95、石鸟也是火星居民的一个代表，火星居民以一种奇怪的方式将其生命的思维和情感转变为几乎不存在之物。对此，我听到以下说法。
有一个灵人在我头上与我交谈。从他的声音能察觉他似乎处于睡眠状态。他在这种状态下说了很多，并且显得如此谨慎，以致他若醒着，也未必如此谨慎地说话。我得以发觉，他是天使用来通过他说话的一个使臣；在那种状态下，他能领悟并复述他们所说的话。因为除了真理外，他什么也不说。他若从别的源头感觉到任何流注，虽然会允许它进入，但不会复述它。我向他询问他的状态，他说，这种状态对他来说是平安的，没有对未来的任何焦虑。同时，他提供服务，由此与天堂相联。我被告知，这类灵人在巨人里面与大脑的矢状窦有关，矢状窦在两个脑半球之间；他们在那里处于平静状态，无论两边的脑如何被干扰。
正当我与这个灵人交谈时，一些灵人移到他所在的脑袋前部，并排挤他。于是，他退到一边，给他们挪出空来。这些新来的灵人便彼此交谈；但无论我周围的灵人，还是我自己，都不明白他们在说什么。天使便指教我，他们是来自火星的灵人，擅长以一种让在场的灵人既不懂也察觉不出什么来的方式彼此交谈。我很惊讶这种语言存在的可能，因为所有灵人都共享一种语言，这种语言从他们的思维流出，由观念构成，在灵界听上去如同话语。我被告知，那些灵人以一种特殊的方式形成他们通过唇和脸来表达的观念，以致其他人不明白他们；就在故意抽回其思维的那一刻，他们还特别小心，不让他们的情感显露出任何迹象。这是因为，但凡察觉出情感的任何蛛丝马迹，思维就会变得显而易见；因为思维是从情感流出的，可以说就包含在情感中。我进一步被教导，那些将天堂的生活唯独置于知识，而非爱之生活的人便精心设计这种说话方式，尽管他们并不全都是这样。他们成为灵人后就把这种说话方式保留下来。石鸟尤其表示这些人；因为通过面部表情的调节和舌头的卷曲产生言语，却从其他人那里移除情感、抽回思维，就等于将灵魂或生命从言语中取出，使它变得如同一尊雕像，并逐渐使自己也变成一尊雕像。
不过，尽管他们自以为其他人不明白他们彼此的谈话，但天使灵仍觉察出他们交谈的一切细节。这是因为他们背后的一切思维是藏不住的。这一点通过活生生的经历向他们证明了。我在思想这一事实，我们地球的恶灵不会因骚扰他人而感到惭愧，这个想法就是从听懂他们话的天使灵那里流到我这里的。于是，这些火星灵承认，这的确是他们谈论的主题，并且他们感到惊奇。此外，一个天使灵就能揭开他们谈话和思维的许多细节，无论他们如何努力地把他们的思维从他那里抽回来。
后来，这些灵人从上面流入我的脸。他们的流注感觉就像一阵细条状的雨，这表明他们没有对真理与良善的情感，因为这种流注是以条纹来代表的。于是，他们公开与我交谈，说，他们星球的居民以同样的方式彼此说话。他们被告知，这样说话是邪恶的，因为他们以这种方式阻塞内在，从内在退到外在，从而也使得外在丧失生命；尤其因为这样说话是不诚实的。除了能让其他人，甚至所有人，包括整个天堂都知道的事外，诚实的人什么也不愿说，甚至什么也不愿想。但那些不想让其他人知道他们说什么的人，其实正在评判他人，觉得他们不好，觉得自己很好；这种习惯最终导致他们对教会、天堂，甚至主自己的思想和言论都很坏。
据说，那些热爱知识，却不照之生活的人在巨人里面与头骨内膜有关。而那些习惯说话不带感情，将思维留给自己，不与他人共享的人则与骨质化的膜有关，因为他们从拥有某种属灵生命逐渐变得没有任何生命。与其它社群的交流是通过灵人与天使的社群所派出的灵人实现的，这些使者灵被称为使臣(AC 4403, 5856, 5983, 5985-5989)。
95. The bird of stone also represented particular inhabitants of that planet who have a strange way of turning the vital energy of their thoughts and feelings into something almost lifeless. The following is what I have heard about this.
