Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1648

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1648. There is also a form of speech among good spirits and among angelic spirits in which many speak simultaneously, especially in gyres or choirs, which will be described in the Lord's Divine mercy later on I have often heard this speech expressed by those choirs; it has a cadence that sounds rhythmic. They give no thought at all to words or ideas; their feelings flow spontaneously into these. No word or idea enters in which multiplies the meaning, or takes it in another direction, or to which anything artificial is attached, or which has an elegance that is seen by them to originate in self or self-love - all of which things would instantly destroy the spontaneity. These choirs do not fix their minds on any word; their thoughts are on the sense, and their words follow spontaneously from this. They end a passage together in a harmonious and usually simple resolution; and when they end in a complex resolution they move on to the next passage by a change of pitch. These patterns are the product of their thinking and speaking in association, as a consequence of which the form that this speech takes has a cadence that is determined by the manner of association and the unity of the group Songs took this form in the past, and so do the Psalms of David.


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