4567. About luck
Inflow
Once I played a game of fortune with a certain person, and at the time the spirits around me were thinking about luck or chance. They said that good luck was displayed to them by a white cloud and bad by a black one; and they said that they had a sense then that the person with whom it was blackening could by no means win, but the one with whom it was white could, which in fact did happen. They insisted this was so and perceived the origin of chance, namely, that it comes from the Lord's Providence and inflows into the lowest outcomes of order where it is varied, and that such could never happen if the Providence of the Lord were not in the very least details of all things.
[4567] 1/2. About the speech of angelic spirits
Several times in my sleep symbolic things appeared to me with a perception [of what they meant], and this went on for a long while. At the time I plainly understood what I was thinking and speaking, but as soon as I was awake, I was unable to understand what it was, because it appeared imperceptible and inexpressible, as it was also for the most part to the body's senses and so to perception. Last night it was the same. Something appeared to me resembling the shape of an arm, then of a thick staff, and this went on for some time. And all the while I was reflecting on absolute power in kingdoms and its varieties, and then that the arm, that is to say, heavy staff, was fringed and embroidered [like a bishop's crook]. I reflected then that there must be order, and thus not absolute power but power limited by laws. This revealed that symbols of power were in the place of a foundation on which perceptive thought about the matter at hand rests; so it is in other cases. And I realized that a person has this kind of speech with regard to his inward thought, a kind about which he knows nothing, and into which he comes after the life of the body, and that innumerable matters can be expressed and grasped by means of it that can in no way be expressed by bodily speech.
4567. CONCERNING FORTUNE. INFLUX.
(Once upon a time, I played a game of chance with a certain person; and then the spirits around me thought concerning chance or accidental circumstances; and they said that good-luck was represented to them by a bright cloud, and ill-luck by a black one; they said, also, that they had, at that time, a perception that he with whom was the blackish cloud could by no means win the game, but he with whom was the bright cloud - which also happened. They asserted this, and apprehended whence came accidental circumstances, to wit, that [they are] from the Providence of the Lord and His influx into the ultimates of order, where it thus appears; and that such a thing could by no means exist, unless the Providence of the Lord were in the minutest particulars of all things.)
4567a. CONCERNING THE SPEECH OF ANGELIC SPIRITS.
Several times, in sleep, there appeared to me representatives accompanied by perception, and this for a long time; and, at the time, I plainly understood what I was thinking and speaking. But, as soon as I had waked, I could not recall what it was, because it appeared imperceptible and inexpressible, as, also, to the sense of the body and thence to perception, for the most part, it was. During this night, there appeared to me, in like manner, as it were a certain something approaching to the form of an arm, then to that of a thick stick, and this for a long time; and I then continually reflected, from various points of view, concerning absolute power in kingdoms; and, afterwards, the arm, or that stick, was more densely fibrated and compacted, and I then considered that this was not an orderly state of things, and consequently, that power ought not to be absolute, but limited by laws. From this it was apparent, that the representatives of power were in the place of a foundation, whereupon was supported a perceptive thought for these things - concerning which I then [reflected] and so in other matters. It was also perceived that there is such a language with man, as to interior thought - whereof he is ignorant - and that he comes into it after the life of the body, and that innumerable things can be expressed and comprehended thereby, which can in no way be expressed by the speech of the body.
4567. De fortuna
Influxus
Quondam lusi ludum fortare 1
cum quodam, et tunc spiritus circum me cogitabant de fortuna seu fortuitis, et dicebant, quod repraesentaretur illis per nubem candidam fortuna et per nigram infortunium, et dicebant quod haberent tunc perceptionem, quod nullatenus ille vincere posset apud quem nigricans esset, sed apud quem candidum, quod etiam contigit, hoc asseverabant, et appercipiebant unde fortuita, quod nempe ex Providentia Domini, et ejus influxu in ultima ordinis, ubi ita variatur, et quod tale neutiquam existere posset, nisi Providentia Domini esset in omnium singularissimis.
[4[567] 1/2. De loquela spirituum angelicorum Aliquoties in somno apparuerunt mihi repraesentativa cum perceptione hoc diu tunc intelligebam manifeste quid cogitarem loquerer, sed ut primum expergefactus non potui scire quid esset, quia apparebat imperceptibile inenuntiabile sicut quoque erat quoad plurimam partem coram sensu corporis inde perceptione: hac nocte similiter, apparebat mihi sicut quoddam accedens formam brachii, tum baculi crassi hoc diu volvebam tunc continuo de potestate absoluta in regnis, cum variatione dein quod brachium seu baculus ille crassus mbriatus consutus esset volvebam tunc quod ordo erit sic quod non absoluta potestas sed limitata per leges; quibus patuit, quod repraesentativa potestatis essent fundamenti loco, super quae cogitatio perceptiva rei, de qua tunc, ita in reliquis; perceptum quod talis loquela sit homini quoad cogitationem interiorem, de qua nescit quod in talem veniat post vitam corporis quod innumerabilia per illam exprimi capi queant, quae per loquelam corporis nullo modo exprimi possunt.
Footnotes:
1. = citius (vox suecica), nomen ut videtur ludi cujusdam suecici