2109. While they were in that state, that is, enraptured with delight, they were raised up into heaven among the heavenly angels, for as long as that condition lasts, they are as if put to sleep in regard to their outer, bodily elements and fantasies, which come to rest at that time. They suppose that they are in heaven, as they also said, and they are still there. But when that state ceases, they return to their first conditions, which happens gradually and slowly, so as not to harm the heavenly spirits, and not to be harmed themselves.
I heard one saying that he saw something he could not express, no doubt the troubled state of mind, the anxiety, and the like, of those returning into their fantasies and desires.
Meanwhile, one of them spoke with me while still there, saying that now for the first time he was feeling how much joy there is in heaven, and that he had been extremely beguiled. They had held a different view of heavenly beings, namely, as having no sensation or perception - something they had previously often supposed and spoken for. Whereas now they are feeling these beings' own innermost sensation of joy, immeasurably greater than the enjoyments in bodily life, which he says he now despises, realizing what dirt and filth it is that gives them pleasure. What more can a spirit have, he said, than the full awareness of those joys that reach them only in heaven, because they touch and, so to speak, belong to, the inward parts, being perceived by inner sensation.
2109. Whilst they were in that state, to wit, in a delightful stupor, they were translated to heaven among the celestials; for in such a state, so long as it lasts, they are, as it were, laid asleep as to externals, corporals, and phantasies, which are then quiescent, and they imagine that they are in heaven, as also they had said, and they are still there. But when that state ceases, they then return to their first state, which happens by degrees and slowly, that they may not hurt the celestials, and may not themselves be injured. I heard a certain one saying that he perceived what he could not express; doubtless it was the state, restless, uneasy, and the like, of such as were returning to their phantasies and cupidities. (Meanwhile one of them spoke with me, whilst still there, to the effect that now he for the first time felt how much joy there is in heaven, and that it is a great fallacy for them to entertain another idea about the celestials, to wit, that they had no sensation or perception, as they often before had supposed and said, when yet they feel their inmost perception of joy in a more indefinite manner, than pleasures in the life of the body, which, as he says, he now despises, and perceives how vile and filthy was that with which they were delighted. He says, what more can) a spirit have than the ample perception of joys which first affects them in heaven; because these affect the interiors, and are, as it were, proper to them, because perceived by an interior sense.
2109. Cum in eo statu essent, nempe in stupore delitioso, tunc sublati in coelum, inter coelestes, nam in tali statu, quamdiu perstat, sunt quasi sopiti quoad externa, corporea et phantasias, quae tunc quiescunt, autumantes, quod in coelo sint, ut quoque dixerunt, et adhuc ibi sunt, sed cum status iste cessat, tunc redeunt ad sua prima, quod sensim et lente fit, ne noceant coelestibus, et ne noceantur; audivi quendam dicentem, quod perciperet quid quod non potuisset exprimere, procul dubio molestum, anxium, et simile, redeuntium in suas phantasias, et 1
cupiditates. Interea unus eorum mecum loquutus, cum adhuc esset ibi, quod nunc primum sentiret, quantum gaudii in coelo sit, et quod maximopere deceptus, quod aliam ideam de coelestibus perceperint, quod nempe nullam habeant sensationem, aut perceptionem, ut prius saepe putarunt, et loquuti, cum tamen intimam, suam, perceptionem gaudii sentiant, indefinite magis, quam voluptates in vita corporis, quas nunc, ut ait, vilipendit, et percipit 2
, quam vile et spurcum sit, quo delectantur; dicens, quid magis potest spiritus habere, quam perceptionem plenam gaudiorum, quae in coelo primum afficiunt? quia 3
interiora afficiunt 4
, et iis sunt quasi propria, quia sensu interiori percepta.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has phantasias; et
2. imperfectum in the Manuscript
3. The Manuscript has afficit (sic!); quia
4. The Manuscript has afficit