Faith (pt. 15)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 15)

An abundance of truths cohering, as in a bundle, exalts and perfects faith

(2) The Truths of Faith are disposed into Series, thus, as it were into bundles.

This has been hitherto unknown. It is unknown because the spiritual truths of which the whole Word is composed could not be seen, owing to the mystical and enigmatical faith which forms every point of the present theology; consequently, they have been buried in the earth like storehouses.

To make clear what is meant by series and bundles, it shall be explained.

The first chapter of this book, [True Christian Religion*] which treats of God the Creator, is divided into a series of sections — the first of which treats of the Unity of God, the second the Being of God or Jehovah, the third the Infinity of God, the fourth the Essence of God (which is Divine love and Divine wisdom) the fifth the Omnipotence of God, and the sixth Creation.  The arrangement of each section into its articles constitutes the series, and the contents of these are bound together as if into bundles. These series in general and in particular, thus conjointly and separately, contain truths which, according to their abundance and coherence, exalt and perfect faith.

He who does not know that the human mind is organized, or that it is a spiritual organism terminating in a natural organism, in which and according to which the mind produces its ideas or thinks, must needs suppose that perceptions, thoughts, and ideas are nothing but radiations and variations of light flowing into the head, and presenting forms which man sees and acknowledges as reasons. But this is foolishness; for everyone knows that the head is full of brains, that the brains are organized, and that in them the mind dwells, and that its ideas are fixed therein, and are permanent so far as they are accepted and confirmed. The question is, therefore, What is the nature of that organization? The answer is, that it is an arrangement of all things in series, as it were in bundles, and that in this way the truths belonging to faith are arranged in the human mind. That it is so, may be illustrated as follows.

The brain consists of two substances, one of which is glandular, and is called the cortical and cineritious substance, and the other fibrillous, and is called the medullary substance. The first, or the glandular substance, is arranged into clusters like grapes on a vine; these clustered formations are its series. The second, or the medullary substance, consists of perpetual bundlings of little fibers issuing from the glandules of the former substance; these bundlings are its series. All the nerves that proceed from the brain, and pass down into the body for the performance of various functions, are nothing but groups and bundles of fibers; in a like manner all the muscles, and in general all the viscera and organs of the body. All these are such because they correspond to the series in which the mental organism is arranged.

Moreover, in all nature there is nothing that is not formed into series of little bundles; every tree, every bush, shrub and plant, nay, every ear of corn and blade of grass in whole and in part, is so formed. The universal cause is, that such is the confirmation of Divine truths; for we read that all things were created by the Word, that is, by Divine truth, and that the world also was made by it (John 1:1, seq.).

From all this it can be seen that unless there were such an arrangement of substances in the human mind, man would possess no ability to reason analytically, which everyone has according to this arrangement, thus according to his supply of truths cohering, as it were, in a bundle; and the arrangement is in accord with his use of reason from freedom.

(True Christian Religion 351)
* True Christian Religion, Author Emanuel Swedenborg is available online or in bookstores.

To be continued...