The Swedenborg Scientific Association cordially invites you to
THE THIRD SSA & TSG SYMPOSIUM: “Thought from the Understanding Opens the Eye”
Free registration requested, register here
Contact: [email protected] for questions.
Agenda
8:00 – 9:00 Pendleton Hall Commons open, Coffee, pastry, and greetings
9:00 – 9:25 Opening remarks by Stephen Cole on behalf of the BACNC and Dr.
Reuben Bell on behalf of the SSA who are cohosting this symposium. Dr. Bell
will include a memorial for two SSA board members who have passed into the
Spiritual World, Rev. Kurt Nemitz and Rev. Erik E. Sandström.
9:25 – 10:00 Chapter Nine of the Gospel of John presented by Curtis McQueen.
FROM BLINDNESS TO BELIEF. In His Word the Lord tells us the story of a
blind man who miraculously progresses from sitting and begging in his blindness
to the awe and wonder of seeing the Son of God Himself and believing in Him and
worshipping Him.
10:00 – 10:30 Influx and ultimates in discrete degrees Ian Thompson Ph.D.
The Writings teach (ISB 1, 2) that the discrete degrees of creation are linked and
sustained by downward spiritual influx from God, and that there is no ‘physical
influx’ from the material world back into the spiritual. Yet they also teach that
physical effects serve as the fixed foundation for the spiritual. How, then, can this
happen without influences from the physical?
10:30 – 10:45 Break
10:45 – 11:20 Continuation: How we see with influx through discrete degrees
with Q and A following. – Ian Thompson Ph.D.
We need an account of how discrete degrees are connected that explains generative
spiritual influx while also allowing for some form of influence from physical
things toward higher degrees. The Writings teach that spiritual ends come together
and rest in their outermost effects, but what exactly does this mean? I propose a
“selection” operation whose effects describe the functions the Writings attribute to
ultimate degrees without implying “physical influx.” Understanding how selection
operates clarifies the connections among all discrete degrees.
11:20 – 12:15 Twofold sight – Rev. Andrew Heilman
How we see the world around us as explained by the laws of order
and influx inscribed on the nature of all real things as laid out in AE 1146. What is
it we really see, and how do we see this?
12:15 – 1:15 Lunch break
1:15 – 1:30 In memory of Dr. Fernando Caracena – Rev. Clark Echols
1:30 – 2:25 Visual Causation: Seeing with Spiritual Eyes– Rev. Dr. Reuben
Bell
The time-honored “eye as a camera” model of visual perception has never been
correct, requiring as it does a “little man” somewhere in the occipital cortex to
decode the message coming from the retina through the optic nerves. Visual
perception actually occurs at the intersection of vertical and horizontal causation,
where spirit and nature working together produce the images we see. “Believing is
seeing” each time we open our eyes.
2:25 – 3:20 Reflection – Dr. Stephen Smith
“The Doctrine of Reflections contains more arcana than any other doctrine.”
Reflection is a uniquely human quality, provided by Divine Providence, as a means
to salvation through the human attributes of freedom and rationality. The neural
networks required for reflection evolved stepwise over the course of five hundred
million years beginning with creatures possessing a very primitive decision
apparatus.
3:20 – 3:40 Break
3:40 – 4:00 Introduction to Panel Discussion – Maxwell Blair Ph.D.
4:00 – 5:00 Panel discussion led by Rev. Matthew Genzlinger.
