Editing Swedenborgianism (section)

=== Origin of the soul ===
New Church adherents believe that the soul is the recipient of life from God, and the body is its clothing. The beginning of life (the soul) comes from the seed of the father, and the external body comes from the mother.<ref>TCR, n. 103, 112, 166.</ref> Since most Christians believe that Jesus was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit, his soul was God itself and he always preexisted as Jehovah.<ref>DL, n. 92, 103.</ref> Since souls originate from the seed of the father, New Church adherents do not believe in [[reincarnation]].<ref>TCR, n. 77, 171.</ref>

Spirits and angels, through whom one approaches heaven or hell (depending on one's actions), are associated with a person during their life. Although direct communication between spirits and humans does not generally occur, it was more widespread in ancient times. Angels and spirits retain their memories from earthly and heavenly life (their earthly mental faculties of memory replaced with corresponding spiritual ones) and, in a mental state where communication is open, a person may experience a spirit's memory as if it were their own. This mental state (which may be achieved under hypnosis) resembles [[past life regression]] and was how some ancients came to believe in the preexistence of souls and reincarnation.<ref>Swedenborg, Emanuel. ''Heaven and Hell'', 1758 (HH). Rotch Edition. New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1907, in ''The Divine Revelation of the New Jerusalem'' (2012), n. 256.</ref> However, the New Church does not consider this to be true, instead believing that one lives only once, and how one lives this life determines one's eternal destiny. At death, the soul sheds the physical body, is born into a spiritual mind and body, and becomes aware of the spiritual society with which one's soul was associated.<ref>HH, n. 438, 497.</ref>