The Planet Jupiter (Continied)

65.

As to what concerns their Divine worship, it is a principal characteristic thereof, that they acknowledge our Lord as the Supreme, who rules heaven and earth, calling Him the only Lord; and because they acknowledge and worship Him during their life in the body, they hence seek Him after death and find Him; He is the same with our Lord. They were asked, whether they know that the only Lord is a Man. They replied that they all know that He is a Man, because in their world He has been seen by many as a Man; and that He instructs them concerning the truth, preserves them, and also gives eternal life to those who worship Him from good. They said further, that it is revealed to them from Him how they should live, and how they should believe; and that what is revealed is handed down from parents to children, and hence there flows forth doctrine to all the families, and thereby to the whole nation which is descended from one father. They added, that it seems to them as if they had the doctrine written on their minds, and they conclude so from this, because they perceive instantly, and acknowledge as of themselves, whether it be true or not what is said by others concerning the life of heaven with man.

They do not know that their only Lord was born a man on our earth; they said that they care to know only that He is Man, and rules the universe. When I informed them that on our earth He is named Christ Jesus, and that Christ signifies Anointed or King, and Jesus, Savior, they said that they do not worship Him as a King, because royalty savors of what is worldly, but that they worship Him as the Savior. On this occasion a doubt was injected from the spirits of our earth, whether their only Lord was the same with our Lord; but they removed it by the recollection that they had seen Him in the sun, and had acknowledged that it was He Himself whom they saw on their earth (see above, Section 40)

Once also with the spirits of Jupiter who were with me, there flowed in for a moment a doubt whether their only Lord was the same with our Lord; but this doubt, which flowed in for a moment, was also in a moment dispersed. It inflowed from some spirits of our earth; and then, what surprised me, they were so ashamed for having doubted this, though but for a moment, that they requested me not to publish it, lest they should be charged with incredulity, when yet they now know it more than others.

These spirits were very much affected and rejoiced when they heard it declared that the only Lord is alone Man, and that all have from Him what entitles them to be called men; but that they are only so far men as they are images of Him, that is, as far as they love Him, and love their neighbor, thus, so far as they are in good; for the good of love and faith is the image of the Lord.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Section 65

The Planet Jupiter (Continied)

63.

A certain spirit ascending from the lower earth, came to me, and said that he had heard what I had been discoursing upon with other spirits, but that he did not understand at all what was said concerning spiritual life and the light thereof. He was asked whether he was willing to be instructed concerning it. He said that he had not come with that purpose. From which I concluded that he would not comprehend such things. He was very stupid; yet it was declared by the angels, that when he lived as a man in the world, he was much celebrated for his learning. He was cold, as was manifestly felt from his breathing, which was a sign of light merely natural, and of none spiritual, thus that by the sciences he had not opened, but had closed for himself the way to the light of heaven.

64.

Because the inhabitants of the earth Jupiter procure intelligence for themselves by a way different from that of the inhabitants of our earth, and are moreover of a different genius from their life, therefore they cannot abide long together, but either shun them or remove them. There are spheres, which may be called spiritual spheres, which continually flow forth, yea, overflow from every spirit; they flow from the activity of the affections and consequent thoughts, thus from the life itself. All consociations in the other life are regulated according to these spheres; those which agree being joined together according to their agreement, and those which disagree being separated according to their disagreement.

The spirits and angels who are from the earth Jupiter, in the Greatest Man have relation to the imaginative of thought, and consequently to an active state of the interior parts; but the spirits of our earth have relation to the various functions of the exterior parts of the body, and when these are desirous to have dominion, the activity or imaginative of thought from the interior cannot flow in: hence come the oppositions between the spheres of the life of each.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Sections 63-64

The Planet Jupiter (Continied)

62.

The inhabitants of the earth Jupiter place wisdom in thinking well and justly of all things that happen in life. This wisdom they derive from their parents from infancy, and it is successively transmitted to posterity, and increases from the love they have for it because of its belonging to their parents. Of sciences, such as are in our earth, they know nothing whatever, nor do they wish to know. They call them shades and compare them to clouds which hide the sun. This idea concerning the sciences they have conceived from some spirits from our earth who boasted that they were wise from sciences.

