1048. Some among the most upright spirits who, while not judging about things that happen, yet cannot help speaking out quickly how something is
There are some very upright spirits who sense, almost gently, what others are like - not sharply, by brooding inwardly on their characters. And fairly quickly they declare that something is not good, not right, or all right, and often, "It should not be so, not like that, but like this," speaking out according to the various things they sense in others to whom they wish well. About the wicked, if they are with them, they do not express themselves in this way.
These have an inner sense which was not sharpened during their life in the body by brooding thoughts. As little children they had been dull, so to speak, and hard to teach; but in the course of their life they had learned quite well on their own and from their own character about the goodness of a thing, though not so much about the truth of a thing.
mI was also given to realize that in these spirits there is something childlike, a tender simplicity, giving them an ability to sense what is good and true. 1748, 14 Sept.n
1048. AMONGST VERY UPRIGHT SPIRITS THERE ARE SOME WHO DO NOT INDEED JUDGE CONCERNING THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN, BUT WHO CANNOT HELP DECLARING, AND THAT SPEEDILY, WHAT THEY ARE LIKE
There are certain very upright spirits who feel the quality of things as it were gently, not acutely through any interior meditation, and they declare quickly enough, "That it is not good"; "That it is not well"; "That it is well"; and frequently that "It ought not to be so"; "It is not so, but thus." They speak according to the variation which they feel in others to whom they wish well. If they are with the evil, they do not speak in this way about them. They have an interior sense which has not become acute by meditation and thought during their life in the body. In their infancy they had been dull, as it were, and difficult to teach; but as they progressed in life they became sufficiently instructed from themselves and their own disposition concerning the goodness of a thing, but not so concerning its truth.
[1048a.] It was further given me to perceive that in such there is something infantile. It is a most gentle simplicity, and thus in them there is a perception of good and truth. 1748, Sept. 14. 1
Footnotes:
1. This was written in the margin of n, 1048 when Swedenborg was making the Index.
1048. Sunt quidam inter probissimos spiritus qui non quidem judicant de iis quae contingunt, sed non possunt aliter quam eloqui et cito, quale est
Sunt quidam spiritus probissimi, qui sentiunt quasi leniter, non acute per aliquam meditationem interiorem, quales sunt, et cito satis enuntiant quod non bonum, non bene, quod bene, idque saepe, "non 1
oportet ita, non ita, sed ita," et sic secundum variationem, quam sentiunt in aliis, quibus bene volunt, de malis si cum iis non ita enuntiant; est sensus interior, qui non acutus factus est per meditationes et cogitationes in vita corporis, in infantia sua fuerunt hebetes quasi, et indociles, sed in progressu vitae facti sunt satis instructi ex semet suaque indole de bonitate rei, non autem ita de veritate rei.
(m)Datum percipere adhuc quod in talibus sit infantile, sit simplicitas molliuscula, et sic in iis perceptio boni et veri inibi data. 1748, 14 Sept.(n)
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has saepe non