"Emanuel Swedenborg": Some Comments
Kurt Simons, Ph.D.*
Foote-Smiths and
Smith's1 attempt to explain Swedenborg's revelation as a mental aberration is perhaps unique in the history of such
attempts in being both evenhanded, and indeed even respectful, of
its subject as well as clearly representing the result of a fairly extensive
study of both Swedenborg and his theology.
One noteworthy aspect of this analysis is its demonstration,
albeit unwitting, of the difficulty of arriving at a diagnosis of insanity, of
distinguishing just where the dividing line lies between thought or
behavior that is appropriate to a situation and that which is inappropriate
and hence abnormal. The problem is compounded by the fact that, if a
revelatory experience did in fact take place, it could only be measured
against the standard of revelatory experience, not simply the experience of
everyday life. Indeed, the issue is even more complicated than that
if Swedenborg's statements are correct that his revelation was
qualitatively different, in involving his rational mind, from that of all previous
revelations.2
*Dr. Simons is on the research faculty of the Wilmer Eye
Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
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