Spiritual Questions- How to get my baby to stay asleep?Can’t it be unbearable if your eight month old baby repeatedly wakes up at night? You get tired and stressed and the relationship with your partner suffers. Unfortunately for the child, sleep problems that began in infancy can persist for many years. So it is important to teach the baby how to get to and stay asleep. Continue reading → […]
- Your brain is spamming you‘My feet look stupid’. You just had a thought. You had a message in your head. No big deal we get messages all the time. How do we survive all these message? Easy – by filtering. Another watch-able video from OffThe LeftEye. … Continue reading → […]
- How to get my baby to stay asleep?
Author Archives: editor
How to get my baby to stay asleep?
Can’t it be unbearable if your eight month old baby repeatedly wakes up at night? You get tired and stressed and the relationship with your partner suffers. Unfortunately for the child, sleep problems that began in infancy can persist for many years. So it is important to teach the baby how to get to and stay asleep. Continue reading
Your brain is spamming you
‘My feet look stupid’. You just had a thought. You had a message in your head. No big deal we get messages all the time. How do we survive all these message? Easy – by filtering. Another watch-able video from OffThe LeftEye. … Continue reading
Posted in Consciousness
Tagged curtis childs, offTheLeftEye, your brain is spamming you
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Homero Aridjis Poetry Reading
Poetry reading with Ali Smith | 24 May 2012 | Swedenborg Hall, London The Mexican ‘Sun Poet’ and pioneering environmental activist Homero Aridjis has received two Guggenheim Fellowships and numerous awards. Aridjis is a poet on the world stage whose … Continue reading
Posted in What's new
Tagged A Time of Angels, Ali Smith, Eyes to See Otherwise, Homero Aridjis, poetry, Swedenborg Hall
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Life’s Journey
Life is a journey we all have to take. Some paths are smooth, others fill us with pain. There are forks in the road. We choose which one to take, but there will be times when we make a mistake. … Continue reading
Are there really any impure thoughts?
Don’t we hope for clean air to breathe, unspoilt land for human habitation, water courses teeming with healthy nature, fairness in public discourse and decision-making showing respect and care, untarnished by greed, and unsullied by envy? Just as there is impurity around about us is there not also impurity in our individual thinking? Continue reading
A story to warm your heart.
You wouldn’t carry on doing the hard work of writing your novel if you realised your pen wasn’t working and nothing was showing on the paper. But that exactly was what Trish Vickers was doing. She is blind and her … Continue reading
Evidence for God?
People like to say things. Some people like to say, “Life is like a box of chocolates.” And some people like to say, “There’s no evidence for God.” Is not the idea of an all-powerful, reality-creating being pretty wild? Cartoon video … Continue reading
How do I balance my own needs with those of others?
We don’t choose our neighbours, nor our bosses and work-mates, not even our relatives. Sometimes these people are uncomfortable to live with, difficult to talk to, or they oppose our hopes and aspirations. How do you deal with the unwelcome … Continue reading
Spiritual Substance and Material Reality
Spiritual substance, in particular, is hard for our material minds to grasp. We’re so used to thinking of everything solid as being material, and of everything non-material (thoughts, feelings, etc.) as being wispy and insubstantial. But dreams show us a … Continue reading
Patience (After Sebald)
On the 14th May, there will be a ‘collaborative event’ with curator Gareth Evans and Soda Pictures. The Swedenborg Society will present a very special screening in Swedenborg Hall of Patience (After Sebald), the new feature documentary on the writer WG Max Sebald. … Continue reading
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Tagged Gareth Evans, Patience (After Sebald), Soda Pictures, Swedenborg Society, WG Max Sebald
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Eros and Psyche
On 10th May 2012, the wonderful writer and storyteller Sally Pomme Clayton will return to Swedenborg Hall, for her second artist residency performance. Eros & Psyche is a storytelling performance for adults, inspired by Ancient Greek mythology and philosophy. Emanuel … Continue reading
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Tagged Eros and Psyche, Platonic ideas, Sally Pomme Clayton, storytelling, Swedenborg
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How can I face personal tragedy?
Although in his sixties and retired, Jack still felt young. His whole life revolved around doing handyman jobs in his own home and in the homes of his three daughters. He greatly enjoyed the company of his family and their appreciation. But recently … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged Aurelius, Beethoven, Bruce Henderson, cancer, divine permission, divine providence, dread, Epictetus, evil, fear of death, Frankl, gardening, God, handyman, Helen Keller, human freedom, passive victim, personal tragedy, spiritual growth, stoicism, suffering, Swedenborg, unconditional love
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Which book to read first?
Swedenborg wrote many fascinating books for those interested in profound issues. But where does one start? Which one to read first? Dr Jonathen Rose tackles this question in this 6 minutes video giving a brief summary of some of the main titles. And … Continue reading
How do I tackle unhappy childhood memories?
Even living as independent adults in their forties, people can still be haunted by their experience of being mistreated as a child. Such individuals also tend to have recurring negative moods and worry, and long-lasting problems like poor self-esteem, or low self-confidence. From my … Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged authority figures, bitterness, blaming parent, childhood mistreatment, childhood wounds, disrespect, dominating parent, low self-confidence, over-critical parent, parents positive qualities, poor self-esteem, recurring negative moods, recurring worry, tackle unhappy childhood memories, unhappy childhood
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No Greater Love
No Greater Love (Michael Whyte, 2012) Swedenborg Hall Film Screening + Director’s Q&A | Swedenborg Hall | 17 April 2012 The Swedenborg Society is pleased to present No Greater Love, a film by Michael Whyte. The screening will take place … Continue reading
Do I get my way too often?
Okay so you seldom shout at your teenage son to keep his bedroom tidy. In fact you don’t voice explosive anger, never mind verbal abuse or a threat of violence to get your own way. But perhaps without even realising it, do you sometimes use less obvious methods of manipulation?
Do your attempts at influencing others amount to trying to make them think, act, or feel the way you do? How do you assess the way you manage other people in your life? Do you get your own way too often? Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged arrogance, coercion, dishonesty, dominate, explosive anger, get my way too often, getting our own way, habits of communication, humble, humility, love of power, making up excuses, manipulation, nagging, power of love, Ray Silverman, respect, Rise above it, selfish, shout, Star Silverman, Swedenborg, threat of violence, verbal abuse
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Relationships
Weekend Workshop 16.00 Friday 25/5/12 to 14.00 Sunday 27/5/12 Purley Chase Centre This workshop is for those who wish to understand their partners, friends and family better and to grow in closer harmony with them. We all differ in many areas of … Continue reading
Carer’s Prayer
When I have a grumpy day It’s only fair I have to say, The grumpiness that people see, Is not the real me, It’s only my way of trying to say, I am tired, fed up, I feel unloved, And … Continue reading
Do men and women have different needs?
When the women’s movement spoke up for the value of women it rebelled against the traditional gender stereotypes and proclaimed equality between the sexes. It quite rightly opposed any idea of male superiority and female subservience. However this idea of equality has also led to a minimising and even denial of any basic differences between the sexes.
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Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged brain differences, feminine, feminism, fight or fight, gender differences, gender stereotypes, John Grey, masculine, men and women have different needs, nature-nurture, sex differences, sex discrimination, sex equality, sex hormones, sexism, social conditioning, Swedenborg, tend and befriend
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Can science explain human consciousness?
With advances in brain scanning equipment, neuroscientists can now observe what the brain is doing when the person is aware of remembering, imagining, feeling, thinking and even making choices. Before the invention of this technology, it had been well known … Continue reading
Posted in Consciousness
Tagged brain activity, brain scan, cerebral cortex, conscious mind, consciousness, correspondence, discrete degrees, dualism, endocrine system, holism, idealism, materialist science, mental activity, mind, monism, neurones, neuroscience, ontology, philosophy, private intentions, science explain human consciousness, spiritual dimension, subjective experience, Swedenborg, synapses, Wernickes
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A World Full of Millionaires
If everyone was a millionaire the world would grind to a halt. Why tend the fields, to grow the crops, to feed the people, when I have all that money. Why dig the coal, to light fire, to bake the … Continue reading
Mary’s Suitcase
Mary had reached the end of her earthly life. As the cord was cut she awoke to find herself in a brilliantly lit room and by her side was a suitcase. Looking at the suitcase Mary was hesitant because this was … Continue reading
Is honesty really the best policy?
A lot of us have grown careless in what we say. “It wasn’t my fault we lost the game, I didn’t hear the whistle.” or “I was pushed over and my foot hurt.” Who has never made up an excuse … Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged authenticity, blame, connecting with others, conscience, dishonest reputation, dishonesty, distorted thinking, embarrassment, excuses, forgiveness, gossip, honesty is the best policy, is honesty really the best policy, living a lie, prayer, relationships, self-deception, self-examination, self-justification, self-pity
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Why am I discontented?
Brian Moore the former English rugby international player sees something of the dissatisfied person in himself. What he wanted was success. And he pushed himself really hard over and over again to do well. He now recognises that whether it … Continue reading
Counting our Blessings
How often do we (in Britain) take the simplest things in life for granted. After a good night’s sleep in a warm bed, we get up, turn on the tap. There is water to make a cup of tea, hot … Continue reading
What can Aborigines teach us?
It has been suggested that the Australian Aborigine is primitive and uneducated; an animist who uses ritual to win the favour of the spirits controlling food, shelter, and fertility and to ward off malevolent spirits. Despite what sounds to the western mind as believing in superstition, these semi-nomads have shown enormous intelligence by hunting and foraging for food, and thus surviving, in extreme conditions of the arid bush-land and desert wastes for over 30,000 years.
And so the question arises whether there is anything of value in their way of life which can benefit us all today?
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Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged ancestral spirits, animist, Australian Aborigine, Baiame, bora ground, Cyril Havecker, demons, desert survuval, dowie, dreamtime, magic, malevolent spirits, narmingatha, prayer, primitive, spirit body, spirit world, supernatural forces, supreme creator spirit, Understanding Aboriginal Culture, wirinum, yowie
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The Passing
Society says we are supposed to grieve when someone dies but it is not always the case. I was with my grandmother the day before she died at the age of 89, but my experience was a wonderful one. It … Continue reading
How does my guardian angel help me?
According one theory, angel guardians connect with you and influence your thinking. This fascinating brief video (produced by spiritualwisdom.org.uk) shows how this might happen in the ordinary circumstances of our everday lives. Continue reading
Do I have a guardian angel?
It would be nice to believe there is someone watching over you guarding against harm. But the sceptic will soon say this is just wishful thinking. Fairy godmothers are for children’s fairy tales like Cinderella and not for educated adults. … Continue reading
Posted in Consciousness
Tagged Bible, Cinderella, fairy godmothers, fairy tales, guardian angels, mythology, Phaedo, Plato, premonitions, protection from spirits, Psalm, Swedenborg, warnings
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How to be a healing presence?
One of the conditions of effective counselling according to Carl Rogers is unconditional acceptance. Not judging others. Some people believe that unconditional acceptance can be a healing factor also in ordinary interactions of everyday life. For them this would involve practising forgiveness when someone hurts you, and giving encouragement to those who fail to show good behavior, and even not criticising those who do wrong.
But just how realistic is this approach?
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Remnants Exhibition
Exhibition | 23 February 2012 | 6 – 9 pm | Swedenborg House | Free Admission The Swedenborg Society presents REMNANTS, an exhibition throughout Swedenborg House, showcasing objects from the extraordinary Swedenborg archive. This event is organized in conjunction with … Continue reading
Ethical parking control?
