Quotes from Emanuel Swedenborg

Every single moment of a person's life, both of the understanding and of the will, is a new beginning.

Man, before he is being regenerated, does not even know that any internal man exists, much less is he acquainted with its nature and quality.

The sky is an enormous man.

The more one is absorbed in so-called philosophy, the greater one's delusion and blindness.

Conscience is God's presence in humans.

God loves every one of us but cannot directly benefit us; he can benefit us only indirectly through each other. For this reason he inspires us with his love

Sacred scripture is like a mirror in which we see God, although each in a different way.

No one's character is completely like another'sthis infinite variety is like a mirror in which we can see the infinity of God the Creator.

First of all it must be known who the God of heaven is, since upon that all the other things depend.

Angelic happiness is in service, from service, and according to service.

Worship does not consist in prayers and in external devotion, but in a life of kindness.

The angels taken collectively are called heaven, for they constitute heaven; and yet that which makes heaven in general and in particular is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord and flows into the angels and is received by them.

All religion relates to life, and the life of religion is to do good

The nature of heaven is to provide a place there for all who lead good lives, no matter what their religion may be.

Heaven is such that all who have lived well, of whatever religion, have a place there.

The church of the Lord is spread over all the globe, and is thus universal; and all those are in it who have lived in the good of charity in accordance with their religion.

Without such a Life, the Word as to the letter is dead.

A person's life from infancy to old age is nothing else than an advance from the world towards heaven, the last stage of which is death; the actual transition from one life to the next.

A life of kindness is the primary meaning of divine worship.

A man after death, is not a natural but a spiritual man; nevertheless he still appears in all respects like himself.

For in every particular of the Word there is an internal sense which treats of things spiritual and heavenly, not of things natural and worldly, such as are treated of in the sense of the letter.

One's distance from Heaven is in proportion to the measure of one's self-love.

For the spiritual sense of the Word treats everywhere of the spiritual world, that is, of the state of the church in the heavens, as well as in the earth; hence the Word is spiritual and Divine.

So far as the Angels are recipients of that spiritual heat and light they are loves and wisdoms, not loves and wisdoms for themselves, but from the Lord.