38、水星灵来拜访一个我们地球来的灵人，他在世时因学问而颇负盛名（他就是克里斯蒂安·沃尔夫）；他们渴望从他那里获得关于各种主题的信息。但他们发觉，他所说的并未超出属世人的感官印象，因为他在说话时思想的是他的名声，并且和在世时一样（在来世，每个人都保持原来的秉性），想把各种事物串在一起，再把它们与其它东西联起来，不断形成新的结论。由于他试图产生长长的论据链，而这些论据都是基于他们没有看见或不承认为真理的事物，所以他们声称，这些链子既没有连起来，也没有得出他的结论，他们称其为权威的模糊。于是，他们不再向他提问题，只是问：“这叫什么？那叫什么？”由于他还是以物质概念，而非属灵概念回答这些问题，所以他们离开了他。在来世，每个人越属灵地或以属灵的概念来说话，在世时就越曾信神，并且越不以物质概念来信祂。
我想借此机会在此讲述以下经历，以说明在来世，出于自己的深思而获得聪明的学者是何情形，这种深思为了真理，因而为了从世俗考虑中抽离出来的功用而被认识真理的爱所点燃；以及寻求从其他人那里获得聪明，未经自己任何思考的人又是何情形，如那些渴望认识真理，仅仅是为了学问上的名声并由此获得世上的荣誉或利益，也就是说，不是为了从世俗考虑中抽离出来的功用之人。我感觉有一个声音从下面穿透上来，靠近我的左侧，直达我的左耳。我发现，他们是在那里试图挣脱的灵人，只是我不知道他们是哪类灵人。然而，他们挣脱出来后，便与我交谈，自称是逻辑学家和形而上学者；他们曾将自己的思维深深沉浸于这些学科，没有其它目的，只是为了被视为有学问，由此获得荣誉和财富。他们抱怨说，他们现在过着悲惨的生活，因为他们在学习这些学科时没有其它目的，因而没有由此培育自己的理性能力。他们说话缓慢，声音低沉。
与此同时，两个灵人在我头顶上彼此交谈；我问他们是谁，被告知，其中一个在学术界是非常有名的，我得以认为他是亚里士多德（我没有被告知另一个是谁）。那时，他被带入在世时所处的状态；谁都能很容易地被带回他在世时所处的状态，因为他以前的一切生命状态都与他同在。令我惊讶的是，他靠近我的右耳，在那里说话，声音虽然嘶哑却很理智。我从他的讲话主旨发觉，他的秉性和先上来的经院学者们的迥然不同；事实上，他从自己的思维发展出他所写的东西，因而产生自己的哲学。因此，他所发明并加到思想观念上的术语，都是他用来描述内在观念的词语形式。如我所得知的，他以此为乐，并在这乐趣，以及知道关乎思维和理解之物的渴望驱使下有了这些发现；他顺从凡他的灵所指示的。这就是为何他靠近我的右耳，不像他的追随者，也就是所谓的经院学者们；他们不是从思维到术语，而是从术语到思维，这是一条反路。他们当中有许多人甚至都没有行进到思维，只局限于术语。他们若运用这些术语，就能随心所欲地证明一切，并照着他们说服人的欲望把真理的表象强加到虚假上。对他们来说，哲学就这样变成一条通向疯狂，而非智慧的道路，并使他们陷入黑暗而不是光明。
后来，我和他讨论分析学。我说，一个小男孩能在半小时内讲得比亚里士多德在一本书里描述得更具哲理性、分析性和逻辑性，因为整个人类思想及其所产生的言论都是分析性的，其法则来自灵界；想从术语人为地发展到思维的人，颇像一个跳舞者，试图通过他的运动纤维和肌肉的知识来学习跳舞；他若跳舞时专注于此，几乎不可能迈开脚。事实上，没有这类知识，他也能活动全身的所有运动纤维，适当激活他的肺、膈肌、肋胁、手臂、颈部，以及身体的其它器官，整本书都不足以描述这一切。我说，那些想出于术语思考的人差不多也是这样。他赞成这些话，并说，以这种方式学习思考，正好走反了。他补充说，若有人想变成傻瓜，就让他这样行吧；不过，他应不断思想功用，并出于内在之物来思考。
接着，他向我展示了他原来对至高无上的神所持的观念，即：他把这位神描绘为有一张人脸，头上有光环围绕。现在他知道了，这个人就是主，光环是从祂发出的神性，不仅流入天堂，还流入宇宙，掌管并统治其中的一切事物。凡掌管并统治天堂的，也掌管并统治宇宙，因为这一个与另一个不可分离。他还说，他信一位独一神，但祂的属性和品质却以各种名称被区分，这些名称被其他人拜为神明。
一个女人出现在我面前，她伸出手来，想抚摸我的脸颊。当我对此表示惊讶时，他说，他在世时，这个女人经常向他显现，似乎抚摸他的脸颊，她的手很美。天使灵们说，很早以前的人曾看见过这个女人。并给她起名叫帕拉斯；她向那些住在地上时以观念为快乐，并专注于思考，而非哲学的灵人中的某一个显现。这类灵人与亚里士多德同在，喜爱他，因为他出于内在思考；于是，他们便展示出这样的女人。
最后，他向我勾勒出他对人的灵魂或灵所曾设想的概念。他把灵魂或灵称为气（pneuma，希腊语为呼吸），也就是说，它是一个不可见的生命力，就像些许以太。他说，他早就知道他的灵死后会活着，它既是他的内在本质，就不可能死亡，因为它能思考。此外，他一直无法清晰地思考灵魂或灵，只有一些模糊的概念，因为除了他出于自己所思考的外，他还没有从其它任何源头形成任何有关它的想法，甚至从古人那里知道得也很少。另外，在来世，亚里士多德在明智的灵人中间，而他的许多追随者则在愚蠢的灵人中间。
38. Some spirits from Mercury approached a man from our planet who had been especially celebrated for his learning during his earthly life (it was Christian Wolff). 1They were eager to have him tell them about a variety of subjects, but they became aware that what he was saying was not at all elevated above the sensory level of the earthly self. This was because when he was talking he was thinking about his own reputation, and tried to force things into various series just as he had in the world (we all stay very much ourselves in the other life). Then he wanted to go on and do the same with these series and keep drawing conclusions so as to form chains of a great many things that the spirits from Mercury did not see or acknowledge as true. This meant, they said, that the chains were not consistent with themselves or with the conclusions he drew from them, so they called them “the obscurity of authority.” 2They stopped asking him substantive questions and inquired only what term he used for this and what term he used for that; but because the ideas he expressed in response were all matter-based and not spiritual in the least, they left him. In the other life we all speak spiritually, or communicate using spiritual images, if we believed in God in this world; and we speak materialistically if we did not believe.
[2] Let me take this opportunity to tell how things work out in the other life for scholars. On the one hand I wish to say how it is for those scholars who gain understanding through their own reflections and are motivated by a love of knowing what is true for its own sake and therefore for some purpose beyond worldly considerations. On the other hand I wish to say how it is for the scholars who base their work on what others have done without reflecting on it for themselves. This latter practice is typical of people who want to know what is true solely for the sake of their own reputation as scholars, to get from it respect or wealth in this world; and therefore for no purpose beyond worldly considerations. Let me insert one particular experience along these lines.