Want to do what you think is right despite what your boss tells you? Are you willing to risk losing your job for your principles? Traffic warden Hakim Berkani tried to issue parking tickets in London’s Kensington and Chelsea only … Continue reading
Is there evidence of any life after death?
We have all heard about so-called communications purportedly from a spirit world through mediums. However, less well known are those where no other live person is involved. These have been called ‘after death communications’ (ADCs). An ADC is defined as … Continue reading
Follow experience or scripture?
How do you know what to believe? What ideals to follow? Is it what makes sense, or what others tell you, or what you have experienced and felt? Or is it what holy scripture says? Dr Jonathen Rose tackles this … Continue reading
Posted in Swedenborg
Tagged inner guidance, Jonathen Rose, Outerstreams, scripture, truth
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Does it matter what I believe?
There is a pluralistic mentality that has infused our social consciousness and a spreading attitude that there is more than one world-view or way of thinking that leads to everlasting happiness. We hear the attitude that it doesn’t matter what you actually believe as long as it suits you and you find it helpful. But does what you believe matter? Continue reading
Why does Swedenborg offend some Christians?
This short video briefly deals with how Swedenbrog’s ways of understanding God, Paul’s letters, and mysticism differs from that of orthodox Christianity.
It features Dr Jonathen Rose being interviewed by Andy Nesky
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Journeying Home Workshop
Workshop Saturday 10th March 10am – 4pm Greenhill New Church Centre 177 Leicester Road New Barnet, Herts. EN5 5EB The idea of ‘home’ may have an aspect of a place where you live but also it has different levels of meaning. On a … Continue reading
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The Garment of Love
Talk by Anders Hallengren | 28 January 2012 | 4.30 pm Bloomsbury London. The most important part of Swedenborg’s teachings has never been termed a doctrine: the ‘Doctrine of Love’, which according to Swedenborg is the foundation proper of faith … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, What's new
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After I die will I meet and stay with my partner?
Poets sometimes voice a feeling that even death cannot break the bonds of love.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, — I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! And, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
(Sonnets from the Portugese XLIII by Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
But does love really transcend bodily death and do we ever meet our loved ones
again?
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Can I affect the financial crisis?
The financial crisis has resulted in loss of jobs and personal savings, and huge damage to business confidence. To get greater economic growth some want to encourage the profit motive and reduce regulation by government. But it is precisely the failures of international financial regulation that had led directly to the crisis. Here are some suggestions about what you can do to tackle the problem. Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged austerity measures, bank bailouts, banking ethics, Bear Stearns, business confidence, business standards, Christian Aid, David McNair, debt burden, debt relief, economic growth, economic inequality, economic justice, equity capital, ethical standards, financial crisis, financial regulation, global economy, High Pay Commission, Inland Revenue, Jubilee Debt Campaign, Lehman brothers, poverty, St Paul's Institute, stamp duty, tax avoidance, tax havens
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Did Swedenborg have universal consciousness?
The idea that consciousness may exist independently of the physical body is often widely disputed from all sides and often ridiculed. In this short video Jonathan Rose describes Swedenborg’s different levels of universal awareness. There is a comment on this … Continue reading
Posted in Swedenborg
Tagged Andy Nesky, jonathan Rose, mystic awareness, Outer Streams, spirit world, Swedenborg, universal consciousness
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Stella English
Stella is known as a winner of BBC tv’s The Apprentice Her childhood was a painful one. “It was quite a lonely hard time for me.” Her father had abandoned her at a young age, leaving her mother Drusilla unable … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged Alan Sugar, fostering, gangland, hope, Stella English, Thamesmead, The Apprentice
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Was Swedenborg a mystic?
Someone suggested that if you talk to God, it’s prayer but if God talks to you, its schizophrenia. How could Swedenborg, with a European reputation as a scientist, turn to what seems like mysticism? This short video produced by Science and the … Continue reading
What happens to children who die?
Judging by the popularity of the American fantasy television series Ghost Whisperer, many people would like to believe in death survival even if they haven’t made a jump of faith. Some are willing to talk privately about having felt a … Continue reading
How to practice love in action?
Depressed or self-occupied? A Japanese therapy applies Swedenborg’s philosophy of usefulness. This video shows the primacy of love and shows his useful life and that of others like Helen Keller.
Posted in Swedenborg
Tagged Helen Keller, Johhny Appleseed, love in action, philosophy of usefulness, primacy of love, Swedenborg
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Is there really a hell of punishment?
If doing bad things is caused by environmental circumstances rather than individual moral choice, then surely an eternal punishment after death would be unjust? And if you balk at the idea of evil then you may dismiss the idea of hell. Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged academic pride, an eye for an eye, contempt, crime, fraud, good and evil, heaven, hell, infernal torment, life after death, love one's enemy, malicious, murder, near death experience, psychic visions, punishment, selfish, spirit communicators, Swedenborg, the spiritual world, theft, turn the other cheek, villains
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Are Swedenborg’s ideas out of date?
Together Swedenborg’s ideas give a holistic theory – a very modern approach to human problems. By this, I mean his system of thought tackles the whole person — the heart, head and hands of daily living. Our heart is to … Continue reading
Posted in Swedenborg
Tagged affective, Apollonius, behavioural, behavioural therapy, Bhagava-Gita, cognitive, cognitive therapy, Dante, disorderly actions, fragmented selves, heart head and hands, holism, holistic, Krishna, psychodynamic therapy, Pythagoras, self-defeating behaviour, Swedenborg, troubled people
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Quibbling about Parables
I am having a spot of bother with parables – nothing serious, you understand; nothing to worry about. Some of them, however, do seem just a little dated. There is that famous puzzle about the workers in the vineyard, for … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged good Samaritan, Jesus, parables, prodigal son, religious stories, spiritual stories, spiritual values, Swedenborg
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What Christmas gift suits a non-believer?
The Christmas story features the historical birth of Christ. Religious teachings can be expressed in a dogmatic manner so that any universal relevance or spiritual depth is lost. And so many people today are not Christian believers. However although they do … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged attachments of the ego, care and concern, Christmas, cosmic consciousness, divine human, freedom and rationality, incarnation, inner light, Jesus Christ, Jung, love and thought, non-believer, origins of love, prick of conscience, religious teachings, Self archetype, spirit of humanity, Swedenborg, the Christ within
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Are you allergic to theological books?
I recently started reading another book of theology, but I found it utterly unintelligible and gave up after the first couple of chapters. I sometimes wonder whether theology is a matter of us studying God, or of God studying us. … Continue reading
Attracting Soul Growth, a Meditation Retreat
Purley Chase Centre Warwickshire. Starts Friday 16 December 2011 – 19:00 and ends Sunday 18 December 2011 – 21:00 This weekend is at the turning point of the year, a time when we turn inward to reflect on the year … Continue reading
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The White Bear King
A Christmas storytelling performance for children by Sally Pomme Clayton, the Swedenborg Society’s new Artist in Residence. Storyteller Sally Pomme Clayton brings to life a mysterious and magical Scandinavian wonder tale. Her vibrant performance takes the audience on a snowy journey, … Continue reading
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What spiritual practice helps with childrearing?
Children and grandchildren can provide you with wonderful moments. Their spontaneity and sense of fun can brighten your day. But almost out of the blue all hell can break loose and they can be a real pain testing your limits … Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged baby crying, boundaries, bring up children, child, child-rearing, children, consistency, empathy, grandchild, grandchildren, individual uniqueness, jumping to conclusions, meditation retreat, mindfulness, mindless, parenting, patience, reflection, rushing to judgment, self-restraint, spiritual discipline, spiritual practice, spiritual principles, temper tantrum, unconditional love, understanding and acceptance
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How do you live spiritually?
If we were to cultivate the habit of positive thinking, I feel it could transform our world. To me, finding a reconciliation for all our past suffering and pain, anger and rage means that we would not be risking the … Continue reading
Has Swedenborg had any influence?
The following video tells of several readers of Swedenborg’s books who have included Goethre, Blake, Emerson, Thomas Carlysle, John Ruskin, as well as the leaders of several social movements such as the antislavery cause, women’s rights, and the interfaith movement. … Continue reading
Posted in Swedenborg
Tagged anti-slavery, Emerson, Goethre, interfaith movement, John Ruskin, Swedenborg, Thomas Carlysle, William Blake, women's rights
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Could you sell your soul?
Historians have written about the rise of Nazi Germany and wondered how a civilized country could have become ruled by criminals trying to conquer Europe. How did well-intentioned educated people become so captivated by Hitler’s magnetism that they could accept … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged Albert Speer, anti-Semitism, Aryan heroism, Auschwitz, contrition, crimes against humanity, denial, guilt, Hitler's personality, horrible wat crimes, humane and ethical considerations, Nazi Germany, Nurember Trial, personal decline, personal growth, quality relationships, remorse, scorched earth policy, self-deception, self-interest, Spandau prison
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Learning
There was a day when I could run and jump Branches and clouds were in my reach. There was a day when walking slowly and seeing the world in detail was my achievement There came a day when slowly was … Continue reading
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Does it matter if I don’t think about God?
In this video psychologist Dr Leon James answers this question using attribution theory focusing on Swedenborg’s concept of ‘as of self’ and gives a reason why not thinking about God makes what he says is the main aim of individual … Continue reading
Posted in Swedenborg
Tagged aim of life, as of self, attribution theory, God, Leon James, Swedenborg, video
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Can science explain human existence?
Emotions can run high in the debate between religion and science. Just take a look at the high-profile campaign in the United States to teach ‘Intelligent Design’ in schools. But is conflict inevitable? Those who believe that the origin of … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged blind faith, common sense, creationists, creative source, Darwin. survival of the fittest, Einstein, Galileo, garden of Eden, Genesis, human creation, intelligent design, life source, meaning and purpose, mutation, natural selection, naturalistic explanations, psycho-spiritual, rational understanding, religion and science, religious dogma, religious superstition, roger walsh, self-itelligence, self-orientation, the fall
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Weekend Event: Journey through the Spiritual World
Have you got a hazy picture about what happens when we die? Or perhaps you have some knowledge about what Swedenborg reports about the after-life but realise there are definite gaps in your understanding that you wish to be filled. … Continue reading
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How plausible is reincarnation?
More people in the West are becoming interested in the concept of reincarnation. They are attracted to the idea that the human spirit lives on beyond death. I suspect they have lost patience with two specific doctrines of traditional Christian … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged condemnation, creative source, damnation, death, deja vu, destiny, divine source, God of love, human spiirt, karma, past lives, psychic, purification, rebirth, regeneration, regressive hypnosis, reincarnation, self-exploration, soul, spirit body, spirit world, Swedenborg, vastation
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What is it like to die?
Swedenborg lived in the eighteenth century but many of the readers of his books think he has something to tell us today. This short video shows his experience of dying and what, according to Swedenborg, is in store for each of … Continue reading
Swedenborg Short Film Festival
Friday 18 November | 6 – 9 pm | Swedenborg Hall The Festival will take place in the Society’s grade II listed neo-classical Hall. Following the success of last year we hope the festival will continue to establish itself as an … Continue reading
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Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Starring Shakespearian actor John Barrymore, and directed by John S Robertson, this silent movie production was made in 1920 at Paramount’s Astoria studios New York and is the fourth of over 120 film versions of Robert Louis Stephenson’s macabre novel. It … Continue reading
Posted in The arts
Tagged and Mr Hyde, conscience, Dr Jekyll, evil, Freud, individuation, John Barrymore, Jung, low life, multiple personality, Nigel Ogden, Nita Naldi, projection, repression, Robert Stephenson, self-examination, self-revulsion, sexy dancer, shadow, silent film, Swedenborg
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Agnostics Anonymous
The popular view of an agnostic, I suppose, is of some poor devil who simply cannot make up his mind whether God exists, or not. Most dictionaries, however, tend to offer a more positive definition. Chambers, for example, holds that … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged agnostic, atheism, church-goers, Darwin, Dawkins, God, Huxley, incarnation, religious faith, the natural world
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How can one be happy in old age?
