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One temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) characteristic cited by Foote-Smith and Smith is a trance state. Revelation, if there is such, is by definition a paranormal state, and it certainly seems likely that it would distract the revelator's attention from external, worldly thingsas in a trance. But a particularly unusual aspect of Swedenborg's claimed revelation is that he states that he received much of it in a state of full wakefulness, when he appeared to be behaving perfectly normally to bystanders, some of whom were eminent people.3

Foote-Smith and Smith also mention "double thought." The Swedenborgian scholar Hugo Odhner once pointed out that

When Swedenborg records how he perceived spirits insinuating contrary thoughts and emotions into him, how could it be otherwise than that an experience of "double personality" would ensue! When spirits caused the sensations of pains or pleasures in various parts of his body, the apparent results would be symptoms like those of hypersthenia or exaggerated or imagined sensations.4

The New Philosophy is a publication of the Swedenborg Scientific Association
Incorporated October 20, 1906

This association was organized on May 27, 1898, for the preservation, translation, publication, and distribution of the scientific and philosophical works of Emanuel Swedenborg, and for the promotion of the principles taught in them, having in view likewise their relation to the science and philosophy of the present day.

The views expressed by authors are not necessarily those held by the Editor or the Editorial Board

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 06-37082
ISSN 0028-6443