Correspondence (theology)

In theology, correspondence is the relationship between spiritual and natural realities, or between mental and physical realities.

Correspondence and esotericism

Pierre A. Riffard^[1] : "The doctrine of analogy and correspondence, present in all esoteric schools of thinking, upholds that the Whole is One and that its different levels (realms, worlds) are equivalent systems, whose parts are in strict correspondence. So much so that a part in a realm symbolically reflects and interacts with the corresponding part in another realm. For instance, the Sun in the mineral realm is the counterpart of the Lion in the animal realm. The relation between A and B is similar to the relation between C and D. The microcosm and macrocosm are analogous, that is, equivalent, similar in their structures, even though they are outwardly dissimilar. The parts are in strict correspondence, closely knit together and closely interacting : thus feet/pisces, veins/ rivers. According to Robert Fludd (Utriusque Cosmic Historia, II), "Man is a whole world of its own, called microcosm for it displays a miniature pattern of all the parts of the universe. Thus the head is related to the Empyreal, the chest to the ethereal heaven and the belly to the elementary substance."

Antoine Faivre posits four fundamental elements, necessary conditions for a document, group, or movement to be eligible for consideration by scholars as esoteric. The first one is Correspondence. "Symbolic and real correspondences (there is no room for abstractions here!) are said to exist among all parts of the universe, both seen and unseen....These correspondences, considered more or less veiled at first sight, are, therefore, intended to be read and deciphered....The principles of noncontradiction and excluded middle of linear causality are replaced here by those of the included middle and synchronicity. We can distinguish two kinds of corresopondences. First, those that exist in nature, seen and unseen, e.g. between the seven metals and the seven planets, between the planets and parts of the human body or character (or of society). This is the basis of astrology - correspondence between the natural world and the invisible departments of the celestial and supercelestial world, etc.Next there are correspondences between nature (the cosmos) or even history, and revealed texts. Here we find the Kabbalah, whether Jewish or Christian, and varieties of 'physica sacra'... Ultimately the world stage is a linguistic phenomena."^[2][3]

Swedenborg

The term was coined by the 18th century theologian Emanuel Swedenborg in his Arcana Coelestia (1749–1756) and Heaven and Hell (1758) and other works.

Swedenborg states that there is a correspondence between, for example: thought and speech, between intention and action, between mind and body, and between God and creation. Correspondence is a causal relationship (i.e., thought is the cause of speech, intention is the cause of action).

The correspondence between spiritual and natural things extends to all objects in the physical world. Light corresponds to wisdom because wisdom enlightens the mind as light enlightens the eye. Warmth corresponds to love because love warms the mind as heat does the body. The various animals in creation correspond to the various affections in man. Ultimately, all things correspond to and symbolize qualities in God.

Swedenborg also wrote that the Word (Bible) was entirely written by God according to correspondences, so that even within its natural laws and histories, every minute detail is written to describe the spiritual realities relating to God and man, these being the true subject of the Word. His eight-volume Arcana Coelestia provides verse-by-verse details of the inner meaning of Genesis and Exodus; his works Apocalypse Revealed and Apocalypse Explained do the same for the book of Revelation. In Arcana Coelestia, for example, he explains the meaning of the seven days of creation in terms of God's forming and perfecting man's mind.

Despite teaching that the Word was written according to correspondences, Swedenborg wrote that all the essential teachings about the nature of God and the way to salvation could be found in the literal sense of the Word. Moreover, a person could use some knowledge of correspondences to twist what the Word actually taught if he was not bound at all to the literal sense; and so, Swedenborg writes, a church's doctrines must be founded on the literal sense of the Word, and correspondences must only be used to illustrate and confirm what has already been learned from the literal sense.

Notes and references

1. ^ Pierre A. Riffard, Dictionnaire de l’ésotérisme, Paris: Payot, 1983, 34.
2. ^ Antoine Faivre, Access to Western Esotericism, State University of New York Press, 1994, 10-11.
3. ^ http://books.google.fr/books?id=HXk9lnPx0_MC&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=%22antoine+faivre%22+correspondence+between&source=bl&ots=3cfTZ54cSd&sig=35pKqd7inuugg-YVzXCMJqpDm6E&hl=fr&ei=Jul4TfnZFYn1sgbOsPTTBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false