3724. Mankind's material mental imagery provides vessels for angelic mental imagery
On the street I spoke with spirits, saying that the Providence of the Lord in the lowest things appears so confused and scattered, like the materials brought together from diverse sources for the erection of a great palace, that have been calculated by the architect, acquired, and then thrown together in different piles, which are then fashioned and fitted to make the palace.
Now no one can see at all just from the piles such a palace would be the result (except for the architect), yet the single items have been numbered and are ready to be put in place.
3724. THAT THE MATERIAL IDEAS OF MEN ARE VESSELS OF ANGELIC IDEAS. 1
I spoke openly with spirits [remarking] that the Providence of the Lord in ultimates appeared so confused and scattered, that [it seemed] like the materials collected from different quarters for [the erection of] a vast palace, which were calculated by the architect, and then brought together, and thus thrown into different heaps, afterwards to be formed and fitted for the palace; and yet no one but the architect would be able to perceive from the accumulations [that] such a palace [would be the result], while at the same time each single part was numbered, and was such as could be fitted in.
Footnotes:
1. We have endeavored to give, though with some doubts of having succeeded, a correct translation of the several articles under this head. If the reader should find, as we have found, great difficulty in eliciting from them an intelligible sense, we trust he will attribute it to the obscurity of the original, as much as to any defect in the version. Tr.
3724. Quod hominis ideae materiales sint vasa idearum angelicarum
In platea loquutus cum spiritibus, quod Providentia Domini in ultimis tam confusa et sparsa appareat, sicut materialia collata diverse ad palatium magnum, quae calculata ab architecto, acquisita, et sic in cumulos conjecta diversos, quae dein formantur et aptantur ad palatium, et quod nemo usque ex cumulis videre quicquam potest quod tale palatium (praeter architectum) , at quod usque singula numerata sunt, et singula talia ut aptari possent.