I became aware of a sound spreading from below, at my left side, and up toward my left ear. I could tell that some spirits were trying to get out of that region, but I could not tell what kind they were. When they did finally get out, they talked with me, saying they had been experts in logic and metaphysics, and that their thinking had been totally absorbed in such matters, but solely for the purpose of sounding erudite and thereby gaining status and wealth. They complained that now their lives were wretched because that had been their only reason for learning, which meant that their learning had not served to develop their reasoning faculties. Their speech was mumbling and slow.
[3] All the while, there were two spirits talking with each other above my head. When I asked who they were I was told that one of them had been one of the most famous minds on earth, and I was given to believe that it was Aristotle. I was not told who the second spirit was. The first spirit was then returned to the state he had been in during his life in the world (we can all be quite readily returned to the state we were in during our life in the world, because we bring our whole state of life with us). To my surprise, he came over to my right ear and started talking to me; his voice was hoarse, but what he was saying was sound. From the meaning of what he said I could perceive that his nature was completely different from that of the Scholastics whom I had seen coming up first. 3His own thoughts had been the source of his writings, and from them he had produced his philosophy. Therefore the terms he had come up with and had applied to the subjects he was thinking about were expressions for conveying ideas that had real depth. I realized also that what had taken him in that direction was a true feeling of delight and a genuine desire to know what was involved in thinking and understanding, and that he had followed faithfully the dictates of his spirit. That was why it was my right ear that he approached, unlike his followers (the ones called Scholastics). The Scholastics did not go from thought to terms but from terms to thoughts, which is moving in the wrong direction. Many of them did not even get to thoughts, but simply stayed focused on terms; and the use they made of those terms was only to confirm whatever they chose and to superimpose an appearance of truth on things that were false in accordance with their zeal to persuade others. For them, then, philosophy was a means of going insane rather than becoming wise, 4and brought them darkness instead of light. 5
[4] I then talked with Aristotle about the science of reasoning. 6I said that what a young child spontaneously utters over the course of half an hour follows more rules of philosophy, reasoning, and logic than Aristotle himself could set forth in an entire volume, because there are components within every aspect of human thought and language, and the laws that govern these components come from the spiritual world. People who instead use an artificial system based on special terminology as a method of trying to achieve thought are rather like a dancer who wants to learn to dance by studying motor fibers and muscles: anyone whose mind is focused on this during an exercise can scarcely lift a foot. But dancers with none of this knowledge can move all the motor fibers spread over the whole body, coordinating the movement of the lungs, diaphragm, sides, arms, neck, and the rest-even though volumes would not suffice to describe what is going on anatomically. Much the same issue applies to people who with great effort base their thinking on terminology.
