692.对此，我将增加以下记事。记事一：
我从智慧学院回来（见n. 48），路上碰到一位蓝衣天人。他走到我身边，说：“我看到你从智慧学院出来，兴致勃勃的。我发觉你不完全身在灵界，同时也在尘世，想必你不知道这里的奥林匹克体育馆。古智者在这里相聚，从尘世来的新人了解智慧在世间已经历和正经历的变化。你若有兴趣，我就带你去一个地方。很多古代智者和他们的门生住在那里。”天人把我带到东北交界处，从一处高地我看到一座城，城一侧有两座山，靠近城的山较低。天人对我说：“这城名叫雅典娜，较低的山称为帕尔纳索斯山，较高的山称为赫利孔山。它们如此命名，是因为城内及附近住着古希腊圣哲，诸如毕达哥拉斯、苏格拉底、亚里斯提卜、色诺芬，及他们的门生。”我问柏拉图与亚里士多德，天人说他俩及其门生住在另一个地方，因为他们教导理性，这些属于觉知，而这里的圣哲教导道德，这些属于生活。
天人说，城内的学者经常打发人去到基督徒学者那里，带回他们现今对神、宇宙造化、灵魂不朽、人与动物之别等涉及内在智慧的问题的看法。而且今天正好宣告了一场集会，说明他们打发出去的人遇到了地上来的新人，听到了一些有趣的新闻。我看到许多人从城内和市郊出来，有的头戴桂冠，有的手拿棕榈枝，有的腋下夹着书本，有的左耳架着鹅毛笔。
我们进到人群，和他们一同上山，看到山上有一座八角形的宫殿，他们称之为“帕拉斯”，我们就进去了。殿内有八个六边形的凹格，每个格内有一个书架并一张书桌，头戴桂冠的人坐在那里。殿内又有石头凿成的座位，安排给其他人坐的。左侧有门打开了，进来两位从地上来的新人。招呼过后，一位头戴桂冠的人就问：“你们从地上带来了什么新闻？”新人回答说：“有这样一则新闻，森林中发现了似动物的人，或似人的动物。从面貌和身体特征来看，他们的确是人，但在两三岁的时候被丢失或遗弃在森林里。据说他们不懂得用声音表达想法，不会说话，也象动物那样不知道适合自己的食物，林中发现的任何东西，不管干净不干净，随手就放进嘴里。通过这些事实，一些学者就人与动物的关系作了一些推测和结论。”
“通过这些事实，他们有哪些推测和结论呢？”有古智者问道。新人回答说：“很多，大致可以罗列如下：
（1） 人从本质和出生来说，原比动物更愚蠢，因此比动物更低等。如果不受教育，就会变成那样。
（2） 人能受到教化，因为他能学会发声，学会说话，并由此开始表达思想，渐而渐之，他懂得制定法律，而动物天生就知道许多这样的法则。
（3） 动物具有与人类同等的思维能力。
（4） 因此，若动物也能说话，在任何问题上，它们能象人一样熟练思考。证据就是，它们也能凭理性和理智思考，和人一样。
（5） 理性不过是自然光的变体，热与光通过大气共同作用，因此理性只是内在自然的活动。由于能提到一定程度，以致看起来如智慧一般。
（6） 因此，相信人死后依然存活，跟相信动物死后依然存活一样，都是徒劳的。顶多可能在死后若干天，有生命的气息以幽灵的形状如云雾一般从体内散发出来，直到完全消归自然，正如木棍从灰烬中抽离时还保留原来的形状一样。
（7） 因此，教导死后生命的宗教不过是人的发明，好通过律法约束人的内心，正如国家用法律约束人的外在行为一样。”
新人说这些只是某些聪明人的推断，非智慧人的推测。智者于是问：“那智慧人如何推断呢？”新人说未曾听闻，但估计差不多。
坐在书桌的人听了这些话，都说：“哎，这是怎样的时代！哀哉，智慧变成了愚昧！日头已经落山，沉到地面以下，与正午时相对。从林中发现的人，谁看不出人若不受教育，就会变成那个模样？人不就是教育所塑造的样子吗？人生来不是比动物更无知吗？他不是得学会走，学会说吗？他若不学会走，他能直立吗？他若不学会说，他懂得表达思想吗？每个人不就是教育所塑造的样子，若被教错谬，就变得愚昧，若被教真理，就变得有智慧吗？他若因错谬而变得愚昧，不同样幻想自己比因真理而有智慧的人更加聪明吗？不是有愚昧无知的人，并不比林中发现的人来得聪明吗？那些失忆的人，不也和他们相似吗？”
“从上述事实我们可以推论，人若不受教育就非人，也非动物，而是一种有潜力成为人的生命形态。因此，人不是生为人，而是成为人。人生来是一个能从神接受生命的容器，目的是成为一个神可以将一切美善导入其内的主体，通过与神合一而获得永远的福乐。从你们的叙述来看，当今时代，智慧已经失落，变成了愚昧，以致人们对自己及动物的生命层次已一无所知。结果，他们对人死后的光景也一无所知。而那些能够明白却不愿明白，因而否认死后生命的人，正如你们许多基督徒，可以比作林中发现的人。但他们不是因缺乏教育而愚昧，而是因执着感官上的错觉而使自己变得愚昧。这些感官上的错觉，正是掩盖真理的黑暗。”
此时，有坐在殿中央、手拿棕榈枝的人起来说：“请向我们解释这个奥秘。照神形像被造的人，何以变成了魔鬼的形状？我知道天上的使者是神的形状，地狱的使者是魔鬼的形状，两相对立。后者是巅狂的形状，前者是智慧的形状。所以请指教我们，照神形像被造的人何以从光明堕入黑暗，以致否认神和永生的存在？”
对此，学者们轮流作答，首先是毕达哥拉斯学派的人，然后是苏格拉底学派的人，再后是其他人。其中有一个柏拉图学派的人最后发言，他的观点颇受欢迎。
“黄金时代的人知道且承认自己是从神接受生命的形状，智慧因此写在他们灵魂和心上，他们从真理之光看见真理，再透过真理，因着对良善的渴慕，而觉悟良善。可到了后面的时代，人类逐渐疏于承认一切智之真与仁之善是不断从神流入的，他们就不再是神的居所。与神对话，与天使交流，也随之停止了。他们原本往上朝向神的内在本能，逐渐变得往外朝向世俗，透过尘世朝向神，最后完全颠倒，往下朝向自己。内在完全颠倒之人不可能仰望神，于是人类就远离了神，成了地狱或说魔鬼的形状。”
“这就是说，上古时代的人原本从内心和灵魂承认，一切爱之善与智之真是从神流入人心的，人的这些美德乃是神的美德，人只是从神接受生命的容器。因为这个缘故，人被称为神的形像、神的儿子、从神所生。可到了后来的时代，人不再从内心和灵魂这样承认，而是出于一种信念，再后成了宗教传统，最后只是口头的承认。仅仅口头承认不是真的认同，而是从心里否认。”
“由此可知世间的基督徒如今有怎样的智慧：他们虽有神的启示，却不知人与动物的区别。结果许多人认为，如果人死后依然活着，动物也必然活着。反过来说，如果动物死后不再活着，人必然也不再活着。照亮人心的灵光，在他们里面岂不成了黑暗，而仅仅照亮肉眼的自然光，岂不成他们的璀璨明光了吗？”
此后，所有到会的人向两位来客表示感谢，也请他们回去后向朋友叙说他们的所见所闻。两位来客表示，他们回去后一定向朋友证实这个真理：人只有将一切美善和真理归于主，不归于己，才成其为人，也才能成为天人。
692. 对此, 我将增加以下记事。 记事一:
我从智慧学院回来 (见n。48), 路上碰到一位蓝衣天人。 他走到我身边, 说: “我看到你从智慧学院出来, 兴致勃勃的。 我发觉你不完全身在灵界, 同时也在尘世, 想必你不知道这里的奥林匹克体育馆。 古智者在这里相聚, 从尘世来的新人了解智慧在世间已经历和正经历的变化。 你若有兴趣, 我就带你去一个地方。 很多古代智者和他们的门生住在那里。 ”天人把我带到东北交界处, 从一处高地我看到一座城, 城一侧有两座山, 靠近城的山较低。 天人对我说: “这城名叫雅典娜, 较低的山称为帕尔纳索斯山, 较高的山称为赫利孔山。 它们如此命名, 是因为城内及附近住着古希腊圣哲, 诸如毕达哥拉斯, 苏格拉底, 亚里斯提卜, 色诺芬, 及他们的门生。 ”我问柏拉图与亚里士多德, 天人说他俩及其门生住在另一个地方, 因为他们教导理性, 这些属于觉知, 而这里的圣哲教导道德, 这些属于生活。
