THE THIRD WORLD IN THE STARRY SKY, AND ITS SPIRITS AND INHABITANTS

Some spirits became visible far off, who were unwilling to come close. The reason was that they could not bear the company of the spirits from our world who were then around me. I realised from this that came from another world. I was told afterwards that they came from a certain world in space, but I was given no indication where it might be. These spirits utterly refused to think about their bodies, or indeed about anything to do with the body or matter; in this they were quite different from the spirits of our world. This was why they were unwilling to come close; but when some of the spirits from our world had been sent away, they came closer and talked with me.

However, I then had a feeling of unease, which is caused by the clash of spheres. All spirits and communities of spirits are surrounded by spiritual spheres.# These proceed from the life of their affections and so their thoughts, so when their affections are opposed, there is a clash leading to uneasiness. The spirits from our world reported that neither did they dare to get close to them, because when they did, they not only felt gripped by uneasiness, but even seemed to themselves to be tied hand and foot with snakes, which they could not untie until the spirits left. This appearance is due to the correspondence. The spirits of our world answer in the Grand Man to the external senses or bodily sense-perception, and in the other life this is pictured by snakes.## # A spiritual sphere, that of their life, flows out and pours forth from each person, spirit and angel and envelops them (AC 4464, 5179, 7454). Its source is their life of affection and thus thought (AC 2489, 4464, 6206). In the next life these spheres determine how groups are formed and also dissolved (AC 6206, 9606-7, 10312). ## A person's external sensory faculty is pictured in the spiritual world by snakes, because it is concerned with the lowest levels and as compared with a person's inner levels it lies on the ground, and as it were, creeps. As a result those who base their reasoning on that sensory faculty were called snakes (AC 195-7, 6398, 6949).