Emanuel Swedenborg

Dreams and visions were common. Much of his scientific knowledge was the result of intuition. His theology was based on the theory of correspondences. He understood the relation between the physical and spiritual.

He wrote and published 18 theological works including his most well known, Heaven and Hell. Also, he has several unpublished works on theology including Life on Other Planets. He stressed the importance of charity and faith, and was a proponent of independent thought.

Recognized and Respected

Many prominent writers, sculptors, and painters were influenced by him. This included Carl Jung, Helen Keller, Johnny Appleseed, Henry James Sr., Arthur Conan Doyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Immanuel Kant, William Blake, August Strindberg, Daniel Burnham, and W.B. Yeats to name a few. King Carl XIII, who was Grandmaster of the Swedish Freemasonry, was a student of Swedenborg’s philosophy.

Background

Emanuel’s father, Jesper, came from a wealthy mining family, and he also studied theology. His sermons in Stockholm were quite impressive, and caught the attention of King Charles XI. He believed that angels and spirits were common in everyday life, and his controversial beliefs strongly impacted Emanuel’s spirituality.

Emmanuel Swedenborg studied physics, mechanics, and philosophy at Uppsala University, and completed his studies in 1709. He also wrote and read poetry. He was devoted to natural science and engineering for several years. In fact, he sketched a flying machine in his notebook in 1714.

He was a close friend of the Swedish inventor, Christopher Polhem. King Charles XII of Sweden appointed Emanuel to the position of Assessor-Extraordinary on the Swedish Board of Mines. He published “Daedalus Hyperboreus” in 1718, a scientific periodical of mathematical and mechanical discoveries and inventions.

Emanuel Swedenborg did very little public speaking because of his stuttering. This may be one of the reasons he refused the Head of Mathematics position at Uppsala University in 1724. In the 1730’s he studied physiology and anatomy, and he was the first to conceptualize the neuron.

It was a century later that science finally appreciated the full significance of the nerve cell. He was ahead of his time in many areas, including ideas about the functions of the pituitary gland, cerebral cortex, and the organization of the nervous system.

It was during this time that his interest in spiritual matters developed, and he was devoted to finding ways to relate matter to spirit. In his work Principia he investigated ways to understand the inner world through geometry, reason, and experience. His philosophical method presented his cosmology in his Nebular hypothesis. He also brought together philosophy and metallurgy, and earned international acclaim for this work.

Emmanuel Swedenborg did appreciate life. He was considered a kind and loving person by many. He combined science and spirituality in order to understand the basis of creation. He recorded a journal of dreams and visions about his insights. For more information about this remarkable gentleman, check out the Swedenborg Foundation. Emanuel Swedenborg predicted the day of his death, March 29, 1772, and he transitioned in a very happy and jovial mood.

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