Autumn Sunset around Tokyo
Hellen Keller and Swedenborg
Without seeing and hearing, it is very difficult to conceive the God. But, the ability to see and hear does not assure that you can see and hear from the God. Yet, your soul must be able to see and hear angels in the spirit world.
Matthew 1315 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Without a good heart, it is useless to have eyes and ears, since it is the heart that judges what is seen and heard. In this context, it is a big surprise that Helen Keller (1880 - 1968), although with visual and hearing disabilities, could understand the God and what Swedenborg wrote in his books on the spirit world.
Helen Keller wrote that she could fly to Athens from the U.S. through the spirit world when she was a teenager. But how could she know that it was Athens that she flew to? She must have seen the city in Greece while living in the U.S. through her spiritual eyes, since she was blind and deaf.
It is thought that Helen Keller tried to see things in this world through her spiritual eyes just like Swedenborg saw things in the spirit world through his spiritual eyes. However, spiritual entities living in the spirit world cannot see the human world or this material world, according to Swedenborg. As we cannot usually see the spirit world, spirits cannot usually see the human world. Nonetheless, it is thought that Helen Keller saw this human world, which could not be seen through her physical eyes, through her spiritual world, which seems to be reflected in her writings.
Helen Keller wrote about a butterfly depicted by ancient Egyptians as a symbol of life. She wrote that a butterfly grew from a pupa and flew to the sky. Her description about the nature is clear and deep. She must have seen the nature in this world from the spirit world through her spiritual eyes. Therefore, she believed in Swedenborg, an 18th century elite scholar and psychic. She must have been able to see and hear in the spirit world while living in this world like Swedenborg, and thus she must have understood the God to be converted and healed.
Helen Keller visited Japan three times in 1937, 1948, and 1955. But her faith in Swedenborg has not taken big attention in Japan, although many books about her have been published.
++++ ++++ ++++Acts 11, King James Version
18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.
20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.
21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.