The philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg : God, Man and the cosmos

Infinity. Whatever is spiritual exists on and in its own degree or plane of existence; and whatever is natural exists in and on its own plane or Degree.

None of these planes merge into another. As with parallel lines, they remain distinct. Spirit is not sublimated matter. God is not sublimated spirit. Each degree is discrete and its bounds cannot be crossed. Let one illustration suffice, namely, that of speech. The written or spoken word is a physical thing, ponderable and measurable. No word could either be written or spoken except from thought; nor could thought exist except from the affection, purpose or desire, of which thought is the expression. But affection is not thought, and thought is not speech. Each stand in relation to each other as purpose or end, cause and effect. Each are discretely separate things or states.

Nevertheless, thought proceeds from affection, and words proceed from thoughts, but each step in the series remains throughout in discrete being. The creation of speech is continuous from thought and thought from affection, yet each step is complete and distinct from its successor.

Likewise in the creative process, which never ceases. First Cause is God. Mediate cause is the spiritual world; the final effect is the physical world. And all these planes are together in their order and connection because each is in correspondence with the others, and all are the recipients of the influx of Divine life.

The doctrine of discrete degrees saves us from falling into the error of pantheism. God, Spirit, Matter constitute a triad in which not one element is identical with another; and the universe of Spirit, the universe of Matter and the human race are ‘other than itself’ to which the Divine Love can give itself. Divine Love is the cause of creation, and love is the end for which it exists.

This all leads us to the consideration of the relation of humanity to the creation, and of human individuals to the whole race of

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