Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/29

 In this state also, spirits aud angels are seen in all the reality of life; they are likewise heard, and what is wonderful, they are touched, scarcely anything of the body then intervening. This is the state which is called being absent from the body, and not knowing whether one is in the body or out of the body. I have been let into this state only three or four times, merely that I might know what it is, and at the same time be convinced that spirits and angels enjoy every sense; and man also, as to his spirit, when he is withdrawn from the body.

As to the other,—being carried of the spirit to another place,—I have been shown by living experience what that is, and the manner in which it occurs; but this only two or three times. I will adduce a single instance. Walking along the streets of a city, and through fields, conversing also with spirits at the same time, I knew no otherwise than that I was awake, and seeing as at other times. Thus I walked on without mistaking the way, being in vision meanwhile, seeing groves, rivers, palaces, houses, men, and various other objects.

But after walking thus for some hours, I suddenly returned into my bodily sight, and discovered that I was in another place. I was greatly astonished at this, and perceived that I had been in a state like that experienced by those, of whom it is said, that