921. CONCERNING THE EXPLORATION OF SOULS AS TO THEIR VARIOUS STATES It was said above [nos. 867-871] that when souls come among spirits, or among those souls who wander about freely in the lowest heaven or as if in another world, they are explored by them, this being done according to their capacity. There are those who explore only the grosser states of a soul; they can be greatly deceived, for they only lead him to speak what they have proposed to themselves, and set before him. If the soul, then, is ready in following up the speech of those who induce him to speak in this manner, they therefore at once judge him to be of that quality, when yet he is not; for at the same time they induce on him a state similar to their own. In that state he thus readily speaks with them as one of themselves. Hence they suppose him to be such, and sometimes when from the prejudices or opinions he has acquired, they induce evils on him, they condemn him. This happened in the case of some who had been known to me in their lifetime, concerning whom I was not always able to think so justly, because they were not very well known to me. Wherefore, those spirits judge after this manner.