Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 350
apparently not seeing them; and as soon as any spirit speaks to
him he vanishes.
439. To make clear that man in respect to his interiors is a
spirit I will relate from experience what happens when man is
withdrawn from the body, and what it is to be carried away by
the spirit to another place.
440. First, as to withdrawal from the body, it happens thus.
Man is brought into a certain state that is midway between
sleeping and waking, and when in that state he seems to
himself to be wide awake; all the senses are as perfectly awake
as in the completest bodily wakefulness, not only the sight and
the hearing, but what is wonderful, the sense of touch also,
which is then more exquisite than is ever possible when the
body is awake. In this state spirits and angels have been seen to
the very life, and have been heard, and what is wonderful, have
been touched, with almost nothing of the body intervening.
This is the state that is called being withdrawn from the body,
and not knowing whether one is in the body or out of it. I have
been admitted into this state only three or four times, that I
might learn what it is, and might know that spirits and angels
enjoy every sense, and that man does also in respect to his spirit
when he is withdrawn from the body.
441. As to being carried away by the spirit to another place, I
have been shown by living experience what it is, and how it is
done, but only two or three times. I will relate a single
instance. Walking through the streets of a city and through
fields, talking at the same time with spirits, I knew no
otherwise than that I was fully awake, and in possession of my
usual sight. Thus I walked on without going astray, and all the
while with clear vision, seeing groves, rivers, palaces, houses,
men, and other objects. But after walking thus for some hours,
suddenly I saw with my bodily eyes, and noted that I was in
another place. Being greatly astonished I perceived that I had
been in the same state as those who were said to have been led
away by the spirit into another place. For in this state the