3842. HOW INTERIOR EVIL SPIRITS FLOW IN. The deceitful [spirits] who are above the head have flowed in for a considerable time and in some cases with so much subtlety that I knew not that it proceeded from them. For some time past a mere manifest reflection has been given me, and today a clearer still, so that I could observe how they flow into the subtle thought of man, which influx is such that man could never perceive the source of it. From close observation granted me by the Lord, I perceived this so manifestly as to notice each one of their common influxes, and if that close observation had not been granted, I should by no means have perceived whence the [influx flowed], still less that it was from those above the head, but [could have taken it to be] in myself and from myself, as other men think and even believe. But that it is from spirits I am now able to know more distinctly than ever before. When they apperceived that I was reflecting upon their influx they became highly indignant and wished, as they said, to withdraw, but they knew not whither.