THERE ARE DIVERSIONS OF CHARITY, WHICH ARE VARIOUS ENJOYMENTS AND PLEASURES OF THE BODILY SENSES, USEFUL FOR RECREATING THE MIND [animus].*

Such diversions are social intercourse, with its discussions about various matters, public, private, and domestic; also walks with their views, delightful on account of the various beauties and splendours of palaces and houses, of trees and flowers in gardens, woods, and fields, also of people, birds, and flocks; plays, moreover, of various kinds, presenting moral virtues, and turns of fortune from which something of Divine Providence shines out. These and similar things are for the sense of sight. Then, too, harmonies of music and of singing, that affect the mind [animus] according to their correspondence with affections; and besides these, seemly jests, that expand the mind [animus]. These are for the sense of hearing. Furthermore, banquets, feasts, and meals, with the cheerfulness attending them; and in addition, indoor games played with dice, balls, or cards; dancing, too, at weddings and festive gatherings. These and similar things are diversions useful for recreating minds [animus]. And in addition to these there are various kinds of manual work exercising the body and diverting the mind [animus] from its regular activities; then there is the reading of books containing opinions on history and philosophy which give delight, and the news in newspapers also. * Swedenborg uses two terms for "mind," mens and animus. Generally, the former is used for the higher level in which the will and understanding are rationally active, while the latter applies to the lower level in which desires and ideas in connection with the body and the world are active; but mens is occasionally used with a wider significance. Cf. n. 204.