Swedenborg on the Near Death Experience of Howard Storm

During the 20th century, medical science has uncovered evidence of life after death, which long remained in the realm of religious circles but is now becoming mainstream.  One of the more significant Near Death Experiences comes from Howard Storm, a former atheist.  Whereas most reports concern of going to a light at the end of a tunnel, initially Howard's experience was not pleasant - he first encountered a dark realm that we would probably call hell. It was his own hell, the hell he created from the way he lived his life. Not only is his experience similar to several accounts of the afterlife by Emanuel Swedenborg, but he also covers other topics, such as reincarnation and extraterrestrials.  Before his experience he was a hedonistic atheist, and morality was just a cover to manipulate others to get what he wanted. He is the author of the book, My Descent Into Death: A Second Chance at Life. Below are some videos of interviews, which I collected and decided to compare with what we know from the visionary experiences of Emanuel Swedenborg of the 18th century.

PARTS I AND II - THE CHAINS WE FORGE IN LIFE, AND RESCUE

Howard begins this interview with the statement, that if you want to know anything, can be known if you ask Jesus. If you are in need of something, simply ask God - for the Father is willing to give good gifts. As a child Howard went to church, and describes church as "far removed from reality." He became disillusioned with the hypocrisy of the church, and became a "realistic materialist" and followed a philosophy of rugged individualism. He developed an external form of morality, but would try to get away with what he could without getting caught. Became a complete hedonist and atheist.

Throughout his writings, Swedenborg speaks of those who are externally moral, but in appearance only. External morality for sake of appearance, with no spirituality, is not true morality. For without God, everything in life becomes centered on the selfish ego, and morality is done to gain favors from others or to escape punishment. In external appearance many people behave similarly, but internally their intentions are different. It is the intentions that matter, and those who are here for their selfish ego only are bound for hell, while those who love God and others are bound for heaven. In the spiritual world Swedenborg saw a final judgment occur on many Christians, who " appeared exteriorly as Christians from external morality, but interiorly they were not Christians, from having no spiritual life." (The Final Judgment, n. 22). When speaking of the sixth commandment, do not murder, he says "By murders of every kind are meant also every kind of enmity, hatred, and revenge, which breathe destruction; for in these murder lies concealed, as fire in wood beneath the ashes. Infernal fire is nothing else. It is from this, that one is said to be on fire with hatred, and to burn with revenge. ...These kinds of murder lie inwardly concealed in man, from his birth; but even from infancy he learns to veil them with the civility and morality in which he ought to be with men in the world; and so far as he loves honor or gain, he is watchful lest they should show themselves. So is formed man's external, while those are his internal. Such is man in himself. Now as he lays aside the external with the body when he dies, and retains the internal, it is plain what a devil he would be unless he were reformed." (Doctrine of Life, n. 67-68) Those who are in outward morality only, "are the farthest of all from wisdom; they in truth are devils, because they live for themselves alone, or if for others it is only for the sake of themselves." (Marriage Love, n. 18)  Those who follow a theology of justification by faith alone, and consider morality only for sake of civil laws, are likewise deceived.

While on travel with some art students, Howard Storm suffers from a perforation to the stomach and is rushed to a hospital, where he suffers in intense pain for several hours as they could not find a surgeon.  At night he is told the surgeon would arrive in the morning, at which point he decides to give up as he cannot take the pain any more.  He falls unconscious, and when he awakes he is standing beside his bed. Not believing in God or the afterlife, he begins to think that the hospital put a manikin of himself in bed as a joke, rather than accept the fact that he is looking down at his own cadaver. He realizes that he is not only without pain, but he is in a body with heightened senses and sharp vision. He tries to speak to his wife and another person in the hospital, but they fail to hear him at which point he starts to get quite angry. This is a common experience in NDEs - many not only have an out of body experience, but can clairvoyantly describe the events around them, even outside the room. This is an aspect of the NDE that skeptics choose to ignore.

The Near Death Experience provides evidence that Swedenborg's account of the afterlife is correct: that death is merely the shedding of the external body, and we pass from one life to the next.  Those who think we fall asleep or cease to exist until we literally rise from the dead in the grave are incorrect, and deceived by fundamentalistic literalists who have no understanding that within our body is a spiritual form that lives after death. This spiritual body Swedenborg describes in detail, and confirms Howard's account that it is a body with heightened senses:

"As regards the life of souls or recent spirits, in general, after death — it has been made evident by many experiences that when a man has come into the other life he does not know he is in it, but thinks he is still in the world, and indeed in his body — insomuch that when told that he is a spirit he is struck with wonder and amazement; both for the reason that he is in every respect like a man, as to his senses, desires, and thoughts, and because while he lived in the world he had not believed that there is a spirit, while some have not believed that a spirit could be like this.
"Another fact is that a spirit has much more excellent faculties of sense, and much more excellent gifts of thought and speech, than while he lived in the body, so much so as to be beyond comparison — although spirits do not become aware of this until reflection is given them by the Lord.
"Men should beware of the false notion that spirits are without the faculties of sense, which are far more exquisite than in the life of the body, as I know from thousands and thousands of experiences. But if they will not believe, because of their suppositions concerning the spirit, let them have it in mind when they come into the other life, where actual experience will make them believe. Not only have spirits sight, since they live in light, and good spirits, angelic spirits, and angels in so great light that that of midday in the world can scarcely be compared to it" (Heavenly Arcana, n. 320-322).

After not being heard by anyone, Howard then hears voices outside the room calling his name.  As he walked out of the room, he entered this dim and dark hallway. He walked down a long dark path, and the group started to become more hostile. Became completely dark, until he was surrounded by a mob.  A world of hopelessness, no love. They were not "demons," but merely the same kind of people who lives a life as he had lived. In rejecting God, one rejects all that God gives us: love, life, hope, happiness. In the end, they wish to satisfy their self ego, and dominate and torment others.  He felt like a "new fish" in prison. There is no horror movie or sado-masochistic imagination that can compare with it. It was accompanied by a verbal assault, physical assault, and laughter.

Swedenborg confirms that in the other life, we will become associated with those who are most like us:

"...every man has an internal and an external; and his internal makes the man, which is called the spirit, and which lives after death; and the external, in which by outward morality he acts the hypocrite, is buried; and then, on account of his denial of God, he is condemned. Every man as to his spirit is consociated with his like in the spiritual world, and is as one with them; and it has often been given me to see in societies the spirits of men still living, some in angelic societies and some in infernal; and I have also been permitted to converse with them for days, and have wondered that man himself while he lives in his body should know nothing about this other life. From this it was manifest that whoever denies God, is already among the condemned and after death is gathered to his own." (True Christian Religion, n. 14)

What about the dark hallway, a path that led to a place of darkness?  Swedenborg describes a variety of paths in the world of spirits, some leading to heaven, others to hell:

"That way means truth is from the appearance in the spiritual world, where also are ways and paths, and in the cities, streets with rows of dwellings, and spirits go in no other direction than to those with whom they are consociated by love. It is for this reason that the quality of the spirits there in regard to truth is known from the way which they go, for all truth leads to its love, inasmuch as that is called truth which confirms what is loved." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 10422)

The world of spirits is the area people first enter after death, after which one will go one of two ways. Heaven, hell, and the world of spirits between is source of human morality:

"There are also with every man two gates, one of which leads to hell, and is opened to evils and falsities therefrom; the other leads to heaven, and is opened to goods and truths therefrom. The gate of hell is opened to those who are in evil and its falsity, and only through chinks from above something of light from heaven flows in, by which inflowing a man is able to think, to reason, and to speak; but the gate of heaven is opened to those who are in good and its truth. For there are two ways which lead to the rational mind of man; a superior or internal way, through which good and truth from the Lord enters, and an inferior or external way, through which what is evil and false enters from hell; in the middle is the rational mind itself, to which the ways tend. Hence as far as light from heaven is admitted, so far man is rational, but as far as it is not admitted, so far he is not rational, however he may appear to himself." (Heaven and Hell, n. 430)

As for the "mob" that assaulted Howard Storm, Swedenborg had seen some of these in detail: all in hell are in the form of the evil they lived by in their life, which may explain why they kept a distance in the shadows in order not to be seen:

"In general, their faces are dreadful, and void of life as those of corpses; the faces of some are black, of some fiery like little torches, of some disfigured with pimples, warts, and ulcers; with some no face appears, but in its stead something hairy or bony; and with some teeth only are seen. Their bodies also are monstrous, and their speech is as the speech of anger, or of hatred, or of revenge; for every one speaks from his falsity, and his tone is from his evil; in a word, they are all images of their own hell. It has not been given me to see what is the form of hell itself in general; it has only been told me that as the whole heaven in one mass represents one man (n. 59-67), so the whole hell in one mass represents one devil, and may likewise be presented in the image of one devil (see above, n. 544). But in what form the hells are in particular, or the infernal societies, it has often been given me to see; for at their entrances, which are called the gates of hell, for the most part appears a monster which represents in a general way the form of those who are within." (Heaven and Hell, n. 553)

In many passages he describes how those in hell torment each other:

"But the form and the order imposed by the Lord on the hells is such that all are held in restraint and in bond by their lusts and fantasies, in which their very life consists; and this life, because it is a life of death, is turned into dreadful torments, so severe that they cannot be described. For the greatest delight of their life consists in being able to punish, torture, and torment one another; and this by arts unknown in the world; whereby they know how to induce exquisite suffering, just as if they were in the body, and at the same time dreadful and horrid fantasies, with terrors, and horrors, and many such torments. The diabolical crew take so great pleasure in this that if they could increase and extend the pains and torments to infinity, they would not even then be satisfied, but would burn yet again to infinity; but the Lord withholds their endeavors, and alleviates the torments." (Heaven and Hell, n. 695)