Aristotle agreed with this and said that if that is the way we are taught to think, we have the whole process upside down. He added that if someone actually wanted to become stupid, that was the correct way to proceed. If not, though, people ought to keep constantly in mind what is useful, and start their thinking from what lies within.
[5] He then showed me how he had viewed the Supreme Deity: he had envisioned the Deity as having a human face and a head encircled with rays of light. 7He said that he now knew that that divine-human being is the Lord and that the ring of light-rays depicts the divine emanation that comes from him and flows not only into heaven but into the physical universe, managing and governing them both. He added that to manage and govern heaven is to manage and govern the universe, because the two cannot be separated from each other. He also said that he had believed there was only one God, but God’s various attributes and qualities had been given names that others eventually worshiped as separate gods. 8
[6] At that time I saw a vision of a woman who was reaching out her hand and trying to caress my cheek. When I wondered out loud about this, he said that while he was living in the world he often saw a woman like that who would almost caress his cheek and that her hand was beautiful. Angelic spirits [who were present] said that the ancients in general sometimes had visions of women like this and called them Pallases. 9They said that these visions had been given to Aristotle by a group of spirits who during their lives in the world, in even more ancient times, had taken delight in concepts and spent much time in thought, but lacked a philosophical system. 10Because spirits of this kind had been with Aristotle and had been delighted that he was thinking so deeply, they had represented to him an image of a woman like this.
[7] Lastly, he let me know the concept of the human soul or spirit he had formerly held, which at that time he referred to as the pneuma 11-that is to say, he had understood it as an unseen vital force, like something made of ether. He also said that he had known his spirit was going to live on after death, since it was his inner essence, and that essence is not subject to death, because it possesses the power of thought. 12Beyond that, however, the concepts he had formed concerning the soul were more vague than clear, because everything he had known about it he had come to on his own; very little had come from other ancients. 13
Aristotle himself is one of the sane spirits in the other life; many of his followers, though, are among the foolish.
Footnotes:
1. Christian Wolff (1679-1754) is perhaps best described as the quintessential rationalist, an encyclopedic systematizer, and a follower of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). Though he believed that he had proved the existence of God, his insistence on the self-sufficiency of the human intellect brought him into conflict with theologians who insisted on the prime importance of faith. Swedenborg studied him intensely during his scientific period, regarding him as having “extracted the principles of true philosophy” (Tafel 1875, 618). His later judgment was less complimentary: see True Christianity 335:7, where Swedenborg says, “Wolff’s inner judgment was not as well developed as Leibniz’s.” [GFD, RS] The somewhat odd specification of the identity of the spirit as Wolff reads like an afterthought, but may have been intended as an aside to Swedenborg’s reading audience-as if the spirits neither knew nor particularly cared who Wolff was on earth. It is interesting to note as well that none of this material about Wolff or the discussion of the afterlife of scholars is found in the previous versions of this section, Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) 3947 and Secrets of Heaven 4658, both of which were written before Wolff died. [SS]
2. The phrase “the obscurity of authority” here may refer to a confusion deliberately brought about by someone attempting to compel others to believe something. Compare Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) [4736a], where Swedenborg describes how certain educated but “unwise” spirits “pour in mere darkness, and take away all understanding of a matter. Even in their least words there [is] something [that commands one] to think in their way and no other.” [SS]
3. By “the Scholastics whom I had seen coming up first,” Swedenborg refers to the spirits mentioned toward the end of subsection 2. Scholasticism, in the strict sense of the term, is the system of Western (and Christian) philosophy that was exemplified particularly by Thomas Aquinas (1224 or 1225-1274). While its antecedents can be traced as far back as the ninth century, its full development was sparked by the rediscovery of Aristotle’s works in the twelfth century and relied heavily on his basic concepts. [GFD]
4. In this reference to philosophy leading to insanity rather than wisdom, Swedenborg alludes to the original Greek term for “philosophy” (φιλοσοφία [philosophía]), the meaning of which is “love of wisdom.” [GFD]
5. For the type of light Swedenborg intends here, see note 1 in Other Planets 24. [Editors]
6. As Chadwick points out in his note on this passage (Swedenborg [1758] 1997c, 23), by “the science of reasoning” (or “the science of analysis,” as Chadwick translates the phrase), Swedenborg may have in mind “Aristotle’s two works known as Analytics,” namely, Prior Analytics and Posterior Analytics 24a10-100b19 (= Aristotle 1984, 1:39-166). On the failure of such analytical reasoning, compare Secrets of Heaven 3348. [RS]
