1120. I have also been shown that the internal breathing of members of the Most Ancient Church which had come from between the navel and the inner region of the breast was changed in the course of time, that is, among their descendants. It retreated more towards the region of the back and towards the abdomen, and so retreated outwards and downwards till at length, among the final descendants of that Church who came immediately before the Flood, scarcely any internal breathing was left. And when at length none at all came from the breast they underwent self-caused suffocation. Among certain people of that time however external breathing came into existence and with it articulated sound, or vocal speech. Thus the ways in which people breathed prior to the Flood were determined by their state of love and faith; and when at length neither love nor faith existed but a persuasion of falsity, internal breathing came to an end. And when that came to an end so did perception and direct communication with angels.