3633. One who is a medium, because he imagines he is speaking from himself, thinks that those who speak through him are nothing, that they do not even think; and those who speak through him, or inward spirits, think that he through whom they are speaking is nothing. This was revealed to me by a certain medium who declared that the former were nothing, and then having thought about this [I heard] it said and I realized, perhaps even declared aloud, that inward spirits think likewise about a medium, that he or she is nothing.
This just shows how the matter stands, and that every spirit imagines that he lives, and thinks, and thus that he is a person on earth, whom they therefore do not know to be a person on earth separate from themselves. Therefore people on earth are nothing in the eyes of spirits, and if they knew that it is a person - and also a spirit - they would see him as an inanimate machine, whereas the person on earth imagines himself to be living and thinking and a spirit to be nothing.
3633. Whoever is a subject, inasmuch as he supposes that he speaks from himself supposes also that those who speak through him are nothing - that they do not even think - while they that speak through him, or the interior [spirits], suppose him also, through whom they speak, to be nothing; which was evinced to me by the case of one who was a subject, and who said that they were nothing. In reflecting upon this it was said and perceived, and perhaps also made a topic of conversation, that the interior [spirits] thought in like manner of the subject himself, that he was nothing. Hence it appears how it should happen that every spirit imagines that he lives and thinks, and thus is the man [in whom he acts] while he knows so little of the man that he is not even aware that he is anything distinct from himself. Thus men walk about as machines; they are nothing in the eyes of spirits; and if they know one to be a man, and also a spirit, they would still look upon him as an inanimate machine, while the man all the time supposes himself to be living and thinking, and the spirit to be nothing.
3633. Qui subjectum est, quia putat loqui ex se, putat eos qui per eum loquuntur, nihil esse, ne quidem cogitare, et qui per eum loquuntur seu interiores, putant eum per quem loquuntur, nihil esse; quod mihi manifestatum per quendam qui erat subjectum, qui dicebat, quod illi nihil sint; et tunc de eo cogitatum, dictum et perceptum, forte etiam loquutum, quod interiores similiter putent de subjecto quod nihil sit; exinde constat, quomodo se res habet, quod unusquisque spiritus putet se vivere, et cogitare, et sic esse hominem, quem sic nesciunt, quod homo sit aliquid separatum a semet: ita homines sunt nihili in oculis spirituum, et si scirent, quod is homo, et quoque spiritus, quod eum viderent sicut machinam inanimatam, cum homo putat se vivere et cogitare, et spiritum nihil esse.