Spiritual Experiences (Buss) n. 6046

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6046. THOSE WHO ARE IN FAITH ALONE. I spoke with those that are in faith alone, who are outside of heaven. They say that they are becoming fewer by degrees, and that they go away and do not return, not knowing whither they are gone; and a certain one who returned, stated that they dwell amid sand and stones, and are in huts like peasants, apart from one another, and that they have but little to eat, or food. The reason is, because food corresponds to intelligence, which they have not; and sterile ground corresponds to lack of intelligence and of the affection of truth, and thus to them. They stated, that, when they go out and see others at a distance, they are afraid to speak to them, because there are also robbers there; but these dwell in the caverns of rocks. These, also, are of such as are in faith alone, but craved for robbers' plunder, as it were. They did not regard these [depredations] as wrong; but they fear those [robbers], for they do them injuries, and capture them, in order to enslave them. Wherefore, when they see any spirits, they inquire whether they dwell in huts. When they say they do, they wish to enter their hut before they do, and to go forth from it; and thus they first accost them, and converse. Thus they retire. Such is the lot of those who are in faith alone. A certain one (a priest in Moria), was sent thither, and reported that there is not a shrub, or a blade of grass there, but gravel, and that they live thus. But, what is wonderful, they were delighted to remain there, so that they were unwilling to live anywhere else. The reason is, because plants, shrubberies, and the like, in fields and gardens, correspond to the intelligence of truth, which they shun and hold in aversion.


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