1701-1750

Spiritual Diary, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1758], tr. by Bush, Smithson and Buss [1883-9] at sacred-texts.com

Spiritual Diary

1701.

The quarters exist relatively to the human body, or in the plane of the head or some of its parts, as the forehead, the temples, the right or left eye, or to the left or right side, or in the plane of the shoulder-joints, the breast, the abdomen, the loins, the knees, the feet, the soles of the feet, then also particularly above the head, and thus in like manner above the forehead, the sinciput, or the occiput, at the left or the right, forward or backwards; whatever spirits appear at these points, there is no mistake but that they will continue to appear there as long as they are of such a quality. Those who are under the feet are in the lower earth more or less deep, just as the former are more or less high.

1702.

Spirits also change places according to the change that takes place in themselves, for they hold themselves according to their nature and genius. Some never change places, and yet pass into the same quarter, making excursions therein, but it can thence be known who they are.

1703.

That they are actually there [where they appear to be] cannot be said, although such is the appearance. As it is with altitude and presence, so is it also with situation. They appear thus before the eyes, because the universal world of spirits, and the universal heaven represents and constitutes the Grand Man, which is the reason that they are thus presented to the view of man while he is as a spirit, and to every spirit and every angel. That all this is a bare appearance may appear from the act that if there are numbers viewing them at the same time, and the same object should exist within a [given] distance between them, still it would not appear any otherwise to one than to another, thus not from behind one and in front of another.

1703_1/2.

It is wonderful that a position [situs] should appear such without any particular determination; for while a spirit reflects upon the position, it is then sometimes wont to be varied, while yet, by a certain spiritual idea, he knows its position relatively to the body. - 1748, March 26.

1704.

WHATEVER REIGNS PREDOMINANT IN THE MIND OF A MAN, OF A SPIRIT, OR OF AN ANGEL, TO IT IS BENT WHATEVER SUCH AN ONE MAY CHANCE TO HEAR. ((This is a common fact, and thus maybe known to everyone, that when any thought, affection, or cupidity has the ascendancy in the mind, then everything which is done by others, and which is heard [by the party in question], is determined thereto; so that they, for instance, who are lascivious, such as we have spoken of above, turn everything that they hear into lascivious images, and thus into lascivious expressions. So also in other things.))

1705.

(With those in whom good reigns, there is nothing which they do not turn into good, and excuse. Thus whatever is from the Lord, and whoever is led by the Lord, with such everything is converted into good. - 1748, March 26.)

1706.

CONCERNING AN INDETERMINATE STATE OF SPIRITS. I, together with the spirits around me, was in an indeterminate state, which state was such that they could not reflect at all upon themselves, but became, as it were, reduced to nothing in the universe, which accords with the popular idea of spirits. As relates to myself, I could scarcely tell whether I was in the body or out of the body, for I perceived nothing of the body, inasmuch as it was not given to reflect upon it. Thus the perception I had was independent of the body, for the ideas were determined to a vague universality [in universum], and thus, as it were, dissipated, having no determination in myself. Determination in one's self causes that the subjects of it should seem to themselves to be such as they think themselves to be. In a word, the state was altogether different from the ordinary state, nor was there anything but bare speech, for the spirits spoke and I spoke, but the speech was as if it proceeded not from any particular man, but was a mere voice sent forth into vacuity. [Above] there appeared nothing but the celestial blue vault [sprinkled] with little stars.

1707.

Hence it may be inferred that whatever spirits may appear to themselves [to be or to possess], they have it from the determination of ideas in themselves; and from reflection upon the things which they say, and that without such determination neither spirit nor man appears to himself to be anything. - 1748, March 26.

1708.

THE EXISTENCE AND SUBSISTENCE OF HUMAN BODIES FROM THE LORD BY [OR THROUGH] THE GRAND MAN. HOW LIFE FROM THE LORD IS INFUSED EVEN INTO THE EVIL. (Spirits often upbraided me, as it were, as having no life, because I said to them - what is the fact - that neither men, spirits, nor angels live from themselves, but from the Lord, and that they are only organs of life. This prompted them to say that I was possessed of no life at all; and moreover, when I stated that whatever evil was excited with me pertained to them, and whatever of good to the Lord, this they were unwilling to comprehend, still insisting that [on this ground] I must be destitute of life. They have in fact a decided aversion to hearing such assertions, for they wish to live from themselves, and for this reason they often complained, and were indignant that I thus spoke.)

