Emanuel Swedenborg

Numbers are important in the natural world and particularly in the sciences.  The writings of Emmanuel Swedenborg also suggest that numbers have a unique spiritual significance, and he explains the meaning for selected numbers that appear throughout the bible.  For example, the unitary one (1), refers to God - “God is One”.  This paper explores the remarkable properties of the number phi (φ) from this perspective and concludes that φ reflects the infinite unfolding, through roots, fractions, or additions, of the number one itself.  This suggests that φ may correspond spiritually to the act of Divine Creation.  Indeed, φ is ubiquitous within nature in a wide variety of forms including the perfect spiral --- found in the nautilus shell, the trajectory of a falcon, the head of a sunflower or the arms of a spiral nebula.  The perfect spiral offers a beautiful image of what Swedenborg refers to regeneration - the process by which each one of is able to move toward conjunction with the God.

KUHN, Christian Carlos. Kant and the Mysticism: la conflict between Reason,

Enthusiasm and Madness. 2016. 119 p. Dissertation (Master in Philpsophy) – University of the West of Paraná (UNIOESTE) - Toledo, 2016.

KEY WORDS: Mysticism, Enthusiasm. Schwärmerei. Swedenborg.

In this work, we intend to present a philosophical analysis about Kant's relationship with Mysticism revisiting classic Kantian concepts that have an articulator function of this issue, namely, the distinction between a sensitive and intellectual intuition (intellectus archetypus) and their close but neglected relationship to the concept of archetype in Religion and typus in the second Critique, intuitive and symbolic knowledge and the anthropological concepts still almost unknown as the gift of divination and the faculty of prediction to forecast. We will also present the Kantian´s enthusiastic apology of sensibility and the subject of unconscious representations also subliminal in the first Critique. Finally we will conduct a more detailed analysis of Swedenborg´s case presenting a short diagnosis of Kant. Despite the apparent irrational nature of the subject, the philosopher thoroughly occupied this motiv or this philosophical problem that concerns on the fundamental philosophical question, deep and critical about the constitutive nature of what is usually and imprecisely called Mysticism. However, this designation seems to support a kind of subtle philosophical prejudice, that is, the apparently clear and disinterested objectivity in order to predispose the analysis of what would present itself as the "mystical experience"; as something already known, although attached to this, an anathema of insanity or at least something that is not philosophical, objetive. According to some scholars and highlighted textually by Kant himself, this relationship quite paradoxical, that is, Kant himself, considered one of the great exponents of German Aufklärung, a philosophical and spiritual phenomenon, found himself vacillating in their judgment. However, as we seek to show throughout this work, far from being uninteresting to Kant, the philosopher thoroughly occupied this topic, or even what we might call, this philosophical problem, which presents itself surreptitiously in his Critical Philosophy. As we will see throughout this work, according to scholars was precisely the struggle between Enthusiasmus and Schwärmerei that flourished German Aufklärung. From this conflictual relationship between objectivity and subjectivity, reason and faith, hypochondriac and melancholic crises and massive cases of suicides is where Kantian clash with Mysticism emerge, and it is in this context of dilemmas that Kant develops his Critical and Transcendental Philosophy. According to Baigorria (2014), The Schwärmerei phenomenon since Kant´s context was something controversial and devoid of a philosophical criterion purely objective and impartial, although originally was associated with religious fanaticism, and the clash between Luther and the Anabaptists, the Schwärmerei would have suffered numerous semantic and cultural changes. If we remember and reflect deeply about the scope of the four questions raisedby Kant in his Logic, after and worthy hermeneutic review, an updated phenomenological of the ancient wisdom, we would understand why all these questions are referred to the last one, The Human, and therefore self-knowledge. Only then we will be willing to follow the exhortation exposed at the Delphic temple´s porch: "If you cannot find within yourself what you are searching for, nor you will find out. Man, know thyself and you will know the Universe and the Gods!".

URL : http://revueties.org/document/index.php?/ties/la-voix-dans-tous-ses-etats/660-polyphonie-litteraire-et-imaginaires-de-la-voix-spectrale-chez-fedor-dostoievski

