125. If you know nothing of heaven’s secrets, you might not be able to believe that anyone could see such distant planets or report anything about them on the basis of direct experience. Be aware, though, that spaces, distances, and consequently movement from place to place in the spiritual world 1 are, in their origins and first causes, inner changes of state, and that to angels and spirits, these spaces, distances, and movements appear in accordance with those inner changes. 2 Further, spirits and angels can by this means appear to be taken from one place to another and from one planet to another, even to planets that are at the edge of the universe. The spirit of a person in this world can also do this, even while the person’s body remains in the same place.
That is what has happened with me, since by the Lord’s divine mercy it has been granted to me to talk with spirits as a spirit and at the same time with people on earth as a person on earth. The fact that our spirit can travel in this way is not something sense-oriented people can grasp, because they are immersed in space and time and measure their journeys by these criteria.
Footnotes:
1. The first edition here reads in mundo naturali, “in the physical world,” but the context of the rest of this passage, the author’s footnote to it, and the wider context of Swedenborg’s theology suggest that this should read in mundo spirituali, “in the spiritual world.” [JSR]
2. [Swedenborg note] In the other life, [what spirits and angels experience as] motion, travel, and changes of location are actually changes in the inner state of their lives, and yet the relocation appears to the spirits and angels to be perfectly real: 1273–1277, 1377, 3356, 5605, 10734.