After having been tormented and torn apart by this diabolic mob, Howard Storm hears an internal voice from within telling him to pray to God. As he tries to remember he mixes up the prayers he remembered from Sunday school. As he began to murmur prayers that he remembered, they got upset, yelled obscenities, and told him there is no God, nobody can hear you, and we are going to really hurt you.  This encouraged him to remember more, as for the first time he was able to repel them. Then he remembered the song in Sunday school, "Yes, Jesus loves me." The shadowy figures around him could not bear to hear him talking about God, and they withdraw into the darkness. In many passages Swedenborg describes how they have an utter hatred of God, for God is the exact opposite to the desires of the selfish ego. But what should be known, is those who follow God in the other life are completely protected from evil:

"The hells there cannot possibly come near to heaven, nor evil spirits to any society of heaven, because they are in a terror of God. For when evil spirits approach a heavenly society, they suddenly fall into anguish and torment; and they who have fallen into these a few times, do not dare to approach. Their not daring is what is meant in the internal sense by a terror of God. Not that God or the Lord terrifies them, but because they are in falsities and evils, and thus in the opposite to goods and truths; and the falsities and evils themselves cause them to fall into anguish and torment, when they approach goods and truths." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 4555)

Swedenborg himself describes how they attempted to attack him, but were unable to do so:

"If evil spirits perceived that they were with man and that they were spirits separate from him, and if they could flow into what is of his body, they would try to destroy him in a thousand ways, for they hold man in deadly hatred. And since they knew that I was a man in the body, they were in continual effort to destroy me, not only as to the body, but especially as to the soul — for to destroy man and any spirit is the very enjoyment of life of all those who are in hell; but I was continually under the protection of the Lord. From this it may be evident how perilous it is for man to be in living company with spirits, unless he is in the good of faith." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 5863)

At some point Howard Storm realizes that he is alone, but is in a gory mess.  He then yells out, "Jesus save me." Jesus then appears as a small white light, but comes down lifts him up, heals him and they embrace. He experiences a love that he never felt before, and they hug each other. They shoot up like a rocket, and he hangs on for dear life...sees they are going up toward a light, the light of heaven where God dwells.

As he looks at it, he realizes he spent all his life denying that God exists, that there is no heaven. He then thinks to himself that he is such a piece of filth, such a piece of garbage, he is making a terrible mistake bringing him there. Then Jesus said, "We don't make mistakes, you do belong here." At that point they stopped moving. Then he realizes he heard what I thought because he had not said anything. Then he thought, "Do you know what I am thinking?" He then said, "Not only do I know what you are thinking, I know everything that you ever thought." Then he thinks of all the stuff he did - when he went to the bathroom as a teenager to relieve himself, all the times he wanted to break someone else's neck.  Then all of a sudden, he thinks a very vivid image of a naked woman. And at this point, he hears Jesus laughing, as he thought that was so funny. At this point Howard thinks, this is not good, I can't hide anything from you. And Jesus said, "Well, you know, I know it all. I know everything." At that point Howard got comfortable, for he knew that Jesus loved him, and accepted him for who he was.

Then Jesus said he wants him to meet some people. Some other beings of light came, and said they had recorded his life, and wanted to show him his life.  As it progressed, and it showed how he turned against others beginning in his teenager years, how he began to withdraw and become more manipulative to get what he wanted, he knew that he made Jesus and the angels sad. In the life review, Jesus and the angels were interested in how he interacted with other people, if there was love and compassion. To this Howard remembers the saying, love the sinner but hate the sin. But he began to see every sin he committed was harmful to himself. He sees one scene, where he comforted his sister. Which made Jesus happy. Jesus then asked him if he had any questions?

On this point, to Swedenborg it was shown that Jesus Christ is the Divine God-Man, who dwells in the center of heaven as a bright light which lightens all of heaven. While in his visions, he was constantly guided by this light in an internal perception to reveal the hidden spiritual meaning of scripture. Swedenborg also explains how the life review takes place in the spiritual world: each person has an exterior and interior memory. Whereas one's external memory dies with the body, the internal memory remains which can be examined in the other life:

"Whatever things a man hears and sees, and by which he is affected, are without the man's knowledge inserted as to ideas and ends in his interior memory, and remain in it, so that not anything perishes; though the same things be obliterated in the exterior memory. Such, therefore, is the interior memory that particulars are inscribed on it; and indeed the very least particulars which the man has ever thought, spoken, and done, even what has appeared to him as but a shadow, with the minutest particulars, from earliest infancy to the last of old age. The memory of all these things the man has with him when he comes into the other life, and he is led successively into full recollection of them. This is his Book of Life, which is opened in the other life, and according to which he is judged. Man can scarcely believe this, but still it is most true. All the ends, which have been in obscurity to him, and all the things thought; also all that were spoken and done therefrom, to the smallest point, are in that Book, that is, in the interior memory, and whenever the Lord grants, are made manifest before the angels as in clear day. This has several times been shown to me, and has been attested by so much experience that not the least doubt remains." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 2474)

PART III - A MILLION QUESTIONS

Howard Storm now has the opportunity to ask whatever question he wants. First question: why did you create us?

Answer: the world is God's garden, and he created you to bloom in that garden and be beautiful. God make everyone of us unique and special, to be beautiful in your own way.

Swedenborg described it in this way: as God is Love itself, the essence of love is to make someone else happy outside of oneself.  So that is the other purpose of creation: to make us all happy, to share in loving others.

Other question: if he went back, what would I do with my life?

I was a bit struck with the simple answer to this question. Being an artist he thinks he would build Jesus a shrine. Jesus says he would rather he did not do that. Howard then asks Jesus what should he do when he comes back.  Jesus answers, "Love the person you are with." Then what? Jesus then says, "That's it, love the person you are with." Howard cannot believe that's all he should do, and asks Jesus how will that help. Jesus then said because doing that you will change the world - when you love another person, that person will then love others as well. Howard is skeptical, as the world is full of evil. To which Jesus responds, my angels outnumber those who are on earth. Howard still think it won't work, to which Jesus says, this is God's plan, and it will succeed. The answer is so simple, and it is in line with what Jesus declared to be the greatest commandment in scripture: Love God, and love others.

Interviewer asks Howard if reincarnation is an option. Howard does not see it that way: there will be much to life and experience beyond death. He was told that our form of life on earth is one of the lowest grades of spiritual development in the universe. The interviewer asks what about evidence of reincarnation? Howard says we will share our lives with others. Consciousness is permeable - even Howard has a memory of a life of a Jewish girl in the holocaust, that he picked up as a part of his experience. We will all be able to share our life experience with others. And this is exactly in line with what Swedenborg said concerning reincarnation: it is a way of sharing similar lives through shared memory. But we are physically born once.  See Christianity, Reincarnation and Emanuel Swedenborg and The Origin of the Soul, the Group Soul and Reincarnation.

The universe is teeming with life, and Howard was shown other universes that are beyond our comprehension. Howard asked Jesus will we be able to travel to other planets in the future? Jesus told him, "You will not need to. You will be able to communicate with them in the future without moving."

PART IV - A LIFE IN CHRIST

Evil cannot bear the existence of God, because evil only accepts self gratification and the selfish ego. Evil is that which rebels against God. In this modern age, the interviewer then asks why so many people regard mentioning the name of Jesus as offensive, where he should not be mentioned. Mentioning Jesus is taken to be intolerant by a self proclaimed tolerant society. Howard asks why are people so offended by the mentioning of Jesus? Is there a truly an atheist, or is it people who are somehow angry with God, yet deep down everyone wants God? Interviewer thinks many become religiously pedantic without truly loving others. Many who are religious are self-righteous, and use religion to make themselves better than others.

Howard Storm was shown that there is indeed intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. The interviewer had brought this up with others who were opposed to this idea and thought it was theologically incorrect. He may be referring to those who classify UFOs and extraterrestrials as demons. Howard's comment on this is that religious people tend to place artificial limits on God.

Howard had seen that not only angels but dark forces interact with us while we live on earth. Thus those who do good will become a target.

How does depression effect the soul? Howard sees depression as spiritual warfare. We should be self-analytical, examine our traumas, fears and behaviours. There are those who self-examine themselves, and then there are many who do not.

ON EXTRATERRESTRIALS AND OTHER LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

Howard asked, "Are there other worlds?"  The response was not only is the universe full of life, but there are other dimensions containing other universes, and even those are filled with other inhabited worlds. Our world, however, is on a lower level of spiritual evolution, and for these other extraterrestrials it was not necessary for God to become incarnate in human form. On these other worlds, their societies and lives are in accordance with God's commandments, which is love of God and love of the neighbour. They also have a tendency to accept Jesus for who he is. On other planets there is not such a depravity of sin, nor do they give in to temptation to do evil as much as here.  Howard then asked to see what other intelligent beings looked like. Images were then paraded in from of him, beginning with those who looked human like us. From the human form, they began to get more stranger and stranger, until they became unrecognizable as human beings, and "very weird" as he puts it. What is important here is our spiritual being, we are beings of light, and it is important what we truly become in the afterlife. All of us are different forms of love.

And for the curious, here is a photograph of a claimed extraterrestrial from "Clarion," taken by an Italian Maurizio Cavallo (for a review of this contact see the web site of Paola Harris). There is another case of extraterrestrial contact in Italy which is covered in the blog post UFO Secret: The Friendship Case, Voltaire, and Germain.

If we compare this with the extraterrestrials described by Swedenborg in Heavenly Arcana and Earths in the Universe (extracted from the former work), Swedenborg only describes extraterrestrials that are human-like or closely resemble us.  For the most part the other extraterrestrial races he encountered were not as materialistic as we are, and tended to communicate telepathically.

THE FUTURE OF THE UNITED STATES

Mentions here that Christians are the heirs of the message of God revealed through his incarnation in Jesus Christ, and that they have largely failed.  The angels are arranging a new spiritual awakening, and if people do not wake up the "slate will be wiped clean."  And this does not mean the end of the world, but rather, something will happen where the population of the United States of America will go down from 260 million people to a few tens of thousands. More than any other nation the United States have been blessed by God, with power and wealth to be agents of transformation.  However the U.S. has not fulfilled God's expectation of what we should be doing. There is too much focus on wealth and money and not enough on spirituality. Howard mentions that when one speaks to foreigners about what they think about the United States of America, for the most part they mention America as exporters of violence, conquest and domination, as well as sexual immorality. From the highest nation of the world we can become the lowest, instead of the richest we may become the poorest. Howard is not so clear on what will happen as he was shown possibilities. Within a couple of hundred of years, with the intervention of God and the angels, there can be a great and bright future for the earth. There is no sitting on the fence - you are either for or against God. Being indifferent is against God.

