Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5228

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5228. 'Saying' means the perception resulting from this. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perceiving, dealt with in 1791, 1815, 1819, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2080, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509. No intelligible explanation of what is meant by perception resulting from thought can be given because no one at all at the present day knows what spiritual perception is; and what he knows nothing about makes no sense to a person, no matter how well it is described to him. For perception is nothing else than the speech or the thought of the angels who are present with a person. When that speech or thought passes into him it becomes the perception of whether something is true or untrue. This however happens to none but those in whom the good of love and charity is present, good being the channel through which it reaches him. With these people that perception is what engenders their thoughts; for the power of perception which they possess is the general source of their thought. In reality there is no such thing as perception resulting from thought; it is only an appearance. But nothing more can be said about this arcanum because, as has been stated, no one at all at the present day knows what perception is.


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