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What to make of a man who designed Sweden's mining infrastructure, mapped the human brain, and then spent the last 30 years of his life in daily conversation with the dead? Could Emanuel Swedenborg be the greatest 18th century thinker you've never heard of?

In this episode of Being Human, Richard Atherton is joined by Curtis Childs, producer and director of Off the Left Eye, a YouTube channel approaching 2,000 videos on the life and teachings of Swedenborg.

After spending 30 years as one of Sweden's greatest scientists, inventors and anatomists, at 53 he started having what we would now call near-death experiences, except he appeared to be able to slip in and out of these states with ease. He documented these across 30 volumes, work that would go on to influence Carl Jung, and quite possibly the 12-step programme.

Curtis came to Swedenborg not as a scholar but as someone in crisis, searching for a model of consciousness that made sense of the chaos inside his own mind. This conversation explores what that model offers people navigating mental health challenges and interior growth, and those seeking potential answers to what lies beyond.

We discuss:

How Swedenborg eased Curtis’ depression
How the Enlightenment and Christianity can threaten spiritual growth
The real meaning of Heaven and Hell
Sorting things out in the After Life
The Self as Selector

Links:
Off the Left Eye
Curtis' Website