During a period in 1743, Emanuel Swedenborg experienced a number of dreams and visions that moved him profoundly. A fifty-five year old bachelor scientist and arguably Europe's most brilliant thinker, he began to devote his total creative energy into discovering the nature of the human soul. In the process, he came face to face with God. He received a Christ vision of such extraordinary power that it changed his life dramatically.  After his Christ encounter, Swedenborg's inner life underwent an extraordinary paranormal transition leaving him with an amazing capacity for second sight unique in the annals of psychic phenomena.

During several of Swedenborg’s visions, he would witness people dying and see their experience of the afterlife. He said that immediately following death, there is a period of self-discovery in which the social masks worn on earth dissolve away and the true self is revealed. Each person then shapes their own eternity to correspond with their real inner nature. Some become irrational, driven by fear and greed. They are in the state Swedenborg called "hell". Hell is a psychological condition which corresponds to the suffering we experience on earth when we allow ourselves to be driven by the blind greed of our own egos. There are no "devils" here to inflict punishments, since in the state of hell, each person acts out their own malice by tormenting others.  After death, others find within themselves, the psychological state Swedenborg called "heaven". It is a joyous condition and a state of expanded awareness, of perceiving more and more of the grand plan of creation. The "heaven" which Swedenborg experienced, corresponds to deeds, not creeds. Therefore, persons of many cultures and religions form the societies of heaven. Swedenborg often called this "the Church of the Lord". This "Church of the Lord", as Swedenborg states, consists of all those who have lived in the good of love according to their own belief. This "Church of the Lord" is universal.  Click here for a graphical representation of the heavens and hells as revealed to Swedenborg.

The following are excerpts from his famous book Heaven and Hell which provides more than just a glimpse into the exciting journey awaiting us all.