Earths In Our Solar System Which Are Called Planets, and Earths In The Starry Heaven Their Inhabita | Page 9

they were wont, to
present opposite things to their questioners; for that if any of the spirits
of our Earth were to do so, he would be punished. But immediately the
company from which those spirits had been sent forth, and which was
at a distance, made answer, that if they must be punished on that
account, they must all be punished, inasmuch as, from continual
practice, they could not do otherwise. They said that when they speak
with the men of their own earth, they also do likewise, not, however,
with any intention to deceive, but to inspire the desire of knowing; for
when they present opposite things, and conceal things in a certain
manner, the desire of knowing is excited, and thus from the zeal of
exploring those things, the memory is perfected. I also, on another
occasion, spoke with them on the same subject, and, as I knew that they
spoke with the men of their earth, I asked in what manner they
instructed their inhabitants. They said that they do not instruct them
fully as to how a matter is, but keep insinuating some apperception of it,
in order that from this the desire of exploring and of acquiring
knowledge may be nourished and grow; for if they were to answer all
their questions, the desire would perish. They added, that they suggest
opposites for this reason also, that the truth (_veritas_) may afterwards
appear the better; for all truth appears from relation to its opposites.
36. It is their custom not to tell another what they know, but still they
want to learn from all others what is known to them. With their own

society, however, they communicate everything, insomuch that what
one knows all know, and what all know each one in the society
knows[l].
37. Inasmuch as the spirits of Mercury abound in knowledges, they are
in a certain kind of conceit; hence they imagine that they know so
much that it is almost impossible to know more. But it was told them
by the spirits of our Earth, that they do not know much but little, and
that the things which they do not know are comparatively infinite; and
that the things which they do not know, are, relatively to those they do
know, as the waters of the largest ocean to those of a very small
fountain; and further, that the first step towards wisdom consists in
knowing, acknowledging, and perceiving that what one knows, is,
compared with what one does not know, so little as hardly to be
anything. In order that they might know that it is so, it was granted that
a certain angelic spirit should speak with them, and tell them generally
what they knew and what they did not know, and that there were
infinite things which they did not know, and that eternity would not
suffice for their acquiring even a general knowledge of things. He
spoke by means of angelic ideas much more readily than they did, and
as he disclosed to them what they knew and what they did not know,
they were struck with amazement. Afterwards I saw another angel
speaking with them, who appeared at some height towards the right; he
was from our Earth. He recounted very many things which they did not
know; and afterwards he spoke with them by means of changes of state,
which they said they did not understand. He then told them that every
change of state, and also every smallest part of such change, contains
infinite things. When they heard this, as they had been conceited on
account of their knowledges, they began to humble themselves. Their
humiliation was represented by the sinking downwards of the compact
body (_volumen_) which they formed (for that company appeared at
the time as a compact body, in front towards the left, at a distance, in
the plane of the region below the navel); but the compact body
appeared as it were hollowed in the middle, and raised at the sides; an
alternating motion was also observed therein. They were also told what
that signified, that is, what they thought in their humiliation, and that
those who appeared elevated at the sides were not as yet in any
humiliation; and I saw that the compact body was separated, and that

those who were not in humiliation were sent back towards their earth,
the rest remaining.
38. There once came some spirits of Mercury to a certain spirit from
our Earth, who, during his life in the world, had been most celebrated
for his learning,--he was Christian Wolf--desiring to receive
information from him on various subjects. But when they perceived
that what he said was not elevated above the sensual things of the
natural man, because in speaking he thought of