On this point, I find this particular prophecy concerning the future of the United States in line with former judgments of nations or religions which have departed from God's will. For in order to progress spiritually, there are two things that are holding back Christianity in general: one is a belief in a trinity of three beings, and the other is justification by faith alone. The reason I see a future judgment may play out on the United States is it is primarily a Protestant nation, and justification by faith alone pacifies the will away from doing what is good, and away from serving others through love. As for what kind of disaster which may affect the United States, see An Extraterrestrial Prophecy which describes an asteroid plunging into the Atlantic Ocean, which was also foreseen by Hildegard von Bingen as a judgment on a continent that contains tribes from many nations - an accurate description of America. Moreover, when the spiritual sense of the Apocalypse was opened to Swedenborg, he saw that much of the subject concerned a judgment upon the Protestant church, which had deviated from the original gospel. Although Swedenborg thought everything was fulfilled in one year in the spiritual world, what he may have been seeing was the future judgment on the United States of America. Many would of course disagree with this characterization, and view the U.S. as a means of complete freedom and individualism - which is true, but the gift of power and wealth of America should be turned for the common good.

THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD

Howard is surprised by what he saw for the future of this world: there were no visible signs of technology. People's relationship with each other and God were so interconnected that humans now controlled the weather of the planet.  Everybody in the world was telepathic.  People would raise food by meditating about it. People lived in small communities, each putting a different emphasis on different areas of knowledge - music, science, worship, relaxation. They lived in total harmony with the planet. Emphasis on raising children properly.  There was no longer any fear of death.  People ate and dressed simply, with very little possessions. There was much happiness, little suffering - no diseases as people could heal each other by laying on hands. Only suffering people had was that of separateness, but the community would try to bring that person back through love and prayer.

This was a surprise for me as well, but look how far we have come in 200 years. But for people to become telepathic? Does this mean some extraterrestrial intervention in the future?

THE NATURE OF GOD AND HEAVEN

Howard asked, what was heaven like? Anyone who truly knew what heaven was like would realize this material life was so inferior to the life to come.  Heaven contains everything that was, is and yet to be: one can spend an eternity in heaven just experiencing new things.  Heaven is layered like an onion. The outer part of heaven seems like the physical world, as that is the entry point. As one goes deeper and deeper into heaven, it has different rules of physics and different properties. At the very center or core of heaven is God. At the center of heaven people are invited to participate with God in the ongoing act of creation. They become part of the song of creation. The universe is vibratory states of space created by the song of God. The angels and Jesus would always refer to God as "the One."  In this life we have this feeling of separateness of God, but in the other life we realize that we are not separate. Heaven and hell are not far away, they are here, very close, in another dimension outside of time and space.

Swedenborg confirms much of this in his description of the afterlife, and confirms that there are different "layers" or levels in the spiritual world. The outermost level, which is very similar to the material world, he describes as the "world of spirits," where the soul remains until it is decided whether a soul goes to heaven or hell. There is also a distinct difference between the spiritual and celestial heaven, and it is in the highest heaven where love to God becomes primary over that of truth, which is the focus of the middle heaven. This Swedenborg describes in Heavenly Arcana and Heaven and Hell.

There are obvious similarities between the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and the accounts of those who have had a Near Death Experience. Howard Storm is one witness among many. Back in the 18th century Swedenborg was a lone witness to the spiritual world for 27 years, but now we have a host of witnesses who have come close to death that tell us that indeed, this material life is only just the beginning. But for those seeking any revelation, I would stress just one simple point out of all this: love the one you are with. Then you have the answer to everything.

NEAR DEATH MUSIC VIDEO

Just came across this interesting video, "The Day" by Moby, which presents a similar scene to what Howard Storm experienced, showing the battle between good and evil:

A Logical Explanation of the Trinity

Is there a logical explanation of the Trinity in Christianity?  If anyone examines what is considered as "orthodox" theology, there is no logical explanation.  There are three persons, and somehow these three persons are one Being. Since there is no logical explanation in orthodox theology, it is treated as a "mystery of faith."  And this definition of a trinity of three persons came rather late through centuries of convoluted debate: it is not there in original Christianity. Is there an answer? Yes there is.

Many theologians will define anything that disagrees with a definition of three persons as a heresy. Ironically, they might classify any monotheistic argument as a heresy which they will call "Modalism" or "Sabellianism" or "Monarchianism."  As to what these ancient so-called historical heresies taught is a bit unclear. But the orthodox theologians will persist in their definition, without ever exactly specifying the difference between a "person" or "being."  So in the end, the everyday person will have their thoughts fall into a belief of three gods, yet declare with the mouth that they are one. But in truth it is nothing other than tritheism: there is no difference, except it is called something that it is not.

The only logical answer to the Trinity as it is found in scripture is that we are not dealing with three persons at all here. We are dealing with three different aspects of the Divine Being. It is the emanation of the Divine, beginning with the unknowable invisible Divine, flowing downward through a human body that was made Divine, and from that Divine Human flowing to all humanity as a spirit. This came by means of revelation in the 18th century: it is simple, it is logical, easy to understand, and founded on scripture.  Nor is it necessarily the same as what was historically known as Modalism, Sabellianism, or Monarchianism. It is an emanation of the Divine, flowing through one Divine Being: it cannot be divided, and it has a logical philosophical foundation as well.

WHAT IS BEING?  IT IS END, CAUSE, EFFECT.

The logical and philosophical argument of the Trinity comes from the definition of "Being" itself. All that exists, or has being, is threefold.  This threefold aspect of any being is end, cause and effect.  Most are familiar with "cause and effect" from science.  But with living beings, being is threefold: every person or being will have a purpose, or an intent, or an end in all that they do. How one thinks to fulfill one's intent or purpose is the cause. When this cause is put into action, that is known as the effect.  How do we judge people's actions?  It is from their intent. This plays an everyday role in one's life and in dealing with others.  All actions and deeds of another person should be judged based upon their intent. One's intent or love will precede one's thought, and one's thought of how to fulfill one's intent will precede the action.

Being is in itself threefold.  Intent is one's inner love, one's thoughts surround one's love, and one's outer actions are based on one's thought.  Intent is prior, thought is the medium, action is the posterior.  But in ancient times they did not have such abstract concepts: that which is prior would  be called "father", that which is posterior or came afterward would be called "son."  In modern times, we have this figure of speech: "necessity is the mother of all invention."  The mother is one's purpose or intent based on need, from which one thoughts of invention are derived, from which proceeds the invention.

In philosophy, the study of purpose is known as teleology, or the study of final causes:

A telos (from the Greek τέλος for "end", "purpose", or "goal") is an end or purpose, in a fairly constrained sense used by philosophers such as Aristotle. It is the root of the term "teleology," roughly the study of purposiveness, or the study of objects with a view to their aims, purposes, or intentions. Teleology figures centrally in Aristotle's biology and in his theory of causes. It is central to nearly all philosophical theories of history, such as those of Hegel and Marx. One running debate in contemporary philosophy of biology is to what extent teleological language (as in the "purposes" of various organs or life-processes) is unavoidable, or is simply a shorthand for ideas that can ultimately be spelled out nonteleologically. Philosophy of action also makes essential use of teleological vocabulary: on Davidson's account, an action is just something an agent does with an intention--that is, looking forward to some end to be achieved by the action. In contrast to telos, techne is the rational method involved in producing an object or accomplishing a goal or objective; however, the two methods are not mutually exclusive in principle.

To clarify the above definition a bit, "telos" is purpose, and "techne" is the means by which the purpose is brought about. And how is this related to God? Logically, God is the final cause of everything.  As He is Being itself, naturally God will have the threefold nature of Being. This is not just a philosophical concept, it is also a spiritual concept that can be applied to everyday life:

"...successive things, which proceed and follow one another in their order, are still presented together in what are last — as for example, end, cause, and effect; the end is the first in order, the cause the second, and the effect the last. Thus they proceed successively, but still the cause is presented at the same time in the effect, which is last, and the end in the cause; wherefore, the effect is a filled containant, in which interior or prior things are also brought together and exist. 

"The case is the same with the willing, thinking, and doing in man; willing is the first, thinking second, and doing last; this last also is the effect in which things prior or interior exist together; for so far as a man's doing contains in it what man thinks and what he wills, so far interior things are held together in their form and connection. This is why it is declared in the Word that man will be judged according to his deeds, that is, according to his works, which means that he will be judged according to his thinking and willing, inasmuch as these are in his deeds even as the soul is in its body." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 9824.2-3)

Thus any theology, this says that one is justified by faith without works, is a dead faith.

