Earths In Our Solar System Which Are Called Planets, and Earths In The Starry Heaven Their Inhabita | Page 6

of such spirits, but at some little distance from me, in front a little to the right, and they spoke with me from thence, but through intermediate spirits; for their speech is as quick as thought, which does not fall into human speech, except by means of other spirits; and what surprised me, they spoke in a body, and yet as promptly and rapidly as possible. Their speech, being of many together, was apperceived as undulatory, and, what was remarkable, it glided towards my left eye, although they were to the right. The reason was, that the left eye corresponds to the knowledges of things abstracted from material things, thus to such as belong to intelligence, while the right eye corresponds to such as belong to wisdom[m]. With the same promptness with which they spoke, they perceived the things that they heard, and formed their judgment upon them, saying of one thing that it was so, and of another that it was not so, their judgment being as it were instantaneous.
[Footnote m: The eye corresponds to the understanding, because the understanding is the internal sight, and the sight of things immaterial, nos. 2701, 4410, 4526, 9051, 10569. The sight of the left eye corresponds to truths, consequently to intelligence; and the sight of the right eye corresponds to the goods of truth, consequently to wisdom, no. 4410.]
23. There was a spirit from another earth, who was well qualified to converse with them, being a prompt and rapid speaker, but who affected elegance in his discourse. They instantly formed their judgment concerning whatever he spoke, saying of one thing that it was too elegantly, of another that it was too learnedly expressed; so that the only thing they attended to was, whether they heard from him anything which was not known to them before, rejecting thereby such things as obscured the subject, which are chiefly affectations of elegance in expression and of erudition; for these hide the things themselves and in their place substitute expressions, which are the material forms of things; on these the speaker keeps his mind (_animus_) fixed, and wants to draw attention to his expressions rather than their meaning, by which the ears of his auditors are more affected than their minds (_mens_).
24. The spirits of the earth Mercury do not tarry in one place, or among assemblies of the spirits of one system, but wander through the universe. The reason is that they have reference to the memory of things, which requires to be continually enriched; therefore it is granted them to wander about, and everywhere acquire knowledges. If, while travelling in this manner, they meet with spirits who love material, that is, corporeal and terrestrial things, they shun them, and betake themselves to where they do not hear such things. From this it may appear that their mind (_animus_) is elevated above sensual things, and thus that they are in interior light (_lumen_). This it was also given me actually to perceive when they were near me and were speaking with me. I observed then that I was withdrawn from sensual things to such a degree, that the light (_lumen_) of my eyes began to grow dull and dim.
25. The spirits of that earth go about by companies and phalanxes, and when assembled together they form as it were a globe. They are joined together in this manner by the Lord in order that they may act as a one, and that the knowledges of each may be communicated to all, and the knowledges of all to each, as is the case in heaven[l]. That they wander through the universe in quest of the knowledges of things, was made manifest to me also from this fact, that once, when they appeared very remote from me, they spoke with me from thence, and said that they were then gathered together, and were going beyond the sphere of this system into the starry heaven, where they knew there were such as had no concern about terrestrial and corporeal things, but about things elevated above them, with whom they desired to be. It was stated that they themselves do not know whither they are going, but that under the Divine auspices they are conveyed to where they may be instructed concerning such things as they had previously been unacquainted with, and which are in agreement with the knowledges they already possess. It was also stated that they do not know how they meet with the companions with whom they are conjoined, and that this also is effected under the Divine auspices.
26. As they journey through the universe in this manner, and are thus enabled to know more than others about the systems and earths beyond the sphere of our solar system, I have spoken with them on this