Many people are afraid of getting old. They fear the loneliness of isolation, the unattractiveness of wrinkles and sagging skin, or the impairment of infirmity. But according to psychologist Marie de Hennezel, old age is an attitude of mind. She suggests … Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged attachments, bodily pleasure, Chinese spiritual path, Corinthians, Hennezel, higher consciousness, impairment, infirmity, inner spirit, isolation, lonely, making love, old age, orgasm, sagging skin, seduction, sexual charm, social life, solitude, Sou-Nu, Tao of love, the Spirit inside, wrinkles, younger generation
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Study Bursaries Available
The Swedenborg Open Learning Centre (SOLCe) is now offering a number of Bursaries covering 80% of the cost of its distance learning courses and 50% of the cost of its short residential courses. Prospectus of available courses. Study courses include … Continue reading
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Holy Objects
Having recently watched yet another programme on The Turin Shroud, I am prompted to wonder what all these experts think they are up to. Why does it matter? This is a length of cloth which may – or may not … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged Bible, Christ, holy magic, holy places, holy relics, Lindisfarne Gospels, pilgrimage, St.Cutthbert's, superstition, Turin shroud
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Musical Weekend
Friday 18 November 2011 – 16:00 to Sunday 20 November 2011 – 14:00 This is the fifth of our series of explorations of the enigmas of Genesis. Genesis, the first book in the Bible, seems to be a much deeper … Continue reading
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Looking for Peace at Challice Well
Whilst on a recent visit to south-west England on holiday we had a stop-over for a couple of nights at Wells in Somerset near to Glastonbury. I had read and been told about the Challice Well in Glastonbury, beautiful gardens … Continue reading
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Weekend for Young Adults
Purley Chase Spiritual Centre Warwickshire Friday 20 January 2012 – 16:00 to Sunday 22 January 2012 – 14:00 The emphasis on the weekend will be on informal group discussion of the things that interest us as young adults with … Continue reading
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Can we learn from mystics?
I recently started reading Hymn of the Universe by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin whose words are said to be part of the treasury of mystical literature. I sensed here a heavenly perception of the warmth and light of the creative Spirit
“Over there, on the horizon, the sun has just touched with light, the outermost fringe of the eastern sky. Once again,
beneath this moving sheet of fire, the living surface of the earth wakes and trembles”
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Enoch
Enoch Walked Steadily With God And Then One Day, He Was Simply Gone; God Took Him. I walked today and went for miles, Cultivation that Should be routine. It is spring and the sun is out, Making the temperature … Continue reading
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House of Reeves
The furniture store had been going for 144 years. Known as The House of Reeves it was a well known building in Croyden — until it was burned down in August by rioters. How could this family business possibly have … Continue reading
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What is the meaning of inner crisis?
John could not fathom what was wrong. He and his wife were comfortably well off and had got the house as they wanted it. He had always been a confident person. Outwardly in their lives nothing much had changed. But, … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged authentic relationship, fools paradise, God, honest self-appraisal, inner crisis, inner self, low mood, meaning of life, new birth, real self, self-confidence, self-deception, self-discovery, self-doubt, self-esteem, self-justification, self-orientation, self-satisfaction, smugness, spiritual awakening, spiritual healing, spiritual philosophy, Taoist
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An Ancient Prayer
Give me a good digestion Lord, And also something to digest Give me a healthy body, Lord, With sense to keep it at its best. Give me a healthy mind, O Lord, To keep the good and pure in sight, … Continue reading
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Do ley lines exist?
Review of The Sun and the Serpentine by Paul Broadhurst and Hamish Miller.
Some matters talked about in new age circles are attractive for those who have a sense that there is a mystery to life. Two examples of topics that resonate are ley lines and dowsing – and they come together in this book. But do ley lines exist and does dowsing work?
Ley lines are alleged alignments of such places as ancient monuments and megaliths, ridge-tops and water-fords. It is claimed that these lines have spiritual power and that their intersection points resonate a special psychic or mystical energy.
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Posted in Consciousness
Tagged ancient sites, common feeling background, creative source, divination, dowsing, enlightenmnet, Hamish Miller, intuition, ley lines, mild mystic experience, mystery of life, mystical energy, mystical force, new age, Paul Broadhurst, psychic energy, rational mind, sacred sites, spiritual power, spiritual world, St Michael's line, Swedenborg, The Sun and the Serpent
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Taize
Taize Style Music Weekend Friday 11 November 2011 – 16:00 to Sunday 13 November 2011 – 14:00 Purley Chase Centre, Warwickshire What is the Weekend about? •Gathering for Taize style worship morning, noon and evening. •Time and space for bible … Continue reading
Posted in What's new
Tagged circle dancing, reflection, singing practice, spiritual music, taize, walking, worship
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How to find adventure?
Ever gone travelling off the beaten track? Young people may do this before they embark on a new career and those recently retired from an old one can also seek somewhere different. They go off to exotic locations to discover what is there and at the same time find out something about themselves. Perhaps we all need a thrilling time occasionally, to get away from the hum-drum aspects of everyday life. Travelling is not an option for everyone. However, the journey can be found in other ways.
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Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
This novel is one of President Obama’s favourite books. It is widely acclaimed as a book of meditative calm and spiritual intensity. Despite its success with a secular audience it unusually has a lot of openly religious content. Revd. John Ames is a Congregational minister and the chief character and narrator. He had experienced great sorrow for a long time in his life after the death of his wife and daughter. Many years later when 69 years of age however he meets and marries his second wife, Lila, who is much younger than him. The book has a quiet gentle almost mystical feeling of peaceful old age – a letting go of the things of life. John remembers grief but never without comfort, loneliness but never without peace. Continue reading
Posted in The arts
Tagged Calvin, Congregationalist, forgiving, jealousy, John Ames, life after death, Lord, mysticism, Obama, old age, predestination, religion, religious faith, salvation, Swedenborg, theology, unquenchable fire, uses of adversity
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Healing through Symbols and Bodywork
Workshop Purley Chase Centre Tuesday 18 October 2011 – 10:00 and Wednesday 19 October 2011 – 16:00 Come for one or two days of talks, sharing in groups, one to one sessions of Reiki healing, spiritual counselling, life symbols, space to reflect and enjoy … Continue reading
Posted in What's new
Tagged bodywork, dance and movement, healing, life symbols, nature, reflection, Reiki, sharing, spiritual counselling, walking
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Autumn Film Festival
Friday September 16th: Diary of a Country Priest (1951) (dir. Robert Bresson) ‘A film that words fail’ – Los Angeles Times More information Friday September 23rd: A Man Escaped (1956) (dir. Robert Bresson) ‘A heart-stopping, palm-sweating, emotional roller-coaster ride with … Continue reading
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Why did so many join the English riots? Part 4 Ineffective criminal punishment
Nearly 75% of those aged over 18 and charged with offences committed during the riots, had prior criminal convictions. A few commentators have adopted a condemnatory attitude. “These people are just scum and that’s the end of it.” And there is a common view that trying to throw light on the riots in terms of social problems is tantamount to excusing individual actions. Social explanations do not erase responsibility of individuals but labelling these people as criminals does not help us understand why they became the way they are. Examining any relevant factors in society is not to justify behaviour but to try to throw some light on it. I would suggest a spiritual attitude is to condemn the behaviour but not the person: it is to look to enhance civil and moral order.
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‘Suite Française’ by Irène Némirovsky
This book has received critical literary acclaim as a masterpiece. The author gently captures the tragedy of war-time France, the conquered and the conquerors, and exposes the inner hearts and minds of the people in a way that is totally convincing. Daily emotional life is described in detail.
The social upheaval of war is made worse by the sudden invasion and escape from bombing. The plight of the refugees, their panicky exodus from Paris – villages invaded by exhausted hungry women and children battling to find a place to sleep, cars abandoned after running out of petrol. In the midst of this horror and turmoil of disorder, we see simple dignity of a modest couple searching for their lost son as well as greedy people trying to save their valuables and the murderous evil of the mob.
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Posted in The arts
Tagged Auschwitz, bully, charitable heart, collaboration, divine providence, ethical dilemmas, evil of the mob, faithfulness, hate, hatred, humbling experience, hypocrisy, Jew, Nemirovsky, nobility of spirit, social disorder, subversion, Suite Francaise, survival, suspicion, treachery, violation, war-time France
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The Riots and Disorder
The recent riots in Britain, starting in London and quickly spreading to other cities in England, left many people feeling shocked, insecure and even frightened. For a short time we were reminded what life is like if laws of order … Continue reading
Outlook Magazine
This is a twice a year beautifully illustrated publication by the Swedenborg Movement.
Outlook is a free magazine for thinkers everywhere, especially those ordinary people who may be trying to make sense of their daily lives. It is neither a religious newsletter, nor an academic journal. It seeks to promote the distinctive ideas of Emanual Swedenborg in simple everyday language. It aims not to instruct but to entertain and inform.
Issue no 67 is recently published,
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Why did so many join the English riots? Part 3 School indiscipline
There are probably several complex factors that can throw light on the causes of the riots. Examples are the culture of consumerism and acquisition as well as the possible effects on
moral values of permissive parenting. This is the third of four articles trying to understand what is going wrong from a spiritual dimension.
One view expressed in The Times newspaper is that “these disgraceful scenes were perpetuated by people who have not experienced any meaningful consequences for misbehaviour at school ” And so one spotlight is falling on social discipline in the education system. Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged blaming, boundary setting, charity, heavenly marriage, indiscipline in school, kind firmness, labelling, misbehaviour in school, psychology of control, punishment, punitive, riots, sanctions in school, social discipline, social learning, socialisation, Swedenborg, tabloid press, teacher authority
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Good Samaritans
Aaron Biber is aged 89 but that hasn’t stopped him raising £35,000 for the benefit of small traders whose businesses were wrecked in the Tottenham riot. Thanks to all the good Samaritan well wishing donators. Shiva Kandish nearly cried when his … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
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Why did so many join the English riots? Part 2 Permissive parenting
There are probably several complex factors that can throw light on the causes of the riots. This is the second of four articles looking at different aspects of the problem. Is the shocking behaviour a symptom of permissive parenting? We tend to still assume that the role of a parent is to supervise children and teach them right and wrong. But to what extent is this still happening?
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Posted in Meaning of life, Uncategorized
Tagged absent fathers, black families, cause of the riots, film censorship, hate-filled fantasy, horrible behaviour, incomplete parenting, lone parent, media violence, moral deficit, moral development, moral principles, permissive society, sexual extortion, video nasties, working mothers
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Why did so many join the English riots? Part 1 Acquisitve society
Many people have been shocked, frightened and angry at the breakdown of law and order that has caused great damage in some of the larger cities across England; violence against unarmed police, arson and destructive behaviour together with widespread looting and mugging which terrorised shopkeepers and residents. A lot of those going on the rampage were teenagers. How has this happened? How do we make any sense of these disgraceful scenes that have brought shame on a nation? Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged academic failure, acquisitive society, apprenticeships, arson, cheating politians, dependency culture, destructive behaviour, feeling valued, greedy bankers, looting, low self-esteem, possessions, practical skills, respect, riots, social disorder, social failure, social underclass, unemployable, unemployed, violence, worthless
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Social work working
Stephen writes that when he was 14 years old he became depressed because he had severe acne and other children picked on him at school. “I took an overdose of sleeping tablets and was admitted to hospital, this was the … Continue reading
How to love the enemy?
