Part one: the blind alley. In the New Church the job of the priest is described as: teach the truth and lead to the good of life. Swedenborg simply does not say it in more detail. Now, these words can be understood in many different ways. And by repeating them again and again they really [...]
Posts Tagged ‘presence’
Preacher or spiritual teacher: part one
Posted in Flashes, tagged church, Jesus Christ, preaching, presence, regeneration, Swedenborg, teaching on September 1, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Practicing the presence of God
Posted in Spiritual Reality Center, tagged attraction, God, presence, spiritual retreat on August 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“The key is in practicing the presence of God.” (Susan L. Howard) What a phrase! That would be an exhilarating theme for a retreat. Focusing first on “the spiritual presence we want to be.” Do we need to ask, now, how to do this? No, not really. Looks different for each person anyway. One of [...]
Rituals
Posted in Flashes, tagged angels, belief, heaven, presence, ritual, Swedenborg on August 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“The function of the ritual and the myth is to let you experience it here, not somewhere else long ago.” (Joseph Campbell) A ritual creates an experience, a simulation of something not from this earth. “Rituals were holy from correspondence with the holy things in heaven.” (AC 4581) Do people have to understand the ritual [...]
Passion: part two
Posted in Flashes, tagged holiness, Lord, preaching, presence on August 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“No truth is in any sense holy unless it stems from good. A person can speak many truths from the Word, reciting them by heart, but unless they are the product of love or charity holiness is no way attributable to them. If however love and charity are there, in that case he really acknowledges [...]
Unbelief
Posted in Spiritual Reality Center, tagged Laurel, love, presence, religion, spiritual growth on August 8, 2010 | 1 Comment »
“He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13:58) There have been small conversations at Laurel 2010 in which genuine puzzlement was expressed why not more people come to this yearly camp. Out of the population of adults to whom information about Laurel can be expected to be available, only [...]
Our power
Posted in Flashes, tagged creation, presence, providence, reality on July 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“The Lord’s Divine Providence extends to the smallest details of a person’s life. For there is only a single source of life, the Lord, from whom we exist, live and act.” (NJHD 268) I don’t see this on a day to day basis. Even looking back at years past I cannot see this. Yes this [...]
From the Lord
Posted in Flashes, tagged Lord, mystery, presence on May 18, 2010 | 1 Comment »
There is this curious phrase somewhere in the Writings of Swedenborg: “The person who reads the Word from the Lord and not from himself alone…” (SS 3.2). Let’s consider this for a moment. What does it mean to read the Word FROM the Lord? The Latin is legit a Domino, which doesn’t help much. How [...]
Perception
Posted in Flashes, tagged God, presence, spiritual retreat on May 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Lifting of my spirit, opening of my heart, here I stand, I am not hiding. God is in this place. My mind a still lake. .
Snippets of God
Posted in Flashes, tagged attraction, God, Lord, presence, The Secret on March 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“The Lord cannot dwell with a person except in that which is His own, that is, in those things which are from Him; that’s why it was said that the Lord cannot dwell with a person unless he has knowledge of truth and good from the Word, and lives accordingly.” (AE 112.3) This is a [...]
Presence
Posted in Flashes, tagged God, presence on January 3, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“The Lord is constantly present with every person, evil as well as good. No one could live without His presence. It is the Lord’s constant presence which gives a person the faculty of reason and the ability to become spiritual.” (TCR 774) The million dollar question is: why then don’t we notice the Lord’s presence [...]
Presence of God
Posted in Flashes, tagged God, Lord, presence on November 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
” ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men’ signifies that He Himself will now be present with people in His Divine Human.” (Apocalypse Revealed 882) The Lord came on earth. Whatever He did then, or however dimly we understand what was done, something changed from that moment on for all humans on earth. Something [...]
