Swedenborg, on breathing and impressions

From Divine Love and Wisdom, Swedenborg Foundation New Century Edition, 2004

" At all costs, we must realize that we have two forms of breathing, one of the spirit and one of the body. The breathing of the spirit depends on the fibers that come from the brain, and the breathing of the body depends on the blood vessels that come from the heart and from the vena cava, and aorta.

 "Clearly, too, it is thought that gives rise to breathing and it is love's desire that gives rise to thought, since thought without desire is exactly like breathing without a heart — impossible. We can therefore see that love's desire marries itself to discernment's thought, as just stated. It is the same with the heart in the lungs."

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 "We can observe this union and separation of wisdom and love virtually imaged in the way the lungs are connected to the heart. The heart can be connected with the clustered little bronchial bladders by blood that comes directly from itself and also by blood that comes not from itself but from the vena cava and aorta. This makes it possible for physical breathing to be independent of our spiritual breathing; though if the blood is coming only from the heart, the two forms of grieving cannot be separated."

 Swedenborg, Divine Love and Wisdom,pages 245-247.

Also refer to pages 240 – 241 in Divine Love and Wisdom. The book has an extensive treatment of an understanding of impressions as breath, which can be compared in considerable detail to Gurdjieff's teachings, with multiple correlations, allowing for differences in language.

Portrait of Swedenborg by Carl Frederick von Breda