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HERE COMES THE SUN



READINGS
 
FROM BIBLE:  John 14 & 15
10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves....
20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 

FROM SWEDENBORG
TC 8 There is an inflow from God into us. ...This inflow comes into our souls because the soul is the inmost and highest part of us. The inflow from God reaches that part first and then comes down into the things below and enlivens them, depending on our openness to what flows in.

What is meant by spiritual influx cannot be better seen than by means of the natural influxes which take place and appear in this world-as by the influx of heat from the sun into all things of the earth,What is meant by spiritual influx cannot be better seen than by means of the natural influxes which take place and appear in this world-as by the influx of heat from the sun into all things of the earth, H.S.  6190


MESSAGE
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How Can We Catch Those Rays?

Those of us who live in cold regions, like the Northeast, are prone to a malady this time of year:  "spring fever."  It happens when we feel the first warm rays from the sun, see sunshine all around, us, notice perennial  flowers popping up from the dirt and snow.  The symptoms include overwhelming happiness, hopefulness, and love.  It is a time when people are prone to fall in love with each other, or with God, or with the world. 

Swedenborg used the sun as an analogy to talk about God, and how God's energy flows into every thing. 

Wilson Van Dusen says:

Influx is the very act by which the Divine flows in and creates.

He says that an intense experience of God -- like in a mystical experience -- is simply experiencing more influx.

By the way, in the New Century Edition of Swedenborg's writing, "influx" is being translated as "inflow."  I like the new translation; it's a better description of what is happening -- energy is flowing into us, and into everything.

Divine energy is ALWAYS flowing into us -- every moment.  It is a joyous realization.  Just as we sun-deprived feel great joy in the spring; we all can feel great joy anytime by being aware of God's energy always in and around us.

Have you ever had a time in your life that felt like a long, harsh winter?  Was it hard to feel God's love during that time, just as it's hard  to feel much sunshine in the winter in the Northeast?

Unlike the seasons, God's inflow is always strong and bright.  God's rays do not weaken during certain seasons in certain climates.  When we feel spiritually that we are isolated in a long winter, we can remember that God's sunshine is always there -- we just need to notice it.  We don't need to limit  God's rays to  small doses -- there is no danger of sun burn!

There are many ways to become more aware of God's sunny love flowing into you.  Some people meditate or pray or read sacred writings. Any of these ways is good as long as it works for you.

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How Does the Inflow Flow?
 
Swedenborg says that the same energy is in the smallest and largest parts of our world.  That is an astounding concept!  Yet it is what new physics has discovered.

In Sorting things out, Rev. Dr. George Dole says that he came to see Swedenborg’s theology differently through reading the work of physicists Karl Pribram and David Bohm. “It attracted me because it contained statements that reminded me of statements in Divine Love and Wisdom. These were statements that I had taken as presumably true in a philosophical sense, but as basically incomprehensible, statements such as 'The Divine is the same in the greatest and the smallest things.'"
(Divine Love and Wisdom n.77).

This reminded him of the Blake poem:
To see the world in a grain of Sand
The universe in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the Palm of your Hand
And Eternity in an Hour.

It can be hard to grasp that science is affirming some mystical truths, such as Swedenborg on inflow.

Some years ago, I was on a train making my way from my home in Connecticut to a conference in New York.  I grabbed a paperback that I had been wanting to read, and found myself so absorbed in the book, I lost all track of time on that train.  The title was:  The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist, by psychologist Lawrence LeShan.  I knew about mystics and mediums, but I didn't have a clue about physicists -- or why they would be in the same book as the mystics and mediums.

This was long before I encountered Swedenborg, and I had no idea of the ways physics was overlapping with mystical traditions. One of the reviews of the book said:  The main thesis of LeShan's book is that the world described by mystics, mediums, and sensitives at the  moment they acquire paranormal information is identical to the world described by Einsteinian physicists.... [Commonweal]

Recently, after learning that George Dole felt that modern physics validated much of Swedenborg, I wanted to read that book again.  My tattered paperbook had been lost years ago, so I was thrilled to find that it had  been updated and repubished a few years ago.

So, how does the inflow flow in? Mystics, psychics, and physicists have talked about it for a long time. The concept has also been brilliantly expressed throughout history through the arts.

One such artist was George Inness [1825-1894]; a famous landscape painter of the Hudson River School of Painting who brought Swedenborgian theology to canvas.  ____________________________________________________________________________________________

There are so many ways we can celebrate the Divine energy flowing into us:  Paintings, music, photography, poetry, meditation.  What ways do you value  for recognizing the inflow of your life?

The inflow is the very essence of creativity.  Have you felt like drawing, writing, painting, singing?  Don't be held back by thinking you should produce professional work.  Expressing our inflow is important to each of us, and often the arts can be a special mode of communication.  If you feel like expressing your inflow creatively, then follow your Love and Wisdom.

 
CLOSING PRAYER
May every day be the spring time of the Divine flowing into your being.  May you be guided in your unique ways of sharing your inflow with the rest of the world.