150. The state of man when in his Own, or when he supposes that he lives from himself, is compared to “deep sleep” and indeed by the ancients was called deep sleep; and in the Word it is said of such that they have “poured out upon them the spirit of deep sleep” (Isaiah 29:10), and that they sleep a sleep (Jeremiah 51:57). That man’s Own is in itself dead, and that no one has any life from himself, has been shown so clearly in the world of spirits, that evil spirits who love nothing but their Own, and obstinately insist that they live from themselves, were convinced by sensible experience, and were forced to confess that they do not live from themselves. For a number of years I have been permitted in an especial manner to know how the case is with what is man’s own, and it has been granted to me to perceive clearly that I could think nothing from myself, but that every idea of thought flows in, and sometimes I could perceive how and whence it flowed in. The man who supposes that he lives from himself is therefore in what is false, and by believing that he lives from himself appropriates to himself everything evil and false, which he would never do if his belief were in accordance with the real truth of the case.