A clear and concise overview of the life and work of the immensely
influential but little understood eighteenth-century
mystic-scientist Emanuel Swedenborg.
"Lachman identifies all the roles Swedenborg inhabited (spiritual
thinker, psychic, scientist, inventor, statesman, traveler, and
possibly even spy) and does an exceptionally good job of suggesting
why this little-known polymath deserves more substantial critical
attention." - "The Independent on Sunday (UK)"
It is difficult to imagine modern Western alternative spirituality
without the influence of Swedish scientist and mystic Emanuel
Swedenborg (1688-1772). Every movement in alternative spirituality
- from mental-healing and Spiritualism to New Age mysticism and the
twelve-step recovery movement - owes an immeasurable debt to the
ideas he exploded upon the Western world.
Yet Swedenborg's work can be challenging for modern readers. His
influence, everywhere at once, is difficult to get a handle on.
Now, however, Gary Lachman provides an accessible, lively, and
masterful introduction to the life and ideas of this spiritual
giant. Lachman takes us to Swedenborg's roots as brilliant
rationalist and scientist who, well into mid-life, began to
experience visions of other realms. From this point Swedenborg
produced an extraordinary range of writings based on his
out-of-body experiences, in which he related encounters with
angels, other-planetary beings, and "the world of spirits."
As Lachman explores, Swedenborg's work opened up a radically
liberal and refreshing ideal of religion. The great mystic saw
humanity, and all of nature, as phenomena emerging from the
"spiritual world," and man as a vessel for divine influences. This
vision inspired Western seekers to see man as a product of
spiritual phenomena, and thus a being intimately connected with the
cosmos. From this perspective grew bold new ideas about channeling,
spiritual healing, mystical experience, mediumship - a litany of
concepts that prefigured the revolutions in alternative and
therapeutic spirituality.
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