1709.

On thinking the matter over with myself, how the life of the evil is infused into them from the Lord, I sometimes remarked that inasmuch as they are organs, therefore that life is according to the forms, which for their better understanding was compared to the light of the sun. This, although white in color and one in nature, yet as it passes through forms, or flows into them, is so varied as to give rise to different hues, temperatures [tepores], and the like: to which they could offer nothing in reply.

1710.

But now [it is to be affirmed] that the life of the Lord flows in into all in the universe, for they constitute the Grand Body [corpus maximum] and heaven, with the heaven of spirits, which is His body, because it lives from Him, as a man lives from his soul; i.e. from the Lord through the soul, wherefore all the members, and the parts of the members, cannot but live from Him; just as in man the members and parts of members depend exclusively upon his soul; and according to the forms of the members and the forms of the parts, so they live, and so do they perform their functions, however diverse, in the universal body; and yet in such a way that they are led to uses and ends, like each single organ in the body, for there is a consent of all to uses and to one end, which is the Lord; whence life [flows] into all and each, from one mediately into another, through a society of forms.

1711.

Those, however, in that Grand Body, who are evil, sustain to it the same relation as do the vicious parts in the body, which by various methods are brought to act in conjunction; wherefore they are [first] exterminated, dissolved, and made to pass into the blood, the noxious parts being rejected, and made to serve uses in this way to the blood, and thus are purified by innumerable methods. And because things are thus in the body, they cannot but have life also. - 1748, March 26.

1712.

Whatever inflows from the Lord flows into the Grand Man, but with variety according to functions, so that there shall be no spirit or angel wholly free from the effect thence produced, just as in the human body there is nothing operated by the soul but it flows into its universal body. The case, however, is not the same in regard to what proceeds from men, spirits, and angels, for as they are external to each other, all influx from them is comparatively outward; it subsists within certain limits, for it does not go to interiors: interiors are without to it, nor does it reach to intimates, and so on; otherwise than with that which comes from the Lord, as this passes through intimates and inmosts. - 1748, March 26.

1713.

Nor could the soul thus flow into the forms of its body according to all varieties, and operate so diversely in each single part, were there not a Grand Man, of which the Lord is the life, and which corresponds in all its minute details with human bodies. From hence exist the varieties of common forms in human bodies, or of viscera; hence the varieties of the distinct forms in the viscera; hence the ordination of everything to uses and ends; hence the functions of all things, of all and singular things from the Lord. - 1748, March 26.

1714.

Hence now also is the existence of bodies and of their operations; hence subsistence, which is perpetual existence; hence conservation, which is perpetual creation; hence the existence and subsistence of all animal bodies, even of the minutest animalculae; hence the existence and subsistence of all vegetables with their varieties, which in their own mode typically represent the bodies of living things; hence, for the sake of correspondences, the representation of spiritual and celestial thing by corporeal and material; hence the adaptation of organs to spiritual and celestial things, organs corresponding to their active potencies, to their uses of life, and apart from which no effect takes place. - 1748, March 26.)

1715.

CONCERNING THE EFFECT OF PHANTASY. Let it not seem wonderful that such things, which are merely corporeal, exist also in the world of spirits, namely, that the inhabitants appear to themselves to be bodies, yea, to be clothed with garments, that they should perceive pains, consequently that they should possess the sense of touch, besides other things which are merely corporeal, and such as it would seem could never fall to the lot of spiritual essences, or spirits; whereas that such is the fact is so true that all heaven is in the affirmation of it.

1716.

Hence are their tortures in hell; hence their many pains and terrors, as also their cupidities, and other things which are corporeal.

1717.

As it respects the causes whence such things exist [there], it is because spirits take with them phantasies from the life of the body, which because they are of the mind, and are such as are operative, therefore thence are their affections.

1718.

((Nor, supposing one to be possessed of any degree of sound judgment, has he reason to wonder at the fact now stated; for life, whether corporeal or spiritual, is not given without sense, and all sense refers itself to touch, even the intimate and inmost senses, as may be known to anyone from the sense of seeing and hearing. Since, therefore, there can no life be given without sense, it follows that those who think themselves to be corporeal, or who are in corporeal phantasies, and as long as they are in them, as is the case with many recently departed souls [carry those phantasies with them]; hence the effect above mentioned, or a kind of sense of corporeal things, for they imagine themselves to be living altogether in their bodies, nor can they be dispossessed of that phantasy, unless by living demonstrations, of which see in abundance elsewhere.

