~Emanuel Swedenborg
Still, we can grasp this with our earthly thinking if only we let in a little spiritual light. This requires that I first say something about spiritual concepts and the spiritual thinking that arises from them. Spiritual concepts have nothing to do with space.They have to do solely with
state, state being an attribute of love, life, wisdom, desires, and the delights
they provide—in general, an attribute of what is good and true. A
truly spiritual concept of these realities has nothing in common with
space. It is higher and looks down on spatial concepts the way heaven
looks down on earth.
However, since angels and spirits see with their eyes the way we do
on earth, and since objects can be seen only in space, there does seem to
be space in the spiritual world where angels and spirits are, space like
ours on earth. Still, it is not space but an appearance of space. It is not
fixed and invariant like ours.
It can be lengthened and shortened,
changed and altered; and since it cannot be defined by measurement, we
here cannot grasp it with an earthly concept, but only with a spiritual
one. Spiritual concepts are no different when they apply to spatial
distances than when they apply to “distances” of what is good and “distances”
of what is true, which are agreements and likenesses as to state.
It stands to reason, then, that with merely earthly concepts we cannot
grasp the fact that Divinity is everywhere and still not in space, and
that angels and spirits understand this quite clearly. This means that we
too could understand if we would only let a little spiritual light into our
thinking.
The reason we can understand is that it is not our bodies that
think but our spirits; so it is not our physical side but our spiritual side.
The reason so many people do not grasp this is that they love what is
earthly and are therefore reluctant to lift their thinking above it into spiritual
light. People who are reluctant can think only spatially, even about
God; and thinking spatially about God is thinking about the extended
size of nature.
This premise is necessary because without a knowledge and some
sense that Divinity is not in space, we cannot understand anything about
the divine life that is love and wisdom, which are our present topic. This
means there can be little if any understanding of divine providence, omnipresence,
omniscience, omnipotence, infinity, and eternity, which are
to be dealt with in sequence.