61. * my own daring, but from the inspiration of God the Messiah, as you may see above [4, 29, 42, 52]. Nevertheless, I must confess that every time I wished to involve my understanding in matters that are heavenly, I seemed to fall backwards, so plainly, and on so many occasions, that had I not, by the Divine mercy of God the Messiah, been brought back on the path at once, I would have quickly fallen backwards. So I have an actual and very clear experience to keep in sight. Therefore, human philosophy can never enter into the spiritual and heavenly regions, but spiritual and heavenly things themselves must bring in earthly ones. [Blind; Ignorance; Philosophy; Spiritual things] [For the sake of context, see also WE 2972, continuing the explanation of Gen. 49:17-18.] 2973. Those are called "Dans" who are like "serpents in the way and asps on the path" [Gen. 49:17], that is, who want to comprehend everything by reasoning and science, and to place faith in nothing but that which they grasp with the understanding. But those matters which are above the understanding, or which are only to be derived by intellectual processes through sublime comparison - those they reject; for they "bite the horse's heels," and thus "fall backwards from the horse." Indeed, they fall into that nature-bound state, into idol worship, and so into the loves of self and of the world, thus into all errors, so that they are worse, and more uneducated, than the brute animals themselves - which, on the contrary, live aright and quite in accordance with nature, from their own character. Now because this is the cause of all errors, as well as the corrupted state of human minds and the loss of belief in God the Messiah Himself, therefore, lest