4360. I have occasionally spoken with spirits as to the phantasies which appear so much to the life among them. They think [for instance] that they have garments, and entertain various other conceits, some of which are ridiculous, and which it would require many pages to recite. The cause of this is that they are themselves but mere phantasies, and their life consists of nothing else; they live from phantasies, because they can live only from falses. It is accordingly provided by the Lord that their phantasies should appear to them altogether as realities. With those who are in faith from the Lord the case is entirely different; to them there are no phantasies, but appearances attended with all pleasantness and felicity. Phantasies [with the former] may be compared to corporeal objects plainly seen, while things that are real are to them like a shadow, or as it were, nothing at all; to the angels, on the contrary, appearances and truths are the veriest realities, while phantasies are as shadows and nonentities; wherefore they can be harmed by no phantasies. - 1749, August 19.