Church of the Holy City

Self-Transformation

Self-Transformation
Rev. Dr. David J. Fekete

2 Kings 5:1-14 Matthew 9:1-8 Psalm 103

God has given each of us the power to transform ourselves. And Jesus tells us that we need to be reborn in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Being reborn means that a new self needs to be born out of the self we have inherited by birth. Some churches teach that when a person accepts Jesus as their personal savior, that they are then reborn in an instant. We see things differently. Accepting Jesus as a person’s savior doesn’t make one into a different person. We see the process as one that involves true personality development and personality change. Perhaps accepting Jesus as one’s savior begins the process of personality change. But changing into another person, or another personality, takes place over time, and by means of countless processes.
Swedenborg describes this process by borrowing images of birth from nature. We are reborn in a manner analogous to the way we were first born. There is first conception, then gestation in the womb, birth, and growth into adulthood. “This formation is like conception, gestation, birth, and education” (TCR 583). The process of gradual birth from a seed into maturity is echoed in other natural processes. Swedenborg uses the Latin term regeneration, which means rebirth.
That a person can be regenerated only by successive steps, may be illustrated by the things in the natural world, one and all. A tree cannot reach its growth as a tree in a day; but first there is growth from the seed, next from the root, and afterward from the shoot, from which is formed the stem; and from this proceed branches with leaves, and at last blossoms and fruits. Wheat and barley do not spring up and become ready for the harvest in a day. A house is not built in a day nor does a person attain to his full stature in a day, still less to wisdom (TCR 586).
The spiritual rebirth that Swedenborg describes is one that opens us up to greater and greater love and wisdom. It brings us closer and closer to God, and lets God’s Spirit enter more and more fully into our hearts and minds. It thus makes us love deeper and understand with greater clarity. So there are levels of spiritual development.
We can tell clearly from the angels of the three heavens that there are levels of love and wisdom. Angels of the third heaven so surpass angels of the second heaven in love and wisdom, and these so surpass angels of the farthest heaven, that they cannot live in the same place. Their levels of love and wisdom mark them off and separate them (DLW 179).
In Swedenborg’s system, angels are not a different class of being. They are all humans who have developed themselves spiritually. They have developed themselves by means of the process of spiritual rebirth. This is what brings them into such intense heavenly light and warmth. Swedenborg describes the kind of light that angels are surrounded with, and tells us that it is so intense that it is beyond any light we can see in this world.
As for the spiritual light that surrounds angels, I have been allowed to see this with my own eyes. For angels of the higher heavens, the light is so brilliant that it is indescribable, even by comparison with the brilliance of snow; and it also has a glow that defies description, even by comparison with the radiant glory of our world’s sun. In short, this light is a thousand times greater than the light at noon on earth (DLW 182).
People who have been through near-death experiences often comment on this light.
And we all can come into this brilliant light and vernal heat by the spiritual cultivation called regeneration, or spiritual rebirth. This is because we are essentially spiritual beings clothed with a material body. When we lay aside our material body, we are clothed with a spiritual body, and we live as angels.
a person is born spiritual as to his soul, and is clothed with what is natural, which forms his body. When this body, therefore, is laid aside, his soul comes clothed with a spiritual body into a world where all things are spiritual, and is there associated with his like (TCR 583).
But what does all this talk about spiritual rebirth mean? I think that it means that we cannot be content with the status quo. It may well be that the life we are living isn’t our true birthright. It may well be that we need to develop, change, and grow into a different person than we were from birth, and now are.
We may not know this. We may not see this. I have spoken with some people who have told me that they are completely whole, do nothing wrong, and think that their life is going fine. I find this uncritical way of life hard to understand. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. And only by looking in the mirror, or by turning within, will we see the need for development and growth.
