Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6618

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6618. Some spirits once boasted that they knew all things; in the Grand Man these spirits correlate with the memory. But they were told that there is a limitless number of things that they do not know, indeed that one idea can be filled out with limitless details, in spite of which it would still be seen by them as one simple idea. Those spirits were also told that even if those ideas went on being filled out every day forever with further details they could not know even all their general aspects, from which fact they would be able to deduce how much there was that they did not know. The truth of this was thoroughly demonstrated to them, so that they would acknowledge it. An angel spoke to them by means of changes of state, but they could not understand what he conveyed to them. At this point they were told that each change of state contained limitless aspects, the existence of which however they were not even aware of; for apart from the fact that they did not understand what the angel conveyed to them, they were not stirred by any affection for it.


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