4155. About the flood
From experience I have been given to learn what the flood is. It is twofold, consisting of passions, which belong to the right side of the head, and fantasies, which belong to the left side. When a person is being held by the Lord in such a way that companies of evil spirits do not enter, then he is free of, and lifted above the inflow of those companies. The moment one is plunged into such societies, it is a kind of flood, for one becomes like they are, in like manner becoming indignant, angry, pensive, despairing, desiring, whereas insofar as one is withheld from them, so far one is more or less on the bank or the shore, in safety, or within an ark - thus either at the left side of the head devoted to matters of understanding or thought, or at the right side of the head devoted to matters of the will, or passions. Thus the more one is immersed in them, the more one is inundated. It is like a flood, for it takes place in the same way, so it is compared to waters. It also takes place profusely from the left side, and little from the right, thus in countlessly varied ways.
These things I know from experience, for I was held for a long time out of a flood, while other spirits were in it, and afterwards I was immersed and felt what was just like an inundation. Temptations are of this nature. 1749, 26 Febr. 1
Footnotes:
1. Astrological symbol of the sun, meaning Sunday.
4155. CONCERNING INUNDATION (OR WHAT IS MEANT BY A FLOOD IN THE WORD).
From experience I have been permitted to learn what a flood or inundation is; it is twofold, of cupidities which are of the right side of the head, and of phantasies which are of the left. When man is kept by the Lord, so that the societies of evil spirits do not enter, he is then exempt and elevated from the influx of such societies; but as soon as he is immersed into the [sphere of] such societies, the sphere is as an inundation, for the man becomes like those who are in it; he, in like manner with them, is indignant and angry; he thinks, despairs, desires, in like manner: but in proportion as he is withheld from the sphere, or from those who are in it, he is, as it were, on the bank, or shore, or in safety, thus more or less. The inundation is experienced either on the left side of the head, where things of the understanding and thought reside, or on the right side where the things of the will or the cupidities reside; thus he is inundated in proportion as he is immersed. This immersion, which is compared to waters, takes place, with indefinite variety, sometimes much as to the left side and little as to the right side of the head, and vice versa. These things I know from experience, for I was kept out of the inundation for a time while other spirits were in it; afterwards I myself was immersed, and I perceived the likeness of an inundation. This is the case with temptations. - 1749, February 26.
4155. De inundatione
Ab experientia discere datum quid inundatio, est duplex cupiditatum, quae sunt dextri capitis, et phantasiarum quae sunt sinistri; cum tenetur homo a Domino, ne societates malorum spirituum intrent, tunc est exemtus et elevatus ab influxu talium societatum, ut primum immergitur talibus societatibus, est quaedam inundatio, nam similis eis fit, similiter indignatur, irascitur, cogitat, desperat, cupit, at quantum ab iis detinetur, tantum est in ripa seu litore, seu in salvo, seu intra arcam, ita magis et minus: ita vel ad sinistrum caput ubi illa quae sunt intellectus seu cogitationis; vel ad dextrum caput ubi illa quae sunt voluntatis seu cupiditatum, ita quantum immergitur tantum inundatur, est similis inundationi, nam similiter fit, quare assimilatur aquis: etiam multum a sinistro, parum a dextro capite, ita cum indefinita varietate; haec ab experientia, nam detentus fui diu extra inundationem, cum alii spiritus erant in illa, postea immersus, et percipiebam similitudinem inundationis: ita se habent tentationes. 1749, 26 Febr.