Book Review… A Higher Calling

Mar 15, 2020 Book Review…, News

Book: In the Presence of Angels: Reflections on Mattie Pearl and Emanuel Swedenborg
Author: Andrea R. Garrison
Critic: Glenville Ashby, PhD

“Once we have learned about the divine design, we can understand that we were created to become angels because the ultimate boundary of that design is found in us.” – Emanuel Swedenborg

The book cover of In the Presence of Angels

In the Presence of Angels gushes with divine aphorisms, hope and faith. Author Andrea R. Garrison explores Jungian Synchronicity (meaningful coincidences that have no causal connection), and the concept of Serendipity (positive or negative thoughts may bring positive or negative experiences in our life). Her message is unmistakable: Life is meaningful and we need not seek explanations for our every experience, but we should welcome these moments as potentially transformative.
Garrison recounts in hagiographic terms, the life of her mother Mattie Pearl, an African-American woman who experienced the brutality of racism.
“[Pearl] and her family lived among violent contradictions, far more agonizing than those ever faced by the inhabitants of white mainstream culture.”
Still, she was void of hatred; retributive thoughts never holding her captive.
“Her grandfather, an almost saintly man,” we learn, “died very young, and probably because of injuries inflicted on him by a lynch mob in the days before desegregation.”
Compassionately, Garrison makes mention of her father, a flawed man that battled alcoholism. “Many times,” she pens, “we have good things to say to people, but we keep it to ourselves. So often we do not take advantage of special moments to share what is truly in our hearts. I wanted my father to know before he crossed over just how proud I was of him.” She reminds us that “sometimes we have highs and lows in life,” and “life is a work in progress…life is journey.”
But Garrison reserves a glowing tribute for her mother whose life was inspirationally instructive. In her illness (she was stricken with cancer), she remained steadfast, helping others see the virtue in suffering, not unlike biblical Job.
“It was amazing how the illness seemed to give her more strength and more power. This really was God’s love manifesting in her. We all were moved by her kindness, her sweetness, and her willingness to give. She was never angry, just a grateful, spirited warrior with a soft and loving heart.”
On the eve of her passing, Pearl spoke glowingly and vividly of her other worldly experiences, conveying the message that when we leave this earth “there is preparation before then preparation after.”
Garrison recounts, “Part of her transitional phase was being connected to people she knew who had moved on. Many of these people were greeting her, making it so she would be comfortable letting go of this physical life. It was as if they were guides or her official greeters. They wanted her to know that there was something more beautiful waiting for her.”
She later writes of her mother, “We received her messages of hope and love, and we were also given a glimpse into another plane of existence – a precious look into her new home filled with bright colors, beautiful flowers, moving sounds, and the most enchanting music.”
Of humankind, Pearl was endearingly optimistic, that we are all angels in training. That divine quality, she determined, is sometimes indiscernible, even contestable, but she remained ever confident and assured of our ‘divinity.’
This explains Garrison’s refreshing view on missionary work. She writes, “You do not have to travel that far for service. Oftentimes the greatest work and the greatest lessons and blessings are close to home, within our own families and among our friends, neighbors, and communities.”
There is a transcendence and a luminosity to life, according to the author. Garrison gives credence to the immortality of the soul and what psychologist Wilson van Dusen calls “the presence of other worlds.”
The author later adds, “If one truly understands the depth of what happens when one transitions from the physical body, then one might see life in an entirely different light.”
Garrison finds greater meaning and clarity in her mother’s experiences through her embrace of Emanuel Swedenborg, a 17th century Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. Swedenborg spent two decades exploring the spiritual worlds, detailing his insights and experiences, while promoting life-guiding principles applicable to every creed and culture.
‘In the Presence of Angels’ effuses with counsel and might, a literary monument that captures the essence of life and the purpose of being; a document that promises to make us of quick understanding so that we shall not judge after the sight of our eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of our ears.
Such is the strength of Garrison’s work.

Feedback:[email protected] or follow him on Twitter@glenvilleashby
Swedenborg Foundation Press, Pennsylvania
www.swedenborg.com
ISBN 978-0-87785-350-3