2765. Therefore when I awoke, [the other spirits] were growing so angry at being deceived once again that when they wanted to throw out and punish those malignant spirits, then those spirits resorted to that art they had brought with them from the life of the body, of persuading those round about that I was insane. And so that I might observe the power and effectiveness of that aura, my bodily elements were withdrawn by the Lord to be as if they were theirs, but through the depths of my mind I could feel how effective that aura was and how it compelled anyone at all, however much they resisted, to be convinced. Spirits of that kind, either from fear of death, or fear of punishment, or a state of anger, let themselves into that state of persuading, so that even if they know that the matter is not so, yet they force their inward parts into a like state, so that the inward conspire with the outward parts toward such goals. Consequently, spirits who are around, whoever they are, whom the Lord does not protect by direct help, so to speak, cannot help being persuaded, or being brought forcefully to believing. Some have also lamented about this, saying that they cannot resist, scarcely knowing otherwise than that the matter was as presented. There was no rationale out in the open, because it was not a persuasion through speech, but it was more like a cohering mass of arguments closely linked to their dispositions that was causing this, so it cannot be described in a few words. 1748, 8 Aug.