Each spirit has his life's own instinct, which is noticeable at a time when he is either left to himself, or is in the company of his like; but it vanishes when he is in the company of better spirits. I have seen that change [in a spirit], as well as his being brought back suddenly to his natural instinct of wanting to take something that was not his, although nothing of this was apparent to the company he was in. Moreover, the life of a spirit not only changes depending upon the kind of companions he has, but is also degraded, which was likewise shown, namely, that by diminishing the number of companions to a few, his life was likewise diminished from a clever one to a rather stupid one. So the lives of souls after death are joined to different societies, and in this way also it is discerned what their character is, and with whom they harmonize. In whatever society they are, souls think that they are alone and live from themselves. They are likewise explored during several states of a society of similar spirits, so that the spirits find out, as do the souls themselves, what they are like. For one is not the same in one state as in another. But societies of angels must be the same throughout changing states, because they must all let themselves be led by the Lord. 1748, 9 February. mThese words [were written] in the presence of some who constituted one society.n