1719.

For these reasons let men beware of giving heed to those opinions which some persons would fain publish and inculcate, that spirits are altogether devoid of sense, or that spiritual essences lack all that kind of affection which they enjoyed while living in their bodies. I know the contrary, which has been demonstrated to me by a thousand and a thousand most sensible proofs of experience, as I can solemnly declare and attest; and if men are unwilling to believe from the weight which they attach to their suppositions and opinions in respect to spiritual essences; let them take heed to themselves when they come into the other life, where experience will compel them to believe what they do not credit in this world. In ancient times there were no men of such a faith in regard to spirits, but [they exist] at this day, when from the ratiocination of their own brain, and not from the Word of the Lord, they would explain the nature of spirits whom they deprive, by their definitions and conjectures, of all sensual properties, denying everything of the kind to their interior and intimate principles, when yet these are the things which merely manifest themselves in externals and which are perceived; and although they appear in externals, yet it is no otherwise than as they believe the eye sees, the ear hears, when at the same time they may know that the eye is merely an organ which transmits visibilities, while the interior minds [of men] are what see and hear, the sensorial power being utterly dead without things interior, as may be abundantly shown.)) ((((Hence now it may appear that there are senses in spirits or the spiritual essences of man, and moreover that they survive in souls after death, and that as long as a man is not in the truth of faith, he is made up of phantasies, which produce the effects before mentioned))))

1720.

Yea, I can assert that their torments, terrors, and the like are to them wellnigh as sensible as in the body, which they have oftentimes confessed to me; and unless the Lord should take away their phantasies, their corporeal things thus remaining in their minds, they would be tormented with much severer anguish than in their bodies; for evil spirits and the diabolic crew not only have such phantasies, but they inflict the like upon the minds of those whom they torment, which unless the Lord took away and moderated, they would have a hell vastly more excruciating than would ever be possible from their bodies being held in the suffering of the most intense anguish.

1721.

OF THOSE WHO CONSTITUTE THE INTERIOR MEMBRANES OF THE BODY, AS THE PLEURA. (((There are spirits through whom others speak, and they scarcely know what they say, except [as they learn] a little from their prompters while in the act of speaking. They confessed that they did not well know what they said; but that yet they spoke, as in fact it was sufficiently evident, by hearing that others spoke through them, and that they thus became merely a channel of the speech of others, for the sound of their utterance made this sufficiently plain. Thus they have, as it were, no ideas, but simply voices. In the life of the body they were mere babblers, thinking nothing of what they said, and loving to talk of everything, whether they understood it or no.

1722.

They said there were troops of them, and more numerous than could be conceived.

1723.

They constitute the interior membranes of man, which are spacious, and on this account there are such vast numbers or troops of them; for the membranes are not otherwise, or do not perform any other use, than to act as passive forces, and to do whatever the active forces impress upon them. Concerning these spirits, it is believed that they constitute the pleura which surrounds the chamber of the thorax, and insinuates itself through the pericardium into the regions of the lungs, and that they thus pass into the pharynx and larynx, which is an organ of speech, as are also the lungs that are encompassed by the pleura, and to which it constitutes the covering.

1724.

It was said also that they give way or flee when other spirits pursue them, and retire to a considerable distance, in a direct line from the face almost in front, but inclining to the left, whence it happens [correspondentially] that that membrane is so extended, and yields to the pressure of the lungs as to its active forces.

1725.

They spoke above the middle of the head, at a moderate distance, but the place does not hinder them from constituting the pleura; for the interior membranes of the body are continued to those of the head, as, for instance, the pituitary membrane of the mouth, and thus to the meninges of the brain, wherefore they are heard above the head, when otherwise they would be in the plane of the breast, from which they were first detected at a distance.)))

1726.

((Such spirits are very numerous, for the membranes of the body are ample, and are continued around and over all the viscera, into which they enter. It is now insinuated that the greatest part of these spirits are women.))

1727.

CONCERNING THOSE WHO CONSTITUTE THE "PIA MENINX" OF THE BRAIN. There are certain spirits not given to speaking like the former, but serving to the further development of the ideas of others, and acting also as passive forces. They are quite modest in their temperament, and are heard still higher above the head. Their common movement was a flowing one [fluidus] in a transverse direction in the brain from the front part backwards, [differing from that of] another class whose common flowing motion was transversely from one and the other temple towards the middle of the brain, so that the place of meeting should be that of the longitudinal sinus.

