2665. None more strongly desire to possess a person's body and return into the body and thus into the world than adulterers and the cruel
A spirit came to me and said that he longs to come back into the world, and therefore loved to be with me, for at an earlier time they had entirely occupied my body, so that they seemed to themselves to be my body as it were obsessed by them, even though I was just as sane as at other times because the Lord had protected me.
When I told him that this was against the established order, which is that when the earthly human draws toward old age, then the body begins to droop of itself and is loosed like the shell of a seed, so the person wants to be released from the body. It has been ordained in this way so that they may pass through toward the inward regions, thus into the other life. But he did not want to hear it, saying that he had died a youth and wanted to return into the world.
Now when I turned my mind to it, I observed that he was being led by those who are adulterers and cruel and who seek the pleasure of their life in those things. They desire nothing more strongly than to take possession of people's bodies and then by means of them live in the world. But they are kept by the Lord in the earth of lower spirits, nor are they permitted the freedom of thus occupying people on earth, every single one of whom would be obsessed by such spirits, for the gang of them is immense. 1748, 22 July.
2665. THAT NONE MORE DESIRE TO POSSESS THE BODY OF MAN AND TO RETURN INTO THE BODY, CONSEQUENTLY INTO THE WORLD THAN ADULTERERS AND THE CRUEL.
(A certain one came to me and said, that he is desirous of returning into the world and so loved to be with me: for at first they wholly occupied my body, so that they seemed to themselves to be my body. [I was] as it were obsessed by them, although I was as sane as at other times, because the Lord protected me: when I told him, that this was contrary to the instituted [appointed] order, which was such, that man when he draws near to old age, then his body decays of itself: like as the husk of a seed is disjoined, so he desires to be unloosed from the body. Thus it was appointed, and thus he proceeds to interiors, thus to the other life: but he was willing to hear it, saying that [he was] a deceased young man, and wished to return into the world, and when I gave heed, I observed that he was led by those who are adulterers and cruel, and seek in these things pleasantness of life; they desire nothing more than to obsess the bodies of men; and so through man to live in the world. But they are kept by the Lord in the earth of inferior [spirits], and the license to thus occupy man is the more conceded to them. Wherefore did not the Lord guard man, they would each be obsessed by such [spirits], for there is an immense crowd [of them]. - 1748, July 22.
2665. Quod nulli magis cupiant possidere corpus hominis, et redire in corpus, proinde in mundum, quam adulteri et crudeles
Quidam ad me venit, et dixit, quod cupiat redire in mundum, et sic amabat esse mecum, nam prius prorsus occupabant corpus meum, sic ut videbantur sibi esse meum corpus, quasi ab iis obsessus, tametsi ita sanus essem, ut alioquin, quia Dominus me tutatus est; cum ei dicerem, quod hoc contra institutum ordinem esset, qui talis est, ut homo dum ad senectutem vergit, tunc corpus ex se marcescit, et sicut putamen seminis dissolvitur, sic ut cupiat dissolvi a corpore--ita 1
institutum est, ut sic pergant ad interiora, sic in alteram vitam-- 2
is nolebat id audire, dicens quod juvenis mortuus, et redire vellet in mundum, cumque attenderem, observavi quod duceretur is ab iis qui adulteri sunt et crudeles, et in iis jucunditatem vitae quaerunt, ii nihil cupiunt magis quam obsidere hominum corpora, et sic per hominem vivere in mundo; sed a Domino tenentur in inferiorum terra, nec permittitur iis licentia ita occupandi hominem; quare nisi Dominus custodiret hominem, obsiderentur singuli a talibus, nam immensa talium turba est. 1748, 22 Julius.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has corpore, ita
2. The Manuscript has vitam; sed