1685. And so, since they had had no other joys in life than these, and because they looked forward to similar, but more perfect ones in the afterlife, therefore it is no wonder that they enjoy, treasure and love them. Similar and more perfect buildings are portrayed to them in their heaven, about which some said that they were aware that the essential joy does not lie in those things themselves, but in the things which result from them and are contained within them.
Moreover, their aversion for bodily matters such as their own bodies again became evident to me from a feeling of uneasiness, like the previous one, that came up in me because of the aversion our spirits have for them and they have for our spirits, as you may see mentioned earlier [1672q/f].
1685. Since, therefore, they had no other pleasures in life than such as are now mentioned, and inasmuch as they hoped, during their lifetime, for similar though more perfect enjoyments [in the life to come], it is not surprising if they are delighted in these things, and prize and love them. Similar but more perfect things are represented to them in their heaven, concerning which some said that they knew that their joy was not essentially in those things, but in the things that flowed from them, and are in them; and, moreover, that they held in aversion bodily things, even their own bodies; whence again it was evident to me that my anxiety, as in a former case, arose from the mutual aversion subsisting between those spirits and ours, as has been already intimated.)
1685. Cum itaque nulla alia gaudia habuerunt in vita, quam talia, et quia sperabant in [altera] vita similia perfectiora, ideo non mirum est, si iis delectentur, seu aestimant et amant; similia et adhuc perfectiora iis repraesentantur in eorum coelo; de quibus aliqui dicebant, quod nossent in iis non esse gaudium essentiale, sed in iis quae ex iis fluunt, et quae in iis sunt, praeterea, quod aversentur corporea, sicut suamet corpora, inde iterum mihi constitit, quod anxietas mihi suborta sit, sicut prior, ex eo, quod spiritus nostri 1
pro iis, et ii pro spiritibus nostris aversationes habeant, ut videas prius [1672].
Footnotes:
1. This is how it appears in J.F.I. Tafel's edition; the Manuscript has spirituum nostrorum