Heaven and Hell: Portable

The Portable New Century Edition

De: Emanuel Swedenborg

Narrado por: Lillian Rachel

How do you know if you're going to heaven? How do you avoid going to hell? Learn what its like in heaven and hell from Emanuel Swedenborg's conversations with angels and spirits as this eighteenth-century Christian mystic explains what happens when we die.

A Swedish Enlightenment scientist of extraordinary accomplishment, Swedenborg underwent a spiritual awakening that led to almost daily experiences of heaven, hell, and what he called the world of spirits; a process that lasted twenty-seven years until his death at age 84.

Like his earlier scientific works, he painstakingly recorded his spiritual experiences in great detail across eighteen volumes. Firmly rooted in the Christian worldview, Swedenborg nevertheless challenged the church dogmas of his day, insisting that what he called your inner life was just as important as your outer life, and importantly, as he states in the title of chapter 54, No one enters heaven on the basis of mercy alone.

Though contemporaries of Swedenborg had trouble accepting his claims to having received this knowledge directly from angels in heavenly realms, his powerful message has resonated through the ages, influencing a long list of important cultural figures, including William Blake, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Jung, Immanuel Kant, Helen Keller, and many others.

Heaven and Hell is the place to start to engage Swedenborg's rich body of theological works. As his fullest description of experiences in the other world, this volume has been much sought by readers who have an interest in near-death experiences or who seek consolation for the loss of a loved one. It includes an explanation of his doctrine of correspondences, and the centrality of the human form across realms. He colors his account with details about the variety of angels, as well as their language, homes and clothing.

Translated from the original Latin by George F. Doll, Lillian Rachel beautifully narrates Swedenborg's most popular work in this 2024 edition.

©2010 Swedenborg Foundation, Inc. (P)2024 Swedenborg Foundation, Inc.

Beautifully narrated without the distractions

I loved this reading of Heaven and Hell. The narrator is a perfect choice and the material is read without the distraction of paragraph numbers. This book is essential for any library of spiritual thought

Swedenborg’s insight is unique

I like the simplicity of the recurring theme of love & wisdom vs selfishness & materialism.
The outline of details of heaven, and hell realms is his unique contribution, I believe the trips he could easily make over decades of research travelling into those realms was granted him for the benefit of humanity. So he wrote prolifically.

However the 18century writing style is repetitive repetitive compared to our modern edit style. It helps the themes drill in, but at times is very slow and is often boring into explaining details of little use to us here.
Yet this notion of demons and angels being very mixed into our thoughts is clear and clarifying.

We have the God given freedom to choose wisely. We have the ability to care and develop volition to serve the good with charitable acts. Here emphasised is the longer term consequences. Earthly life is about finding heaven within. What we love and do here determines our starting point there.

Faithfully knowing and loving the Lord is one challenge, then the willingness to “tend the sheep” the other. Practicing this to become our heavenly joy and satisfaction is the fulfilment of these volitional processes.

What do you love? That seems the big question presented as we enter the spiritual realm after the body is left at death. Swedenborg’s wisdom helps us to clarify the significance of realising this is via our daily choices.