77、除了刚才提到的灵人外，还有些提供反面建议的灵人。他们是那些活在世上时由于邪恶而从其他人的社群被逐出的人。当他们靠近时，只见某种像飞火一样的东西滑落到脸旁边。他们把自己安置在此人的臀部，但在他下面，从那个位置向上说话。他们所说的话，与教导灵从天使那里所传达的话正好相反；也就是说，人不可照着教导生活，而应取悦自己，随心所欲，诸如此类。他们通常在前面的灵人离开后到来。但木星人知道这些灵人是谁，是何性质；所以他们并不理会他们。然而，他们以这种方式学习何为邪恶，进而学习何为良善。事实上，通过邪恶能认识何为良善，因为良善的性质可从它的反面得知。对一个事物的一切觉知取决于对它与其反面对照时不同之处的各种类型和程度的反思
77. In addition to the spirits we have just been talking about, there are also spirits who argue in opposition. They were people who had been exiled from their communities during their lives in the world because they were evil. When they approach, you can see something like a flying flame that comes down close to their faces. They take a position down low, behind their subjects, and talk up at them from there.
They say things that go against what the teaching spirits said on behalf of the angels; for example, they say that there is no need for the people to live by what they are being taught, that they are free to do whatever they want. These spirits usually show up after the other spirits have left.
However, the people there know who these spirits are and what they are like, so they pay no attention to them. Still, though, they learn in this way what is evil and therefore what is good, since we learn what is good by means of what is evil. Indeed, the nature of anything good is recognized when we see its opposite. All our awareness of a particular thing comes from thoughtful attention to the features that distinguish it from things that contrast with it in various ways and to different degrees.
77. Apart from the spirits just mentioned, there are also spirits who offer the opposite advice. These are those who while living in the world were banished from the company of others on account of their wickedness. When they arrive, something like flying fire is seen falling close to the face. They station themselves to the rear of the person but below him, and speak upwards from that position. They say the opposite of what the instructing spirits conveyed from the angels; that one need not live as instructed, but one can please oneself and take liberties, and suchlike. They usually come after the previous spirits have left. But the people of that world know who these spirits are and what they are like, so they take no notice of them. But this is still a way of learning what evil is, and so what good is. Indeed, one can recognise the nature of goodness from its opposite. Everything is perceived by reflecting on its varying types and degrees of difference compared with its opposite.
77. Besides the spirits who have now been mentioned, there are also spirits who persuade the contrary. They are those who while they lived in the world, were banished from the society of others, because they were evil. When they approach, there appears as it were a flying fire, that glides down near the face. They place themselves low down behind the man, and speak thence toward the upper parts. They speak things contrary to what the instructing spirit has said from the angels, namely, that one should not live according to the instruction, but of his own will and license, and similar things. They come for the most part after the former spirits have gone away, but the men there know who and what these spirits are, and therefore care nothing for them; yet they learn in this way what evil is, and so what good is; for by evil it is learned what good is, since the quality of good is known from its opposite. All perception of a thing is according to reflection in regard to its distinctions from things contrary, in various ways and various degrees.
77. Praeter spiritus, de quibus nunc memoratum est, dantur etiam spiritus qui contraria suadent; sunt illi, qui, dum vixerunt in mundo, e societate aliorum exterminati sunt, quia mali: quando alluunt, apparet quasi ignis volans, qui prope faciem delabitur: se locant infra ad posteriora hominis, et inde versus superiora loquuntur. Loquuntur contraria illis, quae spiritus instructor ab angelis dixit, quod nempe non vivendum secundum instructionem, sed ex arbitrio et in licentia, et similia. Ut plurimum veniunt postquam abiverunt priores spiritus: ast homines ibi sciunt, quinam et quales illi spiritus sunt, et ideo nihil curant illos; sed usque ita discunt quid malum, et sic quid bonum; nam per malum discitur quid bonum, quippe quale boni ex suo contrario noscitur; omnis perceptio rei est secundum reflexionem relativam ad discrimina ex contrariis vario modo et vario gradu.