319.死人的灵魂只知道他们活在肉身中，根本不知道别的；但他们会在其中经历各种状态变化。我与许多已经去世，或离开肉身生命的人交谈，其中有我认识的，也有我不认识的。关于他们，我能讲述许多事，这些事来自大量经历，因为是从多方收集来的，即：灵魂几乎不相信别的，只以为他们活在肉身中，正以同样的方式思考，一开始主要思想最近、最内在地触动他们，似乎把他们引入欲望和行为的事。
(1)无论今天还是之前，我周围的人当中，许多现已意识到自己在来世的人都承认这一点，并惊叹不已。至于他们的状态：他们有自己的状态，这些状态的许多变化仅在最深的睡眠和最高程度的清醒之间。他们坦承，并且我也从经历获知，他们有一种像是活在肉身时所拥有的那种状态；事实上，在这方面更是完美得多，即：他们能理解并明白言语和观念的内在事物。
(2)他们还从这种最高程度的清醒状态被带入一种睡眠状态，就像世人从清醒状态逐渐进入睡眠状态，甚至进入作梦的那种睡眠，就这样从一个状态进入另一个状态。也有些睡眠状态好像人是醒着的，我也曾处于这种状态，从而通过经历获知这两种状态。在后一种状态，他们觉得自己似乎睡着了，他们与一个同伴或多个同伴以各种方式交谈。当一个人被允许从清醒进入许多最温柔的睡眠状态，然后进入深度睡眠，再伴以各种各样的想象的观念时，他就能明白这一点。我可以非常肯定地断言，我所说关于灵魂的这些事是不容置疑的。
319. Souls of the dead do not at all know otherwise, than that they are in their bodily life, only undergoing various changing conditions in it
I have spoken with many of those deceased or departed from the life of the body, both known and unknown to me, about whom I can tell these things - but from rather much experience, because gathered from many sources.
The souls had scarcely believed otherwise than that they were in the life of the body and that they were thinking in the same way and at first, especially [about] the things that touched them most closely and deeply and seemed to draw them toward desire and action.
1. As on previous occasions, many of those who are around me today acknowledge this, and now the ones who realize that they are in the other life are amazed.
As for their condition, they have their states, of which there are many changes only between their deepest sleep and their highest wakefulness. They acknowledge, and I have also learned this from experience, that they have a waking state similar to what they had in the life of the body, and in fact, even much more perfect for the reason that they are able to grasp and see the inward content of speech and of mental images.
2. From this, their highest state of wakefulness, they are also carried into a sleeping state, just like a person in the world when he sinks gradually from a waking state into one of sleep, even into the kind of sleep in which he would dream dreams - and thus is borne from one state into another.
There are also states of sleeping as if one were awake, in which I also have been - and so I have learned these and the above matters from experience - and in which they do not seem to themselves to be asleep, but awake, because they are speaking with a companion or with companions about one thing and another while in this state as they do when dreaming. 1This can be grasped by a person who has been allowed to experience a transition from wakefulness, through several states of very gentle sleep, and then into a deep sleep, all accompanied by varying patterns of mental imagery.
So the things I have here told about souls, I can affirm so positively, that they should never occasion any doubt.
Footnotes:
1. The manuscript has "in somno" "asleep," but "insomnio," "while dreaming," must have been intended.
319. THAT THE SOULS OF THE DEAD DO NOT AT ALL KNOW OTHERWISE THAN THAT THEY ARE IN THE LIFE OF THE BODY; BUT THEY UNDERGO VARIOUS CHANGES OF STATE THEREIN
I have spoken with many, both those known and those unknown to me, who had passed away or departed from the life of the body, concerning whom I can relate these things - from a sufficiently wide experience, because gathered from many cases - namely, that souls have never supposed at all otherwise than that they were in the life of the body, and that they thought in a like manner, and at first for the most part they thought from the things that most nearly and inwardly affected them, and as it were, induced them to desire and to act.
(1) Many of those around me, both today and previously, who now perceive that they are in another life, acknowledge this and they now marvel. But as regards their state: they have their states of which there are very many changes in respect only of the difference between their deepest sleep and their greatest wakefulness. They confess - and I have also learnt this from experience - that they have a state of wakefulness like that which they had in the life of the body, and indeed very much more perfect in this respect, that they can apprehend and perceive the interior things of speech and of ideas.
(2) From this highest state of wakefulness they are also brought into a state of sleep, like a man who from wakefulness gradually falls into a state of sleep, indeed into such sleep as that in which he also dreams dreams, and thus he is brought from the one state into the other. A state of sleep like that of wakefulness is also given, and I have been in this also, and thus have learnt about both states through experience. In the latter state they do not seem to themselves to be asleep, but awake, because in this state, and in sleep, they speak with a companion [or] companions in various ways. A man can perceive this by experience when it is given him [to pass] from wakefulness into many states of most gentle sleep, and afterwards of deep sleep, conjoined with various ideas of the imagination. I can assert these things concerning souls with so much certainty, that no doubt can ever be entertained about it.
319. Quod animae mortuorum nequaquam aliter sciunt, quam quod in vita corporis sint 1
, sed mutationes slatus varias in eo subeunt
Cum pluribus iis loquutus sum, qui discesserant seu obierant vitam corporis, tam notis quam ignotis, de quibus haec possum narrare, sed [per] satis multam experientiam, quia a pluribus collecta, nempe quod animae haudquaquam aliud putaverint, ac quod essent in vita corporis, et quod similiter cogitarent, et in principio utplurimum iis, quae proxime et intus eos affecerunt, et quasi traxerunt ad cupiendum, et ad agendum; hoc multi tam hodie quam prius, eorum, qui circum me, agnoscunt, et nunc mirantur, qui nunc percipiunt se in altera vita esse, sed quod statum eorum attinet, dantur eorum status, et horum mutationes permultae, solum inter somnum eorum summum, et vigiliam eorum summam, fatentur, quod etiam ab experientia didici, quod similis vigiliae status iis sit, qualis in vita corporis, et quidem adhuc multo perfectior, in eo quod interiora loquelae et idearum capere et percipere possint; ex summo hoc vigiliae eorum statu, in statum somni etiam feruntur, sicut homo qui dum ex vigilia in statum somni sensim cadit, imo in talem somnum, in quo etiam somnia somniaret 1
, et sic ab uno in alterum; datur etiam status somni quasi vigilis, in quo etiam ego fui et 2
sic didici haec et illa per experientiam--in 3
quo statu sibi non videntur dormire, sed vigilare, quia cum socio, sociis, cum varietate in hoc statu ac in somno, loquuntur; hoc percipere potest homo, cui datum est per experientiam a vigilia, in plures status somni lenissimi, et dein soporis, cum imaginationis ideis variis conjuncti 4
[cadere]. Haec ita de animabus tam certo asseverare possum, ut nusquam aliquid dubium inde moveri queat.
Footnotes:
1. This is how it appears in J.F.I. Tafel's edition; the Manuscript has sit
1. nisi legendum cum in J.F.I. Tafel's edition somniant
2. The Manuscript has fui, et
3. The Manuscript has experientiam, in
4. The Manuscript has variis, conjuncti