天人说, 城内的学者经常打发人去到基督徒学者那里, 带回他们现今对神, 宇宙造化, 灵魂不朽, 人与动物之别等涉及内在智慧的问题的看法。 而且今天正好宣告了一场集会, 说明他们打发出去的人遇到了地上来的新人, 听到了一些有趣的新闻。 我看到许多人从城内和市郊出来, 有的头戴桂冠, 有的手拿棕榈枝, 有的腋下夹着书本, 有的左耳架着鹅毛笔。
我们进到人群, 和他们一同上山, 看到山上有一座八角形的宫殿, 他们称之为“帕拉斯”, 我们就进去了。 殿内有八个六边形的凹格, 每个格内有一个书架并一张书桌, 头戴桂冠的人坐在那里。 殿内又有石头凿成的座位, 安排给其他人坐的。 左侧有门打开了, 进来两位从地上来的新人。 招呼过后, 一位头戴桂冠的人就问: “你们从地上带来了什么新闻? ”新人回答说: “有这样一则新闻, 森林中发现了似动物的人, 或似人的动物。 从面貌和身体特征来看, 他们的确是人, 但在两三岁的时候被丢失或遗弃在森林里。 据说他们不懂得用声音表达想法, 不会说话, 也象动物那样不知道适合自己的食物, 林中发现的任何东西, 不管干净不干净, 随手就放进嘴里。 通过这些事实, 一些学者就人与动物的关系作了一些推测和结论。 ”
“通过这些事实, 他们有哪些推测和结论呢? ”有古智者问道。 新人回答说: “很多, 大致可以罗列如下:
1. 人从本质和出生来说, 原比动物更愚蠢, 因此比动物更低等。 如果不受教育, 就会变成那样。
2. 人能受到教化, 因为他能学会发声, 学会说话, 并由此开始表达思想, 渐而渐之, 他懂得制定法律, 而动物天生就知道许多这样的法则。
3. 动物具有与人类同等的思维能力。
4. 因此, 若动物也能说话, 在任何问题上, 它们能象人一样熟练思考。 证据就是, 它们也能凭理性和理智思考, 和人一样。
5. 理性不过是自然光的变体, 热与光通过大气共同作用, 因此理性只是内在自然的活动。 由于能提到一定程度, 以致看起来如智慧一般。
6. 因此, 相信人死后依然存活, 跟相信动物死后依然存活一样, 都是徒劳的。 顶多可能在死后若干天, 有生命的气息以幽灵的形状如云雾一般从体内散发出来, 直到完全消归自然, 正如木棍从灰烬中抽离时还保留原来的形状一样。
7. 因此, 教导死后生命的宗教不过是人的发明, 好通过律法约束人的内心, 正如国家用法律约束人的外在行为一样。 ”
新人说这些只是某些聪明人的推断, 非智慧人的推测。 智者于是问: “那智慧人如何推断呢? ”新人说未曾听闻, 但估计差不多。
坐在书桌的人听了这些话, 都说: “哎, 这是怎样的时代! 哀哉, 智慧变成了愚昧! 日头已经落山, 沉到地面以下, 与正午时相对。 从林中发现的人, 谁看不出人若不受教育, 就会变成那个模样? 人不就是教育所塑造的样子吗? 人生来不是比动物更无知吗? 他不是得学会走, 学会说吗? 他若不学会走, 他能直立吗? 他若不学会说, 他懂得表达思想吗? 每个人不就是教育所塑造的样子, 若被教错谬, 就变得愚昧, 若被教真理, 就变得有智慧吗? 他若因错谬而变得愚昧, 不同样幻想自己比因真理而有智慧的人更加聪明吗? 不是有愚昧无知的人, 并不比林中发现的人来得聪明吗? 那些失忆的人, 不也和他们相似吗? ”
“从上述事实我们可以推论, 人若不受教育就非人, 也非动物, 而是一种有潜力成为人的生命形态。 因此, 人不是生为人, 而是成为人。 人生来是一个能从神接受生命的容器, 目的是成为一个神可以将一切美善导入其内的主体, 通过与神合一而获得永远的福乐。 从你们的叙述来看, 当今时代, 智慧已经失落, 变成了愚昧, 以致人们对自己及动物的生命层次已一无所知。 结果, 他们对人死后的光景也一无所知。 而那些能够明白却不愿明白, 因而否认死后生命的人, 正如你们许多基督徒, 可以比作林中发现的人。 但他们不是因缺乏教育而愚昧, 而是因执著感官上的错觉而使自己变得愚昧。 这些感官上的错觉, 正是掩盖真理的黑暗。 ”
此时, 有坐在殿中央, 手拿棕榈枝的人起来说: “请向我们解释这个奥秘。 照神形像被造的人, 何以变成了魔鬼的形状? 我知道天上的使者是神的形状, 地狱的使者是魔鬼的形状, 两相对立。 后者是巅狂的形状, 前者是智慧的形状。 所以请指教我们, 照神形像被造的人何以从光明堕入黑暗, 以致否认神和永生的存在? ”
对此, 学者们轮流作答, 首先是毕达哥拉斯学派的人, 然后是苏格拉底学派的人, 再后是其他人。 其中有一个柏拉图学派的人最后发言, 他的观点颇受欢迎。
“黄金时代的人知道且承认自己是从神接受生命的形状, 智慧因此写在他们灵魂和心上, 他们从真理之光看见真理, 再透过真理, 因着对良善的渴慕, 而觉悟良善。 可到了后面的时代, 人类逐渐疏于承认一切智之真与仁之善是不断从神流入的, 他们就不再是神的居所。 与神对话, 与天使交流, 也随之停止了。 他们原本往上朝向神的内在本能, 逐渐变得往外朝向世俗, 透过尘世朝向神, 最后完全颠倒, 往下朝向自己。 内在完全颠倒之人不可能仰望神, 于是人类就远离了神, 成了地狱或说魔鬼的形状。 ”
“这就是说, 上古时代的人原本从内心和灵魂承认, 一切爱之善与智之真是从神流入人心的, 人的这些美德乃是神的美德, 人只是从神接受生命的容器。 因为这个缘故, 人被称为神的形像, 神的儿子, 从神所生。 可到了后来的时代, 人不再从内心和灵魂这样承认, 而是出于一种信念, 再后成了宗教传统, 最后只是口头的承认。 仅仅口头承认不是真的认同, 而是从心里否认。 ”
“由此可知世间的基督徒如今有怎样的智慧: 他们虽有神的启示, 却不知人与动物的区别。 结果许多人认为, 如果人死后依然活着, 动物也必然活着。 反过来说, 如果动物死后不再活着, 人必然也不再活着。 照亮人心的灵光, 在他们里面岂不成了黑暗, 而仅仅照亮肉眼的自然光, 岂不成他们的璀璨明光了吗? ”
此后, 所有到会的人向两位来客表示感谢, 也请他们回去后向朋友叙说他们的所见所闻。 两位来客表示, 他们回去后一定向朋友证实这个真理: 人只有将一切美善和真理归于主, 不归于己, 才成其为人, 也才能成为天人。
692. To these points I will add the following memorable occurrences.
The first memorable occurrence. As I returned home from the wisdom games [48], I saw an angel in a blue robe along the way.
