Correspondence is the relationship between a natural thing and its spiritual meaning, and it exists according to that thing's use. The spiritual world and the natural world correspond; forms exist here because their purpose exists there. Sacred text such as in the Bible has outward form and inner meaning and the two are in complete correspondence.

This can be illustrated by the following example: when you see someone you love, you smile. It seems like a pretty simple process, but in reality, it's not; instead it’s a whole string of events, with simpler things relating to more complex ones, rising to the spiritual level and coming back down. First light bounces off that person’s face and enters your eyes. Your eyes send information to your brain. From there it passes into your mind - a spiritual organ, according to Swedenborg’s works - and registers in your consciousness. You recognize the person and feel love for them! But that has to get translated back down through the brain, which generates signals to all the facial muscles, which then contract or relax according to orders, producing a smile.

As you can see, the real activity here is mental. You “see” that face in your mind; before then it’s just a string of impulses carrying information. And you “smile” in your mind, with the information translated back into more impulses carry more information leading to physical activity. Your eyes don’t “know” what they’re seeing; your cheeks don’t “know” that they are smiling. They are simply projections of an internal, spiritual thing - your mind - into a lower physical reality.

That’s an example of correspondences, on a very small scale. What you see on the natural plane of existence corresponds to your idea of what you see and the affection you have for it. Your reaction in turn corresponds to the affection you have. The correspondence of one with the other is a way for the more important spiritual reality - the activity in your mind - to project itself into physical reality.

Swedenborg’s works tell us that those correspondences are more important than we could possibly imagine. In fact, everything in the physical world corresponds to something in the spiritual world. Mountains, for example, are not just mountains; they are the spiritual love of the Lord projected into physical reality in the form of mountains. Trees are rooted, lasting spiritual principles projected into physical reality in the forms of trees. A river is a flow of true spiritual ideas projected into physical reality. In a way, it’s like the spiritual world is one huge collective mind, expressing itself through physical reality the way our own minds express themselves through our own bodies.

And then there’s another level: Swedenborg’s works say that the most perfect form of spiritual reality, heaven, is in a state of complete, all-encompassing correspondence with the Lord, with each aspect of heaven expressing some aspect of the deepest reality of all, which is the Lord’s love and wisdom themselves. This is way out at the raw edge of what we can grasp, but it’s really quite beautiful. Spiritual reality is not part of the Lord, but it is from the Lord and can express the Lord as it approaches perfection. Physical reality is not part of the Lord and is not part of spiritual reality, but it is from the Lord by way of spiritual reality, and it can express spiritual reality (and thus the Lord) as it approaches perfection.

This is why the Lord had so many physical laws for the children of Israel: the prescribed physical actions corresponded to spiritual meanings, which in turn corresponded to aspects of the Lord Himself. It explains why we see advanced astronomy and awareness of nature in the remnants of ancient religions worldwide: They came from the Ancient Church, which had a surpassing knowledge of correspondences and used that knowledge in worship and life. To some degree it explains why we still love mountaintops, beautiful gardens, natural beauties like waterfalls: we can still feel the spiritual reality close inside them, even if we don’t know it in its specifics.

Correspondences also explain the continuing power of the Bible even in this skeptical age. The Lord provided that it should be written - most of it, anyway - in correspondences, which actually give access to His whole infinite being. We may not understand them, but that does not limit their power to teach us, to form our minds; this is why it’s important for people to read the Bible with open minds, to let the Lord enter in.

One other fascinating and meaningful aspect of correspondences comes in the form of what Swedenborg’s works call the “Grand Man” or “Grand Human.” Because heaven is in complete correspondence with the Lord and the Lord is the ultimate, infinite, divine and archetypal human, this means that heaven is in human form. And this is quite literal and precise: parts of heaven correspond the heart, others to the lungs, others to the brain, skin, ears, hair, digestive tract, everything. What’s more, just as the body’s organs are broken down into tissues and the tissues into cells, so also is the Grand Human broken down. So as an individual angel you might serve a brain function for a cell that performs a protective function for an organ that plays a digestive role in the Grand Human. That sounds a bit strange, but if you consider the unique mix of ideas and affections in each of us you can see how we could, indeed, fill such precise roles calling for such precise degrees of precisely layered talents.

