2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
-2 Corinthians 12:2 King James Version (KJV)
Paul here is talking about the 'out of body' experience where a person's consciousness is separated from their outer physical body so they can more clearly see with the eyes of their inner spirit body in the world of spirits. Everyone experiences this during their sleep and we bring back memories of these 'out of body' experiences in the world of spirits as so called dreams. Eckankar teaches that Paul learnt the art of Soul Travel which is why the scriptures says he 'died daily.'
Referring to Revelation 1:10 where John says "I was in the Spirit" Swedenborg teaches us:
Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com
Verse 10. I was in the spirit, signifies a spiritual state when there is revelation. This is evident from the signification of "to be in the spirit," as being to be brought into the state in which spirits and angels are, which state is a spiritual state. Into this state a man is brought when he is let into the state of his spirit, for every man is a spirit as regards his interiors (see in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 432-444). When a man is in that state, the things that are in the spiritual world appear to him as clearly as objects appear in the natural world; but the things that appear, because they are of spiritual origin, are in themselves spiritual, and such things as are of heavenly wisdom are presented as it were in a natural image. In this way Divine things are presented before the eyes of spirits and angels in visible forms. From this it is that all things that are seen in heaven are representative and significative, as were also the things seen by John, as described in Revelation. (The character of such things can be further learned from what is said and shown concerning Representatives and Appearances in Heaven, in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 170-176.) [2] While man is in the body he does not see such things as are in heaven, unless the sight of his spirit is opened; when this is opened, then he sees. In this way John saw the things described in Revelation; and in like manner the prophets saw; and they were therefore called Seers, and were said to have their eyes opened. In this way also angels were seen in ancient times, and the Lord also was thus seen by the disciples after His resurrection. This sight is the sight of the spiritual man; and because in this state all things appear representatively, John was in it. He who knows nothing about this sight, believes that angels, when seen by men, have taken on a human form, and that when they vanished from their sight they laid it aside; but this is not so; angels then appeared in their own form, which is the human form, not before the sight of men's bodily eyes, but before the sight of their spirit, which sight was then opened... That man has such a sight is clear to me from much experience, for all things I have seen in the heavens have been seen by that sight. At such times I was in the same state of wakefulness as when they were not seen. But at the present time that sight is seldom opened to anyone by the Lord, and for many reasons.
Heaven and Hell, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1758], tr. by John C. Ager [1900] at sacred-texts.com
To make clear that man in respect to his interiors is a spirit I will relate from experience what happens when man is withdrawn from the body...
First, as to withdrawal from the body, it happens thus. Man is brought into a certain state that is midway between sleeping and waking, and when in that state he seems to himself to be wide awake; all the senses are as perfectly awake as in the completest bodily wakefulness, not only the sight and the hearing, but what is wonderful, the sense of touch also, which is then more exquisite than is ever possible when the body is awake. In this state spirits and angels have been seen to the very [physical] life, and have been heard, and what is wonderful, have been touched, with almost nothing of the body intervening. This is the state that is called being withdrawn from the body, and not knowing whether one is in the body or out of it. I have been admitted into this state only three or four times, that I might learn what it is, and might know that spirits and angels enjoy every sense, and that man does also in respect to his spirit when he is withdrawn from the body.
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