The spirits from our earth who thus boasted were such as made wisdom to consist in things appertaining merely to the memory, as in languages, especially the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, in a knowledge of the things related in the literary world, in criticism, in mere experiments, and in terms, particularly such as are philosophical, with other things of a like nature, not using such things as means leading to wisdom, but making wisdom to consist in those things themselves. Such persons, because they have not cultivated their rational faculty by the sciences, as by means leading to wisdom, have little perception in the other life; for they see only in terms, and from terms, in which case those things are as clods and clouds obstructing the intellectual sight (see above, n. 38); and they who have been proud of their erudition therefrom, have still less perception; but they who have used the sciences as means of invalidating and annihilating the things appertaining to the church and to faith, have totally destroyed their intellectual faculty, and like owls they see in the thick darkness falsity for truth, and evil for good.

The spirits of Jupiter, from the conversation they had with such, concluded that sciences induce shade and blindness. But they were informed that on our earth the sciences are means of opening the intellectual sight, which sight is in the light of heaven; but because such things as appertain to the mere natural and sensual life reign, therefore the sciences to the men of our earth are means of becoming insane, namely, of confirming them in favor of nature against the Divine, and in favor of the world, against heaven.

They were further informed that the sciences in themselves are spiritual riches, and that they who possess them are like those who possess worldly riches, which in like manner are means of performing uses to himself, his neighbor, and his country, and also means of doing evil. Moreover, that they are like garments, which serve for use and ornament, and also for pride, as with those who would be honored for these alone. The spirits of the earth Jupiter understood these things well; but they wondered that, being men, they should rest in means, and prefer things leading to wisdom before wisdom itself; and that they should not see, that to immerse the mind in such things, and not to elevate it above them, was to becloud and blind it.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Section 62

The Planet Jupiter (Continied)

61.

The spirits of that earth are not willing to associate with the spirits of our earth, because they differ both in minds and manners. They say that the spirits of our earth are cunning, and that they are prompt and ingenious in the contrivance of evil; and that they know and think little about what is good. Moreover, the spirits of the earth Jupiter are much wiser than the spirits of our earth. They say also of our spirits, that they talk much and think little, and thus that they are not capable of an interior perception of many things, not even of what is good; hence they conclude, that the men of our earth are external men.

Once also it was permitted evil spirits of our earth, by their evil arts, to act upon and infest the spirits of Jupiter who were with me. The spirits of Jupiter endured them for a long time, but at length confessed that they could endure no longer, and that they believed it impossible for worse spirits to exist, for they perverted their imagination and also their thoughts in such a manner that they seemed to themselves as it were bound, and that they could not be extricated and set at liberty without Divine aid. Whilst I was reading in the Word some passages concerning our Savior’s passion, then European spirits infused dreadful scandals, with intent to seduce the spirits of Jupiter. Inquiry was made who they were, and what had been their profession in the world, and it was discovered that some of them had been preachers; and that the greater part were of those who call themselves of the Lord’s society, or Jesuits. I said that when they lived in the world, by their preaching concerning the Lord’s passion, they were able to move the common people to tears. I added also the reason, that in the world they thought one way and spoke another, thus entertained one thing in the heart and professed another with the mouth; but now it was not permitted them to speak thus deceitfully, because when they become spirits, they are compelled to speak just as they think. The spirits of Jupiter were greatly astonished that there could be given such a disagreement between a man’s interiors and his exteriors, so that he could speak altogether differently from what he thought; which to them was impossible.

They wondered when they heard that many who are from our earth also become angels, and are of an altogether different heart, supposing at the time that all on our earth were like those present. But it was said that there are many of a different nature, and that there are also those who think from good, and not as these from evil; and that they who think from good become angels. That they might know that it was so, there came out of heaven choirs of angels from our earth, one after another, which with one voice and in harmony together glorified the Lord. Those choirs so greatly delighted the spirits of Jupiter who were with me, that they seemed to themselves, as if they were caught up into heaven. The glorification by the choirs lasted about an hour, and the delight they received was communicated to me and given me to feel. They said that they would tell their people about it who were elsewhere.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Section 61

The Planet Jupiter (Continied)

59.

