42. It needs to be known that no spirit is able to see the sun of the world at all, or any light from it. The light of that sun is to spirits and angels like thick darkness. Spirits merely retain an idea of that sun from seeing it when in the world, and it is envisaged as a dark patch, behind and a long way off, in height slightly above head-level. The planets belonging to the solar system are to be seen in fixed positions relative to the sun. Mercury is behind, a little to the right; Venus to the left, a little behind; Mars in front to the left; Jupiter likewise to the left and in front, but further away; Saturn right in front at a very great distance. The moon is on the left, fairly high up; and the satellites of each planet are to the left of it. That is how spirits envisage their planets; and the spirits are to be seen in the vicinity of their own planet, but outside it. However, the spirits of Mercury in particular are not to be seen in a fixed direction or at a fixed distance; they appear now in front, now to the left, now a little behind. The reason is that they are allowed to travel around the universe to acquire knowledge.