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.

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

260. The internal or spiritual sense of the Word contains innumerable arcana.

The Word in its internal sense contains innumerable things, which exceed human comprehension (n. 3085-3086). It also contains inexplicable things (n. 1965). Which are represented only to angels, and understood by them (n. 167). The internal sense of the Word contains arcana of heaven, which relate to the Lord and His kingdom in the heavens and on earth (n. 1-4, 937). Those arcana do not appear in the sense of the letter (n. 937, 1502, 2161). Many things in the prophets appear to be disconnected, when yet in their internal sense they cohere in a regular and beautiful series (n. 7153, 9022). Not a single word, nor even a single iota can be omitted in the sense of the letter of the Word, without an interruption in the internal sense, and therefore, by the Divine Providence of the Lord, the Word has been preserved so entire as to every word and every point (n. 7933). Innumerable things are contained in every particular of the Word (n. 6617, 6620, 8920); and in every expression (n. 1689). There are innumerable things contained in the Lord's prayer, and in every part thereof (n. 6619). And in the precepts of the Decalogue; in the external sense of which, notwithstanding, some things are such as are known to every nation without revelation (n. 8867, 8900).

In the Word, and particularly in the prophetical parts of it, two expressions are used that seem to signify the same thing, but one expression has relation to good, and the other to truth; thus one relates to what is spiritual, the other to what is celestial (n. 683, 707, 2516, 8339). Goods and truths are conjoined in a wonderful manner in the Word, and that conjunction is apparent only to him who knows the internal sense (n. 10554). And thus there is a Divine marriage and a heavenly marriage in the Word, and in every part thereof (n. 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712, 5138, 7022). The Divine marriage is the marriage of Divine good and Divine truth, thus it is the Lord, in whom alone that marriage exists (n. 3004-3005, 3009, 5138, 5194[1-2], 5502, 6343, 7945, 8339, 9263, 9314). "Jesus" signifies the Divine good, and "Christ" the Divine truth; and both the Divine marriage in heaven, which is the marriage of the Divine good and the Divine truth (n. 3004-3005, 3009). This marriage is in every part of the Word, in its internal sense; thus the Lord, as to the Divine good and the Divine truth, is in every part of the Word (n. 5502). The marriage of good and truth from the Lord in heaven and the church, is called the heavenly marriage (n. 2508, 2618, 2803, 3004, 3211, 3952, 6179). Therefore in this respect the Word is a kind of heaven (n. 2173, 10126). Heaven is compared in the Word to a marriage, on account of the marriage of good and truth therein (n. 2758, 3132, 4434[1-10], 4835).

The internal sense is the very doctrine of the church (n. 9025, 9430, 10400). They who understand the Word according to the internal sense, know the essential true doctrine of the church, inasmuch as the internal sense contains it (n. 9025 , 9430, 10400). The internal of the Word is also the internal of the church, and likewise the internal of worship (n. 10460). The Word is the doctrine of love to the Lord, and of charity towards the neighbor (n. 3419-3420).

The Word in the letter is as a cloud, and in the internal sense it is glory, see the Preface to the 18th chapter of Genesis (n. 5922 , 6343), where the words, "The Lord shall come in the clouds of heaven with glory," are explained. "A cloud" in the Word signifies the Word in the sense of the letter, and "glory" signifies the Word in the internal sense, see the Preface to the 18th chapter of Genesis (n. 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752, 8106, 8781, 9430, 10551, 10574). Those things which are in the sense of the letter, respectively to those which are in the internal sense, are like rude projections round a polished optical cylinder, by which nevertheless is exhibited in the cylinder a beautiful image of a man (n. 1871). In the other life, they who only allow and acknowledge the sense of the letter of the Word, are represented by a deformed old woman; but they who allow and acknowledge the internal sense, together with the literal sense, are represented by a virgin beautifully clothed (n. 1774). The Word in its whole complex is an image of heaven, since the Word is the Divine truth, and the Divine truth makes heaven; and as heaven relates to one man, therefore the Word is in that respect as an image of man (n. 1871). Heaven in one complex relates to one man, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 59-67). And the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven (n. 126-140, 200-212). The Word is beautifully and agreeably exhibited before the angels (n. 1767-1768). The sense of the letter is as the body, and the internal sense, as the soul of that body (n. 8943). Thence the life of the Word is from its internal sense (n. 1405, 4857). The Word is pure in the internal sense, and does not appear so in the literal sense (n. 2362, 2395). The things which are in the sense of the letter of the Word are holy from the internal (n. 10126, 10728).