I know who my enemy is: the individual who maliciously damages my property: tramps all over the flower-bed in the garden: scratches the car with a key: trashes the home during a burglary. I feel angered by anyone who threatens to harm my sense of well-being. These are the people I want to complain about and get my own back on. So how on earth does one stop hating such people. How do you love your enemy? Continue reading
Sacred Dance
Retreat Weekend: Dancing with the Beloved 16:00 Friday 16 September 2011 to 14:00 Sunday 18 September 2011 Purley Chase Centre, Warwickshire The Lord invites us to be his Bride. How often do we recognise this? We are used to calling … Continue reading
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How to find confidence?
Do you lack confidence when it comes to certain situations? It could be anything: dancing, playing sport, chatting with strangers, doing your job, making love. Yet, even confident people can get unstuck somewhere along the line. Calamities oblige us to reconsider the bigger picture. So when it comes down to it, in what can we place our confidence? In our own abilities? In the ideas of others? Or in something beyond all of us? One example of the last of these three possibilities is to do with what the psychologist Abraham Maslow called `the whole of Being’. Continue reading
Correspondence of Symbols
Distance Learning Tutored Course from SOLCe This course invites you to research a few parallels between the spiritual and physical worlds and then to present your insights and ideas to your tutor and fellow students, when possible. The Creator communicates … Continue reading
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Multiculturalism — good or bad?
Anders Behring Breivik murdered dozens of people in cold blood in Norway as a horrendous way of protesting about Islamic immigration. How should we respond? By reiterating democratic liberal values in favour of multiculturalism? Or seeing a warning sign about a society’s limits to tolerance of what is alien? Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged Breivik, Christianity, cultural tradition, Dalai Lama, enlightenment, ethical living, heavenly communities, Hinduism, human rights, immigration, Islam, Lutherism, mass murder, multiculturalism, Muslim, nationalism, Norway, oil wealth, racism, religions, social cohesion, social mix, society, spirit world, Swedenborg, Taliban, Taoism
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How to escape unwanted thoughts?
I must wash my hands repeatedly. Such an idea or mental picture may pop into your head unasked. Such ideas are unwanted if they are repetitive, unpleasant or difficult to resist. In addition to compulsive acts, they can exacerbate jealousy, temptation, or unreasonable guilt. Swedenborg’s account of unconscious inflow from a spirit realm can give the sufferer some confidence that unwanted thoughts can be ignored and got rid of. Continue reading
Writing people off
Cheryl and Michael are a lesson to us all about not writing people off. Still going strong … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged Cheryl Holden, Michael Fernandes, teenage parents
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Spiritual World Course
Distance learning tutored module: Spiritual World Swedenborg Open Learning Centre Have you ever wondered what happens to us after our physical body dies? Where do we go? How do we get to heaven, or end up in hell? What will … Continue reading
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Can we tell the future?
To want to know the future is a perfectly natural desire. We pick up our ears when we hear of foretold events. Who would not want a few days foreknowledge of the stock market for example? A few incidents in the life of Emanuel Swedenborg suggest he had precognition. Continue reading
Posted in Consciousness
Tagged Caroline Watt, divine providence, future, God, going with the flow, Harvey Irwin, John Wesley, knowledge of the future, Moravian Brethren, parapsychological research, precognitive dreams, psychic powers, psychic realm, spiritual world, stock market, stream of providence, Swedenborg, symbols in dreams, Van Dusen, worry
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Cats Don’t Get It!
Lucy seeks and shows affection in the way she nuzzles up to me. But she has her faults like clawing the soft furnishings. I haven’t seen any signs of what I would call a social conscience in her makeup. No public prosecutor would take an animal to court on a criminal charge. It’s otherwise with human beings. We also have a will but is ours not one based on rational understanding? For unlike animals have we not a higher degree of mind that can see beyond the things of the senses? Continue reading
Gay Pride and Straight Talk.
Whether to allow gay bishops is currently a hot issue in the Church of England. Many people feel puzzled by this reluctance to embrace homosexuality by strands of organised religion. And some feel angry and want to promote the idea that gay people should be proud of their sexual orientation feeling this is their natural inclination. From a spiritual perspective, we might ask whether a gay partnership has the same potential for human happiness as that of a heterosexual one. So what does Swedenborg have to say about it? Continue reading
The Divine in Marriage
Distance Learning Course (with tutorials) from Swedenborg Open Learning Centre According to the proverb, marriages are made in heaven. How true this is, according to Swedenborg in his late-published book Conjugial Love, sometimes translated as Marriage Love. Conjugial – is … Continue reading
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Are you going with the flow?
Do you feel things could run more smoothly with less frustration to tire you out? Like mislaying the garden tools or the favourite recipe book for that special meal, not to mention difficulty finding a satisfying job, loving partner, comfortable home? When you seem to be swimming against the current of life, then don’t you feel dispirited and drained?
Animals in their natural habitats don’t have these difficulties. They seem to be in harmony with the flow of nature. Call it instinct but they have less trouble finding food to eat, building their shelter, finding their mate, caring for their young and all this without having any instruction or money.
So how does one go with the flow?
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Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged adrenaline junkies, animal instinct, divine inflow, eternal now, going with the flow, here and now, illusion of the senses, life's flow, mindfulness, mystic, power of now, self-intelligence, spiritual heat, spiritual light, stream of providence, Swedenborg, western psychology, Zen Buddhist masters
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Ancient Knowledge: Lost & Found?
Ancient people had knowledge that was lost and this is fairly obvious to most people. We only need to look at the Egyptian pyramids, Mayan pyramids, Stonehenge etc. to become aware of this. If you have an open mind in my view you can easily find out how this knowledge has been rediscovered and recorded… Continue reading
Too much sex on display?
Society as a whole tends to take polarised views of sexual permissiveness. Emotive language is used by those on both sides of the debate – one side being labelled as narrow-minded, prudish and moralistic and the other as being decadent, indecent, and exhibitionist.
Those with a more balanced perspective use more moderate language. They ask … Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged adult soft porn, Brian Kingslake, Buddhist precept, conjugial love, decadence, Epicureans, exhibitionist, indecency, infidelity, liberals, love, moderation, modesty, moralistic, Mothers Union, parents, permissiveness, provactive dress, prudish, purity of thought, seamier side, self-control, sex, sexual, sexual intercourse, sexual restraint, sexual union, sexualized, spiritual order
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The colours of creation
A spiritual growth workshop From: Tuesday 23 August 2011, 19:00 To: Thursday 25 August 2011, 15:30 Leader: David Gaffney In this workshop we will be looking at the great significance number seven has to life and how we live. There … Continue reading
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Telling right from wrong
Morality has a bad press. It smacks of being judgemental and a blaming attitude. Discrimination is out and tolerance is in. Anything goes these days as long as it doesn’t cause harm. Many people do not think in terms of morality yet they feel that decisions should be made on the basis of the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Those, who deny there are any personal rights and wrongs, nevertheless, emphasize the ideals of love, holism, and self-improvement. And even criminals usually acknowledge their crime is wrong deserving punishment if they are caught. So the question remains just how does one know what really is right and wrong?
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Posted in Ethics
Tagged aesthetic values, Buddha, Christ, code of practice, criminal law, custom, discrimination, economic ethics, enlightenment, ethical standards, evolutionary biology, golden rule, human soul, ideals, individual choice, moral judgment, political ideology, principles, reciprocity, social standards, spiritual philosophy, spiritual values, Swedenborg, tabloid press, tribalism
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The Trouble With Me!
The trouble with me is I’m always to know; I’m in everything I do and I’m everywhere I go. I’m there when I wake, I’m there when I sleep; I’m there when I laugh and I’m there when I weep. I’m in what … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged egoistic, heavenly Father, Jack Dunnion, Lord, prayer, religious poem, talking with God
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Can a person be evil?
Ratko Mladic was the key player and commander of the Bosnian Serb forces that tried to eliminate Muslims from large parts of Bosnia. His forces massacred eight thousand Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995, and the brutal siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1995 resulted in the death of 10,000 people. His capture and trial for war crimes reminds us of the torture, mass rape, arson and genocide that formed part of this ‘ethnic cleansing’. How does one explain these evil crimes against humanity? Are standards of good and evil are only products of local culture, custom, or prejudice and that the very word ‘evil’ is an outmoded concept no longer fit for purpose. Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged arson, Bosnian Serb, crimes against humanity, cruelty, evil, fear, genocide, greed, human suffering, malice, Mladic, pride, rape, Ratko, Sarajevo, Satan, self-love, sexual violence, slavery, Source, spirits, Srebrenica, Swedenborg, Thomas Aquinas, torture
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B.Dillon & Momus in Conversation
Brian Dillon & Momus In Conversation | 27 June 2011 | 7.00 pm Swedenborg Hall London A collaborative event with Sternberg Press. Authors Brian Dillon and Momus in conversation, to celebrate the co-launch of Sanctuary (Sternberg Press, May 2011) and … Continue reading
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Can gossip be a good thing?
Is it good to talk about the private lives of public figures? Like the sexual seductions of Dominique Straus-Khan, managing director of the IMF? This is someone who was heading for high political office. Or the widely reported affair of footballer Ryan Giggs with Big Brother star Imogen Thomas? What is more important — the human right to a private life or the media’s freedom of expression? Can talking about people we know be a good thing? Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged angelic attitude, discrimination, gossip, gossip is fun, hypocrisy, judgmental, prejudice, public exposure, public figures, right of privacy, role models, Ryan Giggs, sanctimonious society, self-examination, shame, Stauss-Khan, Swedenborg, tabloid press, the good in others
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Jacob’s Ladder
Residential Forum, Purley Chase Spiritual Centre, Warwickshire, From 19:00 Tuesday 05 July 2011 to 14:00 Thursday 07 July 2011 Many people find that Swedenborg’s writings give them a wonderfully rational and understandable account of the Bible and Christian theology. Yet … Continue reading
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Sluts or what?
‘Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised’ said policeman PC Michael Sanguinetti in Toronto, whilst advising students about safety on campus. In so saying he unleashed a storm of outrage. The marchers seem to be implying that sexual signals have no meaning in the world of human interaction. Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged conjugial, crime, feminists, Kenneth Clark, page three girls, rape, responsibility, sexual desire, sexual signals, sexualised culture, sluts, Swedenborg, temptation
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Soul Awakening
Residential Weekend, Purley Chase Spiritual Centre Warwickshire, Friday 24 June 2011 – 19:00 to Sunday 26 June 2011 – 15:30 Everyday life can easily take up all of our focus and perhaps there is no space or time left for … Continue reading
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Is religion passed its sell by date?
