I read this today, and found it so fasinating, so I wanted to share. What do you think!? It is by Emmanuel Swedenburg 1743.

Here is the introduction to him. from After Life Experiances," Emmanuel was a bachelor scientist and reconized as Europes's most brillant thinker, He devoted his toatal creative energy into discovering the true nature of the human soal. And there he came face to face with God. After his Christ encounter, his inner life underwent an extraordinary parnamormal transition, leaving him with an amazing capacity for 2nd sight unique in the annals of psychic phenomena."

I don't know about all that, but he sure had some interesting things to say. Here tis.

A person's true desire is revealed at death There is a "ruling desire" which a person keeps after death, and which never changes to eternity. Everyone has a considerable number of desires, but they all go back to a ruling desire and make one with it - or, taken all together, compose it.

All the elements of intention that are in harmony with the ruling desire are called "desires", because they are desired. Some of these desires are more inward, some more outward; there are some directly bound; some are nearer, some are farther away; there are various kinds of subordination.

Taken all together, they make up a kind of kingdom. Thus they are in fact organized within a person, even though people are completely unaware of their organization. To some extent, however, this is made known to people in the other life, for they have an outreach of thought and affection there that depends on this organization. This is an outreach into heavenly communities if the ruling desire is made up of desires of heaven, but an outreach into hellish communities if the ruling desire is made up of desires of hell.

First: After death, people are their desire or intention.

Second: To eternity, people stay the way they are as far as their intention or ruling desire is concerned.

Third: People who have a heavenly and spiritual desire enter heaven; while people who have a physical and worldly desire without a heavenly and spiritual one enter hell.

Fourth: People do not keep their faith if it does not come from a heavenly desire.

Fifth: Desire in act is what lasts; hence this is the person's life.

After death, a person is his desire or intention.

This has been borne in on me by observed experience over and over again. The whole heaven is divided into communities on the basis of differences in the good that comes from desire. Every single spirit who is raised into heaven and becomes an angel is taken to the community where his or her desire is, and once there they are where they belong so to speak - as thought they were at home, where they were born. An angel senses this, and makes close friends with others like themselves.

When they leave and go somewhere else, there is a certain constant resistance. This is the effect of their longing to return to those who are like themselves, which means to their own ruling desire. This is how close friendships are formed in heaven. The same holds true in hell, where people also form friendships on the basis of desires which are opposed to heavenly ones.

We may establish that after death people are their desire from the fact also that there is a removal after death, a kind of carrying away, of the elements which do not make one with their ruling desire. If a people are good, then all the things that are discordant or that disagree are removed and, so to speak, carried away. In this way they are installed in their own desire. The same happens with people who are evil (the difference being that true things are carried away from them, while false things are carried away from good persons), until finally all individuals become their own desire. This takes place when a spirit-person is brought through into the third state described below. Once this has happened, people constantly turn their face toward their inner desire, keeping it always before their eyes wherever they turn.

The same holds true for people in this world: their own desire leads them too, and they are led by others by means of their own desire. It is all the more true when they become spirits, because then they are not allowed to present the semblance of any other desire, or to pretend a desire that is not really theirs.

All personal association in the other life evidences the fact that people's spirits are their ruling desire: for in fact, so far as anyone acts and talks in keeping with someone else's desire, that person seems complete, with a fully expressive, cheerful, lively face. But so far as anyone acts and talks contrary to someone else's desire, that person's face begins to change, to become hazy, and to fade from view. Eventually the whole person vanishes as though the person had never been there. I have often been amazed that this is so, since nothing like it can occur in our world; but I have been told that something like this does happen to the spirit of a person, which is no longer with another person's view when it turns away from that other.

Several times, I have been enabled to see how good, simple folk wanted to educate evil people in matters of truth and goodness, and how these latter ran away from this education; and when they reached their own kind, they grasped the false elements that suited their desire with an intense pleasure. I have also been enabled to see good spirits talking with each other about true things, which the good people present listened to eagerly, while the evil ones who were also present paid no attention whatever, just as though they did not hear anything.

Paths are visible in the spiritual world. Some lead to heaven, some to hell; one to one community, one to another. Good spirits travel only along paths that lead to heaven, to the community which is involved in the particular good that comes from their own desire. They do not see paths leading in other directions. Evil spirits follow only paths that lead to hell, to the particular community there which is involved in the evil that comes from their own desire. They do not see paths leading in other directions; and even if they do, they do not want to follow them.

Since desires do define everyone's life in this way, everyone is examined as to quality as soon as they come into the world of spirits after death, and are connected with people who are involved in a desire like their own. People who are involved in a heavenly desire are connected with people in heaven, and people who are involved in a physical desire are connected with people in hell.

Then too, after the first and second states have been completed, these two classes are separated so that they no longer see or recognize each other. All individuals become their own desire, not only in regard to the more inward elements of their mind, but even in regard to the more outward matters that are proper to their face, body, and speech; for all people become an image of their desire, even in outward things.

People who are involved in a physical desire are wholly incapable of living in heaven's warmth, since heaven's warmth is heavenly desire. They are however capable of living in hell's warmth, which is a desire of cruelty toward other people who do not support them. The pleasures of this desire are various kinds of contempt for others, of enmity, hatred, and revenge. When they are involved in these, they are involved in their own life, utterly ignorant of what it means to do something good to others on the basis of and for the sake of the good act itself - only of doing good on the basis of what is evil and for the sake of what is evil.

