Unlocking Real Change: Swedenborg’s Guide to Letting Go

Curtis and Jonathan dig into the steps of repentance -- a process of clearing away inner negativity and blockage to let God's forgiveness flow in. (View full podcast here: • God Already Forgave Yo... )
Please like, subscribe, and click the bell for notifications of new content! For a fun, easy way to support our channel, click the "join" button under any video. You'll get an OTLE badge, custom emojis, and behind-the-scenes posts.
★☆★MORE WAYS TO SUPPORT OUR SHOWS★☆★
MAKE A ONE-TIME OR RECURRING DONATION See how your generosity directly benefits our channel! swedenborg.com...
COMMUNITY CONNECTION To support our efforts AND get extra content, book discounts, and opportunities for group discussions and interaction with our team, sign up for our Community Membership! swedenborg.com...
SHOP OUR MERCH 15% of proceeds from our Redbubble store help us continue to offer free spiritual resources just like the videos seen here. www.redbubble.c...
Sign up for our weekly email newsletter here:
swedenborg.com...
★☆★RELATED CONTENT★☆★
"Repentance: How To Be In Heaven Now" • Repentance: How To Be ...
"The Day-To-Day Process of Our Salvation" • The Day-to-Day Process...
“Rediscovering Forgiveness” • Rediscovering Forgiven...
“Who Was Swedenborg?” • Who Was Swedenborg?
“Swedenborg 101: The Basic Nature of Everything” • Swedenborg 101: The Ba...
★☆★FREE E-BOOKS★☆★
swedenborg.com...
★☆★ABOUT★☆★
We dig into Emanuel Swedenborg’s writings to learn more about the spiritual backdrop of this life we’re living, and then work hard to craft a narrative to share what we learn, using visual tools of animations, illustrations, and diagrams to deliver the concepts in an entertaining, enlightening, and uplifting way.
Off The Left Eye is brought to you by the Swedenborg Foundation-a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, independent, educational organization for those seeking to explore spirituality and faith. Learn more at www.swedenborg...
★☆★STAY CONNECTED ★☆★
E-MAIL SIGN-UP - offthelefteye....
FACEBOOK - / heavenandhellswedenborg
★☆★REACH OUT★☆★
Want to have an Off The Left Eye team member appear on your show? Contact us at [e-mail]

[@Chinonye-sj5it1mt5w]

I love what you said about the two kinds of forgiveness, the one God does for us and the one we do for ourselves that is self examination and then putting a stop those evils and that the evils are the ones clinging to us and wanting to stay..and why we need to agree with God and fight them off. Thank you so much! Remain very much strengthened, inspired and blessed always.❤😚❤️

[@offTheLeftEye]

So glad this resonated with you, Chinonye! Some powerful ideas to work with!

[@Renee60722]

I must not have been listening to the part about the two kinds of forgiveness - thank you for reminding me to listen again!

[@Chinonye-sj5it1mt5w]

@@Renee60722 You are very welcome again!

[@Renee60722]

@@Chinonye-sj5it1mt5w 🙂

[@davecollins1048]

OTLE team is great. The Truth Love mindset shines.

[@offTheLeftEye]

Thanks for these kind words, dave. Trying to walk the talk!

[@Renee60722]

I think our thoughts and actions come from either fear or love, and it seems to me that the more good we do, the stronger and happier we feel. Inevitably, we stumble on our paths, and lying facedown in the dirt once again, we have the choice to brush ourselves off and rise to help another who has fallen, and we have the choice (my favorite) to wail and kick and scream about the unfairness of it all. How wonderful that the choice is always there for us, and when it seems we are falling behind, choosing poorly time after time, we are really still progressing, moving toward a different way of thinking and feeling and realization.

[@Chinonye-sj5it1mt5w]

You express these things so well Renee🌹, yes when we fall God is there to pick us up again and then we forge ahead, stronger, wiser, and better. God help us all.

[@offTheLeftEye]

Yes Chinonye, God is there to pick us up, seventy times seven!

[@offTheLeftEye]

Yes our free will is constantly protected by God, Renee. What a miracle that is! And yes each time we choose love, we get stronger in that choice.

[@Dino.pharis]

Well said!!!

[@Renee60722]

@@Chinonye-sj5it1mt5w Thank you so much. I always love the way you express things.