He came up and walked alongside me, and said, "I see that you have just left the wisdom games, and you are happy because of what you heard there. I sense that you are not fully in this world, though, because you are still in the physical world at the same time. Therefore you will not be aware of our Olympic halls, where the ancient philosophers gather to determine from people newly arriving from your world what changes and developments wisdom has gone through and is going through now. If you wish, I will take you to the area where many of the ancient philosophers and their 'children' (meaning followers) live. "
He took me to the border between the south and the east. From some high ground there I gained a view of where we were going. To my surprise I saw a city. To one side of it there were two hills; the hill nearer the city was not as high as the other.
He said to me, "This city is called New Athens; the smaller hill is New Parnassus, and the larger is New Helicon. These are their names because the sages of ancient Greece stay here in the city and around it - Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristippus, Xenophon, and their followers and new recruits. "
I asked about Plato and Aristotle.
"They and their adherents live in another region," he said, "because their teachings were rational in nature and were focused more on the intellect, whereas the teachings of the philosophers here were moral in nature and were focused more on life. "
[2] He added that delegations of scholars from New Athens are frequently sent out to well-educated Christians to learn what people are thinking these days about God, the creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, how a human being compares with an animal, and other topics that relate to inner wisdom.
"Just today a spokesperson announced a gathering," he said, "and indicated that our delegates had come across some people newly arrived from earth who told them some strange and interesting things. "
We saw many people coming out of the city and the surrounding areas. Some had laurels on their heads; some were carrying palm fronds in their hands; some were carrying books under their arms; some had pens tucked behind their left ears.
[3] We joined in with them and together we all climbed the hill. There on the top of the hill we came to a magnificent octagonal building, which they called the Palladium. We went inside. There we saw eight hexagonal alcoves. Each alcove contained bookcases and a table. The people who were wearing laurel wreaths were seated at these tables. In the main area of the Palladium there were carved stone benches; all the other people were seated on these.
A door opened to the left and the two people who had recently arrived from the earth were announced, brought in, and greeted. Then one of the people wearing laurel asked them, "What are the latest developments on earth [in regard to wisdom]?"
"One new development," they said, "is that people that are like animals, or animals that are like people, were found in the woods. Their faces and bodies indicated that they had been born human, but they had been lost or left in the woods at the age of two or three. The people who reported this said that these feral children were unable to make noises that reflected thinking in any way; and even once found, they never learned to articulate sound into a single word of language. Unlike animals, they did not know what foods were suitable for them to eat, but put whatever they found in the woods into their mouths, whether it was clean or unclean; and there was more information like that.
"From this evidence, some of the scholars among us made conjectures and others drew numerous conclusions concerning how a human being compares with an animal. "
[4] Some of the ancient philosophers asked what the conjectures and conclusions were.
"There were many of them," the two new arrivals said, "but they could all be boiled down to the following points.
"(1) Human beings by nature and by birth are stupider than any animal and are the lowliest of creatures. Without instruction that is what they remain as they grow up.
"(2) Human beings are capable of being instructed because they learn to make articulate sounds and to speak. By doing so they begin to reveal their thoughts. They do this progressively more and more until they are able to express the laws of society, although animals instinctively know many of these laws the day they are born.
"(3) Animals and human beings are equally rational.
"(4) If animals were able to speak, they would reason as skillfully as people on every topic. An indication of this is that animals think with just as much reason and prudence as people do.
"(5) Understanding is just a matter of variations of light from the sun, with the help of heat, as it passes through the ether. Therefore it is just an activity of our inner nature. It is capable of being raised up to the point where it becomes manifest as wisdom.
"(6) Therefore it is meaningless to believe that we live on after death any more than an animal does - except that for a few days after death some mist that looks like a ghost might be able to appear from the life that is leaving the body before it dissipates into nature, much the way a plant that has been resuscitated from its ashes appears in much the same form as it had had before.
"(7) Therefore religion, which teaches life after death, is a fiction to keep commoners on an internal leash through the laws of religion, just as they are kept on an external leash by the laws of the state. "
They added that those who are merely clever hold these opinions, but not those who are truly intelligent. When asked what the truly intelligent think, they answered that they had not actually heard, but they imagine that it must be different from this.
[5] Upon hearing this, all who were sitting at the tables said, "Oh, what sort of phase are the people on earth going through now? What reversal of fortune has wisdom undergone now? Has it turned into mindless fabrications? The sun has set. It has sunk beneath the earth to some point opposite the midday height where it should be.
"Surely everyone can know, based on the evidence of these people who have been abandoned and then found in the woods, that this is what people who have never been taught are like.
"Are we not what we have been taught to be? Are we not born in greater ignorance than the animals? Walking and talking are things we have to learn. If we do not learn to walk, will we ever stand up on our feet? If we do not learn to speak, will anything in our thinking ever change?
"Are we not all what we have been taught to be? If we have been taught falsities, then we are insane; if we have been taught truths, then we are wise. Nevertheless, those who have been driven insane by falsities are completely taken with the fantasy that they are wiser than those who have become wise through learning truths. Are there not idiotic and insane people who are no more human than the feral children found in the woods? Is it not true that people who have no memory are also much like feral children?
[6] "The conclusion we draw from all this is that without instruction people are not human, but they are not animals either. They are forms that have the capacity to receive and take in that which makes us human. Therefore we are not born human; we become human. The form in which we are born is that of an organism for receiving life from God, for the purpose of being an entity into which God can bring all that is good and, through union with him, make that entity blissfully happy forever.
"From what you just told us we perceive that wisdom has either died or become so ridiculous that people know absolutely nothing about how the life that is in a human being compares to the life that is in an animal. As a result, people know nothing about the state of human life after death.
"The people who are in a position to know this but do not want to know it and who therefore deny it - as many from among you Christians do - are much like those who were found in the woods. The people found in the woods, however, were stupid only because they lacked instruction; these scholars have made themselves just as stupid through believing in the mistaken impressions they get from their own senses - impressions that cast darkness over truths. "
[7] Then someone who was holding a palm branch stood up in the middle of the Palladium and said [to the sages], "Would you be so kind as to unravel a mystery? How is it that a human being, who was created as a form of God, can be changed into a form of the Devil? I know that the angels of heaven are forms of God and the angels of hell are forms of the Devil, and these two forms are opposite to each other. The latter are forms of insanity; the former are forms of wisdom. Would you tell us, therefore, how people who have been created as forms of God could possibly cross over from the light of day into a night so dark that they deny the existence of God and eternal life?"
One after the other in sequence, the teachers gave replies to this: first the Pythagoreans, then the Socratics, and afterward the rest. Among them there was one Platonist; he spoke last, and his opinion carried the day. It was as follows.
"In the Saturnian or Golden Age, people knew and acknowledged that they were forms for receiving life from God. As a result, wisdom was engraved on their souls and hearts. They saw what was true in the light of truth. Truths also allowed them to identify a good course of action by the sense of love and delight they felt in taking it.
