This is the second in my “Best Things” feature, where I highlight things from online or elsewhere that I think are awesome but that aren’t particularly well-known. This week’s entry is actually kind of cheating – it’s three things for the price of one.

Off the Left Eye webcasts and videos

If you’re looking for a video-based introduction to Swedenborg, there is no better place to start than the work of Curtis Childs and his “Off the Left Eye” team, sponsored by the Swedenborg Foundation (they explain what “Off the Left Eye” means in this short video). Every week, Curtis hosts an hour-long live YouTube webcast called Swedenborg and Life, delving into all sorts of topics related to Swedenborg and his theological works. The show has a good sized following, and Curtis and his team excel at interacting with the community they’ve fostered; you’d be hard-pressed to find a more productive comments section anywhere on YouTube. Curtis regularly answers viewers’ questions at the end of the show, and from time to time devotes the entire hour to answering frequently asked questions. The production value is high – there’s great animation, high-quality video, and good music – but the best part of the show is the clear, funny, engaging presentation even of complex topics (you can see from the photo above how very seriously the producers take themselves).

Besides the hour-long Swedenborg and Life videos, offTheLeftEye occasionally posts shorter videos (one of which was recently featured on The Dr. Oz Show), including several great “Swedenborg Minute” videos that provide quick overviews of some basic Swedenborgian concepts.

In addition to the standalone videos, offTheLeftEye often posts excerpts from the full-length Swedenborg and Life shows. These clips are a good intro to some of the bigger topics for people who don’t have time to watch the whole episodes.

But these clips are not the only way to engage with the show if you don’t have an hour to spare, which brings me to the second part of this three-for-one Best Things…

Swedenborg and Life blog posts

About a year and a half ago, the Swedenborg Foundation blog started posting weekly summaries of the Swedenborg and Life webcast. These recaps are great: they hit all the main points of the webcast, provide links to various related books and videos, and best of all, provide direct links to different parts of the video, so that if you only have time for a 10 minute clip you can find the part that most grabs your interest. Here’s the most recent one; as you can see, you could easily skip ahead to a look at the way the Bible uses the words “life and death,” an examination of the fear of death, or the answer to a viewer question about what the Bible means by “the second death.” I don’t have time every week to watch the entire webcast, but I always read the recaps.

If you want to read the Swedenborg and Life recaps every week, you can sign up for the RSS feed of the Swedenborg Foundation blog with your favorite feed reader (I like feedly). And if you do that, you’ll discover part three of our trifecta of bestness…

The Swedenborg Foundation blog

Besides the weekly Swedenborg and Life recap, the Swedenborg Foundation hosts a Spirituality in Practice blog and a Scholars on Swedenborg blog, both of which are incorporated in its main feed. The Spirituality in Practice blog features monthly pieces by various Swedenborgian authors reflecting on ways that New Church thought can be brought down into practical application (full disclosure: Spirituality in Practice published a piece I wrote on “Parenting in Imitation of God”).

There have been several gems published here; one of my favorite is the most recent one, a somber reflection by Chelsea Rose Odhner on being emptied out and finding peace through pain, entitled “Finding Peace in a World of Violence.”

The Scholars on Swedenborg blog features – well, exactly what you’d expect, scholars writing about Swedenborg and his influence. The topics range from quantum physics to Zen Buddhism to slavery and abolition. Despite their academic focus, these posts tend to be engaging and accessible, and they’re sometimes just as practical as their Spirituality in Practice counterparts; see, for example, this excellent piece on conflict resolution from Dr. Soni Soneson Werner.

Conclusion

So, there you have it. Subscribe to the Swedenborg Foundation RSS feed and your feed reader will be filled weekly with textual and videographical goodness. It’s the best.

(Very serious photo of offTheLeftEye team used by permission.)