Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8243

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8243. When spirits belonging to Jupiter were present with me the faces of members of our planet seemed to me to be smaller than usual. This was due to the fact that I was influenced by an idea coming from those spirits which they had regarding their own faces, that they were larger. For when they are living as people on their planet they believe that their faces will be larger after death, and round- shaped. And because this idea is firmly impressed on them it therefore also endures with them; and when they become spirits they appear to themselves to have a larger face. The reason why they believe their faces will be larger is that they say the face is not the body, since they speak and present their thoughts by means of it, and the mind is thereby made visible through it so to speak. Therefore they have the idea that the face is the outward form taken by the mind; and since they know that they will be wiser after their life in the world, they consequently believe that the outward form their mind takes, that is, their face, will become fuller.


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