2044. Afterwards they were instructed that "nothing" meant that one would lose all that is one's own, that is, one's own desires, and thus iniquities, and that then a different person would emerge. They were told that they could not be something before they had lost what was their own, and to the extent that they lose those things, or are reduced to nothing, they begin to be something, and then they would have whatever they longed for and thought about, like the soul spoken of above [2037]. For he is given by the Lord to long for the right things, which he surely obtains in abundance, together with enjoyment-and this constantly, so long as, and so far as, he is nothing unto himself. So he receives countless things, together with innermost joy and gladness, and with immeasurably fuller awareness than man feels in his enjoyments, and in unending variety. The sensation and awareness, which they had thought would be gone, then also increase unendingly when the sensation and awareness of enjoyments from their own loves cease. Thus instructed, the spirits began to think about it and wish [to be nothing], even though they were not good spirits. But they were then in a kind of sleep. 1748, 22 May.