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Beliefs LIFE AFTERLIFE PRAYER
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FOOTPRINTS IN THE WRITINGS OF SWEDENBORG
Have you ever, even briefly, stopped to
notice a footprint in the sand? There is much to be found in the writings of Swedenborg. Each of us reads them from our own perspective from our own experience.  The artist sees the work of the artist on canvas with paint and brush.
The scholar sees the depth of language and detail of intelligence. The
mathematician sees continuity and progression. The skeptics see the
enigma of a wandering mind lost between reality and dreams.What does the Tracker see? To understand art one must understand the artist. So first what is a Tracker? I am one. For a large portion of my life I have practiced an almost forgotten art. That of following the footprints, the signs left by a person as they travel leaving the impressions of their passing on the soil and plants upon which they have walked. A great deal can be learned when you follow the sign left by another’s travels. The skill requires considerable patience, determination and dedication to excel at the art. In simple terms, endless hours of “dirt time.” The catch phrase we use is “the process of teaching the conscious mind to be aware of what the eyes see. “ The art I practice finds its main use in looking for lost persons in the wilderness, the details of which require entire books of their own. The process in basic terms involves attending the last known location of the missing person and the “Place Last Seen” (PLS). Once at the PLS attempting to identify the sign, the tracks left by the person. Seldom are entire footprints found usually just simple marks that make a discernable pattern that can be attributed to the person. When one spends a lifetime practicing a skill it is easy to recognize others who also practice the art. When I, as a Tracker, look at the writings of Swedenborg I see the work of a dedicated determined Tracker. One setting out with a purpose to follow a “line of sign.” When I set out to find a lost person seldom do I know what the result will be. My purpose is to find the solution to a most difficult puzzle and hopefully it will be a happy one. Swedenborg spent his life in the search for the “Place Last Seen.” Where was the Lord last seen? He searched science, physics, anatomy, religion all the known sciences of his day. He even searched his own soul his own beliefs. He found what he was looking for, the “Place Last Seen.” Then his search really began. Each step, each track, leading him to the next one. Each track a story unto it’s own. His determination and incredible patience lead him on a journey step by step deep into an unknown wilderness. In search of one lost to time and hidden in history and the misinterpretation of misguided searchers before him. When I look at the report of his incredible journey, his “tracking mission” as I would call it. I find details that the most astute tracker felt where so important to include. It describes a “continuous line of sign” no misdirection, no lost tracks. A continuous line of unbroken tracks left by the Lord’s presence throughout history and science and religion and all the social aspects of life in this world. The record of Swedenborg’s search is so incredible so detailed it almost defies belief. So many have tried to follow the Lord’s footsteps through time but became lost by their own misinterpretations of what they discovered . Swedenborg succeeded because the Lord in His infinite wisdom wanted to be found. Providence guided Swedenborg and taught him how to Track. How to follow sign when others would have given up. How to dedicate his life to an incredible task. As a tracker what I see in the writings of Swedenborg is the truth as the Lord intended it to be revealed. One step at a time. To fill the understanding of all those who seek the Lord and chose to fill their life with the wisdom that makes the human being a spiritual being. I am a tracker. The natural man does not know that the Word, (Bible) is Divine by virtue of its spiritual sense, which is not visible in the letter but is nevertheless present within the letter; nor does he know that this sense is presented in heaven when someone on earth reads it devoutly, and that the subject in that sense is the Lord and His kingdom. These are the Divine things which make the Word Divine and through which holiness flows from the Lord by way of heaven, even into the literal sense and into the actual letters. But as long as a person does not know what anything spiritual is he cannot know either what the spiritual sense is, nor thus what correspondence is. And as long as a person loves the world more than heaven, and self more than the Lord, he has no wish to know these things and understand them. Yet they were the source of all intelligence among the ancients, and they are also the source of wisdom among the angels. Hidden mysteries, which numerous diviners have vainly toiled to track down in the Word, lie in those things alone.
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