where I was. When I saw them I closed the window, but I did talk to
them through the glass. I asked the satan where he came from. He said
he came from a group of his own people. I asked him where the woman
was from. He gave the same answer.
She was part of a gang of sirens. They have the ability to project
images. They can give themselves looks, clothing, and accessories of any
kind. On one occasion they give themselves the body of Venus; on
another, they give themselves a gorgeous face, as if they were one of the
Muses; on yet another, they array themselves as queens with crowns and
robes and stride majestically, holding a silver staff. These are the charac-
teristics of sirens in the world of spirits—they are whores who specialize
in fantasy.
They project these images by thinking with the senses and shutting
off any deeper level of thought.
I asked the satan whether this woman was his wife. He answered,
“What is a wife? I don’t know what that is. My community doesn’t know
what that is. She is my whore.”
Then she aroused her man’s lust—another thing sirens are very good
at. So he gave her a kiss and said, “Ah, my female Adonis.”
[ 2 ] But now to something more serious. I asked the satan what his job
was. He said, “My job is to be learned. Don’t you see the laurel wreath on
my head?” His Adonis used her skills to conjure up a laurel wreath, which
she put on him from behind.
“Since there is formal education in the community you come from,”
I said, “tell me what you believe, and what your colleagues believe,
about God.”
He replied, “Our God is the universe, which we also call nature. Our
simple folk call the universe ‘the atmosphere,’ which they think of as the
air. Our experts also call it ‘the atmosphere,’ but they include the ether in
that. As for God, heaven, angels, and the like—many people in this
world have much nonsense to say about them, but they are empty words.
Those are imaginary things triggered by unusual weather phenomena
and things in the sky that trick the eyes of many people here.
“All the things that are visible on earth were created by the sun. Winged
and wingless insects are born every time the sun returns in spring. Because
of the sun’s heat, birds come together in love and reproduce. Because of the
sun’s heat, warm earth turns seeds into shoots and then into offspring in
the form of fruit. Doesn’t this mean that the universe is God? Surely then
nature is a goddess, the universe’s spouse, who conceives, bears, raises, and
feeds all the things I just mentioned.”
§80 god the creator & creation 113