THE FATHER IS THE DIVINE WILL

If Being exists in a trine of end, cause, and effect, or willing, thinking and doing, then this means that the "Father" in the Trinity is the Divine will.  Can this be supported from scripture?  Yes it can.  In fact, whenever God's will is mentioned in scripture, it is ALWAYS mentioned in regards to the Father.  You never see the phrase "will of the Son" or "will of the Holy Spirit." Always, always, there is a reference to the Father's will. For example, we have these passages:

Our Father...Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:9-10)

And this is the Father’s will... (John 6:39)

Our will must be put in alignment with the Father's will, it is not good enough to just believe:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. (Matt. 7:21)

For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. (Matt. 12:50)

Even Jesus stated that the Father's will should be done, and not his, while he was in a state of temptation:

Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. (Luke 22:42)

However, Jesus took it further.  When he was not in a state of temptation, he said we can do nothing except what he sees his Father doing. In other words, he had no independent will from the Father:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (John 5:19)

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. (John 5:30)

...the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do (John 5:36)

I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. (John 8:28)

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. (John 12:49)

THE SON IS THE DIVINE THOUGHT OR DIVINE TRUTH

As the Father is the Divine Will, the Son is the Divine Thought or Divine Truth. In the physical sense this manifested in reality through the virgin birth. In scripture, before the incarnation, the Divine Truth was known as the "Word" or Logos. It is through the Word that all things were created: from the Divine Will, the Divine Thought created all that exists. We thus have end, cause and effect on a grand scale:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

Note that the "Word" is not described as a person, but as an abstract concept - essentially an aspect of the one God.  When physicists and scientists discover laws concerning physics and the material universe, which cannot be altered, they are in fact discovering the Word, which must always be true. In the incarnation, the Divine Will descended as to the Divine thought to become incarnate in a human form. This can also be thought of as Divine Truth, the cause of all that exists.  This is why Jesus says, "I am the truth" in the following passage:

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

The process by which God became incarnate in human form - the virgin birth - is the means by which the human form of Jehovah was "sent" into the world. Just as end, cause and effect proceed in order, so the Divine Will descended via Divine Thought to become incarnate. However in this process he inherited a sinful tendency from Mary - it is from this base human nature he could be tempted, and fight directly against hell from the Divine Truth. As the Divine Truth, no one can approach the Father except via Jesus, just as no one can know the Divine Will or God's love except by means of the truth. Thus Jesus says he is the light, for all are enlightened by means of the truth. It is for this reason that Jesus says all judgment is entrusted to him, for all judgment is entrusted to Divine Truth:

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: (John 5:22) 

And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:27)

Can those who believe in a trinity of three persons explain these passages of the Gospels? No they cannot. They cannot say why God's will is mentioned in the context of the Father, why Jesus is called the truth and the light, nor why judgment is entrusted to Jesus. This can only be understood in terms of two aspects of God: His will and His thought.

WILL AND THOUGHT ARE ONE AS SOUL AND BODY ARE ONE

When it is understood that the Father and Son are the Divine Will and the Divine Thought, which in Jesus are one as the soul and the body, many strange statements Jesus makes about himself become clear.  He makes it quite clear that the Father was inside of him, that he who knew him knew the Father. No one can come to the Father except through Jesus just as no one can approach the soul without first approaching the image of the soul, which is the body. So it makes absolutely no sense to treat them as distinct persons: standard orthodoxy utterly confuses the issue.  That Father and Son refer to the soul and body of Jesus is quite clear from the following:

Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. (John 8:19) 

I and my Father are one. (John 10:30) 

...the Father is in me, and I in him. (John 10:38)

Two separate distinct persons cannot be inside one another, needless to say. But the soul is inside the body, and the body is inside the soul, for the two make one and cannot exist without each other. As the Father is the Divine will, so it directs everything that Jesus did. When Philip asks Jesus a question to show them the Father - as a separate distinct person - Jesus immediately corrects Philip:

If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. (John 14:7-10)

Most people think of a person or being as a single entity, not understanding that there are different discrete degrees to the human soul: there is the higher spiritual self, the mediate rational, and the lowest natural, the physical body. The human being is tripartite, and this tripartite being corresponds to end, cause and effect:

"To speak in the language of philosophy — these three are as end, cause, and effect. It is known that there can never be any effect unless there be a cause, and never any cause unless there be an end. Effect, cause, and end, are as distinct as exterior, interior, and inmost. Properly speaking, the sensual man, that is, he who thinks from sensual things, is the external man, and the spiritual and celestial man is the internal man; but the rational man is mediate between the two, and by this, or by what is rational, there is communication of the internal man with the external." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 978.3).

As each human being is tripartite in nature, so when Jehovah became incarnate in Jesus Christ he became tripartite in nature as well. This is what is known in Christianity as the Trinity. For what is tripartite in each human being, became infinitely so when the Divine came to dwell in human flesh. Thus the apostle Paul would call Jesus the image of the unseen God, just as the body is the image of the unseen soul in every person.

WHAT OF JESUS PRAYING TO THE FATHER?

Without understanding that within the human psyche there are multiple levels of being, people get confused when they see passages of Jesus praying to the Father. To those who believe in a trinity of three persons, this is the ultimate proof that those who believe that God can only be one being or person are incorrect. But it is they who are incorrect for not understanding that the Divine is one person, and dividing him into three creates a religious system of tritheism. For what is not understood that when Jehovah became incarnate, he did not just descend from the Divine Will into Divine Truth, but he went even lower than that: he became incarnate in a finite human body. And here is the part that most theologians, especially Catholics, miss out completely: by being born to a human mother, he had inherited sinful tendencies from the mother by which he could be tempted. A state of temptation can only occur in a state of apparent separation from the Divine, for the Divine itself cannot be tempted to do evil.

I put emphasis on this point: the Catholic theologians, who elevate Mary to worship, and state she was born Immaculate with no sin, completely miss how Jehovah saved humanity by being born as a human. For as a human with sinful tendencies, he could now fight directly against all of hell by resisting the temptation to commit a sin. Since they miss this point, like the Protestants they invented the doctrine of vicarious atonement, which also requires that there be three persons or beings.

It is in this lowered state of being that Jesus prays to his Father. For as a human, he had to progress back towards the Divine, from a base natural to the rational, from the rational to the spiritual, and from thence to becoming united to the Divine, to the point where even his human body became glorified and one with the Divine Will.  This progress of unification took a lifetime, and the various stages Jesus had to pass through are described in detail in Swedenborg's massive work, Heavenly Arcana. Thus Jesus makes these statements where he is less than the Father, or that only the Father knows the end time... but all this changes when he rises from the dead.  At this point he says all power on heaven and earth has been "given" to him. Not of one person giving all power to another person, but rather, his very body or human form had become one with the Divine.

Jesus had two states: one of humiliation and temptation, the other when he becomes one with Divine after the resurrection. Without understanding that he progressed towards unification to the Divine, one will not understand separate statements made by him or concerning him throughout the Gospels.

THE FINAL "EFFECT" - THE HOLY SPIRIT

As being itself proceed from end, cause and effect, so in each person there is the will, the thought, and the action.  The final act takes place through one's lowest natural body, which reflects the intent of one's soul.  Once Jesus completely glorified his body and made it one with the Divine, the final effect was the outflowing of the Holy Spirit.  For surrounding each body there is an "aura" - this is a sphere of one's spirit, which flows from the soul through the body.  And this is the reason why Jesus had to glorify his human body: for until he did that, the Holy Spirit was not available to others:

...for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39)

Any theology that describes "three co-eternal persons" is at a complete loss in explaining the above passage. For the Holy Spirit did not exist until after the resurrection.  And for those who think Jesus was born perfect, they are also at a complete loss to explain this passage:

And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:19)

The perfection of Jesus was that his soul would not concede to any temptation: thus in his body he endured horrible temptations, the likes of which no human ever saw. For all of hell conspired against him in temptation and to destroy him.  It was war between Jehovah and all of hell. Once he sanctified his human body by making it Divine, the effect was that the Holy Spirit could flow from his soul through his body to all humanity. This is available to anyone, who makes the simple commitment to follow him, and do so by doing his commandments.

One's spirit is simply an aura or sphere of influence extending from the soul: a spirit of a person is not another person.  As illogical as this sounds, this is exactly what orthodox theologians say when they insist on dividing the Divine into three persons. The truth of the matter, it is an emanation of the Divine: from the Divine itself, through the Divine Human, proceeding outward via the Holy Spirit.

Is Christianity logical and rational?  Yes, if you acknowledge that there is a hidden spiritual world that interacts with this material world.  And yes, only if you give up on some old false traditions that were invented centuries ago in an era of darkness.

WHY THE  INCARNATION?

For pure monotheists, they might see the incarnation as unnecessary, and not making sense, and superficially many may regard Jesus as just a teacher and miss the whole point of many public and private revelations. Islam may see it as worshiping something created as the Creator. But that last point is not true either: for Jesus kept his identity hidden, until he expelled the human from the mother, and transformed his body into a Divine Human that was derived from his own soul.  For this is what happened on the resurrection: the body was made Divine.  And this is the origin of the ritual of communion, or the Eucharist.

In most other monotheistic religions, there is one abstract God that cannot be imagined or fall into our own thought.  Any conjunction with the human race must take place through angelic beings, or abstract meditation.  But on planet earth, things had reached such a state where sin had utterly divorced mankind from heaven, where not only mankind was threatened but even the lower heavens as well.  Angels could no longer serve as mediate guides. And this is not known to most except by means of revelation. What is also not known to many is that our free will comes about from a balance between heaven and hell: this is the origin of good and evil within us. At that time hell had gained ascendency, and without the Divine becoming incarnate, contact between man and God would have been broken off. Not only has that contact been restored, but also the invisible God can now be understood in visible form.

This is Christianity, in its most logical and rational form.  Prayer is directed to Jesus, not another person or being. End, cause and effect is the trinity of Being, and is present in the soul, mind and body of every person, and this comes to fruition when intentional love through one's thought become good works.

The Identity of the Two Witnesses of Revelation

The book of Revelation is highly symbolic, and in it there is this curious passage which speaks of the coming of two witnesses who prophesy for three and a half years, and are then killed by the "beast from the abyss," which many take for a future Antichrist (Rev. 11).  If we take a survey of how different groups interpret this passage, there are differing opinions.  In the early Christian Church, the two witnesses were taken to be the prophets Enoch and Elijah, for they were two prophets that had been taken up into heaven without dying. Such a theory is also described in the apocryphal book of Enoch, which has many portions which preceded the writing of the book of Revelation.  In more recent times opinion shifted that the two witnesses represent Moses and Elijah. The Bahai faith states that they are the prophets Mohammed and Ali. The Seventh Day Adventists take a more symbolic approach, and state that the two witnesses represent the Old and New Testaments, and the time when the two witnesses were killed was the period of the French Revolution. The Seventh Day Adventists are actually close to getting the timing right (see The Prophecy of the Abomination of Desolation, The Prophecy of the Abomination of Desolation, part 2, and The Spiritual Meaning of the Abomination of Desolation).

