The Soul or Rational Psychology

Emanuel Swedenborg (1688 - 1772)
Translated by Frank Sewall (1837 - 1915) and Johann Friedrich Immanuel Tafel (1796 - 1863)

Swedenborg, Emanuel, 1688-1772, was born in Stockholm, Sweden and died in London, England. He was a voluminous writer of scientific treatises as well as prophetic works such as Archana Caelestia and The Divine Providence. He said he had encountered supranational agencies and communicated with angels. This is a recording of the 1849 translation of his 1743 book The Soul or Rational Psychology (Regnum Animale, Pars Septima De Anima) Latin. He took his cue from Aristotle's De Anima.

A few quotes
It has been shown above that the harmonies themselves are innate with us, or that we perceive them without a teacher; as the sweetnesses of taste and smell, the symmetries of sound, the excellencies and beauties of nature; in a word, the very order of things or the harmony of modes, forces, substances, and forms. Thence also we may perceive the very truths of things, for these correspond to the order itself in nature; and this is the reason why order is called "the transcendental truth."

In order that the human intellect may exist, it is necessary that the truths themselves be variegated and as it were modified by things mendacious, or true things with false, good with evil.

There are as many worlds as there are terrestrial societies, and there are as many heavens as there are celestial societies. The love of society is both natural and acquired, for to live alone or to live without society is not to live, for whatever is one's own is not known as one's own except from others, or relatively.

When we strive for and desire what we love, and yet impossibilities interfere with our attaining our end, we call this state of desire hope, and it seems to be in the will viewed as an endeavour which these obstacles are preventing from coming forth into act and motion. Thus hope is not an affection of the mind, but of its will. For the will always endeavours to act, but so long as it is resisted does not act. Meanwhile it is affected by a certain hope, so that it remains balanced between action and inaction. Despair exists when we cut off hope; then also when, in the end itself, love and ambition, that is, the life and ardour of the mind, collapse and are as it were extinguished.

There is a liberty of thinking and a liberty of acting; and in the middle between these two there is as it were the liberty of choosing arbitrandt, in which properly free will consists; and that our mind is not capable of ruling whether the objects of the senses and their exciting influences, both from the body and the world, shall flow in or not, but it is capable of choosing whether these sensations and excitements shall flow out and be determined into act."

This third edition of the 1849 translation was published in 1914. Johann Friedrich Immanuel Tafel, 1796-1863 devoted himself to translating Swedenborg into German, and Frank Sewall, 1837-1915 into English. Sewall included a long introduction and three appendixes to Swedenborg's work. The introduction is included in this reading but the appendixes have been omitted.

Genre(s): Psychology, Religion, Social Science (Culture & Anthropology)

