7077. As the spirits of Mercury are of this character, and moreover abound in knowledges, they are in a kind of conceit (see n. 6813), supposing that they know so many things that it is scarcely possible to know more. But they have been told by the spirits of our earth that they do not know many things, but only a few, and that the things which they do not know are relatively infinite; and that the things which they do not know relatively to those which they do know are like the waters of the greatest ocean as compared with those of a tiny spring. In order that they might know that such is the case it was granted that a certain angelic spirit should speak with them, and should tell them in general what they do know and what they do not know; and that there are infinite things which they do not know; and also that to eternity they cannot know even the generals of things. He spoke by means of angelic ideas much more readily than they, and as he disclosed what they know, and what they do not know, they were struck with amazement. I afterward saw another angel speaking with them, who appeared at some elevation to the right; he enumerated very many things which they do not know; and afterward spoke with them by means of changes of state, which they said they do not understand. He then told them that every change of state contains infinite things, and so also does every least thing of it. [2] When they heard this, as they had been in conceit on account of knowledges, they began to humble themselves. The humiliation was represented by the sinking of their roll downward, for that company then appeared like a roll, in front toward the left at a distance, in the plane of the region below the navel; but the roll appeared as it were hollowed out in the middle, and elevated at the sides; a reciprocal movement was also observed therein. They were also told what this signified, namely, what they were thinking in their humiliation, and that they who appeared elevated at the sides were not as yet in any humiliation. And I saw that the roll was separated, and that they who were not in humiliation were relegated toward their own globe; the rest remaining. As the spirits of the planet Mercury shun the spirits of our earth, on account of the material things in which the latter are, and as they had asked whether such can become angels (n. 6929), they now received the reply, that the angel who had spoken with them was from this earth.