The Literal Meaning of Genesis
BOOK TWELVE 221 may be pleased to adopt, I have thus far been unable to recognize or maintain any objects or visions other than the three kinds perceived by the body and the spirit and the mind. But in establishing the number and degrees of difference in the various classes and in determining the relative grades of excellence in them, I admit my ignorance.
CHAPTER 30
Degrees of excellence in likenesses of bodies seen in the spirit.
58. Now in the corporeal light of this world there is the heaven which we see above the earth and from which shine forth the luminous bodies and stars, which are far superior to earthly bodies.!53 So, too, in the spiritual order, wherein the likenesses of bodies are seen in a kind of incorporeal light!>* that is proper to them, there are certain objects more excellent and truly divine, which angels reveal in wondrous ways. Whether by some sort of union or intermingling they have the facility and power to make their visions ours also, or in some way know how to fashion a vision in our spirit, this is a difficult matter to understand and still more difficult to explain. But in the ordinary course of our daily life there are other objects that arise in various ways from our spirit itself or are, after a fashion, suggested to the spirit by the body, according as we have been influenced by the flesh or by the mind. Thus men in their waking hours think of their troubles, turning over in their minds the likenesses of bodily things; and so in their sleep, too, they frequently dream of something they need. The reason for this is that greed is the motive force of their business dealings; and when they happen to go to sleep hungry and thirsty, they are often after food and drink with open mouth. Now, in my opinion, when these objects are compared with the revelations of angels, they ought to be assigned the same relative value that we give, in the corporeal order, to earthly bodies in comparison with celestial bodies.