And since physical reality is in correspondence with spiritual reality, this means that our communities and societies in this world are also in the human form, though obviously not all to a very perfected degree. This also sounds strange, but it’s an interesting exercise to think about the functions of the brain (to think and judge), the skin (to protect and hold together), the lungs (to draw in new thoughts and ideas), the digestive tract (to create energy to do work), heart (to circulate energy and ideas) and muscles (to do the actual work) and relate them to the functions of human organizations. Most likely, effective human organizations will indeed have these elements, and will have them in the proper balance.

Finally, of course, correspondences are one of the primary reasons for this website to exist. Our purpose is to share the knowledge of correspondences offered through Swedenborg’s works, so we can all understand the Bible, the Lord and ourselves a little bit better and find our own places in the Grand Human.

(Referenties: Heaven and Hell 89; The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 261)

261. The Word was composed using correspondences and therefore representations. In its literal meaning, the Word was composed entirely by means of correspondences, that is, by means of things that represent and symbolize spiritual realities that have to do with heaven and the church: 1404, 1408, 1409, 1540, 1619, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2179, 2763, 2899. This was done so that there would be an inner meaning in the details (2899); so it was done for the sake of heaven, because the inhabitants of heaven do not understand the Word in its literal meaning, which is earthly; they understand it in its inner meaning, which is spiritual (2899). The Lord spoke using correspondences, representations, and symbolic language because he spoke from his divine nature: 9049, 9063, 9086, 10126, 10276. This means that the Lord spoke to the world and at the same time to heaven: 2533, 4807, 9049, 9063, 9086. What the Lord said spread through the whole of heaven: 4637.

The historical events recounted in the Word are representative and the individual words used are symbolic: 1540, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2686. The Word could not have been composed in any other style if it was to serve as a means of communication and connection with the heavens: 2899, 6943, 9481. It is an immense mistake for people to belittle the Word because of its seemingly simple and inelegant style and to think that they would accept it if it had been written in a different style: ¹ 8783. Indeed, the style and standard mode of writing among the earliest people in general was to use representative imagery and symbolism: 605, 1756, 9942. The early sages enjoyed the Word because of its representative imagery and symbolism: 2592, 2593 (which include evidence from eyewitness experience). If people of the earliest church had read the Word they would have seen what is in its inner meaning clearly what is in its outer meaning dimly: 4493. Jacob's descendants were led into the land of Canaan because all the places in that land had been given symbolic meaning from the earliest times (1585, 3686, 4447, 5136, 6516), and so that a Word could be composed there in which places would be mentioned because of their inner meaning (3686, 4447, 5136, 6516). All the same, the Word was changed in its outer meaning because of that people, although it was not changed in its inner meaning: 10453, 10461, 10603, 10604.

[2] To show the nature and characteristics of correspondences and of the representative imagery in the Word, I need to say something further about them. Everything that corresponds to something also represents and therefore means that something, in such a way that the correspondence and the representation unite: 2896, 2899, 2973, 2987, 2989, 2990, 3002, 3225. What correspondence and representation are: 2763, 2987-3002, 3213-3226, 3337-3352, 3472-3485, 4218-4228, 9280 (which include evidence from eyewitness experience and examples). For the early people, the most highly prized body of knowledge was knowledge of correspondences and representative imagery (3021, 3419, 4280, 4748, 4844, 4964, 4966, 6004, 7729, 10252); especially among the people of the Near East (5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10252, 10407); in Egypt more than any other region (5702, 6692, 7097, 7779, 9391, 10407); but also in other nations, such as Greece and elsewhere (2762, 7729). Today, though, it is one of the lost bodies of knowledge, especially in Europe: 2894, 2895, 2995, 3630, 3632, 3747, 3748, 3749, 4581, 4966, 10252. Nevertheless, this body of knowledge truly does transcend all others, since without it we cannot understand the Word, or the meaning of the rituals of the Jewish church that are described in the Word, or what heaven is like, or what spiritual reality is, or how the inflow of what is spiritual into what is earthly happens, or a great many other matters: 4280 the references cited . All the things that are visible angels spirits represent matters of love faith through correspondences: 1971, 3213-3226, 3475, 3485, 9457, 9481, 9576, 9577. The heavens are full of representative imagery: 1521, 1532, 1619. The deeper you go into the heavens, the more beautiful and perfect are the images that arise: 3475. What these images show you is real because they come from the light of heaven, which is divine truth; and this is the very essential reality from which everything arises: 3485.