"In the ages that followed, however, the human race stepped back from acknowledging that all the truth of wisdom and all the goodness of love within them was flowing in continually from God. As a result, they stopped being dwelling places for God. Their speaking with God and their association with angels came to an end, because the inner parts of their mind turned from the direction in which they had been facing. Their minds had been turned upward by God toward God, but now they bent down more and more in another direction, outward toward the world. At that stage they were turned by God toward God but through the world. Later their minds turned upside down to face in the opposite direction, downward toward themselves. Because people cannot see God when they are inwardly upside down and turned away, they separated themselves from God and became forms of hell, or forms of the Devil.
[8] "It follows from this that in the first ages, people acknowledged with all their heart and soul that any goodness or love and any truth or wisdom they possessed came from God and were actually God's qualities within themselves. They saw themselves as nothing more than vessels to receive life from God. Therefore they were called images of God, children of God, and those who are born of God.
"In the subsequent ages, however, people no longer acknowledged this with all their heart and soul. They acknowledged it at first because someone convinced them to believe it; then because it was traditional to believe it. Eventually it became just a matter of empty words. Making an acknowledgment like this with words alone is no acknowledgment at all; in fact, it is a denial at heart.
"From this we can see what wisdom is like among Christians on earth today, who no longer know the difference between people and animals. (But they could have drawn inspiration from God through the written revelation they have.) Many Christians believe that if people live on after death, then animals do too; or else if animals do not live on after death, neither do people.
"Surely, then, the spiritual light we have, which enlightens the sight of the mind, has become a darkness to them; whereas the earthly light they have, which enlightens only the sight of the body, seems to them to shine brightly. "
[9] After this was said, all who were gathered turned to the two new arrivals and thanked them for coming and speaking with them. They also asked the new arrivals to relay what they had heard here to their colleagues. The new arrivals said they intended to convince their colleagues of the truth that if we attribute all the goodness related to goodwill, and all the truth related to faith, to the Lord and none of it to ourselves, we are human and we become angels of heaven.
692. At this point I will add some accounts of experiences, of which this is the first. 1
When I was going home from the school of wisdom, I saw on the way an angel dressed in blue. He came and walked beside me, and said: 'I see you have come away from the school of wisdom, and that you took great pleasure in what you heard there. But I perceive that you are not fully in our world, because you are at the same time in the natural world, so you do not know about our Olympic contests. At these the wise men of antiquity meet, and learn from newcomers from your world what changes of state and what vicissitudes wisdom has so far undergone and is still undergoing. If you like, I will take you to the place where many of the wise men of antiquity live together with their sons, that is, their disciples.'
So he took me to a place on the border between the north and the east, and when I had a view in that direction from a piece of high ground, I caught sight of a city with two hills at one side, the one nearer the city being the lower of the two. 'This city,' he told me, 'is called Athenaeum, the lower hill is called Parnassium, the higher Heliconeum. They bear these names because in the city and its neighbourhood the wise men of ancient Greece live, men such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristippus and Xenophon 2 , with their disciples and recruits.'
I asked about Plato and Aristotle. He told me that they and their followers were in a different region, because they had taught rational arguments concerned with the understanding, but the people here had taught about moral issues which relate to life.
[2] He said that scholars from the city of Athenaeum were frequently sent on embassies to the educated Christians, to report what are their present thoughts about God, the creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, the condition of man relative to that of animals and other subjects apposite to interior wisdom. He told me that the crier had announced a meeting for that day, a sign that their emissaries had met some newcomers from the earth and heard some interesting news. We saw a lot of people coming out of the city and its neighbourhood, some of them with laurel-wreaths on their heads, some holding palm-fronds in their hands, some with books under their arms, and some with pens tucked under the hair of the left temple.
[3] We joined them and went up together, and found on the hill an octagonal palace, which they called the Palladium. When we went in we found eight hexagonal recesses, in each of which was a bookcase, as well as a table at which those who wore laurels sat down. In the Palladium itself we saw seats carved out of stone, on which the remainder seated themselves.
Then a door on the left was opened and by it two newcomers from the earth were brought in. When they had been welcomed, one of those wearing laurels asked them, 'What news is there from earth?'
'The news,' they said, 'is that men have been found in forests resembling animals, or animals resembling men. They recognised from their faces and bodies that they had been born men, but that at the age of two or three they had been lost or abandoned in the forests. They said that these creatures could not voice any of their thoughts, nor learn how to make articulate sounds so as to utter words. Neither did they know what food was fit for them, as animals do, but they put in their mouths what grew in the forest whether clean or dirty; and much more of the same kind. From these facts some of our learned men made many guesses and some made many deductions about the condition of men relative to that of animals.
[4] On hearing this some of the wise men of antiquity asked, 'What were their guesses and deductions from these facts?' The newcomers replied that there was a great deal, but it could be reduced to the following:
1. Man by his nature and also from birth is more stupid and so more vile than any animal, and if not taught becomes like one.
2. He can be taught because he has learnt to make articulate sounds, and so to talk; and by this means he has begun to express his thoughts; and by degrees he has done so more and more, until he could put together the laws of living together, many of which, however, have been stamped upon animals from birth.
3. Animals equally with men are capable of reasoning.
4. If therefore animals could talk, they would reason as cleverly on all subjects as men. A proof of this is that they think from reason and prudence just as much as men.
5. The understanding is merely a modification of sunlight with the co-operation of heat by means of the ether, so that it is simply an activity of more inward nature. This activity can be raised to such a height that it looks like wisdom.
6. It is therefore useless to believe that man lives after death any more than an animal does, except that perhaps for a few days after death an exhalation of the life of the body may appear as a cloud in the form of a ghost, before being dispersed into nature. This is very much as when a twig picked out of the ashes of a fire may appear to retain the likeness of its shape.
7. Consequently religion, which teaches that life continues after death, is an invention so that the simple may be kept inwardly obedient by its laws, just as they are kept outwardly obedient by the civil law.
They added that these were the reasonings of those who were only clever, but not intelligent. 'What do the intelligent think?' they asked. The reply was that they had not heard, but they were of the opinion that they thought the same.
[5] On hearing this all who were sitting at the tables said: 'What times they live in on earth now! What sad changes wisdom has undergone! It seems to have turned into foolish cleverness. The sun has set and is beneath the earth, diametrically opposite its noon position. How can anyone fail to know from the evidence of the people abandoned and then found in the forests, that this is what man is like if he receives no instruction? Surely he is what he is taught to be. By birth he is more ignorant than animals. He must then learn to walk and to talk. If he did not learn to walk, would he stand upright on his feet? And if he did not learn to talk, would he be able to utter any of his thoughts? Surely everyone is what he is taught to be, crazy if taught falsities, wise if taught truths? And if he is crazy from being taught falsities does he not imagine himself to be wiser than the man who is wise from being taught truths? Are there not foolish and deranged people who are no more human beings than those who were found in the forests? Are not those who have lost their memory like them?
[6] 'From both these sets of facts we draw the conclusion that a man is not a man without instruction, and is not an animal either, but he is a form capable of receiving in himself what makes a man human, so that he is not born a man, but becomes one. Man has by birth a form such that he can be an instrument for the reception of life from God, with a view to being a subject into which God can put all good, and by union with Himself make blessed for ever. We perceive from what you say that wisdom at the present time is so far extinct or turned to foolishness, that there is total ignorance about the terms upon which human beings live as compared to those on which animals live. As a result, they do not know either anything about how a person lives after death. But those who are able, but unwilling, to know about this, and so deny its reality, as many of you Christians do, can be likened to the people found in the forests. It is not that they have become so stupid through being deprived of instruction, but they have made themselves stupid by relying on the fallacies of the senses, which are the darkness that conceals truths.'
[7] But then someone standing in the middle of the Palladium and holding a palm-frond in his hand said: 'Please unravel this mystery. How could man having been created a form of God be changed into the form of a devil? I am well aware that the angels of heaven are forms of God, and the angels of hell are forms of the devil, and that these two are completely opposite forms, one of madness, the other of wisdom. Tell me, then, how could man created as a form of God pass from daylight into such a night as to be able to deny the existence of God and everlasting life?'
