People often
explain (and lament) the idea of anthropomorphism as the result of selfish
psychological motives in humanity. But the cause of anthropomorphism is not
psychological; though the effects of this can be seen everywhere in a
psychological way. In essence the origin is spiritual; it intrinsically comes
from God because God is in the human form. This does not mean humanity has
cart-blanch to dominate nature. On the contrary it means man is to be a good
steward of nature. The master statement showing why the human form is a
universal form comes from this statement in the Bible, “God made man in His
image”. Of course many people don’t recognize the authority of the Bible (I do - as one can see on my post on the nature of the Word). I
will describe the subject including Swedenborg, science, philosophy, and spiritual
psychology, and the Bible too.
Everyone has
experienced how we commonly refer to ships as women, earth as living and a
mother, how children feel their dolls and toys are human and alive, how trees
and plants have sap that run inside and have little viens in their leaves,
which is like blood in the veins of humans. God is referred to as a Father,
Mother, friend, king, lover, guardian, warrior, champion, redeemer. Angels
always appear as kind, powerful, super wise humans in the Bible and in
thousands of stories and personal experiences. All this and millions of more examples
come from the human form being a universal form in the universe.
One can
begin from many angles on the subject; I will simply begin by giving a
straight forward description of Swedenborg’s revelatory writings on the subject, and then look
at it from science and spiritual psychology.
The whole universe is in the shape of a human. This is
because the Divine human is the innermost of all things, and what is the
innermost is also in the outermost and universal. Similarly, it is a universal truth that the
macro is reflected in the micro. The universal human is the divine human who is
infinite and the source of life itself, and is called the Grand man. The Grand
man is utterly particular in all of its parts. His infinity is a real infinity - meaning He is omnipotent and omnipresent to all things in a spiritual way. (Yet He must follow his own laws! But that it a paradox we will pursue another day.) All things are in relationship to
each other and of use to each other the way all the organs and systems of the
body relate to each other, and are of use to each other. Swedenborg tells how
all the societies in the spiritual world relate to the organs and systems of
the body in the most particular way, far beyond are ability to even conceive.
The form of the human body on earth actually comes from of the spiritual
world, and ultimately the Lord. (The understanding of this will be deeply
reinforced by reading the article in this blog on Correspondences and the one on
Equilibrium).
Now, here is a way we can see how the human form is
intrinsic to the structure of the universe. As we talked about in the post on
equilibrium, life for people is held in the balance between heaven and hell.
The Lord with his divine might maintains a balance between the two, and at the
pinnacle of this balance is human freedom. Equilibrium is freedom because if
either heaven or hell is dominant in effecting the natural world - freedom would
be compromised. The Lord holds freedom as sacred, for it is the only means
to salvation. From this one can see that the whole structure of the universe
serves human life, for freedom is the very essence of our life. Indeed the
whole purpose of life is to populate the heavenly kingdom with angels. Angels
are in the human form also, and all angels are former humans. Angels are in a more perfect human form, and the Lord
is perfection itself.
In a lesser way we can see this progression toward the human form in the natural world; first suns are the source of all the
materials of the universe and life. The materials from the sun form the planets, and then life (on earth and some other planets) gradually develops from cells, plants, animals, and finally humans.
Animals, plants, and even the earth are remote forms of the human form. It is well known that evolution culminates in the human from, for the human form is the highest form in all the universe. God is the divine human, and all people are receptacles of the divine. Just as the eye is an organ that receives light and processes it, or the ear is an organ that receives sound and processes it to the brain - the human soul is an organ that receives love and wisdom from the divine human and in the person it is processed in an individual way.
Astrophysicists are mapping out the parts of the universe
to the extent they can see with the most advanced telescopes, and the picture
that is forming they call the cosmic web. Many have commented (and you can see at the second link below) that the cosmic web looks like microscope
pictures of the nervous system, or the synopsis of the brain. Here from earth
what can be seen is no doubt only a small view of the whole. Swedenborg writes
that even the wisest angles cannot see the whole of the grand man, but only a
portion according to the extent of their wisdom.