[@CommunityGuidelines]

Kudos to the crew who run audio. I watch hundreds of independent broadcasters and commentators, and so many of them have no idea how to properly set levels, avoid distortion, use basic EQ or compression, the list goes on and on. But OTLE always sounds great, well-balanced and professional. It makes a huge difference when the show is pleasant to listen to.

[@Renee60722]

It really does make a huge difference. Not many people would point that out. Thank you, @Community Guidelines, for bringing this up. OTLE is professional and first class.

[@offTheLeftEye]

That is wonderful to hear CommunityGuidelines!

[@offTheLeftEye]

We are so glad to hear this Renee

[@nagymikhail5851]

The more I focus on obeying the Lord's voice/command in every situation; (not necessarily thinking of being good), the more He resides in me with His divine love, and out of His love I I am able to ove others unconditionally as myself ...only focus to think/love/do as Jesus does!...

[@offTheLeftEye]

Yes allowing God to lead us, and guide us does lighten our burdens Nagymikhail.

[@brandeefurr6998]

I can’t tell you how much this video helped me. I plan on listening to it over and over and praying for God to do this in my life

[@offTheLeftEye]

So glad these ideas are making a real difference for you, brandee! May God bless you on your spiritual journey!

[@thepear7540]

Amen! Thanks so much for sharing this! God bless! 🙂

[@offTheLeftEye]

You're welcome, thepear! Glad this felt helpful for you!

[@Joshua39-w7j]

“For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity” (NKJV). Proverbs 24:16 The key is to not give up. We’re going to be constantly attacked spiritually in this battle for our souls. I’ve found myself in it several times. Another thing I remind myself of when I feel intrusive thoughts is John 14:15: “If you love me. You’ll follow my commands” You have to be willing to crucify the flesh in order for the spirit to work within you. Naturally, or what I’ve felt, is that a consistency in putting away my own selfish desires allows me to receive more grace. It takes patience and perseverance. It will come through if you’re truly willing and trying. Jesus said that the flesh is weak, but the spirit is willing. God bless you all!!!

[@offTheLeftEye]

Thank you for this pep talk, Joshua -- obviously wisdom gained from experience! It DOES take perseverance, and God is always wanting to help us in the work!

[@Renee60722]

This is truly helpful, Joshua.

[@Joshua39-w7j]

@@Renee60722 It comes from God, not me. Just thought I’d share what I’ve experienced in my own struggles. TRY to live a holy life. Ask for GENUINE repentance. READ scripture daily and PRAY GENUINE prayers. God bless you!!!

[@Renee60722]

@@Joshua39-w7j God bless you, too, Joshua!

[@Dino.pharis]

I’ve often questioned myself rather I was doing things out of goodness or just the judgment of others. I think we all do this at some point.

[@offTheLeftEye]

It's something that takes constant self-reflection, I think, Dino!

[@Renee60722]

I question the motive of every "good" thing I do. Constantly. I don't think it's healthy, at least the way I do it.

[@Dino.pharis]

@ I think a lot of people do things to not look bad to others but I think bad people or what society call psychopaths never question it.

[@IResonateWithU]

I like to think we are real with ourselves when we self-reflect. I think what gives me comfort is that although ive made poor choices, I know what my intentions are. My inner chatter always wonders how I could improve, and I think that is part of genuine repentance. I cant wrap my head around false repentance, it implies you are not real with yourself and that seems counter-intuitive.

[@offTheLeftEye]

Indeed, IRWU. The whole point of "self examination" (as Swedenborg puts it, or self-reflection is to be honest with yourself. So glad you can distinguish your poor choices from your intentions and motivations. For one thing, not killing ourselves with guilt over poor choices in the past is important!

[@Astepatatimekvarn]

Thank you.❤

[@offTheLeftEye]

You're welcome, kvarn. Love and blessings to you.

[@hermeticadept3981]

Wow!!

[@offTheLeftEye]

A good wow, I hope, hermetic!

[@Simsane]

It's true. The more sins I realize I have and feel bad about and ask Him to help me rid myself of them, the more ideas of nice things I can do to help brighten someone else's day. I know without a doubt that these ideas come from the Lord, not me, yet I still enjoy the good feelings of helping someone.

[@offTheLeftEye]

That is just lovely! You know the Origin and fully embrace the joy of being God's deliverer of blessings! A win win win for sure. Thank you Simsane.

[@Alberad08]

Thank you very much for this!

