The Soul, or Rational Psychology

Where did he seek this knowledge of the soul?

In its own realm: in the living (rather than the dead) human body; in the "kingdom of uses," as shown in the beautiful order, harmony, and activities of human anatomy and physiology.

To Swedenborg, the "Animal Kingdom" original: Regnum Animale; Swedenborg used this title to mean the "Kingdom of the Soul," derived from the Latin anima, meaning soul or breath of life meant the kingdom of the soul—the realm over which the soul presides as queen.

The relationship of this soul to her body (her own kingdom and world) was what he first sought to understand; through that, he hoped to know the nature of the soul herself. While the knowledge he gained through these labors was not everything he aimed for, it nonetheless prepared his mind in a unique and superior way to receive a greater understanding of the true nature of spirit and the relationship between the spiritual and natural worlds.

The doctrine of Correspondence The concept that every physical thing has a spiritual counterpart or cause to which it responds was revealed to Swedenborg as a science through natural means, not supernatural ones. It was a conclusion reached through his own reasoning and a part of his own philosophy, much like his doctrines of Order, Series, Degrees, and Modification, upon which it is based. This is clearly shown by his own statements* and by his frequent use of and references to these doctrines throughout his scientific writings.

The doctrine of Correspondence became clear to Swedenborg while he was searching for the way the soul interacts with the body. It was here, within the province of the human soul, that our author found the key that would solve the mystery of the ages. This key would open the human mind to a truly heavenly knowledge of the relationship between the spiritual and natural worlds, spirit and matter, earth and heaven, the written Word The Bible and eternal truth, and between humanity and God.

To Swedenborg, "Correspondence" meant, in its first sense, the way the body fits its physical environment; then, it meant the way the soul within fits its physical environment—its nerves and senses.

The history of this doctrine of Correspondence takes us back to the beginnings of Greek philosophy and highlights the relationship between Swedenborg and Aristotle. Swedenborg himself outlined the historical background of the doctrine of Influx The flow of life or influence from the soul into the body, or the interaction of the soul and body, in several of his theological works. He did so most notably in his brief but wonderful treatise On the Intercourse of the Soul and the Body original: De Commercio Animae et Corporis.

Swedenborg deserves the title of the Aristotle of modern philosophy more than any other writer. Just as Aristotle, with his scientific method of drawing conclusions from observation, succeeded the abstract idealism of Plato, Swedenborg followed the theoretical and abstract systems of Descartes in France and Leibniz and Wolff in Germany. Swedenborg arrived with his strictly practical...

• See in the present work, chapter 12; also The Economy of the Animal Kingdom, chapter 8.