: .
Three
other
teachings
of
Swedenborgian
Christianity
in
particular were attractive to Sherri.
One was that people of all faiths
can be saved. Like the tolerant and
mutually supportive attitude reflected
in the lives of her benthic diatoms,
the New Church actually celebrates
the existence of diversity of religions.
Swedenborg even says the variety of
religions is important, and anyone who
actually practices the teachings of a
given system is doing what is needed to be saved.
Another teaching that was important to her was the idea that we should
put faith only in teachings that make sense to us. True faith is defined in this
tradition as an inner recognition of the truth of something because it makes
sense to us, rather than a decision to endorse something someone else tells us
to believe even though we can’t get it to work in our minds.
And a third teaching she liked a great deal was the idea of correspondences.
Swedenborg says that beyond the physical world of matter there is another
world, a world of what he calls substance, and of the two, the spiritual world
is actually the more real. So this opens up a way of looking at something like
microscopic diatoms as echoing what goes on in human society and even in
heaven.
Here, for example, is a statement she made at the dedication of the Doering
Center:
Sherri didn’t see
her embrace of the
New Church as a
conversion, but rather
as a clarification of the
faith of her youth.
It is probably well known and perhaps obvious that the study of science teaches
us to think analytically. But it also teaches us to think creatively. It can inspire
us as well as educate. As scientists delve deeper into the nature of our universe,
and of ourselves, we learn the incredible complexity of interactions, as well as
the astounding elegance inherent in all of nature. We learn about creation and by
correspondence, the Creator.
Another example of her thinking in terms of correspondences is captured
in this exchange, related by Dave:
Her students would ask her about the hot-button issue of evolution – something
creationism does not espouse. Sherri would respond by asking the students to
reflect on their own development. “You were an egg; then a multi-celled creature
with a heartbeat but no breath; then you became a breather; then your senses
developed; then you developed a rational mind. Are you not evolving? Evolution is
natural and happens on multiple levels. It is a consistent story.”
Sherri didn’t see her embrace of the New Church as a conversion, but
rather as a clarification of the faith of her youth.
29