Swedenborg’s Theology
During the twenty years Swedenborg spent exploring the spiritual world, he took copious, detailed notes about every interaction he had with heavenly angels, evil spirits, and people who had just crossed over into the afterlife—and he transformed the insights he learned from them into life-guiding spiritual principles that can be applied to anyone’s life regardless of religious affiliation.
Want a quick guided tour through Emanuel Swedenborg’s theology? You’re in the right place! Get an overview below, or take detours to delve more deeply into a specific idea.
God
God is love. And wisdom, too. But mostly love.
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God’s Love Fills Us
We were created to be able to receive that love through the two parts of ourselves called the understanding (to understand spiritual truths intellectually) and the will (to act in the ways we know are right).
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Our Ruling Love
By using our ability to learn, think, and act, we develop what’s called our ruling love.
If our ruling love is directed toward doing good for others—our neighbors, our communities, the planet, even God—then we’re on the path to heaven. But if our ruling love is centered around ourselves—self-promotion, winning at all costs, getting as much wealth and power as we can—then we’re on the path to hell.
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Regeneration
We can change our ruling love if we want to. If we see that the way we act hurts ourselves or others, or if we feel we’re heading in the wrong spiritual direction, we can gradually start to be more open to divine love and make better choices. This process of spiritual growth is called regeneration.
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Usefulness
Spiritual growth isn’t just about all of us receiving divine love as individuals, though. It’s about becoming the kind of people who will bring that love into the world through our actions. In order to truly grow, we have to do things that are divinely useful.
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The Afterlife
After we die, we’ll be led to communities of people who love the same thing that we do—which could be in either heaven or hell, depending on the person—so we’ll never be alone.
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Angels and Demons
Every angel or demon in the afterlife used to be a living person. The people who were good and loving during their lifetime continue learning and growing and experiencing deeper and deeper love, for all eternity. But the people who chose selfishness or hate go to the place where they’re happiest: hell.
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Free Will
But in order for the choice between good and evil to be meaningful, we have to be able to learn and choose freely. Sometimes, this means that people can choose to do horrible things to each other, just as they can choose to do good.
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Divine Providence
But no matter what happens, God is always working to turn events toward a good outcome. Part of the design is that we’re often not aware of the ways that the Divine works in us and through us.
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The Word
To help us figure out our spiritual path, God gave us the Word. It’s taken many different forms in many different cultures and spiritual traditions. For Christians, it’s the Bible.
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Correspondences in the Bible
If we can learn to read the hidden language of correspondences in the Word, we find that it’s a story about the Lord—God on earth and in heaven—and how we can develop a relationship with the Divine.
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Correspondences in the World
It’s also the story of the human race and all the spiritual ages that have brought us through history to this moment. And if you can learn this hidden language, you start to realize that it’s not just in the text. It’s written all across our world—and every world, all across the universe.
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Universal Human
God wanted us to find it, because he wanted us to know how to find our way back to him. More than anything else, he wants us to become part of the vast, beautiful body of loving souls that we call heaven.
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Learn More
For a video overview of Swedenborg’s theology, check out “Swedenborg 101” on our offTheLeftEye YouTube channel. If you’re looking for something to read, our For Swedenborg Starters page gives you a solid launching pad, or you can browse through all of his theological writings on our Swedenborg’s Writings & Publications page.