The World Values Survey, which is claimed to be the most reliable survey of beliefs across the globe, suggests that there has been a substantial cultural change. William Bloom writing in The Complete Encyclopedia of Mind Body Spirit reports that in modernised and free societies, where people have access to diverse views, up to seventy per cent of the population has moved away from a single faith tradition. Many seem to be acknowledging a spiritual dimension to life without affiliating with organised religion. Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged Allport, appeasement, Bateson, bigot, christian liturgy, enlightenment, God, hypocrite, illumination, meaning of life, Mind body spirit, new wine, punitive God, rational, self-righteous, spiritual seekers, spirituality, Swedenborg, Tacey, tripersonalism, William Bloom, World Values Survey
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Responding to terrorists
Although details of the raid remain sketchy, one can’t help wondering if the US could have tried harder to capture bin Laden alive and put him on trial rather than carrying out a summary execution. We don’t know to what extent if any there was any danger to the attacking forces bursting in on bin Laden of him detonating a hidden explosive device. The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Williams, said: “I think the killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling because it doesn’t look as if justice is seen to be done.” Few pundits have resisted the opportunity to ridicule him for this. Were they right to do this or was he right in what he said? Continue reading
Posted in Ethics
Tagged Al-Qa'eda, archbishop, bin Laden, condemnation, Dr Williams, rage aginst the West, retribution, rough justice, terrorists, war on evil, wounded pride
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Going with the Flow
Residential weekend workshop Purley Chase Spiritual Centre, Warwickshire, 7pm Friday 1st July to 2pm Sunday 3rd July 2011 USING VISUAL IMAGES TO BETTER LIVE IN THE STREAM OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE Having energy and contentment come about when the individual is … Continue reading
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Are my inner voices real?
Joe Simpson, whilst climbing on the West Face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes, fell from high up on the mountain and was left for dead. Frostbitten and slowly freezing to death he recovered consciousness to realize he had … Continue reading
Two to Tango
Residential Weekend Purley Chase Spiritual Centre Warwickshire Starts 16:00 Friday 13 May 2011 Ends Sunday 14:00 15 May 2011 This is the fourth of our series of explorations of the enigmas of Genesis. Genesis, the first book in the Bible, seems … Continue reading
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What if it happened to me?
Something always seems to be going terribly wrong somewhere in the world; like an earthquake destroying buildings, someone running amok with a dangerous firearm, or civil populations of non-combatants affected by weapons of war. Watching the television news you wonder … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged bankruptcy, catastrophe, compassion, consideration for others, disaster, divine realitiy, earthquake, financial recovery, forest fire, heaven, house fire, personal tragedy, post-traumatic stress, pulling together, tsunami early warning, world disaster
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Relationships
Weekend Residential Workshop Purley Chase Spiritual Centre Warwickshire, England. Start Date:Friday 20 May 2011 – 16:00 End Date:Sunday 22 May 2011 – 14:00 This event is for those who wish to understand their partners and relationships better and to grow in closer … Continue reading
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What’s life after death like?
In the post Is there an afterlife? I pointed to a similarity between Swedenborg’s reports of his psychic experiences and numerous accounts of the near death experience. There are also striking similarities between what various modern mediums have said concerning … Continue reading
Posted in Consciousness
Tagged Astral, being of light, character, heaven, Hindu, life after death, mediums, nde, near death experience, procreation, projection, psychics, punishment, self-evaluation, soul body, spirits, Swedenborg, Upanishads
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Pathway to Wholeness
Distance Learning Tutored Course: SOLCe What makes us a complete person? Is it earning lots of money and having lots of expensive possessions, or is it being at peace with ourselves and showing respect and care for our fellow citizens? … Continue reading
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Is there an after-life?
A young man was skating on the local reservoir and fell through the ice. As he approached hypothermia, he could hardly move. He went down in silence his lifeless arms floating above his head. He then stopped feeling afraid and … Continue reading
Posted in Consciousness
Tagged after-life, bodily sensation, consciousness, death, Dr Moody, hospice, nde, near death experience, space, spirit body, spirits, Swedenborg, time
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Spiritual seekers welcome
Walking the Angel Way Workshop Saturday 21st May, West Wickham New Church Hall, 142 High Street, West Wickham, Kent, BR4 0LZ What is an angel? Angels are messengers, bringers or channels of light and inspiration – they radiate love and … Continue reading
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Issues of the Contemporary World
Distance Learning Course: Swedenborgian Approaches to Issues of the Contemporary World In the modern world we meet many ethical challenges, and there is often no consensus on how they should be confronted. Different religions hold opposing views, different nationalities see … Continue reading
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Do you deserve admiration?
You have seen the young pop performers, posturing on stage, pretentious, reeking of youthful ego and full of their celebrity status. And you wonder if you could have gone up on stage yourself and done that too. Maybe not! But what about something else you do that deserves attention — great disco dancing, passing of academic tests, goal scoring on the sports field? Don’t you too deserve some admiration? Or is the meaning of life for you something very different? Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged achievements, admiration, afterlife, attention, Berlusconi, boasting, boob job, British culture, celebrity, content, courtesy, disco dancing, ego, ego's illusion, fame, gang-land youth, heavenly states, joy, meaning of life, peace, pop stars, respect, sex scandal, social class, social status, sports, Stanley, stigma, Swedenborg
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Swedenborgian Psychology
Psychology is the study of our experience and behaviour. It is about the way the human mind works. How do children start to think more rationally? How do we become male or female in personality? How do personal relationships succeed … Continue reading
Money: How much?
When one is hard up, buying a lottery ticket and thus dreaming of untold wealth has its attractions, even if in one’s heart of hearts one knows there is virtually no chance of winning. A bit of harmless fun. Or is having a pleasing fantasy any different from coming out all guns blazing to make money and lots of it? What are ethics of making money?
Posted in Ethics
Tagged bankers, envy, fantasy, heaven, indignation, lottery, meaning of life, money, Morocco, opulence, profit, recession, rich
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The peace of mind mystery
We can’t all escape to a cave to gaze at our navels all week in silent contemplation. That’s the trouble – we can’t get away from life itself with its daily frustrations and setbacks. It’s what takes away our peace of mind. The fact that we have a burning desire for certain things means that we are likely to feel tense or angry if anything turns up to prevent us having them. Sometimes the meaning of life is hard to fathom and the mystery of peace of mind is no exception. There is a fascinating Taoist story that gives us a clue …. Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged anger, anxiety, divine spirit, Jung, meaning of life, reflection, scarab, self-orientation, stream of providence, Swedenborg, synchronicity, Taoism
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Walking the Angel Way
Workshop Saturday 14th May 10am – 4pm Bournemouth Rita Russell Rita has facilitated Spiritual Growth workshops for many years and brings her wide life experience into this work. She has three grown-up children and four grandchildren. During the workshop we will … Continue reading
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What is mysticism?
The word ‘mysticism’ is used with a number of different meanings and carries different connotations to different minds. To some it is simply a type of confused, irrational thinking. In the popular mind it is associated with spiritualism and clairvoyance. … Continue reading
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Overcoming suspicion
Do you give the man in your life a warm embrace in order to sniff for any strange perfume? Or scroll through your partner’s phonebook, when she’s not around, checking for any new male contacts? Signs of sexual jealousy in … Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged altruism, Assagioli, Buddha, distress, distrust, God, Hindu, jealousy, Jesus, love and light, psychosynthesis, spiritual growth, spiritual healing, spiritual questions, suspicion, trust, trusting attitude
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Asking for help
Is life giving us too many headaches? Or have our circumstances dramatically changed for the worse? We say that we are “fine” and that we are in control. But deep down we know we are not. The first step is to admit to ourselves when we actually do need help. So why not simply ask for it? If we do not ask, how can we expect to Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged comfort eating, embarrassment, God, help, love, prayer, religion, retail therapy, spiritual healing, spiritual questions, William James
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Heaven and hell
On Saturday 2nd April, the Swedenborg Society will launch its brand new translation of Emanuel Swedenborg’s Heaven and Hell by KC Ryder, in Radcliffe, Manchester. The Swedenborg Open Learning Centre will host this celebratory event, which will also feature … Continue reading
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Feeling better about oneself
Psychologists have found that a strong sense of worth goes along with being confident and assertive, having good physical health, and pleasing relationships. Yet some people have low self-esteem. They feel bad about themselves. What do you think of yourself? Are you pleased with who you are or ashamed? When someone makes critical remarks about you, is it water off a duck’s back or Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged appeasement, Christ, Christian, cognitive-behavioural counselling, cross, divine love and wisdom, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, God, justice, meaning of life, original sin, overcriticl parents, physical abuse, psychodynamic counselling, psychologists, self-esteem, self-worth, sex abuse, spiritual healing, spiritual questions, spiritual sensitive, verbal abuse, worthlessness
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The Western Esoteric Traditions
A Historical Introduction By Nicholas Goodrick- Clarke (Oxford University Press, USA) £19.99 Professor Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke is Director of the Exeter Centre for the Study of Esotericism at Exeter University. He is also a scholar of German and may be known … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged Ernst Benze, esoteric, gnosticism, Goodrick-Clarke, mystical theology, neoplatonism, rationalism, Swedenborg, theosophy
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The Master and his Emissary
A Lecture by Iain McGilchrist on the Divided Brain and the Making of the Western W0rld April 7 2011, 6.30 pm, Swedenborg Hall London £5.00/£3.00 concessions For details and booking email nora@swedenborg.org.uk or tel. 02074057986 On 7th April 2011, the Swedenborg Society will be … Continue reading
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Connecting with Nature
Walking Retreat – the natural world around and our inner nature of spirit Friday 11 March 2011 – 19:00 to Sunday 13 March 2011 – 14:00 At Purley Chase Centre Warwickshire Booking The weekend will be spent in gentle, … Continue reading
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The Colours of Creation
Friday 04 March 2011 – 19:00 to Sunday 06 March 2011 – 15:30 Purley Chase Centre Warwickshire. Booking Form In this workshop we will be looking at the great significance number seven has to life and how we live. There … Continue reading
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Big society
David Cameron’s ‘big society’ has caused a lot of comment. Unpaid jobs don’t pay the rent/mortgage or bring food on the table. In this day and age people are obliged to work long hours and have busy lives. An ethical perspective maintains that people should do things for others as well as for self.
But being useful is also a way of self-improvement. With less time to dwell on self we can find unsuspected energy from people around us. This method of spiritual growth involves focusing of what is needed and getting on and doing it.
Mercy killing: good or bad?
The question of euthanasia is a political one. Some religious people condemn euthanasia as wrong. However, many reach no final conclusion although seeing several relevant spiritual perspectives. Has one the right to live and thus the right to die. Should the individual choice of those who want assisted suicide be respected? Should one be allowed to die to escape intolerable pain and loss of independence? Is there any point in keeping someone alive past the point he or she can contribute to society? Continue reading
Workshop: Walking the Angel Way
Workshop led by Helen Brown Sat 19th March London
Angels are messengers, bringers or channels of light and inspiration – they radiate love and light this is because Divine Love is constantly yearning to be connected to all of us. Angels bring Divine qualities to us, to touch, support and guide us. Continue reading
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Seeing our flaws
We know it is all too easy to try to deny any personal criticisms that come our way. No one finds it comfortable to acknowledge shortcomings in their makeup. However, when we do notice feelings of resentment, guilt, or hurt in our dealings with others, we might start to wonder if we are at fault. Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual healing
Tagged bad me, Berne, conscience, Ed Husain, failings, fanticism, faults, Freud, games, id, Islamic, Jung, Muslim, power, rational mind, shadow, shortcomings, Sullivan, Swedenborg
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A terrible wrong
If someone does us a terrible wrong, we want to tell the person how we feel. That is how Joanne Nodding felt even though she was a victim of a horrendous crime. Most rape victims never want to see their … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged emotional control, emotional survival, forgiving, Joanne Nodding, moving on, rape victims, rapists, restorative-justice
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Swedenborg on spirituality
Who was Swedenborg? What did he teach? What did he have to say about human nature, individual development, personal choice, human destiny, innocent suffering, God, and Christ? Continue reading
Illusions that destroy hope.
