of it creates itself anew through love substance; the intermediate of it comes out into existence through truth substance; and the natural-spiritual shows it up in phenomenal appearance. This three-way operation repeats itself instant by instant, or moment by moment, so that whatever is created remains in creation and in existence and in phenomenal appearance through the re-start of the process continuously. If the process were to stop for an instant, the thing created would be nil and void or non-existent.

In coresspondential symbolism, God the Father creates, God the Son redeems and maintains through truth, and God the Holy Spirit manages or regenerates through uses, that is, through temptations of what is against good and truth. Let us draw some diagrams by way of summarizing these relations.

DIAGRAM 7   The Trigrammatic Structure in Parallel Series
 

FIRST END OR GOAL   INSTRUMENT OR MEANS ULTIMATE END

ESSENCE   EXISTENCE APPEARANCE

LOVE OR GOOD   WISDOM OR TRUTH USE

 

DIAGRAM 8  The Ennead of Levels and Substances: Celestial, Spiritual, Natural
 

LEVEL III CELESTIAL GOOD LEVEL III CELESTIAL TRUTH LEVEL III CELESTIAL APPEARANCE

LEVEL II SPIRITUAL GOOD LEVEL II SPIRITUAL TRUTH LEVEL II SPIRITUAL APPEARANCE

LEVEL I NATURAL GOOD LEVEL I NATURAL TRUTH LEVEL I NATURAL APPEARANCE

 

DIAGRAM 9  Trinitarian Composition of God in Theistic Science
 

TRINITARIAN COMPOSITION OF GOD IN THEISTIC SCIENCE
Substance	Function	Correspondence
Celestial (Love or Good)	Creating	Father or Almighty (Divine Paternal)
Spiritual (Wisdom or Truth)	Nurturing and Redeeming	Son or Church (Divine Maternal)
Natural (Appearance or Use)	Managing and Providing	Holy Spirit or Divine Proceeding

God is one and infinite. Yet scientific revelation describes God's infinity as having a rationally organized constitution or character. This rational structure is Trinitarian and is replicated in all created things. In terms of Substance or stuff of which God's infinity is constructed, there are three kinds, levels, or layers that differ in depth. The inmost layer or substance is Celestial and is called God's infinite Essence. It is referred to as Divine Love or Divine Good. The second layer that is further removed from the Essence is Spiritual Substance and is called God's Divine Existence. It is referred to as Divine Truth or Divine Wisdom.  The third and most external layer is Natural Substance and is called God's Divine Appearance or Proceeding. It is referred to as Divine Uses or Ultimates. The three layers are within each other, so that when we behold the Divine Natural Body of God, it appears as a Glorified Human Man, but within this Divine Natural is the Divine Spiritual, and within that is the Divine Celestial, just as the spirit is within the body, and the soul within the spirit.

The diagram above (number 9) shows these relations. One might wonder why the Divine Maternal at the middle layer is called both Church and Son. church is a female symbol, but Son is male. Nevertheless, by correspondence, the Son is also the Church and the Body of the Church and Heaven. This is because heaven is the spiritual body of God and when we live in heaven we live in God's spiritual body. In the New Testament, the Incarnate God is called the Son, and this is identified with maternal correspondences as in this passage:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.  Matthew 23:37

'The Spirit of God' is used to mean the Lord's mercy, which is said 'to hover', like a hen over eggs, over what the Lord stores away in man and which in the Word are frequently called 'remnants'. These remnants are cognitions of truth and good which never come to light or into daylight until external things have been laid waste. These cognitions are here called 'the face* of the waters'.
Arcana Coelestia Number 19

We can use this diagram of the psychobiology of gender to decide if God has a male physical Natural Body or a female physical Natural Body.  Scientific revelation in many Scriptures specifies that God's inmost essence is Love.  Clearly this identifies God's soul as Divine Paternal, and it follows that when God Incarnated about 20 centuries ago on this earth, the physical Natural Body God took on was a male child. God's Natural Body was then in existence for the first time in the history and evolution of the universe. Until that time God did not Incarnate in the natural plane. God created the universe from the infinite substances within Himself, and He continues to so create and sustain. The Infinite God was not visible prior to Incarnation since infinity cannot be observed. God talked to individual human beings through other individuals. During prophetic moments of an individual's life, God creates the words in the mind of the prophet or messenger who speaks them as if from himself or herself--but they are the Words of God. After the Incarnation, God began to speak to individuals directly from Himself. God's male physical Natural Body was fully glorified or made Divine so that it is a new creation different from the physical world or the physical bodies of humans. This male physical Natural Body is called the Son and it is infinite, just as much as God's Mind is infinite, or the substances that constitute God's Mind, namely Love and Wisdom, or, Good and Truth. This means that God can appear in His infinite male physical Natural Body in any place and to any number of individuals simultaneously. Swedenborg was given to see and be held by this Natural Body. Here's the entry for his Journal dated April 6-7. 1744:
 

