Vers 13. Und der Herr hat die Seele mit innerer Intelligenz begabt, damit er sie befähige, aus dem Guten und Wahren, das in den Verstand gesät wurde, Nutzen zu ziehen; und er hat sie dazu gebracht, sich am Studium der wissenschaftlichen Wahrheiten der Religion zu erfreuen, und hat sie durch die Wahrheiten des Glaubens mit Gutem erfüllt;

1510. Every spirit has his own sphere, and every community of spirits even more so, which emanates from the assumptions and the persuasions he has adopted. This sphere is that of his assumptions and persuasions. Evil genii possess a sphere of evil desires. The sphere of assumptions and persuasions is such that when it acts on another person it causes truths to be as falsities, and stirs up all things which are of a confirmatory nature, so as to induce a belief that falsities are truths, and that evils are goods.

[2] This has made clear to me how easily a person can be confirmed in falsities and evils if he does not believe in the truths which come from the Lord. The density of such spheres depends on the nature of the falsities that are present; and those spheres cannot possibly coexist with the spheres of spirits who abide by truths. If those spheres draw near, a repugnance arises; and if, because it is permitted to do so, the sphere of falsity prevails, the good enter into temptation and into distress. I have also perceived the sphere of disbelief, which is such that those to whom it belongs do not believe anything they are told, and scarcely believe that which they are given to see with their eyes. There is also the sphere of those who believe nothing apart from what they apprehend with the senses.

[3] I also once saw a certain spirit dressed in black who was sitting at a mill and, it seemed, was grinding flour. To the side of him I saw little mirrors. Subsequently I saw some things which were the product of delusion but which were airy. I wondered who he was, but he came to me and said that it was he who had been seated at the mill, and that he possessed such ideas as that every single thing was the product merely of delusion and that nothing was real, on account of which, he added, he had become what he was.