1308. Moreover, also evil spirits think in a certain way, meaning that they only think within themselves, so as not to allow it to pass into merely bodily thought. This kind of thought has not appeared so much to me, for good reasons, because it is wicked. Therefore a certain spirit boasted that he could think in such a way that I would not be aware of it, supposing it would thus be possible for him to speak with angels, as well as to penetrate the thoughts of spirits, and to control that realm of spirits. This, however, was false, for they only think within themselves, which is easier for a spirit than for man, because the connection is not so continuous [see 1307].
1308. Moreover, evil spirits also think in such a way that they think only within themselves, so that they do not permit what they think to pass into the merely corporeal thought. Such thoughts did not appear before me because they are wicked. Wherefore a certain spirit boasted that he could think in such a way that I would not perceive what he thought, supposing that thus he could speak with angels, enter into the thoughts of spirits, and also govern such a sphere of spirits; but this is false, for they think only within themselves, which is easier for a spirit than for a man because the connection is not so continuous.
1308. Praeterea quoque mali spiritus cogitant quodam modo, nempe quod modo cogitent intra se, sic ut non patiantur id in cogitationem mere corpoream transire-talis 1
cogitatio non ita apparuit coram me, ex causis, quia scelesta est-quare 2
gloriatus est quidam, quod ita cogitare posset, ut non percipere 3
, sic putans se cum angelis loqui posse, tum penetrare spirituum cogitata, ac regere posse talem spirituum sphaeram, quod tamen falsum, modo enim intra se cogitant, quod facilius est spiritui, quam homini, quia nexus non ita continuus 4
est.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has transire, talis
2. The Manuscript has scelestae sunt (sic!), quare
3. sic manuscript; vide praefationem hujus editionis sub capite "Idiosyncrasies"
4. The Manuscript has continuuus