But by what measuring stick will we evaluate our lives? This is where spiritual education comes in. We need to educate our minds in order to see whether there are growth areas we need to cultivate. For Swedenborg, the first step in the process of rebirth is to educate the mind. Our minds are what tell us whether we are on the right track or not. There are two general aspects to our personality that Swedenborg describes: the will, and the understanding. The will is our whole emotional component. It is what we love. It is what we enjoy. It is what we want. The understanding is our intellectual component. It is everything we know. It is everything we understand. It is everything that we believe. The process of spiritual reformation begins by enlightening our minds, our understanding, to see where we are going in life.
Therefore, that a person may be regenerated, it is necessary for this to be done by means of the understanding . . . and it is done through the information that the understanding receives, given first by parents and teachers, afterward from reading the Word, from preaching, books, and conversation. The things that the understanding receives from these sources are called truths . . . For truths teach a person in whom and in what he should believe, also what he should do (TCR 587).
We need to form our minds first, in order to see whether we are on the right track. This assumes that we do not know what is true and right from birth. I can go along with this assumption when I look around at the world in which I live. We don’t live in a world like the middle ages. Then, great cathedrals stood in the middle of cities. Everywhere one turned, there were images and writings about spirituality. Fiction and art all surrounded sp concepts. Today, it seems to me that society teaches that materialism, profit, wealth, and power are the values one should strive for. And yet Jesus teaches humility, and the wealth of spirit. The messages of spirituality are vastly different from the messages from our society. This is why Swedenborg tells us that our minds need to become spiritually educated by, “parents and teachers, afterward from reading the Word, from preaching, books, and conversation.”
Our enlightened minds, then, look at our will, our emotions and our loves, and tell us if we are in harmony with spiritual laws or material laws. Here, we may encounter some struggle. One may have the notion that one’s own way of doing things is the way everyone should do things. We may have prejudices against people who are socially or economically different from us. Our sense of self-importance may cause us to try to control others, or boss them around. We may not have that love in our hearts for the whole human race that Jesus so beautifully taught. I can’t list all the ways we may be blocking the love and compassion that spirituality teaches. I can only suggest that there is some merit to Swedenborg’s claim.
The final step in spiritual rebirth, or self-transformation is to train ourselves to act in accordance with spiritual principals. We need to actively remove the character defects that block God’s inflowing love. We need to do this ourselves, and not wait for God to do it for us. For as I said at the very beginning of this talk, we have the power of self transformation. God has given us this power, and when we exercise it, we are working together with God. And working together with God conjoins us with Him. Swedenborg writes,
the power to act right is from the Lord, and the will to act from this is as it were a person’s; for he is in freedom of will, and from this can act together with the Lord and thus conjoin himself (TCR 576).
Some churches teach that human effort can contribute nothing to salvation. This is true to a certain extent. But when it is realized that God has given us the power to transform ourselves, then we are not using human effort at all. Swedenborg illustrates this in an amusing story.
A person must purify himself from evils and not wait for the Lord to do this immediately; otherwise he may be compared to a servant with face and clothes fouled with soot and dung, who comes up to his master and says, “Wash me, my lord.” Would not the master say to him, “You foolish servant, what are you saying? See; there are water, soap, and towel. Have you not hands, and power in them? Wash yourself.” And the Lord God will say, “The means of purification are from Me; and from Me are your will and ability; therefore use these My gifts and endowments as your own, and you will be purified (TCR 436).
Remember our Old Testament story? The general Naaman didn’t want to wash himself in order to be cured from leprosy. He wanted Elisha to wave his hand over the spot where the leprosy was and cure him. But when Naaman did wash himself, he was cured. And in the New Testament, the healing of the paralytic is related to the forgiveness of sins. Healing symbolizes spiritual purification.
Self-transformation, purification, spiritual rebirth–all these amount to the same thing. And that is, we cannot accept the status quo. There is so much, much more that lies in wait for those who seek God with all their heart. Our souls can grow and progress to eternity. We can open our inner self to those high heavens in which are the spiritually advanced angels. And we, too, can become as advanced as they are. All angels are from the human race, and it is our birthright to become one–even in this life unconsciously, and then in the next consciously.