[2] There was once a spirit above my head who was speaking to me. From the sound of his voice I could tell that he was in a sleeplike state. Yet in that state he was saying many things and speaking as carefully as he would have if he had been wide awake. I was given the perception that he was an emissary through whom angels would speak, and that in that state he would comprehend what the angels were saying and pass it on. 1He spoke nothing but the truth, though. If something flowed in from any other source, he would indeed let it in but would not pass it on.
When I asked him about the state he was in he said that he experienced it as deeply peaceful and that he felt no anxiety whatever about the future. Yet at the same time he was doing useful things that granted him communication with heaven.
I was told that in the universal human, people like this are associated with the brain’s longitudinal sinus, 2which lies between its two hemispheres. It remains in a quiet state there no matter how turbulent the brain becomes on either side.
[3] While I was engaged in dialog with this spirit some other spirits intruded toward the front part of the head where he was located. They exerted pressure on him, so he withdrew to one side and let them have the space.
These newly arrived spirits were talking with each other, but neither the spirits around me nor I myself could understand what they were saying. I was told by some angels that they were spirits from the planet Mars who knew how to talk with each other in such a way that nearby spirits would not be able to perceive or understand anything they were saying. I was surprised that there could be a way of communicating like this, because all spirits share a common language that flows from their thinking and is made up of concepts that are heard as words in the spiritual world. 3I was told, though, that these spirits have a method of expressing concepts with their lips and faces in a way that is unintelligible to anyone else, and that they instantly and skillfully withdraw their thoughts, making particularly sure that no trace of feeling remains in evidence. If any trace of feeling were conveyed, the thinking would be exposed because thinking flows from feeling and is virtually contained within it. 4
I was told that this mode of communication was developed by inhabitants of Mars who define a heavenly way of life solely in terms of having knowledge and not in terms of living a life of love. (Not all the inhabitants there [share this view].) When these inhabitants become spirits they continue this mode of communication.
These individuals in particular are meant by the bird of stone, because to communicate in this way-by using facial expressions and curling their lips but keeping away from others what they are feeling and withdrawing their thoughts from them-is to take all the life out of their communication and make it like a statue. In fact, doing so gradually turns them into statues.
[4] But although they believe that others do not understand what they are saying to each other, angelic spirits have no difficulty perceiving absolutely everything they are saying. This is because no thought can be kept from this kind of spirit.
The spirits from Mars were in fact shown by firsthand experience that this is the case. I was thinking about the fact that evil spirits from our planet feel no shame when they are attacking others. This thought was actually flowing into me from angelic spirits who perceived that this was the topic being discussed by the spirits from Mars. The spirits from Mars were amazed at this and admitted that this was indeed what they had been talking about. In fact, just one angelic spirit was able to disclose much of what they were saying and thinking in spite of the fact that they were doing their best to hide their thoughts from him.
[5] Later these spirits flowed from above into my face. The inflow felt like streaks of light rain, which was a sign that they had no interest in anything true or good, since this disinterest is what streaks represent. Then they communicated with me clearly and said that [their covert mode of communication] was also how the inhabitants of their planet talked with each other.
They were then told that that type of communication is evil because they are blocking what is internal and moving away from it to what is external, and even that they are depriving it of its life. It is evil especially because it is dishonest to talk like this. Honest people do not want to say or even to think anything unless it is fit to be known by others-in fact by everyone, by all heaven. In contrast, people who pass judgment on others, thinking badly of them and highly of themselves, do not want others to know what they are saying. Eventually, habit drives such people to the point where they think and say bad things about the church, heaven, and even the Lord himself.