Their habitations were also shown me. They are low and of wood, but within they are lined with the bark or rind of a tree of a palish blue color, the walls and ceiling being spotted as with small stars, to represent the heavens; for they are fond of thus picturing the visible heavens and stars in the insides of their houses, because they believe the stars to be the abodes of angels. They have also tents, which are round above, and stretched out to a considerable length, spotted likewise within with little stars in a blue plane; in these they betake themselves in the middle of the day, lest their faces be injured from the heat of the sun. They take great care in the construction and in the cleanliness of these their tents. They have also their meals in them.

60.

When the spirits of Jupiter saw the horses of this earth, the horses appeared to me smaller than usual, although they were tolerably robust and large. This was in consequence of the idea of those spirits concerning the horses there. They said that they also had horses with them, and much larger, but that they were wild, or in the woods, and that when they are seen, the inhabitants are terrified, although they do no harm. They added, that the fear of horses is innate or natural to them. This led me to a consideration of the cause of that fear; for “a horse” in the spiritual sense signifies the intellectual faculty formed of scientifics, and because the inhabitants of Jupiter are afraid of cultivating the intellectual faculty by worldly sciences, hence comes an influx of fear. That they do not care for scientifics, which are of human erudition, will be seen in what follows.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Sections 59-60

The Planet Jupiter (Continied)

58.

They take delight in making long meals; but not so much from enjoyment of the food, as from enjoyment of the conversation at that time. When they sit at table they do not sit on chairs or benches, or raised couches of turf, nor on the grass, but on the leaves of a certain tree. They were not willing to tell of what tree the leaves were; but when I named several by conjecture, they assented at last on my naming the leaves of the fig-tree. They said moreover, that they do not prepare food with reference to the taste, but especially with reference to the use; and they added that to them useful food was savory.

On this subject a conversation arose among the spirits, and it was said that this is the right way for man; for thus it is in his heart to have a sound mind in a sound body, but it is otherwise with those whose taste governs, and whose body therefore sickens, or at least inwardly languishes, and consequently their mind also; for the action of this depends upon the interior state of the recipient parts of the body, as the sight and hearing upon the state of the eye and ear. Thus is seen the insanity of placing all the delight of life in luxury and pleasure. From this too, comes dullness in such things as are of thought and judgment, and shrewdness in such things as are of the body and the world. From this arises the likeness between a man and a brute animal, with which also such persons not inaptly compare themselves.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Section 58

The Planet Jupiter (Continied)

56.

They who live in their warm climates go naked, except with a covering about the loins; nor are they ashamed of their nakedness, for their minds are chaste, and they love their consorts only, and abhor adultery. They wondered exceedingly that the spirits of our earth, who on hearing of their method of walking, and also that they were naked, ridiculed it, and had lascivious thoughts, without attending at all to their heavenly life, but only to such things. They said that this was a sign that things corporeal and terrestrial were of more concern to them than heavenly things, and that things of an indecent nature had place in their minds. Those spirits of our earth were told that nakedness gives no occasion either of shame or of scandal to such as live in chastity and a state of innocence, but only to such as live in lasciviousness and immodesty.

57.

When the inhabitants of that earth lie in bed, they turn their faces forward, or towards the chamber, but not backward, or towards the wall. This was told me by their spirits, who said the reason is, that they believe that in turning the face forward they turn it to the Lord, but if they turn it backward they avert it from the Lord. I have sometimes observed, in regard to myself, whilst I was in bed, such a direction of the face; but never knew before whence it was.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Sections 56-57

The Planet Jupiter (Continued)

55.

I was further informed by the spirits from that earth, concerning various particulars relating to its inhabitants, as concerning their manner of walking, their food, and their habitations. With respect to their manner of walking, they do not walk erect like the inhabitants of this and of many other earths, nor do they creep like animals; but as they go along, they assist themselves with their hands, and alternately half elevate themselves on their feet, and also at every third step turn the face sideways and behind them, and likewise at the same time bend the body a little, which is done suddenly; for with them it is thought unbecoming to be seen by others except in the face.

In walking thus they always keep the face elevated as with us, that so they may look at the heavens as well as the earth. Holding the face downwards so as to look at the earth alone, they call accursed. The most vile amongst them do so, but if they continue and do not elevate the face, they are banished from the society.

