By D.T. Suzuki

I picked up Swedenborg: Buddha of the North when we were browsing the book store for Christmas gifts. I’ve heard Alan Watts mention his name in many lectures and I’ve heard him referenced by others as well. Looking at another title on Thriftbooks, I see it was published first in 1955. My understanding is that Suzuki was among the cohort of philosophers who made popular Eastern Religions to the open minded peoples of the 1960s, a.k.a. The Hippies.

Swedenborg seemed to be the most exotic of the choices at Used Books. Two quotes caught my attention:

There are enough in one century who pold on in the old beaten track, while there are scarcely six or ten in a whole century, who are able to generate novelties which are bard upon argument and reason.

Emanuel Swedenborg

I believe here he is referencing some of his inventions rather than his literary and philosophical works. He was apparently somewhat of a polymath with interested ranging from mathematics to metallurgy and then to, what he is most known for, speaking with the dead in both heaven and hell, and espousing their opinions, and what especially caught people’s attention: espousing how they had changed their opinion after death.

Apparently he spoke of these sojourns and conversations in other realms in a deadpan serious way, as if they were… mundane experiences. Suzuki comments on how this may have been interpreted.

Another bit that caught my attention: he fell in love with the eldest daughter of Christopher Polhem, an engineer and his mentor. The marriage was sanctioned by Polhem and the king. But a couple years later, the daughter did not want to marry Swedenborg anymore and so he “relinquished his claim” on her (how thoughtful of him).

The quote:

Throughout the rest of his life, he never thought again of marriage, but single-mindedly pursued his studies. As a result of this rebuff, he ended up gaining a lifetime free from encumbrances and came to think of nothing else but the divine will. It may be, then, that the divine will was at work from the start.

– Suzuki

I’ve heard that some philosopher’s and monks have adopted a solitary life not out of a vow of chastity but because it is “terribly convenient not to have a wife.”

Well… thanks Swedenborg. I think I prefer my wife and family though to conversations with dead people in various levels of heaven and hell. I joke…

It reminds me of what I’ve said about Elon Musk: I’m glad he exists and I’m very glad that I am not him.

Sometimes people make advancements and have great insights but I wonder at what cost. I don’t doubt that I will learn much from Swedenborg and Suzuki alike reading this book. But I wonder… was he driven mad by loneliness?

If so, I pity him, and hope to honor him by learning what I can from his… unique (unique seems not quite the right word…) life. Another example perhaps of the fine line between madness and genius.