The teachers replied one after the other, first the Pythagoreans, then the Socratics, and afterwards the rest. But among them there was a certain follower of Plato, who was the last to speak. His opinion, which was adopted, went like this. The people of the age of Saturn, the golden age, knew and acknowledged that they were forms for the reception of life from God, and consequently they had wisdom written upon their souls and hearts, so that they saw truth by the light of truth, and truths enabled them to perceive good by the pleasure of its love. 'But,' he said, 'as in the following periods the human race retreated from the acknowledgment that all the truths of wisdom and thus all the good of love they had was continually flowing in from God, they ceased to be dwelling-places of God, and then too they stopped talking with God and mixing with angels. For the interiors of their minds were diverted from their previous direction, which was being raised upwards by God towards God, and they were turned further and further aside, outwards to the world, and so directed by God to God by way of the world. Finally they were turned in the opposite direction, which is downwards towards oneself. Because a person who is inwardly turned upside down or away cannot look to God, people separated themselves from God and became forms of hell, and so of the devil.
'It follows from this that in the earliest ages people acknowledged with heart and soul that all the good of love, and so all the truth of wisdom, came to them from God, and also that this good and truth were God's in them, so that they were purely receivers of life from God; which is why they were called images of God, sons of God and born of God. But in the following ages people no longer acknowledged this with their heart and soul, but by some incorrect belief, later by historical faith and finally merely professing it with the lips. Acknowledging anything of this kind merely by professing it with the lips is not acknowledging it, and is in fact denying it at heart.
[8] 'These facts enable us to see what wisdom is like on earth among present-day Christians. They can still be inspired by God as the result of a written revelation, while not being aware of the difference between man and an animal. Thus many people believe that if man lives after death, so too must an animal; or because an animal does not live after death, neither can man. Surely our spiritual light, which enlightens our mental vision, is in their case turned into thick darkness; and their natural light, which only enlightens the bodily vision, has become dazzling light to them?'
[9] After this speech all turned to the two newcomers and thanked them for coming and bringing their report; and they begged them to carry back to their brethren a report of what they had heard. The newcomers replied that they would strengthen their people in their belief in this truth, that in so far as they attribute all the good of charity and all the truth of faith to the Lord and not to themselves, so far are they human beings and so far do they become angels of heaven.
Footnotes:
1. This passage is repeated from Conjugial Love 156a-156e (151-154 bis).
2. Greek philosophers of the 6th, 5th and 4th centuries BC.
692. To this I will add the following Memorable Relations. First:
When returning home from a school of wisdom (see n. 48), I saw on the way an angel in violet-colored clothing. He came up beside me and said, "I see that you have come from a school of wisdom and are delighted with what you have there heard. And as I perceive that you are not fully in this world, being at the same time in the natural world, and therefore know nothing about our Olympic gymnasia where the old Sophi meet, and where they learn from the newcomers from your world what changes and successions of state wisdom has undergone and is still undergoing, if you wish, I will conduct you to a place where many of the ancient Sophi and their sons, that is, their disciples, dwell."
And he conducted me to the border between the north and east; and when I looked forward into it from an eminence, behold, a city appeared, and at one side of it two hills, the one nearer to the city being the lower. And the angel said to me, "That city is called Athenaeum, the lower hill Parnassium, and the higher Heliconeum. They are so named because in and about the city the old Grecian sages dwell, such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristippus, and Xenophon, with their disciples and scholars."
I asked about Plato and Aristotle, and he said that they with their followers inhabit another region, because they taught rational things, which pertain to the understanding, while the others taught morals, which pertain to life.
[2] He said that studious persons were frequently sent from the city Athenaeum to the Christian literati, to learn from them what they think at this day about God, the creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, the state of man relative to that of beasts, and other subjects of interior wisdom. He said also, that a herald had this day proclaimed a meeting, an indication that their messengers had met with newcomers from the earth, from whom they had heard some curious things.
And we saw a number of persons going from the city and suburbs, some having laurels on their heads, some holding palms in their hands, some with books under their arms, and some with quills under the hair of the left temple.
[3] We mingled with them and ascended the hill in their company; and behold, on the hill was an octagonal palace, which they called the Palladium; and we entered. And behold, there were eight sexagonal recesses there, in each one of which was a library, and also a table at which those crowned with laurel sat; and in the Palladium itself seats cut in stone were seen, upon which the others seated themselves.
A door was then opened at the left, through which were ushered two newcomers from the earth; and after salutations, one of those crowned with laurel asked them, "What news from earth?"
They said, "The news is that men like beasts, or beasts like men, have been found in a forest, whose faces and bodies showed that they had been born men, and had been left or lost in the forest when two or three years old; and it was claimed that they were unable to give expression by sound to anything of thought, or to learn to articulate any word; nor did they, like beasts, know the food that was suitable for them, but put into their mouths the productions of the forest, whether clean or unclean; and many such things were said of them. From all this some learned men among us have formed suppositions and others conclusions in regard to the state of men as related to that of beasts."
[4] Hearing this, some of the ancient Sophi asked, "What suppositions and conclusions do they draw from these facts?"
The two new-comers answered, "Many; but they may be referred to the following: 1. That man by his nature, and also by birth, is more stupid and therefore lower than any beast; and that he becomes such if not instructed. 2. That he could be instructed, because he had learned to make articulate sounds, and consequently to speak; and that he thereby began to express thoughts, and this gradually more and more fully, so that he is now able to frame laws of society, some of which however, are impressed upon beasts from birth 3. That rationality belongs as much to beasts as to men. 4. Therefore, if beasts were able to speak, they would reason as skillfully as men on any subject, a proof of which is, that they think from reason and prudence equally with men. 5. That the understanding is a mere modification of light from the sun, heat co-operating and the ether being the medium; thus it is a mere activity of interior nature; and this can be exalted to such a degree as to appear like wisdom. 6. That it is therefore vain to believe that man lives after death any more than a beast, except, perhaps, that for some days after death, owing to the exhalation of life from the body, he may appear like mist in the form of a ghost, before he is dissipated into nature; almost as a shrub raised from its ashes appears in a resemblance of its own form. 7. Consequently religion, which teaches that there is a life after death, is an invention to hold simple people in bondage by its laws internally, as they are held externally by civil laws."
To this they added that those who are merely ingenious so reasoned, but not the intelligent. The Sophi asked, "What do the intelligent think?"
They said, "We have not heard; but that is our opinion."
[5] Hearing this, all those who were seated at the tables exclaimed, "Oh what times they have now on earth! Alas! what changes wisdom has undergone! It is turned into an infatuated ingenuity. The sun has gone down, and is beneath the earth directly opposite to its noonday height. Who might not know from the evidence furnished by those persons lost in the forest and found again, that such is man when not instructed? Is he not what instruction makes him? Is he not born more ignorant than the beasts? Must he not learn to walk and talk? If he were not taught to walk, would he raise himself erect upon his feet? And without learning to talk could he even murmur anything of thought? Is not every man what instruction makes him, unwise from falsities or wise from truths; and is not the one who is unwise from falsities under a complete hallucination that he is wiser than the one who is wise? Are there not infatuated and senseless men, who are no more men than those found in the woods? Are not those who are devoid of memory like them?
[6] From all these instances we conclude that a man without instruction is not a man, neither is he a beast, but a form capable of receiving into itself that which makes it a man; thus man is not born a man, but is made a man, furthermore, that man is born such a form as to be an organ receptive of life from God, to the end that he may be a subject into whom God may bring every good, and make him blessed for ever by union with Himself. We perceive from your remarks that wisdom is at this day so far extinguished or infatuated, that men know nothing whatever of the state of their own life relative to that of beasts; and for that reason they are ignorant of the state of man's life after death; and those who are able to know about this, but do not wish to, and consequently deny it, as many of your Christians do, we may liken to those found in the forest; not that they have become thus stupid from lack of instruction, but they have made themselves thus stupid by the fallacies of the senses, which are the obscuration of truths."
