3348. Spirits from another planet were once present with me for quite a long while, during which time I told them about the wisdom of our world I described to them how included among the branches of knowledge in which the reputation for being learned rests is that of analytics, by means of which men strive to examine closely the things that comprise the mind and its thoughts, and how they call this branch of knowledge metaphysics and logic, and yet they do not get very far beyond the use of terms or of a few general, yet variable, rules. I went on to describe how they argue over terms, asking for example, What is meant by a form, or by substance, or by the mind, or by the soul? And how by means of those variable general rules they engaged in acrimonious disputes over truths. Hearing all this those spirits from another planet perceived that such things remove all sense and understanding of a thing when people stick to terms and think about such by means of carefully constructed rules. They said that such terms and rules were merely little black clouds which blocked one's mental vision and lowered the understanding so to speak down into the dust. They added that it was not so among them, but that they had clearer ideas of things through having no knowledge at all of such terms and rules. I was also allowed to see how wise they were. They represented the human mind in a wonderful way as a heavenly form, and its affections as spheres of activity in keeping with that form. They effected this representation so deftly that the angels praised them for it. They also represented how the Lord bends those affections which are not in themselves delightful into those that are. Learned ones from our earth were present but they were unable to understand these representations in the slightest even though during their lifetime they had engaged in much philosophical discussion. When those from another planet perceived their thoughts and how they stuck solely to terms and were inclined to dispute the truth of every single thing they called such endeavours a froth full of dregs.