2017. About the dragon
He has already been described, I think [487, 501-508, 526, 538, 634], as being able to convert himself into various forms, that is, to appear as a good angel, weeping as if he repented, which then seems to be the case. He can even speak with other spirits, as he also did with me, showing no difference while at the same moment scheming together with other spirits. However, one hears this from the indifference in his speaking, which had an absent quality, as well as other similar characteristics.
2017. 1/2. But the reason he is not driven off- which could be done in an instant, and very often has been-is that those who worship him in the world remain as they were after their bodily life or after the death of the body, not knowing differently than that they are living in the body, so they are astounded if anyone tells them otherwise. They now keep in their hearts the veneration for him as their idol, and are therefore permitted at first to approach him. For the condition of newly arrived souls is one of passions and falsities, and these are not removed in a moment - if they were, they would be broken - but it happens successively. So this condition is tolerated, and permitted, and gradually they are at last led out of it, to other places.
It is no different in the case of the gentiles, who likewise go to their own idols, but they are called away from them, insofar as their states of life in the world make it possible, as soon as that bodily condition wears off. 1748, 20 May.
2017. CONCERNING THE DRAGON.
He has been already described, I think, as being able to convert himself into a variety of forms, so as to appear as a good angel, to weep, and, as it were, to repent with a great semblance of sincerity, to speak to others, as to me, with apparent indifference, and at the same time to contrive deceits with others, but that was gathered from the indifference of his speech, in which there was infused an air of absence, and other like things.
2017 1/2. But that he is tolerated, and not forcibly thrust down, which could be effected in a moment, as has often been done, one reason is, that those who worship him in the world are, after the life of the body, or rather after the death of the body, similar to themselves in the other life, nor do they know otherwise than that they are living in the body, so that they are struck with astonishment when otherwise informed. Such, therefore, having in their minds a veneration for him as for an idol, they are permitted at first to approach him; for cupidities and falsities are not taken away in a moment. Inasmuch, then, as souls are in such a state that they would be broken [by a sudden and violent change], therefore the process is gradual, and toleration and permission is allowed, till at length they are step by step drawn out and led forth to other places. The case, indeed, is not unlike that of the Gentiles, who also resort to their idols, but according to their states of life in the world they are called away from them as soon as their peculiar corporeal principle is somewhat worn out. - 1748, May 20.
2017. De dracone
Descriptus est, ut reor, prius [487, 501-508, 526, 538, 634], nempe quod se in plures formas convertere possit, nempe apparere sicut angelus bonus, flere et quasi resipiscere 1
, nec aliter tunc apparet, imo loqui cum aliis spiritibus, ut mecum, indifferenter, et simul tunc cum aliis nectere dolos, sed usque id auditur ex indifferentia ejus loquelae, in qua aliquid absentiae inest, et alia similia.
2017a. Sed quod is non 1
inde deturbatur, quod momento fieri potest, et saepius factum, in causa est, quod qui eum adorant in mundo, post vitam corporis, seu post 2
mortem corporis, similes sibi sunt in altera, nec sciunt aliter, quam [quod] 3
vivant in corpore, sic ut stupescant, si quis aliter iis dicat, ii tunc in suis animis habent venerationem pro eo sicut pro idolo, quare iis permittitur 4
eum adire, primum, nam cupiditates et falsitates non momento auferuntur, quia in tali statu sunt animae-sic 5
enim frangerentur-sed 6
successive, ideo toleratur, et permittitur, inde tandem sensim educuntur, ad alia loca; nec se res aliter habet ac cum gentilibus, qui quoque sua idola adeunt, sed ab iis, secundum status vitae eorum in mundo, evocantur, ut primum corporeum tale abrasum est. 1748, 20 Maj.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has resipisere
1. The Manuscript has toleretur in coelo, non
2. The Manuscript has portem
3. sic in J.F.I. Tafel's edition
4. This is how it appears in J.F.I. Tafel's edition; the Manuscript has permittuntur
5. The Manuscript has animae, sic
6. The Manuscript has frangerentur, sed