2229. Spirits fly up to one, like the eagle, as we read of nations

While reading Deuteronomy 28:49, that a nation flies as an eagle, I recalled something that has often occurred, namely that spirits appear instantaneously, as if they fly up to one, even if they were a long way off, "at the end of the earth," as we read. For no matter where they are in the world, they appear at once as present, some even very near, at the ear, at the back, within the body, being most swiftly at hand, and most closely, wherever they had lived in the world, even on other planets. For near and nearest is a fallacy of the senses, as can be shown from sight and hearing, and from the fact that space does not exist in spiritual things, nor does time.

To the eye, there is no space between itself and the sun, which would appear as if in the eye if it were not revealed by objects in between, as well as by sure knowledge, that space intervenes. Therefore I have spoken at times with spirits about this subject, who wanted to draw conclusions about presence on the basis of the appearance, and would not easily believe anything except as it appears. Yet there are countless fallacies of the senses which must be shaken off before the truth can come forth. 1748, 7 June.