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 The Translators Preface by Frank Sewall Craig Campbell
00:48:30
Play 02 The Translators Preface to the Third Edition Craig Campbell
00:03:34
Play 03 Preface of the editor of the Latin Edition Craig Campbell
00:04:25
Play 04 An Introductory Essay on Science and Theology in Swedenborg’s Writings Amelia Chesley
00:19:36
Play 05 Author’s Preface Craig Campbell
00:09:06
Play 06 Chapter 1 The Simple Fiber Craig Campbell
00:07:47
Play 07 Chapter 2 The Senses Craig Campbell
00:20:51
Play 08 Chapter 3 The Intellect and Action Craig Campbell
00:29:01
Play 09 Chapter 4 The Sense of Touch Craig Campbell
00:12:59
Play 10 Chapter 5 The Taste Craig Campbell
00:08:04
Play 11 Chapter 6 The Smell Craig Campbell
00:13:10
Play 12 Chapter 7 The Hearing Craig Campbell
00:19:58
Play 13 Chapter 8 The Sight Craig Campbell
00:22:37
Play 14 Chapter 9 Perception, Imagination, Memory, and Their Ideas Amy Gramour
00:22:16
Play 15 Chapter 10 The Pure Intellect Craig Campbell
00:26:13
Play 16 Chapter 11 The Human Intellect Travis Bissell
00:28:12
Play 17 Chapter 12 Intercourse of Soul and Body Travis Bissell
00:26:31
Play 18 Chapter 13 Concerning Harmonies and the Affections Thence Originating Lazlo
00:14:22
Play 19 Chapter 14 Part 1 of The Lower Mind [Animus], and its Affections in Particular Travis Bissell
00:21:13
Play 20 Chapter 14 Part 2 The Lower Mind [Animus], and its Affections in Particular Travis Bissell
00:21:42
Play 21 Chapter 14 Part 3 The Lower Mind [Animus], and its Affections in Particular Travis Bissell
00:20:05
Play 22 Chapter 14 Part 4 The Lower Mind [Animus], and its Affections in Particular Travis Bissell
00:24:50
Play 23 Chapter 14 Part 5 The Lower Mind [Animus], and its Affections in Particular Travis Bissell
00:27:15
Play 24 Chapter 14 Part 6 The Lower Mind [Animus], and its Affections in Particular Travis Bissell
00:21:04
Play 25 Chapter 14 Part 7 The Lower Mind [Animus], and its Affections in Particular Travis Bissell
00:19:04
Play 26 Chapter 15 Animus and Rational Mind Amy Gramour
00:26:55
Play 27 Chapter 16 Part 1 of Concerning the Formation of the Rational Mind and Concerning Its Affections Bill Boerst
00:21:21
Play 28 Chapter 16 Part 2 of Concerning the Formation of the Rational Mind and Concerning Its Affections Bill Boerst
00:18:15
Play 29 Chapter 16 Part 3 of Concerning the Formation of the Rational Mind and Concerning Its Affections Bill Boerst
00:22:46
Play 30 Chapter 17 Conclusion as to what the Animus is, What the Spiritual Mind, and What The Rational Mind Amy Gramour
00:08:04
Play 31 Chapter 18 Part 1 of Free Will, or the Free Choice of Moral Good and Evil sgrace
00:20:19
Play 32 Chapter 18 Part 2 of Free Will, or the Free Choice of Moral Good and Evil Craig Campbell
00:20:26
Play 33 Chapter 18 Part 3 of Free Will, or the Free Choice of Moral Good and Evil Craig Campbell
00:24:13
Play 34 Chapter 19 The Will and Its Liberty and What Respectively is the Intellect Craig Campbell
00:29:09
Play 35 Chapter 20 Discourse Craig Campbell
00:37:19
Play 36 Chapter 21 Part 1 The Spiritual Loves, or the Loves of the Soul Craig Campbell
00:25:28
Play 37 Chapter 21 Part 2 The Spiritual Loves, or the Loves of the Soul Craig Campbell
00:19:56
Play 38 Chapter 22 The Influx of the Animus and Its Affections into the Body, and the Body into the Animus Craig Campbell
00:11:19
Play 39 Chapter 23 The Influx of the Rational Mind into the Animus and by Means of the Animus into the Body Craig Campbell
00:06:09
Play 40 Chapter 24 The Influx of the Spiritual Mind, or of the Soul into the Animus Craig Campbell
00:06:43
Play 41 Chapter 25 Inclinations and Temperaments Craig Campbell
00:10:05
Play 42 Chapter 26 Concerning Death Loren White
00:13:31
Play 43 Chapter 27 The Immortality of the Soul Amy Gramour
00:17:16
Play 44 Chapter 28 Part 1 The State of the Soul After the Death of the Body Bill Boerst
00:14:14
Play 45 Chapter 28 Part 2 The State of the Soul After the Death of the Body Bill Boerst
00:17:53
Play 46 Chapter 29 Concerning Heaven, or the Society of Happy Souls Lynn Lee
00:16:36
Play 47 Chapter 30 Concerning Hell, or the Society of Unhappy Souls Craig Campbell
00:07:59
Play 48 Chapter 31 Concerning the Divine Providence Craig Campbell
00:17:18
Play 49 Chapter 32 The Universal Mathesis, or a Mathematical Philosophy of Universals Craig Campbell
00:10:30