Cet article a pour but de replacer la poétique de la polyphonie, propre à l'oeuvre de Fédor Dostoïevski, dans une histoire culturelle du XIX e siècle. Il s'agit donc de considérer dans cette oeuvre la superposition de plusieurs imaginaires de la voix. Chez l'écrivain russe contemporain de l'invention du phonographe, les voix présentent souvent un aspect fantomatique et spectral que met particulièrement en évidence l'étude du récit Bobok (1873). Publié en amont des théories de Mikhaïl Bakhtine sur la pluralité des voix, ce texte permet de souligner la transversalité du motif des hallucinations auditives chez Dostoïevski. La reprise des théories spirites dans le récit peut nous apparaître enfin comme une réponse ironique aux accusations de folie dont Dostoïevski lui-même commence à faire les frais dès les années 1870. Cette réponse fictionnelle aux attaques du journal La Voix se double d'une critique des nouvelles conditions médiatiques dans lesquelles Dostoïevski produit son oeuvre en général. Avant même l'invention du phonographe, la voix spectrale devient une allégorie du mot imprimé et le signe d'une entrée définitive de la littérature russe dans l'ère médiatique. ABSTRACT. This article aims to situate Fyodor Dostoevsky's poetics of polyphony in the historical perspective of cultural evolutions during the nineteenth century. It is therefore necessary to consider the coexistence of different "imaginations of voice" in Dostoevsky's work. Like his contemporary Thomas Edison, the inventor of the phonograph, Dostoevsky creates voices that are endowed with a ghostly and spectral aspect, which is particularly highlighted in the study of his short story entitled Bobok (1873). Published before Mikhail Bakhtin had considered the plurality of voices in Dostoyevsky's work, this text emphasizes the transversality of auditory hallucinations in his novels. The fictionalization of spiritualist theories in the narrative can therefore appear as an ironic answer to the accusations of madness that the author was the victim of in the early 1870s. His fictional response to the attacks of the liberal newspaper "The Voice" came along with a critique of the new conditions in which Dostoevsky had to produce his work at the age of media. Even before the invention of the phonograph, the spectral voice thus had become an allegory of the printed word and the sign of the definitive entry of Russian literature into the era of the media.. MOTS-CLÉS : Dostoïevski, polyphonie, hallucination auditive, voix spectrale, spiritisme, média

This paper is based on couple of articles in which I’m charting the influence of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) in the Finnish national literature of the 19th century. The outset of this paper will briefly demonstrate that Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist and visionist, was not an unknown character in 19th century Finland, a view still predominant in cultural and literary studies. It will be shown that Swedenborg, on the contrary, appeared regularly in Finnish newspapers and was discussed in ways that prove him to be part of the literary, cultural and religious discourses at the time. One of the conclusions will be, to put it simply, that all Finns who did read newspapers also knew who Emanuel Swedenborg was and what his main achievements were.

"Ilya Vinitsky discusses Vladimir Dahl, whose religious passions and unbridled energy recall Webster. Dahl structured the entries in his Explanatory Dictionary as 'nests' and thereby worked to cast the Russian language as a kind of national epic. As a Spiritualist, he claimed the Word as a bridge between worlds..."

In this paper we will compare Emanuel Swedenborg’s (1688-1772) practice of Internal Breathing to Paramahansa Yogananda’s (1893-1952) Kriya Yoga. We will focus on the esoteric meaning, historical context and scientific foundation beneath the role of breath control in these two systems with a particular emphasis on the influence of neuroscience on the development of these two practices. I will cite the publicly available description of Kriya Yoga printed in Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) and references to Swedenborg that are largely drawn from his essay on ecstatic trance in his work on the Brain.  The author is approaching this study as both a seventh-generation inheritor of the Swedenborgian tradition and a close follower of Guruji Yogananda and therefore this research project is an attempt to explore and celebrate the work of both teachers by illustrating their connections and differences. It is the author’s hope that by drawing parallels between these two geographically and culturally distant yet spiritually proximal masters, we can employ the vast history of contemplative traditions to enrich the ancient art and science of internal breathing for the wellbeing of the modern mind. The Swedenborgian process of spiritual growth is one which moves from a paradigm of possession to one of love, and that is a hermeneutic which is necessary for the delicate work ahead of us, therefore, it is not the goal of this study to assign possession or historical origin to these systems in the state of complexity where they reach us today, instead, let us place these Sacred Systems of Interoception into the possession of that universal religion which follows the primordial scriptures of the Embodied Absolute.

Language: Polish. With an English summary. The book is a much needed update on recent developments in research on western esotericism. It presents history of academic research in this field, proposes new and more accurate Polish terminology, tracks the occult sciences and esoteric beliefs from middleages to present, and helps understand 19th and 20th century occultism as part and parcel of Western culture.

Internal breathing is one of the most esoteric and mysterious aspects of Emanuel
Swedenborg’s life story. This energetic breathwork was a constant practice for him which,
throughout his life, became an ever-deepening and broadening gateway into internal realms of
spiritual reality. He would often lapse into extended breathless trances, flirting with the rough edges
of mortality and bringing back the vast psychedelic landscapes of the world beyond death.2

Swedenborg recorded detailed accounts of how this practice affected his psyche in his spiritual diary,
providing a kind of guidebook to the subtle interior realms which define the living currents of the
animate domain. He believed that the most ancient people had this different sort of respiration,
afforded by the absence of speech “internal breathing” allowed them to have an intense awareness
of internal influx and profound intimacy with those who had passed on to the next life.

Die Neue Kirche (Swedenborgianer) im deutschsprachigen Raum musste sich im Unterschied zu allen anderen Swedenborgkirchen auf der Welt schon im 19. Jahrhundert mit den Neuoffenbarungen durch Jakob Lorber und den Lorberfreunden auseinandersetzen. Dieses Buch dokumentiert diese lange und wechselvolle Geschichte, indem es im wesentlichen die führenden Köpfe der neukirchlichen Organisationen in der Schweiz und in Deutschland zu Wort kommen lässt.

