(Spiritual) Climate Change (02/18/24)
[Concerning changes in our world] people cannot prevent the natural conditions that bring about stormy winds, but they have the power to build cyclone cellars and
construct hurricane-proof houses as places of refuge; or they may exercise their prudence by keeping off the track along which hurricanes appear to travel during the equinoctial seasons. There may be times when it is quite safe to walk on the railroad, but not when an express train is due to pass along the line. September seems to be the season when conditions are favorable for hurricanes near the tropical region.
People who view such events from a merely scientific standpoint see only the operation of natural laws, and are inclined to consider as superstition any idea which involves the operation of supernatural forces. But [our theology teaches]
that natural laws correspond to laws operating in the spiritual world, and that conditions existing in nature are caused by activities in the supernatural realm. The spiritual world is the world of causes, and the natural world is the world of effects. This is a universal truth, from which all natural events must be considered; otherwise nature alone will be seen as the only god. The failure to recognize supernatural laws, operating as a cause of natural laws, is the source of the materialism
which prevails at the present time.
The recognition of that which is spiritual, operating into that which is natural and thus producing effects in the material
world, is a safeguard against materialism, and at the same time prevents one from falling into the error of attributing to the Divine Being those storms and earthquakes, famine and pestilence, from which the human race so frequently suffers. To attribute such things to nature is materialism, to attribute them to God is superstition, but to ascribe them to disorderly conditions existing in the world of causes is wisdom.
"Whosoever is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord." How can the natural conditions which appear to be the cause of a hurricane originate in disorderly states which exist in
the Spiritual World? An answer to this query is given in Secrets of Heaven (Swedenborg): "Every cause exists from a prior cause, and the all of every cause in the natural world exists from a cause in the spiritual world.” (3908)
"All things which exist in the natural world are effects, and all things which exist in the spiritual world are causes of those effects; there does not exist a natural thing which does not derive its cause from a spiritual one. From this it is evident that storms in this world are caused by storms in the spiritual world.” (Swedenborg, Divine Love and Wisdom 134) And it is revealed how and why there are storms in the
spiritual world.
"In the spiritual world, as well as in the natural world, there exist strong winds and storms when influx from the Divine descends into the
lower parts of that world, where people are who are in evil and false thinking.” (Swedenborg, Revelation Explained 419) These evils and falsities encompass them like dense and dark clouds, the oppressive sphere of which would eventually suffocate them. But when the Divine of love proceeding from the Lord as a sun flows into these dense and opaque clouds, a storm arises…”
The Lord God is a Sun, which shines into the remotest regions of the spiritual world, imparting life to all in it. Should this Sun cease its shining, every being in heaven, on earth and in hell would perish. However, though all have life from the Lord through the spiritual sun, the
heat and light from this source do not affect all in a similar manner. Those in the spiritual world who are encompassed with a sphere of evil affections and false ideas are greatly disturbed when the heat of this sun descends upon them; the commotion which it awakens among them is perceived as a storm of wind and waves. They who are in evils and falsities form conditions in the atmosphere of the spiritual world from which storms arise there, and from the same cause are formed conditions in the
atmosphere of the natural world from which storms arise here. (NCL 1926)
[EDM] This does not mean the Lord wills these things…they are permitted
for the sake of the end (which is our freedom). However, for me this week it was an uplifting thought that as the world experiences more storms even unto the ultimates of natural life here, we are invited to picture the Lord’s love creating a stir as it meets with things evil and false. As these whirlwinds increase, may we be drawn to the idea that “until evil is seen and acknowledged for what it is, it cannot be irradiated.” Just as the storms in our spiritual life calm
as we invite the Lord in, so too the storms that beset the human race here will only be calmed as the Love of the Lord has its Way, which we are promised it will…in the end.