Most interpretations are very literal, seeking fulfillment in two individual persons.  Very few interpretations take the two witnesses to be symbolic, which I think is the correct approach in the context of the entire book of Revelation, which is full of symbols.  But if the two witnesses are symbolic, they are symbolic of what? Without understanding the symbolism behind scripture, and direct revelation, one will be at a total loss to explain not only this passage, but most of the Apocalypse. And so the issue remained closed until the 18th century, when Emanuel Swedenborg's vision was opened so that the internal senses of scripture could be revealed. He wrote two large works on the book of Revelation: Apocalypse Explained and Apocalypse Revealed. Beyond Genesis and Exodus, he was instructed to especially focus on Revelation.

THE BOOK OF SEVEN THUNDERS

The two witnesses appear right after an angel descends out of heaven with a little book (Rev. 10), who utters seven thunders - and mysteriously the apostle John is told not to write them down. This is indicative that a future revelation would be made - and such a revelation did occur when Swedenborg's vision was opened.  The angel who descends with the little book represents a forgotten doctrine of Christianity, which is hidden in its theology but is rarely explained accurately due to other false doctrines.  It is the doctrine that Jehovah himself descended to become incarnate, and made His human body Divine.  This Divine Human is what is known in scripture as the "Son of God." A portion of this doctrine is found in the Athanasian Creed, which declares that in the one person Jesus Christ man became God and God became man, and are united as one as the soul and body. This is explained in detail in The Mystery of the Book of Seven Thunders Explained. Why did John not write it down? That in itself is symbolic - it symbolizes that the doctrine would be forgotten and rejected. And that is the case today in the illogical tritheistic conception of God as three persons, instead of one.

THE TWO WITNESSES ARE TWO PRINCIPLES OF THE NEW CHURCH

The meaning of the two witnesses in the book of Revelation follows from the meaning of the book of seven thunders. To sum up the answer, the two witnesses are two principle doctrines of the New Church, which doctrines were spelled out in the 18th century in visions to Emanuel Swedenborg:

1. That God is One in Person in our Lord Jesus Christ, and
2. One must repent and live by God's commandments in order to be saved.

ANY person, who follows these two principles, and exposes the error of the former churches, essentially become a representation of the testimony of the two witnesses.  They are the two basic principles of the New Church. These two principles are opposed by two prevalent theological concepts within the Christian Church, which through the centuries gradually deviated from scripture:

1. That God is three in persons, a trinity of three beings or persons, and,2. That one is saved by faith or belief alone, and punishment for sin is automatically transferred onto the cross (theory of "vicarious atonement").

Most denominations subscribe to the first principle of a Trinity of three persons, a theology that cannot be explained according to logic or reason. So the theology demands that no one question it by calling it a "mystery of faith."  Faith is what is of truth, not blind obedience to authority. As for the second principle, that is held mainly by the Protestant denominations, who make faith separate from good works, by misinterpreting the writings of Paul who was speaking about Jewish rituals. For this see Christus Victor and "Pauline" Christianity. The two theologies are exactly opposite to each other, and Swedenborg was shown that a spiritual war would result between the two. And this direct opposition is what is described in the book of Revelation.

That the first principle, that God is one in person, who made his human Divine in Jesus Christ, Swedenborg explains as follows:

"And I will give unto My two witnesses, signifies those who confess and acknowledge from the heart that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, and who are conjoined to Him by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue. These are they who are here meant by the two witnesses, because those two things are the two essentials of the New Church. That the first essential, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, is a testimony, and hence that they who in heart confess and acknowledge it are witnesses, may be seen n. 6, 846, and also from these passages: I am the fellow-servant of thy brethren who have the testimony of Jesus; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Apoc. xix. 10). The angels of Michael overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of His testimony: and the dragon went away to make war with the rest of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of Jesus Christ (Apoc. xii. 11, 17). The souls of them who were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God (Apoc. xx. 4). These are they who acknowledged the Lord. This is called the testimony of Jesus, because the Lord testifies it from His Word, and thus from Himself; therefore He is called the faithful and true witness (Apoc. i. 5; iii. 14): and He says, I testify of myself, and my testimony is true; because I know whence I come, and whither I go (John viii. 14): also, When the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall testify of Me (John xv. 26). That the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, which is also the Holy Spirit, is the proceeding Divine, and that this is the Lord Himself, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 46-54). Now because the Lord Himself is the witness, therefore they also are meant by witnesses who testify this from the Lord as John did: Jesus said, Ye sent unto John, and he was a witness to the truth; yet I receive not testimony from man (John v. 33). John came for testimony, that he might testify concerning the Light: he was not the Light, but that he might testify of the Light. The Word, which was with God, and which was God, was the true Light (John i. 1-14, 34)." (Apocalypse Revealed, n. 490).

That the second principle is repentance and a life of obedience to the 10 commandments, Swedenborg also deduces from other scripture:

"That the second essential of the New Church, which is conjunction with the Lord by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue, is a testimony, is manifest from the fact that the Decalogue is called the Testimony; as in these places: Thou shalt put into the ark the Testimony which I will give thee (Exod. xxv. 16). Moses put the Testimony into the ark (Exod. xl. 20). The mercy-seat which is over the Testimony (Lev. xvi. 13). Leave the staves of the tribes before the Testimony (Num. xvii. 19). Besides other places, as Exod. xxv. 22; xxxi. 7, 18; xxxii. 15; Ps. lxxii. 5; Ps. cxxxii. 12. Something shall here be said concerning conjunction with the Lord by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue. There are two tables upon which those precepts are written, the one for the Lord, the other for man. The first table teaches that many Gods are not to be worshipped, but one: the second table, that evils are not to be done. When therefore one God is worshipped, and man does not do evils, conjunction takes place; for as far as a man desists from evils, that is, repents, so far he is accepted of God, and does good from Him. But who now is the one God? A trinal God or a triune God is not one God, when the trinal and triune is in three Persons; but He in whom the trine or triune is in one Person, He is the one God; and that God is the Lord. Perplex the ideas as far as you can, yet you still will not bring it out clear that God is one, unless He is also one in Person." (Apocalypse Revealed, n. 490)

That these two principles are the two witnesses, makes sense from evidence of other passages of scripture, but especially from the two greatest commandments:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:36-40)

The two tablets containing the 10 commandments are the 2 testimonies: the first tablet regards the love and worship of one God, who is one being and one person, and the second regards love of the neighbor.  The two witnesses are thus these two principles.  The other point is that Jesus said that on these two commandments "hang all the Law and the Prophets."  In a symbolic sense, in other passages Swedenborg states that Moses represents the law (Torah) of scripture, and Elijah represents the prophets (Nevi'im) of scripture.  Thus the interpretations which noted the similarity of the two witnesses to Moses and Elijah are correct, albeit on a superficial level.  For those who base their theology on a false reading of the apostle Paul will have the tendency to ignore and reject many sections of the Old Testament - this is the Law and the Prophets, the two witnesses that are rejected.

OTHER SYMBOLISM OF THE TWO WITNESSES

Swedenborg wrote volumes on the Apocalypse or book of Revelation, and in order to interpret the symbolism he goes through it line by line, and discloses the symbolism by referencing other scripture.  There is no other book that I know of that goes into such detail.  So what about the rest of chapter 11 of the book of Revelation , what is its spiritual meaning?  Here is a short summary:

And they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days = to prophesy is to teach, and this time period means from beginning to end. The emphasis of the New Church should be to teach these two principles, from beginning to end. Other than the Swedenborgian Church, the Pentecostals fulfill the first principle in their Oneness doctrine, and the Seventh Day Adventists fulfill the second principle by their focus on the 10 commandments.

Clothed in sackcloth = mourning on account of the lack of reception of these two truths within the Christian Church in general, which has become corrupted. There will be a period of sadness.

These are the two olive-trees and the two candlesticks, which stand before the God of the earth = from these two principles comes all love and intelligence from the Lord.

And if any one will hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies. And if any one will hurt them, thus must he be killed = those who turn against these two principles will perish from their own selfish loves. Every evil contains its own punishment.

These have power to shut heaven, that the rain fall not in the days of their prophecy = those who turn against these two principles will be unable to receive any heavenly truth, for all heavenly truth is founded on these two. As plants grow from water, so love grows from truth.

And they have power over the waters to turn them into blood = those who turn against these two principles will falsify and profane what little truths they know.

And to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will = those who turn against these two principles will suffer in many ways from their own selfish desires. Anything that turns against one God will begin to focus on the self, and anything that turns against the commandments will justify and ignore sin.

And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and shall overcome them, and shall kill them = those especially who espouse the doctrine of justification by faith alone will hate and reject these two principles of the New Church. Justification by faith alone will be used as the "measure" by which all others are accepted or rejected, blind to the fact that scripture does not support such a doctrine (thus, the abyss of darkness).

And their bodies shall lie upon the street of the great city = these two principles will be regarded as nothing by those who are in faith alone.

Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt = those who teach the doctrine of faith alone are in the pride of their own self love and the pride of ruling others from their own self intelligence.

Where also our Lord was crucified = the non-acknowledgement of the Lord's Divine Human. This originates from dividing God into three persons, and the Lord into two natures in the Chalcedonian Creed.

And they of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations shall see their bodies three days and a half - at the end, when these two principles are rejected by the majority so as to be practically non-existent, and closed to all discussion...

And shall not suffer their bodies to be put into sepulchres - they will utterly condemn such doctrines as heresy...

And they who dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and be glad, and shall send gifts one to another = they shall continue in their false worship together, delighted in the doctrine of faith alone...

Because those two prophets tormented them who dwell upon the earth = the principle of one God in one person, and a life according to the commandments, are in direct opposition to a trinity of three beings, vicarious atonement, and justification by faith alone, and thus those who are in such worship will be upset when shown what they believe to be false.

And after the three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet - when the doctrine of faith alone appears victorious, the Lord will intervene and fill those who followed these two principles with a new inner spiritual life.

And great fear fell upon them who saw them = means confusion in those who grew up believing in a trinity of three beings, and justification by faith alone, when they realize what they have been taught was false.

And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither = these two essentials will be protected by heaven.

And they ascended up into heaven in a cloud = those who follow these two essential truths will have conjunction with heaven, and will have support from the literal sense from scripture.