[6] They were also told that in the universal human, people who love knowledge but do not love living by it are associated with the inner membrane of the skull. People who have accustomed themselves to not communicating their feelings and to drawing their thoughts into themselves, keeping them from others, are also associated with that membrane, but one that has turned to bone, because whatever spiritual life they used to have becomes no life at all.
Footnotes:
1. [Swedenborg note] Communication between one community of spirits or angels and others takes place by means of spirits who are sent out to the other communities; these spirits who are sent out are called “emissaries”: 4403, 5856, 5983, 5985–5989.
2. The longitudinal sinus, also called the superior sagittal sinus, is a structure that runs longitudinally (that is, on the front-to-back axis) across the top of the human brain. As Swedenborg notes in this section, (a) it is positioned between the two hemispheres of the brain, and (b) it does not partake of any mental agitation in the rest of the brain. The reason for this latter characteristic is that it is not in itself a locus for mentation; it serves rather to enable the outflow of venous blood from other brain tissue. Swedenborg’s writings on the longitudinal sinus can be found in First Draft of Three Transactions on the Brain (= Swedenborg 1976c) vol. 1, especially 233-246, and Additions to First Draft on the Brain (= Swedenborg 1976c) vol. 2, especially 188. [SS]
3. For more on the universal language of the spiritual world and its use by angels and spirits, see Secrets of Heaven 1634-1649, 1757-1764, 5225; Heaven and Hell 234-245; Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) 1146-1148, 1221-1225, 4184-4186, 5112-5114, 6084. [LSW]
4. The Latin word here translated “feeling” is affectio. Here affectio is used in the sense “an emotional state brought about by a particular influence.” For the idea that thinking flows from affectio or one’s emotional state, compare Divine Providence 28[4]; see also Secrets of Heaven 6326 and the memorable occurrence related in Revelation Unveiled 655:6, where this point is upheld by a “wise man.” Elsewhere, Swedenborg says that the spirit of a human being on earth, as well as that of an angel, literally is the affectio of love and all the thoughts that secondarily derive from it; see Divine Providence 50, 61. In fact, “thought is nothing other than affectio that has taken form” (Revelation Unveiled 875:2, translated by SS). As Swedenborg goes on to say in Other Planets 96, affectio actually has implicit in it all knowledge, if we would only heed it (compare Spiritual Experiences [= Swedenborg 1998-2013] 4059). Elsewhere Swedenborg extends this statement by saying that affectio in fact contains everything (Spiritual Experiences 4266). On the all-inclusiveness of affectio, see also Draft on Divine Love chapter 16:[1-3] = 47 [Mongredien’s numbering] (= Swedenborg 1994-1997c, 439). [SS]
95. The stone bird was also a representation of the inhabitants of that world who in a strange manner transform the thoughts and affections of their life into one which hardly exists. I heard the following said on this subject.
[2] There was spirit over my head who talked with me. It was possible to tell from the sound of his voice that he was more or less in a sleeping state. In this he talked a lot, and displayed such prudence in what he said that he could not have done better wide awake. I was able to perceive that he was being used as a person through whom angels spoke; in that state he could grasp what was said and reproduce it. 1For he spoke nothing but the truth, and if he felt any influence from another source, he allowed it in, but did not reproduce it. I asked him about his state, and he said that it was one of peace, and he had no anxiety about the future. At the same time he provided services, which allowed him to be in touch with heaven. I was told that such people answer in the Grand Man to the superior sagittal sinus, which lies between the two hemispheres of the brain, and they remain in a quiet condition there, however much the brain on either side is in turmoil.
