1881. Spirits become very upset and in fact outraged when you tell them that people do not believe spirits can see, hear, or touch anything. They told me that people ought to know that life does not exist without sensation, and the sharper the senses, the more vibrant the life. The objects of their senses, the spirits said, are as superior as their ability to sense them. The representative things that the Lord gives them are real, because they are the source of everything that exists in the world of nature (§1632). Their senses are much better and more impressive than ours! This is how their indignation expressed itself.
Secrets of Heaven #1633
1633. I also learned in depth about the nature of the inflow into the life force of animals, a force that dissipates entirely after they die. This will be discussed later, with the Lord's divine mercy. 1
The Way Spirits and Angels Talk
Footnotes:
1. For more on the life force that sustains animals, see §3646. Apparently Swedenborg intended to say even more than appears there, however, because at the close of that comment he expresses a hope — repeated at §4417:2 but never fulfilled — that he will someday issue a separate work on the topic. Compare the exposition on animal and plant life interspersed with the exegesis of the Book of Revelation in the unpublished work Revelation Explained (Swedenborg 1994-1997a) §§1196-1215. [LHC]
