6049. About the mental imagery of spirits and angels
About Polhem 1and Wolff 2
All those who have not believed in the Lord by acknowledging His Divine and who have not lived according to the precepts of religion, in the other life think in terms of what is material, to such an extent that they are unable to think spiritually, that is abstractly from space and time and person, on which [concepts] the ideas of natural thought are based. Consequently they cannot think like the angels of the higher heavens, for to think spiritually is to think apart from those parameters. These angels rise to a higher level and leave those parameters so to speak below themselves, so that they do not appear [in their thinking]. Certain ones who thought a great deal in the world, as for instance Polhem and Wolff, since they did not lead a life of religion, cannot think otherwise than in terms of what is material. An attempt was made with them to separate what is material, but in vain. For this reason, while they speak in spiritual language in the other life, still it is mixed with their mother-tongue. As a result they can be distinguished from what nation they are, but those who speak spiritually all have the same language and cannot be told apart.
Footnotes:
1. See footnoted information on him in passage 4722.
2. Probably Christian Wolff (also known as Wolfius), German philosopher.
6049. POLHEM AND WOLF. THE MATERIAL IDEA WITH SPIRITS AND ANGELS.
All those who have not believed in the Lord, by acknowledging His Divine, and have not lived according to the precepts of religion, in the other life think materially. On this account, they are unable to think spiritually, that is, abstractly from space, time and persons - from which the ideas of natural thought arise - consequently, not like the angels of the higher heavens; for, to think spiritually is to think apart from these things. These [i.e. those who think spiritually] ascend above, and as it were leave those things beneath them, so that they do not appear. Certain ones who thought much in the world, such as Polhem and Wolf, inasmuch as they did not live a life of religion, were not able to think otherwise than materially. The attempt was made, in the case of these, to separate material things, but to no purpose. Hence it is, that, in the other life, the same persons speak the spiritual language, but yet so mingled with their vernacular tongue, that the nation from which they are can be readily distinguished. But all those who speak spiritually are in the same language nor can they be distinguished.
6049. De idea materiali apud spiritus et angelos
De Polhem et Wolfio
Omnes illi qui non crediderunt in Dominum agnoscendo Divinum Ipsius, et non vixerunt secundum praecepta religionis, in altera vita cogitant in materiali, ita non possunt spiritualiter cogitare, hoc est, abstracte a spatio, tempore, personis, ex quibus ideae cogitationis naturalis, ita non sicut angeli superiorum coelorum, nam spiritualiter cogitare est absque illis, hi ascendunt supra, et quasi relinquunt illa infra se, ut non appareant; quidam qui multum in mundo cogitaverunt, ut Polhem et Wolfius, quia non vixerunt vitam religionis, non possunt aliter quam cogitare in materiali, tentatum est cum illis, ut materialia separarentur sed incassum; inde est quod iidem in altera vita loquantur lingua spirituali sed usque mixta cum lingua vernacula, sic ut probe distingui possint ex qua natione sint, sed qui spiritualiter loquuntur omnes in simili lingua sunt, nec possunt internosci.