[3] While I was talking with this spirit, some spirits moved towards the fore part of the head, where the one was whom they were crowding out. He therefore went off to one side to make room for them. These spirit newcomers were talking among themselves, but neither I nor the spirits around me could understand what they were saying. I was informed by angels that they were spirits from the world of Mars, who possessed the trick of talking among themselves without the other spirits present understanding or perceiving anything. I was surprised that such speech was possible, since all spirits share a common language, which flows from their thought, and is composed of ideas, which are heard as words in the spiritual world. I was told that those spirits have a special way of forming ideas, which they express by means of the lips and face, so that others cannot understand them; and at the same moment they deliberately withdraw their thoughts, taking particular care to allow no hint of their affection to show. This is because, if any hint of affection were perceived, then the thought would be obvious, since thought flows from the affection and is, as it were, contained in it.
I was informed further that the inhabitants of the world of Mars, not however all of them, but those who regard heavenly life as merely a matter of knowledge, not of showing love in the way they live, have devised this way of speaking, and on becoming spirits they retain this. It is these who are especially meant by the stone bird. For producing speech by means of facial expressions and convolutions of the lips, while removing affections and withdrawing thoughts from others, is taking the life out of speech and making it like a statue, and gradually making oneself like one too.
[4] But although they fancy that their conversations among themselves are not intelligible to others, still angelic spirits perceive all the details of their conversations. This is because not all the thought behind them can be withdrawn. To prove this to them they were given a live demonstration. I was pondering the fact that the wicked spirits of our world are not ashamed of attacking others. This idea reached me from angelic spirits who perceived their speech. Those Martian spirits then acknowledged, to their own surprise, that this was the subject of their conversation. Moreover, an angelic spirit was able to uncover more of their conversations and thoughts, however hard they tried to withdraw their thoughts from him.
[5] Later these spirits exercised an influence from above on my face. It looked like a fine striped rain; this was a sign that they had no affection for truth and good, for this is pictured by stripes. Then they spoke openly with me, and said that the inhabitants of their world converse in a similar manner. They were told that this was wicked, because it blocks off the internals, so that they leave these for the externals, and they deprive them too of life. It is particularly wicked because speaking like that is dishonest. Honest people have no wish to say or even think anything which others may not know, even if the others include everyone, even the whole of heaven. But those who do not want others to know what they say are passing judgment on others, holding a poor opinion of them and a good one of themselves; and the habit reduces them to the point that they hold and express a poor opinion of the church, heaven and even the Lord Himself.
[6] I was told that those who love knowledge, without living as knowledge dictates, answer in the Grand Man to the inner membrane of the skull. But those who have become accustomed to speak without affection and to keep their thoughts to themselves, not sharing them with others, answer to that membrane when ossified, because from having some spiritual life they come to have none.
Footnotes:
1. Contact is made between communities of spirits and angels by sending spirits to them as emissaries; these are called subordinates (Arcana Caelestia 4403, 5856, 5983, 5985-5989).