1728.

I heard them speaking: they were modest and peaceable, and said that in the life of the body they were such as trusted but little to their own thought, or determined themselves but were prone to credulity, and easily suffered themselves to be persuaded by others to almost anything, acting from their suggestions, and not canvassing the quality of their advice.

1729.

Through these other spirits transfer their ideas. - 1748; March 26.

1730.

Those that constitute the thin membranes of the brain perform a similar function in the spiritual world and in heaven with those membranes which admit the blood-spirit into the interior parts, conducting it in their own peculiar way, and also serving to clothe the fasciculi of fibers, or the little nervelets [nervulos].

1731.

For these were again represented to me as to the quality of their thought, and among other modes from this, viz. that they received in simplicity the things that were spoken, not indeed with a [very intelligent] sense either external or internal, but so that the angels could thence derive interior ideas. Such was their quality [as they appeared] while I uttered the Lord's Prayer, as their thought was then exhibited to me; for all spirits and angels, how many soever and of what quality soever they may be, may be known from the ideas they have when the Lord's Prayer is pronounced, and these were all along represented to me on those occasions. The sense, therefore, of these spirits was such that the angels could thence derive fuller ideas, as they were of a milder genius and not mentally closed, as was apparent to a spiritual idea, so that they are a kind of intermediates between an exterior and interior sense of words.

1732.

In speaking with them, they said they were such as often withheld me from thinking of interior things, and thus [virtually] prohibited me; and also that they supposed themselves to be in heaven; for they are, as it were, a kind of entrance into heaven, which is owing to the nature of their thoughts.

1733.

From these things it may be evident how difficult it is to perceive the quality of those who are in the interior, and, still more, who are in the inmost heaven, as they constitute the membranules or meninges over the minute organs of the brain, and round about its more tender fibers, which, as they do not appear to the eye, are not perceived by man; while yet if we understood the nature of these meninges, we should be able to apprehend somewhat in regard to those spirits who sustain a similar relation to the interior and inmost heaven. As these minute organs with their coverings and interior contents are invisible to us, how much more those spirits who constitute, and, as it were, contain substantial realities.

1734.

Those who constitute the meninx over the brain are genii, for that meninx is full of blood; in like manner those who constitute the meninx over the smaller organs of the brain. But those who invest the fascicles of the fibers and the interior nerves are spirits; for as the fibers spring from their organic principles, so also spiritual things from celestial. Moreover, as in the fetus every membrane is charged with blood, and its derivative fibers are, as it were, not bloody, so also it is with these genii, and so on. - 1748, March 27.

1735.

CONCERNING A SPIRITUAL IDEA - WHAT ITS QUALITY. It is permitted to adduce a single example in order to illustrate the quality of spiritual ideas [which are such], that, if barely one word is uttered as all words are ideas then that word is, as it were, put on [by spirits], and thus they are accustomed to act inwardly within that word; as, for instance, a certain angel on hearing the word "Servant," immediately as it were put it on, and so prayed from it, signifying by such a representation that he was a servant, and accordingly prayed as a servant, for the sake of testifying humility; but that such a state of things can exist is perceived by no one except a spirit, or one who is in a spiritual idea. There are many things of this nature. - 1748, March 27.

1736.

CONCERNING THOSE WHO CONSTITUTE THE EXTERNAL SKIN, AND ITS COATS. There are very many of such a quality that they constitute the external integuments of the body, with a difference from the face to the feet. (With these I held much conversation, and even on this very subject: those who constitute the foul outermost skin are such as in the life of the body abide in the literal sense, but those who admit interior things, though they do not perceive them, but merely abide in them as in a kind of external sense, they are the interior coats of the skin.

1737.

For there are those who abide indeed in the literal sense of the Word, but yet from various causes admit an interior sense, to wit, while they seek to establish their own theories [theses] or articles of faith, for which purpose they draw [from the Word] affirmative proofs whatever may be their opinions, and even such as are interior, which thus fall in with their theories; more especially do they do this where such interior and inmost things favor their cupidities and their opinions at the same time; otherwise all such interior and inmost things, when viewed by them simply in themselves, they disrelish and reject, holding them almost in aversion, and becoming their enemies and opposers, except so far as they can claim to have originated them as something new, for they love them in reference to their own glory and praise, though they do not understand them.

1738.

