Spiritual Experiences (Buss) n. 1051

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

1051. As it is solely by an example that this can to some extent be grasped, let this be mentioned merely as an example: When someone asserts that shame is not possible unless it is accompanied with reverence, it is then usual to spend many hours discussing these things by words, or by the writing of many pages, in regard to what both shame and reverence are; wrangling about what shame is, and the classifications which are predicated of it in general and in particular; in like manner, what reverence is in application to very many circumstances, whence innumerable conclusions can be drawn according to the idea of the subject each one has acquired and the state he has formed. All these things are perceived by a spirit by spiritual intuition alone, without any description or an idea of particulars being known, and they are communicated to others in a moment, thus from one genus to another and so to their species. These things the angels perceive distinctly and simultaneously, so that they at once know the conclusions. Such is the communication of things among spirits, into which faculty souls come at once after death, but with much variety according to the life of their cupidities. Those who have not blinded their rational sight by phantasies understand better.


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church