INTRODUCTION

Swedenborg (1688-1772) worked for decades as a scientist (especially metallurgy and mining), but his reputation today is primarily as a mystic. He kept a dream journal during the period of his great change from engineer to visionary, early 1743 to late '44; one of the world's oldest surviving dream-journals. It was never meant for publication--scrawled, with scratch-outs, abbreviations and highly personal references--difficult even before translation. However, Swedenborg's scientific habits serve him well--dates are clear, dreams are in sequence, and he regularly attempts interpretation; he's practical, reasonable, and sometimes records multiple possibilities.

Yet he was devout; he seems determined to emulate Christ, purging all selfish and worldly urges to become, essentially, a saint. Curious ambition for a scientist! Odder still, he achieved it--at least his practical demonstrations of miraculous knowledge (see Swedenborg's Visions) were the best-documented of his century; he influenced Blake and Emerson, and troubled Kant. If he'd been Catholic he'd likely be a saint--if a controversial one like Francis of Assisi. As it is, he's a strange, powerful figure making both scientists and conventional Christians uncomfortable. Good for him!

POLITICS BITES

Lay with one that was by no means pretty, but still I liked her. She was made like others; I touched her there, but found that at the entrance it was set with teeth. It seemed that it was Archenholtz in the guise of a woman.

What it means I do not know: either that I am to have no commerce with women; or that in politics lies that which bites; or something else.

Editor's Note

Freud's made us assume the image of the vagina dentata expresses sexual fears--though of women or men, here? Swedenborg's blessed to be an innocent pre-Freudian, open to other, indeed multiple, interpretations--and a very Nordic deadpan humor. Don't get in bed with politics! Compare with Nixon Nose centuries later.

Source: Swedenborg's Journal of Dreams 1743-1744, 1989 ed. with intro by Wilson van Dusen. Paragraph 120. Descriptive titles are mine; untitled in journal. Interpretations are Swedenborg's, though run together with dream text; I offset interpretations for clarity.

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