No future? Lost hope? Can’t see how things might improve? When we get into this negative state of mind, we lack energy even to do the easiest of things and nothing gives us much pleasure.
For Macbeth, life seemed to have a future — one of power and status. Yet he also felt such things were insignificant. For he said:
“Life is but a walking shadow… a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury – signifying nothing.”
Perhaps he was feeling that only what the world could offer were mere illusions. Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged alienation, hope, illusion, meaninglessness, self-condemnation, spiritual, Swedenborg, unconscious
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Contacting a spirit guide
Some one said ‘I need a hand getting in touch with my spirit guide, I have been trying for a few years now and seem to be getting no where.’
So why might this be? What are the reasons why a spirit guide might and might not be contactable?
What is wisdom?
We all put our foot in it from time to time, some of us more than others. I’m thinking about social gaffs, ill-judged decisions, or reaching an unfair conclusion about someone. I happened to notice a woman popping something into her mouth and tossing aside a piece of what I took to be a sweet wrapping paper. I voiced my indignation not rudely but admittedly with a strong note of irritation in my voice. Immediately her companion launched into a hostile … Continue reading
Swedenborg’s ideas
For me, Swedenborg is the grandfather of today’s new spiritual consciousness. The Divine revelation he received back in the 18C is concerned with our awareness of the inner process of spiritual awakening and connecting to God. Swedenborg’s books contain a wonderland of ideas which help me to understand God, truth and the purpose of my life here.
Here are his current top 3 ideas ……
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Posted in Swedenborg
Tagged Adam and Eve, angels, Bible, correspondences, death, ego, enlightenment, God, God is love, heaven, illusion, meaning of life, nature, revelation, self, spirits, spiritual awakening, spiritual consciousness, spiritual questions, spiritual world, Swedenborg, thoughts and feelings, unconditional love, Word of God
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Do spiritual symbols mean anything today?
One example of a spiritual symbol is the image of a tree of life. This is a universal symbol – appearing in ancient wisdom. We find it across cultures, religions and mythology. It turns up as the Yggdrasil (the world tree) of Norse religion, as part of the Jewish Kabbalah and as an Armenian religious symbol, to mention just a few examples.
What does the Tree of life mean to us now?
The Tree of Life appears in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, and also the last – the book of Revelation. At the beginning and the end. It’s almost as if it’s the framework into which the rest of the Bible fits.
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Posted in Meaning of life
Tagged Bible, creative love, divine, Four Quartets, garden of Eden, Jewish Kabbalah, meaning of life, mythology, Norse religion, perception, reltionship, revelation, spiritual journey, spiritual questions, spiritual symbols, Swedenborg, T S Eliot, tree of knowledge, tree of life
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Book Launch and Talk
At Swedenborg Hall London 29th January 2011: 4.00 pm
Emanuel Swedenborg’s HEAVEN AND HELL
A new translation by KC Ryder (Swedenborg Society 2011) &
Smile or Die: Swedenborg, the Cerebellum and Procedural Control
A talk by Dr. David Lister. Continue reading
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Swedenborg’s God
Swedenborg’s writings are a deep and rich treasure trove of spiritual insights into human nature, spiritual development and the constant presence of the Divine who is always loving, creating and providing for the created. To gain anything of real value … Continue reading
What should we look for in 2011?
It’s going to be a tough year. V.A.T. rises to 20% on New Year’s Day. The prices of food, electricity and gas have just been increased. Wages and pensions remain fixed. Gloom and doom are all around in abundance! What … Continue reading
Calming anger
Have you been hopping mad recently? Some people temperamentally seem to be more easily roused to anger than are others. Yet, to some extent we all get irritated at times. Our anger needs spiritual healing. We feel cross when others attack what we love like our child or pet animal. It could be something we love in ourselves, that when attacked, causes us a sense of wounded pride. Offensive put-downs thrown at us in a condescending tone of voice also can get to us. Continue reading
Erotic can mean erratic
Is marriage an impossible dream? Is it unrealistic to expect two people to live together happily for the rest of their life and find spiritual healing together? These days in England for example, couples, more often than not, live together … Continue reading
Is sex a spiritual matter?
Many of us are inclined to rebel when someone tells us what to do. We do not always take kindly to being told what is right and wrong behaviour. However, ethical living is part of spiritual healing according to the … Continue reading
Six ways to achieve healing of the spirit
Some people wonder whether human beings can change. Another way of putting it is to ask whether they can find spiritual healing. I would suggest that the answer depends on our view of human nature. We all know that there are differences in the … Continue reading
To act or not to act on guilt – that’s the problem
Tragically within weeks of the wedding, the wife was given a diagnosis of cancer and soon found herself needing a mastectomy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. She and her husband needed spiritual as well as physical healing. In his case the grinding role of a full-time carer takes a devastating toll unless sufficient respite care is available.
Drifting – how to stop?
There are things in all of us that we need to face up to for which we need spiritual healing. The problem is worse if we are the kind of person who isn’t used to taking the initiative. The good news is it is possible to become more assertive and proactive. This is because of our inner freedom to change. In my experience if I asked my therapy clients about the aspects of therapy that they found particularly useful, they often cite the discovery and assumption of personal responsibility. Courage to change arose when they started to act on this insight. Continue reading
Self-control – how?
Many of us have developed at least one way of acting that can hurt ourselves, annoy others or damage relationships. Something is out of control. Something needs some spiritual healing. We weren’t born with these actions and what is learned can be unlearned. Gaining better control over our behaviour can be done but requires a conscious effort and persistence. There is an important distinction between on the one hand the notion of resisting bad impulses by our own efforts alone and on the other hand resisting them in God’s strength ‘as of ourselves’. Continue reading
How can one find job satisfaction?
To many people, work seems to be a humdrum monotonous time that goes on and on involving much the same thing day after day. Spiritual healing is needed in some work places. It is true that being a small cog in a big factory or organisation, it may be hard to see that we are contributing any real service to the community but people can assume that other jobs like house-keeping, gardening or labouring are necessarily uninteresting.
The attitude we bring to a job can have a big effect on whether or not we find it boring. Do we have negative or positive reasons for what we are doing at work?
An occupation can exercise a positive pull on some workers as when it brings its own rewards for them. One example is the opportunity to learn on the job.
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How to calm anger
Have you been hopping mad recently? Some people temperamentally seem to be more easily roused to anger than are others. Yet, to some extent we all get irritated at times. We feel cross when others attack what we love like our child or pet animal for instance.
It could be something we love in ourselves, that when attacked, causes us a sense of wounded pride. We may experience `road rage’ in our heart, reasoning defensively in our head about it being the other driver’s entire fault.
We might then use our hands to make rude gestures or write letters making unreasonable demands. Offensive putdowns thrown at us in a condescending tone of voice also can get to us. Then irritation easily spirals when we retaliate in kind and the heated things that are said – which on reflection we often do not even mean – hurt both parties. It is possible to harbour resentment for years especially if we continually avoid someone or allow ourselves to slip into the habit of not conversing with them when we do have an opportunity.
Spiritual healing may be a relevant way forward. However making up may be easier said than done. In addition, not every attempt at reconciliation works. After all, it takes two to tango. We need to eat a little humble pie even if the other person does not. The trouble is as …..
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Posted in Essays
Tagged abuse, anger, angry, assertion, blacks, Buddhism, civil disobedience, creative source, dignity, divine, ego, enemy, freedom, hatred, hurt, illusion, injustice, Jainism, Jesus, love, proprium, protest, rage, reconciliation, responsibility, restitution, revenge, rudeness, self-concern, self-intelligence, South Africa, spiritual healing, Swedenborg, therapy, Tuttu, violence
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Sharks are dangerous
According to the Perth Now News, a man bravely tackled a shark to save the life of a young woman. Trevor Burns a middle aged tourist was enjoying a snorkelling trip off the coast of Western Australia, when a 10 foot Great White sank its teeth into 20 year old Elyse Frankcom. She had been hosting a swim-with-the-dolphins tour when the terrifying brush with death unfolded. Surgeons had to extract teeth from Ms Frankcom’s wounds and Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged bravery, great white, sharks, snorkelling, swim with the dolphins
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Hope for humanity?
You’ve just had your laptop stolen. You are cross. These thieves are a ruddy nuisance. Then you remember you haven’t got a data back up. This happened to an unnamed university professor in Sweden. Only in his case the computer stolen contained ten years worth of work. Anyone would be devastated. So we can imagine his feelings when only a week later he received an envelope in the post containing a Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged hope for humanity, laptop theft, returning stolen goods
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Choose Happiness
Ten steps to bring the magic back into your life by Steve Wetton Aber Publishing 2007 pp 144
By his own admission, the author is no intellectual, yet neither is he a fantasist and what he reports has the ring of authenticity. He offers us the chance to find a meaning of life for ourselves and he does this by discussing his approach to positive mental attitude and the idea that whatever we get out of life depends on what we’ve put into it. He takes the view that many of us consistently undervalue our own potential. But more dramatically he illustrates his theme, encouraging us to learn from his mistakes. He shares his own experiences and that of others he knows – real life stories that keep one’s attention.
Wetton tells us something of his younger days – excessive alcohol consumption, womanising, and sometimes violence. Someone who hated all the numerous jobs he tried. Spiritually speaking he was lost. But he eventually found a path.
One job he had involved driving around in a little van visiting customers on a door-to-door basis selling stuff and collecting weekly payments. One particular day he was running late rushing away from a house call when he got back into his van that was parked on the driveway. “I looked over my shoulder and prepared to zoom into the street without any obstructions to worry about. But for some unaccountable reason I found my foot lifting off the accelerator and Continue reading
£10000 hero
Several British news media have reported that a 22 year old was awarded £10,000 for helping to convict a rapist, and then donated this amount to the victim. Lloyd Gardner saw a Crime Watch programme on TV and recognised two women he knew and this led police to the rapist, Polish national Jakub Tomczak. Mr Gardner felt he didn’t deserve the reward and that he wanted the money to help the woman rebuild her life. Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged financial donation, Lloyd Gardner, rape victim, selfless
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A Vision of Utopia
Turn on the television news and there is an almost overwhelming focus on financial mess, social problems or crime. So what actually is the meaning of life? When I look around me I can’t help longing for a better kind of world. Sometimes I feel we are so used to the unsatisfactory state of things that we have given up hoping for something better.
Is idealism completely out of fashion? Have we become too cynical to have a vision of utopia? Or are we too scared of being tarnished with the same brush as the fanatical extremists who have not been slow in broadcasting their own hate filled criticism of modern life. Perhaps I’m being hopelessly idealistic but surely society could be better. How can I find my perfect society? What follows are the prejudices of an idealist.
Posted in Essays
Tagged angels, bigotry, blame, Christ, communication, community, contentment, courage, discontent, environment, eternity, friendliness, God, government, heaven, honour, humility, ideal society, idealism, ideology, jobs, love, loyalty, managers, meaning of life, money, peace, philosophy, police, political, politicians, pornography, punishment, rationality, religion, respect, science, social class, social evil, social status, society, spirit, spiritual, spiritual world, Swedenborg, technology, truth, utopia, waste, workers
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Can I find forgiveness?
Spiritual healing can be needed for guilty feelings. Not all that is going on in our mind is the working of a true conscience. Some of us find ourselves at times on a guilt trip. Even if we have a sound mind, we may sometimes feel guilty over the smallest thing – without rhyme or reason painstakingly worried about something we have done that really is unimportant.