In this paper we will compare Emanuel Swedenborg’s (1688-1772) practice of internal breathing to Paramahansa Yogananda’s (1893-1952) kriya yoga. We will focus on the esoteric meaning, historical context and scientific foundation beneath the role of breath control in these two systems with a particular emphasis on the influence of neuroscience on the development of these two practices. I will cite the publicly available description of kriya yoga printed in Autobiography of a Yogi (1946) and references to Swedenborg that are largely drawn from his essay on ecstatic trance in his work on the Brain.
The author is approaching this study as both a seventh-generation inheritor of the Swedenborgian tradition and a close follower of Guruji Yogananda and therefore this research project is an attempt to explore and celebrate the work of both teachers by illustrating their connections and differences. It is the author’s hope that by drawing parallels between these two geographically and culturally distant yet spiritually proximal masters, we can employ the vast history of contemplative traditions to enrich the ancient art and science of internal breathing for the wellbeing of the modern mind. The hybrid spirituality of the New Age strongly effects the way that we as human products of human history define ourselves, as modern people we are psychic inheritors of the genetic material from a host of traditions, both the traumatic and the sacred. In my own journey Swedenborg and Yogananda have been like parents to me and by knowing them both better I have grown to know myself.

Swedenborg’s involvement with the London Moravian Community, suspected for some time, can now be documented from the diaries (May 4/15th 1745) of the Moravian Church at Fetter Lane in the City of London. The influence of Zinzendorf’s writings on Swedenborg’s thinking can also be demonstrated, despite Swedenborgian attempts to downplay it. But what the Swedenborgians stress is that individual Moravians read Swedenborg’s writings and were themselves influenced by him. One early reader was the prominent Moravian minister at Northampton, Francis Okely, who had become acquainted with Swedenborg’s works as early as 1768. Okely was a prolific translator of sixteenth and seventeenth-century mystical writers, believing these writings to be useful for his spiritually-fallen fellow citizens in eighteenth-century England. Swedenborg’s attempt to reinvigorate a human-based Christian faith would have been attractive to some Moravian readers, and his works seem to have circulated in these circles. Okely initially was impressed with Swedenborg’s teachings, which often parallel the seventeenth-century writers he was interested in, but later wrote to Swedenborg that he did not understand The True Christian Religion (first published, in Latin, in 1771). Later, Robert Hindmarsh’s Theosophical Society (a Swedenborgian reading group) included such members as the painter Richard Cosway, and Cosway was a close friend of James Hutton, Moravian leader in England, painting Hutton’s portrait in 1786. By the end of the eighteenth century, Okely’s son, William, also a Moravian minister, was openly scornful of Swedenborg’s claims to spiritual insight.

Finished book now available on amazon. This is a draft copy of one of the chapters from my book ‘Mysticism in Western Esoericism’ which is available on amazon. In the study of Western esotericism there is frequent mention of mysticism and yet there have been no studies linking the two. This book examines how the two could be related within a neo-essentailist approach. Other chapters include an overview of the philosophical study of Mysticism, an overview of the study of Western esotericism, application to Ruusbroec, Swedenborg and Neo-druidry.

Lux in Tenebris is a collection of eighteen original interdisciplinary essays that address aspects of the verbal and visual symbolism in the works of significant figures in the history of Western Esotericism, covering such themes as alchemy, magic, kabbalah, angels, occult philosophy, Platonism, Rosicrucianism, and Theosophy. Part I: Middle Ages & Early Modernity ranges from Gikatilla, Ficino, Camillo, Agrippa, Weigel, Böhme, Yvon, and Swedenborg, to celestial divination in Russia. Part II: Modernity & Postmodernity moves from occultist thinkers Schwaller de Lubicz and Evola to esotericism in literature, art, and cinema, in the works of Colquhoun, Degouve de Nuncques, Bruskin, Doitschinoff, and Pérez-Reverte, with an essay on esoteric theories of colour.

Contributing authors are: Michael J.B. Allen, Susanna Åkerman, Lina Bolzoni, Aaron Cheak, Robert Collis, Francesca M. Crasta, Per Faxneld, Laura Follesa, Victoria Ferentinou, Joshua Gentzke, Joscelyn Godwin, Hans Thomas Hakl, Theodor Harmsen, Elke Morlok, Noel Putnik, Jonathan Schorsch, György Szönyi, Carsten Wilke, and Thomas Willard.

In Visionary: On Hilma af Klint and the Spirit of Her Time, ed. Kurt
Almqvist and Louise Belfrage, 71-91, 118-20.  Stockholm: Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation, 2019.
The footnotes for this essay were inadvertently not scanned with the text. They are available in a separate file that follows.

