HERE COMES THE SUN
sung by Nina Simone

(Refrain)
Here comes the sun Little darlin, here comes the sun I say, its all right, its all right
(Repeat 1)

Little Darlin its been a long cold and lonely winter, little darlin it feels like years since you've been here
(Refrain)

Little darlin the smiles have returned to the faces now little darlin it seems like years since you've been here

Little darlin its been a long cold lonely winter, little darlin it feels like years since you've been here

Here somes the sun, arent you glad to see it, I say its all right

Here comes the sun little darlin, I say Its alright

Here comes the sun, Here comes the sun I say Little Darlin, it seems like years since you've been here
Little darlin here comes the sun, its all right
You can come on out


























Wilson Van Dusen, Return to the Source





New Century Edition

































George Dole, Sorting Things Out














Lawrence LeShan, The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist


 

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HERE COMES THE SUN
                                                                




OPENING SONG
                                     Here Comes the Sun;                                    
             Sung by Nina Simone                
[click the arrow at the bottom of the frame to start the music.]





READINGS
 

4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 

 

FROM SWEDENBORG
TC 8 There is an inflow from God into us. ...This inflow comes into our souls because the soul is the inmost and highest part of us. The inflow from God reaches that part first and then comes down into the things below and enlivens them, depending on our openness to what flows in.
 

What is meant by spiritual influx cannot be better seen than by means of the natural influxes which take place and appear in this world-as by the influx of heat from the sun into all things of the earth. H.S.  6190

 

MESSAGE
How Can We Catch Those Rays?

Those of us who live in cold regions, like the Northeast, are prone to a malady this time of year:  "spring fever."  It happens when we feel the first warm rays from the sun, see sunshine all around, us, notice perennial  flowers popping up from the dirt and snow.  The symptoms include overwhelming happiness, hopefulness, and love.  It is a time when people are prone to fall in love with each other, or with God, or with the world. 

Swedenborg used the sun as an analogy to talk about God, and how God's energy flows into every thing. 

Wilson Van Dusen says:

Influx is the very act by which the Divine flows in and creates.

He says that an intense experience of God -- like in a mystical encounter, is simply more influx.

By the way, in the New Century Edition of Swedenborg's writing, "influx" is being translated as "inflow."  I like the new translation; it's a better description of what is happening -- energy is flowing into us, and into everything.

Divine energy is ALWAYS flowing into us -- every moment.  It is a joyous realization.  Just as we sun-deprived feel great joy in the spring; we all can feel great joy anytime by being aware of God's energy always in and around us.

 

Have you ever had a time in your life that felt like a long, harsh winter?  Was it hard to feel God's love during that time, just as it's hard  to feel much sunshine in the winter in the Northeast?

Unlike the seasons, God's inflow is always strong and bright.  God's rays do not weaken during certain seasons in certain climates.  When we feel spiritually that we are isolated in a long winter, we can remember that God's sunshine is always there -- we just need to notice it.  We don't need to limit  God's rays to  small doses -- there is no danger of sun burn!

There are many ways to become more aware of God's sunny love flowing into you.  Some people meditate or pray or read sacred writings. Any of these ways is good as long as it works for you.

Another pathway that many take to celebrate God's rays is through the arts. You  are invited to an experience of "inflow" through the arts. At the next link, you'll fnd photographs taken by our Swedenborgian steering committee chair of this site:  Susan Wood-Ashton and her husband, Robert Bingham.  In the background, you'll hear the Peter, Paul, and Mary song:  "Weave Me the Sunshine."  Then there are some other songs and quotations for you to explore if you wish.

This link will take you to that experience:
 

Inflow  expressed in songs and photography.

or, you can move right into the next part of today's  message:
______________________________________
How Does the Inflow Flow?

 

Swedenborg says that the same energy is in the smallest and largest parts of our world.  That is an astounding concept!  Yet it is what new physics has discovered.

In Sorting things out, Rev. Dr. George Dole says that he came to see Swedenborg’s theology differently through reading the work of physicists Karl Pribram and David Bohm. “It attracted me because it contained statements that reminded me of statements in Divine Love and Wisdom. These were statements that I had taken as presumably true in a philosophical sense, but as basically incomprehensible, statements such as 'The Divine is the same in the greatest and the smallest things.'"
(Divine Love and Wisdom n.77).

This reminded him of the Blake poem:
To see the world in a grain of Sand
The universe in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the Palm of your Hand
And Eternity in an Hour.

It can be hard to grasp that science is affirming some mystical truths, such as Swedenborg on inflow.

Some years ago, I was on a train making my way from my home in Connecticut to a conference in New York.  I grabbed a paperback that I had been wanting to read, and found myself so absorbed in the book, I lost all track of time on that train.  The title was:  The Medium, the Mystic, and the Physicist, by psychologist Lawrence LeShan.  I knew about mystics and mediums, but I didn't have a clue about physicists -- or why they would be in the same book as the mystics and mediums.

This was long before I encountered Swedenborg, and I had no idea of the ways physics was overlapping with mystical traditions. One of the reviews of the book said:  The main thesis of LeShan's book is that the world described by mystics, mediums, and sensitives at the  moment they acquire paranormal information is identical to the world described by Einsteinian physicists.... [Commonweal]

Recently, after learning that George Dole felt that modern physics validated much of Swedenborg, I wanted to read that book again.  My tattered paperbook had been lost years ago, so I was thrilled to find that it had  been updated and repubished a few years ago.

So, how does the inflow flow in? Mystics, psychics, and physicists have talked about it for a long time. The concept has also been brilliantly expressed throughout history through the arts.

Would you like to celebrate influx through painting and music? Today's experience is a special treat.  FIrst, we have art work done by a Swedenborgian painter who tried to show influx in his paintings.  His name was George Inness [1825-1894]; a famous landscape painter of the Hudson River School of Painting who brought Swedenborgian theology to canvas.  We have slides showing of some of his most famous works.  In the background, we have music provided by our modern-day Swedenborgian musicians:  Rev. Ken and Laurie Turley.  The songs are taken from their album "Song of Spring:  the Story of Johnny Appleseed."  Johnny Appleseed [1774-1845] was an early Swedenborgian missionary, spreading Swedenborg's writings and apple seeds throughout the midwest.  Johnny was about 50 when George Inness was born, and their lives over-lapped for the next 20 years.  So as you listen to some music from the Johnny Appleseed story, you'll be seeing paintings that were done around the same time.

Experience the art of George Inness with the music of Ken and Laurie Turley

______________________________________

There are so many ways we can celebrate the Divine energy flowing into us:  Paintings, music, photography, poetry, meditation.  What ways do you value  for recognizing the inflow in your life?

The inflow is the very essence of creativity.  Have you felt like drawing, writing, painting, singing?  Don't be held back by thinking you should produce professional work.  Expressing our inflow is important to each of us, and often the arts can be a special mode of communication.  If you feel like expressing your inflow creatively, then follow your Love and Wisdom.

 

CLOSING PRAYER
May every day be the spring time of the Divine flowing into your being.  May you be guided in your unique ways of sharing your inflow with the rest of the world.



OPTIONAL MEDITATION
Let this U-Tube video take you deep into the experience of God's inflow.  The U-tube site says:
Take a journey to the magical blue-green waters of the Havasupai Indian Reservation, to the healing music of Darshan Ambient. These have to be some of the most breathtaking waterfalls in the world. There are three different falls in this video: Havasu, Mooney, and Navajo. It's a ten mile hike through canyon valleys to get there, and it's worth every step.