1770. That great sensory illusion whereby humankind imagines that it lives from itself, originates in the love of self. When that love prevails, there can be no belief in the Lord, which belief alone, because the Lord Alone, causes one both to know this, and to see it inwardly. It was desirable to make this more clear to spirits, for those who are truly angels know it and plainly see it inwardly. Knowing is as if outside of them, seeing is within them. So it was shown to them by an experience I hardly dare to bring forward because hardly anyone could believe it, but I would like to tell if only because it has occurred frequently. When any spirit listens to the hoofbeats of a horse and is speaking simultaneously, it is heard exactly as if the hoofs of the walking horse were speaking. This experience has sometimes displeased spirits when it was accompanied by the thought that this is a sensory illusion, the same as the illusion in thinking that one can live from oneself. 1748, 28 March. For whatever sound they attend to, and listen to with imagination, such as the beats of hammers and other tools, they likewise hear talking-not that there is any talking, but the illusion is such that they cannot tell but that there is talking.