4293. 1Like other people on earth, I wondered that such things exist in the other world, since it is contrary to our conception of the life of spirits, and I also wondered why they occur. But the reason is that the Lord appears to them as the sun from which comes their light of day, which greatly surpasses the light of the sun on the earth; and because they have light, they also have the variegation of light that produces colors. Light without variegation does not exist, for to them it is shade. Hence they have colors, which I have very often seen, so resplendent and brilliant that they cannot be described. Everything that exists in the other life is not, as some imagine, empty and void, but is the very substance itself that is the origin of all substantial things in nature. The substance there is living, and is the very purest ethereal property, which is formed by the Lord into the most marvelous, scarcely describable things - it is sufficient that I have seen them, and this many, many times, I have been there, I have spoken with them, and they have declared that those habitations are real, but not those that are dwelt in on earth, which are dead in comparison, and which they spurn. 1749, 2 June. 2
Footnotes:
1. This paragraph is emphasized marginally in the manuscript by a wavy vertical line.
2. Astrological symbol of Venus, meaning Friday.
4293. Like other men, I wondered that such things exist in the other world, since it is contrary to our conception of the life of spirits; as also from whence they were, but the reason is, that the Lord appears to them as a sun, whence is their lumen and light, which many times exceed the light of the sun on the earth; and as they have light, so also the variegation of light, which causes color; without such variegation light does not exist, for it is to them shade; thence they have colors which I have often seen, so splendid and beautiful that they cannot be described. Everything which exists in the other life is not, as some suppose, empty and void, but is the substantial itself, because it is the origin of all that is substantial in nature. There the substantial is living, or a most pure ethereal principle, which is formed by the Lord into things of this kind so wonderful that they can scarcely be described. It is enough that I have seen them, and that often; I have been there; I have spoken with them, and they have said that those things were real while the things on earth were not, being comparatively dead, and such as they despise. - 1749, June 2.
4293. Miratus sum sicut homines, quod talia in altero mundo dentur, cum contrarium est conceptui de spirituum vita, tum unde illa, sed causa est, quod Dominus appareat illis sicut sol, inde lumen et lux eorum, quae multis excedit lucem solis in terra; et quia lux illis, etiam variegatio lucis, quae colores sistit, lux absque variegatione non dabilis est, nam est umbra illis, inde colores illis tam splendidi et nitidi, qui saepissime mihi visi, ut non describi queant; in altera vita est omne quod ibi, non ut quidam putant vacuum et inane, sed est ipsum substantiale, quod origo est omnium substantialium in natura; ibi est substantiale vivum, seu aethereum purissimum, hoc a Domino formatur in talia, quae tam mirabilia sunt, ut vix possint describi; satis est, quod vidi, et hoc multoties, ibi fui, loquutus sum cum illis, dixerunt illa realia esse, non quae habitantur in tellure, quae respective mortua sunt, quae spernunt. 1749, 2 Junius.