People who are involved in a physical desire cannot breathe in heaven either. If an evil spirit is taken there, he draws each breath like someone hard pressed in a struggle. But people who are involved in a heavenly desire breathe more freely and live more fully the farther into heaven they are.

-- Anonymous, July 28, 2001

Answers

Wow! Thats good stuff!

I think its interesting that all the mystics kinda think alike. One of the widely shared aspirations of mystics is to become desireless, but thats kinda the ultimate destination, because to be without desire is also to be without passion. Fully accomplished it means no return to corporeal life. In Buddhist terms that is Nirvana, or literally "blowout" of the flame of passion.

Swedenborgs' vision "divinizes" desire or passion tho. He's kinda saying, like Joseph Campbell, "follow your bliss".

-- Anonymous, July 28, 2001

I don't know if this happened to others but when I was about 12 I was laying in bed and it sudenly dawned on me that I was going to die some day! Up till then it honestly never occured to me. Man it scared me to death and I had no one do talk to about it. Maybe we really don't know we are alive until we face our own death.

What an incredible mystery. All the sudden your here. Don't know why. Don't know who, or if, you were before or what happens after. To top that most people really don't even care about such matters!! It drives me crazy trying to make sense out of it sometimes! Ha!

Anyway your article reminded me of this??? Sorry if this is thread drift Tren.....Kirk

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001

John, all the mistics do kind of think alike don't they. That kind of helps along my believe that there is more then one way to God, I think that there is more then one messenger with no one, being the right one but all containing truth. It just depends on where we are in our walk, which one of these messages can reach us. Like Swendenborg describes the seekers as listening eagerly to words of truth, while the ones less evolved acted as if they could not hear the words. I know that I have picked up books that made no sence to me, then picked them up later in life and gotton a lot out of them.

Kirk, It's so wild to me that as a boy you felt as if there was no one that you could talk to about death. Why arn't people talking about it? It is the only outcome that is for certain!

Another crazy thing to me is that no matter now much we think about it, when it happens it still is very very strange. When the shell of the one that you loved lies there liveless. It is so hard to believe.It's like , where did they go!

I wonder why us humans have to know the shock of this. wouldn't it have been better if we could see the loved ones spirit as it leaves? If we could at least wave goodby! There I go questioning God again! But he is the one that gave me this brain that questions!

Maybe it is from this not being able to see those who have passed on as they go, that the old superstition came from. As a child I was told to never watch your loved ones leave untill they were out of sight, but instead to turn away while you could still see them.To not look away was sure to bring them bad luck. To this day I don't watch as a loved one retreats away from me.{altho. I consider it a silly superstition!} does this old believe have something to do with the fact that we cannot watch as our loved ones go beyond our sight, within death?

My husband Jim is one to wonder if there is indeed any thing more, or if this life is all that there is. My brain cannot even obsorb this thought! My whole perspective is one of searching, looking and insisting that there is more. And feeling that 'the more' may be all that really matters.

I sure like getting to talk about these kinds of things, like Kirks says, people just don't talk about it! Imagine bringing up this subject at your next family reunion! TRen

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001

Chuckling loudly..............yes, can you imagine bringing this subject up at the next family reunion!!! I can never remember being able to talk to ANYONE about death, ever.....until I was in Nursing school and we did the death and dying thing. Had a wonderful seminar leader that had us all picture our own death. Where we would want to be and who we would want to be there and if there was anything that we needed to say to someone before we departed. That was a lot of years ago but I still try to do it every now and then and just see if my "senerio" has changed.....and it always does as life changes me and the people move in and out of my life.

The recent loss of my dear friend has put me back into a more "fragile" space in that I am so much more aware of the no promise of "tomorrow". I am much more assured of an after- life......frequently sensing her presence when I am grieving and feeling comforted. Someone told me once that the "veil" is very thin at times and I am feeling like the "crossing" really doesn't take us so very far away. This "tent" is so fragile but the spirit is strong and everlasting (IMHO) Perhaps the deep committment I have to focus on the energy of love has grown me farther than I thought. I hope so.

-- Anonymous, July 29, 2001

Interesting topic for me today. Just got back from an elders circle which took place in a community where we used to live. Most discussion was on how our society is removed from a healthy approach to discussion of our demise. Much fear centered around the process of dying which can certainly be uncomfortable. I wonder how much fear is generated because we humans spend so much time trying to know the unknowable. My path has sampled many different takes on what happens after we shed our bodies and no matter if it made sense, made no sense, or whatever it always left me with a question mark, some bigger than others. At this point in my life I just don't care or worry about it. The question of what happens is interesting but invariably, no one will know until that day arrives. This conclusion has given me 'the peace that passeth all understanding'. Worrying about what might or might not be was taking my attention away from life...'what is'...which is quite beautiful.

-- Anonymous, July 30, 2001

Jz, You remind me of this book that I read once that really affected me, it was all about how us humans have this longing and this yearning and this desire to know. It seemed to be saying that there isn't anything wrong with us, for feeling this, that it is a natural way for us to feel here.This book sort of propelled me into the positon of relaxing into my search, it is no longer something that must be found, but something that I will learn a little more of, each day. And I don't feel as if I need to go find anything, but just to listen to what is already writen in the minutes of each day. If I will only remember to listen.

something like that.TRen

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2001