7. This representation of God is most likely original to Swedenborg’s account of his encounter with this spirit; it does not correspond to any known representation in the received canon of Aristotle. It has obvious affinities with countless representations of the sun seen in Tarot, emblem books, and mystical/philosophical publications, which are still familiar in popular culture. For one example from the 1600s, see Godwin 1991, 20, which reproduces the described image as it appears in a book by the hermetic philosopher Robert Fludd (1574-1637), the original of which can be seen in Fludd 1618, 1:a, page 19. In the Christian tradition, Christ was often represented as having a sun around his head radiating twelve rays (which probably symbolized the twelve apostles); compare Secrets of Heaven 32[2] and Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) Revelation Explained401:3, where Swedenborg quotes the relevant passage, Matthew 17:2: “And [Jesus] was transfigured before [Peter, James, and John], and his face shone like the sun.” This divine sun-image also has affinities with Neoplatonic philosophy, and Swedenborg is known to have read at least one Neoplatonic work that appeared in Europe in the 1500s and 1600s under Aristotle’s name: De Secretiore Parte Divinae Sapientiae secundum Aegyptios (On the More Secret Part of Divine Wisdom According to the Egyptians [= [Pseudo-]Aristotle 1654, 4:601-676]; see Quotations on Various Philosophical and Theological Topics [= Swedenborg 1976b], 508-511, with notes, as well as Acton 1912 and Acton 1913). One passage in On the More Secret Part of Divine Wisdom refers to “the very bright rays coming from the Supreme [Human]” (ab illo supremo clarissimi radii exorti, [Pseudo-]Aristotle 1654, 671; see Acton 1913, 8). This can be paralleled from the Neoplatonist Plotinus (205-270), who compares the Divine Mind to the sun and its emanations to the rays inexhaustibly radiating from it: “For as long as [the divine] Mind and Soul exist, divine ordering forces will flow forth [from them] . . . in the same way that as long as the sun exists, all that flows from it will be light” (Plotinus Enneads 2:3:18; translated by SS). It should be noted that in one passage Swedenborg expresses doubt that On the More Secret Part, in specific, is truly by Aristotle (Quotations on Various Philosophical and Theological Topics [= Swedenborg 1976b], 508), though elsewhere he cites it without qualification as the work of that philosopher (Draft of a Hieroglyphic Key 53 [= Swedenborg 1984b, 184]). Compare also Other Planets 40, in which the spirits of Mercury expect to see the Lord’s face in the sun of heaven. [SS]
8. Extant writings currently ascribed to Aristotle do not explicitly espouse the concept that polytheism originated in the distinguishing of individual attributes and qualities of God and the worshiping of them separately as gods. This notion can, however, be found in a spurious work once accepted as Aristotle’s; see Pseudo-Aristotle On the Universe 401a11-401b29 (= Aristotle 1984, 639-640), which Swedenborg excerpts in Quotations on Various Philosophical and Theological Topics (= Swedenborg 1976b), 142-143. This characterization of Aristotle’s view of the origin of polytheism seems to have once been a commonplace. Compare the British Puritan writer Henry Smith (around 1560-1591):
Aristotle that ensued Plato, and began the sect of the Peripateticks, although hee were a man so much given to the search of nature, as that somtime he seemed to forget God, the author of nature; yet in his old age, when he wrote the booke of the world [On the Universe], he resolveth the matter more cleerely, acknowledging also one God; and faith moreover in the same place, that the multitude of gods was invented to expresse the power of this one God. . . . (Smith 1617, 19)
For other passages in which Swedenborg mentions this theory, see Secrets of Heaven 2724:3, 3667, 4162, 5628, 6003; True Christianity 9[3], 275, 291; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a) 1118; Commentary on the Athanasian Creed (= Swedenborg 1994-1997b) 57. For an alternate view of polytheism as originating in the practice of worshiping living and dead human beings as gods, see Secrets of Heaven 1327:2; True Christianity 292. This alternate view is known as euhemerism, because it originated with the Greek author Euhemerus of Messene (fourth century B.C.E.); see the Oxford Classical Dictionary, under “Euhemerus.” [SS, LSW, RS]
9. Pallases is the plural of Pallas, which most often occurs as an epithet of Athena, goddess of wisdom. The implication here is that these spirits are particularly drawn to people who dwell on conceptual thought. [GFD, RS]
10. In his Metaphysics 983b (= Aristotle 1984, 1554), Aristotle identifies Thales (who is known to have been active around the beginning of the sixth century B.C.E.) as the founder of the first school of philosophy. He there distinguishes between that school and “the ancients who lived long before the present generation and first framed the accounts of the gods.” Thus with his description of the spirits in this passage as lacking philosophy, Swedenborg appears to be alluding to the latter ancients, who thought in terms that today we might call “mythic.” [SS, RS]