And their enemies beheld them = and those who were in faith alone remained fixed in their belief of justification by faith alone, unwilling to recognize the falsity in their own beliefs.

And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city fell. And there were slain in the earthquake names of men seven thousand = and after the truth was shown to them, and they rejected it, they became spiritually condemned, and completely separated from heaven. Their visible church on earth will begin to collapse from within, and decline.

And the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven = means that there will be a few, a small remnant, who will adjoin charity and good works to faith, having recognized the error of those who promoted justification by faith alone.

The second woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly = lamentation over the corrupt state of the Christian Church, and its coming judgment.

And the seventh angel sounded = exploration by heaven into the internal spiritual state of the church on earth.

And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become our Lord's and His Christ's and He shall reign for ever and ever = Now, a New Church will gradually grow where Jesus will be recognized as Jehovah in human form, who made his human Divine.

AN UNEXPECTED INTERPRETATION

This interpretation will obviously be an unexpected twist to many. In Apocalypse Revealed and Apocalypse Explained, it is supported by numerous scriptural references, where symbolism is used to abstract the text from person, place or time. For most expect two literal witnesses, who will use miracles to fight against a future political tyrant, an Antichrist.  But the Antichrist is not an individual political tyrant, it is a false system of thought that has been gradually planted within the very church itself, until it is no longer a church, but a false image of it. But consider this: what is more illogical that God should be divided into multiple persons, where the church is no longer monotheistic?  What is more illogical, that religion should be one of belief only, that it does not matter what you do? The Antichrist is not a person, it is a false system of thought, a false Christianity. Should we automatically assume the religion we were born in is the absolute truth? Question the truth, and search scripture to determine if it is true or not. Don't follow tradition for sake of tradition.

The Mystery of the Seven Dimensions

Can science and religion be combined into one philosophy? In the future, I think so, as long as one recognizes that not only are there different degrees of order, but different degrees of knowing.  The material universe is a lower level order of a more spiritual level, which in turn is a lower level order of yet a higher level. Each lower level of order is symbolic of another stage at a higher level. The material world is a symbolic theatrical representation of higher levels of reality. One of the most promising theories I have uncovered is one proposed by Arthur M. Young in his work The Reflexive Universe:

Arthur M. Young was the inventor of the Bell Helicopter. He also was a cosmologist and philosopher, and founded the "Institute for the Study of Consciousness" in Berkeley CA.

I showed a friend of mine the book and he happened to have met him and some of his students in Berkeley. Unfortunately, since the book was published, the theory has somewhat languished, as it is based on our scientific knowledge from the 1970s, and some of the scientific classifications he refers to have been corrected.  So, I decided to start updating the theory, correcting some errors and refining the theory a bit. Amazingly, scientific discoveries made since he published the theory still fit within the predictions made by the theory.  Since the theory covers everything, I am calling it "The Universal Order of Design," and blog entries which cover this I have labelled as "Universal Order" (see labels in the left column of this blog.)  For those who want a review, here are the links to the former blog posts:

The Seven States of Creation 

The Universal Order of Design - part 2 

The Seven Dimensions of Space Time 

The Universal Order of Design - the Symbolism of the Atomic World 

The Universal Order of Design - String theory 

The Universal Order of Design - the Tetrahedron 

The Universal Order of Design - the Symmetry of Matter 

The Universal Order of Plants 

The Spiritual Symbolism of Plants 

The Universal Order of Design - Animals 

The Seven Dimensions of Physics 

The Spiritual Symbolism of the Four Forces 

The Divine God Man

The theory is that all states of existence are in seven degrees of order, as follows:

However, Arthur M. Young made an error in his theory. There should be seven degrees of order, as follows:

1. (some unknown lower level dimensions of Physics, including space-time)
2. Subatomic Particles
3. Atoms
4. Molecules
5. Plants
6. Animals and Man
7. (unknown higher stage of existence)

The error Arthur M. Young made is that he assigned light to the first degree of order, when in fact light - the photon particle - is in fact another subatomic particle. The science is very clear on that point. Which means there is a whole new area of order below the subatomic level that science is on the verge of exploring. The other gap in the theory is the seventh order of existence, which is a higher level order beyond the human form: this is the spiritual world, the realm of the afterlife. For this gap in the theory, it is covered in the spiritual works of Emanuel Swedenborg who had visions of the afterlife. There are several stages of spiritual development that humans must go through, and these are described by the seven days of creation in the book of Genesis. The seven days are seven "states", and this is described in detail in Swedenborg's work Heavenly Arcana (aka Arcana Coelestia). These spiritual states, as it turns out, closely correspond to the different degrees of order of the material world.

THE STRANGE ORIGIN OF THE THEORY

As this universal order of design is universal, and covers all existence, if there is a gap in our scientific (or spiritual) knowledge of how things really are, the theory shows it. One will see a blank spot. And that is very apparent when we reach the lower level of order below the subatomic level: we start to deal with the different dimensions of reality, in which matter exists. Young missed it entirely, since he put light in this level. The theory predicts there should be seven dimensions. I discussed some theories in The Seven Dimensions of Physics, as well as geometric representations of higher dimensions, but it is incomplete.  In The Seven Dimensions of Space Time, some physicists have stated that the universe favors 3 and 7 dimensions. Which is interesting, because according to this theory of universal design, there should be seven - the reason for that is, at every order of existence, there are seven smaller sub orders. The pattern is consistent.

I recently went back to the blog The Seven Dimensions of Physics and was looking for some better graphical representations, and I stumbled upon a very odd find: a lecture entitled The Seven Dimensions of Creation:

What in the world is this? This comes from a group called the "Aetherius Society" founded by a Dr. George King, who was a Yoga master. I looked at the description, and it said this:

In 1957 Dr. King met an advanced intelligence from another world on board an interplanetary spacecraft. This extraterrestrial Master revealed to him that there are at least seven dimensions of creation, those being length, breadth, height, time, motion, mind and Divine Will.

Ok, now this is getting strange. The Aetherius Society is a UFO religion that exists to this day, and while they have some apparent insights, they promote some unusual teachings concerning the identity of Jesus which is contrary to Christianity and what was revealed to Emanuel Swedenborg. So my first reaction is this belongs in the trash bin. And so it should end there, except in my other research, I encountered this strange presentation by Peter Levenda entitled The Origin of the Secret Space Program.  It is a very odd lecture, and it concerns UFOs, extraterrestrials, the origin of the U.S. Space Program, the CIA, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and.... Arthur M. Young. WHAT?  That just threw me a curve ball. How did Arthur M. Young get in there, the author of The Reflexive Universe? As it turns out, Young was a researcher into the paranormal, and was involved in this channeling session in which they tried to contact a group of extraterrestrials - in the exact same manner that Dr. George King claimed to contact them. And if indeed they were extraterrestrials, they seem to have a strange way of looking at things. Some ideas have been borrowed from Theosophy, as well as Hinduism and Bhuddism.

So what is the story here? In 1952, a secretive government group, composed of individuals that seem to always pop up in the research concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, met in a farmhouse to conduct a channeling session to contact extraterrestrials. For this, I will just sum it up by quoting another blog that stumbled across this, The Séance That Changed America:

"The man at the centre of this séance was Andrija Puharich, US Army Captain and author of a government paper on the weaponisation of ESP. And this is the guy that is moving in the same murky circles as bishops Jack Martin and Fred Crisman. The farmhouse in question was owned by his bizarro Round Table Foundation which appears to have received funding from the CIA. Puharich first gathered together these nine people on a warm night in early June. But the most interesting results were actually achieved in New Year’s Eve of the same year.

And it’s a line-up that positively defines “could not make this up”. The group included:

• Arthur Young, who invented the Bell helicopter. However at the end of WWII he abandoned military aviation to concentrate full-time on the paranormal.
• Arthur’s wife, Ruth… previously of the Forbes dynasty. Her son, Michael, would get a job at Bell Aerospace through her and Arthur’s influence. (Michael’s wife got Lee Harvey Oswald his job at the book depository. She was learning Russian from Oswald’s wife who was living with her in Irving, Texas. Oh, and her father worked for a CIA front called the Agency for International Development. Lee Harvey Oswald left the coffee company in New Orleans, saying to his co-workers he was “going to work for NASA.” After the assassination, two other coffee company employees get jobs at NASA. Just saying.)
• Mary Bancroft; of the Bancroft dynasty who would much later sell the Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal to Murdoch. She also happened to be the mistress of the then-CIA chief. (The one JFK fired after the Bay Of Pigs after saying he was also going to break up the CIA… who conveniently went on to investigate JFK’s death. Just saying.)
• Marcella Du Pont of the Du Pont family.
• Alice Bouverie who was born into the Astor dynasty. (Her father died on the Titanic and her first husband was a Czarist prince who would work for the OSS during WWII.)"

So who is Andrija Puharich? He was a medical doctor and a researcher into parapyschology. And if this is not all strange enough, he wrote a book entitled: The Sacred Mushroom: Key to the Door of Eternity:

And what is that book about? Andrija Puharich began to study this sculptor who on occasion would fall into a trance and began speaking and writing in ancient Egyptian, and identified himself as a priest who lived 4600 years ago.  And one of the discoveries he made as a result of that was a new species of a psychedelic mushroom.  In the Bible the apostle Paul calls it "speaking in tongues," otherwise known as xenoglossy. Another story for another day.

So what happens during the session? The article continues:

These gods, who were nine in number as well, were part of one great, creator god known as Atum. The other gods consisted of Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys, and sometimes Horus.

Communication with these entities was handled by the medium, an Indian gentleman referred to as Dr. D.G. Vinod, who slipped into a trance state at 12:15 AM and began speaking as ‘the Nine’ by 12:30. Afterwards Dr. Vinod would claim to have no memory of the conversation that preceded between the Ennead Nine and their human counterparts. 

During the course of the seance the mystical Nine informed the human nine that they would be in charge of bringing about a mystical renaissance on Earth. From there the Nine ventured into quasi-scientific, philosophical constructs that eventually led to the acknowledgement that they, the Grand Ennead, were in fact extraterrestrial beings living in an immense spaceship hovering invisibly over the planet and that the assembled congregation had been selected to promote their agenda on Earth.

