4057. About passions
I have been amazed that the deceitful, sirens, adulterers, evil spirits, possess such great skill and knowledge in pouring in and doing evil, so that I could not help wondering where such and so much knowledge comes from, when yet I am well aware that they knew no such things in bodily life - such as, in the case of the deceitful, that they stream in most cunningly into, and corrupt, all thoughts and feelings; in the case of sirens and adulterers, that they learn such magical arts as have never been known in the world, and yet on coming into the other life possess them as if they had brought such arts and tricks with them from bodily life.
[2] But I realized that insofar as one is engrossed in a passion, whatever it may be, and in the enjoyment of it, consequently in an insane love of it, to that degree one is acquainted with everything to do with that insane love. All evil spirits of the same kind, and more, conspire to breathe in [evils], and because the person is of their kind, he or she does not know but that they possess this knowledge. A life of passion has this with it, for one having such a life or insane love, has a knowledge of such things, even when aroused by others. Therefore, insofar as one has a life of passions, so far one has a knowledge of everything to do with those passions, and in the other life, so much of deceit and malice.
4057. CONCERNING CUPIDITIES.
I wondered that the deceitful, sirens, adulterers, and the wicked, were possessed of such knowledge and skill in infusing and doing evil. I could not but marvel both at the nature and degree of their adroitness in this respect, when I was yet aware that in the life of the body they knew nothing of the kind; as, for instance, that the deceitful should flow in with the utmost subtlety into all things of thought and affection, and pervert them, which is done by sirens and adulterers. They are acquainted with such magical arts as are never known in the world; and yet when they come into the other life they are in them, just as if in the life of the body they had practiced such arts and deceits. But it was perceived that he who is in any cupidity whatever, and in its delight, and consequently in its insane love, no matter what the accompaniments are which pertain to such an insane love, he knows them all. All evil spirits of this class, besides many others, conspire and inbreathe their evils, and when such is the quality of anyone, he knows no otherwise than that he is fully versed in them; the life of cupidity involves this in it, for whoever is in cupidity or insane love, he is in the knowledge of all such arts, even while the prompting is from others. Wherefore, as much as one is in the life of cupidities, so much is he in the science of those things which belong to cupidities, and thence in the other life are such deceits and such malignities.
4057. De cupiditatibus
Miratus sum, quod dolosi, sirenes, adulteri, mali, in tanta sint notitia et scientia malum infundendi et faciendi, sic ut non potuerim non mirari, unde talis et tanta, cum tamen norim, quod in vita corporis, nihil tale sciverint, sicut dolosi quod influant dolosissime in omnia cogitationis et affectionis et pervertant, quod sirenes et adulteri, talia magica sciant, qualia nusquam in mundo nota sunt, et tamen cum in alteram vitam veniunt, in iis sunt, tanquam ex vita corporis artes et dolos tales similes traxerint, sed perceptum est, quod qui in cupiditate, quaecunque sit, inque ejus jucunditate, proinde in ejus vesano amore, quod quantum est, tantum novit omnia, quae istius amoris vesani sunt, omnes mali ejusdem generis et plurium conspirant et insufflant, et quia talis est, non scit aliter [quam] quod sciat, vita cupiditatis id secum habet, nam qui in cupiditate seu in amore vesano, is est in scientia talium, etiam dum excitatur ab aliis: quare quantum est in vita cupiditatum, tantum est in scientia eorum quae sunt cupiditatum, inde in altera vita tanti doli et tantae malitiae.