11. The word pneuma here is a transliterated Greek term (πνεῦμα). In Greek the word means “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit.” For a brief summary of Aristotle’s view of the pneuma, with references to particular works, see Bos and Ferwerda 2008, 26-28; on the connection between Aristotle’s pneuma and the ether, mentioned later in this sentence, see Solmsen 1957, 119-123. On ether, see note 4 in Last Judgment 17. The meaning of pneuma in this reference to Aristotle differs from the meaning seen in some other passages of Swedenborg’s works, where the term designates an erroneous understanding of the soul as mere air or a puff of wind; see, for example, Secrets of Heaven 10492:4, 10758; Heaven and Hell 77, 170; Marriage Love 29. [SS, DNG]
12. Aristotle describes three types of soul, which he often refers to as the nutritive, sensitive, and rational souls (see, for example, On the Generation of Animals 736a24-736b20 [= Aristotle 1984, 1142-1143]). Plants, animals, and humans possess the nutritive soul; animals and humans possess the sensitive soul as well; but only humans possess the rational soul in addition, and so they alone possessed the power of thought. Passing references to Aristotle’s apparent belief in the immortality of the rational soul can be found in On the Soul 430a23 (= Aristotle 1984, 684) and Metaphysics 1070a26 (= Aristotle 1984, 1690). He does, however, elsewhere insist that the soul needs a body to function (compare note 2 in Other Planets 27). [SS]
13. For Aristotle’s summary of the views of his predecessors on the nature of the soul, see book 1 of Aristotle’s On the Soul, and more specifically, 403b-405b (= Aristotle 1984, 644-646). [SS]
38. Spirits from Mercury came to visit a certain spirit from our world, who had been famous for his learning while living in the world, wanting to learn about various matters from him. (He was Christian Wolf. 1) But they saw that what he said was not raised above the sense-impressions of the natural man, because in speaking he thought about his reputation, and he wanted, as he had in the world (everyone retaining the same character in the next life), to string together various matters, and to link them again with others, leading continually to new conclusions. Since he tried to produce long chains of arguments based on matters which they did not see or acknowledge as true, they said that the chains did not hang together nor did they lead to his conclusions, calling them the obscurity of authority. So then they stopped questioning him, only asking: 'What is this called? What is that?' Since his replies to these questions were couched in material ideas with no spirituality in them, they left him. Everyone in the next life speaks the more spiritually, or in spiritual ideas, the more he has in the world believed in God, and in material ideas the more he has failed to believe in Him.
[2] I should like to take the opportunity this offers to bring in here an experience which shows what happens in the next life to learned men who acquire intelligence from their own reflection fired by a love of knowing truths for their own sake, and so for purposes remote from mundane considerations; and also what happens to those who seek to acquire intelligence from other people without reflecting for themselves, as do those whose wish to learn truths is only to gain a reputation for learning, and so to acquire honours or advantages in the world, not, that is, for unworldly purposes.
I became aware of a sound penetrating from below near my left side and reaching up to my left ear. I realised that there were spirits there trying to struggle free, though what sort of spirits they were I could not tell. But when they had struggled out, they talked with me, and said they were logicians and metaphysicians. They had, they said, plunged into deep thought on these subjects, but with no other motive than that of being called learned, and so achieving honours and wealth. They complained that they now led a miserable life, because they had no other purpose in studying these subjects, so that they had not by their means cultivated their rational faculty. Their speech was slow and had a muffled sound.
[3] Meanwhile two spirits carried on a conversation over my head, and when I asked who they were, I was told that one of them was a very famous character in the world of letters, and I was given to believe that it was Aristotle. (I was not told who the other was.) He was then put into the state he had been in while living in the world. Anyone can easily be returned to the state he had in the world, because he carries with him every state in his life. To my surprise he approached my right ear and spoke there, hoarsely, but sensibly. I was able to tell from the feel of his speech that he was of quite a different character from the scholastics who had come up first; in fact he had drawn on his own thinking in what he wrote and in devising his philosophy. Thus the terms which he invented and imposed on ideas thought about were forms of words to describe inward ideas. He had also, as I learned, been impelled to these discoveries by the pleasure he took in them and the longing to know matters relating to thinking and the intellect; and he had obediently followed the dictates of his spirit. This was why he approached my right ear, unlike his followers, known as scholastics, who do not proceed from thought to terms, but from terms to thought, which is the wrong way. Many of them do not even proceed as far as thought, restricting themselves to the terms. If they make use of these, it is to prove whatever they wish, and to impart to falsities the appearance of truth, to suit what they wish people to believe. Philosophy thus becomes for them the route to madness rather than to wisdom, and plunges them into darkness instead of light.
