5684. Let whoever desires to do so think, if I say that angels have a human form, that they are clothed in brilliant garments, that they live in magnificent dwellings, and let him think from sense experience, that is to say, from his body or its senses, and let him think from his mental images of the soul: Is he going to think otherwise than whether it is so or not? Will anyone think beyond this? And will he not then stop there and finally deny? However, let a person who can be drawn away from sensual and bodily things and be raised above these then think, and then he will think not whether it is so or not, but that it is so. And first then can he enter into wisdom.
[2] Otherwise he stands far outside the palace of wisdom and does not see the threshold. If he will enter, he will see innumerable and indescribable things. I have spoken with angels about these, and it was shown that it is so. The ancients were not so sense oriented; they could be raised above what is sensed by the body and could therefore have an inward wisdom. And they could also speak with angels, because they were in light similar to theirs. This cannot happen today.
5684. Let whoever chooses, think, if I tell him that angels are human forms, that they are dressed in splendid garments, that they live in magnificent dwellings; and let him at the same time think from the sensual, or from the body, or its senses; let him also think from his ideas about the soul: will he think anything else than whether it is so or not? Will he think beyond this? Will he not then stop there, and at length deny [it all]? But let him who can be withdrawn from sensuals and bodily things, and raised above them, think at that time, and then he will not think whether the thing is or is not, but that it is so and then, for the first time, is man able to come into wisdom. Otherwise, he will long stand outside the palace of wisdom, and not see the threshold. If he will enter, he will see numberless and ineffable things. I have spoken with angels about these matters, and it was shown that it is so. The ancients were not so sensual. They were able to be raised above the sensuals of the body. They, therefore, were able to be in interior wisdom, and also to converse with angels, because they were in a like light with them. This cannot happen at the present day.
5684. Cogita qui vult, si dicam quod angeli sint formae humanae, quod vestibus splendidis induti, quod in habitaculis magnificis habitent, et cogita simul ex sensuali seu ex corpore seu ejus sensibus, et cogita ex ideis de anima, an aliter cogitaturus quam num ita sit vel non, an [quis] ulterius cogitet, et annon tunc ibi subsistat, et tandem neget? qui autem abduci a sensualibus et corporeis potest, et elevari supra illa, cogitet tunc, et tunc non cogitabit num sit vel non sit, sed quod ita sit, et tunc primum potest in sapientiam venire, aliter stat longe extra palatium sapientiae, et non videt limen, si intraturus visurus est innumerabilia et ineffabilia. Loquutus cum angelis de his, et ostensum quod ita sit, antiqui non ita sensuales fuerunt, potuerunt elevari supra sensualia corporis, ideo in interiore sapientia potuerunt esse; et quoque loqui cum angelis, quia in simili luce cum illis; hodie id fieri nequit.