Emanuel Swedenborg was an 18th Century Swedish scientist and polymath who mastered anatomy, chemistry, theology and philosophy, and was fluent in eleven languages. Despite these many accomplishments, Swedenborg spent the latter part of his life personally exploring the visionary experience. In 'Heaven and Hell' he reports in fascinating detail on all that he had seen and heard in the spiritual world. The work covers such areas as the afterlife, heaven and hell, dream imagery, angels, and a new understanding of Christianity in terms of rational spirituality. Swedenborg's ideas have had a profound affect on religious thinking, and influenced such luminaries as William Blake, Goethe, Emerson, Henry James, Dostoevsky, and D T Suzuki.
