When we examine the organized Writings of the second coming, and by that we mean those works which were specifically written and prepared for publication, thus excluding such works as the Journal of Dreams, the Word Explained, and the Spiritual Diary, we find that visions and dreams have very little place. We do not mean by this that there is no instruction in the Writings concerning visions and dreams, for there is a great deal; but it is instruction rather than accounts of Swedenborg’s experiences. It is not our intent here to consider what the Writings

Because Swedenborg recognized that the human soul was spiritual, possessing none of the attributes of material things, while nevertheless it was the cause of all the geometrical forms and mechanical forces of the natural body, he was convinced that there was a pathway of ascent from a knowledge of the body to a knowledge of the soul. He set out, therefore, to discover that path by means of certain new doctrines, to which he refers in the Prologue to the Animal Kingdom.

Review of "The View from a Distant Star" by Harlow Shapley. (NewYork: Basic Books, 1963.) This delightfully written book presents the views of America’s leading cosmologist as to the nature of the universe and man’s place in it. It is my intention to review this work in the light of Swedenborgian philosophy.