4017. That distances are fantasies, and that they are mental images, was evident on several occasions. For when I saw, or sensed, someone departing, or at some distance, or when I portrayed him as being in some other place, or when I spoke with several spirits elsewhere, in a place I knew, and when someone was far off at the bounds of the universe, then the distance was conceived according to a mental image formed from seeing, or from thinking, and so conceived of, by him or by me. For they are present instantly. For a place is no place, and where the mental image is there is the spirit, for a spirit is not separated from the image. Without the mental image there would be no spirit, that image being his life, so that where the life is, there is the spirit. Distance in the purer regions amounts to nothing, still less in the very inward ones, least of all in the innermost. Thus with the Lord there is no distance - so He is omnipresent, and sees and arranges the very least things. 1748, 20 Nov.
4017. That distances are phantasies, and that they are ideas, was evinced in a great variety of ways; for when I saw or perceived anyone depart, or to be at a distance, or when I represented him to myself as in some other place, or when I spoke with certain spirits that were elsewhere, myself knowing the place, or when a certain one was separated from me to the bounds of the universe, then the distance was perceived according to an idea formed from sight or from thought, and thus apprehended by him or by me; for they are present in a moment. Place, therefore, is none at all; where the idea is, there the spirit is, for the spirit is not separated from the idea; without the idea the spirit would not be, as it is his life; therefore where the life is, there is the spirit. Distance in purer things amounts to nothing; still less is it anything in more intimate, and least of all in the most intimate, thus absolutely nothing with the Lord; wherefore He is omnipresent, and sees and orders each single thing. - 1748, November 20.
4017. Quod distantiae sint phantasiae, et quod sint ideae, constitit pluries, cum enim aliquem discedere, aut in ea distantia esse, viderem, aut perciperem, seu cum repraesentarem eum in aliquo loco alio, vel cum loquutus cum aliquibus alibi, ubi sciebam, et cum aliquis abesset ad fines universi, tunc distantia percepta secundum ideam ex visu, ex cogitatione, et sic captam, ab eo aut a me; nam momento adsunt; quare locus est nullus, ubi idea ibi spiritus, nam spiritus non separatur ab idea, absque idea non foret spiritus, est vita ejus, quare ubi est vita, ibi spiritus, distantia in purioribus nihil facit, minus in intimioribus, minimum in intimis, ita nulla apud Dominum, quare omnipraesens, et singula videt, et disponit. 1748, 20 Nov.