[2] There was spirit over my head who talked with me. It was possible to tell from the sound of his voice that he was more or less in a sleeping state. In this he talked a lot, and displayed such prudence in what he said that he could not have done better wide awake. I was able to perceive that he was being used as a person through whom angels spoke; in that state he could grasp what was said and reproduce it.# For he spoke nothing but the truth, and if he felt any influence from another source, he allowed it in, but did not reproduce it. I asked him about his state, and he said that it was one of peace, and he had no anxiety about the future. At the same time he provided services, which allowed him to be in touch with heaven. I was told that such people answer in the Grand Man to the superior sagittal sinus, which lies between the two hemispheres of the brain, and they remain in a quiet condition there, however much the brain on either side is in turmoil.

[3] While I was talking with this spirit, some spirits moved towards the fore part of the head, where the one was whom they were crowding out. He therefore went off to one side to make room for them. These spirit newcomers were talking among themselves, but neither I nor the spirits around me could understand what they were saying. I was informed by angels that they were spirits from the world of Mars, who possessed the trick of talking among themselves without the other spirits present understanding or perceiving anything. I was surprised that such speech was possible, since all spirits share a common language, which flows from their thought, and is composed of ideas, which are heard as words in the spiritual world. I was told that those spirits have a special way of forming ideas, which they express by means of the lips and face, so that others cannot understand them; and at the same moment they deliberately withdraw their thoughts, taking particular care to allow no hint of their affection to show. This is because, if any hint of affection were perceived, then the thought would be obvious, since thought flows from the affection and is, as it were, contained in it.

I was informed further that the inhabitants of the world of Mars, not however all of them, but those who regard heavenly life as merely a matter of knowledge, not of showing love in the way they live, have devised this way of speaking, and on becoming spirits they retain this. It is these who are especially meant by the stone bird. For producing speech by means of facial expressions and convolutions of the lips, while removing affections and withdrawing thoughts from others, is taking the life out of speech and making it like a statue, and gradually making oneself like one too.

[4] But although they fancy that their conversations among themselves are not intelligible to others, still angelic spirits perceive all the details of their conversations. This is because not all the thought behind them can be withdrawn. To prove this to them they were given a live demonstration. I was pondering the fact that the wicked spirits of our world are not ashamed of attacking others. This idea reached me from angelic spirits who perceived their speech. Those Martian spirits then acknowledged, to their own surprise, that this was the subject of their conversation. Moreover, an angelic spirit was able to uncover more of their conversations and thoughts, however hard they tried to withdraw their thoughts from him.

[5] Later these spirits exercised an influence from above on my face. It looked like a fine striped rain; this was a sign that they had no affection for truth and good, for this is pictured by stripes. Then they spoke openly with me, and said that the inhabitants of their world converse in a similar manner. They were told that this was wicked, because it blocks off the internals, so that they leave these for the externals, and they deprive them too of life. It is particularly wicked because speaking like that is dishonest. Honest people have no wish to say or even think anything which others may not know, even if the others include everyone, even the whole of heaven. But those who do not want others to know what they say are passing judgment on others, holding a poor opinion of them and a good one of themselves; and the habit reduces them to the point that they hold and express a poor opinion of the church, heaven and even the Lord Himself.

[6] I was told that those who love knowledge, without living as knowledge dictates, answer in the Grand Man to the inner membrane of the skull. But those who have become accustomed to speak without affection and to keep their thoughts to themselves, not sharing them with others, answer to that membrane when ossified, because from having some spiritual life they come to have none. # Contact is made between communities of spirits and angels by sending spirits to them as emissaries; these are called subordinates (AC 4403, 5856, 5983, 5985-9).