63、有一个灵人从低地上来，靠近我说，他听到我与其他灵人的交谈，但根本不明白关于属灵生命和属灵之光所说的那些话。我问他是否愿意在这方面得到指教，可他说，他不是为这个目的来的。我能由此断定，他将不能理解这类事，而是相当愚蠢。天使告诉我说，他活在世上时，因学问而颇负盛名。他很冷漠，这从他的呼吸明显感觉得到。这是一个没有属灵之光的纯属世之光的标志，因此他没有运用科学知识打开通向属灵之光的道路，反而把它关闭了。
63. A spirit came up to me from the lower earth 1and said that he had heard what I was talking about with some other spirits but did not understand anything we were saying about a spiritual life and its light. When he was asked whether he wanted to learn, he said that he had not come with that in mind. This led me to the conclusion that he would not be able to grasp such matters; he was extremely stupid. I was told by some angels, though, that when he was living in the world he had been one of the more celebrated scholars. He was cold, as we could definitely tell from his breath. This was a sign that the light within him was merely earthly and not spiritual. So by his learning he had not opened the path to heaven’s light but had closed it instead.
Footnotes:
1. In Swedenborg’s geography of the spiritual world, the lower earth is an underground area that is reserved specifically for people who are good but nevertheless strongly attached to false ideas. See note 105. [Editors]
63. A certain spirit came up from the lower earth and approaching me said that he had heard my conversation with the other spirits, but had not understood the remarks about spiritual life and spiritual light. I asked whether he wanted to be taught about this, but he said that was not his intention in coming. I was able to infer from this that he would not be able to grasp such matters, being extremely stupid. The angels told me that while living in the world he had been among the more famous for their learning. He was cold, as could be plainly felt by the air around him. This was a sign of purely natural light with no spiritual light, so that he had not used his knowledge of the sciences to open up but to close off his path to the light of heaven.
63. A certain spirit ascending from the lower earth, came to me, and said that he had heard what I had been discoursing upon with other spirits, but that he did not understand at all what was said concerning spiritual life and the light thereof. He was asked whether he was willing to be instructed concerning it. He said that he had not come with that purpose. From which I concluded that he would not comprehend such things. He was very stupid; yet it was declared by the angels, that when he lived as a man in the world, he was much celebrated for his learning. He was cold, as was manifestly felt from his breathing, which was a sign of light merely natural, and of none spiritual, thus that by the sciences he had not opened, but had closed for himself the way to the light of heaven.
63. Quidam spiritus ex inferiore terra ascendens ad me venit, et dixit, quod audiverit illa quae cum aliis spiritibus loquutus sum, sed quod non aliquid intellexerit quae dicta sunt de vita spirituali et ejus luce; interrogabatur num de illa instrui vellet, dicebat quod non eo animo venerit; ex quo concludere potui, quod non talia caperet; erat valde stupidus: dicebatur ab Angelis, quod ille, cum in mundo vixit homo, fuerit inter celebratiores propter eruditionem: erat frigidus, quod ab afflatu manifeste sentiebatur; quod signum erat luminis mere naturalis, et nullius spiritualis; ita quod per scientias non aperuerit, sed occluserit sibi viam ad lucem coeli.