Tähän valikoimaan sisältyy synopsikset, alkutekstit, suomennokset ja kommentaarit seitsemästä kosmisen mystagogi William Blaken (1757-1827) varhaisimmasta eeppisestä runoelmasta eli nk. profetiallisesta draamasta. Teos keskittyy siis Blaken Lambethin kauden ja sitä edeltävään epiikkaan, jossa vallankumouksen utopia hehkuu kaikissa sateenkaaren väreissä samalla kun runoilija ilmaisee sekä sympatiansa että kritiikkinsä Euroopan ja Amerikan luciferisia kapinallisia kohtaan. Blaken profetiallisten draamojen arkaaisimpia vaikutteita ja lähtökohtia olivat mm. kanaanilaiset, heprealaiset, kreikkalaiset, germaaniset, kelttiläiset, skandinaaviset ja hindulaiset jumaltarut, joiden mytologisia ja soteriologisia näkemyksiä hän yhdisteli ja tulkitsi anarkistisesti oman mielensä mukaan. Näkyvän roolin Blaken runoudessa saivat toisaalta myös antiikin gnostilaiset ja uusplatonistiset kirjailijat sekä William Shakespearen näytelmät ja John Miltonin runous, joiden metafysiikan dialektiset libretot ja dramaattiset polyfoniat elähdyttivät hänen psyykensä luovaa hierrettä ja siivittivät säveltämään uuden taivaan ja uuden helvetin päinvastaisia melodioita. Hyvin keskeisiä Blaken taiteelle olivat myös Jakob Böhmen ja Paracelsuksen välittämät hermeettiset ja alkemistiset kirjoitukset, joiden paradoksaalis-dialektiset ja paradoksaalis-mystiset ajatukset hän omaksui innokkaasti ja uudisti. Blaken filosofian kannalta merkitseviä olivat edelleen ruotsalaisen henkiennäkijä Emanuel Swedenborgin (1688-1772) teologiset teokset, joiden dogmaattis-rationaaliset ja dogmaattis-mystiset oivallukset hän näki rohkeasti kokonaan uudessa valossa ja kyseenalaisti. Kaikkein silmiinpistävimpiä William Blaken varhaisen epiikan innoittajia ja herätteitä olivat kuitenkin 1700-luvun brittiläisen ja ranskalaisen valistuksen aatteet sekä aikakauden poliittisen historian ajankohtaiset tapahtumat: Amerikkalainen vallankumous 1776 ja Ranskan Suuri vallankumous 1789-1794 sekä näihin liittyvä ancien régimen murtuminen, jotka kaikki tapahtumat Blake näki osana jumalten ja ihmisten välistä vuorovaikutusta ja maailmankaikkeuden suurta, kosmista näytelmää.


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Valikoiman ensimmäinen runoelma Tiriel (1789) on materialismin rappion ja epäonnistumisen ja samalla ”Järjen Aikakauden” päättymisen tarkkanäköinen analyysi. Samalla se on ennakkoaavistus Blaken esoteerisen mytologian ”helvetillisestä” okkultismista, mitä enteilee tosiseikka, että runoelman keskeisten päähenkilöiden nimet ’Tiriel’ ja ’Zazel’  runoilija omaksui Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheimin teoksesta De occulta philosophia libri tres (1531-1533, Englanniksi: ”Three Books of Occult Philosophy”, 1651) . Samaisen renessanssin magiaa edustavan teoksen nimistöä hyödyntää myös Blaken runoelma The Book of Thel (1789, ”Thelin kirja”), mutta runollinen innoitus johdattaa runoilijan tällä kertaa kokonaan toisenlaiseen näkyyn: William Blaken ilmaisussa on tässä kohtaa vivahde lastenlaulujen ja lastenlorujen maailmasta, jossa kukat ja taivaan pilvet osaavat ajatella, puhua ja rakastaa, mutta runoelman keskiössä on tässäkin mitä vakavin teema: Kaikkea elämää koskeva kuoleman ja katoavaisuuden mysteeri, jonka Thel, runon nuori sankaritar “viattomuuden ja kokemuksen rajoilla“,  kokee riipaisevasti sielussaan elämän kevään vehreyden ja kukkien keskellä.

William Blaken Lambethin kauden avaava runoelma Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793, ”Albionin tytärten näyt”) muodostaa eräänlaisen The Book of Thel-runoelman temaattisen parin, sillä tällä kertaa näytelmän keskiössä on Kokemuksen eksistenssitasoon astunut, kypsä nainen; Blaken Visions of the Daughters of Albion-runoelma kertoo traagisen tarinan raiskauksesta ja sen jättämistä arvista, mutta se sisältää myös puolustuspuheen vapaudelle ja vapaalle rakkaudelle – vaikutteita tähän työhönsä runoilija on imenyt ilmeisesti juuri feministikirjailija Mary Wollstonecraftin poliittisesta pääteoksesta Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792, ”Naisten oikeuksien puolustus”). Jos The Book of Thel-runoelma rinnastuu kielikuviltaan ja kehittelyltään The Songs of Innocence and Experience (1789-1794, suom. ”Viattomuuden ja Kokemuksen lauluja”)-runokokoelman ensimmäiseen osaan ”Viattomuuden lauluja”(1789), Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793)-runoelman tematiikka täydentää sen kokonaiseksi assosioituen pikemminkin ko. runokokoelman jälkimmäiseen puoliskoon  ”Kokemuksen lauluja” (1794).