When they sit, they appear like men of our earth, erect as to the upper part of the body, but they usually sit cross-legged. They take special care, not only when they walk, but also when they sit, to be seen in the face, and not at the back. They are also very willing to have their faces seen, because thence their mind appears; for with them the face is never at variance with the mind, nor indeed can they make it so. Those present also know clearly from this what dispositions they entertain towards them, especially whether their apparent friendship is sincere or forced, for this they never conceal. These particulars were shown to me by their spirits, and confirmed by their angels. Hence also their spirits are seen to walk, not erect like others, but almost like persons swimming, appearing to help themselves forward with their hands, and by turns to look around them.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Section 55

The Planet Jupiter (Continued)

54.

It was also shown how the thoughts are presented by the face. The affections of the love are manifested through the countenance and its changes, and the thoughts by variations as to the forms of the interiors therein; but they cannot be further described. The inhabitants of the earth Jupiter have also a vocal speech, but not as sonorous as ours. The one speech assists the other, and their vocal speech is inspired with life by the speech of the face.

I was informed by angels that the first speech of all men on every earth was speech by the face, and this from two sources, the lips and the eyes. The reason why such speech was the first, is, that the face was formed for portraying what man thinks and wills, and thence also the face was called the image and index of the mind; also because in the most ancient or earliest times there was sincerity, and man neither thought nor wished to think anything else than what he was willing should shine forth from his face. Thus also the affections of the mind, and the thoughts therefrom, could be presented to the life, and fully. Thus also they were made apparent to the eye, very many, as it were, in a form together.

This speech, therefore, as much surpassed vocal speech as sight excels hearing, or as seeing a landscape excels hearing of it, or apprehending it by verbal description. They added that such speech agrees with the speech of angels, with whom also men in those times were in communication; and further that when the face speaks, or the mind through the face, it is the angelic speech with man in ultimate natural form, but not when the mouth speaks by words. Every one, too, can comprehend that the most ancient people could not have the speech of words; since the words of language were not immediately infused into men, but had to be invented, and applied to things; which could be done only in process of time.

As long as sincerity and rectitude remained with man, so long also such speech remained. But as soon as the mind began to think one thing and speak another, which took place when man began to love himself and not his neighbor, then vocal speech began to develop, the face being silent or dissembling. Thus the internal form of the face was changed, contracted itself, hardened, and began to be almost void of life; but the external form, inflamed by the fire of self-love, began to appear to the eyes of men as if it were alive. For that absence of life which lies underneath, does not appear to the eyes of men, but to the eyes of angels, since these see the interiors.

Such are the faces of those who think one thing and speak another; for dissimulation, hypocrisy, cunning, and deceit, which are prudence at this day, induce such effects. But it is different in the other life, where it is not permitted to speak one thing and think another. Disagreement between the speech and the thought is also there clearly perceived in every word; and when it is perceived in a spirit, he is cast out of the community, and fined. Afterward he is reduced by various methods to speak as he thinks, and to think as he wills; even till he has one undivided mind; so that if he is good, he may will good and think and speak truth from good, and if he is evil, he may will evil and think and speak falsity from evil. Not before this is effected is the good spirit elevated into heaven, nor the evil spirit cast into hell; and this to the end, that there may be in hell nothing but evil and the falsity of evil, and in heaven nothing but good and the truth of good.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Section 54

The Planet Jupiter (Continued)

The reason of the faces smiling that were prominent about the lips was, that the most of their speech is effected by the face, and especially by the region around the lips; and also because they never dissemble, that is, speak otherwise than they think. For this reason they do not constrain their face, but let it out freely. It is otherwise with those who from childhood have learned to dissemble. Their face is thus contracted interiorly, lest something of their thought should shine forth. Neither is it let forth outwardly, but is held ready to let itself out or contract itself, according as cunning suggests.

The truth of this may be evident from an examination of the fibers of the lips and the parts around them. For there are manifold series of fibers there, folded together and intertwined, which were created not only for masticating and for speech by words, but also for expressing the ideas of the mind.

from Earths in the Universe: Life on Other Worlds, Section 53