Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 183
audible. That the speech of an angel or a spirit flows down
from within even into the ear has been made clear to me by the
fact that it flows also into the tongue, causing a slight
vibration, but without any such motion as when the man
himself by means of the tongue forms the sound of speech into
words.
249. But at the present day to talk with spirits is rarely
granted because it is dangerous; 178
for then the spirits know,
what otherwise they do not know, that they are with man; and
evil spirits are such that they hold man in deadly hatred, and
desire nothing so much as to destroy him both soul and body,
and this they do in the case of those who have so indulged
themselves in fantasies as to have separated from themselves the
enjoyments proper to the natural man. Some also who lead a
solitary life sometimes hear spirits talking with them, and
without danger; but that the spirits with them may not know
that they are with man they are at intervals removed by the
Lord; for most spirits are not aware that there is any other
world than that in which they live, and therefore are unaware
that there are men anywhere else; and this is why man is not
permitted to speak with them in return. If he did they would
know. Again, those who meditate much on religious subjects,
and are so intent upon them as to see them as it were inwardly
within themselves, begin to hear spirits speaking with them; for
religious persuasions, whatever they are, when man dwells
upon them by himself and does not adapt them to the various
things of use in the world, penetrate to the interiors and rest
there, and occupy the whole spirit of the man, and even enter
into the spiritual world and act upon the spirits there. But such
178. Man is able to talk with spirits and angels; and the ancient people
frequently talked with them (n. 67–69, 784, 1634, 1636, 7802).
In some earths angels and spirits appear in human form and talk with
the inhabitants (n. 10751, 10752).
But on this earth at this day it is dangerous to talk with spirits, unless
man is in true faith, and is led by the Lord (n. 784, 9438, 10751).