4010. From this it was granted me to conclude that it is better not to know all things, and to believe in simplicity that the Lord flows into all and the least things, and that His Providence governs all and the least, than to immerse oneself in the investigation of such matters. It is preferable not to know, for if people desired this kind of knowledge, then they would spread themselves into too broad a field of inquiry, such as when I just wanted to find out how the actions of the muscles relate figuratively to the mental imagery, and to the will's efforts and derivative powers. At that time I first labored for many years to find out how the lungs applied themselves to the least parts, then the connection and the arrangement of all the muscles, motor tissues, and nervous tissues; and how the tendinous tissues present an action contrary to the flow - as when they draw back, draw aside, or draw into gyre, and so on - and still the action produced is not according to those [apparent deviations]. To investigate all these particulars would be a labor of many years, and even then the most general facts would scarcely be discovered. So it is preferable to know simply that the will flows in, so much the more in regard to the things belonging to the inflow of the Lord's life, and of His Providence. 1748, 20 Nov. These things were thought together with spirits, and through spirits, from angels.
4010. From what has been said we are at liberty to conclude, that it is better to be ignorant of all these matters, and simply to believe that the life of the Lord flows into all and singular things, and that His providence governs all and singular things, than to suffer one's self to be absorbed in such speculations. It is better, I say, to be ignorant; for if men covet this kind of knowledge, they must necessarily launch out into a boundless field; just as in my own case, when I wished to know in what manner the actions of the muscles were ordered in their representative relation to the ideas of the thoughts, and how the endeavors and forces of the will conspired to the effect, I spent many laborious years in investigating the appliances of the lungs in each of their functions, then those of the muscles, of the motive fibers, of the nervous fibers, together with the connection and disposition of all the parts, how actions resulted from the fluction of the brains, as in the case of the tendinous fibers drawing backwards, obliquely or into a gyre, and so on, when yet, after all, the action was dependent on other laws, all which thoroughly to explore were the labor of many years, and still scarcely even the most general things could be known. Wherefore it is better simply to know that the will flows in [and actuates the body]; far more is this expedient in those things to which pertain the influx of the Lord's life, and of his providence. - 1748, November 20. These things were thought with spirits, through spirits, from the angels.
4010. Ex quibus concludere datum, quod melius sit ignorare omnia, et simpliciter credere quod Domini vita influat in omnia et singula, et Providentia Ipsius regat omnia et singula, quam in explorationem talium se effundere; praestat non scire, nam si cuperent scire, tunc in spatiosissimum campum se effunderent, sicut dum scire vellem solum, quomodo actiones musculorum se habeant repraesentative ad cogitationis ideas, et voluntatis conatus et inde vires, tunc per multos annos primum laborarem scire pulmonum applicationes ad singula, dein musculorum, fibrarum motricium, et fibrarum nervearum, nexum et dispositionem omnium, quomodo sistunt actionem contrariam fluxioni, ut cum retro trahunt, oblique trahunt, in gyrum trahunt fibrae tendines, et sic porro, utque actio non secundum ea existit: quae omnia explorare multorum annorum labor foret, et tamen vix communia noscerentur, quare praestat scire solum, quod influat voluntas, ita magis adhuc in illis quae sunt influxus Domini vitae, et Ipsius Providentia. 1748, 20 Nov. Haec cogitata cum spiritibus, per spiritus ab angelis.