3213. REPRESENTATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCES - continued

In the world of spirits countless representatives manifest themselves almost constantly. They are visible forms of spiritual and celestial things, not unlike the forms that occur in the world. The origin of them I have been given to know through daily association with spirits and angels. Representatives in the world of spirits flow in from heaven, and from the ideas and the discussions of the angels there. Indeed when angels' ideas and their discussions resulting from those ideas come down to spirits, they present themselves in a variety of ways as representatives. Upright spirits are able to know from those representatives what angels are discussing with one another, for inwardly representatives have within them that which comes from angels, and since this stirs the affections of those spirits, it is perceived even as to the essential nature of it. Angels' ideas and discussions cannot present themselves to spirits in any other way, for an idea existing with an angel contains immeasurably more than an idea existing with a spirit, and unless it were given visible form and presented itself in a representative way, and so visually by means of images, a spirit would understand hardly anything whatever of those things. For such things are for the most part inconceivable. But when they are represented by means of visible forms they are rendered such that spirits are able to comprehend some fairly general aspects. This is a marvel, for not even the smallest detail of the things that are represented fails to express something spiritual or celestial present in an idea existing with the angelic community from which the representative flows down.