95. By the bird of stone were also represented the inhabitants of that earth who in a strange manner transmute the life of their thoughts and affections into almost no life, concerning which I have heard as follows. There was a certain spirit above my head who spoke with me, and from the sound of his voice it was perceived that he was as it were in a state of sleep. In this state he spoke many things, and with such prudence that if he were awake he could not speak more prudently. It was given to perceive that he was a subject through which angels spoke; and that in that state he perceived and brought forth what they said, 1for he spoke nothing but what was true. If anything flowed in from any other source, he admitted it indeed, but did not bring it forth. I questioned him about his state, and he said that this state was to him peaceful, and without any anxiety about the future; and that at the same time he performed uses, whereby he had communication with heaven. It was told me that such spirits in the Greatest Man have reference to the longitudinal sinus in the brain, which lies between its two hemispheres, and there he is in a quiet state, however the brain may be disturbed on both sides. When I was in conversation with this spirit, some spirits introduced themselves toward the fore part of the head, where he was, and pressed upon him; wherefore he withdrew to one side, and gave them place. The newly arrived spirits conversed with one another; but neither the spirits around me, nor I myself, understood what they were saying. I was instructed by angels that they were spirits from the earth Mars, who were skilled in talking with one another in such manner that the spirits present neither understood nor perceived anything. I wondered that such speech was possible, because all spirits have one kind of speech, which flows from the thought, and consists of ideas, that are heard as words in the spiritual world. It was said that those spirits form in a certain manner ideas expressed by the lips and the face, not intelligible to others, and at the same moment artfully withdraw their thoughts, taking special care that nothing of the affection should manifest itself, because if anything of the affection were perceived, the thought would then be manifest; for the thought flows from the affection, and is as it were in it. I was instructed further that the inhabitants of the earth Mars who place heavenly life in knowledges alone, and not in a life of love, contrived such speech, though not all of them; and that when they become spirits, they retain it. It is these who were signified in particular by the bird of stone; for to present speech by modifications of the countenance and foldings of the lips, with the removal of the affections and withdrawal of the thoughts from others, is to take the soul out of speech, and to render it like a mere image, and by degrees they also become similar. But although they think that they are not understood by others in what they say among themselves, still angelic spirits perceive each and everything that they speak, for the reason that from them no thought can be concealed. This was also shown them by living experience. I was thinking of this, that the evil spirits of our earth are not affected with shame when they infest others, and this thought flowed in with me from angelic spirits who perceived their speech. These spirits of Mars then acknowledged that this was what they were speaking of among themselves, and they marveled. Moreover, there were many things disclosed by an angelic spirit, both of what they spoke and of what they were thinking, notwithstanding they endeavored to withdraw their thoughts from him. Afterward those spirits flowed in from above into my face, and their influx was felt like a fine striated rain, which was a sign that they were not in any affection of truth and good, since that is represented by what is striated. They then spoke with me plainly, saying that the inhabitants of their earth speak with one another in like manner. It was then said to them, that this is evil, because in this way they obstruct internals, and recede from them to externals, which they also deprive of their life; and especially because it is not sincere to speak thus. For they who are sincere have no wish to speak nor even to think anything but what others may know, yea all, even the whole heaven. But they who do not wish others to know what they speak, judge concerning others, think evil of them, and well of themselves, and are at length carried by habit so far as to think and speak ill of the church, of heaven, and even of the Lord Himself. It was said that they who love knowledges, and not so much a life according to them, have reference to the interior membrane of the skull in the Greatest Man; but they who accustom themselves to speak without affection, and to draw the thought to themselves and withdraw it from others, have reference to that membrane when it is become bony, because from having some spiritual life they come to have no life.
Footnotes:
1. That communications are made through spirits sent forth by societies of spirits and angels to other societies, and that these emissary spirits are called subjects (Arcana Coelestia 4403, 5856, 5983, 5985-5989).