"At ten o'clock I went to bed and was somewhat better. Half an hour after I heard a noise under my head.  I thought that the tempter was then going away. Straightaway there came over me a shuddering, so strong from the head downwards and over the whole body, with a noise of thunder, and this happened several times. I found that something holy was upon me. I then fell into a sleep, and at about 12:00, 1:00 or 2:00 in the night, there came over me a strong shuddering from head to foot, with a thundering noise as if many winds beat together; which shook me; it was indescribable and prostrated me on my face. Then at the time I was prostrated, at that very moment I was wide awake, and saw that I was cast down. Wondered what it meant. And I spoke as if I were awake; but found nevertheless that the words were put into my mouth. "And oh! Almighty Jesus Christ, that Thou, of Thy so great mercy, deignest to come to so great a sinner. Make me worthy of Thy grace." I held together my hands, and prayed, and then came forth a hand, which squeezed my hands hard. Straightway thereupon I continued my prayer, and said, "Thou hast promised to take to grace all sinners; Thou canst nothing else than keep thy word." At that same moment, I sat in His bosom,and saw Him face to face; it was a face of holy mien,and in all it was indescribable, and He smiled so that I believe that His face had indeed been like this when He lived on earth. He spoke to me and asked if I had a clear bill of health. I answered, "Lord, Thou knowest better than I."  "Well do so," said He;  that is, as I found it in my mind to signify;  "love me in reality; or do what thou hast promised." God give me grace thereto;  I found that it was not in my power. Wakened, with shudderings. From Swedenborg's Journal of Dreams Numbers 51-54

Here is another description discussing God's Natural Body:
 

[2] The reason why here and in the rest of this chapter external sensory powers of both kinds are dealt with in the internal sense is that the previous chapter dealt with how the Lord glorified or made Divine the interior aspects of His Natural, and therefore the present chapter deals with how the Lord glorified or made Divine the exterior aspects of that Natural. The exterior aspects of the natural are rightly called bodily ones, being both kinds of sensory powers of perception together with their recipient members and organs; for these recipients together with those powers make up that which is referred to as the body, see above in 5077. The Lord made Divine all that constituted His body, both its sensory Powers and their recipient members and organs, which also explains Why He rose from the grave with His body, and after the Resurrection told His disciples,    See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me, and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Me have. Luke 24:39.  [3] Most people at the present day who belong to the Church believe that everyone is going to rise again on the last day and to do so at that time with his body. This supposition is s, universal that scarcely anyone, because of what he is taught, believes anything different. But that supposition has gained strength because the natural man imagines that the body alone is the possessor of life. Consequently if he were not allowed to believe that this body is going to receive life once again he would refuse to believe in any resurrection at all. But the truth of the matter is that a person rises again immediately after death, at which point he seems to himself to be in his body just the same as when he was in the world, having a face and members, arms, hands, feet, breast, belly, and loins like the ones he had before. Indeed when he sees himself and touches himself he says he is exactly as he was in the world. However, that which he sees and touches is not his external which he carried round in the world but the internal which constituted the real person. That internal is what had life within it, but it had the external surrounding it, or outside every individual part of it, enabling it to exist in the world where it could act in the right way and carry out its functions.    [4] The actual earthly body is of no further use to him. He is in another world where he possesses other functions and other strengths and powers for which the kind of body he has there is suited. He sees that body with his own eyes - not the eyes he had in the world but those he now has in that other world. They are the eyes of his internal man, the ones he had used previously to see with through the eyes of his body and behold worldly and earthly objects. He also touches and feels that body - not with the hands or sense of touch he had been given in the world but with the hands and sense of touch which he is given in that other world and which had lain behind his sense of touch in the world. Furthermore each of the senses in that other world is keener and more perfect because it belongs to the internal man released from the external. The internal dwells in a greater state of perfection, because it is this that supplies sensory awareness to the external, though when it acts into the external, as it does in the world, that power is blunted and reduced. What is more, the sensory perception of the internal is a perception of what is internal, that of the external a perception of what is external. This being so, people can see one another after death, and they exist grouped together in communities on the basis of what they are inwardly like. In order to become quite sure of this I have been allowed to touch actual spirits and to talk to them many times on this subject, see 322, 1630, 4622.    [5] People after death - who are then called spirits or, if they have led good lives, angels - are utterly amazed at what the member of the Church believes about himself. For he believes that he will not see eternal life until the last day when the world is destroyed, and that at that time he will be reclothed with the dust that has been cast away; when yet one who belongs to the Church knows that he rises again after death. For who does not say, when someone dies, that his soul or spirit is in heaven, or in hell? Who does not say about his young children who have died that they are in heaven? Who does not comfort a person who is [incurably] sick or one who is condemned to death by saying that shortly he will enter the next life? And one who is in the threes of death and has been prepared for it does not believe anything different. Indeed such a conviction about a person's rising again after he has died is what leads many to claim that they have the power to release others from places of condemnation and to admit them into heaven, and to say masses for their souls. Is anyone unacquainted with what the Lord said to the robber, 'Today you will be with Me in paradise', Luke 23:43, or with what the Lord said about the rich man and Lazarus, that the former was carried off into hell, whereas the latter was taken by the angels into heaven, Luke 16:22, 23  Or is anyone Unacquainted with what the Lord taught about the resurrection when He said that God is not the God of the dead but of the living, Luke 20:38   [6] A person acquainted with all this thinks in these ways and speaks in these ways when his spirit guides his thought and speech. But when his thought and speech are guided by what doctrine teaches that person says something entirely different, namely that he will not rise again Until the last day. But in fact each person's last day is at hand when he dies, and this is his time of judgement too, as many also declare. As to what is meant by 'being encompassed by my skin' and 'out of my flesh seeing God' in Job 19:25, 26, see 3540 (end). These things were said so that people may know that no one rises again in the body that encompassed him in the world except the Lord alone. He did so because, while in the world, He glorified His body, that is, He made it Divine.  From Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia Number 5077

DIAGRAM 10:  The Divine Human
 

DIVINE PATERNAL INFINITE SUBSTANCE OF LOVE OR GOOD (God's Invisible Essence or Soul)   DIVINE MATERNAL INFINITE SUBSTANCE OF WISDOM OR TRUTH (God's Invisible Existence or Spirit) DIVINE MALE INFINITE NATURAL MIND DIVINE MALE INFINITE PHYSICAL