Gnostilainen maailmanselitys ilmenee monin paikoin William Blaken Lambethin kauden ”Mannerten profetiat”-trilogiassa, joka osittain kulkee limittäin nk. ”Orc-syklin ” kanssa: Trilogian ensimmäinen runoelma America: A Prophecy (1793, ”Amerikka: Profetia”) on symbolinen tulkinta Yhdysvaltojen itsenäisyyssodasta, joka huipentuu amerikkalaisen kapinan henkilöitymänä toimivan ofilaisen Käärme-Messiaan, Orcin voittoon.  Trilogian toinen osa Europe: A Prophecy (1794, ”Eurooppa: Profetia”) voidaan nähdä John Miltonin yltiökristillisen runouden parodiana, joka sisältää muotomenoihin kangistuneen, seksuaalikielteisen ja materialistisen kristinuskon kitkerää kritiikkiä. Trilogian kolmas osa The Song of  Los(1794) tahtoo Runoilija-Profeetta Losin suulla laulaa uskaliaan ylistysvirren vallankumoukselliselle jakobiiniradikalismille aikana, jona väkivaltaisten veritekojen kierre realisoitui Pariisin kaduilla; Runoelma täydentää Blaken runollisen kertomuksen ihmiskunnan historiasta alkaen Adamista Eedenin puutarhassa ja päättyen Viimeiseen Tuomioon, kuoleman riemuvoittoon ja yleiseen ylösnousemukseen, jonka vallankumous Ranskassa aikaansaa.

Abstract: Individuation as the process of psychological maturation is associated with the way of the spirit, equal to the ‘narrow path’. Social and worldly adaptation as central aspects of individuation are overvalued. It is generally held that symbolic transformation of unconscious images fulfils a therapeutic function. This view is criticized as a way of upholding the stagnant ego. On the contrary, transformation must be authentic. The notion of ego abandonment in spiritual tradition should be taken seriously. Central to psychology is the integration of the unconscious. But equally important is the opposite process of ‘complementation’. Consciousness is not only synthetic; it has also a ‘sympathetic’ function. Consciousness can give life back to the unconscious and not only empty it of its goods. To this end, a creative form of contemplation is recommended, in the manner of painting or writing. The destruction of the stagnant state of personality, and the riddance of aspects of personality, are part and parcel of individuation. Today, adaptation and assimilation are overvalued whereas negation is undervalued. The Self in Jungian psychology is a towering ideal, a conglomerate of contradictory aspects of personality. At a point in time, the spiritual seeker must abandon the ideal of completeness and begin to negate his profane obsessions, which are nothing but meaningless games of life. At this juncture, the passionate game of creativity is ushered in.

Keywords: critique of Jungian psychology, integration, complementation, negation, destruction, spiritual path, art, individuation, apotheosis, alchemy, Gnosticism, Holy Grail, C. G. Jung, Emanuel Swedenborg, Poul Bjerre.

Merkitsevästi William Blake ei milloinkaan kaunokirjallisessa tuotannossaan käytä käsitteitä 'gnosis' tai 'gnostikko' tai 'gnostilaisuus', mutta monin paikoin hänen elämäänsä koskevissa dokumenteissa ilmenee, että antiikin gnostilaisuus oli hänen taiteensa merkittävä innoittaja. Milloinkaan Blaken tuotannossa tämä ei ole yhtä selvää kuin juuri hänen nk. The Bible of Hell-trilogian kohdalla, joka klassikkotutkimuksen S. Foster Damon: A Blake Dictionary - The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake (1965/1988) mukaan käsittää Lambethin kauden epiikkaa edustavat runoelmat The Book of Urizen (1794), The Book of Ahania (1795) ja The Book of Los (1795).

Tämä teos sisältää William Blaken The Bible of Hell -trilogian runoelmien alkutekstit, suomennokset, synopsikset ja kommentaarit. William Blake kirjoitti nämä runoelmat Lontoossa samaan aikaan kun Ranskan Suuren vallankumouksen Terrorin kauden (1793-1794) veriset jälkimainingit järkyttivät Eurooppaa. Trilogia on heprealaisen Raamatun kahden ensimmäisen Mooseksen kirjan eli Genesiksen ja Exoduksen radikaali ja monitulkintainen uudelleenkirjoitus. Kirjassa on lisäksi suomentajan artikkeli Blaken runouden gnostilaisista piirteistä.