[4] I then discussed with him the science of analysis. I said that a small boy could say more philosophically, analytically and logically in half an hour than Aristotle had been able to say in a book, 2because the whole of human thought and the speech it produces is analytical, being governed by laws derived from the spiritual world. Anyone who wanted to proceed artificially from terms to thought was rather like a dancer, who tries to use his knowledge of motor fibres and muscles in order to dance; if he concentrated on that while he was dancing, he would hardly be able to move his foot. In fact, without any such knowledge he can move all the motor fibres scattered throughout the body, and appropriately activate his lungs, diaphragm, flanks, arms, neck and so on, which whole books would not be enough to describe. I said that the case of those who sought to make terms the basis of their thinking was much the same. He approved of this, and remarked that learning to think by this route was proceeding the wrong way round. If anyone wanted to be a fool, that was the way to go about it; but he ought to think constantly about the purpose and take an inward view.
[5] He then showed me what had been his conception of the supreme power, which he had pictured to himself as having a human face with the head surrounded by a radiant halo. He now knew, he said, that that person is the Lord and the radiant halo is the Divine proceeding from Him, which flows not only into heaven but into the universe, controlling and ordering both. He who controls and orders heaven does the same to the universe, since the one cannot be separated from the other. He also said that he had believed in only one God, but that he distinguished His attributes and qualities by as many names as others worshipped gods.
[6] A woman appeared to me, who put out her hand wishing to stroke my cheek. When I expressed surprise, he said that when he was in the world he had often had such a woman appear to him and seem to stroke his cheek; and she had a beautiful hand. The angelic spirits said that once upon a time the early people had seen such women and gave them the name of Pallas. She appeared, they said, to some one of the spirits who in antiquity had taken great pleasure in ideas, and devoted themselves to thinking, but not to philosophy. Since such spirits had been present with him and had been pleased with him for basing his thinking on an inward view, they had caused such a woman to be presented to view.
[7] Lastly he sketched his idea about the human soul or spirit, which he called pneuma. 3He thought of this as a vital principle, invisible as a piece of the ether. He said that he had known that his spirit would live on after death, since it was his inward essence, which cannot die because it can think. Beyond that he had been unable to think clearly, having only dim ideas because he had no knowledge about it other than what he thought out for himself, and even the ancients told him little. Aristotle, moreover, is among the sound spirits in the next life, while many of his followers are among the foolish.
Footnotes:
1. [Johann Christian von Wolf, 1679-1754, a German philosopher who was influential in the eighteenth century.-TR.]
2. [Probably a reference to Aristotle's two works known as Analytics.-TR.]
3. [The Greek word for 'breath', translated into Latin as spiritus, our spirit.]
38. Spirits of Mercury came to a certain spirit from our earth, who during his abode in the world had been most distinguished for his learning (it 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 his thoughts were intent on honor, and he was desirous, as in the world (for in the other life every one is like his former self), to connect various things into series, and from those series again and continually to form other conclusions, and thus from such conclusions to link together still more, which they did not see or acknowledge to be true, and which therefore they declared to be chains which neither cohered in themselves, nor with the conclusions, calling them the obscurity of authority; they then desisted from asking him further questions, inquiring only, how this is called, and how that; and because he answered these inquiries also by material ideas, and by no spiritual ones, they retired from him. For every one, in the other life, speaks spiritually, or by spiritual ideas, so far as he had believed in God, and materially, so far as he had not believed. An occasion here offering itself, it is permitted to mention how it is in the other life with the learned who acquire intelligence from their own meditation, kindled with the love of knowing truths, for the sake of truths, thus for the sake of uses abstracted from worldly considerations, and how with those who acquire intelligence from others, without any meditation of their own, as they are wont to do who desire to know truths solely for the sake of a reputation for learning, and thereby for honor or gain in the world; thus who desire to know truth, not for the sake of uses abstracted from worldly considerations: concerning such, it is allowed to relate the following experience. A certain sound was perceived penetrating from beneath, near the left side even to the left ear. I observed that they were spirits, who there attempted to force a way; but of what sort they were I could not know. However, when they had forced a way, they spoke with me, saying that they were logicians and metaphysicians, and that they had immersed their thoughts in such things, with no other end than to be accounted learned, and thus to be advanced to honor and wealth, lamenting that they now led a miserable life in consequence of having acquired those sciences with no other end, and