Thinking About God From Spiritual Ideas Rather Than Natural

A natural idea of God is that God is invisible, shapeless, and everywhere. This is not different from the natural idea of space or energy force. Space is everywhere and energy is everywhere, hence God is some kind of force that's everywhere. But thinking this way about God is antithetical to the fact that God has revealed that He is a human person who loves, thinks, and acts from his love through His Wisdom and Intelligence. If God thinks and loves, He must be a human person for only a human thinks and loves. Rocks don't think and feel, and while animals love things they are not capable of thinking rationally. They act from their love instinctively, not by having to figure it out, like human beings. Children are taught to be human, that is, to speak and to use their thinking to satisfy their loves and intentions. An animal that grows up to an adult in an isolated state will act normally like the other animals in that species. All its ability to survive is innate or instinctive. It doesn't need to be taught what to eat or how to get to the food. Human infants cannot grow up on their own, do not know how to think rationally or how to survive, do not know what to eat or how to get it. Every skill a human being develops must be taught. As a result human act not from instinct or innate knowledge, but from rational thinking, from a plan that leads to a goal that satisfied one's needs and wishes.

So the definition of "human" is to act from desire or motive in accordance with a rational plan that leads to the goal that satisfies the need. God acts from love according to rational intelligence and wisdom. God created the universe from a desire to share the good with human beings. God desires to make human beings happy and proceeds to achieve this goal by rational order of all things created. It is revealed in the Writings that God created the universe as a home for human beings. Every human being that is created is immortal and God intends that human beings live in a state of heaven to eternity, in which humans are in a state of endless joy endlessly increasing in intensity. To achieve this state of eternal joy human beings must be born on some earth, raised by other human beings, and prepared to die and resuscitate for heavenly life in an immortal spiritual body. Humans must have free will and rationality in order to achieve this heavenly state. It is not according to God's rational order to create human robots in heaven who are always heavenly in character. Those angel robots would not be able to act as if from themselves, in liberty and choice. Angel robots made in heaven would only act from God directly and would not have a self of their own. Without a self, there is no human being but only an organic robot activated by God as so many artificial extensions of Himself.

In the same way God would not be a human person if He did not act from free choice of love by means of rational reasoning. We need therefore to develop the spiritual idea that God is a human person in whom infinite things make one. Being human means that God must have organs like the created human beings:

That in God there are infinite things, any one may convince himself who believes that God is a Man; for, being a Man, He has a body and every thing pertaining to it, that is, a face, breast, abdomen, loins and feet; for without these He would not be a Man. And having these, He also has eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and tongue; also the parts within man, as the heart and lungs, and their dependencies, all of which, taken together, make man to be a man. In a created man these parts are many, and regarded in their details of structure are numberless; but in God-Man they are infinite, nothing whatever is lacking, and from this He has infinite perfection. This comparison holds between the uncreated Man who is God and created man, because God is a Man; and He Himself says that the man of this world was created after His image and into His likeness (Gen. 1:26, 27). (DLW 18)

Because in God-Man there are infinite things which appear in heaven, in angel, and in man, as in a mirror; and because God-Man is not in space (as was shown above, n. 7-10), it can, to some extent, be seen and comprehended how God can be Omnipresent, Omniscient, and All-providing; and how, as Man, He could create all things, and as Man can hold the things created by Himself in their order to eternity. (DLW 21)

In other words we are human because God is Human. Swedenborg uses the title the Divine-Human to refer to God. The idea that God is a Human is difficult to accept as long as you think of God as invisible and everywhere in the world, knowing all, seeing all. This is thinking about God from a natural concept, limited by restrictions of time and space and matter or energy. God is not energy or force for two reasons. First, because energy is a natural concept restricted to time and space. God creates energy, therefore God cannot be energy. Second, the idea of energy or force annihilates the Human nature of God. Energy or force does not love or think rationally. Only a human loves and thinks rationally. So, if we are willing to abandon the natural idea of God, we are then able to see God from a spiritual idea.

A spiritual idea of God is that God is infinite love and intelligence or wisdom. It is known that only humans can love and think rationally. Therefore a definition of what is human is to say that human is that which loves and thinks rationally. According to this definition therefore God is Human. And this makes good sense within the positive bias and dualism. God is the creator of everything that exists, and since God cannot change and has always been perfectly Human, every thing created by God must have an "image" or representation of God within itself. The entire universe is therefore a representation of the Divine-Human and this is true of every object in it, from molecule to galaxy, and from earthworm to human beings. his scientific principle was well known to the ancients, as reported by Swedenborg who had access to the earliest generations of humans on earth by being able to visit with them in their heavenly habitations where they have been for a long time.

Since God is Human and has a human anatomy just like ours, it is rational to talk to God and to love God, striving to come spiritually nearer to God by learning to act lovingly and rationally all the time. This greater closeness to God allows us to receive much more in terms of happiness, intelligence, and productivity. This closeness to God is not possible if God is an invisible force that cannot be understood by human minds. A love for some invisible energy is no love of God. Swedenborg proved this when he interviewed recent arrivals to the world of spirits about their idea of God. Those who came with the natural idea that God is an invisible force permeating the universe, now recanted and rejected any idea of God. When they were instructed that God is a Human, they found it preposterous and were unwilling to accept the idea. Their lifestyle in the spiritual world is unenviable and awful. This is because in this world we can be atheists and deny God, yet still be equally loving, moral, and decent as those who profess a belief in God, yet hardly live like what God wants and commands for their own sake.

It is extremely important to remember that only in this life on earth can we modify our basic loves. Once the physical body is dead and we are no longer in the natural world, we are awakened as "spirits" in a spiritual world. This is the continuation of human life for everyone, as part of being human. When we thus begin our new life in eternity, outside time and space, the rules of living and of reality are different. For example, we can see each other's thoughts or intentions, not always in particular detail, but in a general form, as if from a distance. Still, it is enough that we can monitor features such as whether someone intends evil to us, or whether they are harmless. Also, what the other person is thinking is instantly reflected in the surrounding presence, so that all of a sudden it gets dark, or an awful smell is detected, or dangerous animals appear on the horizon, and so on. As a result only those people or "spirits" can be in each other's presence or company who are similar to one another. This means that life in eternity is within communities that are distinctly different from each other, but within each community they are similar variations of each other, even though each is completely unique.

Swedenborg observed that those who are unwilling to accept the idea or truth that God is Human with all the human body organs, sink down into the corporeal mind where they filter out all rationality and love that they receive through the Spiritual Sun which permeates every human mind there. Swedenborg proved this experimentally by asking some of these people to repeat sentences after him that were rational and true. For example, "God is a Human," which they repeated as "God is not a Human." Or, "angels are good, devils are bad" which he repeated as "Devils are good, angels are bad." And other ways, as for instance someone in the heaven of their mind wrote a sentence on a piece of paper which was then passed down to someone in the hell of their mind, who was asked to read it. And he read the opposite of what was written. This is because he filtered all incoming truth and rationality and turned it into its opposite. This is also interesting because it shows that those who keep themselves in the hell of their mind actually retain all their rationality so that they can read a sentence and say its opposite. This takes rational skills. So it is the perversion of their love that gets them to use their rationality to defeat it. Their evil loves defeat their capacity for rationality not just once and for all, but continuously, moment by moment. So fiercely do they hold on to these evil loves that no amount of suffering and agony they experience can convince them to come out of their evil loves.

You can see from these actual reports and experiments how important it is to have a spiritual idea of God, since this will be the basis of our reality to eternity. Our happiness, intelligence, and creativeness depends on this idea of God as a Human. Therefore you can see how important it is for all of us to really understand scientifically how it can be that God, as a Divine-Human Person, can be omnipresent.

This can only be understood with rational ideas put together rationally. Namely, that God is present everywhere not in space but apart from space and time. This then becomes our challenge: How do understand fully the idea of "apart from space and time."

I have struggled with it for years and I've made steady progress understanding this idea more and more fully. You can begin now, and as you read more and more of the Writings, you will develop a gradually a fuller and fuller understanding of this rational principle about God and the reality of the universe we live in.

For now you can review again what was said above about our dreams: What if you could evolve the ability to be present in my dreams, not as a character I'm dreaming about, but the real you. You will be able to see my dreams, all the landscapes and people and events. But I the dreamer will not see you or know about you. Your ability makes it possible for you to be present in all my dreams. Thus, you will be omnipresent in my dreams. We could say therefore that you are present in all my dreams everywhere, but not in my dreams but apart from them. Your omnipresence in my dreams would not be possible if you were in my dreams rather than apart from them. Here we have an inkling of the spiritual meaning of how God as Human can be omnipresent in the universe. God is present everywhere not in time and space but apart from them.

And in this way we can continue expanding our understanding of God, and how God manages the universe on a continuous "online" basis by means of rational laws of management and engineering. The more rationally we are able to develop our understanding of God and God's management techniques, the more we can receive from God the good things and the true things of life, such as the love of being useful and the wisdom to learn from the endless life of experience in eternity. But if we fail to develop this spiritual understanding of God we put a quick limit to our intelligence and humanity. This is because all intelligence and humanity comes to us from God, moment by moment. We do not possess any of it ourselves, so that if we cut off the online input or "influx," we develop into a sub-human person that immerses the individual in awful experiences that never end.

Much is at stake here, correct?

Look at the fallacies one can fall into when considering God from a natural idea. quoting from student reports:

Negative bias is a major roadblock to the study of theistic psychology. Negative bias is often a trait shared by many atheist and agnostics. Their inability to prove the existence of God leads them to the conclusion that God is an impossibility. In the article “A Christian God’s Contradictions”, God is professed to be a contradiction of ideals and therefore a universal impossibility. The article claims that a being who is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnibenevolent, cannot possibly exist because each of these traits contradicts the other (www.anatheist.com/Articles/god_contradictions.html ). Of course the author does not explain how these things contradict each of, but merely states it as fact. The article discusses the concept of the law of non-contradiction, and how this proves the non-existence of God, since He is not composed of atoms and matter. The law of non-contradictions states that nothing can exist without matter or some form of substance, so since God is said to exist in the spirit world He must be without substance, thus fully embracing a negative bias. ( www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2004/clark/report1.htm )

The two main standards to deciding whether or not a theory is scientific are its testability and compatibility to natural law. In the case of a theistic approach, its spiritual nature makes it impossible to be tested and confirms its incompatibility to natural law. Furthermore, in reference to Theistic Psychology, Swedenborg’s journeys to the spiritual realm, as far as we know, cannot be repeated. Therefore, it is not a guarantee that he undeniably talked to God and interviewed spirits. ( www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/459s2004/le/report1.htm )

In the following passage from Swedenborg "the doctrine of faith" refers to the understanding of scientific revelations in sacred scripture or "the Word" which refers to the Word of God or Divine Speech. There are two approaches, one valid the other not. It is not valid to "regard the doctrine of faith from rational things" which is "not to believe in the Word." This is the negative bias. The correct approach is to "regard rational things from the doctrine of faith," and this "is first to believe in the Word, or in the doctrine therefrom." This is the positive bias, or the "affirmative principle." In other words one must first believe that sacred scripture is Divine revelation, and then one can confirm rationally that it is so. But the negative bias is first to examine sacred scripture to see if it fits our rational assumptions before we accept it as Divine truth. With this approach one remains in the negative bias or the "negative principle").

As regards man it is one thing to regard the doctrine of faith from rational things, and altogether another to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith.
To regard the doctrine of faith from rational things is not to believe in the Word, or in the doctrine thence derived, until one is persuaded from rational things that it is so; whereas to regard rational things from the doctrine of faith is first to believe in the Word, or in the doctrine therefrom, and then to confirm the same by rational things. The former is inverted order, and results in nothing being believed; whereas the latter is genuine order, and causes the man to believe the better. (...)
[3] These things are much treated of in the Word in its internal sense, especially where Asshur and Egypt are spoken of; for the reason that while the doctrine of faith is regarded from rational things, that is, while a man does not believe until he is persuaded from them that it is so, it then not only becomes null and void, but whatever is contained in it is also denied; whereas when rational things are regarded from the doctrine of faith, that is, when a man believes the Word, and afterwards the same things are confirmed by rational things, the doctrine is then living and whatever is contained in it is affirmed.

1. [4] There are therefore two principles; one of which leads to all folly and insanity, and the other to all intelligence and wisdom. The former principle is to deny all things, or to say in the heart that we cannot believe them until we are convinced by what we can apprehend, or perceive by the senses; this is the principle that leads to all folly and insanity, and is to be called the negative principle. The other principle is to affirm the things which are of doctrine from the Word, or to think and believe within ourselves that they are true because the Divine-Human has said them: this is the principle that leads to all intelligence and wisdom, and is to be called the affirmative principle.

[5] The more they who think from the negative principle consult things rational, the more they consult memory-knowledges, and the more they consult things philosophical, the more do they cast and precipitate themselves into darkness, until at last they deny all things. The causes of this are, that no one can apprehend higher things from lower ones, that is, spiritual and celestial things, still less Divine things, from lower ones, because they transcend all understanding, and moreover everything is then involved in negatives from that principle. On the other hand, they who think from an affirmative principle can confirm themselves by whatever things rational, by whatever memory-knowledges, and whatever things philosophic they have at command; for all these are to them things confirmatory, and give them a fuller idea of the matter.

[6] Moreover there are some who are in doubt before they deny, and there are some who are in doubt before they affirm. They who are in doubt before they deny are they who incline to a life of evil; and when this life carries them away, then insofar as they think of the matters in question they deny them. But they who are in doubt before they affirm are they who incline to a life of good; and when they suffer themselves to be bent to this by the Divine-Human, then insofar as they think about those things so far they affirm. As this subject is further treated of in the verses which follow,. it is permitted of the Divine-Human's Divine mercy to illustrate them more fully there (see n. 2588). AC 2568.

Note especially this sentence: "The more they who think from the negative principle consult things rational, the more they consult memory-knowledges, and the more they consult things philosophical, the more do they cast and precipitate themselves into darkness, until at last they deny all things." It should be noted that "to consult the rational" refers to the rational part of the natural mind or the "natural-rational" way of thinking. This is as different from the "spiritual-rational" as the spiritual is superior or higher to the natural. What is the difference?

The natural-rational way of thinking consists of knowledge built up from the physical senses and its abstracted principles such as we find in materialistic science or monism. If we let this type of reasoning judge the truth value of sacred scripture we will always reject revelation and remain in the negative bias forever. Hence it is said that this natural-rational "ought not be consulted." But if we accept sacred scripture as Divine truth we are thinking in the mode of dualism in accordance with scientific revelations. We are thus in the positive bias. When we then examine sacred scripture we can confirm its truth rationally by thinking of how the natural events are mere effects that are caused by spiritual events. The knowledge and understanding of spiritual events described in sacred scripture builds up our spiritual-rational thinking so that it filters down and conditions the natural-rational thinking. This leads to enlightenment which is the ability to think and reason in the dualist mode of sacred scripture.