Englantilainen runoilija & kuvataiteilija William Blake (1757-1827) oli profetaalinen visionääri ja individualistinen edelläkävijä valistuksen ja romantiikan taitekohdassa, Valon ja Varjon, apollonisen ja dionyysisen, Päivän ja Yön välimaastossa sijaitsevassa ikuisen hämärän maassa. Nykyisin William Blake on yksi tunnustetuimpia ja tutkituimpia brittiläisen runouden klassikoita ja hänen omaleimaisia kuvataiteellis-kaunokirjallisia visioitaan pidetään paitsi romantiikan ensiairuina myös symbolismin ja surrealismin hyvin varhaisina enteinä 1700-1800-lukujen taitteen eurooppalaisessa taideilmapiirissä. Aikalaisiltaan Blake ei kuitenkaan juuri saanut osakseen arvostusta, vaan hänen tuotantonsa herätti laajemmin kiinnostusta vasta 1900-luvulla.

Kun irlantilainen teosofi-runoilija ja Blaken koottujen runojen toimittaja William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) sai kaunokirjallisuuden Nobel-palkinnon vuonna 1923, Blaken tie maailmanmaineeseen alkoi kehkeytyä. Lopullinen läpimurto tapahtui 1960-1970-lukujen Yhdysvalloissa, jossa Vietnamin sotaa vastustava rauhanaktivismi ja hippiliike suhtautuivat pasifistisen Blaken runouteen suurella hartaudella: Blaken runosäkeistä innoittuivat mm. Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon ja Jim Morrison, mutta hänen tajunnanvirrastaan vaikuttuivat myös beat-kirjailijat Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs ja Allen Ginsberg.

"on: Pawel Maciejko, The Mixed Multitude: Jacob Frank and the Frankist Movement 1755-1816 (Jewish Culture and contexts), Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011, 376 pp.

The article includes a review of developments in research of late Sabbateanism, especially research concerning the ‘wondrous charlatan’, Jacob Frank. Histories of Frank, and those who joined his movement in various countries until his conversion have long been a subject of great interest for modern historiography and they provide a touchstone for discerning the religious and ethical boundaries of the historians themselves. The first to write critically about Frank came from the Haskalah and had a negative attitude toward him. They saw Frank as the last and necessary chain in the unfolding of Sabbatean heresies. A real change in perspective came about in studies from the beginning of the twentieth century, written with a romantic and nationalistic orientation by authors who found the sparks of nationalism in Sabbatean literature. The studies of Gershom Scholem, Aaron Zeev Eshkoli and others who continued this trend, but who were more nuanced and historically accurate, offered a fuller picture of the phenomenon. Against this background it is possible to better appreciate the
publication of the new book by Pawel Maciejko, The Mixed Multitude, which presents the history of late Sabbateanism in very different light and in various ways changes the accepted understanding of its history."

This is an article on the history of religion and mathematics, which explores the origins and uses of geometric terminology in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century esoteric discourses, and inquires as to whether or not such adaptions are instances of the discursive strategy identified by Olav Hammer as terminological scientism. For the situation regarding spheric terminology, I argue that the context is not scientistic, being rather an example of the decontextualised modern appropriation of antique terminologies. In the case of planar terminology, I conclude that while its origin with Emanuel Swedenborg as an adaption of anatomical vocabulary does indeed fit Hammer’s definition of scientism, modern usage stripped the term of Swedenborg’s scientistic rationale — making the scientistic designation something of a vestigial atavism. In dealing with dimensional terminology, my conclusion is that from Johann Zöllner’s initial formulation to the broader Spiritualistic and Theosophical applications, it exemplifies terminological scientism through and through.

Tätä tutkielmaa voi kutsua biografis-kriittiseksi esseeksi, sillä se palauttaa ensinnä mieliin William Blaken (1757-1827) elämäkerran ja taiteellisen kehityksen ääriviivat; Pyrin siis tässä  hahmottamaan joitakin suuntaviivoja siitä, miten William Blaken intellektuaalinen ja moraalinen persoonallisuus muuttuu, kehkeytyy, edistyy hänen elämänsä mittaisella taipaleella kohdusta hautaan samalla kun hänen esteettiset ja hengelliset ambitionsa kehkeytyvät, varioivat ja muovautuvat. Matkan varrella vertailen Blaken aatteita sellaisten modernin aikakauden huomattavien intellektuellien kuten mm.  Arthur Schopenhauerin, G. W. F. Hegelin, Karl Marxin, Friedrich Nietzschen, Sigmund Freudin ja C. G. Jungin keskeisiin oivalluksiin. Tärkeä metodologinen viitekehys tässä tutkielmassani on ollut jungilainen syvyyspsykologia. Tämä tarkoittaa, että tutkimusmetodini on paikoin pikemminkin ”assosioiva”, ei niinkään historiallis-kriittinen:  Etsin Blaken runouden ja taiteen aatteellisia yhtymäkohtia ja samankaltaisuuksia maailman uskontojen pyhien kirjoitusten ja arkaaisten mytologisten lähteiden kanssa, mutta en aina niinkään pyri kriittisesti todentamaan aatehistoriallisia vaikutussuhteita. Tutkimusotteeni siis olettaa jungilaisittain ilmaisten kollektiivisen piilotajunnan vaikutuksen sekä William Blaken tajuntaan ja runolliseen ilmaisuun että arkaaisempiin mytologisiin ja hengellisiin lähteisiin, jonka tässä kontekstissa oletetaan selittävän niiden väliset, enemmän tai vähemmän ilmeiset samankaltaisuudet. Jungilaisen syvyyspykologian soveltaminen Blaken runouden ja taiteen tutkimukseen ei ole täysin uutta, sillä tätä metodologista viitekehystä ovat edellä soveltaneet mm. Kathleen Raine (1969; 1982, 267-298), Christine Gallant (1978), Edward F. Edinger (1986), June Singer (2000), Marko Hautala (2003), joista varsinkin Kathleen Rainen(1969) huomiot ovat olleet itselleni merkittäviä. Painotan tässä tutkielmassani etenkin Blaken kaunokirjallista ilmaisua kun taas hänen visuaalinen ilmaisunsa on tässä yhteydessä saanut verraten vähän huomiota osakseen.  Tutkimusmetodini voi nähdä kuuluvan sekä vertailevan uskontotieteen että vertailevan kirjallisuustieteen mutta myös vertailevan filosofian piiriin. Tutkimusongelmani voidaan määritellä siten, että tarkoitukseni tässä on luodata menneisyyden enteitä, nykyhetken enteitä ja tulevaisuuden enteitä 1700-1800-lukujen taitteessa industrialismin aikakaudella Iso-Britanniassa eläneen William Blaken profetiallisessa taiteessa ja runoudessa.