[7] But just then some one standing in the center of the Palladium holding a palm in his hand, said, "Explain, I pray you, this mystery; how man, having been created a form of God, could be changed into the form of the devil. I know that the angels of heaven are forms of God, and the spirits of hell forms of the devil; and the two forms are opposites, the latter being forms of insanity, the former of wisdom. Tell me, therefore, how a man created a form of God, could pass from day into such a night as to be able to deny God and eternal life."
To this the teachers answered in order: First the Pythagoreans, then the disciples of Socrates, and then the others.
But there was among them a Platonist, who spoke last, and his opinion prevailed. It was as follows: "The men of the Saturnian or golden age knew and acknowledged that they were forms receptive of life from God, and consequently wisdom was inscribed on their souls and hearts, and thus they saw truth from the light of truth, and through truths had a perception of good from the delight pertaining to the love of good. But as the human race departed in succeeding ages from the acknowledgment that all truth of wisdom, and consequently all good of love in them, flows in continually from God, they ceased to be dwelling places of God; and converse with God and affiliation with angels also ceased. For the interiors of their minds, which had been raised upward by God to God, were then turned from their proper direction to one more and more oblique, outwardly into the world, and thus through the world to God from God; and finally they were turned in the opposite direction, which is downward to self. And as a man who is thus interiorly inverted and turned away cannot look to God, men have separated themselves from God, and have become forms of hell, and thus of the devil. From this it follows, that in the first ages men acknowledged in heart and soul that all good of love, and all truth of wisdom therefrom came to them from God, and also were God's in them; thus that they were mere receptacles of life from God, and were therefore called images of God, sons of God, and born of God; but in succeeding ages they acknowledged this not with the heart and soul, but with a kind of persuasive faith, then with a historic faith, and finally with the lips only; and acknowledging such a truth with the lips only is not acknowledging it, but in heart is denying it
[8] All this shows the kind of wisdom that now prevails on earth among Christians (although they might be inspired by a written revelation from God) for they do not even know the distinction between men and beasts, and in consequence many believe that if man lives after death, beasts must live after death also; or that as beasts do not live after death, therefore man does not. Has not our spiritual light, which illuminates the mental vision, become thick darkness among them, and their natural light, which illuminates the bodily vision only, become splendor?"
[9] After this the assembly all turned toward the two visitors and thanked them for their visit and the account they had given; they also begged of them to report what they had heard to their brethren.
The visitors answered that they would confirm their brethren in this truth, that so far as they attribute all the good of charity and truth of faith to the Lord, and not to themselves, so far they are men, and become angels of heaven.
692. MEMORABILIA.
To the above I will now add the following Memorabilia. The first is as follows. As I was returning home from a school of wisdom I saw on the way an angel dressed in a blue robe. He joined me and, walking by my side, he said, "I see that you have come from a school of wisdom and are delighted with what you heard there. I also perceive that you are not fully in this world, as you are at the same time in the natural world. You, therefore, do not know of our Olympic schools where the wise men of old meet, and learn from those who have lately come from your world, what changes wisdom has undergone and what progress it is still making. If you wish, I will conduct you to a place where many of those ancient sages dwell with their sons, that is, disciples."
So he led me to a region lying to the north east; and as I looked in that direction from an elevated spot I saw a city, and on one side of it two hills, the lower of which was nearer the city. "That city," he said to me, "is called Athenaeum, 1 the lower hill Parnassium, 2 and the higher Heliconeum. 3 They are so called because in and around the city dwell the ancient sages who lived in Greece, as Pythagoras, 4 Socrates, 5 Aristippus, 6 Xenophon, 7 with their disciples and pupils." I then asked him concerning Plato 8 and Aristotle; 9 and he replied, "They and their followers dwell in another region, because they taught principles of rationality which relate to the understanding, but the former taught moral principles which relate to the life."
[2] He further said that students from the city of Athenaeum were frequently sent to consult the erudite of the Christians and learn from them what the present day opinions were concerning God, the creation of the universe, the immortality of the soul, the state of man as compared with that of beasts, and other matters of interior wisdom. He said also that a herald had announced a meeting, which was an indication that deputies had met with new comers from the earth, and had learned from them matters of deep interest. We now saw many persons going out of the city and its suburbs, some with laurel wreaths on their heads, some with branches of palm in their hands, some with books under their arms and some with pens stuck in their hair under their left temples.
[3] We joined them and together we went up; and on the top of the hill there was an octagonal palace which they called the Palladium. 10 We entered, and within were eight hexagonal recesses, each furnished with a book case and a table, at which the men crowned with laurel took their seats. In the palladium itself were seats of hewn stone, and upon these the rest sat down. Presently a door opened on the left, and through it were introduced two new comers from the earth; and after salutations, one of the laureate asked them: "What news from the earth?" They replied: "The latest that in the forest there have been discovered human beings like beasts, or beasts like human beings; but from their face and body they were presumed to have been born human beings who had been either lost or abandoned in the forest when two or three years old. It was said that they could not express by sound anything of thought, nor could they be taught to articulate sounds so as to form words. They did not, like the beasts, know their proper food, but put into their mouth whatever they found growing wild, whether clean or unclean. Many such things were reported of them, and from these stories some of the learned among us have made many conjectures and some have reached many conclusions respecting the state of men in relation to that of beasts."
[4] On hearing this, some of the ancient sages asked what these conjectures and conclusions were. The two new comers replied: "There are many, but they may be comprised under the following: 1. Man by his nature and also by his birth is more stupid, and consequently more vile, than any beast; and he actually becomes such, unless he receives instruction. 2. He can be instructed, because he has learned to make articulate sounds, and therefore to speak; and by this means he has uttered his thoughts. Thus, advancing by successive stages, he has at length been able to frame the laws of society, many of which, however, are impressed upon beasts from their birth. 3. Beasts enjoy rationality as well as men. 4. Therefore, if beasts could speak, they would reason on any subject as skillfully as men; and a proof of this is that they think from reason and prudence as well as men. 5. Understanding is but a modification of light from the sun, with the co-operation of heat, by means of the ether; so that it is only an activity of interior nature, capable of being exalted to appear like wisdom. 6. It is, therefore, vain to believe that a man lives after death, any more than a beast; unless perhaps, for a few days after death; because of the exhalation of the life of the body, he may appear as a mist in the form of a spectre, before being dissipated into nature; almost as a twig, taken out of burnt ashes, appears in the likeness of its own form. 7. Consequently religion, which teaches that there is a life after death, is an invention to hold the simple-minded inwardly in bondage by its own laws, just as they are held outwardly by the laws of the state." They added that the merely ingenious reasoned in this way, but not the intelligent. When asked what the opinions of the intelligent were, they replied that they had not heard, but they supposed they did not reason so.
[5] On hearing this account, all who were seated at the tables exclaimed, "O what times are now upon the earth! Alas! what changes wisdom has undergone! It has surely changed into foolish ingenuity. The sun has set, and is now under the earth, diametrically opposite to its noonday zenith. Every one can see from the evidence furnished by those abandoned and later found in the forest that man is like this when uninstructed; for he is what instruction makes him. He is born in ignorance deeper than the beasts. He must learn to walk and speak; if he does not learn to walk he would never stand upright on his feet; if he did not learn to speak he would never utter a single thought. Every man is what instruction makes him, (spiritually) insane from falsities, wise from truths; and he who is insane from falsities is under the complete delusion that he is wiser than one who is wise from truths. There are men, fools and madmen, who are no more men than those creatures found in the forest. Like these, too, are those who have lost their memory.