thus not having cultivated thereby their rational; their speech was slow, and of a low tone. In the meantime there were two discoursing with each other above my head, and on inquiring who they were, it was said that one of them was most renowned in the learned world, and it was given me to believe that it was Aristotle. Who the other was, was not stated. The former was then let into the state in which he was during his life in the world; for every one may easily be let into the state of his life which he had in the world, because he has with him every state of his former life. But, what surprised me, he applied himself to the right ear, and there spoke, but in a hoarse tone of voice, yet sanely. From the purport of his speech I perceived, that he was altogether of a different genius from those schoolmen who first ascended, in that he evolved from his own thought the things he had written, and thence he produced his philosophy; so that the terms which he invented, and which he imposed on subjects of thought, were forms of expression by which he described interior things; also that he was excited to such things by a delight of the affection, and by a desire of knowing the things of the thought and understanding, and that he followed obediently whatever his spirit had dictated. Therefore he applied himself to the right ear, contrary to the custom of his followers, who are called schoolmen, and who do not go from thought to terms, but from terms to thoughts, thus in a contrary way; and many of them do not even proceed to thoughts, but stick solely in terms, which if they apply, it is to confirm whatever they desire, and to impose on falsities an appearance of truth according to their cupidity of persuading. Hence philosophical things are rather means of becoming insane than means of becoming wise; and hence they have darkness instead of light. Afterwards I spoke with him concerning the science of analysis, observing that a child, in half an hour, speaks more philosophically, analytically, and logically, than he could describe by a volume, inasmuch as all things of the thought, and thence of human speech are analytical, the laws whereof are from the spiritual world; and he who desires to think artificially from terms, is not unlike a dancer, who would learn to dance by the science of the moving fibers and muscles, in which science, if he should fix his mind whilst he is dancing, it would be almost impossible for him to move a foot; and yet without that science, he moves all the moving fibers throughout the whole body, and in subordination thereto he moves the lungs, the diaphragm, the sides, the arms, the neck, and other organs of the body, to describe all which volumes would not suffice; and it is similar with those who are desirous to think from terms. He approved of these things, saying, that to learn to think in that way, is proceeding in an inverted order, adding if any one will be so foolish, let him so proceed; but let him think continually concerning use, and from what is interior. He next showed me, what idea he had conceived of the Supreme Deity, namely, that he had represented Him to himself as having a human face, and encompassed about the head with a radiant circle; and that now he knew that the Lord is Himself that Man, and that the radiant circle is the Divine from Him, which not only flows into heaven, but also into the universe, disposing and ruling all things therein. He added, Whosoever disposes and rules heaven, also disposes and rules the universe, because the one cannot be separated from the other. He also said that he believed in one God only, whose attributes and qualities were distinguished by a variety of names, and that these names were by others worshiped as gods. There appeared to me a woman, who stretched out her hand, desiring to stroke my cheek, and when I wondered at this, he said that when he was in the world such a woman had often appeared to him, as it were stroking his cheek, and that her hand was beautiful. The angelic spirits said that such women sometimes appeared to the ancients, and were by them called Pallases, and that she appeared to him from the spirits, who, during their abode on earth, in ancient times, were delighted with ideas, and indulged in thoughts, but without philosophy: and because such spirits were with him, and were delighted with him, because he thought from the interior, therefore they representatively exhibited such a woman. Lastly, he informed me what idea he had conceived of the soul or spirit of man, which he called pneuma, namely, that it was an invisible vital principle, like somewhat of ether; and he said that he knew that his spirit would live after death, inasmuch as it was his interior essence, which cannot die, because it is capable of thinking; and that moreover he was not able to think clearly concerning it, but only obscurely, because he had not formed any thought about it from any other source than from himself, and a little also from the ancients. Moreover Aristotle is among sound spirits in the other life, and many of his followers are among the foolish.
