5177. CONCERNING REFLECTIONS IN THE HEAVENS, AND, THUS, CONCERNING THE STATE OF THE LIFE OF THOSE THERE. I wondered exceedingly at the circumstance that spirits and angels reflect little upon the states of their life, as to wherein it differs from the state of life in the world; as, for example, about their houses, garments, the other appearances within and without the house, etc., as to whence these are and whence the changes [in them] arise. They know, indeed, that such things exist from the Divine; but, still, when they exist, they do not reflect upon them; thus, not upon the fact, that, when any are in an opposite opinion, they vanish, and that those are suddenly present who are in a similar opinion. The reason that they do not reflect, is, because all this is conformable to the state of their life; and, when this follows from the interior state, and thus, as it were, spontaneously, there is then no state of reflection, as there is with those who speak, think and deliberate as to whence and of what character a thing is. It was also observed, that, in the proportion in which they reflect thereupon, in the same proportion does their innocence, wisdom and intelligence perish; and, then, instead of these, knowledge obtains. Lest, also, those things perish which are the essentials, they are kept in a state of non-reflection upon them; but still they are kept in the perception, apart from knowledge, as to what and whence those things are.* * It seems desirable, here, to draw attention to the fact that the "reflection" spoken of in this number, is based upon externally acquired knowledges. Perception, on the contrary, is the spontaneous activity of the understanding proceeding from, and agreeing with, the will. While, therefore, the reflection spoken of having an altogether external basis, is radically an external act, perception, flowing as it does from the interiors of the mind, is radically an internal act. And it will be evident to everyone who even approximately understands the NEW-CHURCH psychology, that the exercise of the external mode of mental activity, called here reflection, is detrimental to, and, indeed, if carried far enough, destructive of, the internal, viz., perception. A careful study of the internal sense of the eating of the "tree of knowledge," in Eden, makes this matter quite plain. (See AC 204-209.) ED.