Lecter series - unified analysis - part 6: Swedenborg on creation

CATEGORY: MOVIES

It is interesting to see what Swedenborg has to say about the subject of creation; for Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine were quoted on this topic, in the analysis of The Silence of the Lambs. In the below, 'D.L.W.' means the quoted material is from Swedenborg's Divine Love and Wisdom, 'A.E.' means it is from Apocalypse Explained, and 'T.C.R.' denotes True Christian Religion.

Every one who thinks from clear reason sees that the universe was not created out of nothing, for he sees that not anything can be made out of nothing; since nothing is nothing, and to make anything out of nothing is a contradiction, and a contradiction is contrary to the light of truth, which is from Divine Wisdom; and whatever is not from Divine Wisdom is not from Divine Omnipotence. Every one who thinks from clear reason sees also that all things have been created out of a Substance that is Substance in itself for that is Esse itself, out of which every thing that is can take form; and since God alone is Substance in itself, and therefore Esse itself, it is evident that from this source alone is the formation of things. (--from D.L.W. n. 283.)

Because God is life, it follows that He is uncreated. He is uncreated because life can create but cannot be created, for to be created is to have existence from another, and if life had existence from another there would be another being even as to life, and that life would be life in itself. If this First were not life in itself it would be either from another or from itself; and you cannot say life from itself because from itself involves an origin, and that origin would be from nothing, and from nothing, nothing can originate. This First, which has being [esse] in itself and from which all things have been created, is God, who is called Jehovah because He is Being in Himself. This, especially if it is illustrated by things created, reason can see. Now as there can be no Being unless it exists, so being and existing [esse et existere] in God are one; for when there is being there is existing, and when there is existing there is being. (-- from A.E. n. 1126.) (material inside square brackets in original).

Who does not see, when he is able to think from reason elevated above the sensual things of the body, that life is not creatable? For what is life but the inmost activity of the love and wisdom that are in God and are God, which life, indeed, may be called the essential living force? (-- from T.C.R. n. 471.)

[N]othing exists or subsists from itself, or is acted upon or moved by itself, but only by something else. From this it follows that everything exists and subsists and is acted upon and moved by the First that is not from another, but is in itself the living force, which is life. (--from A.E. n. 1146.)

To skip over the remainder of the Swedenborgian analysis of the Hannibal Lecter movies, click here.

The works of Emanuel Swedenborg from the Internet Sacred Texts Archive
Divine Love and Wisdom, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1763], tr. by John C. Ager [1890] at sacred-texts.com. Web. 30 May 2010.
Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com. Web. 30 May 2010.
True Christian Religion, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1771], tr. by John C. Ager [1906] at sacred-texts.com. Web. 30 May 2010.