5383. The methods used by them to explore and examine closely the minds of others are very many; but let simply the following be mentioned here. They induce the other spirits to speak, which is effected in the next life by means of an influx that defies any intelligible description. If the speech so induced flows readily, they judge from this the character of those other spirits. They also induce a state of affection. But those who explore the minds of others in this way are some of the rather obtuse ones. Others however are different, being spirits who discern in an instant, even while they are approaching someone, his thoughts, desires, and actions, including any grief felt by him over something he has done. Those spirits seize on such, and if they think the feeling is justified they also condemn him. One of the marvels in the next life which scarcely anyone in the world can believe is that as soon as any spirit approaches another spirit, more so when he approaches someone in the world, he knows in an instant his thoughts and affections and what he has been doing. Thus he knows the whole of the other's present state, altogether as though he has been constantly in his presence. This kind of communication exists there, though there are differences in such forms of discernment Some spirits perceive another's interior thoughts and affections, others perceive solely his exterior ones. Yet if the latter wish to know others' interior thoughts and affections, they can employ various methods to explore them.