It is significant that scientist and lay people are noticing
the comparison between the human nervous system and the cosmic web. This could
be helpful to scientific research, especially when we consider how science is using Biomimicry to further their
knowledge and practices. The organic patterns of the 'Fibonacci Spiral', and 'Flower of
Life' are compared to shapes of galaxies and galaxy clusters, and may also help one to see how the remote aspects of the human form exist in
nature. You can see this at:
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0SO8x0cg9BUJ5oAYldXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB0NmMyMWlsBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA1NNRTc1NV8x?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-901&va=%27Fibonacci+Spiral%27%2C+and+%27Flower+of+Life%27
https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0SO8x0cg9BUJ5oAYldXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTB0NmMyMWlsBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2dxMQR2dGlkA1NNRTc1NV8x?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-901&va=%27Fibonacci+Spiral%27%2C+and+%27Flower+of+Life%27
And on the
website below one can see several pictures making the comparison of the cosmic web to
microscopic images of brain synopses, the nervous system, and other parts of the body. There are
pictures showing a spiders web, cells, glands, and organs of the body that
compare to the images from the universe:
Swedenborg makes the comparison between the structure of the
natural universe, and the glands and fibers of the nervous system very
distinctly in the following statement in 'Divine Love and Wisdom':
But
the medullary or fibrillary substances everywhere begin in and proceed from the
cortical; and from this come the nerves, and from them all things of the body.
That this is true is proved by dissection. They who know these things, either
from study of the science of anatomy or from those skilled in it, can see that
the beginnings of life are nowhere else than the commencements of the fibres,
and that fibres cannot go forth from themselves, but from those beginnings.
These beginnings or origins, which appear as glands, are almost countless;
their multitude may be compared to the multitude of stars in the universe; and
the multitude of fibrils from them can be compared to the multitude of rays
going out from the stars and bearing their heat and light to the earths. The
multitude of these glands may also be compared to the multitude of angelic
societies in the heavens, which also are countless, and, as I have been told,
are in the same order; and the multitude of fibrils going out from these glands
can be compared to spiritual truths and goods, which in the same way flow down
therefrom like rays. Hence it is like a universe and like a heaven in its least
form, as has frequently been said and shown above. From these things it can be
established that such as life is in beginnings, such it is in derivatives; or,
such as life is in its first things in the brains, so is it in the things
arising therefrom in the body (DLW 366).
Here is an amazing thought: If all this is true, than the view our scientist are seeing of the universe is so small we can only see little microscopic fibers in the Grand man. Swedenborg makes the connection between the number and look
of the multitude of glands, fibers, and the fobrils of the nervous system - to
the stars, and the rays from the stars; and he further connects both of these to the
multitude of societies in the spiritual world, and the light and influx from those societies. He explains
that both the human form and the universe, and all the things in them that connect, are
in the same order as angelic societies in the heavens and the things in them that
connect. All this gives a more distinct idea (though only a tiny
glimpse) of how the universe is in the image of the human form.
Now I would like to introduce a different angle on this
subject for your consideration, that is, the spiritual psychology of it. To
fully grasp an idea or belief the human brain needs to see it in a natural
sense and in the abstract or spiritual sense together. In terms of God this means
we intrinsically need to see him as both divine and human. It is impossible to
really be in relationship with a person or God that is amorphous, cloud-like, or purely
etherial. It is the nature of the the relationship of the natural and spiritual
that the natural is the foundation of the spiritual, and neither can ultimately
exist without the other. The human body and soul is the means of all
perception. Similarly, love, wisdom and all the virtues (and vices) can only be
expressed through a body, or a person. They do not exist in the
purely abstract; they only exist in relation to the human body. These things are
extremely significant because they have great impact on our relationship with
the divine, and ultimately our salvation. Here is how Swedenborg describes the
necessity of the human form in having a relationship with God.
No
angel in the heavens ever perceives the Divine as being in any other than a
human form; and what is remarkable, those in the higher heavens are unable to
think of the Divine in any other way. The necessity of thinking in this way
comes from the Divine itself that flows in, and also from the form of heaven in
harmony with which their thoughts spread forth. For every thought of an angel
spreads forth into heaven; and the angels have intelligence and wisdom in the
measure of that extension.
Because
the angels have no perception of an invisible Divine, which they call a Divine
devoid of form, but perceive a visible Divine in Human form, they are accustomed
to say that the Lord alone is Man, and that they are men from Him.
Because
such a perception of the Divine exists in the heavens, to think of God as in a
human form is implanted in every man who receives any influx from heaven. Thus
did the ancients think of Him; and thus do the moderns think of Him both
outside of the church and within it. The simple see Him in thought as the
Ancient One in shining light. But this insight has been extinguished in all
those that by self-intelligence and by a life of evil have rejected influx from
heaven. Those that have extinguished it by self-intelligence prefer an
invisible God; while those that have extinguished it by a life of evil prefer
no God.
In a nutshell, it is apparent that the human mind, body and soul are wired to be in relationship to the divine in the human form. I can not help but feel that it is a matter of submitting to this relationship for in a state of innocence we receive this without effort, just as a child believes its toys are alive, or a child believes in Santa Clause. It is not hard, but can become hard when external ideas get in the way
No comments:
Post a Comment