They represent or constitute such things inasmuch as the external skin communicates by fibers and vessels with the interiors and inmosts of the brain, from whence come its sensations. The skin and its coats imbibe also the most subtle things of the world, and transmit them to the brain, to say nothing of their brain exhaling a very attenuated kind of faeces, as appears from the santorian perspiration [?].

1739.

With these spirits it is not easy to form a connection, nor can they mingle with the angels, for they favor their own opinions and their own cupidities, and prefer themselves to others, nor are they willing to admit interior things, which are destructive to their phantasies and lusts, as when it is said to them that there is a special sense and perception of interior and intimate things, that a spirit does not live from himself, that he is a mere organ of life - this they are averse to, for they would fain live from themselves, as would all they also who constitute the coats. Some, however, can understand the fact to be so, but still they do not wish it to be so.

1740.

There are also besides these certain spirits who constitute the interiors of the cuticular covering of tolerably upright character, who suppose that the things which proceed from those who constitute the external skin do really emanate from themselves, thus attributing many things to themselves, which do not belong to them. They were such in their lifetime as claimed a great many things as proceeding from them which yet were not theirs, not indeed from a self-love that led them to prefer themselves to others, but from a certain cupidity, and pleasantness, as it were, besides various other causes. I spoke with them [and found that] they were well-meaning, apprehending what was said, only that they raved somewhat in imagining things done by themselves which were really done by others. - 1748, March 27.)

1741.

In a word, insanities, that is, phantasies, reign with all those who constitute the externals of man; for externals are such that they act against internals, and yet they are held by internals in their proper connection and order, although they do not wish to appear to be governed by internals, but by themselves. Such phantasies or insanities are very numerous, and arise from numerous causes, wherefore as long as they are in them they constitute such externals, especially skins and membranes, which act against internals. A very large portion of those from this our earth are of such a character, for our orb is in externals, and almost wholly rules internals; and as much as this ascendancy prevails, so much are its inhabitants tormented in the other life, until such phantasies are so far moderated that an equilibrium can be established, nor are they previously permitted to act as such membranes, but they are without or below the body of the Grand Man in the lower earth, and various places of hell, from which they are taken out and elevated in order to constitute such things as above described. While they are being perfected in these by means of the many vexations they there undergo, the are advanced to more interior states, and thus into heaven, for all the membranes become more perfect in proportion as they approximate what is more interior and intimate; yea, there is nothing given in the human body except from membranes; from these are the organic forms which are actuated by blood and spirit, which are themselves also organic forms, but active in respect to others, though still void of any life but what is from the Lord. The active powers of life are called celestial; the passive, spiritual; and as celestial things or love ought to rule spiritual things and not spiritual celestial, so in like manner are things constituted in the body. The nature of the influx of the one into the other may appear in some measure from the organical structures of the body; but because the subject is one of so much vastness, it can never be understood except in its most general features, as far as may be necessary to serve for forming ideas, which the Lord fills and vivifies according to uses and ends. - 1748, March 27.

1742.

CONCERNING THE ENTRANCE OF SPIRITS INTO THE OTHER LIFE. ((When a man dies and passes into the other life, it fares with him like the food which is received by the lips, and then through the mouth, jaws, and throat is conveyed into the stomach, and thence into the intestines - that is to say, the lot of his life is determined according to his cupidities and phantasies, for he is at first treated very gently, namely, by the angels who stand by, of whom we have spoken before, which is similar to the case of food that is not seen, which is first slightly touched by the lips, afterwards committed to the mouth, and its quality tested by the tongue as hard, soft, sweet, etc.; it is treated in this way also, that it may be softened by the purer saliva, and thence be exhaled into the blood, and so conveyed to any particular organ, or immediately to the brain, when it is mildly castigated on the way. Thus with man's evils, his phantasies are thus, as it were, exterminated by various methods, while if any remain, they imitate the course made by the salivary fluid in the process of digestion, in which some articles are subdued with more difficulty, requiring the action of the teeth in breaking the hard crusts, which correspond with the products of the phantasies that have to be violently broken up. Thus there is a letting down, as it were, through the esophagus into the stomach, where a various treatment is undergone by the contents in order that they may be made to perform some kind of use; those of a somewhat harder quality are thrust into the intestines, and at length into the rectum, where is the first hell, and such as are not yet subdued thereby are cast out like dung into hell, and remain in hell till they are effectually reduced to subjection. 1742-1 (1748, March 27.)))

1743.

