3、我有时与我们地球的灵人谈论这个话题。据他们说，凡理解力敏锐的人都能从他所知道的许多事断定，宇宙星球有许许多多，上面都有人类居住；因为凭理性就能推断出，像行星这么大的星球就有一大堆，其中有些比地球还大；它们不是空心的，并且聚集、被造不只是在自己绕太阳转的轨道上被传送，并为一个星球发出微弱光芒；它们的用处必远胜于此。人若如人人都该相信的那样相信，神性创造宇宙只是为了人类可以存在，进而天堂也能存在，并无其它目的，因为人类是天堂的苗床，也必然相信，哪里有星球，哪里就有人。我们肉眼所见的行星，都在太阳系之内，故都是土质星球。世人都很清楚这一点，因为它们都土质体，反射太阳光线；用望远镜来看时，不再像星星那样发出火红的光，而是像地球那样夹杂着暗斑。另一个证据是，它们和地球一样围绕太阳旋转，沿着黄道带前行，由此产生年份和一年四季，即春、夏、秋、冬。它们也像地球那样绕轴自转，由此产生日期和一天四个时辰，即早、午、晚、夜。此外，其中有些带有月球，也就是所谓的卫星；这些卫星以固定周期沿着它们的轨道绕其星球旋转，就像月球绕我们的地球转一样。土星距离太阳最远，也有一条巨大的发光带；这个发光带尽管是反射而来，却仍给这个星球提供了大量光芒。若知道这些事，并凭理性思考它们，谁还会说这些星球都是空心体？
3. I have talked with spirits from our earth about this a number of times. We concluded that anyone with a capable mind can see, on the basis of things that are well known, that there must be many planets and they must have people on them. That is, we can determine on rational grounds that bodies as large as the planets-and some of them are significantly larger than our own-are not uninhabited lumps created only to be carried along on a wandering course 1around the Sun and shed their feeble light for the benefit of just one planet. Their function must be more worthwhile than this.
If we believe, as everyone should, that the Divine created the universe for the sole purpose of bringing humankind into being as the source of heaven (because humankind is the seedbed of heaven), then we cannot help but believe that wherever there is a planet there must be people on it. 2
[2] As for the objects visible to our eyes because they are within our solar system, 3we can obviously tell that they are planets from the fact that they are bodies of physical matter. They reflect the light of the Sun, and when we look at them through a telescope they do not look like stars, which twinkle because of their fire, but appear earthlike, with darker and lighter patches. 4There is also the fact that they, like our own planet, travel around the Sun along the path of the zodiac, which must cause years and the seasons of the year called spring, summer, fall, and winter. Similarly, they rotate on their axes as our planet does, which must cause days and the times of day called morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Not only that, some of them have moons called satellites, which have their own periodic orbits around their sphere the way our moon orbits our planet. The planet Saturn, which is farthest from the Sun, has a huge luminous ring around it that gives a great deal of light to that planet, even though it is reflected light. 5Can any rational individual who knows all this maintain that these bodies are uninhabited?
Footnotes:
1. The Latin here translated “to be carried along on a wandering course” is ut . . . ferantur ac spatientur, literally, “to be borne and wander.” The reference to wandering points to the Greek word πλανήτης (planétes), the ancestor of the English word “planet,” which means “a wanderer.” The term reflects the observation made in ancient times that the planets vary in location against the background of the fixed stars. The word spatientur, “wander,” may also serve here as a pun on the word spatia, “spaces,” which Swedenborg uses in Worship and Love of God to refer to orbital distances. [GFD, SS]
2. The idea that all other planets are inhabited was quite common in eighteenth-century Europe. On the history of the extraterrestrial life debate from ancient times up to (and beyond) Swedenborg’s contemporaries, see the introduction to this volume, pages 85-90, as well as Dick 1982; Crowe 1986. For an analysis of Swedenborg’s views on the human race as the purpose of the universe, particularly in light of more recent astrophysical science, see Koke 1982; Koke 1987. [LSW]
3. The Latin phrase here translated “solar system” is mundus hujus Solis, literally, “the world of this sun”; the direct Latin equivalent for “solar system” seems not to have been used in Swedenborg’s time. Occasionally Swedenborg uses mundus (“world”) by itself in this sense, but since the word can also convey other meanings, including “planet” and even “material existence,” he here adds the qualifying phrase “of this sun” to avoid ambiguity. (Compare the English translation of mundus as “system” in the title of the first English translation of Other Planets, published in 1787 [Swedenborg [1758] 1787].) [SS]
4. Stars looked like points of light even through the best optical telescopes of the magnifications available in Swedenborg’s time (and in ours), but planets showed as actual disks, and features such as Jupiter’s bands were visible. Swedenborg’s description here can be assumed to be based on personal experience. For example, in 1711, during his first visit to England, he may have performed observations through the telescope at the observatory in Greenwich. He is known from his own letters to have conversed in person with Britain’s royal astronomer, John Flamsteed (1646-1719; see Tafel 1875, 210-211) and his remarks about the observatory show that he visited it at least once (Acton 1948-1955, 31-32). Stockholm Observatory, completed in 1753, would also have been accessible to Swedenborg; it was operated by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, of which he was a member (Sigstedt 1981, 161-162). [SS, GFD]
5. Swedenborg’s description of Saturn as the planet farthest from the Sun reflects the scientific knowledge current in his time. Of the planets beyond Saturn, Uranus was discovered only in 1781, nine years after Swedenborg’s death, and Neptune was discovered in 1846. The reason for the existence of Saturn’s rings implied here is that they were necessary as a reflector in order to provide the inhabitants of that “farthest” planet with sufficient light to live. [RS]
3. I have held several discussions on this subject with spirits from our world, and I have been told that anyone of sound intellect can deduce from many facts known to him that there are many worlds and people living on them. For it is reasonable to infer that such vast bodies as the planets, some of which are larger than the earth, are not empty masses, created merely to circle the sun and shine their feeble light for the benefit of one world, but they must have some more important purpose than this. Anyone who believes, as each one of us should, that the Deity's sole purpose in creating the universe was to bring into existence the human race, and from this to people heaven - the human race being the seed-bed of heaven - must inevitably believe that, where there is a world, there must be human beings.
[2] The planets visible to our eyes, because they lie within the bounds of the solar system, can be plainly known to be worlds, as being bodies made of earthly matter. This is plain because they reflect sunlight and when seen through telescopes do not show the redness of flame as stars do, but are mottled with dark patches like lands on earth. Another argument is that they revolve around the sun in the same way as the earth, advancing along the path of the zodiac, and so causing years and seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn and winter. They also rotate about their axes in the same way as the earth, thus causing days and the different periods of the day, morning, midday, evening and night. Moreover, some of them have moons, which are called satellites, travelling around their orbits with fixed periodicity, like the moon around the earth. The planet Saturn, being the furthest from the sun, has also a great shining ring which supplies that world with a great deal of light, even if it is reflected light. Can anyone knowing this and able to think rationally still claim that these are empty masses?
3. I have occasionally spoken on this subject with the spirits of our earth, and it was said that any man of keen understanding may conclude from many things that he knows that there are many earths, and that there are men there; for it may be concluded from reason that such great masses as the planets are, some of which exceed this earth in magnitude, are not empty masses, and created only to be conveyed in their revolutions round the sun, and to shine with their scanty light for one earth, but that their use must needs be more excellent than that. He who believes, as every one ought to believe, that the Divine created the universe for no other end than that the human race may exist, and thence heaven, for the human race is the seminary of heaven, must needs believe also, that wherever there is an earth, there are men. That the planets which are visible to our eyes, as being within the boundaries of this solar system, are earths, may be manifestly known from this, that they are bodies of earthy matter, because they reflect the light of the sun, and when seen through optical glasses, they appear, not as stars glittering by reason of their flame, but as earths variegated from darker portions. The same may further appear from this, that they, in like manner as our earth, are conveyed by a progressive motion round the sun, in the way of the zodiac, whence they have their years, and seasons of the year, as spring, summer, autumn, and winter; and in like manner, as our earth, revolve about their own axis, whence they have their days, and times of the day, as morning, noon, evening and night. Moreover some of them have moons, which are called satellites, and which revolve round their globes at stated times, as the moon does round our earth. Also the planet Saturn has besides a large luminous belt, because it is very far distant from the sun, which belt supplies that earth with much light, although reflected. Who that knows these things and from reason thinks about them can say that these are empty bodies?
3. Loquutus sum cum nostrae Telluris Spiritibus aliquoties de ea re, et dictum quod homo, qui intellectu pollet, scire possit ex multis quae novit, quod plures Tellures sint, et ibi homines; nam ex ratione concludi potest, quod tantae Moles, quales sunt Planetae, quarum aliquae magnitudine excedunt hanc Tellurem, non sint moles vacuae, et creatae ut modo ferantur ac spatientur circum Solem, et luceant pauco suo lumine pro una Tellure, sed quod illarum usus insignior, quam talis, oporteat esse. Qui credit, sicut quisque credere debet, quod Divinum non creaverit universum propter alium finem, quam ut humanum Genus existat, et inde Caelum; nam Genus humanum est seminarium Caeli; is non potest non credere, quam quod homines sint, ubicunque aliqua Tellus. Quod Planetae, qui coram oculis nostris visibiles sunt, quia intra terminos Mundi hujus Solis, Tellures sint, manifeste sciri potest ex eo, quod corpora terrestris materiae sint, quia solis lumen reflectunt, et inspecti per vitra optica apparent non sicut stellae rutili e flamma, sed sicut terrae ex obscuris variegati: tum ex eo, quod illi, similiter ac nostra Tellus, circum Solem ferantur et progrediantur via zodiaci, ac inde faciant annos et anni tempora, quae sunt Ver, Aestas, Autumnus, et Hyems: similiter quod circum axem suum, similiter ac nostra Tellus, rotentur, ac inde faciant dies et diei tempora, nempe Mane, Meridiem, Vesperam et Noctem: ac insuper, quod aliqui eorum habeant Lunas, quae vocantur Satellites, et circum orbem suum statis temporibus vagantur, sicut Luna circum nostrum; et quod Planeta Saturnus, quia longissime a Sole distat, habeat quoque Cingulum magnum luminosum, quod multam lucem, tametsi reflexam, Telluri isti dat. Quis usquam, qui haec novit, et ex ratione cogitat, dicere potest, quod haec inania corpora sint?