2188. Angels have no memory of things past or foresight of the future
I spoke with angels, and at the time I saw in a spiritual mental image that the more inwardly perfect angels are, the less memory they have of things past, and that therein consists their happiness. For at every moment, the Lord gives them what is pleasant to them, and causes them both to think and to feel-so it is the Lord's doing, not theirs. This is the meaning of the passage, "Give us this day our daily bread" [Matt. 6:11, Luke 11:3], and that they should take no thought for the future, what they should eat and drink [Matt. 6:25, 31], and that they gathered the manna daily [Exod. 16:14-21].
And since angels have no memory of things past, neither do they have any foresight of the future, which is a result of that same memory. Yet they seem to themselves to have a memory and to know all kinds of things beyond number, because this is granted to them by the Lord from moment to moment. Therefore they may indeed suppose that it is their memory, when yet it is not. In short, their happiness consists in this, and in being in the Lord. 1748, 4 June.
2188. THAT THE ANGELS HAVE NO MEMORY OF THE PAST AND FORESIGHT OF THE FUTURE.
I spoke with the angels, and then saw by a spiritual idea that the more interior and perfect the angels are, the less have they of the memory of the past, and that therein consists their felicity, for in every moment the Lord grants them what is pleasant [jucundum] to them, and what they think and are affected with. Thus it is of the Lord, and not of them. This is understood by the passage, Give us our daily bread, and that they must not be solicitous about the future as to what they may eat and drink, and that day by day they would have received manna. Inasmuch as they do not possess the memory of the past, they have not the anticipation of the future, for this follows out of the same memory, although to themselves they seem to have memory, and know all and innumerable things, because thus the Lord grants them then at every moment. Therefore they can indeed think it is of them when yet it is not so. In a word, their felicity consists therein, and because they are in the Lord. - 1748, June 4.
2188. Quod memoriam praeteritorum et praevisionem futuri, nullam habeant angeli
Loquutus cum angelis, et tunc idea spirituali videbam, quod quo interiores et perfectiores angeli sunt, eo minus memoriam praeteritorum habent, et quod in eo consistat eorum felicitas, nam quovis momento Dominus eis dat quod iis est jucundum, et quod cogitent, et quo afficiantur, ita est Domini, non eorum; quod intelligitur per illud, "da nobis panem quotidianum" [Matth. VI: 11, Luc. XI: 3], et quod non de futuris solliciti sint, quid edant et bibant [Matth. VI: 25, 31, 31; Luc. XII: 29], et quod quotidie acceperint mannam [Exod. XVI: 14-21]; cum non memoriam praeteritorum habent, nec habent praevisionem futuri, nam haec sequitur ex eadem memoria, quamvis videantur sibi memoriam habere, et scire omnia et innumerabilia, quia a Domino iis tunc quovis momento datur, ideo putare quidem possunt, quod eorum {a} sit, cum tamen 1
non ita; verbo felicitas eorum consistit in eo, et quod sint in Domino. 1748, 4 Junius.
Footnotes:
1. manu B. Chastanier additum en ad verbum complendum