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Visting scholar and Program Manager of the Swedenborg Library in Chicago, Dell Rose will present a talk on the secret “Churches” of Mongolia, i.e. the Swedenborgian “Far East” discovered in Meiji Japan.
On Monday, 17th February, 1pm-3pm, Dell will first give a brief update on his work with the National Library of Australia to release the private papers of Australia’s former Prime Minster Alfred Deakin, i.e. especially Deakin’s work the “Gospel According to Swedenborg.” Since Dell has previously discussed this at the Centre, this will be a summary and update on that research and publication project.
Then Dell will speak about his latest work, the secret “churches” of Mongolia, i.e. the Swedenborgian “Far East” discovered in Meiji Japan. Here is a brief outline:
Like Utopia, wherever the mystic “Far East” might be, it always seems to be somewhere far away. This was certainly the case in Meiji Japan where Japanese religious thinkers, like their Western esoteric brethren, were looking also for the spiritual secrets of Asia. Onisaburo Deguchi 出口 王仁三郎 (1871–1948), one of the two leading lights of the Oomoto faith (大本), believed this so strongly that he personally led an expedition to connect with spiritually enlightened civilisation on the Mongolian steppe. This quixotic quest gets even more bizarre when we consider that his inspiration in seeing Mongolia as the last bastion of spirituality, a “church” from the ancient world, came not from any Japanese movement, but rather from the writings of Swedish visionary and esotericist Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). Swedenborg taught that in the ancient church, a golden age period, people had an innate understanding of spirituality and understood from nature the truth of the spiritual world. There were still pockets of this living tradition around the world notably in Africa and in a geographically mysterious “Thibet.” Onisaburo accepted these claims as factual, and wanted to learn the secret nature of the world from those who still knew it, hence his expedition. However, Swedenborg’s teachings also coloured how he would see his own Japan and the spiritual legacy that existed hidden in traditional arts. I argue that Western conceptions of the spiritual “Far East” were also complementary to nativist arguments flourishing in the Meiji era, and that many like Onisaburo were happy to use Western connotations for their own cultural self-assesment.
Enquiries Joe Vandermeer at joe@swedenborg.com.au
Join in person at the Swedenborg Centre, or on Zoom using this link when the event commences.