[3] The reason absolutely everything that exists in the spiritual world is represented in the earthly world is that the inner reality clothes itself with suitable materials from the outer world as a means of taking on visible form: 6275, 6284, 6299. Just so, a purpose takes on suitable clothing in order to manifest itself as a means in a lower realm and then to manifest itself as something that results on a still lower level; and when a purpose becomes a result through its means it becomes visible, or takes form before our eyes: 5711. This is illustrated by the inflow of the soul into the body. That is, the soul is clothed with a body that allows those things the soul is thinking and intending to become visible and evident, so when a thought flows down into the body it is represented there by whatever motions and actions ² correspond to it: 2988. Our minds' emotions are represented so clearly by the various expressions of our faces that they can actually be read there: 4791-4805, 5695. We can see, then, that within absolutely everything in the material world there lie more deeply hidden some means and some purpose from the spiritual world (3562, 5711), because the things that exist in the material world are the final effects into which prior realities are flowing (4240, 4939, 5651, 6275, 6284, 6299, 9216). It is inner realities that are represented and outer ones that do the representing: 4292.

[4] Because everything in the material world is symbolic of spiritual and heavenly realities, there were churches in the early times in which all the outer, ritual practices were symbolic. Because of this, these churches were called "symbolic churches": 920, 1361, 2896. The church established among the children of Israel was a symbolic church: 1003, 2179, 10149. All its rituals were outward practices that symbolized inner realities, aspects of heaven and the church: 4288, 4874. The symbolic practices of the church and its worship came to an end when the Lord came into the world, since the Lord opened the inner reaches of the church and since, in the highest sense, everything about that church focused on him: 4835.

Voetnoten:

4280. In that lower sense the words 'he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh' mean where conjugial love is joined to natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hollow of the thigh' as the place where conjugial love is linked to it, see above in 4277. The reason why the place where it is linked to natural good is meant is that it is the place where the thigh is joined to the feet. 'The feet' in the internal sense means natural good, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986.

[2] As regards 'the thigh' meaning conjugial love and 'the feet' natural good, that is one of those realities known in the past which have grown old and died. The Ancient Church, which existed in an age of representatives and meaningful signs, was extremely well acquainted with these meanings, such knowledge of them constituting their intelligence and wisdom. Indeed it constituted the intelligence and wisdom not only of those who belonged to the Church but also of those outside the Church, as becomes clear from the oldest books written by gentiles and from the stories in them which are nowadays called myths - for meaningful signs and representatives spread from the Ancient Church to those gentiles. With these also 'the thighs and loins' meant that which belonged to marriage, and 'the feet' things that were natural. The origin of this meaning of 'the thighs and the feet' lies in the correspondences of all the members, organs, and viscera of the human being with the Grand Man, which - that is to say, such correspondences - are being dealt with now at the ends of chapters. The correspondences with the thigh and the feet will be discussed again further on, where actual experience will be used to corroborate that their meaning is as indicated above.

[3] These things are bound to seem like enigmas at the present day because, as has been stated, that knowledge has grown very old indeed and died. Yet how far that knowledge excels other types of knowledge becomes clear from the consideration that the internal sense of the Word cannot possibly be known without that knowledge, as well as for the reason that the angels present with man perceive the Word according to that sense. It becomes clear also from the consideration that by means of that knowledge man is provided with communication with heaven. And what is unbelievable, the internal man himself does not think in any other way; for when the external man understands the Word according to the letter the internal man does so according to the internal sense, though while living in the body a person is not at all conscious of doing so. This becomes particularly clear from the fact that when anyone enters the next life and becomes an angel he has no need to learn the internal sense but knows it instinctively, so to speak.

[4] What conjugial love is which is meant by 'the thighs' and also by 'the loins', see 995, 1123, 2727-2759; and conjugial love is the basic love of all loves, 686, 3021. Consequently people who have genuine conjugial love in them also have celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and spiritual love, which is charity towards the neighbour. For this reason the expression 'conjugial love' is used to mean not only that love itself but also all celestial and spiritual love. These kinds of love are said to be joined to natural good when the internal man is joined to the external, that is, the spiritual man to the natural - that joining together of them being meant by 'the hollow of the thigh'. The fact that with Jacob and his descendants in general no such conjunction existed will be evident from what follows, for this is the subject dealt with here in the internal historical sense.