So is this, in reality, where Arthur M. Young got the theory? He would always mention in his lectures concerning the theory that he and his wife explored a variety of paranormal phenomenon, from which he tried to formulate the theory.  Did the theory originate from Arthur M. Young, or from somewhere else?  When Young decribes the theory, he says he was always trying to "fill in the gaps" with our current scientific knowledge. And he would always be surprised about how it worked so well to explain phenomenon that science was observing.  And five years later, a Dr. George King independently claims to have been revealed that there were seven dimensions of creation - and this teaching came after he saw a screen or hologram that looked "three dimensional." They corrected him, and said that there were in fact seven dimensions. This is completely separate from Arthur M. Young, for Young did not account for the seven dimensions in his theory.  And the date of the session which contacted these supposed extraterrestrial beings is interesting - it is the year 1952.  As it turns out, the NSA lost a lawsuit based on a freedom of information act, and in 2004 published an extraterrestrial message that they received. As discussed in The Origin of the NSA Extraterrestrial Radio Signal, the message can not only be dated internally to 1952 but contains scientific information ahead of its time. One now wonders: was it in fact a radio signal? Or a message received in a similar manner to the channeling session of this group in 1952? The NSA document does not explain.

THE SEVEN DIMENSIONS OF CREATION

For the moment, let us leave the strange possible origin of the theory of Arthur Young behind us. And as I said before, this is the kind of stuff that I normally put into the trash bin - the method of communication is unreliable, and in most cases the kind of information is false and belongs in the realm of pseudo-science. The source views Jesus as an extraterrestrial. The theory that Arthur M. Young worked on is elegant, it works, and it explains many things we currently know in our science. My current issue is I need to fill in a missing gap in the first level of order, I need to know what the seven dimensions of physics are. So, let us take a quick dive and see if we can recover anything that may actually be useful. Here is a lecture from the Aetherius Society concerning the seven dimensions of creation, which is actually a bit entertaining at times:



The lecturer first starts out with some general outlines of what science currently knows about other dimensions, but only mentions the String Theory or M-Theory which proposes 10 or 11 dimensions. And where did Dr. George King get his information concerning the seven dimensions? From extraterrestrials who claimed to be from planets in our solar system. After Dr. George King commented that a hologram looked three-dimensional, one of them from Mars explained that there were seven dimensions, and said,

"Therefore, even basic matter exists within this framework. Will, Mind, Motion, Time, Length, Breadth and Height. The Divine Will imposes those conditions upon mind which bring its potential into manifestation as directed motion in a time-frame of length, breadth and height." (27:38)

At 31:04 we have these statements:

"Manifestation could not exist without a power which is capable of creating the tension necessary to hold the particles of matter in a certain state. And this power is mind."

"Mind is a pattern of potential, a pattern which to all intents is static until a pressure is applied from outside."

At 33:05 we have this statement, which is related to Young's diagram of a fall downward into matter, and an upward movement back towards God:

"Each of our Sparks exists in a sea of mind. This mind is the power that creates the tension that holds matter together. Through the medium of mind, Divine Will gives each Spark motion, or direction back to God using matter."

At 37:11, we have this other quote from a message received in 1955, from an extraterrestrial supposedly from Venus named "Aetherius":

"A worm is a worm because it will not accept the fact that it is something greater. It is not possible to have matter, whether animate or inanimate, without having mind. The mind creates tension which holds the atoms of matter together. Whether those atoms constitute the brain of a saint, the brain of Einstein, or the cellular structure of a worm. The journey from worm into man is a shorter journey, long as it is, than from man consciousness to God consciousness."

At 39:04, the speaker presents another way of viewing the seven dimensions of creation:

1. Divine Will
2. Divine Mind
3. Motion
4. Vibration in matter - which is compared to the vibrating strings in String theory.

With the following commentary, which again is very close to Young's explanations concerning bringing potential into manifestation:

"In the beginning there was only potential - then this potential was brought into and bound within manifestation."
"The seven dimensions are a means of bringing potential into manifestation."

At 42:27 we have these statements:

"LOVE is an all permeating energy which is above mind. It is the third degree manifestation of the Initial Creative Force." -The Second Freedom - Feb. 19, 1961, Mars Sector 6
"There is really but One Energy in the system. This Energy has many octaves of manifestation." -- Nov. 23 1957, A Lord of Saturn

In String theory, all matter and energy can be described as vibrating strings. The reference to an octave is interesting - for in the universal order of design, based on Young's theory, manifestation goes through seven degrees, and in the eighth degree (an octave) - one jumps to the next degree of order. In the presentation, the following commentary is given on the three creative forces:

1. The first creative force was the potential.
2. The second force was bringing that potential into manifestation in the seven dimensions.
3. Love is the third degree.

At this point, I am going to interrupt and correct the presentation. The above three creative forces are in the wrong order. We should have it in this order, and I will explain why later:

1. Love, or intent, comes first.
2. Mind, or potential, comes second, and is the cause.
3. Manifestation is the effect, which appears in our dimensional world.

CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE THEORY

So, the above is a lot to digest and absorb. And to be honest, the speaker giving the presentation does not seem to understand it all. But lets take a step back and assess the theory.  Science confirms that there are three dimensions of space, and a fourth dimension of time.  But three new dimensions appear: will, thought and motion. And this does not seem right. First, anyone who knows anything about science will tell you that motion is not a dimension, it is a force applied to matter. Also, no scientist in their right mind would ever propose will and thought as a dimension. Will and thought, in our current understanding, are not physical entities but belong to the realm of spirit. But then again, lets ask the question: how does our will and thought interact within our three dimensions? Or how does the spiritual world interact with the material world? It is common to speak of the spiritual world as a higher dimension, and the material world as a lower dimension. This theory is strange: it states will and thought ARE a dimension, literally. Folded within our regular three dimensions and time. There it is, all around us. We literally live in someone's will and thought that is all pervasive. This is something unexpected.

If we think about it, we are a soul existing in a material body. But where is the soul? No one can find it. Swedenborg studied anatomical dissections of the human body and failed to find it. Scientists still have not found it. So, according to current scientific theory, if a woman approaches a scientist and tells him, "I love you. What does that mean to you?" The scientist will probably say love is a chemical reaction influencing the electrical impulses of your brain. Which is probably why we have a lack of scientists in the U.S.

According to the theory of the Seven Dimensions of Creation, physicists are no longer on top. Spiritual knowledge is the highest knowledge to know. And spirituality applied becomes sociology and psychology....and now we are stuck in an endless loop. Without spirituality, there is no morality. Without morality, society falls apart, and people fall into their own punishment according to the sin they have chosen.

So, when we get down to the dimensional level of physics, is it true that the 6th and 7th dimensions are thought and will?  Probably not.  I would modify the statement a bit: the 6th dimension is the dimension where thought exists, and the 7th dimension is the dimension where the will exists. These dimensions receive influx from the Divine, for only the Divine has life in itself. Humans, and all living forms, are recipients of life.  This was made clear to Emanuel Swedenborg in his visions, which he spells out in a small work entitled Intercourse between the Soul and Body. Thus, I would modify the theory to state that the higher dimensions is where the will and thought of the soul reside, which directs the physical body in our 3 dimensional world. Our life is influx from the Divine, and this comes from a level of existence that precedes the first degree of order of the dimensions of space time.

If we think about it, for thought to reside in a dimension higher than the dimensions of space-time begins to make sense. If this is true, then telepathy is possible. Clairvoyance - where one can see something happening in a far off distance somewhere else - now becomes explained. Our thoughts, by nature, are not bound by space and time. We can think about the past or jump to the future. If will and thought reside in folded dimensions within space and time, we now know how the soul interacts with the body and yet we cannot see it. Astral projection, out of the body experiences...all of it, has the potential to be explained by science. All the evidence is there for these paranormal phenomenon. But since it does not "fit in" with our current theories it is ignored.

So how do the Seven Dimensions of Creation relate to the theory of The Reflexive Universe by Arthur M. Young? It actually fits right in. So much so, I suspect that both ideas have the same source. It always puzzled me how the inventor of the Bell Helicopter came up with his theory. Recall the diagram that Young used to explain his theory:

The way Young presents it, it is a downward descent of the soul into matter, and than an upward ascent of the soul back to God.  I do not agree with most of the labels Young used, but the first one - which he calls "Purpose" - is correct. Purpose is the same as intent, and one's intent is the same as love. Intentional love is the highest form of living. Now compare this diagram with the seven dimensions of creation:

1. The will, or love, or intent = END.
2. The mind, or thought, or potential = CAUSE.
3. Motion, or usefulness, work = EFFECT.
4. Time.
5. Length
6. Breadth
7. Height

Note how the dimensions get reversed from the normal way we think of them.  It is also a downward descent of the soul into matter, where we get stuck in the world of space-time. The purpose of matter is to manifest the potential thoughts of the soul, according to one's intent. And that is why I corrected the philosophy of the Aetherius society a bit. The way I see it, they have received information and they do not know how to interpret it. Swedenborg was shown that the realms of the spiritual world exist beyond space and time (long before Einstein's theories) - this is the seventh order of creation. Another topic for another day. So what is the purpose of creation? To manifest love.

And note that I reordered the "three forces" of the Aetherius society, correcting it a bit. Those teaching are related to what Swedenborg called end, cause and effect, or another way, intent, thought and outcome. One's potential thought, based on one's intent, must manifest in what one does.

