4677. His sphere, in those days, was of such a kind, and so execrable, that it penetrated to the interiors; so that I could not perceive it, save by this: that all desire of writing, and doing anything useful, was completely taken away from me. Others complained, that, in like manner, there was with them so abominable a sphere, that it extinguished the interiors of heat, and induced torpor and inertness in the mind, and, at length, in the body. When delight fails, then, also, cutaneous exhalation fails, and the state of the body suffers. It was like a most intense latent cold, which extinguishes the fire from the interior [of the body, or spirit]. They are such as are habituated to the love of self and of the world, despising all others, esteeming no one.