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ENGLISH SUMMARY


William Blake (1757-1827), who occasionally has been characterized as ”a Pre-Romantic” poet and graphic artist, can be seen in the perspective of intellectual history as a prophetic visionary and an individualistic forerunner in the crux of 18th century Enlightenment and 19th century Romanticism, located somewhere in the land of eternal twilight between light and shadow, Apollonian and Dionysian, Day and Night. Blake’s mode of thought can be seen as a representative of the Marriage of Enlightenment and Romanticism, because it has elements from both Enlightenment and Romanticism (even though those two are often seen in intellectual history as each others’ antithesis). Closer study of Blake’s art and life shows very clearly that in his case this marriage was real yet rather turbulent, since Blake had significant polemics with both the philosophers of Enlightenment and the poets of Romanticism of his own historical epoch. 

This study shows that the development of the life and art of poet & visual artist William Blake consists of seven distinctive phases, which are here entitled: 1. Childhood and Youth (1757-1784), 2. Illuminated Printing (1784-1789), 3. Anti-Swedenborgian Turn (1789-1790), 4. Lambeth of London (1790-1795), 5. Felpham of Sussex (1796-1803), 6. Visions of Albion Trilogy (1803-1820), 7. Old Age  (1820-1827). As main sources for this biographical-critical dissertation I have used the biographies of William Blake written by Gilchrist (1863), Wilson (1927), Lindsay (1978), King (1991), Ackroyd (1995), Bentley  (2001), and Churton (2015). In this task, the commentaries of William Blake’s creative writings by Ostriker (1977), Bloom (1988), and Summerfield (1998) have also proved to be highly useful to me. I’m significantly indebted here also to meritorious books like S. Foster Damon: William Blake – His Philosophy and Symbols (1924) and S. Foster Damon: A Blake Dictionary – The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake (1965).

The focus of this study is in understanding the development of Blake’s poetical ideas in light of Comparative Religious Studies, Comparative Literature and Comparative Philosophy. The methogological framework of this dissertation is significantly based on Jungian depth psychology. This means that my methodology here is not so much as historical-critical, but it is based more on the free association: I seek for parellelism and similarities in the holy scriptures of world religions and archaic mytological sources with Blake’s arts and creative writings, but I do not always try to critically prove intellectual historical influence backgrounds. So, in Jungian terminology my research methodology supposes the influence of collective unconsciousness on both Blake’s mind and arts and also the more archaic mythological and spiritual sources, which is seen here as an explonation for their more or less apparent similarities and parallelism. 

Blake’s epic poetry was influenced by the ancient religious philosophy of Jewish, Christian, Gnostic and Neoplatonist kind. There is parallelism in Blake’s Lambeth Prophecies with the religious philosophies of Hindu mythology, Vedanta, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Ismailism, Kabbalah and Alchemy. There can be found also a synthesis of Ophite, Naassene, Cainite, Sethian, Nicolaite, Valentian and Manichaean Gnosticism in Blake’s poetical ideas. Blake’s tendency to Non-duality, Non-Violence, Pacifism, Mystical Anarchism and criticism of Moralism finds its parallel in the ancient philosophy of Classical Taoism. I have also observed that Blake’s ”Dialectical Idealism” anticipates some of the major themes in the German history of philosophy in the 19th and 20th centuries; I have proved here also that the dialectical elements in the thought of Blake, Hegel and Marx are significantly indebted to the mystical theology of Jacob Boehme.