[@offTheLeftEye]

You're welcome, Alberad!

[@elianarose3870]

Yeah, In a way, the "gift" of feeling in dreams or inner moments what someone we acted unkindly/unjustly towards felt. A gift to experience before we die or are dying.

[@offTheLeftEye]

Indeed, elianarose. May we be open to those times of awareness, painful as they may be!

[@ROSIEBGOOD]

A good way to psychologically wash those recurring sins still in our mind away, is when having a shower you say to yourself, go away forever and brush the sins away with your hands from your body into the drain and say, Gone forever! (Or whatever words you want to say to that effect) it works for me! This is for the sins that keep coming back into our mind after confessing and repenting to the Lord. God Bless you and everyone here 🙏

[@offTheLeftEye]

Love this, ROSIEBGOOD. A little daily ritual of correspondential action (letting the water (= truth) wash away the sins/false ideas) to affirm your intentions to repent and change! Blessings to you, too!

[@Renee60722]

How wonderful! I will try this.

[@JacquelinePletscher-x9w]

I love you guys! This so matters to me in this season

[@offTheLeftEye]

So glad you find these ideas helpful, Jacqueline! Thanks for the love!

[@Renee60722]

❤

[@josephnakoochee8865]

At 3:25 minutes of this video, did anyone hear the third voice that said, “He actually has good things to say.”?

[@offTheLeftEye]

That was Jonathan, I think, joseph....

[@natashaszorkovszky1817]

Had an interesting synchronicity today. Albert Pike mentioned Sweedenborg in his book, Mason bible. I was Watching KingStreetnews about: statue of Freemason leader Albert pike to be resurrected. I had no idea. Not sure if you all did as well so thought I would share what I found. It was interesting to know. Validates him even more too! I had noticed some Symbolism was very much like I had with a spontaneous spiritual awakening I had. I think I now know why. I had wondered.

[@offTheLeftEye]

Thanks for sharing, Natasha. I'm not familiar with Albert Pike. In a quick search, the first quote that comes up from him aligns well with Swedenborgian thought. We can find no evidence that Swedenborg was a Freemason, though after his death, somebody established a Swedenborg rite of some kind. Apparently there was a huge surge of in interest in Swedenborg around the Civil War, when people were dealing with death on such a huge scale. But there was a broader engagement with Swedenborg anyway, back in the 1800s. Interesting to wonder what the chain of connection was between Pike and Swedenborg? Symbolism is about spiritual meaning hidden within physical images, so I can imagine that your experience might resonate with some of the symbolism Swedenborg discusses!

[@natashaszorkovszky1817]

@offTheLeftEye thank you for all that! I do believe now that Pike may have taken Sweedenborgs knowledge and teachings at this stage. I found Bob Schnoebelen yesterday and that has helped me put it together. Now I see why they were concerned. I am learning as much as I can due to my experience. Some church friends thought it was from the devil and would ask questions, when I would answer they would say ok that is in line with the bible so that is from God...phew! Lol I became a bit scared and had to start to research research research! I have now found out why they were concerned. Some of the symbolism from masonry was the same and apparently it is a bit corrupted too. Not sure if it's because the path is hard and some can become corrupt it may even go back to Alestair Crowley as he had mystical experiences but was not a good person. . I didnrt think it happened until you have well proven deserving but perhapse they use chemicals or artificial means?. It certainly did not feel bad, I would walk around with butterflies on me, saw the most beautiful white bird sparkling and lost my breath in awe, it was straight above me jist staying there and when I thought perhapse it is stuck in the wind of flew off then came straight back and stayed over me again. It was such a strange experience and sparking aura around it that I started trying to find images of white birds sparkling and there are plenty of images on churches. My son said it's the holy spirit..I had worked and raised children so had not had time for much study, i had always tried to follow Jesus teachings but did not remeber alot from the bible. I did not know what a white bird meant at all. That led to research to see what was happening. The New age threw me off the path in ways, the bible can be confusing. I would still wonder is what I have good or bad ?? 🤣 What I'm finally seeing is that alot of good teachings end up corrupted.. They all have truth and the opposite. That is why iv come back to sweedenborg and the urantia book. Jesus mentioned the mansion.worlds (bible) but only these two have any insight into what they are. If you look at the comparisons in these two teachings you will be astounded at the accuracy of Sweedenborg. It is good to find truth but it took some work.

