585. Furthermore, their understanding far excels the understanding of the educated and wise on our earth, especially of those who are from Europe. These regard themselves as learned because they dissertate on philosophical matters, and are enraptured by nothing but terms and trivia, which take away all the meaning of a thing, as when the mind is intent upon the words of a speaker and not upon their sense - so that if the terms were gone, the mind would perceive the meaning clearly. This the spirits of Jupiter well understood, and they said that such terms are only little black clouds, which get in the way, and which they do not want to let in when they are portraying their starry heaven by a vision. That is where it becomes evident what a difference there is. When they wanted to portray the one only Lord changing wrong feelings so that they might become good ones - which amounts to changing evil into good - then they pictured the mind devoted to understanding as a beautiful figure, and its activity as a feeling harmonizing with that figure. Then they tried to show me how the one only Lord bends bad feelings into good ones, which they did for some time in their own characteristic manner, and so adroitly that they were warmly praised by the angels. The learned of our earth, however, could not grasp this at all, when yet they were scholars, and thought themselves wiser than those spirits. But they think themselves learned if they merely can dispute about what form is, what measurement is, what substance is, what matter and non-matter is - which the spirits of the other earth laugh about and call insanity. They love real things, while the former love nothing but filthy scum. They are now telling me these words.