One example is children who, having been trained by their parents to follow certain rules, like never putting one’s elbows on the table at meal times – feel guilty when they have grown into adulthood feeling guilty if they ever break this rule. Other examples of illogical guilt are saying `sorry’ a lot of the time and unfairly criticising ourselves. Trying too hard to get friends to like us, feeling easily embarrassed when asking for favours or doing anything that might displease them.
Many hopelessly sick people feel constantly guilty. This may result from the suspicion that their sickness and fate are self-inflicted and their own fault. Alternatively, they may assume, more or less, the role of the utterly dependent child. Some consciously apologize for the trouble and fuss they are causing. (Our Western culture fosters a sense of guilt in most of us when illness places us in the dependent role). If we are dying, we may even feel as if we are forcing the living to face the necessity of their own deaths for which we suppose they will not be thankful. Continue reading
Posted in Essays
Tagged attributions, blame, conscience, family, forgiveness, Freud, God, guilt, guilty feelings, narcissism, needs, neurosis, personal growth, psychoanalysis, punishment, sick, spiritual healing, Swedenborg
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Standing up to yobs
You are on a train and 30 drunken football fans are hurling abuse at you. What do you do? WalesOnline reported that Lisa Robinson found herself in exactly this situation. After she had stepped in to try to prevent another passenger from … Continue reading
Smile or Die
Lecture on the Cerebellum and Procedural Control
by David Lister
Date: Sat, 29/01/2011 – 4:00pm
Venue: Swedenborg Hall, The Swedenborg Society, 20 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH
David Lister will explore the modern knowledge we have about the evolution of the brain, with particular reference to the cerebellum and is functions as described by Swedenborg.
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Madeleine Waller
Madeleine Waller, Artist in Residence: Shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2010 The Swedenborg Society are very proud to have the photographer Madeleine Waller as their current Artist in Residence. Madeleine was very recently shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic … Continue reading
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Good begat good
PoW Heinrich Steinmeyer (now aged 84) was captured after D Day and imprisoned near Comrie, a Perthshire village. Locals were so kind to him that he stayed there for seven years after the War and still keeps in touch with … Continue reading
Psychology of the Future
by Stanislav Grof, Suny Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology, State University of New York Press. 2000. ISBN 0 7914 4622
This book is about modern consciousness research. It is written by one of the founders of transpersonal psychology and covers his ideas regarding non-ordinary states of consciousness. His term for these is ‘holotropic’ experience which signifies ‘moving towards wholeness.’ His discussion draws on for example such fascinating human states of consciousness as past-life experiences, peak experiences, communication with spirit guides and channelling, near-death experiences, crises of shamans like witch-doctors, states of possession, and awakening of Kundalini. He also reports findings from his original research into ‘psychedelic therapy’ and ‘holotropic breathwork’.
One critic has commented ‘If more psychiatrists could be persuaded that human consciousness transcends the limitations of the physical brain and instead is but an aspect of what may best be described as ‘cosmic consciousness,’ we could not only expect treatment modalities to change, but we could also anticipate the possibility of culture-wide rethinking … about the nature of personhood.’
Posted in Consciousness
Tagged afterlife, brain, breathwork, consciousness, divine source, future, Grof, holotropic, organic disease, psychedelic, psychiatry, psychology, psychospiritual, religion, research, science, shaman, spirits, spiritual phisilosophy, spiritual questions, spiritual world, spirituality, Swedenborg, therapy, transpersonal, unconscious
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What makes us happy?
Imagine you were phoned up out of the blue by a researcher from Harvard University and asked what you were doing, how were you feeling and what you were thinking? Research reported in the journal Science found that’s what happened … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged absorbed, active, busy, daydreaming, happiness research
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Shocking view
Ever looked at Google Street view on the internet and seen yourself on the screen? That’s what happened to Bob Mewse, aged 56, although he didn’t recognise the morbidly obese man, with a shirt hanging over his huge stomach as … Continue reading
How can one find a meaningful friendship?
Who doesn’t want to feel respected or liked by other people? Yet how many of us are very troubled in this area and fail to be our true selves as a result.
Appreciating one’s solitude – for example in the back of beyond – at times can be a source of refreshment and energy. Yet, sometimes being on your own does feel very lonely. Even when in a crowd or a group situation we can also feel lonely. Then our loneliness can come from feeling different from, and not belonging to the network of people with whom we associate at work, home and play. If we are not at ease with ourselves, we will be ill at ease with people we meet. We may build a wall around ourselves and not allow others to look inside it. We may doubt there is anything of value we can share with them like a sense of humour, sparkling conversation, interesting ideas, or some useful knowledge. This is a fear that others will discover what we imagine to be our limitations. So we may find ourselves thinking, “I’d rather do it myself,” “I prefer to be alone.” Because we do not mix with others, people do not get to know us and we will lack friends and close relationships. Then we will feel even lonelier.
Friendship flourishes with having something in common and thus having shared conversation and activity – experiences that give delight.
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Posted in Essays
Tagged acceptability, alone, attachment, Bowlby, childhood, closeness, collective unconscious, communication, companionship, divine humanity, divine spirit, friend, friendship, God, human contact, Jesus, Jung, lonely, loner, meaning of life, mediums, mystical presence, psychic, psychoanalysis, relationship, respect, solitude, spirit, spiritual questions, spiritual world, spiritualist, Swedenborg, true self, values
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Fidelio: A Critic’s Disappointment.
Welsh National Opera Production
Hippodrome Theatre Birmingham 12/11/10
Future performances will be at Llandudno, Southampton, and Oxford.
At the outset I’ve got to say the other night’s performance of the opera Fidelio by Beethoven in Birmingham was a disappointment for me. This despite the inspirational nature of the music as a rousing, triumphant affirmation of the belief that the most important human qualities – love, courage and kindness – can exist in even the most inhuman of conditions. It is a story about a woman who disguises herself as a man working in a prison in order to save her husband who is languishing there through no fault of his own.
There were both tender intimate scenes and highly charged choruses. However, the emotional impact of the performance on me was lacking. The singing was first class and the soloists in particular deserve admiration given the great vocal skill and endurance demanded of them by the score. But to my mind the acting of the performers seemed wooden. What little movement on the stage seemed to happen in slow motion.
Posted in Reviews, The arts
Tagged Aristotle, artistic, Beethoven, bodily senses, courage, deafness, drama, feminine, Fidelio, holism, humanity, idealism, inspiration, kindness, love, marketing, materialism, meaning of life, music, opera, Plato, romance, spiritual health, spiritual questions, stage, Swedenborg
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The Unbelievable Truth
By Gordon Smith, 2004 Published by Hay House, Inc
There have been many books written by psychics on spirit consciousness but this has got to be one of the more credible. Gordon Smith has been hailed as Britain’s most accurate medium. I saw him the other day at a theatre in Birmingham and clearly the audience were astonished at the detailed factual information he gave that was confirmed by the individuals he was talking to.
Of course our western culture tends to be sceptical about anything that is not rationally understood and claims such as those by Smith are highly contentious within the world of science. Having said that many people nevertheless embrace paranormal beliefs. Gallup has conducted several polls and find that about three-quarters of the American population believe in the one or more paranormal processes.
The author comments on how amazing it is to watch the reaction on someone’s face when a certain piece of evidence comes through from the other side. It can put a light back on in a person’s life. Continue reading
Posted in Consciousness, Reviews
Tagged altered states, Christian, consciousness, dead, death, evil, Gordon Smith, hauntings, heaven, hell, life after death, medium, mediums, paranormal, poltergeists, psychic, psychics, punishment, spirit, spirits, spiritualist, Swedenborg
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Conference: Visionary Scientist, Scientific Visionary
Saturday 13th November 20/21 Bloomsbury Way, WC1A 2TH. This conference, held in the bicentenary year of the Swedenborg Society, hopes to provide a contemporary overview of Emanuel Swedenborg and his enduring influence as a major influence on Western culture. Lars … Continue reading
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21 Grams Exhibition
This is an exhibition by Paul Tecklenberg, 13th November 20/21 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH An exploration into what the soul could be through a journey of 21 objects, each weighing 21 grams. This art work is inspired by Emanuel Swedenborg’s writings on … Continue reading
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Erotic might mean erratic
Is marriage an impossible dream? Is it unrealistic to expect two people to live together happily for the rest of their life and find spiritual healing together?
These days in England for example, couples, more often than not, live together for some time before even considering the possibility of marriage; a very different way of looking at things from say the middle of the twentieth century.
What lies behind this change? Some would point to the availability of contraceptives that allow us to have a full sexual relationship for the time being without the long-term commitment of parenthood. Others would point to a less hypocritical society. We all know that nearly half of marriages these days end in divorce. It is asked, “Why pretend everything is perfect by getting married when it clearly isn’t likely to stay that way in many cases?”
Another suggested reason for living together without getting married is to do with a fear of failure of the relationship in the full glare of public knowledge. At least in Britain this pessimism is perhaps not surprising given the high rate of marriage failure. People see cohabiting as having the advantage of being a private arrangement between two people not involving any socially recognised level of commitment and which can be finished as well as started relatively quietly.
Posted in Essays
Tagged affection, cohabitation, commitment, communication, conjugial love, couples, divorce, erotic, failure, God, healing rifts, heavenly marriage, infatuation, insensitive, love, marital disharmony, marriage, marriage breakdown, mutual love, resentment, sexual relationship, spiritual healing, spiritual questions
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The Five Ages
Swedenborg’s View of Spiritual History
Extracts from Emanuel Swedenborg with commentary by P L Johnson. Swedenborg Society, 2008; ISBN 978-0-85448-154-5; xv + 243 pp; £11.95 + p&p.
This intriguing book is a selection of quotations from Swedenborg’s writings that relate to his view of different spiritual ages of the world in human history. In bringing together this material, nowhere found in one place in Swedenborg’s voluminous writings, Patrick Johnson has provided a useful service. His added comments are helpful in giving continuity and relevant recent historical knowledge, as well as some of his own suggestions.
Swedenborg can give us little guidance on dating these past ages, for his account is derived from an interpretation of the Bible as to its religious meaning. Despite this, The Five Ages shows how current ways of speaking might relate to both ecclesiastical terminology and biblical figures and events. The claim is that this holistic approach helps us to understand mankind’s psycho-spiritual development across different epochs, despite
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Posted in Reviews, Swedenborg
Tagged aborigine, beliefs, bronze age, customs, desires, divine, duty, enlightenment, epochs, external, fables, golden age, history, holism, human development, humanity, inner journey, internal, iron age, love, meaning of life, moral questions, myths, neolithic times, new age, Patrick Johnson, psycho-spiritual development, religious culture, rituals, selfless concerns, silver age, social obligation, spiritual ages, spiritual decline, spiritual health, spiritual questions, states of mind, Swedenborg, truth, understanding, wisdom, wrong-thinking
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Is sex a spiritual thing?
Many of us are inclined to rebel when someone tells us what to do. We do not always take kindly to being told what is right and wrong behaviour. However, ethical living is part of spiritual healing according to the world’s spiritual traditions. That following a set of rules of conduct is conducive to spiritual growth. How does this apply to sexual relationships?
People may not be concerned about the rights and wrongs of sexual behaviour. They ask:
“Isn’t sex a basic drive that needs to be satisfied, just like hunger and thirst?”
“Isn’t sexual expression one of our inherent freedoms?”
“Isn’t sexuality a way of expressing our unique individuality?”
