1166. THAT HE WHO CLEAVES TO WORLDLY CARES LAPSES ALTOGETHER INTO ANOTHER STATE For almost three years, that is, for 33 months, I have now been in such a state that my mind, having been indeed withdrawn from corporeal things, could be among societies of spiritual and celestial beings, and yet I have been like any other man in the company of men without any difference, at which the spirits also wondered. Despite this, when I was closely engaged in thought concerning worldly matters - as when I had worries about necessary expenses, and when I wrote a letter today - so that I kept my mind [animus] for some time intent upon such matters, I then relapsed into a state, as it were, corporeal, so that the spirits were unable to speak with me. They said that they had been, as it were, absent, almost in like manner as it had been before. Hence I can know that spirits cannot speak with a man who is excessively devoted to worldly and corporeal concerns, for the corporeal cares draw down, as it were, the ideas of the mind and immerse them in corporeal things. 1748, Mar. 4.