"To speak in the language of philosophy — these three are as end, cause, and effect. It is known that there can never be any effect unless there be a cause, and never any cause unless there be an end. Effect, cause, and end, are as distinct as exterior, interior, and inmost. Properly speaking, the sensual man, that is, he who thinks from sensual things, is the external man, and the spiritual and celestial man is the internal man; but the rational man is mediate between the two, and by this, or by what is rational, there is communication of the internal man with the external." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 978.3)

Thus true faith must be conjoined with good works:

"Only to know what is of faith, is of a man's memory, without the concurrence of his reason. To acknowledge what is of faith is a rational consent induced by certain causes and for the sake of certain ends. But to have faith is of conscience, that is, of the Lord operating through conscience. This may be abundantly evident from those who are in the other life. Those who only know are many of them in hell." (Heavenly Arcana, n. 896)

The philosophy of the Aetherius society has good insights, but without Divine guidance, or spiritual revelation, most will be at a loss to discern which portions of it are true or false.  And it is unfortunate that the Aetherius society does not have a correct knowledge of Jesus Christ.  For notice, there is a descent of the will into thought, thought into motion, and thence into the material world. And what does it mean when the Divine Will and Divine Thought are the 7th and 6th dimensions? It means God is omnipresent, and omniscient. He is present in the smallest things. And what is Divine Thought? This is known as the Word:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  ...He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:1-5, 10-13)

And what is described? How God descended from his Divine Will, into his Divine Thought (the Word or Logos), and became incarnate into material matter. And the Aetherius society is blind to it. How did the Divine Thought or Word create all things? It is everywhere. It is in a folded dimension that is present in everything that exists. Our objective in life is to manfest the Divine Love, thus we pray: Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

THE FIFTH DIMENSION: WHAT IS IT?

So we gave a spiritual assessment of the theory.  Now for a scientific assessment.  Science is well grounded in the four dimensions of space-time. The theory of the Seven Dimensions of Creation states that the fifth dimension is motion. And this, when one first looks at it, is blatantly incorrect. For according to Newtonian physics, motion is nothing more than a change of distance (space) over a change in time. In Newtonian physics, motion is completely explained in terms of the four dimensions. Moreover, motion is initiated by force, and this is explained by the subatomic world.

But not so fast. When we get down to the quantum level, throw out Newtonian physics. Also throw out gravity, as that messes things up at the quantum level. So how do we describe motion at the quantum level? Every particle has what is known as "spin." But this is not spin as we know a spinning ball.  Each particle has discrete spin: 1/2 spin, full spin, double spin. Nothing in between, it is quanticized.  Its as if we have a spinning ball that blips in and out and only shows up at certain points in its spin. We have reached the level of the universe's own graph paper: a bunch of squares where things can only manifest at the intersections. Ask a physicist why this is so, the answer is unknown. It is the way things are. So when it blips in and out, where does it go? The fifth dimension perhaps? In that case, nothing really moves in the four dimensions, it all happens in the fifth. One physicist proposes something like that to explain quantum entanglement, where particles effect each other at a distance in Discovery of the Fifth Dimension. But this is too general and not specific enough. There are various theories on Five-dimensional space, and one interesting theory is The Kaluza-Klein theory: with five dimensions, gravity can become united with the electromagnetic force. It was proposed back in 1921 but it has not been verified.

While I was exploring the fifth dimension I found this interesting article by Brian Koberlein - The 5th Dimension and Dark Energy:

In a recent paper in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, an interesting theory was proposed to explain dark energy as a quantum effect. The idea is based on an experiment known as the Casimir effect. ...What the Casimir effect demonstrates is that quantum fluctuations in a vacuum can produce a force. So what if dark energy was due to vacuum energy fluctuations? For that to be the case, there would have to be a constrained geometry. But such a constrained geometry is exactly what is proposed in (wait for it) string theory! String theory (or M-theory as it is now known) proposes that there are actually ten spatial dimensions instead of just the three that we know of. These higher dimensions differ from our usual ones in that they are compact, meaning they are folded around themselves. If you think of a straw as a two-dimensional sheet with one “regular” dimension (the length of the straw) and one “compact” dimension (the circumference of the straw), then you have the basic idea.

Now if these compact higher dimensions exist, then quantum fluctuations would be constrained in those dimensions, and that might produce a cosmic Casimir force that looks like dark energy. The catch is that our observations of gravity place a limit on the size of these compact dimensions. This is because gravity is an inverse-square force, meaning that the force of attraction between masses varies by one over their distance squared. If there are higher dimensions, then the inverse-square relation for gravity would break down at the size of those dimensions. Gravity experiments have shown no such effect, so that means that any higher dimensions (if they exist) can be no larger than 85 microns, which is about the width of a human hair.

This is where things get interesting, because if you calculate the effect of these quantum fluctuations in such compact dimensions you find that having 8 compact dimensions (as string theory proposes) doesn’t work. It only works if you allow for just one compact dimension. But if you constrain the universe to just one extra and compact dimension, and you also constrain the fluctuations to exist within the limits of the observable universe, then this model makes two predictions. The first is that dark energy would be constant throughout the universe. It would, in fact, look like a cosmological constant. The second is that this extra compact dimension would have a size of about 35 microns, which means that around 35 microns we should see gravity deviate from the inverse square relation.

An interesting theory - it counteracts String theory of 10 or 11 dimensions, and only works if you have one extra compact dimension: the fifth dimension. Then the phenomenon of "Dark Energy" becomes explained. And what does dark energy do? It is responsible for the rapid expansion and acceleration of the universe. There you have it: motion effected in the fifth dimension. I found another article on this here: Dark Energy From Fifth Dimensional Brans-Dicke Theory. In the article Physicists Probe the Fifth Dimension, it is proposed that when two particles collide and produce a graviton, the graviton escapes into the fifth dimension:

One physicist exploring how gravitons can "leak away" into a fifth dimensional brane is Lisa Randal of Harvard University: she along with Raman Sundrum are trying to find a way to verify the theory.

Other dimensions explain many phenomenon currently observed in physics: see the presentation from Fermilab: Dark Matter from Hidden Dimensions.  And what will happen when scientists finally verify the existence of these higher dimensions?  Well maybe we will figure out how to travel faster than light - for if movement takes place in the fifth dimension, perhaps one can go outside the limits of the first four dimensions.

CONCLUSION

If anyone is surprised about a possible "paranormal" origin for Arthur M. Young's theory of Reflexive Universe, no one is more surprised than myself.  For a long time I have been stuck trying to fill in the gap of the seven dimensions of physics which should lie within the first order of existence within the framework of the universal order of design. And where do I find a possible solution? Not from a scientist, but from a UFO contactee of all places - completely independent from Young. And it provides a philosophical foundation for the rest of the theory, which Arthur M. Young struggled with. And what about the seventh order of existence? Those are the spiritual realms, and for that, we need to depend on the revelations given to Emanuel Swedenborg. Does it all fit together? Yes it does, as I showed a little bit here. A grand theory of everything. That is a cause of celebration for me, as this has been a bit of exploration, and this was a big missing piece of the puzzle. And for that I will end with the theme song The Dream from the movie Total Recall, concerning a man who forgets his identity and has to rediscover himself:


UPDATE (6/17): INTRINSIC SPIN AND THE FIFTH DIMENSION
I did some further research into this, and found a paper entitled: Intrinsic Spin and the Kaluza-Klein Fifth Dimension.  In 1921 Kaluza-Klein proposed that there was a compactified fifth dimension, which would unite gravity and the electro-weak force.  As it turns out, this paper mathematically shows that the intrinsic half-spin of leptons it actually explained by such a small curled up fifth-dimension.  We only see the spin in certain states as we live in a three dimensional world. More research needs to be done for the other particles.  How come is this theory just sitting there? All of this from an odd piece of information, from a possible extraterrestrial source, that stated that the fifth dimension was essentially motion.  This is highly counter-intuitive, but may be correct.  Unfortunately as the Aetherius Society relied on channeling, some of this information has been mixed in with some false religious teachings. So if this is correct, then it is quite possible that the sixth dimension is thought, and the seventh dimension is will. The seventh dimension is the possible domain of the soul.  These conclusions are even more counter-intuitive.  In our current science we are taught that this world is a mechanical universe, and it has no room for such higher spiritual matters as love or thought.  But in Swedenborg's visions, love and thought are not just abstract concepts, or merely derived from the outer senses and chemical reactions of the body.  They truly exist as substance, but exist as a higher level substance that does not interact with light.   It is an important point, as that would mean the highest dimensions (7th through 5th) represent END, CAUSE, EFFECT - where effect is the 5th dimension of motion.  No longer an abstract concept, everything originates from will - the Divine will, flowing into all creation.
UPDATE (6/20) - A SIMPLIFIED VERSION OF HIGHER DIMENSIONS?
We have matter (fermions) that always have half-spin, force particles have full spin, and the gravitron has double spin.  In other words, these particles are spinning, but we can only observe them in certain states of their spin. So, like electron shells around an atom, lets create different levels that represent the different dimensions, and show how particles "move" through them:

We exist in 4D Space time, and we can only observe things at this level, which I show with the black line.  Quantum mechanics has shown that at the lowest level things are strangely discrete. But discrete levels are indications of other dimensions. So matter particles always have half spin, showing that matter is moving between three dimensional space and the 5th dimension - which was the subject matter of Intrinsic Spin and the Kaluza-Klein Fifth Dimension. Force particles half full spin, so they interact between our 4D space-time world and the 6th dimension, the subject of Yang-Mills theory. These force particles also intersect with the 2nd Dimension - and forces act like vectors which are two dimensional. And then we have the elusive graviton, which Randall and Sundrum propose is weak because it "leaks" from our 4D dimension to another dimension. But in the above diagram, it shows that its not just the graviton that leaks. Everything that moves leaks out of our 4D dimension like a sieve. In order to move through 4D space-time, you need to "leak" out. And note that the graviton encompasses all of the dimensions of space-time - according to General Relativity, gravity is the result of the warping of space-time. The weird thing this simple (probably oversimplified) geometric diagram shows is that gravity does not leak to the 5th dimension. It leaks out to the 8th dimension.  But in the theory I was expecting seven dimensions - but nothing is interacting between our 4D world and the 7th dimension. Is there any theory from physicist concerning 8 dimensions?  Yes, in physical theories concerning Supersymmetry, it requires a Superspace of eight dimensions. While mathematically it solves more problems, there are no observations that back it up.  But check out the following two videos concerning the E8 theory from Garrett Lisi - where geometrically, an eight dimensional universe has the possibility to describe everything we know about subatomic particles in a beautiful geometric pattern. It is a work in progress, for an assessment see An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything: To show how beautiful it is, see this video: