Emmanuel Swedenborg's philosophy of the human organism

wisdom which sees the individual in relation to the whole of society.

The role of the mind in selecting, in making judgments and in separating truth from falsehood is analogous to the whole process of digestion in the alimentary tract. The reception of the food by the lips; the chewing and tasting in the mouth; the rumination and digestion in the stomach; the extracting in the intestines; the final rejection and expulsion of that which is unacceptable—all these are paralleled by the processes of the mind. The food loses its identity and dies in the stomach. But the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms have their origins in the infinite energy of the universe. That which dies in the food resurrects into immortality in human thought.

The entry of the individual into society also corresponds to the digestion and assimilation of nutriment. What is agreeable to the physical organism is selected by the inner senses and what is disagreeable is rejected. In the Grand Man, heaven is the inner mind and hell is the natural mind when it is turned away from heaven; Man’s rational mind is the place where his freewill to select or reject operates. In Swedenborg’s terminology, Man comes after death into an intermediate place, or state of mind, which is between heaven and hell. This intermediate state is like a forum or place where all are assembled. In the body the stomach corresponds to that state. Every man comes there and is prepared, according to his inner life, for heaven or hell; either to become flesh and blood or excrement. In this life, society and social life is that place.

The face of Man’s spirit or inner mind differs greatly from that of his body. The face of his body is derived from his parents, but the face of his spirit is derived from his affections. In what Swedenborg calls the other life—namely the inner life—no one is allowed to pretend to affections which are not his own. Everyone is said to be brought to such a state that they say what they think and show their real will by their looks and gestures. Thus everyone is made to appear outwardly such as he is inwardly. First the outer mind is disclosed. When the outer appearance is taken away it becomes evident what is the real character of each. What appears to be rational in the world now appears as insanity. What a man wills and thinks without the restraints of society reveals the state of his inner mind.

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