Then they were asked, "What connection have joys
and delights and the happiness thence resulting, with a state of
inactivity? By inactivity the mind is enfeebled and contracted, instead
of being strengthened and expanded; or in other words, the man is
reduced to a state of death, instead of being quickened into life.
Suppose a person to sit still in the most complete inactivity, with his
hands hanging down, his eyes fixed on the ground, and withdrawn from all
other objects, and suppose him at the same time to be encompassed by an
atmosphere of gladness, would not a lethargy seize both his head and
body, and the vital expansion of his countenance would be contracted,
and at length with relaxed fibres he would nod and totter, till he fell
to the earth? What is it that keeps the whole bodily system in its due
expansion and tension, but the tension of the mind? and whence comes the
tension of the mind but from administrations and employments, while the
discharge of them is attended with delight? I will therefore tell you
some news from heaven: in that world there are administrations, offices,
judicial proceedings both in greater and lesser cases, also mechanical
arts and employments.
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