by Stephen Russell-Lacy. When on life’s path we are all likely to be blown off course by the myriad unsettling and distracting things in the world in which we live. By worries and stress to do with, for example, gaining social esteem, earning a living, keeping friends, or finding a mate. And so you may … Continue reading Spiritual practice – Which one is best?
Tag: inner journey
Journeying home – But how?
An ideal home is an attractive thought. There are exhibitions and magazines which promote smart and aesthetically pleasing furnishing and house design. What is your ideal sense of home? Journeying to my ideal home would be aiming to live in the same community as other people with whom I feel at ‘home’. It also is … Continue reading Journeying home – But how?
Adventure – How to find it for free?
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.
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