38. Veniebant spiritus Mercurii ad quendam Spiritum ex nostra Tellure, qui dum vixit in mundo, propter eruditionem famigeratissimus fuit, (erat Christianus Wolfius), cupientes ab illo informari de rebus variis; sed cum perceperunt quod quae dixit non elevata essent supra sensualia naturalis hominis, quia in loquendo cogitabat de honore, et quod vellet sicut in mundo (quisque enim sibi similis est in altera vita) compingere in series varia, et ex illis iterum et continue concludere alia, et sic concatenare plura ex talibus, quae non viderunt aut agnoverunt vera esse, dicendo sic catenas non cohaerere in se nec cum conclusis, et vocando illas obscurum auctoritatis, tunc destiterunt interrogare illum, quaerendo solum, quomodo hoc vocatur, quomodo illud; et quia ad haec quoque respondebat per ideas materiales, et nullas spirituales, ab illo recesserunt: unusquisque enim in altera vita tantum spiritualiter seu per ideas spirituales loquitur, quantum in mundo crediderat in Deum, et tantum materialiter, quantum non crediderat. Quia hic datur ansa, licet memorare quomodo in altera vita se habet cum Eruditis, qui intelligentiam hauriunt ex propria meditatione accensa amore sciendi vera propter vera, ita propter usus a mundanis abstractos, et quomodo cum illis, qui ex aliis absque propria meditatione, ut solent qui cupiunt scire vera propter solam eruditionis famam, et inde honorem aut lucrum in mundo, ita non propter usus a mundanis abstractos, licet hic inserere quandam experientiam de talibus. Appercipiebatur sonorum quoddam penetrans ab infra juxta sinistrum latus usque ad aurem sinistram: animadverti quod essent spiritus qui ibi eniti conabantur, at quales essent non potui scire; quando autem enisi sunt, loquebantur mecum, dicentes quod fuerint Logici et Metaphysici, et quod talibus immerserint cogitationes suas, absque alio fine quam ut Eruditi audirent, et sic ad honores et opes venirent, lamentantes quod nunc miseram vitam agant, ex causa quia absque alio fine hauserunt illa; et sic non Rationale suum per illa excoluerunt; erat loquela illorum tarda et mute sonans. Interea loquuti sunt inter se bini supra caput meum, et cum quaesitum quinam essent, dictum, quod unus illorum esset famigeratissimus quidam in orbe literato, et dabatur mihi credere quod esset Aristoteles; alter quinam esset, non dicebatur. Ille tunc mittebatur in statum, in quo fuit cum vixit in mundo; quilibet enim in statum suae vitae, quem habuit in mundo, facile mitti potest, quia omnem vitae suae statum secum habet: at, quod miratus, applicabat se ad dextram aurem, et ibi loquebatur, sed rauce at usque sane: ex loquelae ejus sensu appercepi, quod is prorsus alio genio esset quam Scholastici illi qui primum ascenderunt, quod nempe is ex cogitatione sua excluserit illa quae scripserat, et inde Philosophica sua produxerit; sic ut termini, quos invenit, et quos imposuit rebus cogitationis, essent formulae vocum quibus descripsit interiora; tum quod ex jucundo affectionis et desiderio sciendi illa quae essent cogitationis et intellectus ad talia excitatus fuerit; et quod sequutus obedienter quae dictaverat ejus spiritus; quapropter is ad dextram aurem se applicuit, aliter quam asseclae ejus, qui Scholastici vocantur, qui non ex cogitatione ad terminos, sed a terminis ad cogitationes eunt, ita via contraria; et plures illorum ne quidem ad cogitationes, sed solum haerent in terminis; quos si applicant, est ad confirmandum quicquid volunt, et ad imponendum falsis speciem veri secundum cupidinem persuadendi: inde illis Philosophica sunt media insaniendi potius, quam media sapiendi; et inde illis tenebrae loco lucis. Loquutus sum dein cum illo de scientia analytica, dicens, quod puerulus per dimidium horae plus philosophice, analytice et logice loquatur, quam potuisset per volumen describere, ex causa quia omnia cogitationis et inde loquelae humanae sunt analytica, quorum leges sunt ex mundo spirituali; et qui artificialiter ex terminis cogitare vult, quod is non absimilis sit saltatori, qui vult discere saltare ex scientia motricium fibrarum et musculorum, in qua si haereret animus ejus cum saltat, tunc vix movere posset pedem; et tamen is absque scientia illa movet omnes fibras motrices sparsas circum universum corpus, et applicate pulmones, diaphragma, latera, brachia, collum, et reliqua, quibus omnibus describendis non sufficerent volumina; et quod similiter se habeat cum illis, qui ex terminis volunt cogitare: haec ille approbavit, dicens si illa via discatur cogitare, quod inverso ordine procedatur; addens si quis fatuus esse velit, ita procedat; sed cogitet jugiter de usu, et ex interiori. Dein mihi ostendit, qualem ideam habuerat de summo Numine, quod nempe sibi repraesentaverit Illum facie humana circum caput cinctum circulo radioso; et quod nunc sciat, quod Dominus sit Ipse Ille Homo, et quod circulus radiosus sit Divinum ab Ipso, quod non modo influit in Coelum sed etiam in universum, ac disponit et regit illa: addens, qui coelum disponit et regit, etiam disponit et regit universum, quia unum ab altero separari nequit: et quoque dixit, quod crediderit solum unum Deum, cujus Attributa et Qualitates insigniverat tot Nominibus, quot alii deos coluerunt. visa mihi est mulier, quae exporrigebat manum, volens genam mulcere; quod cum miratus sum, dixit, quod, cum in mundo fuit, talis mulier ei saepe visa sit, quae quasi mulceret ejus genam, et quod ejus manus pulchra fuisset: spiritus angelici dicebant, quod tales priscis quandoque visae fuerint, et ab illis vocatae Pallades; et quod apparuerit ei ex spiritibus, qui, cum homines antiquis temporibus vixerunt, delectati fuerunt ideis et indulserunt cogitationibus, sed absque Philosophia; et quia tales spiritus apud illum fuerunt, et delectati illo quia cogitavit ab interiori, repraesentative talem mulierem stiterunt. Ultimo indicavit, qualem ideam habuerat de Anima seu Spiritu hominis, quem vocabat Pneuma, quod nempe esset inconspicuum vitale, sicut aliquid aetheris; et dixit, quod noverit Spiritum suum victurum post mortem, quoniam esset essentia ejus interior, quae non potest mori, quia potest cogitare; et quod praeterea de eo non clare cogitare potuerit, sed modo obscure, quia aliunde de illo aliquam cognitionem non habuerat quam ex se, et parumper etiam ex antiquis. Praeterea Aristoteles est inter sanos spiritus in altera vita, et plures ejus Asseclae inter fatuos.