95. Per Avem lapideam etiam repraesentati sunt Incolae illius telluris, qui vitam Cogitationum et Affectionum suarum peregrino modo transmutant in paene nullam vitam, de qua re sequentia audivi. Erat quidam Spiritus supra caput meum, qui mecum loquutus est; ex sono appercipiebatur quasi in statu somni esset; in hoc statu loquebatur plura, et haec tali prudentia ut vigil non prudentius: percipere dabatur, quod subjectum esset per quod Angeli loquerentur, et is in illo statu apperciperet id et produceret: 1non enim loquebatur nisi quod verum erat: si aliunde quid influeret, quidem admittebat, sed non producebat. Interrogavi illum de statu suo, dicebat, quod status ille ei esset status pacificus; et quod esset absque omni sollicitudine de futuris; et quod simul usus praestaret, per quos ei communicatio cum coelo. Dictum mihi quod tales in maximo Homine referant Sinum Longitudinalem, qui in cerebro inter bina ejus haemisphaeria jacet, et ibi in statu quieto, utcunque tumultuatur cerebrum utrinque. Cum in colloquutione cum hoc Spiritu eram, inferebant se Spiritus versus anteriorem partem Capitis, ubi ille, quem premebant; quare ille ad unum latus secessit, et illis locum dedit. Spiritus advenae inter se loquebantur, sed nec spiritus circum me intelligebant, nec ego quid loquebantur: instruebar ab angelis, quod essent spiritus ex tellure Martis, qui callebant ita inter se loqui, ut praesentes spiritus non aliquid intelligerent, nec perciperent: mirabar, quod talis loquela dari posset, quia una loquela est omnibus spiritibus, quae fluit ex cogitatione, et consistit ex ideis, quae ut voces audiuntur in spirituali mundo: dicebatur, quod spiritus illi forment certo modo ideas expressas per labia et per faciem, aliis non intelligibiles, et quod eo momento subtrahant arte cogitationes, cavendo imprimis ne aliquid affectionis se manifestet, ex causa, si quid affectionis percipitur, quod tunc cogitatio pateret, cogitatio enim fluit ex affectione et quasi in illa. Instruebar porro, quod incolae telluris Martis, qui vitam coelestem in solis cognitionibus, et non in vita amoris, ponunt, talem loquelam effinxerint, non tamen omnes; et quod illi, cum fiunt spiritus, hoc retineant. Hi sunt, qui in specie per Avem lapideam significati sunt; nam per formationes vultus, et volutiones labiorum, cum remotione affectionum, et subtractione cogitationum ab aliis, sistere loquelam est loquelam exanimare, et illam facere instar simulacri, et per gradus se quoque similes. Sed tametsi putant, quod non intelligantur ab aliis, quid inter se loquuntur, usque tamen Spiritus angelici omnia et singula, quae loquuntur percipiunt; causa est, quia ab illis subtrahi cogitatio aliqua non potest. Hoc quoque illis ostendebatur per vivam experientiam; cogitabam de eo, quod spiritus mali nostrae telluris non afficiantur pudore, cum infestant alios; hoc influebat apud me a spiritibus angelicis qui percipiebant illorum loquelam; spiritus illi Martis tunc agnoscebant, quod id esset de quo inter se loquebantur, ac mirati sunt: praeterea a Spiritu angelico detegebantur plura, quae et loquebantur et quae cogitabant, utcunque satagebant cogitationes illi subducere. Postea influebant spiritus illi a superiori in faciem meam; influxus sentiebatur instar tenuis pluviae striatae, quod signum erat, quod non in affectione veri ac boni essent, id enim per striatum repraesentatur: loquebantur tunc mecum manifeste, dicendo, quod incolae telluris illorum similiter inter se loquantur. Dicebatur tunc illis, quod hoc malum sit, quia sic obstruunt interna, et ab illis recedunt ad externa, quae quoque privant sua vita; et imprimis, quia non sincerum est ita loqui; nam qui sinceri sunt, nihil volunt loqui, ne quidem cogitare, nisi tale quod sciant alii, imo si forent omnes, etiam totum coelum; at qui non volunt, ut alii sciant quid loquuntur, illi judicant de aliis, male sentiunt de illis, et bene de se, et tandem ex habitu trahuntur usque illuc, ut male sentiant et loquantur de Ecclesia, de Coelo, imo de Ipso Domino. Dictum, quod illi qui amant cognitiones et non ita vitam secundum illas, in maximo Homine referant interiorem Membranam Cranii; at illi qui assuescunt loqui absque affectione, et cogitationem attrahere ad se et subtrahere aliis, quod referant Membranam illam, sed osseam factam, quia ab aliqua vita spirituali sit illis nulla vita.
Footnotes:
1. Quod per spiritus a societatibus Spirituum et Angelorum ad alias societates emissos fiant communicationes, et quod spiritus illi emissarii appellentur Subjecta, Arcana Coelestia 4403, 5856, 5983, 5985-5989.