1254. Furthermore, I also saw plainly that the individual spirits were also the mediums for similar portrayals made by other spirits, so they were never by themselves. Hence they are centers of the working of many. Every spirit was a company, so that as many as there were spirits, so many were the centers of many, each one being such a center.
This may seem amazing to anyone, even unbelievable, yet the same principle exists in every member, muscle, and part of the body, and the same exists in nature, and in the atmospheres, and the same in plant life: that there can never be something that is one, except from many. There is nothing that is not in a social and mutual relation, and separately from companionship they can never do anything, still less contribute to any single cause, and thus to a common cause.
Consequently, people could have known, if they had been instructed in this kind of knowledge, that what has just been said is not unbelievable, and that the heaven of spirits, and of angels, is so interconnected, that is, by mutual ties, that taken together they make up collective shapes [of society], and these in turn the universal one. 1748, 9 March.
1254. Moreover, I also clearly perceived that the individual spirits were likewise the subjects of similar representations by other spirits, thus they were never alone, but were as centers for the action of many; wherefore each single spirit was a troop of spirits, so that as many as are the spirits, so many are the centers for more spirits, for each one is such a center. This may seem surprising and even incredible to everyone, but if men were instructed in the suitable knowledge they could know that this is not incredible, because something similar exists in each member, muscle, and part of the body, likewise also in nature and in the atmospheres as well as in vegetation, namely, that there can never be a one except from many, and that there is nothing that is not in society and in mutual consociation, and that separately from such consociation they could never do anything, still less could they contribute to a single thing and so to the general. There is such a connection between the heaven of spirits and that of angels, that is, a connection by mutual consociations which taken together constitute general forms, and these in a like way a universal order. 1748, Mar. 9.
1254. Praeterea quoque manifeste appercepi, quod singuli spiritus, quoque essent subjecta repraesentationum similium aliorum spirituum, ita nusquam soli, sic ut centra sint actionis plurium, quare unusquisque spiritus erat cohors, ita quot spiritus, tot centra plurium, sic unusquisque; quod mirabile cuivis videri potest, imo incredibile, sed quia simile existat in unoquovis membro, musculo, parte corporis, tum simile in natura, inque atmosphaeris, tum simile in vegetatis - quod 1
nusquam unum esse 2
quid possit nisi a pluribus, et quod nihil non in societate, et mutuo consortio, et quod separatim a consortio, nusquam aliquid agere possint, minus ad rem singularem, et sic ad communem conferre possint - inde 3
potuissent homines, si tali scientia instruerentur, scire, quod hoc non incredibile sit, et quod sic coelum spirituum, ac 4
angelorum, sit connexum, nempe per mutuas consociationes, quae simul sumtae formas communes constituunt, et hae sic ordine universalem. 1748, 9 Martius.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has vegetatis, quod
2. This is how it appears in J.F.I. Tafel's edition; the Manuscript has esset
3. The Manuscript has possint, inde
4. The Manuscript has ace, quod forte stabit pro atque