1706. About an indeterminate state of mind of spirits
I was in an indeterminate state of mind, with spirits around me. It was the kind of state in which they cannot think about themselves, but are like a nothing in the universe, according to some people's notion of a "spirit."
As for me, I could hardly tell whether I was in the body or outside the body, having no sensation of it because I was not allowed to reflect on it. So I felt myself to be as if without any body. My thoughts were being determined toward the universe, and thus more or less scattered, without being fixed on myself. Fixing [the thought] on themselves causes them to see themselves according to their self-image.
In short, it was a state of mind different from the usual state. And there was nothing but conversation, for they did speak, and I spoke, but the speaking took place as if did not come from any particular person. It was like a voice in the universe. Nothing was apparent but a heavenly sky blue dotted with stars.
1706. CONCERNING AN INDETERMINATE STATE OF SPIRITS.
I, together with the spirits around me, was in an indeterminate state, which state was such that they could not reflect at all upon themselves, but became, as it were, reduced to nothing in the universe, which accords with the popular idea of spirits. As relates to myself, I could scarcely tell whether I was in the body or out of the body, for I perceived nothing of the body, inasmuch as it was not given to reflect upon it. Thus the perception I had was independent of the body, for the ideas were determined to a vague universality [in universum], and thus, as it were, dissipated, having no determination in myself. Determination in one's self causes that the subjects of it should seem to themselves to be such as they think themselves to be. In a word, the state was altogether different from the ordinary state, nor was there anything but bare speech, for the spirits spoke and I spoke, but the speech was as if it proceeded not from any particular man, but was a mere voice sent forth into vacuity. [Above] there appeared nothing but the celestial blue vault [sprinkled] with little stars.
1706. De statu interminato spirituum
Eram in statu interminato, cum spiritibus circum me, qui status talis, ut nihil prorsus reflectere possint super se, sed sint quasi nihil in universo, sic spiritus'' secundum quorundam ideam; quod me attinet, vix scire potui an essem in corpore, vel extra corpus, nam de corpore nihil appercepi, quia non super id reflectere dabatur, ita perceptus mihi quasi absque corpore, nam ideae determinabantur in universum, et sic quasi dissipabantur, absque determinatione in me; determinatio in se facit, ut videantur sibi esse tales, quales putant; verbo status erat alius quam status ordinarius; nec quicquam quam loquela, nam usque loquuti sunt, et loquutus sum, sed sermo se habuit, sicut exiret non a quodam homine, sed sicut vox in universo, apparuit nihil nisi coeruleum coeleste cum stellulis.