In the historical parts of the Word there is also an internal sense, but within them (n. 4989). Thus the historical as well as the prophetic parts of the Word contain arcana of heaven (n. 755, 1659, 1709, 2310, 2333). The angels do not perceive those historical things, but spiritually (n. 6884). The reason why the interior arcana which are in the historicals, are less evident to man than those that are in the propheticals (n. 2176, 6597).

The quality of the internal sense of the Word further shown (n. 1756, 1984, 2004, 2663, 3035, 7089, 10604, 10614). And illustrated by comparisons (n. 1873).

2004. 'And you will be the father of a multitude of nations' means union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence. This cannot be shown so easily from an explanation of individual expressions in the internal sense unless they are seen within a general overall picture by which this sense is presented. This is frequently the case with the internal sense, and when it is it may be called more universal because it is more remote. From an explanation of individual expressions this proximate sense is the result - that everything true and everything good comes from the Lord, for as will be discussed belong 'father' means that which comes from Him, that is, from the Lord, 'multitude' means truth, and 'of nations' resulting good. But because the latter, that is to say, truths and goods, are the means by which the Lord united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, that more universal and more remote sense emerges from such an explanation. This is the way in which angels perceive these words; and at one and the same time they perceive a reciprocal union, namely that of the Lord's Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence. For as has been stated, 'As for Me, My covenant is with you' means union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, the words that follow consequently meaning that of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence.

[2] It is an arcanum not yet disclosed that union was accomplished reciprocally, an arcanum that can hardly be explained intelligibly, for as yet the nature of influx has not been known to anyone, and without a knowledge of influx no idea can possibly be gained of what reciprocal union is. It is possible to shed light to some extent on the matter however from influx as it takes place with man, for with man too reciprocal conjunction exists. From the Lord by way of man's internal, which is dealt with just above in 1999, life is flowing in constantly into man's rational, and by way of the rational into the external and even into the facts and cognitions he has. These it not only adapts to receive life but also sets them in order and so enables man to think and ultimately to be rational. Such is the conjunction of the Lord with man, and without it man would never be able to think, let alone be rational. This may become clear to anyone from the fact that present within a person's thought there are countless arcana belonging to the science and art of analysis, so countless that even to all eternity it is not possible to explore them thoroughly. Such arcana do not flow in through the senses or the external man, but through the internal man. Man for his part however, through facts and cognitions, goes to meet this life flowing from the Lord, and in so doing joins himself reciprocally.

[3] But as for the union of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, this was infinitely superior, for the Lord's Internal was Jehovah Himself, and so Life itself, whereas man's internal is not the Lord, and so not life but a recipient of life. The Lord's relationship with Jehovah was union, whereas that of man with the Lord is not union but conjunction. The Lord united Himself to Jehovah by His own power and on that account became righteousness as well, whereas man in no way joins himself to Him by his own power but by the Lord's. This being so, it is the Lord who joins man to Himself. Such reciprocal union is what the Lord means where He attributes what is His own to the Father, and what is the Father's to Himself, as in John,

Jesus said, He who believes in Me believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me I have come as light into the world in order that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness. John 12:44-46.

These words conceal very deep arcana - arcana in fact regarding the union of good with truth, and of truth with good, or what amounts to the same, regarding the union of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of Human Essence with Divine Essence. Hence His declaration, 'He who believes in Me believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me', and shortly after, 'He who believes in Me', in between which two statements comes another concerning that union in which He says, 'He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me'.

[4] In the same gospel,

The words that I speak to you I do not speak from Myself; the Father who dwells within Me He does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. Truly I say to you, He who believes in Me [will also do] the works that I do. John 14:10-12.

These words hold the same arcana within them, that is to say, those relating to the union of good with truth, and of truth with good; or what amounts to the same, of the Lord's Divine Essence with the Human Essence, and of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence. Hence His declaration, 'The words that I speak to you I do not speak from Myself; the Father who is within Me, He does the works', and shortly afterwards, 'The works that I do', in between which two statements likewise comes another concerning the union, in which He says, 'I am in the Father and the Father in Me'. This is the mystical union that many people speak about.

[5] From this it is clear that He was not someone other than the Father even though He spoke of the Father as though He were someone other. The reason for His doing so was the reciprocal union that was going to be accomplished and was accomplished, for He openly states so many times that He is one with the Father, as He does in the places just quoted -

He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. John 12:45.

Also,

The Father who dwells within Me; believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:10-11.

And in the same gospel,

If you knew Me you would know my Father also. John 8:19.

In the same gospel,

If you know Me you know My Father also. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So why do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? John 14:7-10.

And in the same gospel,

I and the Father are one. John 10:30.

This is why in heaven they know no other Father than the Lord since the Father is within Him, and He is one with the Father; and when they see Him they see the Father, as He Himself has said; see 15.