t then be brought forth, since spirits and angels speak from
those affections and thoughts that are proper to their minds; and are
therefore unable to give expression to any thing that is not in
accord with their affections and thoughts as can be seen in what is
said about the speech of angels in heaven and their speech with man
(n. 234-257). [3] Because of this man after death is rational, not in
the degree that he was skilled in languages and sciences in the
world, but in the degree in which he became rational by means of
these. I have talked with many who were believed in the world to be
learned because they were acquainted with ancient languages, such as
the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, but had not cultivated their rational
faculty by what is written in those languages. Some of them were seen
to be just as simple as those who knew nothing of those languages,
and some even stupid, and yet they retained the conceit of being
wiser than others. [4] I have talked with some who had believed in
the world that man is wise in the measure of the contents of his
memory, and who had stored up many things in their memory, speaking
almost solely from the memory, and therefore not from themselves but
from others, and their rationality had not been at all perfected by
means of the things in their memory. Some of these were stupid and
some sottish, not in the least comprehending whether a truth is true
or not, and seizing upon all falsities that are passed off for truths
by those who called themselves learned; for from themselves they are
unable to see any thing, whether it be true or not, and consequently
are unable to see any thing rationally when listening to others. [5]
I have also talked with some who had written much in the world on
scientific subjects of every kind, and had thereby acquired a
worldwide reputation for learning. Some of these, indeed, had the
ability to reason about truths, whether they are true or not; and
some, when they had turned to those who were in the light of truth,
had some comprehension that truths are true, but still had no wish to
comprehend them, and therefore when they were in their own falsities,
and thus in themselves, denied them. Some had no more wisdom than the
unlearned common people. Thus each differed from the other according
as he had cultivated his rational faculty by means of the knowledges
he had written about or collated. But those who were opposed to the
truths of the church, and who tho