7693, 10236). By the
ancients such were called serpents of the tree of knowledge (n.
195-197, 6398, 6949, 10313).
354. It has been granted me to speak with many of the learned after
their departure from the world; with some of distinguished reputation
and celebrated in the literary world for their writings, and with
some not so celebrated, although endowed with profound wisdom. Those
that in heart had denied the Divine, whatever their professions may
have been, had become so stupid as to have little comprehension even
of anything truly civil, still less of anything spiritual. I
perceived and also saw that the interiors of their minds were so
closed up as to appear black (for in the spiritual world such things
become visible), and in consequence they were unable to endure any
heavenly light or admit any influx from heaven. This blackness which
their interiors presented was more intense and extended with those
that had confirmed themselves against the Divine by the knowledges
they had acquired. In the other life such accept all falsity with
delight, imbibing it as a sponge does water; and they repel all truth
as an elastic bony substance repels what falls upon it.
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