[@marksingleton7199]

When you are born here. You live in the self or knowledge of sin. When the mind develops to a point where it understands different concepts, it can discuss with itself and the soul, God or goodness. The memory of self lives in the guilt it created. Baggage. You are a collection of thoughts and perceptions. You can use experience to learn. A reference. The memory desires you to live your collective memory over and over again. Guilt is a stuck record. This is the book of Job. A conversation of self. Satan or deception is thinking and acting without goodness. Lost. Job's goodness is visually stolen. Friends say that Job lost God. God simply allowed the mind to see itself without God. God returns and says Am I not everything. God then restores Job's visualized thought rather than the minds or the collective deception man builds and then works in.

[@offTheLeftEye]

This resonates with Swedenborg's concept of the "new will," Mark. We have to say goodbye to our old will, our self-centered interests, and God will replace it with love and understanding and wisdom.

[@sashadence6409]

The key word, I think, in what was said here, is self-reflection and then acting on what is discovered through it, if I'm understanding correctly. It isn't simply that I've discovered a time when I was, as Dr. Rose so aptly put it, cold hearted, or even that it is acknowledged as that, but that it is 'put away', as in, I have decided I won't act that way, if at all possible, in future. Is this right? So on that note, we also have to get at why we acted that way and set about trying to change the circumstances that led to that sin. And because, and I think Swedenborg says smthg to this effect somewhere, sins are often habits, meaning we don't intentionally decide to sin a lot of the time, which is why we have to reflect. This seems to challenge, and clearly I'm wrong here, but it seems to challenge the idea that if we will the good, if our intentions are good, we're good. But most of us, I think, don't sit down one afternoon and decide to be cold hearted -- we were coldhearted when we were, behind our own backs, so to speak. Hence the need to reflect right? But "inner work" is right. I find I get really discouraged because the sins I have -- repeatedly -- 'put away' creep back. sometimes a long time after I'm free of them. But this inner work thing can become a bit of a career in the sense as it takes constant vigilance and attention. Those of us with ADHD lol find this particularly challenging. And tbh I'm not sure at the end of the day I'm that much better a person. It's hard to measure. Also, as said, discouraged. It's demoralising to find out how continually selfish I can be. It's kind of like the default setting. But thanks for this -- real important. I can see why Christ found downloading this info necessary since the reformation, especially some forms of it, kind of promoted a blanket salvation after the sinner's prayer. They still do. The RC's always had the practise of confession etc. and self examination as part of the process --not so much the prots. Anyway, again, thank you!

[@offTheLeftEye]

Yes we need to reflect and see why we are behaving the way we are, Sasha we can look deeply and work to choose differently. That is the purpose of our life on earth, to get beyond that default setting of self interest.

[@GladeSwope]

I had always thought that the forensic view of divine forgiveness is an inherently demonic obstruction of something greater.

[@offTheLeftEye]

Come again, Glade?

[@GladeSwope]

@offTheLeftEye Some have made it sound like it's a ww2-era German police force "up there" that we have to appease.

[@Renee60722]

@@GladeSwope Oh! I see what you mean. For me, an antidote to that idea idea are the words of Marianne Williamson who says, "God doesn't forgive you, because He never condemned you."

[@williamback6154]

You guys do a good service because Christians are lazy and won't study their K.J.V. bibles. If one would read their bibles through about 25 times and meditate with the Holy Spirit one wouldn't need anything else. Who knows every word in the Bible? The Bible interprets itself if one studies. There are no original Hebrew or Greek texts! Who in the world can add to God's words. I stop in now and then with your studies and good job helping the Body of CHRIST. God bless.

[@Renee60722]

I'm so glad OTLE exists for us to stop in now and then!

[@offTheLeftEye]

Interesting that you say there are no Hebrew or Greek texts, william. Tell me more about that. Glad you think we're doing useful work here!

[@offTheLeftEye]

We are glad you are here as well Renee.

[@GingerKral]

🩵🩵 Thank you. This has certainly sent me down a rabbit hole . I'm having an "Okay, but God, what about......" 😂

[@offTheLeftEye]

Haha, Ginger! May you make some helpful discoveries!

[@Renee60722]

I know! Wouldn't it be great to meet up once in a while to discuss questions?

[@GingerKral]

@@Renee60722 The truly great part is that God ALWAYS answers when we ask.

[@Renee60722]

@@GingerKral I wish I could see it, feel it.