[6] From all this, then, we have concluded that man without instruction is not a man, nor yet a beast, but a form capable of receiving what makes a man; and, therefore, he is not born a man, but becomes one. Further, that man is born such a form that he may become an organism receptive of life from God, to the end that he may be a subject upon whom God might confer every good, and by union with Himself make him happy for ever. We perceive from your remarks that wisdom at this day is so far extinguished or turned to folly, that nothing whatever is known of the state of man's life relative to that of beasts. Hence it is that they do not know the state of man's life after death. Those, however, who could know this, but are not willing to know it, and consequently deny such a life, as many of your Christians do, may fitly be compared to those found in the forest. Not that they have become so stupid from want of instruction, but that they have made themselves so through the fallacies of the senses, which are the dark shadows of truths."
[7] Thereupon, a certain one standing in the centre of the Palladium, and holding a palm in his hand, said, "Explain, I pray, this mystery. How could a man, created a form of God, be changed into a form of the devil? I know that the angels of heaven are forms of God, and that the angels of hell are forms of the devil, and that those two forms are the opposite of each other, the latter being forms of insanity, and the former, of wisdom. Tell me, therefore, how a man, created a form of God, could pass from day into such night as to deny God and eternal life?" To this the teachers replied in order, first the Pythagoreans, then the Socratics, and afterwards the rest.
Amongst them was a Platonist who spoke last, and his opinion prevailed; it was to this effect: "The men of the Saturnian 11 or golden age knew and acknowledged that they were forms receptive of life from God; and, wisdom being inscribed on their souls and hearts, they saw truth by the light of truth, and by means of truths they perceived good from the delight of its love. As, however, the human race in succeeding ages departed from the acknowledgment that all the truth of wisdom and consequently all the good of love with them continually flowed in from God, they ceased to be habitations of God. Then ceased also discourse with God and association with angels; for the interiors of their mind were diverted from their own proper course, which had been raised upwards towards God by God, to a course bent more and more outwards into the world, and thus towards God by God by way of the world; and finally they were turned in the opposite direction, which is downwards towards self. But as God cannot be seen by man when he is interiorly inverted, and thus turned away, men separated themselves from God and became forms of hell, and thus of the devil.
"From this it follows that in the first ages of the world men acknowledged in heart and soul that all the good of love, and consequently the truth of wisdom in them were from God, these being God's in them; and thus that they were mere receptacles of life from God, and were, therefore, called images of God, sons of God, and born of God. But in succeeding ages they did not acknowledge this truth in heart and soul, but with a kind of persuasive faith, then with a historic faith, and finally with the lips alone; and this is not acknowledgment at all; in fact, it is a denial at heart.
[8] "From what has been said it may be seen what kind of wisdom prevails at this day on earth among Christians. For although they can be inspired by God from a written revelation, yet they do not know the distinction between man and beast. Thus many suppose that if man lives after death so also will the beast; or, as the beast does not live after death, neither will man. Our spiritual light, which enlightens the sight of the mind, has surely become with them thick darkness; and their natural light, which illumines the sight of the body only, has become their ideal splendor."
[9] After this they all turned towards the two strangers, and thanked them for their visit and for their story; and they begged them to report to their brethren what they had heard. The strangers replied that they would endeavour to convince their brethren of this truth, that so far as they attribute all the good of charity and truth of faith to the Lord and not to themselves, so far they are men, and so far they become angels of heaven.
Footnotes:
1. Athenaeum, temple of Minerva in Athens, where scholars and poets met to read and discuss their works. City in the spiritual world where wise men of ancient Greece dwell.
2. Parnassius, belonging to Parnassus; subst. Parnassium, hill near Athenaeum, the city in the spiritual world of the Greek sages.
3. Heliconeus, belonging to Helicon. Subst. Heliconeum, hill near Athenaeum, the city in the spiritual world of the Greek sages.
4. Pythagoreans, followers of Pythagoras, sixth century Greek philosopher, who taught harmony through number.
5. Socrates, famous Greek philosopher, 469-399 B.C. He devoted himself to problems of life and conduct. Socratic.
6. Aristippus, pupil of Socrates, 430-360 B.C.; founded the Cyrenaic school of philosophy.
7. Xenophon, Greek prose writer, historian, and philosopher, 430-355 B.C.
8. Plato, greatest of Greek philosophers, 427-347 B.C. His theory of ideas places the attainment of an exalted and spiritual yearning for a supersensible beauty only in an ideal world.
9. Aristotle, Greek philosopher, 384-322 B.C.; born at Stagiros, so called The Stagirite. He took all knowledge for his province, but had little appreciation of mathematics. He created the science of logic.
10. Palladium, statue of Pellas, on the preservation of which the safety of Troy depended; temple of Pallas; meton. central or essential feature.
11. Saturninus used for Saturnius, of Saturn. (Saturninum aevum = the golden age.)
692. His adjiciam haec MEMORABILIA; PRIMUM. Dum ex Ludo sapientiae, abirem domum, in via vidi Angelum in veste hyacinthina; hic adjunxit se lateri meo, et dixit, video quod e Ludo sapientiae exiveris, et quod ex auditis ibi laetificatus sis; et quia percipio, quod non plenus sis in hoc Mundo, quia simul in Mundo naturali es, et ideo nescis nostra Gymnasia Olympiaca, ubi veteres Sophi conveniunt, et ex advenis e tuo Mundo hauriunt, quas status mutationes et successiones subiverat et adhuc subit Sapientia: si vis deducam te ad locum, ubi plures ex vetustis Sophis, et illorum filiis, hoc est, discipulis, habitant; et deduxit me in confinium inter Septentrionem et Orientem, et dum e loco edito illuc prospexi, ecce visa est Urbs, et ad unum ejus latus duo Clivi, et proprior urbi humilior altero; et dixit mihi, Urbs illa vocatur Athenaeum, Clivus humilior Parnassium, et altior Heliconeum; ita vocantur, quia in Urbe et circum illam commorantur Veteres sapientes in Graecia, ut Pythagoras, Socrates, Aristippus, 1 Xenophon, cum discipulis et tyronibus; et quaesivi de Platone et Aristotele; dixit, quod illi et illorum asseclae in alia regione habitent, quia hi docuerunt rationalia quae intellectus sunt, illi autem moralia quae vitae sunt.
[2] Dixit, quod ex Urbe Athenaeo frequenter ablegentur studiosi ad literatos ex Christianis, ut narrent quid hodie cogitant de Deo, de Creatione Universi, de Imortalitate animae, de Statu hominis relativo ad statum bestiarum, ac de rebus aliis quae interioris sapientiae sunt; et dixit, quod praeco hodie annuntiaverit conventum, indicium, quod emissarii novos Advenas e Terris offenderint, a quibus audiverunt curiosa; et vidimus multos exeuntes ex urbe et a viciniis, quosdam habentes laureas super capitibus, quosdam tenentes palmas in manibus, quosdam cum libris sub ulnis, et quosdam cum calamis sub sinistri temporis crinibus.
