1385. Er zijn geesten, die tot de streek van de huid, vooral van de schubachtige huid behoren, die over alles willen redeneren en geenszins gewaarworden, wat goed en waar is, en die het zelfs hoe meer zij redeneren, des te minder gewaarworden, doordat zij in het redeneren de wijsheid stellen, en ook zo als wijs gezien te worden. Hun werd gezegd, dat de wijsheid van de engelen bestaat in het innerlijk gewaarworden of iets goed en waar is, zonder geredeneer; maar zij begrijpen niet, dat zo’n innerlijke gewaarwording kan bestaan Het zijn diegenen, die in het leven van het lichaam het goede en het ware verward hebben door wetenschappelijke en filosofische dingen, en zich vandaar voor geleerder hielden dan anderen en die van te voren niet enig beginsel van het ware uit het Woord hadden opgenomen; en zij hebben daarom minder gezonde rede.

1920. 'Behold, your servant-girl is in your hand' means that this rational was conceived from the controlling power of the affection for truth allied to good. This is clear from the meaning of 'hand' as power, dealt with already in 878, and from the meaning of 'Hagar the Egyptian' as the affection for knowledge, also dealt with already. Following the conception of the rational by means of the internal man flowing into the life belonging to the exterior affection for knowledge, 'servant-girl' is used to mean that tender embryonic rational which however is represented, when born and developed, by Ishmael, who is the subject below. That the Lord had control over the rational residing with Him and that He subdued it by His own power will be clear from what is to be stated next.

6494. For many years I watched carefully to see whether there was any such thing as fortune. I discovered that there was, and that prudence was not in that case of any avail. Furthermore all who have reflected on the matter for a long time know and confess this to be true, though they do not know why it is so. Scarcely anyone knows that fortune has its origin in the spiritual world; yet that is where it does indeed originate. In a social gathering I once played a commonly known game of chance in which dice are used, while the spirits present with me spoke to me about fortune in games. They said that good fortune was represented to them by means of a bright cloud, and ill fortune by means of a sombre one, and that when a sombre cloud was seen near me I could never win. Seeing that sign they were also foretelling to me the changes of fortune that took place in the game. From this I wished to know that what people attribute to fortune, even in games, has its origin in the spiritual world; this is even more true with regard to the changing fortunes that befall a person during the course of his life. What is called fortune results from the entry of Providence into the last and lowest degrees of order, in which it manifests itself as fortune. Thus it is that Providence is at work in the most specific aspects of everything, as accords with the Lord's words that not even a hair falls from one's head unless God wills it.