OF THE STATE OF A MAN WHEN GOVERNED BY THOSE WHO CONSTITUTE THE CUTICLE. There came a number of those who constitute the cuticle; I heard their approach in companies; and as they were so numerous as to prevail over others, it was thus shown to me how it is with the state of man when he is such as to have an undue care of the skin, which is the same as to have his mind governed by spirits of this class.

1744.

When a man is in this state, he is withheld from all useful study, and at the same time there is insinuated into him a distaste to doing anything real, so that there is a certain reaction and consequent repugnance in relation to whatever is useful, whether in civil or moral life, whether in matters of faith and charity, whether in action or in thought, for from all these he is held back, while at the same time there are certain blasphemies insinuated into him against them, so that he wishes, as it were, to bind himself to keep aloof from them.

1745.

How the true state of the case is [in these instances] was also shown me. There is a certain one among the worst of their crew who adheres to a man from behind under the occiput, and through him as a medium that crew acts, drawing back the very nature of the man from things good and pious, making them a source of annoyance to him, and at the same time infusing blasphemies. Such an one was perceived by me by a most manifest sensation, and I spoke with him, saying that he was held there by that crew, in order that through him, as a common subject, they might perpetrate things like those above described. I was retracted not only sensibly by the neck, but withheld from the thought and understanding of what I was writing, and even from the affection thereof, and it was insinuated that I should desist besides, among other things. In order that I might perceive how the case is, it was represented to me in the person of a certain spirit, to whom such an one applied himself like a dark cloud, throwing himself upon his back, and adhering thereto under the occiput, causing a confession to be made of most grievous molestation.

1746.

Of this quality are those who are unduly careful about the skin, or who are delighted with the things pertaining to the skin, and who [for this reason] are elsewhere termed delicate. Persons of this description perceive in every good and essential work a repugnance, nay, a positive grievance; for spirits of this class flock cajolingly around such an one and then consociate themselves, drawing him away in like manner [from all useful employments]. As the care of the skin is multifarious, so there are genera and species of this class of men.

1747.

These cuticular characters are averse to interior and more interior things, as remarked above, consequently to an interior and more interior life. They contend incessantly with their opposites, for they are external men who fight against the internal man, and hold him in aversion, as Paul writes of himself. - 1748, March 27. The exterior spirits who actuate them are those that constitute the scaly and filthy skin.

1748.

The spirit stationed behind, under the occiput, drew down the occiput, as it were, or the skin in that region, as if he would move the head, causing it to sway somewhat downwards. A thing of this kind is not, indeed, perceived with the inhabitants of our earth, because they are sensible to no operations of spirits, being such as to be in externals. It is otherwise with those who can be at the same time in the world of spirits also, just as are spirits; still it is known from the effects how the case is. - 1748, March 27. Such spirits, like such men, are for the most part lovers of themselves, preferring themselves to others; and inasmuch as they treat with scorn man's interior and more interior things, they place their wisdom, as it were, in being able elegantly to vituperate or refute the doctrine of an internal man, nor do they care ought for the Lord, nor if they dared would they hesitate at all to vituperate and persecute Him openly, for they are external and give themselves up to the dominion of this kind of spirits.

1749.

But whenever there is an equilibrium of these with others, they can then perform a use, as the skin does to the interiors, for man learns interior things by means of exterior yet so that the Lord insinuates into externals those things which conduce [to use]. To institute an analogy: the skin serves not only as a medium for excreting foulnesses, but also for the insinuation of such things as serve for the nourishing of the interior. The skin, however, is disposed [for this function] by the interior life, and the inspirations through externals are made according to the affections of the interiors. - 1748, March 27.

1750.

Such spirits also, if it were permitted them, would desire to possess the whole man, so much so, that if it were possible they would fain cast out man's life, and thus enter and live in the body of another. It was shown me according to the phantasies of certain spirits [who lived] at the time the Lord was in the world, that they were prompted by this desire. I said to a certain one that that was impossible, and plainly demonstrated it, namely, from the fact that man is an organ, and his interiors are organic forms, which can by no means be occupied by the organic forms of another, nor changed into those of another; they perhaps supposing that their interiors were life alone, like a flame; but they are immensely deceived.

Footnotes

1742-1 The hell here spoken of is doubtless but another name for that state of vastation in the world of spirits, of which mention is frequently made elsewhere in the writing of our author. It is unquestionably to such a state that our lord refers when He says, "Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing."