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will relate from experience what happens when man is withdrawn from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 This is the state that is called being withdrawn from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is withdrawn from the body.
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