Swedenborg's books are an inexhaustible well-spring of satisfaction to those who live the life of the mind. I plunge my hands into my large Braille volumes containing his teachings, and withdraw them full of the secrets of the spiritual world.
-- Helen Keller, How I Would Help the World
This essay by Helen Keller expresses her deep gratitude to Emanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish seer, who had a profound influence on her spiritual life. In it she talks about the importance of love and truth in a world filled with materialism and selfishness, and the joy that comes from true understanding.
Her great advice on how she would help the world is to have people read Swedenborg's writings and thereby overcome the many problems of the human condition. She states, "It would be such a joy to me if I might be the instrument of bringing Swedenborg to a world that is spiritually deaf and blind." She further states that reading Swedenborg and understanding his words "has been my strongest incitement to overcome limitations."
Her words are interwoven with photographs of her life and quotes from Swedenborg on spiritual topics. This book will be a treasure for readers who already know and respect Helen Keller and an inspiration for those who do not.
Helen Keller (1880-1968) was stricken with a disease that left her blind and deaf at only nineteen months of age, and the story of how her teacher, Anne Sullivan, was able to break through and help her learn to communicate became the inspiration for millions. Keller quickly learned to read and write, and later became the first blind and deaf person to earn a college degree when she graduated from Radcliffe College. She spent her life traveling and writing in support of a wide variety of social issues, and was the author of several books, including The Story of My Life; Teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy; and My Religion, which was more recently released as Light in My Darkness. She has been the subject of many other books and films and has received numerous honors for her work.