447、有一个新灵与我交谈，当听见我在谈论灵时，就问：“什么是灵？”因为他以为自己还是个人。我告诉他，每个人里面都有一个灵，这灵就是人里面的生命；肉体只是一种从属的东西，是为了使他能活在尘世；血和骨，也就是肉体，根本没有生命或思维。见他一头雾水，我就问他是否听说过灵魂。他回答说：“什么是灵魂？我不知道灵魂是什么。”这时，我被允许告诉他，现在他自己就是一个灵魂或灵，他可以从以下事实意识这一点，即：他在我的头顶上，而不是站在地上。我问他能否察觉到这一点。谁知他竟然惊恐地逃走了，还大声喊着说：“我是一个灵！我是一个灵！”有一个犹太人以为自己仍完全活在肉体中，以至于几乎无法被说服相信任何不同的东西。当他被指示他是一个灵时，仍坚持说他是一个人，因为他能看见、听见。那些在世时专注于肉体的人就是这个样子。还可以举更多例子，但举这些例子只是为了证明这一点：感觉属于人里面的灵，而非肉体，或说，进行感觉的是人里面的灵，而不是肉体。
New Century Edition
Cooper(2008,2013)
[NCE]447. One new spirit who was talking with me heard that I was speaking about the spirit, and he asked, "What is a spirit?" He thought that he was still living on earth.
"Everyone has a spirit inside," I said. "The living part of us is a spirit, and the body only makes it possible for us to spend time on earth. The body — the flesh and bones — has never possessed life or engaged in thought."
He looked doubtful, so I asked, "Have you ever heard of the soul?"
"What is the soul?" he said. "I don't know what the soul is."
"You yourself are now a soul or spirit," I was allowed to say. "You can tell, because you're above my head, not standing on the ground. Don't you realize that?"
He fled in terror shouting, "I'm a spirit! I'm a spirit!"
A certain Jew was also under the firm impression that he was alive in the body.{*1} So solid was his belief that he could hardly be persuaded otherwise. When shown that he was a spirit, he continued to insist that he was a person on earth because he could see and hear. That is what people who were body-oriented in the world are like.
I could cite many other instances, but these should suffice to show that it is the spirit within us, not the body, that senses.
Footnotes:
{*1} Swedenborg is apparently alluding to a common view, held both by Jews and by non-Jews, that Judaism does not teach the existence of an afterlife. "The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture" (The Jewish Encyclopedia 1910; 6:654; see also Scholem 1974, 333-334). The picture is not quite so simple, however. The Talmud makes many references to "Gehenna" (compare note 3 in 374) and "the world to come" (Bialik and Ravnitzky 1992, 568-574), and many Kabbalists teach the sod ha-gilgulim ("the mystery of the cycles" — that is, reincarnation; see Scholem 1974, 344-350). [RS]
Potts(1905-1910) 447
447. A certain novitiate spirit, on hearing me speak about the spirit, asked, "What is a spirit?" supposing himself to be a man. And when I told him that there is a spirit in every man, and that in respect to his life a man is a spirit; that the body is merely to enable a man to live on the earth, and that the flesh and bones, that is, the body, does not live or think at all; seeing that he was at a loss, I asked him whether he had ever heard of the soul. "What is a soul?" he replied, "I do not know what a soul is." I was then permitted to tell him that he himself was now a soul, or spirit, as he might know from the fact that he was over my head, and was not standing on the earth. I asked him whether he could not perceive this, and he then fled away in terror, crying out, "I am a spirit! I am a spirit!" A certain Jew supposed himself to be living wholly in the body, insomuch that he could scarcely be persuaded to the contrary. And when he was shown that he was a spirit, he still persisted in saying that he was a man, because he could see and hear. Such are they who, during their abode in this world, have been devoted to the body. To these examples very many more might be added, but these have been given merely in order to confirm the fact, that it is the spirit in man, and not the body, which exercises sensation.
Elliott(1983-1999) 447
447. Someone who had recently become a spirit spoke to me, and when he heard that I was talking about the spirit, said, 'What is a spirit?' For he thought that he was still a man. I told him that a spirit exists within each person, and that this spirit is the life within him, with the body something subservient which enables him to live on earth. In themselves flesh and bones, or the body, I said, have no life or thought. Seeing him bewildered by this I asked whether he had ever heard about the soul. He replied, 'What is a soul? I do not know what a soul is'. At this point I was allowed to tell him that he himself was now a soul or spirit, and that he could be aware of this from the fact that he was up above my head, and not standing on the earth. Was he unable to perceive this? At this point he led in terror, shouting out, 'I am a spirit, I am a spirit!'
There was a certain Jew who supposed that he was still living in the body, so much so that he could scarcely be made to believe anything different. And when he was shown that he was a spirit, he still insisted, because he could see and hear, that he was a man. This is what people are like who in the world have been bodily-minded. Many more examples could be included, but they would serve only to confirm the point that it is the spirit in man to which sensation belongs, not the body.
Latin(1748-1756) 447
447. Quidam recens spiritus mecum locutus; cum audiret quod loquerer de spiritu, dicebat, 'Quid spiritus?' putans se esse hominem; cumque ei dicerem quod spiritus sit in unoquovis homine, et quod homo quoad vitam sit spiritus, et corpus modo inserviat ei ad vivendum super terra, et quod os et caro,: corpus, nequaquam vixerit et cogitaverit cum haesitaret, quaesivi an usquam audiverit de anima: dixit, 'Quid anima? non scio quid anima.' Tunc ei dicere dabatur quod is nunc anima sit, seu spiritus, quod scire posset inde quod supra caput meum sit nec insistat telluri; annon hoc percipere posset? tunc territus aufugit, clamans, 'Spiritus sum, spiritus sum.' Quidam Judaeus putabat prorsus vivere in corpore, usque adeo ut vix potuisset aliter persuaderi; et cum ei ostensum esset quod spiritus esset, usque instabat dicere quod homo sit, quia videt et audit; tales sunt qui in mundo corporei fuerunt. Perplura adhuc potuissent afferri, sed haec solum confirmationis causa; quod spiritus sit in homine qui sentit, non corpus.