seeing a house and the various things in it and around
it, should say to his companion that he ought to believe
that these things exist, and that they are such as
he sees them to be; or seeing a garden and trees and
fruit in it, should say to his companion that he ought
to have faith that there is a garden and trees and
fruits, when yet he is seeing them clearly with his
eyes. For this reason these angels never mention
faith, and have no idea what it is; neither do they
reason about Divine truths, still less do they dispute
about any truth whether it is so or not.{1} [3] But
the angels of the first or outmost heaven do not have
Divine truths thus inscribed on their interiors, because
with them only the first degree of life is opened;
therefore they reason about truths, and those who reason
see almost nothing beyond the fact of the matter about
which they are reasoning, or go no farther beyond
the subject than to confirm it by certain considerations,
and having confirmed it they say that it must be a
matter of faith and must be believed. [4] I have talked
with angels about this, and they said that the difference
between the wisdom of the angels of the third heaven
and the wisdom of the angels of the first heaven is
like that between what is clear and what is obscure;
and the former they compared to a magnificent palace
full of all things for use, surrounded on all sides
by parks, with magnificent things of many kinds round
about them; and as these angels are in the truths
of wisdom they can enter into the palace and behold
all things, and wander about in the parks in every
direction and delight in it all. But it is not
so with those who reason about truths, especially
with those who dispute about them, as such do not see
truths from the light of truth, but accept truths either
from others or from the sense of the letter of the
Word, which they do not interiorly understand, declaring
that truths must be believed, or that one must have
faith, and are not willing to have any interior sight
admitted into these things. The angels said that
such are unable to reach the first threshold of the
palace of wisdom, still less to enter into it and
wander about in its grounds, for they stop at the
first step. It is not so with those that are in
truths themselves; nothing impedes these from going
on and progressing without limit, for the truths they
see lead them wherever they go, and into wide fields,
for every truth has infinite extension and is in conjunction
with manifold others. [5] They said still further that
the wisdom of the angels of the inmost heaven consists
principally in this, that they see Divine and heavenly
things in every single object, and wonderful things
in a series of many objects; for everything that appears
before their eyes is a correspondent; as when they
see palaces and gardens their view does not dwell upon
the things that are before their eyes, but they see
the interior things from which they spring, that is,
to which they correspond, and this with all variety
in accordance with the aspect of the objects; thus
they see innumerable things at the same time in their
order and connection; and this so fills their minds
with delight that they seem to be carried away from
themselves. That all things that are seen in
the heavens correspond to the Divine things that are
in the angels from the Lord may be seen above (n.
170-176).


