45. This was how people who lived in most ancient times envisaged matters of the understanding and those of the will. Among the Prophets therefore, and consistently throughout the Old Testament Word, like matters are represented by various kinds of living creatures. There are two kinds of beasts - evil ones, because they are harmful, and good ones, because they are gentle. Evil [and harmful] things in man were meant by such beasts as bears, wolves, and dogs, while good and gentle things were meant by beasts such as calves, sheep, and lambs. As the subject here is those persons who are to be regenerated, 'the beasts' are good and gentle ones, which mean affections. Things of a baser nature that derive from the body are called 'wild animals of the earth'. These are desires and pleasures.

5724. In the brain there are viscous substances that have something spirituous or life-giving mixed into them. Once those substances have been expelled from the blood in the brain, they first of all move in among the meninges, then among the fibres; some of them move into the large ventricles in the brain, and so on. The spirits who are related by correspondence to those viscous substances that have something spirituous or life-giving in them are seen almost directly above the middle of the head, a fair distance away. They are the kind who, from habit acquired during their lifetime, raise conscientious objections, introducing them where conscience has no part to play, and thereby over-burdening the consciences of simple persons. They are unaware of what ought to be a matter of conscience; for they bring conscience into everything that happens to them. These spirits also introduce a feeling of anxiety that is located in the abdomen underneath the diaphragm. They are present too in temptations, introducing feelings of anxiety that are sometimes unbearable. Those among them who correspond to phlegm that is not so life-giving keep a person's thought fixed on such anxious feelings. I have also been with them in their discussions so that I might know what those spirits were like. They try by various methods to over-burden a person's conscience. To do this had been the delight of their lives, and I was led to observe that they could not pay attention to reasons presented to them, and that they were unable to take the overall view of things from which they might then look at specific details.