Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Polarity

Bitsy · 03-09-2007, 09:53 AM

Lightworker/Darkworker = Angel/Devil

The two sides of the concept of polarity, which has recently emerged on this website, strike me as merely different labels for the age-old notion of heaven and hell as taught in certain religions, only in this context they have been recycled and presented to us in a more socially acceptable, New Age context with more socially acceptable labels.

I will refer to the writings of a man named Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), because he is the only person I know of who has the relevant experience. He wrote many books on the experiences he was allowed to have in heaven and hell and in the world of spirits in order to shed light on the truth concerning Christianity, the Bible and life after death. In his writings, he wrote many things which did not agree with mainstream Christianity, to put it mildly (in fact, one of the controversial things he stated was that God is a Divine inflow of love and wisdom energy and not some wise old man with a staff and a long, flowing, white beard). To this day he is perceived by mainstream Christians who know of him as having been possessed by demons and, of course, his deviant writings about his other-worldly experiences and conversations and radical professions about Christianity were quashed. For this reason he is not well-known.

The similarities between Steve’s notion of polarity and the labels of lightworker and darkworker and Swedenborg’s account of angels in heaven and devils in hell are clear:

“Lightworker”/Love-polarization – Angel/Heaven:

“All the evidence in heaven bears witness to the fact that the Divine, which emanates from the Lord, influences angels, and makes heaven, is love. All people who are there are actually models of love and charity.” Heaven and Hell, n. 17.

“Darkworker”/Fear-polarization – Devil/Hell:

“But in a broad sense, all the people who are in the hells are governed by their fears. Some are governed through fears grafted and then rooted in them in the world; but since these fears are not enough and gradually ebb, they are ruled by fears of penalties, which serve particularly to deter some of them from doing evil things.

...each individual is the particular kind of devil his opposition to the Divine in this world has made him.” Heaven and Hell, n. 543.

Swedenborg, however, does not polarize love and fear. According to Swedenborg, and accurately, in my opinion, both angels/love-based souls and devils/fear-based souls, act from and based on their love, but what distinguishes them is what they love, and, thus, intend and do:

“It is a person’s love that constitutes his purpose and focuses his inner sight or thought on its objects. So love of self focuses the inner sight on self and what belongs to self: love of the world focuses it on worldly matters; and love of heaven focuses it on heavenly matters.” Heaven and Hell, n. 532.

“A person’s whole intention and love stay with him after death. If a person intends and loves what is evil in the world, he intends and loves the same evil in the other life, and then will no longer let himself be led away from it... Consequently, after death, the person himself, not the Lord, casts himself into hell.” Heaven and Hell, n. 547.

Thus, I propose that “polarity” and “lightworker/darkworker” are merely alternative concepts that describe the traditional concepts of heaven and hell and angel/devil (good/evil). These old concepts have been reworked, recycled and presented, admittedly, in a practically applicable life context, given trendy, New Age labels and are now socially acceptable because they have not been presented in association with the idea of heaven or hell, or in the context of an organized religion.

03-09-2007, 09:53 AM	#1 (permalink)
Bitsy Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: NYC Public Library Posts: 358	Polarity – a reworked, recycled religious concept Lightworker/Darkworker = Angel/Devil The two sides of the concept of polarity, which has recently emerged on this website, strike me as merely different labels for the age-old notion of heaven and hell as taught in certain religions, only in this context they have been recycled and presented to us in a more socially acceptable, New Age context with more socially acceptable labels. I will refer to the writings of a man named Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), because he is the only person I know of who has the relevant experience. He wrote many books on the experiences he was allowed to have in heaven and hell and in the world of spirits in order to shed light on the truth concerning Christianity, the Bible and life after death. In his writings, he wrote many things which did not agree with mainstream Christianity, to put it mildly (in fact, one of the controversial things he stated was that God is a Divine inflow of love and wisdom energy and not some wise old man with a staff and a long, flowing, white beard). To this day he is perceived by mainstream Christians who know of him as having been possessed by demons and, of course, his deviant writings about his other-worldly experiences and conversations and radical professions about Christianity were quashed. For this reason he is not well-known. The similarities between Steve’s notion of polarity and the labels of lightworker and darkworker and Swedenborg’s account of angels in heaven and devils in hell are clear: “Lightworker”/Love-polarization – Angel/Heaven: “All the evidence in heaven bears witness to the fact that the Divine, which emanates from the Lord, influences angels, and makes heaven, is love. All people who are there are actually models of love and charity.” Heaven and Hell, n. 17. “Darkworker”/Fear-polarization – Devil/Hell: “But in a broad sense, all the people who are in the hells are governed by their fears. Some are governed through fears grafted and then rooted in them in the world; but since these fears are not enough and gradually ebb, they are ruled by fears of penalties, which serve particularly to deter some of them from doing evil things. ...each individual is the particular kind of devil his opposition to the Divine in this world has made him.” Heaven and Hell, n. 543. Swedenborg, however, does not polarize love and fear. According to Swedenborg, and accurately, in my opinion, both angels/love-based souls and devils/fear-based souls, act from and based on their love, but what distinguishes them is what they love, and, thus, intend and do: “It is a person’s love that constitutes his purpose and focuses his inner sight or thought on its objects. So love of self focuses the inner sight on self and what belongs to self: love of the world focuses it on worldly matters; and love of heaven focuses it on heavenly matters.” Heaven and Hell, n. 532. “A person’s whole intention and love stay with him after death. If a person intends and loves what is evil in the world, he intends and loves the same evil in the other life, and then will no longer let himself be led away from it... Consequently, after death, the person himself, not the Lord, casts himself into hell.” Heaven and Hell, n. 547. Thus, I propose that “polarity” and “lightworker/darkworker” are merely alternative concepts that describe the traditional concepts of heaven and hell and angel/devil (good/evil). These old concepts have been reworked, recycled and presented, admittedly, in a practically applicable life context, given trendy, New Age labels and are now socially acceptable because they have not been presented in association with the idea of heaven or hell, or in the context of an organized religion.