755. CONCERNING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE DELIGHTS OF PLEASURE AND TRUE HAPPINESS When I deeply felt delights or pleasantnesses I did not know whence they came, for it is very difficult for a soul or spirit to distinguish between fictitious or counterfeit delights, and those that are true or heavenly, because with them the sensation is as yet so gross that they do not know the difference; wherefore I conversed with the spirits around me concerning those delights, as to whence they came. Hence it was said that false delights or pleasures sometimes so counterfeit those that are true and heavenly that it is by no means possible to distinguish between them; indeed, unless the Lord inspires a knowledge of the distinction, a spirit is not at all aware of it. How very often do evil spirits, indeed the worst, mock and fascinate those who are in the other life by similar fictitious delights; for they suppose them to be heavenly delight itself, when nevertheless it is altogether infernal, because it is turned into what is infernal and into torment. Thus they not only inject a pleasantness perceptible to their inmost, but also [represent] beautiful counterfeit forms of different objects, such as gardens, as if they were those of paradise. For evil spirits, especially those who are high above the head, continually study how they may imitate such things, and thus seduce or allure souls over to their side, so that they may be associated with themselves.