[3] Nos inseruimus nos illis, et una ascendimus, et ecce super Clivo Palatium octogonum, quod vocaverunt Palladium, ac intravimus; et ecce ibi octo insinuationes sexangulares, in quarum unaquavis erat Librarium, et quoque Mensa, ad quas consederunt laureati, et in ipso Palladio visa sunt Sedilia ex saxo exsculpta, super quae reliqui se demiserunt; et tunc aperta est janua ad sinistrum, per quam duo Advenae e terra introducti sunt, et postquam salutati, unus ex laureatis quaesivit illos, QUID NOVI E TERRA; et dixerunt, novum est, quod in sylvis invenerint homines sicut bestias, aut bestias sicut homines, at quod ex facie et corpore cognoverint natos esse homines, ac secundo aut tertio aetatis anno amissos aut omissos in Sylvis; dixerunt quod non possint sonare aliquid cogitationis, nec discere articulare sonum in aliquam vocem; quod nec scirent cibum sibi convenientem sicut bestiae, sed quod sylvestria tam munda quam immunda injicerent in buccam; praeter similia plura; ex quibus aliqui Eruditi apud nos divinarunt, et aliqui concluserunt plura de Statu hominum relativo ad statum bestiarum;
[4] his auditis, quaesiverunt aliqui ex vetustis Sophis, quid ex illis divinant et concludunt; et duo Advenae responderunt, quod plura, quae tamen ad haec possunt referri. 1. Quod homo ex sua natura, et quoque ex nativitate, omni bestia stupidior et inde vilior sit; et quod similiter fiat si non instruitur. 2. Quod instrui possit quia didicit articulate sonare, et inde loqui, et quod per id inceperit expromere cogitationes, et hoc successive plus et plus, usque ut posset exprimere leges Societatis, quarum plures tamen bestiis a nativitate impressae sunt. 3. Quod Rationalitas sit bestiis aeque ac hominibus. 4. Quare si bestiae potuissent loqui, tam solerter ratiocinarentur de omni re sicut homines; cujus rei indicium est, quod cogitent ex ratione et prudentia aeque ac homines. 5. Quod Intellectus sit solum modificatio lucis e Sole, cooperante calore, medio aethere, ita ut modo sit activitas interioris naturae, et quod haec possit exaltari, eo usque ut appareat sicut sapientia. 6. Quod ideo vanum sit credere, quod homo post mortem plus vivat quam bestia, nisi quod forte possit per aliquot dies post obitum ex exhalatione vitae corporis apparere sicut nimbus sub specie larvae, antequam dissipatur in naturam; vix aliter quam sicut virgultum ex cinere exsuscitatum apparet in similitudine suae formae. 7. Consequenter quod Religio, quae docet vitam post mortem, sit inventum, ut simplices teneantur intrinsecus in vinculo per ejus leges, sicut tenentur extrinsecus per Civitatis leges. His addiderunt, quod mere ingeniosi ita ratiocinentur, non autem Intelligentes; et quaesiverunt quid Intelligentes; dixerunt quod non audiverint, sed quod sic opinentur.
[5] His auditis dixerunt omnes qui ad Mensas sedebant, oh qualia nunc in Terris tempora; heu Sapientia quas vices subiit; versane est in ingeniositatem fatuam; Sol occidit, et sub terra est e diametro oppositus suae meridiei; quis non ex documento ex relictis et inventis in sylvis scire potest, quod homo non instructus talis sit; estne sicut instruitur; nasciturne in ignorantia prae bestiis; discetne gradiri et loqui; si non disceret gradiri, num se super pedes erigeret; et si non disceret loqui, Numeri mutiret aliquid cogitationis; estne omnis homo sicut instruitur, insaniens ex falsis, ac sapiens ex veris, et insaniens ex falsis in omni phantasia quod sit sapientior sapiente ex veris; danturne homines fatui et vesani, qui non plus homines sunt, quam inventi in sylvis; nonne cassi 2 memoria his similes sunt.
[6] Nos ex his et illis conclusimus, quod homo absque instructione non sit homo, nec bestia, sed quod sit forma, quae recipere potest in se id quod facit hominem, et sic quod non nascatur homo, sed quod fiat homo; et quod homo talis forma nascatur, ut sit organum recipiens vitae a Deo, propter finem ut sit subjectum, in quod Deus omne bonum posset inferre, et per unionem secum beatificare in aeternum. Percipimus ex sermone vestro, quod sapientia hodie in tantum exstincta aut infatuata sit, ut de statu vitae hominum relativo ad statum vitae bestiarum, prorsus nihil sciant; inde est, quod nec sciant statum vitae hominis post mortem; at illi qui hunc scire possunt, sed non volunt scire, et inde illum negant, ut faciunt multi ex vestris Christianis, assimilare possumus Inventis in sylvis; non quod ex privatione instructionis ita stupidi facti sint, sed quod per fallacias sensuum, quae sunt tenebrae veritatum, semetipsos ita stupidos fecerint.
[7] Sed tunc quidam in medio Palladii stans, in manu tenens palmam, dixit, evolvite quaeso hoc arcanum, quomodo homo forma Dei creatus, mutari potuit in formam diaboli; scio quod Angeli Coeli sint formae Dei, et quod angeli inferni sint formae diaboli, et duae formae sunt sibi oppositae, hae Insaniae, illae Sapientiae; dicite itaque, quomodo homo forma Dei creatus a die in talem noctem potuit transire, ut potuerit negare Deum, et vitam aeternam: ad haec responderunt Didascali in ordine, primum Pythagorei, dein Socratici, et postea reliqui; sed inter 3 illos erat quidam Platonicus; hic ultimo loquutus est, et hujus sententia praevaluit, quae erat; quod homines Aevi Saturnini seu Saeculi aurei, sciverint et agnoverint quod essent Formae recipientes vitae a Deo, et quod ideo sapientia animabus et cordibus illorum inscripta fuerit, et inde, quod ex luce veri viderint verum, et per vera perceperint bonum ex jucundo amoris ejus: at sicut Humanum Genus in sequentibus Saeculis recesserat ab agnitione, quod omne verum sapientiae et inde bonum amoris apud illos, continue influeret a Deo, cessaverunt esse habitacula Dei, et quoque tunc cessavit loquela cum Deo, et consociatio cum Angelis; interiora enim mentis illorum a directione sua, quae fuerat sursum elevata ad Deum a Deo, inflexa sunt 4 in directionem obliquam plus et plus, extrorsum in Mundum, et sic ad Deum a Deo per Mundum, et tandem inversa in directionem oppositam, quae est deorsum ad Semet; et quia Deus non potest spectari ab homine interius inverso et sic averso, homines se separaverunt a Deo, et facti sunt formae Inferni, et sic diaboli.
[8] Ex his sequitur, quod Primis Aevis agnoverint corde et anima, quod omne bonum amoris, et inde verum sapientiae illis essent a Deo, et quoque quod illa essent Dei in illis, et sic quod illi essent mera receptacula vitae a Deo, et inde vocati Imagines Dei, Filii Dei, et Nati a Deo: sed quod in succedentibus Aevis illud non corde et anima, sed quadam fide persuasiva, et dein fide historica, et demum solum ore, agnoverint; et agnoscere tale solum ore, est non agnoscere, imo est id negare corde. Ex his, videri potest, qualis hodie est sapientia in terra apud Christianos, tametsi illi ex Revelatione scripta inspirari possunt a Deo, dum non sciunt discrimen inter hominem et bestiam; et inde multi credunt, quod si homo vivit post mortem, etiam bestia victura sit, aut quia bestia non vivit post mortem, nec homo victurus sit; annon lux nostra spiritualis, quae illuminat visum mentis, apud illos facta est caligo, et lux illorum naturalis, quae solum illuminat visum corporis, facta est illis splendor.
[9] Post haec converterunt se omnes ad duos Advenas, et illis gratias propter adventum et narrationem agebant, et orabant, ut haec, quae audiverant, suis fratribus renuntiarent: et responderunt advenae, quod confirmaturi sint suos in hac veritate, quod quantum attribuunt omne bonum charitatis et verum fidei Domino, et non sibi, tantum sint homines, ac tantum fiant Angeli Coeli.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio et DAC 151R: Arisippus.
2. Prima editio: caffi.
3. Prima editio: lnter.
4. Prima editio et DAC 153R: est.