There can be found a fourfold criticism in William Blake’s poetical philosophy: First of all, a criticism of Emanuel Swedenborg’s theological works, which can be seen almost as if an echo of Immanuel Kant’s critique of metaphysical dogmatism. Secondly, a criticism of rationalizing materialistic and reductionistic tendencies of the 18th century French Enlightenment, which can be seen as an anticipation of Romanticism of Novalis and his generation. Thirdly, a criticism of the social defects of the early phase of British Industrialism, which can be seen as anticipation of the sociological observations of Karl Marx. Fourthly, a criticism of the (mainstream) dogmatic Christian theology, which can be seen as anticipation of the Anti-Christian fin de siècle philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. Some of William Blake’s poetical ideas bring in mind some of the essential findings of Sigmund Freud  and Carl Gustav Jung in the field of psychology.



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The research task in this master's thesis was to conceptualize, analyze and evaluate international political economy (IPE) in a systemic manner. The result is an attempt to define what Stephen Gill has labelled market civilization and what in this research is denominated as neoliberal civilization.

Research is based on both normative and descriptive theoretical work. It's theoretical framework consists of poststructuralism in IPE, neoliberalism and classical liberalism with a portion of Swedenborgian (and theocentric) philosophy

In this study, Wouter Hanegraaff examines the structure, themes, and development of Emanuel Swedenborg's massive work Arcana Coelestia, published between 1749 and 1756. Written as a work of biblical exegesis (of Genesis and Exodus), Swedenborg also interpolated material on his visionary experiences, which have long fascinated readers. In the second part of the study, Dr. Hanegraaff examines the contemporary reception of the multi-volume work, particularly the critical reactions of Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Christoph Oetinger. He finds that Swedenborg's biblical exegesis, so important in his divine calling, was largely ignored in favor of the mystical experiences.

50 Jahre vor Jung-Stillings Theorie der Geister-Kunde veröffentlichte der schwedische Seher Emanuel Swedenborg ein Werk, das sich dem Leben nach dem Tode widmete. Bei der Lektüre des Werkes Jung-Stillings fallen auf den ersten Blick einige Ähnlichkeiten ins Auge. In dieser Arbeit soll deshalb untersucht werden, ob und wenn ja, wie viel Einfluss Swedenborgs Geisterlehre auf die Jung-Stillings hatte. Eine kurze Untersuchung der Wirkungsgeschichte der Theorie der Geister-Kunde soll zur Einordnung dienen.

My article discusses the influence of Emanuel Swedenborg on a Finnish female author, Kersti Bergroth (1886–1975) through one
of Bergroth’s novels Eläviä ja kuolleita (‘The Living and the Dead’, 1945). Bergroth was a prolific author with an anthroposophical bent, and an admirer of German idealism. In this particular novel Bergroth refers explic- itly to Swedenborg and the story discloses a number of Swedenborgian themes: the doctrine of correspond- ences; a world divided into material, spiritual, and divine realms; and communication with the spirits of the dead. As Bergroth was an active member of the anthroposophical movement, I will also consider the route, spread, and place of Swedenborg’s ideas within anthroposophy and theosophy in the twentieth century.

The television series “Lost” updates a logical characteristic of the primary phase
of the funeral rites of passage, taking as its subject the role of personal responsibility
in the final destination of the deceased. This determination develops in an
imaginary location conceived as the edge between the world of the living and of
the dead, an intermediary zone whose characteristics would be inspired by the
thematic and narrative repertoire of contemporary Neo-gnosticism and Neoorphism,
particularly from the point of view of New Age esoteric syncretism.
This article attempts a deconstruction of the series, identifying some of the
probable sources that feed it, both theoretical and formal.

Let us consider more closely the "Lens" that a true Philosophical Stone is. As an encompassing "Globe" that you are "lifted into" — it is actually more than just a three-dimensional experience. One articulate witness, Jane Lead, certainly "nails" the paradoxical sensation of what this experience is like, even if her language may seem a bit baroque to us! "Know then, that the way to ascend to the Globe-Eye, is through its descending down into the Root-Essence of the Soul, and contracting with it Philosophically, turning it into a Magick Eye; where then it may most easily ascend, and fly to be an Eye within the Globe-Eye….Therefore they who shall find such favour as to be introverted and environed with this Eye, may well come to understand the grounds of the divine Magia, and be able to exert it from the Co-essential Power of the holy Ghost." By learning to focus our faculty of discernment in and through such a subtle Lens, we must be careful not to shatter this "Crystal-dome," that even such an esteemed practitioner as Eugene Canseliet confessed, to his chagrin, as having done. Too strong a fire, through forced exertion, is the primary cause of such a mishap. So the challenge is to rest our attention there, with a calm awareness that we are beholding nothing less than our very own true Self: the test of such a stable perception "in the Mirror" is that we have become one with it. Why this is so essential emerges from the Adept-adage to us that we must "learn to work from the other side of the Glass." If we are not one with the luminous clarity that we behold there—our Sol— there is no possibility of accomplishing an effectual return into our outward "Luna" which is precisely what is called for.