To answer “yes” to these questions may be correct for some but it is to miss a spiritual principle, for it ignores the idea of a growing union of mature love between two people. There are many reasons for coldness developing between a couple but one of the most damaging tends to be the sense of hurt and distrust in one partner caused by the other becoming sexually drawn to another person.
Posted in Essays
Tagged adultery, chaste attitude, conjugial love, couple, distrust, gender, heavenly marriage, hurt, infidelity, love, lust, mature love, meaning of life, partnership, romantic love, sex, sexual desire, sexual relationships, spiritual growth, spiritual healing, spiritual questions, spiritual traditions
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The Zombie Survival Guide
by Max Brooks Published by Duckworth 2009 ISBN 978 0 7156 5318 2
Are you alive and kicking? Not so sure? Perhaps you feel your own level of vitality, vim, and vigour are at a low ebb. If so The Zombie Survival Guide may be for you. It is a self-help book with a difference. It purports to protect the reader from entities called zombies. These fantasy creatures have became popular in modern horror fiction since the success of the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. They are portrayed as lifeless, sterile and apathetic, supposedly roaming around with a shambling awkward limp, and experiencing little or no physical sensation or emotion. The popular myth is that they are either re-animated human corpses or human beings controlled by someone else by magic. In either case they are said to be devoid of life of their own, and so assumed to be wanting to suck the life-blood from those who get into their clutches. If they get hold of you the book suggests this would be a living death and it aims to give practical advice about how to avoid this peril.
Yes, it all sounds rather macabre but I do wonder if this is a potent symbol for our times.
Posted in Essays, Reviews
Tagged anxiety, apathy, boredom, corpse, demons, evil spirits, excitement, existential, fantasy, ghouls, God, hell, horror film, living dead, macabre, magic, meaning of life, mind, Muslim, myth, negative states, pessimism, purpose, spiritual, spiritual health, supernatural, symbols, thoughts and desires, tranquillisers, unemployment, voodoo, wicked, zombie, zombies
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Two Art Events
SATURDAY 23RD OCTOBER The Swedenborg Society will proudly participate in THE BLOOMSBURY FESTIVAL 2010. We will present two art events: an EXHIBITION PREVIEW of 21 Grams, an installation by Paul Tecklenberg; and an ART/THEATRE/DANCE PERFORMANCE from Nissa Nishikawa, our current artist … Continue reading
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Blessings of the Dark Season
Spiritual Workshop Saturday 27th November 10am – 4pm Blessings of the Dark Season Venue: Greenhill New Church Centre 177 Leicester Road New Barnet, Herts. EN5 5EB All spiritual seekers welcome. Do bring a friend. Silke Alima Stoeckel Silke Alima Stoeckel is … Continue reading
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The Colours of Creation
Friday 4 March 2011 – 19:00 to Sunday 6 March February 2011 – 15:30 Purley Chase Centre In this spiritual growth workshop we will be looking at the great significance number seven has to life and how we live. There are seven colours … Continue reading
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Usefulness: Discussion Weekend
Friday 18 February 2011 – 19:00 to Sunday 20 February 2011 – 15:30 Purley Chase Centre Living in the moment is to be truly alive. This state of mind comes not from pursuing our own agendas but rather from feeling we … Continue reading
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Young Adults Weekend
From Friday 21 January 2011 – 19:00 to Sunday 23 January 2011 – 15:30 Purley Chase Centre Informal group discussion of the things that interest us as young adults with regard to our spirituality, with plenty of chances to follow up and … Continue reading
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Two to Tango Weekend
Friday 12 November 2010 – 16:00 to Sunday 14 November 2010 - 15:30 Purley Chase Centre The Patriarchs and their wives give us clues as to how to identify with our genders at various levels in order to make powerfully connected marriages. We … Continue reading
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Young Families Weekend
Friday 29 October 2010 – 16:00 to Sunday 31st October 2010 – 14:00 Purley Chase Centre More Details
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Alone in Berlin
by Hans Fallada (Translated by Michael Hofmann) Penguin Modern Classics.
The author of this absorbing novel has created a story about a decent character, Otto Quangel, who with his wife lives in Berlin during the second-world war. Working in a factory and living amongst a people whose private misgivings and criticisms of their political leaders are silenced by fear, Otto, also has a daily horror of the possibility of being reported to the authorities for having a wrong political attitude or for having committed some minor misdeed against the state. Such accusations could well result in arrest and torture or even a death camp. Yet he is prepared to communicate his criticism of the government’s oppression and unjust social policies as well as their military conquests abroad. For the regime in seizing absolute power, have destroyed any vestiges of democracy.
I wonder how we would react in similar circumstances? Thank goodness I do not have to face such a test. But many people in the world today who live under dictatorship have to find some way of accommodating themselves to corruption in their society while maintaining their self-respect.
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Posted in Reviews, The arts
Tagged Alone in Berlin, Berlin, conscience, corruption, death, degeneration, evil, Fallada, fear, Germany, Hitler, Nazi, novel, oppression, political, power, sadism, social norms, torture, tyranny, war
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Serenity prayer
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged Reinhold Niebuhr, serenity prayer, spiritual courage, wisdom
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How do we stop life drifting by?
Some people drift aimlessly through life reacting to events and never making things happen for themselves. However, whatever the personal problem, it is often necessary for us to take the initiative in doing something about it, rather than letting things drift. Otherwise, it is only when some crisis occurs that eventually the situation forces us to make decisions about say a job, home, or even a close relationship. Better to prevent difficulties getting out of hand than allow circumstances no longer under our control to push us into a corner.
Often and in various ways we may slide into letting life around us govern how we think and behave – in a way that enables us to blame ‘it’ if ever we feel criticised. So it tends to be “someone else’s fault – not mine!” But spiritual healing may be needed.
Perhaps we are willing to be of help to others even when it is an inconvenience. It is good to be selfless and charitable. However, do we sometimes allow others to exploit our better nature? One sign of this is if we were to feel fed up with the way others take advantage of us or feel quietly resentful when sidelined, or put on.
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Lines from William Blake
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour. from Auguries of Innocence William Blake
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged grain of sand, metaphor, spiritual symbolism, William Blake
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Nurturing the Soul Course
By Helen Brown published by spiritualwisdom.org.uk © July 2009 pp 75 £9.95 Enquiries: contact editor@spiritualquestions.org.uk
Helen also leads groups taking this course. The aim is primarily to encourage reflection, experience and exploration of what our ‘soul’ means for each of us. The scope of the course includes music, art, prayer, meditation and energy medicine.
This has been a course that was both inspirational and challenging. Throughout the eight sessions in our exploration of the ‘soul’, Helen gently guided us along an inner path in keeping with her book on the subject.
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Posted in Meaning of life, Reviews
Tagged art, energy medicine, Helen Brown, meaning of soul, meditation, music, nourishment, prayer, reflection
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Soul Symbols
by Helen Newton and Becky Jarratt
Published by spiritualwisdom.org.uk 2008 pp 157 £10
This book encourages us to stop, take notice of the world around us and reflect on the inner reality it contains. Everything in nature is said to exist because it is a reflection of something of spirit. The book mainly comprises photographs of scenes and objects together with commentary regarding their psycho-spiritual significance. Some of these pictures can also be purchased as separate cards.
The suggestion is we reflect on what each picture might be saying to us about ourselves, and then read the comments provided including quotes from a variety of sources including from Swedenborg, who wrote in depth about the meaning of symbols. The authors claim that the thirty six symbols that form the heart of this book are just a start to understanding this key to both the Divine and our own personal, spiritual transformation.
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Posted in Meaning of life, Reviews
Tagged Becky Jarratt, Helen Newton, inner reality, nature, psycho-spiritual, Swedenborg, t
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Mystery repairman
Ever get grumpy seeing broken fences and benches in your neighbourhood? According to the Oldham Evening Chronicle, a local cyclist called Stephen Rimmer aged 37 had got fed up about this sort of thing too. Only, he decided to do … Continue reading
Looking for answers
From our childhood onwards our lives are filled with questions of one sort or another – some more pressing or even agonising than others. But where are we to look for valid answers and find the meaning of life?
There are the really big questions and the smaller ones. Here are a few of the bigger ones. Does outer space beyond our solar system go on forever or does it have an edge – and if so what is on the other side? Where do we come from, why are we here, and what will become of us when we die? I can imagine some alien intelligence on a far distant planet asking exactly the same questions. These sort of universal questions have puzzled thinking people down the ages.
Children as well as adults ask questions. The play age stage of childhood is often characterised by developmental theorists as one of explorative activity and exuberant discovery. Consequently good educational practice encourages a child-centred approach to learning. This compares favourably with the old approach of rote learning. Modern teachers enhance children’s interest by providing knowledge building on what they already know. They relate their teaching to the child’s limited experiences stretching their understanding a bit further.
Posted in Essays
Tagged absolute truth, bad men, big questions, children, divine, enlightenment, eternal now, existential, God, good men, happiness, heart head and hands, illumination, illusion and reality, imagination, inspiration, Jesus, meaning of life, meditation, mindfulness, prayers, providence, religions, soul mind and body, spirit of truth, spiritual awareness, spiritual teachers, Swedenborg, therapists, Tolstoy
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Cost free shop
There is a village in Yorkshire near the town of Skipton. All was well until its only shop closed down two years ago. Time for some creative thinking by the councillors. So with no costs they opened a tiny ‘open all … Continue reading
Posted in Uplifting writing
Tagged community spirit, community trust, honesty, Skipton, telephone kiosks
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Heart, Head and Hands
An Interpretation of Swedenborg’s Writings in Relation to Psychological and Spiritual Well-being
by Stephen Russell-Lacy. Seminar Books, 2008. 978 0 907295 36 5. (paperback) 180pp £10
“A fine little work … that will warm the hearts of the general public and all practicing Swedenborgians who are of a non-technical bent. …We find ourselves understanding a text while feeling that, at the same time, we are liberated by just reading it. This happens in many places in the narrative. Traditionalists will love the book, as it preaches the straight and narrow with regard to doctrine, but in places it almost unconsciously breaks out into a kind of semi-restrained wildness that reminds us of Swedenborg’s own mind – rational but also inward, intuitive, deep, creative, and as our British cousins are wont to say, spot on.”
“It’s a pretty comprehensive attempt to offer aid in meeting life’s many challenges. On Time Magazine’s ‘read, skim or toss’, scale for books, this is definitely a read – and keep handy for future reference.”
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Posted in Reviews, Spiritual healing, Swedenborg
Tagged behavioural, book, cognitive, distress, disturbance, guilt, head and hands, heart, heart head and hands, issues, life, meaning of life, philosopher, practice, problems, psychology, psychotherapy, religious, self-help, spiritual, spiritual healing, spiritual questions, spirituality, suffering, Swedenborg, theology, theory, therapy, well-being, wholeless
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Why are human beings cruel?
Nine-eleven was an act of cruelty as was the setting up of Guantanamo Bay torture centre. These recent acts of human cruelty are part of a long history of man’s inhumanity to man. The massacres, looting and capturing of slaves by forces led by Attila the Hun in 5th century eastern Europe; the unrestricted bombing of civilians living in cities like Gunernica during the Spanish civil war; the starvation, brutal treatment and extermination of Jews, and other victims of persecution in the Nazi concentration camps.
Human cruelty of course goes on all the time perhaps in less dramatic ways and in a much smaller scale than these. Malicious gossip can destroy a personal reputation; spiteful actions can result in huge distress; nasty comments within close relationships can cause longstanding wounds. Why do people feel so full of contempt, or want revenge to act out their feelings in such cruel ways?
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